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Joyride (2022)
The kids are all right
It doesn't often happen that a young actor outshines a veteran Hollywood laureate as easily as Charlie Reid does in Joyride. Playing a jolly and good-hearted, albeit almost Mary Stu-ish character, he gives an amazing performance and makes an enjoyable sparring duo with Olivia Colman. The two's relationship and acting are undoubtedly the highlights of the movie, which, while starting promising and strong, teeters off through its sluggish final act into a somewhat forced feel-good all-is-well ending. Despite its flaws, it was overall a decent and enjoyable movie and I do not regret watching it. 6.5 from me.
Lights Out (2016)
Starts great, but quickly turns into a disappointment
The movie starts off nicely. The first few scenes are great, the connection to the light/darkness looks interesting, the main characters are all likable and the acting is good. However, cringy dialog, particularly from the kid, as well as indecision in the film direction and dumb character decisions quickly derail the movie off the tracks.
Ultimately, the movie is unsure of what it wants to be, a monster movie (like 2013 movie Mama) or a movie about depression and grief (like Babadook from 2014), and it ends up failing as both, coming short of both movies which deal with subjects much better.
The ending sends a terrible message, painting suicide as an answer to depression, and other than few jump scares, the movie has nothing relevant to offer and it ends up being forgettable.