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The Hollow Child (2017)
Promising start, then the movies falls off
This movie represents everything a horror / terror film should aspire and should not.
First off, let us talk about what a horror film should aspire to. This film has astonishing cinematography and production design. The scenes in the woods are perfect for the genre. Creepy, gray, cold, mysteriously. Something similar to what the Netflix Series Dark does. And this aspect is what most horror films lack. A perfect environment to set up a scary story. A perfect production design to scare people off simply by looking at it. That's what this film is so good at, and what every horror film should aspire to.
Now, let us talk about what a horror film should not aspire to. A perfect cinematography and a perfect production design, as described above, does not imply a perfect story. And that is where this movie falls off. The story starts promising, a good scenario in which kids disappear out of a sudden. And the film builds this story quite good at the begging. But then; way too much mysticism. The story reaches a point where it becomes cliché, and it stops scaring. And it stops scaring because it is simply too surreal. It goes out of boundaries in the surreal matter. And instead of producing terror, it produces laughter.
Also, stories that involve "duplicates", which means, two copies of the same person: one is demonic and the other is not, are hard to develop. If you constantly use it, it will become boring. The movie-goer does not care about a horror film character, and if you create several personas of the same character, then in becomes quite boring and cliché.
That is why the ending is horrible. An unnecessary cliff-hanger. An unnecessary cliché. An unnecessary "duplicate".
The Good Liar (2019)
Great acting, good idea on paper, bad execution
The Good Liar. A film that looks good on paper. It has an interesting and exciting theme. But oh my, was it good executed? The answer is not.
Let's analice this first topic. The execution. The theme of the film is always interesting: it causes suspense, drama and horror all together in one idea. Lies and mystery trama is always exciting to watch. But it must be well executed to be enjoyable. The Good Liar offers a bad execution which translates into a bad trama.
How?
The plot could be smaller. It starts good, it has a good presentation. But then the movie offers us scenes that are meaningless until the final resolution. This means that those scenes and the development of the plot feel slow and boring. Yes, they are necessary, but they feel slow, which makes us conclude that it wasn't a perfect execution. If the plot was smaller or maybe a little bit more dramatic, then it wouldn't feel slow.
That being said, there's also a very important point to consider into execution. When building a mystery plot that will have a massive plot twist, you have to add clues so that it does not feel like a scam. But what kind of clues? Clues that the viewer won't see in the first sit, until after the resolution / plot twist is revealed. They must be smart clues, or else the plot twist will not really be a plot twist, because it would be quite obvious. That being said, The Good Liar, offers poor clues. The first scene of the movie shows us both of the characters lying about the same stuff. With that you start to suspect something might happen. Also, adding the mysterious car, and the female character leaving suddenly in Berlin feels suspicious and vague. Because of things like this, the plot twist feels not that surprising.
Now, both actors are simply astonishing. They both know how to embrace their characters and they make you feel the story, and the plot. Even though what we stated above (the whole plot thing) their acting is simply fenomenal. A bad plot or a bad execution does not necessarily imply a bad acting. The acting is amazing in the film.
Just as a finisher, there is a small script mistake that really points out. The Russian guys (the investors) did not know our main character's name. That was stated the first meeting in the club. "They won't reveal their names." Then, how did the Russian guy call him out in the metro station? They didn't know each other's name (except from the name of the Russian guy), then how did the Russian guy knew our main character's name?
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
It was good, but was it necessary?
First things first. Let us talk about the movie itself, without taking into consideration the big title "Star Wars".
The movie begins with a slow rhythm. The first 30 minutes or so feel slow and maybe sleepy. Maybe it is the editing that makes it sort off boring. The editing in the first part of the movie feels odd. Weird cuts and transitions make the movie feel fast and at the same time slow. What do I mean? Simple. The story is slow, but weird cuts make it jump fast from one thing to another. So it is a story being told by several turtles. One second you are watching Ren doing some fancy stuff and the other second you are watching Rey doing some other fancy stuff.
But then, the movie gathers some power and becomes exiting. Once everything starts to fail for the Resistance, the movie begins to grow, and it ends with an epic climax. Basically, the movie is a crescendo, it starts with a low quiet sound, and it ends with such a powerful sound.
Speaking of which, the score of the movie is simply magnificent. John Williams is an amazing composer. The score of the movie makes it feel like you are watching a film from the old 80s. There is this scene in the movie where Ren and Rey are fighting in the Death Star, and the score makes it feel so epic. But again, what can you expect from such a master musician.
Now, let us talk about the plot of the movie, shall we? And solely from the movie, and not taking into consideration the Star Wars Saga. As I stated before, the movie feels like a crescendo. This translates into the plot, of course. The plot starts slowly, and if you have no idea about the Star Wars Saga, then you might not have any idea about what is happening at the beginning. Then the plot begins to be more interesting. But the thing is, it is a vague plot. What do I mean by this? Yes, of course the plot is good, and gets better within every minute that passes in the movie. But it is predictable. You know one of the swords will be for Kylo Ren at the end of the movie. You know that Kylo would be a good guy at the end of the story. You know that Chewy was alive after the big fight. There are no big surprises in the movie. The only mayor surprise is that Rey is a Palpatine. But, is it really a surprise? This is where the movie fails: plot.
Now, let us take into consideration the name. Star Wars. It was a good ending. It fits perfectly into the Star Wars Saga. It does not disappoint an average Star Wars Fan. But, was it really necessary? I mean, was this new trilogy really necessary? It is not a bad trilogy, I am not saying that, but, was it substantial for the whole saga? If we remove movies 7, 8 and 9, you can perfectly understand the saga. They really do not add anything to the original trilogy. Some might debate 1,2 and 3 do not as well add anything. But they are more related to the original saga. They follow the storyline. But the only thing that the last trilogy grabs from the original trilogy is the name of the characters. That´s it.
Let's talk about the failure of the saga overall. I do not consider the saga as a complete mess as everyone does, but, as I stated, it was unnecessary. But why did it fail? Circumstances. Disney. Death. Twenty first century. You know what I am talking about.
In conclusion, it is a good movie, it has amazing effects and an amazing score. Maybe the plot lacks power, but it fits the Saga, and it is not bad overall; it is enjoyable. Now, placing the movie in the Saga, was it necessary?
PD. Palpatine: "I am all of the Siths". Rey: "And I am...
Ironman, I mean, all of the Jedis".
Really, Disney?
I really felt the Endgame vibes at the end there, but well, Disney´s formula.