korythacher Reviews

Unhuman (2022)

Good outline, poor execution.

[4/10 · 14 December 2022]

I think Unhuman is a 4.5/10 and I decided to round down while I was writing the review and remembering scenes.

Overall: Unhuman had some good stuff, but didn't really get there in the end. I don't think it's worth the watch and it's not as awful as some of the reviews paint it, but it did a lot of stuff very poorly.

The good: Fun campy stuff and decent jokes. They did some cool editing effects and stylized shots that felt like a music video or Scott Pilgrim-ish. The music felt right and punchy in the scenes, which was fun. Some of the set dressing was very cool. Production quality was good, but I don't think the camera work was great and they wayyy overused shaky camera effects.

The bad: Characters - I felt like the characterization never really hit in a consistent way with the lead, and I don't feel like we watched her grow or overcome stuff so much as the creators just hit a switch from "do nothing" to "do all the things". I think the outline of the other characters were all pretty good for a movie like this (ex. The mean jock and cheerleader, the nerdy guy, the brooding guy), but they just felt really flat and not very entertaining in execution. Many of them were just annoying with no payoff. They didn't give characterization to like half the cast, but also didn't use them for anything really. They all died or disappeared right away off screen and then those that didn't die were back at the end as just background extras.

They were extremely inconsistent in just about every way and it was very distracting. Injuries would magically heal and come back at random, and they didn't seem to know exactly how they wanted some particular aspects of their world to work so they were just different scene-to-scene. The idea for the outline and twist is good, but some of it got a little too illogical and combined with the inconsistencies it just felt like it really didn't make as much sense as the creators thought it did. It was presented as if they tied everything up in a tidy way, but they really did not.

The action shots were just shaky cams and quick cuts, which felt ok at first since it's low budget (I think). Unfortunately, the entire final act where it was basically just nothing but cutting through everyone's faces, shaking the camera, and playing fight sounds. Running scenes were the same way, so you really had no sense of what people were doing and it took up a ton of the movie. Myself and another person got a little dizzy during some of the scenes.

The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)

Good effort, but it didn't get there

[4/10 · 14 December 2022]

Overall: I didn't like The Wolf of Snow Hollow and don't think it's worth the watch. They have some good ideas, but don't do anything very well. I'm surprised at the higher ratings.

The Wolf of Snow Hollow had some good ideas, and a good cast. The lead was a little too awkward most of the time, unfortunately. He had some real "Jim Carrey vibes" in a good way, but it just felt like they didn't put enough of his dialogue together correctly so the delivery was all over the place. I'd love to see him in a couple more films if he's able to pull it off better.

The pacing was a total train wreck for me. The movie felt like a jumbled mess; they did montages that felt like they were covering long periods of time, but then barely any time had passed in the film. They did a lot of playing with the timeline by cutting back and forth between scenes, which I usually love, but it just didn't worked here.

They had a couple character traits they kept bringing up for people, but didn't put the work into actually characterizing them, which made all the interactions stunted and forced.

The ending reveal was awful. I probably would have been a little kinder to the film if the ending were better, but I thought the ending was just extremely bad.

My Best Friend's Exorcism (2022)

Cookie cutter with some moments

[5/10 · 14 December 2022]

Overall: My Best Friend's Exorcism is lightweight and fun, with a few great moments, but it felt a little bland during some sections. It was worth watching, but it's pretty average.

I wanted to like this a lot more than I do because they got some stuff *so* right, but overall it felt pretty lackluster for most of the film. I think it's a solid 5.5/10 and if they had made some of it a little less generic it could have easily hit a 7 with the things they did right.

The good: They have a couple of awesome scenes/effects that got me. They've got some good jokes. They have a fun tertiary character, but unfortunately don't use him enough. The production quality is great, all the actors seemed ok, and the overall tone is quite fun.

The not-so good: They spend a lot of time slowly panning through bland scenes and not adding to the film. They don't have quite enough characterization outside of "these girls are quirky friends", "these girls are shallow bullies", and "these jocks are soooo mean". They didn't lean in enough with the side characters and some of the more interesting bits, and spent a lot of time on cookie-cutter stuff that wasn't memorable.

The Wrong Todd (2018)

Very fun!

[6/10 · 24 October 2022]

Bottom line: The Wrong Todd is worth watching. It's not as crazy or as elaborate as I was hoping, but it was really fun and enjoyable.

