A cheap money grab that didn't even have the decency to end with all these characters dead. And that may sound harsh but if you watch this movie, and I do hope you don't even though it's now free, you'd see that not a single character deserves to make it out. Most, the male ones the movie clearly labels as deserving of death for the sins of either being greedy, vengeful, and unreasonable or being the son of the man with those traits, and the two women who deserve to live because they were too much nothing character and their only thing was that they were women who kept their mouths shut. I know we fans of horror have developed the ability to watch anything but I truly hope we didn't give this our money.
Reviews
8 Reviews
Family Secrets
(2021–2024)
It knows how to hook you in
5 August 2023
Am watching the show in Spanish on Telemundo and so far I have really liked it. It's not original by any stretch of the imagination but so far it has been really good at keeping the intrigue going with the investigations of the predominant criminal case and side cases. It knows how to hook the viewers in. And thankfully it knows that the mystery around the investigations as well as a very likable cast is what will keep us hooked to the story because unfortunately the story is not as good around it's characters as it is the mystery. I would say am more than halfway through the first season and am starting to notice that the story is falling a little short around the character development. Like there is not a single character on this show that stands out so I would be shock if any of the actors get nominated for any awards for this show because there is just not enough in the script for the actors to deliver a compelling performance. And this is weird to understand because if you watch the show, each new crime investigation is directly tied to the majority of the main cast. The cast is well represented on screen so it gives the impression of growth but if you look at the characters from who they are in the episode where the killer of the girl in the suitcase case is revealed and where I am now, in the episode where the killer of the girl in the suitcase appears to have been poisoned in prison, you will notice that the majority of the growth was already established and that the mystery around each crime investigation is the driving force of the storyline. The actors do very good at showing good vibes in their scenes but that's about it. Is not a deal breaker by any means but it's a little disappointing to see the story fall into that pattern when it started so strong off the gate. Like I said, am probably half way through season one so there is more than enough room for things to continue taking turns. But I will say, more than anything else, the issue that I am encountering as the show moves along is the dependence on telling versus showing as well as seemingly major obstacles being resolved by pure coincidence or the favorite go to of the show, very high definition cameras that just happened to have been placed at the perfect spot to capture exactly what was needed to resolve the conflict. And you might say, well these people are cops so they have access to all those security cameras. Yes and you would think that would result in most crimes being resolved fast but what am complaining about is that those cameras will or won't be there depending on what the story needs. Anywhos, prepared to take a bunch of leaps when watching this show. And I do recommend it. I myself am also enjoying the build up of the relationship between the two main characters. I like that it wasn't a love at first sight thing and that the story has taken efforts to show that they are truly compatible with each other. But again, with that said, and this one is also weird considering what I just wrote but the main characters do not have a lot of romantic chemistry. Like they work very well together and it's interesting to see their dynamics as they solve crimes but when it comes to the romance just be glad that it won't really effect much of their interactions or the dynamic. Like their romance is just there and the story wouldn't change a thing because of it. And while am talking about the things I dislike about the show i cannot leave this review without putting out there that the sheer abuse of power by the people who work in the court and police officers is wild lol. I know the story wants us to believe they are doing the right thing when they use their power to hide things partaining their personal lives but these characters could easily be read as villains and as matter of fact, in very few instances the show has shown how that abuse of power has greatly affected others but the only one that has any consequence (for less than an episode) is what happened to one of the main characters father. Like right now am in the storyline where the guy that got poisoned in prison is blackmailing the majority of the main cast with revealing their secrets. The vast majority of those secrets are crimes they each committed or help to hide the crimes of someone they are close that committed the crimes. Like I don't feel bad for that 😂. Am actually offended at their offense. I like my morally ambiguous characters but not when the story doesn't realize the characters are shady af and frame their actions as positives or worthy of being absolve just because it was their secrets