Change Your Image
darrycj
Reviews
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
Do not bother; save your money and buy the book
This is a period piece that fails to evoke either a time or place, period. The DP is a hack. Who thought it was a good idea to use overt wide-angle lens and hand-held quasi-GoPros in a movie set in the late 1940's? Seriously?!? Really wanted to like this film, but there was no effort to give clues to draw in the viewer to solve the crime. The protagonist just rattles off facts that were never revealed in whole or in part. It's as if the characters are participating in a narrative that is not being shown to us: the actual viewing audience. This is a muddle mess filmed by a second rate cinematographer. Don't bother.
Knock at the Cabin (2023)
Misuse of R rating
Good effort overall and worth a watch, but it doesn't demand a theatrical viewing. The acting by all is well executed, particularly Batista who is the focal point of the dilemma that drives the story. I truly believe, though, it could have been phenomenal had MNS used the latitude of the R-rating to ratchet up the film's use of violence as a means to amplify the gravity associated with choices the characters may have made in the past or were faced with making. It's ultimately a story centered on the effect of choice and consequences, but after everything the characters endured throughout the film their ultimate choice felt inconsequential. Wanted more consequence.
Glass (2019)
Film grad student thesis gone awry
I recently rewatched Unbreakable and Split to gear up for Glass. I so wanted to love this movie, and I couldn't wait to see how M Night was going to close out his brilliant trilogy. What he gave us looks and feels like a film adaptation on a film grad student's meta-analysis of why we love to watch superhero movies. It's just boring. Way too much exposition by the evil genius. The only thing that could save this film is a cameo by Dr Evil or Goldmember.