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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Happiest Season (2020) in Movies
Nov 28, 2020
Loved it. It made me cry. Definitely the queer romantic comedy we all deserve. Kristen Stewart is excellent as Abby and Mackenzie does a good turn as Harper, her girlfriend who is struggling coming out to her family (and basically her entire hometown). Harper takes Abby home for the holidays, doesn't act her best, and heartbreak ensues. Daniel Levy is wonderful as Abby's best friend and Aubrey Plaza as Harper's ex. Victor Garber and Mary Steenburgen are spot-on as Harper's parents, who demand perfection from all three of their daughters. If you've ever had to come out to your family, this film will deeply resonate with you. If you're straight and haven't had that experience, watch it, consider what others around you may have gone through and feel some empathy. It's funny, heartbreaking, and sweet.
Awix (3310 KP) rated American Ultra (2015) in Movies
Sep 3, 2020 (Updated Sep 3, 2020)
Competent but slightly underwhelming action comedy feels like one of those films which invites an 'it's .... meets ....' kind of description. My attempt would be that it's Clerks colliding with the Bourne Identity, as useless stoner Jesse Eisenberg discovers he is actually a brainwashed CIA assassin in line for termination by his employers. What will his girlfriend Kristen Stewart (yes, he's probably punching above his weight a bit) say?
The basic idea is sort of funny, but for this to work as a comedy it would need considerably better jokes, and while the action is competently staged (gory, though) it's not done with the style or scope to make the film distinctive. Not actually bad - reasonable performances and the script has a solid structure - but not accomplished or entertaining enough to really stand out. As it is, feels like an Edgar Wright pastiche, if there's such a thing, but very pedestrian.
The basic idea is sort of funny, but for this to work as a comedy it would need considerably better jokes, and while the action is competently staged (gory, though) it's not done with the style or scope to make the film distinctive. Not actually bad - reasonable performances and the script has a solid structure - but not accomplished or entertaining enough to really stand out. As it is, feels like an Edgar Wright pastiche, if there's such a thing, but very pedestrian.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Charlie's Angels (2019) in Movies
Dec 4, 2019
Attempt to make the notably leer-tastic exploitation TV show into a piece of weaponised feminism ends up understandably conflicted, but it has bigger problems to worry about. Somebody wants to steal a maguffin with evil potential, Angels want to stop him, much whizzing about in Germany, Istanbul, and so forth.
Elizabeth Banks puts together a generic sub-Mission Impossible action thriller reasonably well, but when the gunfire and revving engines dies away you are just left with the sound of comic banter failing to spark and the occasional unsubtle you-go-girl message. The plot feels very familiar, and the rest doesn't do enough to cover up for this. Mixed work from the cast: Banks herself is working hard, Kristen Stewart proves she genuinely does have star quality, Naomi Scott can probably look forward to a healthy career playing the kooky best friend, and while Ella Balinska can deliver neither a joke nor a line of exposition to save her life, she is about nine feet tall which helps with the fight choreography. Patrick Stewart turns up and twinkles a lot; one presumes CGI has been used to erase the dollar signs in his eyes. Admittedly, I am probably not the target audience for this movie, but even so: too often this feels leaden when it should be light, and treacly when it should froth.
Elizabeth Banks puts together a generic sub-Mission Impossible action thriller reasonably well, but when the gunfire and revving engines dies away you are just left with the sound of comic banter failing to spark and the occasional unsubtle you-go-girl message. The plot feels very familiar, and the rest doesn't do enough to cover up for this. Mixed work from the cast: Banks herself is working hard, Kristen Stewart proves she genuinely does have star quality, Naomi Scott can probably look forward to a healthy career playing the kooky best friend, and while Ella Balinska can deliver neither a joke nor a line of exposition to save her life, she is about nine feet tall which helps with the fight choreography. Patrick Stewart turns up and twinkles a lot; one presumes CGI has been used to erase the dollar signs in his eyes. Admittedly, I am probably not the target audience for this movie, but even so: too often this feels leaden when it should be light, and treacly when it should froth.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Underwater (2020) in Movies
Apr 30, 2020
Below The Surface
Underwater- is a highly entertaining sci-fi horror movie. Mixing sci-fi with horror with a underwater creature. The cast was really good, i liked Kristen Stewart, T.J. Miller, Vincent Cassel and John Gallagher Jr. The downfall was Jessica Henwick she was really annoying. He charcter was really annoying and wouldnt shut up. The plot/story was intresting, the sci-fi was good and the horror was just there/not really though.
