grim2005 Reviews

Black Mirror: Joan Is Awful (2023) Season 6, Episode 1

A Fine Episode for a Different Show

[5/10 · 28 June 2023]

Every fan of Black Mirror will have their own slightly different definition of what makes a Black Mirror episode a Black Mirror episode. For me, that is a bleak story - complete with an unhappy ending - looking at the dangers of technology in a near future setting. The bleak tone and unhappy ending set the series apart from everything else and that's why I love the series.

Joan is Awful starts off well and has many factors that I enjoy from the series: Joan's life is turned upside down by technology, the humour is kept to a bare minimum and the story is intriguing while also not being obvious in its direction. It gave me hope for the season.

Unfortunately, the episode does a complete 180 halfway through and effectively turns into a comedy. While it was amusing at times, it would fit much better in an average American sitcom than a show known for reasonably serious stories.

I expect the average viewer will enjoy this episode (especially those less interested in entertainment that lacks any spark of hope), but, for someone like me, this was not what I wanted from the show.

My Best Friend's Exorcism (2022)

Not What I Expected, But Not Bad

[6/10 · 27 December 2022]

I went in expecting a comedy horror (with a big emphasis on the comedy) that felt like every other modern teen movie, but what I got was a soft horror movie with only a few jokes thrown in. And I'm glad it went in that direction, because it made the movie a little more unique than what I'm used to.

By "soft horror" I mean that this movie had little-to-no violence, with no gore, blood or deaths. If it weren't for a couple horror-ish scenes and the titular exorcism, this movie could pass for a teen drama about a girl who has an abrupt change of personality and starts trying to destroy the lives of those around her.

Had this movie gone the full comedy horror route, I probably would give it a 5/10, as I expect it would have felt quite derivative. But, if I could give half stars, then I would give this a 5.5/10. Not a movie that I would go out of my way to recommend, but it's a competent enough horror that I'm glad I gave a shot. And probably a good choice for people who want the suspense of horror without the typical violence that comes along with it.

Christmas with the Campbells (2022)

Not Was I Was Hoping For

[4/10 · 23 December 2022]

I wanted to watch this because I like Christmas movies and enjoy Justin Long, but this one wasn't for me.

The movie is a pretty standard romantic comedy, with a predictable plot and little to set itself apart from the thousands of other such movies, so it was already not going to get a high rating.

But as a Christmas romantic comedy, the one thing that does sort of differentiate it is its liberal use of swearing and sexual humour, which unfortunately didn't do it any favours for me. While I love a good R-rated movie, this one doesn't go all the way, which creates a weird mixture of family-friendly Christmas movie with non-family-friendly elements sprinkled in.

My other main issue is with Justin Long. I generally enjoy his performances, but he felt miscast here. He was playing a charismatic character, but his performance just wasn't believeable, and his accent was distracting.

Had the movie been a family-friendly affair then it would probably be a 5/10. Had it gone full R-rated, maybe it could have even been a 6/10. But its decision to try and blend both together just didn't work for me.

After the Dark (2013)

Decent Film that Lures You in with the Wrong Expectations

[6/10 · 14 May 2022]

I watched this film very quickly after discovering it, as philosophy and thought experiments interest me greatly. I was hoping for a proper and thorough look at how to possibly decide who should be chosen to keep the species alive in the case of an apocalyptic event, but unfortunately the experiment is just the surface layer of the film. In reality, the film is about an unhappy professor taking out his anguish on his students in the form of a thought experiment, holding their grades hostage to force them to play.

While the first half or so of the film is about the students trying to logically tackle the situation they are in, it eventually becomes obvious that the professor is working against them, even more so than just trying to push their thought processes to the max. This causes the film to expose its actual plot, with the professor becoming the villain that the students need to rally together to defeat.

The thought experiment aspect of the film was quite good, with a decent amount of thought and logic going into the students' decisions. (The experiment actually plays out 3 times during the film, leaving me wishing for a mini-series of this concept, with each episode exploring the idea in a different way.) Unfortunately, the actual execution - especially once inside the bunker - was quite flawed, due to the teacher manipulating things for his purposes rather than letting things play out realistically, and the third iteration having the students basically writing their own rules so that they could "win". My main other issue was how seriously the students took the experiment. Unless I missed something, their grades weren't tied to how their character performed, so there wasn't really any reason to get upset about how things played out.

