Change Your Image
koldham-81514
Reviews
How to Become a Cult Leader (2023)
Great summary of the playbook
It's not really a deep dive but it uses a small selection of some of the most notorious cult leaders from around the world to explain who they were, how they worked out how to manipulate people, their motivations, how they pick people, how they preserve their group/teachings, and potentially what to look out for to avoid being a victim.
Peter Dinklage's narration was a great addition!
Delivered in a engaging way with clips of real footage, animated/cartoony reenactments, interviews with survivors, and some commentary from professionals and researchers. It's positioned as if it's a series for people wanting to become a cult leader but I'd say they're clearly not actually promoting that.
The Little Mermaid (2023)
They should have done a better job, if they'd kept it exactly the same
I don't generally have a problem with remakes and films based on something from decades ago... the problem is here it really does feel lazy. Which is ridiculous for a high budget, fan-favourite, surely?
Things I did like:
*Halle is a wonderful Ariel.
*I LOVE Melissa as Ursula.
*I thought Javier made a great King Triton.
*They brought in elements like Siren-song, Ursula being family, and so on that I don't remember in the original.
*A little about Eric's family and life, inc where he lives so you can see why Ariel might enjoy it there.
*I like that King Triton made the point near the end that she shouldn't have had to lose her voice to be heard.
*I like that the Coral Moon meeting appeared to be more of a council of the rulers of the Seven Seas rather than a pageant for pretty daughters.
*Felt mostly woman-led. There were very few mermen (King Triton and a small number of unnamed, non-speaking roles) and I think there were only the two speaking male human roles (Eric & Sir Grimsby). The main were Ariel, The Queen (human), a couple of women servants, and some brief chatter from Ariel's sisters. (Also fits below because: most, if not all of these roles, were barely developed.)
Things I didn't like:
*The extra scenes and songs were often unnecessary/awful (Eg. Eric's solo & Scuttle's Scuttlebutt).
*It felt like the life was drained from the people and the plot so that everything felt very forced/wooden.
*They cut out some of my faves, like Sebastian's scene escaping from the chef inc no chef song.
*For a while I started to think, the way things were being set up, that Ariel's mum hadn't been murdered by humans but had in fact chosen to become human (and probably lived in the castle). But no, definitely wasn't that exciting. King Triton was just angry.
*It felt like a very long film and yet they had somehow carved out all the things that made The Little Mermaid the magical adventure it was so that those moments were fleeting.
*I also have no idea why they changed Scuttle and Sebastian. At least flounder was still a fish, even if he wasn't as easy to recognise.
*I also found it really strange that Flounder was expected to trust Scuttle, even though she was diving "for a snack" right next to him. Some fish were just food.
Monster (2022)
Evans is great but the world didn't need this
I'm glad they at least attempted not to glorify the violence or create sympathy for Dahmer, but I don't feel this is a series we actually needed. Even though there wasn't graphic details, just saying what happened was unpleasant.
All the cast played their parts really well, even if some sections were overly dramatised or historically inaccurate.
The series also talks about people exploiting the families whilst doing just that themselves! I hate how, when you read up on stuff like this, they say things like "we tried to contact people" but they seem to take no response as approval to continue.
Subject aside, the first half was pretty strong but the second half felt lost.
Barbarian (2022)
The more I think about it the more it annoys me
It was a pretty cool start and Bill (Keith) & Georgina (Tess) are great together. The thriller bits definitely get you in the beginning, I even liked how disorientating the switch was when we're introduced to Justin's character (AJ) but it does start to go off the rails...
When I think back to the bits intended to scare in the beginning, none of that is really explained. And the timeline of the origins doesn't feel right. It's as if they came up with a "monster" and then threw in a few points and hoped no one would think too much about it.
Lots of twists that I didn't see coming so it kept me interested though. Overall I enjoyed it, but the "monster" element and story around that aspect didn't work for me.
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009)
Not the worst movie I've seen
The plot is pretty loose: kidnapping, some almost spiritual journey to beat the bad guys without being angry, some random sub-plot about the "white rose" which didn't add much/make much sense, in my opinion.
Fight scenes were pretty standard for poorly rated martial arts films. Also included some pointless Matrix-style stunts.
There were a few actors I recognised but this film didn't do much for them. It was all pretty cringe.
I especially find films that insert themselves into another culture, especially commenting on that country's politics/social issues, are even worse when they use mostly American actors.
The Witches (2020)
A great cast
I love the actors. I can also understand why it was remade for a modern audience. It remained close enough to the original that you'd recognise it. I liked that the grandmother's character, back story and abilities was explored a little more. I think Hathaway makes a fabulous witch/demon!
Unfortunately, I feel like something was missing though. They skimmed over some of the challenges, almost like they assumed the audience already knew the story and didn't want to be bogged down with the details. We also don't really get to know the witches that much either.
The Secret Garden (2020)
Doesn't add anything to the original
Personally I think the movie from the '90s tackled the book well enough that this wasn't necessary. The actors do a decent job of playing their parts, the movie itself just feels kind of soulless.
Alone (2020)
Could have been better
I enjoyed the concept of someone trying to weather a pandemic solo which also poses the question of if it's possible. Unfortunately things kind of went off the rails a bit. A lot of things don't really make any sense and it all kind of ends with an incomplete happy-but-not-really-happy ending.
A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting (2020)
A fun thrill for kids
There are a few parts that would make small children jump but mostly it's a fun, family-friendly Halloween movie. Probably not suitable for children that are struggling with nightmares though, unless you have a really good babysitter.
It's like a cross between Mona the Vampire & Labyrinth.