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I was definitely excited for a sci-fi thriller, but this movie was so underwhelming. The visual effects also looked really bad. I thought there would be more manipulation of time, sort of in the same vein as Gravity/Interstellar(?) but I felt let down by that. This was advertised kind of as a timey-wimey scifi thriller but it's barely that.
Steve and Dennis work as EMTs in New Orleans when they attend to a series of strange calls of people catatonic, seemingly overdosing on drugs, injured in strange and horrible ways. There's a drug being distributed making waves, called Synchronic, that works by manipulating the Pineal gland in your brain. However, by adulthood the gland is no longer functional, so the drug has different effects on teenagers. As one can guess, the story is pretty obvious from here - I was actually hoping there would be more to it, but it was honestly very straightforward.
I felt like the structure of the narrative was overblown - seeing the different conversations about and between Dennis and Steve had almost nothing to do with the drug and the overarching plot. Why do we need to see different snippets of a conversation when the drug takes you to a different timeline IN THE PAST. The drug emphasises how it shows you a different time and how all time is happening all at once - but it literally sends Steve to the distant past at different times depending where he stands when he takes the drugs. None of the timelines are exactly explained. I also felt like the attempts at humour were really poor. Plus the sad moments didn't affect me either. When Steve takes his dog into the past and loses him there - we could have known that without seeing a weird flickering dog whining in the background.
The characters are so self-deprecating but it's just depressing because it plays into the dark tones of the movie. I liked the dynamic between Steve and Dennis but the side characters were not developed that much. I didn't understand the bonding scenes with Brianna or with Dennis' wife. The one scene where Dennis bonds with his daughter over her future - is that meant to explain why she turns to drugs? Anyway, I was just very disappointed by this film. It was trying to be a human and sympathetic story, but I didn't feel the emotions I would have if I had read this as a book. I would say it would be in the same camp as books like The Last Policeman, The Gone World or The Space between Worlds, but it just didn't hit me the same.
I did like the filming techniques and the colours of the different environments.
"There has to be a connection!"
Not sure why I enjoy this so much. I think it's the modern equivalent of Saw with better characters and a more interesting plot.
Zoe and Ben return in the sequel to Escape Room. Zoe is too scared to fly after her mother's death in a plane crash and so she and Ben decide to drive to New York following the revelation at the end if the first movie, showing the Minos logo is a really a set of coordinates.
I really liked the puzzles, I liked the tension, the interwoven clues in the rooms were so well crafted and create something complex yet not so hard that the audience can't solve it (considering Zoe is a physics student or something, right?). The story progresses much in the same way as the previous film yet the threats are much more dangerous.
I liked the mix of characters, it's more thrilling to have a good span of backgrounds and skills. I did feel, however, that there wasn't enough time devoted to the other main characters as there were to Ben and Zoe. The movie shows their bond of friendship and the characters' growth through their circumstances. It even reinforces the traits we saw in the last film. Zoe is selfless. She always tries to save someone else and whenever they solve a puzzle she always let's the others go through first.
Ben has picked up these traits from Zoe and he works together with her to supplement her skills. They know each other so well that Ben can tell immediately when something isn't right.
Really just an amazing and believable friendship through trauma (yikes).
If I have to criticise something, it's that the puzzles do unravel much in the same way with a couple of setbacks, lots of short time deadlines and yelling. I also felt like the priest character was definitely the least developed and one-note type of character.
Given a part of the film reveals that off screen deaths are not deaths and Ben sinks into the sand as the priest does, they really dropped the ball on Nate.
I don't even care if this franchise outlived itself, I really enjoyed this one.
Late Night with the Devil is a horror movie presented in the format of a 70s talk show - think in the same vein as Deadstream, or those webcam horror movies that popped off in the earlier 2010s.
This movie did receive a lot of flak for using AI art for the "Be right back" screen transitions - it would've cost them nothing to hire an artist especially since this movie had a real budget and not a shoestring. I still really enjoyed the film but think that was a terrible, stupid choice. The movie was shot in partnership with Australian cinema company VicScreen and a million others - the opening credits went on for like 10 minutes I swear.
Jack Delaney is a talk-show host who is trying to get good ratings for his show but he keeps falling behind other shows in the same era and ends up selling out and going down the Dr Phil / Eric Andre route where he starts doing steadily more unhinged things before finally, on Halloween, he sets up a spook-tacular episode featuring:
* Christou, a so-called spirit-communicator,
* Carmichael Haig, former illusionist and now-sceptic
* Dr June Ross-Mitchell, a parapsychologist
* And Dr June's subject, Lilly, a girl who was raised in a satanic cult around a demon named Abraxis
The pacing of this movie definitely, I felt, was a bit slow especially towards the middle and I felt like impatient for it to move on to the real meat of the story. I did like the story threads coming together, things popping up left and right with no way of it really being addressed. The spliced footage of backstage-tv production really helped to build the atmosphere and show how tense things were getting for the crew with this being their deciding show. I loved the practical effects and the final build-up in the climax was just intensely terrifying and fun to watch.
The musical snippets when returning to the show, pokey humour and very 70s vibe were fun but there wasn't much else to the show. The scenes where Jack cried were also pretty wooden. Still. Great film. Worth a watch.
How are there no comments on this fucked up movie?
Birthday is a film about a dysfunctional family struggling to come to terms with the death of their eldest son in the Sewol ferry disaster of 2014. 2 years later, Jungil has returned from Vietnam working abroad in an aluminium recycling plant. He tries to reconnect with his family having missed the disaster presumably due to being overseas working. He returns to his 8 year old daughter and his emotionally crippled wife who hates him for not being there.
The movie has the most character development for Suho, which I suppose honestly is the best way they can do this film, however there are a lot of supporting characters and scenes to establish the backstory. Jungil tries desperately to talk to his wife who shuns him every time, his daughter warns up to him and Soonnam resents it. Soho's friends share a little in their grief and all the parents of the deceased kids also gather and eat together to share in their grief. Over the course of the movie the father is demonised as the mentally unstable mother refuses to confront her grief, leading to exceedingly erratic behaviour culminating in a meltdown late one night.
There are a lot of awful screaming, ugly crying scene sin this film. And terribly poignant scenes. One of my favourites is the father dreaming about one of his few memories of his son, camping together as a family. When he awakens tears run down his face as he leaves the tent in the same place they went as a family, alone.
Hope comes when a birthday celebration is hosted to come together to talk about memories of Suho. Unfortunately this is the most drawn out and boring, horrible scene. They put together a slideshow about Suho and played almost every slide. Then they read thoughts and letters and a poem. Everyone is ugly crying and wailing and the host asks them...why they're sad? Because their son and best friend is fucking dead. That's why? Couldn't they get promoted in another way to discuss their memories?
Anyway, I did really enjoy this movie but there were also some really drawn out stressful scenes. 8/10
This was actually awful. It's the drama and stress of a romantic comedy set during Christmas with the most irrational characters. It's like any other movie with a central couple but the twist is they're gay.
