sinnfenian Reviews

Horror in the High Desert (2021)

Not bad for a mockumentary

[6/10 · 23 August 2022]

Not a bad movie. Its always best when you have to actually look up the movie to see if its based on a true story or not. This is one of those movies. Pacing is good. Spends just enough time letting you get to know the missing person and right when you think its done it hits you with the 3rd act.

My only complaint would be the actual found footage at the end. I dont want to give up spoilers but I was hoping for more. None of what he's doing makes any sense for there was no reason for him to stick around after his first encounter. Either way, still worth a watch.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

No. Ghostbusters is not back.

[5/10 · 19 June 2022]

I'm not entirely sure what movie people were watching when they left their reviews for Afterlife. Ghostbusters are back! Ghostbusters kids are here! I'd have to disagree on both points.

The problem with movies such as this and the 2016 train wreck is that the directors and writers fail to find the same magic that made GB 1 and 2 such great movies, I'm not even sure they're looking for it. It wasn't kids in backpacks or an all female cast with forced fart jokes and sprinkles of nostalgia. What made the originals so great, at its core, were the three characters that drove those two movies and a director in Ivan Reitman who understood comedic timing. He also understood that when you have 3 geniuses like Aykroyd, Murray and Ramis, you let them do what they do. GB 2016 and 2021 fail because they lack that same chemistry. Afterlife tries to capture some of that with an always fun to watch Paul Rudd, but Rudd isn't given nearly enough material to shine. It was almost as if the director knew he'd take away from the star power of the kids. Until Hollywood figures out that its more about natural comedy and when and where to place it, movies that try to recapture a hit from the 80s or 90s will always fall short.

The other major pitfall of Afterlife is the nostalgia beat down. Theres the car, Annie Potts showing up for no apparent reason, tiny marshmallow men, the original commercial on YouTube which is shown several times and even a line when the sheriff says, "who you gonna call" plus much, much more. If you want to throw a nod to the original movies i don't think thats a bad thing. But when that nod happens every 10 minutes, the ploy becomes obvious and I think thats when you start losing people.

All in all it wasn't a horrible movie but by no means is Ghostbusters back. There's a slew of other issues with this movie, mainly around the kids and one of them having sudden Nascar like driving ability. But this is long enough already.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Best movie I'll watch all year.

[10/10 · 10 June 2022]

This is a movie that hits every point exactly the way it should. There's nostalgia but you're not beaten with it and it doesn't seem forced or gratuitous. The personal conflict is great. The action is fantastic. Everything about this movie is spot on.

Love, Death & Robots: Jibaro (2022) Season 3, Episode 9

Wow

[9/10 · 27 May 2022]

Literally blew my mind. Mystic dancer summons some kind of Spanish soldier looking guys into the river and its on. Hectic. Chaotic. Loud at time. Jumpy, but wow. Probably one of the best episodes so far.

The Legend of Vox Machina (2022– )

Absolutely love this series....

[10/10 · 11 February 2022]

This plus Arcane are 2 of the best shows out there. Great writing, the animation fits perfectly and just enough humor to be present but not forced. Takes me back to my days of staying up till 3am drinking mountain dew and throwing dice.

Archive 81 (2022)

Overall forgettable

[5/10 · 15 January 2022]

Had this on. Got bored. Started playing on my phone. Looked up....it was still on and I realized there was still nothing going on. Forgettable in every aspect. There are certainly better ways to spend your time.

Peacemaker (2022– )

Good, but its obvious the writers never read the original strips

[5/10 · 13 January 2022]

Just watched episode 1 and thought it was pretty good. Cena does a good job and maybe there were hints or woke stuff but I didn't feel bludgeoned and don't mind a little. I think Cena does a good job of capturing the stupidity and innocence of peacemaker

BUT

And this is a big but...I feel like whoever did this series has never read any book with peacemaker or, and especially, vigilante. While I don't want to be a comic book snob or absolutist you should at least have the characters be similar to who they are in books. The biggest disappointment was vigilante. I read the original run religiously and loved the dark grit of the character and stories. Adrian chase was a judge whose family was killed by the mob. This version is a dishwasher with an attitude equivalent to the teenage mutant ninja turtles. Its disappointing when they could have had a serious series with just vigilante. Now he's reduced to a joking teenager and its a huge let down. So while I'd give the series a 7, I'm dropping it 2 because of lack of character familiarity.

