(Contains spoilers)
Organized human hunting in a different way. Why are people kidnapped and hunted here? Why this group of people? All questions that will be answered soon, slightly surprising but then also quickly sucked out.
Exaggerated left-wing liberals hunt exaggerated conspiracy theorists & (as the best comparison) Trump supporters. The plot fluctuates between amusing and over-the-top. The start after the kidnapped wake up is probably the funniest scene in the whole movie. If you thought you were just shown the main actors, they immediately getting killed in funny gory ways to jump on to the next one - with the same result. That was really good! The only thing that matches this level of humor are the awkward faces Betty Gilpin is showing is from time to time.
Afterwards it remains interesting, but never again gets again this funny kind of slapstick brutality, despite enough escalating violence.In the end, it becomes absurd and culminates in the duel between the protagonist and the chief hunter, without it becoming too exciting for the outcome. The choreography of the fight is still wonderful to look at as one or the other seems to get overwhelmed now.
The overall experience is a successful new take in the genre. No horror film, no pure slapstick humor. Rather a pastiche on how half of the Americans see the other half - and vice versa. 7/10
An exciting source material is placed in a modern environment full of IKEA model houses. What started out moderately is developing in a rather insignificant direction, which becomes even clearer with the last scene.
Ideas like the common thread, the bird people or the wanted creepy moments in the first half of the film are nicely meant highlights of the film. After seeing an old doll for the third time, this horror is more suitable for an amusing drinking game. Unfortunately, even the sparse VFX effects are getting scarier towards the end - but not in the desired horror sense.
Figures are introduced directly disagreeably stupid & contradictory, so that you don't have to be afraid of missing anything. In the end, you have the feeling that you have missed something important - there must have been something of interest or some new knowledge hidden. No. We are back at the beginning, but who cares. 3/10
A crazy ex-girlfriend who gives up her life to move to a small town just so that she can stalk her ex because she wants to be with him forever? Yes, that's how it starts, but the series Crazy Ex Girlfriend goes much further and deals in its 4 seasons with many more serious topics packed into an entertaining show with many musical interludes. And exactly these musical numbers are probably the biggest USP of the series. The actors sing funny or more serious songs here on topics such as sex during menstruation ("Period Sex" (Season 2)), antidepressants ("Anti-Depressants Are So Not A Big Deal" (Season 4)) or the generalization of prejudices ( "Let's Generalize About Men" (Season 3)). Many of these songs are on Youtube and the like. to find and are the highlight for the fans of the series, which is whistled for breakfast coffee in the morning.
I don't want to anticipate the story of the 4 seasons, so I'm not going to go into much here. At its core the series accompanies Rebecca Bunch - the Crazy Ex - who initially wants to win over her ex, but in the course of the series realizes that she has deeper problems with which she often refuses to deal with herself. Starting from her job as a lawyer, other characters come across each with their own problems in their lives and / or in cooperation with Rebecca. Divorced marriages, non-heterosexual sexuality, fear of failure, you name it. For me, dealing with all of these problems openly is the greatest strength in the message of this series. Nobody has "no problems". But dealing with it openly clears a lot of heartache.
And also extremely funny musical numbers on topics that nobody else touches with the pliers? But hello! 8/10
Simple comedy, but enjoyable. As always the start is the best part of this romcom, until the inevitable change in the main protaginist played by David Spade when he comes to the conclusion that he is into the weird character of Lauren Lapkus. Since this 'romantic' part of the movie is the same as in a thousand others it's irrelavant and the movie draws its best parts from the hilarious scenes of Lapkus character. 5/10
In 2033 it is completely normal to be able to upload yourself to virtual worlds in the event of death - provided you have the necessary change. This topic also runs through the entire 10-part first season. In the virtual action location Lakeview, for example, there is an extra floor for the so-called two gigs. These are uploads that cannot afford data rates, no pleasant things or the like - they only have 2 gigabytes of "data" available per month. Every thought, every activity and everything else there consumes these data rates. Where today it is more likely that digital goods can be duplicated unlimitedly free of charge, the world in upload represents the opposite development, where even every digital corner has been capitalized. Apparently, the developers of this VR world even made fun of programming the concierge AI to be unfriendly to the two gigs. In the future, it will no longer be a matter of buying amenities, but of actively buying away from disadvantages.
