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deedrefuhrman
Reviews
Spirit (2001)
Kelly Appears To be Mentally Challenged and...OMG HER HAIR!!!
There aren't words to explain how bad this movie is. I think that they're professional writers and there are certainly some professional actors but, everyone seems to have checked their skills at the door. This movie is genuinely a master class in bad writing and bad acting, not to mention, bad make up, hair, and costumes. If you do choose to watch this move, you will probably spend most of your viewing time thinking, for the love of God would someone...anyone please brush Kelly's awful, awful hair. There's really nothing else to say the movie is genuinely as ridiculous as my review.
001LithiumX (2020)
Not My Cup of Tea
This movie was slow and difficult to connect with mainly because I disliked every character. I just didn't care about their lives and found them to be mildly repugnant.
Yearly Departed (2020)
This is bad. Don't waste your time!
Truly awful. I'm shocked they had the nerve to do it again for 2021. Who is their target audience? It's just Not funny. Don't waste your time, give this a hard pass!
Nisser (2021)
Missed Opportunity
This could I have been a great series. But instead I couldn't get past how stupid everyone behaved and the ridiculous relationship between the parents and children. Frankly, I was all for sacrificing Josefine for me that would've been the best ending.
Get Even (2020)
Missed Opportunity; Needed different writer and Sarah Walker should have directed the entire series.
Great concept but, loses points in the writing and direction, POV fails. EXCEPT for the 2 episodes directed by Sarah Walker! Separately I would rate those 2 episodes; 6-7.
When will the powers that be understand, that men just don't have the ovaries to write female characters authentically. They always come off as one of the fairly narrow options of how men view women and of course, how they think they should look. What a difference we would have seen in authenticity and interest with a different writer and Sarah Walker in the director's chair.
The Quatermass Experiment (2005)
Seriously Awful
During the film, whenever an actor is attempting to sound "scientific", I feel like I'm watching a 6th grader trying to answer questions in science class that he's completely unprepared for. I just loved their ridiculous discussion about cells, they start to list, you know...all types" and then they just sort of run out of real words-lol. And, that's an example of what you see in most scenes when they sound "smart".
Plus, the over acting is hard to watch. I realize this was filmed live but, these are supposed to be good actors and sadly the result is no better than the most amateur effort.
Namgeuk-ilgi (2005)
Nice Surprise
Simple, Straightforward, and Creepy. I highly recommend.
Cidade Invisível (2021)
Great Potential, Poor Writing
I was really excited about this series because I enjoy the fantasy and creatures. Unfortunately, The fantasy is doled out in really small portions, there is almost no character development so, you don't really care about most of the people portrayed and the lead, Eric, has the emotional complexity of a cardboard box. He actually comes off stupid and someone doesn't really understand how to react correctly in normal interactions with other people. Even his career doesn't make sense, when you look at his reactions and behavior; in real life, he would be an investigator for about a week before he was fired. All of this and more makes it very difficult to care about him and his goal to learn about what happened to his wife. In fact, it's pretty easy to start actively disliking him. This series had all the potential in the world but, unfortunately was left down by inelegant, simplistic writing.
Fate: The Winx Saga (2021)
Truly AWFUL!!!
Anyone who was a fan of the original Winx club series would be hard-pressed to even stomach watching this adaptation. It genuinely has almost nothing to do with the original and the writers literally ripped the heart out of what made the cartoon series so popular and loved by a generation. It actually made me angry to see the characters and stories so distorted. Go f-up your own childhood memories, leave mine alone.
Monster (2020)
Basically Unwatchable
Not even up to the level of a freshman film student. This is a movie that you ask friends and family to watch for their feedback; and, keep limited to that. Until you put in the time and effort to hopefully develop some real skill.
I genuinely wonder why folks make these initial efforts available to the public and waste peoples time. It just makes the audience far less inclined to support them in the future. Sorry for the negativity, I'm just tired of hitting play only to have my senses assaulted by some jerk who decided to make a film over the weekend and is delusional enough to think it should be viewed by the public!
Seriously just awful. HARD PASS.
Encounters (2012)
Not for me and probably not for you.
It's worse then amateur. The characters are incredibly unlikable. And, I have a feeling they're just being themselves because, there isn't any acting happening on screen.
Sorry, it's a hard pass.
The Last Apartment (2015)
Skip This One
A negative to technology being available to everyone...the plethora of crappy movies, like this one.
House of Forbidden Secrets (2013)
So Bad, Avoid
Cast, crew and their friends and family should be barred from rating and reviewing movies. They should be ashamed of the blatant BS they spew. This movie is sincerely awful from start to finish.
Killervision (2014)
Definitely Can't Recommend
Killervision tries to tell a run-of-the-mill story in a new way. Unfortunately, it fails to achieve its intent. The extremely amateur cast and director simply lack the skill and experience to deliver a watchable film. Good idea poor delivery. Pass on this one.
Raising Dion (2019)
Good Idea Horrible Execution
There is so much that could have been great but, this is series is a big miss. It's like the folks who created it don't know how normal people behave. In fact, it's hard to even begin to list how many different ways they were able to butcher a great idea. Just a quick comment on the main two actors; especially the child.
Dion is almost unwatchable and I'm not sure if that is due to really poor direction or if he just doesn't have enough talent. He's definitely lacking a range of expression and you can see he has zero connection to who his character is supposed to be. Plus, they wrote him to be such an awful brat that they managed to make an 8-year-old unlikable.
