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Firestarter (2022)
Flat, rushed, no development
How else can I describe flat characters and a rushed plot with no development? The villain, Captain Hollister has no depth, and her motives and energy behind them meant nothing. The amount of times she dropped the F bomb seemed to belie someone in her position. Dr. Wanless, or Kurtwood Smith, is otherwise a great actor, but his lines were nonsensical and the whole interaction between him and captain Hollister was cringeworthy. Rainbird was not explained at all, just some kind of assassin with supernatural powers. Stephen Kings weird, quirky dialog shone through brilliantly with Irv's character. If you've seen other movies adapted from King. You'd know. The whole movie felt like it was rushed-build conflict, inciting incident climax, resolution all seemed to be over in a flash. And Charlie's plot armor was thick, there was nothing that could stop her, but maybe that was the point. Before I knew it we'd reached a pseudo climax that fizzled out. And the movie ended. Total attempt at a cash grab and they couldn't even get that right.
The Last of Us (2023)
The Helpful ratio on the 10/10 reviews tells the real rating
It's clear that this series' rating has been artificially inflated by bots or fake ratings. While I was initially excited by the casting of Ellie, I've been let down because Bella is emotionless and hasn't captured Ellie's character in a way that makes her convincing. Ellie tried to play tough in the game, and in a lot of ways, she was. This was mostly to Joel's dismay, but it is revealed through the story how much Ellie needed him because he was the real survivor, and she was still learning. She tried to rebel against him in the beginning, but as they navigated the post apocalyptic world, she began to respect and learn from him, and each other's presence filled a void in each of them-a daughter for Joel and a parent for Ellie.
Joel, in the beginning didn't want to have to transport her. This seemed to be captured in some ways in the series, but he was cold, walled off and angry in the game. Now he's a pushover, and seems to crumble and falter at the slightest amount of pressure from Ellie in the series. This is taking away from the impact of twenty years of suffering from Joel's perspective. Aside from that the pacing is dreadfully slow, and the "adaptations" that everyone in the higher reviews keep wailing about are not delivering what they should be.
Overall, Pascal was a good choice for Joel, but any purist knows that a younger Josh Brolin is basically Joel. If you want to visit Joel again, watch No Country for Old Men. A younger Mackenzie Foy would have been Ellie spot on, but this is all a fantasy.
For those of you who say go play the game if you are mad about the series, look at the reviews for the first game. The score has dropped since the release of the remastered cash grab versions, but they were much higher and are still relatively high and realistic. It's clear, based on part two and this series, that Naughty Dog only knows how to write agenda based, polarizing material now, and as I stated in the title, the helpful ratings, translated to the actual rating, would put this at a mid to high 6, which is where the rating of this series should be. The series is failing to capture the magic that of part one.
Look Away (2018)
Awesome premise, poorly executed.
I think the direction of this movie could have gone two different ways. I say this because the director didn't make it clear.
Either this movie is a shallow look into split personalities, or it's a shallow look into the supernatural.
The first half of the movie is incredible. I was completely sucked in by India Eisley's performance. So much so, that I've watched the first half of the movie a couple more times just to at least get a better understanding of what the director intended to convey as it's not clear.
I think this is a look into split personalities. India captures the sullen, withdrawn teenager with a dismal self image perfectly. What now seems even more clever is that the director probably chose India because of how pretty she is, as he wanted the character to have natural beauty, but not realize it. This may have been brought on because of her parents, an overbearing father who promotes a toxic environment, and an ultra passive mother who seems to share the same disorder with her daughter, but tries her best to manage it.
The inciting incident could be the ultrasound she found, or looked back on, remembering her twin sister was deformed and allowed to die at birth, or did she? Could she be thinking she was the deformed one? Could she bear some kind of unfounded guilt for her deceased sister?
That's the extent of the depth I was able to pull from this movie, because the rest of the film was squandered into a weak teenager movie. The second half completely pulled me out of the story. The nudity was unnecessary, not targeting the right audience, especially because the character is supposed to be seventeen which was uncomfortable to watch, and the violence seemed way over the top and unbelievable, seeming like acts of narcissism, but then again, if you have a mental break and there's no one to help/stop you, the violence might seem senseless anyway.
I summary It's a shame to have such a strong premise/good acting and waste it with poor execution.
Run Hide Fight (2020)
When a young woman with the means has had enough.
