and-46245 Reviews

Without Warning (1994 TV Movie)

Interesting premise ruined by really, really stupid aliens and their motivations.

[1/10 · 12 March 2024]

I've seen many sci-fi movies and invasions from space are the ones that usually make me sigh, because such a thing is so incredibly unlikely. However, this isn't an invasion, it's first contact, handled by probably the dumbest aliens possible.

Their idea of first contact is to send not one, but two artificial meteorites at Earth. Of course humanity reacts badly to that! The alien message is obscure and strange, barely noticable and their arrival is extremely overt and violent. Of course it's seen as an attack! And purely by chance, the places that the first fragments land on are uninhabited. The one in China however, manages to disrupt electricity for 7 million people by damaging infrastructure. All of them then send out a signal so powerful that it disrupts telecommunications and air traffic, yet again incredibly aggressive.

The aliens are then, apparently, surprised that we react violently to another meteor being sent our way, which is so incredibly dumb.

On top of this, we are to believe that destroying a meteor that as literally entered out atmosphere isn't gonna scatter shards all across the planet and cause untold destruction. If a meteor is so close that you are using F16's to intercept it, we are already dead.

The alien reaction to all this ends up being our total destruction, because somehow they can send these meteors nearly instantly into our planet. Come to think of it, wouldn't this mean they planned to destroy us to begin with? Yet the SETI-man goes on a rant about how this is all our fault and how the aliens are peaceful.

What an idiotic script this is.

The Brood (1979)

Unengaging

[4/10 · 12 March 2024]

I've watched many old movies, some of which I really and truly like, from 12 Angry Men to Harakiri to horror movies like Alien, From Beyond and Extro. I cannot, however, understand what's so fantastic about this particular movie. About an hour in I simply stopped watching it because it was going nowhere whilst being incredibly dull. The beasties are laughable with nothing scary about them. I think that maybe I would've enjoyed this more if it was purely about the quack, peusdo-science psychologist and his meandering in trying to fix people that he's just messing up even more.

The performances are good, these are all good actors and some of them you will recognize. But they can't lift this material anywhere above the waist. This movie is painfully bland, safe and very 1970's. In other words, still afraid to actually do anything shocking or compelling. Perhaps when this movie was new it broke some kind of ground and offended plenty of people, but with more modern sensibilities it's beyond tame in every regard.

I'm not demanding gore or constant action, not at all, I just want ANYTHING AT ALL that isn't the so called monsters of this movie. It's laughable. Even the 1950's Twilight Zone did spookier things than this.

Dull, dull, dull.

Shōgun (2024–2026)

Why is it shot like that?!

[1/10 · 28 February 2024]

First episode has really turned me off from wanting to watch more.

Why is this show done as if it's a horror movie? Weird fish-eye lense camera's, shake cam's, strange, dark atmosphere with horror movie music and characters doing lines like they're trying to be weird about it. Everythign is dark, rainy, misty, dreary as if it's all a vague, unnerving nightmare.

This is supposed to be an adventure of discovery, of culture clashes, not this depressing nightmare.

It's so...off, so weird.

The old mini-series was fantastic. It had great and renowned actors, some of them movie legends like Chamberlain and Mifune. I'm sorry to say I know nobody who is in this show. All these plastic faces, perfectly sculputed by the best of cosmetic surgeons make these characters feel unreal and unnatural. They are too perfect, adding to it all an unauthentic feeling. They don't feel like regular people, they feel like beautiful, perfect actors.

The direction is like a strange, ungodly mix of the worst overdramatized parts of both Western and Japanese movie-making. In the first episode, event after event just happens like ticking boxes on a list, it's so unnatural without any feeling of connection. That the scenes seemed to often be so short didn't help at all. Remember when lord Yabu gets introduced in the old mini-series? That's quite the scene. It's in no hurry. None of that in this new show, none of it, everything has to happen quickly and you never get to just sit and enjoy a long scene with good drama.

The way the language barrier was represented in the old mini-series was very good, perhaps brought on by the fact that there was a genuine language barrier for the cast that made it all that more believable. They truly were a different class of actors.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023– )

Not at all compelling

[3/10 · 27 December 2023]

Godzilla 2018 was a fantastic movie. It balanced human drama with the monster conflict very well. This show however feels a lot more like a fully human drama where the makers go "Oh yeah, there should be monsters, forgot about that."

