jdollak

Last night, I was unable to sleep. I put this movie on around midnight. To less disturb my wife's sleep, I kept the sound off.

And this movie was watchable. The script seemed okay, not remarkable at all. Once the action kicks off, the movie gets ridiculous.

Our protagonist is supposed to be an incredible fighter. That's fine. She uses her legs in combat a lot. That's also fine. But her kicks include some bizarre kicks that would not be effective.

Also, without the sound, attention is drawn to how poor the action choreography is. There's a lot of follow-through on punches, and characters that are being hit don't have proper reaction to it. This is hard to explain in words, but the result is easy to notice.

The action is even more conspicuous by the large amount of cuts during any of these sequences. The same hit will be shown in quick succession. I suppose you don't want to waste multiple cameras shooting a scene.

The plot of it isn't terribly special. It's hard to call the family a cult. More like an underground business. They harvest blood from people while torturing them, which releases some chemicals into blood, making the blood into some sort of rejuvenating potion.

The longer the movie goes on, the action gets more ridiculous, and culminates in the fantastic decision to have the protagonist literally punch through her ex-boyfriend, clutching his heart. The way this is shot doesn't feel like it was intended to be funny.

From there, she goes on to fighting the big bad, and... the fight ends with the villain accidentally causing her own heart attack.

So, no satisfying conclusion.

I returned to the movie later and listened to some of the performances, and other reviewers are correct. It appears that every character is hamming their lines up.

My favorite little thing - the sister turns her back and looks away from other characters twice in an effort to look cool. It's conspicuous, and it happens only so that the character can turn around dramatically.

This is just... one of the most puzzling holiday movies I've seen.

The main character is miserably mean. There's no real "in" to feel like she's a good person. She's mean to her fiance, her best friend, her boss - and yet, somehow people want to be part of her life!

There's typically a misunderstanding that drives a wedge between the leads, but that doesn't seem to exist in this one. They start off cold. Then in his second scene, the guy completely changes personality.

They have one mildly personal conversation on a plane, which ends with them leaning in to kiss before being interrupted. This is a romantic moment that has not been earned.

The plot that is used as the premise - needing to have 12 puppies adopted before Christmas - is surprisingly brief. After spending a bit of time with it, the movie loses interest, then brings it back at the very end to tie up the loose end.

This also feels like a bait-and-switch. The movie didn't fulfill the promise of the premise.

Despite being a canine therapist, and carrying a dog around for most of the movie, the lead doesn't seem to care about dogs at all. When the script requires it, she squeals about the puppies, but she never shows affection for her dog, she never talks to it, and she never is shown doing anything to care for any of the dogs in the movie.

Also, the company she's been hired to work for makes GPS collars for dogs. The boss is weird in how bad he is. He doesn't consider the idea of "lets make the collar comfortable" when dogs refuse to wear it.

Strange, strange holiday movie.

Also, I believe that one of the actresses looks at the camera twice, and one of the extras looks once.

I'll watch just about any anthology. And I'm very forgiving. If you don't like a story, there's another one right behind it.

This is a strange collection, since most of the stories seem to be roughly the same. A woman in an apartment encounters something menacing, typically something supernatural. It ends with her being grabbed, or something similar.

There are a few other stories, and some with reasonable variations. Sometimes a woman is not the victim. At least one story takes place outside.

I find the description of it being inspired by nightmares to be an interesting caveat. These may have been inspired by nightmares, but the result is that none of the stories offer much of a conclusion. There's a setup, then a jump to end things on, and that's it. Normally, no explanation of anything. Why is this person being haunted? Does it matter?

There are two little things of note, both having to do with one of the last stories - The Ball Lord.

First, this is the story that succeeds the best at suggesting a dreamlike state. The two characters argue, but they change subjects throughout, and rarely make much sense.

At the end of the story, there is a brief flash of text on the screen. With some effort, I managed to pause on it, and it's a quote. I can't remember it - it didn't seem very relevant, but I could be mistaken.

Both of these make the story one of the more interesting ones. That isn't to say it's worth tracking down.

If you like internet horror shorts, cheaply made and sort of like generic creepypasta stuff, then this is probably the right thing for your tastes.

As much as I love the older Peanuts shorts, they tended to have a problem of recycling jokes that had appeared in comics. The movies did a better job by incorporating larger, more original storylines.

But the shows rarely explored other characters in much depth. Sure, Linus shines in the Christmas special, but...

Giving the spotlight to Marcie was a fantastic idea. I think Marcie has been a fan favorite, possibly because she didn't seem to have the obvious faults that other characters did. Plus, she seemed somehow more adult than the others.

