Reviews

I went into this movie blind after it was recommended by Claressa Shields (the boxer) on her social media. Pleasantly surprised to discover a mix of comedy, social commentary, sci-fi and horror.

Now the comedy was done well enough so as to not destroy the sinister undertone which courses throughout the story. Quite a hard feat to pull off, but they managed it very well, so despite some of the zany comedic moments there was always that sense of foreboding in the background. (I won't go into specifics about the story to avoid spoilers.)

The acting was top notch by the entire cast. Directing and cinematography very well done. Wonderful funk-inspired soundtrack which was used to great effect. The script was also very good, both the story and the dialog between the characters.

Overall, They Cloned Tyrone is a great sci-fi/comedy which I'd definitely recommend you check out. Not the funniest movie in the world, not the most science fictiony, just a perfect balance somewhere in between. I'll give this one an 8.

Its predecessor was a great movie and The Wandering Earth 2 serves as an amazing prequel which surprisingly surpasses the original! This movie covers the incredible, sometimes jaw-dropping, events leading up to how and why the Earth began on its wandering journey with the building of the Earth Engines.

It's filmed in an interesting retrospective style, with scene titles which foretell the story before the events unfold. "78 Hours Until Moon Landing"... "2 Days Until Queen Arrives"... "5 Days Until Ignition".

That sort of thing. It adds an extra edge to each scene as your anticipation levels get boosted every time the scene starts.

Like the first movie, it's fast-paced sci-fi with a lot of English subtitles to read which sometimes make you feel like you're missing the on screen action as you're concentrating on reading. I had to rewind several times to re-read the subtitles while taking time to admire the on screen visuals which were consistently gorgeous.

Several languages are heard including English. Unfortunately the English actors are mostly sub-par and come across corny as some kind of Hollywood rejects. One American guy with a raspy voice sounds like he's auditioning for WWE. Shame they didn't hire past-prime Hollywood stars instead. Nearly all of the Chinese and Russian actors were excellent though and thankfully they got most screen time.

The story is Epic, just like the first movie, with scene after scene of high drama, near misses, sorrow and tragedy, tension, excitement, hi-octane action and all round thrills. It's a real roller coaster ride of a movie, with an epic soundtrack, awesome cinematography and good acting for the most part. I'd highly recommend it to any sci-fi fan..

I hope they make Part 3. So many directions they could go with it but either way I'd love to watch a continuation of this epic tale.

The first half of Creed III was decent and the initial premise of a childhood friend opened up some interesting possibilities for the story. But it sadly wasn't developed well enough and the movie ends up feeling somewhat of a wasted opportunity. By the end, it has the feeling of one of those dime-a-dozen fighting movies that didn't quite hit the mark in any memorable way.

The actors all did a good job however, and I didn't really notice that Rocky wasn't around. It was almost refreshing to see Creed and the other characters take their first independent steps, without the guiding hand or strong presence of Stallone. Things felt promising early on in the movie and it was probably the good acting which prevented the movie from being a complete flop.

Around the half way point unfortunately cracks started to appear in the story. The childhood friend angle just wasn't used to best effect, in a convincing way. Things just descend into a series of somewhat unrealistic and almost cliched interactions between the main characters. The story sort of dwindles into mediocrity.

Overall still reasonably entertaining. Good acting, decent directing/cinematography. Fight scenes not bad. Ultimately a weak screenplay turned what could have been a good Creed movie into the least impressive one so far in the franchise.

Just finished episode 3 and thought it was about time I wrote a quick review for this show. To be honest, I'm not big on watching serialized shows and usually I'll end up watching one or two episodes before giving up. I only got halfway through the second episode of Ozark then never went back. Wandavision, never made it to episode 2. Mandalorian just about managed to hold my attention for both seasons, although I thought several episodes were rather poor. So I wasn't really expecting much from The Devil's Hour. It's a Prime Video production after all, and surely that meant it couldn't compete with a bigger budget show, right? Wrong.

The acting is consistently high level for the most part by the entire cast of characters, and when combined with a strong story and stellar directing, it all gels together to make one of the better shows I've seen for a while.