The other elements of the film were alright. It took me a couple days of reflecting on the film to really get past my disappointment of expecting a film about a thought experiment and getting something else. Now, even the ending, which felt completely out of left field at the time makes, more sense and is a little more satisfying.

So while this film doesn't properly scratch my itch for a proper deep dive into the "Who do you allow into the bunker?" sort of thought experiment, when I viewed it for what it was rather than what I wanted it to be, I think I actually quite like the film. Not sure who I'd actually recommend it to, but I'm glad I found it and will definitely watch again in the future.

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Flawed, but Better than the First

[6/10 · 6 August 2021]

The R-rated violence was entertaining and the humour was decent. Idris Elba and John Cena were great (especially when interacting with each other) and Margot Robbie was as entertaining as usual. In fact, the entire Suicide Squad were entertaining characters, at least after given some time to shine.

Unfortunately, the movie is a bit dull when it doesn't focus on the aforementioned aspects. As per usual, the story is basically a vehicle to deliver action set pieces and jokes, so it offers little in and of itself. Almost every significant character outside of the Suicide Squad is uninteresting, and there's not a particularly interesting villain.

The first half or so of the movie really falls pretty flat. The start of movie is far less interesting than I'd want from something trying to convince you to stick with it for 2 hours (with only the beach scene being particularly good), Elba and Cena feel like they don't get enough dialogue (even if they likely have the most), and Robbie plays a relatively minor role.

Had the movie just been a series of high-octane action scenes filled with graphic violence followed by comedic downtime scenes, it probably could have reached an 8/10, but there was far too much uninteresting downtime with little-to-no humour to help, and it took half the movie for it to really find its footing.

Tin Star (2017–2020)

An Imperfect But Enjoyable Watch

[8/10 · 8 January 2021]

Season 1 of Tin Star was one of my favourite seasons of TV. It was flawed, but it's characters and style were fantastic. Jack (Roth) is fantastic and remains so throughout the entire series. The rest of the cast - the other family members and the supporting cast - are good too. The plot is engaging and suspenseful, and definitely worth a watch. Had they given the season a conclusive ending and made it a limited series, I would be recommending the show to everyone.

Unfortunately, as the conflict of season 1 was mostly resolved by the end of that season, season 2 is more about Jack trying to repair his fractured family, losing the suspense that made the first season so great. The characters - those who carried over from the first season as well as the new supporting cast - are still good, so the season isn't bad; it just doesn't quite live up to season 1.

If season 1 was a 9/10 and season 2 was a 7/10, then season 3 would probably be an 8/10. This season has the family in a completely new location with no supporting characters carrying over. Combined with more fun being injected into the show, it made it feel almost like a different show. Thankfully, I think this worked in the show's favour, especially as it allowed both Angela (O'Reilley) and Anna (Lawrie) to move beyond just bouncing between slightly depressed and emotional, and actually helped them become enjoyable, rounded characters.

So overall, the show went from fantastic, to very good, and back up to great. It wasn't perfect, but the characters made it worth sticking with until the very end. The fact the show got a finale and was only 3 seasons long also gets it bonus points. (I dislike when story-based shows get cancelled without a finale, and when a show is dragged out for too long.)

Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)

An Average Rehash of Past Movies

[5/10 · 30 August 2020]

The movie is basically divided into 2 connected, parallel stories: Bill and Ted searching the future for the song they're going to write, and their daughters going on an adventure that's basically a rehash of the original movies. It suffers for this, as it means scenes are relatively short, resulting in less time spent on the more entertaining Bill and Ted scenes, and no time to actually inject humour or entertainment into the daughters' scenes.

As for the characters themselves, Bill and Ted come off as low energy, which takes a lot of the entertainment value out of them. But the daughters are worse, coming off like Bill and Ted knockoffs. They talk like their fathers, but it doesn't feel quite right, and because they lack the dim wit they are inherently less entertaining. They almost felt like they were pretending to have personalities that weren't theirs, like someone trying to fit in by copying the people around you.

