xdeschuyter-01410 Reviews

Death and Other Details (2024)

Mehrder and dumb details

[3/10 · 15 March 2024]

Typical modern show where everyone is an annoyingly over the top +and yet boring- caricature. It is agonizingly slow, with stretches that consist of people just walking about and flashbacks being repeated and nauseum. The setting and style are nice for the first episode, but then stops adding anything of value. The mystery is convoluted with far too many ridiculous red herrings, making it unfocused instead of complex. By the time the fourth episode comes around, you already know that it isn't going anywhere and that it probably shouldn't, because the reveal will be poor. And... it is. Disappointing.

Dear Child (2023)

Poor writing.

[3/10 · 25 September 2023]

If you know anything about storytelling and cinematography, you see through all the main "twists" immediately. If they are trying to hide anything, they are not doing a great job. You can even know right away that the kidnapper is military or part if the security firm.

The whole thing relies far too heavily on plot devices, such as the villains being brilliant and everyone else being incompetent idiots, which makes it a rather infuriating experience.

The acting, the camera work and the set design are okay. But as so often in modern literature and television, the writing is the Achilles heel.

Devil in Ohio (2022)

Drivel in Ohio

[2/10 · 11 November 2022]

I had high hopes for about fifteen minutes. Afterwards it rapidly degenerated into a crappy family drama with some lame, kitschy thriller/horror elements haphazardly thrown in. Except perhaps for the police officer, every character is aggressively unlikeable and/or dumb. The cult is more cringe than it is scary and the few supernatural touches just fizzle, because they are poorly handled. The imagery gets less and less interesting with each episode. Emily Deschanel is painfully bad, but overall the acting could be worse, but is just bland and at no point helps drive or carry the show. At least the soundtrack is okay.

Invasion (2021–2024)

Snailians

[4/10 · 2 September 2022]

Starts off rather good. Decent premise, some strong visuals, okay acting, ... unfortunately it quickly loses most of its mystery and gets bogged down in self-important drama. I have nothing against character building or a bit of pathos, but when each episode is made up almost solely of ridiculously drawn out sappy scenes... do not bother with the sci-fi backdrop. Especially when the sparse elements that are introduced hardly make any sense. Luckily it doesn't have to, because the "invasion" is so incredibly vague that it leaves the realms of mystery and crosses over into the land of nonsense. Which is probably where all the people/bodies went.

The Flight Attendant (2020–2022)

Season Two is awful.

[3/10 · 21 August 2022]

As many here have posted, season one was a quirky murder mystery with some nice social commentary. Season two is an annoying trainwreck. The constant cutaways are completely unnecessary at best and terrible at worst and mainly serve to make the -by now- idiotic and self-absorbed main character even more unlikeable. The plot on the one hand is obvious from the start, while at the same time being nonsensically convoluted. What a shame.

See (2019–2022)

Rather not.

[4/10 · 19 August 2022]

Ironically, the show's visuals are what makes it remotely watchable. The plot turns into a ridiculous mess very early on, even within the confines of its own lame and poorly executed premise. If they had jist made it into a post-apocalyptic fantasy series without the whole blindness angle, it would have been much better. But I guess people always want that "special, crap twist".

House on Willow Street (2016)

Demehn Gurl

[3/10 · 10 July 2022]

Lighting and camera work are okay. The acting, while pretty bad, could have been worse. It the script ... Sadly, the writing is absolutely terrible. Even for a horror movie, there are just too many glaring plotholes and ridiculous character choices. Nothing of anything going on makes any sense whatsoever, even within the sort of setting where this could take place.

Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014)

Dumbs of Anarchy

[2/10 · 23 January 2022]

A silly soap opera about a bunch of total idiots riding around breaking the law in the dumbest ways possible for control of a small time business that is mostly run by breaking things, getting into fights and speaking in harsh voices.

Antlers (2021)

By the book.

[6/10 · 10 January 2022]

Nothing spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, but still a well made film. I especially appreciated the attention to detail in the writing, that took care to motivate certain actions by establishing more or less plausible contexts.

A Quiet Place Part II (2020)

Black Hole of Plot

[10 January 2022]

How these films have such good ratings is beyond me. The first one was idiotic and this sequel does nothing to ameliorate that. Again there are a ton of huge plot holes. Again characters are all dumb as dirt. Lighting is good, camera work is decent. Acting is wonky at best.

Mother/Android (2021)

Mehther Bandroid

[2/10 · 10 January 2022]

The camera work is alright and the acting could be worse. But the writing and directing are so absolutely abysmal that this movie is chore to sit through.

It all starts with unoriginal premise of rogue androids that is never fleshed out or explained even a little bit. Throughout the film, you will have no idea why they went rogue, how many there are, why they are killing humans, exactly how they are such a threat, ... You will also only see a handful of them at the same time and they are mostly unarmed, so you never ever get a real sense of danger.

Though they try to bring some life to the roles, the way they are written, makes the two main characters unlikeable idiots. Pretty much nothing they do makes any sense. Then again nothing anyone does in the movie makes any sense.

And by the way, the underlying refugee theme is merely a hamfisted attempt to make it seem as if the story actually has any real content.

