Reviews

A strong start. Tess arrives at this Air BnB in a very run down area of Detroit, to find no key, and only an answering service. She is ready to leave, and a light goes on in the house. Keith, also rented at the same time. He invites her in and it seems they had both rented at the same time, and due to a convention in town, no other places. Keith seems very upright and caring, and she feels safe. But there is more to the house. It has a vast underground area, too big for the house. Doors open and shut, and naturally that must be explored. Tess does it first, and finds a room with a bed and camera. When Keith returns, he goes down to check it out. Really bad idea, and he gets captured, and Tess, rather then seeking help, goes to try and rescue him. Really super bad idea. And this is where it fails me. Knowing someone only briefly, who would put their life at risk to save a stranger, and it is clear they are putting their life in danger. And along comes AJ, who really owns the house, and he is surprised to find someone was renting, yet the agency can't say if they left. It is the actions of the persons in danger that simply requires one to suspend belief too much. And that is the weakness. The area the house is set in is very well done, as it clearly shows an area of neglect and despair. Tess manages to get a cop, who doesn't believe a word she says, and really insults her but she also makes foolish errors. It becomes a frustrating movie. Good concept, not a lot new, but poor execution.

Moll, played by Jessie Buckley, lives with her family in an isolated community on the Isle of Jersey. When she was 13, she was charged with stabbing a classmate with a scissors, but she always maintained it was an accident. But it did not make it easier living with her family. When young, she was bullied, and her mother keeps her on a tight leash. On the day of her birthday party, when she should have been the center of attention, a couple announce they are having twins, and she simply leaves. Her age is never stated, although one can guess either a teenager or slightly older. In the town, there have been some grisly murders. Come morning, a young man from the town accosts her, and Pascal, who was out poaching rescues her. She finds an affinity with Pascal, perhaps because he was the first person to show caring about her. We watch her bloom from a timid person to a much more assertive person, all thanks to her friendship with Pascal. But Pascal has a dark past having been arrested for assaulting a young girl, which he told Moll was consensual. But since the murders were of young girls, he becomes an obvious suspect and Moll feels the need to protect him. Things get tense and there are signals that could be real or could be false. And the last 15 minutes or so are really very powerful.

The movie has a lot going for it. There was plenty of tension, and the drama in the control room over what to do. The scenery was very good, capturing the brutal cold of the winter. Manny, incarcerated in an Alaskan maximum security prison has escaped before, and once captured, the warden had him welded in a cell in solitary confinement, but he got a legal writ to be released from the cell. The warden is portrayed I feel a bit over the top, but not as good as the warden in Natural Born Killers. Manny gets into the yard, pushed in a laundry cart by Buck, who decided to come along. That laundry cart escape is difficult to accept for the prison it is. But then, this is a movie. They get to a rail yard, and hop onto a train. However, that four unit train lost its engineer, who left the cab and fell off, dying of a heart attack. The train took off on its own, gaining speed as it went. The suspense of what to do is dialed up nicely, but doesn't really cover new ground. I feel the movie Unstoppable (2010) did it better. Of course I would have also preferred that Manny threw off Buck from the train. Buck idolized Manny, and Manny preferred that he learn his lesson, and go straight once released. And then we find out a crew member, a woman, was on the train, having slept in a cabin. Will she have any ideas on how to slow down the train?

A gothic romance story. Edith is the daughter of a successful business man, and Thomas tries to sell him on a new machine to mine clay. He is not impressed, as Thomas has smooth hands, showing no evidence of work, and only has a display model. However, Edith is drawn to Thomas, even though she immediately notices he is poor. His suit is dated, his shoes worn. Thomas lives in this wonderful decrepit Gothic house with his sister, Lucille. Edith's father dies, she marries Thomas, and moves into the house. And what really makes this movie are the visuals. The house, a lot in ruins, is done so magnificently (and the house was built, according to the studio), with such attention to detail. And the costumes are prefect for the era. This really sells the movie, since the plot is rather routine. The clay the house is built on is red, oozes through the floor and into the water. The house is settling into the clay. And Edith sees visions of ghosts in the house, meaning someone was killed in the house at one time. The movie progresses rather slowly until the last act. Thomas loves Edith, and Lucille has issues. It is not great, but will keep one interested.

You have the killer, Zee, and the police detective, Sey. Zee is sent to a place where no one in the room is to be allowed to live. And she can be depended to do her job very well. But she also will not kill an innocent civilian. But in the shoot out in the room, the singer hits her head, and is blinded. So apparently that fed into her sympathy for the woman, and the decision not to kill her. And Zee feels she doesn't know anything, so is innocent. Naturally, those who sent her to do the job don't like a loose ends. She is ordered to kill her, and when she manages to sneak into the woman's hospital room, along comes Sey, to ask questions. Sey is quite smart, and actually an honest cop, and their paths cross a lot. It is somewhat predictable, and there are a lot of action scenes and shoot outs. What I felt redeemed the film is really the last act. Those scenes are choreographed well, and there is a lot of action and suspense. And plenty of blood is spilled. So it comes down did I have enough fun watching it to feel I was not robbed of my time. Yes.

