therockks Reviews

The Green Knight (2021)

Why all the negative reviews?

[8/10 · 3 July 2023]

I've got to admit, I'm very confused by all of the negative reviews. Were people expecting A Knight's Tale? This is an A24 artsy movie, it's not a popcorn movie. That being said, I found it very engaging. It's slightly slow paced, only because each scene takes its time, but I did not find it boring. In fact, I found it fairly riveting and propulsive for a movie of its kind. There is a thick atmosphere by way I of very compelling visuals and music, which reminded me of an Alex Garland movie, like Annihilation or Men, but set in medieval times.

The movie is also extremely thought provoking. There are several interesting themes of the movie: 1) The nature of chivalry and honor, 2) The meaning or meaninglessness of life and death. There are also some interesting choices about race and color.

I will say, I did read the original legend before seeing the movie, and perhaps that increased my enjoyment of the movie. It's short, and will only take you a few hours. It was very interesting to see in what ways Lowery chose to stay true to the story, versus what says he chose to deviate. There was even an interesting meta line in the movie about making changes to an original work when it needs improvement.

Overall, if you're open to a thought provoking and artistically beautiful movie, I think you'll enjoy the movie.

Skinamarink (2022)

If you're like me, you're 15 minutes in and wondering if you should turn it off

[6/10 · 10 February 2023]

Like I said in the review title, if you're like me, you're 15-20 minutes into the movie, and you're wondering if 1) you should turn it off, and 2) if anything ever happens. So you're checking IMBD reviews. My answers to those questions are 1) maybe, and 2) kind of. About 45 minutes in, there is a scene that is legitimately scary. Past that, there are a few scenes that are scary as well, but more than scary, the movie is just creepy and disturbing. You can feel reassured that yes, it does ratchet up in intensity.

If you like movies that are "abstract" or "artistic", where there are many interpretations, and simultaneously they're all correct, yet also none of them are correct, then you should finish the movie. If that doesn't sound interesting, and you prefer movies that provide clear answers, then turn it off.

This movie is not overly concerned about plot, though there are hints of plot in it. It is more concerned with style, and creating a specific dream/nightmare-like feeling.

I would say it is quite effective at accomplishing that, though I ultimately found the movie somewhat unsatisfying. The plot summaries about children in a house with disappearing doors and a monster sounds like the book "House of Leaves", which I loved. But there isn't nearly as much plot as in "House of Leaves". You barely see any characters, you barely understand any plot.

I can't say that I liked it, though ultimately I think it was a "good movie".

The reason I ultimately gave this movie a somewhat positive review is because it gave me something to think about. I read some articles and posts about it afterwards. I read two different articles like "Skinamarink Ending Explained", and they both provided very different summaries of the events that happened in the movie, let alone the ending. The movie is very open to interpretation, and I liked that aspect. There were a few scenes and images that are hard to forget. But the movie is also too long and repetitive and boring a lot of the time. I appreciate the movie, and what the creators were trying to accomplish, and I'll be curious to see what the director can do with more than $15,000.

Halloween Ends (2022)

Doesn't work

[3/10 · 16 October 2022]

I really hated this movie while I was watching it. I watched it last night and thought the entire time that it was the worst Halloween movie I've ever seen. The last 15 minutes of the movie were decent. Now that I've had a night to think about it, I do think that it's somewhat admirable that the filmmakers were trying to do something unique and ambitious, but they didn't pull it off.

Ultimately, there were two different movies here, and both would have been better off on their own. The first movie, which is what most people want to see, is the final showdown between Laurie and Michael Myers. That part is good, but really not much more than a short film given how shockingly little screen time it's given.

The second movie is about a brand new character named Corey. There are a lot of moments in this portion of the movie where you go "huh?" It was ambitious, and there's some kind of commentary in there about how it's ultimately society and a lack of empathy that creates monsters. But that commentary has no place in the Halloween franchise. This is a franchise that started with a psychotic child in a clown costume killing people, who grows up to be an immortal serial killer. Whatever thematic importance the filmmakers are going for in this movie, they picked the wrong franchise for it, because it doesn't line up with the original movie.

In my opinion, they should have picked one of these two movies and committed to it wholly. As-is, you get a totally uneven, albeit ambitious, mess of a movie where neither half ends up being satisfying.

Relic (2020)

Scary Movie, Lingering Emotional Impact

[8/10 · 10 October 2021]

I don't know why so many reviewers say this movie is slow paced. It's an 89 minute movie, and the scares ramp up quite well in my opinion. I watch a fair number of horror movies, and I found this scary throughout. It may not keep you awake at night, but you may think about the emotional impact of the movie long after you see it.

I do wish that the characters and backstory were a bit more fleshed out. I don't have a great sense of who any of the three main characters are, and I missed a pretty key plot point that I read after watching the movie, which made the impact of the movie even greater. Perhaps some of the details are minor and paying attention is important.

Hunter Hunter (2020)

Extremely gripping, surprisingly gory

[8/10 · 15 April 2021]

I very much enjoyed this movie, but a head's up to potential viewers: the movie is very dark and surprisingly gory. I have a pretty strong stomach for gore, and this caught me by surprise. Animal lovers may also want to skip it, as there are a couple of minorly traumatic scenes involving animals.

That being said, I found the movie tense the whole way through. It does a great job of fleshing out all of the characters by the end. If you're looking for a tense thriller that goes to dark places, look no further.

She Dies Tomorrow (2020)

I don't know you, but I know that you'll hate this movie

[2/10 · 11 January 2021]

I tend to give movies a chance, and try to discern the meaning. Just because something is "artsy", that doesn't mean that it's bad. In this case though, I was just waiting for this movie to finish.

It's an hour and a half of actors staring ahead while dramatic music plays or neon lights flashing. And also, the line "I'm going to die tomorrow" is repeated so often that it probably makes up about 30% of the spoken lines in the movie.

I don't normally write reviews, but I encourage you to skip this movie.

A few of the positives: it's nicely shot, the acting is reasonably solid (a surprisingly solid cast of supporting actors), the premise is intriguing, and there are a couple of funny moments (I think I laughed twice, the best laugh was kudos to Adam Wingard). But the movie falls well short of the sum of its parts.