monica_maclean Reviews

I Am Rage (2023)

Started off ok

[8/10 · 29 December 2023]

I watched this film on Prime, I'm not sure if it was a British film or a Scandinavian one supposedly set in The UK. I didn't recognise any of the actors, most had not so great acting skills, although the lead character was reasonable.

It started off ok but got a bit daft towards the middle and end, but I do like a female kick ass film. I'm not sure if the evil family featured were carrying on the bloodline or if they were really old but remained youthful due to their consumption of blood. Lots of things weren't really explained about the family or Erin's almost superpower like fighting skills. Entertaining and not bad for a low budget film.

Did anyone notice the guy in the red jacket wandering past in the background, during the last fight scene between Erin and Margret.

Do You Know Me? (2009 TV Movie)

Confusing

[6/10 · 28 December 2021]

Things were straightforward up until the boyfriend was killed. Then I have no idea as to what was happening.

From what I did gather, Elsa the main character who saw her picture on a milk carton, was somehow rescued as a child from somewhere. Her real father was an ex criminal turned politician. No idea who the people who raised her were or how they were relevant to the film or why so many people kept abducting her.

Also who placed the milk carton advert in the first place, no idea as no one seemed to be looking for her. Her real mother (I think) was a crazy crack head, so couldn't have been her. Her real father didn't want her around.

Vendetta (I) (2013)

I almost passed this over

[9/10 · 15 December 2021]

I've never been a fan of Danny Dyer since Eastenders but I was impressed with this film and his portrayal of Jimmy, a special ops soldier gone awol whilst he hunts for the drug dealing murderers of his parents.

The film had a good storyline to it and had a sense of realism. This is what I like about British films, they tend to depict real life which is believable.

I found myself relishing in the many ways the vengeful Jimmy dealt with the murderers. I do love a vigilante film and this was one of the better ones. I'll definitely look out for Vendetta 2.

The Wilding (2016 TV Movie)

What was this even about?

[4/10 · 15 December 2021]

I feel as though I've missed something. Seems the film follows 3 families who each have a member or two with a psychotic illness, when in fact, they seem to be experiencing some kind of paranormal activity, where they might be communicating with the dead, but I could be wrong.

Then there is a mysterious man, who breaks into the car of a psychiatrist, whose own daughter is experiencing these apparitions, no idea why he broke into her car, or how he's related to anything in the film, except to say, he can communicate with the dead and makes money out of the bereaved by giving them snippets of what their dearly departed are telling him.

The ending was particularly strange, an ending, but not an ending. It felt as though there should be another episode. We end seeing the mysterious man in the home of the psychiatrist, chatting to her partner. The psychiatrist has just lost her daughter in a forest, after she directs her mother to drive to an area where a missing girl has told her to go, the girl is dead and the psychiatrist finds the body of this missing, now dead girl and her family, who presumably don't know they're dead as they are one of the families who suffer the "psychotic illness". Anyway, the mysterious man tells the psychiatrist that his daughter went to the same school as her daughter and he's come to meet her. The psychiatrist's daughter attends high school, but the mysterious man earlier mentions he lost his daughter at the age of six.

Honestly, none of it made sense and I don't even know why anyone bothered to make this film in the first place.

The Open House (2018)

Loose ends

[2/10 · 13 October 2020]

When I started watching this film, I assumed it was going to have a supernatural theme, but I'm not sure what it was.

The film begins with Logan, a teenage boy with aspirations to enter the olympics, witnessing his father dying after being hit by a car when they go to the shop to buy eggs.

Distraught Logan and his mum, Naomi move into her sister's huge country house, until it's sold. Regular weekend open house tours for prospective buyers are held, where Logan and his mum are required leave the house for several hours.

Strange things start happening, noises from the creepy basement, the water heater being turned off, Logan's phone and glasses going missing. Initially Naomi thinks Logan is playing pranks on her, until she wakes to find an unknown man in bed with her, who subsequently ties her up and breaks her fingers.

The outcome for Logan and mum Naomi, isn't good, but we never find out who the murderous man is, we only ever see his boots. We don't find out how he got in the house or why he wants to harm them. The ending is disappointing with no explanation about anything.

There is one scene where Logan and his mum arrive home after the open house afternoon has ended and the Realtor's assistant who is running the event, looks flustered and panicked, again, we never know why this is.

Then there is Martha, a strange woman in her sixties who keeps bumping into Logan and Naomi. First she says she's a widow then claims she isn't. In one scene Logan hears noises at night, goes outside and is startled by Martha who tells him to get out of her house.

Naomi is told by a plumber that Martha has Dementia, but I'm sure I saw a part where Logan goes into the woods, where Martha claims she lives and the house has been knocked down. So does Martha exist, does the plumber exist? And why are all the characters in the same clothes everyday.

The film was entertaining, but there was a beginning and a middle and pretty much no ending. Disappointing.

6 Underground (2019)

If you like an action film you'll love this

[7/10 · 8 October 2020]

Ryan Reynolds plays "1". He's a billionaire and philanthropist and after witnessing civilians in a refugee camp being massacred in Turgistan, by an evil dictator, he decides to right the world of its wrongs by faking his own death and going after bad people, including the Turgistan dictator.

He starts recruiting an elite group to join him, including a hitman, a spy, a CIA agent, a soldier and a free running young thief, who also have to"ghost" themselves. Each of the group are given a number as their name so as not to reveal their true identities to each other.

There is a little bit of back story about each of the group, but there is no explanation as to how the group are trained in weaponary, combat and tech skills, particularly 1, who as a billionaire inventor, would not have had those skills.

The film focuses on the rescue of the Dictator's brother who is the good brother and wants to make Turgistan a better place for its people, by encouraging a revolution. He's currently under house arrest in a palatial pent house in Hong Kong, surrounded by his brother's henchmen.

