savindwales Reviews

Lousy Carter (2023)

Strengths lie with the cast

[6/10 · 30 March 2024]

I think a weaker cast would have seriously hurt this movie. I found parts of the plot to be frustrating and cliched, but the actors, their roles and motivations, and their deliveries on screen sold it for me.

There were some unexplained illnesses, a few standard comedy mix-ups, and an unexpected but not un-forshadowed twist at the end. The execution of this plot by a less experienced cast would have come across poorly.

Another strong point of this movie is its ability to extend the story beyond events and characters that normally would mean the end. More movies should have epilogues. You do not often see a narrative that extends past a few main characters, and I feel that sometimes movies are created without attachment to a greater space. This is not one of those.

Chariot (2022)

Not science fiction, more like metaphysical fiction

[6/10 · 16 April 2022]

A man retains a memory of an old life and cannot let it go. A doctor tries to figure out why the memory is persistent. The man continues his existence, unaware of his changed condition and trying to understand his new surroundings.

The story is told with dream logic. It paints mundane concepts on top of an unknowable in-between existence, and drops hints about the characters without telling too much. Is the man's bare room a reflection of who he was before? Is the woman's nicely decorated apartment a reflection of her previous existence?

The doctor's resolution to the man's problem is to burn the memories. He severs the man's ties to his old life, but the cycle continues anew in a different form.

This is one of the better movies I have seen this year and I look forward to more from the writer and director. The cast is also top-notch. The marketing team dropped the ball.

Prism (I) (2015)

Was there another movie here?

[1/10 · 24 January 2022]

I think there was another movie shifted slightly in time that played alongside this movie. That's all I can think of to explain what happened. The title should be doppler effect, not prism.

Surely someone wouldn't spend time, money, and effort to create a movie about someone who is fortunate enough to find his missing father, but unfortunate enough to not get any answers about the disappearance.

Who was the boat guy, or the diner woman, or the other family, or the home care aid, or the cat? You never learn why any of these characters care about or spend time around the father.

Nothing about the father is explained, and at the end of the movie there is a hint that something alien or spooky or governemnt-related is going on, but you never really know.

This could have been a good movie about a guy finding his lost dad and learning he was a bum, but no, that would have been too easy and simple.

The Thing Inside Us (2021)

Pairs well with tonic water

[6/10 · 21 October 2021]

Incredibly prescient movie for one that appeared to be filmed in 2019.

There's a viral pandemic, doctors talking about natural immunity and vaccines, and underneath it all an alien invasion that is parasitic in nature.

Too bad this movie didn't come out earlier. I really enjoyed the effort. You can tell this is an honest film with soul made by people who love movies and maybe can see the future.

Exodus (I) (2021)

Highly symbolic

[6/10 · 21 March 2021]

This movie is highly symbolic and relies too heavily on symbolism and too little on moving the plot along in a rational fashion. There is a story here but it feels lost between all the images of lifelines, baptism, burial, death, rebirth, faith, and VHS tapes. I suppose the good tape is a modern version of the good word, but I would have picked Betamax.

The Giant (II) (2019)

Mournful music comes to a crescendo while a young woman makes mournful noises

[1/10 · 3 December 2020]

I'm still not sure what I just watched. Was the main girl dead? Was there a meteor storm at the end? Is there an audience for sad girl movies?