I waited a little too long to review The Wrong Todd so a lot of the details are fuzzy, but it was a great experience. It's not the most elaborate parallel universe movie that you'll see, but it was fun the whole way through and I think it probably lands in the 6-7/10 range.

I do remember some of the logic being a bit hand-waived away, and some of the character's interactions being a bit stilly, but it still came together to be really fun. I just wish they'd gone a little crazier with the engineer character they introduce in the opening.

Motivational Growth (2013)

Weird, creative, and memorable

[8/10 · 24 October 2022]

Bottom line: If you like weird stuff, watch this.

Motivational Growth was awesome. It's not a movie for everyone; you've got to like weird stuff. I waited too long to review it after watching it and forgot a lot of the criticisms (both positive and negative), but at the end of the day it was an awesome experience. I only remember it fondly, which I think is a great sign. Despite some short comings, it really lands in the 7-8/10 range for me. Everyone in my group seemed to like it a *lot* even if they're not usually as in to weird stuff as me.

It could have been tied up and generally "fit together" better, but it was bizarre in a way I really enjoyed with some really memorable moments.

Goodnight Mommy (2022)

Great flick with very tragic moments

[7/10 · 24 October 2022]

Bottom line: Goodnight Mommy was great and worth watching. It has some absolutely tragic moments we weren't expecting that made it more emotional than any of us thought it would be.

Goodnight Mommy is apparently a remake of an international film that I did not watch and a lot of reviewers have strong opinions about the comparison, which I think is hurting the review score. On its own, this film was solid and I am glad I watched it. I think if I'd seen the original then it would have been ruined a bit by knowing the full story already.

The story was good, the twists were good, and I found it very engaging from beginning to end. The twists were telegraphed pretty hard, but they still managed to keep you guessing a *little* bit the whole time. You're always "pretty sure" about some stuff, but "not-quite sure" exactly which way they will go with it in the big picture.

When they finally tip their hand, so you know what's going on, they get a little repetitive to "make sure you get it" and that wasn't the best. I wish they'd telegraphed one of the twists a little less to make it a bit more surprising, as someone in the group picked it up in the first 20 minutes or so, but I still really enjoyed it.

They did a lot of stuff very well: the acting was good, the imagery was good, the production values were good. I think the end was good, the impression the film left was emotional, and there didn't seem to be any loose ends. Some people in the group found it "incredible", but I think realistically it was just a solid horror-thriller-mystery in the 6.5-7/10 range.

The Free Fall (2021)

Good imagery, poor writing

[5/10 · 24 October 2022]

Bottom line: Free Fall was a fine watch, but the writing was pretty frustrating, and it didn't come together as well as I'd like. I think it was worth the watch for the imagery, but ultimately it was an unsatisfying film.

Free Fall is a little tough to review. I think the writing and pacing would ultimately be a 3/10, but the imagery and general idea would be around a 6/10. At the end of the day, there is enough memorable moments that I'm glad I watched it, but I don't think there was enough for me to really recommend it.

The dialogue and general writing was really poor and often very frustrating. The pace was very slow and repetitive. They ramp up really fast and then just kind of plateau for too long before moving into the final act. It was engaging for a while, but then they stop giving any new information and just repeat the same sorts of scenes a handful of times so you just want it to move on and get to the point.

The imagery was pretty intense though. There are some serious gory scenes, some really weird stuff I liked a lot, and some artistic moments. Similarly, the story and idea were actually pretty good, and the twist was fun.

While I liked the twist, I don't think it was a particularly surprising, or done quite as well as it could have been. I think you're ability to figure it out might effect your overall view of the movie since a lot of the positive reviews seem to find it mind-blowing, but it was one of a few possible endings we all pegged pretty early.

Into the Dark: Good Boy (2020) Season 2, Episode 9

Pretty good boy

[6/10 · 24 October 2022]

Bottom line: Good Boy is decent and was worth watching, but ultimately forgettable. It's more of a drama/horror-comedy. While some of the moments/themes were "heavy", it was a pretty light weight film.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. The horror elements are pretty mild, though there's a couple gorey/bloody scenes. It's mostly a drama/dark comedy, but definitely fulfills the description and they use the dog-monster side of things to be the comedic relief.

