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Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Uncut Gems (2019) in Movies
Mar 2, 2020 (Updated Mar 3, 2020)
I despised this film so much, I can barely bring myself to look at Adam Sandler’s face ever again! I mean, I hated everything about it. Half a day after seeing it I am still feeling somewhat nauseous, and full of disbelief that it has been subject to such attention and favourable reviews.
Objectively, it isn’t a badly made film; it has a consistent visual and tonal style, and at least the semblance of a structure that drives towards a conclusion that makes sense. It is just that it is a nasty piece of work, about awful people in an awful world, doing awful things, presented as though that is somehow edgy and cool, rather than crass and offensive.
Not since Whiplash has a film felt so much like a heart-attack, such is the dizzying, unrelenting pace. If it is designed to unnerve then it accomplishes that in spades, but unlike Whiplash it is not a pleasant experience to be forced to feel that way for 2 hours in the presence of this despicable character. It lacks any kind of grace or empathy, replacing clever, tight dialogue with loud, grating rants that make you feel physically sick.
Much has been made by Netflix of publicising this as an awards worthy work, with Sandler at the centre of attention. And many have wondered why it has been shunned by every major awards, in every category. That is no mystery to me, because when you strip away the bling it is almost totally devoid of value or meaning. It is just about an arsehole being an arsehole, surrounded by arseholes, chasing something no one cares about but them.
Screaming and saying “fuck” a lot in every single scene does not constitute acting. It constitutes an annoying headache! This is not the Sandler of Punch Drunk Love or Reign Over Me, where he does demonstrate some skill, but the Sandler of his worst macho and misogynistic tendencies. Take my word for it and avoid this piece of trash at all costs. Life is too short. The only reason I am not giving this 1/10 is that it did have the power to offend me – insipid it isn’t, repugnant it surely is.
Objectively, it isn’t a badly made film; it has a consistent visual and tonal style, and at least the semblance of a structure that drives towards a conclusion that makes sense. It is just that it is a nasty piece of work, about awful people in an awful world, doing awful things, presented as though that is somehow edgy and cool, rather than crass and offensive.
Not since Whiplash has a film felt so much like a heart-attack, such is the dizzying, unrelenting pace. If it is designed to unnerve then it accomplishes that in spades, but unlike Whiplash it is not a pleasant experience to be forced to feel that way for 2 hours in the presence of this despicable character. It lacks any kind of grace or empathy, replacing clever, tight dialogue with loud, grating rants that make you feel physically sick.
Much has been made by Netflix of publicising this as an awards worthy work, with Sandler at the centre of attention. And many have wondered why it has been shunned by every major awards, in every category. That is no mystery to me, because when you strip away the bling it is almost totally devoid of value or meaning. It is just about an arsehole being an arsehole, surrounded by arseholes, chasing something no one cares about but them.
Screaming and saying “fuck” a lot in every single scene does not constitute acting. It constitutes an annoying headache! This is not the Sandler of Punch Drunk Love or Reign Over Me, where he does demonstrate some skill, but the Sandler of his worst macho and misogynistic tendencies. Take my word for it and avoid this piece of trash at all costs. Life is too short. The only reason I am not giving this 1/10 is that it did have the power to offend me – insipid it isn’t, repugnant it surely is.
JT (287 KP) rated Escape From L.A. (1996) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
John Carpenter’s offering into the world of sequels couldn’t have been worse. Kurt Russell said he had a desire to play Snake Plissken once again and to be honest I wished he hadn’t bothered.
I had a hard enough time to muster the energy to watch this, and even more to award it a one star rating. I have made my way through bad films over the years but this one really takes the title. After Carpenter’s engrossing and dark Escape from New York hit screens in 1981 a sequel was always going to be on the cards, but maybe they waited too long for it.
The plot is similar to the first, Plissken is yet again asked to save the day despite being injected with a virus that will kill him in within nine hours, although giving him ample time to save the day. This time he has to enter L.A. now separated from America after an earthquake and where the worst of the worst are sent, there he must retrieve a black box containing controls to a super weapon.
