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Babylon (2022)
Waste of time
I had high expectations for this film. A three hour long big budget movie starring Brad Pitt. It must be good or at least a decent movie? Unfortunately, that's not the case here. After I have been struggling to get through the film I wondered, what was this film really about, what was the story, more than a depiction of the decadent 1920's in Hollywood? The main character in the film is Manny a Mexican migrant who ends up in the Hollywood party scene after transporting an elephant to a party in a Hollywood mansion. At the party he meets the wannabe star Nellie. Brad Pitt's character is a director, but his character plays a less prominent role in the plot. Most of the film is devoted to Manny and Nellie. So there isn't much of a story. Things just happen in the film. Someone gets an overdose, some bad guys wants to collect a gambling debt from Nellie, etc. There isn't much story that gives depth to the events that takes place although there is certainly enough time for it. There is also an overuse of shock-value in the film, such as in the beginning when Manny's Mexican partner gets pooped on by the elephant they are transporting or when Nellie is bitten in the neck by a rattle snake that doesn't want to let go. There is also an overuse of curse words, particularly the "f word", which I wonder if it's usage was so widespread at that time. The acting is pretty poorly executed as well, it's more emphasis on screaming and cursing than to give a complexity to the characters. In general, this film doesn't give me a feeling of how life in Hollywood was in the 1920's, it feels more like a contemporary setting. That together with that film is really long and boring makes the experience to be just a waste of time.
Mr. Robot (2015)
Goes from brilliant to garbage
This series is brilliant in the first season. It has an interesting plot and a variety of interesting characters who are played by at least some great actors. The main character of the series is Elliot Alderson a cybersecurity engineer who in his free time is also a brilliant hacker. He works at a cybersecurity company called Allsafe. His character fullfills the stereotype of an autistic computer nerd, who is great with tech but has shortcomings when it comes to social interaction. At his job his childhood friend Angela works. Allsafe is owned by Evil Corp a big multinational company. Through a meeting with them Elliot gets introduced to the charming sociopath Tyrell Wellick. On Elliott's way to work he starts realising that he is being followed by a strange man. After confronting the man he learns that this person calls himself Mr. Robot. Pretty soon Elliot gets to know that Mr. Robot leads an underground hacker group called Fsociety and that he wants to recruit Elliot to his team.
If they had kept this plot, that it's a thriller series about hackers, the series would have been interesting. But unfortunately, the story isn't that straightforward. Elliot later finds out that Mr. Robot is in fact his dad and that his hacker colleague Darlene is his sister. If that's not enough, his dad doesn't even exist. He's been dead for about 20 years and Mr. Robot is Elliot himself, or his alter ego. So whenever Christian Slater aka Mr. Robot shows up the viewer have to remind himself that this is Elliot, but as a more bad ass version of himself.
The relationship to the father is a topic that is worn out through the series. Why Elliot is haunted by this brain ghost is partly explained by his drug abuse. He takes different substances to be able to sleep and function in society. His father isn't the only illusion in the series. A lot things are happening on the screen, but as the viewer later finds out they were only part of Elliot's delusions.
So what makes the series great in the first season. The answer is Tyrell Wellick. His character, a Swedish sociopath who aligned with his Danish wife wants to climb the social ladder, and is willing to do that by any means possible. That climb comes to a halt when Tyrell accidentally murders the wife of the CTO of his company. When he becomes the prime suspect of the murder he's being fired from his job at Evil Corp. To avenge his former employer he seeks help from Elliot's hacker group.
The character Tyrell is interesting and brilliantly played by Martin Wallström. His wife, Joanna, is also an interesting character. Their presence, as partners in crime, is what drives the plot, not Elliot and the nonsense with his dad. Tyrell disappears in the second season and Joanna is murdered later in that season, which makes the whole season pretty uninteresting. When Tyrell reappears in the third season, the series becomes interesting again, but only for a short while, until Tyrell gets arrested and disappears again.