Overall, an excellent debut film, to hell with politics. This movie starring Thomas Jane and Isabel May tells a tale of a father and daughter who recently experienced a loss and how they deal with it, and then Zoe, a seventeen year old who has put herself in a box to protect herself from more trauma is faced with a choice: Run, Hide or Fight.
This movie takes all the victimhood out of a dangerous and very sensitive issue and asks the question. What if? What if a girl, raised by a strong, supportive father and a loving mother decides to help people in a deadly situation. This movie received harsh criticism from many critics, but their political bias smells terrible. These same people were perfectly fine with movies depicting things a hundred times worse. This movie is good, and you leave feeling not so helpless. Isn't that how we all want to feel?
Zoe was incredible. Isabel portrayed her so well, her facial expressions, her snarls, etc. were excellent, depicting the embodiment of rage. Thomas Jane was great as well.
I did have a couple of issues with one scene that felt out of character, making Zoe seem inhuman and unhinged, but what movie is without missteps? The end, where Zoe's dad did a little something to help her, it seemed a little over the top. This is an action flick, though, so over the top should be expected. I did appreciate how things transpired afterward where he immediately turned himself in. That brought things back to reality.
I'll Take Your Dead (2018)
Disappointed with the ending
It was obvious from the start that the ending was not going to be a happy one and it didn't let me down.
I am a huge fan of a father daughter story, probably because I lost my wife a little over a year ago to leukemia and have a six year old girl myself. So, with that said, maybe this is a little too personal for me.
Ava Preston did a terrific job, her role was morbid but later evolved into the tropish teenage girl which was disappointing. The fact that William dies because he is trying to save the life of someone he doesn't know, and in turn Jackie, whose relationship with Gloria consists of brief bonding over their period left me heart broken. Jackie was totally unworthy. William should not have died for her, and perhaps that is what makes this story good in that nothing ever works out the way you would hope.
I suppose it would have been total pandering to the audience to have William survive and he drives off into the sunset with his daughter, but I guess with my surprising personal connection to events in this story I wanted it even more.
Equals (2015)
Overused premise, but it has something else going on below the surface
This movie feels like a blend of Equilibrium and Gattaca, to me. Equilibrium, because this is a dystopian society where it's wrong to feel emotions, and the world and wardrobe have the feel of Gattaca. Not much happens in this movie, and the pacing is slow. I know this sounds bad, and it would have been if not for the stellar chemistry between Kristen Stewart (Nia) and Nicholas Hoult (Silas).
This was the only redeeming aspect of the movie for me, and I think their chemistry may have been the entire point. By the end I was so vested in their relationship, I could feel the desire when they would look at each other and couldn't act on it, and feel their pain when they were apart.
The thought of being an adult and never knowing love. It's hard to imagine, but they captured it, and when they began to experience these feelings and sneak off to be together, watching them slowly touch, kiss... I don't recall them speaking much, but it was so beautiful I couldn't look away. The camera angles were great, visualizing fingertips, heaving breaths, zoomed in tight, at all the right angles. While sexual in away, their interactions were still innocent, childlike. It tapped into memories of my first experiences as a teen with my high school sweetheart, and how thrilling it was at the time. There is an interesting twist at the end, and if the movie resonates with you the way it did me, you will totally get it, and it will both break and warm your heart. Six stars for being an overused premise, but if you are into this kind of movie it's well worth the watch.
Inner Demons (2014)
A demon possession movie with it's own share of good and bad.
I don't like the movies that simulate the "handheld" cinematography, I've walked out of many theaters for that reason, they give me motion sickness. This movie's "handheld" feel was beautifully executed. It showed some motion and some scenes were shot in "selfie mode", but it wasn't that bad. Anyway, there are two types of movie that creeps me out. The ones that mess with my head, and the others that give me the "being chased/something in the dark" willys. This movie gave me tons of the latter. I love horror flicks, and I've watched so many movies about possession, and this movie knocked Deliver us From Evil out of it's number one spot for me. A few scenes had me laughing giddily because I was a bit freaked out. Lara V. (Carson) had a split personality throughout. She could be sweet and timid, but she always had this menacing look about her, and when she switched, sometimes it was overdone, but it didn't bother me. Great twist at the end, too.
