mark-doster Reviews

Destroy All Neighbors (2024)

I watched this movie high and still did not enjoy it.

[3/10 · 19 January 2024]

Yet another lazy, pointless movie made as if it was a long YouTube short.

This movie was like having a coke-head show up to your party and tell you something interesting but then their high gets progressively higher and they start doing completely random new things instead of building on what they were telling you about. It also feels like the jokes were written for toddlers. They were ALL flat and did not hit the mark.

I am tired of living in a world where the influence of the online world bleeds into the movie industry. This movie is the same caliber as short films on YouTube. It also acts like it is trying to appeal quickly to followers instead of entertain a fresh audience of general people. But ultimately, it was empty and had no purpose or focus. I'm afraid we are in an era of A. D. D. Entertainment. And if you can't keep your attention focused enough to make a linear and intriguing story then how do you expect an audience to have attention to watch it?

The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs (2018– )

Love the show but...

[9/10 · 13 July 2023]

It is growing further and further from what I love about it. I think this has a lot to do with Darcy's increasing popularity and bringing in PC followers who just want to be part of her clan instead of a fan of the show and horror in general. She is the problem with all of current life. She's 100% fake. Fake body, fake face, fake accent, fake character. Fake fake fake. Joe Bob is the real deal. Darcy has little to no insight on anything she is asked to expand on. Joe Bob can spit out a ton of ideas, thoughts, theories, funny antidotes, and entertaining rants that show his wisdom. Darcy just shows her body and annoying voice that says a whole lotta nothing.

And to top it all off, they are playing on the feminist trend where the woman demeans the man and tells him to stop talking because he's not interesting. This comes from a woman who has zero interesting qualities towards a man who is actually interesting. She is a social media influencer through and through, and this is why I dislike her growing involvement in the show. She is Joe Bob's Yoko and will run this show into the ground.

Just like everything else in life, the show is beginning to cater to new superficial fans instead of the old loyal fans.

Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)

Like how movies are MEANT TO BE.

[10/10 · 16 December 2022]

This movie takes you to the time and the world of the story. And it never pulls you away from that world or brings in unnecessary characters into that world. It gets in, creates its atmosphere, shows believable characters, rolls a well-told story, and has effective directing, acting, and subtext.

THIS is what movies are meant to feel like. Yes, it's sad and you feel deeply for this character enough to where it's uncomfortable and makes you think of your own life, miss your own loved ones, remember a deeply regrettable moment from your past. But it does it COMPETENTLY by drawing you into its world and never letting you go.

It actually has a good story, good writing, good dialogue, the right actor choices, a believable chemistry, good location, and a deep, meaningful story arc.

Kudos to Olivia Newman for doing what countless Hollywood directors can not do today. She made a REAL movie.

Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)

As usual, another tone-deaf project with lazy writing.

[4/10 · 11 December 2022]

If they JUST went back, erased the first half, and replaced it with meaningful plot points instead of meaningless drivel between 2 annoying people, there COULD be a movie worth your time here. Unfortunately, no one knows how to write stories anymore and continue to waste our time with flashy colors and "clever" dialogue.

You feel like you are watching Clerks for the first 40 minutes. Then suddenly we are thrown into this 2nd wave of chaotic fight or flight screaming and scrambling around, showing a quick rise of urgency...an urgency we have not yet been prepped for. And you are like "well, I guess we skipped the foreplay and are just going for it." And you aren't connected yet and it's just doesn't feel right where you are going with these people you barely know.

Then what's hilarious is they have a dramatic slow-mo scene at the end, in vain of Terminator, that feels completely empty because no one ever took the time to make me care.

I'm tellin' ya. There are countless filmmakers today but very very few true storytellers.

Halloween Ends (2022)

Writers have amnesia and forgot what they last 2 movies were about...

[2/10 · 14 October 2022]

People loathed Rob Zombie's Halloween for spending an hour showing you his childhood.

Then Halloween Ends said "hold my beer..."

This new trilogy literally took the story of one movie and stretched it out into three. This is how you end up with pointless drama and random new characters.

The people behind these should be ashamed of themselves. They were not made by true Halloween fans and were not made for true Halloween fans.

These filmmakers had far too much freedom with a franchise with a rich history...and it shows.

What a sad way to see an empty, lifeless and meaningless end to such a character.

I can't even begin to convey how insanely inept it is to see the "emotional" climax with booming John Carpenter music and its the first glimpse of an actual Halloween movie but there's only 3 minutes of movie left.

They forgot to build up to the climax...the climax they wanted to move you with yet not guide you to.

Stupid stupid stupid writing and directing.

The dialogue was cringy and nothing that any self-respecting humans would ever say out loud. There are moments when we should just be shown emphasis on something when imstead we get spoon-fed awful words to make certain our dumb brains know what's going on. The characters go against their nature just to make the story move, the story that seems to have been written the day before shooting. And they forgot that the last movie of a trilogy should sum up the characters from the previous installments and not resemble the first movie of a new trilogy.

OH, and they forgot this movie is about Michael Myers too. I know, I know. Easy mistake right...

My god, the fact that these exist just crushes my heart and any remaining faith in Hollywood as competent storytellers.

I just can't.

Hellraiser (2022)

Foolishly follows the formula of the worst sequels. Too much pointless story. Not enough Pinhead and hell.

[5/10 · 9 October 2022]

I find it odd that people are losing attention spans yet movies are getting slower and slower to getting to their point.

The original Hellraiser was like an exciting and very creative visual unfolding of hell. It SHOWED you the journey instead of telling you. It took place inside a good man's home who had a loving and strong relationship with his daughter. It made us care and relate.

It made you feel like you were inside its hellish world.

