Silver Servers (2023): As a big tennis fan and actual practitioner, I look forward to any tennis-related movie-materials. This little documentary I came across on HBO Max follows four octogenary+ tennis players, readying themselves for the ITF Senior World Championships. It might be a cliche, but it is emboldening to see people at that age committing to life and to sports. What Dan Lobb achieves is to make these people feel distinct and empathetic, while capturing the interesting dynamics at these competitions for veterans. While not groundbreaking, it’s an uplifting film, that deserves to be seen more than it has up to now. 7
The First Slam Dunk (2022): This Japanese anime is based on the Slam Dunk manga series, which I knew nothing about before watching. Reading afterwards, I’m sure it adds some nice colour to the characters, who are indeed introduced rather abruptly. But I think that adds to the charm of the movie, a very energetic, high-tempo story that mostly takes place during a basketball match. Even as it doesn’t innovate on a story-level, there’s just a lot going on here, which some might find off-putting, but I think most will simply enjoy. 7
The Beekeeper (2024): I’m a simple man, I see Jason Statham in an ecological drama, I click like. This proves to be a very competent B-movie, with high-quality campiness, a plethora of bee analogies and puns and some top-cringe lines delivered with stoic dedication by the man himself. It’s all really just an excuse to see an unofficial superhero kick ass and not take names, in a movie that’s nicely cast and includes Jeremy Irons and Josh Hutcherson. With no misconceived notion about what it wants to deliver, The Beekeeper is a perfectly entertaining genre film. 7
Last Shift (2014): In the rare case of “saw the remake before the original”, I went back to watch Anthony DiBlasi’s first take on Malum. It’s very much the same movie, which put some people off, but the small differences in how the story is approached, the character is framed and, especially, the visuals differ make both worthy watches for genre fans. Given that I’m seeing them the “wrong way around”, I would stick with Malum first, not only because it is the bigger budget twin, but also because it scared the crap out of me once or twice. Last Shift broods more, still finds hair-raising moments, even as the film has that strong B-movie vibe. Which, some would argue, makes it better. 6
Night Swim (2024): My first “2024” film proved to be a below average horror movie with no chills. Inspired (?) by a four minute short released some years ago, it focuses on the story of a retired baseball player suffering from multiple sclerosis and his family. When they move to a new house with a gorgeous pool, it turns out the pool is haunted or some-such and eerie thinks just start happening. Framed as a story about sacrifice, the movie fails in making us care about the potential sacrificees, but it’s biggest sins are that it is not scary and also much too serious. The sober performances just make this tedious horror sadder. Some cool visuals prove to be the silver lining, but that’s about it. Also, the cat dies, so boooo! 4
tributary stu 