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Reviews
Missing (2023)
A sequel like this ruins the franchise
This movie is so bad!! I can't believe it's rated 7.1 with the incredibly big plot holes and exceedingly irrational actions by the characters.
"Searching" was fresh, smart, with a few big twists that actually make sense. "Missing"'s continued style of using social media app gets a bit stale and stretched (like guessing/resetting all passwords, and logging in without two-factor), but the worst problem is how the movie created twists just for the purpose of surprises, and forgot to make sure that they make sense!
I don't do spoilers, so I won't go into details. But "Searching"'s plot is tight, gripping, satisfyingly bewildering and surprising; "Missing"'s plot is loose/sloppy, and although still gripping, it's only bewildering because why would anyone do something so irrational, let alone multiple main characters?
Extremely disappointed.
Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)
A boring biopic disguised as a mystery/thriller
I was completely deceived by the solid rating and decent to glowing reviews.
Thinking that it must be a good mystery movie, which is frankly hard to come by, I watched it with more interest (and unfortunately, will to finish watching) than usual. Sadly, it is pretty much a biopic with a minimal amount of mystery and most certainly not a thriller. IMDB needs to relabel the genre of this movie.
I will not go into the details of the movie as I don't do spoilers. However, I must say that the only "twist" in the movie is so cliche and predictable, and frankly does NOT make sense to any logical mystery fans. Yet excluding that, this movie is merely a biopic about a person that most could care less about, and the movie itself lacked intensity and sometimes logic.
I regret watching this movie. Whoever recommend this movie as a mystery movie probably haven't watched good mystery movies in a long while, or ever.
Run (2020)
A good thriller but not as perfect as Searching
I loved Searching - it was just about the perfect mystery movie, so I watched Run which is by the same writer/director.
Run is also a decent mystery/thriller, with a bit more thriller component than mystery compared to Searching. There's some surprise moments too but Searching was next level. I like it because it was gripping and thrilling, and there was a mystery that kept you guessing. But it's not as perfect as Searching because of plot holes here and there, but nothing major, just somewhat making you wonder if people usually act that way in the same situation.
Overall I feel it's a capable mystery/thriller and worth the time to watch.
The Adam Project (2022)
A movie written by a teenager for the kindergarteners
I will never trust Netflix movies and their reviews any more.
A Quiet Place was highly reviewed despite a number of huge holes staring at anyone capable of thinking. This one is decently reviewed despite dozens of holes making this movie more like swiss cheese than anything else.
I don't even want to bother listing everything that didn't make sense because that'd be just way too many. Just a few main things: 1. The script is badly written. No kids talk like the kid in the movie. 2. Multiple family/emotion moments forced into the script, felt like just needed to lengthen the already-weak plot. 3. Full of completely brain dead moments in every action scene (or the whole plot), like bad guys are invisible, but when they get closer to hero, they'll turn self to visible to be kicked by him. They don't use guns or flying scooter either until the hero fled away in a car and their meta armor can't even hold the guy's kick. The guy's huge abdominal wound was not a problem at all second day even after bad guy started hitting on the wound...
I mean, for scifis, I usually can ignore one or two big holes and some small holes. But this one treats audiences like complete idiots. Sorry I can't enjoy anything like this. I'll stay away from Netflix movies.
Margin Call (2011)
Intriguing, engrossing, but also lacking in some aspects
The movie is a gripping and revealing read in the crisis management in the greedy Wall Street. The plot was tightly knit, movie's well directed and acted by a pretty star-studded cast I must say.
Without going into details I just want to say it's definitely worth a watch. I feel it is somewhat lack in character development in some key characters - the movie could have been a bit longer to accommodate that - and the ending was somewhat abrupt and unsatisfying. The lack of details on the financial model, trading etc. Make you feel that the author did not really understand how the funds work. But these are somewhat nitpicking on an otherwise solid film.
Free Guy (2021)
Cliche everywhere, cliche overload!
Without giving away any plot, let me just say that any type of cliche in a heroic movie you could think of appeared. Time would stand still while the cliche plays out. No rational sci-fi can ever explain 10% of the cliche plot and moments in it. It's just incredible. I really cannot see how anyone over 10 years old and watched more than 10 movies can stand the many many cringe-worthy moments.
