citruscircus Reviews

Immaculate (2024)

Could've done without watching

[4/10 · 25 April 2024]

Overall not a very good movie but it was fairly engaging for the first two thirds, then towards the end it starts to go downhill when the protagonist starts to make very low iq moves. I was bored with the scared face reaction/ running/ hiding shots which get extensive. I can't imagine anyone involved in this coming away thinking they created a very good piece, this is straight up mediocre. The story was interesting but the main character lacked common sense so the story was ultimately overshadowed by the incompetent character writing which is, of course, the hollywood horror standard. The acting was fine, nothing stand out except for the end having me a little worried for the actor's lungs, that probably wasn't much fun to film. Can't recommend to anyone looking for a good movie, they'd be terribly disappointed.

Dune: Part Two (2024)

Mid movie.

[4/10 · 25 March 2024]

I rate based mostly on entertainment. I wasn't very entertained, I was quite bored for most of it. It was beautiful to look at, and had triple the amount of events happening than the first movie, yet it couldn't hold my attention enough to care for it in the way the first one did. I emphasize on the beautifully shot and artistic value because it had a lot of stunning visuals, especially the black and white part. Honestly, if the lead was a different actor or he had gone about his role differently, I might've liked it more, he just doesn't have enough charisma to lead something like this, there's nothing special about his mannerisms or the way he speaks that engages enough, nothing special about his acting. He just makes me feel bad for his circumstances and then when he summons some inner power, all he conveys is sharp, empty bossiness without enough charm to warrant the role of the Messiah he's supposed to be... am I alone in thinking this? Chalamet isn't interesting to watch. There were some extended, dramatic up close shots of faces and scenery that broke up the events and action... the action was tnt-explosion-crazy, knife fighting with some interesting tech, but the coolest part was the worm riding... but not worth watching just for that imo if you enjoy thoroughly entertaining movies. For about an hour I kept waiting for it to get good and realized it probably wasn't gonna get any better. Around 2 hrs in, I was hoping it'd end soon, I just became really uninterested and bored even through the action. It felt like 4 hours. However, this isn't a terrible movie, it had its moments, compelling score, handful of events that were compelling, it's just overall skippable, I can't in good conscience recommend it to anyone except to people who think 2001 space oddysey is the best movie to ever exist. They might dig it.

Anyone But You (2023)

Moderately fun, average rom com, but beautiful scenery to watch

[7/10 · 22 February 2024]

I rate movies like these based on entertainment value and not how culturally important, widely loved or impressive they are. This is an adorable, simple, predictable love story. It's a little raunchy, I laughed out loud a couple of times, cliches and corniness everywhere as is normally expected from rom coms, nothing Oscar worthy here, but if taken at face value, it takes one on a cute little ride with a predictably warm fuzzy moments. I added an entire star just for the scenery and beautiful lighting because I just appreciate beauty that much, otherwise, it would've been a 6 because in terms of entertainment, it's a little above average, it held my attention and didn't get boring at any point. Didn't love the characters, story, or anything in particular, but it's just a fun time to escape for a little bit. Would not watch again but if someone wanted to watch it, I wouldn't mind it being on at all.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Engaging but Not Good

[4/10 · 3 February 2024]

Kept me entertained for most of it because I wanted to know what would happen, mostly what exactly he did to the people and how it'd be reversed but that didn't happen, so I guess that's left up to interpretation. The dialogue was pretty robotic and dry which made me think the writer was really trying to be artsy, satirical, maybe, which at first, it got me, I thought this could make it interesting, but in the end it only subtracted.

Turns out it's not a movie about one mentally challenged individual, but about several. The dad could've easily recorded a confession to get help from the law since he felt so unable to do anything himself, but chose to just slap him around and do nothing. Only a mentally unsound parent would act this way and try nothing else different, same goes for the wife. This is what I call lazy writing, I'm not saying get the cops involved and it's automatically solved at all but making your characters so unbelievably incompetent makes the audience not care about them at all for much longer.

And yeah, the daughter didn't have very sane things coming out of her mouth, also mentally questionable. Loose screws all around.

If you're into stuff with dry robotic dialogue throughout, unsatisfactory conclusions, unintelligent/ mentally challenged characters, tense screechy sounds, sex with unconcious bodies & the idea of really nice, clean hands, you probably had a blast with this one lmao.

Lost River (2014)

Watch before going to bed

[6/10 · 4 May 2015]

The characters managed to slightly capture my interest. And their story, eh. I stayed mostly because of how pretty it was and the vibe. This is something I'd recommend watching before going to bed. The atmosphere is dark with some really beautiful shots, a little qrotesque in parts, quiet, the whole vibe feels like a dream. And sometimes it wakes you up with things that feel too lively to be in the dream. There's not much of a point or interesting story to it when you compare it to the mainstream norm. Which helps it feel more like a dream, which was what Gosling said he was going for. Overall, I thought it was OK, I really appreciated the beautiful visuals, the mystical feeling it tries to convey. I'd say it's worth a watch if you've got nothing else to do, or if you're into artsy imagery with a plot that, likely, you'll be uninterested in because this is definitely not the average Joe's cup of tea. If you're into art, you might just love this.