parrot007's Reviews

Dead Island 2 (2023 Video Game)

5/10

HELLA CRINGE. HELLA LATE. HELLA BRAINLESS.

23 March 2024

The most clever thing Dead Island 2 does with is writing is refer to zombie overun Los Angeles as "HELL-A". Every other line of dialogue in this game is incompentnet, annoying, boring, and steryotypical cringe; its the infuriating combination of attempting to avoid anything that could be considered offensive whilst also trying to make a parody of an entire subculture of people. Its very easy to clown on Californians, but these people fail to say anything funny the whole game that actually takes itself quite seriously when it shouldn't. To produce something this completely unfunny and uninteresting after a decade in development is hella embarrassing. Skip the cutscenes and ignore everything the characters say, because they're all idiotic stereotypes and the story is every zombie trope you've ever seen and nothing else. Its never clever. Its never smart. Its never funny. Everyone who wrote for this game is incompentnet as a writer, not as people, not as a developers, AS WRITERS. Please next time pay someone to write for your game who knows how to write, maybe someone funny huh?

There is one thing the game has done better than any other game to date. Thats of course the extremely detailed gore-dismemberment technology for the zombies. For a game where you smack zombies over and over and over and over again, it takes a while to get old. Its the pinnacle of being desensitized to violence, and will be disgusting to some people, but the gore is still not as gross as the game's dialogue. In fact, I think this system might be the only reason the game wasn't canceled altogether, because without this it would have absolutely nothing new, and nobody was begging for another Dead Island game anyway. The technology will transfer over to future games and its certainly impressive (if you can stomach it). But remember, writing that is this horrible is the true threat to society, not violence or zombies.

You dont kill massive hordes of zombies, but instead get right up in their face and bash them apart bit by bit. You also have some creative ways to use the environment and some powerful abilities, things you would expect in any modern game, and you can probably put together some really crazy builds. However, Dead Island 2 being modernized in every way possible is also a mistake. I can turn off all the stupid unnecessary HUD stuff, the hitmarkers, health bars, stun meters, damage numbers. But I can't do anything about the fact that I can wander into an area where the zombies are just arbitrarily higher level and slap me dead in 1 hit. This game doesn't need a damn leveling system, it doesn't need crafting and resource gathering. It doesn't need weapons to have damage numbers, or any of these pointless stat buffs and RPG elements. Because its not an RPG, its a game that is fun to slay zombies mindlessly in for a while while you also suffer listening to incompentnet writers from an English dev studio portray what they think Californians are like.

This game is really big, and enjoying it really just comes down to enjoying cuting zombies apart and becoming increasingly more powerful. Its fun for a while, but I personally think a game like this would just be way better as a minalmist zombie slaying simulator without most of the RPG nonsense. But I guess when you're in development hell for so long you just need to invent things for people to do. The game doesn't even have a continuous open world or any other dimension to the gameplay, no vehicles, parkour, or real exploration. Its just smacking and slicing zombies thousands of times across pretty landscapes and iconic spots in LA.

You dont laugh, you don't think, you aren't challenged, you move pretty slowly, you don't listen to the characters, and you really just want to get past all the crafting benches, shops, inventories, item crates and number screens as quickly as possible so you can get back to thirsting after gore and violence. I mean seriously, who is this game made for? Wait a second....

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Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (2021 Video Game)

9/10

A fantastic trilogy that is far ahead of it's time.

20 February 2024

If I were to be more specific, Mass Effect would probably be a 9 and Mass Effect 2 a 9.5.

The first chapter in this trilogy was great because of its dialogue, pacing, good rpg elements etc. ,without question. But also without question, some of its controls felt a little old school and stange. I still like them, but I also prefer the second game's improvements in many ways. Mass Effect 2 would be close to a 10/10, because of its interesting story and expansion of the universe and characters, including returning, and many new version of the universe. Just a really outstanding rpg that holds up really well in this updated version.

I have not completed the 3rd game yet, but I beleive so far they have done a great job stringing events together across games. It all comes down to the ending as everything does, I guess.

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The Godfather (1972)

9/10

Icon and masterpiece.

26 July 2023

The Godfather is the second highest rated film on IMDb, and that says something about how widely appreciated it is. There is not much to say about it other than that it has exceptional performances throughout the entire cast and a very well supported script adapted from the novel. Its an incredibly immersive film, but it also takes some patience to watch all the way through. Part 1 and 2, which I think are both equally good and essentially one bigger story, take over 6 HOURS to watch. Its themes and setting are what is to be expected, and its also is true that The Godfather is an outstanding encapsulation of the era it takes place in too. When you have the time, you should go see for yourself how well it still holds up.

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The Godfather Part III (1990)

4/10

"Look how they massacured my boy"

26 July 2023

It is unbelievable how low the bar is for some people to consider this a worthy sequel to Part 1 and 2. A 16 year later sequel to two of the most well appreciated and iconic films of the century would never meet anyone's expectations, but this bullcrap doesn't even deserve an average score. It absolutely IS NOT even good on its own terms. People who appreciate film know the difference between good and bad writing, if you don't, go ahead and give this an 8/10. The fact that they decided to graft this pretentiously named script onto the end of a complete novel shows you what its all about. Puzo may have been a great author, but this film script he and Coppla came up with here is bad, period.

Godfather Part 1 and 2 stood on very soild ground having been based on a novel, and so they ended up being director's movies, some of the best ones ever according to imdb. Watching this back to back with the two REAL godfather films made the difference in quality even more noticable. In those ones, the writing and acting was so good that it felt like you were watching a real life conversation. In part 3, people, literally just say how they're feeling and scenes never long enough to ever be immersive. Its shot like a Disney Channel movie, nowhere near the detail and consideration put into each shot in the original.

Anybody saying that this is as good as the first two films literally just has to be trolling. But even the mind-numbing line of "Its not up to the level of the originals but its still a good sequel" is still just not true. This movie has none of the attention to detail, quality of writing, nor the well polished script, and certainly not the incredible acting performances of those movies. Its an average film thats made below average by lame fan service and completely over the top scenes that insult the low strung tone of the real films.

I have news for you, anyone who gives this a score better than 6: Puzo and Coppala know that this script is bad. They know what they made is extremely mediocre exactly because they are both good at what they do. Only a bad director could think this is a good film script, and Coppala is a GREAT film director, therefore he knows. What they made here is just lazy, plain and simple. And it was produced because it was certain to be profitable, plain and simple.

I don't know how you go from the diner assassination scene in Part 1 to the scene in this where somebody calls in a Black Ops chopper gunner, and a guy yells "no its my lucky coat!", and then gets shot to death. WATCH THAT SCENE AGAIN AND GIVE THIS MOVIE A 9/10, do it. Nothing else to say.

