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Nope (2022)
Nope (2022)
2022 | Horror
9
8.4 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Original...Tense...and Entertaining
Producer/Writer/Director Jordan Peele has managed to accomplish something with his latest horror film - he has managed to make a completely original film both in concept and in execution.

To tell too much about the story of NOPE would be to spoil it - and letting this unique film unfold in front of you is a large part of the journey - but, to sum up…Hollywood Horse Wrangler, Otis Haywood Sr. (the great Keith David, THE THING), his son, Otis Haywood, Jr. - or as he is called in this film OJ (the incomparable Oscar-winner Daniel Kaluuya) and his daughter, Emerald (Keke Palmer of Disney Channel fame, amongst others) encounter some strange phenomena. Their investigation will draw in their neighbor, former child star Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun, THE WALKING DEAD), a tech from the local IT Hardware store, Angel Torres (Brandon Perea, THE OA) and a wildlife cinematographer, Antlers Holst, who specializes in getting the “impossible” shot (Michael Wincott, THE CROW).

It’s a wildly entertaining, grip-your-armchair type of film that unfolds on the screen in clever ways (without getting “too” weird) - all with the pragmatic sensibilities of Peele, the former member of the comedy duo KEYE & PEELE. Jordan has grown into a filmmaker that must not be missed and in NOPE he showcases his skill with strong effect, being in complete control of the artistic point of view while delivering a highly entertaining thriller.

Of course, it helps that you have a performer as interesting to watch as Kaluuya - one of the finest performers in film today. He plays the taciturn OJ with complete “taciturn-ness” (if that is a word) and, in his skilled body, this performance works very, very well. He says more with a glance or a shrug than most people can say with a 1,000 words and he draws you into the screen and into his thoughts with tremendous intimacy.

Keke Palmer, by contrast, is the exact opposite. Her Emerald is flamboyant, chatty, up-beat and beset by inner demons made manifest by drugs, alcohol and smoke. It is a movie-saving performance by Palmer as she brings the heart and the energy to the proceedings while Kaluuya is the quiet brains and the soul.

Perea, Yeun, David and (especially) Wincott all add to the tapestry of the events and bring something interesting and worth looking at (and into) during the course of this film.

Peele ratchets the tension throughout this film like an expert and the Special Effects are used in exactly the right way that they needed to be used and showcased throughout the film - filling you with awe when that is called for and having you think to yourself “you’ve got to be kidding me” when that is exactly what the characters are thinking.

A masterful, original concept of a film by Peele - one that is not for everyone - but those that are into this type of thing are going to be in for a unique and original film filled with unique characters and more than one jump along the way.

Letter Grade: A

9 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
Reverie
Reverie
2
2.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I wanted to love Reverie by Ryan La Sala so much!

Reverie has a wonderful cover that draws you in immediately. The plot mentions a boy and a fantasy world that revolves around dreams. Everything I hoped this book would be – it wasn’t.

Kane is a gay teenager who is trying to pick up the pieces of his life back together after an attack leaves him with no memories of the past. He is in the search of who he is and who he was, and he discovers an alternate reality that he was involved in.

Reveries are worlds born from a person’s private fantasies, and once they manifest they can only be unraveled by bringing their conflicts to a resolution. Reveries have rules and plots, magic and monsters – anything you could wish for. And one wrong step can twist the entire thing into a lethal nightmare maze.

Sounds complicated already?

What if I told you that this is only from the blurb and the book doesn’t really explain these things at all?

Kane is an unraveler, together with The Others. Or at least he was, until one of The Others purged Kane of his memories. And here we are now, with Kane trying to solve the mystery and fight against evil.

I jumped into this book very eagerly, and was disappointing immediately, within the first couple of pages. The reveries and their whole concept were quite confusing, to the point of me not knowing whether the characters are now in a reverie, or in their real world.

Reverie had an amazing concept and it could’ve been done way better than this. I am just disappointed. It all seemed a bit messy and felt like it wasn’t thought through…

I didn’t connect with any of the characters, except for Kane, for the below reasons. And that was it… I didn’t care about any of the others, and there were quite a few characters.

One thing that annoyed me about Reverie, was the exaggeration of the #OwnVoices.

I am not against it, on the contrary! I love equality and I love diversity, and I share love everywhere and to everyone, and if you know me in real life, you will know this about me. We are all equal and different at the same time, and that is the unique thing that connects us all.

