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robertsjason55
Reviews
Viy (1967)
Dated but fun
The effects are a bit dated. And it's not really that scary. But it's fun and has some creepy moments. It helps that the actress who plays the witch is lookin' pretty Fine. Plus the witch character is actually kinda scary. She's laying in her coffin looking dead, opens her eyes and is immediately all about killing the main character, at times even shaking with anger and hatred. Her performance adds a bit of an edge to the movie that makes it worthwhile.
This seems like a movie that could use a good, scary remake/reimagining, as the story is pretty good. And I don't count the 2014 movie as a good remake, as it's just pretty silly.
After Midnight (2019)
Waste of time
I like indie horror. I liked that this tried to mix genres. And some of the cinematography was pretty good. But it didn't work for me. We got a boring indie romantic drama with bad dialogue combined with a bad horror movie. Plus a brutal ending that combines excruciating Karaoke to Lisa Loeb followed by a "monster" wearing a costume so cheap I initially thought his friends had someone dress up and were playing a joke on him. They weren't
One thought I had. The main dude is supposed to be a hunter. The girlfriend mentions it approximately 100 times. The guy has an unseen monster attacking his house every night. Mr Hunter Man's never heard of trail cams? Or maybe a surveillance camera for his house?
I would say if my longtime gf disappeared for a month with just a vague note and no other contact, no gd way I'd take her back. But honestly, if she had a body like Brea Grant, of course I would. Who am I kidding?
Movie loses points for not having Ms Grant appear nekkid.
And the cat dies in this. F this guy for letting the cat out every night when there's an f-in monster out there. F this movie.
Starfish (2018)
I can't tell...
I actually kinda liked the movie, but I couldn't tell if the movie takes place in the late 80s/early 90s, what with mix tapes, big box TVs, the main character not having a cell phone, rotary phones, old tape players, etc. Or if it's 2018, with the songs from the tapes being from 2008-2013, about the time the characters would have been originally listening to them in their teens, and the main character and her dead friend are completely insufferable hipsters.
Aniara (2018)
Space is really big and we all die
I just watched High Life two days before I watched this. I think I've seen enough European* Existential Space Movies for one week. But at least the sex scenes aren't nearly as disturbing as High Life.
I did like this one. I wouldn't recommend thinking about the science too much** By the end of it I was feeling claustrophobic, depressed and desperate, but in a good way.
* yes I know High Life is English language, but the director is French. And it feels like it.
** no extra fuel rods in storage or auxiliary rockets? How can they keep the ship powered up for years but have no power to steer the ship? No way to abandon the ship when it went off course? Why does a virtual reality type device have consciousness? Would it really use this consciousness to commit suicide? Why did they have so much algae again, other than as a plot device to explain feeding everyone when the ship sent off course? Wouldn't they run out of booze after about 2 months? Can you ferment algae booze?
High Life (2018)
Should have been better
I'd seen this reviewed at TIFF. Sounded interesting, though the director sounded completely insufferable in the interviews I'd read. But I liked Robert Pattinson and trippy slightly pretentious thoughtful Sci Fi appeals to me.
It's kind of two different movies: movie 1 is Pattinson alone with a baby in space trying to raise her and do his mission (something to do with harnessing the energy of black holes). Movie 2 is a lot of really disturbing sex stuff involving unpleasant people. Because movie 1 is pretty good and some of the visuals were decent, I'll give it a 4.
One thing that bothered me in the movie, if mankind had the ability to harness the power of a black hole, potentially giving us almost unlimited power, wouldn't they send a more reliable crew on an 18 year mission than convicted murderers? I get they aren't coming home, but not the most stable or technically adept crew to send. And even if you can get past that, why would they think making them do weird sex experiments the whole way would be a good idea? Especially since the distance and time dilation would mean the results of these experiments might not be known for decades? I'm sure Director Madame Denis would say my simple American mind couldn't understand such things.