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JonnyDR75
Reviews
Hold Your Breath (2024)
Misses the mark
This is a beautifully shot film with solid performances from Sarah Paulson and the supporting cast. The main issue is that the arc of the story is not smoothly formed, so what starts off as an intriguing slow burn takes some quick turns that seem to come out of nowhere and the entire movie falls apart. The suspense and thrills are minimum here, so it is more of a drama than anything that could approach the horror or thriller genre. I suspect Paulson took this role because it seemed like a good opportunity to exercise her acting chops, but without a well crafted character arc, her performance ends up feeling real in each scene but unsatisfying as a whole.
Descendants: The Rise of Red (2024)
"Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try." -Yoda
If this was supposed to be the first of two parts, they should have advertised it as such, because it is very lean on plot. Like other movies in this property, they seem to spend too much time on musical numbers which not only fail to move the plot forward, but actually waste time and bring whatever plot exists to a screeching halt. The lead characters were nicely developed, but the secondary villains, Maleficent, Morgie, Hades and Hook all seemed wasted here. I'm not sure why they even introduced the Merlin/Morgana Le Fay/Morgie characters into this universe when they could have used a young Jafar and Ursula herself instead of Uliana who seemed like a total copycat of Uma. Rita Ora did a fine acting job, but the choice to not have the actress playing her younger self to have an English accent was a glaringly lazy choice. I wouldn't expect an established personality like Ora to do an American accent, plus it's a good choice for the character, but for them not to have hired or required a dialect coach for Ruby Rose Turner left me losing a lot of respect for Turner and her performance. Adding up the lean plot, the unnecessary musical numbers, the character omissions and additions, and the peculiar accents (or lack thereof), and the movie is a bit of an embarrassment to the Disney brand. This particular series should have grown, developed and matured over the years, but it has instead regressed and degenerated in artistic integrity. Despite the series' massive fan base and revenue from animated series, merchandising, etc., they still treat the Descendants like the red headed step children of the Disney family.
The 100 Candles Game (2020)
Good, but not so great.
It's a good collection of scary short stories, some better than others, but all enjoyable. One of the short stories is completely in Spanish with no English subtitles, which was very strange considering that the rest of the movie was in English, and not dubbed. This would have been fine if the language wasn't important, as was the case in some other of the other stories, but it was really necessary to know the language to understand that particular story. Unfortunately there are some misses, all of which are centered around the framing device. The characters telling the stories seemed too old to be engaging in this type of game. The actors seem like they are in their 30s yet you eventually discover that their characters are in their early 20s. It would have been more effective if they were depicted as teenagers, because, as adults, they come across as immature and somewhat like losers for engaging is this kind of activity in such a serious, high stakes manner. Eventually the 100 candles game they're playing doesn't really figure into the bigger picture of the story as nothing about the rules of the game add up or are even fulfilled, as expected, in the movie's outcome. If they had eliminated all the 100 candles stuff and all the action in the framing device in between the stories, they would have had a tighter, more mysterious, and more effective movie with an even creepier impact.
Brats (2024)
Insufficient Wounds
I was very excited for this, as I grew up in the 80s and saw all the movies with the Brat Pack multiple times. Unfortunately this was a big let down. I never thought the nickname, "Brat Pack" carried any negativity. In fact, I thought it was pretty cool and seemed aspirational. To hear McCarthy and some of the other members of the clique lament the designation was surprising, depressing, and also a little eye-roll worthy. I don't like discounting other people's feelings, but the sentiments expressed here did feel a bit, "poor little rich girl." If the article about these young actors had somehow destroyed their careers, and they were living destitute and damaged, this documentary would have carried more weight. However, the fact that they have all continued working in all areas of entertainment and enjoyed sane and successful lives makes the supposed wounds left by the article seem more like over exaggerated paper cuts rather than a career killer. The absence of Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson also made the documentary feel kind of lame and incomplete. The two of them regularly do reunion interviews together for "The Breakfast Club," so it's not like they are opposed to looking back on that time. Even if they had participated and that noticeable hole didn't exist, there were too many other holes needing patching that couldn't keep this boat successfully afloat.
