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Out of Darkness (2022)
Punches above its weight despite flaws
The premise and plot summary piqued my interest. Prehistoric people looking for a new home, a safe land, find themselves hunted by an unknown threat that is familiar with the environment, intelligent and physically superior.
The acting is all-round great. Given the scenario, few characters and simple plot, I felt all cast members did a great job of convincing me of their roles and the story.
Any special effects are so well hidden, I honestly think most of it is practical, done in-camera, and very well executed. Sometimes blood, either painted or added with CGI, is too red for the lighting conditions and that's a shame.
Production, direction and writing is good too. The story maintains a pace that keeps you alert. Very few predictable outcomes. Some very creative camerawork, some of it is very inventive, despite being something only other cinematographers might notice.
My biggest issue is with the made-up language. I know we can't expect early humans to speak English, but subtitles are in my opinion only acceptable when actually needed, like if the movie was done in a modern language I don't speak. They could just as well have spoken English, and the viewer would quickly accept that it's for the sake of story, acting and dialogue. Instead I find myself reading subtitles and missing out on the subtleties of language, acting and action, because my eyes are in the wrong place. It's an unnecessary distraction from the actual film.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2023)
Glad I'm not hung up on the books
I never read the books, so I get to enjoy the show for what it is, and it's not half bad.
I recall watching the attempted movie, and I recall it wasn't worth a rewatch. This show at least left me looking forward to the next episode.
I know it's not like the books, and I recognize how a book may have parts that mean a lot to you as an individual, parts that never get included in the movie or show, parts tha might have added more depth to plot or characters. But honestly if the screen adaptation works without these parts, it's important to see it a version which has the goal of delivering within its own medium.
The FX are decent, the actors are great, especially the children do better than expected.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)
Just doesn't work
I'm late to the party, I know. But After stumbling across it in my streaming service a couple of days ago, I was reminded just how little I ever want to watch it again, or any more.
I'm not going to go hardcore comic fan and complain about how it's not like the comic, I'm not going to be that guy who has issues with empowered women either.
My issue is simply that the show, in its attempt to do something different, totally destroys the viewer's suspension of disbelief over and over by breaking the 4th wall, while telling any story it feels like without any consideration, respect or connectivity to the fabric of the established MCU.
It does whatever it wants and it's written like it too. Nothing in the plot has to make sense or be aware of what it does to the characters. It's all just being written by writers and they can just change it mid-episode (haha), no consequences for plot holes and no character is ever in any real danger.
And that is what makes it hard to care about our heroes and heroines.
The War of the Worlds (2019)
Picked me up and threw me down
Sadly, this is only worth a casual watch. On one hand it's only for those of you who love the original story, and on the other hand it's just a stab in the back for this of us who love the original story.
My first experience of WTOW was the Jeff Wayne Musical version. I've since read the book, watched the 1953 movie, the anime, Spielberg's unimaginative big-budget adaptation, and finally I thought, somebody was making it the way I, and of course H. G. Wells, always envisioned it.
But No. What the f... is this? Such a good and promising start, then somehow meanders into a complete and utter load of waffle in just 3 episodes. I seriously spent time searching for the episodes I must have missed, or the episodes that weren't out yet, but no, that was it.
So far the 1953 movie is the best version. And that's just atrocious because they had to change the story so much. They couldn't build 3-legged walking machines, and they needed to mix in cold-war atomic age all-American tropes to make it work. It's actually a good movie, but it's so far from H. G. Wells that by now, someone should have figured out that the story needs to be told faithfully. It has amazing sci-fi-horror potential as it is. Done right it, would be a winner.
War of the Worlds: The Attack (2023)
A decent modern take on the original source material
I've been a fan of this story since I was a child, and though most attempts to bring it to the "big" screen have fallen short, this low budget incarnation actually seems to be the best modern take on the old Victorian era tale. Yes, it's better aligned to the original H. G. Welles script than anything ever attempted, and for that I feel it deserves some respect. Even the BBC version from a couple fo years back had to go off on some weird, post-apocalyptic tangent, and become an unresolved mess, despite coming so close to doing the story justice in terms of budget. And to this day, I can't understand why Spielberg made changes to the Martian arrival like he did.
