Change Your Image
Finfy
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Rusalka: Ozero myortvykh (2018)
Great movie, sadly with some big flaws
The movie is based heavily on Rusalka, the Russian fairytale version of a mermaid. They are often unmarried women who commit suicide and drown their victims or tickle them to death. It is very accurate in its depiction of Rusalka, from what I can tell as someone who is not Russian.
The acting is above average, and the casting choices are great. The main actress, Viktoriya Agalakova, is very convincing and emotional. I also love the casting choice for the "mermaid." Sofia Shidlovskaya has an ethereal air to her, and every time she is on screen without the distracting CG effects, she is convincing.
The English voice acting can be a little bit distracting, especially with Roma's best friend Ilya, who has a stereotypical bully voice that does not fit his character, in my opinion. Other than that exception, the English voice acting is solid.
Now to my biggest gripe with this movie: the CG and jumpscares. The CG is simply terrible. It would have been much more effective to do only a bit of SFX makeup reminiscent of the movie poster.
The worst mistakes are the completely unnecessary jumpscares. The movie does so well to build up tension and atmosphere through its great direction and pictures, but simply ruins it with every jump scare thrown in your face. This movie did not need any of them to be a dark fairytale.
The script had a lot of potential. It has a solid ending and takes up points made throughout the movie to tie them all together in the end, like Marina jumping into the water to save Roma or hair having special powers. I, however, do not like how the movie was structured. We "beat" the mermaid far too many times with several red herrings throughout the movie before her curse is eventually lifted for good. It's a shame these mistakes weigh so heavily while the rest of the execution of the movie is great.
Mafiya. Igra na vyzhivanie (2016)
Promising premise
The premise is promising but was not well translated to the screen.
We do not get to know the people before the "game." We do not care about who wins, and we can easily predict who will die next and the "twist" towards the end. It is hard as a viewer to comprehend what is really going on because the movie does not even try to establish a universe around its protagonists.
The visuals are not great either; of course, this is not a blockbuster or a million-dollar production, but the composing was not done well in post production.
The soundtrack is also subpar, with no emotion or suspense, just beeping in the background.
The actors are good. There are a couple of expressive faces, but the movie kills every character too fast to even really let them try to build them up. Try to avoid this movie.
Nine Dead (2009)
Not great
I really am a fan of the whole "people locked up in a room" scenario, and I also enjoyed movies like the earlier SAW movies or Cube, but this? This is bad. Everything about this movie was boring and unoriginal.
In the first 10 minutes, it is literally a man packing his bag and random people getting kidnapped who have no real character except for the stereotypes they portray. None of the other characters work to ever surprise or show any kind of emotional reaction to their predicament.
The plot twist was so obvious from the beginning, and it added silly sound effects that sometimes pop up randomly when the killer opens the door or other minor things happen.
Heidi (2015)
Sweet just as I remember it
I was skeptical when I first heard that Heidi would be adapted into a film because I grew up watching the animated series on television and still remember it fondly, but this film surprised me.
You can feel how much the movie team wanted to make a movie that people who knew the original would love.
Heidi's actress is a wonderful girl. I could barely imagine anyone who would fit the role better than her. Klara and every other actor fit their roles and played them with a lot of charm.
The pictures in the movie are beautiful. You can almost feel Heidi's love for them when she is in Frankfurt and how much she misses them. The movie is well shot and has a wonderful and catching score, which contributes to the overall positive mood of the movie.
I am glad they got to put every major plot point in the movie, especially Klara's arc later in the series. We get a wonderful ending, and, in the end, a wonderful movie for kids and fans of the originals.
The Descent (2005)
Bloody fun
The movie is not as good as some might rate it, but I certainly enjoyed watching it.
The sound design is wonderful and sometimes you see things on the screen that you wish you could tell the main characters. Especially towards the end the movie picks up it's pace a lot and gets incredibly bloody and violent. Not over the top but enjoyable.
The Tunnel (2011)
Painfully slow and unimaginative
I gave this movie a chance since most of the reviews were quite positive. Even though I am not really into the found footage genre that much, I thought I could give it a fair shot.
Well, I kind of regret it.
The movie needed almost an hour to build up the whole story about who and what these people were trying to film, and the whole thing didn't make a lot of sense.
Weird spooky things in some tunnels that kill (or eat) people or something? I did not quite get it. There was no explanation whatsoever. Only weird monsters messing with the protagonists and weird documentary styled footage in between action.
The acting was also not the best, and the German dub (maybe the original English voices are good; I do not know) made everything sound like a cheap student project.
If you like stuff like The Blair Witch Project, you might enjoy this if you can't find anything else to watch.
The Croods (2013)
Refreshing!
When I first saw this movie in trailers and pictures, I was certainly not a fan of the premise. I am not a huge fan of movies that are set in this era, like Ice Age and several others, but yesterday I wanted to give the movie a chance, and I was pleasantly surprised!
The animation is wonderful, and the character and monster designs are very different and surprising. The world they live in is very creative.
The movie has a great pace and knows where and how to let the viewer feel different emotions. The movie can be funny or sad, and it works wonderfully.
If you were not convinced by the marketing or trailers, do give it a shot. It is very much worth your time.
Ich seh, Ich seh (2014)
Very different from the trailer
I am a big fan of atmospheric horror movies, and this is exactly one of them, though the trailer suggested otherwise. I think it was a case of marketing the movie to the wrong audience.
The movie has a beautiful camera with wide and gorgeous shots. Susanne Wuest is brilliant as the mother. Even the child actors were great, which doesn't happen all too often.
There is not much music, but the sound design and weird feeling of the movie just draw you in.
Like everyone else, I knew what was wrong with the twins very early in the movie, but I do have to say that I think it was intentional. It was not trying to be a clever surprise or plot twist. This is a movie that tells the story of a tragic family.
I did get some chills, especially from the well-shot angles and beautiful sets, but if you are into a lot of action, this won't be the movie for you. Also, the torture in the movie is not as bad as some have mentioned. Most of it happens off screen, but be aware that there is content like this in this movie.
I was entertained by the movie but still expected something totally different.
Of Silence (2014)
Slow and boring
You should stay away from this movie if you want something thrilling or scary.
This is a very, and I mean VERY, slow movie. The plot develops at a snail's pace. You won't even miss anything if you just leave for 10 minutes and come back to continue watching.
The acting is not terrible, but I just couldn't get into the mood of the movie. It felt bland, uninspired, and boring up until the "finale", which felt like it was over in less than three minutes. Also, the "monster" at the end looked like it just jumped out of a 1990s horror movie and did not fit well into the world.
What I do think is very well done is the sound design of the movie. The sounds of the "monster" following him work wonderfully with surround sound.