Mass Effect

I'm carrying on to clear my backlog of "games I should definitely play, years later".
The advantage is that I only get the cream...
Mass Effect definitely is part of it.

Funny how cinema tries (and fails) to make video games movies, yet Bioware are getting closer & closer to make a "movie video game". Sure, they're refining a formula that they've been working on for years, through Baldur's Gate, KOTOR et al. But here, to the "usual" (yet always outstanding) action and branching story paths, they added an impressive dose of style. Camera work is getting very close to the real thing, using handheld style in places and the direction reaches in the dialogs phases, making them a lot more dynamic than just shifting from 1 face to the other.
The story is, as always, very good, compelling with good characters.
I guess that if you compared it to movies however, it could still be considered "standard". But you can really feel that they're pushing the boundaries of the medium...

And then you get the universe, which is really a joy to explore. The design is brilliant and although it is based on familiar SciFi concepts, it feels fresh enough with a lot of background on the races you discover to keep everything interesting. It's quite a feat as in essence it's quite like Star Wars, but it just works without feeling like a rip off.

So definitely a must play, I'm looking forward to play the 2nd and the 3rd in a few years time... :)

Buried.

To hold a movie in just 1 place is a bold enough concept. Choosing a coffin as that place shows real spirit and it's quite amazing to see a movie that makes such a premise work that well.

Director Rodrigo Cortez even pulls the feat to shoot the box from so many angles that I could genuinely believe not 1 shot was used twice. It makes up for something that, just from a visual perspective, feels incredibly fresh.

The script, clever & tight, ramps up the pressure fast and keeps it high, pushing the audience towards the edge of their seat further and further...

Last but not least, it all wouldn't work if Ryan Reynolds wasn't up to the task and he definitely is... He conveys the character's arc completely convincingly throughout.

You'd have however to be able to stomach it, as I'd think it won't be anyone's taste.
But, if you're up to it, it's truly gripping stuff and as a cinematic experience, it feels quite flawless. It's one of those "small" movies you have to see in the cinema, as you really get this claustrophobic feel, with the darkness (it's only shot with "natural" light), the sounds...

Definitely convinced me never to try to get buried alive...