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Darren (1599 KP) rated Into The Forest (2016) in Movies
Sep 13, 2019
Characters/Performance – Nell is the elder sister that doesn’t want to stay waiting for everything to blow over but must take responsibility once her father dies, she fills the big sister role needing to keep everything together even when she has a chance to leave. Eva is the younger sister and once promising dancer, she wants to continue her dancing even without the power but must learn to be more responsible. The male characters all offer different visions on the good and bad in life when a power outage would happen.
Performance wise, I feel one of the big problem here is that Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood are nearly ten years older than the characters they are playing, this does make it harder to see the teenage nativity needed in the role but sadly this takes away the strength in the performance needed.
Story – The story does focus on what could happen if the world stopped have power, this could also help show us how the world could fall apart and not cope like it once did. This also doesn’t just give us the undead being a threat which is important as it is mostly about the struggle of what is meant to be two teenage girls through this sudden change. I think the story is refreshing even if it is slightly slow.
Sci-Fi/Thriller – The power is go and now the end of the world that creates us the sci-fi side of the story well, we also deal with wondering just what will be thrown at the girls next for the thrilling side of things.
Settings – The film is set mostly in and around the home in the forest which gives us the isolation needed for a potential end of the world type of problems the girls must work through.
Final Thoughts – This is a good watch even if it is slightly slow in places, we do struggle to get the most out of the deeper side of things but we are kept interested in where things could go next.
Overall: Slow but strong thriller.
Performance wise, I feel one of the big problem here is that Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood are nearly ten years older than the characters they are playing, this does make it harder to see the teenage nativity needed in the role but sadly this takes away the strength in the performance needed.
Story – The story does focus on what could happen if the world stopped have power, this could also help show us how the world could fall apart and not cope like it once did. This also doesn’t just give us the undead being a threat which is important as it is mostly about the struggle of what is meant to be two teenage girls through this sudden change. I think the story is refreshing even if it is slightly slow.
Sci-Fi/Thriller – The power is go and now the end of the world that creates us the sci-fi side of the story well, we also deal with wondering just what will be thrown at the girls next for the thrilling side of things.
Settings – The film is set mostly in and around the home in the forest which gives us the isolation needed for a potential end of the world type of problems the girls must work through.
Final Thoughts – This is a good watch even if it is slightly slow in places, we do struggle to get the most out of the deeper side of things but we are kept interested in where things could go next.
Overall: Slow but strong thriller.
Darren (1599 KP) rated Hellions (2015) in Movies
Sep 13, 2019
Characters/Performance – Nell is the elder sister that doesn’t want to stay waiting for everything to blow over but must take responsibility once her father dies, she fills the big sister role needing to keep everything together even when she has a chance to leave. Eva is the younger sister and once promising dancer, she wants to continue her dancing even without the power but must learn to be more responsible. The male characters all offer different visions on the good and bad in life when a power outage would happen.
Performance wise, I feel one of the big problem here is that Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood are nearly ten years older than the characters they are playing, this does make it harder to see the teenage nativity needed in the role but sadly this takes away the strength in the performance needed.
Story – The story does focus on what could happen if the world stopped have power, this could also help show us how the world could fall apart and not cope like it once did. This also doesn’t just give us the undead being a threat which is important as it is mostly about the struggle of what is meant to be two teenage girls through this sudden change. I think the story is refreshing even if it is slightly slow.
Sci-Fi/Thriller – The power is go and now the end of the world that creates us the sci-fi side of the story well, we also deal with wondering just what will be thrown at the girls next for the thrilling side of things.
Settings – The film is set mostly in and around the home in the forest which gives us the isolation needed for a potential end of the world type of problems the girls must work through.
Final Thoughts – This is a good watch even if it is slightly slow in places, we do struggle to get the most out of the deeper side of things but we are kept interested in where things could go next.
Overall: Slow but strong thriller.
Performance wise, I feel one of the big problem here is that Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood are nearly ten years older than the characters they are playing, this does make it harder to see the teenage nativity needed in the role but sadly this takes away the strength in the performance needed.
