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sprouty
Reviews
Primer (2004)
Don't be fooled by good reviews - this is BAD!
I nearly gave this 1 out of 10 but felt bad because this was a very low budget feature so bumped it up to 2.
I'm not going to include any narrative "spoilers" (in quotes because a film this bad can't really be spoilt) but here is what to expect.
Bad sound. About half the scenes are inaudible or barely audible. You can't enjoy a film when you are struggling to hear the words above fountains, rattling, wind, or whatever background noise was around.
Bad acting. The actors MIGHT be okay but seemed to be asked to deliberately play every scene at the same level. Lets call that level "dull".
Bad dialogue. The actors dull delivery isn't helped by dialogue that is confusing (the technical jargon about the machine makes no actual sense) or pointless (some characters aren't even needed). The exposition is done in a subtle way that could be read as intriguing or deep but don't be fool its just sh*t.
Bad story. The theme of this film has been done hundreds of times before - this isn't a unique take on the subject. Its just bad!
Avoid!
Mr. Robot: eps1.3_da3m0ns.mp4 (2015)
Episode one was promising - episode four is crap!
I watched season 1, episode 1 and thought "Hey, this is pretty good." Elliot was an interesting lead character, a neurotic computer programmer with a drug problem. He is also a hacker tackling cyber criminals from individual sex offenders up to world corporations run by the elite few. It also tapped into the disaffection with modern day life, false heroes, politicians, and technology out of control. 'Fuck society' was our anti-hero's mantra.
Three episodes later. Each got progressively worse. Episode 4 was a pile of crap. Few of the support characters are believable. The hacker group Elliot joined dedicated to freeing the world are boring and predictable. The most predictable thing was the politically correct casting, a black one, a hot one, a Muslim one, a fat geeky one, and a Hollywood "star" Christian Slater). The main plot has become more and more ludicrous. To spice it up we have lots more drugs, some straight sex, some gay sex, an unexpected lesbian kiss and gratuitous violence in the shape of paying a tramp to beat him up. Also the worse cold turkey sequence I've ever seen. After a really promising first episode I felt let down.
I will not be watching any more Mr Robot.
A Christmas Horror Story (2015)
A pleasant surprise
Let me start by saying I like generally horror films - not so much the torture films ("Hostel", "Saw" etc) - but things like "The Thing", "Halloween (Original)" The Exorcist, "It Follows", & "The Ring". So I was always gonna watch this because I also like William Shatner & Christmas. I was expecting this film was going to rate 5 or 6 but because it exceeded my expectations so much I am giving it a hefty 9.
It's better shot, acted and written than the average shocker.
The film nicely interweaves 4 stories and a semi-story of William Shatner as a DJ. All are nicely told and varied in tone. The film is really slick and well directed, shot, and edited together - especially since there were 3 directors. The dialogue is not always the greatest but heck its a horror film so its way above average for the genre. There are also plenty of nice scares.
If your idea of a horror is lots of explicit gore this film is not for you - although there is enough to keep the less gore obsessed fan on the edge of their seat. The focus is spread across 4 very different sets of characters most of whom you wouldn't usually see in a horror film. The exception are the young teenagers who decide to break into their school, in order to investigate two murders that occurred in the school's basement the year prior. This story is exactly what you might expect - and no worse for it - but the other stories are all great. I can't say any more as I think this film is best watched without expectations and definitely without spoilers.
A nice Christmas treat!