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Darren (1599 KP) rated From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (2000) in Movies
Sep 2, 2019
Thoughts on From Dusk till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter
Characters – Johnny Madrid is one of the most feared outlaws in the west, about to be executed, he is rescued and returns to his gang to continue his life of crime, he will kill some people, while protecting others, making him a morally confusing figure. Ambrose Bierce has come from America where he has survived a shooting, he wants peaceful life only to find himself in the middle of the battle. The Hangman is trying to eliminate the threats in the gang world including Johnny, mostly to protect his daughter, only it isn’t for him to choose. Esmeralda is his daughter that has been getting controlled for too long and is in love with Johnny, she goes on the run with him only to be left questioning his choices.
Performances – The performances here are poor once again, Marco Leonardi overplays is role in the film, while Michael Parks does the best he can with his role. We do end up meeting too many random characters that just seems to make everything struggle to get going in the performance side of the film.
Story – The story does return to the original format only in the western era, we have the outlaws, the victims and the authorities all ending up in the bar which is crawling with vampires and must put their difference aside to survive. This style did work first time, it doesn’t fail this time, but it is hard to become invested in the characters. the build up before the bar is a lot of filler because we do have a lot of people to learn their place and mentality which makes it hard to figure out who is the good and bad guys for the piece. We try to have a connection to the original movie with the creation of one of the vampires which better than the last time out too.
Horror/Western – The horror involved in the film is returning to the vampire outlet which again doesn’t feel scary as it could have been. The western side of the film just uses the criminal side of the last one only making it a prequel to the original.
Settings – The film is set in the western area, we do eventually hit the saloon made famous from the first film and this time we get to dive into the larger scale of the building.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are not at the best, we do get a couple of good moments only nothing that reaches the levels of the first film.
Scene of the Movie – Escape.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – To many characters.
Final Thoughts – This is a solid enough prequel, at least it does feel connected to the previous film which helps build on the legacy of the bar.
Overall: Simple prequel.
Characters – Johnny Madrid is one of the most feared outlaws in the west, about to be executed, he is rescued and returns to his gang to continue his life of crime, he will kill some people, while protecting others, making him a morally confusing figure. Ambrose Bierce has come from America where he has survived a shooting, he wants peaceful life only to find himself in the middle of the battle. The Hangman is trying to eliminate the threats in the gang world including Johnny, mostly to protect his daughter, only it isn’t for him to choose. Esmeralda is his daughter that has been getting controlled for too long and is in love with Johnny, she goes on the run with him only to be left questioning his choices.
Performances – The performances here are poor once again, Marco Leonardi overplays is role in the film, while Michael Parks does the best he can with his role. We do end up meeting too many random characters that just seems to make everything struggle to get going in the performance side of the film.
Story – The story does return to the original format only in the western era, we have the outlaws, the victims and the authorities all ending up in the bar which is crawling with vampires and must put their difference aside to survive. This style did work first time, it doesn’t fail this time, but it is hard to become invested in the characters. the build up before the bar is a lot of filler because we do have a lot of people to learn their place and mentality which makes it hard to figure out who is the good and bad guys for the piece. We try to have a connection to the original movie with the creation of one of the vampires which better than the last time out too.
Horror/Western – The horror involved in the film is returning to the vampire outlet which again doesn’t feel scary as it could have been. The western side of the film just uses the criminal side of the last one only making it a prequel to the original.
Settings – The film is set in the western area, we do eventually hit the saloon made famous from the first film and this time we get to dive into the larger scale of the building.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are not at the best, we do get a couple of good moments only nothing that reaches the levels of the first film.
Scene of the Movie – Escape.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – To many characters.
Final Thoughts – This is a solid enough prequel, at least it does feel connected to the previous film which helps build on the legacy of the bar.
Overall: Simple prequel.
Steve Fearon (84 KP) rated Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) in Movies
Sep 7, 2018
A good antagonist for this one (1 more)
An interesting approach to character helplessness
Overall drop in quality of the cast and camerawork is noticable. (1 more)
Lacks some of the character of the first 2 movies
Whannell Takes the wheel...
So the third instalment sees co-writer Leigh Whannell take the wheel of this fledgling franchise, probably since James Wan is one of the busiest men in hollywood.
