Blacksapote Reviews

Exposed (III) (2016)

Where's the Director Cut?

[5/10 · 14 May 2023]

I just watched this movie until the end and then I found out that it had been butchered in the final edit by Lionsgate. I feel robbed of what could have been a uniquely amazing, poignant cinematic experience. I'll give the other five stars when the Director's cut comes out because I'm positive I would have given it a 10 just based on the chills I got at the end. Serious chills. So much potential seems lost. This could have been in the league of Pan's Labyrinth or similarly surreal story telling universe and I'm sure I would have eaten it up like a feast...but what was delivered seemed unfinished. I'm left hungry for more.

It's criminal that this has happened to such a potentially powerful story but the butchered edits explain why the film's continuity felt off.

Gimme the Director Cut...fix this egregious error, Lionsgate.

The Black Room (2017)

Just a porno dressed as horror...

[1/10 · 7 April 2023]

I guess if you wanted to make a porno acceptable to wider audiences, you just tell people it's a horror movie, lol. Flimsy see-through plot lines, bad (oh so bad) acting (I mean dear lord who did the casting?); gratuitous nudity and ridiculous sex scenes with air (yes, you heard me "AIR") -essentially so that the folks back home don't catch on (wink wink) that you're not actual film makers - just a bunch of sex crazed wannabes parading as professional film makers. I love the horror genre and this "production" was an embarrassment to actual horror films. Horror enthusiasts: This car crash of a (um, still don't know what to call the porn pretending to be horror genre) must be avoided at all costs. You've been warned.

The Last of Us (2023– )

A masterpiece in story building...

[10/10 · 31 January 2023]

I expected this episode would get lower ratings than the first two eps, primarily thanks to knuckle-dragging homophobes passing off their prejudice as "insightful" commentary on the cons of "straying too far from the source material" or some other garbage excuse for why their bigotry is preventing them from enjoying one of the best episodes to date. One of the best episodes I've seen on television for awhile. Some of the absurdly low reviews claimed this episode was "just a filler!" or "this didn't happen in the game!" or "not enough action and zombies - whEre R aLl the zombies???" - for the love of god...you muppets rating this masterpiece of an episode with a pitiful 1/10 ARE THE ZOMBIES, that's where the freaking zombies are.

A video game is a video game and a television show is a television show - these are both drastically different storytelling mediums. A lot of folks are missing the point of an ADAPTATION.

The show's writers and creators have done an impeccably superb job of taking a story from one medium and turning it into this masterpiece we're seeing unfold here. Episode 3 surpasses all my expectations for what strong world building, theme building, character building should look like...we're here to explore ALL the facets of humanity including love (and what that looks like) in a dystopian wasteland - the writers are giving us the content from the video game, yes...but they're also giving us so much more.

THIS show is what television as a medium should strive for....they're doing what so few have managed to achieve.

THIS show is what storytelling is all about.

If you just want a show about "zombies" and "action" and NOTHING else (yawn)...I dunno dudes, maybe this show and its more nuanced, mature themes just isn't for you.

Yellowstone: The Sting of Wisdom (2022) Season 5, Episode 2

Beth's Monologues...

[1/10 · 17 November 2022]

All I have to say is, I'm getting really tired of Beth's sadistic and cruel "look-at-me-I'm-a-tough-b@&tch" monologues. It's like listening to the punchline of a joke we've heard thousands of times before.

Tired and predictable.

We get it - ya hate Jamie.

Yawn. Can we move on?

Same goes for much of John Dutton's posturing. These characters are not this one-dimensional....yet.

I beg the writers. Please don't let the writing become stale on this show. It's been so great so far, it would suck if this kind of dialogue seeps into the rest of the storytelling.

...additionally, are all people really that predatory? Some of the supporting characters feel like they come from some cheesy soap-opera.

The Secret of Crickley Hall (2012)

The mother was useless...

[2/10 · 20 July 2022]

I'm really tired of the worn amd weathered trope where a woman becomes utterly useless in films. First of all, she loses one child, then almost loses another...until hubby comes to the rescue of course, she shows that she's mentally and physically no match for a man in his eighties...his EIGHTIES. Okay she suffered a loss but when women suffer loss, why do storytellers always make them pitifully frail and fragile in storytelling? Ughh I wanted to throw something at the screen it makes me so angry to see this time and time again. Please have more respect for women in storytelling because this narrative is boring as hell. Yawn.

Thirteen (2016)

The Police in this show are garbage...

[1/10 · 19 July 2022]

Absolute garbage. This is what a person who knows ZERO about police procedure would write. It is fantasy. Completely and utterly wrong in every regard. Additionally, some of the reactions of family members and other characters to the situation seems fantastical and unlikely - the writer shows they have a complete and utter lack of understanding of human psychology. This doesn't seem like how ANYONE would act or behave in such a situation. Horribly inauthentic material here, the only thing keeping the viewer engaged was Comer's performance. Everything else is a juvenile attempt at best.

