Change Your Image
heykirala
Reviews
The Pale Blue Eye (2022)
Cold and Lonely but invigorating.
This movie seems deceptively simple at first; a beautifully stark murder mystery. It's the dialogue and the acting that lights the bleak little world with a candle, and hold your attention.
It's one of those strange dream movies that will stay with you, if not visually with a creaky smile, or a snowy wood...then with the grim but perfectly wrapped little gift of a story that pulls your hand but knows when to let you walk alone.
Bale and Melling are unapologetically sweet in their performances in ways that only a thoughtful study of sorrow can reveal.
If you have a dark crow in your heart, or a serious teenager in your life, this movie will fit in perfectly with a hot cocoa and winter evening.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Santa Camp (2022)
Santas for All.
A good balance of the unsettling awfulness of bigotry, and the magical excitement of what Santa truly represents. The the smiles of children and adults is a sturdy backdrop that makes small the hate and apprehension shown to these brave Santas, and by one bad santa.
It really is a love triumphs over hate movie, that has a light touch where it needs to and does not skimp on all things festive. I was impressed with how honestly the movie showed how people learn to accept, exercise that acceptance to make it stronger, and how even if things make you feel uncomfortable at first, you realize it is simply because it is something you are not used to.
Trans Santa meeting non binary kids brought tears. These children feeling free and open with their Santa broke a tension in me that I didn't know I needed breaking.
Kid friendly (though it might lose their interest) and very intriguing to adults.
A soulful and hopeful doc. Happy holidays to all and to all a good watch!
Mortal Kombat (2021)
Watch it because, why not.
The fights are fun, sometimes, but the only thing that makes this movie tolerable is Hiroyuki Sanada. I loved this game and I'm sad the movie felt flimsy, other then of course Hiroyuki Sanada, who always brings a dramatic gravitas to the stupidest of situations. Plus I was hoping for the music to play more of a role since the first movie immortalized it's use.
Them (2021)
Come for the Horror, stay for the thought provoking discomfort.
This is first and foremost a very well paced Horror show. It should be understood as such. There is blood and torture and deeply disturbing subject matter. The depth behind the twisted and graphic plot is what gives this show life. The acting is steller, the characters range from gorgeous to retched. Production is haunting and top tier.
Tender moments between family members: love, is something horror rarely does well. This show does it very well making it even more upsetting. The words, moments of protection between mother and child, father and child, become terribly vulnerable. You feel their love for one another as they are endangered. It is the quickening pulse.
Walking the fine line of gratuity asks the viewer how far from the truth is this show? Not even remotely far. Without the fantastical elements this show could be a documentary of what people have had to endure in America. This show asks you, if you represent the history of Black Americans with any graphic truth, how can it not be a horrific? How can it not show families being terrorized and tortured while they use every ounce of their strength and love to survive? Monsters are all too human sometimes. What is haunting us? What monsters terrorize america?
If you have a strong stomach for upsetting matters, this is a creative powerhouse that will stay with you.