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Elden Ring (2022 Video Game)

10/10

The journey of a lifetime

16 July 2023

Elden Ring is an iteration of a well tested and effective game formula. Its challenging, but fair (most of the time). As a game, it doesn't do that much new or out of the box. It doesn't take any big risks and just makes futher refinements to the Souls formula.

The confidence that Miyazaki and the devs have in that formula creates a strong platform to build one of the biggest games EVER. The experience of Elden Ring is definitely evocative of any other Souls game, but it's personality still so distinct from those other games, and works perfectly as an open world setting. And on top of that they brought in a brilliant creative mind George RR Martain to help build one of the most amazing and wonderous game worlds ever. The unbelievably beautiful and sublime places you encounter, the mezmorizing and grotesque creatures and depraved oppressors you will battle creates an experience that delivers its meaning so subtlety. Its always brilliant, but still different for each player, because ultimately what makes Elden Ring and all the Souls games great is the vague underlying feelings it embeds in the mind of the player.

The feeling of oppression and corruption in the world is felt in its punishing gameplay. The bizzare enemies that will ambush you around every corner makes you admire every realm of the game, but still respect it. The intense verticality of the game's levels constantly remind the player of the absurd inequality in the lands between.

Many hours of Elden Ring are spent diving down a rabbit hole of deeper and deeper depravity, corruption, and mystery. Its a dark cave that leads to an ancient city where a slumbering beast has waited for ages. Its climbing a volcano rumored to be the hiding place of one of the most terrible demigods in the world, searching for something nobody else ever even wants to see. Who sits atop this garish golden city? Who will I find at the end of this river of blood?

The creatures of the world become stranger and stanger to the point where you feel more and more out of place being just a human. The PC feels the curse of their state as tarnished because they have nothing to lose, and thus nothing to gain, playing as a pawn in a game of Gods; the only way out is to become a God. Is the player who is playing Elden Ring a god? It's difficult to describe, but I believe that many players, similar to myself, who experience Elden Ring feel themselves within their character becoming slowly and slowly more astranged from the world, that they are destined to make something new of it. They see and conquer increasingly more terrible monsters. They slay the demigod Lords, some of whom are worthy of their power, others. The only pattern is they are all corrupted and mad. If I become the new Elden Lord, am I sure to become corrupted and mad? Should I even become Elden Lord?

That is the best description I can give of my own inner dialogue expericing this game. The fact that any game can evoke such thoughts so subtly just through visuals and minimal dialogue is absolutely incredible, and the peak of world building in games. Elden Ring is the best open world game I have ever played. Every path I took felt correct, and my own unique journey felt as intentionally crafted as a linear story game, as I know other playerss journies did.

Dark Souls proved that Miyazaki is a genius, but Elden Ring proves him to be a master at what he does.

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Beau Is Afraid (2023)

9/10

Absolutely fascinating, indirect, and unique

16 July 2023

Its unusual that a film produced on this scale is so bold and out of the box. I saw Beau is Afraid twice in theaters, the first time with a group, where we were all so blown away by the ending and coming down from the thrill ride of seeing it for the first time, that we were still talking about it an hour later when we got back home, discussing what it all meant and what each scene was ultimately representing in the mind of Beau.

The second time I saw this was in the theater alone. This was a completely different experience because instead of being a thrill ride it was a slog to sit through. This movie honestly dicks around a lot and has a lot of nonsense and irrelevant moments. But what this creates is a movie that isn't terrifying, but hilarious. It was 3 hours of pity for Beau instead of 3 hours of anxiety. It is a 4 Act film, and all 4 Acts are actually low energy and low stakes. It has no climax or "aha, now I get it" moment. In fact, no single moment in the film is important at all besides for the ending. Even after buy and rewatching it more and more it only makes marginally more sense than it did the first time. Its a film that truly makes you think for yourself and is different foe different people. My interpretation of it is that Beau' pathetic nature has slowly over his entire life pulled him out of reality. He lives entirely in his own mind and cannot think for himself, and the events being portrayed are entirely metaphorical. For those that have seen it, notice that any scene in this movie at all, DOES NOT happen if Beau stops being a complete little b**** and takes action. If he just acts like a normal person and doesn't panic in every single situation, then NOTHING goes wrong. Every single scene in Beau is Afraid gives Beau a chance to do the rught thing, and every single one is a failure, all the way to the end, like a football team having an 0-16 season. But the fact that he is too cowardly to ever act and take control of his own life leads him down this path in the wake of a tragedy.

If you have not seen it yet, its better to go in knowing as little as possible, and you should. A24 doesn't make traditional movies. They're not all amazing, but they do have polished new ideas, and Beau is Afraid is indeed one of the best ones.

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Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

6/10

The Way of the Industry

16 July 2023

For most people, incredible special effects, sound, visuals, and sci-fi immersion is enough to be considered an above average or even a 10/10 experience.

You go to see Avatar: The Way of the Water on a night you have nothing else going on. You ask your co-workers if they went to see it, and they of course have, like everyone else. They say "yeah the special effects were pretty great", and thats the end of the discussion. And we all did the exact same thing when the orginal came out 13 years ago.

Its competently written and acted. It undeniably looks impressive. It has some emotion, but not much suprise. You might have even cried at the end. But the truth is also that you forgot 95% of this movie the second you left the theater or turned it off. You don't remember any details of the plot or the characters' names. You probably dont even remember the main character's name. It's not worthy of extended discussion of its themes and I'd guess that less than 1% of people ever went to rewatch this bloated 3 hour sequel to another cash machine from 2009. This movie has absolutely no right to be over 3 hours long.

Way of the Water IS the film industry in one movie. Its a gluttonous and intelligent machine that converts money to entertainment back to money as efficiently as possible. It practically has it broken down to a science how much to spend on a project, how much it will make, how long to wait before releasing a sequel, the etiquette of its dialogue to reach the widest audiance possible, how not to cause any offense or controversy whatsoever, what portion of the budget goes to effects, actors, and marketing, what time of year to release, and how it ends to keep the door open for another sequel without creating the expectation for a sequel which might not be worth making from a financial standpoint.

The first Avatar had legitimate thematic purpose with the Alien species being representative of indigenous peoples who are invaded and bullied by more advanced societies, but Way of the Water is just a lateral sequel to that which follows the same characters and similar chain of events all over again 13 years later. But it doesn't matter because everyone have forgotten that entire film since.

Marketing and box office numbers might have someone believe that Avatar is one of the biggest and most well known brands in film, but the truth is that almost nobody has ever had a conversation about Avatar outside of talking about seeing it in the theater earlier that week. These are the most expensive movies ever made, but nobody remembers what happened in them. And in 2035, people will go and see Avatar: Way of the Sky, and do it all over again.