The Following: The Reckoning (2015) Season 3, Episode 15

What?

[1/10 · 16 July 2022]

The dude got up after a head shot?...a head shot. Ridiculous. The worst part about this is that the series wemt off the rails in season 2 so I didn't expect much.

Love, Marilyn (2012)

The Festival of Cringe continues...

[1/10 · 17 June 2022]

I love Marilyn Monroe but this "documentary" narrated by an assortment of actors is just more invasive commentary on her life. We are fascinated by her life but the lens through which she is portrayed here is predatory in itself. Horrible take. Hollywood, please take a step back and see how this just perpetuates the abuse she endured in the very system you created.

Death on the Nile (2022)

Disappointing.

[2/10 · 4 April 2022]

The CGI backgrounds of the pyramids at the beginning are definitely 1978 quality - in fact the entire film, super obvious, super weird cgi backgrounds everywhere like the lighting, the blending - FFS make a choice, is it gonna be OTT or not? Why are we dancing in indecision-city like this?

What's with the cast? Please for all that is good and great in this world - choose actors suitable to the parts and NOT just because they are the current hot tickets. Are they right for the role? Do they have a connection to the characters? Can they truly commit? These are questions I don't think anyone asked. Why do big budget films keep doing this to the absolute detriment of the film itself, why?

Gadot can't act; Brand - what the hell is with that beard and why does he look like a walking tree stump? I'm not even going to mention Benning or Hammer - it's just not worth it man.

Dammit, I'm going to have to re-read the original source material now to clean this tripe from my memory.

Life After Death with Tyler Henry (2022)

It feels authentic to me...

[8/10 · 12 March 2022]

If you were to say to me that I would watch this entire production from 1 through to 9 in a single sitting on a weekend when I could be doing literally anything else, I would have laughed in your face.

I don't really believe in mediums. I don't know definitively if there's an "afterlife". I've never encountered verifiable proof that we go on when the lights go out in this life. I'm also not religious in any traditional sense. The only thing that I had going into this was a niggling sense of hope and an optimistic *maybe*.

However, when I hit play and this story began to unfold, I was captivated. Whether or not Tyler's gift is real or not takes a sudden back seat. I no longer care about quantifiable because what I'm seeing FEELS real.

Everything these people appear to be experiencing through him has a sense of authenticity to it. He himself exudes authenticity. It's mesmerising. The stories of love, loss, guilt, grief and hope for the future are all very human experiences you can't help but relate - you won't be able to stop yourself from relating.

Give this a watch with an open mind and you just might be surprised by how much you get out of it.

The Walking Dead: Still (2014) Season 4, Episode 12

Excellent performances and character profiling...

[10/10 · 4 March 2014]

I take my hat off to Norman Reedus and Emily Kinney for their subtle but powerful performances in this episode which literally moved me to tears.

This episode is the reason why The Walking Dead is one of the best shows on television - how this episode only has a rating of 7 on IMDb surprises me, but let's face it, a majority of zombie genre fans who watch the show are obsessed with the mindlessness and killing scenes these genres are popular for: gore, non-stop action sequences and blood letting and pretty much NOTHING else.

Thankfully, this is where The Walking Dead departs beautifully, it takes the genre to another level and gives it meaning, depth, a reason to keep watching, wondering, hoping.

If this were anything like the typical zombie genres out there, I would have stopped watching a long time ago, you can only watch so much gore before it just gets boring and predictable, I might as well be watching some B Grade horror film (just a tip there for those who like that stuff, if that's the case, then The Walking Dead is clearly not for you).

"Still" is a cathartic episode for the characters, an attempt to let go of their pasts, their former selves - and both characters are integral to this transformation in each other. The normally optimistic Beth and the emotionally removed Daryl, what an awesome combination and opportunity to explore this tension between the two characters, that proverbial "elephant" in the room. Beth wanting to be stronger and initially seeing herself as weak in comparison to the other female characters in the show and Daryl tormented by a dark past that seems to be nipping at his heels after the loss of the prison, the place where he was just beginning to find the family and sense of self he never really had.

You begin to realize that despite their superficial differences, the commonality lies in their intense and mutual sense of loss, hidden initially by either Beth's optimism or Daryl's detachment. In a way, Beth "saves" Daryl from slipping irrevocably into his grief and potentially losing sight of his humanity again, and in doing so we're now aware of how powerful her strength really is in this apocalypse, how it's just as valid as physical strength. It feels as though Daryl's walls have been burned to the ground and how poetic to have this happen at the closing scene, Beth and Daryl both flipping the bird at despair and giving us hope for the rest of their journey. I think the closing song summed up this episode a treat:

"There's bound to be a ghost at the back of your closet, No matter where you live, There'll always be a few things maybe several things, That you're gonna find really difficult to forgive, There's gonna come a day when you feel better"

Thanks The Walking Dead, this episode really hit home for me, in more ways than one.