There are a few holes in the plot, but a few tongue in cheek moments, which were amusing. I enjoyed the film.

Peppermint (2018)

Really entertaining

[8/10 · 6 October 2020]

Jennifer Garner plays Riley, a mum whose husband is tempted by a friend to rob a Mexican drug cartel after his business falls on hard times. The Cartel find out the plan, murder the friend and then open fire on Riley's husband and daughter at a fairground, killing them. Riley is injured but later recovers and identifies the three men who killed her family.

The Cartel's lawyer visits Riley at home and tries to pay her off, Riley throws him out. At the court hearing, the judge dismissed the case, sighting insufficient evidence. Riley is deemed unstable and ordered by the judge to be detained at a mental facility.

Whilst in the ambulance with the Detective who tried to help Riley get justice (Carmichael) Riley hits him and escapes and is not seen again. Moving forward five years, there are a spate of killings of cartel members, including the three men who Killed Riley's family. Along with the corrupt judge who dismissed the case.

The FBI become involved and Carmichael and his partner are called to speak to them. The female FBI Officer is shown CCTV footage and identifies Riley as the woman whose family were killed 5 years ago, she connects the killings to Riley. The FBI decide to go public and the media are told about Riley, social media goes wild, discussing the rights and wrongs of vigilante Riley.

Riley goes on to find the Cartel's money laundering warehouse and kills everyone, then burns the millions of dollars there. The Cartel boss, guesses that Riley will next head to their drug lab, so set her up, planting explosives there. Riley spots the explosives and manages to escape as the lab is blown up.

Riley finds the two Cartel guys who blew up the lab and kills them, not before finding out where the Cartel boss lives, she drives their car back to the house, with the dead guys still in the front. They are let inside and Riley goes about killing all the henchmen before seeking out the Cartel boss, who she is about to kill, then his daughter comes out looking for her father, which distracts Riley, the boss stabs her and escapes.

Police gather at the boss's house and Carmichael's partner argues with another police office, accusing him of not providing Carmichael with vital info, regarding the Cartel's activity. The police officer tells him, he had been trying to contact Carmichael for days. At that point, the partner realises Carmichael's a dirty cop.

Meanwhile Carmichael meets with the female FBI agent at a down and out tent "city", where she has discovered, Riley hides out and it transpires, helps and protects the homeless people who live there. Corrupt Carmichael kills the FBI agent and then phones the cartel boss to tell him where Riley is. The boss and his henchmen all arrive at tent city in search of Riley, who has sent footage to a news station of the cartel and of dirty cop Carmichael. She tells everyone to come to Tent City, news crews, police etc.

The boss then grabs one of the tent city kids and threatens to kill her if Riley doesn't come out of her hiding place. Riley concedes and the boss releases the girl and proceeds to beat up Riley, who mocks him as he hits her. The police arrive along with helicopters and presumably the henchmen are arrested. The boss shoots Carmichael, assuming he's double crossed them. Riley finds the boss, who has run away and attacks him. Carmichael's partner implores her not to kill him, but she does and is shot by other officers, but somehow escapes.

Carmichael's partner finds Riley, lying injured at the grave of her husband and daughter. Riley is rushed to hospital and lies handcuffed to a bed. The partner visits her and it would seem has slipped her the key to the cuffs. The film ends with an empty bed and the open cuff, still attached to the bed. Riley has escaped.

I really enjoyed this film, love a film where the baddies get what they deserve. Great for those who love action films.

My Husband's Secret Wife (2018)

Bigamy

[2/10 · 5 October 2020]

So this film is odd. Widow's son is almost kidnapped from a soft play centre and the kidnap is thwarted by a handsome stranger. Widow falls in love with the stranger and they marry, only for her to later discover her new husband is already married. Her husband's real wife is unhinged and determined to get her estranged husband back, but there is a sinister twist, seems the husband and his real wife have other ideas. The strange thing about this film is the second "wife" doesn't get that she's not legally married as her "husband" is still married so he's a bigamist, so why hasn't he been arrested.

The Devil's Tomb (2009)

It looked promising....

[2/10 · 4 October 2020]

The premise of this supernatural film, directed by Jason Connery, was good. A small group of soldiers enlisted by an Anthropologist to find her father in what turns out to be a bunker deep under the ground in a desert. Lots of blood, gore, slime and unnecessary swearing, as well as some wooden acting. Some of the cast were well-known, Cuba Gooding Junior, Ron Pearlman and Ray Winstone. This really surprised me and I assumed the actors had fallen on hard times so agreed to work on the film for a bit of extra cash. I wish I hadn't bothered, may as well have watched Sharknado or other similar unscary, low budget horror film.

The Wrong House (2016 TV Movie)

Usual made for tv silliness

[5/10 · 30 January 2020]

I caught the second half of this film, which was called "Dream House, Nightmare Neighbour" (2016) which is also the name of a similar film made in 2019.

The premise is, a couple with their young daughter move from another state and purchase their dream house. Problem is, nutty personal trainer who grew up in the house, but it was repossessed because her mother was an alcoholic, who subsequently killed herself, wants "her" house back, having been gazumped by the couple.

She sets out to drive them out of the house, with a number of pranks, that end up more sinister, with her attacking another neighbour and the detective investigating the pranks.

The film ends with Brian, the husband,(wooden actor) discovering who the personal trainer, Kathleen is and he kills her. What I found strange though, Kathleen attacked a neighbour in her garden, we never find out if she's dead and seemingly no one knows about it, she's likely still lying, lifeless by her pool. We also never find out if the detective is dead or alive, many loose ends.

This is the sort of film you'd continue to watch, after misslaying the remote control. Entertaining enough, but typical of made for tv films.