The plot: Disaster strikes more than six miles below the ocean surface when water crashes through the walls of a drilling station. Led by their captain, the survivors realize that their only hope is to walk across the sea floor to reach the main part of the facility. But they soon find themselves in a fight for their lives when they come under attack from mysterious and deadly creatures that no one has ever seen.
Like i said a good movie.
The plot: Disaster strikes more than six miles below the ocean surface when water crashes through the walls of a drilling station. Led by their captain, the survivors realize that their only hope is to walk across the sea floor to reach the main part of the facility. But they soon find themselves in a fight for their lives when they come under attack from mysterious and deadly creatures that no one has ever seen.
Like i said a good movie.
Tim McGuire (301 KP) rated Underwater (2020) in Movies
Jan 21, 2020
379. Underwater. A straight to the action, claustrophobic thriller. Story begins with scantily clad Norah getting ready to start her shift at the laboratory at the bottom of the ocean. And by the sudden alarms going off and the entire structure rocking back and forth, something went wrong. it's an earthquake, and its tearing the place apart. And so it's on to find others and to get to escape pods. Oh the earthquake also woke something up down there, and it's big. Who knows maybe its there just to say hi to the new neighbors, but it doesn't really look that way. Because the movie mainly focuses on action, we never really get to see Kristen Stewart make that awkward face, you know what I mean, so that was a plus. TJ Miller was in it, as some kind of odd man-baby scientist, so I thought that was pretty stupid. Overall it was a decent action sci fi flick. Just remember like a famous Jedi once said: "There's always a bigger fish." Filmbufftim on FB.
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Charlie's Angels (2019) in Movies
Jul 31, 2020
A poor reboot
I had little hopes for this film when it was released at the cinema as the trailer looked awful, and I'm afraid to say the trailer was an accurate representation of the film itself.
The great thing about this film was the cast. This really does have a stellar cast, however the problem is that they're criminally underutilised and let down by an awful screenplay. The only ones who come out of this relatively unscathed are Kristen Stewart (she gets the "fun" role) and Naomi Scott (who still suffers from the cliched new recruit character role). Even the great Patrick Stewart couldn't save this. The action itself is pretty second rate and rather dull, and whilst it fortunately doesn't go OTT on the CGI, the fighting is still a little clunky. And the plot is as ridiculous as you'd expect from a spy film like this, and as predictable.
I also have a bit of an issue with how they're trying to promote gender equality in this. I'm all for girl power, but it's being rammed down your throat here and it's a bit much. Every male character is portrayed to be a complete slime ball and is this really fair? I don't think so. It's a bit old fashioned to have every bloke as a bad guy and I think there are better ways to promote powerful women and equality.
Overall this was an entirely unnecessary reboot of this franchise. Whilst the previous reincarnations with Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu weren't great, they were at least better than this.
The great thing about this film was the cast. This really does have a stellar cast, however the problem is that they're criminally underutilised and let down by an awful screenplay. The only ones who come out of this relatively unscathed are Kristen Stewart (she gets the "fun" role) and Naomi Scott (who still suffers from the cliched new recruit character role). Even the great Patrick Stewart couldn't save this. The action itself is pretty second rate and rather dull, and whilst it fortunately doesn't go OTT on the CGI, the fighting is still a little clunky. And the plot is as ridiculous as you'd expect from a spy film like this, and as predictable.
I also have a bit of an issue with how they're trying to promote gender equality in this. I'm all for girl power, but it's being rammed down your throat here and it's a bit much. Every male character is portrayed to be a complete slime ball and is this really fair? I don't think so. It's a bit old fashioned to have every bloke as a bad guy and I think there are better ways to promote powerful women and equality.
Overall this was an entirely unnecessary reboot of this franchise. Whilst the previous reincarnations with Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu weren't great, they were at least better than this.