The other characters are a bit of a mixed bag. Rufus's daughter was uninteresting and not even a half decent replacement for her father. Bill and Ted's wives were largely pointless, besides acting as a motivation for their husbands. Death wasn't bad, but wasn't fantastic either. And the new robot character was perhaps the most entertaining character of the movie (if you like his sort of humour), but he didn't get a lot of screen time. Was also nice for Ted's father to return, but he didn't make a huge impact on the movie.

The ending of the movie - which I won't spoil - is also disappointing. The movie constantly portrays Bill and Ted as being failures, yet the ending is barely a redemption for them. But what I disliked most is the fact that there is no epilogue. Everyone saves the day and then... the movie just ends. Considering we will probably never get another sequel, it is infuriating that we didn't get a final scene showing the characters back in their normal lives, but living happily ever after.

If they had cut the daughters from the movie (or just had them join their fathers' journey) and spent that extra time to expand on the Bill and Ted scenes that we got, then the movie might have deserved an extra star. Not only would it have been more entertaining, but the movie wouldn't have copied its predecessors so much. Throw in more energetic performances from the leads and an epilogue that was both a good send off to the characters and some kind words remembering Rufus and this could have been a 7/10. But what we got was average; yet another nostalgia sequel that borrows heavily from the movies that came before it and didn't live up to the franchise's high point. So watchable, but not worth going out of your way to see.

Teenage Bounty Hunters (2020)

A Bit Disappointing

[5/10 · 16 August 2020]

The show starts off better than I was expecting. Having a reasonably old, grumpy bounty hunter taking two teenage girls under his wing sounds like a decent recipe for entertainment, and them often getting on his nerves is amusing. The ability for the teenage twins to communicate telepathically was also a good addition, if not a little ridiculous.

Unfortunately, as the season goes on it feels like the focus shifts to the point that the bounty hunting becomes a secondary concern for the show. Instead, the primary focus becomes the drama around the girls' lives. One of them is trying to uncover her mother's secret while also trying to make things work with the guy she's dating, while the other is just trying to find herself. Even the focus of the bounty hunter guy seems to be a love triangle between him, his ex-wife and the ex's sister.

My main issue with the direction of the show is that I don't really care that much about the individual characters and their drama. Together, the sisters are highly entertaining, and the bounty hunter thrown into the mix is even better. When they're all together and bounty hunting, it's a winning formula. But alone they are far less interesting.

Overall the show just makes me think of one of Netflix's other shows: Insatiable. That show had an interesting premise that could have been fun if it had stuck to that premise, but instead it decided to wildly deviate and just became an uninteresting mess. Teenage Bounty Hunters has definitely held itself together better than Insatiable, but it still feels like the writers used the concept of the show to draw us in, just so they could give us some derivative story centered on generic teenage drama.

Palm Springs (2020)

Pretty Good Rom-Com Time Loop Film

[6/10 · 14 July 2020]

I'm a huge fan of time loop movies and this one might be in the top 5 of those I've seen.

The first half is fun and enjoyable. Samberg and Milioti are great and work well together, and the use of multiple people experiencing the time loop - something that's surprisingly rare for time loop movies - works well. Samberg's usual over-the-top schtick is turned down to 25% here, which made the movie more enjoyable for me, as it meant the humour meshed well with the somewhat more serious vibe of the movie.

Where the movie faltered for me was around half way through the movie where it switches from fun to drama. As with a lot of stories, this is when the world falls apart for our protagonist(s) and they need to fix things to get back on top and come out stronger than before. But here the resolution is not greatly satisfying, so it's not really worth the switch from fun. The ending itself is not the worst they could have gone with, but even that feels somewhat underwhelming. In fact, despite the movie having a somewhat unique premise, the last act of the movie feels like the generic final act that a lot of rom-coms movies use. I also didn't find Samberg's acting to be fantastic when he needed to act more serious, although that issue only stood out to me a few times in the film.

Overall, though, the movie was good. It did something a little different with the time loop concept, the good parts of the movie were really enjoyable, and even if the second half wasn't fantastic it didn't ruin the entire film. So I'd recommend this to anyone who likes the sound of a semi-serious rom-com time loop flick. (And now that those 90 minutes have come and gone for me, I wish they'd actually made it an 8-10 episode miniseries instead.)

