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Insidious (2010)
A festival of shiny lights and loud noises.
7.6/10 A bit of a repetitive bore, until it embraces its delightful goofiness. There is a certain amount of relief, when you find out that the movie is not taking itself too seriously, and it allows wonkyness to work in its favor. Aside from the magnetic Lin Shaye, the enthusiasm of the actors seems to reach only the pointy ends of a dollar bill, which is neither offensive nor surprising. Plenty of fun jump scares likely to cause popcorn explosions and otherworldly scenarios riding the fine line of enjoyable ridiculousness will keep you entertained.
Orphan (2009)
"Orphan" is like a quiet, boring kid that suddenly discovers an obsession with arson.
6.9/10 Gets better and better the more ridiculous it gets. The ending really managed to breath life into the dullness of the first half. Excellent performances all around, even from the kids. Has all elements to be a really good movie, but it happens to be just ok. Probably worth watching, wasn't in flamboyant love with it. Really appreciated that it dared to go in such a twisted direction in the end.
The Monster (2016)
The creature of the coming-of-age lagoon.
7/10 A decent little movie set in one location with strong performances. Great cinematography and small-scale conflicts make it very personal for the audience. The monster itself is scarier in a metaphorical context rather than a physical one. The tension is sometimes interrupted by flashbacks, which are heartwarming. If you enjoy movies with deeper meanings and themes, you'll probably enjoy this one.
Demolition (2015)
Grief seen through a quirky lens
7.5/10 Watching Demolition felt like being spoon-fed caviar. The one who feeds you expects both appreciation of its fine taste and a complete lack of skills regarding the use of silverware. While all that caviar is still appetizing, it would be a lot better if you didn't hear a "Choo Choo, open your mouth!" whenever the ordeuver is tasted. As ever Gyllenhall has been fantastic playing a grieving quirky character, whose letters serve both as therapy and exposition devices for the audience. Naomi Watts is a bit underused, as a melanchonicly calm woman with a redneck husband and a rebellious kid. The journey is tight and collected, opposed to the behavior of these individuals whose story we follow. Everyone talks in an odd, overexplainable manner, which kind of bothered me throughout. As Gyllenhalls character says: "Everything has become a metaphor", you feel spoiled with all this unnecessary commentary of things meant to be subtle. We all know that him destroying his house, acting sporadically and delving into small issues isn't just a random eccentricity, but an allegory for his suffering. Speaking of suffering, Judah Lewis convincingly plays a teenage brat with an internal conflict of his own. Seeing a great kid actor nowadays is always a breath of fresh air.
Conclusion:
Demolition explores themes that have the need to be explored, though not with a sledgehammer and a hunting knife. It's short, tight and persuasively watchable, despite so on-the-nose. Worth watching for the great performances and the wonderful character interactions.
Ouija (2014)
Anti-Anti Depressant
4.8/10 The "How To Not Make a Horror Movie" documentary guide is a complete blast! Its both entertaining and insightful nature is crucial for the creative growth of every filmmaker and much needed to understand the sophisticated fabric of overwhelming mediocrity. The 7-Dimensional characters are deep as a straight road and the story beats beat the living crap out of your desire to live. It's not either good enough or bad enough to be entertaining. A horrifically unforgettable script and earned horror moments that will leave you wondering if this movie even existed the second you stop watching it. The acting is so seamless, you could never guess that the actors had a gun pointed to their heads. Watch the extras people! Scientists are still researching the sheer brilliancy and depth of the lore make that give a magical, mystical feel to the world of monsters and spirits and some other garbage I don't care about. The world of Oyjia is built with such exact precision and haunting mythology, that Warcraft can just go and suck a... Well, that's another story for another day folks, the only fault about the movie is my current devastating desire to watch the next 15 sequels such as: "Ou 2 Ija 2", "Oujia: Haunted Boongalo", "Ouijja vs Jumanji: Dawn of Civil War", "Ouija: An Oujia Space Oddysey" and the much anticipated x-rated spin-off: "Oucumja: Parahuge Cocks"
