kikitata Reviews

The Swarm (2020)

I ususally wouldn't think/say this, but: I seriously do not get why this film has such negative reviews

[8/10 · 15 January 2022]

I'll start of by saying that I definitely wouldn't consider this to be a part of my top 10. However, even with that, I couldn't seem to find any issue or improvements that needed to be made to make the film better - if anything, I saw a film that was good enough the way it was (and yes I saw this with glasses just in case some people are thinking whether I need some to "see how bad this film was" or not).

I wouldn't have cared less if the rating on IMDB for this film was like, a 6.6 or something similar to it. But a 5.3?! Over a film that doesn't even deserve such a low rating?! I am seriously so confused as to how it got that low of a rating.

To people who are curious to see this film = Do not let your expectations be influenced by the overly negative rating (and reception) that this film has been getting. Instead, watch it with neutral expectations so that you can get yourself to fully taste what the film is about.

The Cry (I) (2018)

Yes

[10/10 · 15 February 2021]

I have no other starting ways to describe my feelings for this miniseries, other than what the title of this review says. Like...just yes.

First off, I would like to say how the only reason why I even watched it in the first place was because of Jenna Coleman - my curiosity of her had grown slightly after seeing her in The Serpent, and so I decided to give this one a watch too just because I was interested in what else she had to offer.

Great, GREAT IDEA!

This miniseries snapped in a gradual but hard and brutal manner - with not only a grim narrative, but intriguing and powerful acting performances (especially in regards to Jenna Coleman as Joanne). I've heard that the anachronistic time order that the narrative was told in received rather mixed and divisive responses - which is fine, everyone holds different opinion. However, in my experience, I feel that this way of storytelling had only sunk me in further into what this miniseries was about.

And although I acknowledge that this is just more than a piece of creative media with Jenna Coleman in it, can I just state how this has literally redefined Jenna for me in my experience? Like before watching this my thoughts on her was like: 'She's a good actor, not my fav but good and all' and 'Is that Clara Oswald from Doctor Who?!?!?-'. However, when I saw The Cry, I was immediately captivated by what she had delivered through her emotive and phenomenal performance. Like...I was genuinely shook by how she played as Joanna.

Overall, this miniseries was amazing and definitely something that needs to be watched in your life before you die.

Antebellum (2020)

Flawed, but a 'meh' worthy watch

[6/10 · 21 December 2020]

The film certainly does hold some features of it that do make it shine in some parts - the cinematography, first off, is done in such an immaculate manner that it really did help the film progress in a way in terms of the shots that were used. Second of all, Janelle Monáe as a lead also made her excel in many ways possible as she delivered a great performance that really made me feel connected to her character as a whole (I also liked the rest of the cast as well). And last (but not least), can we just praise the marketing skills that they did to promote this film? The ambiguity of the trailers and posters I thought were spectacular and I thoroughly enjoyed how they advertised this film in such mysterious ways.

Unfortunately though, the film itself isn't particularly a masterpiece - it's flawed. The plot had several ways to potentially uplift itself to make such an interesting and unique plot that could've went differently from the outcome that we've got. However, I felt as if this was more so a style over substance flick than something that equally balanced the two together (which with a narrative that this film was going for, would've made it much more better if it had actually went into deeper depths of narrative exploration along with it's artful features). See, when you make a film that tries to make a point, you also have to dig deeper into the narrative that allows it's point to truly shine - however it's as if this film didn't bother to do that for the majority of the time. And the pivotal revelation of the film could've been executed much more better if it was shown at a later time in the film rather than it being shown too early (and even with that I'm not really a fan of the reveal).

I liked the score though, especially the soundtrack that played at the opening scene of the movie (which the scene and the score in itself were amazing). I just wished that this film could've explored more areas, y'know?

Innocence (I) (2013)

Innocence holds potential but has several flaws that keep it from excelling

[5/10 · 22 November 2020]

I discovered this on Netflix two days ago, and realised that I had watched only a part of it, so I decided to give it a rewatch and finish the film.