Pros:
- John
- Abby's hair
- The inclusion of LGBT characters.
- Not everyone is hot.
- The bonding scene between Riley and Abby at the drag bar and Riley's story about Harper.
- John's coming out story.
- Some of the jokes are actually funny.
Cons:
- Every interaction with Harper and Abby once they're in the car.
- Not a single problem is addressed until it blows up in one big fight and everyone is happy now that they've aired their dirty laundry. Jane doesn't need therapy from her parents shitting on her. Abby is okay with being called an orphan every time. Harper has self-awareness. Sloan realises that she's just a fucking bitch.
- No one apologises for the things they said in the movie. No one apologises to Abby for accusing her of theft. No one apologises to Jane for how they treated her. Harper can't be clear with Abby even when they're alone.
- Jane's one big scene where she gets upset at her painting being destroyed is ruined by it instantly turning into a joke.
- Every romantic comedy has issues stemming from a breakdown in communication. Harper and her parents. Harper and Abby. Sloan and Eric.
- Not a single person in this movie is realistic so I can't root for any of them.
Comments:
- We only see 1 happy bonding scene with the couple during the opening, then days and days go by of Harper shafting Abby and then the single moment where Abby expresses how unhappy she is, Harper calls her clingy.
- Harper's parents are horrible caricatures of rich people constantly shitting on Jane and making it obvious how Harper is the golden child.
- No one has any boundaries and it isn't funny.
Had such a great opportunity to be a unique Christmas film but then just fucked it up by being cliche and basic.
I always love seeing Australian cinema out there. And movies about demons...spirits etc. They're something I'm especially keen on.
Talk to Me is about Mia, a girl grieving her mother's sudden death two years prior. She is introduced to this unbelievable game that her classmates play where they set a ceramic hand on the table, grasp it and say "talk to me", leading something out there to come to the other side.
This movie doesn't shy away from gore, and it's especially impactful as the characters are teenagers. The tension builds in each scene, almost explosively delivered in horrifying outcomes (especially given the sound mixing and how freaking loud it is). There's not really noticeable music in this film, just the regular bush doof pumping beats but nothing I really enjoyed and it still keeps its jump scares kind of obvious with the sound cues.
The story unravels with really great pacing but I found Mia's character development to be a little weak. I can justify it by seeing her as just a teenager out there, lost and alone. She's an outcast because her family changed, no one can relate to her and she's sad and a downer. She's still grieving her mother and the movie's core concept puts her back at the start of her grief journey. She's drawn in by having a connection to someone, by feeling like she's part of a group...which leads her to make poor choices. I did feel like we needed more growth to come through - she has a found family who love her and care for her but she still almost falls to the words of her spirit mum, she's not able to see what's really surrounding her...and that didn't make that much sense to me. It's obvious she cherishes Riley and Jade, and feels loved by them. so I needed more convincing to believe that the script choices were ones she would make.
I did wonder if her wearing yellow in every scene was just style choices or a symbol of her place in her grief journey and joy...but I'm not sure.
I did really enjoy the ending sequences of the film and how it tied back to its lore. It's a solid film and worth the watch.
This movie was...really a let down. There were just lots of atmospheric shots and not a whole lot else. I loved the practical effects though, they were definitely disturbing. The movie needed 1 million times more backstory and development and also some more exploration of myth.
Antlers is a horror movie set in a small town following a teacher who finds disturbing drawings in her student's desk and the student who is trying to survive and protect his family. It happens that there is a monster in the town and his dad, who is a drug addict and single parent, runs into the monster at the start of the movie and things start to change with him from there.
The movie tries to drop hints that the teacher has a tragic backstory as well and to use that to entice the student to trust her to support him. Unfortunately, we are given perhaps exactly 3 flashbacks for the teacher and one additional scene where she and her brother argue briefly about their childhood. There's no depth given to this at all. There's also very little depth given to the actual myth of the monster. Spoilers ahead - the first lines in the movie are a native american myth or something which gives away that the movie is about the Wendigo. The retired cop actually brings this up immediately and shows them a book about the Wendigo myth and they decide alright this is the monster...practically instantly because all signs point to yes. Except the brother has to doubt it...of course. There were too few exploratory scenes behind the monster myth as well - this was quite a low-hanging fruit when it comes to Native American mythology - it was like seeing a movie version of Until Dawn, which did explore the Wendigo myth well IMO.
The movie, despite being so atmosphering and spooky, doesnt seem to utilise its artistic shots very well, a few times the filming and effecst really bring the movie down, especially in tense combat scenes where you can't tell what's even going on. I found myself rolling my eyes at the typical stupid cop stereotype that pervades the horror genre. Plus some events in the movie don't seem to make sense to me at the end. Like, for example how did both the brother and son get infected with the wendigo spirit if the protective charms are there and have held it in the cave for decades? and where did the original wendigo go after they killed the drug addict and possessed the dad? there were definitely more than 1 wendigo, why would they need to leave their body and possess a new human?
It...could be worth just watching the film but it wasn't amazing.
I unashamedly loved this movie. What an unexpected great horror film for 2021. The shots, maybe they're not that amazing, but everything is so clear and beautiful with incredible scenery of the Appalachian trails in the USA. And ON SCREEN deaths. WOW. Amazing deaths. Just so gory. Wow.
Jen is seeking herself and as a last hurrah before she decides what she wants to do, her boyfriend and 4 others (couple Gary(?) And Luis, and 2nd couple Adam and Mila) go to hike the Appalachian trails together. However, the group runs into trouble when Darius decides to go off the trail, ignoring warnings from locals, to end up pursued by a mysterious group of mountain dwellers.
This story does not hesitate to drag our characters down into the true depths of their psyche. Unfortunately some of the most interesting characters are thrown away within minutes of the action starting. I wish there had been more development given to the characters, especially outside of the main duo, but I still really liked where the movie went. I had so much fun watching this and learning about the mountain dwellers. I did like the diversity in the casting and the story behind the mountain dwellers.
This story could have gone down the stereotypical route its predecessor did, and I'm so glad it didnt. There were times when the film felt long and then where the action was quick and tight and we had only 30 minutes left. I liked the musical cues for the mountain people. I also loved the end credit song. I could watch this again.
I also want to note how the trap that Jen finds herself in is meant to be bad but it was totally a daddy scenario I'm just saying...
This could have been so good. If they dropped the pretense of a horror movie or a science fiction in any way, it would have been an amazing psychological thriller. Inagine there were no jump scares, no loud, booming musical arcs or sudden bangs. It would have been enough.
Cecilia is an abuse victim who has successfully escaped from her boyfriend, who she claims is abusive and has controlled every facet of her life from small to major things. She escapes from her ex one night begging her sister to pick her up. The escape scene itself was really tense except for all the awful jump scares and how long it actually took her to escape.