Justice League (2017)
Enjoyable Superhero Team-Up With a Teaspoon of Underwhelming
7.2/10 Here it is! The culmination of the DC Universe, that unites the beloved heroes from our childhood in... the shortest DCEU movie to date? And the least profitable one at that? What's supposed to be a grandiose milestone is just a fun, flawed and a bit forgettable movie. The one thing that JL undoubtedly succeeded in selling us the characters. I am now officialy interested in their separate solo movies,albeit their introductions feeling rushed in the midst of the whole behind-the-scenes drama. The editing room of WB probably looks like a particularly booze-fueled bar brawl right now. Good luck cleaning Wan! Speaking of chaotic wreckage, how did this CGI happen to exist? Sure, some of it looks nice, but the villain looks straight out of a PS3 game. Steppenwolf, as they continue on and on repeating his name, is just a cookie cutter threat with a few cool lines. Aliens are invading as many blockbuster scripts as planets nowadays. The pacing in the beginning is a bit frustrating, originating from shifting the focus from character to character. What truly saves this movie is the team interaction. I have always though that Affleck is okay as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman has been the main driving force for DC and the new "recruits" are fun. Their witty banter about everyone's own corner of the world is what adds a much needed flair to the movie. You can feel that behind every character, there is the potential for a whole movie franchise to bloom.
Conclusion: Enjoyable,but inelegantly underwhelming, Justice League paves the road for a lighter tone in the future of the DCEU. The characters make the journey worth travelling as their team-play breathes life into the movie. I allow myself to be pessimistically excited for future films in this shared universe. And from now on let only one director handle a project please!
Busanhaeng (2016)
Finally! A modern zombie movie with someone to root for!
8.2/10 Fun, flashy, emotional and inventive. Very fitting for a group watch, it's pretty easy to get involved. It tackles all known zombie mythos, but still manages to make them feel fresh. Movies set in 1 location can be either very efficient or lazy and this film is everything but lazy. If you want to get scared, pick something else, this is more of an action romp with zombies. The most surprising thing is how likable the characters are. It's a treat to have someone to root for.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
The Origin Story of The Lost Footage Genre
7.8/10 Inventor of the "lost footage" genre, atmospheric and patient, but inspired a whole bunch of knockoffs. I understand how it might blow me away if it was 1999, considering the budget. You just need a bunch of friends and a nearby forest, and with enough passion you've a great movie. Not ridden with jumpscares, it's more vague and subtle.
Blair Witch (2016)
The Same Old Turkey,Stuffed Only With A Couple New Ideas and a Bunch of Jumpscares.
6.1/10 Here we are in 2016, where horror movies have loud noises every 5 seconds and nothing is left to the imagination of the viewer. The movie is okay and will do the job of scaring the mainstream viewer. All subtlety is thrown out the window and the "Blair Witch myth" is chopped into big chunks of exposition. It may kinda ruin the ambiguity of the first movie for some people. Some interesting ideas get thrown around, but nothing comes out of them. The first half is a bit boring, but overall not a disastrous experience.
Seoulyeok (2016)
Character-focused korean zombie animation with a slight taste of cliché.
Unofficial animated follow-up to "Train To Busan", Seoul Station focuses more on its characters (that could be an idea more fleshed-out) and their emotions. This time around we have only а few survivors to follow around as Korea crumbles. The animation is a matter of taste, as sometimes objects look semi-3d and I get how that might look unnatural to some people. The aesthetic of Seoul is a great playground for haunting scenarios. Illogical decisions are occasionally made, but this has become kind of a trademark for zombie movies. A great twist caught me by surprise in the and the last 10 minutes were breathtaking. Recommended if you liked Train To Busan or just need a decent horror anime movie.
It (2017)
The Horror Adventure genre at its finest!
