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lisabecka
Reviews
The Innkeepers (2011)
Good and bad
I thought it was well acted. The non-scary parts of the story seemed quirkily real and human and unique,even if sometimes stilted and draggy. The scary parts of it, just weren't.
I really like horror movies. I want to be really scared. But I'd also like an actual plot so that the scary stuff makes sense in its way. It didn't. Even worse, the ending was bland, pointless, and senseless. I could have written ten better endings to this movie. Well, at least five.
I always hate to and fear to criticize another writer's work, but after investing in Claire I feel the need to. In his defense, from the looks of his most recent movie (Pearl), the writer/director's abilities have greatly developed over time.
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace (2023)
Fascinating but yes, a bit much
Yes, way too much time spent with Michael's histrionics, but I don't think they're *totally* fake since his other family members seem to have a toned down version of the same hyperness.
Are both the Barnetts apparently bats**t crazy unstables? Yes. But I can't see how the 'legal expert' believed they had 'gotten away with child neglect' when a court of law told them this person was 22. Could they have done better for a disabled person of any age? Yes. Would the average person know what to do with a disabled person? Iffy.
The real fault here is the 'reaging' court!! They should have tried much harder to find out exactly how old Natalia was before this poor NINE-year-old was left to fend for herself. They found the mother and the orphanage later on, so it couldn't be that hard.
The documentary, again, spends way too much time with Michael but also glosses over the testimony of the state mental health hospital staff, who supposedly witnessed pubic hair and blatant sexual overtones to male patients (which would not be unheard of even in one so young, who knows what happened to her in that eastern European orphanage or since). Did no one at any point think to give this kid an intelligence test? Wouldn't assessing her mental ability tell them if she was capable of functioning as an adult regardless of biological age?
One can only hope that Natalia now has the support she needs. And Jacob, the second biggest victim of this story, who was also a child forced into adult circumstances. He would have needed a great deal of guidance and had only parents way too wrapped up in themselves.
American Horror Story: Chapter 10 (2016)
First time I liked a season
This is my sixth attempt at liking a season of AHS and I did, with some reservations-probably because I'm a sucker for both documentaries and found-footage movies, so zipping back and forth between the 'real' people interviews and the 're-enactments.' Possibly also because I've finally figured out to fast-forward past the over the top gore. And there wasn't a million totally gratuitous sex scenes like the Hotel one. I did think they should have ended it after episode 8, when Lee is the survivor and kills Monet. It was questionable enough moving from one reality show to a second reality show, but then moving to sort of a third (with the kids) and the fourth just seemed to be padding the bill. You know exactly what's going to happen and how it's going to happen and have to wonder if you should just fast forward to the end.
However, that raises the question of, if Lee made a deal with the evil being played by Lady Gaga, how could she leave the area? Wouldn't she be chained there to serve the being's purposes? And why did Priscilla need 'protection' from the Butcher when she was, ahem, already dead, and no one else seems to need protection.
The filthy inbred hillbilly family is a trope that needs to be left behind! Hours of footage of grimy places and grimy people get really wearing.
I do think the writers and the actors had a lot of fun playing up stereotypes of self-absorbed film people.
Horror is hard to do, I get that. Once you establish that the house is haunted, and then establish who is haunting it, then all that's left is 'how are they going to get out of this?' It becomes a logistical problem and isn't as scary, but you've got a bunch more episodes to film so you just keep sending your characters around in circles.
Personal Shopper (2016)
Two hours of your life you'll never get back.
I honestly feel that this is one of the worst movies I"ve ever seen. I feel sorry for Kristin Stewart, who is such a good actress that I actually watched it all (though I did fast-forward a lot). Absolutely nothing about this movie is convincing: not that the character is a personal shopper, which seems an odd and dull occupation as portrayed here, not that the character is a medium, because we're just told that instead of seeing it and you tend to suspect that people who say they're mediums really aren't, that ghosts send text messages (and who the heck was the person sending the text message anyway and why did they want her to be someone different than she really was?). The theory that Kyra's killer actually killed her so she was a ghost from that point on is the only potentially coherent part of the movie, but also doesn't make much sense as then you wonder who lured her to that hotel room just to get her killed and why? IMHO, very French: all visuals, and no actual story.