Tyrell's character is needed as a sort of opposite pole to Elliot's autistic and uninspiring character. Mr. Robot, Christian Slater, has a similar function, but since it is only in Elliot's head it's hard to see anything meaningful with Mr. Robot's and Elliot's interaction with each other. The main character is truly uninspiring, and even if it's intended, I just find this character to be annoying. The other characters aren't likeable either. The sister Darlene is annoying and unsympathetic. The childhood friend Angela is also not likeable. I think this has a lot do with the casting. If they had found better actors to these roles it would have probably been better. However, the story is also problematic. A lot of things doesn't make sense and it's a very black and white picture that's presented to the viewer. Almost on a banal level. Such as that the big bad company is called Evil Corp. It's almost like the director assumes that the viewers don't have a brain and needs to be explicitly told what's good and bad. Why Evil Corp is so evil isn't really explained either, more than they are a symbol of capitalism, and we all know that that is very evil. It doesn't get much deeper than that. Some footage of Trump, where he is made into a scapegoat for everything that's bad in the world highlights the shallow analysis of society that the series attempts to do. My only advice is to watch the first season and skip the rest. I kept watching until the end of the third season. Season 2 and 3 was truly a waste of time.
The English (2022)
Starts out fine, but becomes boring after a while
This show started out okay, but pretty quickly it became a boring drama that is far from the reality. Depictions of the wild west have mostly been exaggerated and unrealistic. This show isn't an exception. The plot's main characters are Cornelia Locke, an English lady who is traveling throughout the US in search of her lost husband. Out of a coincidence she meets Sergeant Eli Whipp who is a Native American who has joined the US army. When she meets him he is strapped up and beaten by a bar owner who mistakingly thought that he was just an "ordinary indian". Locke persuades the bar owner to release Sergeant Whipp. Cornelia and Whipp decides after that to join forces and travel together. The plot is fine in the beginning, but becomes ridiculously unrealistic after a while. Cornelia who first is a "fine lady" turns quickly into a gunswinging action hero. Eli Whipp is as unrealistically talented in that department as well (just like any Hollywood action hero). The series follow the tradition where people who are not white males plays the main characters, while all the villains are white males. This concept is obvious from the beginning, but it turns out to become almost a parody of that concept. A much better show to watch is 1893 (which although it also depicts diversity, is doing that in a balanced way). This show is just a waste of time.
The Whale (2022)
A heartbreaking authentic performance by Brendan Fraser
This film has a simple plot, yet it's brilliantly executed, which makes it one of the best films in 2022. Brendan Fraser's character Charlie is a morbidly obese college teacher who is leading a life where he is stuck in his flat, while making living from giving online English classes. His passive lifestyle in the couch is only interrupted by the food delivery service and his ex-boyfriend's sister Liz who is nurse who checks on him from time to time. The film begins when Charlie who is jurking of to gay porn is interrupted by a missionary, Thomas. Thomas walks in because Liz had forgotten to lock the door. Thomas and Charlie starts to talk and while Thomas fails to convert Charlie to his religious beliefs, the talk they have gives Charlie the strength to contact his teenage daughter, Ellie. Ellie is living with her mom since the divorce, and she hasn't seen Charlie for years. When she enters his life he reveals to her that he is in a dying state and that he had saved a considerable amount of money to her. That is the plot and the relation between Charlie and these three characters is what the story is about. It might not seem that compelling, and it's definitely not a film to watch if one is in a sad mood. But what makes the film so great is the acting. Fraser's character feels authentic, although anyone who knows Fraser knows that it is a costume he is wearing. The only thing I found negative is that the film slightly reminds me of a sitcom where people are constantly running in and out of doors. I get that it's a way to make the viewer understand that the life of a morbidly obese person means being inside most of the time, but some more scenes from the outside world had made the film to feel less like a cheap production. But overall, it was a very good film.