However, this book keeps mentioning that Kane is gay. And Kane is a lovely character. He is smart and he is brave. His memories were lost and is desperately trying to find out who he is, who he was, who are his true friends, who is good and who is evil. He doesn’t take for granted on what people tell him. He is AMAZING. Kane was so much more than just gay. But the author kept trying so hard to put an #OwnVoices hashtag on this book, that is was quite aggressive and off-putting. I love books that feature #OwnVoices, but Ryan, please – a little bit of modesty would’ve been nice.

I keep feeling this pressure of trying to write a book review that will not offend anyone, and I don’t mean to offend anyone, but I need to say that sometimes, there can be such a thing as “too much OwnVoicing” in a book. And we shouldn’t be afraid to point it out!

I am really sad about this one, guys. Honestly, I expected it to love it so bad, and now I feel down. I wouldn’t recommend it, but if you think you will love it, please pick it up. You are valid!
  
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BackToTheMovies (56 KP) rated Fear Clinic (2014) in Movies

Jun 12, 2019 (Updated Jun 12, 2019)  
Fear Clinic (2014)
Fear Clinic (2014)
2014 |
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
A Horror Movie That Makes You Think!
The film revolves around a shooting that takes place in a diner that traumatizes a group of survivors who check themselves into the Fear Clinic, a clinic run by Dr.Andover a man who has created a unique way of treating phobia's using a revolutionary new technology called the fear chamber. The fear chamber works by re-animating your worst fears into hallucinations so you can combat your fear face to face. However within the story the fears start manifesting themselves in the real world and this new technology that Dr.Andover has created is slowly opening up a doorway to allow fear incarnate to wreak havoc on the patients of the clinic.

Fear Clinic has an incredibly strong cast line up with Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street) reprising his role as Dr.Andover, Thomas Dekker (Heroes) as Blake, Fiona Dourif (Curse of Chucky) as Sara a survivor of the diner shooting, Angelina Armani (Chromeskull 2) as another survivor Caylee and Corey Taylor in his first ever acting role as Bauer a porter at the clinic. Joining this stellar cast are a whole host of other amazing talent including Brandon Beemer, Cleopatra Coleman, Kevin Gage and Felisha Tirrell.

The movie as a whole was incredibly strong, what started off as an incredibly slow build up actually built the story up rather nicely and gave us some in depth character building and information, it is rare to see a good character build in indy horrors but Fear Clinic did it maybe even too much at times. Either way the second half of the movie eclipses the first by a long shot, once the story is set the action begins and with Bob Kurtzman and Steve Johnson behind the SPFX team the excitement and effects do not disappoint. As fear incarnate slowly starts to develop in the real world the SPFX team has amazingly brought this character to life taking on a persona that was unsettling to watch (Minus the visible bald cap on Robert Englund's head). The intro to the movie however slow always had a creepy and uncomfortable vibe, almost putting you in the clinic itself, testing your nerves, straining your ability to relax and always putting you on edge for what is about to come. It was a great touch and full credit to the team for drawing it out over the films duration without letting go of that emotion.

The film contains deep undertones and emotional depth in terms of people's fears and phobia's but there are some points within the movie that need to be tightened up a bit. Certain scenes need explaining more and as fear incarnate starts to manifest itself the build up and gore is lacking within the story so even thou the creature looks amazing, it doesn't strike fear into the audience which is a shame as now the audience is isolated from the story. Never the less the movie flows nicely and as it stands its a great introduction to a franchise but it does feels quite rushed in places and action is scarce in places as the build up is painstakingly drawn out, hopefully this is tightened up for the DVD release version or Director's cut.

Convoluted in places but a movie that stands higher than most Horror's that are being released at the present, a new generation of cerebral Horror. A movie that will make you think rather than spaced out watching the screen, a movie that when finished you'll rewind to make the jigsaw pieces fit. A very smart movie.

If you're used to watching Horror movies with a vacant mind then you will be disappointed with Fear Clinic, it's time to engage your brain, the Fear Clinic is open for business.

FEAR ON!
  
Non-Stop (2014)
Non-Stop (2014)
2014 | Action, Mystery
Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) is a man with demons. After his daughter fell seriously ill, the former New York police officer began a long descent into alcoholism and emotional distress. His fall was so great; Bill ended up losing his job and fortunately was able to find work as an Air Marshall providing in flight security for commercial routes.

In the new film Non-Stop, Bill is about to take a trans-Atlantic flight to London, and despite his dislike of flying and desire not to have a three day layover in London, reports for duty.

To say Bill is on edge would be an understatement as not only does he top off his coffee with a shot of spirits, he disables the airline smoke alarms so he can sneak a smoke to help calm himself and gather his thoughts.

Despite his issues, Bill is committed to his job and reports for duty and finds himself seated next to a charismatic lady named Jen (Julianne Moore), after she swaps seats with a passenger. Jen is a frequent traveler and noting that Bill seems on edge during takeoff, does her best to help calm him which Bill says will happen once they are airborne as he dislikes take offs.

