Reviews

The acting in this film by Jake Gyllenhaal is simply put, out of this world. Just brilliant, a joy to watch! The man is a genius. In regards to the story, it was very unpredictable and kept me guessing.

Although the horror itself impressed me and was at times brilliant, there were a lot of parts where I found myself cringing unexpectedly too much. This was mostly during scenes where lame and pathetic jokes were being cracked after the characters have just witnessed some gruesome and horrific scenes that should have left them scarred and scared. But no, they find it in themselves to be joyful enough to make a quick joke to which by the way nobody in the audience laughed.

Why do you writers/directors approve of this? Don't you realize it's ruining the film? Don't you see? It's like you quickly forget what you are shooting and throw in completely random stuff like this? It doesn't fit with what you're filming whatsoever. Don't worry, someone will make a parody of this film and they will bring the jokes in that you want to bring. It's the same as if you go to a comedy film like "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and at the end of the movie a monster shows up to eat Sarah's face, just for s & giggles. It's ridiculous.

Imagine if Stanley Kubrick allowed for this type of nonsense in film-making during "The Shining". It would have never, ever received the film-classic status it has today. And that's the difference! You want to make a horror movie? Well then you better be very careful in how you bring humor into it, as that itself is an art that a lot of directors and young writers simply do not possess these days.

Sometimes we just get really surprised. We go to a film, expect a lot and go home displeased. Other times however, we go in expecting garbage but then fill up 9 or 10 stars on IMDb. If somebody told you there was a horror/sci-fi film that Jim Halpert directed and starred in, you'd be rolling on the floor laughing. Well, this is that film, except you gain a new respect for this man. It is a true success story for John Krasinski and his entire cast. I was awe-struck by the performance of each actor. The directing was foolproof; you could tell that every small detail was taken care of. It gives off the feeling that a perfectionist was behind it. And the action, the drama, the suspense, the sound... just brilliant. There are a couple of questions surrounding the story and the monsters that IMDb reviewer @jef_olsen touches on very well, but I am only removing 1 star for this as everything else was truly magnificent.

Seriously, the only thing I can really complain about is not even about the film itself, it's about the noise made by people in the movie theater. The reaching for and chewing of popcorn during the long, silent portions of the movie, or the passing of candy packets from one friend to another. And then there is the occasional 'Sally Soundtrack' who needs to be shushed a few times before he/she quiets down. If you're going to watch this movie, I highly recommend watching it at home, in a dark room, with 5.1 surround sound, no interruptions and absolutely no outside sound. Like many reviewers wrote, this is an experience, not just a movie. It has to be watched in "a quiet place".

Just saw 'Molly's Game' and I must say it's not bad. Fantastic acting by Idris Elba and Jessica Chastain made this film quite entertaining. There are a couple of reasons why this is not an 8 or a 9. One of these is Molly's character. I felt that her character wasn't 100% likable. It wasn't so easy to warm up to her. However, by the end, you do end up feeling something.

The other reasons have to do with the poker itself. I immediately noticed a few details in the way they show or explain the game. OK, I'm not talking about cheesy and unrealistic scenes like that final hand in 007: Casino Royale. I'm talking about some of the poker jargon Molly explains to the viewer. Most of these explanations are right, but there are some words that they explain incorrectly or use in a wrong way. One example is about "the nuts", which is a very popular poker term. Not knowing what this word actually means and then explaining it on the audience on the big screen shows me a laziness by the producer/director/writer to get it right. It shows to me that this was something they knew they could get away with since most of the audience won't know the truth anyway, so they didn't bother researching it properly. The scene I'm referring to specifically is one where a player tries excruciatingly hard to get another player to fold his hand. First of all, the way he tries is something you would only see in a movie. I, however like my movies to be as accurate and realistic as possible. I want to learn something when I watch them. It's simply a far too exaggerated attempt to get the guy to fold his hand. Meanwhile the narrator (Molly) is explaining how the player ends up folding 'the nuts'. Well, the nuts would be the absolute best possible hand that anyone could hold at that moment. Unless you are completely clueless about poker, you would not fold that hand. It would be like finding out you have the winning lottery ticket but then purposely flushing it down the toilet. It just doesn't make sense.

There was another poker scene where the pot was $2.1 million and the first guy bets $200k with the player after him raising $100k more. Again, that's not possible. To raise, you must raise at least double of what the previous player bet. That is a universal poker rule.

