Change Your Image
Rdemeran1
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Expend4bles (2023)
No investment
While it may be entertaining to watch Jason Statham rain a fire of flurry kicks and punches on random bad guys, this installment fell flat even compared to the mediocrity and castrated outing that was Expendables 3. Every outing up until this one gave you a real reason to not just hate the villain, but to cheer for their demise. This one gave no investment. Sure, the villain does bad things, but you never get the sense that they do them purely for enjoyment. You never get a sense of the utter hell that the dictator is lashing on his people just for the sake of greed, or the sense of pure evil that Can Damme brought to Villain with his devil-worshipping team of evil doers, or even Mel Gibson's apathetic and spiteful glee at hurting Barney by hurting his friends. This villain is just... Well, about as fleshed out at Random German Soldier #2 in an Indiana Jones movie.
School Spirits (2023)
Intriguing plot
The plot is incredibly intriguing. It alone keeps you engrossed in the story. Good thing, too, because the actors are as terrible at line delivery as the people hired to dub dialogue from foreign movies. My wife had this on while I was working so I only listened to the first episode. I was into the story of the girl trying to figure out her own death, but I honestly thought this was one of the myriad foreign language shows that are popping up all over streaming services. I asked why she didn't just turn on the subtitles like normal and she told me it was an English show. Then I looked up and recognized the girl from Cobra Kai.
Haunted Mansion (2023)
Worth the Remake
****** This was not, by any stretch, a cinematic masterpiece, but it was what it needed to be: a fun, exciting, and sometimes mildly scary, adventure.
This movie provided a necessary plot that will make for a fun addition to the ride, should they choose to go that route. It would enhance the ride from its current, Eddie Murphy movie version, and allow it to return to what it once was: actually scary.
It was also fun to see the hints and nods to the ride on screen, without it feeling like an unnecessary poke in the ribs. The characters also provided heart and humor, and a warmth that added an element of, for lack of a better word, risk. If there is no risk to the characters, or the risk falls flat, there's no involvement in the story. This movie invites involvement, and actually succeeds.