mholton28_ Reviews

Smiley Face Killers (2020)

Actors unchallenged by lazy writing, barely make their way through a movie that could have been edited in half.

[4/10 · 12 December 2020]

I really wanted to like this movie. Witn a description like "about a handsome young soccer player," I understood it was going to be a vehicle to present a half to fully naked Ronen Rubinstein. Got it, no problem, but you can do that and have an engaging storyline. This one forgot that part.

Two of my writing pet peeves were repeatedly exercised throughout this movie. The first, dialog that wanders around and takes 7 or 8 lines of exposition, when a good edit and trust in the actors could have got you there in 2 or 3. Show me someone is depressed, not have three characters tell him he's depressed. The second is when a character reflects back on some really important, life impacting thing that happened in the past, and then goes on to tell the impacted character about it. Generic example: "Remember when your arm fell off that time? You were so scared and in pain. There was blood everywhere, and we had to go to the hospital and have it stitched back on." Pretty sure they'd remember all that, and it's kinda rude to spell out the pain to a friend like that. Again, needed another edit.

Most of the rest was pretty cliche. Bloody gore for bloody gore's sake. Ended exactly the way I thought it would. And to all the gods in B movie heaven, a white panel van? Really?

Actors unchallenged by lazy writing, barely make their way through a movie that could have been edited in half, but doing it on a low budget, brings me to a 4.

Blood Vessel (2019)

Relatively good acting, a good attempt at a character developing script, and a satisfying ending - Just overlook the Halloween masks

[6/10 · 5 December 2020]

You have to be able to overlook the improbability of the situation: a nice diverse selection of veterans all on one raft that made it out of a Nazi attack, rode along for some period of time on a glass pane ocean, and found a boat that somehow grows and shrinks as we cut from scene to scene, which just happens to have the cargo that it does. But given what that cargo is, this isn't reality anyway, so go with it.

With this little bit of reality denial, I think this turns out to be a relatively solid psychological thriller. This isn't a horror - the main villain comes off as too campy, too low budget (actually pulling away from Mya, which was a much better presentation.) Thinking about the attempt to develop the characters and backstories as I watched, there were a few points of pleasing character tension that I could hold on to.

Overall, with relatively good acting, a good attempt at s character developing script, and a satisfying ending, I can overlook the Halloween masks and get to a 6.

The Undoing (2020)

Watch the first 5 episodes, then fill in #6 with your imagination - how you pretend it should end is probably better

[5/10 · 3 December 2020]

The team at HBO is getting more efficient - where it took 8 seasons of GOT, they were able to disappoint me with a weak ending after only 6 episodes here. I spent several weeks patiently waiting for the next episode - hanging, fingers barely gripping the cliff, in anticipation of a story that laid down red herrings and hints with cleverness and finesse. As it ended up, the whole story ended up being a way to tell a tale emphasizing the strength of women. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell Nicole Kidman, so she acted as a medium for a thriller. Yeah, the court room ending is somewhat interesting, with a little twist, but better would have been after finding out that Grace had Lilly hire someone to off Elena because she knew about the affair all along. The guy you've told us all along did it doing it is dull even in a documentary these days. If I had to do it again, I'd watch the first 5 episodes, then fill in #6 with imagination.

Don't Listen (2020)

Above average acting of a well written script using a re-used premise with some good new twists

[8/10 · 1 December 2020]

I enjoyed the journey through this movie, especially the jump scares and the well established ending - clues throughout, but not obvious until the reveal, and then it's "of course."

I think I liked the first part of the movie that seemed to be more around the family dynamics than the later parts where the "villain" is attempted to be "slain," which presents as somewhat predictable. That is mostly washed away with the ending, which artistically rewards us as it mirrors the opening shots.

Above average acting of a well written script using a re-used premise with some good new twists brings me to an 8.

Ghosts of War (2020)

Acting on par, but a few bits of potential re-writes at critical points of a generally satisfying story lingering

[7/10 · 1 December 2020]

I enjoyed the storyline here - well the two or three storylines by the time we were done. Started out as a good mix of ghost and war, and that was good movie, and the conclusion was a good movie as well. Had a little issue with the part in between.

Surprises can be good, but I think you should be able to say "of course that's what's happening" when they do. In this case, there's not anything that I can put my hands on that would have led me to the reveal, so it felt sudden and out of place. (Avoiding spoilers, I think people remember things as they experienced them, not as the monster versions of them.)

I think the biggest specific issue I had was the main character's ability to internalize and process his situation after the reveal, and act with authority and direction after minutes. I didn't see that in the character before, and I know if I was in that situation, I'd still be saying "wtf you sayin?" Pretty big point in the movie, so not insignificant.

With acting on par, but a few bits of potential re-writes at critical points of a generally satisfying story lingering, I get to a 7.

The 2nd (2020)

This movie should have been 10 minutes, tops.

[2/10 · 30 November 2020]

Instead of creating one fake identification to allow the driver to pick up "the asset" from a school with only a handful of people, this movie pulls together a "highly trained team" of 6 to 7 people (that for some reason resembles a United Colors of Benetton ad - one of whom has an accent that changes from Russian to Polish to who knows to maybe none?) to infiltrate the building (again, with a handful of people in it.) This team has global positioning satellite, telephone tracing and electric utility shutdown capabilities, and come in and kill off 5 people right away for no apparent reason (which creates no alarm anywhere from anyone.)

Oh, but lucky us that the one guy in all the world that can defeat them happens to be one of those handful of people (but the "highly trained team" with super super technology capabilities didn't know this), and everyone has guns with unlimited ammunition and there are bombs available so we can have a lot of loud noise and bright lights.

This plan allows the Director of the CIA to go to the Supreme Court Justice's house - not give him a call, no, go to the house - to tell him that he has his daughter and if the Justice doesn't do what the Director wants, "something terrible will happen to her." Which leads to that Justice going to where his daughter is, but not until he finishes the draft of the opinion the Director does not want and files it.

Usually, I am a fan of setting up early in the movie for the eventual payoff, but using a fencing contest to set up a sword fight - because, yeah, we all have 2 swords in our bags (not fencing foils, but full on swords) does not seem quite right.

Boilerplate "Die Hard" hostage movie tactics fill rest of the movie, not really bringing any fresh breath into the genre, and the acting was called-in at best. Ryan Phillippe, between this and that first episode of Big Sky B.S. you're eating away at the goodwill between Cruel Intentions and Shooter you built up with me. (ok, I'll give you the Will and Grace episode, too, and I'm not sure I'm really mad at Big Sky yet, but tell your manager you need better scripts and directors - absolutely would not seek out anything by these ones.)

Rated a 2 to give credit for showing up, putting it out there.

Enola Holmes (2020)

Taking a story we all know and flipping it on its head.

[9/10 · 25 November 2020]

I like when tales we learned as kids are reimaged in a new light (see Wicked) and this is a great example. Good acting against a solid script.

Coco (I) (2017)

Great storyline that ends with a tear in the eye.

[9/10 · 25 November 2020]

This was a nice story with heart and an appreciation for the Mexican traditions.

Knives Out (2019)

A fresh take on the classic whodunnit

[9/10 · 22 November 2020]

Truly enjoyed being led through the investigation and its twists and turns. Great actors presenting a solid dysfunctional family, with some new ideas to frame an traditional Agatha Christie type concept. Appreciated the light comedy throughout to make it a lighter experience than a full on detective flick.