Cecilia takes her time escaping and definitely doesn't seem to be that smart throughout the entire film. I only appreciate that when she has her breakdown scenes, the actress makes her seem really crazy. There are some logical leaps required for this movie and some information omitted for the purpose of improving the story...
I found the choice of omission really confusing and stupid, there were so many ways that the big bad could have been escaped but in the scope of the story would have solved it so easily. The character of Adrian's brother was really so strange and poor. The guy talks by gritting his teeth, which is immensely distracting. The parts his character were in require suspension of disbelief - like the initial meeting with him to discuss the will. There are only 4 or 5 major characters in this movie and none of the character relationships are explained except for Cecilia having a sister.
The trailer itself actually contains scenes that have been cut from the film - including the conditions around the money that Cecilia receives. Everyone in the movie treats her like she is crazy due to her choices to omit - the door at Jason's house opens by itself, she sees someone standing on the sheet and doesn't say anything. Within the first 20 minutes the first major story twist is revealed - that Cecilia is not crazy and someone is attacking her... - and this really changes the tone of the film, which continues to act like a horror or scifi mystery...
As an aside the movie lines talk about how attractive Cecilia is and there are some really stupid long scenes including extras which are clearly some cameos or promos for friends of the producer/crew.
I'm so disappointed this could have been much more, but the movie required so many logical leaps to even make sense.
I definitely think this deserves a 7 or an 8. There were some issues I had with this; shallow plot and poor development, no explanation behind motivations except racism, which makes for a funny feeling afterwards.
Veronica is a successful and educated woman who has written books on intersectionality around race and been part of many political debates in her career. She's married with a cute daughter and lives a happy, carefree life with her husband.
In the distant past, Eden is a slave who lives a systemic, abusive life as part of a plantation run by Confederate soldiers who have kidnapped her from her normal life (based on the introduction of new slaves to the compound). At the start of the movie we see that she has been caught after escaping and another couple faces execution for being part of the plot.
These two stories slowly come together over the course of the film. The camera shots are dramatic albeit quite common and tense scenes are brought up by loud and erratic orchestral pieces. I honestly felt shock and horror as the plot unravels and thought it was very clever in the end. I loved the sense of helplessness and the reality of the slaves was made more horrible by the twists in the movie.
This movie was maybe a bit less than 2 hours, but I felt that a lot of content could have been utilised better. Some more background development for the villains, which were disgusting people (but their actions were never something people reacted to(?)), and some more information about what was happening in Victoria's life would have been greatly appreciated.
Spoilers ahead.
I felt like the scene with the hotel room was a massive throw away and didnt contribute at all to the story since we never see Veronica react to it; all her documents being thrown around, her toilet having piss in it, did she honestly believe the hotel staff did that?
We only have one or two scenes explaining her job and career, barely enough to contribute to the reason for her kidnapping. Plus the cult that re-enacted colonial USA is never confronted by anyone - until the FBI. Surely a string of highly educated and controversial black people disappearing would raise red flags? - the black man that is killed by the colonel was called professor by Veronica.
However, I must admit I felt like something funny was happening from the start; only the white people have accents, which they drop when with other whites, and the black "slaves" all have neat eyebrows and piercings. I also felt like the butterfly motif was a massive red herring.
Overall an interesting film but not as deep as the other two the producer backed.
This movie just screams KyoAni.
Not 100% sure what to say about this. If you are not familiar with Violet Evergarden the anime, this movie will require a steep learning curve.
TLDR: Violet was a war orphan trained to fight against enemy soldiers. She was found abandoned on a battlefield and adopted by Gilbert Bougainvillia who showed her compassion and care. He and Violet are trapped in a bomb attack and he dies while she loses both of her arms, but he tells Violet something before he loses his life and she Carrie's that with her into her future. Violet now works as an auto memory doll, a person who writes letters from others who don't know how to express themselves.
This movie is essentially a check in on past characters from the series and the OVA from whenever. A lot of it is just feel good moments interwoven with two major plot lines:
Daisy attends her grandmother's funeral and while her neglectful parents go to work for the day, she finds a box of letters for her grandmother written by Violet on behalf of her deceased great-grandmother. Daisy becomes interested in Violet's story.
Phones have replaced letters and now the Postal company has closed. In the past we learn about why Violet left the postal company.
I felt like the little vignettes were so disconnected from the main plotline and really only served to hype up how great Violet is and how much she's grown as a person. When we check in with the past characters they've all achieved their dreams thanks to Violet and she goes on to help other characters. We meet these people in one or two scenes before they have a major emotional revelation and we are meant to empathise with them.
What really took away from these scenes is that the anime tropes were laid on so heavily. There are many scenes in this film where there is just no animation. Like still frames and single shots. It was meant to be poignant but they went on for too long. In particular when Violet remembers the day the Major died, she sits in the chair not moving for almost half a minute.
There are many many major close ups of eyes and wide shots to show the background artwork more.
With how gripping the main plotlines are I felt like these side stories were just there to pad the runtime and make the audience emotional. The movie really didn't shy away from showing graphic and traumatic content. Like dead children, or Violet's severed arms falling off. (At least those things don't move; you don't need to animate them.) Which I really appreciated, honestly. Maybe they censored the series for Netflix.
The conclusion gradually comes along and in a way I sort of didnt expect. Spoilers ahead beware.
Old mate Gilbert is alive and he is living on an island helping the locals. When he sends a letter on behalf of the children to someone but messes up the postal address, their mailing company intercepts it. Violet and the captain head to the island to meet Gilbert but he refuses. Through some very emotional scenes, Violet decides to leave but not before sending her letter to Gilbert. The letter is enough for him to change his mind so he races after Violet who is already on the ferry. She leaps off into the ocean, destroying her robotic arms and meets Gilbert on the beach. He confesses his love for her again and holds her while she cries, telling Violet he wants her by his side.
I honestly felt pretty disgusted by this revelation. I can't believe they went there and Japan's sick fascination with this never ceases to disgust me. I loved the mystery of the anime series and how much Violet grew as a person but that same draw isn't here in this movie. They just cram feel-good/feel-bad moments down your throat until they made a 2-hour long movie.
Overall this movie doesn't have any development and is based on a light novel that collects a bunch of short stories about Violet. I am disappointed it ended this way but I liked the flash forward into the future. Good for fans of the series but I think I can't stomach anime anymore.
I liked it more than I thought I would. Countdown is a movie riding on the tattered coattails of Final Destination. The girl from Netflix's You stars as a nurse who downloads an app that predicts your date of death. As soon as you deviate from your set path, a spooky spooker comes after you.
I appreciated the movie actually creating scary CGI stuff. The kid's feet breaking backwards was quote a scary one, as well as the demonic forms of previous victims and deceased individuals showing up was good. I did find myself a bit disappointed that the people weren't terrorised as much as they could have been and the jump scares were the same predictable ones happening in silence/with no background music.