At times it can feel slow-moving but the suspense is maintained well enough so as to still hold your attention. I won't share any major details of the story here (otherwise I'd ruin the mystery) but will say that it's not perfect and there are a few moments where the script presents a few logical inconsistencies in terms of character interaction. The lower budget can at times feel palpable, with some of the cramped environments, but at other times you don't notice it at all and it matches the feel of a big budget production.

So to sum things up, if you're a fan of mystery, drama, horror, suspense or thriller, then I think there's a good chance you'll enjoy this show. I'd recommend at the very least to watch the first episode and see what you make of it. Don't give it a miss just because it's a Prime Video production, like I almost did! I'll rate this one an 8, perhaps a touch generously.

I was really looking forward to the new series of The Mandalorian but the first episode left me with mixed feelings. While there are entertaining action scenes, nice cinematography and adequate performances by the cast, it's the story itself which runs a little thin. Instead of continuing in a linear fashion where the memorable series 2 finale left off, with Grogu being carried away by Luke Skywalker, the story starts somewhere further along the time line at a point where Mando and Grogu have already reunited. There's no explanation or flashbacks showing how their reunion came about. No hint of another Luke Skywalker scene. They're just back together again, almost as if that series 2 finale never even happened!

Such a wasted opportunity. Their reunion would have been such an interesting story to explore as a fitting start to Season 3 but instead we end up with this somewhat underwhelming episode which feels like some kind of "refresher" program to remind us of familiar faces from the past.

There were a number of set pieces which involve Mando flying to several different locations where we're reintroduced to old characters. The scene with Bo-Katan is filmed in a ridiculous manner. Very slight spoiler here >> she is sitting on a throne with her legs awkwardly raised up to the side. It's as if the director was trying to mimic that feeling of an old fat king, or warlord, lounging lazily on a throne. But it just seemed odd to have the slender female Bo Katan character lounging on a throne as if she's a fat old king. And she's stuck in that pose for the entire scene, never even changing position, as if she's been super-glued to the chair against her will. To me, it felt like whoever wrote the scene had imagined how it might look with her sitting like that, but when it didn't really work during filming, they just ran with it anyway. So we end up with a moment between Mando and Bo-Katan where she's sitting rather strangely, unnaturally and uncomfortably just for the sake of satisfying the envisioned aesthetic, despite it's ineffectiveness on film.

So it's probably not the worst episode of Mandolorian I've seen. There were a few episodes in the previous 2 seasons which were probably around the same level. So even if Season 3 is off to a shaky start, there's still a good chance that it'll improve along the way. And while it wasn't great, it was still entertaining enough to keep me interested in watching the next episode. I'll give this one a 6 but mainly for the decent action scenes and one or two comedic moments.

It's probably been over 20 years since I saw a Chucky movie but going into M3GAN I was expecting something vaguely reminiscent. It is indeed a similar sort of movie, and even has a 90's movie vibe, but comes with an interesting twist which involves the burgeoning technologies of AI and robotics. So M3GAN takes on a more sinister tone because it's inevitable that technologies such as M3GAN will actually become reality.

Kids will really have robotic AI dolls like this in the not too distant future. Just check out the Boston Dynamics dancing robots, combine that with ChatGPT and we've basically got a version of M3GAN already. So M3GAN differs from Chucky because it touches on a possible future reality where a kid's robotic doll might malfunction with catastrophic results. Chucky is propelled by demonic possession (if I remember right), while M3GAN is powered by technologies which already exist today. It just adds a touch of realism to the whole thing.

But to the actual review... For the most part, the acting and directing are just fine. The lead child actresses Violet McGraw and Amie Donald (who played M3GAN) were excellent, and together they provided the best performances in the entire movie. The lead adult Allison Williams was decent with the material she was given but wasn't quite on the same level as the child actors.

One problem with the movie is that at times there are some zany characters, and initially that has the effect of softening the impact of horror. In particular, the boss Ronny Chieng, wouldn't have been my first choice and isn't a particularly talented actor in this move. He has a strange sort of "failed stand-up comedian" vibe. This is probably intentional but it leaves the impression behind that the movie has an identity crisis and doesn't know if it's trying to be a slapstick comedy or a serious horror movie. However, once the realization hit me that it was intentionally trying to be a little light-hearted and silly at times, I stopped taking the movie too seriously. And that's when I started enjoying it.

