Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (3291)

Content

Mikey H. (24 KP) rated The Raid (2011) in Movies

May 26, 2018

The Raid (2011)

2011 | Action

8.4

(32 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Best Fight choreography ever (1 more)

100 minutes of non-stop action, it's beautiful in the way the violence is done. Amazing.

Nothing. (0 more)

Wow, just wow

Lots of movies get described as "an adrenaline rush, from start to finish" and rarely do they deliver. The Raid does exactly that. The best fight choreography, its more of a violent dance than fighting...stunning in its visceral display. The story is simple, yet goes deeper than just "get the bad guy". It's survival behind enemy lines, at all cost...but manages to preserve the hero's humanity as well. There are mine.t's of little action, but they are filled with nail-biting tension...and with the rate of the body count, there isn't a guarantee even the hero makes it out alive.

Sidenote: while a different movie altogether, yet with the same feel, if you like The Raid then give Dredd (with Karl Urban) a watch. Also a great film, and highly underrated.

Kudos

Loz Hughes (80 KP) rated The 100 in TV

Jul 17, 2018

The 100

2014 | Fantasy, Sci-Fi

7.0

(62 Ratings)

TV Show Rating Watch

Raises interesting morality questions in a post apocalyptic environment (earth)/in space. (1 more)

Subsequent series develop and enrich the storyline

Very young adult based to start with and quite predictable. (0 more)

Quite teeny to start with in the first series but the second and third start to get more gripping.

I was recommended this series by my best friend and to start with it appeared a bit budget and awkward in parts, but as the episodes and series progressed you developed a feel for the different characters and gained more enjoyment from the storyline itself.
For me I found the morality aspect interesting. Who do you pick to explore a potentially deadly planet? Who gets to survive in space when theres limited oxygen levels etc?
Still following the series since the first one, so I guess its pretty good if im still watching it three years later or so :).
If you like survival, sci fi, and lord of the flies it should appeal.

Kudos

Steve Fearon (84 KP) rated Ruin Me (2017) in Movies

Sep 9, 2018 (Updated Sep 9, 2018)

Ruin Me (2017)

2017 | Horror

6.5

(2 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Campy, cheesy fun (1 more)

Good pacing

Predictable (1 more)

Some iffy acting

Low budget meta horror

Contains spoilers, click to show

Shudder exclusive 'ruin me' runs a similar line to 'Fear Inc' or 'Hellhouse LLC', with a meta horror experience blurring the lines between reality and fiction.

The cast is a mix of early 2000s tropes, the goth couple, the chubby film nerd, the silent loner etc on a slasher themed survival weekend where events take a turn for the bloody.

They twist and turn a few times, toying with the viewer using an unreliable narrator, our protagonist Alex, whom you aren't ever really sure is in the real world.

Not much will surprise you, but it is a fun trope laden film with no real pretence of being anything other than it is...a low budget meta slasher.

Not a bad 90 mins though, and it's watchable enough so long as you don't mind the sometimes clunky humour and meta elements getting front and centre.

Kudos

saheffernan (157 KP) rated How We Became Wicked in Books

Nov 9, 2019

How We Became Wicked

Alexander Yates | 2019 | Dystopia, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)

8.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

If you want a spooky book recommendation this is it. I got thriller, Halloween vibes from this book from the start. A disease has consumed most of the world leaving behind 3 types of people. The wicked, the true and the vexed. The wicked are something a little like zombies in the book their described like children with no impulse control and a want to kill. Astrid, a vexed young girl curious about the world & the only other young person in her community Henry is who we mostly follow throughout the story as they try to figure out what's beyond their world of Goldsport. I can say that I definitely didn't see the twist coming. It was a good book with a decent storyline maybe a bit lacking here and there mostly of how the disease came about. Quick read with a Walking Dead world full of wicked people and survival feel.

Kudos

Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated City Of God (2002) in Movies

Mar 2, 2020 (Updated Mar 3, 2020)

City Of God (2002)

2002 | Crime, Drama

8.3

(16 Ratings)

Movie Rating

If there is one film I insist folk who don’t often go for a subtitled film watch, then City of God is it. Organised crime takes on a much different flavour in different cultures, and here we see how it is not merely a choice in search of riches and power, but a way of life that becomes a matter of survival. This exceptional film has everything: story, character, beauty, cruelty, ugliness, religion, morality and an abundance of heart and soul. Importantly it was co-directed, including a rare female eye in the genre, and it shows. There is a sensibility to City of God that transcends the trivial nature of many gangster / crime films. The violence is a means by which we feel genuine sorrow and empathy for a world gone mad. A highly polished work of art that resonates in human ways a lot of films on this list fail to do.