being used by someone who has done worst then they have. And to cap this, a few words on the character actually being acknowledged as the villain of the story. I love Turkish dramas because they don't shy away from exploring the worst of characters and specially the villains who are typically shown to often have been victims themselves in their youth resulting in the person they are today. This drama goes the down the same path with less success due to failings I mentioned earlier around the characters and the dependence on telling rather than showing. The story tells us, and very early on it actually bothers to show us, that the villain is psychology scarred due to having spent his entire life being treated inhumanely by his father and not protected in any way by his mother who continues to pick his father and the life of luxury he provides. We even learn that his father at some point had him admitted in a psychiatric hospital for months and that even as an adult his father continued to verbal abuse him and deminish his worth. So when we learn how it was that he came about killing the girl, it was no surprise. Am not in anyway blaming the girl but that whole scene where we see her die could be read as a traumatic response to the girl essentially taking the place of his father. However, by the point I am now in the story, all of this has been left on the road and what we have is just a demented man determined to take the people who put in him prison down with him. As a matter of fact his father, the same one that has been abusing him practically since birth and all around POS is now being viewed as a somewhat victim of his son. I have hope that this will continue to develop as the story goes on, specially now that the story introduced some criminal cases around parental neglect and family violence, because I will be very pissed if the show ends and that man is not in a jail cell. Like death isn't enough punishment (for me at least because seemingly every character in this show is willing to commit murder if the person they believe wrong them is not punished in a way that satisfies them) for the abuse that man inflected on his son.
Decision to Leave
(2022)
Purely excellent
11 October 2022
Saw this movie in NYFF. It might not have been the best movie in the festival but so far, it is the only movie I have felt a deep connection and involvement. I connected great with the story and the characters and I felt the knife in my heart by the time the credits rolled. I've never seen any of the directors previous work but he did mention during the Q and A that it was very different from his other work which are apparently very violent. This is not a violent movie in the traditional sense of blood and gore but the emotional violence I felt inflicted on me is more real than a sea of blood. This movie is an excellent blend of a detective movie and a romance story. How this man managed to do merge these genres so well and make it so that practically everything that happens in the story is relevant to the plot and the characters is beyond me. Clearly this man has a blessed hand because even with the heartbreak i will still buy this movie when it comes out and rewatch it many times in the future.
White Noise
(I) (2022)
A bit of a head scratcher
11 October 2022
As someone who didn't read the book the movie is based on, i will say that i did not connect with this movie or the characters. Am ok with not connecting with characters but the characters in this movie are hard to understand which is odd because they talk and talk (usually at 100 miles an hour and over each other) so you think they would be all out in the open but it was like a wall between them and me. Like i completely failed to understand what it was that the author was saying about the world or the country when he wrote the book. Though i assume that the book was making some sort of commentary about the state of affairs because this movie feels somewhat too large in scale to just be a movie about coming to term with mortality and the difficulties that can arise in a marriage. Like the movie isn't bad but what are you? I will watch it again when it comes out on Netflix to try and see it with fresher eyes but if the purpose of the movie is to frustrate people so much that we rewatch it multiple times, i will say that they will succeed.
Kung Fu
(2021–2023)
First episode review
14 April 2021
Am not going to make any assumptions since I've only seen the premiere episode so I'll have to come back to this in the future. The first episode was bad. There is no other way to say it. It was beyond rushed and the only thing that was established is that its a show about stopping someone from gathering some mystical items. When it comes to the characters and their relationships to each other, the show doesn't accomplish anything. Like it was clear that they just wanted to show the faces and attach a name of each character. It remains to be seen but if they keep moving at this pace, i don't see this show lasting past this season. Another thing i hated was the look of the show. It's like the cw has a patent on the "cw look". If you have seen any other show on that network, you know exactly what am talking about. Anyways, I'll watch it for the rest of the season since am still hopeful that it will improve but i can see where things could go wrong real quick based on the first episode.