Dean is a high school drop out, who really has a low desire from working to get ahead. That he can have a beer at 8 AM and then go to work seems enough for him. In some ways, it seems he loves cigarettes more than anything else. Came from a dysfunctional family, and really didn't know his mother. But he has a charm that attracts Cindy, who strives for more than he does. She works as what seems to be a health aide. She gets pregnant, and they get married and have a girl named Frankie. But it seems they really don't have a marriage as they are often at odds. Cindy tells Dean "think about what you are saying rather than saying what you think." which really sums up how Dean does things. The movie is told in flashbacks that sets up how they met, fell in love and got married. There is a scene at the clinic where Cindy works that is very powerful emotionally, but really sums up their lives together. One might say Cindy loves Dean despite everything negative from being with him. And Dean tries, but simply does not have the skills necessary and can't learn. And they both love their daughter Frankie. Two emotionally powerful performances.

It is not a great movie, but it is a fun movie to watch. My main criticism is that they simply put too much into the movie. It was overly complicated for the mere purpose to fit in as many stunts as possible. That made it fun to watch, but also dragged a bit. Intrigue and death on the set, with a conniving producer and a director expecting her first real break. It is not a movie to think deeply about. Just sit back grab a bowl of popcorn and enjoy the show. And one will not feel cheated. Some of the stunts were very well done and interesting as they unfolded. I viewed the extended version. So a solid 7.

Times are tough economically, and in LA, there is a lottery. The reward is large, but the catch is the winner has to survive a single day, and everyone will be able to track where the winner is, since a drone will update the position of the winner. The winner has to be killed before the end of the day, and bullets cannot be used. So as soon as the winner is drawn, the identity is known throughout the entire city. Katie Kim, an actress from out of town, knows nothing about the lottery, but accidentally entered it and won. The prize is $3.6 Billion. So will she be able to survive, and Noel (John Cena) offers to protect her. And that is the story. Enjoyable enough, but some of the best comedy is in a few quips, and the bloopers at the end credits. So stick through all the end credits. Some of the lines: "I thought you were a good actress. I need time to improvise." "I'm allowed to panic in a panic room." In the end credits: "Ever notice that LA looks like Atlanta." It was 'set' in LA, filmed in Atlanta. But for comedy, John Cena is much more enjoyable in Ricky Stanicky.

I knew I was in for something special when in an opening scene, the perpetual motion bobbing water dunking bird was on a table. Rain is expecting to get her ticket off the planet where there are zero sunlight days per year, having satisfied all her required hours, only to find they had been doubled, meaning another 6 years stuck on the terrible mining planet. She has an android, Andy, that is not really up to standards, tells terrible jokes, but is a good companion who she cares about. Her chance comes when a derelict wreck comes close, and her friends hope to get fuel from it, and escape. Should only be a 30 minute job. What they find is not what they expected, and a wreck of an android tells them the prime directive has been changed, and what they found is the most important thing to the corporation. The movie is quite a ride, with lots of tension and peril, and fits in nicely with the Alien franchise.

Fairly low budget, with the only reason to watch it is the performance by Chuck Conners. But also, all the special effects, and there were many, all done practically. The negative is that the young women were the women of that time, not more current. So Eileen and Becky came across as entitled, showing no respect for other people's property, and not listening to anyone who would tell them not to do something. Yes, nosy, which didn't turn out that well for them. Molly was less adventurous. But none of them showed much skill when they got into trouble. Conners, Mr. Slausen, ran a run down museum, by passed by the new road. His skill, actually that of his brother, was in life like mannequins. It is not really plowing new ground, even for the time, and as indicated, got a PG-13 rating. So for the violence and blood, rather tame. However, for younger kids, it could be rather unsettling. Yes, Mr. Slausen, a very kindly older man who seems caring.

Gorgeous production values. With great costumes, great theme, and wonderful scenery and cinematography, what is there not to like? Well, perhaps a better story, since it started to get boring. It all comes together near the end, but why did it take so long? The young women are sent to this island, to be raised to be the perfection of society. Given all the skills to become the perfect and submissive partner to the man of their life. Although there is a darker side, and during their peaceful sleep at night, they are drugged. And that is not the nice side of things. The focus is primarily on a select and small group of young women.

