smash-61002 Reviews

Skinamarink (2022)

Skinamarink Review

[5/10 · 12 May 2023]

Skinamarink The Awakening of Evil (Skinamarink), one of the most popular nightmares comes to life: two children under the age of 7 wake up in the middle of the night and discover that their father is not there and all the windows and doors of their house have disappeared. From that moment on, the stress of feeling abandoned leads them to stay with their toys and worn-out video cartoons in the living room. Little by little the environment begins to transform to the point where it is clear that something is stalking them and they have nowhere to hide.

The movie begins with a boy named Kevin and his sister Kaylee who leave their room at night, they are in the hallway for a while, later they go looking for their father, but they can't find him anywhere, the windows and House doors suddenly appear and disappear, faced with a situation the kids go to their living room to set up camp while watching creepy old cartoons on an outdated TV.

If we see this film as a cinematographic exercise, we can appreciate trying to do something different, on the other hand there is not great image quality in the film, it was shot in a homemade lo-fi format on purpose, but that should not imply that almost all the tape makes it hard for the viewer to distinguish the images, likewise the pace of the film can be very slow for the viewer, to the point of making them sleepy, I say this from experience, really in my case it is very rare for it to happen, so go prepared with the liter of coffee.

This is perhaps the worst "horror" movie of this decade, although they try to give an atmospheric terror, the tape is too sparse, for brief moments in the movie they seek to disturb the viewer, but they do not succeed, they only put the typical loud noise and the almost instantaneous image to try to make the viewer jump-scare, but they do not succeed, in the same way the bad framings stand out a lot where we only hear sounds from the score to suddenly and briefly put a little dialogue by the children who speak in most of the movie.

Skinamarink can be more confusing than terrifying, it is really very subjective, from what I can understand there are two children who died and are in a kind of limbo, the parents try to communicate with them but they do not get a clear answer, in addition to the Children are accompanied by an entity that constantly offends them, threatens and incites them to do bad things, so far the premise sounds good, the big problem is the scant and non-existent story that the tape has, but above all its way of telling it.

Rating: 5.0.

Evil Dead Rise (2023)

Evil Dead Awakening Review

[7/10 · 21 April 2023]

Evil Dead Awakening

Evil Dead Awakening (Evil Dead Rise), moves the action out of the forest to the city of Los Angeles, this is the return of the iconic horror franchise, the tape tells a twisted story where two sisters who had been away from each other the other, they will have a reunion that is interrupted by the rise of demons, throwing them into a paramount battle for survival as they face off against the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.

The film begins in a cabin in the woods, after seeing this scene we are placed a day before, where we are introduced to Beth who seems to be tired of being on tour and pays a belated visit to her older sister Ellie, Ellie is raising her daughter alone. Their three children in a small apartment in Los Angeles, then an earthquake occurs that seems to be 9.5 or more, although on the news they say it is 5.5, but apparently it was strong enough to damage the buildings and discover a mysterious book in their depths.

This tape can be considered a reboot of the franchise, because the way they find the book leaves out the first Sam Raimi movies, when we find the book we see the usual ritual, which causes Ellie to be possessed by a demon and start a battle for survival while the family tries to understand what the hell has happened to Ellie, on the other hand in the building we have other secondary characters who are very wasted and who could see more contributed to the plot.

Although Evil Dead Awakening is a horror movie, what it really provokes in the viewer is amazement instead of fear, when we see the gore scenes of the film, they shock you with their brutality, but this makes it one of the best "slashers" movies that have been made, even so, it has many known and already seen formulas where the protagonists make bad decisions that only worsen the situation, on the other hand, it stands out that Sam Raimi and the protagonist of the first films Bruce Campbell produce the tape, but this time they completely forget the black humor or funny dialogues that stood out in the first films, focusing more on gore and brutality.

For those of us who have seen the franchise, in this fifth film the tributes to the first films could not be missing, for example they explain the Necronomicon "Ex Mortis", a satanic bible bound in human skin and written in blood, also when Beth takes the saw electric reminding us of Ash, there is a shot with a zoom to his face when he is running that is something iconic from the first movies, in the same way we have a tribute to "The Shining" by Stanley Kubrick in a scene in the elevator.

Rating: 8.0.

Knock at the Cabin (2023)

Shyamalan from master of suspense, or master of disappointment...

[7/10 · 3 February 2023]

Knock At The Cabin, this is the new film by director M. Night Shyamalan, tells the story of a girl and her parents who are taken hostage by four armed strangers while on vacation in a remote cabin , the four strangers demand that the family make an unthinkable decision to save the world and prevent the apocalypse, with limited access to the outside world, the family must decide what to believe before all is lost.

