Change Your Image
gmbugshank
Reviews
Dark Water (2005)
2/3 of the way through this movie...
So far the "bone-chilling" TERRORS consist of a leaky ceiling, vibrating washing machine and bad faucets.
What a boring crock of crap. My God, the background custody battle was more interesting than the actual plot. I feel robbed.
2 stars because Jennifer Connelly is the hottest woman on Earth.
Midnight Mass (2021)
One of the most cerebrally engaging shows I've seen in a LONG time.
Netflix foolishly bills this under the 'Horror' tag and that is unfair to both viewers expecting such, and to the show itself which will doubtless receive flak for not delivering on said tag.
That said, it is an almost entrancing--and disturbing--deep, dark dive into the tenets of belief, life, death, guilt, and the most difficult of all to understand, comprehend, and hold onto at times, faith. How it can drive someone, how it can heal, and how it can hurt so badly.
This is not a show promoting religion, or one religion over others (Rahul Kohle deserves praise for his portrayal of a Muslim sheriff and single father struggling between raising his boy as a Muslim on an island full of Catholics, or allowing his son to find his own way spiritually, i.e., away from the Quran). Rather, it presents a story of how the human condition can either crumble to pieces or feel something beyond elation in the real-world presence of bona fide miracles, or terrifying angels.
The dialogue is finely-tuned and delivered expertly by an entire cast that is, in short, amazing. Flannigan's slow-burn direction is both heavy on atmosphere and rich in detail, always driving toward the next revelation with determination and prowess.
I'm a Catholic who is light on religion in my life, yet I found the raw exploration of my baptized faith to be both enthralling and unsettling. And it's a good enough show that even an atheist can sit down and sink into the trials and tribulations of this little island community, caught in the grips of something beyond normal human comprehension, and feel wholly entertained, not preached at, ridiculed or groomed.
GIVE IT A GO!
Intrusion (2021)
What a waste of Logan Marshall-Greene's talent
I'll be honest, I hit play without knowing anything about this movie, because he's that good an actor . But good God this movie is trash. Logan basically walks around as a cardboard cut-out, the writing is so contrived and so BORING, and utterly predictable.
And another thing, I am sick to death of this tired trope in films with the lady of the house breaking into seething tears of rage when her beta husband DARED to not ask her holy permission to buy/own a gun, LEGALLY, for the purposes of in-home self defense-- even when that's all it is used for, justifiably, and saves their lives! Why is this crap.in so many movies? When I go to the JOHN I usually have either my 5.56 dissipator, my M72AB1, or my 870 with me! While I was watching this garbage I had my 226 on the ottoman in front of me and said dissipator off to the side.
I gave two stars only for that juicy thick redhead waittress that was onscreen for two seconds in the background at 24:20. Thank you Lord Jesus for inventing the pause button!
Sweet Girl (2021)
Really great actors and a snapping premise, and all were squandered.
I don't blame them at all, this movie has an awesome premise, but the writer and director seem scared to really take things all the way.
Weird stop-start-stop pacing, dull directing and a plot that starts out with some major sparks but just sadly fizzles by the end.
5 stars just for Isabela Merced, Jason Momoa, and hitman Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. They did what they could and even in this pancake they bring something worth watching.
Resident Evil (2002)
By 2002 standards, I can definitely see why it dominated at the box office.
Watching this in 2021, yes it feels a bit dated and fairly cheesey. But it's just plain fun. Predictable, formulaic, but fun.
With cool sets, sinister backstory, plenty of gore but not becoming reliant on it, this original Resident Evil could be argued as having rebooted the entire zombie genre. We didn't have any 28 Days/Weeks Later, or George Romero returning to his undead throne yet.
Solid action, decent direction and Milla's galactically perfect legs make this a fun romp even nearly 20 years later.
Miss Sloane (2016)
Missed the mark, very badly so.
I'm about as pro-gun as people come. That said, I'm not going shrivel.up and die because a film highlights and showcases the antigun side society as protagonistic. I love debating antigunners, whether they are neighbors, randoms, or politicians.
Where I draw the line is when the left stops debating and starts outright LYING. That is why this movie bombed. Because the vast majority of Americans are gun owners, who understand things like the NFA, GCA, FOPA, 86 Hughes, FFL's, 4473's, NICS, all the crap we have to live under just to buy a legal firearm.