I liked the protagonist and some of the supporting characters. The creepy doctor I think probably wasn't a good cast, it's the dad from twilight coming to play another doctor. He looks really short and like his neck is bulky and weird. The priest was fun but more of a wet dream than anyone real. I have been on a bit of a demonic kick recently so I'm glad to see also religious characters who don't believe in demons.
The music was pretty cool throughout the movie also.
One weird thing is I thought the black guy was names Matt. When they find his name on the computer I thought it said Derek King...and the black guy says hey that's my name? Maybe I was misreading it.
I had a day to gather my thoughts and I think I need to watch this again. This movie is a hot mess. The script seems so bare bones, but with so many opportunities to be biased at the same time, combined with terrible actors.
The first death, Lindsey, is shown as the girl walking home alone at night, but when she is attacked she barely tries to escape, instead deciding to stick around instead of calling security or running away. Boom, dead.
Riley, an abuse victim, is studying at a university with a long history steeped in the appreciation of men. She was sexually assaulted 3 years prior by the former head of another frat house who drugged and raped her. Unfortunately she never sought therapy, and all her sorority sisters either don't acknowledge it or tell her in so many words to get over it, coercing her into joining their shit dance number as their 4th with the knowledge that her abuser is there.
Riley seems to have some history with her teacher who singles her out during class, blaming her for a petition to fire him. In reality it is her social justice warrior friend begging students to sign the petition. She is loud and proud, however, stomps all over riley throughout the movie. She's a terrible friend.
In the sorority house, there is evidence of strange happenings but no one except Riley acknowledges it. For almost the entire movie the cat is missing. Girls are bring attacked and going missing but no one takes it seriously. Riley goes to campus security and is almost comically shut down. The guard even tries to say, boys will be boys. We get it, the movie is feminist, but just stop shoving it down our throats.
The bodies of the deceased are hidden around the school but no one even finds them until the climax. The actual twist of the movie was pretty good. I really liked it, but the getting there was so terrible and garbage. Even the camera work is shit and I don't get whats going on with the sound and echoing.
There's one particular scene where the girl with the cat gets choked and when the bad guy pulls the christmas lights around her neck, the camera abruptly zooms in like it was done post production. The same effect youtubers use for comedy.
There's a bust of the school founder and when put in a specific frat house, it activates the spirit of the founder, who encourages men to behave like alphas. Their hazing ritual includes reciting a Latin inscription and smearing a black liquid on the pledge which possesses him with the spirit of the founder. Riley has an opportunity to destroy it but just chooses to do everything so slowly.
I feel like this movie is terrible but I'm not sure.
I can't believe there are no comments on this film. I had plans as soon as I saw the ad for this film to see it. That's like 6 or 7 months. It never came to australia until the korean film festival then it was cancelled due to a system fault (lmao). If you went to the lengths I did to try and see this film youd know it was ultimate irony.
Luckily I managed to be able to see this soon after the festival ended. This movie is about a girl with autism who has witnessed a crime committed in the house across the road the actress is the same one who plays the youngest reaper in Along With The Gods and this has really showcased her ability as an actress and I am so touched she took on this role despite how Korea may treat people with disabilities. I honestly feel this was such a good film with a really empathetic view towards people with autism.
As it goes, Sunho, Miran's defence lawyer initially befriends Jiwoo in order to understand her disability and to use it as leverage in his defence. This blindsided Jiwoos family and shatters their trust of him. Throughout this part of the film we see the writers really tried to incorporate traits common of people with autism. Jiwoo repeats things she hears, she self harms under stress and she doesnt recognise body language very well despite her mum trying to teach her. She also has a packet of sweets in which she only eats the blue ones. She's also really naive.
There are quite a few storylines in this film but I felt like the most unnecessary one was that Sunho is 45 and single living with his physically weakened father. He is constantly being badgered by his father to date one of his old classmates from university who is also a lawyer. It doesn't add much to the story except being a minor motivator for him to be more genuine and to recognise good and bad people.
The point where you think the film would be resolved is where it actually keeps going. Sunho wins the case but realises that he made a grave mistake when he hears Miran say something that Jiwoo constantly repeats. He decides to go to court again but instead of as the defence he proves that Jiwoo was right and the murder was committed by Miran. He regains the trust of her family and helps Jiwoo make friends. He's even there on her birthday after she transfers to a special school.
My favourite scene honestly was when he gave her a bottle full of her favourite sweets.
"How do you like your new school?"
"It's alright. Just a little strange."
"Why?"
"I don't have to pretend to be normal anymore."
9/10
"WE HAVE TO CUT OUT THE CANCER."
Hear me out...this movie is actually really good. Yes, it's CAMPY and some parts are stupid, suspend your disbelief, but the jump scares are legit, the scenes are tense, the effects are really good, the music is great and the cinematography, just wow.
Madison is pregnant, living with her husband, who we quickly find out is abusive, so in a moment of calm as he goes downstairs, she locks the door and stays in their room for the night. Unfortunately, an entity is in the house with them and it brutally murders her husband and then attacks her, killing her baby. The crime is reported to police, but shortly after Madison starts seeing deaths as they are happening. the police think she's crazy, but they can't deny it when they find the first murder victim.
This was such an unexpected film for 2021. I expected it to be another generic demonic possession or supernatural film but really, the story was so good. There are some really creative filming techniques. The acting in parts is really good, other parts its a bit shit - very much Youtube horror movie vibes. But the dialogue in the tense scenes was so believable, my favourites being the scene where the detective sees the killer scaling down the fire escape and chases after them and the scene in the holding cell where Madison opens her own skull up. I think my enjoyment of this film was boosted by the good viewing experience (10 people in the cinema, about 5 of them left before the movie even started and never came back).
There were some missed opportunities, I think, especially in the scene where the old man is lying down for bed and the red light can be seen under the bed - if the blood had flown out over the edge of the bed or through the mattress that would have been such a great shot. Plus, there were a few logical leaps that don't exactly make sense given the outcome of the story - this being why did the sofa seat have an indentation at the start when the monster is not invisible? Why are none of the psychic powers/experiments really explained? How come Madison can manipulate electricity? Where are the other people who were interred at that facility? And why can Sidney just enter the old facility - it's not patrolled by guards?
The characters are so charming and have quite well-developed through the course of the movie. I actually loved Sidney so much, she was so caring and real. I thought Kakoa was so badass (and also kind of hot?) and the dynamic with Regina felt like a deliberate play on good/bad cop/tired detective over this shit.
The music in this film is particularly noteworthy and atmospheric. It's overall such a great soundtrack. I'm so glad I saw this, do not miss it. Go in expect it to be kind of poor but please be wowed.
Wow, such an unexpected cinema release!
Sing a Bit of Harmony is a bit cute, a bit funny and kind of a bit more insane than I expected. Satomi is a high schooler, an honour student and also nicknamed Princess Tattletale by everyone in the school because of something she did in the past. She doesn't seem to have any friends. She checks her mum's schedule for the next day and notices that there's an AI Test coming up and it shows a photo of a human-like robot in the calendar. When the same robot shows up the next day at school, she realises that her mum's experiment involves her and her mum's job could be on the line if it fails.
