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Gincairn
Reviews
Black Mirror: Demon 79 (2023)
Not the black mirror you're expecting
Like a lot of others have said here, this doesn't feel like black mirror, this and the episode before it stray from the usual "technology is the real evil" format of the show.
Now I must admit the previous episode didn't do it for me, but this one? Excellent, it works well, the characters are compelling, the chemistry between the two main characters is flawless, oddly, you find yourself rooting for this girl-next-door-turned-serial-killer and Gaap being the hellish version of Clarence from it's a wonderful life, will she complete the task? Will he earn his wings?
But for someone that grew up through that time, the soundtrack is fantastic, Boney M, Madness and more Boney M. It was a real trip down memory lane.
It's not the usual format, but it was compelling and entertaining, there have been worse black mirror episodes, but honestly? Not that many that I would say are better.
Resident Evil (2022)
Went in expecting to hate it...
The first couple of episodes were less than great, but with any show I always give it to the end of the third episode to see if it improves, this one did, considerably.
While not a great depiction of the series as a whole, this show started off quite weak, but as the story progressed I find myself wanting to watch the rest, and by the end of the season, well, I'd just like to say I wasn't a season 2.
This isn't a true 10/10 show, but it deserves a higher score than it currently has, I have a feeling the score has taken a huge hit because Wesker is wrong and that's only because people haven't watched the whole series, it gets explained.... give it a chance.
Darwin's Game (2020)
Not bad, but much of it done before
Not a bad show, takes parts from Deadman Wonderland, Future diary and others.
It does seem to get better the further into it you watch, the soundtrack is pretty good and although people have said the dub is bad, I haven't found it to be too bad.
The Fare (2018)
Very well made movie, compelling viewing
I've watched a lot of time loop movies over the past few weeks, groundhog day, happy death day and the sequel, live die repeat and 12:01 (what can I say with lockdown it kinda feels like this whole last year has been a time loop of my own)
I can honestly say I did not see this one coming, the characters are interesting, the loop mechanic was very well handled and (on first viewing) it kept me guessing, watching it a second time you notice bits and pieces that were put in to do some hints.
The film starting in black and white and gradually getting colour was also a nice touch, if you like a good time loop story but want to see something with a little bit of intrigue, I'd recommend you look this one up.
Thunder Force (2021)
I didn't hate it
While not the best effects, writing or plot I got pretty much what I expected out of this, a film that made me laugh a few times while waiting for the inevitable "Good Triumphs Over Evil" ending.
So, it had a few moments that made me laugh, but what else? Well, that's where it falls a bit flat, what we're left with is some dodgy dialogue, a very thinly veiled plot and some irritating characters to string it all together, a lot of the jokes didn't really land for me, we get it, fat people are hilarious! Let's all laugh at them because if we picked on any other attribute it could be seen as offensive or bullying, but those fat people? Hell, they've got thick skin right? Right?
PCNonsense aside, this film felt like an attempt at an origin movie for a set of heroes, but it didn't really give them any outstanding enemies to fight, they made a big thing about how dangerous one character is and then pretty much take that away in another scene, so the whole film felt like it was trying to set something up, but nothing really landed.
However I obviously didn't hate it or else the score wouldn't be so high, it is, a middle of the road movie, something to put on when you have nothing else to do and just want some background noise, I couldn't rate it lower because I've seen much worse, couldn't rate it higher because I've seen much better, it's a so-so, watch once then forget it kind of a film.
Jason Bateman was ok, not on his best, Octavia Spencer was ok, not at her best, Melissa McCarthy was . . . You get where I'm going with this by now right?
They've all done bigger and better things, but there's worse out there too, I don't think the movie deserves all of the 1 star reviews, because that implies it is quite literally the worst thing out there, the downside is too many are only willing to go with a 1 or a 10 and not meet the middle ground, this was a 5, could be better, could be worse.
It had some ok running gags in there that actually worked, some that didn't, and the ones that did, actually kinda made up for the failures.
Not sure I'd watch it again, but oddly, I'd probably watch a sequel just to see if they managed to improve.
The Witches (2020)
I didn't hate it.... but
I can forgive the Americanisation, I can forgive making the grandmother a sort of voodoo priestess of sorts, in fact I can forgive a lot since they made the ending true to the original works.
As mentored in the title, here comes the but...
Anne Hathaway was terrible, utterly terrible.
The idea that the witches are now demons was a terrible change, the cg mouths were just bad, giving the witches a horrible cartoonish appearance, the same can be said for their claws, the effects in general were just outright bad, although the mouse transformation wasn't awful but it reminded me of the ending of the kingsman a little, spectacle for the sake of spectacle.
In all honesty I have only given this a 4 because of the way that the ending matched the source material.
The addition of another mouse and that mouse being female just feels like she was added for inclusion purposes, especially because they make multiple references to her gender "what's his name?" "It's a she", "what's his name" "HER name is Daisy" etc.
To those championing the original, remember Roald Dahl wanted his name taken off of the credits because he didn't like the way it ended, it wasn't true to his tale, I find it exceptionally bad that his name and production company is stamped all over this film that changes the bits it does, while I can't speak for him, I very much doubt he would have wanted his name associated with this train wreck of a remake.
It got 2 bits right.... but so much more wrong