So far I can say that the movie does have potential in several areas - while the plot ideas may not be wholy original in concept, the way the film introduced those ideas could've been developed into something that may have potentially gotten some really good praise. A similar thing can be said for the casting; The actors and actresses I'd say are pretty good for a film like Innocence, and I think that that in itself opens up for more potential. Unfortunately though, the film is pretty flawed and has many aspects of it that hold it back from succession.

The plot progression felt extremely tacky and skittish - Bare in mind, there was some decently average (which average isn't bad, by the way) progression at the first 35 minutes of the movie, but then further on it was like as if the writer and director decided to rely the movie's storyline on being just filler (meaning material that has no value, that adds nothing worthwhile to the story) which unfortunately made the final sequence feel off and awkward. Furthermore, the structuring of the plot + transitioning between scenes and sequences also felt strange and poorly executed - There were a few scenes that were nicely paced and shot, but it was like as if those scenes were in an unnatural clash between the film's faster and weirdly shot moments. And then comes the character development: There were so many opportunities that the film missed out on when it came to character development (especially Pamela and Beckett), which made me so sad because Pamela and Beckett were two interesting characters that I thought the movie would develop on. Overall, the film left many gaps within it that made it feel unfufilling, which is heartbreaking because the film had so much potential that it carelessly left behind :(

Tag (2015)

There are two types of movies: Popcorn flicks that are easy to watch from a surface area, and films that hold a massive amount of depth. This movie is both of those.

[10/10 · 8 March 2020]

This movie is something that you should DEFINETLY not watch and view from a surface area (despite probably being both a popcorn flick and an in-depth surreal movie) and expecting it to have a basic plot, because what you are about to see is something that needs your mindset not to go sane, nor to go insane, but to go unsane. Tag: Riaru Onigokko is a 2015 Japanese horror film directed by Sion Sono, with one of the main actresses being the pulchritudinous Reina Triendl.

It starts off with a bus scene, where there are these high-school girls jiving around whilst having pillow fights. In the middle of the playful chaos, is Mitsuko - probably one of the only students in the bus who aren't crazy - writing a poem. After being teased for wriitng a poem, she picks up the pen off of the floor, dusts it off, and then is just about to return back up when she realises her entire bus had been sliced in half, with all of the students now dead as their upper extremeties had been cut off by a supernatural wind. This signifies the beginning of a mind-twisting and reality-bending storyline that this very film follows...

This is just my intepretation combined with another folk's one on Youtube named Russel Fortell. But throughout the film, we see such tragic events happen to those who the main character dearly loves, aswell as her identity being changed to represent her growing up (Keiko represents the pressure of getting married by society, and Izumi representing the ongoing marathon that is life). Mitsuko represents our childhood; the bus scene represents our innocence being lost after being first exposed to the harsh reality of the real world, and the other scenes representing something else that's also deep. The ending shows that despite the world being so callous and vindictive, she continues to leave marks (foot-prints) as a sign of her innocence and that she used to live life proudly.

This film has such huge amounts of depth despite being a horror movie (most horror movies kinda don't seem to cram as much metaphors and symbolism into the storyline as much as this one), and it almost seems...beautiful because it just shows as a prime example how filmmaking can bring such versatile things into motion pictures. Tag is a movie that might give you a sense of horror, confusion, euphoria, and a hypnosis-like state. Those who have hated the film must've not fully grasped how extremely radical this flick is in, well, just about almost anything about it (which I do get because this is a movie that's out of the norm).

There's also some feminist metaphors throughout the movie aswell, which I thought was pretty interesting to note about. But overall? This movie is a literal daymare frenzy turned into such a surrealistic masterpiece that will probably require you to go insane. Do take note that the visual effects may not be as good as the typical high budget hollywood movie possibly due to the budget and production, but that is fine, because as long as the storyline has that light and shine, then that can still qualify as a good movie.

10/10 (A+ for me)

Ju-on: The Beginning of the End (2014)

A suspenseful reboot of a well known franchise packs some really good suspense and scares.