As always with new anime productions, the visual style and animation quality is absolutely top notch. I loved the backgrounds, the character designs (simple, realistic, even a little goofy - specifically how Toma has big, paranoid eyes and he isn't a typical "cute guy" in an anime), the attention to detail (background characters doing things when other characters are in dialogue) and the other visual effects utilised (like fireworks, for example). It was engaging, bright, colourful and enticing! I also felt like each character fit obviously into their archetype - Aya the popular girl, Goto as the school hunk, Toma as the computer nerd, Thunder as the jock/wrestler and Satomi, honor student and loner. I also liked the designs of the adults - you could see how Satomi and her mum were clearly related - and how the bad guy in Hoshima was clearly the bad guy (narrow eyes, sly voice).
The voice acting was pretty good and I really liked the vocal quality - the singing is so clear and rich; it really came through well in the cinema experience. The songs were decent, though a bit corny and shallow, as expected given the plot and background of the character, and a couple of the non-vocal tracks did definitely feel like they belonged in a Final Fantasy game. I would probably never Spotify any of them but they were fitting.
The story itself was decent. I could never have expected it from the poster - and I really felt quite emotional in some parts of it. I do have a few criticisms though - without Shion, would any of the characters been able to achieve anything? I understand she is the protagonist, but really she is basically a deus ex machina to facilitate communication. In the most glaringly terrible use of this, she literally sings a song about the rainy sky and hope that the two people will hold hands and shelter under an umbrella until the sky is clear again - and this somehow leads to Aya and Goto making up with minimal dialogue. These developmental scenes between the two are also only shown twice in flashbacks - given that they're such minor characters, it may have been unnecessary to do that at all and just have it be part of the natural dialogue seeing as Aya's friends constantly pine over Goto and tak about how amazing he is.
Despite that, I really do think that Goto himself was a really well-developed side character, over Aya and Thunder (who seemed amost completely 1-note the entire film). I really liked the growth of the characters Satomi and Toma and the history of their friendship. It's tough to balance so many main characters, but the movie really did its best.
Worth a watch, such a charming film!
Leave all logic at the surface prior to entering the elevator.
Anna Ferdorova(?) is an epidemiologist working on a vaccine that goes horribly wrong and kills her colleague. After she vanishes, the Russian military find her again and ask her to investigate the disappearance of the staff working in a facility based around a drill site in the Russian wilderness.
Claustrophobic horror is one of my favourites, along with unfathomable evil; but this movie just failed to deliver. Any scientific sensibility is discarded for the purpose of having cool and badass senseless scenes. Even as a layman I can see that Anna takes risky and unsafe actions when investigating infectious and toxic microorganisms. She puts herself at risk constantly and proves to be a liability for the team. There isn't much context around the underground facility or the discovery at the bottom, very little towards the ultimate goal of the research expedition - really just one or two lines.
Even less about Anna's background and how that shaped her reactions. I almost felt like she let herself have the movie happen to her.
The group becomes stuck in the facility when Gorgiev(?), the lead scientist refuses to allow them to resurface and steals the key to the elevator after forcing the elevator to go hyperspeed which knocks everyone unconscious. There are a mix of American and vaguely European accents amongst the cast.
Also there's a really gross and forced relationship between Anna and one of the soldiers who actually shoves her into a wall while brawling with another character lmao. If anything the physical effects are very very good. The special effects are not amazing, especially the spores and the places where lots of CG is used. I felt disappointed by the poor filming and direction around the final climactic scenes.
Ultimately this movie reminds me of Underwater with Kristen Stewart and Last of Us 2 (you'll see why) but significantly worse than what a combination of this could have been.
What an experience going into this film blind. Truly awful, an actually bad movie. I normally am pretty forgiving to movies, as long as I have a good time I don't rate it this low.
This is a movie about vlogger Cole, who is celebrating 10 years of vlogging and 1 million followers. His friends take him on a trip to Moscow, Russia as a surprise to do an escape room like nothing he has experienced ever before(!).
My first point is the story, I thought it was a good idea but all of it felt really formulaic and nothing was really that revolutionary. There are sections of the story that remind me of "video game logic" - like when Cole throws a pipe to distract the enemy. I thought the traps were interesting and the first set of puzzles for Cole to solve to rescue his friends were really stressful and scary. I loved that a lot. I liked the unusual setting (who sets a movie in Russia!), and I liked the integration with modern culture - online streaming. HOWEVER, the streaming effects were not that great - the hearts and thumbs up are reflective of Facebook live streaming - and they do that thing where they pop text up on the screen for a second and play clips - but it's a live stream so IDK how they do that. It was all a bit cheesy.
The characters are pretty racially diverse but not very well developed. Even less developed for a horror movie than expected. Cole's friend is a massive douche and every moment on screen made me hate him more. Cole is a childish and extroverted streamer. His friend Thomas and girlfriend Erin have almost no development, and the black chick also has no development at all. This means none of the deaths are impactful or upsetting, they aren't really even that graphic because you only see them from afar. Cole takes it very hard and sits down to cry a few times. Felt like a waste when he could've been trying to rescue the other people instead.
The effects are all around pretty awful and so is the continuity. In one particular scene they spliced clips and the blood changes on the character's face between shots. It was not believable or real-looking. I guess this can play into the story more rather than just be chalked up to poor effects. I did like the twist ending. I think that was the only reason I gave this 3 stars. Not worth a watch. Sucked.
This is a 3-part documentary series about hunting a murderer, which all kicked off when a lady on Facebook saw a video of a man killing kittens. I found the initial idea of the documentary quite interesting - the videos were shocking and awful - but in the end it seems to be a bunch of ideas loosely tied together with almost no connection. I can't avoid spoilers in my review - so I have marked the entire review as such.
At first a Facebook group is formed to find the murderer. They analyse everything in his room and find out he is in North America. In actuality he is located in Canada. The sleuthing is honestly very interesting and the best part of this documentary especially around the civilians doing the investigation. They analyse literally everything and they do make some progress, but unfortunately their investigations lead to the wrong individual, and more zealous members of the group abuse him until he eventually commits suicide. It is not implied that the investigation led to his suicide as he already had depression. They make no more progress until they are spoon fed the killer's name by presumably the killer himself, who is also following the investigation. The documentary is made about a crime in 2012 so you can already see how much Facebook and the internet has changed - Facebook now allows you to report accounts with fake names. Facebook has become somewhat more legitimate - it is now a website that employers check when they want to learn more about you - it has stricter guidelines on violent and graphic content and nudity.
In even the first episode we are already receiving red herrings. The group is being misled by the killer in an attempt to hide more effectively. The red herring for the viewer is the amount the group actually contributes to the investigation. They provide police in their state information about the man killing the kittens and his name, but they are ignored.
