Pasha's Film Reviews Etc.

5/5 Victor is an ex soldier. Freshly returned from serving at French Legion he is low on money and down with luck. When his pal Simon proposes him a job as a wrestler Victor reluctantly agrees. It is not because he is not good at wrestling, its because on the ring he has to play the role of a villain and being a big softie at heart Victor finds it damaging for his mind and soul. Working in tandem Victor and Simon are successful, but one night they make a decision to switch the masks. This is a fatal mistake that changes everything. OUR HEROES DIED TONIGHT is a first full feature film debut by David Perrault and a love letter to the French noir of the 60s. Crossing the eccentricity of David Lynch with Tarantino’s bravado he manages to keep the balance of both all the way through the film, just like the balance of black and white of the movie’s colours. It is also the fading borders between good and evil, darkness and light , that are at the centre of this little...

2/5 Many years ago two teenagers, Paul and Georg, make a pact - Greg will give Paul his girlfriend Anna, but reserves the right to take her back whenever he pleases. Many years later Greg shows up again as Paul’s boss.   Paul and Anna now have two grown up children, their life is well set up and with the arrival of Greg an unwelcome tension enters their lives. Is Greg here to collect his due? Or is there a more sinister plan at hand. THE PACT is a little slow burning thriller with an original premise, with the twisted ending being its biggest problem - you will see miles away. Paul’s family dynamic is a little artificial. These are not the people you will care about and at times there is a feeling that they deserve exactly what’s coming to them. The tension overall is rather week and the row of missed opportunities will be obvious to every movie lover. The best quality acting comes from the younger cast. As for the grown ups - none of them is particularly good. T...

2 1/2 /5 The graduation day is approaching in the little town of Silverton, so is the giant twister which is destroying everything in its wake. INTO THE STORM is a harrowing account of one day when simple people find themselves in terrible peril and fight for their lives the best they can. There's something mesmerising about watching a twister gradually destroying a town, swallowing airports and hunting down its victims one by one as it was a serial killer. Into the storm has more in common with Friday the 13th than with its classic predecessor Twister - a flawed but a great adventure film. The storm here is an evil entity that is hunting down its prey and it would be more fun to give it an evil mind instead of an innuendo of approaching global warming. INTO THE STORM is a very weak production. Stumbling over its own identity, the film cannot decide whether it wants to be a found footage flick or a B grade sci-fi the likes of Sharknado.  On a positive no...

4/5 Some people never have it right. THE DINNER introduces you to a middle class Korean family and a short period of their life, full of hardship. In Cheol is a middle aged older brother of a big family who is struggling to keep it together. Things seem to start falling apart when his sister gets divorced and decides to raise her child alone. That is until the estranged father suddenly shows up to claim the child the family loves so much. Things get worse when the younger brother, In Ho gets involved in an accident and has his client killed. Trying to cover it up he gets tangled in a web of lies and drugs in the whole family with him. When In Cheol loses his job everyone starts to struggle financially because the elderly parents depend on the money he is giving them. The family only feels happy and at ease with each other when they share a meal - a ray of happiness in a dark world. And it seems the dark days are only just beginning… The DINNER may deceive you with ...

3 1/2 /5 Jamie is on a date with her boyfriend when she is attacked by a masked man. Jamie manages to escape with her life, but her boyfriend is brutally murdered. Wondering why she was spared, Jamie starts a personal investigation into the events of sixty five years ago. In a town which is obsessed with the famous killings and the movie they were based on, everyone has a motive. And everyone is a suspect. The remake (or almost a sequel) of  THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN  (an original cult classic from 1977) is heavily inspired by the Scream franchise. The many movie references, the layout of a film within a film plus the final twist bear undeniable resemblance. But it has its own voice and style. Placed in modern Texas  THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN  has colours and fashions straight from the seventies, and it is only sightings of computers and mobile phones that serve a reminder that we are not watching a period piece. The movie is finely ...

3/5 Mia and John are young, somehow religious couple who are in anxiety and anticipation at the arrival of their first baby. To make Mia feel a little better John gives her a present - a large doll (what a mistake that was!!!) a collectable that Mia, an eager doll collector, had been searching for some time. That same night Mia and John are attacked by the cult of Devil worshipers. One member, a psychopath called Annabelle, dies cradling the latest addition to Mia's doll collection. Some time later, as Mia and John try to move on with their lives, their terrifying ordeal returns in the face of an evil entity that had found its home in the doll, whose name is now Annabelle.... Creepy doll Annabelle was the best thing about The Conjuring - a very successful and inspired horror movie by our fellow Australian James Wan. Annabelle was mysterious, with her origins unknown, she somehow fit perfectly into the movie's creepy plot, leaving an anticipation to learn more...

3 1/2 /5 Thomas is awake without memories in the iron cage going up the shaft. When it surfaces he finds himself surrounded by the crowd of teenage boys in a glade, in the middle of a maze, which changes every night. Why are they here and how do they find a way out, considering that the labyrinth is full of deadly monsters called Grievers? The plot of THE MAZE RUNNER is simple at its core, with a "big reveal" being solely disappointing. There are only a number of ways the ending could play out and if you had ever seen a fantasy movie you will probably figure it out the way I did. However there's a strange charm to the premise, and the setting and characters look mysterious enough to keep you interested. Director Wes Ball, who had started his career as a visual effects specialist, is to be praised for his work on  THE MAZE RUNNER - i f the film is any good it is thanks to him and three screenwriters who penned the script.  THE MAZE RUNNER  the b...