Dork_knight74 (881 KP) rated Underwater (2020) in Movies
Feb 5, 2020
Entertaining
I tried to into this one with an open mind. I'm not a big fan of Kristen Stewart and I got what I expected from her performance-a pretty bland, non-emotional showing. Having her half naked through a lot of it didn't really save her performance either. The rest of the cast and crew were pretty good, however, so they more than made up for it. The cinematography was good-dark and murky-but what you'd expect from a movie shot under the ocean. The story, however, was pretty fascinating and surprisingly entertaining. Not all entirely believable, but(here's my nerd side speaking), seeing as how we've only explored a mere 5% of the world's oceans-especially what's underneath-the creatures and effects were pretty cool. I watch a lot of animal planet shows and after seeing some of the weird creatures that we DO know about at certain depths, this movie really makes you wonder what we DON'T know about under the earth's oceans. This movie had plenty of creep factor and a few gruesome scenes but nothing that younger viewers couldn't handle. Good one for a scary movie night! Worth a watch!
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Underwater (2020) in Movies
Feb 16, 2020 (Updated Feb 16, 2020)
Frenetic action in murky water - baffling (2 more)
Scientific inconsistencies
Waterlogged Alien wannabe
Soggy and forgettable
I had a sinking feeling (excuse the pun) about this movie from the word go. It's a lazy approach to 'mansplain' the whole set up for the movie through digital news posts during the main titles. It feels more patronising to the audience than having main titles and then a 'Star Wars-style' synopsis.
Once into the movie, director William Eubank gives us the bare minimum of character set-up for our heroine while she brushes her teeth*. (And no way did she even follow the British Dental Association recommendation of two minutes brushing!) (* Interestingly, the trailer seems to show some above water scenes/dialogue and introductions to the rest of the crew that never made the final cut.)
And then....
BAM!!!
I was thinking that the manic action that follows was some sort of dream or flashback. But no. We are pitched headlong into the story without pause as disaster strikes. It all feels positively indecent.
For we are seven miles down in the Mariana trench, when a drilling station springs a leak.
Now call me a cynic, but I would have *thought* that, at that depth, a single leak would implode the whole station in about 10 seconds flat. But then that wouldn't be cinematic enough, and would be a much shorter movie!
And there are numerous other scientific implausibilities. For example, diving helmets that appear to be able to withstand 15,750 psi of pressure (I Googled it) can be smashed-in by a woman by just bashing it.
Sigh.
We are in 'Alien-lite' territory again. Just as in last year's "The Meg", those pesky humans have disturbed something in its home territory.... and it's suitably pissed-off. The action centres on hippy-chick engineer Norah (Kristen Stewart). The script neatly describes her as a "flat-chested elfin creature"... a fact which every male in the audience has thought (come on guys, admit it , you did!) from the immediately preceding scene.
It was never entirely clear to me what skills Norah was supposed to have.... it seemed to flex from diving to electrical engineering to computer engineering.
Stewart is a handy actress to have in a movie, but here she is mostly relegated to lots of shots of her athletic body running through corridors in her skimpy crop-top and knickers.
Supporting Stewart are veteran French actor Vincent Cassel as the mission captain; "the funny one" Paul (T.J. Miller); the trusty male action figure Smith (John Gallagher Jr.); and Emily - the 'less-flat chested but screamy one' (Jessica Henwick). Emily also gets to run around in a T-shirt and knickers: you kind of quickly get to know the audience the film is trying to appeal to.
As will be obvious if you've seen any of these types of film before, not all of these folks are going to make it.
As this movie is presumably filmed in a small water tank in a Louisiana studio. Clearly the memo said "fill it with murky water so the audience can't see the sides". "And just for good measure, let's film it with hand-help rapidly moving cameras". The result is that a lot of the time, when there was a burst of frenetic underwater action, I had NO IDEA what was actually going on.
In this way, the movie reminded me of the shark B-movie "47 Metres Down" from a few years ago.
This is certainly not "Alien". Although similarly set, this is not "The Abyss" either. It's most similar perhaps to "Life", but without the clever twist ending.
It's also not a truly TERRIBLE movie either. But unfortunately this is one of the most "meh" action movies I've seen in the past year. It's just brain-crushingly forgettable.
There was only one vaguely memorable shot in the whole movie: a final shot of Kristen Stewart. But that just serves to make me think.... 'Stewart deserves much better than this'.
For a movie concerning itself with a lack of oxygen, watching this felt like a waste of it.