Until in episode 2, the killer murders someone. The police start investigating, there is no mention of the Facebook group or any of their contributions, in fact from this point the group takes a more passive role. The police find the body and body parts thanks to a janitor. They find out that body parts have been mailed to both major political parties in Canada. Then they find that the killer has left the apartment and no longer lives there. There are fake connections to Russia and European countries. Eventually the police join the facebook group and all the group members are rolling their eyes, however, they still contribute nothing to the investigation. The lead female detective watches his murder video and cries only when she realises he killed a puppy.
The best part in this episode is finding out who the victim is. His friend is so melancholy and still so hurt by the death of the killer's first and only victim. He mentions going to his apartment let in by the building superintendant. He sees eggs ready for frying and the cat is starving having not been fed. "He would never leave his cat like this." He alerts police, and then he later finds out there's a video. The killer playing with the vicitm's head is how he realises that it was his friend who was murdered. I really liked this part, it was very humanising for the victim to give him some backstory, not to just be part of a sick killer's murder video.
Unfortunately the documentary includes interviews with the killer's deluded mother who still proclaims his innocence. It makes you feel as if they lied to her to have her on the documentary. Her part only serves to give a backstory to the killer, which kind of helps show why he would do this evil stuff. She also believes someone was behind the scenes orchestrating the choices that the killer is making. The group also contributes nothing still and finds the killer's location too late - once he has already gone to France.
From there Interpol takes over the investigation with the French police, who again miss the killer. We have more shit from the mum, and more interviews with the 2 main group members. The final post in the group is a video from the CCTV camera of the killer being caught by the German police after fleeing Paris to Berlin. Always a step behind they finally catch him when the clerk of the internet cafe alerts them after having been online reading foreign news. This one man made much more of an impact than a facebook group of more than 5000 members, including the assistance of a group of bikies who fight animal abuse. All of these 90,000 fans and the bikie group contributed absolutely nothing to the investigation and this documentary didn't need to be 3 hours long.
In the conclusion of the final episode they bring up the idea of a pimp who is manipulating the killer into committing crimes. The huge reveal that this is part of a plotline to a movie was incredible.
If you check his wikipedia page, the killer Luka Magnotta has 1 single line stating that he was sought by animal rights groups for killing cats but he was not convicted of any of those crimes. I liked the final part of the documentary where the 2 main members of the group finally meet in Las Vegas. There is one segment where the main lady quit the group temporarily after a video of the casino she works at is released, but...nothing happens? They also leave out the fact that he committed necrophilia on the corpse. That would probably eclipse the cat murders too much.
This documentary could have been cut to half the time or even a third of the time. Now, in modern times, internet sleuths sometimes do contribute to criminal investigations and leads are investigated, but in this documentary...it didn't turn out that way.
I have so many thoughts, but the first is if you enjoy Korean or exorcism films you might actually like this. It's so dynamic and something I really appreciate is that the movie has parts in italian and english, not just Korean. YongHo is an mma fighter but he's not actually that muscular and his first opponent isnt as cut as I thought hed be. Actually I think YongHo gets more ripped halfway through the movie? The match takes place in america so the white guy is called john white of course. Lol
YongHo's dad died when he was young despite all the praying so he has forsaken god. This opens him to the influence of the devil, or in this movie, the "dark priest", a super hot Korean guy, hotter even than YongHo, worshipping the snake lord or something. He owns a nightclub like the one in the third john wick movie. Slick, black great use of colours throughout this movie btw. Especially at the end contrasting between the evil and good as yongho descends into the underground dungeon at the nightclub.
The music was nothing to write home about and the movie also imo has huge issues with decibel levels. All the sounds are normal until someone screams and its 3x the volume of everything else - beyond actually just being that screaming is loud. There were some great CG AND practical effects and the story came together quite well, except for YongHo battling with his hate of god. I really disliked the part where he chose to be influenced by the dark priest in the place of father choi and ignore his priest friend who he had bonded with over the course of the film.
It was actually genuinely scary in some parts. It doesn't hold back showing gore and violence and a dead kid even. However, I think for me the pitfalls are the ...on the nose devil signs and product placement. The dark priest runs a nightclub with a logo that looks like demon horns and snakes and his club is called Babylon. How was that not so obvious? And there are some blatant scenes showing the logo of the car the main character is driving, a starbucks cup and asahi beer. With tensions rising in korea between Japan aas that really well placed? Lol and I guess they needed funding from the car and starbucks to film internationally.
Also says theres a sequel coming with choi wooshik again so they can deal with the fact they just left that hand snake thing in the nightclub so anyone can go find it. Hope to see it. 8/10
What a crazy film. It was hard watching someone you're rooting for just be stomped on over and over again. There are some really interesting elements in the film but it is definitely a bit all over the place. The movie felt like it was 2 hours long, which is something that you dont notice in some films.
The protagonist is a woman working as a companion for an old rich lady when one day the lady suggests that she be seated with Mr. De Winters, a rich widower who is holidaying in France. Protag catches his eye and they start a whirlwind romance eventually marrying to stop the lady from taking protag with her to New York. Back at the Manderley estate there are remnants of De Winters deceased wife everywhere, and now protag feels like she will never fill the shoes of the deceased wife.
This movie throws struggle after struggle at the protagonist who seems to constantly suffer at each point and breaks down in tears. She is manipulated by almost everyone around her, gaslighted, bullied and psychologically abused and through this she never seems to grow until the final arc of the movie. I admit that the unravelling of the mysteries were really good and looking back so many of the reactions of characters make sense in a different light and are much more chilling.
I liked the dynamic between the two protagonists. It sas obviously a bit strained and way too stressful. I did feel like it was all a bit over the top, but I think it was worth a watch. The music is pretty decent, maybe a bit too loud compared to the volume of the rest of the film.
One night David, the protagonist of this story, pulls out an old drawing given to him by his childhood friend Meg. Meg and her disabled sister Susan are adopted by their aunt, Ruth, after their parents die in a car crash. Unfortunately for them, it's the '50s, a horrible, sexist and old-fashioned decade where women are the lesser race. Ruth starts slowly to abuse Meg, using Susan for leverage and getting her sons and neighbourhood kids in on it. David can't stand watching his friend be abused but what can he do?
I was horrified by the torture in this film, but that really seems to be all that was on offer. David is reflecting on his life, and how little he could do back then. He tried to reach out to a few people but never really said anything because that was "none of his business"; he's a child also manipulated by the adult in the situation and overwhelmed by the "bystander effect" and intimidated by Ruth's sons. It's hard to say I really liked anything in this film - none of the shots were particularly amazing. I think the effects were quite good and the whole thing was very twisted.
Unfortunately there were no redeeming factors - I felt like there were no lessons to be learned. David never really developed as a character. We don't learn about what happens to Susan after she is rescued. We don't see the perpetrators get punished and it is presumed that Meg dies of her injuries. Sort of a waste of time overall. 4/10.