Whilst the familar faces of the first two movies are missing in this prequel, the mystic (Elise) returns as the point of familiarity, and one suspects the popularity of her character has led to this prequel.
The casting of the movie is interesting, with a generally weaker cast despite a bigger budget...the main protagonist does a decent job of essentially being a teenage scream queen, being pursued by a breathing-masked ghost/entity with mucky feet that torments her after she has her legs broken in a car accident.
Her claustrophobic situation, being essentially bed-bound, leads to a number of uncomfortable scenes, with the very creepy 'man who can't breath', as well as a hand, foot and faceless woman at one point.
The pacing of this film seems a little faster, getting to the ghostly scenes much quicker, and perhaps a little impatient to get to the moneymaking shots, some of which felt a little tacked on as 'additional scares' without any context, but they are mostly fun so I can let them slide.
The film answers a few questions about Elise, and how she meets the two goons that follow her around during the other films, as well as showing her talking with the other psychic from Insidious 2, and they are constantly making references to the family from the earlier movies, but most of this is pretty incidental to the core of the actual film itself.
All in all its a solid if unspectacular sequel, with some great moments, some clunky exposition and throwbacks, and some questions answered that you never knew needed answering!
Whilst the familar faces of the first two movies are missing in this prequel, the mystic (Elise) returns as the point of familiarity, and one suspects the popularity of her character has led to this prequel.
The casting of the movie is interesting, with a generally weaker cast despite a bigger budget...the main protagonist does a decent job of essentially being a teenage scream queen, being pursued by a breathing-masked ghost/entity with mucky feet that torments her after she has her legs broken in a car accident.
Her claustrophobic situation, being essentially bed-bound, leads to a number of uncomfortable scenes, with the very creepy 'man who can't breath', as well as a hand, foot and faceless woman at one point.
The pacing of this film seems a little faster, getting to the ghostly scenes much quicker, and perhaps a little impatient to get to the moneymaking shots, some of which felt a little tacked on as 'additional scares' without any context, but they are mostly fun so I can let them slide.
The film answers a few questions about Elise, and how she meets the two goons that follow her around during the other films, as well as showing her talking with the other psychic from Insidious 2, and they are constantly making references to the family from the earlier movies, but most of this is pretty incidental to the core of the actual film itself.
All in all its a solid if unspectacular sequel, with some great moments, some clunky exposition and throwbacks, and some questions answered that you never knew needed answering!
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Annabelle: Creation (2017) in Movies
Oct 25, 2020
This damn doll just isn't scary, people - and neither is this movie, not a single time. However, for about half the time it does succeed at being effectively creepy and sometimes even sort of fun. I mean this is still just the same two or three rusty clichés and dated, predictable jumpscares on repeat but it has a lot of half-okay vignettes... which all get soured by the surfeit of nonsensical connections to other movies in the series and the insufferable "Hey, remember when THIS happened??" bullcrap. For one I wish they'd let David F. Sandberg be David F. Sandberg here instead of yet another inferior Wan clone like they do with the rest of these. And for two I'm not the first to suggest that this movie being more concerned with milking the Conjuring mythos dry of any miniscule amount of nuance it once had through attempting to spin it thin into some sort of pointless, scuffed 'cinematic universe' kills the standalone decent horror flick this could have been (as well as devalues the originals in the process) - and I hopefully won't be the last - but Jesus Christ did it have to be so fucking long too? When this script was written, did every sentence have to include at least three sets of ellipses between words? Also the non-horror stuff is worlds better than the horror stuff - personally I would have loved to have seen the movie that was pushed to the side in here about this group of orphans finding out something isn't right with Anthony LaPaglia and Miranda Otto or the secretive demonic stuff they've been cooking up in the background after their daughter gets killed. But no, it rushes past all the intriguing stuff in favor of a competent but saccharine and generic cash grab. Far from awful but also not all that much better than the original 𝘈𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦. Did we really need a prequel... to a prequel (which in and of itself we didn't need)?
Frecklesxoxo (6 KP) rated Silent Weapon (Street Soldier #2) in Books
Feb 27, 2019
I received an arc copy from Netgalley of this book for an open and honest review.
