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Kimi (2022)
Unlikeable protagonist, predictable story
The protagonist in this story had absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever and just had me constantly annoyed throughout the whole movie. When there is nothing to root for, there can be no tension.
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
Distressingly effective
I have such mixed feelings for this film. On the one hand, it masterfully gets to me, and on the other hand I kind of wish I could un-see it. I came in to this completely cold. I knew it was a different, edgy and pretty violent Western. And it starts off just so, and keeps going that direction for most of the movie. But then it catches you completely off guard and totally messes you up. That scene which I have now learned is infamous really stuck to my mind, to the extent that for several days since I saw the movie it still really bothers me and makes me feel truly unnerved. I have probably even lost sleep because of it. And that's coming from someone who usually isn't very affected by gruesome horror (I've also seen some of the cannibal movies that this is sometimes compared to). This tops them all in terms of emotional impact (the emotion being shock and disgust).
What makes the movie so effective in its mission to draw you in is that it's very well acted, with great characters that you grow to care for throughout the movie. As the horrific stuff really gets going (and good lord, it's horrific), the performances, the sound design and the unflinching camera really sells it. It feels totally real and utterly nihilistic. So if the goal of the movie is to scar its audience, then it passes with flying colors.
And still, if you close your eyes (and ears) during those scenes you still get a very enjoyable and solid Western movie with great script and production with some great performances by good actors.
American Honey (2016)
Irritating
My main problem with this movie is that there were no characters I really cared about. The main character is naive, stupid, temperamental, hypocritical and pouty beyond belief. Not that I think she deserved a lot of what happened and I do get her background, but she and everyone else in this movie was close to unbearable to watch for me.
Cinematography is great though, the actors' performances are great, and at its best moments it's still interesting to follow the happenings of this group of young people.
Game of Thrones: Beyond the Wall (2017)
Completely different show
I don't want to focus here on the large number of plot holes or the absurd level of suspension of disbelief necessary to take anything in this episode seriously. That's been done thoroughly by others already. Instead I want to emphasize how far from the earlier seasons this show has come.
A quick reminder, here are the things that made Game of Thrones an amazing and unique show that both hardcore fantasy fans and those not so much into fantasy could enjoy, for at least four seasons:
- Scheming, plotting and politics. There were so many layers of betrayal, intrigue, and loyalties (and lack thereof). How many times we were shocked to see key characters unpredictably turn on each other. How sophisticated the political relations that did not treat the audience as idiots.
- Truly gruesome violence and head-turning sex scenes. Few movies or shows have displayed such graphic deaths. Sure, there are splatter and gore movies that are "worse", but it's a completely different thing to see it realistically portrayed and happening to characters you're heavily invested in. GoT has on multiple occasions left me trembling from shock.
- Multi-layered, deep, interesting characters. None of the characters felt like stereotypes or flat. They were always surprising you with new depths and character development. They were smart, deep and interesting. Compare Tyrion in the first two seasons to the Tyrion in the last two. He's completely uninteresting, a shadow of his former self. Same thing with Jaime. And it's not because of their character arcs. They've just become bland, stupid Hollywood stereotypes, completely hollow.
- Unpredictability and sense of danger. There's been no other show where you always felt that anything could happen, any time, to anyone. And just when you thought that you'd hit bottom and surely a sweet revenge story would start and things would get better. Nope. Things get worse. And worse. And gruesome, heartbreaking and still surprising.
All of this is gone now. It's become totally predictable, stupid popcorn entertainment. There's barely any intrigue left, all characters are boring and one-dimensional, nothing really shocking. I started feeling it in the sixth season, but that still had its highs. Now this episode. Not only is it a bad episodes, it's actually so poorly written that it lifts the veil off the preceding episodes of the season as well. It was still possible to ignore the worrying signals, until now, but this episode actually manages to remind me of how far off the track this show has gone. It's really, really sad.
The Babadook (2014)
Slightly drab at times
At its best, this movie is a well executed story about overcoming loss and trauma. It's also an interesting look at the difficulties of parenthood -- or at least how I imagine it might be at times, since I don't have any kids of my own. It's also a movie about alienation. As such, I think it works really well at times, even though those themes have been explored in many movies before.
As a horror movie, it's rather uneven and at times extremely by the book (see what I did there?). There aren't that many scares, it's more of a tension and uneasy feeling building throughout the movie -- and that comes a lot more from the feeling of anxiety and alienation that's felt through the mother-son relationship and their troubles than the actual horror elements of the movie. I found it a lot more disturbing to watch their family problems than the ghost/monster elements. Because the monster isn't really very well developed. It gets extremely little screen time, which can be very effective sometimes, but here you kind of forget about it for long stretches of time. After a while you kind of think "oh, right, there's this monster in the movie too". And that elephant trumpet sound effect that's supposed to sound like the monster screeching? Is that some kind of joke? I do like the scene where they first find and read the book, though. That was creepy. Other than that, this is standard "haunted house/possession" stuff.
Another thing I didn't like in the movie was the soundtrack, or rather lack thereof. Whenever there is music, it's absolutely standard horror movie stuff. But through a lot of the movie, it's absolutely quiet. There are movies where this works great, but here I really felt something missing and it got a bit depressing at times. Combined with a rather washed-out lighting throughout the whole movie, and its slow pace, it all felt rather drab and slow in some stretches, and not in an entirely good way.