So don't expect to see an epic sci-fi horror, and just be aware it's a popcorn flick to kill a few hours, then you'll probably enjoy it too.

Here's a few good things about this movie..

* it contains some epic, spectacular action sequences similar to movies like Mission Impossible, Fast & Furious or Star Wars. It manages to be spectacular without people actually attacking each other.

* a complex and captivating story line

* some amazing cinematography at times and a whole load of CGI.

* some occasionally convincing but also occasionally awkward acting and character interaction

* there are a few deeply emotional moments similar to Contact or The Abyss which hit home for me.

* a satisfying ending.

Here's a few drawbacks as an English speaker..

* Lots of subtitles which flash by a bit too quickly at times.

* sometimes the scenes are edited together in such quick succession that important areas of the plot get covered a bit too briefly. Like only a few seconds are spent explaining major plot shifts, and then the movie just dives into more action. If they spent a little more time with the exposition of significant events it would have really been beneficial I feel. But it's already a 2 hour runtime and I suspect it was edited this way due to time constraints. So they end up packing some vital info into really brief moments.

* there are a few occasions when the character interaction seems a little awkward and overly theatrical

* following on from the above point, the dialogue isn't always great and it comes across as a little cheesy and unrealistic in a few of the scenes. At other times it's fine though so i guess overall we could say it's mostly effective dialogue with a few slip ups here and there.

Solution/Conclusion (for subtitle readers) I found that the best way to enjoy this movie is to be prepared to rewind several scenes to get the best out of them. This allows you to read the subtitles again and digest the information fully. I ended up doing that a few times during the movie. Not a lot, but just on a few significant moments. It worked, and I ended up really enjoying this one when I gained a true understanding for the progression of the story.

In fact, there was one scene in particular when they first commandeer a vehicle and we see the Earth engines up close, which was such an epic scene that I rewatched it several times just for fun and the sheer thrill of it. That's how good some moments in this movie are.

Overall, bearing in mind the hastily edited scenes which might be a little too quick for comfort at times, I think this might turn off some people because it makes the story a little difficult to follow. But if you're prepared to take a bit of time with it, and strategically rewind at times, you realize this movie is an epic sci-fi action adventure which I'd definitely recommend to any fan of the genre.

I'll certainly be wandering my way to the sequel..

This is a unique sci-fi/action/comedy, with a captivating twist on the parallel universe theme. Incorporating several Kung Fu action scenes which also come with unusually comedic twists. The story is pretty deep but not in an overly pretentious way, and while there are a few brief moments where the writing crosses the line into cringe, for the most part the story is excellent. It's definitely helped by the superb acting by all of the main characters, and in fact the entire cast of this movie did a great job.

There's not really a single slip up from any actor in the entire movie. This may be, at least in part, due to the director being able to bring the best out of the actors. Cinematography is also great although it's clear to see the directors have experience in music videos so expect a little bit of that aesthetic at times.

If you've seen parallel universe movies before, you'll already know it's best to just go ahead and watch it instead of hearing about it described in a review.

This review was written using precisely-squirted ocean water on the blazing hot sand of a nudist beach. It was later transmitted to this universe for the sole purpose of appearing on this website.

Now back to the beach..

Somehow I missed this official The Shining sequel until just a few weeks ago. Doctor Sleep seemed so promising for the first 10 to 15 minutes. As if the director wanted to pay homage to the original by recreating some of it's scenes and characters. So at the start I was truly impressed and it appeared I was on course to see a worthy sequel.

However, after borrowing some of those iconic themes and characters from the original, it takes a noticeable turn for the worse. It turns into a sort of vampire movie, but with a band of "soul suckers" instead of blood suckers. And this strange team of characters, occupying this redundant story arc, is where my main issues lie. Most of the antagonists were poorly cast. The lead antagonist was a British female, Rebecca Ferguson, who really brought the movie down a notch nearly every time she appeared on screen in a ridiculous top hat. As a Brit myself, I found her presence equivalent to that of temperamental British schoolgirl. I wonder if perhaps American casting director just perceived her acting in an entirely different way. Maybe intentional to appeal to a younger audience but her acting was generally subpar and I found myself wondering why someone would cast her in the role. Beyond that, I wondered why they'd even write the sequel in this way when vampire movies are a dime a dozen.