The special effects could be better, but without seeing the budget, based on the movie as a whole, I can tell that it's well done for the money. The acting isn't top level from everyone, but decent enough to watch, and the lead cast does a very respectable job. It also didn't take long to spot the bad story pacing. Some critics say it's slow-paced and boring, but that's not really the issue, it's a failure to prioritise the most interesting parts in editing. The story actually follows the original chapters very faithfully, albeit some practical changes.
It's important to see this story from the perspective of humans that don't have inside knowledge (unlike the 1953 version). They're just caught in the middle of this event and have to survive in media blackout (Like Spielberg's version). It also makes the few action sequences far more riveting when we have to deal with character-driven motivations and struggles, instead of a block-by-block special effects and action movie.
Give it a chance, lower your expectations, but most importantly get to know he original story before you criticize this portrayal of what makes WotW such an amazing tale. This is basically not as interesting as the 1953 version, not as entertaining as Spielberg's, but for the budget... it's just a pretty darn good attempt, and the most true to the source material.
Star Wars: Visions: In the Stars (2023)
So close to being amazing
It's conceptually stunning, and every shot is well lit, colored and set up. The story is pretty simple, but it's a good adventure none the less and fits well into the SW universe. What lets this episode down is the skipped frames in the stop-motion animation. It's just too jerky, and I found it distracting. At first I seriously thought there might be an issue with my hardware or bandwidth that was causing skipped frames. I knew it was stop-motion but I thought there's no way this is so intentionally stuttery. Unfortunately, it is. If they'd at least doubled the frames where there was a lot of action or movement it might have saved it.
Supercell (2023)
Many good ingredients, but a mediocre result
All the actors range from decent to great. The plot is really simple, nothing too deep or unexpected. The soundtrack was actually amazing, possibly the best thing about the whole movie - the composer goes above and beyond what this move deserves! I'm keeping an eye on Corey Wallace, he's going to do great things I reckon.
I was constantly annoyed by the awful compositing work, as they tried to add in dramatic skies and storms to many shots, and failed to do good edge-masking or color correction. I work with video myself, so I know it can't have been easy to deliver this any better on this budget. I suspect the blame lies with the director and cinematographer, who thought they knew what they were doing, that they could pull this off without bluescreens, better lighting and a VFX expert on set.
Yes it was worth watching, but the action only gets intense for a few short minutes in total. It's unavoidable that this movie will be compared to "Twister" and it just comes nowhere near the same caliber of drama and intensity.
Beerfest (2006)
If you don't love Beerfest, you have not lived.
Look, I'm fully aware that this is an immature orgie of bad inside jokes and... immature jokes. Yes, it's a celebration of alcohol abuse. But goddammit it's as beautiful as your first taste of that beer that you -to this day- still hold in the highest regard possible.
But FFS (I have to use the abbreviation) it's a beautiful story of brotherly love, friendship, family and honor. In that order. My old Metal band Hefty Menneske held this movie in the highest regards, despite out individual differences, it spoke to s all. If you have ever felt the friendship and the devotion that comes with 100% conviction to a purpose in beer-soaked reality... this movie will not just speak to you... IT WILL SING TO YOU! AND IT WILL ROCK YOUR BALLS.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Elysian Kingdom (2022)
Typical example of what bugs me most about Trek
I'm by no means a hardcore trekkie. I love the movies though. As a boy growing up in the 80s the original series was often too weird for me. It didn't measure up to more current Sci-Fi shows like Battlestar Galactica. When Next Generation came around, it became clear to me that what bugs me most about Trek as a whole is those "scentient nebulas" "living gas clouds" and "omnipotent beings" that get thrown in the mix as an excuse to divert from the suspension of disbelief. Originally those episodes reused sets and costumes from other shows to save money. This episode actually goes and nods to those most terribly written episodes, and while I can allow the writers to have some fun, it totally ruins the up-to-date modern and serious feel of the new with a quirky and silly episode like this. I hope this isn't something they'll do more of.