30 Miles from Nowhere (2018)

Would have been better if it were paranormal

[3/10 · 31 December 2021]

The acting is pretty solid. The movie builds well enough and was interested as the things that went bump started to stack up. But in the end, when the motive is revealed, I was just kinda like, whomp whomp. Would have worked much better as a straight up ghost story.

I Trapped the Devil (2019)

I Bored the Devil

[3/10 · 31 December 2021]

Holy.

Hell....

This movie should have been a 7 minute short on YouTube. Its basically 3 people wondering around a house because our main character thinks he's trapped the devil in his basement. They talk upstairs...go downstairs....look at a door...go upstairs....back down... look at a door. Toss in some dialog, creepy music and more wondering around and bam...there's your movie. I dont mind a good low budget slow burn but at some point there has to be something interesting, some development or plot advancement. I didnt feel this movie had any of those.

Arcane (2021– )

Effing amazing

[10/10 · 27 November 2021]

Easily one of the best shows on Netflix. Was blown away by the art style, direction, story and the fight choreography was stunning. Loved it. Can't wait for more.

Real Cases of Shadow People: The Sarah McCormick Story (2019)

Not so much a horror movie...

[3/10 · 30 October 2021]

As it is a movie about 3 students fking around and oh ya, there's a topical interview every 25 minutes or so. You'd never know this was about shadow people if it wasn't in the title. Its like watching a home vacation movie. 98% fluff and fart jokes, 2% shadow stuff.

Halloween Kills (2021)

I can only suspend belief so much...

[4/10 · 17 October 2021]

All things considered, this is an effective addition to the Halloween series. There are plenty of solid kills and they finally fixed the mask to give it more of a terminator look which I really appreciate.

The thing that bothered me the most is, in this day and age I think we need to get past the, "why would they___" tropes we ask during so many horror movies.

For example - they get a posse to kill myers but instead of using a strength in numbers tactic, they all split up.

Theres a scene where a black girl crawls out the window of a car with a gun. Myers appears, kills her boyfriend and when she appears again she's 20 yards away...wtf?

Or a guy realizes that myers has returned to his home. Rather than call the posse he decides to enter the house alone...

Or the gay couple who decides to split up and search their house.

The biggest issue is the end. So, myers is in his old house fighting Jamie's daughter. He goes outside and is surrounded by the town folk. They beat him and shoot him until they think he's dead. Then they all hang out in front of her house where he should still be, right? Now there's cops and all that. So myers comes to life and starts killing people who are still right in front of her house where the rest of the town is literally no farther than 20 yards away and no one sees this. Somehow he manages to that, go into his own house that has town folk in and around it, and kill Jamie's daughter without being seen. So apparently he has some crazy ninja skills.

That ending scene ruined the movie for me....worth a watch, but whatever.

Titans: Nightwing (2019) Season 2, Episode 13

Very poorly written

[2/10 · 16 October 2021]

This season as a whole felt a little lost. There were moments when all the Titans had split and on their own separate stories and it just seemed like there was no direction. Eventually all the girls meet up in Elko just so Bruce Wayne can give them a speech which accomplishes nothing. Just felt like a lot of pointless filler. Add to that sick/dream sequences that Grayson has of Bruce Wayne and, well, let's just say it wasn't all that great.

The final episode was by far the worst of both seasons. The meat of it was done by about 15 in and the rest was just them mourning the pointless and poorly written death of Donna. Prior to that, the fight between conor and the titans was absolutely horrible. I dont want to go on because it was all bad in this episode. Hoping season 3 is much better.

The Haunting of Hill House (2018)

Do you like back to back long dialogue??

[6/10 · 3 October 2021]

Mike Flanagan LOOOOOOVVVEEEESSS dialogue.

Like, really loves it. You'll finish one drawn out story, have a little spookiness and bam! Another drawn out story...then another. There are way too many times i counted during the series, when someone was talking and I thought, "ok..stop there. Ok...there...there...stop" but no. The story went on and on and on and on.

My other complaint is the tricky flashbacks. First you're "back then" then you're in the present then back then minus two days then present but a week before and so on and so on. Its a weird way to tell a story and I spent a good portion of this series trying to figure out during what time whatever I was watching happened in this story.

Aside from that, this is an adequately spooky story with some good creep factor and jump scares. This should have been a 5 part series and could have been if someone would have edited out the endless stories and way too long dialog.

Sweet Girl (2021)

No. Nope nope nope nope no....

[2/10 · 29 August 2021]

I can't with this movie...I just can't.

I'll try to start off on a positive note...

The score was fantastic and this movie did not deserve it.

