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Control (1987)
5/10
Not all bad
12 June 2021
You could say that the anti nuclear theme here came a bit late to the party, The Day After was from '83 and Dr Strangelove from '64, but it was probable brought back by the '86 Tjernobyl disaster. I was twelve and can vividly remember the fear of the nuclear fall out, the radiation cloud that suposedly drifted through Europe. But I can't remember the idea of building fall out shelters like they make out in this Italian film.

Maybe this should be more seen as an psychological or social experiment like the Stanford Prison Experiment (1971) or the much later Big Brother reality TV shows (1999).

A group of diverse people locked in a single location and with a pressure cooking situation that brings out the best and worst in people. I'm thinking Lost, Lord of the Flies, Dark Star, Breakfast Club. There are so many.

This one does a fine job of making you dislike all the characters because of their stereotypical behaviour. The actors are unable to do anything interesting with their parts and the lack of direction makes every scene like something taken from an amateur filmschool. Burt Lancaster's part is probable the only interesting and most convincing character. But he's not used in most of the movie.

Sadly, there are no surprises, the plot is thin but not all bad. It is barely watchable. Only interesting for people like me who enjoy cult and b-films or are interested in vintage scifi and disaster movies or cheap direct to video flicks.

And to Spaghettify it some more, there is some music by Ennio Moricone.
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Knock Knock (I) (2015)
2/10
Laugh out loud funny
18 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
The plot is simple and kinda intriguing. Two hot girls knock on the door of a family man who is home alone at night. They seduce him in a way no 'devoted husband' could resist and then blackmail him and basically terrorize his home and ruin his life. It promises a psychological thriller with some erotic scenes and vielleicht some gore. A nerve wrecking but unusual situation that could only be made believable by the outstanding performance of actors. But none of this came to be. Keanu Reeves has instantly dethroned Johnny Depp for being the most two dimensional actor in Hollywood, delivers poorly written lines in badly directed scenes to an extent that it is laugh out loud funny. Almost every aspect of this film is not just below mediocre but simply of-putting bad quality. Some dialogue seems to be written by a twelve year old. There is a scene where Keanu is tortured with a headphone on full volume. He is afraid to loose his hearing and shouts something in the line of "Help, I'm becoming deaf! ...My ears! ..I can't hear!". The total lack of motivation of the two terrorizing girls is to my believe the least of problem with this film. But I must say, I enjoyed watching this very much! Just like I enjoyed watching Troll 2. Later I learned this was a remake from the 1977 film Death Game, which in my perspective is slightly better acted and is more grounded in reality, but not as easy on the eyes as knock knock. Colleen Camp who is starring in the original film is one of the producers and also has a small cameo in Knock Knock.
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9/10
I have seen it about sixteen times...
13 July 2000
And we all have seen it, so let's celebrate it with cheerful reminiscing. Because, what's NOT to like about this, John Hughes, cult- epic. Except for the fact it never got a sequel! Only the television show, which lasted only one season and was poorly cast ed. And besides that, a series is not a good format and wouldn't do justice to the Day Off concept. Although I did enjoy 'Parker Lewis can't loose' as a kid. Which is a direct rip-off in my perspective. Ferris Bueller however is timeless. The Characters are great but the idea of the Day Off was most inspiring. I often say to myself the words "How can u possible handle "school" on a day like this" and then change 'school' for 'work' or 'social family obligations'. In the 80's I related mostly to Cameron (Ferris's loser friend). And I still (now twenty odd years later) when I don't like to get up, I hear his song in my head "When Cameron was in Egypt land, let my people go". This was so abstract for me, back then, and at the same time so perfectly clear. When you liked this one, you also should see; Better of Dead and The Breakfast Club.
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