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alexscothern
Reviews
Hypnotic (2023)
Good premise, very bad writing, script, acting, editing, music... on and on
Great movie? Absolutely not.
Good movie? I think even that is a stretch. But it wasn't awful.
Overall, the idea of the film is good and it's technically accomplished in a linear and successful fashion. Reviews that say that it didn't make sense or it was confusing, I disagree.
Even though the film was 90 or less minutes and the ending felt a bit rushed or abbreviated, the story was adequately told and a fun enough ride.
However... most of the pieces that make up the sausage were pretty bad.
For the first few minutes of the film, I assumed that the bad writing, script, and acting were intentional for some sort of setup. Maybe a dream where the real person would snap out and the real movie would commence. There's no way Ben would be involved with something this bad. 20min in... still bad. 30... it has to switch gears here by now. ... nope... it just stays bad throughout.
The movie felt like a 1992 crowd pleaser for low IQ populous. It had a lot of cliche premises, formulaic elements, terribly dramatic acting, most of all from Ben, cheesy one-liners and retorts, overly convenient circumstances, really really bad script with errors, contradictions. All of this was so distracting to me that I had a hard time letting my imagination be in the story. I'm glad that the story, twist, and convenient ending was at least good enough to leave me feeling like it wasn't a total waste of my time. Ugh. But so bad!
Mammals (2022)
So very unfulfilling, dark, and painful. I wish I hadn't endured watching this.
Great acting by everyone throughout. Right off the bat I was impressed by James, as I had never seen him act . I was hooked by most everything about the show. Then... Things went downhill and got dark. The show continued to be dark and heavy, even overly explicit when it came to describing sexual acts (none shown). I considered abandoning watching, but I was already invested by episode 2.
It didn't get less dark, it just got worse, and worse, and heavier.
Then, the season wraps up with things having gotten the worst... and ends with zero resolution or redemption. I literally feel worse, mentally and emotionally, for having watched this show. I regret it enough to write a review hoping to ward off others.
One thing that makes all of it worse was, there are "twists" throughout which feel quite contrived.
In the end, the good elements of the show were great, but they were far outweighed by the negatives, IMO.
Winnebago Man (2009)
Oh man, I loved it!
Over the years I had heard the term and reference to "the angriest man in the world", every now and again, so that was my hook to give this a try with zero expectations. Ah, I'm so so happy I did. I was riveted and heart warmed throughout. I think the journey in the film wraps up wonderfully and you'll be happy that you absorbed this enriching and uplifting show. No joke! I loved the 3rd act so much that I teared up a couple of times, and it is wonderful because the buildup of the 1st and 2nd act weren't yet a payoff.
Cursing/swearing is abundant, but nothing hateful or sexually negative, of which I am sensitive.
Watch this film! You'll be better for it.
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window (2022)
Funny in a subtly spoofy way
Based on the title I figured it was a spoof or mockery of a mystery, but as I watched, it was so subtle that I wondered if I was wrong.
If SNL did a spoof and you consider that a 10/10 mockery, this was like a 3/10 mockery where the other 7 parts felt genuine. For that reason, the comedy was light. I genuinely chuckled when the satire was obvious, and the climax definitely was my favorite. I sat through it for the sake of my GF enjoying the 7 parts. I definitely would have enjoyed watching something else more, but it wasn't a total waste of time. Good acting, effects, music, etc. Throughout the film.
Blow the Man Down (2019)
What!? It's good and the low ratings are wrong.
People who are overstimulated, tasteless, and have low attention spans might think it's slow. But it has some heartiness and color that was very fulfilling. Saying that it's a storyline that's been done before is like saying Star Wars was just doing another overused "story of the reluctant hero". A storyline and scenario can be done in completely different ways like a painting of mountains can be infinitely different with different artists and pallettes of colors.
The acting was great, the story was great, the writing, the music, the scenery, the singing fishermen. It was all great and I honestly think anyone that rates this below a 5 is just childish.
Give it a shot! Give it 10 min and you'll see that it's not a 1 star like the children are saying, then keep going!