Anyway, this is an exploration of Marcie. Part of it is framed using her relationship with Peppermint Patty, where her advice is indispensable for Patty's golf game. This opens the window to Marcie's love of problem solving. She likes making people happy by making sure things work out.

But Marcie is an introvert, and finds that her happiness comes not from recognition, but from the satisfaction of making others happy.

Marcie gets uncomfortable when her recognition as a problem-solver gets her elected class president.

I found this very touching. I wonder about how it plays to younger kids. I wasn't sure how much a younger audience would appreciate a character-driven story like this, but there's always a chance that some kids out there will find this story important. There aren't enough introverted characters that are treated as normal people.

But for adult fans of Peanuts, this is a real quality gem.

This movie is effectively the same movie as Death Hunt, also released the same year. This has a few small twists on the Most Dangerous Game formula, mostly bringing in a third party instead of just making the protagonist able to turn the tables.

It held attention fairly well, but it also felt cheaper than it should have. Blood looked poorly done. Injuries looked especially fake.

But the movie gets more silly than it should once things kick in for the third act. There's way too much quipping. This is a common problem, and it makes me cringe every time I hear one of these lines, knowing that the writer thought this was the right way to lead into a kill.

It's nice to see Mena Suvari having a bit of fun with an action-heavy role.

I couldn't say it's any good for someone who wants to value their time, but it's a thoroughly decent movie to eat snacks to.

It took several sittings for me to make it through this movie, but it must have been passable, since I didn't abandon it.

A handful of people leave a New Years party for another party on another floor. They all get trapped on the floor, and characters start getting picked off.

Could be fun.

The main mystery in a story like this is the question of what the killer's motive is. That usually can be figured out once the characters figure out what they have in common. Instead, the characters mostly seem to abandon trying to figure out why they're in the situation, who their antagonist is, or what they can do to save themselves. They also spend a lot of time splitting up into groups.

The reviews seem to pay a lot of attention to the kills. They mostly seemed irrelevant to me. Most of them are off-screen. No particular tension there.

The dialogue is strange. I can't put my finger on it, but there are occasionally lines that jump out as being unusual. Even when the dialogue isn't weird, it's campy.

What I found most annoying was the picture quality. It's shot competently, but the lighting was clearly an issue. Since most of the movie takes place under low-light conditions, the picture quality has real problems. There's a lot of grain, a certain haze over most of it. Normally, I would ignore this, but it is present in almost every shot in a hallway, which accounts for around 70-80% of the movie.

The eventual reveal at the end is okay. I think some people would like it, some people will hate it. I think it would have done better with a little more setup.

Hard to watch, but not for the reasons you would expect.

I watched this over several sittings, since it just couldn't keep me focused. But I was still engaged with the general premise.

A social media influencer is doing a livestream while her friend is held captive by a villain. The villain instructs the influencer via text message, and if she doesn't do what he wants, he'll harm the friend.

That's a decent premise. Where the movie suffers is in the writing and the acting.

I'm willing to forgive acting, since this is clearly cheap, and made using whatever friends were available.

The writing is a problem. But again, it's not just the lines. It's actually the way that the story is developed.

Our protagonist has some major problems as a character. First, she's nice and plain. She's supposed to be an influencer. She needs to be charismatic. She needs to be exciting. Why would people be watching her livestream if she's just a nice little nobody?

Second, as a protagonist, she's passive. She obeys her commands without question, she doesn't try to solve her problem. The result is a story that turns into a gross-out comedy, where she rubs crap on her face and eats a raw fish. Her decisions have no consequences, because she's just agreeing to keep doing this.

Pacing is poor, since the actors seem to mostly be family and friends.

There's the "twist" ending, which is mostly forseeable. The killer makes an appearance, and it's mostly obvious who he is, and our protagonist comes across as a moron for not spotting it.

It's bad... but on the technical side, it's completely watchable. On the screenwriting side... more thought was needed.

I wish I could feel confident in any review of this movie. I can't. This is a movie that has aged so badly that it might be difficult for modern audiences to find it funny at all.

But it might be. A lot of the offensive stereotypes are completely ridiculous, but they are rarely played in a mean way. The nerds hang together, and they don't judge each other. Their stereotypes are an issue to outsiders.

The sexual elements are just off the charts though, and are much harder to think of a defense for. I can't think of any justification for the pies.

But the panty raid / cameras and the whole "falling in love with her rapist" scene... these are not acceptable. But they are explainable.