It had a great premise, even though it's far from original (many novels explored this concept already). However its execution was completely botched. Very sad.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Well designed fight sequences + simple and effective plot = Entertaining Movie
I was pleasantly surprised by a few things:
1. The plot was simple and thus mostly free of unignorable holes.
2. Integration of the Chinese elements were quite well done.
3. Reasonable development of characters including the bad guy.
4. (Mostly) very well orchestrated fight sequences. Quite enjoyable actually. Felt like Jackie Chan at times.
5. The movie has a very good tempo. Action and story development do not feel out of the place.
6. Not too many of the typical silly wisecracks. Still quite some but not as ridiculous as some movies.
There're some stuff one can pick on like the girlfriend and sidekicks felt a bit out of place, some development was a bit too abrupt, plot too simple and typical etc. But none of these prevented the movie from being a quite enjoyable experience.
Gôruden suranbâ (2010)
Unbearably lacking story ruined the movie
This is a movie that could be a promising mystery/thriller, and does have a capable director and a reasonable cast. However the story itself was so bad that I have no idea how it was even made into a movie.
Just to name a few things that are sorely lacking in this movie without spoiler:
1. No mystery was really solved in this movie.
2. The mystery was not really even developed that much in this movie.
3. How the hero succeeded was nothing short of miracle - multiple miracles in fact. Things that happened really don't make sense in reality.
I could go on to details of which plot holes/coincidences are too incredible but I'd rather not spoil the plot. Suffice to say that there're plenty.
Simply put, if you're looking for a decent mystery/thriller movie, this is NOT it.
Los ojos de Julia (2010)
This is not a mystery movie but a low quality horror movie
This movie is a typical low budget, low quality horror movie. The heroes and heroines were behaving completely irrationally most of the time, so ridiculous so often that I don't want to spoil/repeat those plot details.
I came to this movie because one of the screenplay writers was the director/writer for The Body and The Invisible Guest, both of which are great mystery movies. Unfortunately his contribution here is probably purely technical and restricted to screenplay. The story and directing were both abysmal.
Coco (2017)
A rare Disney gem with great surprises
I'm not a Disney fan. I hated the formulaic market-friendly movies churned out shamelessly by this studio. The musicals are frequently filled with bad songs, the superhero movies with bad jokes, the remakes/reboots rarely as interesting as the original.
But Coco really surprised me - both in terms of its quality, and in terms of its real surprises in the latter half of the movie. I won't go into detail of it, but what seemed a somewhat formulaic heart-warming Disney movie soon developed into a gripping plot with every twists and turns.
This is one of the best movies in recent years, and certainly one of the best from Disney.
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
Come on, it's not a real action movie. It's a first person shooter video game really.
Like the first one, a lot of action but the fight sequence was just OK. Nothing makes sense and it didn't plan to. It's a movie that planned to win you over with style, a comic/graphical novel/video game type of style. Sadly that doesn't work for me. I can see fans of such genre loving it, which explains the high rating.
BTW it's slightly better than first one, with a somewhat better story.
John Wick (2014)
It's like a first person shooter video game. Just throw logic out of the window
A lot of action but the fight sequence was just OK. Nothing makes sense and it didn't plan to. It's a movie that planned to win you over with style, a comic/graphical novel/video game type of style. Sadly that doesn't work for me. I can see fans of such genre loving it, which explains the high rating.
Us (2019)
Complete ridiculous plot, if you call that a plot
There are just so many things that're outrageously nonsensical in this movie, it's even worse than A Quiet Place.
Its stupidity does match another two-lettered movie, IT. I don't think either movie is worth more review time than the 2 mins I just spent. If I lost 2 hours of my life forever, at least I'm not gonna lose another few minutes.
Save yourself - stay away from this movie at all cost!!
Predestination (2014)
I like twists, but not when it's completely ridiculous
One of the worst and overrated Scifi movie. The only thing that makes it better than another highly overrated scifi (A Quiet Place) is that this one mostly makes sense, but its biggest selling point/twist is completely ridiculous. I can't enjoy it and feel cheated after watching the movie. But at least some will rightfully enjoy it.