If it wasn't for this lack of knowledge about poker, the movie would get one or two points higher from me. Why put so much effort into making a decent movie and not get the little details right?

How can anyone feel for Mae, the main character? The makers of this film do a terrible job at putting the audience in her shoes. Just about every 2nd to 3rd scene in the film made me cringe inside. I kept thinking: "why haven't I stopped this film yet?" and it's only because I like to finish watching something I started, even if it's bad. I know that if I finish the film, then I can give it an honest review and here it is.

'The Circle' should actually get a solid 1/10 but I'm giving it 2 extra points for Tom Hanks' great acting (as always) and the attempt at somewhat decent cinematography. Otherwise, the plot is jumbled up, the dialogue is so millennial, so exaggerated and so cheesy, it makes you want to curl up into a ball and hide from embarrassment for humanity. The message it tries to deliver is not very clear and certainly not a good one. Also, the possibility of something like this happening is almost 0%. If you're going to make a movie about the future, future technology and the future of social media, then put some thought into it and try to make it realistic so that people can go home and think about it for many days to come. I'd love to go through every single scene and analyze it in detail but I'd just get a headache.

I believe that a complete and utter amateur made this film, then submitted it as a 'Black Mirror' episode for season 4, got an instant rejection and decided to release it as a feature film with a misleading poster (Tom Hanks doesn't appear nearly enough to warrant a picture on the poster) and a luring trailer, just to trick people into coming and hoping to at least break even or take a small loss on the whole thing.

I usually (and quite easily) hand out 8, 9 or 10 stars to a film. In fact, the majority of movies I watch receive good-to-excellent scores from me. This one however, does not.

The jokes often feel exaggerated and forced, and are embarrassingly childish with far too much profanity. I can't remember the last time I cringed so often. Sure, there was the occasional joke which received a giggle from just about everyone, but the majority of the humour was replied to with silence and head-shaking. It seriously felt like it was a movie thrown together quickly to make a decent enough trailer to lure an audience. So, don't fall for it. You've been warned.

3.4 / 10

What I really liked about this movie is that no matter where the characters were from, they had actors from that country playing them. This is how it should be done for all films. Many times in Hollywood movies, we see an English-speaking actor playing a foreign character and you can hear an accent. Hollywood thinks they can get away with it because the Americans won't notice. This may be true but this alone is worth 1 point out of 10. If I am watching some Serbians talking among themselves, I want it to be as real as possible. Only a Serb knows how to talk like a Serb and only a German knows how to talk like a German. And the same goes vice- versa, only an American should play an American. And that's what this movie has. It has actors that play characters from their homeland.

This film teaches you how quickly life can turn the other cheek, especially in the crime world. The innocence portrayed by our lead character JW, played by Joel Kinnaman takes you right into this. He gets himself involved in a world where he naturally doesn't belong by making an important decision at the beginning of the film. The movie takes you through all of his emotions as he learns more and more about this new world.

I loved this movie. When I read reviews here about people spilling wine on themselves while watching this because it was too "boring" and made them fall asleep, I just laugh and am grateful that I am not like them. If you are drinking alcohol during a movie, you are already going to be more tired. It is a slow movie, that is true. Slow doesn't mean bad though. However, if you are watching this movie and then want to judge it because it didn't meet YOUR expectations, then please don't write a review about it and give it 2 stars. Every movie has its own intention. Give it 2 stars if it doesn't make any sense at all or if the acting is just embarrassingly bad, but not when it clearly achieves its goal.

Sanitarium's intention was not to be a horror flick, it was to give us a perspective of the human mind when it is ill. You see, if you even cared 1% about what it's like for people who are mentally sick, then this movie provided you with answers better than any documentary, book or some other movie regarding the same subject.

The fact is that when you are mentally ill, you won't see the world around you the same as those who are healthy.

I highly recommend this movie and if you decide to watch it, don't watch it to be entertained, but instead to be educated.

The only thing that made me continue watching this was the storyline. It is definitely an interesting topic, high school students getting tormented at school and seeking revenge on those who put it on them, but it is far from being a good movie.

The part that really made me laugh out loud (literally) during this movie was the atrocious acting put forth by some of the cast. I only watched this because I read in a review that the acting was so good that it really brought out the characters, but in reality, half of that cast does NOT have a future as actors.

The topic itself is an important one as things like this happen everywhere; bullying is not a joke and the intention of this movie is a positive one, to teach the public and let them know about things like this. However, the movie itself is a piece of crap.

5/10 - do not waste your time on this.