So when the movie in the first 15 minutes spews the FALSE GARBAGE that "anybody can buy an assault rifle with no ID" well that's gonna be it for many many people. Audiences don't like being lied to, and this flick is FILLED with disproven, tiresome, exhausting Leftist lies about gun ownership.
Could have been great, ended up as boring propaganda.
The Vast of Night (2019)
A moody, mesmerizing little Sci-Fi gem
While it doesn't exactly break any new ground, it takes what worked to entertain scifi audiences of yester-century and gives it all a 21st century polish and spitshine job very successfully. The scent of intrigue, the suggestion of real danger, and the clatter of our protagonists trying to solve this little town's looming mystery all make for a fun ride.
Ignore all the angry 1-star trolls; hilariously enough, for all they claim to hate this film, they all admit to either shutting it off after 5 minutes or fast-forwarding through 90 percent of it. Derp.
For All Mankind: The Grey (2021)
After being one of the best shows, some unforgivable plot points in writing.
Okay, I get it that this show is written largely by militant feminists. Normally that turns me off but the acting, production values and historical twists kept me happily engaged.
But this episode-- for all its incredible moments-- was pure crap. First Danielle just says "No lol" to direct orders and says she's just gonna whatever the hell she wants. YOU GO GRRRL.
Then Sally Ride first refuses to obey direct orders. Then when relieved of her duties pulls her sidearm on the mission commander and threatens to murder him. That's not even insubordination like in Danielle's case, that is straight up MUTINY and she should have faced a firing squad when they got home.
But no. Because by going full I AM WOMAN HEAR ME RAWR against all the dumb males they actually save both worlds. Oh, okay.
They'd better tone down this fake, forced feminazi crap in season 3 or else people are gonna tune out and this show deserves better.
The Guest (2014)
A slow-burn creep thriller that boils over into psychotic, action-packed mayhem.
Everyone else pretty much covers all the high points so I won't take up your time with a long study on everything cool about this movie.
I was having a grumpy day, a bad day. Plopped down in my chair, turned Netflix on and literally just hot play on the first thing they recommended. I didn't give a flying f--- I just wanted t take my mind off the day.
Holy hell. Military conspiracies, dbag high school bullies, super-soldier experimentation, beer, drugs, grenades. Oh, and Prom Night on Halloween. All set to some radical 80's chillwave synth. Good Times!
While not a AAA title by any means, it is a top-notch B grade thriller that does everything right.
So if you're looking for something to kill 90 minutes, but still want something engaging and interesting with solid acting, great direction and story, you can't go wrong with The Guest.
Host (2020)
Color me impressed!
Maybe lockdowns should continue, because this movie, which probably had a budget of about $27 is far better than the $200M trash heaps Hollywood has been serving up for a decade now. It ain't perfect by any stretch, but it is imaginative, creative, and even knowing there's a jump scare moment about to happen, it still manages to be blood-chilling when it pops off. Had my neck hairs standing on end several times and am I am NOT easy to spook at all. Kudoes to this crew.
The Yellow Birds (2017)
What a dud.
Elisted who call their NCO's Sir nonstop, no clue how military CoC works, no idea presented on basic squad-level infantry tactics, and an ending that has no basis in Army reality. Written by and for arthouse film fairies and their hipster brethren. Utter. Trash.
Final Score (2018)
Yes, it is Die Hard at a Soccer (not football-- AMERICAHH!) game. And man is it a fun watch.
Dave Bautista does what he does best, which is being a Terminator-sized good guy beating the untold, everlasting crap out of the bad guys, with his trademark dry, dark humor spicing things up along the way. But the real star of the show is Amit Shah as Faisal Khan, Bautista's accidental and terrified sidekick roped into a nightmare when everything starts to go wrong. Had me absolutely dying at times with laughter. LOL at the 1-star uptight haters, there is no joy in their lives haha... *ALLAHU AKBAR!*
Ad Astra (2019)
A modern, stunningly gorgeous Kubrick-esque journey through the dangers of space
From the first frame you are hooked in, visually and emotionally. I never even heard of this film when it was out in theaters, but discovered it with my space-obsessed daughter (she wants to be an astronaut) very recently.
It's definitely a slow burner but worth every minute. Not a single shot is wasted. The visuals are haunting and mindblowing. The story is taut, finely cut edge by edge with scalpel precision, and, thankfully, there is no hamfisted "twist" in the very satisfying ending. I don't understand the haters; I guess they need to see 47 transformers blowing up and the moon exploding in the first ten minutes.