The Color of Money (1986)
Truly retarded plot with unlikable/unbelievable characters. Don't waste your time
I have absolutely no idea why this movie gets a rating of 7.0. It's the worst movie by far by Tom Cruise. Frankly spending time reviewing this movie is further wasting my time. But at least I saved some of my time as I couldn't finish watching it. Apparently the director/write thought all of their audience were plain foolish so they served a plot with so many holes, unbelievable turns/decisions, and still expected people to like it! Sadly, judging by the rating, they succeeded to a decent extent. But if you think you have decent intelligence, please, save your 2 hrs and watch other movies instead.
The Favourite (2018)
"The Favorite" really can't be the favorite for most people
Boring movie with hardly anyone worth caring for. The writer/director simply did not settle down on whether to make this into a comedy or drama. If the former, they failed miserably. If the latter, they succeeded in making an exaggerated drama with largely unbelievable plot. And sadly, even if historically faithful at times, hardly anyone would care about it.
I rated 3 star instead of 1 for the star power and acting. The movie itself is truly boring.
About Time (2013)
A colossal waste of time. You can still be saved - don't waste yours!
I was completely baited by the high IMDB rating AND the recommendation of a list of movies that're similar to The Groundhog Day. That list listed reasonable entries like Source Code, good ones like Edge of Tomorrow, Happy Death Day, and excellent one like Triangle (really creepy too). And the list put this movie at #1. Sad. Despite noticing some absurdity of the list (it also listed movies like Her, Predestination, Before I Fall ... they're either not really daily-repeating or just bad), I still had high expectations of About Time after seeing its 7.8 IMDB rating.
About Time has comedy potential. It has a completely absurd and illogical time traveling premise that I was expecting the time travel to bring a lot of laugh, but sadly there's nothing funny in the plot. While there were clearly paltry attempts at being funny, they fell way way short. The movie quickly turned into a completely boring RomCom without comedy. The leading characters are not really that likeable, and it's hard to care about their romance. The plot itself isn't even coherent, it's like someone just tried to turn a sitcom episode into a feature length movie. It was a disaster.
So seriously, take my advice, avoid this movie at all cost!
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
A shallow RomCom with much cliche and little character building
CRA made a big splash on the movie scene but it was quite disappointing. The whole movie was quite shallow, with very cliche plot, pointless showoff of extravagant life style, and very little/unbelievable character development (for example, what makes Rachel so good/likable?
The things/scenes that made hero's family turn around also seemed unbelievable and silly. The acting was also so-so.
For a good Asian leading movie, watch "Searching" instead. That's a great movie. This one has bigger box office and much bigger fame, but that one's a real gem.
Searching (2018)
A mystery movie that has twists but no glaring plot holes? Priceless!
Of the two Asian-leading movies making splash recently, I was disappointed by CRA but very pleasantly surprised by Searching.
"Searching" is well written, well paced, and free of any serious plot holes. There are twists just when you thought you knew what happened, and as a seasoned mystery lover you'd question the plot, but you won't find any big issues. That is rather rare even in the best mystery movies.
I won't spoil any surprises, just enjoy the movie! This is a definitely undervalued gem!
Mamma Mia! (2008)
So much worse than the Broadway show thanks to horrendous cast
I was pleasantly surprised by the Broadway show Mamma Mia that I thought I'd watch this movie, because a movie sure has better/real sets if nothing else. Sadly, this movie offers exactly that - better sets and nothing else.
The one thing that completely ruined the movie is the cast. I loved Brosnan since his Remington Steele days but boy can he butcher the ABBA songs! I really admire his courage to sing despite being completely unable to, but seriously there's no actor suitable for the role that can sing too? I also like Colin Firth but his singing was at best bland and weak, and the other guy's in between Firth and Brosnan.
As for Donna and her two long time friends, the chosen actresses were simply way too old for the role, particularly Streep. Her singing was at best so so even with all the sound enhancements movies employ, but it's her age that's really completely off. Donna's supposed to be around 40, while Streep was 59 when she was in the movie, and it showed. She tried to hide it with crazy and over the top acting but it only served to backfire. The other two were not good singers either, nor good actresses.