(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2020/02/15/one-manns-movies-film-review-underwater-2020/ ).
Once into the movie, director William Eubank gives us the bare minimum of character set-up for our heroine while she brushes her teeth*. (And no way did she even follow the British Dental Association recommendation of two minutes brushing!) (* Interestingly, the trailer seems to show some above water scenes/dialogue and introductions to the rest of the crew that never made the final cut.)
And then....
BAM!!!
I was thinking that the manic action that follows was some sort of dream or flashback. But no. We are pitched headlong into the story without pause as disaster strikes. It all feels positively indecent.
For we are seven miles down in the Mariana trench, when a drilling station springs a leak.
Now call me a cynic, but I would have *thought* that, at that depth, a single leak would implode the whole station in about 10 seconds flat. But then that wouldn't be cinematic enough, and would be a much shorter movie!
And there are numerous other scientific implausibilities. For example, diving helmets that appear to be able to withstand 15,750 psi of pressure (I Googled it) can be smashed-in by a woman by just bashing it.
Sigh.
We are in 'Alien-lite' territory again. Just as in last year's "The Meg", those pesky humans have disturbed something in its home territory.... and it's suitably pissed-off. The action centres on hippy-chick engineer Norah (Kristen Stewart). The script neatly describes her as a "flat-chested elfin creature"... a fact which every male in the audience has thought (come on guys, admit it , you did!) from the immediately preceding scene.
It was never entirely clear to me what skills Norah was supposed to have.... it seemed to flex from diving to electrical engineering to computer engineering.
Stewart is a handy actress to have in a movie, but here she is mostly relegated to lots of shots of her athletic body running through corridors in her skimpy crop-top and knickers.
Supporting Stewart are veteran French actor Vincent Cassel as the mission captain; "the funny one" Paul (T.J. Miller); the trusty male action figure Smith (John Gallagher Jr.); and Emily - the 'less-flat chested but screamy one' (Jessica Henwick). Emily also gets to run around in a T-shirt and knickers: you kind of quickly get to know the audience the film is trying to appeal to.
As will be obvious if you've seen any of these types of film before, not all of these folks are going to make it.
As this movie is presumably filmed in a small water tank in a Louisiana studio. Clearly the memo said "fill it with murky water so the audience can't see the sides". "And just for good measure, let's film it with hand-help rapidly moving cameras". The result is that a lot of the time, when there was a burst of frenetic underwater action, I had NO IDEA what was actually going on.
In this way, the movie reminded me of the shark B-movie "47 Metres Down" from a few years ago.
This is certainly not "Alien". Although similarly set, this is not "The Abyss" either. It's most similar perhaps to "Life", but without the clever twist ending.
It's also not a truly TERRIBLE movie either. But unfortunately this is one of the most "meh" action movies I've seen in the past year. It's just brain-crushingly forgettable.
There was only one vaguely memorable shot in the whole movie: a final shot of Kristen Stewart. But that just serves to make me think.... 'Stewart deserves much better than this'.
For a movie concerning itself with a lack of oxygen, watching this felt like a waste of it.
(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2020/02/15/one-manns-movies-film-review-underwater-2020/ ).
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Underwater (2020) in Movies
Oct 18, 2020
Better than expected
Underwater stars Kristen Stewart as an engineer working aboard a deep-sea laboratory, who must fend for her life alongside her crew when an earthquake devastates the station.
I’ll start by admitting that I’ve never been a big fan of Kristen Stewart, with Twilight to thank for this rather negative opinion. However I’ve come to realise she’s actually a decent actress, especially in action packed films, and this really helped me to enjoy Underwater a lot more than I was expecting.
The action in this is virtually nonstop. There’s no lengthy or drawn out introductions, we’re submerged (literally) into the main plot of this film less than 5 minutes in and it continues in this vein throughout. It’s an edge of your seat thrill ride that’s tense and gripping, and there isn’t a dull moment. The horror aspect is rather well done and paired with the unknown and often claustrophobic circumstances the characters find them in and the very good score, it becomes quite a scary and nerve wracking film. The plot is decent and whilst the reveal on the cause of the earthquake isn’t entirely unpredictable, it still proves to be great entertaining.
