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Flatliners (2017)
7/10
Your Wrong
23 March 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Before watching this movie I read as many review as possible. Let me start off by saying to most of the bad reviews you are wrong. I read review after review that said this was a bad horror movie with "jump scares" that were completely ineffective. I even saw professional reviews on YouTube to the same effect.

Because I hate horror movies especially supernatural ones that only exist to give people nightmares about demons or ghost or demonic ghost... I was prepared to turn this movie off the minute it turned into this kind of movie. But it NEVER happened.

I think a lot of people went on looking for that type of movie or maybe that with a little Final Destination thrown in.

If this is what gets you off please stay away from me and don't bother to see this movie.

I watched this movie because I liked the original movie and I was looking for a reboot with better actors special effects and maybe something a bit more science based with elements of real NDE that wasn't in the original.

Although I was disappointed it wasn't because this was a bad movie but because it was so close to the original that no new depth was added.

But unlike the original it was clear from start to finish exactly what was going on.

So after seeing the movie I was inclined to give it a 6 but I gave it a 7 because the negative reviews were so wrong as to almost to seem to be lying.

Ok here are my corrections to what I see as lies about this movie or at the very least misinformation

Lie #1 this is a horror movie 1. Like the original this movie was NOT and is NOT a horror movie.

Lie #2 The actors are horrible and the characters are unlikable 2.The acting in this movie was more enough adequate considering the limitations of the script which did not seem to want to stray too much from the original (Had they made this both more scientific and true to NDE experiences and made the visions more powerful than just hallucinations I would have given this movie a 10)

Lie # 3 The main character dies in the middle of the movie is pointless and is forgotten by the other characters immediately 3. Many reviews claim that the character that died just disappeared out of the plot and none of the characters seemed to even notice. This is an outright lie and is actually the opposite of what actually happens.

Finally it is true that something supernatural that feeds off guilt and fear seemed to follow them over and was only vaguely hinted at. So the movie does not end up going dark or demonic. So you will have to go somewhere else for your supernatural porn.

I will admit that the character development is was too slow. Too little to late. By the time you start to understand the characters enough to be pulled in the movie is more than half over.

Also the "death is a rush" part was examined only in the most superficial way and ended up cringy. If you survive death you will definitely feel different. Add to that the expanding abilities of these characters after crossing over could have provided a hint at deep philosophical questions about the brain or evolution or even reincarnation. But nothing was explained or explored here.

So I think part of the reason I give this a 7 instead of a 6 is I am hoping for a directors cut that adds a little of what I was missing or that a similar movie will be made in the future that actually tries say something deeper.
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Lovesick (I) (2014)
7/10
So Close
19 February 2018
Ok if you have read a few reviews you already know the basic plot. Charlie Darby (Matt LeBlanc) is an elementary school principal with a troubled romantic history. His best friend Jason Kerwick has a perfect family. Charlie decides to only date women he doesn't care about. He meets fellow heartbroken Molly Kingston (Ali Larter) who has a nephew at his school.

I wanted to give this movie at least a 9 for the chemistry and sweetness of this couple falling in love. And for addressing the sensitive issue of addressing love and jealously and people with social connection issues.

Unfortunately this movie tried to play both a dark comedy and a sweet romantic comedy. It is. almost like they were trying to recreate Silver Linings Playbook. But the writer of this story did not know enough about psychology to back up the story.

There is a paper you can read online LOVE AND PSYCHOSIS. WHY DOES LOVE MAKE US CRAZY? http://www.psychoterapiaptp.pl/uploads/PT_2_2015/ENGverProt-KlingerPsychoterapia2_2015.pdf that addresses similar issues that this movie barely addresses.

Had the writer done a little research and read papers like this and perhaps hired a consultant to look over the final script then perhaps this movie would have been compared to well made movies like Silver Linings Playbook. .

A movie like that which addressed the serious issues Love and it's relation to Psychosis could have been something worthy of awards.

Instead what we get is a movie that tries to both jokingly compare love and going crazy... while at the same time trying to address the issues involved without treating the issues with the seriousness they deserve. You do get to see inside someones head who is delusional and you do feel for him. But it is kind of played off as a joke because he is only delusional when he is in a relationship.

But I do have to say that this is an independent film and mentions that jealousy is an issue in the description. And I read IMDB desc before watching the movie

"The story of Charlie Darby, who has everything going for him: a great job, friends, family, the whole package. The one thing Charlie doesn't have is love, because every time he gets close, he goes clinically insane. When he meets the perfect girl, Charlie must overcome his psychosis to claim his chance at true love." .

So I did not find the character "creepy" enough to worry that he was going to snap and kill someone or that he was a stalker. But I can understand why so,e women watching this movie might feel that way.

This all boils down to the writer trying to turn a real mental illness into a slight dark comedy with a regular romantic comedy formula for a script.

What a shame.

The reason Silver Linings Playbook worked was because it wasn't written as a romantic comedy formula. It wasn't a dark comedy. It wasn't written as a comedy at all. It was written as a drama and took love and mental issues very seriously.

Anyway this movie had so much potential had it been handled properly.And because I was able too see and even feel this movie for what it should have been ...I give it a 7 to encourage independent film makers to study what this movie did right and to encourage future film makers to watch this film as an example how to ruin a potentially brilliant independent gem.
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