Tag: reality

[EXPRESSO] Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2025) | Enemies Of Reality

Finally hitting theathers here, Gore Verbinski’s latest film is the madcap scifi action comedy that combines a lot of modern scifi staples and starts off as any proper film does: in a Los Angeles diner where a hobo-looking man with a detonator walks in loudly demanding attention.

He proclaims to be a time traveller, on his 117th loop to the past, there to enlist the patrons to fight against a rogue IA that in the future will cause an apocalypse, to form a ragtag group of clearly improptu warriors for the cause, with everything against them, and it not just skeptics, social network brainrotted teens, but also frigging algorhythm-born monstrosities that will stand in their desperate quest to save humanity from its own creation, or give it a chance in doing so.

While the main quest takes place overnight, the movie gives us flashbacks that brought the “time warriors” on that fateful moment and help flesh out this not that “overlyfictional” or “fantastic” modern dystopia, deliberately contrasting with the vague retro stylings of the plot, since it imagines an IA that can do more than hallucinate bullshit and badly regurgitate stuff, so much it basically – kinda – led humanity to the ending of Enslaved Odissey To West (minus the Journey To West elements).

More importantly, it’s a really fun and funny action comedy that not only entertains (and shows usa Gore Verbinski in peak form), doesn’t just go “new technology bad” but actually tackles the modern fears and issue rising from people using technology as a religion in itself to deliberately reject reality, dump any responsability or consequences from failure, and the creeping nature of the new menace, the new vampire they basically invited in, in a nihilistic, apathetic abandon of choice.

The ending is pretty good too.

Recommended.

[EXPRESSO] EO (2022) | Wanderdonk

Clearly inspired by Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar, this 2022 polish movie follows the life of donkey that, after escaping from a polish circus sets on a “picaresque” journey through Europe, witnessing various realities of modern european countries along its aimless wander.

And intriguingly enough here it’s in theathers, limited release but not that fleeting, it stuck around more than Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, so that’s nice.

As expected the titular donkey and his accidental European trip is a device to depict various episodes of humanity and its often unsavoury sides, sampled through many various vignettes, going from Eo joining a farm with other mules to being used as a scapegoat by violently murderous football fanatics, being rescued by robot dogs, used as workforce in an illegal fur farm, and so on…

So the donkey himself isn’t the focus of the narration, makes sense but since we’ve seen this type of film done before, EO it’s kinda disappointing because it straddles between committing to fully characterize the animal protagonist (even indirectly) or fully utilizing his role as a narrative tool to eviscerate humanity’s many, many facets.

I’d prefered it “went harder” in many ways, because the execution often made me wish the movie would committ to show more small, gritty or unflinchingly realistic stories, or to contextualize more the ones shown. That and while it’s sincere, at times i felt it was a bit too enamored with being artsy for its own sake, and again, the final result feels compromised and hence it never properly achieves the emotional potency it clearly wishes for.

It’s not a long watch, it does have some very effective moments, i was intrigued all the way and i would recommend watching if you can, but i won’t deny i also felt kinda disappointed by it.