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iCarly: iGoodbye (2012)
A great end for a new beginning
Teen sitcoms tend to get a bad wrap and while iCarly definitely declined in quality during it's last 3 seasons when it ended what we got wasn't just a satisfying conclusion, it'll leave you crying, smiling, laughing, and cry-laughing. Despite the show's decline there indeed is a bond you form with these characters and it sort of hit hard when I heard Freddy say "and we're out..." as the FINAL line of the show.
A great end to set up a new beginning with the 2021 reboot.
Seuwiteuhom (2020)
Decent Show Slightly Hindered
I would give the show am 8 but it is slightly hindered by its odd musical choices and bad cgi (the practical effects are wonderfully done however). I can forgive the bad cgi since I imagine this was not the biggest budget show, however the odd sometimes inane musical choices really throw the feeling off and sound design (which encompasses music)is essential in film and television.
Ready or Not (2019)
Silly, very silly, but very good
This film is smarter than most films of it's nature but it's still silly, goofy, gory fun.
Samara weaving is fantastic as per usual (she always seems to steal the show in her films), it's not hard to have fun here and enjoy it for what it is (many people have tried looking more critically at it and miraculously failed).
Enjoy the film, it's a hell of a ride. 8/10.
Midsommar (2019)
Long, slow, and boring propaganda
DO NOT mistake this film as horror it's not horror, it's long, slow, boring, racist, anti-white propaganda (the director said this himself).
It's a damn shame considering Ari's last film 'Hereditary' was so good. Why does every film these days feel the need to take sharp jabs at white people and it's widely accepted?
Don't watch even without the propaganda it's still an incredibly dull film
The Office: Garage Sale (2011)
My heart
No this isn't the only episode of The Office that's hits hard, let's put one thing out there, yes, Michael finally proposes to Holly, but oh my god you won't be prepared for it, it hits your heart like a truck, it's so sweet and so dorky and it 100% perfectly encapsulates how sweet and dorky Michael and Holly's relationship is.
I absolutely love this episode it's a perfect lead up to Michael leaving.
Sleeping with Other People (2015)
I usually don't like rom coms but...
Usually I can't stand romantic comedies, but this film is different, for one it's unashamedly crude, Jason Sudeikis and Allison Brie have instant chemistry, it also can be insanely funny (my favorite is the scene where Jake teaches Lainey how to touch herself it's crazy funny). It doesn't have the whole "you made me mad so we can't stay together" the two leads basically admit they love each other but decide to not act on it. I enjoyed the hell out of this movie it's hard for me to admit that I enjoy a romcom but damn if I don't like this movie cuz I do, it's great and so damn funny
Instant Family (2018)
Really funny
Based on Sean Anders real life story of adopting 3 Hispanic children with a few liberties taken here and there obviously.
This film is incredibly funny, it's also very heartfelt, I also love the jokes about the "white savior" thing many people will think this is being too PC but it's really not it's actually making jokes about progressive politics. This is never more evident when than when the case workers say there's parents of various different colors and kids of different colors after Pete tries to play the role of the "Woke white man" claiming what they were doing was the "white savior" cliche
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
Excellent low budget indie mystery-horror
Before I start I have to put a warning for animal lovers, the cat does die, if this turns you off do not watch this film.
Ok onto the actual review.
This is a pretty good low-budget indie film about a concept not used very much, the story is constantly moving forward in gruesome and gory manner (not for the squeamish), the lighting is insanely well done, the acting is pretty good and feels believable, the mystery revolving around the witch (Jane Doe) is incredibly palpable and intriguing though I do wish it was touched upon more.
Which leads me to the problems of the film.
The cinematography is for par, it's nothing you haven't seen before its not terrible just average
As I said I do wish the mystery around the witch was touched on more (maybe extending the movie half an hour would have worked) don't get me wrong the mystery is far from being bad, its actually incredibly good, which is why I wanted more of it.
Sometimes there are needless things, most notably is the girlfriend being killed, it comes out of nowhere and is quickly forgotten about it feels like it was put in for an emotional scene and little else.
