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brianaburton
IGNORE some of my old reviews. I don't agree with some of them anymore.
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Clementine (2019)
A slow-burn that burns out
I am a fan of slow-burns and I always seem to find good elements in almost any movie, but this film constantly felt like something was about to happen, something was going to twist or reveal itself, but it never does.
This film is honestly bizarre as it literally doesn't have an ending. The movie just ends seemingly randomly without any reveal or clearly signified conclusion. It literally feels like they forgot to add in a scene.
I enjoyed the locations and the odd character dynamics between the main characters, but I kept expecting more from Lana's character specificity. She is built up as a possible liar and complex character, but that is completely thrown out. None of the characters in this film I felt sympathetic towards and I disliked all of them. Unlikable main characters can work sometimes depending on the story you want to tell, but in this case it seems accidental.
I have no idea if the director even wanted to communicate a clear story, all I can do is make assumptions. There wasn't enough information conveyed about D., Karen's ex. All I can assume is that Karen didn't want to repeat the dynamic between her and her ex with Lana, but this really wasn't conveyed in a clear way. Actually, after the final phone call, it seems like the only true victim in this story is Lana herself, but I have no idea if that's how the director wanted the "ending" interpreted. The ending is open, but not in a good way.
Overall, this film wants to tell too much with too little.
Halloween (2018)
Not bad, but not good.
Halloween (2018) is one of those movies where you're not really sure how your supposed to feel about it. It's not necessary a good horror movie, but its not really a bad movie either. As a long time Halloween fan, I wasn't sure what to expect going into this movie since I had no idea who the director was or who the majority of the cast was. I wanted to believe this would be a fantastic movie, but I had to be realistic.
The Pros: The music in this movie is great, John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies did a really good job maintaining that classic halloween feel and mood with the music. There are some very good scenes with great use of music that really enhances the overall experience and sense that something horrible is about to happen.
I also really enjoyed the cinematography in SOME areas of this film. There is one chase scene in particular where the way it was shot really showed how lonely the area really was and gave a huge feeling of dread.
Michael Myers' acting was great. Nick Castle returned to play Michael Myers alongside James Jude Courtney and their body language, attitude, movements, everything was very spot on and nostalgic. I don't have any complaints regarding his re portrayal as Michael.
Lots of easter eggs. There was a handful of scenes in this movie that replicated and paid homage to scenes in Halloween (1978), even the opening credits felt straight out of the original.
The Cons: The colour grading is awful. A lot of horror films such as Saw, Martyrs, The Exorcist, and most importantly, the original Halloween, use a blue colour scale which gives a feeling of isolation, coldness, and anxiousness. This film uses a soft red/orange colour grade which makes everything seem to inviting and almost comforting? It just feels very out of place for the kind of film it is.
The poor use of comedic relief. It does work in some areas of the movie where setting isn't supposed to be serious, but there are a couple of moments in this film where the use of jokes is extremely inappropriate and down right ridiculous. you CANNOT try to build a sense of dread and fear than throw in a joke 2 seconds later, it ruins everything.
No sense of dread, no suspense, no build up. Every single time this film manages to start getting suspenseful it gets cut off instantly, everything happened way too quickly. There really is no sense of stalking in Halloween (2018), Michael just appears, kills someone, than the scene ends.
Acting is poor. I wasn't really expecting anything amazing since horror movies nowadays have a relatively small budget with usually unknown actors, but some of the acting is really bad. I will admit some characters have their moments, but even Jamie Lee Curtis did fall flat in a few areas.
I don't really have an opinion on the story. I think the idea and concept of it was very interesting, but I don't think the final product was executed as well as it could have been, but the ending of this film did seem to setup up a sequel in a very intriguing way.
Overall, I give this film a 6/10, not good, but not bad. Would I watch a sequel to this? Yes. Would I recommend this movie? Most likely, since there really isn't any good horror movies out this halloween season.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Quite Mediocre
I went into this Star Wars film thinking it was going to be a dark and serious movie since that is what the trailer made it out to be, shoker! It is NOT.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi probably has one of the best trailers to come out in the past decade, but with that said, everything that was shown in the trailer was completely twisted to showcase a false idea of the film and did not reflect the movie accurately at all.