EDIT: Apparently, an Avatar 3, 4, and 5 have been scheduled to release before 2032, so its actually worse than I thought, point made.

Or maybe this was all intentional. That the $5.2 BILLION grossed by the Avatar films is a metaphor for how uninformed people are silently robbed of their land and resources over a long period of time. And by the time they notice, the machine is too powerful and they are technologically overmatched and doomed to live a in a world of hollow entertainment in the shadow the of golden empire of Hollywood.

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The Last of Us: Part I (2022 Video Game)

10/10

A game of not one, not two, but THREE generations

16 July 2023

The remastered version of The Last of Us from over 9 years ago, as well as the original game from 2013 was considered by many to be a perfectly crafted experience already. The Last of Us Part I is a remake of a remaster, and so is seen a level of polish that is extremely rare in games. It does sometimes show signs of its age, but overall the game has held up very well, and actually is STILL superior to the vast majority of new AAA games that only wish they could reach the level of passion The Last of Us has with its fans.

The gameplay refinements implimented from Part II, the accessibility options, and numerous quality of life improvements avalible now to PC owners too has expanded the game's audiance even further. This version of the game is a luxury item, propped up now by mainstream popularity thanks to the success of the show and Part II. It is just about as close to a perfect game as you can get.

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Super Mario Odyssey (2017 Video Game)

8/10

A great game? Yes. An industry icon? Not anymore.

17 June 2022

As my first game on the Nintendo Switch and my first Mario game since GameCube, Mario Odyssey was a great way to get a feel for a new console. It has a lot of different movement mechanics which are a little tricky to get the hang of, but fun to feel yourself improving with. Each zone has a unique theme and enemies that can be controlled with marios hat and I cant say there's really a weak level in the game. The best one for me was definitely the Metro.

Few games have this much variety in their gameplay, but the game also never goes too far in depth with any of these ideas. There will be many areas, mechanics, and techniques that few people will even use, and again, its definitely a game that feels rewarding to improve with. That said, the overall challenge in Mario Odyssey is very low, and because of this I wasn't compelled to go any further after completing the game once. This is an EASY game to complete, and there is basically no penalty for dying. This game has a target audience that still keeps the franchise alive, but at the same Mario is not doing anything to innovate or push the industry forward in any big way.

Mario Odyssey is a great game for the Nintendo Switch, but you have to realize that when you compare mario games to other triple A games throughout gaming and the top games on PlayStation and PC, it really is NOT anything special or earth shattering like its many fanboys insist that it is. Mario and Nintendo as a company only survive inside their own vaccum. Mario Odyssey is a great game in its own right, but it simply is not the industry icon it used to be. For me, a video game doesn't receive a perfect score just because it doesn't make any mistakes. It needs to be setting bars and expectations for other games. Neither Odyssey nor the Mario franchise are doing that. Nintendo is making good games that enough people enjoy. Thats it.

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Horizon Forbidden West (2022 Video Game)

6/10

Extremely Overrated and Undeniably Formuleic

1 May 2022

This game isnt bad but its been super overrated because we're in a drought for good triple A games right now. There is nothing here that you haven't already seen in a open world game. Graphics are a 10/10, world design is beautiful. Combat and progession are fun, but still virtually identical to the first game.

The only reason anyone gives this game a perfect score is because their expectations have been lowered by the ocean of mediocre Ubisoft open world games. Horizon Forbidden West is not a bad game, but its completely lacking in creativity and originality. You can't seriously tell me you enjoyed listening to hours of Horizon's weak writing and fake branching dialogue. You cant say with a straight face that this game's story is anything memorable. Name one character besides Aloy and describe their personality and why they're important (you cant). And if you play open world games, like ever, you cannot say that you haven't done every activty this game has to offer before. A good sequel is more than making a new world and adding new enemy types and character abilities. You need to improve the core foundation of the game, and you cannot say that Forbidden West does that.

You personally may enjoy this game, but I and many others are sick of this repetitive formula for open world games: The one where you clear out enemy camps, collect plants and animal skins to upgrade your gear and make items, spend skill points to get new perks, do other random repeatable activities, and CLIMB TOWERS to reveal new areas of the map instead of exploring them organicly. Everything you can do in the game is an icon on the map. Again, maybe this formula for a game is still fun for you, but some of us have played this exact type of game a hundred times in the past decade and its simply embarrassing that Guerilla Games' inspiration for their game are 6/10 copy paste Ubisoft open world games, instead of actually great open world games like Red Dead 2 or Breath of the Wild, where you explore naturally instead of running from icon to icon on your compass.

For the third and final time, Horizon Forbidden West is NOT A BAD GAME. But is this seriously your idea of a 10/10 video game?? If it is, than you really need to play some different (better) games.

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Free Guy (2021)

7/10

Funny, unique, and better than expected.

4 October 2021

This movie literally is one of the most unique concepts I've seen in a long time. The absurdity of the question: "what if an NPC in a video game decided to stop taking player's BS and play the game themselves?", makes for a pretty enjoyable movie for gamers especially. However, a lot of the writing is watered down probably so that non-gamers are more likely to understand whats going on here.

The movie does have another half taking place in the real world with a concept on artificial intelligence. In my opinion while this part does have some more funny moments, it's usually weaker than the parts inside the game.

Ryan Reynolds is great in this movie and the side characters are pretty good too. Other than that, the rest of the movie's persoality consists of pop culture references and jokes. The budget really came in handy for that and also it's enormous amount of special effects.

This is definitely a movie for mainstream crowds but it's good for a casual daytime movie.

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The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

4/10

Unnecessary. Unintelligent. LAZY.

6 June 2021

Warning: Spoilers

So...you title your movie "The Cloverfield Paradox", yet you never go into any detail on what that is. It's a situation where you smash togather multiple demensions and/or timelines. Nobody seems to know anything beyond that or what constitutes the word paradox. The TRUTH is that the writers don't know either. They made it up as an excuse to bend reality and do weird things which isn't bad on its own, but the problem is that they set no boundaries whatsoever. No wonder JJ Abrams produced this garbage. Time travel, multiple realities, wormholes(?), impossible physics, teleportation, a functioning arm separated from someone's body, a guy having 5000 worms and a magic metal sphere in his chest, and many other dumb as **** things are all possible apparently just because multiple demisions! Waazammm!! The ending might get you the first time, but upon rewatch is totally baseless and with hardly any explication or development previously. What you have is a movie that acts smart and scientific and takes itself very seriously, but is acctualy incredibly unintelligent and LAZY.