Story – The story does focus on what could happen if the world stopped have power, this could also help show us how the world could fall apart and not cope like it once did. This also doesn’t just give us the undead being a threat which is important as it is mostly about the struggle of what is meant to be two teenage girls through this sudden change. I think the story is refreshing even if it is slightly slow.
Sci-Fi/Thriller – The power is go and now the end of the world that creates us the sci-fi side of the story well, we also deal with wondering just what will be thrown at the girls next for the thrilling side of things.
Settings – The film is set mostly in and around the home in the forest which gives us the isolation needed for a potential end of the world type of problems the girls must work through.
Final Thoughts – This is a good watch even if it is slightly slow in places, we do struggle to get the most out of the deeper side of things but we are kept interested in where things could go next.
Overall: Slow but strong thriller.
Darren (1599 KP) rated Man Down (2016) in Movies
Sep 16, 2019
Characters – Gabriel is a marine that believed he was fighting for the right thing but when the war came to America when he was away, he must search the destruction in hope of finding his son. Devin is the best friend and marine to Gabriel, he supports him through his missions and search for his son. Counsellor Peyton is the man learning about the mission that went wrong, as we learn that his mindset might not be as clean as we are led to believe.
Performances – Shia LaBeouf is good in this leading role showing a range we have questioned before. Jai Courtney is good in the supporting role showing us there is talent with the right material. Gary Oldman is great and that is how we like him calm and collective.
Story – The story is told in four parts, as we follow Gabriel in his home life, war time, meetings with a counsellor and in the post-apocalyptic time, these timelines only confuse the story telling process as by the end of it we will find ourselves wondering just what actually happened to these men, what is real and what is not. By the end you will understand what happened but it does make certain parts feeling random, but the true message is important.
Thriller – The thrilling side of the film does feel slow in places, it shows us certain moments only to make a complete switch in the final act.
Settings – The settings do help keep us in the different location for each moment of the story, we can identify with each part of the story we are watching too.
Scene of the Movie – The final act, and how it is shot is beautiful.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – A lot of what we see is not as important.
Final Thoughts –This is a standard movie for the most part, it starts being confusing for the first hour but when it unfolds you will be taken back where this movie goes.
Overall: Slow and confusing nearly saved by a wonderful final act.
Performances – Shia LaBeouf is good in this leading role showing a range we have questioned before. Jai Courtney is good in the supporting role showing us there is talent with the right material. Gary Oldman is great and that is how we like him calm and collective.
Story – The story is told in four parts, as we follow Gabriel in his home life, war time, meetings with a counsellor and in the post-apocalyptic time, these timelines only confuse the story telling process as by the end of it we will find ourselves wondering just what actually happened to these men, what is real and what is not. By the end you will understand what happened but it does make certain parts feeling random, but the true message is important.
Thriller – The thrilling side of the film does feel slow in places, it shows us certain moments only to make a complete switch in the final act.
Settings – The settings do help keep us in the different location for each moment of the story, we can identify with each part of the story we are watching too.
Scene of the Movie – The final act, and how it is shot is beautiful.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – A lot of what we see is not as important.
Final Thoughts –This is a standard movie for the most part, it starts being confusing for the first hour but when it unfolds you will be taken back where this movie goes.
Overall: Slow and confusing nearly saved by a wonderful final act.
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Chopping Mall (1986) in Movies
Sep 28, 2020 (Updated Sep 28, 2020)
So yeah, I freaking love Chopping Mall. It's a prefect slice of ridiculous and cheesy sci-fi horror from the 80s and a great example of how fun low budget horror can be...
The premise alone is amazing - eight teenagers get locked in a state-of-the-art shopping mall after a lightning storm hits the roof-situated antenna that controls the malls' robotic security team, sending the machines haywire and turning them into killer robots. Less than ten minutes in and Chopping Mall has absolutely all of my attention.
A huge positive about this movie is how likable the group of survivors are. A couple of them are a little throwaway, but the majority of them are given just enough backstory to make them feel real, and are all played well by their respective actors (ALWAYS love to see Barbara Crampton).
