Reviews

When I saw the trailer for this film, I was kind of excited since it's based on a story for Stephen King, and the premise was interesting, plus the two main lead actors (Donald Sutherland, Jaeden Martell) are definitely great.

As the story progress, I kept waiting for the cool parts to start happening, but sadly they hardly ever happened, and all we saw is a big indirect advertising campaign for iphone (not that Apple needs it), but seriously the whole movie is based on the iphone.

Another thing that got me confused is how the movie's genre says "horror" but it has no such thing, it's very misleading, it's more of a drama thriller.

I loved the parts when Craig was reading to Harrigan, and how their relationship got stronger, in spite of the vast difference between them.

I guess the main message the film is trying to convey is the effect of modern technology (in this case the smartphone) on our lives, and how it completely disengage us from the real world, and end up controlling us and feeding us lies. And also to be careful what we wish for.

"When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers". Oscar Wilde.

I wanted to write this review, not to talk about the film itself, but the fact that the two lead actresses are in their 20s playing girls in high school, which is happening a lot in all the teen films these days, and honestly it ruins the whole experience. I just need to understand why this happens, i mean there are new talents discovered everyday, why do film producers feel the need to cast much older actors for roles that are clearly not right for them. I didn't really enjoy that film, didn't identify or sympathize with anyone in it. It had way too many twists and unrealistic things, so it stopped making sense to me. But i did like the soundtrack. One more thing this film is way too long for a teen comedy, I mean two hours, come one.

I was a little surprised when I saw the trailer of Samaritan, seeing Stallone for the first time in his career as a superhero (not that he wasn't one already),but the idea of him wearing a mask and a costume, that was something. The fact that the director is Julius Avery (the man behind Overlord), and the villain is Pilou Asbæk (who teamed up with him in Overlord), were promising elements. Also the child who played Sam, was a good choice. But sadly they couldn't save the film from it's shallow script, and dull dialogues (except one line at the end said by Stallone, about choosing the right path). I'm a big fan of Stallone, and I love how he was able to revive the Rocky franchise, by being the mentor in Creed, his presence in these films gave it grace and depth, but this film lacks these elements. It's trying to give the vibe of Gotham city and the Joker, where everything is thrown into chaos, and the people are waiting for a hero or a villain to make a difference, but the execution was very poor. I felt that Stallone wasn't really feeling the character, and the events are very predictable, the boy who needs a father figure, and the reclusive man whose past catches up with him and is forced to make a stand to save those he cares about. I wished this film had more to offer, but unfortunately it was very average.

I had no idea about this film but i liked its idea when i read its story, and as i started watching it, i was feeling really entertained with a big smile on my face until the end credits. The film has a lot of cool elements, it takes place in the late 90s, so all those from that era will feel nostalgic, also the soundtrack is a big part of the film, with classics by the Kinks, The Stooges, Cheap Trick and many more. The cast are really great, (with the lead young talented actress Gemma Brooke Allen at the helm), and each character is well-written and meaningful. The film focuses on the importance of friendship, family and being your own self while listening to awesome music. Highly recommended.

Filmmaking is an art that allows you to come up with any story, and turn it into a movie, but honestly I tried to keep an open mind as much as I can, but this film is in no way comprehensible to me. The first part of the film was intriguing, but it kept getting gross and repulsive along the way, that it just turned into a very bad experience. The writer/ director Julia Ducournau seems to have some kind of pattern, considering that she previously made the movie Raw, which was actually good, but this one exceeds all limits. The story is actually not the problem, cause it's not meant to make any sense, but was is truly painful is the amount of graphic imagery and disgusting stuff happening all over the place, I mean why does the lead character Alexia have to be naked in most of the film !!!!, it's very distracting and off putting. Honestly I couldn't interact with anything that is happening and to know that the film won Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival makes me completely confused, but I guess they have their own standards over there. I know that some people might disagree with my opinion, but for me that is a horrible excuse for a movie.