I hate to admit but frankly Amanda sounded significantly better than any of the other main characters, although she too, had quite exaggerated acting. I blame the novice director for that.
So the cast and directing really failed to deliver the nice story/music. I gave it 2 stars for the scenery and Amanda's singing.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2016)
What a waste of time
This show is so boring that despite my valiant effort to keep watching, I couldn't go beyond 1.5 hrs on it - and I truly regret making the effort.
It's not funny, not witty, not suspenseful, and you won't care about the characters one bit - the detective is a fast-talking, Pee-Wee looking and Sheldon wannabe, it's a disastrous combination that's beyond annoying and not the least bit funny.
As to any mystery, 1.5 hrs in, it's still building it. Who has that kind of time to spend on a hopelessly uninteresting show? It's a sad example of how not to make a TV show. No wonder it got canceled. When I first read the reviews, somehow I didn't notice the 1-star reviews. Wish I did, then I'd save my time. Trust me, you can still save yours!
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009)
Funny, witty, definitely one of the best time travel movies!
I've watched a lot of scifi/time travel movies, while this one is not the most scientific or plot-hole-free, it has a plot that's tight, clever, tense, funny enough to win any scifi or movie fans in general over. I would rank it among top 5% of all movies I've watched.
BTW don't believe in the "Dr Who meetings Shaun of the Dead". I watched and liked "Shaun of the Dead" (Hot Fuzz too), but I'd rate those 7 stars and this one 9.
A Quiet Place (2018)
Don't watch it, it's an insult and waste of time for anyone with a brain.
Completely illogical Scifi/horror wannabe with an insanely ridiculous plot, which made it impossible to enjoy it. I mean, most of the low budge horror movies at least don't pretend to be a good movie, they just present a silly plot, lots of gore, and intended/unintended humor. You knew that going in, and you'd enjoy it to some extent.
Not "A Quiet Place". It tried so hard you can see that it probably wishes to get some Oscar nomination like "Get Out", starting from the completely over acting by the actors. But with the plot so incredibly bad, no acting/directing can salvage it.
Now a far-from-complete list of logic holes (spoilers):
1. These creatures are so completely dumb - they can only hear but not see/smell/otherwise sense - how can the world military forces be wiped out by them? I mean, some random guy could invent some little electronics that simply emits sound of certain frequency and incapacitates them and then one gunshot ends the creature, huh? You think our military doesn't have such technology, or wouldn't try it??
2. There are so many sounds in the nature, yet the creatures could tell a toy's sound is not a natural sound, and would instantly goes to attack the sound source - but not attacking the toy, instead the kid holding the toy. Yet it also completely ignored the sound of an adult guy running so close to it?? No matter how soft his feet are, the sound of clothes, cracking of things on the ground, wind etc. would've given him away.
3. Emily Blunt screamed out when the creature was like at most 10 feet away in the same house, somehow the creature was distracted by fireworks from half a mile away outside the house and couldn't hear her scream inside the same house???
4. A year and half later, their house still has electricity? They deserted truck can still run - battery not drained? Clearly they still had food - strange considering there're others alive and even at 1% population left, the food would've exhausted/completely spoiled. She was doing laundry in house, so clearly there's running water in house too. Really, the modern world just runs with barely anyone alive? Who wrote this disastrous script?
5. Sound is the enemy, yet they still made love enough to get a baby? A crying baby?
6. It's been a year and half with a nail in a stair they travel a lot, and no one found it/got hurt until Blunt was ready to give birth?
7. The creatures are so sensitive to sound, yet Blunt could walk in water next to it, pick up a murmuring baby whose sound we could even hear, yet the creature couldn't?
8. The creatures are basically everywhere, yet for a year and half none went into their house or stayed a long time? Why suddenly now they kept going into their house, staying a long time, even finding their hideout place - yet couldn't hear the baby for the whole night? The baby never cried/made sound with the creature just next to it?
9. In the end, one shot killed the fast-moving creature, who stopped in front of Blunt instead of attacking. Why couldn't they/military shoot the creates before to extinction??
There are many more illogical things frankly but I try not to recount all of those. The idiocy in them just hurts my brain. If you have a brain and some common sense, do yourself a favor, don't watch it!!