American Werewolves (2022)
Compelling witness testimonies
I don't really believe in most paranormal/cryptid/alien stuff, but I've always been fascinated with that feeling of dread or that chill running down your back when something triggers the internal primal fear. A few of the witnesses in this documentary have such detailed stories told in such a vivid and convincing way, that you can't help wondering. I think that's why this brand of documentary has so much potential, it's like a horror movie but you don't have that safety net of knowing it's fiction. The doc is cut together in an 80s themes with oldschool SciFi fonts and synth music, very "now" in the vein of Stranger Things. But it works. It's even made in 4:3 (or maybe 5:4) ratio rather than 16:9 to give that 80s TV feel. Maybe that's a stylistic choice I think it could have avoided as almost half my TV real estate is not being used when I watch. Short version: very effective documentary, well edited, good choices in witness testimonies, maybe a bit long. Definitely worth a watch if you're the kind of skeptic who leans towards "maybe".
Resident Alien (2021)
Overall fantastically funny and entertaining
Tudyk carries this show! The supporting cast is good too, but is it just me or is season 2 over-developing the peripheral characters and neglecting the core story?
MacGruber (2021)
So immature and stupid you'll either laugh or turn it off
You will either love or hate MacGruber. Imagine all the best and worst insults from your childhood, all the most outrageous unbelievable lies you and your friends made up to impress each other or make excuses. Now imagine grown man using this as part of his repetoire.
I think you have to be a certain person to like this. I admit I normally like my humor either totally random and dark or in the form of intelligent satire. But sometimes there's this place in the middle where grown people can act like children, where the lines are so badly written - on purpose, where the level of stupidity is just ingenious, where you cringe and giggle all at once. Mc Gruber does this for me much like Team America did. I won't promise you like it, but I will promise you are missing out if you would, but didn't give it a shot.
Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2021)
Not worthy to carry the Blade Runner name
I really don't get it. Why would the owner fo the Blade Runner brand allow this to be made and released?
Visually ... yeah they got the sets and props right, I'll give them points for studying up on the vehicles, architecture and item design. But...
The look is so cheap and plastic. The rendering and animation looks like a cut-scene form a video game from 15-20 years ago. It's lacking in dirt, grit, dust, rust, stains, shadows, neon-glare and effort. All the characters have skin like barbie dolls, their facial expressions are an afterthought and the visual style overall is really really disappointing. Characters can't even stand still let alone walk without looking like mannequin stick-figures, rotating at the joints like bad stop-motion dolls.
The story itself brings very little new information or plot to the gap between BR and BR2049, it's predictable, redundant and superficial.
I'm not a BR purist, I like all the different cuts and I actually think 2049 is a perfect sequel. I was really looking forward to more depth and dimension to the world of BR but Black Lotus brings nothing to the table.
A brand like Blade Runner needs gut-wrenching emotion, deep story layers and visual style that breaks new ground. Just take a look at Netflix's "Arcane" for something truly fresh and awe-inspiring. How can a series based on a computer game out-compete one of the greatest names in Science Fiction in visual style, drama and story? Not just barely, but by a huuuge margin?
Tayna pechati drakona (2019)
So bad it's almost "so bad it's good" but it's sadly not.
Somehow, it was entertaining enough to watch to the end. Maybe I just turned off my brain after 5 minutes. It's a really really, really really... really bad movie. Maybe I was like a deer caught in the headlights, shocked at what i was seeing, frozen in shock, confused by utter disbelief,, unable to look away or turn it off.
A plot that unfolds so randomly it utterly fails to maintain the suspension of disbelief, even when you're normally ready to absorb fantasy movies? Big check.
Over-acting from literally everyone including those who can actually act? Check.
Green-screen CGI that's so badly color-composited it wouldn't even help to make it black and white? Check.
English-speaking actors who have to dub their ridiculously written lines -badly- in English? All the way through? Check... And what? Why? Don't they have microphones on set!? I can understand all the Russian and Chinese actors might need it, but come on!
It's proof that throwing half your budget at 2 oldschool big-name action heroes and the rest at CGI nad fight choreography cannot save a movie with no foundation to stand on.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
A little childish, but fantastic fight choreography
For some reason this feels more like a children's adventure movie than a Marvel superhero movie. I'm not saying the MCU movies haven't been playing on the safe side of the fence before, but this doesn't feel as serious or intense. I didn't get as emotionally involved with the characters or as fearful of the stakes, as I have in other Marvel films.
I watch a good deal of martial arts flicks too, and I have to say the fight-choreography and editing is top notch, good work by stunt and fight coordinators all round.