Dark Harvest (2023)
Don't watch this grabage
This movie is a complete waste of time. Nothing in the film makes any sense and it's boring and not the least scary. The plot takes place in a small town in the Midwest somewhere in the 50s or 60s. Around the corn fields there is some kind of alien looking monster. Every year on Halloween there is a challenge: A group of ternagers are given the opportunity to kill the monster on the corn fields. No one has succeeded yet. The winner gets a cadillac. That's the plot, a group of ternagers trying to kill an alien creature on a corn field. But that's not it. At the same night the town is going mayhem and people are killing each other for no reason (similar to The Purge). The odd couple that wins, a white boy and a black girl, gets the caddilac. When they try to leave the town they get stalked and the boy is killed. As the reader can see nothing makes any sense. Perhaps you have to be super focused and not browse on your phone when watching. But this movie is so boring and the acting is so poor that this is what you will be end up doing anyway.
Hellraiser (2022)
Don't waste your time or money on this crap
I decided to watch this flick because it was available on one of the streaming platforms I am paying for. I haven't seen the original from the eighties so I have nothing to compare it to. So how was it? It started out pretty interesting, but became quickly pretty dull. The mystery around the puzzle box is what drives the plot forwards, but the monsters that comes out of the box are ridiculous, mildly speaking. The point with watching a horror movie is that it's suppose to be scary. This movie isn't scary at all. The things that's suppose to scare you look like characters from a cosplay party. If you're not a Hellraiser fan you may want to skip this movie, and I believe for the fans of this franchise it may be wise to do that as well.
Taelgia (2023)
Sweden's answer to the Godfather
As the title suggests this Swedish TV show bear similarities with the Godfather. Although it can never be meassured against an epic film like the Godfather, this is what a Swedish Godfather story would look like, and considering that, the director has suceeded. It's a story that revolves around the Christian Syrian diaspora in the city of Södertälje, a medium sized town just southwest of Stockholm. What makes the series great is that it is very close to reality. There is a large Christian Syrian diaspora in this town, there are clan-based crime syndicates and some of the events, such as the machine gun attack on the police office, have happened in reality. The plot also feels very real as well as the characters. It is suspenseful without being overdramatic. I really enjoyed watching this series, meaning I didn't look at my phone a single second. In the end of the day, that's what matters.
Meg 2: The Trench (2023)
Stupid shark movie that isn't a shark movie
This flick is about the Megalodon, a giant prehistoric shark that lives in the deepest parts of the ocean. If you expect something like Jaws you will be very disappointed. In this film, the sharks play almost a marginal role. It seems like the director thought that Megalodon sharks aren't scary enough so let's throw in some dinosaurs, a giant octopus and terrorists on top of that. That will make the movie sufficiently exhilarating, or not. It's like they decided to mix Jaws with Jurassic Park and Mission Impossible. The result is an action movie where a lot of things happen simultaneously, but where there is lack of story and character development. What basically drives the plot are the special effects. But there is nothing new in that department. We have already seen computer animated sharks and monsters in various film before (for the last 20 years or so). The characters are stereotypes to say the least. Like in any action movie there are good guys and bad guys fighting each other and once in a while a Megalodon shark pops up on the screen. For me this was an unrealistic and boring film that deserves the lowest possible rating.
Tunna blå linjen (2021)
Good start but it quickly becomes mediocre soap opera
The first season of this Swedish cop show was decent. It shows the situation for the police force in Malmö, the third biggest city in Sweden that is notorious for its high crime rate. The main characters are Sara, a newly recruited police officer from northern Sweden, Magnus a hardened police officer, Leah a police officer with Jewish background and Jesse who is the captain of the squad. What is most interesting is the relationship that evolves between Sara and Magnus. They start out patrolling together and they almost hate each other and they end up later as a couple. Every episode is a new case. That means that what drives the story forward isn't the work the police officers are doing, but the relationships they have to each other. In essence it's a relationship drama rather than a police series like The Wire or Bosch. That becomes very clear in Season 2 when Sara and Magnus have splitted up and now they hate each other again. In season 2 there is also more focus on relationships. It goes to the extent that the police officers sit together in some form of therapy session (which result in that they all scream at each other). If Season 1 was decent, Season 2 was awful and a waste of time. It's like watching a random soap opera. Another critique I have is that although a lot of the inspiration to the series is taken from the reality, which is the streets of Malmö, the series shows a light version of what actually goes on in that city. Normally police shows exaggerate to make something more dramatic, in this case it's the other way around. Malmö is one of the most dangerous cities in Europe, but it doesn't come across as being that in this show. The show is also focused on being inclusive and to not step on anyone's toes. That makes the series a bit lame. A much better show to watch if one is interested about a more realistic portrayal of the crime scene in Sweden is Taelgia.