I came across this film and I felt intrigued to see it and I'm glad I did. This film is so beautifully made and is very touching and moving. The story follows the young Syrian Omar (Amir El-Masry) who ends up in a remote Scottish island until he finds out if he's granted asylum. He lives with three other immigrants from other nationalities and they live in a small house in the middle of nowhere, while they attend cultural awareness sessions to develop their social skills. Omar doesn't say much, but his eyes says it all. He feels alone and out of place, while he's an aspiring musician who plays the oud, he never played since he left Syria, and due to a hand injury he remains unable to play. He calls his parents over the phone, where they tell him about their struggle as well, as they live in Turkey, while his brother Nabil remains in Syria to fight for his country. Omar feels that he's not good enough as his brave brother who wasn't afraid to stay in his war-torn country, while he's haunted by his father's words who keeps reminding him " a musician who doesn't play, is a dead man". Omar struggles with his memories of his life with his family back home, where they used to grow apricots and sing old songs, and he used to play oud in front of audience. But now he just wanders the open roads and fields, and he just talks with his roommate Farhad, who's been waiting for more than two years for his asylum claim. Omar walks everywhere with his oud case which was given to him by his grandfather, maybe because he doesn't want to lose it, as it's the only thing he has left that reminds him of his old life. The film has a lot of other moving stories related to the other immigrants and Omar's relationship with his brother, as all of them highlight how cruel it is for any refugee who's forced to leave his country and venture into the unknown, while leaving his loved ones behind and facing a world he doesn't recognize or belong to. The writer and director Ben Sharrock was able to capture the inner feelings of an Arab in a foreign country, and the Cinematography of the vast landscape with very beautiful. Also the depiction of Arab songs was lovely especially the song in the end titles by Magda El Romi. This is one of those rare films that is so human and it's brilliance lies in its simplicity yet it has such great emotional depth. Finally Amir El-Masry is such a talented actor, who could be the next Rami Malek, who knows.

Out of the dozen films Nicolas Cage stars in every year, one or two are actually decent. This one would be one of them, there is no doubt that Cage is a talented actor who once did only meaningful films, it's a shame how he just let his career take a turn by starring in only B-movies. But this one in spite of many bad things like the silly story, uninteresting supporting cast, the weird looking animatronic puppets, only Cage's character and performance stand out. First of all, he does something quite unusual from his other usual films, he never speaks, so he's all about using his facial expressions of an angry man who drinks a lot of energy drink cans, and kills the deadly puppets while still keeping to his word to clean Willy's Wonderland so that he can get his car back. There is also a cool song with the movie's title. Overall, the movie is better that I expected, and it all thanks to the one and only Cage.

As being an Egyptian, I was curious to see this film, since it's very rare to see a foreign movie that depicts Middle East, without the usual stereotype of Arabs being terrorists or still riding camels!!! Sadly this film missed a great opportunity, to use the majestic and historical setting of Luxor to convey any meaningful story of any kind. I don't know what the filmmaker Zeina Durra had in mind when she wanted to make this film, but this is really very pointless and forgettable. Despite the beautiful scenery of Pharaonic monuments and the breathtaking nile view, there is no story. The lead actress Andrea Riseborough walks around in oversized cloth through Luxor and running into an old flame, and that's it. Also her recent films this year (The Grudge, Possessor) she's been doing the same vague and depressed person who feels lifeless and cold. Karim Saleh was okay, but since there is no story and meaningful script, his character doesn't have much to go with. All the situations taking place don't serve any purpose, and are unrelated to anything else. But I do have to say, that the director conveyed a true picture of Luxor, without any exaggeration or fake elements, except for some notes, like when the two lead characters sometimes walk into a temple, and it's like they're completely alone, usually there have to be other tourists walking around. Also when Sultan's character was talking to his Egyptian coworker, why does she speak to him in English!!! I wish this film was worthy of the place it was shot in, but sadly it failed in achieving any meaningful thing, except showing the beauty of Luxor to those who aren't familiar with it.

When i saw the trailer of this movie, i looked forward to seeing it, since it has three leading legends in it. It also had a nice Titanic vibe to it, since most of the film takes place on a huge fancy ship. But throughout the film, it felt like it wasn't a film at all, it was just the daily routine of the three lady friends, and the young man accompanying them. It felt very long and tiring to watch almost two hours of this. The ending also was quite surprising, and when it was over, it didn't feel any good at all. I feel it was such a waste of talent, and i am very surprised that it was directed by Steven Soderbergh, it felt very different from his previous movies. I guess the approach of letting the actors improvise, has really not been a good call here. I didn't feel like there was any message that needed to be said here, just a bunch of unimportant and boring situations. But what i loved the most was the Queen Mary ship, now that is the modern version of Titanic, it's like a world of its own, what an experience it must be to sail on it.