Walden (2023)
That guy
Unlike other critics here, I did not feel this movie was slow-paced or boring or uneventful. I think some people just need lots of action, murder and thrills when they watch anything these days. In my opinion this movie is very good, but not great. I think the main issue lies with the main character. Anyone who has lived in the south for a considerable amount of time has known a guy like Walden. The seersucker suit, bow tie-wearing, seemingly asexual, forever single goober who's everyone's friend and shows up at ever social function to talk everyone's ear off is a staple character in every southern town. You always sense there's something dark underneath that person, but you hope to heaven that darkness never comes out. Hirsch really gets ahold of that stereotype and manages to put some additional layers in to make the guy not totally creepy, annoying, or unrelatable. The problem is that I never felt like I could get on his side. It might be because neither his backstory nor his medical revelation seems as effectively sympathetic as the writer may have hoped, or because his actions seem more motivated by selfish, psychopathic desires rather than to rid society of bad people. I think the ease with which he commits these acts right from the beginning makes his psychopathic nature eclipse any sense of his main motivation being justice. Whatever the case, Walden is definitely a complex character, just not a likable one.
Maxton Hall - Die Welt zwischen uns (2024)
Incomprehensible
This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I'm not sure how I made it through even the first episode. Let's see if I understand this correctly- A poor female student sees a rich female student making out with their male teacher. The rich student's brother tries to pay off the poor student to keep her quiet, and she basically tells him she has no interest in his money or in exposing the scandal. You'd think the rich guy would be happy and simply leave the poor girl alone. Problem solved, right? Nope. Instead the rich guy decides to go on a mission to antagonize and try to ruin the poor girl's life for no reason at all. Zero motivation. It makes absolutely no sense. If this is supposed to be the beginning of a romance, they've set it up in the most horribly inhumane and problematic way imaginable. I won't be sticking around to find out.
Room 237 (2012)
Interesting and Farfetched
I have no doubt that The Shining has many metaphorical layers, and Stanley Kubrick was a stickler for details who inserted certain symbolic, visual aspects into the film. However, some participants in this documentary read way too much into what they claim they see and suggest wild, unsubstantiated claims about symbolism in images and themes within the film. One participant claims Kubrick's face was airbrushed into the clouds in the opening credits, but we never see where. Another claims that a poster of a skier is actually the image of a minotaur, but the image looks nothing like a minotaur. It's not all conspiracy theories, but there are so many in this documentary, that the interesting, legitimate observations are overshadowed by the ridiculous claims of several of the participants.
Revenge (2011)
Good Binge
Revenge is a deliciously (mostly) well-written soap that manages to deliver four steady seasons of twists and turns, even in its not-so-popular fourth season. At times there are some poor directing choices which result in over the top, eye-roll worthy moments and some lazy writing choices employed to tie up plot lines, but the show is not supposed to be high artistic drama. The only major, unfortunate offense here is the character of Margaux in seasons three and four. There's a difference between loving to hate a character and downright hating a character. Villains need to be somehow relatable to the audience in order to be portrayed successfully, yet Margaux's scenes are tedious and off-putting to watch due to her relentless, charmless, misplaced anger. We accept the other characters' thirsts for revenge, because their motivations seem warranted. Margaux just lies and wrongly focuses her blame on people who don't deserve it. The moment she was hit by a car, I literally cheered like I witnessed my favorite team winning the Super Bowl. She didn't ruin the series, but for me, she was the biggest flaw in it.
The Exorcist: Believer (2023)
We Can Never Go Back To Before
It's interesting how the armchair critics here keep saying things like, "everyone hates this movie, because it doesn't have enough violence, gore, etc.," as well as "if it wasn't linked to the original,The Exorcist, people would like it more." Well, I don't believe fans of the original film were looking for gratuitous violence and blood, and considering the success of films like, Get Out, I believe that even the youngest audience members are capable of appreciating non-gory horror films as long as they're well written and entertaining. As far as these critics also claiming that people are comparing it too much to the first film, perhaps we couldn't help but do so, since this movie tries, and fails, so hard to mimic aspects of what made the original film so successful. The bottom line is that in our current time period, any script that attempts to piggy back on the success of the original film is destined to fail simply because since the original film, exorcisms have been done ad nauseam in horror films, and it's neither scary nor intriguing as subject matter any more. There's no mystery and history behind the rite, because we've all seen it done a million ways, and no amount of head spinning, levitation or regurgitation can traumatize a familiarized, desensitized, modern audience. Toss in that this movie is horribly edited, contains some terrible dialogue (poor Ellen Burstyn), and has an ending that leaves the door open for another sequel. God help us. Literally.
