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Reviews
The Mist (2017)
Lovecraftian atmosphere
Are there silly decisions by the characters? Sure. Do many things not make sense? Sure.
But what makes this series interesting is the atmosphere which I think might be even better that the original movie. If you see beyond the plot holes and other issues, and you're a fan of cosmic horror, I think you're going to love this one.
The movie is about 6.5 but I give it a 10 to even out the poor reviews. Despite what many reviewers said, I actually never got bored and could easily binge-watch the whole thing to see what happens. And could easily watch it a second time.
Skip the reviews, go in without expectations and an open mind and you'll enjoy this!
Squid Game: The Challenge (2023)
Waiting 50min for a twist
I don't make often reviews, but this one deserves one.
Unfortunately this is the lamest thing I've seen in a long time. I wasn't aware that Squid Games 2 is supposed to be a reality, so I was wainting endlessly for a twist.. a twist that never came. I hoped that suddenly someone already eliminated or someone from Squid Games 1 will come in and start shooting people.
You're stuck with terrible acting, characters with zero depth, and that you don't care about. I really don't understand what producers were thinking. Don't waste your time on this. You'll find better character development and acting in WWE.
Fan xiao (2019)
Really good movie from Taiwan
I went to LEAFF film festival in 2020 and this movie stood out for me.
Most Asian movies at such festivals tend to be overly slow and not have a typical western structure. So for a westerner or younger audience it can be hard generally to be kept on your sit.
This movie is brilliant in that there's no moment that I had to check my watch like in other movies. Sure, there are flaws here and there but I never got bored which is the most important bit.
The story is very interesting and it's a good way to educate younger people about Taiwanese history without becoming a lecture. I left the cinema thinking about this movie for a few days which is the biggest achievement for a movie in my book.
Totally recommend this.
Jìyuántái qihào (2019)
Too sloooow
I went to watch this in the hopes of getting some nice insight into Hong Kong in 1967.
There is a lot of good drawings but as a movie it's a borefest. For some reason 80% of the time the characters are walking in a slowed down pace. Also there's way too many scenes that add nothing at all to the movie.. things like "should I put sugar in your coffee?".
This is the only movie where I almost fell asleep. It is just way too slow and it's hard to follow the story (if there is any). In the end of the movie (and after I've missed a lot of info from nearly falling asleep) there was no conclusion or anything. Pretty boring stuff.
This movie should be released as short in my opinion and the animation sped up - max 30mins. Now it drags up to 2 hours and just makes you fall asleep.
Locke (2013)
Borefest
Great acting, nice cinematography, super-boring story.
All filming is done while Ivan drives to London. He makes a few phone calls on the way. Cut! That's the whole story and it's super boring.
The visuals are really nice but after 10 minutes you start getting bored of them since nothing is going on and that's what we see throughout. There are other movies with less visuals that manage to keep the story much more interesting regardless if it's in a car or a room throughout the movie. A fine example is The Man From Earth.
Acting-wise, there is only one character and he is superb with what he was given. However it makes little sense why such a stressed man keeps making 1000 phone calls under 1hr. Totally unrealistic and starts getting annoying very fast.
I advice to not spend a dime to watch this. Story-wise this is as boring as it gets.
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
Inherent Vice meets La La Land
What's up with everyone making movies or series with nostalgia and zero plot? First Stranger Things 3 and now this.
This movie was almost as boring as "Inherent Vice" but I give it +0.5 points because I didn't fall totally asleep besides the very lengthy runtime. Atmosphere and cinematography are amazing but the most important ingredient is missing; plot.
It feels like they shot every mundane thing like going to a restaurant, feeding your dog, watching television, driving around, that adds nothing. Margot's role was totally out of place as well and the movie could hold itself without her and save 1 hour of random shots of her legs and her giggling in a cinema and some random dancing in every scene.
There are just too many cringy and annoying parts in this movie. Even Bruce Lee makes an appearance as a caricature.
I'm happy I didn't have to pay to watch this. If I had paid I would feel cheated.
Stranger Things: Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy? (2019)
Beverly Hiils meets Transformers
Season 1 was great, season 2 was really good.. season 3 was an utter let down.