Many of the other actors displayed their talents more readily and they managed to hold the movie together and keep it at least mildly entertaining. Particularly the young girl Kyliegh Curran, who I think may have the potential to be a Hollywood star in years to come.

There's a nice surprise in the third act of the movie when the location changes again but the grand finale just wasn't anywhere near as satisfying as it could have been. Again this was largely because of the unconvincing and overly theatrical Rose the Hat character. Every time she'd appear on screen, the immersion was lost for me and it reduced the movie quality to that of a made-for-TV movie.

Overall though I'll rate this a 5.5. It's not terrible and I suppose it was unreasonable to ever think it might reach the cinematic heights of the original.

Like many sci-fi or action movies, you need to suspend your belief and accept that the main human character has almost superhuman abilities. She's beautiful, petite and slender, with a frame no larger than perhaps an average 14 year old boy, and in real life probably wouldn't be much of a physical threat to even the average man in a one-on-one fight. A far cry from the muscle bound mass of Arnie. But in this movie she deals with a number of enemies in spectacular fashion, and with the help of some very good fight choreography too. So that's the only small hurdle to jump over in order to enjoy this movie fully. Forget that small logical inconsistency about physical dimensions-to-strength ratio and this chapter in the Predator universe becomes a pleasure to watch. The story, cinematography, acting, script and action scenes are all on point. One of the best Predator movies in the franchise.

Most of the movie is set inside a medium-sized car which isn't moving.. it's stationary! And for the most part this low budget buddy movie does have a British TV vibe, reminiscent of a Doctor Who episode. But with the use of a dramatic soundtrack it succeeds in creating some Hollywood style thrills out of what would otherwise be boring moments.

For example, (*SLIGHT SPOILER*) at one point they have to hurriedly gather their astronomical equipment from a wooded area and pack it into the car. Equipment like a telescope, tripods and the like. Gathering such equipment from the field is usually an unremarkable thing to do for a bunch of astronomers, but given the context of when it happens, it's presented to us in the movie as a sort of Hollywood style action sequence with an orchestral score serving as the musical backdrop! (END OF SPOILER)

There are a few such times that similar mundane moments are dramaticized to Hollywood extremes. So you end up rooting for the protagonists to pull through, while at the same time laughing at how such unremarkable events are presented as dramatic action sequences.

Cosmos was actually recommended by the professor Lee Cronin on the Lex Fridman podcast this year, 2022. That's where I first heard about it. Lee said it's better than Ad Astra, the big Hollywood production starring Brad Pitt. I hadn't seen either movie so decided to watch both back to back. While Ad Astra isn't a terrible movie with all it's big budget bells and whistles, I'd probably agree with Lee that the much lower budget Cosmos is a more "entertaining" movie!

Considering the low budget, this movie is a brilliant effort by the actors, director, scriptwriters, sound engineer and entire production team.

Don't expect a real horror movie if you watch this one. More like a light comedy/suspense/thriller/buddy movie. Around 70% of the movie is dialog between just two characters in a room. Another indicator of the very low budget is the camerawork which is occasionally shaky and unprofessional, plus the sound isn't mixed too well at times. The story is never truly fleshed out and explained, having several logical inconsistencies in the plot.

What keeps this movie mildly entertaining is the initial premise and the decent acting and interplay of the two main characters. There are worse ways to kill a few hours and for a low budget movie it's not bad but nothing special. As other reviewers have said, some might find it quite boring.

The first 20 minutes? Amazing. Set the tone incredibly well. A group of young travellers in Bhutan have a terrifying experience while exploring the wilderness. Then, all of a sudden, we're thrown out of that beautiful Bhutan scenery and into a modern day city, in which the entire remaining 1 hour 40 minutes of the movie is spent.

That was the first major letdown in the movie. For the following 20 minutes you're wishing that the movie ventures back to Bhutan as soon as possible, to recapture that spooky mystical vibe that was created so well at the start. Sadly, it never happens. The movie then turns into a strange mish mash incorporating elements of crime investigation,cultish creepiness, bogeyman summoning, and eventually the power of projected thought. However, it does remain entertaining throughout and keeps you guessing as to how all the various elements will be tied together at the end. Unfortunately, this is where the biggest letdown occurs. The extremely poor ending.

