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benjamintheauthor
Reviews
The Unholy (2021)
Certainly Worth Watching
I really have no idea why the movie is being panned by critics and scoring so low.
It has an intriguing plot that carries you along with it, fine acting from all involved and special effects which look good.
Certainly worth the price of admission into a cinema and far better than a lot of other so called big budget horror movies.
Wrath of Man (2021)
Worth watching
It's hard not to make a movie now that isn't clichéd and this one dodges most of the obvious pitfalls. It's certainly worth a watch if you are looking for a crime thriller, it's only major flaw is the premise/scene the whole revenge plot is based upon, the inside man is pretty obvious too but that aside it's worth the watch.
Army of the Dead (2021)
Plodding and lacking real suspense
When you have watched movies all your life, I'm pushing 50 now. You can see where the writers and directors have "borrowed" their ideas from and there are quite a few in this movie. For me it was simply all too formulated and familiar but not in a good way. It made the movie slow and plodding with no real drama or tension and a complete disconnect from the throw away characters.
They could have just cut footage from Last days of Mars into the movie and saved on the costume and makeup for the supermutant zombie tribal scenes. I could list a whole lot of other similar scenes which have been borrowed from but I have only limited characters in this review.
If you're 18 and you haven't watched any of the "old" movies then you will probably enjoy this, otherwise I wouldn't bother.
The Silencing (2020)
Confusing, and not in a good way
The biggest unanswered question in the movie was why the killer was actually hunting and killing the girls? The film answers why the lead males character daughter was murdered, in a vague way but never explains the gilly suit or ancient Greek weapon...?
There is also a potentially HUGE plot twist in the middle of the movie but sadly the movie reverts and virtually ignores the twist, it's not a good plot twist but it's one you won't see coming, mainly because it makes no sense. Which sums up this movie really, a lot of it makes no real sense.
Is it worth watching? Sure, but it will leave you disappointed.
Ultimately it's a shame as it probably could have been a great movie, it has a short runtime of only an hour and a half,perhaps if it had an extra half hour it would have been a more fulfilling movie and answered all those unanswered questions.
Renegades (2017)
Good old fashioned Action Adventure story
Its clear this isn't your AAA big money Tom Cruise Action movie but that hardly detracts from the overall enjoyment from the movie in fact the day of the Hollywood A Lister headlining movies seems to be coming to an end.
The movie itself is well directed and the cast are all good with a couple of stand out performances from screen veterans.
Watching the film I was reminded very much of the action adventure novels I used to read as a kid and into my late teens. It had that vibe all throughout the film and it was just an enjoyable movie to watch from start to finish. There was some funny moments in it and there was some romance and sprinkled throughout was action,danger and bravado.
If you are expecting an out and out action movie then you may well be dissapointed as while there is action, explosions and fighting in the movie they certainly do not dominate it.
I think the pacing may be little off in parts and a tighter budget restricts the amount of 'danger' they can add to the scenes but all in all its a very enjoyable movie with a feel good factor throughout.
Mother! (2017)
Its the same problem with every movie made like this
The issue with this movie whether you love it or hate it is not the movie itself its what the movie represents and who it appeals to.
The issue being that anyone who would enjoy and understand this movie would most likely rather read a book or go to the theatre.
As a commercial vehicle this movie has next to no appeal to the masses but as an artistic piece for critics and thespians alike to enjoy it certainly will be to a point; for me personally it stepped over the line between production movie piece and expressive amateur theatre somewhere near hour and half mark.
Everyone involved within the project is clearly talented and the performances shine but as a piece for the general movie going public its a non starter. It is something more akin to what I would expect to see when attending the theatre.
If its cold outside and you are snowed in and you have read all your favourite books and can't make it out to some other form of entertainment then yes you could watch this.
If you are a fan of popcorn movies i.e 99% of other movies made for cinema then you really shouldn't waste your time watching this as it simply will not appeal to you.
I wouldn't say that it has been wrongly advertised but whoever is in charge of the press releases for the picture has done a very good job with the material they have been given. Sadly that will probably lead to backlash from the people who go to the cinema expecting to see a horror movie starring Jenny and Javier.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Big screen Trek comes to the little screen
Some of the so called Trek fans rating this one star are just making fools of themselves and bringing shame to the ideals of Roddenberry who imagined a future where people are open minded and believe in equality unlike most of the negative reviewers on here who if they really have watched it cannot in any universe justify such low ratings.
To give you an objective opinion I would say that anyone who likes sci-fi and has never had any interest in Trek would enjoy this a lot it ticks a lot of boxes. If you have no real interest in sci-fi it still has a fair amount of on screen drama and character interaction to entertain you but its set in space on a star ship so if you turn up expecting a crime mystery or romance you will be disappointed obviously.
If you are a Trek fan your enjoyment will ultimately come down to how open minded you are. If you are unable to accept they will not make a TV show with 1960s CGI and 1960s clothing then best you not watch this. On the other hand if you want to see a very well presented new Trek series in terms of modern CGI and good acting with an interesting story exploring the conflict with the Klingon Empire then you will enjoy it as i did.
On a personal note and my only real negative is I didn't think the Klingon's were that good; there was just something quite wooden and slow about them especially their speech. I know its meant to be deliberate but it can get a little jarringly slow at times. I liked the whole back story and ethos they are developing but its just their wooden movement and talking that lets them down. They are speaking real Klingon so could just be actors struggling with the language...
If i didn't already have Netflix I would get it just to watch this show
The Girl on the Train (2016)
Disappointing Hype Train
I gather this was a good read and you can clearly tell the story was written by a woman for women.
Why did they decide to let a man helm the directorial seat for this film then?
All in all its a mediocre film with a very wasted cast of good actors with a plot twist that you really don't care about or was there two plot twists? I'm not sure if the ending was a plot twist as it was pretty predictable by then.
In essence its a movie about women ******** each other over to be with a man and that man is ******** them all over too both figuratively and literally. Its the kind of thing you can find on cinema-screen on daytime TV and is the underlying plot to most bad daytime American soaps.
The whole film has that whole 50 shades of grey vibe to it; it will appeal to you if you are a repressed woman frustrated with life or still hate filled due to the umpteenth man who has ****** you over in your life.
If you are indeed more of the masculine type then I strongly recommend avoiding this film like the plague as it will bore you to tears.
All in all the film does little to alleviate stereotypes about women in the modern world and paints a very dim view of them indeed in this film. Men are of course and always will be bastards so nothing unexpected to discover in this film about men either.