So many things wrong with season 3. From the Russians looking like caricatures to the soap opera forced in our faces. Acting is pretty bad as well and the story very predictable and boring. In first two seasons maybe the acting was bad as well, I don't know. But the story and mood was just so damn good and I cared about the characters that I never cared to think about it. In this season I found myself looking on my phone to see how much time is left.
It seems that for season 3 they simply went through a checklist. LGTM involment to keep that minority happy? Check. Woman rights to keep that portion happy? Check. Rerences to 80s movies and culture to keep the +30 demographic happy? Check. Russians looking bad and Americans looking good? Check. Enough love story to keep romcom people happy? Check. Horror for the teenagers? Check.
They clearly went with a very generic formula this time - very disappointing. Not sure I would want to watch Season 4 if it came out.
Prayers to the Gods of Guerrilla Filmmaking (2019)
You will love this if you value authenticity!
This is as authentic as it gets. No polished, filtered junk fed to the audience. Watching this, feels a bit like watching a school trip from your high school but with a "grown up" material and a focus on making a no budget movie.
Everything is quite raw and such that anyone can relate to. Some moments are really funny and in many moments we see the frustration that goes into making a movie, and especially a movie without budget. We see issues like logistics, planning and most importantly the interpersonal relations between the crew - things you normally wouldn't witness.
This is an amazing piece of work, very entertaining and informative. Highly recommended to anyone!
The Signal (2014)
Good but predictable
The cinematography, imaging, soundtrack and direction generally was very good. The scenario was also very interesting although it reminded me a lot of other scifi movies. I would give the movie a higher rating but there is an essential thing: I knew what was happening from the very beginning.
The director unfortunately gave way too many clues in the first half of the movie resulting in an easy prediction of what is going on. By knowing what is going on, I lost interest in the movie. If the director could hide more and give more to think about, the movie could be really amazing.
A movie worth to see. However if you have seen a lot of scifi movies then you will probably know the whole plot and its "twists" by watching the first 30mins of it.
The Zero Theorem (2013)
Oh, this is what refined cultivated people watch..
I watched the movie without big hopes. I was a bit skeptical reading the reviews since many times before there have been so many good reviews and then when you sit to watch the movie you understand what a terrible mistake you've made of trusting other people's opinion.
I've heard that the guy who made this is the same guy who made the 12 Monkeys. That movie is an amazing sci-fi flick and as a huge hard sci-fi fan I sat and watched this. Unfortunately this movie is nothing like the 12 Monkeys. It's more like Aronofsky's The Fountain but 10x more boring. The Fountain had at least an amazing soundtrack which could help some moments.
So many people praise it for being the utterly visual movie raising kinds of philosophical existential questions. Well.. I am a person who loves movies that make you think but I also happen to dislike movies that are BORING. Unfortunately this is one such example. There is no real climax in the movie. It's like watching a snippet of some random person's life.
If you like scifi movies that make you think while not being boring as hell then I would recommend you watch something else like Coherence, The Man From Earth, Moon, etc. This movie is just a waste of time.
Lucy (2014)
When scifi becomes fantasy
I don't seem to understand how the other reviewers are giving this movie 8 or 10. For me this movie is not worth more than 6.
Let's start by saying that I am a big scifi fan and value good script with logic. I also advocate scifi that is based on some science. That is also the biggest issue that I have with this movie. I can accept a few scientific inaccuracies but this movie is a total fantasy land.
The movie is based on the myth that "we use 10% of our brain power" and tries to explore what might have happened if we used more than that. The story has a lot of potential since it's really interesting but it becomes too much too fast. Everything paranormal is in this so called scifi movie and the irritating thing is that they try so hard to present it as if it's something that professors could be talking about.
This movie is purely made in Hollywood terms oriented towards brain-dead consumers who don't like to use their brains. Some might say that the movie makes you think.. yes it does. However it makes you think based on totally paranormal "facts".
If you like movies that are truly intriguing, then I recommend to skip this one. If you care only about CGI then watch this blockbuster.