8.8/10 (Space for an over-saturated "It" pun). Advantages of recent critically-acclaimed horror movies usually are a reliance on the atmosphere rather than jumpscares and a well-thought out concept. Surprisingly, the main advantage of this particular horror movie is the plentiful amount of other genres, ranging from a Lovecraftian adventure to a teenage drama. I certainly don't mean it won't make you check your closet late at night, shivering in cold sweat, but that if it didn't, it would still be a serviceable experience. I have yet to read the book,that Mr.King allegedly wrote heavy on crack,so i won't be able to compare the gory details of both.Instead i'll brag on some more about my feelings towards the cinematic counterpart. The Losers' Club surprised me undeniably. And with what you ask? Hollywood has a past with struggling to find decent child actors, so imagine my reaction when all of them are acting to the point of perfection. The adults in the movie seem like directly written by the "King of Horror" himself , as any traits of reasonability get thrown out of the window. Tim Curry is considered an iconic take on Pennywise by a major amount of people. Beg to differ,i considered him too silly and unintentionally comical to make your blood run cold. As for the new Pennywise, well he freaking rocks. Skarsgard succeeds in being both frightening and delightfully zany, without letting you feel any other way than disturbed when he is on screen. Even this movie has its occasional silliness, which (when is played the right way) I don't mind. The one thing that bothers me is the pacing. It's not too slow or too fast, but kind of formulaic. Every kid has to have his own encounter with the entity and it feels like the director is checking boxes. The boy with the glasses met the clown - CHECK, The girl met the clown - CHECK and so on. This is not necessarily bad, but the movie just keeps going with these scenes, one after another, without giving the viewer room to breathe. And the day after they get scared shitless after the first date with The Dancing Clown, each of the kids acts like he doesn't remember it happening. Does Pennywise visit them on a set routine and they are kind of used to it? Or into it? Who the hell knows? The individual jumpscare scenes are superb, but they fail with meshing them well together. Thankfully, this goes on only for the introductory chapter and after that the movie gets the right to shine. What I really appreciated is the way the Losers communicated. When I was their age, I swore like a sailor in the company of my scurvy shipmates, so I am amused that kids in a big Hollywood movie finally talk realistically.
Conclusion: The new Stephen King adaptation hits almost all the right marks, with a "Stranger Things tone and "Stand by me" themes. All the kids have their moments to shine, Pennywise has a magnetic screen presence and the cinematography is stunning. The first act felt formulaic, but as the film continues it makes up for it. "It" is a bloody good time at the movies that guarantees a lot of fun. Damn, I slipped.
Ray Donovan (2013)
Over-the-top melancholic crime drama without fear of holding back.
Season 1: 7.5/10 The first season of Ray Donovan is supposed to be a crime drama, but couldn't help becoming a melancholic Shakespearean tragedy. Casting-wise, this show excels, despite being too overcrowded with characters and subplots of subplots. Each scene is pretty explosive and entertaining on its own, but is everyone necessary and vital for the progress of the plot? Most of the time the answer is a massive "No". But do I regret watching Jon Voight enjoying the living crap out of himself in a gay club? Most of the time the answer is a massive "Yes". So in general the season is both guilty and not guilty for its shenanigans,just like its characters.The motif of sinning and forgiving is fundamental to the series, with the little brother Bunchy Donovan (masterfully played by Dash Mihok) lying at the core of the conflict. As I already said, individually every character shines in their individual scenes, but few of them contribute to the story. Well, except a "son" character with questionable sexual orientation, he might as well not exist. The Donovans is spectacular, Ray's co-workers are campy badasses and Jon Voight basically chews your TV screen. The family is alright enough, it does the job to judge the main character for his every step. The second act really picks up when a guest, legendary old school actor joins the cast, unfortunately the ending fizzles out too quickly . What I hope happens with this show is that it stops taking itself so overly serious and starts contributing more screen time for its hilarious black humor. Some episodes you feel the struggle in the journey of self-discovery and I have faith that in Season 2, the series will find its groove.
Conclusion: The first season of Ray Donovan is a fun, over-the-top melanchonic journey of self-discovery for both the show and its characters, with tones shifting left and right. Worth watching for the outstanding performances and a terrific cast. And possibly Jon Voight alone.