These Chinese sci-fi films get crazier and crazier, and sometimes can be done quite well. This is not one of them. Done well, that is. A problem these films have is a lack of new approaches. They seem to have a young woman scientist who gets into trouble, and she is always related to one of the top scientists, so needs to be rescued no matter what. And they throw in a rather obese man as comic relief, but that is starting to get stale. In this story, a group of scientists are traveling across the snowy Arctic, in a normal van with apparently normal tires, not a snow-cat. Of course it falls into a suddenly opening crevasse. So they have to be rescued, and naturally only one person can do that rescue. The rescue team gets there, falls into a hole, does battle with some really strange beaked birds, and escapes out onto the snow. A monstrous snow monster comes out of the snow, to battle a huge shark that is apparently swimming under the snow. The snow monster seems to be several hundred feet tall, so not a typical Yeti. And the shark is pretty big also. Absolutely nuts.

It is non-linear, and because of that becomes confusing. It makes the plot muddled. A man lets his dog out for exercise, and the dog comes across a young woman under-dressed for the winter weather. Instead of taking her to the police (she doesn't say anything), he takes her to his house. Bad idea. But the police find the DNA of a long dead girl on him, a bloody victim. It turns out she was killed as a child, but was given two choices. She could live only one day as a human, or she could live forever as a ghost, and be only seen be a select few. She chooses ghost. We find out she grew up in an abusive home, mainly against her mother. Although her father does kill her. She meets a couple of men who have un-nice intentions, and it doesn't work out well for them. But she does met a man who seems genuinely concerned about her welfare, and only wants to provide friendship. Will this cause her to re-calibrate her feelings towards men? And is she destined to remain a ghost forever? The short running time may have been a result of a tight budget, which may also have impacted the script. It had potential that really was missed.

In other words, a real stinker. I did learn a couple things. If chased by a T-Rex, hiding in a nylon tent is not likely to work to save one. And apparently a T-Rex won't cross a shallow stream. A small group flies into a portal, and is transported to an island where there are terribly done CGI creatures. They meet a trio of armed paramilitary(?), and the leader is quick to threaten to kill the only person who could get them back through the portal. On the island are numerous stacks of cleanly sawed timber, even free of the tree bark. And in one long view scene, apparently a road. The movie is a complete mess, terrible acting and you soon care little about who gets killed next.

A mediocre high school film class could do much better, and this film wasn't done by them, since the roles are older adults and kids could have cast their friends. The premise is that Great White Sharks went extinct, and through science, they were to be brought back. The opening scene seems to have been filmed in front of bedroom closet louvered doors, and the shark seems to be a hand puppet, and rubber teeth that look nothing like shark teeth. Somehow an ant fungus is combined with cadaver blood, etc. One will see characters with piercings and tats. It becomes the attack of baby sharks. The sets have lots of movie posters on the walls, more interesting than the movie. Thankfully it is a short movie, with lots of empty space to fill an apparent requirement for length. This mess of a movie really deserves negative numbers. Lots of foul language and little that can be called acting. At least they didn't play the song "Baby Shark".

I don't even want to think of the budget for spilled blood, either costume blood or CGI blood, but it had to have been substantial. The Persians are out to conquer Greece, which is a collection of city States who have to combine to be able to withstand the assault, but will they? So the movie is one series of battles after another, with considerable spilled blood. The movie is in color, but there is actually not a lot of color to the movie other than blood red. But for the type of movie it is, it is enjoyable to watch and decently done. And the blood sometimes is really cartoonish. But really, after watching the movie, how much will be retained by the viewers, except remembering all the blood?

Sarah broke with her father, and moved to LA. She wanted a nice apartment, and at one place with a vacancy, it seemed very friendly. People seemed to be intermingling with each other, lending a helping hand and other gestures of friendship. And despite it being no pets, she has a cat, and was accepted. She lied about her cat, a red tabby. Bad idea, as there are no secrets. Her sleep is interrupted by strange noises from the pipes. She soon found out it was not what she expected. She found herself in a barren room and was told "are you ready to do what you are told?" And even more ominous, "we don't keep secrets." There is no escape, and punishments are very severe. Everyone contributes, and once you no longer can contribute.....It is a fairly interesting movie, as they work to program her into the cult. And there is no escape. She meets Lester, who told her he spent a lot of energy on trying to find a way to escape, and shows the results of the punishment. The ending could go in two ways, which is quite interesting. A sequel?

Admittedly, I only have seen the first episode, but the cast is supposed to be training at a top notch military academy. I put them as very young kids, since when things turn really bad, it is like all the supposed military training goes out the window, and they behave like frightened children. All right, it is a terrible alien force that is present, posing lots of difficulties. And they have only one they can rely upon, who tells them they are the only survivors. Teenage boys would not be bothered by the disconnects, and will probably have a lot of fun. But I have no interest is seeing how thing turns out.

