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Nope (2022)
Unsettling without the payoff
The movie did a fantastic job of making the viewer uncomfortable. However, our characters nor the audience ever got a chance to work through the visceral imagery on the screen. One of the strongest features of the movie is how real and human each of the characters come across. Yet the writing doesn't do anything to explore what the characters feel.
For example, Jupiter lives through the traumatic event of Gordy the chimp killing 2 of his coworkers and mauling another. But we never actually see how it effects Jupiters life. Because of this, those scenes (with Gordy) only serve to shock the viewer and make them feel uncomfortable. Sure, you can relate it showing the viewer animals have to be respected Etc just like with the space entity. But that easily could have been shown by Flashbacks with OJ and his father training horses.
This should have been split into two movies: One about Jupiter and the aftermath of Living through the Gordy incident. And one about OJ & his family dealing with the extraterrestrial force in the sky.
Cinematography was wonderful, acting superb. But because of the bleak nature of the film and lack of exploring what it actually means for the characters and their lives, I am unlikely to watch this again.
The Wheel of Time (2021)
A Poor Turning of the Wheel
I'm a huge WOT fan, I was so excited for this release, and I enjoy The Hobbit movies; so I can live with deviations from source material provided there is a reason and they are enjoyable to watch. All that to say, I wasn't hating on this show from the beginning and setting myself up for failure. I desperately wanted the show to succeed.
Having now finished season 1, I am so utterly disappointed. The show continually cut source material (that was interesting and provocative and entertaining) to instead replace it with original content that was less interesting and didn't serve to further characters or plot points. Good storylines from the book were replaced with mediocre plots and with no payoff. Characters that were strong in the books were made weak, moments that were awe inspiring displays of power were glossed over, and the rules set in place by the shows script were often broken or forgotten by the end.
The saving grace of the show for me was the actors, I loved almost every single casting choice (bar Thom, for me he wasn't the best fit but I also didn't hate him), but even as much as I enjoyed who they chose, the writing didn't do them any favors and it wasn't enough to carry the show.
After watching S1E8, I currently won't be watching season 2. I'll just keep re-reading the books and maybe the wheel can turn another time before I'm done on this earth and we can see a proper adaptation.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)
Over Acted
I made it a little over halfway through the movie but that was about all I could stand. I'm not usually into found footage, snuff heavy movies, but I do like mockumentaries and documentaries (particularly for crime) so I thought i would give this a chance. Most of the snuff aspect is grainy and poor quality so it didn't feel overly graphic, but that also made it difficult to watch since it was often hard to tell what was going on. Because of this you are left to rely on the interviews of detectives, family members etc to really focus your intention on. However, the performance of the actors is too unrealistic and over acted, taking you out of the crafted world and really leaving nothing of value for the mockumentary as a whole.
The detectives, police officers, FBI agents etc often talk about the killer with a since of respect, awe, and impressed vibe, instead of the disgust and anger or even detachment you would actually see in real life. Some of the lines are also extremely unrealistic such as when a police officer was talking about how a victim had his entrails removed by the serial killers says they were "strewn around like Christmas lights"... excuse me?
The elements of this movie don't combine well enough to make it worth watching, maybe if the script and acting were better it would carry the story.
Freaks (2018)
Script Let Me Down
At first I really enjoyed the movie. They don't explain anything upfront and so you're left to try and figure out if the Dad is actually trying to protect his daughter, is she even his actual daughter, had the dad lied about the world outside, or are people actually trying to kill him Etc. But once the world falls into place it quickly turns into a chore to finish the movie. The father is probably the only character who feels like an actual human being. The grandfather starts out creepy which is understandable (since we don't know if we can trust him or not) but then he never changes, he gives of this dirty vibe for the entire movie. The daughter comes off as bratty and annoying, constantly yelling, not listening to her father etc. you would think a girl who was raised to believe people would kill her if she stepped outside wouldn't leave the house over something as simple as ICE CREAM. And the mom at the end lets the daughter save her, instead of the other way around.
There are a lot of plot holes, the characters could have used their powers to get away multiple times and then safely saved the mom. The daughter has inherent knowledge on how to kill people and doesn't seem to care? Overall the movie wasn't terrible but it left me unsatisfied, which is a shame because the actors did a great job.
Game of Thrones: The Bells (2019)
Did M Night Shyamalan direct this?
The visuals were phenomenal and left me feeling like a citizen of King's Landing inhaling dragon ash, or a soldier watching my comrades bleed out beside. And that was the ONLY thing this episode had going for it!
Every single main character (with the exception of Tyrion and Greyworm) felt like a completely different person; Cersei didn't have a contingency plan, Dany forgets what compassion is, Arya loses her composure and her desire for revenge. I spent years watching these characters being shaped to become who they are... and in this episode it's like none of it ever happened. If you told me that someone who had only seen 3 episodes of Game of Thrones was hired to write "The Bells" I would believe you.
This episode was disappointing as a fan, and felt like a "plot twist" that no one asked for and that didn't make any sense.