7.9/10 During Ray Donovan's sophomore season, the show gets to play Capitan. After a couple episodes I felt like I finally was understanding the tone and the abundant amount of charm that the series was going for. It is still far away from being perfect, but I have begun to love it for the gritty and stylish atmosphere, well supported by its magnificent cast. I rarely feel this way about similar shows, but every character is truly fascinating. Even the obnoxious kids and the moody wife are more than my descriptions of them suggest. The man himself, Liev Schreiber absolutely kills it as Ray Donovan. You can feel the miniature domino that gets pushed at him every single episode, triggering a chain of events leading to his soul-wrecking change in the finale. Every single one of his brothers has an arc, that doesn't waste the acting abilities of the actors. The supporting cast is quirky and rich in character. And the never-ending highlight of the show is still Jon Voight's Mickey Donovan. During his scenes you start to perceive the tragic events in a more lighthearted matter. He is still an abnormally big jerk, but he brings much needed levity to everything happening and you clearly see that he'll get completely mad if he takes all the trainwrecks happening around him seriously. I particularly liked the great use of a returning character that didn't bring much to the table the first time around. The major negative aspect of the show is how conveniently the story plays out. Some things just happen for the sake of happening, so the plot could progress. You could say that's part of the show's charm, but it might bother some people. The most unexpected thing this season was the possession of Abby. It was like the demon inside Skyler from Breaking Bad was bored from its vessel and decided to enter someone else. Why the producers decided to make Abby completely insufferable is beyond my knowledge.
Conclusion: You may have noticed how I used the word "play" in the beginning, as the show still has a road to go to deserve its place behind the steering wheel. Yet there is so much charm to help you overlook the flaws. I place my confidence in the third season to be even better and to elevate the show to a "Capitan".
It Follows (2014)
Not you average horror fare,at all.
8/10 Horror Movie (Gone WRONG) (Gone SEXUAL). While these clickbaity titles can be applied to almost every horror movie, good or bad. "It Follows" not only manages to subvert these tropes, not with excluding them, but giving them the main focus. Has a parody of anything being more serious and competent that the material that is being parodied? Not until this production happened. It tells the story of a teenage girl that is hunted by a mysterious slow-walking entity after a sexual encounter. The rules that this "entity" follows are intentionally ridiculous, with the goal to make fun of other horror clichés.But is the film funny? Not even a little bit, actually quite the opposite. The sex scenes that usually would make the teens who sneaked into the theatre gasp hormonally, are disturbing and violent. 80s vibe follows throughout with the splendid use of old techno music, despite the day and age being unknown. The cast does a stellar job conveying the horror of the STD curse, with Maika Monroe looking too much like a blonde Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Keil Gilchrist plays the awkward friend crushing on the Prom Queen with a pleasant twist, involving a great character arc. The other kids are disposable horror movies characters, without being annoying.My main gripe is how illogical these characters act in certain situations and it even seems like the director acknowledges it.The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous for the pocket-sized budget. The pacing was perfect and I felt involved almost the whole time. Twisting the idea of biological reproducing is a really haunting idea, as well as the multiple themes of growing-up. The climax has brought a lot of controversy, but oh well, I loved it.
Conclusion: Overall It Follows has a lot of great concepts and themes going on and the majority of them is executed successfully and few of them poorly. If you expect standard Hollywood-is jump scares you will probably be disappointed, but if you seek a unique horror movie with a compelling message you should definitely check it out.