However this movies good parts far exceeds its bad ones. Definitely watch it
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
#CloneWarsSaved
Ok for a bit of background information on the show it was made and intended to bridge the rather large gap between AOTC and ROTS. Unlike most TV shows where the network supplies the budget to keep the show going LucasFilm actually supplied the budget for TCW episodes meaning in theory the show could have gone on as long as Lucas wanted had LucasArts not been bought out, after being bought out the show was cancelled due to the show premiering on a competing channel (Cartoon Network) why they didn't just move it over to Disney I have no idea, the show did get a sixth season (more than likely already finished episodes) it was titled "The Lost Missions" but it still wasn't a real ending the show needed, now the show has been renewed for at least one more season (consisting of the unfinished episodes and possibly more)
Now onto my review, back when this premiered I didn't have crazy high hopes considering the movie wasn't that impressive, after 4 episodes I was completely hooked (I loved the Malevolence Trilogy) from then on I would tune in to see new episodes and when it was put onto netflix I finally watched it in the chronological order as a part of my annual Star Wars Marathon (yes it drastically increased the amount of time it took to watch the entirety of the Star Wars story but it was worth it).
What is there to say other than it's Star Wars and it's animated? Well it's absolutely fantastically written, not all episodes are great (Bombad Jedi is pretty bad) but the show is a sum of it's best parts not it's worst episodes, also watching it all in chronological order helped the theatrical TCW film alot more, it's still one of the weaker arcs but it made alot more sense. Season 5 is by far my favorite season, it has the best episodes and one of the best arcs (The Jedi Trilogy is friggin' amazing).
I love this show, I love the characters, I love the clones, I love the answers it gives to the gap between the films. All of it is great and I am so happy we're getting another season (hopefully more but I'd be happy to have a seventh season if that's all we get)
Splinter (2008)
Surprisingly good special FX, ok camera work, decent acting
This movie is a movie that you come back to for no real reason, its story is almost non-existent, the acting is only decent, the camera work is only ok, the lighting is surprisingly well done, the special effects are also surprisingly good, I guess the reason is that it's not a great film, it's something to watch when you're bored
The Handmaid's Tale (2017)
sigh
Another show preaching to us how the world is coming to an end because of "the patriarchy" seriously when does this stop I'm tired of EVERY show having this crap, it's getting very old very fast
ENOUGH
When a Stranger Calls (2006)
Suffers from the same issues as the original
Remember the opening 20 minutes of When a Stranger Calls? Remember how haunting it is, well the remake decided to make that the entire premise, seems like a amazing idea since the middle of the original drags, so why am I giving it a 5, because this film also suffers from dragging, the opening is decent, the setup is good and we settle in for an hour of what we hope is nail biting suspense that could be akin to a reverse Disturbia type film, instead the film pedals along without much to do until the third act.
Thankfully Camilla Belle isn't annoying even if her acting is wooden.
Overall it is slightly weaker than the original but the original wasn't a high art classic either so it's not that bad
Crawl (2019)
B-Movie with a budget
What if you gave a B-Creature feature a budget, of course this is not an uncommon question these days, but it's nice to take a break from sharks and alien monsters, this film is about alligators and a hurricane.
The acting is pretty strong Kaya Scodelario in particular, Barry Pepper is very good in his role albiet not as good as Kaya.
The writing is ok, the connection between Haley and Dave (her father) works but it's nothing special, the hurricane was interesting and added an extra layer of stress to the premise, it also doesn't feel tacked on it truthfully feels like they wanted to combine a creature feature with a disaster flick.
The special effects are mostly well done, some of the early alligator scenes look a bit (the lighting doesn't quite match up) however the flooding from the hurricane (which I believe was done using sound stages), and most of the alligator scenes are incredibly well done and look very real.
The movie is not high art don't be mistaken this is just a fun creature feature x disaster movie, the fact it has a 6.2 here shows that people don't know how to turn off their brains and just have fun for an hour and half
My full rating would be a 7.5, but giving it an 8 to hopefully help bring up the overall rating
Look Away (2018)
A movie of two halves
Concept is nothing special of course the idea of our darker selves living in the mirror is a concept that many films take on, however the way it's executed here is awesome India Eisley plays Maria and Airam (get it?) very well. Maria is the shy, hidden, beautiful, sweetheart pushover, while Airam is the confident, in your face, sexy, badass.
