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WhoThrewThatMonkey
Reviews
Evidence (2013)
Feels like Quarantine meets My Bloody Valentine with a hint of Saw but worse
Evidence
What's this Movie About?
"Detectives try to solve the murder of a group of people using video footage from multiple recording devices."
I really do feel like I wasted an hour and a half of my time.
Planning on doing this a little different and not spoiling as much at first. Basic premise is two friends and a boyfriend go on a vacation to Vegas. Along the way, they meet up with a variety of different people and have one more stop before heading out. Too bad their bus gets tangled in barbed wire and they get stranded out in the middle of nowhere.
The acting is hit or miss. Sometimes it good but other times it bad, really bad. I'll say that Rachel is very likable at first but when chaos ensues, she becomes a screaming typical horror movie girl. Most of the detective characters act idiotic and rash without thinking. An example is Detective Burquez who rushes to find the suspect without knowing all the facts and then later makes a claim that isn't true and she would know it wasn't if they did a couple more minutes of research. The video evidence guy is completely incompetent and has to allow Detective Reese to do his job for him by clearing up some issues on the footage. Also, the forensics tech who is supposed to examine the bodies but is too busy being fat and lazy...sorry I have little tolerance for incompetence.
I have to tell you, this is a found footage movie so right off the bat, most people won't like it. I have been split on found footage movies. I thought Blair Witch was OK, Quarantine is OK, Paranormal Activities were OK, VHS was ... You get the picture. I have never really been against found footage while there have been lots of complaints about the format. This movie is the movie that pushed it overboard.
There's just too much jumbled nonsense, extreme close ups and garbled voice acting that I don't think I can defend or appreciate this type of filming again. All of the above is evident in this movie but has an extra kick to it. We are watching a group of detectives watch video footage trying to decipher it because 'the footage was in a fire and was badly damaged'. What they mean is this basic amateurish camera work is shoddy at best and is hard for even detectives to search through. Found footage is not the way I will be enjoying movies going forward. The style just doesn't make sense. Oh, and we get a horrible version of night visions!
Now, on to what I did like.
The killer in this movie is super unique up until the end. Someone in a welders mask and who uses a blow torch to kill people is pretty cool. Does have a set back though seeing as how the range is very limited due to the hose.
The women in this movie are super cute so at least there's something to look at when you can actually see what's going on.
There's a scene later in the movie which I don't want to give too much away right now but it involves mutilation and you don't see much but the sound and seeing wriggling feet as chunks of flesh are being tossed to the side is very effective. Wasn't overblown and walked that line of good storytelling and showing just enough.
Should you watch this?
I wouldn't waste your time. There is only a couple moments of entertainment and enjoyment. I'd say just watch the mutilation scene which in my opinion was the best part but other than that pass.
Spoilers and Plot Questions
OK, so it was all a movie... Kind of. So Rachel calls herself a director and Leann is the actress. Should've seen this coming. They say they can't have the trip without Leanns boyfriend which was kind of weird and should have been a sign. They introduce us to the cast on the bus. Leann and Rachel set this all up and killed everyone so they could make a movie and become famous.
So, how did they know who all would be there? How did they know that there would be only that many people and not a bus full of people, some of who could get out of the predicament by simply overpowering them?
The detectives act like they didn't know there was a fourth woman on the bus but wouldn't they already know that since the bodies were there? There can only be so many sets of arms and legs even if the bodies were blown apart.
Why would they put out the video of them doing that? I'm guessing the answer is to become famous but now the cops know who did it and if caught will go to jail.
Detective Reese says that those weren't glitches and the footage wasn't messed up but instead they were edits. I'm not the smartest or know anything about video editing or surveillance recovery but if this wasn't messed up camera footage, would you be able to clear up and decipher frames of footage to see unclear images? Also, even though the video tech guy is an idiot, I would think he would be able to tell the difference between an edit and damaged footage.
Almost Mercy (2015)
Feels like a 15 year old outcasts fan fiction of a High School massacre
"Childhood friends grow up together as outcasts. A bridge is crossed and individually they both decide that the messed up town they grew up in needs to be purged"
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think this movie is horrible or anything but it did seem like it thought it was better than it actually was.
Emily and Jackson grow up together in what actually does seem to be a messed up couple of lives. Jackson is the victim of molestation, physical bullying and unclean living environments. Emily lives in a pretty well off family but with a mother who is in a constant state of self medication, a father who is never there and a cast of should be mentors saying that she is underachieving and worth less than others.
Trying to explain the story more than that seems like it would hurt myself and confuse everyone. So, let's go over some of the other character and why you should hate them.
Pastor Johnson is a pedophile who is taking money from the church.
The coach, at first seems like a cool dude until you realize he is a pedo also but targets high school girls instead of young boys.
