Change Your Image
ergine
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
I Care a Lot (2020)
Making light of a serious issue
The film starts strong with a theme worth exploring. Soon it takes a turn into being a second rate mafia movie, forgetting all that is important. Making fun of a horrible reality about senior care, the movie tries to be clever, as if to hide the real horror beneath.
Life in a Day 2020 (2021)
A balanced time capsule of 2020
Collecting videos from all over the globe, this YouTube movie is a balanced time capsule of human life in 2020. Keeping the view point with common people instead of directly depicting global events (or going full Koyaanisqatsi) it stays real, life affirming, and entertaining. While simultaneously avoiding being grandiose or cheesy.
A good watch for all of us locked in our rooms, houses, and apartments. Reminding us of the larger world out there.
Bird Box (2018)
Wasted potential
The beginning of Bird Box is gripping. The idea of a visual essence capable of adversely affecting a person's mind is truly frightening. It recalls David Langford's short story BLIT and the concept of the 'basilisk', an image containing patterns that effectively crash the human brain.
The suspense is here, the possibilities are here.
Sadly - and this is the movie's biggest crime - the potential is wasted. The frightful idea is reduced to a monster without substance. And I don't mean physical substance. The monsters need to a have an unconscious meaning for the story to work. And the decision to actually show or not to show them is irrelevant. Mallory's inner struggle to connect with others simply isn't enough to give life to the beings.
Maybe there's some deeper symbolism here that would tie things together, but I can't find it. There are some attempts at substance in the theme of parenthood in a new and hostile environment where the rules have changed. It's precisely the same thing A Quiet Place did, only worse. The only interesting thing is this particular meta-narrative that keeps popping up in contemporary stories.
Ultimately Bird Box boils down to a group of survivors weathering a storm. It explores their relationships instead of the motives and nature of the beings. Many questions are left open, and not in the way an open mystery is used to let the viewer's imagination play a part in the experience.
Why can't the monsters come indoors? They are seemingly unable to cause direct physical harm, so why would anyone run away? Why neuter the threat like this, only to bring other people - the 'crazy ones' - to be the actual physical danger. This reeks of writers trying to patch up the limitations they've created themselves.
And finally, why exactly is the sanctuary a sanctuary? While they cannot be harmed by the beings, how are the blind any match to the crazy ones?
The form of the movie is problematic as well. For one, the movie is too long. The inter-cutting flashbacks quell all suspense. Eventually the movie starts repeating scenes only to underestimate viewers. One quickly loses connection and the emotions no longer come through. The ending falls flat.
It's easy to turn this into a critique of Hollywood movie makers trying not to exclude anyone. The main guideline still seems to be: movies cannot be too smart or too vague or they will alienate potential paying customers. Even Alex Garland's brilliant Annihilation stumbled when forced to explain itself.
Nature's Greatest Dancers (2015)
What's up with the music?
BBC is known for it's high value nature documentaries, but this one really drops the ball. While the visuals are stunning, the use of obtrusive music makes this feel like a joke. The creators have decided to add pop songs, carnival music and goofy tunes on top of the imagery.
The theme of the two-part series is the mating rituals, movement and dancing of different species. I suppose the subject matter of mating still needs to be fed to us via humor in an attempt to avoid awkwardness and embarrassment.
It does not work and feels very cringey. I hope in future versions the music will be changed to give the dignity back to this otherwise fine documentary.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
This movie is a cartoon
If I order a cheese pizza at a restaurant and it somehow tastes like mushrooms and fish, I will be confused.
This movie is a cartoon. Once you choose to throw things like physics out the window, it's all lost for adult audiences. It's just stupid.
Sphere (1998)
Wasted potential, messy thriller
The first 30 minutes create an enticing premise for a great sci-fi story. After that it just becomes a mess with very little logic. It is just a cheap thriller and the potential of the cast is never met.
Even though it tries to be philosophical and psychological with echoes of other id-machine classics, it is sadly void of any real psychological meta-space.
Wedding Band (2012)
All the pieces are there, however...
At first glance Wedding Band seems to have it it all. The concept is great, you even get a few laughs and the cover songs of the band are quite entertaining. But something is missing.
The completion of the characters fall short. While others work, most do not. Brian Austin Green in surprisingly good at comedy, but he lacks the proper sarcastic presence required for his leading perma-bachelor character.
The biggest shortcoming however is comedic timing and delivery. Great jokes are wasted in every other line. The 40 minute running length of each episode seems to be too long for this kind of comedy. Squeeze is down to a fast 25 minutes, hone your timing and you've got a proper show.
The series creators Lobis and Moiselle are still at the beginning of their careers and have yet to find their rhythm. Considering their inexperience this show is more of a hit than a miss.