The acting is excellent throughout however, every actor does an excellent job and the movie is cast very well. It's not their fault that the script took a major nosedive at it's conclusion. The cinematography and directing is also of a high standard for most of the movie. A bunch of talented people were involved in the making of this, apart from the ending - that's where it feels like the script was handed over to a 5 year old to complete.

For a movie to start so incredibly well but to end so abysmally, it's difficult to fathom how the producers could allow that to happen. It's as if two entirely different teams produced the start and the end. Frankly the ending enters the realm of sheer stupidity, both in plot and in execution. Such a shame! What could have been a 7 star movie is ruined because of the inanity of the conclusion.

So bear in mind, it IS entertaining for a large chunk and therefore still worth watching. Just be prepared to be left terribly unsatisfied by emptiness of the ending.

Amazing cinematography, directing and stellar acting but, after the shocking moment early on, it becomes quite the slow burner with nothing much of substance happening for a large chunk of the movie. Although there is a steady build up of tension which is handled expertly throughout, the ultimate payoff is sadly disappointing.

The story is unfortunately the main issue with this one. It depends on certain religious tropes, while at the same time mixing it up with more inventive elements concerning the activity of the children, but because of the religious tropes, the movie struggles to escape the "seen it all before" category since some of the horror scenes in particular are concerning religious cliches and those scenes are probably handled most poorly by the two directors.

It's as if the directors are fantastically skilled at slowly building up the tension but when it comes to conveying the actual moments of true horror that's where the weaknesses are revealed. The tension building is the scary part, but the horror moments much less so. The voice of the cult leader, intended to be scary, sounds more like it belongs in a comedy rather than a horror. Of all the great voice actors out there I don't know why they opted for that voice - it certainly didn't have the desired effect of creating terror.

The explanation behind the activity of the children and their connection to the events could have been handled better and in more detail, when the time came. Because of the slow pace, when it got to just over an hour into the movie I did start to lose a bit of patience with it because of no significant events happening for such a long while.. but fortunately I managed to persist with it.

After some consideration though I'll say this movie is still definitely worth a watch for horror fans who don't mind a slow burner, because of the overall excellent directing, the commendable acting by the entire cast (especially the young girl) and, last but not least, the amazing cinematography which itself is of an extremely high caliber for the most part. and perhaps the crown jewel of the entire production. The visuals are exquisitely done.

I'll give this one a 6. It's good but not as good as it could have been with a better story and a slightly quicker pace.

This is quite a unique movie because it's based on the book Thor which tells it's story from the perspective of a dog called Thor. The movie doesn't do this for the most part, but the dog Thor remains an important character in the story. So sometimes it feels almost like a horror movie interpretation of Lassie.

The cinematography, acting, directing is top notch for a 90s horror and I'd say those elements are actually superior to many newer, more recent, horror movies. One early birds eye view shot for example is just as good as the opening shot of the classic movie The Shining.

The monster, obviously a big werewolf, is at times quite menacing and horrific and not the predictable CGI that we often see in modern films but instead the old school animatronics/puppet type. I'm not sure how younger audiences will react to it since they're so accustomed to CGI these days. To me, CGI often looks fake and lacking substance, density and textural reality. But with a puppet of this nature, while you can easily tell it's fake, it just has more substance to it because it's made of real material, moving in real space, as opposed to CGI emptiness.

This movie is only let down by a slightly weak story. It starts off very well and carries on being fairly gripping up until the third act when certain plot holes and weaknesses in the script come into play. The final scenes unfortunately are probably the biggest let down and that's where this movie loses most of it's points for me. If it had a stronger third act and much better ending I think it would have possibly been regarded as an all-time horror classic instead of the cult classic that it still remains. But it's still very much worth watching for any horror movie fan and I'd definitely recommend it for some guaranteed horror movie fun.

