mreffgee Reviews

Expired (2022)

Not enough to hang a film on...

[3/10 · 17 April 2023]

Despite its decent cinematography, clean set design and lighting, and excellent score, this film is severely undercooked.

The core idea is interesting but not sufficient to sustain a film on its own. It desperately needed a meaningful support scaffold. Instead, the screenplay seems to have devolved into a trellis of loosely-coupled branches of pseudo-poignant dialogue. Given so little to work with and in an attempt to grant the script a modicum of gravitas, the actors whisper their lines.

As I said, the core idea of the film is dyed-in-the-wool solid high-concept speculative sci-fi. The rest of what passes for story in the film is very much a paint-by-numbers mish-mash of sci-fi tropes.

Films like this frustrate me. It is so hard for original sci-fi films to get made - especially in Australia - that delivering something that so profoundly falls flat due to fundamental flaws feels like a real kick in the gut.

Sucker Punch (2011)

Dreary and erratic

[2/10 · 17 March 2023]

This film is perhaps the brownest film I've ever watched. Everything in it is some dreary shade of tan. I never realised that your eyes can get bored - then I watched this film. Sadly, that's not the worst thing about it.

The writer/director tries to reframe the (pretty thin-on-the-ground) story constantly as a means to deliver a visual spectacular. The visuals are technically impressive (although very, very brown). But the action lacks one very critical element - any modicum of apparent risk. That leaves the viewer very little to grip onto, so the reframing just becomes a lurching mess.

Add to all this an absolutely god-awful soundtrack and a questionable post-production film grain over everything. Then bolt-on the fact that the entire thing feels unoriginal and derivative (they should pay royalties to Lewis Carroll's estate). Suddenly you've got this awful film.

The Night Eats the World (2018)

It's not really a zombie film...

[7/10 · 8 March 2023]

Based on other reviews, it seems that most people like zombie films for the superficial thrills and horror aspects they provide. That's fine. I can enjoy them at that level, too. In my opinion, however, the best zombie films are the ones that use a zombie infested world as a symbol for something deeper. Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead are prime examples. The former uses the genre to articulate the dangers of unthinking American conservatism; the latter warns us about the soul-destroying nature of consumerism.

The Night Eats the World is another example of this type of zombie film, though its meaning is a little more personal and psychological. Instead of grand ideas about politics and challenging the status quo, the film explores the growing trend toward social isolation, withdrawal from life and fear of failure. If you reframe the zombies in the film as a mere representation of the characters inner turmoil and view is actions as a psychological response to the threat, the story that is being told becomes quite different to what is literally shown on the screen.

Patient Zero (I) (2018)

It's just a bit daft...

[3/10 · 4 March 2023]

The zombie film genre has always been a mixed bag. There are some fantastic films like 28 Days Later, REC and, of course, Romero's classic trilogy. Then there are some utterly awful films like Zombie Lake and Oasis of the Zombies. I've enjoyed films at both ends of this spectrum.

However, I found it hard to enjoy Patient Zero. I think the problem is, it has quite high production values. For the most part, it's well-shot, well-lit and the action and effects play out well. These production values set up expectations which the writing completely fails to justify. The dialogue is cliche-ridden and buried in tropes. The characters are either pointless, two-dimensional, infuriatingly daft, barely coherent or a pick-and-mix of all of the above. The film tries to gloss over its shortcomings with a kind of hand-wavy "coolness", which might work except for the fact that this may very well be the least "cool" zombie flick I've ever watched.

It gets a few stars for being technically competent.

Cooties (2014)

Falls a bit flat

[5/10 · 12 January 2023]

On paper, this film looks like it could be a lot of fun. The premise of zombie schoolkids on a rampage as jaded teachers try to survive is certainly a solid base. When you add a strong cast of experienced actors who have proven either their comedy or horror chops (or both), it just seems even better.