I had a hard enough time to muster the energy to watch this, and even more to award it a one star rating
What really wound me up about this film were the most shoddy special effects ever! When you take into consideration that this came out at a similar time to the very excellent Independence Day whose CGI effects were second to none for the time, there was no comparison.
You have to wonder what Carpenter’s budget of $50,000,0000 went towards, Plissken’s underwater entry into L.A. is hilarious and is even worth the watch just for that alone.
The addition of a few more well known characters do manage to brighten the proceedings, such as Steve Buscemi as Map to the Stars Eddie and Bruce Campbell as Surgeon General of Beverly Hills, but they do very little to save this from being a complete disaster.
Russell allegedly wrote the ending to this, and to be honest it shows. If you were a fan of the first then I would leave this one well alone!
I had a hard enough time to muster the energy to watch this, and even more to award it a one star rating. I have made my way through bad films over the years but this one really takes the title. After Carpenter’s engrossing and dark Escape from New York hit screens in 1981 a sequel was always going to be on the cards, but maybe they waited too long for it.
The plot is similar to the first, Plissken is yet again asked to save the day despite being injected with a virus that will kill him in within nine hours, although giving him ample time to save the day. This time he has to enter L.A. now separated from America after an earthquake and where the worst of the worst are sent, there he must retrieve a black box containing controls to a super weapon.
I had a hard enough time to muster the energy to watch this, and even more to award it a one star rating
What really wound me up about this film were the most shoddy special effects ever! When you take into consideration that this came out at a similar time to the very excellent Independence Day whose CGI effects were second to none for the time, there was no comparison.
You have to wonder what Carpenter’s budget of $50,000,0000 went towards, Plissken’s underwater entry into L.A. is hilarious and is even worth the watch just for that alone.
The addition of a few more well known characters do manage to brighten the proceedings, such as Steve Buscemi as Map to the Stars Eddie and Bruce Campbell as Surgeon General of Beverly Hills, but they do very little to save this from being a complete disaster.
Russell allegedly wrote the ending to this, and to be honest it shows. If you were a fan of the first then I would leave this one well alone!
JT (287 KP) rated Child's Play (2019) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
Re-imagining of classic horror films can go either way. They can stick close to the original while giving it a fresh injection of gore to satisfy the bloodthirsty millennials. Or deviate it from the storyline altogether to put its own spin on the narrative.
In the Child’s Play remake the original ‘Good Guy’ dolls have been replaced by 21st-century technology in the form of ‘Buddi’ dolls which, have been produced by Kaslan Industries. And instead of a psychotic serial killer transferring his soul to the body of a doll, Buddi has all of his safety features disabled by a disgruntled Kaslan employee. The change from possession to A.I. fits perfectly within the modern world where people rely heavily on their phones and various voice-activated gadgets.
The gore levels should more than satisfy horror fans with death scenes ranging from tillers, saws and self-driving cars
Best friends, Chucky and Andy (Gabriel Bateman) share a moment
Chucky, as he will inevitably call himself, makes his way to Chicago and into the home of the Barclay’s, where mum Karen (Aubrey Plaza) gets her hands on the defective doll as an early birthday present for son Andy (Gabriel Bateman). After a few small glitches (eyes turning red) Andy and Chucky start to form a close bond. But the bond takes a sinister turn when Chucky starts to act differently in his pursuit of the ultimate friendship.
One of the highlights of the film is the brilliant casting of Mark Hamill as the voice of the murderous doll. Hamill (outside of Star Wars) is well known as a talented voice actor, having provided the voice of the Joker in the animated series. Hamill uses his full range of softly spoken innocence and demented rage to portray a character who is influenced by everything around him (there are blatant references to E.T.) and then uses it to the best of his ability in killing off people in a range of horrific (and comical) ways.
The gore levels should more than satisfy horror fans with death scenes ranging from tillers, saws and self-driving cars. It’s not without its faults but this satirical take on the slasher genre is certainly B-movie levels at best.