His Mother's character isn't any better; she appears ineffectual, immature and annoying. Anyone with any common sense knows that neither a Mother nor a child would behave the way they're portrayed because a parent and child have an established foundation prior to the discovery of the child's "superpowers". Even with her back story of sacrifice there just isn't any real emotional complexity and her character is flat. In fact, all the actors appear to be acting in separate fish bowls where they can see each other but, they never actually connect in any real way.
Overall it's a big miss, instead of a series that's similar to Stranger Things we have a really long, really bad Lifetime movie.
Paranoia Tapes 4: Kennel House (2018)
Avoid
Just Bad, Bad, Bad in every way! I can't believe they made 3 before this. The acting or lack there of, is amateur at best. And, the guy who does the introductions is just absolutely awful. Plus, his limited commentary sounds like he's talking about a different film. I'm sorry Jack Hunter but, if I ever think of you again, it will be about everything that's wrong with found footage. Take my advice, just say NO.
Little Monsters (2012)
Don't Bother - It's Not Worth a Piece of Your Soul
I mindlessly turned this on and pretty quickly realized that it's an exploitation of real events. Seriously, the filmmakers couldn't develop their own unique story? They CHOSE to flagrantly cash in on the misery of others.
The film is not even a well made; it's slow, tedious and doesn't hold your attention despite the fact, that they tried to whip up emotion by showing the death of James Bulger (his real name). If you're going to cash in on others pain at the very least do it well.
Skip it; there's plenty of other trashy movies to waste your time watching without supporting this real trash. I'm genuinely sorry that I watched this and I'm going to take a shower now.
The Space Between Us (2015)
The Basis for The Shape of Water
This movie is genius. I also believe The Shape of Water" was based on this little indie flick.. Watch this one, which was released in 2015 and The Shape of Water released in 2018 and you will see what I mean. I think The Shape of Water actually suffers due to the addition of sex and violence in order to lengthen the movie as it derails the purity of the original statement.
"The Space Between Us" has imagery that has haunted me since the first time II watched it. It's a comment on men's drive to sacrifice anything and anyone for their own survival and benefit. And, the fact that they have created the majority of the problems they contend with in the first place. The lead characters, a maid and merman are both oppressed and powerless in the face of this drive, until the maid is willing to stand up and fight at great personal cost. The film also, communicates that we're all equally guilty of inflicting pain on others, if we stand back and watch another be destroyed because we're afraid of loosing our own position and/or the small pleasures we do possess.
It's the first small step of a movement yet unseen or recognized.
The Shape of Water (2017)
Longer Version of the 2015 indie short "The Space Between Us"
The following is my opinion: Watch 'THE SPACE BETWEEN US", a 2015 Indie short by: Marc S. Nollkaemper. Then decide if Guillermo del Toro stole this story. First of all, I want to mention that the Dutch filmmaker kindly shut down the growing talk of plagiarism but...It's still pretty Screamingly Obvious. And, it bothers me that Guillermo del Toro accepts the credit and financial gain from what is really, a story
written and directed by a STUDENT filmmaker.
"The Space Between Us" has haunted me since I watched it in 2015. And, when I saw the movie poster I initially thought "The Shape of Water" was a longer version. You'll notice the cover art for "The Shape of Water" is the final shot in the original film. When I realized they were made by different people, I began to look into other de Toro "creations". I found that the bulk of his successful work, i.e., everything from Hellboy, to Blade, to the Pale Man are based, and not loosely, on someone else's work. Comic books, novels, Victorian short stories, indie movies and Japanese mythology like Y'golonac and Tenome, to name some of his source material. Not an original idea in the bunch, just the addition of certain components and/or maybe a costume change.
The original is more beautiful than del Toro's remake, because there's no unnecessary sex and violence. The addition of sex and violence was just the easy way to lengthen the movie. But, it shifted the focus from the lead characters shared oppression to a vaguely crass love story. Destroying some of the depth the story was intended to communicate and instead creating the chance to titillate the audience with intimacy between the leads and add violence in defence of their love. del Toro took the easy way when fleshing out the movie, as the genius was already there in the original storyline.
I think there's an obvious reason del Toro chose to "create" this movie, it fits his talent for taking a solid mature plot and/or character(s) and repackaging them for public consumption. A very useful talent and, admirable if you acknowledge that's what you're doing. del Toro has a reputation for creating original works, which I believe, hasn't been fairly earned. Rebranding an existing creation to develop marketability and pump up a bottom line, are far different talents versus originating something new that prior to you, didn't exist in ANY form. Frankly, in the case of this movie, it's the classic story of a young student having their work stolen by an older person with cash and reputation. This particular student has been smart enough not to fight a very expensive uphill battle but, is spinning it into something positive for his career. Another testament to Marc S. Nollkaemper's brilliance.
Bottom line, moving forward I'll search out anything Marc S. Nollkaemper is involved with, as he obviously has the potential to become a major talent. And, I'll avoid anything connected to Guillermo del Toro because I no longer trust that the work is genuinely his. I can't support this type of blatant theft of another artist's ideas as it's already tough enough for an artist to hold onto to intellectual property in today's world. Lastly, I know there are those who will still say, there's no relationship between the films...Just watch them both in the order they were released, the truth is pretty straightforward.