I haven't watched anything Star Wars related for years but was convinced to give Mandalorian a try. A few years late to the party I know. Now after 3 great episodes which began to restore my faith in Star Wars, the 4th one is a serious downgrade from the quality of the first 3 and caused me to have second thoughts about continuing with the rest of the series. I think a big part of the problem is the female lead played by Gina Carrano who is sadly the worst actress to appear in the series so far. I feel that her character would have been much better served by Julia Jones who instead played the mother in this episode - more of a minor role. If Jones and Carrano had swapped roles then I think this episode would probably have been better because I can imagine Jones would have played the role more convincingly due to her superior acting ability, and on top of that she's a much more aesthetically pleasing woman, from head to toe, in my opinion.

Now another disappointing thing about this episode, which I noticed very early on as the story unfolded, is that it steals it's basic premise directly from the classic movie Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa. However the execution is far worse than that classic movie so it just goes to show that having a massive budget, a global brand and all the CGI in the world, you still can't beat a movie from 1954 where the acting, directing and story all melded together seamlessly - even though that movie was in black and white, and in Japanese language with subtitles!

On to Episode 5? Not so sure..

This racially charged near-masterpiece isn't your typical horror movie but instead concerns the horror of slavery, which could be considered one of the worst horrors imaginable. The directing & cinematography is astonishing in places. The acting, for the most part, of a notably high standard with a stunningly attractive leading lady getting most of our attention. I'll resist going into details about the story for fear of ruining it but I'll say that the final scenes explain things and tie everything together well. You literally get that "ohhh, now i get it!" moment in the last few shots with a final reveal. Despite some logical inconsistencies in the plot and a lack of exposition, I'd still recommend this as a Must-Watch movie for any fan of psychological horror, it really is that good but falls just short of a masterpiece.

This is a very short scene between a father and his son and although it's a little rough around the edges, it still manages to produce a satisfying moment of horror worth watching. It's on YouTube so just search "Tuck Me In 2014".

I almost had to stop watching this episode on several occasions. The Scottish lead actress is by far the worst actress out of the entire cast yet she somehow managed to land the leading role. I'm not exactly sure how that happened. A fairly decent story is almost ruined due to the amount of screen-time she gets as the lead. It's probably the worst casting decision out of the entire Black Mirror series so far. The other actors and actresses do a decent job and seem much more comfortable and natural behind the camera. The lead however seems as if she's a maturing 1st year drama student who got thrown into the role of a big budget production and "don't know how to act". I'm sure she can improve with more practise but at this point she just brought the whole production down with her stale, dull, yet unnatural, robotic delivery.

As a result of the poor casting, this episode is now my joint worst episode of Black Mirror so far, tied with episode 1 of this series, Nosedive. The difference with Nosedive is that the acting was great throughout that episode but the story, while starting off well, just got progressively ridiculous so it was the writers who were at fault. Hated in the Nation has a decent story throughout but is ruined by the poor casting choice for the lead role.

Felt like it was destined to be a good movie for the first 30 minutes. After that the story becomes painfully drawn out and maintains a very slow pace throughout. It doesn't really go anywhere and by the end I kicked myself for wasting all that time watching it. I guess I must have really hated the ending. On the plus side, the acting is excellent, cinematography and directing also very good.

But it started to feel like the real horror was how the writers could extend the important scenes over such a long period of time. The entire movie script should have been condensed into 30 minutes, it really was a short story with no defined beginning or ending. There are much, much better short stories out there from a writing perspective so, yes, I've just realized it was definitely the writing that was the weakest link in this production. The actors and director did the best they could with an average humdrum story.

When I first saw The Abyss back in the 1990s I vaguely remember thinking at the time that it wasn't anywhere near as good as some of the reviews were making it out to be. Having rewatched it in 2018, and the 3 hour Special Edition no less, I can confirm that it is indeed an overhyped and overrated movie, with sometimes decent/sometimes over-dramatic and theatrical acting, mediocre script, average directing and a soppy love story serving as it's backbone. Instead of really being a full-on sci-fi movie, for the most part it's sort of an underwater soap opera with a few "alien scenes" scattered in very sparsely for good measure.

With that being said it is mildly entertaining for the entire duration so worth watching to kill a few hours but don't have any high expectations of seeing a sci-fi masterpiece. In reality, it only very loosely merits even being called a sci-fi!