Homeland: Threnody(s) (2020)
Unbelievable.
The way the showrunners treated Max was utterly contemptible. They treated him as if he were a prop character whose sole purpose was to die for the episode story's sake. What the hell! The quirky, goofy little tech spy was a fan favorite! He was the most relatably HUMAN character on the show that fans could relate to. I'm not saying he couldn't have been killed off but God's sake at least give him a show-worthy death. Instead they just chucked him in front of the camera, told Haqqani Jr to fire some blanks at him and cut, that's a wrap. Threw away eight years of character like dropping a half-eaten sandwich in the trash. Pathetic and sad.
Homeland: Chalk One Up (2020)
Homeland back on track in season 8, but leftist writers still need to project their fantasies about killing our President.
Overall, Homeland S8 felt like it was going back to its very successful and exciting routes. Cloaks, daggers, intrigue and betrayals.
Then this bumbling, ridiculous episode happened where the writers had to remind us (for the 77th time) just how much they heroically and bravely hate Trump. So they concocted this most implausible, fantastical train wreck of an episode that would never happen in real life. But, in doing so, they got to vicariously-- through the show-- kill the Orange Man. And not even with a crackling, twisting plot. Just a couple Taliban with AK's and lucky RPG's guided by the magical will of Allah.
Give me a break. The entire area surrounding the president for 50 miles out would be thermal-mapped and have drones flying interlocking kill patterns overhead so any ragtag idiots hoping for a lols shot could be identified and deterred, detained, captured or killed depending on immediacy of the threat level.
This episode was beyond dumb.
Homeland: America First (2017)
I watched to see Peter Quinn's conclusion.
Nothing more though. This entire season has been horrible and everyone knows why even if they don't want to admit it out loud. The show used to be amazing, with crackling plots around the world's hot spots and fiery dialogue between characters. The story was always swelling and moving forward.
Then Trump won the 2016 election, and a show that was previously politically agnostic went screeching far to the left in a dizzying free-fall of leftist/liberal historical revisionism, complete with evil Alex Jones clone, and hard-right mobs of angry protesters screeching "NOT MY PRESIDENT!" for half a dozen episodes. Liberal projection at its finest. This show is dead. Nothing more than dystopian fan fiction from leftist writers showing what they sickeningly WISHED would happen in real life. So sick of this.
Drive Angry (2011)
Ignore these stuffy, insufferable film snobs giving one star lol
This movie is FUN. It is ridiculous, cheesy, gory, overly violent, and awesome. There's exploding heads, boobies, car chases, and William Fichtner. WTF more could you want? Beginning to end is a romping, stomping revenge-fest that actually has an interesting story driving it. I guess the latté sipping film snobs are disappointed they didn't get Shakespeare. SAD!
Underwater (2020)
This is a solid, frightening thriller. Ignore the lazy, whining, edgy crybabies.
I'll be brief, and there will be no spoilers. This is a really good movie. I'm not calling it a masterpiece, but it is good. It does not look or feel cheap or low-budget. The visuals are fantastic, the setting feels real. The claustrophobia will grip you. The actors and the roles they play feel like genuine, regular people. There are no heroes that lead the way, but heroic actions on the part of everyday workers caught in rapidly deteriorating and deadly situation.
It's no secret there are creatures in this film. This movie is not trying to be Aliens, where the titular organism is as horrifying as it is fascinating. I would compare this more to Frank Darabont's The Mist, as it is less about an enemy being hunting down our human cast, and more about humanity unwittingly coming to brush against an alien ecosystem that, by nature (and not design) just happens to be incredibly deadly to us. Law of the jungle, baby.
I'm picky about movies. Very picky. Especially when it comes to sci-fi. Underwater doesn't bring anything drastically new, no. But it does do established themes very well, and is the one thing it should be: ENTERTAINING.
Skin (2018)
Jamie Bell is an incredible actor.
But this steaming pile of crap movie is just more anti-white hatred/propaganda from Hollywood. The story is cookie-cutter and the characters near cartoonish in the embellishment of what "nationalism" means. Promoting Antifa as some sort of revolutionary group fighting for freedom is hysterical, when they are currently the world's biggest klan of brownshirt fascists. Disgusting.
I gave the extra star for Bell's performance but that's it.