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Reviews
Devil in Ohio (2022)
If You Know Nothing About Writing, Acting, Plot (holes), and Tropes, this is for You.
It's simply not possible to watch this without your own creativity suffering a stroke if you know anything about this medium. The characters are two-dimensional but with a couple decent actors playing some of them. The writing is rife with lazy devices and playing into assumptions. The set up is an incestuous marriage of clichés that telegraphs the entire trajectory of the show out of the gate. I could be wrong because I barely made it to the end of the second episode... but I doubt it. Speaking of 'playing to assumptions', the main plot driver?
*SATANISM*
Yeah, bit on the nose with the title.
The only people who might enjoy this would ideally have no background in media arts, no experience with any actual horror, and no possibility of having their intelligence insulted by it.
The History of Time Travel (2014)
A Fun Set Up for a Very Nerdy Punchline
This particular formula has been bouncing around in Sci-Fi for nearly a century. It isn't often used because it's very hard to pull off. "The History of Time Travel" illustrates that by failing to bodly tackle the intricacy, depth, and nuance that could have made it a true mind-bender to the nth degree of geek.
Depending on your level of Sci-Fi sophistication, you'll find this to be anywhere from 'amazing' in the truest sense of the word to 'quaint' and amusing. For the serious Whovians (Dr. Who fans) and/or Douglas Adams fans, it would be the latter... and perhaps a bit disappointing. For those who aren't looking to solve puzzles, it's a good chuckle. For anyone who struggles with non-linear concepts, it may just be confusing.
The writers/Directors dispensed with an opportunity to make this an otherwise brilliant piece of work that could have rivaled Cloud Atlas in complexity.
It definitely has Easter eggs. For instance; in the IMDB description under "Goofs" it states: "Edward and Anne's headstones say they died in 1975. The pistol used to kill them was a Beretta model 92, which was not produced until 1976."
In any other non-time travel story, that would be a bit of an error. In this particular case, it could have been quite deliberate.
But the opportunities to make this a true mental menagerie were passed over and instead it's just an enjoyable and entertaining faux-documentary with a twist that may confuse the uninitiated but hard core sci-fi fans will see coming from a parsec away.
It's a good time, but don't expect to be blown away.
A Living Dog (2019)
Somber, Stark, Austere... A Long, Sullen, Anxious Slog
If you're into mood, melodrama, and depression, this is a good film. It actually nails that particular aesthetic. There's not much in the way of story or plot, there's zero intrigue, and don't expect much in the way of explanation for anything.
The protagonist appears to be a loner hooked on a consciousness-altering drug that's just a story device to show flashbacks that do very little to explain why the world turned out as it did or how anything happened.
The supporting character's m/o is not explained, so the antagonistic way she comes into the story is puzzling. The 'speechless' plot device makes no sense as it is also not explained how the machines can pluck even a human whisper out of all the natural background noise.
The writer and/or director could have used so many quick and simple techniques to fill in blanks that would have removed the highly distracting incredulity that leaves the audience going "Huh?".
The payoff at the end is very cool, but ultimately unsatisfying as it doesn't portend any kind of change for the fate of humanity.
Of special note: If you're a science nerd, you'll laugh at how the end 'goes off' and think, "It doesn't work that way".
Its one redeeming quality is that the mood of despair, punctuated by moments of high tension and tragedy, is pretty poignant. If you like that sort of thing, then you should see this.