The Mess You Leave Behind
(2020)
Excellent leading actresses, excellent merging of different timeless, horrid resolution and character development
17 February 2021
Excellent leading actresses and the methods use to depict the time differences are used in a very seamless manner. The supporting cast is talented as well but are not utilized or as fully developed, though this is something that affects even the two main characters. The story is great up until a certain point, unfortunately. Like i said before, the way the time jumps are shown is very good but this, in addition to the story being a mystery (which means it makes its bread from misleading the viewers), ultimately hinders the development of the characters. This story is about a teacher who substitutes the teacher who allegedly committed suicide a few weeks prior as she makes it her quest to find out who starts threatening her. The story, which is based on a book by its same Spanish title, mostly focuses on Raquel so this affects the ability of the script to fully develop it's surrounding characters. Even though we do see many scenes outside of her perspective, the purpose of those scenes (and this only became annoying to me around episode five) is to show a moment that drives the plot forward. Its not done with the intention of developing the characters. Viruca is without a doubt the more interesting character of the series (and also the second lead) but towards the end even her character development is fragmented and practically abandoned because she also only starts to exist in those scenes that move the plot forward. This is not to say Raquel's character is boring. This show is pretty much about crappy people who appear good and good people who appear crappy and just a bit of in between. The issue with Raquel is that she exist primarily to tell or mirror Viruca's story and even though the show does a very good job at showing how different they are, it ultimately also fails Raquel's character development. I have no idea what could have possibly happened to have affected the writing except maybe the show not really having a good resolution to the mystery. It's resolved of course, in the dwindling minutes of the series (even though we start to imagine in the right direction a few episodes earlier) but it was such an unsatisfactory end. It was absolutely rushed and the set up for the mystery reveal was horrid. Things just felt like it was made at the spot. There were little clues and the show was very good at showing that every interaction and action by the characters only contained 40 percent of the truth but again, because the characters weren't developed and too many scenes only existed for plot purposes, we can't even say we missed it because we weren't paying close attention. We missed it because the story wasn't property developed. I would definitely say watch it but check your neutrons out in the netflix homepage.
The Predator
(2018)
I will make like the hound and forget this ever happened
7 January 2021
The predators have to be my favorite cinematic monster and i cannot with the fact that no one has figured out an interesting direction to take them. In my mind the possibilities are endless. I do not understand why they keep limiting themselves by doing this hunter hunts human thing. It is better than that time they did it in the suburbs. Another movie ruined by humans. Like they have intergalactic travel capacity, they can hunt anywhere. I see they are trying to make another one and while am glad this shame to the predlord didn't kill the franchise, i am very afraid for whatever mess they might push out.
High School Lover
(2017 TV Movie)
A game of frustration
6 February 2017
Warning: Spoilers
****SPOILERS AHEAD***** As another reviewer put it, this movie could have been a lot better if it had not been a Lifetime movie. For most of the movie I was wondering why I wasn't seeing that movie. As in, why not focus on that instead of this over cooked Lifetime trope. There was so much in that movie that could have been expanded on such as Christian's position as a star who has been in the industry since he was five. It was clear that he was not happy about being famous and made clear allusions to it. As someone mentioned, how is he able to do all these mundane things with the way technology is now. The fact that he was dating Kelly should have been all over the Internet the moment he showed up in his bike (*rolls eyes*) in her school. Since Kelly is 17 and a New York resident it would not have been a illegal for him to have a relationship with her since 17 is the legal age on consent in NY. His people should have been all over him about what he was doing but we never meet his people except for the lightweight he surrounded himself with. Quite frankly I did not buy that a man who has been working in the entertainment industry since he was five without any (mentioned) scandals would have done something so reckless. While watching this a I wished I had seen the behind the scenes of the entertainment industry. For example, Christian dated Kelly's stepmother and the relationship was clearly an abusive one so he must have made her a sign a contract so none of it would come out. Nothing of this sort was ever discussed in the movie. Also, exploring the power dynamics would have been great seeing as Christian was ready to power play with Kelly's dad. So instead of all these movies that would have been great if written and directed properly, we had the obsessive boyfriend that turns into a psycho and I don't even have to tell you how it ends. Seriously Lifetime? What a waste of potential. In the future, a movie closer to reality would have been much better than this.
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