somembom Reviews

Blink Twice (2024)

I'll round it up to 6

[6/10 · 19 September 2024]

But it's actually a 5.5 /10 for me.

Minor spoilers here, nothing serious or revealing.

It has a very promising plot and an all star cast but didn't work for me. It's to "easy", maybe the editing is to blame... can't tell for sure but I couldn't connect with any of the characters, nor feel the "bad" guys vibe. It's all a very numb experience. Now you are seeing them at a dinner, now they are in a kitchen, now they are on an island, wait...is it an island? Oh a 1sec shot from an airplane window, that's right! Now they've been here, been there...oh so that happens to them...wait, what exactly happens? If it happens what I think happens you should have placed more weight into those "happenings".

It's all a bunch of meh after another.

And the ending...come oooon! You just skipped everything that could make sense out of it and just got there. I'll blame the editing, ok?

Kinds of Kindness (2024)

Great juice for thought

[8/10 · 10 September 2024]

This movie is a 4 part emotional rollercoaster with some dark comedy thrown in the middle. Not having read other reviews in here, I can bet there are lots of 1s, you know...in the age of easy punchlines superhero flicks and dreadful easy plots, one couldn't expect much from the more light headed commentators.

It's far from a 10 too, don't get me wrong.

Beautifully written, it has enough depth for every part. The cast plays great, sometimes with only a few lines you can "get" their general traits, something many actors can't pull in a full length movie with 10x more camera time and lines.

It has nonsense, fantasy, naughtyness, betrayal, thrill, in sum it has humanity.

Camera work is great, photography as well.

Great movie!

7.8/10.

Longlegs (2024)

Needs more salt

[6/10 · 9 September 2024]

This is one of those movies where neither the trailer not the plot could cut through as a must see...the hype and heavy promotion around this movie pretty much led the majority of people to theaters. That and Nicholas Cage.

On the upside this is an enjoyable thriller, with a decent plot and good photography.

Unfortunately the downs are very prohemminent like the general lack of pace, the total apathy of the main characters either reacting to situations or dialogues...even Cage's attempt of a creepy character isn't unsettling or scary at all. The sound editors had to put some effort in trying to create fear where there is none.

Needed more seasoning. Needed more depth. Could have been better.

6.2/10.

Mother! (2017)

If you like superhero movies...

[8/10 · 4 August 2024]

... don't watch this.

If you like romcoms, one army man, or those movies where the heroes make funny lines in action scenes and villains take forever to make decisions and have bad aiming skills, don't watch this.

This movie will make you think. "Think"! I know! We're not used to it anymore in Hollywood movies.

Anyway... Brilliant cast performed well. Jennifer Lawrence earned my respect as an actress with this one.

Well directed, brilliant plot, and superb photography. The tension builds up giving us time to reflect on what's happening and what would we do, until the last 15min where you'll be jaw dropped and get to the end with a lot to unpack.

This is what I love in good cinema. Give us more than just the movie itself! Give us something to talk about, to think about, to be conscious about.

Give it a 7.8/10.

The Watchers (I) (2024)

Not bad at all

[6/10 · 30 July 2024]

Having read some reviews, most of which very negative, decided to give Dakota another shot after the very emotionless performance she displayed on the latest Mr Ripley series. Again, the prodigal War of the Worlds actress offers a very emotionless, expressionless performance. It's like she doesn't want to be there, or is generally numbed. Not having a strong lead made this rely on the premise alone, and it did deliver.

Story is somewhat fresh, suspenseful, well paced action. Overall good entertainment for a monday night flick at home, but no more than that.

I'll give it a 6/10 for the effort put on everything but the acting.

A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)

Misses the nature of the genre, imo

[5/10 · 25 July 2024]

One of the beauties and most compelling things about these post apocalyptic, invasion, catastrophe, end of the world type of movies is allowing ourselves to wonder and all times "what would I do?". Well certainly nothing of what we saw in this movie. It's not a family type movie, yet cuts the same corners by constantly reminding us that it is poorly written.

