Reviews
Bagman (2024)
Great in its genre!
Was happily surprised by this, enjoyed it from start to finish. So glad I ignored the bad reviews here. Nothing too scary, but keeps you entertained and atmosphere is good. Acting good too. Kid is a sweetie. No screaming teens that fall over themselves. I actually thank it was pretty clever, and the end was unexpected and make me like it more.
I don't understand the low ratings, I think this is more than what you'd normally expect from a movie in this genre. Will be recommending it.
For once, it got better and better the longer it went on and not the other way around.
Ok for non-horror fans too!
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)
Teenshow in space
I cannot understand the good reviews here? It feels like watching a classroom full of kids, where the teacher's (the captain's) only concern is with their emotional wellbeing. They have gone out of their way to make sure the bridge is full of women of different ethnical backgrounds. Nobody is interesting at all and I am bored with their annoying background stories that are not believable at all.
Worst of all though - they have completely ruined Vulcans. Spock is horrible, emotional, in a relationship crisis? It's like whoever wrote this failed to do some basic research. T'Pring is super annoying and not believable in her role.
It's essentially a teen drama set in space. Have fun.
The Unholy (2021)
Pleasantly surprised
Much better than expected. Kept me interested througout. Sure maybe not perfect, but as far as religious themed horror movies go this was great. The storyline was good, great characters, and decent ending. I actually wish it'd been longer, which is rarely the case these days. I do wish the 'villain' could have looked a bit scarier, but it wasn't a huge issue. I also wish it would have focused a little more on the past, which is also something I rarely wish for. But overall this was definitely worth watching. I don't understand some of the reviews here, it is definitely not a 1, 2 or a 3. I really do recommend this to horror fans.
A Man Called Otto (2022)
If you've seen the original...
This is a copy of the original in many ways, only changed slightly in an effort to 'appeal to a wider audience'. But changes were so minor I wondered what the point even was of the remake. I enjoyed it, but the original was more touching - this I felt was more a comedy. It worked too, but even with that, I laughed more watching the original.
Tom Hanks did an ok job but did not manage to make me feel his pain. He just came across as a grumpy old man, nothing more nothing less. The neighbour Marisol was ok, but the friendship in the original movie between the old grump and the neighbour was again more touching.
I think they should have remade it more, not just done the same scenes but in English.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Too long, too cringe. For kids only! Not adults.
I was very uncomfortable at times, partly because the dialogue and the accents of some characters were just shocking, but also because of the frequent 'battle calls' made by some of the characters.
The whole thing stands and falls with the 4-5 children the couple now has, and unfortunately you care about exactly none of them. Especially Kiri for some reason I could not stand.
This is not a movie for adults, and it is too long for kids to watch. So I'm not sure about the target audience. Maybe 13-16 year olds approximately, if they are patient and not easily bored.
Another reviewer said it best: The only thing that you care about in the movie is the poor whale.
Visuals are stunning, without that it would have been a solid 1 out of 10.
Jurassic World: Dominion (2022)
Too much going on
Too much of everything. Too much political drama, too many dinosours everywhere, too many characters that you are supposed to care about (but you don't). It would have been better to kill a few of them off early on to add some tension.
Because the dinosours are everywhere it has a numbing effect and you don't even care when they appear.
The kid is super annoying. The only positive thing about the movie is all the beloved characters from earlier movies including Dr. Grant and Ellie (although neither can save the movie). I wish the movie had just mainly focused on these two and Ian, it would have been enough and added nostalgia.
This was by far the worst of the franchise I would say. All the other movies were at least OK, I've even seen all of them at least once in spite of serious flaws.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
Enjoyable
I loved the Pinocchio character in this version. I wish they had kept the the original story more, but it was good in its own right. As some have already said, it is not so much for children. The cricket was boring and did not have much of a personality.
Really for me it was Pinocchio that made this worth watching. Cute, likable and a bit funny. Unfortunately to me he was the only character with any redeemable qualities. Even the villains weren't memorable (compared to for example Stromboli in the original Pinocchio and Honest John).
I could have done without the political undertone but also it didn't ruin it, you can kind of choose to ignore it.
Rogue (2020)
Not for Megan Fox
Sorry but Megan Fox does not make a good leader for a bunch of rogue badasses. We would have needed a Schwarzenegger type of character in the lead to make this a fun action movie. Thanks to Megan it is just boring.
I complain about this in virtually all my reviews but I wish it was ok to sometimes not feel the need to challenge every single sterotype there is. Like, I'm sure there are very competent and good female leaders in the army/military industry, but if they are going to have one in a movie like this can they at least make her really badass. Like, Megan Fox looks very lost and I doubt anybody in a real life situation would bother listening to her.