Sadly despite my gushing, Underwater isn’t perfect. The biggest problem with it is the CGI and special effects. The props and set design themselves look good, but they’re let down when we’re shown these huge CGI underwater scenes that are meant to look impressive but instead look horrendous. I’d be interested to know how this looked on the big screen, but in a home setup it looks decidedly dodgy. And slow motion every time something explodes is cringeworthy.
Underwater also suffers from your typical survival film clichés. The plot itself is very typical of a survival film, and paired with ridiculous and predictable actions by underdeveloped characters, it lets it down. The cast too are also let down by the cliched characters, and even Vincent Cassel and John Gallagher Jnr are given little to work with. The only character that has had any development whatsoever is Stewart’s Nora, who is a decent and fairly likeable protagonist.
I really wish Underwater had a little more money thrown at it. If they had dramatically improved the CGI then I think this would’ve made for a cracking good sci-if/horror. The critical reception for this hasn’t been great, which surprises me as overall this is a very tense, nerve wracking and sometimes scary film that just falls short of being very good.
I’ll start by admitting that I’ve never been a big fan of Kristen Stewart, with Twilight to thank for this rather negative opinion. However I’ve come to realise she’s actually a decent actress, especially in action packed films, and this really helped me to enjoy Underwater a lot more than I was expecting.
The action in this is virtually nonstop. There’s no lengthy or drawn out introductions, we’re submerged (literally) into the main plot of this film less than 5 minutes in and it continues in this vein throughout. It’s an edge of your seat thrill ride that’s tense and gripping, and there isn’t a dull moment. The horror aspect is rather well done and paired with the unknown and often claustrophobic circumstances the characters find them in and the very good score, it becomes quite a scary and nerve wracking film. The plot is decent and whilst the reveal on the cause of the earthquake isn’t entirely unpredictable, it still proves to be great entertaining.
Sadly despite my gushing, Underwater isn’t perfect. The biggest problem with it is the CGI and special effects. The props and set design themselves look good, but they’re let down when we’re shown these huge CGI underwater scenes that are meant to look impressive but instead look horrendous. I’d be interested to know how this looked on the big screen, but in a home setup it looks decidedly dodgy. And slow motion every time something explodes is cringeworthy.
Underwater also suffers from your typical survival film clichés. The plot itself is very typical of a survival film, and paired with ridiculous and predictable actions by underdeveloped characters, it lets it down. The cast too are also let down by the cliched characters, and even Vincent Cassel and John Gallagher Jnr are given little to work with. The only character that has had any development whatsoever is Stewart’s Nora, who is a decent and fairly likeable protagonist.
I really wish Underwater had a little more money thrown at it. If they had dramatically improved the CGI then I think this would’ve made for a cracking good sci-if/horror. The critical reception for this hasn’t been great, which surprises me as overall this is a very tense, nerve wracking and sometimes scary film that just falls short of being very good.
Gareth von Kallenbach (965 KP) rated American Ultra (2015) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019
Jesse Eisenberg plays a “stoned” cold killer without a memory in the new action comedy American Ultra. But when the pompous government weasel played by Topher Grace decides to eliminate the asset, Stoner Eisenberg finds himself running for his life and yet relying on secret spy skills he didn’t know he had. Think Jason Borne meets Pineapple Express. Only with way more low budget action and far less stoner humor. Which is a shame because American Ultra doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. If it would have made a commitment to either the action or the stoner comedy, we would could have and a solid movie in either direction, but instead we just get, meh.
That isn’t to say the film is bad. I went in with low expectations and enjoyed myself. It has some chuckles but they are few and far between. Kristen Stewart seems right at home with her performance of Eisenberg’s girlfriend who is caught up in the ride and helps him along the way. While Jesse Eisenberg and Topher Grace are not menacing and their action sequences seem stiff and awkward. However this film makes it clear that it doesn’t take itself seriously and thus if you just go along with the ride you may enjoy it.
That isn’t to say the film is bad. I went in with low expectations and enjoyed myself. It has some chuckles but they are few and far between. Kristen Stewart seems right at home with her performance of Eisenberg’s girlfriend who is caught up in the ride and helps him along the way. While Jesse Eisenberg and Topher Grace are not menacing and their action sequences seem stiff and awkward. However this film makes it clear that it doesn’t take itself seriously and thus if you just go along with the ride you may enjoy it.