onthewatchlist Reviews

Acid (2023)

Interesting premise let down by unbelievably bad writing

[4/10 · 3 February 2024]

Couldn't finish the movie. Extremely unlikeable and unethical main guy, and plot holes the size of Texas.

Early in the movie, the man and his wife are seen booting desperate people out of their van like they were zombies. Later, a lady was kind enough to offer the man and his daughter refuge in their home, but he took it upon himself to lecture her at her dinner table. All in the midst of a terrifying acid rainstorm.

Speaking of which, what kind of acid tears through houses and cars, but leaves cell towers, power lines and pipes intact? And you have houses with roofs burnt in, surrounded by trees and leaves that are pristine and untouched.

Unbelievable.

The Caller (2022)

Enjoyable little thriller; amateur filmmaking basics

[6/10 · 6 January 2024]

Not a bad watch overall. Tense in moments.

Most viewers will dislike this movie because it spends around an hour showing the protagonist taking her customer service calls. And this is a fair criticism. It felt like viewers were undergoing training watching her.

I'm a bit different though. I personally enjoy looking out for layman moments in movies. So while I agree that the runtime could have been better fleshed out with actual plot points, I am not marking down the movie as much as others might based on this alone. My guess is the director either wasn't confident in his ability to make good action sequences, or he was trying to go for a slow burn psychological thriller. Either way, a more balanced use of the runtime would have been better.

My criticism stems mainly from other things. The most jarring was the horrendous sound and lighting. Couldn't make out the dialogue at times, and the fight/cat-and-mouse scenes were in parts indiscernible.

On that note, I thought the action was quite badly choreographed. Not to mention the highly implausible ending.

Christmas Island (II) (2023 TV Movie)

Good acting, memorable story, shame about the attire

[7/10 · 1 January 2024]

Memorable little Christmas romantic movie. Good chemistry between the couple. You could feel a twinge in the heart strings when Oliver was breaking the news to Kate about the weather.

Only gripe is that the production could have paid more attention to the setting. They went all out with the decorations, but forgot about the weather. Christmas Eve in Nova Scotia and you have folks in autumnwear? I know filming was done in August, but it wouldn't have hurt to dress the actors in timeline-appropriate gear. It gets to me when filmmakers don't put in the details that aid the believability of the story.

And it sure doesn't look like the weather is terrible enough to ground all flights for 3 days. I had to suspend my disbelief throughout all the outdoor scenes.

Little Bone Lodge (2023)

Unrealistic, no understanding of human psychology

[3/10 · 8 July 2023]

Started off well, looked like a decent thriller until the 'twist' happened. Descended into unrealistic over-acting thereafter.

I understand the younger man wants to tear away from his older brother's control, but for him to start identifying Mama as his mother? Likewise for the girl - it took her a grand 2 minutes to go from stranger danger to swearing allegiance to said stranger. It would have been more realistic for her to be conflicted.

The final scene was just amateur hour. It's like the writer didn't even bother trying by that point. You have B-movie cliches like Mama jumping out of nowhere.

The Stranger (IX) (2022)

Just very very awful

[1/10 · 24 June 2023]

I hardly give movies dire ratings, preferring to give credit to intangibles like setting. This is by far the lowest rating I've ever given, because I just couldn't stomach this utter dross.

• Kyle is on the run but chooses to stop his car in the middle of an open space, blinkers flashing?

• That must be some broomstick. Apparently just placing it across the frame prevents intruders from opening the door.

• "They know I'm here".. Yes Kyle we saw that minutes ago when you were stabbed inside the house.

• "We can't let them in".. Except they already ARE in, when they stabbed you inside the house?

Secrets in the Wilderness (2021 TV Movie)

Decent thriller, well-acted

[7/10 · 17 August 2022]

Not a bad thriller. Well-acted, especially Lisa's character. The scene where she overheard the truth and sneaked out of the house was tense.

A couple of plot holes though. How did she know how to start a signal fire, and also know what it represented, given that she didn't know much about the outdoors? And I found it unlikely that she was able to set up the snare that got Tyler so good.

Watcher (I) (2022)

Intriguing

[7/10 · 26 June 2022]

I love apartment movies. I like to check out the layout and design of living spaces. Because of that, I reduced my rating by 1 star. Reason? There's a glaring inconsistency between the studio set and the real life apartment it's supposed to represent. When you view the corridor of the apartment, you can tell that there's no way the neighbor's apartment can fit into that stretch. The space is just too small. They could have found a more factually consistent apartment to film at.

It's probably only me who cares about these minor details though. Other than that, the movie kept me intrigued, and the acting by Maika and Burn were good.

Emergency (2022)

Piercing social commentary but what's with the blatant Superbad ripoff

[7/10 · 1 June 2022]

Good social commentary on racism in the US. Kept me interested in how the plot would unfold for Emma.

What I didn't like was the blatant character ripoffs from Superbad. Seriously, can it be any more obvious? Kunle = Evan, Sean = Seth, Carlos = Fogel? They even ripped off Kunle/Evan getting into a good school and Carlos/Fogel knowing about it but not Sean/Seth? Would have been way more credible had they bothered to write unique characters. That dropped down to a 6 from an 8 for me.