The film begins in a forest with Wen, an 8-year-old girl who is collecting grasshoppers, suddenly in the distance she sees a huge man, when he approaches him he seems to shake the earth when he walks, that man is Leonard (Dave Bautista). , a kind giant, they have a talk, at the end of said talk, he tells him that he is "heartbroken, for what he has to do today" and kindly explains to Wen that he needs to talk to his parents, Wen sees other people approaching and runs off to the cabin to begin this suspenseful story.

M. Night Shyamalan showed us the premise of the film from the trailer, so we would expect him to get to the point quickly, but he doesn't, he just puts flashbacks of the hostages to give development or other background to the characters. , other background that he forgets to show with the four armed strangers, who only show up trying to make the family understand that they are normal people just like them, who have been chosen, although they do not know by whom, they only know that they should be there for that the family understand that the destiny of humanity is in their hands.

As time passes on the tape, the viewer loses the tension and intrigue with which he began, on the other hand we see how the rest of the planet suffers in a series of apocalyptic events, which to you as a viewer as well as to the hostages seem like events everyday life that they see on television in our troubled world, Leonard's words fall on deaf ears until little by little the uncertainty disappears as these events are magnified and it is in the last act that the family must make a decision.

Shyamalan invites us to reflect with this difficult moral dilemma of sacrifice for the common good, the performances in general do not really stand out, except that of Dave Bautista who shows that more than just muscles with an outstanding performance; Many will wonder, well, what is the twist? As far as I can remember, Shyamalan's films always have a twist, that is the director's hallmark, but strangely there is not in this film, in conclusion it would be better to wait to see this tape at home on a streaming service.

Rating: 7.0.

M3GAN (2022)

M3gan, we have a combination of concepts, Terminator and Chucky

[7/10 · 30 December 2022]

M3gan (M3gan), is a horror and science fiction film about a robot with artificial intelligence, a robotics engineer named Gemma who specializes in robotic toys, builds what promises to be the most innovative toy that will put the company ahead where she works, M3gan is a lifelike doll programmed to be a child's best companion and parent's best ally with all the technological advances she has, but doing so will have unimaginable consequences.

The tape begins with a commercial for toys that look like furby and fonzo from the simpsons, this toy is the most coveted of children so far, then we go to a family driving in the middle of a snow storm who have an accident, they are relatives of Gemma, consequently Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker for her 8-year-old niece, Cady, Gemma has intense pressure at work, so she decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to solve both problems, she will be your new best friend, for better or worse.

It is interesting how they present us with the scoop of their history, we are increasingly relying on technology, parents leave the education of their children to technological means since they prioritize their activities, as is the case of Gemma who has intense pressure on the work, on the tape M3gan listens, watches and learns as she becomes a friend, teacher, playmate and protector, to Cady the girl she's bonded to and we're not too far from M3gan even existing, which is unsettling.

Here we have a combination of concepts such as Terminator and Chucky and it is inevitable to think about those tapes, M3gan was asked to take care of Cady physically and emotionally, but how far will he go so that no one ever hurts Cady? On the other hand, the The story is predictable almost from the beginning, when Gemma shows Cady one of her university projects we will practically know how the movie will end, we also have time jumps that are taken for granted, without saying if days, weeks or months have passed.

In short, M3gan is the new chucky for centennials, with recycled concepts for the new generations, visually I must say that they did a very good job, with the puppets and the doubles of M3gan, I think it manages to be an entertaining movie that would even be enjoyed to see more in home, they also leave an ending that can lead to a second movie or why not, a new franchise of horror dolls.

Rating: 7.5.

Elvis (2022)

Elvis 2002 review, Could be better

[7/10 · 15 July 2022]

2022's Elvis is the new film from director Baz Luhrmann, a biopic that explores the life and music of Elvis Presley played by Austin Butler, the story delves into the complex relationship between Presley and his enigmatic manager, Tom Parker played by Tom Hanks, say relationship spanned more than 20 years, from Presley's rise to fame, the consolidation of his unprecedented stardom to his final days singing.

The film will be carried in the form of a story by Colonel Tom Parker, who from the beginning makes it clear to us that he was not a saint, but he also wants us to understand that he is not the villain or at least that is what they tell us while we watch how this music promoter crossed paths with Elvis shortly after the release of "That's All Right" on Sun Records and immediately saw the commercial potential, especially when the young singer provoked a spontaneous enthusiasm or hysteria not seen in the crowd at the time.

Baz Luhrmann takes no chances and gives a standard biopic, but he does let us see the importance of rhythm & blues and gospel that Elvis experienced while growing up in the poorest, blackest neighborhoods of Memphis, how he related to the likes of B. B. King or the influence of seeing Little Richard on stage, as well as a bit of his family business run by his well-intentioned but irresponsible father Vernon, the relationship he had with his alcoholic mother and when he met Priscilla during his stay in the army, everything quickly.