Judy Grier was great, I thought the acting and dialogue was mostly pretty good. Some of the decisions the characters made were a bit silly even for the internal logic, but nothing that lasted long enough to be a bother.

All-in-all it was a fun film, but unfortunately they didn't do anything too memorable. I wish they'd done a little more with the dog-monster and had a couple crazy scenes to leave an impression. Because of that, I won't go out of my way to recommend this, but they didn't really do anything too bad and I enjoyed it.

Into the Dark: School Spirit (2019) Season 1, Episode 11

Nothing special, but worth the watch

[5/10 · 17 October 2022]

Bottom line: School Spirit was worth the watch for me. It's a stock slasher film that is generally forgettable, but isn't a bad watch, and that was what I expected. If that's what you're after, you'll probably enjoy it too.

Gore level is pretty low for anyone concerned with that.

It doesn't feel like a B-horror, it's just a standard "breakfast club"-style slasher flick. The pacing, production values, and lighting are all decent for the most part.

At the end of the day there isn't a ton of stuff to complain about, but there also isn't anything memorable. There are a couple fun kills, but most of them are boring and done off screen. The cast is alright, but the majority of the script isn't very good so the dialogue is lacking. The "twists" are predictable, but fun.

Some of the logic and the murky timeline don't stack up well, but not enough to really bug me for the kind of movie this is and the expectations I had going in. I'm not going out of my way to recommend it for people, but if you like slashers then this one is good enough!

The Wretched (2019)

Pretty good, delivers what you expect

[6/10 · 16 October 2022]

Bottom line: This was worth the watch. It's a solid little horror movie with a neat monster and an acceptable ending.

The Wretched is an IFC Midnight film, which usually are pretty good, and this was no exception. It's not an amazing horror movie, but they have a lot of good stuff going for them and not a ton to hate. I'm glad I watched it, and I think it's worth checking out if you're looking for a semi-spooky supernatural movie. It get's a little worse towards the end due to them not ramping up the fear-factor from the start.

The monster is *great*: Good visuals, good idea, and mostly tracks because they don't try to over explain everything about it. It shows up early and I really enjoyed it. I wish they'd done a little more with it to try to make it scary after the initial scenes, but it was still pretty interesting.

The biggest downside is the main character. He is kind of annoying and pretty dull, and the interactions he has with the other people (his friend, his dad, and his bullies) just never quite feel right to me. He doesn't try to involve anyone else in the plot, which limits the film. He's not awful, but he isn't very good to see on screen. The quirky friend varies in quality from scene to scene.

Production quality and casting for the neighbors was good. From what I remember, the lighting was good.

It plateaued a little by the middle, which is a bummer. The ending was fine, and the bolted on scene was ok, but I think it wasn't the best choice. It delivers what it promises and it's worth the watch in my eyes.

The Girl Next Door (2007)

Intense and traumatic, but no substance

[3/10 · 14 October 2022]

Bottom line: This isn't worth your time. If you just want some disturbing scenes, you'll get that, but that's all you'll get and it will feel like it takes forever. It's an amazingly intense torture movie, but there is nothing else going on.

I think The Girl Next Door was a bad movie. They did the torture part well, but the problem is just that they forgot they needed a movie around it. I'm really surprised at the higher reviews, but it seems like it's due to the traumatic nature of the film, which is effective, pushing everything else aside. It's not the worst movie in the world, but overall it was just a bad movie and I wish I'd picked something else.

The one thing they succeeded to do was have a bunch of pretty disturbing and hard to watch scenes. They didn't use much gore to do it, which was pretty interesting, and they really do make your skin crawl. It's a series of increasingly traumatic and unsettling moments, that are hard to watch even for experience horror fans, and left me with an immense sense of dread that lingered even after it was over. I wish they were in a better movie. Every single other part of this movie was bad, so it didn't feel worth it.

The audio and visual quality is just rough from the get go. It's so grainy and poorly lit that I thought it was a *much* older movie than it is. I just watched Rocky Horror from the 70s and it looked better than this by a mile.

The dialogue and acting was bad all around. The combination of that, the time period, and the A/V quality just made it feel like an episode of Leave It To Beaver.

The characters are all super flat and super poorly defined. There's a bunch of kids that show up at different points and you're not exactly sure who they are or why they're involved all of a sudden. The intended ages are unclear, but I think the main actress is supposed to be like 14-16, but the actress is 22 in the movie and looks it. Hollywood does that a lot so I probably would have let it go after a bit, except ALL THE OTHER ACTORS were actually children. The leading man was 14 at the time of filming, so the difference is just super jarring to see on screen.