Without spoiling, for "day one" they sure figured out everything pretty quick. The basic human instincts are wildly neglected in favor of insults to our brain, and that is something I have a hard time getting over.

Weak plot.

Pointless and vague actions and subplots.

Decent acting.

Good editing and directing.

Good CGI.

5.5 out of 10.

...like Resident Evil with Mila, also Emily Blunt should be a must in these movies.

Moonfall (2022)

What a waste of decent CGI

[4/10 · 22 July 2024]

CGI is rather decent in this movie, but that's just about it. The story evolves in more ridiculous ways. Looks like the whole plot was brainstormed with the help of 12 year old kids and they went on from there. Acting is bad, so bad, expressionless. The whole action is unreasonable to the most basic of human instincts. Dialogue is a mix of family soap opera with action teen movies.

CGI is very decent, should have ended up in a better movie with more "grown ups" attitude to get side by side with mainstream movies like Independence Day or The Day After Tomorrow, somewhere in between.

Give it a 4.5 out of 10.

True Detective: Night Country: Part 6 (2024) Season 4, Episode 6

Thank the good Lord it's over

[4/10 · 19 February 2024]

To be honest only the memory of seasons 1 and 3 got me to endure this torture.

So many flaws...so many miserable side stories...so many plot flaws...this last episode has so much going against it that makes our brains hurt. Either sitting 2 feet apart on a silent cave and screaming to each other, or getting the pulse of someone that's contorting in pain, so many What? Moments that I really hope those writers, editors, anyone that might have been professionaly involved in this, get theirs ears pulled.

I'm not even getting to the final twist or how it led to it. I'll skip that and focus solely on the general trainwreck that was this season.

Gets a 4 for the nice photography and audio editing.

True Detective: Night Country: Part 4 (2024) Season 4, Episode 4

Falling

[5/10 · 5 February 2024]

Season started with an episode 1 with solid 8, very promising. Episode 2 kept the above average 7, episode 3 was a hand full of nothing and still pulled out a 6, now I finished watching episode 4 and realized it's spiraling down. This episode is a 5 counting on the cinematography alone since it was dreadful to watch until the last 5 min which is not nearly enough to compensate the previous hour wasted on nothingness. Just a bunch of shortcuts that ironically took the longest path to get us nowhere and leave us with nothing.

I know every season has at least one episode of - as we say in country - "filling up the sausage" and I honestly hope this one was it, because in all truth I cannot bare another hour of this.

Episode 5 needs to be at least as good as the first two otherwise I'm done.

All of Us Strangers (2023)

Reviews finally tricked me

[5/10 · 2 February 2024]

When you see a solid 8 with 10k votes you really expect something special. Except when it comes from jumpers movie market where the locals vote in a rampant way to get their own up the charts.

Probably something similar happened with one and honestly I felt deceived.

Can't say it's bad. Story is refreshing, nicely shot, good cast...but on the other hand it just lacks pace, most people will get what's going on about 20min in and there's no twists or turns to make one feel trapped in the same 20min loop 5 times in a row. It just became boring, excruciatingly boring. Acting is solid yet it didn't quite cut through transmitting that loneliness, depression, sadness and regret. I know where the movie was trying to take us but it never got me onboard.

May December (2023)

Keeps you uncomfortable

[7/10 · 11 December 2023]

Still not uncomfortable enough to look away.

This is one of those movies that gets to your nerve, and I'm sure anyone who's seen it will likely love it or hate it. Sensitive matters have a way to disarm us, leaving an itchy sensation, especially when a movie is well directed and performed, such as this.

I knew nothing of the story, just came in blank trusting you can't go wrong with such an amazing cast, and it payed off!

Julianne Moore is amazing...she effortlessly plays the good cop bad cop vibe and builds up the tension and the drama.

Natalie Portman, well one of the greatest, she just doesn't know how not to deliver. Great acting!