The Ledge (2022)

Nice plot idea but poorly executed

[4/10 · 1 March 2022]

Cringey dialog, plot holes, cliched baddie, bad effects.

3 guys chose to wait out above the ledge when they could have simply gone for her.

The temperature on the ledge is apparently 10 degrees warmer than on top.

They created the most cliched of d****bags possible for the baddie.

Nice plot idea though.

Found Wandering Lost (2022)

Pleasantly surprised and moved

[7/10 · 1 March 2022]

Not sure if the other reviews here are sponsored reviews, but I'll offer mine as an honest take.

I was pleasantly surprised at the overall quality of this movie. It started out a little slow, but things picked up after Trent and Ben met. I was honestly moved by the final act and closing scene. I thought the acting was excellent, especially Staab's.

No Exit (I) (2022)

Tale of 2 halves

[6/10 · 1 March 2022]

Excellent first 45 minutes but degraded into a bit of a nonsensical farce with plot holes galore after that.

The setting and whodunnit element in the first half were intriguing. The twist where Darby discovered there were 2 kidnappers - brilliant.

Then it started to go downhill after the identities of the kidnappers were revealed. List of implausible decisions:

• Rehab center staff stashes coke in the visor of their car. How convenient.

• Darby is a car-stealing expert and is able to jig the car in 10 seconds. How convenient too.

• Darby runs back INTO the center after being chased through the forest. Why?

• Group locks the front doors to keep the kidnappers out. What about the hole in the back wall? Aren't Darby and the kidnappers aware of it?

• Ash leaves Lars to keep watch on Darby and Jay. Shouldn't he be the one doing that while Lars goes hunt for the keys? He would be smart enough to know that.

• Hard to believe that Sandy was working as a maid. Nothing in her backstory suggests that.

First half: 8 Second half: 4 Overall: 6.

Home Invasion (2016 Video)

Decent little cat and mouse thriller

[7/10 · 6 February 2022]

Well-directed and acted. Pacing was good and the tension was maintained, except for a bit somewhere in the middle.

Only bugbear is that home security's role wasn't significant enough. I expected Mike to be the eyes and ears for Chloe, literally guiding her through the escape (this idea was done excellently in the film See For Me). However, it turns out that his involvement throughout was mostly patchy and lacked coherence. Nice idea at the end though.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

Bad script, cringey dialog, no origins

[5/10 · 24 December 2021]

Cringey dialog, felt the need to spell out everything, could be because it was written for kids.

Bad script with logic and continuity issues - hero is surrounded by zombies who seem content to grope him (non-heroes have their faces chewed off instantly). Next scene he's running down the stairs. How did he extricate himself? Did the zombies cop enough feel and decided to chill?

For an origins story, there wasnt any explanation whatsoever of what Umbrella was doing and why the townsfolk were falling ill. This is just a thinly-disguised horror movie, best if fans treat it as a one-off.

Black Friday (III) (2021)

Premise makes no sense

[3/10 · 25 November 2021]

I very rarely turn a horror movie off midway. Here, I got through 30+ minutes and decided I had enough. That was also when I realised the entire premise didn't make any sense.

• No one had cell phones?

• No one thought of making a run for the employee exit? They were content to sit in a circle exchanging stories while hordes of infected rampaged through the store?

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Excellent if not for the poor twist

[7/10 · 23 November 2021]

I was enthralled by the movie for the first hour. It had everything going for it - the setting, the atmosphere, the characters. It started to go a tad downhill for the next 30 minutes with the attempt to move into horror, but still managed to hold my attention.

Then the last act came, and the twist was rather disappointing. Too predictable, and I might say somewhat lazy and not keeping with the quality of the script that came before that. Cast a shadow over an otherwise excellent movie.

Still enjoyable overall though.

First hour - 8/10 Final act - 5/10.

Daylight's End (2016)

Incongruent and unbelievable logic

[4/10 · 16 November 2021]

The survivors were effectively collateral for Rourke to achieve his goal. The irony is, none of them would have died if Sam hadn't brought him in:

• attracted the attention of the hordes when they blazed into town just before dusk
• his severely botched plan to try and nuke the alpha
• running BACK to the station as he was chased by the zombies after botching said plan!

And at the end, we're expected to believe that he's the hero? We have the remaining survivors gazing up to him from the bus as if in some form of gratitude. Icing on the cake: as if he hadn't done enough damage, Sam invites him to join them in the next leg, so he can wreak even more havoc.

Plot: 2 Action: 7 Overall: 4.

Time Lapse (2014)

Plot holes galore

[4/10 · 27 January 2021]

Must be the most open-minded apartment complex in the world, or the entire population must have moved out, or it's actually a center for recluses. That's the only explanation for why people can have sex and brandish guns in full view of the (almost) full-length living room window. Come to think of it, I hardly saw anyone else throughout the movie, save for a security guard on patrol (but hey, don't let him get in the way of the exhibition, right?).

And prior to the events of the story, these guys never once noticed that a camera lens the size of a tank cannon has been pointing at them all this while?