Reviews

After 2 Seasons of binging this excellent show I only have one compliant and it is to the writers, you must stop having, the main character, Teresa, be kidnapped or captured/running from the police every episode! Bad plotting. Other than that this is a excellent show on all levels. Look forward to getting into the rest of the seasons and hopefully less kidnapped & running!

I won't get into the whole "Art House" thing that was covered beyond well and true in many ways. Here's the good of this nicely done indie - 1 - Good Acting by well chosen actors - Brooklyn Prince was excellent as the young Remmy; Ismael Cruz Cordova did his good guy/bad guy, slipping back and forth with ease and strength; Johnny Ray Miller in a limited but strong role was very good; Nell Tiger Free was excellent as the confused, strong willed, curious older Remmy; Sofia Boutella played well the Ilsa, the mom & and matriarch.

2 - Cinematography was superb. Made great use is the South African location that filled in for Mars. Natural lighting made for a realistic feel.

3. - Set Design was kept simple and believable. You found yourself buying into their habitat and not focusing on obvious flaws.

4 - Script was tight and wasted few words. It kept the story moving, answered most questions as it moved along. But I do believe he could take Director/Writer David Gordon Green's advice and keep his script to 80-90 pages. It would make a stronger movie here.

5 - Music Score was exceptional in keeping tension and releasing it. It help set the pace of the movie. Something rarely found in a low budget indie.

The faults 1 - direction. It was not terrible, it was not even bad. It was probably good all in all for a first time effort. However, the movie was to long, with more fill than needed and this is where Rockefeller lost his way at times. But, when he delt with his characters he was just fine. The use of the box robot was brilliant, bringing levity when need.

2 - End - I just don't buy the ending. Sure she is curious about what's beyond. Get it! But to pack up, leave safety after all Jerry has said over and over, her Mother, Father have said, it doesn't ring true. Even if you add in the folly of youth. It would make more sense for her to do forays into the unknown using home as a base. Would set up Part 2 better. The end to me was the end, no chance of any future survival.

So, overall I still think this is a worthy movie to spend time with. Check it out!

Antoine Fuqua has made a tense, twisting, psychological triller, a fine remake of the original 2018 Danish film of the same name. He also picked the perfect actor to portray the main character. The character that must carry the whole film. The character that is slowly spiraling out of control from the weight of his own guilt and the weight of the caller he gets on his 911 line.

Jake Gyllenhaal is just brilliant in the role of the police detective who has been demoted to 911 call duty for some major infraction that he has a court appearance for the very next day. We do not know what the infraction is until the last 30 mins of the movie. He is struggling, angry with the separation from his daughter and his wife (perhaps, his wife was just the conduit to his daughter only).

He gets a call from a woman who has been kidnapped by her seemingly abusive husband, then a call from the woman's 6 year old daughter who is home with her baby brother, alone. Thusly setting in motion spinning plates that eventually have to come crashing down. We just don't know how each of those plates are going crash into the plot. Mr. Gyllenhaal has to play off of voices over the phone, not actual actors, each played by top rated actors - Ethan Hank, Riley Keough, Peter Sarsgaard, among others, while that helps his pain, anger, frustration, still has to be real, he must convince us, carry us into his reality!. He does a absolutely beautiful job of it. For the last third of the movie he is in total command and the last 20 minutes has all our questions answered as we sit transfixed in the brilliance of his acting.

A superb movie filled with tension, mystery, sadness, and even some relief. Fuqua directs seamlessly allowing his actor to carry the whole load and he carries it perfectly! The photographer keeps a claustrophobic feel, even though the set is open that portrays the leads inner turmoil and the sense of loss of control of his life. Highly recommended.

I am always interested in all the negative reviews from those that barely watch, don't like it because it has "Christianity" in it, nothing new, etc. I generally throw out those that complain without watching. But, those that said this wasn't a horror movie, or to "Christian" haven't watched enough horror movies in my opinion. It is a horror movie with an intelligent twist in its writing. Just because it uses a Christian theme in its plot doesn't mean it's not a horror movie. Just because it doesn't have buckets of blood or a scare every 30 seconds doesn't mean it is not a horror movie. The scares are not BOO! I got you! I they are mulch more intelligent, deeper in their fright. Creepy in what it professes to you. You have to watch, spend time, pay attention to get to the fright of this series.