Movie is slowly paced and could be slightly adjusted while edited to better trim the unspoken parts, sure, still the building tension getting through a very well shot, and directed movie, compensate the less fulfilling moments.

Very well performed, well made, and leaves you thinking a bit after.

7,5/10.

There's Something in the Barn (2023)

Can't say it's good

[5/10 · 9 December 2023]

Can't say it's bad.

The plot is very flawed, the acting makes no sense in most parts. It was classified as a dark comedy, horror and fantasy film. Only the fantasy part was kind of right, and even there is mostly due to the elfs reference than any fantasy at all. In the first half of the movie you get the feeling that the elf's are fast and hard to see, that would fulfill the fantasy part, then they slowly grade down to children in costumes moving slow and ultimately incapable of putting up a fight. That makes the whole thing kind of pointless and nonsense. I felt deeply diving into the "if only the remote was by the couch..." state.

Can't say it's bad either. It's a nicely shot flick, with nice landscapes and good pace. But still fails being horror, fails being comic, just...a regular Sunday afternoon nothing else to see and it's already on kind of movie.

The Creator (2023)

Solid sci-fi

[7/10 · 19 November 2023]

Lovely visuals and effects. CGI is top notch and makes you want to recap in a bigger and bigger screen. Thumbs up for the sound track and audio editing.

Ok performances and a not so ok script. The plot was promising, not fresh, but it had room for something new. Didn't happen.

For a movie on today's duality on weather we should embrace AI, I certainly hope if we indeed build super advanced robots we won't program them to have bad equilibrium, bad aim, bad judgement on logical and practical subjects, I mean... This movie portraits super robots like average humans. And don't get me started in the overacted spread of emotions...by the "robots"... Technicalities aside, very entertaining overall 7/10.

Martyrs (2008)

I don't believe in 10/10 but...

[9/10 · 6 October 2023]

...when there's a movie you've seen 10y ago and is constantly brought to memory, that's gotta mean something.

Anyone who sees it doesn't forget it. It sticks.

The pure rawness, the neverending pit of darkness when you're just hoping for a little light so you can breathe - not to spoil it - but it doesn't come.

Great acting, ok photography and editing, but your eyes will be halfway shut from the tension it causes, so no need to go over the head with special effects and cinematography. Just a very good movie where acting and suspense is just perfect.

Although I've seen it more than a decade ago, came across the poster in IMDB and still felt compeled to write a review. That's how much it sticks.

Brand New Cherry Flavor (2021)

No boredom here

[9/10 · 28 June 2023]

I love this actress. From the last half dozen years Rosa is an all around from action to drama, from seriousness to weirdness, and capable of performing the best dark humor in style like she's an improved version of Aubrey Plaza. This is why she played this out in near perfection. There's no way to predict where the plot unfolds next. This is a weird story with strange dialogs and crazy characters. You never know what's going to happen next. The only thing you'll realize is that it takes on this beautiful cinematic ride well above the common mainstream series where the story is up for you to puzzle up and come to your own conclusions. And if you don't find any conclusions you'll still be up for a new season, I know I am!

Glass Onion (2022)

One hour to see, another hour to get

[7/10 · 25 December 2022]

Superb cast makes this a must see movie. Daniel Craig put out and amazing performance both goofy and charming, he acts well to glue the whole thing together.

It's ok written, nicely shot and edited. Performances ok throughout.

The movie has two parts, one where you go "ohh I see where this is going" and then takes another hour to get exactly there. This, for a mistery acts as no mistery at all and leaves you wishing for a different twist or...at least a turn, a small one that wouldn't be so "so, they said this is where it was leading one hour ago, and this is where they led...ok".

Good movie nonetheless. Could have been 30m shorter, wouldn't make a difference. 7/10.