The principal is also a pedo but for high school boys plus he covers up a rape.
Emily's dad is never there and drives his wife to feel she is inadequate.
Then there are all of the class mates.
You have urine boy, bullies, preps, jocks, popular girls, etc. Just every class of person that would make your inner nerd and outcast wish for them to get killed. And that's it! This movie is a glorified day dream of what bullied youth sometimes wish they could do when faced with bullies and troubled childhoods.
Going to get into spoilers here but, it seems like Jackson is going to be the one to try to take revenge on everyone by plotting out a school shooting. He flakes out but gets caught for conspiracy of a mass murder rampage. Before he did so, he told Emily that he hid weapons in the woods. At this point, Emily goes gets the weapons and tracks down like 15 people and kills them. No joke! Pastor, Principal, 4 Students, Coach, another Student, her dad, her former teacher, several cops.
It ends with her giving money extorted by the pastor to Jackson so he can just leave and live a normal life while she is in an institution.
Stuff I didn't like are mainly the things like how they're seemingly trying to glorify and justify killings and school shootings. I 100% understand that some of the stuff that happened to them was horrible such as the molestation and rape. This is a good example of what those types of incidents can cause mentally and what they can lead to but the way the characters were portrayed and the happy go lucky feel the movie had was a turn off.
What this movie boils down to is a revenge plot but when the revenge occurs, it feels out of place. Emily's character who has been the one down to earth the whole movie begins making light of what she is doing. Taking selfies with the people she kills and just outrageous behavior. If the tone was more serious during this part, it would've made for a possibly compelling revenge aspect but they went for a more campy dark comedy feel that didn't execute well at all.
Should you watch it? Sure. It gives you an insight into some of the lives people have to live. It's not the worst two hours you can spend watching a movie. Just don't look for something too challenging. Better film making and a more serious tone near the end would have made for a decent film.
Taking Lives (2004)
Intriguing FBI based 'who done it' with a twist
"A serial killer is on the road, killing and taking over lives of his victims. Time is ticking down before he claims his next victim and identity"
Right from the beginning, I liked this movie. The two actors who we're introduced to are Justin Chatwin and Paul Dano. Dano would go onto to play a role in the 2013 film Prisoners in a very similar role while Chatwin would go on to ruin my CHILDHOOD!!! Uhhhumm. Excuse me.
The introduction to this movie lulls you into a sense of comfort but then violently shifts you into how a majority of the rest of the film will be played out. Starts with two great actors, great music and a real sense of out in the wilderness with no one around. The opening credits has a very Se7en feel to it and the introduction and some of the settings and dialogue that comes up in the first third of the film is very reminiscent to Silence of the Lambs.
Basic premise of the movie is Asher (Dano) kills people he watches and stalks and assumes their identity. He keeps jumping from person to person trying to leave his former life behind. Angelina Jolie plays an FBI agent who is brought in to help profile and catch the killer. Ethan Hawke plays a character who is brought in for questioning after he witnesses someone being killed. After the first half hour/45 minutes, the movie begins to lose some of it's luster in my opinion with me. I understand that it needs to progress and the plot needs to advance but placing your number one witness in a club to lure out a potential serial killer isn't the best idea.
The movie's false ending (Yeah, you read that right. If you haven't picked up on the twist yet, you're not paying attention) culminates with what appears to be the killer kidnapping Hawke's character and leading cops on a high speed chase which ends in a car accident where the killer dies. Everything seems like it is cleared up and Angelina Jolie falls for the victim. At the hospital, the killer's mother comes to verify the body but says the the dead person isn't her son. Hawke then murders his mother in an elevator and escapes. That's right, Ethan Hawke was the killer all along.
The movie really ends with Jolie being kicked out of the FBI, pregnant with Hawke's babies and living on her own in Pennsylvania. Hawke tracks her down to rekindle their romance but ultimately decides to try to kill Jolie. He stabs her in the stomach but finds out that she really isn't pregnant when she removes the scissors and stabs him with them. She tells him that the past 7 months had all been a ploy to get him to come back out of hiding.
I really liked the first half hour or so of this movie. As I said above, it felt gritty and dirty and something you could accept as the next chapter in the Hannibal saga. I really like FBI profiler and in depth agent movies like this, Red Dragon and Mindhunters where killers motives are questioned and they try to find out why it's happening but also find the killer at the same time.
Something that is almost as good as that is Angelina Jolie. I never really thought of her as super sexy or anything but this movie has pushed me over to the other side. I have been missing out on her sex appeal and it was top notch in this movie. Thinking almost the entire movie "Man, she is super sexy" and "I'd definitely would want to get with her" we are actually paid off and she a nude scene with her around 1 hour and 11 minutes in (You're welcome!)