Here is where the spoilers come in - A priest suffering from dementia in the holy land takes a wrong turn during a sand storm and stumbles into the lair (exposed by the storm) of a long trapped vampire. Happy to finally have a decent meal after an unknown time in captivity he dines with a religious gusto. The poor priest confuses his role at being dinner to being "anointed" by an Angel and begins to pray in earnest. Our Dracula finds this amusing at first as he drinks at the priest throat. Then intriguing as a possible way to escape his dark confines. And enslave the world! He cuts his wrist, letting his blood flow into the poor, confused priest mouth. The result is a transformation of the priest into his younger self with a mission from God. The Priest returns to the small island fishing village he is from, back to the dwindling Catholic Church that he headed up as an old man. No one in the village is any wiser to whom he is. Except the busybody,hateful, bullying, manipulating church woman. The new priest focuses on a new resurrection that starts off winning souls, filling the church and ends up... well you can guess if he thinks Dracula is an Angel from Heaven!

The writers take various books of the Bible from Genesis to Revelations as themes in this seven part series. They use the Catholic Eucharist and Holy days leading up to Easter with the resurrection as key components of the plot. They mix in hymns, gospels, some rock n' roll, country to blend the story and a good dose of sermons and biblical quotes. But it is not heavy handed. It deals directly to the story of the priest confusing his new found resurrection from the dead, his inability to die (he is poison and shot) to the resurrection of Christ and the ability to bring this "new" immortality to his parishioners. He wants to spread "life after death around" so to speak. Meanwhile the Angel Dracula is slowly making mischief of his own and helping his priestly disciple along.

Mike Flanagan has taken a new look at the vampire genre and brought a fresh interpretation to it. He uses each of the 7 episodes to weave the tale, laying the storyline layer by layer until it reaches an expected but still exciting conclusion. The middle sags a bit but not enough to be distracting. The lead, Hamish Linklater, brings a boyish yet knowing charm to the role of the priest. He also has the strength to pull off the crazy Angel resurrection craziness with believability. Zach Gifford, is very good as a quietly tormented sinner looking for redemption. A expected hero but more a moral compass for the story. Rahul Kohl's very good as the Arab out of place, smartest cat on the island Sheriff that tries to bring some sense to the whole thing only to lose the most. Samantha Sloyan is brilliant as the uptight, bully, village ruler who love to hate with a passion as soon as she opens her mouth the first time. A perfect blind follower who's only vision is tunnel vision. Other stand outs are Kate Siegal, Annabeth Gish and Henry Thomas (a regular in Flanagan's productions) The production value, (filmed in Vancouver) the village set, were perfect, the cat scene was a masterpiece. Photography was great, nothing spectacular but enough solid shots to give you the solid horror feel and no tricks needed.

This is a worthy entry into the vampire genre. Well done, with imagination in its presentation. Highly recommended.

Think of using the old Abbot & Costello bit of "Who's On First" as a way to explain the space time continuum. And then take that idea, boil it down a bit to a James Bond style thriller to save the world from WW3 that is happening in the future (add a mother and her child as a side plot to boot) throw in art theft, plane crash, moles within the secrete service or maybe not, transference of time with a character catching up with himself leaving as he is arriving and various other bits of fun then you have this extremely entertaining, often confusing, but ultimately understandable, brilliant nonlinear movie from the master of such movies himself, Christopher Nolan.

If you listen and pay attention at the beginning when we have our hero, John David Washington in discussion with the head of the Indian industrialist.(as well as other things), Priya - Dimple Kapadia, explaining where the bullets from the future are coming from you will get a sense of the premise of the whole thing. Reverse Chronology.

This movie requires your utmost attention, your openness, your ability to listen. All is explained and there are clues along the way. The acting is superb. Washington and Robert Patterson have great chemistry, friends who do not trust each other but would go in harms way for each other. I found the storyline with Andrew Sator, played with the utmost evilness by Kenneth Branagh, and his captive, beautiful wife Kat, played with defiant fear by Elizabeth Debicki to be the weaker part of the plot, even if necessary to the overall story. However it does lead to a most satisfying conclusion.

Yes it might take two watching's to grasp it all, but it is worth every minute. One of the best movies to come along in a long time. Nolan never loses sight of what he is about, nor control of the story. He knows exactly where he is going and how to get there. The script takes us on a wild journey of time out of wack, megalomania, saving the world from a war that is to be. Each actor brings their A game, committed to the story and the telling. Give it the time it deserves. You won't be sorry.

This is a good movie on many fronts. Eric Bress (The Butterfly Effect) brings a horrific vision to war that is hard to take at times even when wrapped in the deep khaki and army green of his ghost story. We began with five WW2 soldiers way passed their sell by date. They are walking PTSD comrades in arms. To many combat missions, to little sleep, to little real food, to much walking, to much fear and to much bloody death. Their moral compass has not just go haywire it was long ago lost. As they move through this movie they speak of what they have seen, what they have done and who they are. Their fatigue of this war seems to have no end and has brought a sense of their own fatality or is it their on fragility.