The Twilight Zone (2019–2020)

Season 2 is a Positive Sign

[6/10 · 30 June 2020]

I loved the original Twilight Zone so I was eagerly awaiting its return with this modern take. What I got with season 1 was utter disappointment. Besides "Nightmare at 30,000 Feet" and, to a lesser extent, "The Comedian", the episodes ranged from alright to downright terrible. Once again, a modern take on a classic had let me down.

But then season 2 rolled around and I decided to give it a shot and... it was actually decent. Episodes "8" and "A Human Face" were duds for me, but the others ranged from alright to very good. "A Small Town" was one of the most Twilight Zone feeling episodes of the new series, and "Among the Untrodden" was my favourite, although I can see people preferring "Meet in the Middle" and "The Who of You", both of which are also very good.

If you disliked season 1, I still recommend giving season 2 a shot, and if you have watched neither and don't want to waste your time, watch the first 2 episodes of season 1 - "The Comedian" and "Nightmare at 30,000 Feet" - and then skip straight to season 2. If the series keeps at least at this level of quality, I will continue watching.

Freaks (2018)

Glad I Saw This Overlooked Gem

[7/10 · 26 January 2020]

Freaks is about a little girl named Chloe and her father, who keeps her locked in their house to protect her from the people outside who he says are trying to kill them. But her desire to venture into the outside world causes her to start rebelling against her father.

I went into this movie with low expectations, because I actually mistook it for a different movie that's also about persecuted people with powers, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually really enjoyed it. (I wish I'd known about it while it was in theaters so I could have supported it, because I imagine Hollywood considers this sort of movie a risk.) It may even be in my top 10 for 2019.

The movie feels somewhat like it was plucked out of the X-Men universe, comparable in many ways to Logan. A dark, grounded story with a lower-budget, smaller-scale and an R rating, about genetically-mutated people with powers. And just like Logan, I'm glad they made it R-rated, because, at least for my tastes, it definitely added an enjoyable dash of spice.

Freaks definitely appears like a lower budget film, spending most of its time in a single location, with probably fewer than a dozen actors with any significant amount of screen time, but there are a lot of movies that do a good job with these limitations, and this movie is definitely one of them. The first half of the movie is almost entirely set inside the Chloe's house and from her point of view, so we are drip feed information about what is going on. It does a very good of setting up tension, and even when Chloe finally ventures out into the world for the first time, it feels surreal - almost dream-like - which just adds to the feeling of uncertainty about what is going on and where the movie is headed.

It certainly isn't a perfect movie - hence my 7/10 rating - but what holds it back is less flaws and more just failing to reach the highest peaks in certain areas. The most obvious would be in originality. Its execution is great, but it's ultimately just another movie about some super-powered people hiding from the man. I'm also conflicted on the ending. Once everything has been set up fully, the direction we go, while it is interesting to watch, is a pretty standard affair. We don't get any twists or turns and no really unexpected events. You can pretty much tell where the movie will end up, which is not bad, but just not as interesting as it could have been.

Overall, I'd highly recommend it to anybody who likes the sound of a tense, R-rated thriller about super-powered people. Definitely glad I watched it.

I'll Take Your Dead (2018)

Starts strong, but becomes largely generic by the end

[5/10 · 5 May 2019]

I'll Take Your Dead is the story of a widowed man who lives with his daughter and makes money by disposing of dead bodies for people. Unfortunately one of the dead bodies given to him by a client isn't dead, which becomes quite a problem for him.

The movie started out well. The concept is interesting, the atmosphere is nice and unsettling, and the daughter was great, but unfortunately it mostly derails by the end.

The main problem with the movie is that the story ends up devolving into a story we've seen many times before, about a guy in a shady line of work who is presented with a difficult decision, chooses to do the right thing, and then has to defend himself against the consequences of that decision.

In addition to this, the daughter loses her morbid nature part way through the film, which makes her less interesting. The choice to open the film with narration that lets you know that not everyone will survive was also a poor choice, ruining the tension towards the end of the film, as it's not very difficult to guess who's going to die. The movie also has a small supernatural element to it, but I felt it was not used particularly well.