I was surprised to find that I really liked this book, more than I expected too. It was well written and interesting. The plot was current and hits home as to just how much work goes on behind the scenes to thwart terrorism and I love how 2 different departments worked together. Its scary and real about radicalisation and I was plesed to see there were no type casts in this story.
There were a few things that made this a 4 star rating- in some areas I felt the story was perhaps a little rushed (near the beginning) and some parts could have been more polished. As I was reading this I felt I had missed something (I didn't know there was a prequel to this) I didn't know the whole background story which threw me off.
But the storyline was greatc and kept me hooked :)
I was surprised to find that I really liked this book, more than I expected too. It was well written and interesting. The plot was current and hits home as to just how much work goes on behind the scenes to thwart terrorism and I love how 2 different departments worked together. Its scary and real about radicalisation and I was plesed to see there were no type casts in this story.
There were a few things that made this a 4 star rating- in some areas I felt the story was perhaps a little rushed (near the beginning) and some parts could have been more polished. As I was reading this I felt I had missed something (I didn't know there was a prequel to this) I didn't know the whole background story which threw me off.
But the storyline was greatc and kept me hooked :)
Andy K (10821 KP) rated The Animatrix (2003) in Movies
Jun 9, 2019
Great supplement to the trilogy
This collection of short films, some of which were written by the The Wachowski Brothers, is a great set of stories as both prequel and supplement to the Matrix trilogy of films. They show various wars and clashes between humans and the robots they created to the basis of forming the Matrix itself which exists in the live-action version.
The animation is really bright and eye popping and reminded me of Ghost in the Shell or even Samurai Jack at times. Some of the stories were a little too close to the trilogy while others really went in their own direction. Others reminded me of other genre films including District 9 or even War of the Worlds.
I liked the fast paced style of animation in some and others let the stories develop a little more.
For those Matrix movie fans I think you would thoroughly enjoy this!
The animation is really bright and eye popping and reminded me of Ghost in the Shell or even Samurai Jack at times. Some of the stories were a little too close to the trilogy while others really went in their own direction. Others reminded me of other genre films including District 9 or even War of the Worlds.
I liked the fast paced style of animation in some and others let the stories develop a little more.
For those Matrix movie fans I think you would thoroughly enjoy this!
Brilliant insight into Bram Stoker's life
*** Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review ***
This book stays true to the format of Stoker's Dracula, being written in the form of a compilation of diary entries, letters and newspaper reports. This allows some of the main characters to embed their own voice and to give their view of events, the narratives interweaved to give a good, suspenseful story.
Bram Stoker was not well as a child, pretty much bed-bound until the age of 7. Then he suddenly recovered and went on to become a successful athlete and University graduate. This book takes that life story and layers on a brilliant prequel to Dracula, suggesting that vampires very much impacted on Stoker's life and he himself did battle with Count Vlad.
Excellent, atmospheric story with plenty of suspense and action, and a few twists and turns along the way. A perfect read for this time of year.
This book stays true to the format of Stoker's Dracula, being written in the form of a compilation of diary entries, letters and newspaper reports. This allows some of the main characters to embed their own voice and to give their view of events, the narratives interweaved to give a good, suspenseful story.
Bram Stoker was not well as a child, pretty much bed-bound until the age of 7. Then he suddenly recovered and went on to become a successful athlete and University graduate. This book takes that life story and layers on a brilliant prequel to Dracula, suggesting that vampires very much impacted on Stoker's life and he himself did battle with Count Vlad.
Excellent, atmospheric story with plenty of suspense and action, and a few twists and turns along the way. A perfect read for this time of year.
Sarah (7798 KP) rated The Nun (2018) in Movies
Jul 1, 2019
Another unnecessary origin film
I have to be honest, I've never been a fan of the Conjuring or Annabelle type films so there was no real interest in watching this film other than it's one of the latest releases on Sky Cinema. And to be frank, after seeing it I'm still completely disinterested.
The film really isnt scary, and relies on obvious jump scares that are ridiculously predictable. The story itself is meh and gets so silly in parts that I didnt have a clue what was going on. I mean blood of christ, really? And then theres the effects which are pretty poor in some scenes, to the point where the nun doesn't look scary and instead looks laughable. With many origin/prequel films they're telling us a backstory of a character that we didnt need to know and this is true of the nun. Do we really benefit from a origin story about the nun? I'm afraid the answer is definitely not!
