Liv Ullmann's Kristin Lavransdatter is a [loose] adaptation based on the works of Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset, obviously I never read 'em but from what I gleaned off the wikipedia page Ullmann's 3-hour epic leans more on love & soul mates than faith & obligation in medieval Norway. A lovely costume drama that accentuates Ullmann's romantic heart, it skirts the line of corny & sweet but never feels pathetic or disingenuous.
A short list of things that made me smile:
- Kristin Lavransdatter…
The liquefied remains FX in Island of Terror were incredible, which means a lot coming from me because the tentacle monsters completely evaporated my favorite part of the human body: the skeleton. I just wish the monsters & the remains were in a better film, this was so padded with endless scenes of interchangeable, bland British men taking off their overcoats, adjusting jackets & shirts, straightening ties all while discussing what they must do next before they start putting their overcoats back…
Let's get this out of the way, The Witch is a horror film, you can put it in all of your other subcategories but, at its very core--it's a genre film whether you feel comfortable with the classification or not.
This film covers the horrors of colonialism, emigration, religious conviction, starvation, witch trials, patriarchy, puberty, loss, and if methodically exposing each of these very horrifying real life tribulations isn't terrifying and alarming enough, there's a god damn witch and evil…
After having over a meter (3 feet for my fellow Americans) of snow fall on us in just a few days, the isolated and trapped feeling gave us great cause to want to watch the ultimate cabin fever-in the depth of winter film. Regardless of how many times one has seen The Shining, it never loses that overwhelming sense of dread.
As soon as Jack Torrance is in frame, that uneasy feeling takes over. I feel as though I wish…
