Reviews

The movie seemed off even 3 minutes in and kept going downhill from there. Let's start with the positives first: direction was competent enough and both leads are good actresses who understand what has been requested of them. Their chemistry is mediocre and the storyline pedestrian, but a good script-writer and director could still make a competent movie out of those.

Unfortunately the director and the production crew seemed to neglect to do their due dilligence in this movie and research: 1) what was the position of women in 18th century France before the French revolution 2) what materials were availiable at the time and the aesthetic of the era. It seems that the era was chosen at random more than being an artistic choice. The fact that what was shown was more or less impossible for late 18th century completely threw me off. I could not relate to the story or the plight of the characters because their bourgeois story and problems would not be (A) realistic and (B) possible in the context of the era (a bunch of women living on their own in a remote chateau without a man in that era is really icing on the cake). I double checked to make sure this is not taking place in the late 19th century (as most materials and hygene used, would have been way more appropriate at that era). The people involved need to learn that the past is not a homogeneous blob and that anachronisms can destroy completely a movie by turning a decent flick into a incohesive mess.

Terrible show, terrible writing, acting reminiscent of drama shows in the early 00's (but without any novelty or joy). The cinematography has a yellow tint Under-the-Dome meets Smallville in the fall. The cast is going through the motions, the plot is subpar, dialogues are solid soap lines ("I wasn't always like that" - "None of us were") which bring out the worst stereotypical characters to grace a series this year. It is not bad enough to even be funny, which is a shame because it could have been hilarious. I feel sorry for the people financing this forgettable pile of nothing , which will be forgotten by viewers almost immediately after they watched it. 3 stars for a semi-coherent plot reminiscent of the worst Steven King shows and for having small morsels of mildly entertaining action.

After a long war with Japan, Chinese society in 1948 was ravaged by the destruction and the deaths of the seven straight years of the conflict. This movie perfectly depicts the depression of that era and the hopelessness in simple village-folk, while bringing a rather simplistic love triangle story-line at the forefront. Among the most important elements depicted are the internal monologues of Zhou Yuwen (Wei Wei), which narrate her life and bring a unique proto-feminist perspective within a society that was used to female subservience.

Film-making wise, noteworthy moments are the long walks along the ravaged (presumably by Japanese bombs) wall, as well as, the completely silent scenes that happen along the way, that add to the eeriness of the movie.

I came into this movie only aware of recent Korean horror cinema that has branched essentially into two main categories: (1) J-Horror type flicks that try to emulate Japanese early 00s horror, with shocks and disturbing imagery and (2) true Korean horror with vengeance motifs and introspection into the sick underbelly of Korean society, ideals and morals. This movie, shot in the early 80s, before either those waves were established draws inspiration from European (Possession) and American (Images) contemporary quality horror and blends it with cultural stereotypes on the role of the woman and themes drawn from Korean shamanistic tradition. The acting is overall decent (although some scenes tend to be overacted at times) and the ending is genuinely chilly and uniquely horrifying. Definitely worth a look for fans of Korean cinema as a gaze into the early evolution of Korean Horror.

Having reviewed the piece of trash that was "The Quiet Place", I feel compelled to also review the other movie on the same subject matter that came out this year. "The Silence" start off on the same premise (Deaf Protagonist, sound-based "creatures") but also takes elements from "Birdhouse" another mediocre movie that explored Sensory Terror. The movie falls flat on its face with many implausibilities, plot holes and an escalation of the situation that is unbecoming of the short time passed and the actual viability of the creatures as actual threats. Having said that, it is marginally better than the Quiet Place, as it obviously does not take itself too seriously as a film of substance but as a rather cheap horror flick riding the Sensory Horror trend and cashing in some of its success.

I stopped watching the movie after the first 20 minutes.

There are catholic convents on most countries around the world. Romania in the early 50s was NOT one of them. A little background: After WWII Romania became a Socialist Republic under the initial leadership of Gheorghiu-Dej. The Stalinist-minded regime that was established was extremely hostile to any and all religions. While they were somewhat lenient to the local orthodox church (which was merged with the church of Russia in an effort to control all religious organisations within Eastern Block countries), they were extremely hostile to all catholic institutions,, closing all schools and churches, while the Vatican itself was an enemy of the State.

in the movie a Catholic priest goes to investigate the suicide of a nun in a CATHOLIC convent in Romania in 1952.

I am not Romanian and therefore did not know all this background . It took me less than 30 minutes to find all the information on the matter and understand that the setting of this movie is not improbable, it is IMPOSSIBLE. I would expect people making a movie to at least make SOME effort into researching their subject matter.

Ah, the future... What wonders it could bring! But the sad reality (of this movie) is bad CG coupled with inept acting resulting in a half-assed motion picture monstrosity that fails on two ends.

As a Science Fiction effort it lacks the basics of science to make it believable; just to name a few: Evolution DOES NOT work like this, the movie is set to closely in the future for the situation to be realistic, terraforming would be FAR more sensible than "forced evolution" and finally, having the experimental subjects stay with their families must be in the top 10 of stupid plot devices ever used, as an experiment like the one depicted would require a far more controlled environment.

As a romantic movie, it fails on the basis of lack of emotional validity on the part of the two leads, as well as due to the lack of actual development in their relationship.

The fact that the effects look like crap is simply icing on the cake. A very bad-tasting cake that you should not have to eat any time soon.

When i saw this movie for the first time, I was ready to cry. Rocky and his colourful world together again! Truth be told, if someone has not seen the original rocky movies, i don't know if he can relate to this one. But for us old horses that grew up in the 70s and the 80s, seeing this movie was like a return to innocence. Rocky, Paulie and the old horses standing their ground for a last fight. The characters are just as wonderful as any of the Rocky movies (even Rocky V had some redeeming character development moments) and Sly performs better than any movie he's been into in the last 10 years. We see real drama in this film! The inner clash of Rocky about the loss of his wife and how he copes with it, a possible new romance and above all the spirit of man, to never give in, never surrender and fight till your last breath. I am happy they still make movies like this one!

Honestly i was expecting something much better. El Greco is one of the most important painters of Renaissance so, a film about his life should stress that importance. Instead ,we see a poorly written ,poorly acted film whose main focus is the costumes and the scenery. Almost all the actors have a terrible accent, which is understandable for their characters as they are Greeks/Spaniards/Italians etc. But then we have an El Greco, a Greek person mind you, who has a perfect British accent! Casting was poorly done and i'd rather see a Greek actor play El Greco. All in all, the film is watchable, but with all the money put into it, you'd expect something much, much better.