The pacing is rough and made that 90 minute run time feel like 3 hours. Scenes just dragged on slowly (not just the torture ones) and they didn't do much of anything in them (aside from the torture ones). Very few conversations, very few real interactions, it just felt so hollow and they didn't even try to give it a story or wrap it up in an interesting way. I know it's 'based' on real events, but they really just didn't do anything at all in the movie.

By the end, it just felt like an excuse for them to make torture porn, which was pretty lame and made me feel a little gross. It's very intense and visceral, which I think is why the reviews skew higher, but they just didn't do enough other stuff for me to feel like the experience was worth it. I was torn between 3-4/10, but ultimately I rounded down by the time I finished writing this.

The Double (2013)

Very creative dystopian nightmare, but very unfulfilling ending

[6/10 · 11 October 2022]

Bottom line: I think The Double is 100% worth the watch if you like weird, stylized things, but it does suffer from an unfulfilling ending. If you're not generally into "weird stuff", then this is probably not going to be the film for you. Worth mentioning that it is very bleak and confusing at times.

If this had a better ending to tie it up then it would have easily been an 8+

The Double takes you for a real ride. It's effective at making you feel a sense of non-stop stress and dread, while remaining very engaging. You feel like you can't look away without missing something right until the end.

The atmosphere is great, portraying a truly bleak, dystopian nightmare. The set design is really interesting and has a unique vibe. The work they do at the company, and many other things about the world in general, is vague in a way that they really pull off to build an effective tone.

Unfortunately, I felt the ending was unfulfilling. The ending itself is fine enough, and some of the stuff they introduce there is cool, but it doesn't feel like a real conclusion. It didn't wrap up as nicely as it seemed like it was going to, and when looking at it closer there's a lot of tough logical holes. When discussing it after there was lots of "but if *that* theory was right, then *this* thing wouldn't have happened" and it just didn't seem like any one narrative fit correctly.

Overall, I really liked the experience. It was very cerebral, very weird, and very "interesting" (in it's own bleak and unexciting way). I enjoyed it all the way through, but was let down by the ending not being fulfilling enough.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

Surprisingly decent adventure movie

[6/10 · 11 October 2022]

Bottom line: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark isn't going to blow your mind, but it's a solid supernatural horror movie. It's pg-13, so it's pretty light in general, but it does have some creepy stuff going on. It feels much more like a horror-themed adventure movie than an actual horror movie.

I didn't have high expectations for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark since I found it on a whim on Netflix and it's PG-13, but I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't realize until coming to write a review that it is a Guillermo del Toro movie.

Overall I think they've done a good job. A nice, contained, story that they tell well. It's got some creepy monsters. The production value, set design, lighting, etc all seemed good and in general the writing was fine. For PG-13 I don't think you can expect it to get too crazy, but the creepy stuff was done well and without any gore at all that I remember.

I was 50/50 on the characters and dialogue, some of it felt good, but other parts felt a little awkward and weak. There is a spot where they pick some locks that feels particularly fake, and some general frustrating moments throughout. I thought the ending scenes were kind of lame, but not enough to detract from the general conclusion.

I can't speak to how much it felt like the 60s, since I didn't pay too close attention to that. It felt modern, but without cell phones, though they mentioned the draft.

It's not amazing, but it is pretty solid if you're looking for an adventure-horror movie and don't want it to be particularly heavy or gory. I was torn between 5-6, but bumped it up due to the sweet monster played by Troy James.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

Below average slasher, with lame characters

[3/10 · 8 October 2022]

Bottom line: This was not worth it, and I wish I hadn't picked it. The setup is pretty good, and the quality drops quickly after that.

This is a big miss for me and I was torn between 3-4/10. I bumped it down because the end was super lame and dragged on.

The setup is pretty good: They don't waste a lot of time, they introduce everyone, and then get right into it. They give just enough info to keep things moving, except they're way too vague about the main character's reason for being there. Some kind of special gentrification auction with a poorly defined group of investors showing up in a party bus? They cold have just been less vague and given any number of simple/clear explanations for it. I kept thinking something more would come out about it because it seemed vague for a reason, but they just never bother with it.

