johntk1566 Reviews

The Creator (2023)

Short Circuit 2 made more sense

[3/10 · 29 January 2024]

A bunch of scenes with the same characters doing different stuff does not a movie make. This film didn't even come close to telling a relevant story, let alone an interesting one. There are some great action scenes that occur for some reason or another. The CGI that depicts this completely nonsensical realm is really well done.

This film fit right into the 2023 theme of "movies don't have to make sense." In this year we learned that directors cannot take up the slack of striking writers.

Honestly, I don't need 600 words to describe just how pointless this film was. It's not "bad," it just doesn't tell a story.

Silence (I) (2016)

Shamefully biased and one-sided

[3/10 · 1 March 2023]

As an expat living in Japan, as well as having studied Japanese History at university, I felt ashamed while watching this film, despite having also been raised Catholic.

This frustration is not that the story is not historical but that it is sickeningly one-sided in its evaluation of these events of history. Catholics, both foreign and Japanese, were severely persecuted by the government in this era. It is a fact. However, in this story, anyone who is not Christian is depicted as as villain. I have not read the original book, so I don't know if that depiction comes from the source material.

The Edo era remains one of the longest periods of peace in Japanese history. The Edo period brought an end to hundreds of years of civil war and division. Japan closed its borders because it did not want foreign powers interfering in that peace. Now, they did torture and kill people who violated their sovereignty, but those were certainly not a practices foreign to Europeans or the Catholic Church.

While this film is an evaluation of faith, it is not honest with itself about the role of the Jesuits in this period of history. Despite that some Jesuit's may have genuinely wanted to convert people in the name of their faith, the true function of the order on a political level was that of a spy agency; reporting back information for the Catholic Church and its affiliated nations to take advantage of foreign counties. This was a system practiced by the church for centuries.

The acting is excellent and the filming is beautiful. However, because of the shamefully biased nature of the story, there wasn't a part of me that enjoyed the experience.

The Head of Joaquín Murrieta (2023– )

Intense, fun, brutal... occasional crap

[7/10 · 26 February 2023]

Overall this is a really enjoyable exploration of "Wild Wexico." The story and characters are very interesting. At times, the overly honest brutality and racism depicted make it uncomfortable to watch. However, they do a good job of balancing those aspects so that they add to the story, rather than distract from it.

There are random moments when things turns to absolute crap to unnaturally force wild-west scenarios and/or uber-machismo. There definitely should have been some stronger editing throughout the writing and filming. Still, these moments are rare enough to brush them off.

This is definitely worth a shot for anyone who enjoys westerns.

The Sinner (2017–2021)

Don't watch season 3

[6/10 · 1 February 2023]

Season 1 and 2 are amazing. Excellent writing and acting. I was basically glued to the tv for both.

Season 3 is one of the worst written piece of crime drama ever written. Even the great acting is barely enough to carry the ludicrous storyline. It is getting worse by the minute as I watch it in the background... it is honestly amazing that this was green lit by an entire network and team of people.

I will definitely do some previewing of season 4 before viewing. Bill Pullman is amazing, but if the writers are the same as season 3 I will stay clear...and I will also be avoiding anything else they've written.

Willow (2022–2023)

9021-Will-0

[2/10 · 2 December 2022]

I really want to like this more, but the snarky-tween dialogue is making it impossible. There are certain elements that feel like the world of the original film, but overall, it feels more like an extension of the Shannara Chronicles, which was actually superior to this. So far, they seem to have made more of an effort to focus on teen-drama and forced humor than telling a high fantasy tale.

They've also completely abandoned the original music themes and replaced it with generic background music with contemporary junk to complete each episode.

I'll see what episode 3 has to offer, but I'm not very hopeful that it will be any improvement.

Update: I watched a couple more episodes. While there are a few interesting, aspects this show continues to disappoint.

The thing about the show that is so bad is that it tries so hard to keep the viewer from emerging in the fantasy. The acting is honestly not bad. It is the script that's awful. It is plagued by modern quips and banter wherever it can ruin a moment. The music does exactly the same. The score isn't horrible, but as soon as you feel you're getting into the "world" you're torn back to reality by bad covers of rock and pop songs. With those two aspects constantly in the way it becomes impossible to enjoy what little story is left.