Up until the first half of the film, I kept waiting for any comedy scene that might come up. But after the first half I realized that this is definitely not a comedy. Since Drew Barrymore has been known for doing many romantic comedies, I thought this one will be one of them. Even though this idea of switching places have been done before many times, the idea of the film about a movie star with anger management issue, as she steps out of the spotlight and becomes a recluse, is interesting in a way. It's very poorly executed. Mainly it's because it's very hard to sympathize with either characters, Candy black is very mean and foulmouthed, and her stand-in who seemed like a nice person at first, turned out to be an opportunist, who wants to steal her identity and become a movie star herself. I guess the only normal character was Michael Zegen, except the weird story he tells about the Nazi incident !!!! Also in what world is the stand-in supposed to be an exact copy of Candy Black, with her obvious change in her nose, and why does she speaks in this weird tone of voice?? Drew Barrymore is a lovely actress, but this film is very bad on some many levels. What a waste of talent for great supporting actors like T.J. Miller, Ellie Kemper and Holland Taylor. Now that we know it's not a comedy, I wish i could say it's a drama, or a thriller, but it's also not that.

When i first heard about the Blumhouse TV project, and the four new movies that will be released in October, i was excited, since Blumhouse has a history of making mostly cool horror movies, with the most recent one being The Invisible Man. I saw the first three films: Black Box, The Lie and Nocturne, and i was hugely disappointed, but i guess they saved the worst for last with this one. First of all it feels like all four movies have been done by the same writer/ director. Even same running time: 1h :30 min. All have poor story, poor acting, poor everything. They all seem very rushed, without any depth whatsoever. In this one, it's basically about a mother and daughter talking over the phone for the most part of the film, like don't you have other stuff to do in your life??? The leading actress Sunita Mani who played the daughter, i liked her in the movie Save Yourselves, she was a lot of fun, here she's like another person, with too much makeup all the time, even when she's in bed sleeping!!! Mostly i feel bad for Blumhouse, cause this is definitely below their previous work, and if the next four films in this project with Amazon are anything like those films, then it's a big mistake to make them.

When i saw the trailer of this film, i thought it looks like the movie "Get Out" but with a girl instead, plus the cast looks very promising, all awesome stars. I wasn't familiar with the novel it was based on, but it seems that i should've been more aware with it first. As the story starts out with a girl ( who doesn't have a name) that goes with her boyfriend to his parents' house during a snowstorm. It would make you think that the rest of the story would be at his family's house, who seem very weird, and all the unexpected things that would happen between them and their son's new girlfriend. Instead what actually happens are a series of unexplained things, like how the parents keep changing in age, switching between being very old and middle-aged, and how the girl suddenly sees herself alone in the house. Then the second half of this painful experience, is on their way back home, were new set of bizzare things take place, like seeing another couple appear instead of them, and how they end up at a high school that's covered in snow, and then the finale which also doesn't make any sense at all. My question is, can all novels be adapted into films, the answer have to be NO. and this film is the biggest example, and after knowing about the novel, iit seems that few changes have been made especially at the end, which could've helped in explaining some things of this very vague story. The saddest thing though is how this great cast was totally wasted in one of the strangest films i've seen. It's really disappointing, cause i imagined this film to be something really great, instead all i found was 2 hours of pure weirdness.

In spite of the being very hard to believe, i mean a mother and her daughter live in a school bus, and the girl sleeping on a bench and refusing anyone to help her, and she remains strangely happy, but the final part of the film had a good message to tell, about letting the people who care about you, give you a hand when you need it the most. But it was a little hard identifying with the story with this strange events, usually people ask for help when they really need it, while the lead character Amber doesn't believe in that. The fact that Amber only sang one song" Feels like home", while she could've at least sang another one at the talent show , makes no sense and is such a lost opportunity. She did such a great job in "Moana" and it was nice seeing her here in a live action film, but sadly the script wasn't that good. But the cast did a good job, and Carol Burnett was a special addition to the team.

To start telling the story of this film, would be useless because there is no story. If you can a girl who hangs out with the members of a band in their trailer in the middle of nowhere a story. I don't think there is one single good thing to say about it, in spite of the group of talents in it, the script is beyond bad, so it's just a complete waste of time.

The story of an introvert man who's living with his uncle in an isolated sheep farm, while living in a fantasy of being on stage singing, as he has a beautiful voice but lacks the appearance that goes with it. The idea is interesting, but the execution wasn't, from the slow boring pace of the film, through the depressing feeling you get while watching it till the weird ending. The location of the film was amazing, beautiful scenery, the original song that is also the title of the film is good, the performance by Jorge Garcia was good but overall it's quite disappointing.

