Reviews

I knew from the start it wouldn't be a masterpiece. This movie looked like another copy of Paranormal Activity and that's exactly what it was, which I have to admit, is one of my guilty pleasures.

Contrary to all the bad reviews, I think it's actually not that bad. Acting is decent, so is directing. The only problem is the story, it starts well and there are a few good ideas along the way, but it lacks refinement and the ending is disappointing. The author should have spent more time on the script.

That being said, making that movie with only a few hundred pounds and basically no one is pretty impressive. It may look easy but it's not.

A social satire about our modern society that produces unsatisfied people by always selling them the next best thing, by convincing everyone they need and deserve more, making those who have everything not even realizing it, leading them to poor choices and often madness.

The main character has a beautiful and devoted fiancee, health and he makes a decent living. But by always searching for more, he starts to loose all of the above, plus himself and his dignity. His sinking is about half-way through when he first appears, which makes you wonder what's wrong with him and allows the movie to be grasping.

Jim Cummings is obviously a big Jim Carrey fan, too obviously in my opinion. It really felt like he was imitating his vision of what would have been Carrey's performance instead of really making it his own, which is actually not that bad but can be frustrating at times. Like his character, he seems to be searching for himself (as an actor) ; maybe there's a subtle message there related to the plot...

The story is too restrained in my opinion, it lacks daring, but still is quite clever and enjoyable.

Overall, even though this movie has its flaws, it's really worth watching.

A middle class family man doesn't get the big promotion he's been talking about for days, but now that his wife is ready to move to the dream house he promised, feeling she couldn't handle the truth, he tells her he got the job... which starts a hellish chain reaction.

I like that concept, one lie that starts an endless series of lies, burying the liar each time a bit deeper. Classic yet effective when it's well done, like here.

The main character is well written. He's an annoying unfunny guy who tries way too hard to be the party boy he's not, which we all find despicable in real life, so it feels good to see him sinking. On the other hand, he didn't mean any harm when he first lied, he was just scared of his wife's reaction and acted on that impulse, so you feel bad for him. You both hate and pity him, that's very clever.

It may not be a masterpiece but it's a good movie.

I was looking for a dystopian sci-fi show when I found Upload, I gave it a try because it was obvious the creator was inspired by The Good Place and some episodes of Black Mirror like "San Junipero", which was promising.

I ended up watching the whole thing in two days.

Even though Upload has a few flaws (it's a bit cheesy and the secondary characters needed more work), it's really enjoyable. I'm hoping for a darker season II.

A good story with a great plot that reveals itself slowly, fine actors, nice directing... what more can we ask ? Maybe a better ending, this one was too easy and a bit cheesy.

A bit too slow at the beginning, but once it really starts, it's enjoyable.

Characters are well written, actors are good and the director did a fine job. Sadly there's one big problem with the story: the plot is VERY predictable, I saw it coming early. I was hoping to be surprised by the ending but it was exactly what I thought it would be. That's a shame.

This movie is about four empty characters, it's impossible to care about them, and considering it's 90 minutes of them in a house, it's a big problem...

Luckily, there's a decent plot and the actors are doing a good job, which makes it watchable. You do want to know what's going on.

Sadly, the ending is very disappointing.

A true independant movie, which means very little money, only a few people involved (around 25-30 based on the credits, actors included), probably volunteers for most of them.

It's REALLY hard to make a movie in such conditions. Usually the final result is a disaster. But in that case, they actually made a pretty decent movie. It must have been exhausting !

Good story with a bad ending. With a good ending, I would have given 6 stars.

Heston Horwin (Richie) did a very good job, Jillian Harris (Becca) could have done better. That being said, her performance was watchable, and it seems it was her first major role...

That kind of movie (a bunch of people stuck in a small location) is always a gamble. Every actor has to be good, the story must be interesting and well written, the director must know where he's going. You can't hide an empty script or anything else behind some great camera work, an amazing location or a celebrity among the actors.

In that case, I have to say: well done !

It's not a great movie but it's a good one, which is impressive considering its kind and the fact that it's a low budget.

This movie has been made so many times already, why another one ? Why is the acting so terrible ? Is it that hard to find good actors ? Even the French character's accent sounds bogus, despite the actress actually being French ! Why so many plot holes ? Why, why, why ?

It really feels like they just had an idea for a movie and went along with it, without a script, without a storyboard... hoping they could improvise their way through.

You better watch Timecrimes. Same kind of movie and low budget as well, but they actually did a pretty decent job.

Even though this movie is far from being the first of its kind, there's potential at the beginning for something a bit original. Sadly, it soon turns out the story needed much more work. The ending is ridiculous.

Don't get fooled by the 10/10 reviews, they're all coming from new subscribers who are obviously here on a mission. Some of their nicknames are even related to the movie in a way or another, like johnjcarroll-61039 or bcarroll-37501 (Phillip G. Carroll Jr. directed the movie). Couldn't be more obvious...

Released the same year, Vivarium is in my opinion a much better attempt.

Emile is an upper-class British man, a university professor who just retired. But also a man who has a past to deal with. Four decades ago he was a young farmer in Saskatchewan, living with his two brothers on the farm he was born. Their parents died young, making them responsible too soon of the family's farm.

The youngest brother wanted to be a writer, Emile wanted to be a scientist. They both didn't really care about the farm, which was unacceptable for their older brother for whom it was their fate. Therefore he became angry and violent, continuously putting them under pressure.

Emile found his way out with a scholarship to study in England, a premeditated way to abandon them and never look back. A country thousands of miles away to start all over, and forget. He only came back once ten years after when his two brother died to rent up the farm, learning he was the only family left of his young niece and left her in an orphanage without even seeing her. He went back alone to England and never came back.

Forty years after he first left, he has to go back for a second time, to receive a degree from a Canadian university. And now that he's an old man, he feels it's his last chance to make peace with his past and his niece...

Emile is a wonderful story about terrible choices we sometimes have to make. About unforgivable wounds you have to find a way to forgive.

During the whole movie there's a terrible tension between Emile and his niece. They both have a terrible need to know each other, and a terrible need to talk about the past, and you see them finding their way through, step by step.

Every moment has its emotion, every actor is brilliant, every line is thoughtful. You just let yourself go in the movie and finish it to think about yourself, about life, about your own choices. About things you've done and may need to be forgiven for. A true movie my friends