Let The Corpses Tan (2017)

A leather glove tightened. Sweat dripping down a lined face. The snap of a firearm being loaded. The glow emanating from a gold bar. Let The Corpses Tan (2017; Laissez bronzer les cadavres) luxuriates in these details, fetishing them in close up and heightened sound design. As filmmakers, Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani have a […]

Demonlover (2002)

demonlover (2002) is like later period William Gibson: it’s not about putting on the goggles and jacking into the cyberspace, but more about corporate espionage. I love French director Olivier Assayas in this mode – post-Irma Vep genre studies of women at work and under duress (see also: Boarding Gate and Personal Shopper) in a […]

Virtuosity (1995)

The wackiest aspect about Virtuosity (1995) is that SID 6.0 (Russell Crowe), a deadly computer program for virtual police training, is a composite of 183 serial killers. Only 183? It’s a bit like the number of multi-verses in The One – it could be a round number like 200, but that’s too neat. 183 sounds […]

The One (2001)

Jet Li kicking a SWAT team into the air in slow motion as Drowning Pool’s ‘Bodies’ thunders on the soundtrack is an iconic high point of The One (2001). While working as bullet-timecore (the special effect enhanced martial arts a clear indication of The Matrix’s impact), it also introduces audiences to what will be a […]

Virtual Assassin (1995)

Jacking into any sci-fi thriller with a cyberpunk vibe takes me further down the direct-to-video wormhole with Virtual Assassin (1995) aka Cyberjack, which would have a fixture on video shelves and in DVD bargain bins, and now thanks to YouTube and Tubi, it lives on to watch for free. Basically it’s a Die Hard knock-off […]