It starts simple enough, hold a Chateau until they are relived by another group a day or so later. The orders are vague on their exact reason for being there. Five guys, the really smart guy (he wears glasses), the brute (biggest), the.cynic, the calm, thoughtful one (the leader) and finally the one with lost eyes, that sees, speaks and plans death - the sniper. As soon as they arrive the group they are relieving can't get away fast enough, not even a "so long, good bye, watch your ass!" For In just a few clicks of the clock the weirdness begins, bumps, clicks, morse code from the ether, images that are just...shadows...blowing curtains...imaginations. On and on these apparitions tease, mystery surrounds the house with all the evil of WW2 hidden in its walls.

So I don't fill this with spoilers I won't give away all the bumps in the night, the ghostly things, the strange diaries that explain all but leave out the key parts. I will say it builds tension, without a lot of silly gore, but with good scares, good emotional tightening of the screws. Sure it is all over the place in its plot but Bress is fully capable of keeping it together and keeping you involved in the characters as the try to figure out... "Will someone just tell me what the hell is going on!" As I said the script is a bit out there but still good with a twist at the end you will not expect if you are honest. The acting is top notch, especially Kyle Gallner as Tappert, the sniper, who holds the screen when he speaks. Theo Rossi as Kirk is also good as the cynical one. The others hold their own well too. Photography was good, nothing exceptional, bathed the inside of the house with shadows and awash with deep blues, combat greens, & browns, sunlight burst that always come on hope. Brees keeps a strong, steady hand on all the time. He tells his story the way he wants.

It is not a movie for everyone, but if you go into it with a open mind, looking for some good entertainment you won't be disappointed. I say check it out,

What is it...good question. A bad script written after a bad pizza, a bad idea after a bad bottle of wine? I don't know. I think it is a bunch of decent ideas sewed together in a incoherent mess full of plot threads that just hang there waiting to be snipped off, tied up or woven in, not just forgotten.

For instance why was it necessary to shoot the daughter of the daughter (not a typo) who came all the way from London to see what happen to her mother who had come all the way from London to see why her mother (main mom) left her abandoned or was killed. Hey, your confused...be thankful I watched the movie for you. Also, how did main mom get one side of her face disfigured from burns and what is the significance other than to distinguish between one actress playing two "mom" roles.

How did daughter #1 (or mom #2, take your pick) get from this "bad" town they keep harping on to London in the first place, when she was abandoned at the age 6 or so, found crying in the corner of a bedroom in the house and never seen again until she pops up in London telling her daughter (#2) she is headed to the "bad" town.

Then we have the half brother who was born of a illicit relationship between main mom and the priest she cleaned and cooked for and was in love with. A devote Catholic though she was the Devil managed to get into her. The half brother was physically disabled, if that isn't slapping you in the face with sins of The Father I don't know what is. The mother's treatment of him, or the demon as she referred to him was appalling. The priest called him his son but did little else to help.

It is like watching a broken Merry-Go-Round that goes around and around, wobbling, trying to fix itself but it can't. There is just so much of this crazy nonsense thrown out there in hopes it will all eventually come together in a movie that makes sense. It doesn't, so they finally realize it and end it. And then did that badly too, even though they do answer the burning question, but leave a host of others left riding that crazy merry-go-round.

Two stars for the young actor the plays the go-fer, musician, funny guy and for the actor that plays the half brother (even if he chews a lot of scenery). Zero stars for the actor who plays the Sheriff, the script, director, the photographer (who insisted on shadows upon shadows), the editing, and the rest of the cast. I say skip this one, it isn't even so bad it's good.

Really, this is just a bad movie. Really it is. I don't care what the glowing reviews say. It isn't about redemption, father/daughter bonding, blah, blah, blah. Deep down in its movie fiber it is a bad movie. It is an angry dad, an angry dad lawyer, and angry dad whose daughter is Autistic and his "stupid" wife up and gets herself killed in a "stupid" car wreck and leaves HIM to have to DEAL WITH EVERYTHING!! In a angry manner, in an angry, rude manner for how ever minutes this just bad movie drags on. The whole movie is him being angry at everyone until all of a sudden some spirit mother, wife, indigo thingy shows up in the house, really cool house, that is angry too by the way because some evil man had an orphanage...oh never mind, you know the plot line. He becomes a nicer daddy but a meaner, passive aggressive daddy because mommy is now in control and she is going to...hell, I have no idea what he or dead back to life mommy are going to do to their poor daughter, something to make communicate? Be Normal? WT hell! Autism is serious and to play fast and loose with some "magnetic" treatment, spirit cure thing was really weird. The whole plot was all over the map, and we only have half the map. With no rest areas for a good walk about! Once I start a movie I generally see it through...boy I wish I had worked on the water-pic this time! 2 stars for decent acting, good cinematography and a few non-angry faces.

