jigae Reviews

Bros (I) (2022)

Gay stereotypes from queer creators

[3/10 · 27 November 2022]

This was painfully cringeworthy. It is not the worst film I've seen all year but it comes close.

The first twenty minutes of the film are essentially an extended Billy Eichner monologue and this tendency for him to talk unabated continues throughout the film. His character is supposed to talk suck the air out of the room, but it just gets exhausting.

The film itself has potential. It speaks to some uncomfortable truths of big city single gay existence, but then has radical tonal shifts into saccharine sweetness and moments of self-flagellation. There are moments when it seems like Eichner is criticizing political correctness but then others where it seems like he's making an extended apology for being a "cis white gay man."

The supporting characters don't move beyond being one note stereotypes and his female best friend (?) is treated like a wise accessory, something gay men have accused romantic comedies of doing to them for decades. Turnabout is not fair play.

If you want an insightful film about modern day gay culture watch Fire Island instead. Both films feature Bowen yang, but one actually uses him to good effect instead of wasting his talent.

This film had a chance to be great but chose to be self-indulgent instead.

Honeydew (2020)

Imagine Gummo but as a rural horror movie

[3/10 · 14 July 2022]

Just gross, irritating, and slow.

Cannibalism and weird religious rural Americans is just an incredibly tired trope at this point.

The Lena Dunham cameo brought this from a 3.5 to a 2.5. There are better ways to spend your time.

Mid-Century (2022)

One of the worst movies of the century

[1/10 · 30 June 2022]

This movie was terrible. It often wasn't clear what was going on and as others have said, good actors gave some terrible performances, which speaks to the writing and directing.

The film really intensely misunderstands architecture. It's also a movie that tries to center female characters, but was written by a man and lacks insight. It arguably also fails the Bechdel Test.

You get a sense of what it was trying for, but it doesn't remotely achieve it.

In the Earth (2021)

There was just nothing there

[2/10 · 6 February 2022]

If thirty minutes of people walking through the woods mumbling before any action happens sounds good to you, this is your movie. I fast forwarded a couple times to people mumbling in other locales. There's not a lot here.

Old (2021)

This is probably the worst movie I've seen this year

[1/10 · 27 September 2021]

The medical elements are laughable and the plot (as much as there is one) is paper thin. Very little of redeeming value here.

False Positive (2021)

Deeply Unpleasant

[1/10 · 27 June 2021]

Without going into spoilers this movie seemed to be attempting to make a statement and instead managed to land somewhere racist and homophobic.

A terrible attempt at remaking Rosemary's Baby by way of Peter Pan.

Watch something else. Anything else.

The Tank (2017)

Utterly Senseless

[1/10 · 13 June 2021]

This movie lacked a plot and had an oddly abrupt ending. Without going into spoilers, it's also pretty clear no one in a medical field was consulted on some of the plot points and I was torn between laughing and grinding my teeth with some utterly unrealistic plot points. Also some vaguely offensive portrayals of both gay and religious people, providing an unpleasant experience for almost any viewer. Avoid at all costs.

Debris (2021)

Three episodes in and I still have no idea who anyone is.

[3/10 · 10 April 2021]

I got on IMDB today to check if I had missed the first season. I had not. There's no clear sense of who are leads are, what their qualifications are, or why this mysterious space debris seems to be drawn to humans who need help with some sort of emotional closure. The special effects are great and the overall aesthetic seems very close to a Christopher Nolan movie but it's less than the sum of its parts.

There's also a minimum of two conspiracies involved, neither of which have particularly clear motivations. As other people have said here, this might all hang together better as a fantasy show than a sci-fi one since there is this weird moral/philosophical undercurrent to all these visitations.

Not recommended.

Clarice: Get Right with God (2021) Season 1, Episode 5

Every time I start to have hope it gets worse

[1/10 · 28 March 2021]

This episode was painful. The medical errors are jarring as is the weird hospice/care home setting. The relationship between Clarice and her roommate feels very unreal and forced: There's no real chemistry between any of the leads and the few bright spots of connection (moments in episode 2 and 4) don't go anywhere. I can't stop watching but at this point it's out of morbid curiosity to see how bad it can get.

The Tall Man (2012)

Incredibly offensive

[3/10 · 7 March 2020]

I enjoyed the film's atmosphere and cinematography until about 3/4 of the way through when the final twists were revealed. I will leave out spoilers, but the film seems to suggest some truly immoral and classist choices are actually heroic behaviors. Shockingly informative of some people's perspective on rural life.

The Gallows Act II (2019)

Bad until the ending and then terrible

[2/10 · 10 February 2020]

This movie wasn't great but was fairly watchable until the last fifteen or twenty minutes when it went mostly off the rales. The last five minutes though were mind-blowingly nonsensical. Was there a Charlie cult? Was this an internet stunt by truly loathsome people. And finally: WHAT WAS THE DEAL WITH THE NEVERENDING STORY-esque VIDEO THE LEAD WAS OBSESSED WITH?

Avoid, avoid, avoid.

Pyewacket (2017)

"slow burn" is generous

[3/10 · 12 April 2019]

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, it's funny to me how many of the positive reviews use almost identical language. This movie was TEDIOUS. Unless slow burn is an ironic nod to the end of the film, or "tight like a guitar string" is a reference to the completely understated score, I think this film is owed very little praise.

None of the characters, except the protagonist's mother are at all fleshed out, and the mother is completely unlikable. There are no stakes because we care about none of the characters. The "supernatural elements" are likewise lacking. Just an incredibly boring, almost-mumblecore film about nothing.

Avoid.