Better Watch Out (2016)
Fantastic Ride
I guess there were some trailers for this movie that spoiled a lot of what happens, but luckily I didn't see any of those. It's difficult to write a review of this without spoiling it, so I need to keep it short. The acting is wonderful, the plot keeps you on your toes, and the editing is done well enough so it's just the right length and never feels too quick or too drawn out. So many thrillers in this teenage genre have a predictable pattern with their characters and plot lines, so this one really mixed up that formula, and the result is a refreshing, very intense and finely adjusted tone that knows when to add the laughs and when to add the terror. Yay for originality and creativity.
A Christmas Memory (1997)
A Memory, Or Post Mortem?
The best aspect of this adaptation of Capote's classic is how it reminds us why the first filmed adaptation starring Geraldine Page resonates so effectively. When sharing memories of childhood, we usually tell our stories by sticking to a particular event or person and only the relevant details which left the greatest impressions in our memory. The first film adaptation focused mainly on the relationship between Buddy and Sook and their fruitcake and Christmas adventures. It is Capote's story about his relationship with Sook and really nothing else. You feel like you're watching a story that you, yourself would tell about someone from your past. In this adaptation, the other relatives in the house, the neighbor, the maid, and most unfortunately, the military academy all become significant plot points. You don't get the feeling of someone sharing a fond memory, you get something more akin to an itemized police report compiled from several eye witnesses. The storyteller's voice is lost, and the nostalgic, dreamlike transport which pulled at and warmed our heartstrings watching the first adaptation is nowhere to be found in this one. It's still a good story, but it doesn't feel like witnessing a memory.
An American Christmas Carol (1979)
What. Was. That?
I suppose some producer thought it would be a good idea to hire 33 year Henry Winkler to play the elderly Scrooge character in this tedious adaption of Dickens' classic, because he was one of the hottest TV stars at the time. The result is a freakish, bizarre performance by a heavily aged Winkler complete with latex prosthetics and a wig that looks like bad hair plugs. Winkler's singular acting choice to embody this legendary character is to low talk under his breath and deliver his lines like a sportscaster commenting on a long, slow golf tournament. I have to believe the positive reviews here are a result of the nostalgia-effect of people seeing it when they were younger and associating the movie with a happier time. Otherwise, people just have terrible, terrible taste in movies.
The Magic Flute (2022)
Unfulfilling.
There are so many great things going on in this movie that it's kind of sad that it has some big issues that keep it from being a great success. The concept is interesting, the cast is wonderful, and the story moves very quickly, although sometimes to its own detriment. Two major things could have saved this movie for me. It would have been a mini series, so it wouldn't have felt so rushed and the relationships between the characters could have felt more developed. Because there was so much underdevelopment in the characters and plot, I had a hard time understanding the parallels between the stories of the real and magical worlds. I'm still not sure if there's any more of a parallel other than the protagonist proving his worth. If that was all, then it was a pretty big "to do" for such a simple theme. Also, I didn't care for the production design for the magical world. I honestly feel that the real world setting of the school was so much more interesting and charming than the beigeness of the magical world which often resembles the desolate, depressing landscapes of Dune. One would expect the magical world to be more vibrant and exciting to visit than the real one. I found myself more enjoying the real world and its storylines, just not enough.
Cobweb (2023)
Good. Could have been great.