We'll I will try to make this as short as possible. First of all the Cecil Hotel in LA is a strange, weird place. Has been almost from the day it was built. No doubt about it. This story is very strange in many ways. It lives up to the Cecil's sad image. The death of Canadian Elisa Lam is both sad and mysterious. It has been told a few times before, but never with quite the depth of this 4 part series. While it is very entertaining, very watchable, it does suffer a bit. The only real credible people on it are the LA police, the ex-manager of the Hotel Cecil, the medical & professional folks and those that have stayed there. When it comes to these web sleuths, the so called expert "sleuths",(who make up a big part of the 4 episodes) they are about as grounded as a Jet at 35,000 ft. They chase ever thread of every crazy idea as fact until the next thread comes. It is hilarious! I am not sure if the director/producers (One is Ron Howard, yes that Ron Howard) have them for comic relief or if they think they bring serious commentary. What this show sorely needs is a real good skeptic! If only to bring a modicum of balance. In the end they come up with a very logical outcome based on FACTS. But the amateur sleuths naturally still think it was aliens, ghost, murder, tiny things, conspiracy on top of conspiracy on top of conspiracy. If you use you brain you can poke holes in the amateur sleuths theory's, their coincidences and other things brought up. But, in fairness, I must say in the end some do finally come around, some what reluctantly. It is fun watching and you have to give them credit for their imagination and stick-to-it-niveness A plus is the very positive ending. I say check it out!

Say what you want about this engrossing, compact little movie from Tony Perkins son Oz but you are wrong if you say it is a waste of your time. This movie is like making a good soup, you put all these spices, ingredients together and let it slowly work its way up to a slow and steady boil! This movie does the same. Oz Perkins, both director and screenwriter, gives you little hints along the way, a wrecked car, a girl on a bus, a grieving man, satanic story, a comment here or there. You must watch, you must pay attention as this story unfolds. What is now and what was then? Who is who? When you come to the end you can sit and enjoy your tasty bowl of good soup. The acting is top notch, the photography uses light and shadows superbly, almost becoming a character rather than an effect. The music is perfect, sound pitches rather than extended melodies to heighten the drama, the oncoming terror. The three lead young women are very good. In one scene, Rose, the sensible one if there is such a thing, sits for a school photograph. She walks in with the air of teenage pride, settles herself as if she were Ava Gardner, then her face slowly, confidently, full of sensual knowledge beyond her years and Hope broadens into a glorious smile. Then a flash and the smile collapses instantly into a look of confusion and fear. All with in a few seconds. All with just the camera and Lucy Boynton's fine acting as Rose. You can find such nuances in Emma Roberts as the mysterious and creepy Joan and Kieran Shipka as the very troubled Kat. Again who is who? Where is time in this tightly made thriller. Well worth your time and brain effort to see this movie!

Let's just throw away all those reviews about the lack of action, nothing happens, boring, etc. If you read anything about this movie or watched a trailer you would get a hint that action wasn't its main plot line and you would get a idea it was about watching something unfold, a drama maybe, a story about people in a untenable situation perhaps? But, I will say this, the part of the movie that included the first meteor shower and then the second are some of the best you will ever see. And the scene with the death of a crew member was as tense and real as you could want. Then you had the blizzard and the sinking wayside shed to add to the action. So there were plenty of tense, exciting moments. At the heart of this movie was hope. At every turn the underlying theme was hope. From the very beginning, with Augustine's (Clooney) decision to stay behind and die from his cancer alone. Their was a hidden line of hope. When he would lay back an stare into space, at Mars. You could find hope throughout the movie as everything seemed it's bleakest. If you view the movie with an open mind, with an eye towards what is behind the plot I think you will find more than you think. Clooney surrounds himself with top notch actors who truly believe in the story they are telling and help weave the various plot points into a believable story. It is a well written story and the visual effects are stunning in their realism. The photography plays no tricks, but guides the story, framing it perfectly. I felt the movie was probably a 9, my partner was nearer to a 10. But I did feel that the end was a bit too syrupy, even though it had a nice twist. Also there was a bit of the sinking shed that was just a bit to pat. But I still think it was a beautiful story of hope told well. And as the last to lines of the story go (I will not say who speak them as not to give away to much) spoken as plainly as if they were passing on the time of day, you will see why hope is always there - "I guess it's just us now" "Just us."

