gminetos-38105 Reviews

Hereditary (2018)

A tale of madness that keeps you off balance

[6/10 · 14 October 2018]

This is tough for me to rate. I can appreciate the good production values and some great acting, especially Toni Collette who should get an Academy Award nom for her effort. In fact, her unraveling recalls Shelley Duvall's performance in "The Shining". And there was the unsettlingly weird look of newcomer Milly Shapiro who I thought was the little girl in "Les Miserables" but no. This film was more a study of the descent into madness/psychosis that was colored with horror. It wasn't a horror genre film like Friday the 13th, Halloween, etc. But because it's a story about madness some of the scenes are difficult to understand and to determine if they're "real" or part of the character's madness. I'm a dude and not easily scared or intimidated so this film rather than scaring me was just more unsettling and disturbing, it left me in a bad mood, especially with the very odd, weird, again unsettling final scene. It was good for what it is, but I don't like what it is so I guess that rates a "6", very hard to rate.

Hotel Artemis (2018)

This Hotel runs hot and cold

[5/10 · 14 October 2018]

I swear I thought I was watching Michael J Fox as the hotel's doctor but it turns out to be look-alike Jodi Foster (nurse)! So funny how their aged faces look so similar. And there's Sofia Boutella who kicked major a$$ in the Kingsman franchise, and yes, she's a killer assassin here, too, so that's great. Jeff Goldblum though didn't measure up to the character he was portraying so that was a big miscast. Dave Bautista was basically a stand-in for The Rock who was probably filming another action movie. I'm spending so much effort discussing the cast because that's what you focus on with this film since the plot drags and then gets predictable. It was decent but could've been so much better. It gets a tepid "5".

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)

Hotel Transylvania 3: Afterschool Special

[4/10 · 14 October 2018]

Was hoping much more from this. Instead, it's a PC-safe, kid-safe, "let Hollywood tell the world that tolerance matters". So preachy it qualifies as an "after-school special". Apparently, EDM is "bad" and pop standards are "good", too. And did anyone find it ironic and lazy that the ultimate weapon against the monsters was itself a monster?! Makes no sense and will likely be just the latest reason this franchise ends right here. The animation and voicing was top-notch, too bad the screenplay was so lame. Genndy Tartakovsky, director/writer, is not typically saccharine like this. He's done much better work with TV's "Samurai Jack" and "Star Wars: Clone Wars". Expected better..

Bleeding Steel (2017)

Classic Jackie Chan Actioner

[7/10 · 14 October 2018]

Serviceable action flick with trademark Jackie Chan fight scenes imbued with humor. It does seem to still be a product of the late '90s though. I liked the nugget of the plot, and some action scenes were real standouts even though they strained credulity. Decent enough overall.

Goliath (2016–2021)

2nd season so disappointing

[2/10 · 20 July 2018]

Well, I wish I saw all these reviews here and at Metacritic before spending a week watching this travesty. Worst season-to-season transition EVER. This second season was poorly conceived, written, and directed. You have to feel bad for the cast, but as bad for us, the audience. I mean, this was so bad, such a waste that I will NOT be a first to watch a season 3, which by merit should not happen. Similar thing with Westworld season 2, will sit on the sidelines for its season 3 to see what everyone says before investing my time/energy in it. How does the quality of a series drop so precipitously?! So bizarre.

Deep State (2018–2019)

Without plausibility it's a wasted effort

[3/10 · 20 July 2018]

My opinion/perspective is coming from being an aficionado of this genre, hence, this series rates as juvie, not fully baked. Its problems are in plausibility which is essential to hit the mark with a spy show. The cast is decent enough but their acting (and/or their direction) shows immaturity and that just spoils it. I endured through the fourth episode at which point I had enough, that episode was most egregious regarding plausibility and I was just taken out of the story. I really wanted to like this, I was biased to like it, but it just doesn't cut it. But for those new to the genre it might be alright, you'll be more forgiving till you've seen enough of them

Sharp Objects (2018)

So disappointed in Marti's execution of this

[3/10 · 20 July 2018]

I typically love the characters Amy Adams portrays but not in this slow-paced murder mystery. She plays Camille Preaker, a nearly washed up, alcoholic, cigarette addicted newshound in St Louis running down a missing girl report in tiny (pop: 2000) Wind Gap, her hometown. So we're off to a bad start already. When she reluctantly arrives in town, she immediately pisses off the beat down police chief, then the next day comes across three teen girls in a park where she's going to join a search. She acknowledges the teens' impressive rumor machine that they already knew who she was but she whiffs the opportunity to pump the gossiping teens for any backstory on the recent young girl murder or the missing girl. That's just poor writing, poor storytelling, and all this is only in episode one, ep two hasn't even played yet. There's all these cutaways, flashbacks, too, to her childhood there and that's irritating. The atmospherics are dark, moody, seedy, backwoodsy with little accompanying/transitioning music which is 1940s-ish when it's there at all. Such an environment is going to appeal to very, very few people. I expected so much more from Marti Noxon who brought us the edgy, fast-paced "UnREAL" series, oh well, one less show to follow.

Justice League (2017)

So much potential just squandered

[3/10 · 19 July 2018]

Something's wrong when you have a production budget of $100M+ and you can't make a film that's all 9s and 10s. The VFX are great but you don't win on that alone. I think we've reached a point in film making where the storytelling and acting just cannot keep up with the amazing VFX and that's why you see all the disappointment with this movie experience, and why people are saying so much of it is laughable - there's an imbalance that's going to take a film genius to correct.

Tau (2018)

Did not execute on its fabulous potential.

[2/10 · 19 July 2018]

Here was my rating history every half hour: 9 -> 6 -> 2. Yes, it rapidly deteriorated from a promising start. It's got good production values and the relatively unknown principals added realism. However, I found myself siding with the antagonist as the film progressed, I just wanted Julia to meet her end. And if anyone but me watched the final 10 minutes then you realize the stunningly stupid ending cannot possibly result in a rating better than 4! So disappointed at what could've been.