Reviews

It takes a bunch of 18-ish years olds and puts them against a weird shape shifting monster, almost always spooky when onscreen. The music is atmospheric and the camerawork is phenomenal. I do wish the characters were slightly more intelligent or in control, but it's still entertaining for a lot of the film. Very effective horror.

Everything in this movie Carrie's a really fun, cheesy tone, and even when everything says its shouldn't work, it does. The only thing that feels very serious is the violence, with all of it's horrible noise and slurpy, wet visuals. The characters are quite cliche, and I could see that being annoying if you're not into, but it works so well as a "teenagers vs monster" story. The film takes all it needs from the originals, and adds so much more to create an essential summer horror.

Really cool soundtrack and action (ice cream truck scene), both of which were elevated by the quality art. Everything looked really nice, from the colorful main city area, to the hood, and even the monochrome moon base had grown on me by the end of the scene. I cant extend praise to the story, however, which is riddled with cliches: chosen one, annoying cowardly friend, love interest with no character beyond "she's attractive". Certain scenes certainly were fun, but the story overall was way too weak compared to the sound and visuals.

The characters and their world were set up very well in the first half of the film, and the actual portal and what it does to Malkovich are great fun and lead to some good scenes. The actual plot with the cult, however, was a bit uninteresting and not nearly as fun as Malkovich and the other three leads. I also believe the ending was a bit off. Why exactly does Maxine get a happy ending? While not quite as awful as Craig, I don't think she was very good, but I suppose she just has a rapid change of heart we didn't get to see? And why does Craig lose the ability to puppeteer the person's body? A bit confusing and unsatisfying, but not enough to take away from the movie's stronger aspects.

The monster is truly hilarious and terrifying in equal measures. The first death is a bit spooky if you think about it, despite it being silly in the actual film. And i really appreciate the ending, when the community comes together to defeat the Blob. However, it can be quite slow, and it loves to show scenes that don't really mean anything. For instance, the backwards race goes on too long and doesn't lead to anything except meeting the head cop. The chess scene in the police department is also dragged out with no need. All in all, I was only really interested when the Blob was around, and not captivated by too many of the human struggles in the film.

Very little care or competence involved in this movie, especially noticeable in editing and camerawork. The few shots of admittedly nice looking gore are ruined with extreme close ups and some weird anatomy issues. Some shots are unintentionally funny, with the lack of special effects budget and unoriginal, cheesy and juvenile writing. Probably best to avoid this, unless you're really in the mood for a stupid, generic product that doesn't seem to have any idea how to intentionally tell a story.

Pros: Well acted Pretty funny when it wants to be funny Some nice, cinematic shots

Cons: Problem with mysteries in general, but most of the characters turn out to be useless Detective isn't actually very cool to watch Pretentious in its use of callbacks, almost seems like a replacement for interesting writing

Best part: explanation at the end, my favorite part of any mystery Worst part: watching someone get puked on

Pros: Pretty powerful emotional beats, it's mostly the same idea of suffering and indignity, but the scenes are very moving Well acted, pretty much every character was believable to a degree Nice shots, beautiful movie throughout, if the shot is the setting, a character's face, or whatever else, it was nice to look at

Cons: A handful of instances of wonky writing, which is to be expected in a period piece Only a few scenes of the main character acting differently, I would've appreciated more range from him throughout

Best part: whipping scene, long shot to help the audience become immersed, most direct and awful scene of violence, good effects, good writing, every part worked together to communicate how awful the moment is Worst part: naked people two scenes in a row, a touch unpleasant

Pros: Decent sets, costume designs were pretty inspired as well A lot of the apes move like apes Can be a bit funny, even some clever writing

Cons: Pretty bad acting, even from people who didnt have 3 inches of makeup Terrible action due to over reliance on wires Boring plotline, didnt really care about our heroes or what they were doing

Best part: ape politics at the dinner table, purest look at an ape civilization and how it works Worst part: big final battle, wire stunts and bad sound design, a lot of weak looking hits, generally uninteresting and bad

Some very cool animation, the characters all look great and the way they move is a pleasure to watch. The main story of the samurai daughter is probably the best, but the final fight felt a touch anticlimactic. All of the cool stuff happens before the last few minutes, which felt rushed and uncool in comparison. The skateboarding story was a great change of pace, very light and fun part. The shelter part was chaotic, messy and angry throughout, tough to watch in a good way. Overall, creative, fun and definitely worth watching.

Pros: Very cool mystery, slow drip of info that let's the audience understand more and more Good set, allowed for cool repeating sequences Fun kills, plenty of blood Cool themes with Sisyphus and Death and all

Cons: A few weird character choices Our hero is only really allowed to act stressed out, little range for acting Heather did not need to be there

Best part: the mounds of dead Sallys up on the top deck, shocking imagery and communicates to the audience what's up Worst part: the big battle between the 2 Jess's, I definitely feel like the main one shouldn't be making the same mistakes that she already saw, but whatever

Pros: Nice special effects, love seeing 80s electricity A number of good songs on the soundtrack Action scenes are very enjoyable

Cons: Tonally, way too serious Really bloated first half hour Very little good acting

Best part: TV chase scene, totally off the wall and one of the least serious scenes Worst part: the scenes following the family murders, really cliche and overly serious, also the dream stuff is just not enjoyable

Pros: Incredibly good looking, sets and locations are very scenic and fit the tone of every scene Classic effects, lightning and sparks look dynamic, shout out to the Quickening scene A few very fun characters, especially the villain and the mentor Memorable theme song