Wrath of Man (2021)
How a rewrite/edit could have saved this
This story structure is all over the place, and it abysmally fails the movie. It feels a lot like an attempt to make HEAT without following the same template. It would have been great if they glued it together differently. After only watching it once I can fix it with a triple-twist.
1) Show the ex-army team assembling and prepping for their first job. You get to know the gang, their motives, feelings, you get to understand and empathize with them.
2) Job goes wrong. One of the gang is a psycho, war trauma or something. Kills 2 guards, a kid, some random dude whose face we don't even get to see.
3) Cut to funeral for guards. They talk about what happened. They have to man up and get new recruits. Our protagonist shows up at job interview. Gets hired. We see the guards bond and get to know their characters, empathize with their lives and jobs and challenges. Get a few suspect characters to throw us off he scent.
4) Second robbery happens. We learn this new guy is a badass as he totally defeats the heist. We get to know the guards more as he becomes cemented as a great guy in the company.
5) Third robbery happens. For some reason the robbers abandon the hit. This is a different gang. We follow them for a while. We never get to see their boss, but they talk about his orders, what he wants, but not why. We get some back story about their past -the whole "find out who did it" search without knowing what they were trying to find. We keep thinking it's about 2 heist gangs against each other.
7) Story unfolds from there. We don't learn our lead protagonist 1) leader of the new gang 2) random victim and father of the kid 3) the new guard - until the very end.
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
I'll give it points for drama and acting.
I'll give it points for drama and acting, but this film has to be the most boring thing I've ever willingly spent my life on. No. Wait. My GF wanted to watch it, so it wasn't really willing either, more of a go-along-with-it-for-her-sake thing. I mean fantastic actors, don't get me wrong. Great dialogue. Utterly without direction or closure though. And to top it off we both sat there at the end looking at each other with this "WTF did we just watch" look on our faces.
Evolution 4K (2018)
Looks great but sounds awful
This nature film is full of information, and the wealth of knowledge being supplied in in combination with the great imagery is all that saves it.
The music is so annoyingly bad that it acts as a constant distraction, I cannot put it any other way than it sounds amateurish. The narrator sounds mediocre. He speaks clearly and annunciated, but his voice is just not interesting. When choosing a voice that your viewers must listen to for 45 minutes, you should find a great, captivating voice talent. Perhaps the enormous amount of narration required to include so much information resulted in a very long script, but that could have been dialled back with better writing, allowing for a more relaxed pace.
The Jesus Rolls (2019)
In defense of this movie
I threw all expectations out of the window, and can honestly say enjoyed it because I chose to do that first. This film is getting a harsh treatment for not meeting misplaced expectations. I won't be the first to tell you that it's not a sequel to The Big Lebowski, it doesn't try to be, it doesn't want to be. So stop that thought. Right now.
The film is an exploration of what happened to Jesus Quintana many years after the events of TBL. That is all. He was an interesting character, he played his memorable but limited part in TBL, but here it's about him, his new friends, and the people they meet.
The movie simply reuses the character's name and personality in a completely different setting and time. And why not reuse him? He had so much personality, and worked so well in TBL despite his limited screentime, because he was so well-developed by Turturro and the Coens off-screen.
What you can expect is a fun, seemingly random series of events that range from light entertainment to heavy issues. It's a bit of an emotional rollercoaster that will eventually run off the rails, and we are left to imagine what the end might look like. The very lack of closure in this tale is probably disappointing to many, but to me it's left me thinking a lot about the movie in the days after.
Bushwick (2017)
Pretty sure I managed to tell you why I'm disappointed without spoilers.
I decided to go for this movie because I love seeing great results with limited budgets. Bautista is underrated as an actor, and the combination of unique shooting style and a story that makes you wonder if it could really happen, intrigued me. Plus, being an Aesop Rock fan, I just had to see how his soundtrack was used.
