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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The Road (2009) in Movies

Aug 8, 2019

The Road (2009)

2009 | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

6.3

(10 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

“The Road” takes us on the post-apocalyptic story of the man, played by Viggo Morganson and the boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a father and son doing their best to get along in a world which is no longer suitable for humanity. Constantly teaching his son survival skills and doing his best not to focus on his lost love the man attempts to explain the essence of humanity to his boy who has never known a better world. Add in the ever-present threat of cannibals and you have the film adaptation of this best selling book.

The echoed use of color takes the viewer directly into the unnamed devastation that riddles the world of our two heroes. Moreover, the small sounds from the creeks of not quite abandoned buildings to the harrowing screams of cannibal victims make the world of “the Road” wholly engrossing. Maybe that is the problem.

Riddled with themes of devastation, survival, faith, and family, “The Road” is a piece of cinema significantly different from anything else. With all that said I am not sure this was a horrific and arduous journey one needs to go through.

After I first saw it I didn’t like “The Road”, and I couldn’t figure out who would want to watch this film. Too mature for many audiences and appearing to lack the complication to appeal to intellectual film crowd, it took a few days for me to develop the merit of the film. Now, I can’t stop thinking about the string of moments presented as powerful small scenes that compose “The Road” even though I wish I could.

If you have read the book, then “The Road” delivers a vivid understanding of the story, but before paying to see the film I ask you, is that a story you really want to experience on screen?

Kudos

Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated Alpha (2018) in Movies

Apr 7, 2020

Alpha (2018)

2018 | Action, Drama, Thriller

6.6

(20 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

My Unpopular Opinion

Set in prehistoric times, a young man has to survive on his own after getting injured during a hunt. In the process of trying to stay alive, he ends up befriending a lone wolf. I was hoping to like this movie a lot more, but it seemed to drag in too many spots for me.

Acting: 10

Beginning: 10

Characters: 3
Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee) wasn’t really cutting it for me as far as characters go. When you’re talking about one person to carry a movie, I was hoping for someone with a bit more charisma. The wolf was a cute addition, but the combo wasn’t quite enough to make me care more about the story.

Cinematography/Visuals: 8

Conflict: 4
There wasn’t a whole lot of action going on, at least not enough to keep me entertained. Yes, it’s a story around survival and that concept itself should be riveting enough, but, sadly, it wasn’t. There was too much of nothing happening for too long of stretches. I kept waiting for things to develop and, by the time I started to feel fireworks, it ended being a small fizzle.

Entertainment Value: 8

Memorability: 3

Pace: 3
Pretty slow as far as survival movies go. I kept waiting for it to pick up and, while it had a few shining moments here and there, it was pretty tame for the most part. Y’all, I tried, I really did. Just wasn’t working for me.

Plot: 6

Resolution: 8

Overall: 63
Don’t take my opinion as God when it comes to Alpha. There are plenty out there that adore this movie. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them. It’s way too slow and uninteresting for me to recommend.

Kudos

Royal Babies: A History 1066-2013

Amy Licence

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Babies are born every day, but only once or twice in a lifetime, a child arrives who will inherit...

Fintech Innovation: From Robo-Advisors to Goal Based Investing and Gamification

Paolo Sironi

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

A survival guide for the FinTech era of banking FinTech Innovation examines the rise of financial...

Girl in the Woods: A Memoir

Aspen Matis

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Girl in the Woods is Aspen Matis's exhilarating true-life adventure of hiking from Mexico to...

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs in Video Games

Nov 14, 2020

Scary and Spooky

Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs- is a terrorfying, horrorfying, spooky, scary, creepy game.

The game features several interlocking storylines. Some take place in the past, some in the present, and some are overtly real while some may be imagined. Set in London on New Year's Eve, 1899, the game's protagonist is Oswald Mandus, a wealthy industrialist and butcher who is implied to be the great grand-nephew of Daniel, the protagonist of Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

The game is a survival horror game played from a first-person perspective.

Players explore the environments using a lantern, with diary entries and notes providing information on the lost memory of the title character. While the core of the game remains the same between the two, some elements of The Dark Descent have been removed for A Machine for Pigs, while new elements have been added, one reason being to provide a fresh gameplay experience to players of The Dark Descent.

Most of the puzzles are based on physically interacting with the environment because of this change. The sanity mechanic of the first game has been removed, meaning that the darkness and looking at the creatures no longer cause any drawbacks. Health lost when Mandus is injured, will regenerate after a certain period of time; thereby eliminating the need to find vials of laudanum to restore health as in The Dark Descent.

The game's level design has been touted as "significantly different" from that of The Dark Descent, with larger areas and outdoor environments included. AI was also adjusted to ensure players are unable to predict enemy behavior based on their experiences with the original game.

Its a excellent survival game.