[9/10 · 14 August 2018]

While this might not be as good as some of its predecessors, it is a pretty decent reboot with great scares and an anachronistic plot.The fact that there are two POV's makes it seem a bit unique compared to a few horrors with a linear plot. But despite having such great suspense, atmosphere and a decent plot. It does also have its flaws. While I did like the sound effects that were used in this film, the film seemed to go way too extreme with some of them and made them a bit too loud.

Now I'm going to put my thoughts and stars out of ten put into the work they made.

Suspense - 9.4/10 = The suspense on the film manages to catch a high score as it makes the film more better as we get further onto it. It could do a little bit more improvements, but overall I think the suspense in this film would probably be one of the best I've seen in films I've watched.

Plot - 7.4/10 = While it was a bit repetive with a few flaws to the plot. It still is a very decent story line that supports the suspense further on. The anachronism order is what makes the plot even more decent. Although, I do wish that it could've branched out more in terms of narrative and ideas, because some plot points had potential, but eventually became slightly stale further on. Still doesn't mean it wasn't bearable though.

Sound Effects - 8.7/10 = The sound effects that are used in the film can be a bit loud for your ears sometimes, but are very unique in their own ways. The film perfectly deforms simple sounds into what sounds horrifying and scary.

To conclude this review: This film is not as strong as some Ju On movies, in my opinion, but does have some features that do make it stand out from most movies in the franchise - such as the color palette of the film being slightly dull (in a good way from my view but some will disagree), and instead of it being quiet, it was kinda loud (and no, I don't mean loud as in there's multiple jumpscares, I mean loud in terms of the sound effects) although some others will also disagree with me on this.

My overall rating for this film, will be 9/10.

(Edited in 14th April 2020 at 6:58 PM GMT - extension of plot section, some word changes, and a final consensus before rating)

Ju-on: The Final Curse (2015)

A very nice horror film. After watching it i got goosebumps

[6/10 · 2 July 2017]

(WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD) First of all i would like to say to the creators and the producers of this film "Well Done!!". It may be repetitive for some fans but for other fans it might be awesome. I would have liked it even more if the trailer of this film didn't show the last seconds of the ending when Mai sees her sister Yui but then she realizes its Kayako and if they didn't show the ending on the trailer then the film on this page would have gotten higher ratings. But again, I would like to say that the film is great and in my opinion was successful enough to get more viewers like it adds more atmosphere like its really bright when everything is good and when its really blue meaning that something bad is happening

What I Struggled With While I Was Seeing The Film - Some scenes were really dark for me to see so i couldn't see clearly what was going on.

What Went Well - I really liked how the sound effects suited well with all the minor jump scares also when the suspense builds up before a minor jump scare occurs. And also i loved the atmosphere.

So that is what i think of the movie and well that's it.

Edit: I originally gave this film a higher rating almost 3 years ago when I watched it, but it is now a 6 because my opinion has changed on it - 8th March 2020

Ring 0: Birthday (2000)

Best Ringu Movie i have Ever Seen! Well Done Japan!

[10/10 · 10 April 2017]

First of all i would like to say. Why is there so much hate about this prequel. One was expecting the scares when this is just before the whole cursed tape thingy happened. This back story of Sadako was interesting and amazing in my opinion. But i felt bad for her at the ending how she got brutally killed by her father which was really sad and frightening at the same time. The way Sadako was called names by almost everyone and how her evil alter would always kill others. i would like to say Well Done Japan for making such a good prequel which was interesting. the acting was good and almost very powerful indeed. Thumbs Up for me

Beatriz's War (2013)

Amazing Movie I Have Ever Seen

[10/10 · 18 December 2016]

This first East-Timorese movie i have ever seen has to be a emotional and inspiring film for me, it reflects on the Indonesian occupation of East Timor and shows what happened on the inside of East Timor (during the occupation) and how it gained its independence. I then noticed that the movie began to look like The Return of Martin Guerre (a french film dating back to the 1970's) and had similarities to the french film. Overall i will give this a 10/10 because it has amazing features in it and took inspiration by The Return of Martin Guerre and i just love it so much that it make me feel happy. this movie has great writing and great acting and overall, it has very very very very very very good camera. The End.