Jason mamoa is pretty solid.

The family scenes were done well and very touching.

Beyond that this movie was one contrivance after another leading up to the 3rd acts biggest contrivance of all.

Spoiler alert: i can't keep watching movies where some 98 pound girl is tossing around trained 250 pound bodies guards like they're paper dolls. I can only suspect so much belief for movies like this. They should have just kept this as Jason running around slapping fools and not done the shimmy sham and showed us it was Rachel. Even with Jason doing this, there are still tons of contrivance.

Finally...whoever wrote this should never, ever, ever ever ever write again.

Some Kind of Hate (2015)

Moira should be a franchise...

[6/10 · 5 August 2021]

Quality movie. I was surprised. The villain deserves a few sequels. Wont go into the story since others did. Not sure why so much hate is being thrown at this movie. Guess thats what happens when you're an uppity a-hole. Ya its not the best, but its definitely far from the worst.

Let's Scare Julie (2019)

Could, should have been better.

[2/10 · 2 August 2021]

Well, damn.

This movie started out good enough. A few girls sitting around a room talking in what was a collection of pretty well acted scenes. But then things digress when a few of them decide to road trip across the street to scare the new girl Julie. The foundation for Julie's house is laid pretty well in that theres a bit of a ghost story that is told by one of the girls. This falls flat, however, as in the third act the movie becomes shambles and credits rolls long before they should. There is no payoff or explanation or anything. At 1:22 ish there was a lot more that could have been done. Judging from the quality of the acting and cinematography, I'm assuming the budget would have allowed for the director to shoot in more than 2 houses. Sad. The premise was good. The actors were in place. This movie just didn't deliver.

Masters of the Universe: Revelation (2021)

Teela and the Masters of the Universe

[1/10 · 25 July 2021]

Kevin Smith wrote Clerks, which was good.

He wrote Jay and Silent Bob, which was not.

He is a fan of comics.

He is no fan of He Man.

I dont know why this means we have to worship at the feet of Kevin Smith. Moreover, if you're going to name a show He Man, it should have He Man.

Coherence (2013)

Fantastic

[10/10 · 17 July 2021]

This is one of the best, trippy movies I've seen in a long time. Well worth it and a fantastic find on Amazon. Bends the mind without needing a slide rule and calculator to follow along.

Fear Street: Part Two - 1978 (2021)

Much better. Thank you.

[7/10 · 17 July 2021]

Doesn't quite nail the grit of 80s slashers but this is a good attempt. My ONLY gripe is that you don't have to shove six 70s songs into the first 30 minutes to set the tone. We get it...its the 70s.

The Forever Purge (2021)

Why is anyone surprised?

[1/10 · 17 July 2021]

The entire theme of the Purge movies is white man bad, everyone else good. I watched 3 in a theater and people cheered when whites were getting mowed down. So don't act shocked because this terrible crap carries the same message. These movies will always focus on white man bad and overstep the many stats showing black folks killing at a much higher rate.

The Night Sitter (2018)

Who took this movie seriously?

[7/10 · 16 June 2021]

Oh, the people giving it low ratings. Accept it for what it is: a campy horror movie with nods to many guests like Argento and Raimi. Enjoyable and light, this movie is worth a watch.

Priceless (II) (2016)

Faith based....must suck

[7/10 · 13 June 2021]

Thats pretty much how I see 40% from "critics."

This movie is competent for what its trying to accomplish. Theres a fine line to tread when dealing with such a touchy subject while doing it in a manner that doesn't submerge itself in blood, sex and swear words. This movie treads that line efficiently.

Unhinged (I) (2020)

Whoever wrote this has no idea how cops work

[3/10 · 17 May 2021]

The idea of the movie is ok if not all that original. John Goodman, er, fat Russell Crowe gets involved in a road rage incident and spends the rest of the movie harassing Protagonist Rachel Hunter. The problem with this movie is simple - it should have been 10 minutes long. All of this would have been avoided with a quick call to the cops but for some reason that doesn't ever happen. I can only suspend my disbelief for so long.

Breach (IV) (2020)

Yall are missing the point

[10/10 · 17 May 2021]

Hell ya this movie is horrible but thats the point. Mindless campy fun like Sharknado. Yes the acting is poor and the special effects were done in a phone, but where else will you hear Bruce Willis say, "who wants some bbq!?" While he chemically melts astro-zombies?

And the boss battle? I'm pretty sure that monster was dragging its balls.

Enjoy this movie for what it is, not for what you want it to be.