I found myself skipping through a lot of what was going on because I really, really don't care about what the people think about each other or their melodramatic chase for dad that keeps being cut short or interrupted in the dumbest ways just so that it can be dragged out a bit more.

Fans of this franchise want monsters and everything involving them. They do not care about whose dad is whose. The human parts should be centered around the monsters, finding them, learning about them, exploring their origins, explaining their nature and so on. I am 6 episodes in and none of that has happened, none of it. Characters flounder around like buffoons and stumble upon things by pure chance and because the story demands it so that more things can happen.

I won't even get into how frustratingly obtuse everyone is and how it feels like they are that way just to keep information from the viewer so as to fake mystery and intrigue that isn't there.

What the hell is Monarch even doing? Why are they doing it? Why are they NOT doing it? What's the point of any of this? Why does Monarch insist on chasing a buncha kids and a 90 year old man? This apparently nigh omnipotent organisation (that seems to fail at everything they do) can't catch some kids. You won't get to know and I'm sure that's because not even the writers know.

You can bet your backside that this season is gonna end on a massive cliffhanger of nothing being explained and of monsters doing nothing but showing up just for obligatory reminders that this is supposed to be about monsters.

Ojisan and Marshmallow (2016– )

Adorable, wholesome, funny and best of all no fillers!

[10/10 · 1 November 2023]

I'm glad to have been recommended this little show by a friend of mine as it really fit the bill of everything I like in an anime. Everything about this mini-show is enjoyable, from the comedy of an overly clingy woman trying to get the adorable and innocent man to notice her in every way possible, to the genuine and heartfelt moments, all packed into short 3 minute episodes.

If you want something that'll make you snicker, smile, feel good and go "Aaaaw" this fits perfectly. Despite the lewd humor it's entirely wholesome, I'm sure you'll understand if you watch it, and heartwarming.

Perhaps I like it so much because I'm approaching the same age as the characters and I struggle more and more to indentify with the majority of anime out there that do nothing interesting on remotely relatable. This anime is just about the good feelings and a simple premise that doesn't need 12 seasons and 7 movies.

Since the episodes are short there's not much of an investment in watching the show's 13 episodes. It's perfectly condensed and best of all, as you can imagine, no fillers.

The Flight of Dragons (1982 Video)

Cheesy but golden

[9/10 · 10 October 2023]

I spent some time looking for old animated movies that I hadn't seen before and through a list on IMDB I found this movie. I wonder if this movie really is as unknown as I fear it might be, old as it is, but it's still a wonderful movie.

While it has the goofy fantasy designs of the 70's, despite being made in 1982, it shares a story element with the much more well-known movie Neverending Story. It is about a topic popular in the 70's and 80's of what people thought technology would do to our imaginations and spirit. As wrong as it may have been, you probably play as many videogames as me, it's not overly preachy about it.

What surprised me were some elements, which I will not spoil, that I felt were quite ahead of their time when it comes to fantasy and world building. While the conclussion of the movie had me smirking at how cheesy it was, it was a classic story of good vs evil, spirit over despair and so on with some spot on predictions of the future of fantasy in media.

It did have a scene or two where I chuckled at the character interactions, something I feel I've only ever done with more modern computer animation movies aimed at adults. I suspect that if the people who made this movie could still be around, they would make some interesting fantasy.

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014)

Doesn't hold a candle to the original

[5/10 · 1 August 2023]

Carl Sagan's Cosmos was factual, somewhat detached and more open-minded, this show is more about overdramatized, non-factual story making that seems to have less focus on the science in itself and much more on stories about scientists. The stories are often skewed or outright silly. In the end it makes this show feel more like it's a show fetishising science and being cultish about the persons involved in it, rather than factual science.

I suppose that's to be expected when the director is Seth MacFarlane... Where the old show was informative, thought-provoking and insightful this one is pretentious and trying much too hard to jerk itself whilst yelling "SCIENCE UUUUH!" whilst at the same time doing a fair bit of conjecture and guesswork about things that have not and cannot be proven, just in order to make a more dramatic story and "making sense" of history.

I am not a religious person in the slightest, but this show spares no chance of taking jabs at religion in a way that stinks of Macfarlane's personal bias. But then, Tyson himself isn't the most tactful person either. In Carl Sagan's Cosmos religion is often brought up, but never disparaged. Hinduism is even brought up in the old show as an example of a religion that has had the right idea about how the universe might work but of course pointing out that it's not quite right.