Some of the early killings are great and I was excited about the movie, but then they just felt like they wanted as many deaths as possible as fast as possible to get to the end of the movie. Almost like they gave up or cut a handful of scenes. It felt like an excuse to just pack in gore, but the gore wasn't even that crazy.

Most of the characters just aren't good. You don't really get enough to care about any of them before they die. Most of them you never even see on screen until they die, which is an awkward choice. The ones you meet are just lame and flat.

The biggest problem for me is the way the characters act. No one tells anyone what's going on, even when asked directly with plenty of spare time. They are just silent or vague for no reason. Everyone just lets people die without any real effort to warn them. No one outside of the main characters even attempt to run away, they just stand there screaming in large groups.

By the end of the movie the scenes are just boring and frustrating with the way people act and the actions they choose to take (or not take). The end dragged on as well, I was surprised at the low runtime when I checked afterwards. It struck me as odd that Leatherface was supposed to be 50 years older than the first incidents, but he looked like a strong 40 year old and they didn't try to age him in any way.

Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)

Worth watching for the creepy moments

[6/10 · 8 October 2022]

Bottom line: I think this was worth the watch, but I was torn between 5-6/10. It's a pretty decent supernatural horror with some surprisingly creepy moments for PG-13.

It's got a good atmosphere, some mystery, and a good creep factor.

They did a *really* good job with the creepy faces on the various supernatural encounters and that made me really glad I watched it. If you're into creepy stuff, you'll probably enjoy that too once it gets going.

The acting and characters felt pretty bland, which held the score back, but it was still enjoyable. I probably would have given it a 7-8 if they did a better job with that.

Jolt (2021)

Not worth it

[3/10 · 7 October 2022]

Bottom line: Jolt wasn't worth it for me. I think the characters and logic are really inconsistent and the action isn't great, which left it feeling pretty lame.

Jolt *wants* to be the female crank, but it just turned out to be super lame. The whole movie is very inconsistent and frustrating.

Real life logic aside, the general idea for the driver would have been fun, just like the nonsense drivers in Crank. The problem is that the logic is super inconsistent from scene to scene, which makes it impossible to suspend your disbelief and constantly frustrated as the in-movie rules change.

Her character is also wildly different from scene to scene either being an "unstoppable highly emotion rage machine", "cold blooded emotionless killer", or "cheeky austin-powers spy". Sometimes she is a damsel in distress and easily held back, sometimes she can throw people across rooms, sometimes tapping on a desk makes her want to kill people, but sometimes she can yell and fight and calmly walk away. The backstory and general sociability of the character don't fit together, either.

The beginning was fine, and there's some fun moments, but not enough fun moments to make it feel worth it. I'm surprised at the higher reviews and I did think this would be fun.

Black as Night (2021)

Not quite there. Boring and bad writing.

[4/10 · 7 October 2022]

Bottom line: Black as Night has an ok setup, but gets worse and worse as it goes on. Ultimately it's pretty boring and full of frustrating issues. I don't think it's worth watching.

I think it steadily went from a 6/10 to a 5 to a 4 as it went on. The setup was fine and then it waivered a little, but it still had pretty fun moments as they encountered the vampires. Then I just got bored about halfway through and they never did anything with the finale.

The writing isn't good, the story has some alright elements, but ultimately is pretty poor.

You don't care about any of the characters. Some characters are really ham fisted in, where it was clear what they had in mind, but the writing and acting just didn't make sense. Some characters show up at random 70% of the way in to dump backstory onto us that we should have got slower and earlier, then after establishing them they just go away and don't do anything.

They have a lot of characters who just seem to be really bad at everything while teenagers clumsily are just constantly better, stronger, and smarter without any real believability. The action all feels lame, like a home movie. It didn't need to be great, but it felt *so* lame that it stood out.

The logic struggles constantly, and it's just not worth watching.

Red Riding Hood (2011)

Decent; delivers what you expect

[5/10 · 7 October 2022]

Bottom line: This is an alright movie that delivers what it says. It's very "young adult romance-y", but that should be expected from the description/cover art/etc. Worth watching, but probably not the best if there's higher rated ones you're also interested in.

Red Riding Hood was pretty decent and probably lives on the higher end of a 5/10. I'm glad I watched it, but it's not amazing.