Sadly, it just doesn't quite come together. The film is okay. It's not bad but it's also not great.

The film lacks a consistent tone. The comedic violence is not really comedic enough. The violent horror is not really horrific enough. Instead, the tone of the film falls into some awkward middle ground. The gore and violence ends up feeling a bit mean spirited rather than laughably outrageous. The jokes end up feeling a bit out of place.

It doesn't help that the cast lacks chemistry with each other. Part of this could have been the result of a relatively weak and predictable script filled with cliches. Part of it may have been the limited shooting days or the direction. Either way, no one really seems to bounce off each other much and, as a result, the characters seem pretty two dimensional.

It isn't an awful film. It's watchable. It's just not something that's worth watching twice.

World Gone Wild (1987)

Patchy is an understatement

[3/10 · 23 October 2022]

There's not much positive to say about this film.

It's a post-apocalyptic film that borrows heavily from Mad Max and The Seven Samurai with a little Escape from New York thrown in for good measure but it lacks the vision of any of those films. It has a clunky script and two-dimensional characters that seem to exist just to make idiotic decisions at every turn. Almost every action sequence abruptly stops without any actual resolution. Every idea, interaction, set piece and scene feels frustratingly half-baked.

You can see what they were trying to do. They wanted to make a dark comedy/ensemble action film (tonally like The Expendables) but set in a magical realist post-apocalyptic wasteland. And had they actually delivered that, it would probably have been enjoyable. Sadly, they repeatedly and wildly missed the mark. Instead, we ended up with a patchwork of half-thought ideas, ham-fisted dialogue, pointless character arcs and general incoherence.

They have no water but they have plenty of booze. I'd love to see how they make alcohol without water. Society has gone to hell for 50+ years but apparently petrol, ammunition and dynamite is still plentiful. Everyone still uses pop culture references and listens to music from a hundred years ago. It's just a mess.

Adam Ant played a passable bad guy (even if his character did do dumb stuff constantly). Bruce Dern was okay, though it often seemed like he was playing a character from an entirely different film.

Whoever was in charge of the pyrotechnics did a great job.

There's not much else to say. Even as a fan of b-movies and post-apocalyptic films, this one was a real slog to watch.

The Survivalist (2021)

There are a lot worse movies... there are also a lot better

[5/10 · 13 October 2022]

I'm not sure what kind of film the other reviewers were expecting to watch but this film exactly met my expectations. It wasn't particularly good but it also wasn't awful.

It's a low budget affair. Not a micro-budget but certainly a film that had to stretch every production dollar to its fullest extent. Consequently, it all plays out in one location (and one or two short scenes which were probably shot within walking distance). There are only a handful of actors involved and it's clear that most of the ensemble scenes were shot on the same day. A few set pieces ate up a bit of the budget and, unfortunately, felt a bit shoehorned in so they didn't really deliver much impact. It's a sad truth but shooting extended action on a limited budget is rarely feasible - you just don't have enough shooting time to get it right. Consequently, you get the impression that for some parts of the film the editors just did the best with the limited shots that had available.

The acting is fine. John Malkovich stands out (as you would expect) and plays a compelling antagonist. Johnathan Rhys Meyers is decent but not great (as you would expect). The others were functional but largely forgettable. None of them were bad.

The film was mostly let down by the writing. The screenplay probably needed a few more iterations. Parts of the script were on-the-nose (pretty much everything mentioning Covid-10, for example). It lacked a bit of a centre - was it a contemporary western? Was it a redemption story? Was it a last-man-standing type of tale? It never really seemed sure. That said, the symbolism of the film was quite fun - Malkovich playing a kind of bad messiah with a bunch of misfit disciples. It was an interesting idea and avoided being in-your-face.

Was it great? No. Was it watchable? Sure. Would I watch it again? Nope.

Sputnik (2020)

More clever than it appears at first viewing...