M3GAN (2022)
Forget Annabelle, here comes M3GAN!
I didn't have any expectations about this movie. I thought it would be another ridiculous jump scare movie like Annabelle, but I was so wrong. This film is about AI and where it may actually lead us. AI can be humanity's best friend or its worst enemy. In this film both sides of the spectrum are shown. The main characters in the story are Gemma who has developed an AI robot called M3GAN (but addressed as Megan) and her niece Cady, which Gemma takes responsibility for, since Cady's parents died in a car accident. Gemma wants to impress her boss and chooses to let Cady be the first to play with Megan. That means that they are paired (like Bluetooth headphones to a phone) and Megan is now only focused on learning everything about Cady. Megan studies Cady's habits, emotions and becomes after a while like a parent to Cady. Unfortunately a very overprotective parent who kills anything that gets in the way of their relationship. I think what is scary about this movie is that this is something that could actually happen. Recently scientists have warned us about the dangers with AI. It can easily go off the rails and the robots that are suppose to help us may instead turn against us. The acting is good, both Allison Williams (Gemma) and Violet McGraw (Cady) are great as well as the two actors who play Megan (Amie Donald and Jenna Davis). I find the Megan character to be the most bad ass of all evil doll characters. I never cared for Chuckie or Anabelle. I finds them ridiculous, but this doll monster was actually scary. Who knows, maybe M3GAN is a reality in a couple of years from now.
It's a Sin (2021)
Silly plot that is saved by great acting
I didn't have too high expectations on this show, and considering that it exceeded my expectations. The series takes place in the gay world in London during the 1980's. The main characters are Ritchie, Jill, Colin and Roscoe. It all begins with Ritchie who moves from Isle if Wright to London to study law. At the Uni he bumps into Jill out of a coincidence. He decides to switch from law school to study acting (which his parents are not too found of). He and Jill decides to share a flat which they call the Pink Palace. The flat becomes a hub for gay people in London at that time and soon others in the gay community moves in. Those are Roscoe, Ash and later Colin. The series goes pretty quickly from glamourous and flamboyant to dark when people start to die. To begin with, no one knows why, but soon they all have one word on their lips: AIDS. The series deals with very tragic events and to see people fade away and die in an at that time incurable illness does of course affect the viewer. But if we put the emotions aside, is the series really that great? Could a documentary have triggered the same reaction among the viewers? Probably. If not better. The series is basically taking something horrible that has happened in reality and puts it together into a story that doesn't really hold together. The plot isn't that great after all. For example, the way the relationships are established is not very believable. Ritchie meets Jill out of a coincidence and they become best friends immediately. Colin meets the gang from Pink Palace out a coincidence in a pub and the next day he moves into the flat. I am not saying that these things don't happen, but what the director could have done is to put more effort in to depicting how these relationships were established in a more realistic way. Another aspect is that it feels a bit like they depict the 80's as if it was today. I am thinking mainly about how informed we are today compared to how it was back then when there were no Internet or smartphones. In one scene Ritchie is paraphrasing almost every study that's been done on this new virus and all the theories that has evolved around AIDS. Still, it is hard to believe that he knew that much, since this is somewhere around late 1982 or early 1983. The question is how much did people really know back then about this new virus? In reality, most people including gays didn't know that much until everyone knew and were panicked, which was around the mid 80's and a couple of years later than when this scene takes place. That Ritchie and most of the others knows it all, but doesn't seem to care and have a promiscuous lifestyle without using protection feels a also bit unrealistic. If the aim with the series is to counteract prejudices against gay people this depiction is doing the exact opposite. Another depiction that is possible but not very probable is regarding which of the gay men who gets HIV. Anyone can get HIV. The only risk factor is unpretected sex with many sex partners. In this series, Ritchie meets that requirement and he also gets HIV and later AIDS. Colin, on the other hand, is a shy guy who everyone believes is virgin and as it seems only have had one sexual encounter. That he is one of the first who dies with AIDS seems a bit unrealistic. Especially when Roscoe and Ash who are just as promiscuous as Ritchie are testing negative. Here it seems that director wants to push an agenda of how people should perceive the events rather than depicting these events in an accurate way. At this time I was starting to feel that this series wasn't that great after all. Especially when Colin died, since he was the most likeable character in the series. What really saved the show were Ritchie's parents. When they visit him at the hospital not knowing that he is gay and have AIDS is the best scenes in the entire show. The actor who plays Ritchie's mom is doing it so well and realistic. She expose who Jill really is, she's an alibi presented to the family to disguise Ritchie's real self. This is is the climax of the series and really great drama takes place during the conversation between Jill and Ritchie's mom. All in all, the series is saved by great acting, but the plot could had been a bit more eloborated to make it more realistic.