Also, why the F is anyone praising this movie for it's cast/performances?!? That is complete nonsense. The characters are all either two dementional or one demensional. Most of the delivery is flat and the overall weak writing doesn't help. These people can't even cry; the tears are obviously fake and most of what little emotion there is comes from the gruesome injuries sustained by the crew. Also note that a large portion of the movie is just the crew bickering, sometimes for a good reason, sometimes not. Not all of it's acting is bad, but it's not even close to great. Some scenes are fairly good, most are mediocre, and some really suck. Do not listen to anyone who says this acting is noteworthy in any capacity. They are either dumb or a liar.

Let me explain the difference between a crappy imitation of the Sci Fi genre (backed by JJ Abrams of course🙄) and a good Sci Fi writer like Christopher Nolan. For the most part, Nolan is able to ground his ideas IN THEIR OWN WORLD. The Cloverfield Paradox does not make any sense. However, Tenet for example, doesn't make any sense either right? Wrong. Because Tenet does not BREAK ITS OWN RULES at least to the point where the average person can suspend their disbelief. Therefore, as a Sci Fi movie, it has a right to break rules without being considered nonsensical while still maintaining a serious tone. With Cloverfield Paradox, the rules are intentionally vague because the writers are lazy, period. You'd be deluded to think otherwise. It never sets defined boundaries and just goes off of the assumption that ANYTHING is possible when demensions collide, which I say again, is immensely LAZY and completely undermines it's serious tone.

A Sci Fi movie does not have to be 100% scientifically sound. However, it firstly should be either an expansion of plausible ideas/theories, or a fictional idea that is at least well developed. The Cloverfield Paradox is a fictional idea whos only context is what some unnamed guy on a TV who wrote a book by the same name says. It's acctually pretty insulting that he says 'read my book if you want to understand', yeah man that would be great if we could do that!! The second rule is that a Sci Fi movie must obey its own rules as it moves forward. Cloverfield Paradox fails on this front too because even when you just go along with the vague absurdity of it's premise, it STILL has major plot holes and stupidly impossible things. It just does whatever is most convient for that plot and throws in shocking things to keep people engaged artificially. Why does the guys body burst and explode worms everywhere? Who was he talking to in the mirror? How the F can you 3D print a gun?? How did that alternative deminsion woman know where the gun was??? Why didn't she just shoot everyone including the main character when she has the chance instead of giving speeches?? Why was there a camera on the escape pod and did she seriously just wake up at precicly the right time to catch her walking menacingly toward her crewmates? Who is the husband talking to on the phone at the end and why does that person have no clue what's going on on earth? There's forgivable plotholes and there there's this nonsense. And it once again exposes bad and LAZY writing.

To clarify again: A Sci Fi movie like this usually can start off simply with a question of "what if". What if we used a partical accelerator to smash demensions togather? When your answer is "Multiple people in different timelines will intersect" okay, nice that creates a lot of storytelling potential. When your answer is "A guys arm will glitch through a wall and start crawling around on its own" uhhhh, okay, whatever. When your answer is "A monster the size of a city will appear on earth" you are officially just writing out of your *** and I don't give a **** if it's the Cloverfield monster from a 10 year old movie because you were supposed to give real context to it here but instead you just LAZILY use it as an end twist, only raising more questions about what this connected universe is...WTF?!?! This movie is a joke and not a funny one at that. It cannot even be enjoyed while high (trust me).

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Baraka (1992)

9/10

If a picture is worth 1000 words, then this movie is worth 100 lifetimes

27 April 2021

Baraka has no dialogue. This gives you, the viewer, a special opportunity to sit back, relax, and let your thoughts be provoked by a facinating montage of diverse human lives, from the biggest cities, to the most remote tribal communities. It's proof that you can look back in time quite a ways just by venturing into the most unmentioned corners of the world. All of this is shot with outstanding precision too, and the ending is something silently brilliant. Not much else to say besides WATCH IT. Relatively speaking, there are few ways you could better spend 90 minutes of your time.

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The Beach (I) (2000)

9/10

Underrated gem. Definitely worth watching at least once.

20 April 2021

This movie's reviews are way too low. It does sometimes have weak writing and the plot may seem a little random at times, but the point is that at the beginning of the film, Richard is meant to be a blank slate representing a common type of young adult in the millennial generation, and how he changes as a character could potentially happen to anyone in the same scenario.

The big thing that The Beach gets right is compelling character arcs and decisons. It's interesting to see how stumbling upon a paridise can change people in major ways. This is especially evident in our main character, but side characters such as Sal, Etienne, and the Beach residents as a group with how they react to hardship and tragedy in a place where there hardly is any. They do things that you will not agree with, making you turn your brain on and then hopefully realize how having no troubles in life makes anyone bad at dealing with them, and that excessive stimulation and happiness can corrupt the mind, creating an insatiable craving for more and more, which can lead to borderline insanity. That said, it is a little inconsquetial at the end for Richard, but that's barely a critisism. Not every movie has to be heavy like that.

It's not a movie everyone is going to love, but DO NOT get turned away by bad reviews. If you end up liking it, it's worth it.

Edit: I have found that many of the negative reviews say something like "it's not like the book". You orangutangs need to realize that such comments ARE NOT VAILID CRITISISMS (on thier own)! A film adaption of a novel, or any translation of a story from one medium to another for that matter, has NO OBLIGATION to be a perfect replica of original medium. Of course it ought to obey the general structure and themes, but you have to also remember that some storytelling tequiniques, descriptions, and elements of pacing simply do not translate well from say, a book to a movie. Inevitably, some things will change. But people hate change and when something is new it's automatically on their bad side. That's the crux of these garbage 1/10 reviews. If the film is a blatant disrespect or diservice to the original, you need to explain very specifically and objectively why that is true, otherwise THAT IS CALLED A NON-CRITISISM. YOU'RE COMPLAINING, NOT CRITIQUEING! It's not like this book is some sort of world renown classic either. This minority of people have litteraly just congregated here to bash this movie. It's average score really should probably be at least 7.0-7.5. You're not smart haters!

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Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

10/10

A justifed follow up and technical triumph.

18 April 2021

When you make a sequel to a 30 year old movie, you better do it right. And unlike a certain other sequel to a 30+ year old film(s) that also includes Harrison Ford, Blade Runner 2049 respects it's elderly predecessor while also giving a good continuation of it's themes and expansion of the universe. It's tone and style by way of it's precise filmmaking, music, and diliberate use of color to convey feelings all do an excellent job of immersing us in the Blade Runner setting again and making something great technically . It definitely nails the atmosphere.

