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owensknick
Reviews
Survival Box (2019)
Oof....Not worth it
2 stars......because it's a movie. And It's got....half decent bones (setting/camera-work.) The rest....wow. Truly just one messy trope cliche after another. Right off the bat, they make sure to throw in that one **** character every terrible movie has that is so far off the spectrum of a normal person it's laughable. In real life, if there were someone who is that much of a ****, people just wouldn't put up with you, let alone in a life or death end of days type scenario(He luckily doesn't have a ton of screen time). Anywho, the rest of the characters aren't much better, all falling into one or another type that has been recycled over and over again from every other poorly written movie out there. The other fun note, this bunker's automated systems kick in and seal this group inside. Yet there's about 3 seconds of them questioning whether it's maybe just a fluke. Then they all just kind of go, "yep, okay, world is over, everyone is probably dead" which would be fine if they acted ANYTHING remotely logically after that, instead it's paranoia and unexplained behavior left and right within a week or two. It's like the writers couldn't decide what each character would be...if they'd be survival experts, smart, stupid, grown ups, soap opera characters that give monologues, stoic non-emotional, hyper-emotional, or the spoiled rich kids they were supposed to be. So instead characters just change from scene to scene, thus the reasoning/thought process that you might be able to apply and fool yourself into believing to explain why a character would do something, has to switch every few moments for it to make any sense. Which becomes tiring....fast!
If you like the idea of this movie. But want something with characters who make sense with the way they are non-sensical due to circumstances. Something that is raw. Something that will leave you kind of feeling....icky. And point out what actually lies below the surface of humanity being kept in check by society. Watch a movie called The Divide. It also has an occasional meh-moment. But it literally beats this movie over the head with story/character based logic.
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)
Don't expect awards material, but watch it anyhow
Okay, so first off, if you're turned off by gore and gratuitous violence....stop here, and go find a different movie. If that's no issue, then please continue.
The movie has a very shallow plot. But personally, I found that to be a positive and slightly refreshing. So many films go crazy with unbelievable back stories, twists, and "shock" that the plots get lost. Bradley's back story shares a few parallels to that of Viggo's character in A History of Violence. It's not fully divulged, but he comes from a violent past, tries to put it behind him, gets drug back in due to hard times, and then comes to the point of basically going primal against anyone who stands in his way.
I rated it as I did because this is not some crazy out there concept. Most people in the real world (with the exception of certain circles) have faced bad enough times to consider how easier it'd be to stop playing by the rules, just so happened, Bradley does it and has it come back to bite him.
So plot I gave about 3 points. Vaughn going outside his wheelhouse and yet still pulling it off really well, worth another 2 points. (Rest of the cast was so-so) And the fighting/violence I figured another 2 points or so. Some of the gore and effects were too fake and obviously only happened due to a "why not" moment by someone....but this was to be expected since Bone Tomahawk was very similar in its' special effects. All in all, very watchable. Not cheap or boring. Not annoying. It does its' job and kills time while entertaining. And I think that's worth a 6 or 7.
P.S. There is no blatant political messages in this movie, I'm not sure why a few reviewers felt the need to bring up the affiliation of the actors/production. I could care less what my electrician believes in....he's there to do electrical work. Actors are no different.
Death Note (2017)
Review for those that don't care/won't watch the anime
Reviewing based only off of the film and not the manga, as I knew it existed, but didn't get a chance to go through it.....
The movie is absolutely screwed up due to two things. One, they insisted on maintaining hints of a Japanese based story which just came across as silly and out of place in the americanized film. Just little things that would make sense in an anime, but not a live action western film.
And secondly, they tried to make a pie, with the ingredients of a cake. Had they one-offed the manga, it would have worked. Had they made a separate movie, it would have worked. But instead you have a separate story that is then contorted and forced to try to fit within the confines of a few select pillars from the source material. Leaving you with a broken and confusing story that you can tell (even just looking at it as a film and not an adaptation) has something wrong and almost feels like there's pages missing or that two plots were smashed together. For example, the entirety of the characters that are L and Ryuk are never explained. They each continue to do things throughout the film that have zero explanation or basis in sound reason.
So, with that, is it watchable, sure. The camera and editing are fine. But the story, EVEN HAVING NOT GONE THROUGH THE ORIGINAL, is still an absolute disaster.