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lindsaytomcat
Reviews
U.F.O. (2012)
Not the best movie around, but certainly not the worst either.
I think some of the reviews out there are rather harsh. It's definitely a three or four star movie... I wonder if those that are giving it one star have ever seen REALLY horrible movies.
There were, at least, a few likable characters, some humorous scenes, and some good action sequences.
The script, while not great, was definitely not as hackneyed as many truly awful movies out there.
This is, in fact, something I might be willing to watch again in the future - not something I say about truly awful one star movies.
Yes, the plot could have been better, or at least better explained (there seems to be some confusion if there was actually more than one alien race fighting, something the plot of the movie never mentions, even during the "reveal /explanation" scene towards the end) but it's still worth watching if you're a fan of scifi movies. I wouldn't call it an utter waste of 90 minutes of my life, unlike many of the bigger blockbuster movies out there.
My biggest complaint was the wooden acting from the dark haired girl, (who at first just seemed ditzy) but as we come to find out there's an explanation for that as well.
Anyway, I don't normally review but after reading many of them I was compelled to chime in.
Cold Case: Death Penalty: Final Appeal (2006)
An infuriating, compelling, and interesting episode of Cold Case
Just watched the episode death penalty :final appeal and I think it was not only one of the best cold case episodes but one of the most infuriating. While this story is obviously fiction, there are really some prosecutors, judges, and Lawyers out there that are that stubborn, that refuse to open closed cases even when they have compelling evidence that they were in the wrong. A really compelling episode that made me rethink my opinion on the death penalty. The ending where the girl is raped off screen (after an innocent man is already put to death) and ask you hear is her quiet whimper as the song hallelujah begins to play brought tears to me eyes. What an infuriating, compelling, and interesting episode of Cold Case.
Grave Encounters 2 (2012)
Way better then the First
I can't believe all the reviews saying this one sucked more compared to the first one. I just watched them back to back and I thought the first one was insanely boring. It just plodded along and the story didn't quite move fast enough for my tastes... And the scares seemed cheesy.
I liked how this one tied up a bunch of loose ends, and really took advantage of the claustrophobic environment.
I probably wouldn't have given it a full 8 but had to make up for all the bad reviews.
Above all else, I appreciated a few of the old cast members make an appearance, and I really enjoyed the ending - especially compared to the crap ending of the first one.
I'm usually in alignment when I read reviews on here, but I have to respectfully disagree with the bulk of them this time around. You don't even have to see the first one to enjoy this movie - but if your can sit through it, it does add to the enjoyment of watching the sequel.
The Dead Outside (2008)
Decent Indie Flick....with HORRIBLE editing!
Really this movie wasn't nearly as bad as some of the reviewers are saying...(It's not as bad as, let's say, Birdemic or something like that) It's a pandemic type movie but really more of an atmospheric thriller that just uses as pandemic as the background.
My main issue with the movie was the editing - it was so poor and left a lot of things scratching your head. As an example, in one scene one of the main characters is kidnapped while one sleeps. It literally cuts from that to the sleeping character going out looking for her. It doesn't show him waking up, or hearing something that wakes him up, or him realizing what had happened and freaking out.
There were a lot of similar gaps that unfortunately made the movie hard to understand in some parts. I'm assuming the director wants the audience to simply infer certain things about the plot and tried to use flashbacks to parlay important pieces of information regarding the back story, but it was done too choppily and poorly for that to work.
However, overall it is still a decent movie. I love horror flms but the zombie genre has pretty much died out for me, and I appreciated that this was a pandemic style movie that really took it in its own direction.
It's probably really worth a 6/10, but I felt bad looking at some of the other poor reviews so I gave it a 7/
[Rec]³: Génesis (2012)
Not sure why all the hate - a perfect cult classic
I'm really unsure why there's so much hate surrounding this movie considering it has all the elements of a cult classic - wry humor, unnecessary gore, ironic social commentary, good storyline... I'm guessing its because they deviated from the originals that were excellent in their own right, but so what? That storyline was played out, they knew it, so they came up with something different.
I have a feeling it WOULD be a hit if it wasn't under the Rec title. Seriously, its worth watching. It was suspenseful but doesn't take itself too seriously. (Unlike the previous 2 movies) Almost reminded me of Army of Darkness.
I also loved the ending - I thought the bit with the hearing aid was brilliant, as was the tie-in at the very end when you hear an extraction team going in "quick and easy."
One last point to detract from all the haters - even though it took on a totally different style it still perpetuates the storyline from the first two movies. I suppose some people were hoping that the third installment would dive even deeper into the info released in the second flick but honestly, that would have been boring as heck.
(Think the Excorcist sequels / the "Damien" sequels / etc. Instead they moved the story along in a different and entertaining way and kept the loop open for another potential (final) movie in the series. I only hope the jeers don't prevent them from making a inclusion.
The Dead (2010)
Once again a great little flick is underrated - a little Burn Notice and a lot of the undead!
OK, so once again I have to preface my review w/ a caveat that I'm probably over rating it a bit to compensate for what I believe to be an unfairly low score on IMDb. Also I just watched it back to back w the terror experiment so it really gives you a great juxtaposition on how a zombie movie should be made vs. How it shouldn't.