When I watch a show about science I want to hear about the science. I don't want to be preached to about the Almighty Science, ironic as that might be. When this show doesn't do these things it shines and I wish that's all it was.

Belle (2021)

A feast for the eyes and ears, but a frustration for your mind.

[5/10 · 7 March 2023]

Fantasticly beautiful visuals and amazing vocal performances in a movie that has a predictable, soppy story with poor moral messages.

Though I have to say that the things that got me the most is how it doesn't seem to quite understand the virtual environment nor have any kind of logical boundaries to it.

Not to mention that in a virtual environmnent like this, people would want to CHOOSE what they look like, not be made to look like something.

But that's nitpicking from me, I suppose.

Another thing that really got to me is how other artists (without spoiling anyhting for you) are so deeply disrespectful of Belle in a way that I've never, ever seen real life artists be. The moment you act like a spoiled, entitled twirp that disrespects other peoples talent in the industry is the moment you stop having a job. People don't act like this, it's cartoonish. This comes from a movie that wants its emotional, real-world story to be taken seriously and have us accept the weight of the very serious topics it gets into.

Watch it for the visuals and the performances, but not for the story, the world it's in or the bad, unsatisfying, teenage view of morality.

The X-Files (1993–2018)

It didn't age well and I'm not sure how we liked it so much

[5/10 · 24 February 2023]

The overarcing plot of the aliens is to me the worst part of the show. The whole premise of little grey aliens with giant heads is become laughable now and I just can't take it seriously. The whole big bad government is controlling yadda yadda really doesn't help make it exciting for me.

The most fun are the one-off episodes that have a story contained in a single episode, even though some of them can be really goofy it still reminds me a lot of The Twilight Zone at times. Those were the parts I enjoyed and I wish this show was all about.

But by far the worst part is how incredibly obstinate Scully is all the freaking time. She could have strange creatures or spirits dance on her face and she'd still never acknowledge what she saw. It eventually becomes really frustrating how idioticly stubborn she is in her denial of the things she goes through. And not just denial but flat out no acknowledgement of the strange things what so ever, even in the episodes that leave absolutely no doubt as to the origin of their current case might be.

The Sea Beast (2022)

You've seen this movie before

[3/10 · 18 January 2023]

You will recognize everything in this movie, from predictable and tired clichés to plotlines you've seen in better movies.

And of course, hamfisted preaching.

But I guess this movie this isn't for me as an adult.

What I did really enjoy were some of the shots and scenes that were impressive and inventive. The cinematography in the battle scenes is fun, but it's also a movie where nobody is allowed to die even if the whole premise of the movie is a war between humans and the sea beasts.

But from the get-go you will know exactly what this movie is about and how it's going to play out. That's because you've seen this movie before, because this is How to Train Your Dragon, but wet. That's not even an exaggeration either it really is the same movie, just not as good. And if I can be a bit nitpicky, what kind of name for a movie is The Sea Beast?

The faux Bri'ish accents will drive you up the wall too. You'd think that if they wanted a diverse cast they'd let people have more than one accent but that's not the case.

And what's with the kid being more of an adult than the adults? Except when she isn't, of course, for the sake of comedy.

Black Adam (2022)

This must be for children

[1/10 · 17 December 2022]

I can't imagine why adults would enjoy this. I stopped watching this about 20 minutes into the movie, I didn't check the timer though.

Why did I stop there? Well, that's when the movie has two characters talk to each other in a hilariously awful exposition dialogue where the one guy tells the other a brief backstory and intel on each of the people picked for a team that they want to use. These are things you'd imagine they'd already know or have communicated through some other means other than their Skype call, but this scene is entirely about telling the viewer "Here are our these characters and this is their gimmick".

There's no real build-up, there's barely any establishing of characters. We have magical mystics exclaim "SHAZAM!" and everything about the movie takes this 100% seriously.

Every now and then something has to happen for some convoluted, forced quip that really doesn't fit the situation, from characters who are NOT reacting like they should to absolutely crazy things happening to them.

