dalto Reviews

Shadow in the Cloud (2020)

Very entertaining but also very forgettable

[7 June 2021]

Ignore the silly, infantile "feminist" idiocy in the script(or laugh at it like I did) and you have a fun ride for 83 minutes....but a fun ride you will forget by the next day. So get into the moment and have fun. The CGI is excellent and the biggest plus of the film is Chloe Moretz's energectic performance. Also the direction and cinematography are spot on...the screenplay not so much.

Without Remorse (II) (2021)

Takes bland to new heights

[29 May 2021]

Such a failure on all levels. Where to begin? The flat direction. The incoherant screenplay that has nothing to do with Clancy's novel. The actress playing the Navy Seal commander is just terrible...by the way there is no such thing as a female Navy Seal. This is just Dummywood PC idiocy. Jordan is okay. Barely. Jamie Bell is completely miscast and acts like he wished he was elsewhere. Nothing is real in this disaster. The actors are unconvincing and the action scenes are inept. I hope Amazon didn't spend much buying this loser.

Playhouse Presents: Walking the Dogs (2012) Season 1, Episode 8

Entertaining myth

[1 March 2021]

Though the media myth of the supposed "10 minute" chat between Queen Elizabeth and Michael Fagen never actually happened, this is a very entertaining fiction with two great actors.

Crime Scene: Down the Rabbit Hole (2021) Season 1, Episode 3

Its getting rather stupid....

[13 February 2021]

The one thing I am getting from this doc is that "Youtubers" and "webslueths" are the modern day equivalent of drooling, torch-bearing witchhunters who with their massive stupidity glom onto to "things" and blow them way out of proportion causing damage to innocents. No matter how many they cyberbully with their fantastical idiocy these trogs could care less about the damage they do. All this doc did was show the many Youtube morons out there who have no real lives. Maybe a doc should be made about that sorry fact.

The Vast of Night (2019)

Really not good at all

[16 June 2020]

This just an overlong student film with all the student film tropes. Gimmicks, rather than a good story, poor cinematography(doesn't the director understand about blacks. What is with the washed out look? Didn't they color correct this?). The TV show wraparound is completely unnecessary. It is another gimmick. The director apparently is fascinated with gimmicks. The silly tracking shots..another gimmick. The lead actor is okay. The girl...really bad. She is so irritating. The ending is also rather bad. Apparenty the gimmick loving director couldn't come up with a another gimmick. Too bad as just about anything would be better that the tired, we 've seen this before ending.

Boo (2005)

Pretty bad.

[16 June 2006]

This movie was a distinct disappointment. The filmmakers had access to a very creepy location but really did nothing with it in the end. The pacing of the movie is very slow and the utter lack of tension in scenes that require it is embarrassing. Add to that the high school drama level acting and you have another waste of money and film. The only good performance came from Dee Wallace Stone and her performance matched to the other "actors" only show how really bad they all are. I really wonder how much was spent on this film and how many shooting days they had? Whatever it was, they misspent it. The chief problem is the director/writer. For a writer of horror film articles, he has little grasp of what is scary and no grasp of film-making. The camera is constantly in the wrong place and his sense of pacing is like molasses. I suggest this one goes in the avoidance column.

The Off Season (2004)

Pretty awful

[19 November 2005]

Shot on video...and not very well. Amateur acting. Did not use Scrimm very well. Director has no sense of pacing. Shot over ten days and looks it. Scares not scary. Motel location is extremely colorless. Too ordinary. Camera work is languid, lighting too harsh. Probably cost nest to nothing nothing to make. So all in all, this another shot on video waste of time that show a complete lack of talent on the director's part. The actors seem to struggle with the dialog. Only Scrimm seems to stand out, but the director does not cover him effectively. Premise of the script has merit and could be utilized well in a more expensive production, but is let down by the threadbare production values of this film.

Strawberry Estates (1997)

Beyond awful...

[10 June 2005]

The wide availability of video equipment curses the viewing audience with boring crap like this. Ron Bonk not a clue on how to make a movie. This piece of offal is like a bad high school play.

I literally had to hit myself to stay awake to see what happens at the climax...and when it got there... nothing happened.

Here the characters are in a building that is the gateway to hell and they all act like it no big thing. This is less than amateur acting level. It is embarrassing to watch.

I never thought I would see something worse than BLAIR WITCH... I was wrong. This is beyond bad.

Avoid.