28 Days Haunted (2022– )

Surprisingly engaging

[7/10 · 21 October 2022]

I started watching this expecting to not even be able to get through the first episode, but I ended up watching the entire series. I think the strength here comes from the editor(s), as the series does a good job of building while switching between 3 locations.

Do be warned that there is a massive serving of crap taken from what must be Reality TV 101. There are times when they try way to hard to create drama from absolutely nothing, most likely from having hours of nearly worthless footage and interaction. I found myself bursting out laughing in those moments.

The haunting and ESP aspects were very interesting to watch. This show hasn't moved me from a view of skepticism, but I also find myself hoping that all of the footage, audio and timelines of discovery vs prior known facts are genuine. Cool stuff!

The Matrix Resurrections (I) (2021)

Couldn't even finish it

[2/10 · 18 September 2022]

I'd never seen something actually try to be pretentious. I wanted to give this film a chance, having been a huge fan of the first Matrix, but I couldn't endure watching this in one sitting. This film desperately wants its audience to think that it is intelligent, but even halfway through, it still hadn't presented anything intelligible to follow. Even the choreography and special effects, which were some of the hallmarks of the original, we're noticeably poor and barely register at B-movie quality based on today's standards. I'll finish this at some point, but I'm not at all hopeful that it will have anything redeeming to offer.

Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

Rambo: The Slasher

[4/10 · 14 July 2022]

A forced and arbitrary storyline is used to justify a finale of a slasher-horror, gore-porn. The extremely prevalent "Mexico is full of criminals"/pro-wall feel of the film, along with the pro-"build your own survival bunker to ignore your mental instability" mentalities were also extremely overwhelming and concerning.

The Windmill (2016)

Best windmill horror movie ever

[5/10 · 6 July 2022]

I didn't love it but also didn't hate it. The premise is fairly interesting, but I was hoping for more spooky-haunts than slasher-film. The more they created in the film just didn't fit the slasher execution. Still, this is the best windmill horror film of all time...

Centaur (2022)

Burnout 1.5

[5/10 · 4 July 2022]

Not original but also not horrible. It's definitely an unashamed ripoff of the French film, but it does a couple of things differently. Netflix has gone B-movie grade with its productions, and this film is another example of something they probably should have passed on. Still, it's an entertaining movie to put on in the background.

Midway (2019)

Extremely enjoyable, with minor clunkiness

[9/10 · 15 June 2022]

This is one of those films that I hope has a 4+ hour directors cut on the way because the theatrical release obviously forced them to cut down a lot of interesting and relevant aspects of the campaign to just unworthy snippets.

Apart from that, it is a really enjoyable film. The battles and effects are amazing, and the acting does exactly what it needs to.

The soundtrack is absolutely amazing, definitely among the best I've noticed in the last 5 years. They really took their own, original direction with a lot of it, rather than rehashing WWII score tropes.

Arcane (2021– )

Amazing surprise

[9/10 · 16 February 2022]

I've never had any interest in the game this series was based on, but I saw a preview on Netflix and the art drew me in. It was well worth the risk. The setting, story, dialogue and voice acting are all amazing. The animation and art are indescribably awesome. If you have any interest in sci-fi, this is a must-see.

I'm not a fan of the pop-music opening:closing credits, but that's my own weirdness.

Cowboy Bebop (2021)

So much fun

[9/10 · 21 November 2021]

Watched and loved the original back in the early '00s. I didn't expect this new series to be a joygasm of nostalgic rememberries, and it's not...because nothing is...ever.

That being said, I really enjoyed this adaptation of the story and the new approach on the characters. The balance between action, comedy and drama was done really well. I'm really looking forward to how they'll continue things.

Dune (2021)

Does more while explaining less

[10/10 · 16 October 2021]

Such a cinematic feast for Dune fans. Newcomers are only given enough explanation to encourage them to read the book, which is actually a wonderful way to get people into this amazing universe. Even if you're confused, you'll still be able to enjoy the film, look stuff up and see it again.

Bright (I) (2017)

Missing source acknowledgment...

[5/10 · 15 October 2021]

Just make it Shadowrun, please.