I feel like all of this would be acceptable if the movie didn't take itself so seriously whilst at the same time it tries to mimic other movies. I could tell you exactly what it takes from other movies and why it does that, but that'd be spoilers. No doubt if you've watched all the superhero movies there are you will notice it as well. Some might call it "homage", but when every other scene seems to be something like this it becomes derivative.

The notion that this movie somehow manages to do "explorations of morality" or have any kind of deeper meaning is to me quite laughable.

Paranormal Activity (2007)

The dumbest couple you'll ever see in a horror movie

[1/10 · 17 October 2022]

This is the most dysfunctional, immature, idiotic couple ever put into a horror movie. You will quickly sympathize with the demon and wish for their deaths.

They lie to each other, they don't respect each other at all and the boyfriend is outright abusive. There's even a bit where he tries to secretly film them having sex.

There are lots of words for the boyfriend, all of which would prevent me from posting this review if I wrote them out.

They do everything wrong. They antagonize each other, they antagonize the demon, they understand nothing and make the most illogical, idiotic decisions possible.

It's pure frustration to sit through this movie. Unless you make a drinking game out of it with your friends as you laugh at all the incredibly stupid behavior.

Hunter x Hunter (2011–2014)

The average shonen anime

[3/10 · 8 October 2022]

I spent 24 episodes trying to get into this show and wondering when it's gonna start being interesting. According to some reviews it will take me another 20 episodes for that to happen and I'm simply not gonna waste time watching over 40 episodes for this show to get started. A show should grip you from the get go and keep you interested as it develops into something more, not spend 40 episodes with world building, character building and exposition.

The supposed depth or intricate characters had yet to show themselves as all I could see where the stereotypical, shallow and predictable Shonen characters. The main character Gon is like every single Shonen protagonist painfully purehearted and simpleminded, which end up being the reason why everyone likes him: because he's so simplistic and naive.

If you've seen Shonen anime before you will know what I'm talking about, with other examples being Naruto from the show with the same name or Luffy from One Piece. This is what all the characters are like, making them painfully predictable and shallow. Have you ever seen the old meme "*teleports behind you* Nothing personel kid", that's this show in a nutshell.

The fights are simple, short and some times even happen offscreen which made me chuckle. The most interesting bits are when they're faced with a dilemma and then trying to figure out a solution to it but they always find a satisfying solution. There are no setbacks, there is no true challenge because this is a Shonen anime and whatever the protagonist puts their mind to will work no matter what. Some times this involves just stubbornly insisting about the power of friendship...

The visual style isn't for me and I can really tell this was originally from the early 90's, in a bad way.

Mononoke (2007)

A clever, slow-paced but very satisfying, artsy show.

[10/10 · 4 October 2022]

I found this show by pure chance. I took a chance with something that was completely unknown to me, having seen or heard nothing about it, just watching it on the recommendation of someone.

That's exactly how a show like this should be enjoyed, with no expectations for the purest kind of viewing. I recommend you do it too, though you might've already been influenced by the reviews here.

It's not for no reason that this show was voted the studio's most beloved show of all time. That vote has lead to the studio now making a new story for it, to be released in 2023. Hopefully there'll be a re-release so I can buy it!

Still, here is my review!

--------------------------------------

I can understand if people don't find this one particularly interesting as it will require some patience to watch. You will not be blown away by non-stop action, but be required to actually pay attention to what's going on. The art style might be a turn-off for some, while evidently (and to me as well) one of the biggest draws of this particular show.

Through the viewing of this show you are given visual hints as through the strange art style, the actions of the characters and the dialogue, hints that during your first viewing you may not pick up on. Some of them are even red herrings to mislead you to the wrong conclussion. But eventually, more and more things are revealed in twists and turns until the climax of each story arc where the truth of each case is revealed.

My favorite one is the second story arc, Umibozu. It really takes you for a ride and has some stunning visuals.

So if you're not willing to sit down and enjoy the visuals, the excellent drama, the interesting characters and the twists of a who-dun-it mystery I suspect this might bore you. I'm sure there's some Shounen show out there that'll fit you better, one that doesn't require your brain to function.

Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy (2022–2023)

Childish, predictable and shallow.

[1/10 · 4 October 2022]

This is truly a relic of the 90's, as if written by the juvenile mind of a teenage boy who thinks gore, submissive women with boobs like inflated balloons and hilariously awful character names sound cool.