There are many things in the life of Elvis Presley that are treated very lightly without going into detail, several important events in the life of Elvis that are overlooked or not even mentioned, for example when Elvis went to speak with President Nixon to get a federal agent badge that would allow him to fight against drug addiction in the country, I understand that some things are not mentioned due to lack of time but when doing so he leaves out fundamental moments, because with the 2 hours and 40 minutes of duration they try to give all the possible context of how his life was since he met Colonel Tom Parker.

The best of the movie are the performances of Austin Butler and Tom Hanks carrying the weight of the film, here they show Elvis is more rebellious when it comes to doing things his way and less joker than the original, on the other hand we they make it very clear how Tom Parker enslaved Elvis Presley, without a doubt Presley's career was an indicator of cultural and political changes in the United States between the 50s and the late 60s, on the other hand the end of the movie is very sentimental and moving for the viewer to finish connecting with Elvis.

Rating: 7.5.

The Grandmother (2021)

Grandma 2022 Movie Review

[7/10 · 29 April 2022]

The critical grandmother

La Abuela (The Grandmother) tells us the story of Susana, a model who has to leave her life and her work in Paris to return to Madrid. Ella's grandmother, Pilar de Ella, apparently just suffered a stroke. Years ago, when Susana's parents died, her grandmother raised her as if she were her own daughter. Now Susana needs to find someone to take care of her grandmother Pilar de ella, but what should only be a few days with her grandmother will end up becoming a terrifying nightmare.

I have to say, if you've seen "The Skeleton Key" from 2015, you'll know what this film is about from the beginning, this thanks to the first scene they show, no matter what as the movie progresses they play with the viewer to mislead him into thinking it might be a ghost tape or possible possession; On the contrary, if you haven't seen the tape I mentioned above, it can definitely become an interesting story.

Something interesting is the complicated situation that Susana will go through, she has her life made, she has important things to do and she puts everything on pause to take care of her grandmother, forgetting for a moment the horror genre, the director Paco Plaza shows us in a way briefly how difficult it can be to provide palliative care to a person whose life expectancy is relatively short due to illness.

The film promises much more than it really offers, but the best thing it has are the performances by Almudena Amor as Susana and Vera Valdez as Pilar, on the one hand Susana goes from being the worried granddaughter to being the terrified granddaughter of the strange events that she experiences with her grandmother and Pilar goes from being a needy grandmother to becoming a gloomy being; however, they could have better explained the interaction of the grandmothers with the granddaughters, since it feels like a gap without further character development, almost at the end they show a somewhat important connection, albeit briefly.

Paco Plaza seeks to convey terror with moments of tension with his dark shots, or some creepy images trying to give a sinister atmosphere, but he does not succeed, the problem is that the pace of the film is slow, certainly one would expect a better polished story and little predictable by the director of "REC" or "Veronica" that we can not say they were great tapes, therefore the result is a predictable movie with few scares, nothing out of the ordinary.

Rating: 7.0.

Lamb (2021)

Lamb review

[7/10 · 7 January 2022]

Cordero (Lamb) tells us the story of a couple of farmers without children, who live secluded with their flock of sheep on a farm in a remote place in Iceland, one day they discover a mysterious newborn baby, then they decide to keep him and raise him As their own since they apparently cannot have children, this new perspective brings much happiness to the couple, but they will face the dire consequences of having made that choice.

Director Valdimar Jóhannsson tries to give us a disturbing film, but we could rather handle the film in the absurd, when "the lamb" is born the protagonists take the situation as something common, we see them slightly astonished, this creature is ... different, They call her "Ada", they take care of her, they raise her and for them it is a blessing, of course, for the viewer to see this "normality" is disconcerting and disturbing, that is the director's intention or I hope that was it.

The film is divided into 3 acts that are long and slow, in addition there are almost no dialogues, we see the protagonists performing their daily routines with long takes that are almost unnecessary; For the story to advance, they show us a scene where some guys throw someone out of a car, to introduce a third party in disagreement, but it is never explained where they came from, who are they? Why do they leave it there?, although later in a Bed dialogue will explain who it is and why it is there.

This film is made so that the viewer starts to presuppose and question the why of various things, how was the strange hybrid born? They played god with genetics? They say it was a gift ..., then execute some strange satanic pact? It was simply a coincidence because a descendant of the character of Pan's Labyrinth procreated the creature with a sheep, or is it simply an end-time prophecy with Ada as the daughter of the beast? ...

It was sold to us as a horror film, but it only flirts with the genre thanks to the slight moments of tension, of the things that stand out the most in the film is Photography, with its natural landscapes that surround the house, almost dazzling, of the same So the end of the story gives us this perspective of happiness that was provided by forming a family in its own way, that joy before finally destroying them by tragedy and feeling of loss, as well as a certain moral of "an eye for an eye", to In his favor, we can say that it is one of the most original and strange in recent years.