Evil Dead Rise (2023)
Ok entertainment, but not like any of the other Evil Dead movies
When you watch this flick you need to know what to expect. This film is loosely based on the Evil Dead trilogy, but without Bruce Campbell or any character that is suppose to replace him. Instead the plot takes place in an apartment complex in Downtown Los Angeles. The main characters in the film is a family consisting of a single mother and three kids. They are joined by the mother's sister who works as a sound engineer and been away because she's on tour with a rock band (her sister has given her the misplaced nickname "groupie). Since the sister isn't aware of the divorce, they decide to have a talk and the kids are asked to go and buy pizza to let the grownups talk in piece. When the kids return with the pizza in the garage of the apartment complex there's an earthquake. The floor in the garage is opened and below them is a bank vault. The son of the family jumps down. Down in the abandoned vault he finds The Book of the Dead. He decides to bring it with him home, a decision he will later regret. That's when the horror begins. It's the mother who is first to be cursed by the demon. My opinion about this film is that it's ok as a horror movie, but if you're expecting a worthy sequal to Evil Dead look elsewhere. This film lacks an important component of the previous films and that's humour. Neither is there any bad ass character like Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), instead it's a group of four women and a boy. It feels like it's been a conscious choice to make the main hero of the film a woman and that the men should only play a marginal role. That doesn't have to be a problem, but in this movie it feels too obvious. That is, contemporary values have influenced the plot a lot. I would rather have wanted to see a plot that resembles the original. Sam Raimi's Drag me to Hell is doing exactly that. It's got the humour and the bad ass feeling. This film had none of that. Even if both Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell are listed as producers, I doubt that they have had much impact regarding the end result.
East New York (2022)
Descent entertainment, but the story is rushed through
This cop show takes place in East New York. A deprived neighborhood in Brooklyn. The series begin when Regina Haywood steps into the police office of 74th precinct as a newly recruited commanding officer. She sets the tone for how the police should work. They should build good relationships with the citizens of East New York. She pushes that agenda to the extent so that the police officers are recommended to move into one of the housing projects in the neighbourhood. One young female police officer thinks that's a good idea and moves in to an apartment in a building with only black tenants (she is white). That part of the show is pretty interesting, how the police officer tries to fit in to an environment where she clearly isn't wanted. However, the show isn't build showing complicated cases where the police officers spend hours of trying to figure out who did it. Instead the viewer is offered something that is more similar to Law and Order and all the other TV-shows available late night on TV. In every episode there's a new case (so you won't loose track if you skip an episode). But the way the cases are solved are on the other hand rushed through, and in some cases the police officers draw conclusions that aren't really clear to the viewer. The show isn't based on the idea that there should be an intellectual process of solving a case, it's based on the idea that the case should be solved within 40 minutes and therefore the logic of the story has to be sacrificed in order to make it in time. The only reason I continued to watch this show was because it was on HBO, which means no annoying commercials. But I could just as well had watched Law and Order or CSI. This show is nowhere near as great as police shows like Bosch, The Wire or Line of Duty. I have read some of the reviews saying that this show is character driven. Not really. The characters are mostly pretty cliche. You have seen similar characters in plenty of other police shows. You don't get to know anything private about the characters. There isn't time for that, because a case has to be solved within 40 minutes.
