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derekwiner
Reviews
IO (2019)
If you love movies with two characters then you'll enjoy this.
I loved the post apocalyptic detail and realism involved in the futuristic environment of a planet abandoned. I totally disliked the Myopic plot that really has no point and is exacerbated by a lack of cast and/or action.
To be brutally honest this movie is a snore fest and there's just not enough crisis or character depth to pull this one out of the trashcan. There was obviously a very talented crew the production as a lot of elements of this movie are top-notch however, the story is a joke. Io would have made a decent 20 minute short but as a full length feature movie you have to wonder what movie executives would sign off on this?
You're gonna want to reclaim the lost time and wonder why you didn't check the reviews first. Any rating above four on this movie is overly optimistic and nobody in their right mind would given anything above a seven. Even the art cinema snob crowd who might enjoy a 2 character tunnel vision story has to put up a warning here.
Outlast (2023)
Bateman and Costigan should be ashamed of themselves.
These producers have parodied our worst fears and immortalised themselves as the ambulance chasers of reality television. Only morally bankrupt Hollywood hubris could envision this train wreck.
A step towards 'Running Man'. Hunger Games realized. Sadistic prime time victim television. This show will make you angry and want to hurt people. Turned it off after episode 5 and I wish I had the hours back I wasted on this. Damn everyone who invested or worked on abusing viewers through selfish criminal incitement. Netflix needs to create a moral production code in response to the unabashed abuse this show terrorises viewers with. Hopefully we as a society will not tolerate this type of contestant manipulation anymore. We can thank the producers at least for going well over the line of septic, toxic social experimentation- making it obvious rules need to be created towards manipulating contestants towards criminalisation.
The Pledge (2001)
Unexpected Uselessness
What an ensemble cast! And they all deliver top tier performances throughout a nicely paced story. You'll find absolutely stellar character development, directing and editing in this very memorable film. The problem lies in WHY it's so memorable. The last 20 minutes was written by a sociopath without any respect for logic, audience intelligence or dramatic convention. Non conformity derails the train here.
Guaranteed you'll finish the movie thinking one of the following 3 things:
1) How does Nicholson's character not realise the events that have unfolded???
2) What justification is there AT ALL for the tragedy befalling the protagonist???
3) Why did I just waste 124 minutes watching a project intending to consider me an idiot.
There is no dark justice here. No reality in the continuity of events. No respect for audience intelligence.
Somebody wanted an unexpected spin to confront the viewer. The problem is they spun a novel ending untethered from the rest of the story. Artistic license misused, save your time for a story that respects art as a mirror to at least some aspect of reality.
Assault on Hill 400 (2023)
Worth a Watch
Not as bad as reviewed here.
Yes the acting is stale at times, but the ordnance and elements of realism make up for it. For me; dirty uniforms, dirty faces, and realistic firefights go a long way to making a war movie watchable. Arguably the dialogue is the likeliest of culprits towards holding back this movie. There are some interesting camera shots, though camera work is wildly inconsistent with down angles in the wrong spots and such... at least the settings are well thought out and visually interesting. If they'd have added some swearing, cigarette smoking, a military advisor for the script and some heavy machinery- this would be a welcome addition to the WWII playlist.
Asteroid City (2023)
Pedantic and Over Stylised Yawn Fest
Load the screen with pastels, A. I. generated over stylised close ups and then tell all the actors to dead pan all their lines in monotone non expression. Welcome to Asteroid City.
If, after 10 minutes of watching, you get the sneaking suspicion that this movie is 100% style and 0% substance; you'd be wise to turn it off and work on reducing that anger welling inside you at having been robbed of great acting potential. Wes Anderson follows Quentin Tarantino and a long list of film makers in jumping the shark when given too much artistic freedom. During edits it must have been apparent the emperor had no clothes. How this movie became released 'as is' is a testament to the self obsessed hubris of Hollywood.
This film's greatest legacy is its pinnacle status as a monumental waste of completely unrealised actor talent.