Honestly this has everything that movie didn't - Both start you off in the middle of the action but the dead knows how to build the suspense. It also gets you rooting for the protagonist (who is really hot, BTW - always love a man in uniform.) even though you know literally nothing about him.
The first person perspective really works well and ups the ante in the horror/suspense department. The hot, desolate desert of Africa makes an interesting backdrop for your classic slow-shoot- em-in-the-head to kill em type zombies. The hotties playing our heroes make for likable competent characters.
The movie is almost reminiscent of Burn Notice in a way, which just makes the zombie escapades that more interesting. All in all is it worth an 8 star? I usually reserve those for the classics when it comes to zombie movies but what the heck. Why not. Definitely worth a watch anyway!
Ps - I should add that this movie is very Romeo- esque in a good way - from before he went off the deep end, that is. This is how his last few movies should have been done - interesting locales, etc.
The zombies remind me of typical Romero zombies, slow and dumb, but they also managed to have some subtle political statements peppered in there as well. Just as he once used Dawn of The Dead to remind us of our over reliance on materialism, this story manages to sprinkle in some commentary on relations in Africa without being overbearing about it. A true classic in the making!
PPS- I forgot to mention another likable element is that the movie was filmed on location. They very well could have filmed in more hospitable climates but it couldn't have done the justice that the African landscape had.
In one behind-the-scenes clip from the DVD its mentioned that they accidentally filmed across the way from a top political figures home and their machine guns and machetes were raising a few eyebrows!
I also loved the fact that they used real amputees and hired many locals to play the roles of extras in the film. Plus you gotta love the fact that the sweat and sand of the desert was all real!
The Attic (2007)
Wow... Its LOL Bad...Amazingly Bad
OK, I've seen a lot of BAD horror movies that other people give bad reviews that I think are under rated by people, but this movie is REALLY that awful. I gave it a shot only because I recognized the lead chick from Mad Men, which I don't watch myself but know is pretty popular. This is the first bad movie that actually made me laugh out loud in its badness. About ten minutes in there's a stunt that literally looks like someone with a camcorder could do better...This is worse than film students beginning movies, and this was done by (supposedly) reputable actors and directors. I won't go into all the reasons its bad because the others have already hit the nail on the head.
Unbelievable acting, horrible editing, a storyline that doesn't make sense, etc.
One good thing is you can see the lead actress (who eventually stars in Mad Men, as I mentioned above) start to get her acting chops as the movie progresses. It's sort of fascinating to watch, for that reason alone. There's one diatribe where she's going off on her shrink that starts off inauthentic and fake and literally becomes more believable and well acted as she keeps going. By the end of the scene she verbally and physically looks transformed - into the better actress she has later become. Of course by the next few scenes its back to same ol same ol.
It's also worth noting in the entire movie I only saw one scene transition / passage of time that made sense, and that was right after (SPOILER!!) the only real death in the movie takes place. (The brother) Every other scene just jumped from one to the next (day to night, night to day, several days later, etc) without any semblance of editing or sense. It's the type of thing you may not even notice in a movie until its NOT done correctly or at all in a movie like this one.
The Divide (2011)
Wow... Finally a movie that gets it right
Okay, first things first I probably wouldn't give this movie a full ten stars but feel obligated to do so when I see other people giving a movie that was as well done as this one low stars.
The best way I can explain it is by telling you what the director COULD have done - They COULD have given you unnecessary back-story on the characters instead of giving you just the TINY little tidbits throughout the story line that humanize the necessary characters.
When I mean TINY bits I mean TINY - you find out (SPOILER!) that the lead female was, at one point, a "junkie on the streets" which helps cement where some of her "hardness" comes from. (The grit that sees her through to the end, so to speak) It also shines a light on the relationship with her fiancé/bf without delving into the "whys" of the relationship.
The vile, slimy, antagonistic (but not fully despicable) Super of the building is shown - at the very end of the movie - to have at one time been a Firemen and in love, with a family. You can picture his descent from life that left him living in a subterranean basement w/ no running water ruminating about the world's position before the nukes even drop. It ALSO helps explain where some of his knowledge comes from and why he took the leader role early on.
Other than that the only background you really get is that the brother's aren't fully blood brothers, but that's it - the rest is left to the imagination and lets the movie focus on what's important - what's going on immediately around you.
Another thing that they COULD have done was fill the plot line with unnecessary rehashing of what's going on in the world around them - You don't get all the answers in this movie and neither do the characters. Instead of having the characters theorize what's going on "out there" they just DEAL WITH IT - As the situation unravels around them, after all, the most danger is in the room with them. Not "out there." Another thing they COULD have done at the very end when Eva finally emerges from the building was cut away too soon, thus minimizing the devastating impact of the surreal environment around her. Instead the final montage was spell bindingly done. I watch horror movies (and nothing but horror movies) and very few endings have the ability to literally leave me breathless as you can take in the final few seconds of the movie.