The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
False advertisement
This movie is so bad that it's not worth wasting your time watching it, especially not in 2023. In short it's about the concept of making a reality show of everything, which is kind of outdated now. I had high expectations for this film. It was on my bucket list. I knew prior to watching it that it was about a group of college kids who are trapped in a "scientific experiment". The thing was that I thought this would be a twist revealed in the end of the film. Instead this concept is introduced to the viewer from the beginning of the movie. The movie is basically Evil Dead combined with Big Brother. A group of scientists are watching a group of college kids getting slaughtered by evil redneck zombies. The college kids tries to escape, but end up realizing that there is no way out. The film has all the cliches of these types of movies (which is intended). The jargon between the kids is stupid to say the least, they are all stereotypes without any character development. There is a jock, a sexy blonde, a smart black guy, a girl who is assumably a virgin and a pothead. It turns out that the pothead is the smartest of them all, he survives to the end and he is also immune (sorry spoiler) to the experiment. Now I expected a twist in the end. In fact, there is one: the zombies and all the other mean creatures are in fact real. The scientists job is to sacrifice people to these evil ancient spirits to prevent the world to go under. This twist is so stupid that only a pothead could think this is good entertainment. This movie isn't a horror movie, it's disrespecting the whole genre, it's an action/adventure movie for people who are as brain-dead as those redneck zombies that the viewer is supposed to be scared of.
Occhiali neri (2022)
The return to a horror movie that's actually good
If you're sick of today's horror movies that rely mostly on jump scares or American slasher movies with a group of teenagers getting slaughtered in the woods, this horror movie might be for you. Argento has been described as the Ingmar Bergman of horror and his legacy follows the footsteps of Hitchcock. Argento has also been part of creating an own genre of horror, Giallo. Giallo movies are murder mysteries with explicit violence that often end with a twist. Argento directed some of the most iconic films in this genre in the 70's and 80's, such as The Bird with the Chrystal Plumage, Deep Red and Tenebre. In this film, the plot revolves around Diana. She is an escort. One night after meeting a client, she drives home. She then gets chased by a person in a van. She accidentally hits another car when trying to escape the stalker. In that car there is a family of Chinese migrants. All of them die except for a little boy called Chen. When Diana wakes up in the hospital, she is blind. She now has to adapt to a new life as blind and she gets a dog to help her. She decides to visit the Chinese boy who now lives in an orphanage. The boy is first angry with her, blaming her for the death of his family. Later he decides to look for her. He finds her and decides to move in with her because he doesn't want to live in the orphanage. However, the stalker who has killed several prostitutes before is still stalking Diana, and soon she has to flee together with the boy and the dog. I think this film had a lot of interesting aspects that easily makes it Argento's best movie since the 1980's. The relationship between Diana and the boy is interesting as such. They don't have anything in common more than the accident and the way they help each other throughout the story makes this film very different from other Argento movies. The film's major downside is the killer. The killer is more in the background and is revealed pretty early in the film. Normally in a Giallo thisbtype of information is revealed in the end of film. That makes this movie to be more of a Thriller than a Giallo. But despite that, this film is better than most thrillers and horror I have seen in years. It is a return to the way films were made in the 80's. It's the plot and the characters that drive the story forward, not special effects.
Wolf (2023)
Utter garbage
I watched one episode and it made me decide to stop seeing this show. A contributing factor to my decision is that the episode ended with a preview showing what will happen in the upcoming episode. This show is about Jack a policeman who believes his strange neighbor killed his brother back in the 90's. He now lives in the house he grew up with together with his girlfriend. Jack had kept his brother's room just the way it were when he died at ten years of age. Every day Jack sits in his deceased brother's room watching his weird neighbor. His girlfriend is frustrated and gives him an ultimatum. Either it's her or the neighbor. That storyline is ok. But then there's another family who's been to a similar trauma as Jack. They are being terrorized by two young men who seems to be the real killers in this story. They appear to be very similar characters to the two fellows in Haneke's Funny Games. Anyways, I had lost interest in the show by that time, but the connection between Jack's family and the other family isn't straightforward. This show seems also to rely on chock value rather than a good plot and good acting. The actors also seem to be handpicked to fullfill some BBC diversity criterion. That makes the story to be less believable. In fact, nothing seems to be well thought out in this series. All in all, this show isn't for me. By just watching one episode it felt like a ridiculous B-movie. It doesn't matter that the film is based on a novel. Either the film is a bad translation of the book or the novel itself is poorly written.