It's not a bad film, but it's hard to recommend that anybody go out of their way to see it. But if you want something a little unsettling to watch, you could do worse than this movie.

The Twilight Zone: The Wunderkind (2019) Season 1, Episode 5

Somewhat Interesting

[5/10 · 26 April 2019]

This episode is about a washed up political campaign manager who decides to reinvigorate his career by running the campaign for a popular child on YouTube who has announced he wants to run for president.

The episode was unfortunately underwhelming. It was mostly entertaining (and the lack of real world politics was appreciated), but there was nothing that really made it feel like a Twilight Zone episode. It follows a mostly logical route, never throwing in a twist or interesting perspective on the idea of a child as president. Yet another disappointing episode.

The Twilight Zone: Replay (2019) Season 1, Episode 3

Very Weak Episode

[4/10 · 12 April 2019]

What makes The Twilight Zone great is that the episodes take us on a journey, where either strange things are happening and we have no idea what will happen next, or a twist is thrown at us, changing the nature of what we just watched. This episode goes with the former, but unfortunately squanders its gimmick.

The episode is basically the same type as episode 1, with the protagonist granted a special power. These types of stories tend to follow a simple formula: The protagonist gains the power, comes to grips with it, embraces it, loses control of it and eventually ends up worse off than they started. It's a pretty standard formula, but that's because it works. This episode decides to go its own route and ends up much worse off because of it.

The problem is that the story is not based around the power, but rather the power is more slotted into the story, with some changes to make it work, resulting in a story that could easily fit into a completely normal show, if the power removed and a few tweaks made. To understand this, imagine taking a story about a character completing a challenge and then rewriting it with that character having a superpower to help them complete that task. Yes, the character can now complete the task easier or in a different way, but at the end of the day the power is largely inconsequential; the task is completed in either situation.

But the most disappointing aspect of the episode is the ending. Unlike most other episodes, things do not end poorly for the protagonist, and there is no mind-bending twist. Instead, we are treated to a happy ending. The ending isn't unreasonable for the story; it's more the story is unreasonable for the show.

This episode might have been decent on a more normal show, but Twilight Zone is not a normal show and this episode just doesn't have what even a decent Twilight Zone episode has. If it weren't for the largely under-utilised gimmick, I wouldn't have even realised I was watching The Twilight Zone.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Gang Gets New Wheels (2018) Season 13, Episode 5

Best Episode of Season 13 Yet

[10/10 · 4 October 2018]

This episode featured 4 mini-subplots - one with Dennis, one with Dee, one with Frank, and one with Charlie and Mac - and each was reasonably amusing, forming an episode that was entertaining, but fairly standard... until the final 5 minutes, when each of the subplots reached their conclusions, in one of the most entertaining 5 minutes of television I have seen in a long time.

Medium: Bring Your Daughter to Work Day (2010) Season 7, Episode 1

Very Entertaining Episode

[7/10 · 23 September 2018]

This is a "Freaky Friday" episode, where mother and daughter - Bridgette in this case - switch bodies and have to live out each other's lives for a short period of time. The episode is definitely entertaining and a nice break from the almost always serious tone of every other episode, but it isn't without its flaws.

For a start, any of the serious scenes with Bridgette in Allison's body tend to feel cringy, because you know she's making a fool out of herself, but it doesn't have the comedy to be able to laugh it off. Also, the fact the show tends to be serious, and a lot of this episode is that also, makes the comedy feel out of place. It just feels odd to go immediately from two characters discussing someone's death to Bridgette doing something weird while in her mother's body. And lastly, on a logical level it seems silly that Joe didn't alert Allison's boss as to what was going on and that he didn't figure out a way to keep tabs on Bridgette.

Overall, I'm glad they made the episode and it's definitely one worth watching, but it certainly isn't something I'd want again or as the new tone of the show.

Medium: Burn, Baby, Burn: Part 2 (2008) Season 4, Episode 8

Almost a Good Episode

[5/10 · 16 September 2018]

This episode is the second part of a two episode story and was almost as good as your standard Medium episode - i.e. pretty decent - but it was let down by revealing one of the most significant clues too early on.

