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 […]

Outland (1981)

Peter Hyams wanted to make a western and so he set it in space with Outland (1981). From the title credits to the interiors, the aesthetic is clearly following the path of Ridley Scott’s Alien to the point where it feels like it takes place in the same galaxy and settles into a grimy, lived-in […]