The first half of this film is excellent, it has a ton of tension, emotion, and creepiness.
The second half is less so, the violence undoes the tension and Airam doesn't seem nearly as impressive, had the film kept with Airam being manipulative (like exposing the affair Maria's father is having to Maria's mother is a sneaky way) in order to punish the people who wronged Maria the film would have worked out so much better, it would have kept Airam's creepiness
Despite all this the film is very well made and definitely worth a watch.
Joker (2019)
No CGI, no over the top action, no good guys and bad guys, no 'woke' propaganda, no problems
Out of the slew of modern waves of superhero films with tons of CGI and action, clear cut good guys and bad guys comes Joker, a smart, more arty, surprisingly deep villain's rise to evil.
Now let's be clear while I did state there is no 'woke' propaganda, or shoving a fake political message that's clearly made by idiots who don't know what real issues are. There is a political statement in this film, the only difference is that this message is REAL, it's about how society treats mental illness (having seen it being blatantly ignored and written off as white privilege or some other made-up crap) , how the system treats mental illness and what it can incite.
This is a slow film, it doesn't shove action into your face it has tight cinematography, a tight script, a pitch black sense of humor, and absolutely fantastic character acting from Joaquin Phoenix. The film also once again sets up the story of Batman with Bruce's parents being killed, though this time it's in the middle of a riot instead of a robbery gone wrong.
I rarely give films a full 10/10 but this film EARNED it. WATCH IT
Bird Box (2018)
Not bad, but has some faults and a lackluster ending
Ok let's get one of the biggest things out of the way that happened with the release of this film, the comparisons to "A Quiet Place"
Yes they share a similar premise with the most major change being that it's a different sense of the 5 senses (sight instead of sound), however it should be noted that the novel of the same name came out before A Quiet Place.
Ok with that out of the way, how is the actual movie?
It's ok, it's not great, and it's not as good as A Quiet Place, it suffers from a thin script in a thick concept, the character development is a bit weak and it doesn't really have an ending, it kind of just stops. However the mystery around what causes people to commit suicide and the followers is incredibly interesting with a better script would have served well with giving us more information of the followers of the thing. Another thing is that the acting is really good this is of course partially due to Sandra Bullock but the other actors do their jobs extremely well too.
Overall this film while not high art is good for a few viewings however it does suffer from some faults but I enjoyed it.
Honestly this is more of a 6.5/10
A Quiet Place (2018)
Who knew John Krasinski could make this?
This film is amazing, full of heart palpitating, edge of your seat tension, the even more amazing thing is that it's made by a man who up until now was best known for his work in comedic films and comedic TV (most notably the US version of The Office), truthfully this film a strong venture into new territory and with Krasinski now also producing and starring in Amazon's Jack Ryan it shows that he's an extremely talented individual. The true highlight is the natural chemistry between him and Emily Blunt onscreen (makes sense considering they're married in real life), they don't even need to talk for it to work.
Overall this film and everyone involved with the film deserve all the praise they've gotten, it's chock full of tension, and every small noise makes your heart leap into your throat, it's all extremely well done.
Russian Doll (2019)
Sort of a groundhog day type story
Is it a Groundhog Day rip-off? A little bit, it's darker than Groundhog day for sure, it also takes strange turns, and metaphysical and physical things change often as they die and come back, it's a strange show but well acted, well shot and surprisingly well lit.
Give it a watch
The End of the F***ing World: Episode #2.1 (2019)
Rough Start
A brave move to make the enitre first entry of the second season about a brand new character instead of picking up with the old characters, while it does give a backstory to the man the duo killed it's not a great episode overall, Bonnie hasn't been given time to develop yet.
The Karate Kid (1984)
It can be hokey and over the top but damn is it good
Let's be clear this film can get VERY cheesy at times, the villains are goofy in how over the top they are, but it's all part of the fun of this film, outside of the cheese though the film is very warm and real, it's a coming of age sports story obviously but the master-teacher dynamic is ICONIC (who can forget wax on, wax off?), and the passion behind the film is very obvious.
