Been working to reduce my backlog of blu-rays in the past week. Two recent purchases Dyatlov Pass Incident and I Declare War, El Bosc and Inferno all now ticked off. I also managed a trip to the Kino this evening to see American Hustle.
I saw the first two at Fantasy Film Fest last summer. I quite like Dyatlov, even if it has nothing to add to the found footage genre. Having given it a second chance I still don't like I declare war. A shame as there are some interesting ideas but the lead completely lacks any on screen charisma and its not entirely clear why anybody would follow him, let alone want to be his friend. El bosc had good notes from Sitges in 2012, but I can't help but feel that this reflects the fact that it is a Spanish film. Set during the Spanish civil war it contains some largely superfluous supernatural elements that are somehow allegorical. I think it could have been a perfectly good drama without these elements which somehow detract. Inferno is of course great.
So how about American Hustle. I can"t think of anything bad to say about it, apart to comment on Bales accent which he seems to slip out of often enough for it to become a distraction. I also can't find much positive to say. It's an interesting piece which somehow doesn't really live up to the source material and is ultimately boring.
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