3/10 thanks to a promising start but it quickly goes downhill from there.
Pinocchio (2022)
Other reviewers have said it...
At the core of the original story was innocence and the villains who wanted to take advantage of this - Pinocchio wasn't a real boy so he had to learn right from wrong the hard way. They have failed completely to recreate this (on purpose or not). He just comes across as plain stupid for no good reason.
The story has no heart, no charm. What do they want with this? It at least the CGI was great it might have been interesting for that reason (like for me, Avatar for example was a poor story but it was beautiful and wonderfully done so I would still rate it high). This looks cheap AND everything else is bad. Nothing is an improvment on the original. The original was rather dark, real but with a glimpse of hope thanks to the courage of the main characters. Fairly scary in a way, which this was not. Like when Pinocchio was captured by Stromboli, that gave me a sense of dread watching the original. Here it's like... nothing.
It is also concerning that Monstro was far scarier in the original. How could they mess this up with the CGI? All the other villains fall flat as well and come off as stupid rather than cunning. Or was it too scary and real to recreate that for the modern audience?
Even the cat and the fish were a CGI disaster... and let's not talk about the ferry.
Prey (2022)
Who has rated this so high?
Rebelious teenage girl defeats monster that kills everything in its path. Sounds familiar? Oh because this film has been made like 100 times in recent years, with plots varying a little bit.
I have no idea who has rated this so high. Not only was this woke but just extremely boring. Worst movie in the Predator series so far (and there have been some bad ones).
I cared nothing for the main caracter nor anybody else. They also weren't convincing in their roles - it did not feel like some 300 years ago but rather a contemporary teenage reality series set in the woods. They need to stop casting teenage girls for every single role, especially monster destruction roles.
It was beautiful though but that didn't save it.
Aquaman (2018)
Was expecting more
I watched this after having gone through Game of Thrones (later than everyone else). So I thought let's see what else Jason Momoa has been up to because I loved him in S1 of GoT. I was sure I would love Aquaman simply because of the settings but it was a drag and too many boring characters around. This could have been great but I found myself scrolling through instagram on my phone while watching it. Now to make it even worse, the now infamous Amber Heard is playing Mera which is painful to watch for more than one reason. But she neither makes or breaks this movie, it is just depressing having to watch her on screen is all. The whole thing was far too messy and over the top. Don't know if different actors could have saved the day but I doubt it.
Ricky Gervais: SuperNature (2022)
He got a bit lazy
You have to love Ricky to appreciate this. It was in essence a repetition of his special Humanity (which I loved). Nothing new here and so it was a let-down for me. Still rating it 7 because he is my favourite comedian still and I love his energy.
Midnight Mass (2021)
Was this supposed to be deep?
It gets a 2 instead of a 1 because the opening scenes pulled me in. And the priest did some decent acting.
BUT I am at a loss to describe how bad this was, and I don't know what series everyone that rated this high has been watching. I can't think of any target audience for this.
I feel so cheated, spending all this time listening to all the stupid dialogues/monologues throughout just waiting for something interesting to actually happen. Then at the beginning of the last episode I thought well maybe this is what will make it all worth it. I regret to inform you that it did not, if anything the last episode was by far the worst. It wasn't even funny bad, just shocking.
I have tried a few series now just based on good reviews and this experience will officially mark the end of that. I will now keep to my old trick of just picking something and giving it 1-2 episodes before I make a ruling on whether it is worth watching or not. Had I kept to this I would not have wasted 7 or so hours on this mess of a Mass (haha).
Bridgerton (2020)
Didn't make it that far but...
This is like an attempt to have an old-fashioned setting but with a modern touch to it and it doesn't work at all. Feels like a theatre rehearsal and none of it rings true. No real emotion or depth, just misappropriated costume drama. Doesn't at all capture whatever these shows are supposed to capture (Downton Abbey did it far better).
There are so many things wrong with this but if I go into details my review will probably get blocked. I only recently noticed most of my reviews have been rejected and so I suppose there are a lot of words you can't use (including words I would not consider at all offensive).
Love on the Spectrum (2019)
Very impressed with the male participants
Am I the only one thinking the male participants were wonderful, brave and super cute? Most females were just along for the ride and didn't give much back. Ronan had to work so hard with Katie, and same with Michael who worked super hard with Heather. The guys had so much personality but the same can't be said for the females and they should all count themselves lucky to have found such gentlemen!
Loved the show though : )
Aftermath (2021)
Did the job
Kept me interested and I wanted to see where it was going. Never boring,
Did it always make sense? Perhaps not but it matters not.
