Timecrimes

I've seen Spanish film Los Cronocrimenes three times now and still think it is brilliant.

It just goes to show how you can make a great film on a low budget with good actors and a good story.

Nacho Vigalondo really has made a gem of a film here. There are only a handful of characters and no special effects; but this is my all time favourite time-travel movie. It all comes down to the cleverness of the story and how it is told.

Time-travel films always struggle with paradoxes: what happens if I go back in time and change my own past? Timecrimes has a string of events which gradually unfold through the experiences of Hector. Where many time-travel films leave you rolling your eyes at the liberties that the writers take to fix things, Timecrimes is incredibly consistent and believable throughout.

I can't say much more without spoiling the plot. Watch it and see what happens!

Day Watch

My strategy of not knowing much about films before I watch them usually pays off. I've had many great experiences over the years that would have been lost if I had watched certain trailers or read certain reviews.

But sometimes it backfires. I didn't know that Day Watch was a sequel... and I haven't seen Night Watch. There is a narrative reminder at the beginning of the film which explains some of the plot so far; but that is probably only just enough for people who have seen the first movie. If, like me, you haven't then it doesn't help you a great deal. But it gives you a chance.

There are lots of good effects in the film and I liked the characters. But from time to time I would just find myself completely lost. There don't seem to be many distinguishing features between the Light Others and the Dark Others. And they all seem to live in similar flats in Moscow somewhere.

I also failed to grasp what was special about Svetlana and Yegor; other than that they were going to be Great Others for some reason. I have no idea if there were any other Great Others in the film, if there even ever had been any, or if there was some sort of Highlanderesque competition to be the only Great Other.

And who were the two old twin guys?

Of course, I understand that I probably asked for all this confusion by watching the sequel before its precursor. I guess credit must go to director Timur Bekmambetov for creating a movie that is actually enjoyable to watch even if you don't know what is going on.

Martyrs

There are certain types of horror film that I find entertaining, in a way, and other types that I find disturbing. I try and avoid the disturbing ones.

So let this be a warning to people like me who don't like movies that are very dark and very sadistic and psychologically bleak: Martyrs is one of those films.

The reason I feel the need to warn you is that the film is very clever at hiding its true nature. It begins like a psychological thriller. Then it has sections that are gore-horror. The story is quite compelling, which keeps you watching after the point where I normally would have switched off. Then suddenly, almost before you know it, you find you are watching a horrible sadistic nightmare. I nearly switched off... but thought that because of the other twists there might be a light at the end of the tunnel.

There isn't. If you watch this film to the end you will probably regret it. I did.

After the film finished I immediately got out another film to watch to take my mind off what I had seen. There was no way I was going to bed having seen Martyrs... it would have given me nightmares, I think.

Rush

Oh dear. I made the mistake of watching another sports film.

This isn't a terrible film. The portrayals of James Hunt and Niki Lauda are quite good, from what I remember of seeing them on TV as a boy. But the dramatisation just isn't convincing. I can't put my finger on what I didn't like; I just didn't find it very engaging.

Maybe I knew too much about the story before I watched the film. Maybe I expected to learn something new and didn't (I checked and the scene where Hunt has a word with the unkind reporter after the press conference is made up).

Disappointing.