It's almost a shame when they start to get picked off. As is par for the course with this era of horror, Chopping Mall uses practical effects for the most part, and what we see he is pretty decent (ridiculous head explosions anyone?) and the few "special" effects we are treated to (the robots lasers for example) are so wonderfully low budget that it ends up adding even more charm. There is also an unholy amount of explosions just for good measure.
The dialogue is typical slasher fare, but it's boasts such gems as "Let's send these fuckers a Rambo-gram", "it's gonna be good time to the max!", "They're trying to french fry us, well I'm no damn potato" and "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just not used to running around a shopping mall in the middle of the night being chased by killer robots". Just spectacular really, especially the big guy stuffing his face whilst dead pan saying "Waitress, more butter" before an immediate cut away.
Chopping Mall for me is near the upper echelon of 80s horror. Sure it's cheap and silly but it's also great, and gets criminally overlooked due to more popular franchises. Do yourself a favor and give it a watch if you haven't before.
Also, the soundtrack absolutely slaps.
The premise alone is amazing - eight teenagers get locked in a state-of-the-art shopping mall after a lightning storm hits the roof-situated antenna that controls the malls' robotic security team, sending the machines haywire and turning them into killer robots. Less than ten minutes in and Chopping Mall has absolutely all of my attention.
A huge positive about this movie is how likable the group of survivors are. A couple of them are a little throwaway, but the majority of them are given just enough backstory to make them feel real, and are all played well by their respective actors (ALWAYS love to see Barbara Crampton).
It's almost a shame when they start to get picked off. As is par for the course with this era of horror, Chopping Mall uses practical effects for the most part, and what we see he is pretty decent (ridiculous head explosions anyone?) and the few "special" effects we are treated to (the robots lasers for example) are so wonderfully low budget that it ends up adding even more charm. There is also an unholy amount of explosions just for good measure.
The dialogue is typical slasher fare, but it's boasts such gems as "Let's send these fuckers a Rambo-gram", "it's gonna be good time to the max!", "They're trying to french fry us, well I'm no damn potato" and "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just not used to running around a shopping mall in the middle of the night being chased by killer robots". Just spectacular really, especially the big guy stuffing his face whilst dead pan saying "Waitress, more butter" before an immediate cut away.
Chopping Mall for me is near the upper echelon of 80s horror. Sure it's cheap and silly but it's also great, and gets criminally overlooked due to more popular franchises. Do yourself a favor and give it a watch if you haven't before.
Also, the soundtrack absolutely slaps.
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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula (2020) in Movies
Aug 11, 2021
Peninsula is by no means a bad movie, but from start to finish, it never manages to step out of the shadow of it's older sibling. It doesn't help that Train to Busan is as near-perfect as the zombie sub-genre gets, and it's imprint is felt all over this follow up, and that's where the main problem lies.
The film starts with an incredibly powerful opening, and initially seems like it's going to deliver the same emotional hellscape that it's predecessor did, but alas, the really out of place English exposition dialogue that accompanies the cold open is a sign of things to come.
Peninsula mainly suffers from pacing issues. All too often, it feels drawn out, slows down to a halt, spends too much time with characters that are hard to care about, and ultimately feels overlong.
The claustrophobic setting of a train is replaced by a wide open Korean cityscape, and with that comes a grander vision and an over reliance on CGI, CGI that is shaky at best. The effcts-heavy scenes are thankfully set at night time but it's hard not to notice, especially in the car chase set pieces (that go on for way too long by the way).
And then, when the final act comes a knocking, the events that unfold diver straight back into imitating Train to Busan again, but it completely misses the mark. The emotional closing moments are undercut but just how absurd and over dramatic everything is. There's just no subtlety.
I feel like I've ragged on this movie way more than I intended too, because I did enjoy it more than I didn't. The main group of leads (especially the child actors) are pretty damn good, the zombies themselves are still pretty intense, even if they are more of a background threat this time around, and once again, it's complimented by a wonderful music score, but I don't know, it just left me a little cold after just how much TtB blew me away.
Not good, not bad, just very middle of the road.
