emsie-ki Reviews

Road House (2024)

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly Acting

[7/10 · 30 May 2024]

When it comes to remakes, this one isn't too bad, decent enough though it doesn't compare to the original. If you love the original, just consider this a good enough movie to keep you entertained for a couple of hours.

Most of the actors in the movie carried their weight well, but please, for the love of all that is good in this world, please, please, please stop hiring fighters who can't act. McGregor would be a good enough "bad guy", just don't give him speaking lines!

Overall, I was torn between liking and disliking this movie. Jake Gyllenhaal was great and hands down, the best character with comic relief is Moe.

The Vault (2021)

Meh. It's whatever.

[5/10 · 29 March 2024]

This is the type of movie to choose if there is absolutely nothing else to watch, or if you have scrolled through a whole bunch of options and can not be bothered to keep looking for something better.

Basically, you have some people who start off in the wrong, they got snapped up by the government, and then they decide to "right" this via a heist. This is done for things they are not entitled to in the first place.

You get the stock standard set of characters, some old timers, and a main lead character who has very little acting ability, which I initially thought was perhaps a person who had additional needs, but just turned out they sucked at acting out emotions, just a creepy half grin the entire movie.

It was an easy half watch while I played on my phone but when I did zone back in, it was annoying to hear the giant plot holes and typical tension points that are glaringly obvious.

L.A. Confidential (1997)

Needs better editing

[7/10 · 30 January 2024]

Why does this movie feel so long? I had to check the run time nearly halfway through and thought to myself "surely this is not a three hour long film... those were very rare in the 90's".

Although the movie is just over two hours, it feels like the story drags on and on for three or more hours.

The movie has a great cast, the storyline is good enough, the acting is on point, and the characters are interesting, but the pacing is slow. Even the action scenes felt slow and drawn out.

Not quite sure why there are so many high ratings. There is so much potential, just very much missing the excitement.

All the Light We Cannot See (2023)

Why Ruffalo?

[7/10 · 29 November 2023]

The series is good and managed to keep my attention from beginning to end.

Good production value, the visuals were great, music score worked very well, and most of the actors were cast well for their characters. One thing that I simply cannot understand why Mark Ruffalo was cast as the father.

I like him as an actor, but his attempt at a non-American accent was terrible. Was he going for an English accent, some kind of mixed English-French accent, something that should sound like a mangled european accent? Who knows.

Were there no other actors available for the series? If only they could redo this series with someone else!

The Killer (2023)

Good Soundtrack and Not Much Else

[4/10 · 14 November 2023]

Big fan of David Fincher and was very surprised while watching this coma-inducing movie. I kept asking myself, why this movie was released as it is and what the heck happened?

The soundtrack was really good and offered me something interesting to listen to. Besides that, the what felt like a never-ending narrative was so boring, I stopped paying attention and decided instead to read the reviews to see if the movie gets any better. I was surprised again because other movies and tv shows with the same style (Fight Club, Mindhunter, You...) we're great.

Unfortunately, this is a 2-hour sinking ship that I am very sorry I chose to sit through (it was to be polite to my partner who always tries to give movies a chance).

The Night Agent: The Call (2023) Season 1, Episode 1

So bad for this day and age

[4/10 · 28 October 2023]

Lazy writing - The storyline had the potential to be an easy action thriller that anyone could get into, but instead, it was annoying at best.

Also, one of the main characters is a moron that got on my nerves. Perhaps they have a problem listening to and understanding simple words?

Bad acting - Most of the actors sounded like they were in a school play. Little emotion and painful to listen to.

Overall, I chose not to waste my time even finishing the first episode. There are so many viewing options out there, that this really was not worth it. All it did was make me totally annoyed.

Good riddance.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Good and Bad

[5/10 · 14 September 2023]

Classic Indiana Jones adventure with travel, puzzles, history, and the classic good guys versus bad guys storyline. Loved the surprise characters, music, culture and fantastical stories.

The number one thing that ruins the movie is the absolutely obnoxious female lead. Such a poorly written character that seemed like the writers tried to (were forced to?) cram all the check marks of "a strong female", but instead created a character that was worse than the baddies. No one had sympathy for her character and most of the movie I wish she would just shut up.

Such a shame, there was so much potential for a good Indie send off.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023)

Snooze

[5/10 · 17 March 2023]

This is nothing like a classic Guy Ritchie movie filled with action and perfectly placed comedic lines. Overall, this movie was incredibly boring, despite the production quality and decent cast.

There were some hints from The Gentlemen, but it had nowhere near the great action or fun dialogue between the characters. This really felt like it was a forced movie that no one had the heart or desire to film, perhaps a contract that could not be broken?

Seemed like the story lagged on for ages. Easily felt an hour longer than it actually ran for.

So many other TV and movie options out there. I wouldn't bother with this.

Black and Blue (I) (2019)

What?

[4/10 · 15 May 2022]

Woman with a military background becomes a rookie cop, is somehow incredibly innocent to the world, and forgets all of her training when in danger.

Big conspiracy, corrupt cops everywhere. Mix of common storylines with the occasional interesting scene.

Overall, this is a movie to play in the background while you do something else.

The Batman (2022)

So Slow

[3/10 · 22 April 2022]

Dialogue is slow, everyone moves slowly, fights are slow and subdued, sound feels off and subdued.

Everything adds up to a boring movie that has a story and characters I don't care about.

CSI: Vegas (2021–2024)

Old characters holding up the show

[4/10 · 19 April 2022]

Really wanted to like this series.

Intrigued by the storyline, but this show is difficult to like.

The new actors are miscast, dry, and have very little personality. Were they not given enough time to learn their lines? Seems like they are just robotically reading their lines.

Even the sad attempt at jokes make me cringe.

Moon Knight (2022– )

Good to watch if there's nothing else on

[5/10 · 16 April 2022]

Oscar's acting and transitions are great, but the Steven character is incredibly annoying at times.

Had such potential to be a good show, but just missed the mark.

Poseidon (2006)

Spoilers

[1/10 · 20 September 2020]

Where to begin....

There is a serious lack of diversity in this movie, and it seems there was just one kid on the entire ship.

The one gay character was contemplating killing himself and all of the women are useless.

Unrealistic things happen and in the end, ethnic people die a horrible death and the handful of rogue wealthy white people survive.

The big-name actors in this must have been desperate for a pay check.

Nick of Time (1995)

90's Movie Plot that Doesn't Work Now

[3/10 · 30 March 2020]

Watched this in the 90's and thought it was good, but rewatching it now, this is just terrible.

I was annoyed within 10 minutes.

Such a ridiculous storyline.

1917 (2019)

Immersed from Start to Finish

[10/10 · 2 February 2020]

Truly an incredible movie.

From the beginning, you are taken on a near-impossible journey with the main characters, and apart from a couple of quiet moments, the stress level remains high.

Every detail, from the lighting to sound effects to the variety of characters, keeps you on a tense roller coaster of emotions, hoping for the best but anticipating the worst.

I wish more movies were created to such a high caliber.

Uncut Gems (2019)

So Very Bad

[1/10 · 1 February 2020]

Annoying characters, lots of yelling and weird synth music that overpowers scenes.

If they reduced the number of outbursts and changed the horrible soundtrack, this would actually be tolerable.

I forced myself to watch about an hour and I had to stop because I was getting mad at how terrible this movie was.