Sunday, December 28, 2014
MEDIAVORE:FILM ~ ABC'S OF DEATH 2
Here's a rundown of my take on all the shorts contained therein.
"A is for Amateur" is a fun bit of reality check fiction about the trials and tribulations of a hired assassin. 6/10
"B is for Badger" stars one of my favorite actors, Julian Barratt, as an asshole trying to host a crusading nature show, so it gets an automatic 7/10.
"C is for Capital Punishment" was somewhat thought provoking but kind of predictable. Well executed though. 6/10
"D is for Deloused" is an awesome surreal stop-motion animation by Robert Morgan. 7/10
"E is for Equilibrium" is a dirty desert island joke. 5/10
"F is for Falling" is an emotionally complex tale about an Israeli woman caught in a tree by her parachute and found by a hostile Palestinian boy. 8/10
"G is for Grandad" is bizarre but compelling. 6/10
"H is for Head Games" is a feast for fans of Bill Plympton's animation, but not much else. 5/10
"I is for Invincible" is one of those bizarre Asian confections that made the first movie in this series so goddamn unpredictable. 5/10
"J is for Jesus", I did NOT understand. Stigmata meets Thelema? Strange mix. 5/10
"K is for Knell" is a beautiful, snappy Lovecraftian tone poem. 9/10
"L is for Legacy" is a goddamn bizarre tale about an African sacrifice that doesn't go off as planned. Kind of like a Ugandan version of Abraham and Isaac. 5/10
"M is for Masticate" is one of the best bits from either film, and on its own is one of the finest short films I've seen in years. 10/10
"N is for Nexus" is just... okay. 5/10
"O is for Ochlocracy" is a strange tale about a woman sentenced to death by a courtroom full of zombies... including the daughter she mercy-killed! 6/10
"P is for P-P-P-P SCARY!" inspired a couple chuckles, but otherwise was a waste of time. 2/10
"Q is for Questionnaire" answers the question about what Scientology does with all those "free" personality tests they give. 5/10
"R is for Roulette" is... well, the less I say about it, the better. 8/10
"S is for Split" is compelling and disturbing. 7/10
"T is for Torture Porn" is a waste of time. 2/10
"U is for Utopia" is a slick, gorgeous effort, as well it should be, seeing as it's directed by veteran genre stylist Vincenzo Natali. 9/10
"V is for Vacation" is... a brutal standout about Third World revenge on a couple of vile Western sex tourists. 8/10
"W is for Wish" would be more at home on Adult Swim. But it was fun enough. 5/10
"X is for Xylophone" is a gruesome warning against leaving your kid with a babysitter, but Beatrice Dalle's considerable talents are wasted in this slight effort. 4/10
"Y is for Youth" is another one of those wacky Asian entries. Either 1/10 or 9/10, depending on whether or not you dig that surreal Japanese aesthetic.
"Z is for Zygote" is a suitably grim and polished Southern Gothic fantasmagoria that finishes things off in style. 8/10
Final judgement? Overall, I dug this flick just a bit more than the original, which had higher highs, but fewer of them, and a lot more lows than this one. More British entries and fewer Asian ones means the comprehensibility of these shorts is greatly increased. I definitely recommend it, and would dearly love to participate in a future entry of this series.
Sooo... attention Ant Timpson and Tim League, if you're reading this review, Marc Roussel and I are ready, willing and able to produce a short for you guys!
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