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arteemus
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American Refugee (2021)
Meh
I thought the movie had potential from the description, but I was wrong. One family seems to have no idea how to prepare for problems or protect themselves (one lady dies because she can't leave her phone behind during panicked rioting), one family is run by a weird religious prepper that's at the way other end of the spectrum (this was - unfortunately - more believable that the seemingly helpless black family). They were all irritating & unlikable in some way or another. The movie comes across as naive & amateurish, the ending felt rushed & anticlimactic. The one positive thing I can say is that the acting was good for the most part.
The Last House on the Left (1972)
This is a " Masterpiece"?
I know this was made in the early 70s, but give me a break. I've heard/read about this movie for years as being a great and shocking horror movie. What. A. Joke. It was neither particularly shocking, scary, or even well-acted. "Amateurish" is the best word I could come up with. I'm not sure how this movie has become so over-hyped, and I'm not sure how Craven ever worked in the movie industry again. The story line was ripped off, the actors were barely adequate, and the actual photography and editing were sub-par. Don't even get me started on the ludicrous music. If I sound p****d off, it's because I am...I wasted my time watching this. Critics who praise this garbage are why I have trust issues.
The Rapture (1991)
The rapture will be televised
I happened across this movie late last night on Syfy and decided to give it a try (nothing else on).
Then I came to IMDb to read what I thought would be reviews poking fun at the movie. Jesus H, I can't believe all the apparently serious reviews praising this film. What the hell are you people smoking? What a laughably bad movie this is...and I don't care what side of the religious line you fall on.
I missed the first few minutes of the movie, and came in on the part where Mimi has just finished scrubbing the nasty Duchovny cooties off her. The film plods along until she gets the idea to go camping in the desert. Mimi kills her kid to send her to heaven, rather than waiting for the rapture that's supposedly just around the corner anyway, and then gets PO'd at God. The other characters of the movie are all as idiotic acting; I was especially bemused by the cop's character. Some dirty crazy woman has just admitted to killing her kid, and the cops only reaction is to talk about religion? Give me a f*****g break.
After he finally is recalled to his duty and drags this psycho to jail, everyone there has also drank the Kool-aid. The part that made me laugh out loud? The TV in the jail breaks away from regular programming and begins televising the rapture! The cop & the psycho take a motorcycle cruise and meet up with the 4 horsemen on a trail ride. Then she tells God to go to hell, the end.
I originally gave the movie 1 star (because I couldn't rate it 0 stars). But then reconsidered and give it 2 stars, because David Duchovny was surprisingly hot in the beginning, what with all the naked chest / long hair action going on. Too bad that part was so short.
As an atheist maybe I'm lacking the necessary frame of mind to view films with religious content. I guess I just have trouble suspending my disbelief long enough to get caught up in these types of films; I instead find myself squirming at the zealotry. Ugh. Give me a science-based movie any day.
Battle: Los Angeles (2011)
Well, it kept my attention.
Not the best sci-fi flick I've seen, not the worst. The movie starts with a rockin' song & moves quickly to the action; lots of smoke, gunfire, perturbed Marines, darting shapes & weird sounds (which strongly reminded me of the velociraptor sounds from Jurassic Park). It had me glued to the screen, jumping at every sound & invested in the happenings.
The middle section of the movie dealing with a character's lingering death & his plea to save his orphaned son has been done over and over and over again in other films & I'm tired of those schmaltzy attempts by the director to tug at our heart strings. I'm also familiar with the "I'll stay behind & set off the bombs so the rest can live" martyrdom shtick (Armageddon, anyone? Aliens, anyone?). Maybe I was getting battle-weary.
The final third of the film again had me pulling for the survivors to finally get the hell outta there. Jeff Goldblum figures out that if they can disable the mothership, this will ultimately aid in the defeat of the extraterrestrials, so he & Will Smith take off from Area 51 in an alien spacecraft...oh, wait, that was Independence Day. OK, so our Marines figure out something similar, and are then led by the tortured and misunderstood staff sergeant (who earlier had bared his soul to his platoon, and won their loyalty forever; I, myself, would probably have been worried about getting out alive & trying to rest after such a hellacious day, but that would be too realistic & boring) to carry out a similar strategy. All ends well for the few Marines & civilians not already picked off. We Americans have once again singlehandedly (!!) figured out the secret to alien destruction & proceed to tell the REST OF THE WORLD, who are unable to figure this out without us. Yay, us.
Did the movie keep my attention? Yes. Was I entertained? Yes. Was it realistic? Probably not.