While not all the characters react in ways that you think you would, they weren't completely stupid, either. (Vile and deplorable, yes, but stupid no) Of course we all like to pontificate on what "we" would do in a situation, but frankly, how many of us would be able to just pick up a gun and know what to do without previously handling one? In reality a gun is useless if you don't know where the safety is, how to hit a moving target, etc. and most of us would be toast in situations like this one.
Another thing that they could have done wrong was not pick the right soundtrack - The score for this movie was fantastic, and perfectly fitting. The soundtrack in a movie like this can make or break a flick and wow, they got it right.
Ultimately this is either "your type of movie" or it isn't. It's less an apocalyptic tale and more of a tale of the dark side of humanity. I am writing a book based on an apocalyptic tale so I scrutinize movies like this one and this was one of the few that did NOT leave me disappointed.
Even if you honestly didn't like the story line (which could be slow at times, and the pacing in the decent to madness was a bit off) the movie itself was well done. I give it an 8/10.
11/11/11 (2011)
It's a Movie by Asylum ....
And thats all you should need to know about the movie. Asylum is known for making the rip-off movies in hopes that idiots like us will mistake it for the bigger blockbuster version and rent it instead.
I LOVE horror movies big and small but Asylum movies make me vomit in my mouth every time I have the misfortune of watching one. There's ANOTHER movie out there called 11/11/11, BTW,written and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman from the Saw franchise. The reviews on it were mixed and I haven't caught it yet myself but I guarantee it's better than this pile of dung.
Again, I'm not one of those reviewers who doesn't appreciate campy horror movies and then complains that it was awful - I truly love horror movies, particularly the bad ones, (think "Bugs" starring Antonio Sabatao Junior bad) but thanks to NetFlix and Asylum in particular I have learned the hard lesson that there are just some movies that are just really THAT awful.
Anything I've seen by Asylum falls into that lot. You want to see more of their ilk how about "666: The Child" and it's horrible sequel (Damien, anyone?) or EXORCISM: THE POSSESSION OF GAIL BOWERS (Emily Rose? The last Exorcist?) HG Wells War of the Worlds (NOT the War of the Worlds blockbuster you're thinking of!) Halloween Night (Not only does it share the Halloween title it shares the same plot line too)Snakes on a Train...
God, the list goes on and on it gets worse and worse. I'm done ranting now, just thought I'd point it out in hopes I could prevent someone else from renting their god awful movies.
:)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Not nearly as bad as a lot of reviews...
I watch a lot of horror flicks & have since I was a little kid. Admittedly I was never a big fan of the Nightmare series (I always preferred the other classics like Friday the 13th & Halloween) and that may have influenced my opinion of this remake some.
I didn't appreciate any of the other remakes which is why it took me so long to see this one. Personally I thought it was decent - in a way it almost felt like it could have been a different movie altogether and not a part of the nightmare saga. Perhaps the loss of Robert Englund helped with that feeling, although this Freddy was good.
I think the biggest reason it felt like an altogether different movie though was because it actually made sense and was in chronological order. One reason why I didn't like the Nightmare franchise as much as others is because I always felt like they used the "dream state" thing to fill plot holes and bend reality and I hated when you couldn't tell if someone was dreaming or not. The whole "good, I'm awake - oops, just kidding!" scenario was used and abused in the originals, as were the sudden flashback sequences and nonsensical dream world.
What I liked about this movie, however, is that its always clear when they have slipped into a dream and it moves in consequential order while they figure out what is going on.
Another element I liked is that they did slip in a lot of famous scenes and rhetoric from the original, which at least pleased me as a fan. That's not to say there aren't bad points or plot holes (like did they ever explain why Freddy came back when he did, unless I just missed it) but altogether I thought they did a great job with this film and its well worth watching for someone that who wasn't a huge fan of the original movie.
Carriers (2009)
Extremely well-done little virus flick - Way better than Contagion
I watch a lot of horror movies but rarely feel compelled to review them. This weekend, however, I caught "Carriers" for the second time and was struck by what a great little movie it is. Granted giving it nine stars is a little much but I wanted to deflect some of the lower ratings and I do feel it deserves high marks if you compare it to most movies in this genre.
While some reviewers have complained that it moved too slowly, I thought it moved at the exact right pace for a psychological thriller. I suppose if you were expecting a movie more like 28 Days Later I can see being disappointed but even the tag line of the movie lets on that the movie is less about the virus and more about human behavior.
That's not to say, however, that the virus / pandemic part wasn't interesting - anyone who enjoys apocalyptic - outbreak themed movies should enjoy this. Personally I always found the creepiest part about any of these types of movies is how dangerous and desperate once average people can get under these circumstances, and how easy and NECESSARY it is to lose all sense of humanity in order to survive. (Think The Walking Dead) In that regard this movie doesn't disappoint either.
That said, its not a perfect movie by any means. Some of the behavior is quite predictable and a lot of the plot is fairly obvious. On top of that not all of the characters are sympathetic and there isn't a whole lot of depth to them to help you understand how and why they are the way they are. They try for a deeper character development but just aren't able to get there.
All in all its a decent little flick that's worth the time to watch, it definitely keeps you thinking after the credits roll.