They do a really good job with the general visuals and an alright job with the werewolf. Everything feels very stylized and engaging to look at and that made it nice to watch. Amanda Seyfried looks great in role with the giant red cloak, though the writing is lacking so she's not very exciting.

It has a medium-mystery feel. They don't give you enough clues to feel like you're "solving" it, but it's interesting enough to keep you involved.

The acting was fine, but the whole thing was *very* 'teenage romance'. That isn't my thing, but I expected it from the description and box art, so it's not losing any points for that and if you're really into that you might like this a lot more. It loses steam to a pretty lame final act, but it's not awful.

Overall, I think it did everything good enough to be enjoyable, but not good enough to feel like it was great. There are some unfulfilling characters that feel *almost* there, some logic issues, and not particularly exciting action.

Dead Ant (2017)

Cheesy B-horror with some good moments

[5/10 · 3 October 2022]

Bottom line: If you're looking for a cheesy B-Horror, Dead Ant is fun enough, but they didn't do a great job with most of it. It's worth a watch, but don't expect it to be more than it advertises.

Dead Ant is a mediocre B-horror movie with a pretty decent cast. You'll recognize a lot of the actors and it's fun to see them all in a movie that doesn't take itself seriously. It's not a hidden gem or an amazing comedy, but it delivers what it promises.

After the setup, it gets a little rough for a bit and was shaping up to be a 4/10, but by the end they do a lot of the rock & roll jokes you wanted to see the whole time and they save it. Ironically the logic gets worse and worse, but the quality of the jokes do get better as it gets closer to the conclusion. If they were able to do the whole film like the ending scenes then I would have loved it.

Jake Busey is great as always, Tom Arnold has some pretty funny lines, and I really enjoyed Danny Woodburn until the end when they made him kind of lame.

Black Box (II) (2020)

Interesting movie, but bland final act

[5/10 · 3 October 2022]

Bottom line: If you're looking for something that feels like Black Mirror or The Twilight Zone, then this will be ok, but it falls flat before the end.

Black Box was pretty decent, but not great. It did a lot of stuff right, and honestly not very much wrong, but it falls way short in the final act. It was shaping up to be a solid 7-8/10, but really dropped off. I was torn between 5-6/10.

The set up a cool story, some neat sci-fi stuff, and an intriguing mystery. They had a couple creepy scenes, which were done pretty well too. Unfortunately, as the mystery is revealed, it just seemed to lose all steam. The entire final act just wasn't engaging, and was kind of boring. The final ending scene felt bolted on and really cheesy, like they wanted to lead into a sequel, which is something I'd expect from a movie like Anaconda and not a movie like this.

Casting, production, camera work, etc seemed pretty good. I'd like to see the lead in some more stuff as I also enjoyed him in the Archive 81.

A Comedy of Horrors, Volume 1 (2021)

Very fun and way better than expected!

[7/10 · 3 October 2022]

Bottom line: It's worth a watch. It delivers 4 silly horror stories without much gore and was a good time.

A Comedy Of Horrors was pleasantly surprising. We found it on prime video with no reviews and gave it a shot and I'm really glad we did. Everything felt polished enough for acting, production, lights, sounds, etc. No complaints I can remember.

It's an anthology: 3/4 of the shorts felt pretty good and the 4th one felt alright. None of them knocked my socks off and they all had some flaws, but it was a great experience and I'd love to see both a volume 2 and more of clown world from the first short. I forget the names, but:

Clown world is very fun and was the right choice to start the movie with

The second one is about a puppet and a real trip. It was surprising, though it got a little repetitive by the end

The bachelorette party was great, though not quite as fun as it could have been, which is probably due to time constraints

The last one about a super hero actor was the weakest. It was still alright, and had some funny moments, but it wasn't as good as the first 3.

The main "overworld" narrator story felt like they could have just removed it and it wouldn't have changed a thing.

The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud (2020)

Very fun "HOOOOOOOOOOO!"

[5/10 · 5 September 2022]

Bottom line, Max Cloud delivers what is promises: silly video game themed jokes. It's not an amazing movie, but it is fun, and delivers what you want.

Max Cloud has a lot of funny jokes, especially with the fight scenes. The actors do a great job of acting like one dimensional video game action stars and I think it worked out for them. Little things like yelling catch phrases occasionally and having some over the top action moves really added to the whole experience.

Tommy Flannigan is great, and I love seeing him on screen in any movie.

