Change Your Image
DerangedPika
Reviews
The Institute (2022)
Not a lot of redeeming qualities
It's not easy to make a good movie so I feel bad being this brutal but this movie has a lot of problems.
First of all, I was immediately turned off but the opening scene CGI which wasn't great - to put it kindly. The odd thing is there was nothing really like it in the rest of the film. Thank goodness. At least there are some more practical effects that show up closer to the end of the movie that were pretty decent. If you can't do good CGI you should probably just avoid it. (Pro tip from someone who's never made a movie!)
Secondly, the acting could use some work. Some of the performers sound like they are reading their lines from a teleprompter. The male main lead Daniel gave a decent enough performance. Marie was good at being topless... I'll leave it at that.
I liked the concept behind the movie but the plot was only okay. I could basically guess what's going to happen most of the time, so I feel like they needed to add something more unexpected for the story to remain interesting.
There's a few decent bits of cinema photography but other times it looks a bit like cheap video. Perhaps it needed some atmospheric lighting? I don't know.
In the end it's more of a background movie to watch while you doom scroll on Twitter or watch cat videos on Tik Tok.
Hopelessly Ever After (2019)
Quite possibly the worst movie I've ever seen
I thought this was a real documentary at first until it became so cringe I realized it's meant to be a comedy.
The only funny part was when I legitimately thought a guy passed out standing up. But then in retrospect it was probably just another fake scene.
The acting is terrible and it's actually a little creepy. There are "jokey" homophobia / transphobia vibes at times too which makes whoever wrote it a relic from an age when people thought being sexually different was funny just because it was "abnormal".
Human Zoo (2020)
I feel I need to warn you all
Despite an interesting premise, this movie fails on pretty much every level. Interesting characters? Not really. Plot? Barely. Themes? None that I could garner. Cinemaphotography? It's basically a cam POV movie. Acting? That's the only positive-it wasn't bad.
I watched the whole thing while doing house chores, brushing my teeth and doom scrolling Twitter and I'm pretty sure I didn't miss a single plot point-because there are none.
And the ending... let's just say there is no reward for enduring all 109 mins. Perhaps they plan on a Part II?
Breaking Surface (2020)
Character behaviour keeps it from being perfect
Great cinema photography and setting. I love those cold shots of northern Norway. The acting is solid (from my English speaking perspective) But it does get a little ridiculous as to how many things go wrong for the characters.. I'm still not sure why she had so much trouble with the car... or certain furry characters figure so prominently yet don't seem to add anything to the plot. Symbolism perhaps?
At any rate the movie does a good job turning up the tension from scene to scene. It might actually make you feel stressed if you can get around some of the absurd character behaviour that make you want to scream at your TV.
... also stop leaving 1 star reviews without any details! It's stupid to rate something 1 star just because you don't like a character or part of the plot. It's not a 1 star movie but it's not a 10 either that's for sure.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond (2020)
More like a teen soap
Annoying characters and badly written dialogue. Some of them are looking a lot like Mary Sues. But we shall see how well it turns out for these "empowered" kids who seem to have no fear of zombies despite little real combat experience. Would that be normal from having grown up in a zombie apocalypse but lived their lives behind walls? I guess. Maybe.
Also no one wants to watch a teenager flip out every 5 minutes because she has issues from her past haunting her. It's even worse when the acting isn't very good.