The series is a mixture of sarcastic social criticism in the form of this excess capitalism & arbitrariness (especially the funeral scene, for example) and light humor. Many small things and scenes elicit a smile and are easy to watch until you come across a scene that either clearly raises your finger or is rather sad. The aftermath metastory is about how the main character Nathan ended up in this world. Because he has by no means died of natural origin. At the same time, a relationship develops between him and his "customer service representative" from real life Nora - while his own girlfriend continues to hang on to him even after his upload, even if she has a strange way of showing it. Unfortunately, the first season ends at a point where some interesting storylines have just started. There are no resolutions, even a thick new point is opened in the last scene. We can only hope that the series will be a success and continue.
If you want to have a light conversation with a dystopian digitized capitalism and want to smile at the same time, you should give the series a chance. It also helps to overlook technical nonsense like this "2 GB" or "there is only one copy at a time, but memories can still be dragged into the trash like normal files". 7/10
I started the film on Netflix quite impartially and without great expectations. I had seen Conjuring 1 once, part 2 not at all, and generally I did not know that this was supposed to be a kind of coherent franchise. The film got off to a very promising start - an abandoned monastery in the middle of Romania, home to some ancient devil-conjuring.
The characters are mostly decals without much character development across the length of the film. At the beginning, the priest made a good impression of a solid exorcist personality, but became increasingly anxious because of his perceived powerlessness against evil. The characterization of the young, mostly inexperienced nun is cliché-olé and not worth mentioning. The young Franco-Canadian (sic) is still the most exciting figure, one expects his death right at the beginning.
In the first two thirds of the film there are several beautiful jumpscare scenes that have frightened me, even if they were expected in tension. The effects are good, only the idea that all figures except the three mentioned are part of this creepy charade can be gotten very quickly at the beginning and you will not be able to get rid of it later until it is dissolved. If you like beautiful scare effects and like to be scared, you can definitely see the film. Only in the last third do you fight quite openly against the evil in the monastery and the shock effect quickly subsides due to the frequency of the effects. 5/10
A film that wants to end a trilogy, even a story that spans 9 films and series. And yes, an end is being told. Unfortunately, whether this end is historically or technically good is a completely different question. With a running time of over two hours, it is not short, but it seems very rushed all the time. That would not have been necessary. Instead of writing a meaningful story, J.J. Abrams skid from one plot device to the next and manages - even more than part 8 - to lead a fantastic, but often at least consistent, story to the end of a crash landing, at the end of which the heroes celebrate over the burning wreck. Starting from the feeble-minded search for Sith Wayfinders, that Palpatine of course made if the postman would like to send a forwarding order, via this dagger that was also forged so that it works as a fold-out route map from exactly this random point on the meadow to the ultra-great fleet full of star destroyers (This time they at least deserve the name) which are unfortunately only controlled by this one navigation signal. There are simply too many plotholes & nonsensical plot devices in this story that even unbiased moviegoers can only shake their heads and wonder how one could not criticize this story during the pre-screenings.
The next point that catches your eye in this great story is the scenes in which it becomes clear that J.J. and Rian Johnson will probably never meet friendly again. Yes, part 8 was "different" in feeling and had its own problems. But at least it continued the story. In its best moments, episode 9 pretends that part 8 does not exist and in its worse moments he literally makes fun of scenes from the previous film. Everyone can have their personal aversions, but being so unprofessional that with your anger ruining the finale of the world's largest franchise requires a very special level of arrogance.
On the other hand, the technology and effects are on the good side. Again there are some nice pictures and scenes that inspire the inclined fan, even if the fan service takes up too much space. At the end of the saga, you can still accept some pictures that are bursting with pathos with a smile. Quite simple shots like the picture of the TIE Fighter next to the X-Wing at the entrance of the Sith Temple reflect the struggle of the two groups Rebels vs Imperium, which has now been going on for so many years, so wonderfully quiet.
