Firstly, I agree with people saying the ''movie/web-series'' was over- hyped. I completely understand both sides - The need to eagerly advertise an exciting (and expensive) project, but at the same time it is difficult to approach a project like this, being the viewer without certain expectations when a project has been hyped to this degree.
Despite some flaws and aspects that annoyed me I don't think it's appropriate to compare RR to real movies or TV shows. For what it was and what it represents and that alone, I think it deserves a 10/10 on my part. This my opinion on the whole project.
Usually I hate trailers and avoid them at all costs, as they completely spoil everything and they can't be trusted in my book. If i'm looking forward to seeing a movie I NEVER watch the trailer, however I made an exception with Riley because too much anticipation was building up. I regret watching the trailer.. even though it looked interesting. A 3 minute trailer is (IMO) adequate for a movie that is 90 minutes long, but it is DEFINITELY too long for such a short movie. I don't think Riley really needed any more publicity anyway, it was over-hyped long before the trailer came out!!
Overall I thought the movie was really cute! I can totally appreciate the demographic it was made for, I think it was a good interpretation of time travel. Unlike some people, I really REALLY liked the acting - The acting was everything I expected it to be, if not better. I thought Lamar was great, very believable. Anna could easily act in any well known TV show in my opinion.
Guys please remember that there is a HUGE difference between bad acting, and forcing actors to play very annoying stereotypes. If the scripted character is a flamboyant homosexual that is in denial, then that's the character! If the actor plays it convincingly to the point where you are annoyed, then the actor succeeded. The actor didn't write his own character (except for Riley I guess).
I think everyone played their role well, but that doesn't necessarily mean I think all the roles should have been written the way they were. I don't like putting people in boxes, so I'm over the concept of using ''typical emo suicidal Goth's, gay guys that really refuse to come out of the closet, lonely introverted guy with homicidal tendencies etc..'' and I think a lot of other people are over it as well. Stereotypical characters can easily become flat, so I wish some of the characters had been more well-rounded, in other words, given more screen time. Then the stereotyping might have been more acceptable, because we would feel like there was more to the characters.
The only thing I was really disappointed with regarding the movie was its length. It wasn't in fact a movie like RWJ and Anna advertised it to be initially, instead it was a web-series which barely scraped 46 minutes.. I wish Riley Rewind was an actual movie, preferably 90 minutes long. I can just picture the film with longer scenes, and less repetition. You can't really cut up such a short movie into 5 acts, release them on the same day and have the same intro for each 10 minute act, AND a short flashback reminding the viewer of what just happened in the previous act, PLUS a 3 minute ''ending'' to each act. I personally really do not like that.. Imagine if there had been more scenes where Riley was getting to know Angela? And imagine if Angela had tried to kill herself in different ways allowing Riley to experience it differently.. It would have been nice to experience some progress albeit come to the same or a similar conclusion. Riley as a protagonist felt authentic, she was sooo darn likable and willing to make sacrifices but still not to the extreme. I also like the idea of the bomb, but I think there are some strange flaws to the climax (that the disabled introverted guy wanted to kill all the kids at prom because no one cared about Angela dying) although the resolution was beautiful and well worth it.
The music was AMAZING! I also loved the light hearted parts of the movie.. I have a feeling that good scenes were removed from the movie in an attempt to keep the audience interested or to speed things up or something.. I for one would love an extended real movie cut of RR if it exists haha. Riley Rewind was too short, contained too many flashbacks of events that had happened only a few minutes ago,and stereotyped characters that could have been better if they had been more well rounded (the only well rounded characters were Riley and Jay). On the other hand I loved the mysterious aspects of the movie, such as the fact that Riley didn't wholly understand her power, that we don't know the long term side effects, etc. I honestly don't know what to make out of the ending, and I just pretended that the movie had finished right before the FBI walked in :D
Despite some flaws and aspects that annoyed me I don't think it's appropriate to compare RR to real movies or TV shows. For what it was and what it represents and that alone, I think it deserves a 10/10 on my part. This my opinion on the whole project.
Usually I hate trailers and avoid them at all costs, as they completely spoil everything and they can't be trusted in my book. If i'm looking forward to seeing a movie I NEVER watch the trailer, however I made an exception with Riley because too much anticipation was building up. I regret watching the trailer.. even though it looked interesting. A 3 minute trailer is (IMO) adequate for a movie that is 90 minutes long, but it is DEFINITELY too long for such a short movie. I don't think Riley really needed any more publicity anyway, it was over-hyped long before the trailer came out!!
Overall I thought the movie was really cute! I can totally appreciate the demographic it was made for, I think it was a good interpretation of time travel. Unlike some people, I really REALLY liked the acting - The acting was everything I expected it to be, if not better. I thought Lamar was great, very believable. Anna could easily act in any well known TV show in my opinion.
Guys please remember that there is a HUGE difference between bad acting, and forcing actors to play very annoying stereotypes. If the scripted character is a flamboyant homosexual that is in denial, then that's the character! If the actor plays it convincingly to the point where you are annoyed, then the actor succeeded. The actor didn't write his own character (except for Riley I guess).
I think everyone played their role well, but that doesn't necessarily mean I think all the roles should have been written the way they were. I don't like putting people in boxes, so I'm over the concept of using ''typical emo suicidal Goth's, gay guys that really refuse to come out of the closet, lonely introverted guy with homicidal tendencies etc..'' and I think a lot of other people are over it as well. Stereotypical characters can easily become flat, so I wish some of the characters had been more well-rounded, in other words, given more screen time. Then the stereotyping might have been more acceptable, because we would feel like there was more to the characters.
The only thing I was really disappointed with regarding the movie was its length. It wasn't in fact a movie like RWJ and Anna advertised it to be initially, instead it was a web-series which barely scraped 46 minutes.. I wish Riley Rewind was an actual movie, preferably 90 minutes long. I can just picture the film with longer scenes, and less repetition. You can't really cut up such a short movie into 5 acts, release them on the same day and have the same intro for each 10 minute act, AND a short flashback reminding the viewer of what just happened in the previous act, PLUS a 3 minute ''ending'' to each act. I personally really do not like that.. Imagine if there had been more scenes where Riley was getting to know Angela? And imagine if Angela had tried to kill herself in different ways allowing Riley to experience it differently.. It would have been nice to experience some progress albeit come to the same or a similar conclusion. Riley as a protagonist felt authentic, she was sooo darn likable and willing to make sacrifices but still not to the extreme. I also like the idea of the bomb, but I think there are some strange flaws to the climax (that the disabled introverted guy wanted to kill all the kids at prom because no one cared about Angela dying) although the resolution was beautiful and well worth it.
The music was AMAZING! I also loved the light hearted parts of the movie.. I have a feeling that good scenes were removed from the movie in an attempt to keep the audience interested or to speed things up or something.. I for one would love an extended real movie cut of RR if it exists haha. Riley Rewind was too short, contained too many flashbacks of events that had happened only a few minutes ago,and stereotyped characters that could have been better if they had been more well rounded (the only well rounded characters were Riley and Jay). On the other hand I loved the mysterious aspects of the movie, such as the fact that Riley didn't wholly understand her power, that we don't know the long term side effects, etc. I honestly don't know what to make out of the ending, and I just pretended that the movie had finished right before the FBI walked in :D