Ok folks let's keep this simple. Great music! Decent casting? Good story ruined. Stop this nonsense at FIVE episodes, do not draw it out to ten! Why? 1. The constant bickering between brother & sister is tiresome because it is the same argument said the same way over & over. 2. Mother, for petes sakes how many times do you need to wake her up, put her back, wake her up, put her back. We get it. She is possessed by the numbero uno demon of all time. Move on. 3. Daddy Dear - Just kill him, pour some Pepto Bismal down him and get on with it. 4. The Blood- Who the F are the blood & why are they really after the siblings? Use that plot line or kill it. 5. Just quit stretching a Five episode story that would have been really good, ok I'll give you Six, because you just run out of ideas and dip into the writers cliche handbook to mess the whole thing up and make the viewers want everyone to just die, please all of you just die! And why use the vomiting as a trigger for all things evil? Turn a head, cross the eyes, something else would be nice. This show bounces around more than a pair of 5 year olds on a new mattress.

Not sure what some expected and how much some pay attention before they review, but it is not his wife, and if you find the lack of characterization a problem then I think you aren't paying attention. OK, with that said, this movie is a tight, well done bit of tension. We don't need a lot of back ground. The first 20-25 minutes set that up, how the bad guys are going to do the dirty deed (pay attention to the duty free shop and the bathroom exit) and the conversation between the pilot and co-pilot (and his brief conversation over child care with one of the attendants). That is the set up. That is all you need. Then it start with a crash, a big crash! We start a ride of tension that takes place in a cramped cockpit with only the darkness outside the windows to give us any sense of distance and pounding on the cockpit door that is like some drummer channeling a drug addled beat only he understands. 7500 is code for "our plane has been hijacked". The pilot is dead, one hijacker is unconscious in the cockpit, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as the co-pilot, owns this role and shows himself as one of our best actors. The other doesn't really come into the picture until the last third, Omid Memar as Vedat shows himself as a strong young actor pushing the tension on a roller coaster as Gordon-Levitt tries to bring the calm. This is a 90 minute tense ride that 1st time feature director, Patrick Vollrath controls like a master. His co-written script waste nothing and yet gives us all we need for a wild ride.

There is no great script on corruption, no great lead actress, no superb direction, no nothing! Nada, nilch, zip! Perhaps the actor who played the hero, Skitch or Hitch or what ever his name was deserves a mention for at least holding his head above the mass of wood call acting. The script, written by the director, forgot to even attempt at a logical ending (among other coherent dialogue) - wham the corrupt Mayor dies & suddenly we are in happy happy land! Uh, what about the corrupt other folks, the heroes job, the...oh never mind. I figure they had about $1,539.49 budget for this & it shows. Really, DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO ANY REVIEW OVER A 4! Oh yeah, my wife & I watched every single solitary second of this movie & I can truthfully say it does not even meet the Plan Nine From Outer Space test, if you know what I mean!

Overall this a rather decent series and worthy of your time. It is even worth a second season just to see what they can do with the new direction it will need to take after the wrap up in Episode 10. They did a great job of corralling Pacino and keeping him from chewing up all the scenery. He is a fine actor there is no doubt. The rest of the cast are very good, each bringing a unique personality to their role, Kate Mulvany is exceptional as Sister Harriet. The lead, Logan Lerman, does a great job playing the confused Jonah. The weak link is Lena Olin as The Colonel. She just doesn't measure up for the evil cabal nastiness leader. You do get frustrated with the writers drawing out Jonah's flip flopping, but that is the problem with this whole show, the writers. They will do real well for a couple of episodes and then they go off on some tangent that really does nothing for the show other than make you scratch your head wondering 'WTF.?" Since all episodes are called, named, introduced like biblical verses I can see God stroking his beard saying "Why did you do that?" And he is God, he should know!

But here is the big problem and I mean THE BIG PROBLEM! In Episode 10 they do a nice job of tying things together, leaving enough to give you hope of for Season 2, including a nice cliff hanger and the perfect closing scene that draws the warmth and love of family into the forefront to seal the underlying statement that the show was making. And then...and then, the idiots spend five minutes on the most ridiculous ending on the planet! Who on earth told them that final scene was the smart thing to do, that it would make those of us who stuck through this joyous silliness for 10 episodes would think we would buy, believe, accept that 2 of the most evil human beings in the last 100 years would still be alive & the leaders of the evil cabal! Really! REALLY!!! Better luck next time writers, producers, whomever came up with that idiotic ending! You almost had something, almost.