aidanalderdice

You can always count on IMDB user reviews to completely miss the point of any movie that doesn't have everything painstakingly explained.

Censor is slowly paced, but as long as you're paying attention, it's definitely not boring. It's a surreal and genuinely unsettling buildup to a very satisfying finale.

For anyone in the future who's looking for honest opinions on the quality of the film, you might want to take these reviews with a grain of salt.

The entire movie is just "oh this thing might be supernatural, nope nevermind it wasn't, here's a bunch of talking heads of people recounting the event and laboriously giving their opinions, not that any of it matters or leads anywhere". You keep waiting for something, ANYTHING interesting to happen. That moment never comes. If you want to watch a 90 minute mockumentary about an Australian family dealing with the loss of their daughter/sister, then by all means, this is for you. But billing it as anything other than that, be it horror, or mystery, or whatever else, is objectively false. What a waste of time.

It clearly isn't perfect, but at least it seems to have a basic understanding of the themes it's trying to comment on, along with how the internet works. And it's not really trying to say very much in the first place. The main point of this movie is to sit back and enjoy the ride, and man is that ride fun. It's violent, weird, erratic, just overall completely insane in the best possible way, and it's got a fantastically interesting style to it that would be completely obnoxious if it ever took itself seriously. I NEVER say this, but go watch the trailer. If it looks like the kind of thing you're able to enjoy, I highly recommend it. If not, you might as well not waste your time.

This movie is a PERFECT example of how to build tension. It's slow, it's subtle, it worms it's way into your mind and creates a genuine sense of safety and security. For the first hour, you might even forget you're watching a horror movie. But then, oooooooh but then. I don't want to give a single thing away, but once the story takes a turn, there's an exponentially building sense of dread that doesn't ever go away. Again, it starts off gradual, but ramps up exponentially, until dread turns to fear, turns to horror.

Alien is an effective horror movie not because Xenomorphs are scary by themselves, but rather because they pose a real, tangible, threat to characters that WE care about. Characters that we have a chance to really understand, and grow familiar with, even fond of. So when horrible things happen to them, we're invested not because of the shock value or the jump scare, but because WE don't want them to get hurt. It seems that most "horror fans" have forgotten that.

Pacing and writing aside, the film is absolutely gorgeous. Even in the first 10-15 minutes, when scenes take place in normal apartments and bars, there is some really fascinating cinematography at play, and once it gets to Sweden, every shot is breathtaking. The use of symmetry and color is reminiscent of Kubrick, and I mean that as the highest compliment.

The score is fairly understated, as it was in Hereditary, and I think it works even better here than it did there. It's only purpose is to build tension, instill dread. You won't even notice it in the background of most scenes, and often there's actually nothing to notice, but regardless of whether it's completely silent or blaring violins, it always feels appropriate.

Look, I love big, loud, dumb, gory horror movies as much as anyone. Give me over-the-top violence and a paper thin plot, and as long as things keep moving, I'm along for the ride. But I can also appreciate auteur cinema, where a single artist's vision is realized by thousands of actors, camera workers, set designers, etc. And this is exactly that. Anyone who doesn't like the movie, I won't tell you you're wrong. But I'd ask that you at least try to appreciate the work that went into it, on literally every level.

Politics aside, the show is fantastic. Excellent acting, really unique and interesting cinematography, and writing that will quite literally keep you at the edge of your seat. If you're a fan of over-the-top violence, 70s nostalgia, and people hunting war criminals, this is absolutely the show for you.

Also it seems to be making a bunch of racists reeeeeeally angry, which is a plus.

Any other movie that tries or has ever tried to make a comedy out of being a Nazi in WWII has, or will, inevitably fail. It SHOULD be impossible. There should be no way to take that kind of subject matter and treat it with the respect it deserves, while also maintaining a lighthearted, comedic tone. But this, this actually does it flawlessly. Some of the humor isn't even that dark, and it still works consistently.

Now don't get me wrong, this movie gets pretty hard to watch. Really hard to watch at times.And yet, right up until the end, it never loses it's audience or goes TOO deep into the dark stuff. It masterfully walks a tightrope between the horrors of war/Nazi-ism on one side, and a child coming of age on the other, with Taika Watiti's signature brand of weird comedy weaved throughout. Honestly I think it could even be a solid introduction for children who don't know about WWII, it's that good.

The performances are fantastic across the board, the dialogue is brilliant, the cinematography has some great moments, etc. In conclusion, it's good, go watch it. Especially if you're a Nazi.

If you've made it this far, you know the show is brilliant. Probably destined to be a classic. And this episode is consistent in tone and quality.

However, there are two separate points during this one specifically where you're going to need to hit pause and stare at the screen without blinking for a while. I'm STILL trying to process what I just watched. All I can think to say is that I have literally no idea what's going to happen next.

As with my review of the previous episode (if you happened to see it), there isn't much I can even say without spoiling things. All I will say is that this episode incorporates the story of every episode previous, while still being entirely unique. It's just...genius.

The (necessary) worldbuilding, character establishment, and initial plot is over, ladies and gentlemen. Now we get to the real squid meat and extradimensional potatoes of the story, and it's absolutely delicious. That's honestly all I can say without spoiling things. Do yourself a favor and just see it for yourself.

If The Last Jedi was a disease, The Mandalorian is the cure. The first 10 minutes of the pilot actually disappointed me, it felt incredibly cliche and some of the acting was painful to sit through. However, by the end, I had done a complete 180 and was ready to personally beg Disney for more. The action is absolutely fantastic, better than anything I think I've ever seen in any Star Wars movie, the protagonist is the best kind of mysterious while also being strangely charismatic, and the entire show has Jon Favreau's signature "funny without sacrificing tension" vibe.

It's absolutely brilliant. If only the movies were more like this.

I can forgive the low budget and how the writing gets pretty cliché, considering it's a *very* indie movie. But the acting really holds it back, unfortunately. There's potential, the characters are fairly fleshed out and the direction is competent enough, but it's really difficult to get immersed when you're constantly aware that everyone is reading off a script. Armstrong and the rookie EMT are decent, but everyone else is pretty painful to watch. It's far from the worst thing I've ever seen, but it definitely doesn't deserve anything above a 6/10.

Don't let the other reviews get your hopes up.

This is only my second review on this site, and I hesitated to even write it. But the more I watched of this show, the more I felt an obligation to. The title really says it all, the special effects are lacking at times (pretty obvious green screen in one scene, cheap- ish looking costume in the next), and it doesn't matter in the slightest. I haven't read the comics, at least not yet, so I can't speak to whether or not this is a faithful adaptation. But it's more than just entertaining. In every moment of it, you can see and feel that someone put their heart and soul into this show. It's leagues ahead of any Marvel/Netflix series, solely because it's not just about superheroes running around being invincible and fighting evil. It refuses to take itself too seriously, while still somehow being an effective human drama, and a good comedy to boot.

There are no huge action setpieces, though you do get to see people deflecting bullets and punching henchmen through walls. However, that's not what you should watch this for regardless. You should watch it for the story, because as short as this season is, it's expertly crafted. If you're looking for Luke Cage or Iron Fist, look elsewhere. In my humble opinion, this is better than both of them combined.