There are some who say that Shadowrun was unoriginal. If that is true, then West Side Story is just an unoriginal combination of music, dance and gang warfare...that became the most acclaimed musical of its time.

Bright not being Shadowrun is basically like what West Side Story would be if you removed dance from it; it is trying very hard to be something cool but is missing an essential element.

In this case, casting aside the cyberpunk element of Shadowrun seems to just be Netflix's way of avoiding a lawsuit while creating something that is interesting but shallow.

Midnight Mass (2021)

Falls flat

[4/10 · 7 October 2021]

There were really a lot of great ideas that just got completely face-planted by a bipolar story in some attempt to make an Omni-genre epic. All of this could have been saved by a decent editor, or just anyone saying to the writer/director, "you need to pick a topic and stick with it."

Kate (I) (2021)

Semi-Painfully unoriginal

[4/10 · 14 September 2021]

Decent action sequences pieced together with a story you've seen dozens of times before.

Vampires (2020)

Interesting story hamstrung by some tropes

[6/10 · 16 August 2021]

Even with the teen drama aspects, this still pulls off a fairly captivating story. It isn't as deep as White Wolf's World of Darkness, but it does a good job. Unfortunately, it falls victim to many overused vampire tropes.

The Swarm (2020)

Fantasy/Horror/Drama? Fantastically horrible drama

[1/10 · 7 August 2021]

This is a family drama with a sub-plot about breeding killer locusts. It is not scary. It is depressing and occasionally gross. It feels so much longer than 101mins, and by the time it gets around to having anything interesting happen, the viewer is long passed having sympathy for any of the characters.

Masters of the Universe: Revelation (2021)

Fun exploration of Eternia

[9/10 · 25 July 2021]

I grew up loving the original series and really enjoyed the way this new one expands on the setting and characters. It seems like a lot of people are upset that there isn't more He-Man, but honesty, there isn't much more to explore with his character that the previous series didn't already do.

If you just want more of the same, re-watch the prior series. If you're interested in exploring Eternia, sit down and enjoy this one.

Oh, and the answer to the question so many area asking is easy: Where is He-Man??? He's on.........

STEROIDS!!!!

Renegade (2004)

Probably made for altered-state viewing

[5/10 · 4 July 2021]

From an artistic perspective, this is a very original and interesting blend of genres. The story is somewhat generic, but the way it is traversed is very unique.

For those not tripping-balls at the time of viewing, such as myself, this movie really suffers from pacing issues as well as a complete lack of editing. Watching this is similar to having a conversation with someone who's high out of their mind; while some of what they say may have some interesting perspectives, they ramble on, completely fascinated by what they're experiencing, while you're often waiting for them to get to any sort of point. This movie does have a few interesting points, but it is not consistently interesting as to how it leads you to them.

This film needed a lot more time in the editing room to be available to the general viewer, but then again, maybe that wasn't the target audience.

The Killer (2017)

Nonsensical story, lacking any cohesion

[2/10 · 27 June 2021]

There is not enough of a story, nor action, to make enduring the endless, disconnected scenes of human anguish worth watching. It also lacks sufficient historicity to hold it together.

Evil Eye (II) (2020)

Great cultural-drama, fail at supernatural thriller

[4/10 · 9 June 2021]

I really enjoyed about 70% of this film very much. It is a very interesting perspective into Indian cultural heritage and generational gaps. The acting is natural and immersive. The writing and direction are great...up until they try to switch to Supernatural Thriller mode. That aspect just did not fit well into this film at all. It felt completely forced; more like watching an alternate-ending, than part of the film. There is really nothing about this movie that qualifies it as a Horror, it just tries for Supernatural Thriller, but doesn't make the cut.

Incident in a Ghostland (2018)

Terrifying

[9/10 · 19 February 2021]

This movie is like being trapped in a nightmare, which is basically what all horror films should aspire to. There were times that I wanted it to be over, but I had to know what happened next. Most definitely worth a watch, but not for the feint of heart. This movie gets intense.

Emerald City (2016–2017)

Why would you cancel this???

[10/10 · 29 January 2021]

This is an amazingly original and deep take on the world of Oz. Tarsem Singh consistently makes turns excellent writing into beautiful stories on screen. The only thing wrong with this series is that it was cancelled.