The reboot is like someone overly talking and explaining Hellraiser to you until you become bored and don't even care anymore. It takes place in many locations around a lazy junkie type girl who we don't care about.

This one makes you feel like an outsider just hearing about its world.

When did movies forget that they are a mainly a visual medium that require more well-rounded people that most of us can grab onto?

Stranger Things: Chapter Nine: The Piggyback (2022) Season 4, Episode 9

Overly long and WAY too much sugar.

[5/10 · 3 August 2022]

I didn't know if I was watching Stranger Things or a soap opera with this episode. It's as if they realized they had no space to share a lot of loving exposition in the earlier episodes so they had to make his one longer than most movies just to squeeze it all in. It was a cringe-fest. Also, this season really could have been shorter. I got bored with it half way through.

Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021)

One of the best Netflix docu-series

[10/10 · 1 August 2022]

This story is so bizarre it is like it came from a Japanese horror movie. And the footage of the victims last night is creepy and really makes your mind go to weird places. This one really stuck with me.

Sophie: A Murder in West Cork (2021)

One of the best docuseries on Netflix

[10/10 · 1 August 2022]

This series is just as good as any thriller movie you can find. The twists and turns and moments of disbelief in the unfolding of the investigation is very interesting. It sets a very specific mood and doesn't let up.

Texas Chainsaw (2013)

Not perfect but the best of the modern TCM movies.

[7/10 · 18 July 2022]

If you are like me and loved the original TCM but thought the 2003 remake was subpar, or hated the 2022 movie due it's tone deafness then give this one a go. Texas Chainsaw 3D is the only modern TCM I genuinely liked. It even had moments that reminded me of the original. Shots that made me think "wow, that's actually kind of creepy. If I saw that in real life, I would be scared." None of the other new ones gave me this feeling. And Leatherface is actually scary in this one. He feels like someone you would mever want to get close to, much like a grizzly bear. The shot of Leatherface running towards the barn with the saw smoke rising into the air was a great moment. This one just feels like it knew the formula that made us love the originals. This is something so many horror directors can not figure out today. They over-think it. This movie was simple and fun and did what it was supposed to.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Not made for real fans.

[3/10 · 19 June 2022]

Its easy to say Jason Rietman got this job simply from being Ivan's son. But he clearly does not understand the tone and atmosphere of Ghostbusters or his father's style. He is too set in the indie dramody world and it shows. Also, this is simply a children's movie that happens to have the Ghostbusters score and a cameo by the original cast. Even Paul Rudd is boring here. He seemed out of place. There was no chemistry between anyone. I was on my ipad during the entire 2nd half of the movie. There is no draw into the story or characters. And not seeing NY was a big mistake. The movie is so arrogant that it never gives you NYC but then shows you a 5 second clip of NY right before the ending credits. Its as if they knew we wanted NY but said "this is all you get, losers." I rather watch the female remake. At least it's entertaining. This movie is a snooze fest that is made for a generation that doesn't care a thing about the original movies. Next time, hire a true lover of Ghostbusters who has studied the film. Not the son of the original director.

Halloween Kills (2021)

Should have been called Kills Halloween...

[2/10 · 28 October 2021]

The biggest issue with the new Halloween movies having the wrong tone is that they made a huge deal out of ignoring the storyline of the old sequels. They were all excited to start fresh, 40 years later...but the actors act like 40 years ago was just a year ago.

They don't act like any normal human would after 40 years of one night of murder. The exact genius of the idea of rebooting the sequel is what has ruined it. When you cut out the old sequels, you cut out all of the chaos and endless Halloweens of Michael returning and causing trauma to Haddonfield.

They cut out a huge portion of WHY Michael is so feared. The old sequels showed us he truly is unstoppable.

So If he only killed for one night in 1978 and then returned 40 years later, why does everyone have such a deep fear of him after all that time? It makes NO sense.

Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)

It felt true enough to it's predecessors that it feels like a legit continuation.

[8/10 · 31 August 2020]

Unlike Dumb and Dumber To, this movie had the same vibe as the first 2 movies. Keanu seems a tad clunky and unsure how to get back into the rhythm of Ted but once the actions starts he gets more into it. And it's fast paced too. It moves and just takes you on a journey that reminds you of a simpler time before we screwed everything up so much.

It's not perfect but after 2 days of seeing it, I still remember it. I recall watching it as a fun time. I can not say the same for other sequels that took decades to make, like Terminator Dark Fate which was horrendous and had ZERO idea how to capture the same vibe that we loved about T2.

But Bill and Ted 3 accomplished this feat which is not an easy thing to do. There may have been one too many characters and side-plots but all-in-all I enjoyed it and it genuinely felt like a Bill and Ted movie, not just a clone trying to pretend to be like it.

I think this one will go in history as a fitting sequel to 2 very popular movies of the past, whereas other sequels are forgotten and seen as the redheaded ugly step-child. ;)

Halloween (I) (2018)

I couldn't wait for it to be over...

[3/10 · 19 October 2018]

It blows my mind that I am saying this but this movie just is not good at ALL. It had no idea what style it was trying to be. It involved characters that weren't needed and were fleeting. It still acts as though Laurie is Michael's sister even though she isn't and I did not believe that Laurie could be that crazy after 40 years, still stuck on that one night. The characters were not interesting or likable. They snuck in comedy at wrong moments. The pacing was off. It would rev up, slow down, take a sharp left turn, then slow down again, rev up for a second. There was little to no suspense or build-up. It was as though they just hoped having the Myers character would make everyone happy and they did not care to make anything else enjoyable. They just did not know what they were going for with this one. I compare it to sitting in a room with 3 TVs that each have completely different programs on each and you're taking turns watching all 3 at once. That's how inconsistent this movie felt. I could not wait for it to be over...