Cons: A few cliche story beats, just stuff like the romance scenes and the final fight ending in a cheesy way Not enough action scenes

Best part: playing chicken in New York, that shot of the car scraping against the bridge with the music playing was incredible Worst part: I guess any of the cop scenes, really cliche and never go anywhere, not very entertaining

Pros: Some good emotional beats for the most part, had a lot of sympathy for the apes Good progression into action Great effects The apes won in the end

Cons: You have to be willing to accept some silly, unbelievable stuff to have fun Any part with subtitles is incredibly silly

Best part: Ceasar saying no, executed well, a good moment of silence after, the start of the apes rising up Worst part: Ceasar is home, much sillier than the first time he spoke, not at all realistic and also not good writing, a bad reaction from James Franco and well

Pros: Takes itself very seriously, dramatic visually Great sets and costumes Interesting main character, he got into some shenanigans for sure

Cons: A little slow, if you don't like Price's dialogue some scenes might be annoying Red Death could've been more dramatic

Best part: near the end when the many dancers reach for Prospero, very dramatic and beautiful to watch Worst part: little dancer subplot, kind of silly

Pros: Good action scenes, carried a lot by a great theme song Decent main hero Really nice set designs, temples and caverns look very cool and mysterious

Cons: Characters can be cheesy Plot seems to make stuff up as it goes, feels a little disjointed No one can believably act scared in this film

Beat part: opening scene, best sense of action, adventure, good characterization, just a lot of fun Worst part: pretending Marian died, pretty unbelievable and Indy didn't seem to sad at all, just a stunted series of events

Pros: A few fun characters, the robbers and the hitman Good themes, you can tell the writer was angry for a lot of it Fine action Great scene to scene writing

Cons: A few of the conversation scenes were boring, a chore to watch Story is pretty predictable A wild amount of characters that aren't too well defined or fun to watch

Best part: the last scene, Brad Pitt was pretty angry and really hammers the dog eat dog theme, no time to get angry at anything except his own money, good writing Worst part: the smack dealer getting arrested, anticlimactic even if it worked with the theme

Pros: Solid Scottish pagan imagery, sets and props and costumes work well Really good music, some bops Cool story, very heavy with Pagan vs Christian themes Many good roles, got the small town vibe down

Cons: It's a little far fetched that they planned everything beforehand A touch egregious with nudity

Best part: the wicker man burning, stylish and thematic Worst part: freeing Rowan and the betrayal, far fetched and uninteresting

Pros: Pretty settings and nice costumes Decent portrayal of adventure, varied locals Effects look pretty good

Cons: Characters are over simple, ugly guys are bad and good guys get cheerful music, very unsubtle A ton of boring, nonsensical exposition throughout gives the illusion of worldbuilding Constant action scenes are boring

Best part: the brown wizard scene, original use of magic, good writing and a very entertaining character Worst part: goblin cave action scene, plot invincibility is in full swing and it is not entertaining at all to experience

Pros: Nice to look at, the water looked good Frog had some tricks up his sleeve String was used in fun ways, a good recurring image Kind of mythologically heavy, I guess it speaks to a grand world

Cons: Chunky movement Not very original story wise, no really good story beats Themes are simple, undeveloped

Best part: fighting the spider, savage and terrifying with real stakes Worst part: the card scene, takes very long and doesn't tell much, also sound is annoying

Pros: Awesome gore, all three death scenes are total spectacles and a lot of fun Shadow effects are cool Nice setting

Cons: Not very consistent logically, new rules are added and old rules are forgotten at random Very cookie cutter characters, everyone is a cliche to a degree Anticlimactic final battle, even if the prop monster looked nice Fairly boring after the halfway mark

Best part: the old man's death, best example of spectacle, very cool prop or props, just a great treat to watch Worst part: the old man squeezing the bottle, annoying, very long, nonsensical scene, and apparently it's how you beat the villain, a tough scene to watch

Pros: Wildly funny, there's always some joke being told visually Really nice animation, very expressive and distinct looking The two main characters are very likable Action scenes especially are fun to watch

Cons: A little bit predictable overall Love interest and villain weren't especially memorable or distinct

Best part: final action scene, good jokes, fun visuals, a great spectacle Worst part: that first scene at the mansion with the villain, least funny and most predictable part of the film

Pros: Really good gore effects Intimidating killer, visually distinct Shot well, attention to lighting and mood

Cons: The boring parts are insanely long, really drag our the film Boring main characters Full of cheap scares

Best part: stab through the head, very freaky and looked pretty good, believable face acting Worst part: cemetery part, shockingly long and uninteresting, also a very weird, cheap scare

Pros: Full of well acted, believable and interesting characters Very pretty, tasteful use of light and colors Fun concept, well defined character in Daniel Good sound design, felt creepy or personal in all the right scenes

Cons: Supernatural part is a little sloppy at first Daniel acting can be a touch cheesy sometimes Anticlimactic ending

Best part: wasted in the bathroom, first sign of Daniel being bad and pretty exciting for the rest of the movie Worst part: ending, kind of annoying to see him just die after all of his efforts

Pros: Every character is well cast and acted Original story stuff was cool, some emotional moments Pretty faithful to showing The Room in a positive, passionate way

Cons: A bit too on the nose, everyone knows why The Room was bad, we don't need to hear Seth Rogan say it A lot of useless characters Some recreations of scenes feel too over performed, doesn't capture the subtlety of the original

Best part: Tommy in the very beginning explaining why he wants his own planet, a touch heartbreaking and passionate Worst part: laughing at stuff in the theater, most on the nose, annoying commentary