The film really isnt scary, and relies on obvious jump scares that are ridiculously predictable. The story itself is meh and gets so silly in parts that I didnt have a clue what was going on. I mean blood of christ, really? And then theres the effects which are pretty poor in some scenes, to the point where the nun doesn't look scary and instead looks laughable. With many origin/prequel films they're telling us a backstory of a character that we didnt need to know and this is true of the nun. Do we really benefit from a origin story about the nun? I'm afraid the answer is definitely not!
Awix (3310 KP) rated Apollo 11 (2019) in Movies
Jul 5, 2019 (Updated Jul 5, 2019)
Following the slick disaster movie (1995's Apollo 13) and the oddball horror flick (2011's Apollo 18), cinema's most unpredictable franchise returns with, of all things, a prequel documentary made up almost entirely of contemporary footage of the first manned Moon landing (or possibly a bunch of Stanley Kubrick's out-takes from faking the whole thing, depending on what you personally believe).
No narration, no talking heads, almost no music or graphics: this tells the story in the most stripped-back way imaginable and as a result makes it seem remarkably fresh and engaging. One's first reaction is to wonder where they found all this incredible footage, depicting every aspect of the mission in extraordinary, pristine detail. The director wisely makes the decision to basically get out of the way and let the pictures tell the story of the human race's greatest achievement. Essential viewing for anyone interested in history, or the future.
No narration, no talking heads, almost no music or graphics: this tells the story in the most stripped-back way imaginable and as a result makes it seem remarkably fresh and engaging. One's first reaction is to wonder where they found all this incredible footage, depicting every aspect of the mission in extraordinary, pristine detail. The director wisely makes the decision to basically get out of the way and let the pictures tell the story of the human race's greatest achievement. Essential viewing for anyone interested in history, or the future.
Vegas (725 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Red Dead Redemption 2 in Video Games
Jul 7, 2019 (Updated Jul 8, 2019)
The story (1 more)
The gameplay
Improvement on the original
The long awaited sequel (prequel) to red dead doesn't disappoint in the solo game, the story is an epic adventure travelling through the open plains to the growing towns and cities, railroads, carriages, and horseback are all ways of getting around the massive map. Build up your camp, help the gang, or rob stores and banks the choice is yours, you can even spend time fishing or hunting...
The cast of characters you meet are diverse, funny, serious, violent or just odd but whoever you meet, you do find yourself caring one way or another about the people in the game you interact with...
I will say I did struggle to get as engaged in the multi player game side of it, but that is just a personal thing as I do prefer solo gaming...
For shear enjoyment aspect and length of game, this is one of the best games of recent times.
The cast of characters you meet are diverse, funny, serious, violent or just odd but whoever you meet, you do find yourself caring one way or another about the people in the game you interact with...
I will say I did struggle to get as engaged in the multi player game side of it, but that is just a personal thing as I do prefer solo gaming...
For shear enjoyment aspect and length of game, this is one of the best games of recent times.
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Cube Zero (2004) in Movies
Apr 5, 2020
An interesting prequel
After the very lacklustre and ridiculous sequel Cube 2: Hypercube, Cube Zero is a breath of fresh air. I’m usually very much against prequels as they tend to over explain and try too hard, erasing any mystery. Fortunately I found that for the most part Cube Zero doesn’t go down the route that most prequels do. Yes it explains a few things and elaborates more on the reasons and origins behind the cube, but not to the point that it erases all intrigue. The ending too and how it relates back to the original i found rather satisfying.
I’m grateful that they’ve gone back to basics with this too. Gone is the over the top CGI and instead the wonderfully gory traps and physical effects are back, and some of the gore in this is rather impressive. Whilst I don’t think it’s as good as the original, it’s definitely very close.
I’m grateful that they’ve gone back to basics with this too. Gone is the over the top CGI and instead the wonderfully gory traps and physical effects are back, and some of the gore in this is rather impressive. Whilst I don’t think it’s as good as the original, it’s definitely very close.