I really, really loved the movie, right up to the last few minutes, where the writing lets the audience down twice in a row. Watch it and you'll see what I mean when I say this: You'll have your hopes dashed, then you'll hope it was worth it, then your hopes get flushed down the toilet. Without spoilers I can say this movie ends in what must be the laziest type of storytelling ever. I stress that this next sentence is NOT what happens, but it's pretty much the equivalent of being deeply absorbed into a 90-minute cliff-hanger of a tale, only to have your main character wake up from a dream and go off to his job stamping books at the library.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
Yet another X-men movie nobody wanted or needed
Until the X-men return to Marvel's MCU, they will be stuck in limbo. It's the same tired plot of humans being scared of mutants, mutants being scared of humans, throw in some threat to the world and away we go on another trip around the same rollercoaster. Which is odd, since the X-men are actually pretty deep characters with great backstories, and there are enough of them to tell great tales that could carry many movies. For the most part everyone acted very well, Sophie Turner was as wooden as usual, sorry. One thing I did notice was an absolutely stellar score by Hans Zimmer, that totally outperformed the movie itself.
Chernobyl (2019)
So many thousands of lives lives cut short for the sake of millions
This series makes me realise how lucky we all are that a handful of people were willing to carry the burden of terrible actions. It hurts your pride. It makes you feel guilty. It opens your eyes.
The story is the many lives lost for the sake of millions. An otherwise untold story, buried in cold war pride and censorship. Of lives given freely or taken with lies, so half of Europe is still a place we can live in.
The acting is rock solid. Script, timing and delivery of lines can make you laugh when you shouldn't. The mood and setting is spot on. The effects are limited to all that is required, The script makes incredible drama out of something that must have been exhausting reality. It's possibly the most difficult thing I have ever watched, and it rewards for the effort made to see it through.
I was 10 years old and living in England when it happened, I remember drinking UHT milk for a year because of the risk of radioactive dust on the fields. Living in the cold war era, with the threat of nuclear war ever present, Chernobyl almost felt like the end of the world was coming. I never knew how close it actually came.
Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019)
Maybe I just don't get it
If You have nothing good to say then don't say anything. Sure... I'm in my 40's so what can I expect from this? Effort. i can expect more effort.
Eastman and Laird's Turtles have true grit, Batman has too. This was the Nickelodeon diet-Pepsi version of a potentially jaw-breaking, dark, rainy, noir-manga style team-up.
I can enjoy the early Harry Potter movies. I still love the Batman movies of my youth because I still notice across the genius of Burton's vision and execution. I can find joy and entertainment in many children's movies I watch with my 6-year old. But this... is yet another DC comic movie with sub-par characer design and cheap asian animation. Not the cool, aesthetic, creative and efficient use of frames like anime, nope, just cheap. Limited scope and vision. Childish dialogue limited to what children can follow with no extra layer adults can enjoy. Scooby-Doo level humor and plot.
It is quite possibly the last time I watch a DC animated movie. I said the same thing when I watched the last Justice League animated movie, but then Batman Ninja utterly blew my socks off. This is NOTHING near the quality of that. This is sad. This is a depressing attempt at anything.
The worst part is that I think some hard work was put into this in an attempt to satisfy some kind of rating and studio exec balance, resulting in a tasteless rubbery vegan hotdog.
The Recall (2017)
Has no destination
It looks like both writer and director followed some basic principles of storytelling and character development that they didn't fully understand how to use.
Our main characters have brief and utterly irrelevant back-stories that only serve to make the viewer tell them apart.
The story has no beginning and no end. I'm not talking about "starts here and ends 90 minutes later", I'm taking about origin and destination. We're left neither knowing or caring what happens next.
Snipes fits his role well, but is as usual just as you'd expect him. Himself. And we have no idea what he's actually up to, even less at the end. And not is a good "gets you thinking" way, but a "huh?" way.
It also tries to go places we've seen in movies like Hellraiser, Event Horizon and Fire In The Sky, but it's pretty useless and gets in the way, taking needed time away from telling a story that needs to be more conclusive.
Ill Manors (2012)
One of the most difficult things I've ever watched. In a good way.
This is a gut-wrenching, terrifying, exciting, horrible, tear-jerking, angst-ridden and all in all amazing journey into the seedy, but not wealthy underworld of London. Into the "broken Britain" that is imagined but rarely ever seen.People getting by on crime because they have nothing else.
To be honest you may get confused and think it's a gangster flick, an action flick, a thriller. But it's truly a drama with those elements thrown in. It won't disappoint. Everyone's everywhere between a decent to an excellent actor. The story has many twists, turns and crossed signals. Very well written, cut, filmed and directed.
It may appeal more to someone who's got a connection to London, I do, but I don't know if that's got anything to do with it, but it's already a favorite of mine.