Red Lights (2012)
The first 1/3 is really good.
And then it seems to completely fall apart. It isn't terrible, really,..the movie does plod toward a wrap up that more or less explains all, it just needs to wander through a bunch of scenery-chewing, fight scenes, and Various Creepy Happenings before it gets there. Good cast.
Housebound (2014)
Really have to admire New Zealand for a number of reasons
One, this truly entertaining, fun movie that also has some genuine scares. Two, that when Kylie rips off an ATM in the beginning, instead of slapping her in jail they put her under house arrest and assign a counselor. Third, that every inch of this house is crammed with books! I love it.
The Attic (2007)
Good cast wasted on one of the worst scripts ever
Erratic, nonsensical storyline. You seem to come in in the middle of the movie, for one thing, and the dialogue can be painful. The ending is completely expected. Which is a pity because it is a very good cast, nice setting, decent production values.
In a Dark Place (2006)
Beautiful setting, problematic story
This is yet another retelling of A Turn of the Screw, which, to be fair, is a difficult story to do-very obscure plot with an extremely unsatisfactory ending. Honestly it's been so many years since i read the book that I'm not sure how well the movie followed it. Better than some with 1/3 of the ending, much different with the lesbian subplot.
And I love Leelee Sobieski, a fine actress who hasn't gotten the attention she deserves. But I have to say I think it was put in the poor girl's contract for her to show off her implants in nearly every scene-which didn't even make narrative sense for such a timid and insecure character.
Grave Encounters (2011)
Not bad acting...
Unfortunately, no script to speak of.
And I don't understand why not-that-great found footage movies seem to think they need to use the f word every sentence to sound realistic.
But not bad in filming. Just no real scares.
Trust (2010)
Should be required viewing for anyone with children between 10 and 20.
And excellently made-great performances and extremely realistic.
Violet & Daisy (2011)
"Pulp Fiction" with girls
I loved it. Very, very fun. The two leads are impossible to resist and James Gandolfini captures your heart.
Revenant (2012)
In my tour through free streaming horror movies...
I always have a great respect for people who write and star in their own movie. The energy and confidence that must take is impressive, no matter the results. Okay that said, the production values in this are fine, the acting is not bad. But, as one might expect, it's most a hapless victim creeping around a very ordinary house with weird things happening (without, somehow, ever figuring out to turn on the lights!!!!!). My only complaint is that, not only does it move slow (again, which is expected) but everyone in it has to talk slow at the same time, walk slow, slooooooowly turn, etc. But still, for a one-man show, kudos.
PS Why, when I went to 'write a review' there is a thumbnail of a 2012 movie called Revenant at the top of the page?
Shadow of the Missing (2018)
A good job of being a pretend documentary.
Which I enjoyed. But other than that it was supposed to be a comedy/ horror movie...that wasn't scary at all and not particularly funny, either. The acting wasn't bad but they had nothing at all to work with...or rather the 'documentary' parts were much, much better written than the 'horror' parts, and unfortunately that's not saying a lot. A great idea that needed a better script.
The Feed (2010)
Good idea, poor execution
I'm a sucker for found-footage movies, and I loved the idea of a 'ghost hunters' type reality show setup. What I liked was how exactly like one of those kinds of shows was recreated. However, when the second 'ghost' first appeared it seemed beyond cheesy and unconvincing, whereas the first 'sighting' had been pretty creepy. Which was even more frustrating because they could do much better effects than that as we see later. Then, after an hour of walking around this old theater with nothing happening, all the action and Revenge of the Ghosts occurs in an incoherent mishmash in the last, say, 7 minutes. It really could have been SO much better.
The Turning (2020)
Excellent actors...