A scifi thriller about a man whose wife is killed suddenly one night by a group of men after their electronic car crashes in a slum. Grey becomes a quadriplegic, wheelchair-bound living alone in a voice-activated apartment. One day his friend Elon, whom his wife met shortly before her death, proposes inserting a chip into his neck to allow him to regain control of his body. This leads Grey to go on a revenge mission to find the killers of his wife.
I am shocked by how much fun this movie was. Grey was a compelling, albeit a singularly focused/poorly developed character, who is shocked and appalled by what he can do now that he has the help of STEM (the AI chip). I loved the humanity that Grey displays contrasting with the calculating monstrosity that is STEM, especially after his first murder. The small cast keeps the story going and there are brief hints of the kind of world they live in now and what technology is available. The fight scenes were fun and interesting; when STEM takes over, the camera tracks his movements, which help add to the atmosphere, especially seeing how quick and strong STEM is compared to Grey.
As the movie progresses things become a bit more mysterious and tense and Grey loses track of his quest after uncovering more poorly-hidden secrets. I personally didn't like the ending but I loved the buildup and definitely recommend watching this film. I'm glad I got to see it as I didn't happen to in cinemas.
Finally finished this show. I followed it from around the time there were 3 seasons then took a break in season 5.
This is a fun remake of He-Man with new spins on old characters but I'm not familiar with that. My favourite character was Catra. I liked the princesses except Glimmer and I felt like Netosssa and Spinerella were the arguably weakest developed princesses with no story arc until the end of the final season. So boring and their powers are boring. Each princess has their own struggles and overcomes them together with friends. The drama never felt overbearing or unbelievable.
I think that Hordak was a sufficient villain and that we didn't need horde prime. The addition of other words and dimensions...and the end arc of "hacking" may have been too much. The first one technology could defend itself from external threats and that story arc could continue without horde prime.
The show is so cute and the art style is consistent cute and fun. Lots of sound effects really bring the show together. Unfortunately the final season really fails in art style. Some new things come up, like characters sweating. I'm not sure what happened towards the end of this series but the st quality definitely drops.
Worth a watch, didnt even feel like 5 seasons.
Only in the most vague way is this related to Train to Busan. This is a zombie movie based in South Korea set 4 years after the outbreak we saw in Train to Busan. I can admit that Seoul Station wasnt that good either, but at least they tried even with the choppy animation.
But here they go full ham on terrible, terrible CG and law-breaking physics. 4 years of disuse and the cars work, the roads are totally clear, there is electricity and functioning machinery. It just can't be.
This movie is clearly targeted towards fans of the original because there are some lines in English, awful awful cheesy dialogue that belittles the experience of living in a zombie infested wasteland and just contextually makes no sense at all.
And everyone in this movie is ugly and mentally insane. I liked Captain Seo, great character that makes sense, but Hwang is just bad to be bad. The military went full evil and now they're doing death matches. You also can't start a movie with heart wrenching scenes and expect us to care about the characters. Motivation for the main group also isn't really developed or explained and only really is justified by a flashback or singular line here and there.
All the English casting also makes no sense. I just can't understand why this film was made this way.
Large sections of the movies are completely in CG, they're actually awful and they look so bad. Skip this film, it just ain't worth it.
I went to a preview screening for this movie.
For the positives:
- there are some really good scores in this movie
- the title card flashes up in japanese which is a nice tribute
- the practical effects look amazing
- the casting is really good - at times the mother looks like she's on the verge of a mental breakdown
- some of the dialogue is really touching and heartbreaking
- strongly developed small-town cop feels
- some of the characters have really good backstories
- grief is a strong theme in this movie
But the negative...oh goodness. The idea of the curse...basically a police officer takes the curse back with her from Japan and it infects her house. Despite this being a movie with several main character police officers, there is no investigation. They do not actually investigate the curse at all, because a previous character did all of it before. You dont get to see any of the discovery, you dont even get to see anything in Japan.
This movie is not scary. You don't see any chasing or stalking, you don't see any deaths until the end of the movie. It is all jump scare/fade to black. The CGI does not look good. The cadavers spewing flies look very fake. The blood splatter scene where the mother stabs herself in the neck looks very fake. The blood particularly looks almost pixelated on the stained glass window. I just can't understand that there are no real chase /stalking or fighting the bad monster scenes. It feels like a tribute to The Grudge in that they couldn't show the monster because they couldn't afford it in the budget. The Grudge aspect in this film is more like vengeful spirit possession, less tied to the idea of a monster personifying a grudge brought on my death.
The tonal shifts are really confusing as is the direction the movie goes in. It feels like the director wanted to make a well-shot western film or something like There Will Be Blood, but only got a horror movie instead. Some character and story elements are really underused. The main character has a son but he's in like 10% of the movie. They have a dog but it isn't even in more than 3 scenes?
Overall I'm just really disappointed since I thought it started pretty strong.
I'm literally so disappointed. This movie is so whack. Even compared to the original film, which was NOT that good, and did not age well with horrible racist jokes, this movie is like 40 year old women trying to write teenagers. It's like fake woke and cringey as hell. And the pacing is so bad? We didn't have any bonding scenes until AFTER the girls had been saying their I-love-yous to each other. It was almost a direct copy of the first film's structure with none of the development. I can't even structure a coherent review for this.
Lily is a girl moving with her mum to a new city to live with her mum's new boo and his 3 sons. The first day of school, Lily has PCOS-levels of bleeding unexpectedly which embarrasses her as her male classmates harass her. She is rescued by the three girls who are always seen hanging out and they give her a pair of shorts. When she gets home she hears the screaming of a woman in distress and walks in on her middle step-brother watching violent pornography. Additonally her stepdad seems to write toxic masculinity novels about being a true man by crushing any emotional weakness.
The four witches have barely any development across the entire film and make gross out-dated references to movies that they wouldn't have even watched at their age. (Twilight.) The writer missed the memo that we're into Kpop now. How can you stan Twilight? The first magical instance they make a salt circle to keep the good magic in and anything evil outside; it is stated that this is necessary for their magic, however they never make a salt circle again - in face they barely even cast any spells. The next spell they cast is to make Tim in their image, implying that they use an old tissue ;) they find in his room. He ends up woke as fuck but like toxic woke - woke in ways that woke people don't talk. Like the writer skimmed the most toxic parts of twitter and decided to run with it. BTW one of the witches is trans, but it isn't even covered in a respectful way - like as part of developing her character - they just talk suddenly about being able to have babies and the character goes, I can't! and then says something like 'trans girls have their ways'? What the FUCK was that? That is not how you be inclusive.