True to his word, Bill is alert and ready to do his job once the plane is leveled off and en route to London. When a mysterious text arrives telling Bill that unless he deposits 150 million into an account, a passenger will be killed every twenty minutes, Bill swings into action and is determined to get to the bottom of the threat.

The flight crew is eager to put it off as a hoax as they state that a person cannot kill people on a crowded flight without being seen and it is likely just an elaborate hoax. Not convinced, Bill begins to investigate and asks for the passenger manifest to be rechecked and wants the account number he was given traced.

With the first deadline approaching Bill believes he has eliminated the threat when he uncovers a traitor in the midst in the guise of a fellow Air Marshall.

However text messages continue to arrive with instructions and Bill learns from his superiors that the account number given is in Bill’s name. Convinced that there is a viable threat Bill must fight to save the day when the crew, his bosses, and passengers believe he is deranged and actually hijacking the plane himself via an elaborate ruse.

While the film at times stretches credibility, it is for the most part a very tight and suspenseful and enjoyable film. My only issues were the final act at times seemed a bit to Hollywood and conventional for me but thanks to Neeson the film works.

The premise was engaging as was the cast and I was kept guessing as to the true nature of the threat as the film was good at casting suspicions then redirecting them throughout.

Like with the “Taken” films, Neeson is able to take a film that could be a mess in the hands of another actor but through his charisma and strong presence is able to give a character that although flawed is one that an audience can support.

French director Jaume Collet-Serra knows suspense from his part work with films such as “Orphan” and “Mindscape” and he wisely lets the film be a character driven story with action rather than an action film that happens to have characters.

As I said earlier, the final act was what kept the film from being a classic for me, but as it is, there is still plenty of good stuff to make this a film worth catching.

http://sknr.net/2014/02/28/non-stop/
  
28 Weeks Later... (2007)
28 Weeks Later... (2007)
2007 | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
7
7.3 (30 Ratings)
Movie Rating
After being ravaged by the deadly “Rage” virus in “28 Days Later”, the nation of England is taking it’s first steps towards recovery under a U.S. lead United Nations force.

In 28 Weeks Later, society is slowing starting anew as thanks to a repopulated military zone on the Isle of Dogs. When a plane of natives arrives with two children, a sense of hope accompanies them, as the return of children is seen as a sign that the crisis is over and a better future is at hand.

The children are soon reunited with their father (Robert Carlyle), who is struggling to cope with the death of his wife, lost to the infected hordes months earlier. The fact that he panicked and left his wife to her fate is a secret that he has lived with, still he feels compelled to tell his children that their mother died despite his best efforts to help her.

As children are prone to do, the two children become bored with living in a compound and sneak past the blockade into the outer areas of London, areas that have not been fully reclaimed since the attack, declared off limits due to safety concerns.

Undaunted, the duo return to their former home to collect some of their personal items and there they make a startling discovery. Their mother is alive, and has been holding up inside their house since being left for dead by their father.

Once returned to the compound, it’s discovered the mother is a carrier of the virus, but does not manifest the disease nor it’s symptoms. Fascinated that they may have found a way to create a vaccine for the virus, the leader of the military medical community passes along her findings to her commanding officer. Unswayed by the possibility of creating a vaccine should future outbreaks occur, the commanding officer decides to follow standing orders and eradicate all signs of the virus which means killing the children’s’ mother.

Before the military can take action, a chance encounter causes the virus to spread and before long, the military is taking up arms in an effort to control the disease that is spreading like wildfire amongst the survivors. In short order, it becomes impossible to control the

infected, and the decision is made to kill anything that moves, infected or not in an effort to contain the outbreak.

During the chaos, the children are taken under protective care of a lone soldier and the doctor who is convinced that the children may hold the key to defeating the virus in their blood and must be protected at all costs. What follows is a chaotic race to get the children to safety while avoiding the infected and the soldiers in a deadly race against time for their very survival.

Following up the classic first film is a difficult task, and while not as good as the original, the sequel for the most part works. The characters and plot are paper thin, even by horror film standards, and there is little effort made to give the characters any back story or motivation beyond survival. The film is essentially one long segment of characters fleeing, yet there are some amazing visuals and chilling moments that will delight fans of the series and genre.

The images of London in desolation and of gas and fire flowing through the streets are haunting, and provide a none to subtle reference to the situation in Iraq, of a nation out of control.

Director has done a solid job of crafting a modern horror tale of a world gone mad, that raises ethical questions that will stay with viewers after the films conclusion.
  
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