[8/10 · 28 February 2022]

Sputnik is a well-crafted film that is ostensibly about a cosmonaut that brings a man-eating alien back to earth inside his body. However, it is better understood as a symbolic exploration of the destructive nature of deep-seated guilt and a criticism of heroism in the age of ideology and PTSD.

When you abandon your responsibility to others in the misguided pursuit of glory, you inevitably become insuperably defined by the guilt that you grow inside you.

In short, it's a film about more than spooky aliens.

The Tribe (1999–2003)

A charming little train wreck...

[6/10 · 24 February 2022]

Let's not pull any punches here, The Tribe is an absolute train wreck. The acting is patchy (to say the least). The writing ranges from abysmal to pretty bad. The production values are both impressive on a dollar-for-dollar basis yet the production decisions are barely coherent.

However... despite all of its many and varied shortcomings, it somehow manages to deliver charm in spades.

I'm not sure I can put my finger on what makes this after-school post-apocalyptic teen soap opera "work" but I can point at a few things.

Firstly, the young actors really buy in to their roles. Sure, it's a mixed bag of talent but they all give it a proper go. And, the more talented actors rise to the top by the end to become more than passable. There's a lot of schtick and often very little sense in how the characters are written, but the actors give them some life and while they rarely become compelling they do become reliable.

The show is high concept. This is a rarity for shows that target this demographic. Sure, it often does a disservice to the concept but it's still fun. Why is there an infinite supply of makeup, hair gel and hair dye in the apocalypse? Who knows. How did society descend into anarchy in a couple of months? No idea. How do people living in a clearly sub-temperate region seem to always have ripe bananas? You tell me.

Finally, almost everyone in this show is a psychopath. They rarely show common decency let alone empathy for their fellow humans. Lex, a central character, is a braggard, attempted rapist, serial-adulterer, scheming conman, who would abandon his dearest friend at a moments notice for little to no reason. Yet, everyone just accepts his behaviour as if it's normal. Why? Because they are all equally as horribly flawed and oblivious to the utter horrorshow that is their personality.

So, yeah. I watched the entire series. As an adult. I don't regret it. I also don't recommend it.

The Tribe: Episode #2.14 (1999) Season 2, Episode 14

By far the best episode of the series up to this point...

[10/10 · 2 February 2022]

For the most part The Tribe just lurches from one silly scenario to the next. Some plotlines are belabored while others are so utterly ridiculous that you have to laugh. However, you keep watching because it has its heart in the right place. It's a kids show on a shoe string budget so you have to cut it some slack.

This episode bucks the trend. It is tightly written, well-acted (well... compared to other episodes) and after 66 episodes provides some very, very much needed backstory.

It does set in stone some preposterous aspects of the story. For example, Trudy had morning sickness before everyone went feral. That means that the descent from an ordinary society to a Mad Max dystopia had taken less than 9 months. Considerably less, given that tribalism was thoroughly entrenched by the time she gave birth. A few episodes prior, she told some one that her baby was "a few months old" which means that everything that had taken place in the last 60 odd episodes had occurred within a 3-4 month period.

In any case, the timeline is probably the least ridiculous aspect of this show. It's good just to have a well-written episode.

Domain (2016)

Quality performances but a weak third act

[6/10 · 27 January 2022]

The film feels fleshed out as it steadily plods along.

The actors are convincing in their various roles and the dialogue and direction is decisive and uncliched. However, the "twist" is broadcast a little too clearly and a little too early to really be surprising. Furthermore, after the big reveal at the end of act two, the film loses most of its momentum and descends into mere exposition.

Some visceral reaction to the revelations of the final act would have provided much needed energy. Instead the film limps unsatisfyingly into the closing credits.

The Blackout (2019)

Absolutely awful

[1/10 · 18 January 2022]

I can't see how anyone with more than 2 brain cells to rub together could enjoy this film. It is just stupid.

