troymcgarrigle Reviews

Penny Dreadful (2014–2016)

Dreadful Indeed

[3/10 · 19 June 2014]

To be more accurate it was not even substantial enough to be considered dreadfully bad.

I watched two episodes and a bit before accepting that it was going to be nothing but a show made of 100% recycled material, with recycled storytelling methods, recycled soundtrack, with cheap and pointless attempts made at dramatic intensity.

And recycled vocabulary! Awful writing. One thing was 'capricious' and then five minutes later something else was 'capricious'. Like the writers had to pay to use polysyllabic words so they tried to get their money's worth by using the same words every chance they could get.

If you're a snob at all about your shows, don't waste your time with this one. Put it back in the recycling bin.

Helix (2014–2015)

um..........no.

[3/10 · 1 February 2014]

I got through the pilot, episodes 1 & 2, and that will be all for me.

It is not an intelligent show. Clichéd scenario, an implied conspiracy that you know will take ages to get through in the most convoluted and boring way possible, 'B' casting, Really clichéd writing, I'm sure I've heard many of the lines before, cut and paste from other shows. Cheap contrived melodrama sub-plot, and if that is not lame enough, two episodes in and there were no cool special effects!

half way through the first episode and they are already crawling around in the ventilation ducts. Where can it go from there.

If you have half a brain give this one a pass.

Frankenstein's Army (2013)

Another 90 min of shaky camera

[5/10 · 29 July 2013]

The only difference between this found footage film and footage that may have actually been taken by a real Russian soldier is that the real Russian soldier probably would have been able to hold the camera without shaking it and would have kept it in focus.

Enough of this found footage technique. If it brings nothing to the storyline, then it's not worth the pain of watching it. To me the filming technique was overbearing and outweighed anything the movie might have been. It is just annoying to watch. And again there is zero character depth or development, partly due to the filming technique.

Alright, the monsters are great, good enough to rate all the five stars. If you want to see good monsters, then watch it. The acting is dodgy, the plot minimal, and you just won't care who gets gored because again there is no depth to the characters. If you're plain tired of found footage, give this one a pass.

Europa Report (2013)

Like looking at flashing LEDs while getting hit with a two-by-four

[2/10 · 1 July 2013]

Seriously awful movie, coming from a sci-fi fan here.

Most incompetent astronauts ever.

It might have been okay if it was told in a straight-line chronology, with third person camera work. But the 'found footage / security camera' format just butchered it to pieces. Why would anyone want to watch a screen with flashing lights for two hours? The characters remained anonymous throughout the whole movie. No dimension to them at all (how could there be? you spend the whole time looking at them through security cameras). Impossible to tell one character from another, even more difficult to care about them. Also, very little science, despite how it was reviewed. If it wasn't sci-fi I would have stopped the movie halfway through.

The parts you want to see (a nice view of the ice planet against the back-drop of Jupiter) aren't shown enough, as the view keeps changing to another camera, and yet another camera. It was like the director tried to establish pacing by switching cameras every two seconds.

Seriously, it had the makings of a very good movie had it been done in the traditional format.

Ninety minutes of my life I'll never get back.

Two stars.

I Am ZoZo (2012)

A gem of a movie.

[9/10 · 1 July 2013]

A gem of a movie. Creepy as hell.

Well crafted. Impeccable pacing, subtle, yet moving ahead just enough, with perfect consistency, with the right amounts of foreboding and creepiness to make watching it almost uncomfortable, uncomfortable in the way you want a horror movie to be.

Great camera work, subtle artistry. Great soundtrack.

Rare to see a horror movie that borrows little to nothing from other horror movies.

At first I thought the acting by the supporting cast was not great. The lead however was strong, and even the supporting actors rounded out well enough.

A pleasant surprise to say the least. One of those movies I regretted seeing because I would never have the experience of seeing it for the first time again.

Prank (I) (2013)

overused format, unsubstantiated plot twists, thin

[4/10 · 19 June 2013]

unsubstantiated is the word that came to mind throughout this movie, as well as clichéd. there was very little reason for a camera to be carried by the character through much of the movie. also the actions of the characters were not in keeping with who they were portrayed to be leading up to their actions.

it started out with a bit of promise, but the plot twist could be seen from a mile away.

thin, hackneyed, not at all gripping, with no point, and very little to say about bullying. in the end it was a movie about nothing that meant nothing.