Many other things could be mentioned, especially the list of completely brain-torn logic holes and Deus Ex Machinas could be continued for almost any length of time, but that has already been done enough elsewhere. For me it is the end of the new trilogy, which I look at quite detached from the original trilogy. It is easy entertainment and unfortunately with this film the first time that I came out of the cinema completely underwhelmed and just didn't feel anything. I still really like the universe and the stories behind it - only the official films of episodes 7-9 are quite unnecessary waste of time apart from a few scenes and storylines. Too bad. 4/10
Lovecraft is becoming increasingly popular and in demand in today's fantastic landscape. It is now regularly mentioned in films, books and comics. I'm happy, since many implementations have so far been of a second or third class nature and involuntarily assigned to the trash genre. Accordingly, I was excited about the second modern implementation of "The Color out of Space" after the successful German silent film.
I've read the cast with Nicolas Cage with mixed feelings. On the one hand, his films are always involuntarily funny because of his acting, but on the other hand they are no longer stunningly staged film masterpieces. And ultimately, I wasn't even disappointed with this premise.The short story of Lovecraft is, due to the description of a "color that cannot be grasped by the human visual spectrum", not very suitable in my opinion for a cinematic implementation, but at least the chic neon pink fits best as a contrast to the lonely farm life in Maine. The body horror effects, which were given a lot of attention instead of the atmospheric source material, are wonderfully mushy and repulsive and can be seen with a smile just like Cage's acting.
All in all, I still find the film worth seeing, maybe just because I can find so much joy within Lovecraft's artistic work. 7/10
As always in monster movies it's quite an intense atmosphere before the monster shows up. The different effects of the pressure down below the ocean are well done and reminded me of the sheer power something like water can have.
The acting is okay, Kristen Stuart actually really nice when she switches between fear, panic and pragmatism. Just to the end it was a bit over-the-act for me. :)
Later on you feel the Lovecraft'ian vibes all along. Think of 'The Shadow over Innsmouth' combined with some pure Cthulhu monster action. The movie itself is doing okay with the monster action - just too much that the viewer has already seen elsewhere. But for me the whole level of implications behind the shown (mainly from Lovecraft's stories) made it a such better movie for me.
1253/5000
I didn't expect much when I accidentally stumbled across this new series on Netflix. Apocalyptic scenarios are not necessarily new; not even in the series segment. But the premise "the survivors have to flee ever further from the sun with an airplane" seems so absurd when reading that one cannot do anything else than to think beforehand "Okay, then I can at least do something else on the side".
The series starts off a bit confusing and rushed, just like the situation for the characters must be. At the end of the second episode I realized that I really wanted to keep looking. Right now. And until the end, I watched the twists and turns that the small group of survivors had to face again and again. I attribute a large part of this tension to the music. Not even concise or pushy, but with a steadily fast beat she is able to convey this typical feeling of "what's lurking around the next corner". At the end of the 6 episode series, I would like to know if there is a sequel. Apparently my first impression was wrong and I'm glad I tried it anyway. 7/10
Harry Potter with guns! Do I have to say more? For me Daniel Radcliffe will forever be associated with the magician boy with whom he grew up and became famous as an actor. Even though I had a lot of fun with his subsequent films like Horns (2013) and Swiss Army Man (2016). So I found the first pictures of Guns Akimbo (2020) all the more exciting. Daniel Radcliffe with two automatic pistols mounted on his hands? Always bring it on!
The film is not exactly bursting with an elegant, demanding plot, but the film's show values and staging make this film an exciting experience. The effect I mean is comparable to Mad Max Fury Road (2015) - an unforgettable firework display despite a rather negligible story, even if this film does not match the spectacle of George Miller. Bright neon colors, hectic cuts, a little silly humor and a wonderfully oppressive soundtrack (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt06902676/soundtrack) result in an explosive whole work, in which one feels a bright joy in his home cinema. 8/10