This sequel takes a slow and steady pace and focuses on a new character K, who has an interesting arc himself with an element of ambiguity to who he is. In fact, all the movie's characters have distinct dialogue and reactions. They all do their part to slowly peel back the layers of this mystery behind a replicants child and the potential for the artificial to become the authentic. It constantly reminds you that everything in 2049 from whiskey to romance, is artificial, grounding you in this silent but incredibly important hunt for the truth. It expands the universe immensely with the idea of artificial birth, if replicants can...replicate, the line between man and machine becomes even further blurred than it's predecessor. I dare say it's themes are deeper across the board. It's clear that Villeneuve respected the Blade Runner name and wanted to add genuine depth to the world. At no point are there attempts to undercut the original.

My only criticisms of this movie are very minor. It's been said that the first cut of this movie came out to be 4 hours long. While I certainly could watch something that looks this good for 4 hours, its too long for a standard release and we know that they had to shave off over an hour of footage, which will never be seen again. I think it's a shame that this will (probably) never be released as an extened cut because I think there are some ideas and characters that could have been expanded upon. One example is Jared Leto's character. He puts on a very interesting performance and it would have been great to see more of this and his character's perspective. When every single shot in this movie looks amazing, its reasonable to believe that much of the cut footage looks great too. The actual film that was released is great, but I think it's potential was even higher.

If you still haven't seen this film, do it. It's a worthy follow up to the 1982 classic and it never breaks form. It doesn't rely on the original to tell the story and it also does NOT make the fruitless effort to recreate the original story through unnecessary fan service. It utilitlizes the old characters in meaningful and believable ways, and only as much as is necessary.

This is what film sequels should be.

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Breaking Bad (2008–2013)

10/10

99.1% purity meth. 100% greatness.

12 February 2021

Warning: Spoilers

NO SPOLIERS SECTION: Watch Breaking Bad. It's arguably the greatest TV series ever made.

S1: This is an absolutly outstanding start to a show. It successfully intrigues the audience with it's main plotline, but still leaves room for other ones to develop. I was so happy in feeling that nothing was rushed OR dragged out, and Breaking Bad's writing and acting are both so good that slower parts never feel slow. All the characters are complex and make meaningful contributions to the stories it's telling. I really don't have anything negative to say about season 1, it's just enthralling. DONT START THIS SHOW ON A SCHOOL/WORK NIGHT! 9/10

S2: This season is a masterpiece. It successfully continues the themes set in motion from S1 while standing on it's own, the main theme being the chain reaction of events that comes back around. Walter treats Jessie very impersonally and outright badly much of the time, which makes him feel more alone and like more of a failure, which pushes him to try heroin, which he got the idea from his new girlfriend, which causes her to relapse and go back on heroin, which ends in her dying, causing her father so much pain and stress that he makes a fatal mistake at work, resulting in two planes colliding...right over Walt's house. This all made the mysterious intro appearing in several episodes with the pink plush toy floating in the pool a very successful subversion of expectations. It's very easy to think that some explosive disaster occured because Walter started cooking in his home, but when it turns out to be something that is much worse, it really hits home and was worth all the buildup. It's probably the best overall season, but still isn't the height of the series. 10/10

S3: The begining of this season is quite frankly, made up almost entirely of falling action resulting from the end of season 2. That's totally okay because they do introduce an interesting new side plot which is yet another completely plausible consequence of Walt and Jessie's actions. When the cartel hitman eventually go after Hank, it once again hammers home the show's main theme of ones actions effecting people you care about. Gus also develops in interesting ways as a character that I never would have expected after S2. The thing that brings this season down a little is the all too frequent scenes of marriage troubles, finance troubles, and people feeling sad in the hospital. Not as intriguing as the rest of the show. I also love the Fly episode, but it's still totally unnecessary. Still a great continuation of the show. 8/10

S4: With the ending of the third season being a major cliff hanger, it was'nt surprising that S4 also starts off a bit slow. However, it really ramps up to be as brilliant as the show has ever been before this in the second half. Walter and Jessie's relationship takes several more twists and turns and eventually appears irreparable before they finally realize how badly Gus has manipulated and outsmarted them. But just as hope is dying off, Walter makes yet another sacrifice that is both true to his character and interesting to watch. He really is smarter than everyone else. He can always find a way to win, but at what cost? The final shot of this season is so simple, yet so powerful and shocking. It leaves the door open for one final phase. 9/10.

S5: This season kind of feels like 2 mini seasons welded togather, the first being Walt's transformation into an independent businessman trying to manage the last of his loose ends, and the second being the unraveling of every single thing he's done, and the mid point being when he kills the last person who has the wisdom to know when enough is enough. It's almost just as dense with action as S1 despite being over twice the length. S5 suffers none of the common pacing issues in many other TV series' finales. It quickly collects itself in the first episode, and Walt's character arc is acctualy pretty much complete at the beginning of this season. This season's big focus is on how his actions change/ruin the lifes of other characters, and it does a great job bringing all of their arcs to natural conclusions, with Skyler being a highlight. Her mind has been melted by the stress he's caused her and she no longer even tries to oppose Walt, as she is now guilty of many crimes herself, and I would even argue that at no point did she acctually have a good way to remove herself from this situation. Walter White becomes a classic villan in this season. He only pretends to care about those around him, does terrible things supposedly to protect them, and casts out anyone who calls him out on his terrible actions, no matter how close they are. He makes a BS confession tape that claims that Hank is a part of the meth business, tries to have Jessie killed for confessing to Hank, then sells him into slavery for a gang of Neo Nazis, gets Hank killed by those same people, and then shakes hands with their leader. It's amazing to look back and see how far he has come since the pilot episode. The final two episodes of the show are remarkable. There are a ton of things to think about here, but it perfectly ties up all the loose ends without feeling rushed or contrived. He finally realizes that the the ends don't justify the means. It's not exactly satisfying, but it completely does justice to the series overarching themes. Outstanding work. 10/10.

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Hitman III (2021 Video Game)

8/10

Another soild entry in an iconic franchise.

29 January 2021

Hitman 3 caps off the new Hitman trilogy, but I don't think it's the end of the franchise. This game and it's two predecessors are virtually identical, and thus part of this review is sort of a look at the trilogy as a whole.

Hitman 3 gets all the important things right. It includes 5* new levels, several of which add some kind of twist to the assassination formula, one example being a level where you must locate and kill 5 unmarked targets to strike fear into their organization, and another requiring you to investigate deeply gaurded agency secrets. Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of non-assassination objectives in Hitman because they tend to become a bit tedious upon replay, which is of course the best thing about the Hitman franchise. That said, I still like all 5* of the levels in this game. Hitman's design formula has always been and will always be good, and this game does it justice, no question. If you like hitman, you will like this game.