I'm usually pretty good at picking out the themes and metaphors in movies and getting the bigger picture of what the director is trying to say, but that was not the case here. I'm not sure there is some kind of message about parenting or trusting your kid's instincts , or unconditional love. I think the writer and director just ran with an idea out and made up the rest as they went along. The other big issue here is that there are major plot holes which surround the parents' actions and motivations, so you never quite understand why they do what they do, and why, with some many other good ideas you as a viewer can come up with to avoid the current circumstances of the movie, do these parents not use more common sense and make better choices? It's fine to make a horror film and just decide no one has any motivations and everyone's just crazy, but if you pair that decision with a script that is essentially a mystery, then you excuse yourself as writers and directors from having to solve all of the mystery. The good news is that these issues don't really bother you until later on when thinking about the movie long after it's over. While watching, the movie delivers good scares and has some good payoffs. The end is great. So, if you could care less about substance and meaning, but just want to be scared, this is probably a good movie for you and a majority of horror fans who measure a good movie by jump scares and blood volume rather than thought provoking, social commentary.
Goosebumps (2023)
Worth a Watch
I'm not sure why they decided to use the "Goosebumps" brand for this series, but I imagine they thought they'd get a lot more views playing the nostalgic reboot card. Had they just given it an original name, there wouldn't be as many reviews from viewers who are incapable of separating the style and format of the original series and accepting this new one. There would also be fewer viewers claiming this new show ruined their childhood, not because the show is bad, but because they grew up to become idiots who refers to everything that doesn't fit into their narrow-minded per views as woke. The good news is, if you're a decent, functioning member of modern society who can look past the fact that not every character is straight and white, and how those characters actually speak and act like people of their age in 2023, you might enjoy the creepiness and sometimes genuinely gross and chilling aspects of this series. More so, if you're intelligent, too, you might appreciate the smart writing and the metaphors woven into the specific storylines featured in each episode. As much as I'm enjoying it, I have some issues with it being derivative (Nightmare On Elm Street), predictable (I figured out what happened in the past in episode 2), and having a major plot hole (why doesn't one character's kid and their friend back up their story and prevent them from having to be taken away?) Aside from these small gripes, it's an enjoyable series, especially if you like the horror genre and you're looking for something new to watch around Halloween.
Totally Killer (2023)
Lots Of Fun
Cracking up at the reviews being nit picky about them not getting things right about the 80s, when it's pretty accurate in my opinion and having lived through it and at the same age as the main characters. I'm sure there will be lots of comparisons to this being Back to the Future meets Scream, but that would be totally accurate. At first I thought the concept was ridiculous, but it ends up working really well. I hope this movie marks the retirement of Kiernan Shipka playing teenagers, because she is about to turn 24, and she absolutely looks 24 and not 16 anymore. That's not a bad thing, it's just that we've always associated her with being a child actor because of Mad Men and Sabrina. Her acting has really matured, and she should be playing more age appropriate roles moving forward.
No One Will Save You (2023)
Absolutely Wonderful
Horror and thrillers on Hulu are usually terrible, so I had very low expectations going into this. Happily I was proven wrong for the first time on Hulu and for the first time in a very long time when it comes to a good horror film in general with suspense, action and substance. This entire film contains only one line of dialogue, and for almost the entire film we are only in the (human) company of the protagonist, so that automatically presents some challenge in terms of creating an engaging, suspenseful film. The lead actress is so wonderful in this, and you really get behind her and root for her from start to finish. I don't want to put in spoilers, so I won't get into the ending too much. Suffice it to say that it is really, really good, meaningful, and left me full of hope and joy. If you love horror films, but find that modern ones often lack anything more than gore and jump scares, you'll appreciate this, too.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Terrible Script and Acting
When you think of this story, you think about a certain spooky mood and expect to be frightened. This just bored the heck out of me. Tony winner Brent Carver gives a fantastic performance as Ichabod, but the rest of the principal cast seems to have come from a community theatre production of "The Crucible." It's like the director just hired their cousins and nieces and nephews and poor Brent was trapped having to act circles around these semi-literate amateurs. The actor playing Bram is so beyond bad and miscast, that it was literally painful to watch him try to act. It's like they picked some random high school kid off the football field and offered him an acting job. I would not recommend this movie.
Cocaine Bear (2023)
Wrong Director
I thought this was going to be filled with nonstop action and a laugh riot, but it was just kind of long and boring. I can't help but wonder if someone like Paul Thomas Anderson or the Farrelly brothers took this on how the absurdity of the subject matter would actually be reflected in the tone and style of the movie. There were definitely some fun moments, but overall it just fell flat. There were long periods of time when scenes just kept dragging out, then when something exciting would happen, it would be so exciting that you'd think things were really going to pick up and the movie would find it's rhythm. That never happened.
Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)
Well done.
Based on the ads for this movie, I was concerned it was going to be kind of a Hallmark version of a gay romance. My hope was that writer/director Matthew Lopez would live up to his excellent reputation in the theatre. I have seen his complex, wonderful plays, "The Whipping Man" and "The Inheritance," so I thought this story would be a little elementary for him. I was very happy to have all my concerns put aside early on in the movie, and I believe this will go down as one of the great romantic gay movies. I wish I had a movie like this around when I was in my teens and twenties. How lucky the young members of the LGBTQ community are to have this kind of story and representation. Thank you for making something beautiful.
Knock at the Cabin (2023)
Bad Timing
The most enjoyable part of this movie was the relationship between the two main characters and how it was shared and explained through flashbacks. As good as that part was, I feel that the suspense aspect of the movie was disappointing. Typically with these types of M. Night Shyalaman movies, you are questioning whether or not what you think is going on is really going on right up to the end. The suspense is fueled by trying to figure out what is true and what may not be as it seems. In this movie, we are led to believe that this kind of plot device is being employed, but then the veil is lifted and the doubt is removed earlier than expected and before the climax, which seemed more like a common sense necessity rather than a climax. I feel like we could have had both a great suspenseful moment as well as an emotionally poignant moment if the veil wasn't lifted earlier, and that was a missed opportunity. Consequently, the end didn't feel very cathartic. It felt more like the fizzling out of a fuse on a dud stick of dynamite.
The Evil Inside Her (2019)
Stupid. Bad.
It's my own fault for watching a D-List horror movie after seeing Eric Roberts in the first scene, as everyone knows if there's one actor who will do any bad horror film, it's Eric Roberts. "I hate a crying woman," he says, just to let us know he's a bad guy. Roberts aside, the really bad part of this movie is the writing and direction. While the actors are serviceable, they are basically written and directed to act nonchalant as the main character proceeds to have a massive, bloody, masochistic meltdown. When the leading lady places her hand on a hot electric stovetop, her bff standing next to her reacts as if she smudged her mascara, even as her friend is pulling her hand off the stove and leaving large chunks of skin behind. All her friends seems to be sure she'll be fine. What could possibly go wrong?
Dead Hot: Season of the Witch (2023)
She's 35
The entire time I watched this movie, I assumed Hudgens was in her late teens or that the movie came out 15 years ago. The more I watched her disturbingly childish behavior, and the more I started to put together in my mind the fact that it's been decades since those High School Musical movies came out, the more I realized that I was watching a 35 year old woman with the demeanor of a 13 year old child. That is the really scary thing about this movie, not the ghost hunting part. I have friends her age who have teenage children in junior high who behave more maturely than her. At one point in the movie she complains how people only acknowledge her role in HSM. Perhaps if she grew up and acted like an adult she might get cast as an adult in something.
There's Something Wrong with the Children (2023)
Lazy writing and annoying characters
This movie is laden with so many annoying horror film tropes. The biggest one, the "monster under the bed, but the parents refuse to neither believe the kid nor even look" is at the forefront. Throw in the kids behaving badly, but the parents not believing that their little angels could do anything wrong, and you'll spend the entire time rolling your eyes and wishing for it to end. I would love to see a horror film where the writers could figure out how to make their characters reasonably intelligent and capable of using common sense and making logical decisions yet still have a clever plot intact.
Smile (2022)
Drag Me To Hell, Too
I was very surprised that the ending of this movie was as predictable as I hoped it wouldn't be. As I was watching it, I kept thinking how it reminded me of "Drag Me To Hell," but I figured there'd be a clever twist in the end. It certainly had an opportunity to do something different, and everything up to the end was executed very effectively. The film definitely earned the right to have a big moment, but the whole didn't add up to the sum of its parts, unfortunately. I'm not sure if this is the result of lazy writing or Hollywood just accepting mediocre writing, but I suspect Hollywood would take better written, more clever scripts if they were actually ever written.