Definitely give it a watch
The Karate Kid (2010)
Doesn't really feel like a remake
It's hard to really call this movie a remake of The Karate Kid, for one thing none of the characters are the same except for Mr. Han (who is very much like Mr. Miyagi), the type of fighting is also not Karate in this film, it's actually Kung-Fu; it sort of has a similar story and the theme is similar.
All these things aside the film is pretty decent, it's not as good as the original film and the stakes don't feel nearly as high (the kid's age plays a part in that since Dre is 12 while Daniel is in highschool), but nevertheless it's a worthwhile watch, it has some good choreography and the acting is pretty decent even from the child actors.
Overall I wouldn't call this a remake rather more of it's own film that's got inspiration from The Karate Kid. But it's worth a watch
47 Meters Down (2017)
Not high art, not even fantastic, but decent fun flick
This film was Johannes Roberts first "big" film, it's not original, it's not high art, it's not fantastic, it's fun, and it's decent, if you want to watch a movie about sharks, and women dealing with various issues that come with being so far underwater that they literally can't see anything above them then this is your movie
47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019)
This proves a bigger budget doesn't equal a better movie
Before I start this I should note that I have indeed seen the first film, it wasn't original nor was it fantastic but it was a decent flick to watch with your friends when you're all hanging out. Of course the movie was hugely successful (as most shark movies are) so they decided to make a sequel, now this could have been a chance to build upon the original, like a group of people go looking for the two women who go missing in the first film and end up in a bad or even worse situation, but instead Johannes Roberts decided to make it a completely seperate story, ok so maybe they interact with the characters from the first movie in a sort of "oh my god it happened at the same time", nope not that either, it's almost like he (Johannes) decided instead of making a sequel he wanted to make a by the numbers teen shark film, this is where the big issue comes into play, what made the original a decent flick was that it had many things the characters had to deal with besides sharks, oxygen and water currents. Even with the bigger budget and better CGI sharks the film always fall flat of what it should be, the term "uncaged" does hold very true as there's not even a damn cage dive in the movie, not only that the term "47 meters down" doesn't even play a factor in the film as the girls seem to just go under the water willy nilly without regards to water pressure or how far they are from the surface, unlike the original film where these things were emphasized. Not to mention the "human development" was slapped on and lamer than hell
Now let's talk about the acting, it's bad, the original's wasn't anything to write home about and occasionally did move towards the "oof that was wooden" territory but not throughout the entire film. Well in Uncaged you get a dose of bad acting from beginning to end. Oorah? I didn't believe any of these young women were actually fighting for their lives, hell, Sophie Nélisse is SMILING during her panicked moments.
The cinematography is passable, the on land cinematography is subpar, the underwater parts are slightly above average half of the time, and only average the other half. Not much to say other than it's passable
The lighting is horrendous, I don't know if it was intentional or not but several scenes were way too dark underwater, the light was not handled properly at all
Overall this isn't a 47 meters down sequel it's just another by the numbers teen shark horror flick with bad acting and bad lighting. Watch the first one it's not art but it's at least decent
Video Game High School (2012)
One of the best Youtube web shows
Each season of this show is different from the last and it transforms as it goes along
Season 1: It's apparent that this season was made by YouTubers for YouTube, dumb irreverent sometimes cringy humor, with some REALLY cheesy one liners and amateurish production values. it never gets too heavy and when it has to deal with real issues it does it in a light-hearted way.
Season 2: Keeps the humor but takes on the emotional maturity that was missing in the first season but it never gets to be too much, and handles it like most shows where it all gets resolved by the end. The production values are also higher here (though still a little amateurish)
Season 3: Wow talk about getting heavy, this season packs on the emotional weight, it's handled great but DAMN does it get depressing, most people like the second season the most, but I prefer this season more, yes it's lost alot of it's humor in favor of character driven story, but it's handled so well that I can't help but love it. The production values are quite impressive here aswell.
Overall this is one of the best YouTube web shows I've seen, it's hard to believe that a show made by YouTubers could be so well written I'm glad Rocket Jump could make this.
Supernatural: Raising Hell (2019)
yikes
After a pretty decent outing this episode kinda drops the ball, I'm hoping thati's just a instance of a fill episode and that the entire season doesn't go like this it would suck if a show with such a long run dropped the ball in the senior season