The Reckoning (2020)

The Mehckoning

[2/10 · 21 October 2021]

I could have looked beyond the weak acting of the lead actress and even beyond the idiotic portrayal of this time in history if it wasn't so damn boring. This is not as much a horror film as it is a badly scripted and poorly executed drama.

Army of the Dead (2021)

Just terrible.

[1/10 · 31 May 2021]

The writing, the acting, the action, everything is awful.

The Alienist (2018–2020)

Too bad.

[4/10 · 28 December 2020]

The first season saw the, supposedly intelligent, main characters make plenty of dumb decisions. Basically, just to pad things out and create some drama. The second season sees those same characters uselessly stumbling about doing nothing of great value, except perhaps reinforce the notion that basically every main character is an astounding idiot.

The Handmaid's Tale (2017–2025)

The Handmehd's Tale

[5/10 · 9 December 2020]

Nice visuals, decent acting help paint a vivid picture of a fundamentalist dystopia.

Unfortunately, the show as a whole is ultimately rather predictable and dull, relying far too much on tropes to pad the content.

Maggie (I) (2015)

Great zombie family drama.

[9/10 · 7 December 2020]

Anyone expecting a zombie flick will be disappointed. This is a family drama set against a budding zombie apocalypse backdrop and is visually impeccable, from the non-verbal communication of the actors and the decor to the camera work, lighting and filters. The dialogues and story are realistic, considering the premise, and are brought across well by understated acting from the entire cast.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

Short, but sweet.

[8/10 · 22 November 2020]

Well made horror film with a small cast and simple set. Strong performances and decent cinematography. Best I have seen in a while.

Titans (I) (2018–2023)

Trytans.

[5/10 · 17 November 2020]

Season one wrote checks season two just did not cash. First season was relatively well placed and more or less focused with an impressive, though poorly cast, big bad. Unfortunately, season two takes a dump on all that right out of the gate in a spectacularly bad way. Unfortunately it doesn't get much better. The following episodes consist of boring teen drama dialogues, incoherent storylines, dumb decisions and repetitive action scenes. All of it very contrived and anti-climactic. Too bad.

Voice from the Stone (2017)

Stone says no.

[3/10 · 30 August 2020]

Visually, this is a quality movie. The setting and decent camera work go a long way. The pace is slow, but is still engaging enough for the first hour, after which you realize that it isn't going anywhere remotely interesting. A boring and gratuitous sex scene and "dream sequence" serve as mere filler towards the idiotically ambiguous end. An unfortunate example of a film that tries too hard to be clever and artistic, causing it to be neither.

Freaks (2018)

Good cinematography. Poor plot development.

[5/10 · 6 July 2020]

This is a well made film with a strong cast that suffers immensely from glaring plot holes. As so often the writing is where things go wrong. I am getting tired of technically competent movies being ruined by writers that are foreign to the concept of "internal validity".

Color Out of Space (2019)

Better than expected

[6/10 · 2 May 2020]

I am always very critical of literary adaptations, because in most cases it ends up being a self-serving step down from the original. "Color out of Space" is set in modern times, which in itself is not the worst idea as it opens up an extra element of horror in that even our modern technology is useless in the face of the alien presence. Even though I am not always a fan of Cage, he is actually rock solid here and portrays the madness very well. In fact all the adults in the film are decent enough actors. The children not so much, but they are nonetheless passable.

One issue is that it all moves far too quickly and shows far too much, with additions to the original story that shouldn't have really been there. It also relies to much on actual colour. Another issue is the ending. Basically, it is all over the place and completely muddles up the narrative that came before. Still, all in all not a bad movie.

I See You (II) (2019)

Good.

[7/10 · 1 May 2020]

As it stands, this is a well put together thriller. However, the lack of a supernatural element is a missed chance in many ways. First of all, the high quality camera work and atmospheric audio create a perfect framework for it. Second of all, once you realize that there is no horror element, the story immediately becomes far too transparent for my taste. All the "twists" were more or less obvious if you know about film. That being said, this a movie that is technically top notch, that has decent acting and an okay story.

Midsommar (2019)

Stylish, yet contrived.

[10/10 · 22 April 2020]

Impressive camera work, some realistic dialogues and sporadic good acting can not save this movie from the extremely predictable plot that makes watching all 140 minutes of it more of a chore that it needed to be. Visually and auditively interesting as it may be in parts, already knowing how everything will play out is just a bit painful in a movie this length. Especially considering the rather bland filler moments that are also present in the film.

Hotel Artemis (2018)

Schmotel Artemis

[5/10 · 9 April 2020]

Shame. Even with a strong cast and a passable premise, the film suffers from poor dialogues and acting direction combined with a script that does simply does not deliver. Camera work is bland and set design is unapealling. Audio could also have been a lot better, with a more interesting score.

Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023)

Star Meh

[4/10 · 3 April 2020]

The first two episodes were a great setup for what turned out to be a huge disappointment. An extremely anticlimactic storyline is padded with boring dialogues between forgettable characters, generic combat scenes and "forced feelgood nostalgia". All made worse by some of the most dreadfully disjointed editing I have seen of late. Patrick Stewart and his NG colleagues hold their own, but everything else is little more than a letdown.