To make it worse, this clue was revealed in the first part, so the second part is a frustrating watch, as Allison and co. get more and more clues and don't click to what is going on until right near the end.

This could have been fixed by either revealing said clue much later on - perhaps as one of the final clues that finally had Allison realise what was going on - or by making the story a single episode (it really didn't feel like it needed to be two episodes), but as it is makes this episode far less enjoyable than it should be.

Disenchantment (2018–2023)

Mediocre

[5/10 · 19 August 2018]

Disenchantment is a cartoon based in a world of fantasy, about a princess named Bean, who doesn't wish to conform to the traditions and customs of the time, a demon named Luci, whom she is cursed to spend eternity accompanied by, and an elf named Elfo, who she befriends. The best way to think about the show is probably if you took Futurama, changed the location from the future to a medieval fantasy world, and changed the focus of the show to Leila, accompanied by Fry and Bender.

But likening it to Futurama really does a disservice to Futurama. Disenchantment lacks the wit and intelligence in its writing that made Futurama so good. They also buck the trend with this sort of cartoon of having the lead be a dumb character, instead having a rather normal character, and it suffers from it. Bean is alright, but she isn't particularly interesting, especially when every other character seems rather unintelligent, which makes inherently more entertaining. The main interesting thing about her character is supposed to be that she's a rebellious princess, refusing to be confined by her father's wishes, but it's really not that entertaining. The first time you learn she loves to drink wasn't all that funny, so the 50th time isn't all that funny either.

The other 2 main characters comes off a little better. Elfo starts off somewhat entertaining, due to him thinking everything that we find mediocre is exciting, but eventually that wears off and he just becomes a somewhat average dumb character. I find Luci the most entertaining, with his constant encouragements of trouble-making, but most of his jokes aren't particularly amazing.

But then again, most of the jokes in the show are like that. The humour is largely one off jokes that are pretty mediocre. Constant wordplay jokes get pretty predictable. (While not a joke from the show, an example of the format would be for Character A to tell Character B something unbelievable, Character B to reply with "You're pulling my leg", Character A to respond with "No, it's true", and then Character B to reply with "No, this guy is pulling on my leg. Stop that!" before the camera reveals someone pulling on his leg.)

Overall the show is fine, and if you're in need of a new show to pass the time - maybe playing in the background while you're doing something else - then this should suffice.

Insatiable (2018–2019)

Starts strong, but goes off the rails

[5/10 · 12 August 2018]

Insatiable is a show about a girl named Patty who is relentlessly teased for being fat. After an incident causes her mouth to be wired shut, she loses a lot of weight, becoming much hotter in the process. After discovering skinniness has a lot of perks, she decides to use it take revenge against those who have wronged her.

I was quite interested in the show going in. I assumed a lot of the bad press was just the critics upset by the subject matter. While I do think they were overly harsh in their scores, the first season has been the biggest let down for me for a T.V. show in a while. For a start, I was expecting a high school-based show where Patty would perhaps befriend her female bullies and seduce her male bullies, and then take them down one-by-one. While it starts out like this, the direction quickly changes. She gets talked into becoming a pageant contestant and that becomes a large part of the show. It was also one of my least favourite parts of the show.

The biggest surprise about the show going in was that it is actually based around 2 characters - Patty and Bob - instead of just Patty. Initially this was pretty good - I liked the interactions between the 2 leads - but halfway through the season their paths largely diverge. While I won't spoil the very obvious "twist", let's just say I found this direction less interesting than even the mediocre pageant stuff it was replacing.

Of course, Patty's story doesn't fare much better either. She quickly starts flip-flopping between revenge and trying to be a better person, and I would often forget her motivations for her actions. Also, her interactions with the side characters - whether her best friend, her enemies or her love interests - often felt far too brief and undercooked.

Speaking of side characters, they were often better than the actual leads. Her best friend was enjoyable, her angry Asian nemesis was funny and Bob's nemesis (also called Bob) added a little something to Bob's story. The show would have been much better to have focused mostly on Patty, with a decent helping of the side characters (including Bob), focusing on the revenge and/or bettering herself, rather than the pageant.