The film starts with an incredibly powerful opening, and initially seems like it's going to deliver the same emotional hellscape that it's predecessor did, but alas, the really out of place English exposition dialogue that accompanies the cold open is a sign of things to come.
Peninsula mainly suffers from pacing issues. All too often, it feels drawn out, slows down to a halt, spends too much time with characters that are hard to care about, and ultimately feels overlong.
The claustrophobic setting of a train is replaced by a wide open Korean cityscape, and with that comes a grander vision and an over reliance on CGI, CGI that is shaky at best. The effcts-heavy scenes are thankfully set at night time but it's hard not to notice, especially in the car chase set pieces (that go on for way too long by the way).
And then, when the final act comes a knocking, the events that unfold diver straight back into imitating Train to Busan again, but it completely misses the mark. The emotional closing moments are undercut but just how absurd and over dramatic everything is. There's just no subtlety.
I feel like I've ragged on this movie way more than I intended too, because I did enjoy it more than I didn't. The main group of leads (especially the child actors) are pretty damn good, the zombies themselves are still pretty intense, even if they are more of a background threat this time around, and once again, it's complimented by a wonderful music score, but I don't know, it just left me a little cold after just how much TtB blew me away.
Not good, not bad, just very middle of the road.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Army of the Dead (2021) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
A gory Zombie-rich take on Oceans 11.
Zac Snyder’s glossy zombie flick is a valiant attempt, and it has its moments. The story neatly blends a zombie apocalypse with an “Oceans” heist movie. You even get some stirring “Die Hard”-style vault opening music! But a weak script and a flabby running time make this rather hard work to get through in one sitting. If Snyder could get a bit of self-control and come out with a nice 100-minute movie, he’d get more of my vote.
Positives:
Park brain at door. You gotta love the splatter-fest of a zombie-movie once in a while, and this one delivers a lot of requisite gore and a zombie white tiger to boot! You have to admit that Zack Snyder does have an eye for style. There are some neat moments in this… like when the casino power comes back on and the silence is filled with that familiar slot machine noise and Elvis track that you only ever hear at scale in Vegas!
Dave Bautista is nearly always either in an ensemble piece or a bit-part “heavy” – the only other film I can immediately think of is the (very funny) comedy “Stuber“. He’s seldom the lead. But, understanding that the script is horribly vomit-inducing in places, he’s pretty good in this. I also liked Ella Purnell who plays his daughter, although couldn’t get over how much she looks like Olivia Cooke!
The special effects and prosthetics work is pretty impressive. This would have been good to see on the big screen.
Negatives:
Interspersed amongst the (often entertaining) action sequences are some horribly soupy sections of dialogue where the forward momentum of the movie completely stalls.
Some of the acting is on the decidedly ropey side and makes the glossy piece feel more like a B-movie.
A number of elements of the story really don’t make sense. The most blatant happens at the end: Tanaka could have got the money anyway!
At nearly two and a half hours, it’s another Snyder bladder-tester.
Positives:
Park brain at door. You gotta love the splatter-fest of a zombie-movie once in a while, and this one delivers a lot of requisite gore and a zombie white tiger to boot! You have to admit that Zack Snyder does have an eye for style. There are some neat moments in this… like when the casino power comes back on and the silence is filled with that familiar slot machine noise and Elvis track that you only ever hear at scale in Vegas!
Dave Bautista is nearly always either in an ensemble piece or a bit-part “heavy” – the only other film I can immediately think of is the (very funny) comedy “Stuber“. He’s seldom the lead. But, understanding that the script is horribly vomit-inducing in places, he’s pretty good in this. I also liked Ella Purnell who plays his daughter, although couldn’t get over how much she looks like Olivia Cooke!
The special effects and prosthetics work is pretty impressive. This would have been good to see on the big screen.
Negatives:
Interspersed amongst the (often entertaining) action sequences are some horribly soupy sections of dialogue where the forward momentum of the movie completely stalls.
Some of the acting is on the decidedly ropey side and makes the glossy piece feel more like a B-movie.
A number of elements of the story really don’t make sense. The most blatant happens at the end: Tanaka could have got the money anyway!
At nearly two and a half hours, it’s another Snyder bladder-tester.