Now,the bad. The acting in spots was terrible, the plot is contrived and worn out, and one spot where Carson's friend plays a video for the male lead, it was so over the top... Well, you'll see what I mean. Then again, there are cult movies out there that are so ridiculous, it makes this movie look true to life. Either way, it's definitely not a 10 but it's great for a cheap thrill, as long as you can look past it's flaws.
Bokeh (2017)
The story of how two individuals cope at the height of an existential crisis.
Bokeh: the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Or, lens flare.
What did I just watch? Okay, there were some redeeming qualities, which is why I gave it four stars. First, Maika Monroe (Jenai) is as stunning as ever. She is simple and charming with her wild, unkempt hair and expressions that told more of a story than this movie did in ninety minutes. Her counterpart did a good job as well, but was unremarkable.
The movie was visually gorgeous and so, along with Maika, became the focal point of the story, so much so, that the movie seemed more like a commercial to entice people to visit Iceland than anything else.
Anyway, not much to the plot. You could pick out some hidden meanings, and it makes you ask many questions about how you would handle such a situation. I can't say this movie is a must watch, or even one that you should watch if you pull it out of the $5 bin at Wally World, unless you like movies that ramble on for a while and ends with an abrupt disappointment. Yes, be prepared for that as well, because the ending, while predictable, is mind numbingly stupid. It doesn't help that by the time the end comes around (You kinda lose track of time because you spend the entire movie waiting for something to happen), you are "wondering what the heck did I just watch?" because really, even though there are emotional scenes, the focus is on the landscape and Jenai's struggle, not her relationship with Riley. You follow these characters for a long time but when the end comes around you still know nothing about them, nor do you care, really.
Overall, my major issue is that the movie should have focused more on J and R's relationship, which comes off as cute and loving at first, but the moment people disappear, "OH NOES!" look out! it's time for Jenai (thought of Forest Gump) to get hostile and broody for the remainder of her screen time. Their relationship is kinda important. In this world, they are all they have left. Okay, really important. Making Jenai grow bitter felt like a cheap way to stir up conflict in a film that had very little. I agree, no one person will act exactly the way another would, BUT, if you have a good relationship the way they seemed to have, I see nothing negative about being left behind in a world with one other person, especially someone you love and trust. I see nothing stereotypical about that, and conflict could have been derived from much more useful parts of the plot.
Based on the title, it makes me think of the phrase "finding beauty in imperfection", and maybe that's the point of this movie: two people, left alone in a big empty world. You can either look at it as a prison, or heaven. I could also just be thinking way too far into a movie that tried to hard to be artsy.
Sky (2015)
Daryl Dixon's side project?
Daryl fans everywhere, be prepared to hate me.
We can officially say, Norman Reedus has lost his identity and has personified Daryl Dixon. DD has taken over, they are now inseparable. I will give this film credit for its artistic quality and beautiful setting, but the plot was boring and characters were way too cliché and predictable.
First and most importantly, Daryl... I mean Diego, is a scruffy d-bag loner who lives in the high desert, never seems to shower and uses a gun, only he's not a good shot. He might have just walked off the TWD set, hopped on a plane and shot this movie, he even kept his greasy emo hair and used the same wardrobe. His character is DD the whole way. I was surprised that his brother in this movie wasn't named Mel, or something close.
The plot "gave away the farm" too soon. Romi found out that her husband wasn't dead 1/3 of the way into the film, right when I was beginning to really feel the terror and bleakness of life on the run. Daryl/Diego could have still swooped in and they could have had their little fling all while hiding out, would have done wonders for the plot and would have affected little else. Afterward, I lost all sympathy for her, nor did I think her character empowered women to be free, rather the opposite. She was just bumbling around trying to find a bad boy to nail her. Mission accomplished.
The medicine woman... a sweet old native American lady that names Romi "Sky" and tells her that she is going to produce baby Dixon, despite losing several babies in the past. She was so stereotypical, it almost seemed like a slap in the face to Native Americans everywhere. At least they didn't make her a drunk.
The only compelling, unique acting was that of Lena Dunham. And I can't believe I'm saying it, because I can't stand her. She played the role of trailer trash so well, you would think they pulled some lady out of lot 7 in the same park and told her to play this role, it was that good.
Anyway, whatever. I had to leave a review because this movie was so ridiculous, when The BIG ending happened, (I won't spoil it, even though I know you won't care) I was laughing, not crying like intended.
Either way, Daryl fans, enjoy some more Daryl, I mean Diego!