This might sound bias because I personally prefer movies without comedic relief, but wow, this movie had A LOT of it to the point where it almost felt forced. It made the empire look like a complete joke (General Hux in particular) and even made Luke along with the rest of the rebellion look like a joke also. I must admit there are times where it does fit, but the majority of the time it does not.
There is NO story. The whole movie felt like it was missing both an introduction and conclusion. Nothing was explained. Nothing about Rey's backstory and absolutely nothing about Snoke. There are small bits where Kylo Ren and Luke are slightly explained, but it is EXTREMELY lackluster. If you were hoping to find out personal information about Rey and her life and why she has a connection with the force, you are going to be disappointed. If you wanted to know more about Kylo, Snoke, Luke Skywalker, Fin, and Po, you will be equally disappointed. While watching the movie I had no idea where it was going.
Very slight and odd anti-capitalist undertones were present, but nothing serious, most people wouldn't notice it (If you have seen Spider-man Homecoming, it was nothing like that).
This film did not stay true to Star Wars lore and if it actually did, it was not explained. So many things were wrong in the movie I almost felt as if the director had never took the effort to do research about things in the Star Wars universe.
Really odd and forced relationships between characters. I am not going to say which two characters because I want to make this as spoiler-free as possible, but jesus, the relationship made NO sense and me along with others in the theater were equally as confused.
In conclusion, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a decent film towards those who are not a fan of Star Wars and simply are just going in to view a sci-fi film, but to those who actually enjoy the franchise, you will be disappointed.
Overall Rating: 7.0/10
Rating as a Star Wars film: 5.0/10
Mother! (2017)
Shocking Amazing and Shocking Not Understood.
To begin with this movie is difficult to rate, but if you go into this film knowing that it is heavily reliant on symbolism and metaphors than you will enjoy this movie. If you are a fan of Darren Aronofsky or psychological films in general than this movie is definitely for you.
Everything in this film happens for a reason and everyone acts a certain way for a reason and I really feel the need to stress this point because it seems like a lot of people didn't understand that (majority of bad IMDb reviews on this film showcase this) and I almost feel the need to really defend this movie because of that.
The film itself I found quite enjoyable. The film lacks any sort of actual soundtrack but it's definitely not a shortcoming. The sound design itself was fantastic and the movie constantly puts you on the edge of your seat and you really feel as if you are with Mother or even are her. The use of binaural sound in this movie is amazing as well, you really feel as if someone is actually walking behind you or speaking in another room. The constant sense of dread that you get from the sound effects makes the film offer something that i haven't felt since Halloween (1978) and it truly is a unique experience.
The ending to this film is completely unexpected and unpredictable. I personally did not expect a western film to show what it did and I was pleasantly surprised. The trailer for the movie itself did a great job of giving the viewer just a little taste of what was yet to come without spoiling important aspects to the film and still giving it a mysterious appeal and i'm glad it did. Every major turning point in this film is something shocking that I would have never expected and constantly made me question what I just watched (I say this in a good and non-confused way of course). The ending made me want to know more and it stuck with me for a good week. The feeling I got when I witnessed the ending reminded me of how I felt when I first saw the ending of Martyrs (2008) shocked and depressed.
In conclusion, if you enjoy and/or understand symbolic and metaphoric films with heavy psychological tones than Mother! is definitely for you, but if not than you will most likely be confused and not understand the movie. That being said, if you know the movie is metaphorically about the bible and mother nature than it will be much easier to understand what's going on.
General Rating: 8/10
Rating as a psychological thriller: 10/10
Would I recommend to a friend?: Honestly depends which friend.
Srpski film (2010)
Feels Like a Parody
I went into this movie thinking that it was going to be "one of the most disturbing movies ever made", but instead I was left feeling very underwhelmed and quite surprised that people truly found this movie "shocking".