Tim ends up being a really understanding and kind guy (I genuinely ended up liking him), but a weak misdirection in the plot fractures the girls' friendship. I felt like this was arguably the worst part of the movie, because there was SO much opportunity and so much evidence leading to the actual resolution of this plotline. The girls end up binding their own magic, but it can be so easily unbound what's the point in doing that? The villain doesn't really have much backstory either, to really explain why he's like that or his powers. Some cheap jump scares are used to misdirect the audience and are never ever touched on again; for example, the oldest brother's sleepwalking, Tim and the oldest brother having a sexual encounter. Why add all this information of you don't develop any of the characters that well? Additionally the volume between the normal scenes and Lily's prophetic dreams were of such a great difference that it was like being blasted with a wall of sound.
Tim used the ouija board wrong. The letters are the ones in the hole not that you point to...
In almost 30 years, CGI has seriously improved, but the final confrontation was a weird weak-ass chanting where the bad guy eventually burned in a fire under a tiny storm cloud with one lightning strike. None of the actors except the dad are famous - where did the budget go? In the original film they had a massive fight by the ocean in a storm or someshit. But we couldn't even manage a legit final confrontation? Even the shapeshifting looked shit. The father's backstory made no sense to me - where do his powers come from? We barely learnt anything about the world's version of witchcraft. It's like all these props were handed down - with the excuse being that the girls have been doing witchcraft for years. Uuughhh.
Do not watch.
There is so much to unpack about this movie. There are some really powerful and great scenes but it is completely diminished by the decision of the writers, because I KNOW it's different to the book. Big old spoilers here.
The music is nothing to write home about.
The camera shots are repetitive and boring. The audio in some scenes is also dubbed in, but its louder than the rest of the dialogue. The casting in this movie is also awful. Eunyoung is older than jiyoung and jiseok is over 30 years old. Eunyoung looks like she's 25 and jiseok looks 20. Jiyoung should be at least 37? What on earth.
Jiyoung is a mother married to a man with a 2 year old daughter living in an apartment. Every day she kind of just cleans everything, raises her daughter and goes out, while her husband works. He is the most passive, unloving bastard and a pathetic excuse for a husband. He believes his wife has a mental condition and chooses to hide it and imply there's something wrong with her, even embarrassing her in front of his family.
She is last person to find out.
This is meant to be a movie addressing some feminist issues for South Korea and I guess because its new for them they beat you over the head with it. Where characters say, why don't you wait for a man to marry you, why would you want to work again who said you could do that?, and I only chose men because women get married and have kids. Some scenes are powerful and subtle. Her father victim blames her for being stalked, she addresses the fact that she can't visit her family on holidays because they always visit her husbands family.
In one particularly disgusting scene, her husband begs her to cook him food and then they talk about how his parents are forcing her to have kids. He then says they should do it now and she'll feel better, like he's a child and she's his plaything. I cant tell if this is part of what we are addressing. We are meant to accept that this is okay behaviour because there is one scene where she comforts him telling him she's OK now and he looks scared and sad.
There are a few other scenes at her husbands workplace that are so throwaway. The men moan about depression and taking paternity leave being the death of their careers. And someone installs a camera in the womens bathroom. This is like real life where no one brings it up with the victims to protect the men I guess, until it's too late.
In the end when jiyoung's story gets resolved, it seems like it could have happened any time. Her former boss offers a part time role for her and she works from home writing a novel. She finds help for her mental health problem, but it's so pedestrian it doesn't match the issue she is going there for. Was working from home never an option for her?
The message of this movie is: Only mentally ill women want to address the prejudice they face in their daily lives.
Only finished season 1 so far.
It's like if Euphoria and Gossip Girl combined into some ultra toxic world with unrealistic teenaged activities.
Every person except one in this series are drinking, doing drugs, have tattoos and have absentee parents lol.
Heartbreak High is a teen drama set in NSW circling around Amerie and her classmates and the horror that occurs between them when they return from school break and Harper and Amerie's Incest Map is discovered in an abandoned stairwell. Amerie takes the fall, becomes vilified by all her classmates and makes new friends in the queer weirdos Darren and Quinni.
I loved the character development of all the side characters, but the main characters are all so incredibly toxic and unlikeable. The lack of communication kills me. There's so much sex-based drama that it's quite offputting, no one is just genuinely nice except for Quinni.
There are so many awful moments of the characters just unable to be open about perspectives of other people - which really adds to the teen-ness of it - but I struggle to buy they're all in grade 12 with all the drinking, drug use, tattoos and whatever else. The music is really on-the-nose - about as subtle as a tank driving over you. But the acting is really great. I think my favourite characters are Quinni, Malakai and Cash.
However, I am particularly wounded by the relationship between Cash and Darren insofar that the show does that thing that every single queer teen series does where: the ace person is forced into a relationship OR their identity is not discussed like other queer identities. Darren even asks what the fuck is wrong with Cash that he doesn't want to have sex with him. It's honestly frustrating and maddening that shows do this to every ace character. That not one person can go, "hey I think you're still figuring yourself out but maybe you're ace?" or if we're not labelling it, maybe we can not ask what's wrong with someone? Kind of fucked up IMO. We celebrate queer identities, but only the ones that fuck, amirite?
I also really cringed and felt so awful seeing the dynamic between Sasha and Quinni. It was so many of the conversations I've had with people about autism and how much effort autistic people have to put in to meet the standards of communication that neurotypical people have. Her depiction was just so honest and real. (If you want more neurodiverse rep, try Atypical.)
The central drama between Harper and Amerie kept me going and I really love some of the side characters, but honestly, I'm a little disappointed in some of the topics. I think it's worth watching, it's got a lot going for it, but I think I'm watching it because I dislike so much of it.
I have a long list of movies to get through. This was on the list.
Rent-A-Pal is actually not terrible, but it requires some suspension of disbelief. In the 90s, David, a bachelor living in the basement of his parents' old home, has had to put his life on hold to take care of his mother, who has dementia. David is using a dating service through video tapes where one records a brief description of themselves and it gets distributed to people with similar interests. David has had no luck and on his latest trip to the video store, he finds a tape called Rent-A-Pal, a sort of interactive tape where Andy, the man in the video, prompts the watcher to respond in open spaces and then develop a friendship with them. But not all is right with the tape, as things seem to change in the video and Andy becomes more unhinged.
I did enjoy this film for what it was; a mostly single-setting sort of supernatural horror about loneliness, having to put everything aside to care for someone who needs it - while you know it's a noble thing to do and someone has to do it, simultaneously you also hate being unable to live. I thought the movie had really good pacing, things seem to change and happen in ways that are unnoticable to David but really obvious to the viewer, where David is so drawn in to having one single friend (through Andy) that he seems to ignore things that don't make sense - that's why I think it needs a little suspension of disbelief.
The movie was actually just really very long, and even though I said it was well-paced some things probably didn't need to be in it, like David falling asleep to one of his dad's old film reels, which is just a sex tape of his mum and dad? or I guess maybe a random woman on the road that his dad met? I didn't think David needed to be turned into a creep. He was just a lonely guy looking for love that happened to live in his mum's basement.
Worth a watch.
