liveandletcry Reviews

John and the Hole (2021)

Evidently not a fan favorite.

[8/10 · 14 January 2024]

Currently this film is rating at about a 5 and the average review is confusing me. What was everyone expecting? Personally, I saw the title, I read the description, and I got the exact movie I was expecting. I watched the trailer afterwards and even that was essentially on par... maybe the music in the trailer was a bit more exciting than what the premise was promising? So I don't understand why so many reviewers are shocked by the movie's inaction and slow pace.

The film is a collage of unsettling and awkward moments juxtaposing familiar and mundane events with unsettling awareness of potential evil. I would love to see more movies that roll with this horror theme of exploring the line between childhood innocence and sociopathy.

Who hasn't interacted with that one child whom you're not sure whether or not they are mentally okay? Who hasn't found themselves in a position while growing up where you knew: I could cross a social line here and my life will never be the same.

John and the Hole does a fantastic job exploring these feelings and it does so with a variety of tones from suspense to comedy. I'll grant you that all the action of the movie is seen in the trailer. I'll grant you that there isn't a narrative pay off. I'll also throw in that the inversed side story of the mother and daughter doesn't seem that valuable even to me. However it is not boring and it is not pointless.

If you're looking for something different, with some emotional texture, and you like to laugh at movies that seem to relish in awkward lingering, John and the Hole is probably for you.

Number One with a Bullet (1987)

Pinnacle feature

[7/10 · 5 January 2024]

Is this the pinnacle of 80s buddy cop movies? I'm a millennial, so my bases are rooted in Turner and Hooch, and Cop and a Half, then I have fond memories of catching the TV versions of Lethal Weapon.

Number One with a Bullet is an amazing hit in my nostalgia vein. You can sense that the film makers are sick of the genre, but everyone is still having a good time. You can see background characters trying to hold back their snickers as Nick smart alecks banally as Everybody Loves Raymond's mom dotes on him, and I join them as Frank the trumpet player practices on his kazoo between set pieces.

And there's loads of action. Plane vs helicopter shoot outs, dump yard car magnet dodgeball, generic explosions, and loads of ACAB negligence.

If you ever wanted to see Naked Gun played straight, check this one out.

Hell's Highway (2002 Video)

If you're a fan of bad horror make sure you see this

[6/10 · 11 December 2023]

It's 2023 and bad horror movies are pouring out of every production company, and they're not just bad, they are difficult to remember. Hell's Highway brings us back to a time where even low budget movies were about showing things happen; we'll throw in the story afterwards.

Unfortunately the audio quality is genuinely difficult to bear, and I do feel bad for the lady actors obviously just told by the director to take their tops off as much as possible, and the sexual assault in the story is trigger-warning worthy, but the movie earns its Ron Jeremy scene and the violence against syrup filled mannequins really puts it over the top.

If you're the type to enjoy amateur productions and horror movies but have found yourself most terrified about sitting down for a movie and being bored to death, then don't be shy about giving this one a shot.

Grotesque (I) (2022)

Fun but shallow

[4/10 · 30 March 2023]

I like Higher Universe. They do a good job and I hope they continue to create new things with the same enthusiasm. That being said, I can't really recommend this movie to anyone.

It's like a friend asking you to watch their home made movie. I can enjoy the movie because I can see how my friend enjoyed making the movie, but how am I supposed to recommend that to anyone who doesn't know my friend? Production quality wise Grotesque is fine. Very watchable by no-budget indie standards. But when everything is done well, nothing really stands out.

The big sales pitch is the gore, but the vast majority of it is people being sliced by knives. Not that that in itself is a problem, there's just no catharsis. Things just happen like checking off items on a list. Even Mildred doesn't really have a character journey. She's not really loveable, she's happily spiteful and murders people at whim. Which, again, is fine, but it's a trait that turns on and off in a deus ex machina like manner.

Compare it to Hot Box, another Higher Universe film that features Elizabeth Chamberlain as Mary, a religious conservative that goes to a house party in effort to convert its party goers. Mary has a goal to convert people, but the story shows that she has a personality which is attracted to the party activities and she struggles to achieve her goal. By the end of the story her character has changed and developed because of her experiences. It's a notable story in a movie that has lots of memorable developing moments amongst its many characters.

Mildred could have her own developing story, but it wasn't built in. Mildred is sad because of her nose. Mildred loses her nose and kills people and this makes her happy. She eventually gets a boyfriend. That's about all we got. Mildred's direct antagonist, her superior at work, is more memorable because she has material goals and personality impulses guiding them. The real story of the movie is essentially the two or three scenes where her and Mildred directly interact.

I've harped on long enough. Grotesque is a nice indie film that was made by talented, fun loving people. It invites the audience to watch the fun, but it misses the mark on actually involving the audience to partake in the fun.