I am so surprised by the low rating the film got on IMDB(5.2),it's so unjustified. In spite being almost two hours,it remained interesting and exciting. Even though Statham is the star,the rest of the cast were solid actors and gave good performance. Maybe there was not enough chemistry between him and the lead actress but it's okay. Visually it was amazing,with the cool gadgets and devices under water. The story was pretty decent for an action movie. There were some funny scenes as well. The part on the beach brings back memories from Jaws movie. It was pretty fun to watch and very entertaining.

I didn't expect much from this film,but the poster kinda reminded me of the movie Coyote Ugly,because of the whole girls in a bar thing. But i guess one of the golden rules of watching any movie,if it doesn't get interesting in the first 30 minutes,then it's gonna be lame. This one is no exception. It's really bad,bad acting, bad screenplay,so boring. I just felt bad for everyone involved in making it,and for watching it too.

I know i deserve it,when i decided to see this movie,in spite of the low rating,but i love Clint Eastwood and his work as a director has been amazing,but this one was anything but. Even though it was only an hour and a half,but i was bored out of my mind. During the film,i was telling myself,was this a documentary,it must be because there is no way this is an actual film,not with these actors. Then after watching it,i found out that these are the actual people from the attack. Now my question,why did they agree to do it,where was Eastwood's mind when he cast them,and during filming he didn't feel that this was a giant mistake!!!!! The film is so boring,and almost all the events happening are so unimportant. Only the last 15 minutes barely make you interested. The bottom line,not every book based on a real story ,needs to be turned into a movie. They did a heroic thing,they wrote a book about it,let it go in peace. Really shocked and disappointed from this bad experience.

I can never understand why some directors like to make films that are so vague and strange. This one is no different. i had high hopes for this film,knowing that Joaquin Phoenix was in it,and how you can feel this strong bond between him and the little girl made it more interesting. But it's truly disappointing how the director Lynne Ramsay who also wrote the screenplay,chose to bring it that way. I can hardly even understand what each actor is saying, and the fact that each one only speaks few words fro start to finish is so strange. I have'net read the book,but i hardly think it's with no dialogue like the film!! The lead character played by Phoenix is so torn apart and confused,that you can't even imagine that he's real. The first 25 minutes,you are struggling to understand what is going on, and you barley understand by the end,given that no one actually talk. The performance of Phoenix and the little girl was great,but it didn't save this movie from the poor narrating style and the lack of dialogue. i really wonder how it might be like,if it was directed differently. Maybe then we could actually be really here.

I like to see independent films,they have certain charm to them,they talk about personal things,without any showing off or big budget stuff in the big productions. But when it comes to this film, i failed to see the purpose to it. So all the leading characters are women,great then what. Sadly nothing,it's painful to see how much slow and boring it is. And you keep waiting for the big reveal ,the one that will make all this meaningless stories finally make sense. but that never happens as well. I mean what's the connection between the four women,what's so special about them,why are we watching them. No clue. I guess not all the independent films are worth seeing,this one is no exception.

I am a big fan of musicals. And I was excited to see this movie cause of the interesting cast. but what I didn't like in the film is that even though it had lots of songs none of them were good enough to stick In your head. I don't know why,maybe it's because there's too much words in the songs. what I liked was how they combined more than one fairy tale in one story . that was interesting how they mixed jack and the beanstalk,red Riding Hood,cinderlla and repenzenl all In one. but it's very disappointing how Johnny Depp only appeared in one scene. about the cast,we'll It's not bad,meryl strepp was good as the crazy witch and the Baker and his wife were good as a couple. And the boy playing jack is really talented as he was in the Les Miserables as well . though it's really hard to compare the two films.also it was a little too long. But all in all it's not that great.

This type of genre is nothing new In American movies but In the Egyptian cinema it's quite a surprise. The beginning of the film Is something seen in many films about someone accused of murder and being checked by a psychiatrist. The ironic thing is that the doctor whose job is to treat the mentally insane is messed up just as much as his patients. and even though this doctor seems to destroy everything he touches,you still feel that there is hope left In him. What happens after that is very hard to explain, it can only be seen . and that's what's special about this film,it's visually entertaining . The story ending might be strange and you might have many questions unanswered. but good films usually leave you wondering like that. Very good cast and amazing direction. And as was said in the film there's a fine line between what's real and what's not and what makes you want to cross that line Is curiosity. Egyptian cinema Is back to life with this film.