This trilogy is exactly what a hitman game should be, but it definitely still has some shortcomings that we should recognize. The first one is the story. It has some good moments that veteran hitman fans will appreciate, but it simply doesn't have enough plot points to build any intrigue, and the writing is flat. They pretty much did the bare minimum for what is expected in a hitman story and the only clever or surprising thing that happens (toward the end) is acctualy an idea that was clearly inspired by Blood Money. If you've played both these games you know exactly what I'm talking about. Mostly forgettable even though I do like the way 47 and Diana work in this story.

The other problems I have with this game and the new trilogy altogether are minor, but still need to be discussed to keep IOI honest and improve the franchise moving forward, because the truth is that these games are all just new levels to the same formula. To start, we all know the graphics are very average. Absolution's graphics are better, period. These games' gunplay is also inferior to Absolution. Guns feel much less weighty, sound pretty bland in comparison, and also have absurd amounts of bullet deviation for no reason. What happened to dual wilding pistols? What happened to taking people as human shields? This is compared to a game from 2012. I understand these games' budgets may have been tight, but with standards being raised more and more across the industry, and considering these games (2 and 3 at least) have been pretty financially successful, I expect improvements to these things in the future, even if that means just copy pasting all the upgrades from Absolution that they threw out the window. Finally, I will say that I've never loved this game's loadout system. It's always been pretty obvious which items are best and it's unfortunate that there was no weapon customization whatsoever like there was in Blood Money.

That was a lot of nitpicky criticism, but none of these things make the game less fun. They simply are ways the franchise can be improved upon in the future, something this franchise deserves.

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Watch Dogs: Legion (2020 Video Game)

5/10

Little effort put forth outside of it's core idea.

25 November 2020

Warning: Spoilers

There was clearly a lot of effort put into the core idea of this game. Play as ANYONE and build a legion of operatives/hackers to turn an oppressive private security force's technology against them. This idea was accomplished...as well as one could have hoped to. There is an outstanding variety of voices and dialogue. People have many different professions, skills, and quirks, and with some imagination, can become characters you, the player, even begin to like. This definitely increases the tension if you play on permadeath mode, which I therefore strongley recommend. Choosing the right operative for the job can give make things significantly easier, even if the game isn't very challenging to begin with. This idea acctualy worked!! I did have some memorable experiences such as stalking and recruiting a buckingham palace gaurd and using him to disable the propaganda setup at the palace. But unfortunately while the heart of the game is good, it hardly has much muscle surrounding it.

Everything else in Watch Dogs Legion is BASIC. Graphics are lacking. The AI is a joke. Shooting feels weightless and meek. Stealth is far too easy. Driving feels decent, but still does'nt display anything close to realistic physics. The world does have life to it, but is akwardly silent in too many areas, and lacks variety outside of iconic locations in London. Different sections of the city are not distinguishable on their own. With player upgrades and abilities replaced by the operatives system, the game tries to spice things up with upgradable gadgets, but this simply doesn't have a significant impact most of the time because the game is just too easy on the first two difficulty levels. Hard mode is only hard because enemies kill you in 2-3 shots and have perfect accuracy; don't play on hard. While Ubisoft has improved their mission variety in comparison to some of their other games, most missions can still be described as: "Sneak into a gaurded facility and gather intel about corruption amougst Albion and others" and ultimately, progress the story.

Speaking of the story, Watch Dogs Legion does portray relevant ideas of the dangers of surveillance, data collection, and private security forces. It has a couple core Dead Sec characters to to keep the story together, but includes other operatives in conversation even when you aren't playing as them. I like this; it makes you feel like a legit unit rather than a tag team. The game does have more personality than I would expect for having randomly generated characters. Once again, this is well done, and where all the effort went for this game.

Minor spoilers ahead: Considering the near future setting, it's message is supposed to be how easily these things can happen if we're not careful. However, the game really slaps you in the face and breaks immersion when it decides to include incredibly stupid nonsense such as mind control and kill chips in people's heads and a certain scenario where a guy shoots THE POLICE COMMISSIONER of London in the head (because he disagrees with the new security protocols) and blames it on "terrorism", even though he was sitting in a room with multiple high profile witnesses and presumably, plenty of cameras. These are not the only examples of LAZY writing and unnecessary Sci Fi garbage that undermines the effort to draw parallels to current day events. I can belive thag a security cooperation could stage terror attacks to increase demand for it's service. I can't believe in stupid, lazy crap like this. What a gutless fail.

People, get this game in 6-9 months when it's 20$ cheaper and has more content. Multiplayer is not out yet at the time of this review. The base experience is easy to advertise as something incredible, but it's really not.

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Malcolm in the Middle (2000–2006)

10/10

GOAT

2 September 2020

This one's just for the record. MitM is the greatest ever for so many because of it legitimately captures the pains of growing up while introducing important lessons and still being hilarious all at once. It never faulters or has a weak moment. Each character is perfectly played and has thoughtful levels of depth, allowing different people to relate to certain ones in meaningful ways.

It's so genuinely in touch with it's audience that it's become part of our identities in a way. Even as it acts ridiculous, it promotes good virtues and confronts real childhood conflicts. The ending to this show is also a master class, having the gut to double down on everything it's done by saying "Your problems don't stop when you grow up!!" in a creative way.

IF YOUVE NEVER SEEN THIS SHOW, GET TO WORK!

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Brokeback Mountain (2005)

9/10

A passionate and influencial milestone for film.

2 September 2020

Warning: Spoilers

For a film that spans so many different phases of our two main characters lives, Brokeback Mountain is incredibly well paced. Every single scene in this movie is given just enough time to develop the characters in meaningful ways without ever dragging on too long. This is executed with strong and powerful writing and outstanding performances, especially by Heath and Jake. Few other times have I seen such complicated emotional feelings covenyed this well in a film, those of confusion, sexual frustration, fading love, longing, and just pretending to be someone you aren't. Characters convey their feelings though their actions, not words, and Brokeback Mountain is a shining example of how this works so well when it's done right. Jack for example, wants to build a life with Ennis, but he slowly realizes that it can't work, and he tries to fulfill this longing via other people/means. It only makes his pain worse when he compares it to the few times he gets see him. And thus, despite having a life much better than Ennis', he suffers inside greatly. It's a powerful message to just commit to who you are and be honest with yourself.

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The Last of Us: Part II (2020 Video Game)

10/10

Seperates the real from the fake. An unkind and ruthless story of consequence executed *almost* perfectly.