It is a bargain basement story that has been done to absolute death but, in this case, it is also poorly-paced and poorly-written. The characters are two dimensional stereotypes that constantly make idiotic decisions.

I suffered through to the (ridiculous) end and regret every second of it.

It gets 1 star for the decent CGI/VFX.

Honestly, the people rating this highly are either bots, ideologues or morons.

Eyes of the Dead (2015)

First person?

[1/10 · 30 September 2021]

Ugh. First person view films deserve a special place in cinematic hell and this is no exception.

Whiplash (2014)

What a film!

[10/10 · 7 July 2021]

Without the shadow of a doubt this is 10/10 for me. Wow. What a film!

The ambiguity of the ending. The unredeeming nasty qualities of the various characters (protagonist and antagonist alike). The "realistic" (which is to say non-Hollywood-ised) inspirational story. So many questions left unanswered. So much up-in-the-air. Yet, everything that needed to be said was said.

Absolute masterpiece.

White Wall (2010)

A real mixed bag

[4/10 · 9 June 2021]

Firstly, it needs to be said that you should not go into this film expecting a blockbuster or high budget affair. It is neither.

That said, this film has some quite impressive qualities as well as some pretty serious issues that undermine it.

Firstly, the film is pretty high concept. It's premise is not particularly new (survivors in a post-apocalyptic, virus ravaged world) but it presents its own unique, non-derivative version of that premise. The society that the characters inhabit feels like something that I haven't seen before (and I've watch a lot of these kinds of films). It feels like a South American dictatorship meets the wild west meets 1950s knife gangs. And while that sounds like quite a mish-mash, it actually feels quite internally consistent.

The story is pretty well thought out and, in my opinion, interesting. However, its translation to screen has a number of problems. The pacing is all over the place. A number of events in the film are shoehorned in purely so that later events will make sense, and it is pretty jarring when this happens. There is one particular scene where the slow-motion approach of a group of characters lasts longer than the pointless conversation they have when they arrive - and the scene was only there so you'd know who they were later in the film. Quite odd.

The style of storytelling is not going to be for everyone, either. It vacillates between arthouse noir and student film bluntness. The first half of the film is vague and meandering. The second half of the film is tighter. Yet, there is a general lack of flow in the presentation. And there are some quite misguided scenes in the film that indicate a lack of writing/film-making experience. That said, the film was shot in 15 days and when you factor in the several fight scenes (which would have eaten up shooting time) I can understand why the final result is inconsistent.

The acting also varies wildly. The main actor (who also directed the film) doesn't have much range but he's not completely incompetent. The supporting cast do a great job, for the most part. A couple of players really struggle in their roles.

The action scenes were at times really very good. At other times they felt very out-of-character for the setting. In particular, the antagonist of the film has a really good knife-fighting scene with one of the other supports. A few minutes later he has a very underwhelming 80s action-ish fight with the protagonist, full of fancy martial arts kicks and flips and other nonsense that felt very inappropriate for the film.

If you're interested in watching films where people try to stretch a limited budget into something bigger than they can really afford, then I think this film is well worth watching. Unlike many other films of a similar ilk, it has something rather special: genuine originality.

Rotor DR1 (2015)

A low budget affair - but that's not where it falls short.

[5/10 · 5 July 2020]

Not all films need to be multi-million dollar action-packed epics bursting with Hollywood A-listers. Great films can be made with inexperienced or unknown actors, a shoestring budget and a more introspective tone. And, Rotor DR1 tries to be one of those films. But it doesn't quite succeed.

Conceptually, the film is decent though it undoes some good work in the final 15 or so minutes. It's pretty well shot. For the most part, the dialogue avoids falling into cliches or being too on-the-nose. The actors are a mixed bag - some are quite good, most are passable and a couple are very wooden. Sadly, the lead actor is somewhere between the latter two groups.

Where the film truly falls down, though, is in the plotting. There are just so many gaping plot holes that it completely undermines the motivations of some characters.