We have seen similar things in the past but if you like hunted houses/light horror I would give it a go.
Bad Boys for Life (2020)
Not funny enough to make up for bad storyline
Lacking the lightheartedness that I loved about the original Bad Boys. This one takes itself far too serious, and the 'plot twist' was embarrassing bordering on cringeworthy.
There just aren't enough funny moments to make up for all the noise in the background that is going on. Bad Boys to me was always a comedy and the action was just a way of enhancing the comedy (them messing up but still working as a team). This on the other hand felt more like an action gone wrong, where the comedy at times just felt out of place.
Dune: Part One (2021)
I am totally and utterly shocked, not to mention bored out of my mind
I am a huge si-fi/fantasy fan. I have not read the book but I knew I would most likely at least like the film based on what I had read about it.
I normally think films don't get enough credit, I will typically complain most films are rated too low. But I honestly didn't get this at all, even though it is my favourite genre. And oh my was this far too long for its own good.
I had to fight every urge to stand up and walk out of the theatre. It failed miserably to create and explain the universe in which it all takes place. I kept thinking that this could learn a thing or two from the Lord of the Rings, where you are drawn in straight away by the mysterious/enchanting world and the different people within it.
In the case of Dune, not only did I not understand where all these different people came from and what there issues/motives were (or maybe I just passed out and fell on the floor, wouldn't have made a difference as far as I'm concerned).
No endearing characters, I can't even remember their names. I didn't care what happened to them nor do I remember their fates as I sit here and write.
Nothing interesting about the worlds/planets. There was however a lot of super boring conversation that made me want to choke on my popcorns. I think at least half of the excitement in this genre is to get a feel for the universe where it all takes place but oh my Lord did this not deliver in that department.
Horizon Line (2020)
Great little survival thriller
Exactly what I was hoping for when I started watching. I wish there were more of these and less of the pretentious stuff that is trying to be more than it actually can be.
Acting is sometimes annoying and the first 20 minutes of the movie were unnecessary (actually if you are not into annoying relationship drama you can just skip this, makes no difference).
All of it has been done before but this is low budget and not meant to be ground breaking. Beautiful and atmospheric still, and although the end is predictable that doesn't take anything away from the movie.
Rust Creek (2018)
Kept me interested
This kept me interested all along which is all I ask of any movie these days. Not completely realistic granted, but I think the pace was good and I enjoyed the main character as well as some of the dynamics amongst the other characters. Very nice setting too.
I onde dager (2021)
Migrane inducing stupidity
I do understand how this was trying to be funny, but it was just extremely stupid and boring. Long periods of nothing happening. I can see it appeals to quite a few people who have rated it really high, but I can't work out who the target group would be here. Couldn't recommend it to anyone at all.
Ojing-eo geim (2021)
Too long and slow paced, but alright
I watched this because everyone else already had. And it was supposed to be ground breaking.
It is far too long. I was just sitting there waiting for the next game to begin. Would have been better as a movie. The bad ending didn't help.
I had to resist the urge a couple of times to fast-forward to the last episode. How it became so popular I have no idea. But it was alright.
Dangerous Lies (2020)
Another ok Netflix movie getting trashed on IMDB for no reason
It was worth watching and fast paced. Not at all bad.
I am really starting to get annoyed with all the 1 star reviews for these sort of movies. People just need to make sure everybody knows they could have done a better job with them I guess.
I've really enjoyed the last couple of Netflix movies I have watched. It reminds me of a simpler time when a movie could be appreciated just for being entertaining. Nowadays everybody is expecting a new Matrix everytime they sit down to watch something.
Intrusion (2021)
Oh please this is definitely worth a watch
Sure there are some 'what is she doing'- moments in there but it is NOT at all that predictable. I'm sure people who complain about this being predictable say so because they got half way through and then started to put things together, as it should be. It's not like you start watching this and instantly know exactly how it all is going to unfold. And even if that was the case, it is still worth watching.
This only confirms my theory that people reviewing movies love to hate Netflix, and have to appear smart and seasoned so that anything that isn't groundbreaking receives 1-3 stars. This was a perfectly decent thriller in spite of some annoyances. It's not like every single production has to offer something new or groundbreaking. It is enough that a movie keeps you interested and this one accomplished that.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Oh no
Big fan of alien/si-fi movies but this was horrible. Never mind the ridiculous father/daughter relationship but the whole movie was just BAD. Nothing scary, nothing interesting, nothing even remotely worth clinging onto. I sat through it because I watched it with my parents as part of a movie night but I would have probably given up if I had just been watching it on my own.