18 August 2020

Warning: Spoilers

(MAJOR SPOILERS!!!) Pre Review: (My opinion on the controversy):

Let's talk about Expectations vs. Reality. Expectation for TLoU Pt II: Another Joel and Ellie adventure. Reality: Joel and Ellie both suffer immensely in their own ways with only about 1-2 total hours of them together. You play as Joel's killer for nearly half of the game! Neil Druckkman must be out of his mind right? You know what people want for this game and you give them almost the complete opposite. People love these characters so much that when you cause them this much pain, you actually cause them pain too, so much to the point where you anger fans and they reject the rest of what you have to say. Some criticism I understand. People wanted more positive sentiments. They wanted to see more of Joel. Storytelling is artificial at times. They don't like that it's so depressing. That's all fine with me. However, the truth is that many have made completely unfair judgments of the game based on THE WAY IT MADE THEM FEEL and not THE ACTUAL MESSAGE. The fact that so many people canceled their pre orders and declared the game bad after it leaked proves that their evaluation was: Joel dies = Game bad. Context and rational thought is irrelevant. Joel dies = Game bad. That's the TRUTH the review bombers will never admit: They hate the game because Joel dies and wrote it off as soon as they found out. Then they bury it under stupidly vague and shallow criticisms of it's "plotholes" and "dumb character decisions". Even worse is attacking Laura Bailey for her role in the game as Abby. Are you out of your mind?! Please see a doctor.

Here's a fact: If Abby's story was its own game and TLoU Pt. I never existed and Joel and Ellie were two random irrelevant people to us, nobody would hate Abby. Everyone would like her in the same way everyone liked Joel because the truth is they have the SAME STORY: They lose someone they love, deal with it poorly and live a cold and malevolent life, but redeem themselves and regain hope by saving a child. There is NO rational reason to hate Abby. Everybody who still does after completing the game is just deluded by grief. Btw, it goes without saying that if you didn't finish the game, your opinion is invalid, you have no right to complain, and you were never a real fan. The maturity to recognize these FACTS and see the game as art rather than an entertainment media object is what separates the fake people from the real, which is a message in and of itself.

Review (The game itself):

Let's get this out of the way first: Everything aside from the story in The Last of Us Part II is a 10/10. Graphics and especially animations look unbelievably amazing. Music is perfectly composed and well selected to bring more weight behind important moments. Combat is intense and challenging thanks to enhanced movement and verticality, a good variety of weapons and items, smart AI, and clever level design. It's also brutal as hell. Enemies wail in pain when you blow off an arm or leg and choke after being stabbed in the neck. Dogs yelp when shot and whine in confusion if you kill their owner. Infected are loud, aggressive, and disgusting. This stunningly detailed and realistic depiction of these violent acts in this brutal post pandemic world adds to the themes of the game and creates a level of immersion few games have ever achieved.

The Last of Us Part II's complicated, interwoven narrative was never written to preach hopeful sentiments. It's a long, tenacious, and emotionally draining story with few purley cheerful moments. It left me feeling rather depressed for several days after finishing it. Abby's story and role as a playable character was the only possible way for anyone to come around and feel empathy for her, and for many it still didn't work. Some people took a step back and realized the FACT that Ellie and especially Joel are not heroes nor objectively good people, but rather two random survivors in a morally corrupt world, who we as the audience have grown attached to just like they have to each other. Some ignore this and treat them as the good guys and therefore Abby and her group as the bad guys. This is not an opinion. There are no heros in this story. The parallels they draw are unapologetically real. Abby witnessed the same terrifying thing Ellie did. She obsessed over it. She was unable to love the same way Joel was after he lost Sarah. She felt guilty after killing Joel in front of Ellie. She saw herself in Ellie in her devastated and horrified wreck. Then she carried that guilt and found redemption by caring for two children, which then brought her hope again, just like Joel. Then her cruel and violent act circled back to her, and she goes after Ellie, who had now cruelly murdered her friends. If it weren't for Lev and his disturbed look he gives Abby as she puts a knife to Dina's throat, she would have killed her and Ellie too. Haters fail to realize important details such as this like this in their blind hatred for Abby. Lev was a very interesting character and a fitting counterpart to Abby with his maturity and ability to accept death and move on, and not harm those not responsible. Hmmm, a child restoring humanity to a broken person through acts of courage and sympathy. OMG what does that remind us of??? Finally, I'm going to disagree with another common criticism of this game, that being the question: "Why do these hardened survivors who aren't afraid to kill dozens of people in gameplay sections show any sort of mercy in scripted sections?!" I understand this angle, but the problem with it is that there is a difference between scenes like the theatre confrontation and a random combat encounter in who is hunting who and why. Ellie and her friends are aware that the WLF patrols will kill all trespassers, therefore she doesn't feel guilty when she kills patrols. She also irrationally hates the WLF anyway because Abby and her friends are members. The WLF and the Seraphites are at war. They all are trying to kill each other, therefore not Abby nor anybody feels guilt or regret after a shootout. It's just the way the world is. However, when Ellie tortures a girl to death to find out where Abby is or kills a pregnant woman, which is f---ed up on its own, but as her own companion is pregnant, then it makes sense that she does recoil in disgust. She was hunting them. The difference is that she had CHOICE in these scenarios. This is a weak argument. It's a video game. You kill an exaggerated number of people. Get real.

Even as I paint nearly every common criticism of this game as being a strength instead, I still have problems with it. Trying to tell such a complex story did cause problems with the games pacing and logical consistency. There are several arguable plot holes, conveniences, and somewhat questionable decisions that shook my immersion at times. There also are too many flashbacks, times jumps, and changes of perspective. They do all have a reason to exist, but it still wore on me, especially on my second and third playthrough. Lastly, there's almost a comical amount of forced transitions in this game via things like: the floor collapses under you, you get caught in a trap, you get ambushed by enemies etc. They usually serve to invite a plot critical conversation. Things like this make the storytelling feel less organic, especially in comparison to Part I, which kept you alongside Joel and Ellie their entire journey and used surprise moments to demonstrate their bond rather than simply transition to the next plot point, while possessing very few, if any plot holes. This, in all, prevents the game from earring a perfect score in my book.

Rarely does any media attempt to tell a story like this. ND attempts to unwind people's attachment to characters they love and present a super morally pragmatic message. This ambition is commendable and I truly believe they achieved something unique and worthy of discussion. They actually use fans' love for a character to take them through a process of grieving, which is something that very few if any games have even attempted before. Neil Druckmann and ND prove themselves to be masters of character creation and pioneers of video game storytelling.