What I didn't like was the ending. By about 40 minutes left, if you hadn't already figured out the ending for the most part, it is thrown right in your face. I didn't really like that they put a face on who you thought could be the killer. By casting Keifer Sutherland in a role where it looked like he was the killer and to do it so early in the movie cut out some of the intrigue. I loved not knowing who the killer could be. Asher took on so many identities he could be anyone. They even still played with this at the very end when the French Canadian Cop had that stick in his mouth and took it out seemingly to tie it in a fashion like Jolie found in Asher's mothers house.
I felt like the ending should have been abrupt and left us shocked. Instead, it happened, then explained itself, then let that marinate and finally decided "Ok, now here's the payoff". In reality, we didn't need payoff. The Asher character was good because we 'didn't know' who it was and it could end up being anyone. He has for years been able to just slip in and out of lives without ever being caught and that's how I felt it should have ended. The actual ending is not bad and was even a good twist but in this movie, it didn't seem like it was needed.
I'll say watch this movie if you're really into serial killer movies and like seeing their personality examined. Plus, you get boobs. Really hot and sexy boobs. Just saying.
The Hole (2001)
One of the most unlikeable female characters ever!
"4 British students get locked in a bunker during their holiday and only one girl was able to make it out alive. It is up to a psychologist to find out exactly what happened leading up to and during their time in that hole."
It is really hard to become invested in a movie where the main character is a repulsive, unlikeable megalomaniac.
Liz (who is played by Thora Birch of American Beauty) stumbles out of an underground bunker, through the woods and contact the police (where her first unlikeable act is witnessed as she screams into the phone). She is one of four students who went missing during a time where the students were expected to go off on vacation. During character introduction, we come to find out that Mike is her love interest who is an American jock. Geoff is Mike's best friend and Frankie is a bulimic popular girl who comes along for...what ever reason and has no relationship with Liz in what so ever way.
It's not exactly specified why instead of going on a proper vacation, they decide to go into an underground bunker. The story that Liz tells the psychologist is that her friend Martin who is very deceitful and can get want he wants, is in love with her but she wants to be with Mike. Martin agrees to help her by getting the four locked into the bunker. After 3 days, Martin is supposed to come back to open it up for them but when he doesn't arrive, they become worried. Fast forward through some nonsense, Liz suspects that Martin is listening in and develops the plot to have the others work along with her acting like they hate her. The reason? She believes that Martin hasn't let them out because she likes Mike instead of him. You know High School nonsense. After the group yell nasty things at each other, the vault door opens and they leave.
Martin is brought in for questioning but reveals that he has no clue what they're talking about. Liz and Frankie are friends and her had nothing to do with them going missing as he was out of the country.
Upon further one on one unrecorded conversation though, the psychologist gets the real story. Liz reveals that what really happened is Frankie got Geoff to talk Mike into going along with them when Mike really wanted to make up with his girlfriend and that Liz is the one who locked them in the bunker. Her plan was to get Mike to fall in love with her but what she thought would take three days ended up taking almost 3 weeks. Instead of calling off her plan and just unlocking the door, she holds the group hostage but they are completely unaware that she is doing so. The group went through some real issues including not having proper drinking water, not having enough food. Frankie dies due to her bulimic habits catching up with her. Mike kills Geoff out of a fit of anger realizing he has been hiding food and drink. When Liz decides to open the vault after sleeping with Mike, he gets upset and climbs a shifty ladder to get out only for it to collapse and impale him. The movie ends with Liz getting away with it all.
That's the reason why I dislike this movie so much is because of the character Liz. She is manipulating, wants to be the center of attention and does things just to get her way. From the very beginning even when she tried to put herself as an innocent participant, I disliked this character. If at the end, she got arrested or better yet, killed, I think I would have liked this movie. But her getting away, just leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
A big plot hole and another reason why I started loathing this movie from the very beginning was you see blood and police caution tape at the start of the movie, yet in Liz's first story, she says the four all got out alive when the hatch opened. Now, I guess it could be misinterpreted as the stress caused her to not remember exactly what happened but her saying that they all got out when clearly she was the only one, should have been cause for concern. If she wasn't the prime suspect for falsifying her story, she should have definitely not been allowed to go home due to three people being dead and she was saying that everything was fine.
The one surprising thing is you see Keira Knightly breast in this film. Now, you may be thinking "Oh, cool! I always wanted to see them!" but this movie came out in 2001. Keira Knightly would have been around 15 at that time.
Overall, good acting by Knightly, Laurence Fox and Desmond Harrington who all played their roles very well and were likable in some scenes but Thora Birch or at least the character of Liz ruined the movie for me. Some parts were good but overall, the story isn't solid and just seems like it was made to create a twist that everyone should have seen coming from a mile away. I am going to say avoid this movie.