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Reviews
Leave the World Behind (2023)
Leave this movie behind
Yeah, feel free to skip this. At best it's like a pilot episode of a TV show about the world ending, but even if considered from that edge it would be a pilot that no one would pick up. Because (a) this is a movie not a TV series and (b) it's incredibly dull, boring, and quite literally nothing happens. That's right, this movie feels like it just ends before the actual plot is revealed. So it's 2+ hours of dull conversations between uninteresting and unlikable characters, with some questionable acting mixed in there.
The thing I did like was the premise of the movie and the ideas it portrayed about how devastating a cyber attack on the US could be. And obviously the people that made this movie felt that way too, otherwise they wouldn't have started making this movie until realizing once they started that they had a really interesting idea but not a movie.
Finestkind (2023)
Nobody asked for this
This was not an enjoyable watch by any stretch of the imagination. The whole time I was just wondering where this thing was going. It almost felt like watching a pilot episode of a TV show where all the foundations of the various subplots to unfold later on are first getting built out. I think the film just needed to do more to really engage me. The only scene of the movie that had me watching was the scene where the lady was giving birth while the drug dealers were intruding. But that's a cheap, Chicago Fire-esque method of demanding attention that I really don't care for. The lady giving birth while the scene was going down added absolutely nothing to the story.
The great cast is what initially got me to watch this in the first place. Tommy Lee Jones and Jenna Ortega? How does that not sound appealing? Despite that though, I found pretty much all the characters generally unlikable and the acting to be questionable. And I really didn't feel like Ortega was a good fit for the tough, drug dealing girlfriend-role. I just can't take her seriously in a role like that.
So really I fail to find the point as to why this movie was made. It has mediocre acting and a plot that jumps all over the place with not much cohesion.
L.A. Confidential (1997)
A puzzle of mixed impressions
The movie's appeal eludes me, possibly due to an external 90s nostalgia factor that I've overlooked. The plot unfolds in a labyrinthine 'crooked cop' narrative, a tale we've seen countless times. But a surplus of seemingly irrelevant scenes and subplots clutters the storytelling, making a more streamlined version preferable. Despite this, there is commendable acting and solid elements like the cast, cinematography, soundtrack, and costume design shine. Yet, the lingering question remains - is LA Confidential a self-indulgent creation, adorned and celebrated by Hollywood for Hollywood? I'm left to believe that's the case.
Aftersun (2022)
I get it and still think it's trash
I'm not going to be peer pressured into proclaiming this as some masterpiece. This is the most boring and uninteresting movie I've ever seen. It's literally just showing a father and daughter on a vacation doing random things, that's it. From what I understand, the point of all of this was to show the memories of a daughter trying to remember who her father was. And I'm hearing this movie was supposed to convey that emotionally? I didn't feel a sense of emotion, and I'm not some psychopath. If I watch a bad, boring movie, I'm not going to automatically assume it's some art film that's just too sophisticated for me. I mean, how insulting.
The one thing I did think this movie was trying to do was to be an analogy for all of our nostalgic and formative memories growing up. Like, imagine if you could watch a pro-shot video of you on vacation trying to figure out life when you were 12. That would be pretty cool, right? But I have it on good authority that is not what this movie was aiming to achieve which is disappointing because that's actually a really creative idea.
I'd like to almost go out on the side of the road with a picket sign protesting this movie. "It's not smarter than you!", "Don't waste your time!", etc, etc.
Baskin (2015)
Hmm
Yeah, this movie is not good. First of all, it's extremely slow. The story and the characters are not interesting at all, and it's just boring to watch. The part of the movie where they're actually in "Hell" feels pretty short actually. Even when they're all chained up in Hell, things are slow. Despite this movie's reputation for being extremely violent and gory and whatnot, there's only two or three real cringy and memorable moments. Outside of those moments it's just blabber and nonsense.
I'm sure the writers of this trash wanted to convey some deep underlying meaning, but I didn't get it and frankly, who cares? I'm not going to be kept up at night trying to figure out the real meaning of Baskin. Sorry.
I will applaud the couple good aspects of this movie. The gore effects in the couple "shocking" moments were very realistic. Also the soundtrack wasn't bad at all.
Don't worry though, you can skip this. You're not missing out on a great art film or a notorious disturbing movie. You'd only miss out on the chance to watch a bad movie.