Too bad they didn't have a script. Long scenes leading up to not-scary jump scares, and the most WTF ending I've ever seen. And 1) I've seen a lot and 2) I had paid attention. Just really, really bad. These actors deserved better. Henry James deserved better too.
The Lodge (2019)
Great acting, but...
...the word that comes to mind for everything else is 'interminable.' One of those movies you keep watching, hoping it will all be worth it at the end. Then it's not.
Cats (2019)
I liked it.
Liked it. I saw it only once before, a TV showing of the stage play. I love love musicals and love cats but it will never be one of my favorites. Which is not to say I didn't cry through Memory. I thought they did a great job with it, making humans look like cats, the sets and backdrops were gorgeous. Still definitely not a favorite, but I don't think it's quite fair to complain about everything that wasn't EXACTLY like the stage play.
Lisa
H8RZ (2015)
I liked this movie.
At points I thought it was a knockoff of 'Unfriended' but it's a pretty unique tale with a great ending. Give it a chance.
Fractured (2016)
At first you'll think-
It's going to be an hour and a half of hapless victims tiptoeing around a spooky house. But halfway in it suddenly starts getting much more interesting.
Sneaky Pete (2015)
Twists galore
I love this show and its complete unpredictability. I've watched every minute of all three seasons and enjoyed them immensely. The only drawback is that Lizzie didn't die. I truly hoped someone would take a baseball bat to her face.
Pushpavalli (2017)
Strangely addicting
This really isn't the sort of thing I normally watch, but I really liked it. (Be prepared for horrible language, FYI.) I just finished Season 1 and was devastated that I wouldn't know what happens to her-but now I see a Season 2 is in the offing? Hooray!!!
Gotham: Legend of the Dark Knight: The Beginning... (2019)
I canNOT believe they had a different actress play Selina.
After an entire series, in the last episode, they switch Camren out with someone else?? Why? Because she isn't a an anorexic size 0 like every other female in Hollywood?
Profondo rosso (1975)
I understand it was the 70s but....
This movie is seriously bad. The filming is good, the acting so-so, and I understand I have to make allowances for how long ago it was made and that certain things wouldn't have been as jarring then: 1) Somewhere along the line Hollywood decided that all female reporters must be abrasive, hardly brilliant and flat-out obnoxious. 2) No one calls the police; the character finds a murdered woman, and tells no one, leaving her poor hapless elderly maid to find the body! 3) A pianist (!) and a reporter ( who surely should have some professional standards) think nothing of breaking into a school because they didn't want to wait until morning; they think so much nothing of it that when the reporter finally gets nervous about the killer she calls the police to tell them where they are. Sure, let's confess to breaking and entering and destroying public property...I'm sure the police won't mind. (And they didn't.) 4) Every single scene and line of dialogue takes 3x longer than it should.
OTHER than that, it's not a terrible scary movie. It doesn't ever belong in the top-50 list where I found it, but some aspects of the plot were a little unique so I give them points for striving for creativity.
7 Nights of Darkness (2011)
Basic but not bad
No great surprises here, but I wasn't expecting much from the low rating. It's a lot of people yelling at each other and don't watch if you're going to get sick of hearing the f-word Every Single Sentence. I think the actors did a good job. Unfortunately I got distracted by silly things like the fact that this 'abandoned' building appeared to have been abandoned the previous day, that since the lights clearly worked in the bathroom why the boy didn't just turn them on when wondering what was in the bathroom stall (a good scene otherwise) and that the individual interviews were all taken in the same place to judge from the peeling paint on the walls when the people should have been in different rooms. The ending was Blair Witch Project meets The Ring, but again, I don't have a problem with that. It's pretty impossible to do horror without repeating certain tropes. However overall the very similar movie "Hell House" did a much much better job.
The Favourite (2018)
Don't believe the trailers
This is NOT a comedy. It's a unique, unflinching film with marvelous performances by two of my absolutely favorite actresses, plus Olivia Colman. THe costumes and settings are fabulous. But ultimately it's rather sad to the point of depressing, and the more I think about it, the sadder it seems.