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (2022)

It's got ups and downs

[6/10 · 11 November 2022]

The Cabinet presentation is a very cool Hitchcock move. I personally like it. Gives us a storyline and credit to the Director of each episode. Now...it couldn't all be amazing. First episode was very cool, although I was expecting something more thought provocative. Got a little colder on ep 2 then came episode 3 which is a masterpiece! Saw it twice and could watch it a 3rd time, easily. It's those kind of episodes that make you endure the rest of the season just hoping you'd find another one as good as that... Unfortunately it didn't came to be. From ep4 to 8 it was all pretty -sorry I'll have to say - boring and predictable.

Overall production, acting, direction is very good, but, man... I know it's supposed to be mainstream but I wish they'd take more risks, taking us to a bit more chills, more unsettling and thought provocative routes, just a bit...it wouldn't hurt the hype.

Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021)

Not half way

[4/10 · 10 November 2022]

Into the score, that is.

The movie builds up pretty vaguely. Introduces characters in a very Sunday afternoon criminal series vibe. Hangs on a few loose pillars and goes fr there. All the characters interactions are boring and Angelina doesn't cut through with the whole feminine Bruce Willis cliché character from the 90s. The action peaked down from the beginning and there are no convincing performances throughout. Of course the dialogue or script if you prefer did not help in the matter because it was boring, far from depicting any sense of reality and the CGI, well let's rebrand it Computer Graphics Initiation.

Somewhere between 4 and 5 out of 10.

The Quiet Girl (2022)

It builds

[9/10 · 29 October 2022]

It's a low paced movie where what hooks you up are the expressions, the gestures, the camera focusing on somewhere out of the scene. It's driving us to that young girl's mind. The cast is perfect and the plot, not being something new, gives us a fresh build up in tension, a low paced tension that arrives nowhere and everywhere at the very end. Even if for a tiny bit here or there, I believe each of us will find something to relate to when we were young.

There aren't many movies that can really touch us and have us recommending it, in my case especially not a drama, but this one, this is as close to a drama masterpiece as one can find. Solid 8,5 / 10.

Red Notice (2021)

Sunday afternoon flick

[5/10 · 9 December 2021]

Cheesy plot, light acting, dumb dialogs filled with clichés, it's...an easy movie. Easy to forget, easy to enjoy, easy to hate.

I stand more in the hate part because I really feel if you're over 12 the sheer lack of depth hurts your intelligence, even uf you're just watching it for the jokes and passing time. Quite median, but has rge quality of a big budget so it doesn't insult you further.

Old (2021)

It's been a long time...

[4/10 · 19 September 2021]

...since I actually felt compelled to write: bad casting. Bad, bad, terrible. Nothing and nobody makes any of it credible in terms of dialogs or emotions. Disliked the camera work. Had to push myself through it because...well, it "is" Mr. Shyamalan.

2067 (2020)

B movie that counts more like an A-

[6/10 · 19 September 2021]

Decent plot. Nice pace. Keeps you interested. No fancy special effects but good editing and camera work/photography.

Actor try. They do their job well. Maybe lack that "big screen charisma" that would probably make this movie Box Office material.

Overall liked it.

The Midnight Sky (2020)

Beautiful CGI...and that's it.

[4/10 · 26 December 2020]

So poor. So poor. The plot, the pace, the acting, the story, the...almost everything, so, so poor. I really don't know what to more to say except "yeah, there is George Clooney!".

The Invitation (I) (2015)

Pretty solid

[7/10 · 13 November 2020]

Solid acting, a tone of realistic action, and a background drama makes this movie a great choice for a slow paced night. Raises valid points in the plot, and there is no bad acting to distract you from those thoughts. Good surprise on nflx!

The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)

Solid Shia can cut through anything

[8/10 · 23 October 2020]

Somewhat fresh plot, this movie could have taken a left turn with the wrong cast. We've seen Joseph GL and Matthew Mac. performing similar roles and they did a great job. Shia makes this one work, what a solid performance! Dakota otoh could have been just about any other cute actress, she just had to follow Shia's lead. Great photography, nice directing, good atmosphere makes this one an above average movie. I do have some criticism on the editing with some pointless flashbacks that could be implied and not just visual, this is a bad shortcut to make a point.