I know that to some that's exactly the charm of it, but to me it's a huge turn-off. It's often been the hallmark of Japanese anime to make silly fantasy names and languages but this one is almost like a parody of that and I found myself laughing at it even though it's not even meant to be funny.

The parts meant to be funny are awkward and pathetic. The sexy stuff is tasteless, sexist and offputting with all the anime stereotypes that I've come to loathe over the decades of watching anime.

I enjoy gore, sexy characters and over the top even silly fantasy settings, but this one is farcical in its execution, characters and story. It hurts when these shows thinks that what makes something "mature" is childish, simplistic and cringe worthy.

Men in Black: International (2019)

It's the first movie, but worse.

[1/10 · 11 September 2022]

There's not much else to write about this. This movie is beat for beat, plot device for plot device, the same movie as the first Men in Black but nowhere near as good.

You could probably watch these movies side to side and make a drinking game out of it. Just remember to drink some water too and not too strong alcohol.

The two leads don't work for this kind of comedy. The characters are meh, the things that happen predictable (if you've seen the other movies nothing in this will be different), effects aren't stellar either.

Like a simulacrum that fails to pass as what it tries to be and instead feels uncanny and misplaced.

The Beyond (2017)

Interesting concept with poor execution

[2/10 · 15 August 2022]

It's like a worse executed, lower budget, poorer writing version of Interstellar and The Arrival made with a non-sensical faux documentary structure. It attempts to be realistic science at first but then goes into complete sci-fi that I found was hard to suspend my disbelief for. A lot of things that were completely unrealistic and fantastical. The people they also choose for the mission that takes place are just average Jane's and Joe's, which makes no sense what so ever, for an immensly experimental thing that breaks all rules and laws of the ethics of science.

How the hell did the documentary crew even get access to view this EXTREMELY advanced, super-secret science for this documentary? How much of it is a documentary? Is what I'm seeing still a documentary because some times it doesn't feel nor look like it.

In the end I only managed to watch two thirds of this movie because it was incredibly boring. It's not fun to watch a faux documentary talk about non-sensical science while nothing happens.

If you want mindboggling sci-fi, I recommend The Arrival or Interstellar instead, because they won't bog you down with trying to explain things that are inherently unexplainable or bore you with the fake technical details and made-up techno-jargon.

The Void (I) (2016)

Good indie horror!

[7/10 · 14 August 2022]

If you're into gore and really messed up things, you'll like this. Mind you, it IS an indie horror, so it doesn't have lots of fancy CG (though there is a little bit) and relies more on physical effects, prosthetics and monster suits. They did a good job trying to obscure the visuals so that you don't look too hard at the details.

Hellraiser meets The Horizon but in a hospital.

Prey (I) (2022)

Don't watch the trailer

[8/10 · 10 August 2022]

Little did I know how the trailer for this movie made the movie look like something else than it is.

The story of Naru and her wish to prove her worth is one of pride, of volatile youth that wants to belong and be independent. But also of protecting your home and your family and not be relegated to the sidelines as everyone else does the hard work. She overestimates herself, is overeager and a bit arrogant, but that also means she has a weakness to overcome through the movie and growth. While trying to prove herself among a tribe of hunters, she faces a lot of resistance, not because she's a woman but because she's undervalued and mocked for having failed. Not once is this about her being a woman, like the trailer tried to make it look.

The trailer decieved me quite badly into thinking this movie had some kind of agenda, which it doesn't.

Out of all the movies about the Predators through the decades, I rank this one amongst the top three, both in comparison to the others that have been made and in considering it as a movie by itself.

Speaking of the predators, most of these movies have had different types of them, usually introducing some new types of referencing previous types and this one has an entirely new type. This movie's Predator fits with the tribal theme and feels like it's an actual hunter, looking not just for the best hunting experience, but also taking pleasure from everything else about the hunt as a more primal, tribal and intelligent hunter and warrior. There's one particular scene at a beaver dam that I thought was cool.

Between the fur trappers an the natives, the Predator is like a combination of them both. Savage, vicious yet honorable and intelligent.

The pacing of the movie is good, the performances are good, the effects are pretty decent though the CG animals can look a bit crummy at times. The story is simple but very effective, and as a Predator movie it doesn't need more. There are plenty of things that have a setup and a payoff and everything feels like it's consistent and coherent.