Unfortunately, I think everything they did with the "real world" was pretty bad. They didn't seem to know exactly how they wanted to tie in the real world, so it just felt shoehorned in and took away from it a bit. They tied it together poorly, they had hammy acting that just didn't _quite_ work for me, and they had some very specific details/items that they didn't do anything with, so it just felt like random fluff to fill up time. They honestly could have removed it completely and the movie would have been more entertaining.

Over all though, Max Cloud is a fun watch, and I'm glad I found it. I was torn between 5-6/10, but the real world side was flat enough I rounded down.

Day Shift (2022)

High action vampire comedy

[6/10 · 5 September 2022]

Overall, if you're looking for a decent vampire comedy, I think you'll have a good time with this.

Day Shift is full of some absolutely killer action scenes, and really shines at that. It gave some pretty good Blade vibes and it was fun to watch the carnage. If you're after action, you'll really get a kick out of this.

Performances matched my expectations: I thought Dave Franco was great, Jamie Foxx was fine, and Snoop Dogg was fun to see, but not very good and not used as well as I would have liked. It's worth mentioning that Jamie Foxx did a great job with all the action scenes, which were definitely the focus of the film.

They had an awesome universe setup, with just enough explanation to enjoy it, and I'd love to see more of it:

• Cool vampire rules, variety, and powers.

• Neat established vampire-hunter union with a teeth-based economy to drive hunters
• Some fun weapons.

• Some fun characters, though they could have combined a couple to get better use out of them.

Unfortunately, the majority of the story and some of the dialogue was *really* bad. If they had done a better job with that then this would have been a sweet movie and not just a "fun enough" action-comedy.

The dynamic between Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco was fun, but really dragged down by the poor story. I think their huge focus on the union boss trying to catch Jamie breaking a rule and fire him was super bad and really made the whole film worse. They should have just made Dave Franco a rookie who needed some training from the loose canon Jamie Foxx. The weird separation between Dave's actual job and what they were forcing him into just didn't work well and the boss was awful on screen.

The main motivation for Jamie's character was good, but the execution wasn't great. It felt rushed in a way that felt a little too much like he was constantly yelling "but my family!" and not making great or fun decisions most of the time. The family dynamic and dialogue is *terrible* and is similar to the schtick I usually dislike with Jamie Foxx.

The main bad guy suffers from some problems, but that can slide by easily in a campy movie like this without effecting the experience.

If they ditched the boss story, made the family experience a little better, and made Dave Franco a rookie in training then it would have been a smash.

If they made this a series I'd definitely watch it.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)

Pretty good

[7/10 · 5 September 2022]

I don't think this movie was "great", but it was pretty good, and I enjoyed it.

Overall, it felt like it was similar quality to the rest of the breaking bad franchise, but it wasn't the most interesting or fulfilling story.

I think Aaron Paul did a good job. It was nice to get some extra info about Jesse's experience being tortured. It provided a suitable amount of closure for Jesse's storyline after the series ending.

Some of the action scenes were a little lame, and at some points it felt like they were really trying to jam in some familiar faces just to get them into the movie.

I'm glad I watched it, and I'm glad they made it.

Dave Made a Maze (2017)

A cardboard hypercube: Incredibly creative and fun!

[9/10 · 1 August 2022]

Bottom line: This is a fantasy/comedy and not a horror movie as it was characterized on prime. If you like weird experiences, and don't mind them being whimsical, then I think you'll find this to be something special. If you can't suspend your disbelief, you won't like it, but they make it very easy to do. Watch it with a group if you can, it will make it a lot more fun to see how everyone reacts as it goes along.

Dave Made a Maze is one of the best movies I've watched all year. I found it absolutely enchanting and had an amazing time watching it from beginning to end. Unlike most movies, I didn't hate *any* of it. I enjoyed everything they did and never got bored.

• The set design was really creative and fun.

• Some of the scenes were really unique and surprising.

• The effects were all surprisingly good and didn't feel out of place.

The way they kept the story moving was well done in a way that made it very easy to suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride. They didn't try to overexplain anything and I think they did it very well.

The dialogue wasn't stellar, but it was suitable, and didn't take away from anything.

The creators achieved something really special and unique. I hope they're all really proud of what they made; it's really cool and I bet not nearly enough people will know about it. I'm glad I stumbled upon it and that it was available to stream on prime.