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benclifford
Reviews
Pass Over (2018)
Drivel
The hypocrisies of this play are baffling. The deranged "protagonists?" decide to commit assisted suicides and are saved by the police officer, who they then dare to kill them, which he refuses to do, but then the message is that all white people want to kill black people? And when Moses is killed by a murderer, that is the antagonist, the one that did what they were going to do and had concluded was the only way to 'be free'?
Everything about this is contradictory to its own message, and not in a nuanced manner that creates discussion, in a paranoia fueling, hate inducing manner which is capped off with the entirely unnecessary religious intolerance plugged into a throw away line. The vitriol is nonstop, flowing from the mouths and pens of writers with incredibly limited vocabularies. Even the characters point out diegetically the unrealistically unbalanced use of a particular ethnic slur.
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
The most underrated Bond film by far
It legitimately held my interest from start to finish and had an actually original plot with lots of good twists. It also didnt have nearly as many stupid, over the top or unbearably cheesey parts as 90% of the Bond franchise has had.
THE best opening in the Bond franchise. The puns, the action, the soaking wet suit, the black "Q-boat" cruiser. Awesome. Just awesome!
"I CAN PROTECT YOU! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? I CAN PROTECT YOU!"
"Not from him."
AND the song is by Garbage!?! This is the best ever!
The script is amazing! Puns galore! That's what makes Bond Bond!
The bad guy has no senses and is getting stronger daily until the very thing causing it kills him entirely? HOW BADASS IS THAT!?!?
Damn this bad guy is sweet! It's like the best mental and moral challenge to a hero the world of cinema had seen in the 90s. A vast, vast improvement towards compelling villains with depth.
WOW WHAT A GREAT SHOT of the bullet proof glass cracking in front of Renard
The inflating bubble shield isn't that dumb, it's not like it was a full on avalanche, it could have worked with the right material.
I will say it had some flaws..
The parachuting snowmobiles were a bit far fetched but the one going over the ledge and having another parachute was a nice twist.
The caviar farm scene was pretty dumb, but the helucopter suspended chainsaws were original.
A latino henchman with a frosted buzzcut with a spiderweb etched in and wearing a gold grille? What?
People who hate on this film but think Jaws was a good addition to the franchise are why we have so many poor sequences in the franchise.
Midsommar (2019)
Unbelievably terrible
All of the people who enjoy the film praise it for the cinematography, which was uninspired, for it's breaching of multiple genres, which was done but rather poorly, and for being about the breakup, not just the horror, which, it was, but had a ridiculous stance on the break up.
The positives in the film were the acting and the FX department. I wish I could give credit to the production designer but putting the tune for sacrifice on the sacrificial character's costume isn't clever, it's tacky. It's like having a name tag saying "Hi, my name is Murderer" in a slasher film. The lighting decision to have a horror film be in broad daylight is neither original (Wicker Man) nor well done (it is very straightforward camera angles other than a singular upside down windshield shot).
The breaching of multiple genres is a good thing and could be praised, if it was done in a way that complimented the strengths of the genres involved and conveyed the message. Neither of these happened. Instead, random lines of humor were included interspersed between gratuitously graphic on screen killings. Then there were completley purposeless orgy sequences with explicit nudity that I have read were included as comic relief according to the director. How is disgusting nudity of about 15 elderly women for a full minute on screen funny? Are you trying to shock us into laughter because we have no other way to respond to something so depraved? And if it wasn't meant for comedy (even though Aster publicly said it was) then what could have been the purpose when the same plot point could have been covered by them being clothed onlookers? The perversion and level of gratuitous filth in this movie were terrible, but the fact that they didn't even progress the story or theme was what was the most disturbing part. It wasn't even for something valuable to the production.
Lastly, this whole 'its really a break up movie' gimmick could have been okay, if you weren't asking us to side with the girl who murdered her partner of 3 and a half years instead of a cult member who has killed all of her friends. And what was the boyfriend's crime? Wanting out of a relationship that was toxic, but waiting to break up because the girls entire family just died? I get that he is a jerk about the thesis thing, but in terms of the relationship, he was beyond supportive. She was the one who cheated with the swedish friend first and who accused him of forgetting her birthday, which, he actually didn't do. So what exactly is Aster wanting us to enjoy about his take on the break up where the 'heroine' murdered the one person who didn't think he should break up with her right after she lost three family members?
Beyond all of that, the movie was underwhelming in terms of scares or terror. It was neither a thriller nor a collection of jump scares or chase scenes. Now those have been done to death (pun intended) by the horror genre, but what was scary in this movie? The people killing themselves of their own volition? The off screen disappearances?
I was disgusted by the depravity of this film and entirely disappointed in it's lack of any statement about the views or choices of the characters or situation. It was a movie with plot points and then it ended. That was as deep as this film got.