In the Child’s Play remake the original ‘Good Guy’ dolls have been replaced by 21st-century technology in the form of ‘Buddi’ dolls which, have been produced by Kaslan Industries. And instead of a psychotic serial killer transferring his soul to the body of a doll, Buddi has all of his safety features disabled by a disgruntled Kaslan employee. The change from possession to A.I. fits perfectly within the modern world where people rely heavily on their phones and various voice-activated gadgets.
The gore levels should more than satisfy horror fans with death scenes ranging from tillers, saws and self-driving cars
Best friends, Chucky and Andy (Gabriel Bateman) share a moment
Chucky, as he will inevitably call himself, makes his way to Chicago and into the home of the Barclay’s, where mum Karen (Aubrey Plaza) gets her hands on the defective doll as an early birthday present for son Andy (Gabriel Bateman). After a few small glitches (eyes turning red) Andy and Chucky start to form a close bond. But the bond takes a sinister turn when Chucky starts to act differently in his pursuit of the ultimate friendship.
One of the highlights of the film is the brilliant casting of Mark Hamill as the voice of the murderous doll. Hamill (outside of Star Wars) is well known as a talented voice actor, having provided the voice of the Joker in the animated series. Hamill uses his full range of softly spoken innocence and demented rage to portray a character who is influenced by everything around him (there are blatant references to E.T.) and then uses it to the best of his ability in killing off people in a range of horrific (and comical) ways.
The gore levels should more than satisfy horror fans with death scenes ranging from tillers, saws and self-driving cars. It’s not without its faults but this satirical take on the slasher genre is certainly B-movie levels at best.
Merissa (12038 KP) rated Silver Moon (The Silver #7) in Books
Mar 19, 2020
Silver Moon is the final book in the Silver series, and let me tell you, this book has ripped my heart out, thrown it on the floor, stamped all over it, picked it back up again, only to do it all again, before finally leaving me needing a new series!!!
Things come to a head for Jaze and his pack and he has to make decisions no young adult should have to. I really won't say too much as I don't want to give out any spoilers. All I will say is be careful! Your heart will racing, your mouth dry, as you try to figure out just how he gets out of certain situations. And also, for the last quarter of the book (at least) I was sobbing as I read. Not just crying, oh no. We're talking great big f'ugly crying!!!
There's so much I want to say but I can't without giving away spoilers! I want to talk about certain characters and what they went through and how it made me feel. I want to talk about that spectacular ending that just about killed me. I want to talk about the aftermath which made me cry again. But I can't.
What I will say is this series is simply outstanding. I have loved all of the books in this series for one reason or another. They all fit together perfectly. The writing is unsurpassed. The pacing is smooth. The characters are all lifelike and behave just as you think they should, before they turn around and surprise the living daylights out of you.
This book killed me. I love and hate it so it will be kept and re-read, again and again. So sad to see this series end but it does lead me nicely onto the next series, which now I just HAVE to read.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Things come to a head for Jaze and his pack and he has to make decisions no young adult should have to. I really won't say too much as I don't want to give out any spoilers. All I will say is be careful! Your heart will racing, your mouth dry, as you try to figure out just how he gets out of certain situations. And also, for the last quarter of the book (at least) I was sobbing as I read. Not just crying, oh no. We're talking great big f'ugly crying!!!
There's so much I want to say but I can't without giving away spoilers! I want to talk about certain characters and what they went through and how it made me feel. I want to talk about that spectacular ending that just about killed me. I want to talk about the aftermath which made me cry again. But I can't.
What I will say is this series is simply outstanding. I have loved all of the books in this series for one reason or another. They all fit together perfectly. The writing is unsurpassed. The pacing is smooth. The characters are all lifelike and behave just as you think they should, before they turn around and surprise the living daylights out of you.
This book killed me. I love and hate it so it will be kept and re-read, again and again. So sad to see this series end but it does lead me nicely onto the next series, which now I just HAVE to read.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
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