The conclusion and ending hunt is great and really harkens back to the original movie with a last stand kind of fight and the culmination of Naru's story arc.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)

It's kinda...eh?

[2/10 · 17 July 2022]

People say that it looked good but I have to strongly disagree. These effects looked pretty mediocre and some really stuck out as quite bad.

The story is the same crap all over again. Some wizard jerk is wanting to be wizard Hitler, AGAIN. Such a gigantic snore. The wizarding world seems not only incompetent but absolutely complacent as one moment they cheer and clap at the villain declaring that their "war with the muggles starts now" and 5 minutes later they're cheering the new lady instead like they didn't just hooray over genocide earlier.

And that just encapsulates all the characters in this, because they are really, really stupid. Things happen because they NEED to happen, because the plot demands it.

Several characters are utterly pointless. Genuinely, truly pointless and you're left wondering if maybe they had more to do that was cut out of the movie.

But what is worst by far is that everything simple falls into place for the heroes. Everything goes their way, even when it doesn't it still ends up being good for them somehow. It's dumb as hell.

Baki (2018–2020)

So, where's Baki?

[1/10 · 17 June 2022]

For a show named after the character Baki, after 8 episodes he hasn't featured much nor gotten much attention when it comes to the story. He hasn't really accomplish anything at all. There are too many characters with more being introduced, trying to squeeze themselves into the story in some way that is often haphazard or convoluted.

The characters also like to stand around and blabber inanely about moral nonsense or what they think "martial arts" is about when this show is entirely about the pure fantasy of martial arts and not the true, practical nor in any way realistic reality of martial arts. So when yet another character goes on some boring tirade about what defines a martial artists in this absolutely absurd show it gets really tiresome.

I stopped watching at episode 8. I've no problem with things being absurd or over the top, but this show keeps trying to anchor itself in reality but only does so with pseudo-science hogwash and laughable attempts at logic and reason.

I enjoyed the old Baki movie from the 80's. It was perfect. This is 'nothing' like it.

Love, Death & Robots: Swarm (2022) Season 3, Episode 6

Would love to see this expanded

[9/10 · 13 June 2022]

Like a bunch of episodes through-out this series, this one leaves me wanting more. Seeing these other reviews it seems I'm not alone with that sentiment. Though the implications of what comes of what happens during this episode are also good on their own.

I'm a big fan of weird monsters, cosmic horror and such things that put existence into question so this episode is my favorite together with Beyond the Aquila Rift.

Gaia (2021)

Relies on stupidity

[1/10 · 12 June 2022]

The first thing the park ranger character does is NOT alerting their park ranger friend of how they just saw a half-naked man with their drone in a forest where there shouldn't be any people, especially not people that are half-naked and covered in dirt.

She mentions it in the passing to her friend, who blatantly ignores what he just freaking said. She then becomes the one that ignores all common sense and reason, dismounting from their little kayak ON HER OWN in the forest where, in her friends words: PEOPLE GET LOST.

This staggering idiocy is of course required for the movie to take off, but it's also what makes me turn it off.

From (2022– )

Intruiging and refreshing!

[8/10 · 2 June 2022]

I started watching this show on someone elses recommendation and I went into it with no other expectations than that it might be good. Turned out to be correct!

From the get-go, you're drawn in. Every episode there's something happening that keeps you hooked, some twist or development that changes things and keeps the ball rolling. Never a dull moment. Good drama, good characters, good horror, keeps a good balance on things.

Quite high praise coming from me who can't find anything I wanna watch anymore. All I can do now is hope that they don't mess it up going forward, that the makers of this series have a long-term idea of where it should be going and that this doesn't turn into another 7 season crapshow.

Don't disappoint with season 2!

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

One of the best

[10/10 · 1 June 2022]

Guillermo Del Toro has a wonderful imagination and helps make some of the most inventive, interesting and touching movies.

So right off the bat I'm kissing his feet over this, but honestly, this movie is fantastic. It might be a fantasy movie? It might not be. That's what's so interesting, the ambiguity. Does this girl imagine all these things to help her deal with her situation and the war or are they actually happening?

You'll find yourself questioning it, both ways. Regardless of what you personally think is true, it's a good war-time drama about family and resistance set in fascist Spain.

VFX mix with practical effects in the best of ways, just like with other Del Toro movies. Monsters and beasts are wondrous yet creepy. The world of magic is both fantastic and frightening.