For a movie featuring a female spy, difficult to beat Salt or Red Sparrow. But for the physicality, this movie certainly delivers, as the one major fighting scene has perhaps more brutal action than any one human being could survive. There is plenty of double crosses and people being who they are not to fill most people's idea of a spy movie. Based really on a 'comic' book, set in Berlin when the Wall is coming down, the need to secure a list is paramount and she is sent to get it. But it seems she is betrayed from the very start. And that is really the way to look at this movie. An action film based on an action book. Part of the film takes place during her debriefing after the event, with her testimony shown as it happened. And in that, there are people's posteriors at risk. The end could be described as 'delicious.' And like John Wick, she makes certain the person she wants dead is dead.

Maurice is the uncle, who is not a nice person, and lives in a very rundown house in what has to be considered an abandoned area. The whole theme seems to be decrepit. Along comes Phillip, looking tortured and miserable. There is minimal dialogue, and I found the music to be particularly irritating, even turning down the volume half way. The Exorcist (1973) is a brilliant example of how to use music to serve the scene. In this movie, the music became an annoyance. The ending, perhaps predicable, is also a shocker. And after awhile, the scenes of him carrying the duffel bag just became repetitious.

Hutch seems a wimp, with a strong wife and a family, but beaten down. A job commuting by bus everyday to a mindless job. He lives in a simple suburban house in a simple neighborhood. One day, two young thieves break in to rob him. They get very little, and he really seems to not defend his family, not swinging a golf club at one of them while his son has tackled the other. One night riding the bus, along comes a gang of men who get on the bus and have negative thoughts in mind. Turns out he was just an auditor in the military. The one person the bad person would not want to ever see turn up at the door. Turns out one he beat up on the bus was the brother of a Russian mobster, and the fun begins. The house he lives in is no ordinary house, in very unique ways. And going after Hutch's family is a no-no. Christopher Lloyd plays a great role and he seems to show having a lot of fun doing it. When the mayhem is done, he tells the authorities he is simply a nobody. And on top of the blood and gore, there is some really good humor.

Clearly a period piece movie, with a narration as the Billy Zane character goes through his motions. And rather amoral motions at that. He and his sister are very tight, and grew up in a very dysfunction setting. There is a lot of nudity, violence, and the Zane character is not a very nice person. He comes across as very entitled. Doesn't need money, as he is a leech. And his sister turns tricks to get along. It can be either off putting or fascinating and there probably is very little middle ground. A movie set in the 1950's and that age is captured very well. Even from how the movie titles were displayed before the movie began. Not for everyone, as it is very unsettling. Sort of like watching a car wreck. You don't want to see, but you can't stop peeking.

They tried hard, and had a decent story line that they carried through to the end of season 1. I don't think it deserves a second season, however. A lot went into this series, but there were some terrible miscast roles. They seemed to set out and show how games were used to distract the people from what was going on. A problem is that the CGI wasn't quite good enough, but with the scope of the series, there probably isn't enough money to provide what audiences would accept with their own eyes. The lion, for instance is a real failure. No lack of plotting and underhand tricks and treachery. Everything seemed to revolve around Tenax who was decently cast. Nothing seemed to be sugar coated and there certainly is enough entertainment value for those who want to grab some popcorn and watch.

Knowing little about it is probably a benefit. Only that the young girl (Abigail) is a vampire. One could almost say a gang of misfits kidnapped the young girl, who is a ballerina. Taken to a deserted mansion to wait for the huge reward. Each one of the kidnappers has a reason for taking part in the job, and they find out they are locked inside the mansion. And when things get tense, and they are in danger, they are almost their worst enemy, unable to coordinate any sort of attack There is a fair amount of blood, and explosions of bodies, but then that is to be expected. Some of what happens is not, and that adds enjoyment to the movie. There is a fair amount of comedy, and the ineptness of some of the characters adds a lot to the movie. Who will ever forget what Abigail does with the crucifix.

Chinese movies can have really good special effects. This is not one of them. There seems to be a pattern to many of these movies. The father of one of the women has disappeared years earlier, and she is out to find out what happened to him. In the opening scene when the father is on the island, there will be an obese man who has zero courage. This characterization seems to be a staple of movies like this. There will often be a lot of screaming, and one will soon not care what happens. In the opening scenes, there is an aborigine who tells them not to harm any snakes. Of course, most of them are scared of snakes, so one can guess what will happen. When the later group goes, at least some of them know the snakes they initially see are harmless. So they do leave them alone. Towards the end of the movie, we get a better picture of a man in rags that only appears in the background, so the question I have is where did he get such new shoes? They look like they were just bought.