I'm sad to say this, but I probably wouldn't watch a season 2. The show started off strong - 7/10 for the first couple of episodes - with decent jokes and entertaining characters, but became a mess and eventually rather boring. It's disappointing because, as per usual, I've come away with the characters having grown on me, but the story they are a part of is just disappointing. I wouldn't recommend the show, unless you are desperate for some mindless entertainment and can't think of anything else you need to see.

Timecrimes (2007)

Simply Amazing

[10/10 · 11 September 2016]

An absolutely great film! With no special effects, no explosions and none of the other over-the-top elements of Hollywood movies, this simple movie shows how you can make a compelling, gripping film with little more than story. This film is so simple, in fact, that it seems to be shot in just a handful of simple locations (a house, a forest, a road, etc.) and with only 4 actors. Even the ending is very simple, but it is one of the best endings I have seen in a movie.

But don't be mistaken; this is not a simple film because it was made by amateurs or indies who didn't have a large budget. The movie is only simple because the plot is simple. That said, the plot is good and the quality of the filmmaking is good too.

It's a little hard to explain this movie without spoiling it, and simply describing it as "a man is chased by a man with a bandaged face" definitely does not do justice to what this movie is about. So I must recommend this by saying that if you like horror/thriller films that are a little less mindless than your typical modern horror film, and you're OK with subtitles (or speak Spanish), then I highly recommend you check out this film.

As someone who loves dark movies and movies that require a little thought to them, I am not exaggerating when I say this is one of my favourite movies.

Triangle (2009)

Absolutely Worth Watching

[10/10 · 11 September 2016]

I would say it is best to go into this movie with as little knowledge about it as possible. Thus, I will simply say that I'd highly recommend this movie if you like good horror movies, movies that require some thought, and are OK with movies that might be somewhat ambiguous (or possibly just difficult to fully figure out.) It's not very hard to follow, but can be daunting to figure out the larger picture.

And just so you know, definitely make sure you pay attention while watching. It tends not to be boring, and once it gets moving it should keep your attention, but you still need to keep your eyes for various clues that pop up. This is the sort of movie which raises a lot of questions early on and answers them in due time, and has many clues to the larger picture.

As someone who likes horror and mindf**k movies, this is definitely one of my favorite movies. Enjoy!

Heaven's Lost Property Final: Eternal My Master (2014)

As a fan of the anime series: Do not watch this movie!

[4/10 · 2 August 2015]

Take away the first and the last couple of minutes of this "movie" and you have a decent longer-than-usual episode of Heaven's Lost Property. As a fan of the anime and the manga, I enjoyed it. BUT...

The first and last few minutes of the movie are enough to ruin the entire experience. These parts hint at a final epic conclusion that is never reached, and the movie effectively ends on a cliffhanger. (And if it's not a cliffhanger, then it's the worst ending to a story I have ever seen.) This movie is like someone took a scene from near the end of a movie, chopped it in half and inserted a completely unrelated story with the same characters into the middle. So even though the movie is enjoyable to watch, this lead up to an epic conclusion that never comes (and the fact it is neither explained how they got to that point or what happens afterwards) is enough to leave you feeling empty and asking yourself, "What did I just watch? What was that?" The fact they only made this 50 minutes long makes this atrocity all the more inexcusable.

If you watched the series, SKIP this movie (and the other one too) and just read the manga to find out what happens. The anime followed it pretty well, it is much more satisfying than watching this movie and it actually concludes the series. If you love the series, you will get some enjoyment from this movie, but at the cost of your sanity. (Preferably, skip the part with Ikaros and Tomoki flying together at the start and at the end of the movie, and just pretend you're watching an episode.)

Shortland Street (1992– )

It was good...

[26 February 2005]

Shortland Street was pretty good for a soap (although I prefer Home and Away, which has more excitement like a gun-toting, crystal-meth addict on the lose), but Shortland Street has gone down hill.

If you like your programs with 99% relationship stuff and 1% excitement, then you might like the 2005 series of Shortland Street. I haven't actually watched much of it, but I can tell from the ads on T.V. that relationships are the main source of entertainment for 2005.

But, if you can see episodes before 2005, it has had some good stuff and the end of year cliffhangers are a must for most viewers of this type of soap opera.