Change Your Image
Hotdesio
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
American Insurrection (2021)
From a non American perspective
There's a few problems with this film and the first is the title because unless I missed it, where was the insurrection? It would seem this small oversight didn't pass the network by as it now seems to be called "The Volunteers" which, whilst not being inaccurate, is a bit lame. The second problem is the story, not the premise but the actual story. In a dystopian world where you are hunted if you are 'different', most of the movie is spent with the individuals trying to come to terms with their own personal problems. Ordinarily this would be OK as we need a backstory to care about the people in the house but for whatever reason, maybe the acting, more likely the script, I didn't really care who lived or died. I should say at this point that I am a European so have no skin in the game when it comes to 'whose side are you on". What's clear though from reading many of the reviews is that most of them, especially the ones with 1 star ratings, are from people who a) didn't watch the film and b) would refer to themselves as a Republican. Now, this for me is where it gets interesting because I'm trying to work out what is it specifically that drives these people to slam the movie. Most of the negative reviews seem to say things like "what a load of woke rubbish" presumably from the standpoint that what the movie depicts could never ever happen in their God fearing country.
Here's the thing though, I'm aware that a large percentage of Americans don't follow politics that closely but with the recent revelations about abortion rights set to be overturned, 'don't say gay' bills being passed, walls being built to keep out 'the others' and books being banned (even maths books) that (we are told) have elements of Critical Race Theory in them (they don't but that doesn't seem to matter), surely you can see that you are already on the road to this dystopian future?
Back to the movie, props to Nadine Malouf as the standout actress and hopefully she'll get some better movies as a result of this. The rest, not so much. So in conclusion, it's not a great film, probably a 4/10 and it kind of lost it's way at the end as many small budget films do and If you want a better version of how things could pan out for the USA, watch the Handmaids Tale but instead of infertility being the driving force to make woman have babies, swap that out for "you had sex (without contraception because that's next on the list to be banned), you got pregnant, you MUST now have the baby" (without any financial help from the state because this is the USA! We're not like the rest of the World)
Now, before you hit the down vote ask yourself, do you really disagree with what I've said or are you only down voting this because I've said something that's triggered you? OK, I'm just messing with you, of course you weren't going to think about it, you can hit the down vote now.
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
An OK teen RomCom/Sad Drama for a Sunday afternoon, tissues optional.
When I read the reviews of this film I had the filter set to Helpfulness and I couldn't work out if this was the best film ever or the biggest steaming pile of excrement you will ever see. The first eight reviews were 9-8-10-9-8-10-9-10 and I was getting very excited but then suddenly, there were eight 1's in the next 12 reviews....hey? I saw reviews like this with The "Before..." trilogy (Sunrise, Sunset, Midnight), I loved those films but others just didn't get it and the 10's and 1's reflected that but I don't think this film falls into that category. At the time of writing this film is 7.7 which is sort of about right. We all have different scales and for me, anything over 7.8 falls into the pretty good category and over 8 into the very good...and so on. When leaving a review there really isn't anything that should get a 10 or a 1 as where can you go when something comes along that is better or worse? As it happens, this is mentioned in the film and it's not a spoiler to say that she describes her pain as a 9 because, well, it could be worse.
So having got all of that out of the way, this film is a 7.7 which for me falls into the "OK" category. Shailene Woodley is the stand out actress with the rest just, meh, although Willem Dafoe's almost cameo appearance does add a bit of bite to it. My wife loves a good RomCom and is always reaching for the tissues and although she did again with this film, not as much as she usually does. I've shed a tear watching Cars, fought them back in the final scene of Pay It Forward and bawled my eyes out at.....well, you get the picture but not this time. I just wasn't moved enough by the performances or the script. This film is a little similar to Five Feet Apart which we watched yesterday and for me, I preferred that. Its rating is 7.1 which I feel is a little low and should really be a 7.7 with this film being 7.1. Anyway, It's OK without breaking any new ground and even the twists you could see coming and I found myself predicting the script a few times it was that generic. 7.1 for me.
Mr Black (2019)
Not funny, the 10 star reviews are fakes
After reading the 10 star reviews I was looking forward to a black comedy but alas it wasn't even a shade of grey. The opening scene where an old guy in a motorised scooter gets out and starts smashing up a car with his walking stick and the young guy just sits there, I'm sorry, it lost me there. I watched the first two episodes to give it a fair chance but it was just silly on so many levels. I love a good comedy and black humour is right up my street but this was just a middle of the road sitcom. In fairness it should be a 4 out of 10 but to counter balance the fake 10's I have given it a 1. Australian Gogglebox is much funnier than this.