Daredevil (2015)
One of the best character studies ever made
8.6/10 The first child of the Netflix/Marvel partnership is here and we have all grown to love it.Daredevil tells the story of the blind lawyer Matt Murdock,who can't filter out the noise of misery and suffering in Hell's Kitchen/New York.With the law unable to cease crime on its own,he decides to take the matter into his own hands.Season one manages to right all the wrongs that Ben Affleck's version of the character has done.Daredevil holds no punches,both figuratively and literally,with presenting a story full of blood,violence and brutality.This is not your usual Marvel Movie with a longer runtime. This is a showcase of a cruel,bloodstained city struggling to survive and how that affects and shapes its citizens.Some might put up with it,barely scraping by.Others might hate its guts and try to burn it to the ground.And finally,the "main characters" type of people that see hope in it,despite it being a wreck.What makes this show outstanding is the substantial amount of humanity present in every character,besides being a so-called superhero show.Each street thug feels like a realistic character, and all this is accomplished through subtle acts and actions.The heroes are not over-competent ego-maniacs with chins carved from stone and the villains are not twirling their mustaches and looking at the camera maliciously.Behind their personas of urban mythical creatures,both the protagonist and the antagonist are just troubled people.One wears a metaphorical mask,the other a quite literal one.The actors are spectacular,with Charlie Cox showing a bright future in acting and Vincent D'Onofrio delivering probably the best performance of his life.The sidekicks are genuinely charming and you can't help but love them. Elden Henson is absolutely hilarious as Foggy and Deborah Ann Woll is adorable as the stubborn Karen Page.What caught me off guard is how much i sympathized with the villains. You can understand why they are doing what they are doing and everyone has his own agenda.The City of New York deserves an Emmy on its own.This is one of the best cases of a city feeling like a real,fleshed-out character. Sometimes the pacing was a bit too slow for my liking,but overall the payoff was worth it in the end.Both the vigilante and the lawyer parts were magnificent and the show delivers strong monologues that send chills down your spine.
Conclusion: Marvel successfully creates a lawyer-crime drama ,which happens to contain the superhero Daredevil.The show serves as a brilliant showcase to the darkness in the minds of the people and manages to show us that every devil has a human side to him.And if that deep mumbo jumbo ain't your thing,dontcha worry,there are flipping ninja fights to scratch your occasional ninja fight itch.My main complaint is that some episodes dragged a bit,but you won't lose interest,the storyline is just the right amount of gripping.
Annabelle: Creation (2017)
Enjoyable classic horror movie ,that doesn't elevate the genre and that's okay
7.7/10 - Annabelle: Creation is the fourth entry in the "Conjuring" Franchise. It tells the story about a dollmaker and his wife making their countryside home into an orphanage ,after the tragic death of their little daughter Bee. Yeah there are a whole lot of name puns in this film. The movie is surprisingly much better than its predeccesor. The child actors are great, which is not often the case in horror movies and the other actors ain't half bad. The atmosphere is authentic and the scenes are memorable. While there are plenty of jumpscares, they feel natural and earned, not cheap like in most horror flicks. Yep, the characters make dumb decisions,but not too dumb. Yep, plenty of horror tropes like knee-dragging, "villian" teleportation,blanket spooks and locked doors opening by themselves are present ,but they are embraced and done with full capacity. David F.Sandberg delivers a lot of fancy and cool shots across the table "no pun intended". We actually do not see Annabelle move, she does it only when we are not looking and it is is very subtle. Darkness plays a big role and it is used very effectively. The third act delivers on the R-rating of the movie through the use of some pretty disturbing imagery,that will be amusing for gore fans and not too over-the-top for others. The only major flaw is that this flick brings nothing new to both the Conjuring universe and the horror genre.Everything is traditional in the best way possible. Conclusion: Annabelle: Creation manages to improve upon the first movie through a decent script, memorable scares and remarkable directing. While not elevating the horror genre, it feels like a classic,fun movie guaranteed to scare the crap out of you every time. SPOILERS AHEAD:
Although not making perfect sense, the tie-in to the first Annabelle movie is appreciated. The handicapped girl changes her name into Annabelle Higgins ,which is the psycho woman who possessed the doll in the first movie,explaining that the devil himself is the one we battled all along. Talitha Bateman does a fine job of playing the little-girl-impersonating-demon thing.The demon busting out of the scarecrow manages to be one my favourite moments in this movie,not with being overly creative,but with looking *beep* awesome. Everyone except the parents manages to live through the events,but not without some bruises. The deaths of the parents feature some impressive body horror,ranging from snapping fingers to mutilating whole bodies. The visuals themselves are noteworthy. The subtle references to Valak (from "Conjuring 2" and the upcoming "The Nun" movie) were small,but effective enough to remind us that this is indeed a shared universe,without getting bogged down in it. And the song "You Are My Sunshine" will never be the same.