Syriana (2005)
Interesting topic but incoherent plot
This film puts the finger on U. S imperialism and how it played out in the Middle East. The main character is Bob Barnes (George Clooney) who is a torpedo hired by the CIA. His job is to kill people that are an obstacle to US interests in the Middle East. A second storyline is around Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon) who is an energy analyst that plays a central role in a merger between two oil companies with interests in the Middle East. The third story is around the migrant Pakistani worker Wasim who is fired from the oil field owned by the same American oil company that Bryan works for. The plot is very intricate and hard to follow. There are three stories that isn't connected more than that they revolve around US oil interests in the Middle East. The film would have been way better if it only had revolved around Bob's faith. The story around the migrant workers doesn't add anything to the main storyline and could have been left out. The film is also tidious and it's very easy to fall asleep since the plot isn't that exciting.
Host (2020)
Just as boring as a regular Zoom meeting
I am glad that this movie was only about an hour because no one likes long zoom meetings, and this is no exception. A group of people (friends? Coworkers? Not really clear) have chosen to hold a seance over Zoom. To their help they have an experienced seance leader. Of some weird reason one of the women (it's like 5 women and one guy) decides to make a story of a friend who killed himself. That wasn't so smart during a seance, because, as they later find out, it will trigger an unknown spirit to visit the meeting. After that "the horror" begins with jump scares and the participants dying one after the other. If you like low budget films with a bunch of histerical women screaming at each other in a webcam, if you get scared by kitchen doors that suddenly opens or an ironing board falling out of a wardrobe, this movie is for you. If that doesn't scare you then look elsewhere. Honestly, this must be the worst horror movie I have ever seen. It's so bad and low budget that it's difficult to explain with words. Another thing that's completely illogical is how everyone runs around filming with their laptop when they think there's a ghost in their apartment. And none of them got the brilliant idea that maybe if you log out from the Zoom meeting the haunting will end. No because if they did that, there wouldn't be a Zoom horror movie. That wraps it up. If you're used to be bored and unfocused during Zoom meetings this will be exactly like that.
The Horror of Dolores Roach (2023)
Tasteless drama that is neither horror nor comedy
This series main character is Dolores Roach who is released from a long prison sentence where she took the blame for crimes her boyfriend committed. Since she doesn't know about anything better, she returns to the old neighborhood she used to live in, Washington Heights. To her surprise the old hood has changed character and been gentrified. Her old boyfriend is gone as well as the money that he and she have hidden. Of a coincidence she bumps into Luis, a person she knew in the past and who is now owning an Empanada shop. Since she has no place to live she is offered to crash in his basement. To earn money she starts a massage business in the same basement. So far the plot is quite interesting, but now it starts to go off the rails. When the landlord shows up and demands rent from Luis, which Luis doesn't have money for, Dolores offer the landlord her money that she keeps in the basement. The landlord follows her to the basement. The money isn't enough, but Dolores offer him massage. He accepts the offer. He starts talking and says something that upsets Dolores. She gets upset and out of a mistake she kills him. She runs away in panic. When she returns the body is gone. She later gets to know that Luis has butchered the body and made Empanadas out of it. This is basically the plot from now on. People are being killed on the massage table and turned into Empanadas. The plot revolves around how Luis and Dolores tries to hide the murders. However, the acting isn't very convincing and it feels like a standard sitcom but with some murders thrown in. Very few people can butcher a body and even fewer can engage in cannibalism. Luis doesn't convince the viewer to be one of them. The plot isn't exciting at all and I can't see what's funny with cannibalism. It ends up as a tasteless sitcom drama that is neither scary nor funny. If they kept the story to where it started, which was Dolores search for her old boyfriend and her lost money, it would have been a much more interesting plot. But Prime choose to make a series filled with blood and gore instead of telling a good story.
