gerib_1999 Reviews

Significant Other (2022)

Thoroughly enjoyed this movie!

[10/10 · 11 October 2022]

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie! The initial boyfriend-girlfriend interaction was very good, almost romcom for the first 15 minutes. Then things get weird. I watch enough sci-fi and horror that I am rarely surprised by plot twists, but this one gob-smacked me! So much so that I watched the movie again as soon as it ended to answer my question "How did I not see that coming!?"

Script is excellent, characters are 3-dimensional, acting is superb, cinematography is 10-second rewind worthy. It's fun, tense, scary and suspenseful.

The ending was only a little unsatisfactory, not as bad as some other reviewers thought, and I don't have any suggestions for a better ending (I *usually* think I know how to fix it).

The Silent Sea (2021)

Skip the last episode and make up your own ending

[4/10 · 9 January 2022]

I love science fiction so I'm very good at suspending disbelief for the sake of a story. This series had me until literally the last 4 minutes. The end was so unbelievable and unrealistic that it actually ruined the show. It also failed to resolve the story.

The Father (I) (2020)

OMG

[10/10 · 9 October 2021]

About halfway into the movie, I suddenly realized I felt drunk or stoned even though I was actually sober. The script, the acting, the direction, the filmography - everything about this film created an immersive story that dragged me into Hopkins' character's mind. I vicerally FELT his character's confusion and disorientation. I literally FELT like I was drunk and stoned even though I was sober. I FELT like I'd lost track of what was happening in the film even though I KNEW I hadn't. Masterful!

Into the Forest (2015)

Wow. Breathtaking. Stupidity.

[1/10 · 9 September 2021]

I love disaster movies and apocalyptic movies! Even a lot of so-called B movies!

I suspect the script was written for a dad with 8- to 12-year-old daughters, but adult women were cast instead of young girls. That's the only plausible way these "girls" can be this stupid - and saying that insults a lot of children with the barest of common sense!

Other reviews provide specific examples of the characters incomprehensible stupidity, which kinda must be seen to be believed: From using their precious 5 gallons of gasoline to play music (and watch home movies and use the microwave to pop popcorn) to ignoring the leaky roof until the ceiling literally caves in (in a year or two, not ten years, then reacting to that dilemma by using the last of their gasoline to burn down their only shelter).

Volcano (1997)

I liked it

[7/10 · 26 December 2020]

A lot of reviewers complain how this movie was unrealistic. Lacking a geology or vulcanology degree, I thought the plot was plausible - not necessarily realistic but explaining itself with enough possibility that I could suspend disbelief for 2 hours, which is really all I ask of this type of movie.

After all California is in the Ring of Fire and has a lot of earthquakes, and I have seen video of people standing "too close" to actual lava in Hawaii for example.

Some things were so stupid that they stretched even my willing acceptance, like how the 13-year-old daughter is has the wits of a 6-year-old; how I would never choose to swing over lava hanging off a ladder when there's a perfectly good bus axel to climb up and over; how ridiculous not to mention insulting it is that Mike would tell the female geologist to look for his daughter when she's his only volcano/lava expert; and how at the end of the movie, which technically is still in the midst of an ongoing disaster, Emmet left the Office of Emergency Management to break into Mike's house to drive over with his dog (oh god THAT was weird).

Okay I confess there is a lot wrong with this movie! Nonetheless, it was fast paced and exciting, and I've watched it several times now.

My biggest complaint was that it started with the 70's "soap opera" disaster model of introducing multiple characters, but it didn't commit to them or follow them to the end of the story.

World War Z (2013)

One of the best zombie movies ever

[10/10 · 26 December 2020]

I love this movie. It's absolutely terrifying in the best ways possible - running zombies are much scarier than lumbering zombies. Oddly there isn't the usual bloody gore to keep PG-13 rating, but I didn't miss it; the movie was no less scary. It aso provides a unique and believable premise I've never seen in another zombie movie.

Singularity (I) (2017)

Worst Terminator (& Terminator Salvation) ripoff ever

[1/10 · 23 December 2017]

Warmonger computer expert creates Artificial Intelligence Kronos. Kronos sees humans as threat & robots wipe out humans. 93 years later, A.I. of the warmonger creates a cyborg, Andrew, who thinks he's human. Andrew meets girl Calia when she saves his life ... repeatedly. She's looking for Aurora, a legendary city where humans are safe from machines. Andrew doesn't know he was created to destroy Aurora - we are told this in cut to warmonger A.I. explaining this to his "brother" A.I.

Ripoff plot but in case you never saw Terminator, plot is given away by expository narration and dialogue in a ridiculous case of tell-before-show.

Same plot and character names as 2015 movie Aurora. I didn't see Aurora, only a trailer then movie apparently wasn't released in the U.S. I don't know if Aurora was any better.

Attack the Block (2011)

hilarious

[9/10 · 1 January 2012]

I thought this movie was scary and hilarious at the same time, actually creepy enough to make me jump several times while at the same time spoofing horror movies. The main characters are better developed and deeper than typical "spoofs" making this a good movie as well as fun. Very interesting and surprisingly intellectual twist at the end. It's filled with hilarious one-liners that I'll remember for awhile. On a side note, I am grateful for closed-captioning: as an American, I would've missed a lot of the dialog and humor if I hadn't been able to read along; silly as it seems, British English can sound as foreign as a foreign language!

Quarantine (2008)

scariest movie I've seen in a long time

[9/10 · 26 March 2009]

This is the scariest movie I've seen in a long time! It's the first movie I've been compelled to comment on (I created my IMDb profile to comment on THIS movie). I just watched it on DVD at home, I drenched myself with lukewarm coffee, my heart rate is still up, and I'm looking at my dog sideways.

I was planning to veg out with a typical B horror flick, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was immediately entertaining and well written. The movie starts with a reporter and her cameraman shadowing a crew of firemen, and the beginning scene is witty and fun ... until, of course, the call to action.

The premise of a mutated rabies virus IS more believable than dead-reanimated zombies, but there are inevitable (even glaring) gaps in the logic. Suspend the disbelief, ignore the gaps, and enjoy the scare ... pause the video before taking a drink or else use a sippy-cup!

This film is absolutely terrifying! I really want to see REC because one of the main criticisms of this movie is that it's an inferior remake of REC.