Post Review (What The Last of Us means):

Here's what The Last of Us (Pt. I and II) says about people. We make decisions based on emotion, not logic. Most of the hatred for this game is emotion based, not logic based. We will go to obsessive and disturbing lengths for those we love, even to the point of our own self destruction. Joel chose Ellie over the world. We understand how much she meant to him, and his decisions came down on him hard. Ellie has lost nearly everything at the end of this game because of her obsession with avenging him. But that only speaks MORE to how much Joel meant to her. That's why this game DOES do justice to the characters. Ellie and Joel are not, and NEVER WERE heroes or role models. They're some of the most realistically depicted characters ever because of this grounded and realist tale of consequences. Everybody, both those who liked and disliked this game wanted the ending to be Ellie and Joel sitting on the porch together strumming away at a guitar. That hypothetical game, the one everybody wanted would not have developed their relationship any further, rather only reinforced what everybody already loved. Calling this game a "cash grab" is idiotic. If Sony wanted a cash grab, they would have made that game. Instead they let Naguthy Dog take an enormous risk by going for something brutally realist and artistic. Great art is often divisive, and while execution of this story was not perfect, I was still moved by its ideas. As brutally sad and depressing as it is, it speaks many sentiments to who these characters are and what humans are in general.

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Love, Death & Robots (2019– )

8/10

Mixed bag. But absolutely worth it overall.

12 August 2020

This show came out of nowhere with some outstanding animation all around and good writing that hooks the audience into it's 5-20 minute short stories, giving them just enough information to understand what's going on and become immersed in it's diverse world's without ever being didactic.

L D&R doesn't have a consistent type of animation. Some are photo realistic, and others have a style more akin to what we'd see in morning cartoons. The creators always use the correct animation style for the type of story being told. Some of these would had probably looked creepy or lost a degree of emotion had they looked either too realistic or too unrealistic.

The shows biggest strength is it's outstanding variety. There's no overarcing theme or connection between any of the episodes, but they demonstrate a knack for quickly sparking interest. Some are funny. Some are serious. Some are a mix of both. Settings are unique and interesting and episodes often have a good twist at the end. Highlights for me would be: Beyond the Aquila Rift, The Secret War, Good Hunting, and Zima Blue. There are still a few dumb or forgettable episodes such as: When the Yogurt Took Over. Watch this series and I'm sure you'll find some that you like too!

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Under the Skin (I) (2013)

9/10

Masterfully executed cinematography and subtle thematics.

12 August 2020

Under the Skin is an abtruse and bizzare film that certainly does lack explanation to several ideas. However I find that these ideas serve their function better by being expressed implicitly as compared to explicitly. These unknown locations, strange imagary, odd dialogue, and loosely implied motivations would not have made the film better by being explained directly. In fact, they probably would have even made it worse.

Overall this film is very light on dialogue. It's only used when neccasary. I have to say that Scarlett Johanson does a great job of conveying her unnamed character's feelings through non-verbals. It's very easy to tell firstly that she isn't human, and secondly, what she's thinking in different scenarios as she observbs this what to her, the strange world she's in. There are many sections where she has no lines, but her performance and excellent directing keep the story moving. Music also takes the riens at many points and appropriately instills a feeling of uneasiness and confusion. This outstanding composition does not overstay it's welcome though. In contrast, many scenes are either completely silent or contain only environmental sounds. It makes highly effective use of of the idea: "the silence is deafening".

Cinematography is some of the best I've ever seen. Outstanding shot angles give locations life and depth. It's something you just need to see for yourself. It sure does justice to the Scottish countryside, a place that is normally rather dull and dreary. It maintains a consistent pace and the editing usually is great, but I still found it feeling a little bit padded at a couple points. Its not the longest movie ever and it could have been shorter. Not a flaw in of itself.

Under the Skin is not a movie for everyone, but I am very dissapointed by it's currently 6.3 overall score here. Weak and unintelligent complaints in the realm of: "It's boring", "It doesn't make sense", "______ is never explained". Can these people who can't grasp visual storytelling and/or can't appreciate intentional subtley and ambiguity of any sort just stop writing reviews please? Haha maybe I'm just a snob. Am I up on my high horse? Or is it just completely idiotic to give this movie scores like 1, 2, and 3 out of 10?

I'm just gonna say it. I don't care. Often the truth is that when people don't understand something, accepting that would imply to themselves that they are inferior in some way (which may or may not even be true). And therefore they will find a way to articulate that in this case Under the Skin is what's inferior. Thus you get reviews that say: "It doesn't make sense: 1/10" when the truth is that person didn't make sense of it. I love how some of them try to act like they understand film elements when anybody who really did would at the very least see what the creators were going for even if they didn't like it. Not enjoying Under the Skin is fine. If this movie simply wasn't entertaining because not everyone is entertained purely by great cinematography, that isn't indicative of you being inferior. You're not stupid just for not enjoying this film. You can move on and you have every right to give it a mediocre score. Giving it outrageously low scores like 1s, 2's, and 3's on the other hand IS indicative of you being an idiot trying to drown the idea that you're not intelligent by tagging this film as the most offensive, useless, and horrible thing possible. It's people running from themselves. It's their subconscious saying: "I can't be dumb. That's impossible. Therefore it has to be Under the Skin that's a nonsensical and boring drag".

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Lover (I) (2018)

7/10

Demonstrates a strong understanding of most film elements.

9 August 2020

Ralph Sepe's independent and low budget film shows that he does indeed have all the skills necasary to go further into the film industry. For someone many people know as the goofy guy on YouTube who reviews bad movies, he's setting expectations higher with his own projects for people who have seen his videos. "Hur hur, well if that movie is so bad why don't you make one loser."

Put that aside and you'll see that Lover does indeed show a strong understanding of film ideas, especially visuals. Airel establishing shots are used nicely, close ups bring the audience in touch with akward conversations, and editing is also good most of the time. I do like the black and white choice too, It cuts out distractiions and makes some scenes such as those with snow looks even better.

I think this movie's weakness still is the writing and the acctual conversations between characters that otherwise have enough depth to keep you invested. I do see and appreciate the subtley that was attempted here, however I feel too much of the relationship between Delilah/Christina and Howard happened off screen. They don't talk to each other enough. Nailing this would have made this a legitimately impressive independent film, even if many things about it aren't exactly original. I didn't find myself particularly invested in this relationship which made later events less impactful.

For something of this scale for only a dollar on Amazon, I would say Lover is worth a shot for those who enjoy visual elements of film with some time to spare. It does enough well to be taken seriously.

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Uncut Gems (2019)

8/10

Real tension and realistic drama.

2 July 2020

What I like most about Uncut Gems is Adam Sandler. His performance here is outstanding. His accent, body language, and stragit execution of excellent writing sold the identity of a desperate businessman trying to juggle his relationships, finnaces, and business deals under the pressure but also out of the sight of his traditional Jewish family.

The movie maintains constant tension wherever it goes. Everything in this man's life is beginning to crumble and it was hard for me to decide whether I was rooting for him or not. Grey characters are the best characters.

If you enjoy watching chaos unflod in what seem like everyday lifes in movies, watch this one for sure! But even beside that, Uncut Gems has some light themes of greed and obbesion that make it worth a shot for anyone.

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