White House Plumbers (2023)
Could have been so much better
The historical background for this series is highly interesting: The Watergate scandal. The fact that a group of men was hired to break-in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in Washington D. C, which was The Watergate Hotel. The story has been modified a bit to fit the miniseries format, but most of it is accurate. So here we have the right conditions for a great plot based on real events. This could have been an amazing political thriller. But what we get is something that is an attempt to be a comedy version of a political thriller. The thing is that it isn't funny and it isn't that exciting either. The actors feels mostly like caricatures, as they weren't real people, but someone who's obviously acting. It doesn't help that there are great actors in this show like Woody Harrelson. The idea of trying to make a comedy of these events was a big mistake and the show could have been so much better if it had been depicted as a standard political thriller.
Hot Summer Nights (2017)
A nostalgic film that could have been so much better
This film had a lot of potential, but ended up being a disappointment for me. It is worth mentioning that I am in the same age as the kid who narrates the movie so there is a lot of nostalgia that makes me want to like a film where the story takes place in the early nineties. The film's main character is Daniel, a kid who has just graduated from high school. He is introvert and is mostly sitting at home meditating. His mom decides that he should spend the summer at his aunt's on Cape Cod. He ends up in a small town where he knows no people but of some weird reason he goes to parties where he gets the nickname "summer bird", which out of towners on vacation in the area are called. At one of these parties he meets Hunter. Hunter is a local drug dealer and the opposite of what Daniel is. Hunter is a tough extroverted guy who knows how to fight. Daniel also runs into Hunter's sister McKayla who doesn't speak to Hunter anymore (because of a family tragedy). Without their knowledge Daniel hangs out with Hunter and helps him dealing drugs and at the same time he dates McKayla. Hunter is, however, suspicious since he knows that Daniel has met McKayla and threatens Daniel that if he goes near her he will kill him. Does the story sound familiar? This is the plot and what makes the film worth watching. That is, the drama that evolves around these three characters. That Daniel is involved in drug trafficking that later in the film leads to devastating consequences is, as I see it, only added to make more things happen in the film, but they could just as well left out that part. My assesment of the film is that it had a lot of potential, but the director did some big mistakes that ruined the film. First, "the drug story" is not very believable. Daniel, an introvert nerd, becomes best friend with the toughest guy in town and gets involved in his drug dealing business. I don't think that has ever happened. Second, the film could have been based more on acting and unnecessary information could have been left out. That leads to the biggest flaw of the film, the 13-year old kid who narrates the film. His only purpose in the film is to give the viewers background information about the characters, such as how bad ass Hunter is or how popular McKayla is. This information could have been presented to the viewers through the plot rather than having a stupid voice over. I only see this as a sloppy way of making a film where the director has chosen to take a shortcut. Another aspect is the pop cultural references from 1991. The only references that are accurate is a song by Roxette, Terminator 2 and the Street Fighter 2 arcade game. I think the director could have included more music from that year rather than music from the seventies and the eighties. Lastly, the ending of the film is kind of ridiculous and over dramatic. I would have liked this film much more if it kept its focus on the main story and if it was more of a drama than an "action movie", which does not suit the characters of the film.
Nocebo (2022)
A descent horror drama
This film's plot revolves around Christine, a fashion designer who of some unexplained reason has become ill and suffer from hallucinations. She lives in a big house together with her husband and daughter. To make life easier for the family they have decided to recruit a maid. The maid is called Diana and comes directly from the Philippines. She is very kind and very commited to doing a good job. The family is impressed to begin with. However, after a while she starts to act a bit strange and she is getting a little pushy. Diana also says that she can help to cure Christine's illness and they give it a go. Christine is, however, not being cured but it's rather the opposite that occurs, her hallucinations are getting worse. Who is this Diana really, someone she met in the past? Is Christine's illness a result of a feeling of guilt? I think the film is well made with great acting by all the actors, and it ends with a good twist. The film also shows the hypocrisy in the fashion industry where diversity is embraced, but at the same time people in poor countries are being ruthlessly exploited.