Rating: 7.0

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The Matrix Resurrections (I) (2021)

Matrix Resurrections Criticism, Follow the white rabbit one more time.

[7/10 · 23 December 2021]

After more than almost 19 years since his last film, we have the Matrix Resurrections, the fourth installment in the saga of science fiction / cyberpunk films, where we will once again see the original protagonists, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, in their roles. Iconic Neo and Trinity, who seem to have an everyday life completely forgetting their past; but now, a new group of rebels and a new Morpheus, will fight to free them from the Matrix.

The first tape offered us a story with some parallels of some religious, philosophical and ideological concepts, in addition to being a before and after in the visual effects of the time, it won 4 Oscars and became a cult film, logically This film no longer gives any surprise nor does it stand out, except for some special effects, I think Matrix 4 is more for the fans who wanted to see what happened with "Zion" or Laurence Fishburne after the third film and see why our protagonists were alive when the trailer for this fourth movie came out.

Matrix Resurrections begins by repeating a scene from the first movie then continues in a somewhat entangled way with Neo who is a famous video game developer, at the same time we see some flashbacks from the previous tapes while Neo returns to doubt more and more reality in the film. That he is, because of this he sees a therapist who prescribed medicine (the blue pill) to control his strange "visions", however the tape improves when they manage to release him by taking a good rhythm to see what has happened outside.

Since the first movie we have never known in what year they are really out of the Matrix but we can always get an idea by images that appear briefly as the year of manufacture of their transports, now it is seen that they are later than and that unfortunately they have 60 years have passed since Neo made the truce with the machines and he seemed to have died, by the way, if it seems strange to them that now some machines help humanity, it has to do with the "Animatrix" shorts (must-see).

On the other hand as a fan I am glad to see several characters again and know what happened to them as "Sati" or the Merovingian (the French) king of the "underworld" in the matrix, that ancient and powerful program that was the leader of the exiled shows, today dressing as a tramp losing their influence, prestige and sanity, hating Neo for causing the next Matrix update or Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe highlighting the makeup effects with her characterization as an old woman.

The performances in the film are good to dry, the ones that stand out slightly are Yahya Abdul-Mateen II along with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss showing that they still have chemistry, however, I think the biggest problem that the film has is that does not offer a new villain or difficult enough to defeat for our protagonists, Smith although at the time he was, now he is no longer transcendent beyond the fact that he survives everything like a cockroach and the Analyst who replaces the Architect it is almost a mere joke.

Rating: 7.5.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Incredible closure of the trilogy of Tom Holland as Spider-Man.

[8/10 · 16 December 2021]

Spider-Man No Way Home puts us immediately after what happened in Far From Home (2019) where Mystery revealed the identity of Spider-Man, from that moment Peter Parker turned from an acclaimed hero to an outcast of society, He has been arrested and constantly stalked in his normal life, that is why he goes for help to Dr Strange so that they forget his secret identity, but something goes wrong and they alter the stability of space-time entering the multiverse.

Spider-Man No Way Home was released in Mexico this December 15, 2021 and almost immediately it was inevitable to be bombarded by one of the many spoilers that are on the internet, to begin with, Yes!, All the leaks that were appearing for months Before the premiere of No Way Home THEY ARE TRUE, all of them! I will avoid spoilers as much as I can, although it is difficult since they are the amalgamation of the story, a story that closes in an incredible way the trilogy of Tom Holland as Spider-Man.

The movie gives us a simple story Spider-man goes to Dr Strange and the spell goes wrong, suddenly villains appear who know the identity of Spider-man due to the multiverse, we start with one of the strongest Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) giving the first of several action scenes that I personally feel are very well done; As for the performances in general they are good, the ones that stand out the most are Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx but the best in my opinion is Willem Dafoe with his excellent Green Goblin.

This film offers what is expected is full of fan service, there are many references to previous Spiderman movies by the villains commenting on how they met or how they died and of course the 3 Spiderman when they are talking to each other about who they are. People who have lost or the villains they have faced, the director Jon Watts knew how to carry this story with its more than two hours duration transporting us through different emotions, anguish, exciting moments, funny and moving moments until we reach the happy ending.

If you have reached this point in the review you will know that the "Spiderverse" was achieved by bringing Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire to the MCU and honestly it is not a spoiler because the information and images saturated social networks since December 15, in My personal favorite Spider-Man in this film was Tobey Maguire, for you which was the best?

At the end of the film we have two post credits scenes, the first is linked to Venom 2 giving continuity to the post credits scene that we observe in his film and the second scene prepares us a bit for what will come in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , Do not miss it.

Rating: 9.0.