From a general standpoint sure the movie technically qualifies as something disturbing, but the movie almost felt like a parody of a horror movie rather than an actual horror film. The scenes in the film that would classify as disturbing or scary were laughably over acted and way too over-dramatic. I'm not sure if that is what the director was trying to go for or if he honestly thought what he was doing looked realistic. It's truly hard to tell if this movie is a joke or not and that's the main issue with the film.
As for the movie being "messed up" it sure is, but not in a realistic sense. If you're a fan of martyrs (2008) or films that classify under new french extremity than this movie might give you a good laugh. The only part in this movie that I honestly felt the need to look away from was the "newborn porn" scene, but for the rest of the film it was very obvious that what was occurring was fake due to the lack of good acting skills. This movie is not afraid to show you heavy nudity and is essentially soft-core porn, but the film did not show a lot of the gore and violence, it is implied, but a lot of it is not shown.
In addition, the story to this film is very much lacking and uninteresting. I really doubt anyone who has watched this film or wants to watch this film is interesting in the plot and for good reason. The characters in the movie are very 2-dimensional and boring.
In conclusion, A Serbian Film is not a very good movie. If you are a fan of gore and "messed up" movies then you may get a kick out of this, but it really isn't anything worth watching.
Rating 4.8/10
Like messed up movies?: Watch it.
Like well made movies?: Don't watch it.
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
An Embarrassment
This film lacks any sort of dimension to the characters what so ever, Peter Parker was so dull and the film completely missed the idea of Spider-man. After watching this movie it almost completely ruined the Spider-man franchise for me.
The political undertones are thrown at you within the first second of the film and continue annoying throughout the entire movie. The race changes of the characters are obviously only done simply so Marvel doesn't appear as "white supremacists". Michelle or MJ in the movie was annoying and hard to like, although she would have been fine as an angsty opinionated teen, once she was revealed to be MJ it was completely embarrassing, whoever decided that was a good idea should be imprisoned, seriously.
The acting was okay but nothing amazing. Jacob Battalion who played as Ned was unhumorous and the character was unnecessary in the film. The acting by Laura Harrier (Liz) was extremely awkward and almost cringe worthy to watch, it is obvious that she is an amateur actor. Zendaya as an actor did a decent job portraying her role, but the character, in my opinion, was just so so unlikeable and whoever wrote her script and character probably has never seen MJ portrayed in a movie before. Tom Holland could have been a good actor but the script didn't do him justice, the lame jokes and trying to make him seem like a comic nerd was a horrible idea, Peter Parker was supposed to be a nerd in the sense of mathematics, and sciences but the film completely ruined that.
The plot of the movie was boring and predictable, not to mention that the film didn't even show the origins of Spider-man or how he got his powers. Vulture or whatever was a sorry excuse for Green Goblin. The entire psychological aspect with the story has been completely removed, no Uncle Ben, nothing, at least in "The Amazing Spider-Man" they had those critical scenes. I don't even have enough time to talk about how horrible and unnecessary Iron-Man was in this film.
Oh and the Spidey suit in this movie was stupid, he isn't Ironman, he's Spider-man, he shouldn't have had all those gadgets and computer AI technology.
As a movie in general it's forgettable. Nothing is unique about this film and it feels like another copy and pasted comic superhero movie. I feel like I've already seen this movie 10 times.
In conclusion, if you are a die-hard Spider-man fan, more specifically, a die-hard fan of the original Spider-man trilogy, then please do not watch this film because you will be disappointed.
Rating Overall as a film: 6.2/10
Rating as a Spider-man film: 3/10
Silent Hill 2 (2001)
One Of The Best Video Games Ever Made
For a video game that came out almost 16 years ago, Silent Hill 2 is one of the best, or maybe even the best, survival horror/psychological horror games ever created, the disturbing and gut wrenching atmosphere and captivating story telling that this game delivers is something that is truly unique and superior compared to other games in the genre.
In my opinion, Silent Hill 2 has one of the most memorable characters and one of the most terrifying gameplay elements I have seen in horror games, but whether it's the static of the radio, or the never ending fog, anyone who plays this game will most definitely find something that will truly horrify them.
Rating: 9.5/10