The movie is an outsider's fantasy. Nerds, as they were, were ostracized, and this is a revenge fantasy. Their sexual frustration is partly manifested as a desire to look at nude women (which was a bit more difficult without the internet being widely available). But also, the fantasy of "once they get to know me, they'll like me." Once they realize that I'm so much better than their brutish boyfriend, they'll want me.

Of course, I'm not excusing this.

Outside of the stereotypes, the problematic sexual content, there's a lot of fun to be had here. A lot of the performances are wonderfully simple and memorable. John Goodman's voice cracking when he yells. Lamar playing with his balloon hat. Wormser doing his aerobics. Poindexter pontificating while high.

And at the very least, the movie can introduce you to the wonderful music of Gleaming Spires.

I don't know if I can recommend this to younger viewers, but I know it has a space in my heart.

I can't say that this is a quality movie. It's got some serious problems. But underneath the surface, there's a decent story here. It just needed some additional eyes on the script.

Despite what a number of reviewers are saying, the acting isn't terrible for a movie of this caliber. The photography is a little annoying sometimes, but mostly it plays fine.

It's pretty much a bottle movie, one exterior location at the very beginning, followed by all of the action in one room, then (most likely) the same room dressed up to be two alternate locations.

While I was aware of this, it didn't feel like the movie needed more locations than that.

Where the movie really stumbles is in the messaging.

Our protagonist is mostly good. His failing is that he doesn't immediately condemn his friend for his extreme interests in porn. That doesn't seem like it's enough to put him through this. I had assumed that the story was going to have him going through the wringer, followed by the antagonists discovering that they had ensnared him by accident.

Instead, we get a muddled message creating an equivalency between supporting snuff films, being aware of them, and participating in them.

This may have been intentional, but it's very hard to tell.

It's unclear to me who would be the ideal audience for this. Maybe... people who enjoyed later Hellraiser movies?

My wife and I will put on Christmas romance movies occasionally. They go by pretty fast, and they're funny, in a strange way. I usually like seeing ways that different ones stretch the mold a bit.

This movie stretches the mold, but as a result, it's weird.

On the technical side, there are some strange issues. The sound and picture are a bit odd. The color balance doesn't seem consistent, and it might be that interior lighting is way too harsh inside the primary house location.

The sound has some real problems, occasionally the volume dips down much lower than normal. At least there's no distortion.

The story starts off as pretty normal Christmas movie fare - the big city girl goes off (around Christmastime) to some rural area to foreclose on a house as part of some evil business deal. Along the way, she learns the meaning of Christmas - and romance.

Where the movie gets weird is in the skipping of details. There is a dramatic argument between the male lead and his friend, and I came out of it not having any clue what their conflict was.

The evil plot by the Big City Corporation seems to be something nonsensical. They're trying to take control of this family home, claiming that the male lead's deceased mother defaulted on payment.

But this isn't a bank foreclosing. The female lead keeps referring to there being some sort of a deal. And the son doesn't have power of attorney, so he's not allowed to look at any of this paperwork - but they still need his signature to "close the deal." None of this makes any sense.

The female lead is incredible in how evil she is at the start.

In addition to this foreclosure plotline, there's also a Christmas cookie competition. And this is something that everyone is into.

Also, everyone is very into pie. And the couple eats meatloaf and pie to cement their bond.

The movie squeezes in a strange father / daughter drama at the last minute. Since this wasn't set up earlier, it comes across very puzzling.

Direction has some odd choices. In a shot where Theodora says how it's so beautiful out there, everything behind her is a dead field and bare trees in the distance. The reverse show shows the same.

One of the big kisses at the end is framed in a very awkward way. The couple is on the left side. In the middle is the BACK of someone's head. Then someone watching the couple is on the right.

Also, at some point later in the movie, the house is turned into a farm. I'm not sure how it's a farm, since there doesn't seem to be anything other than a suburban house with a few fields around it. No animals, no signs of anything being planted.

Despite all of these problems, the confusion that the movie brings is totally worth the entertainment.

I was a little middling on X, which had some interesting bits, but took longer to get going, which is typical for a lot of Ti West's work. I was surprised to see the trailer for Pearl, which looked spectacular, perfect for my tastes.

It's one of the more interesting horror movies I've seen in a long time. Pearl is drawn as a fascinating character. She's often cheerful, even in the face of her stern mother. She has dreams of escaping from the tedium and responsibility of the farm by becoming a star. Her impression of this is that she'll be discovered as a fantastic dancer, and go on tour. She loves movies, and loves the sense of stardom that comes from watching performers.

But she's also a bit crazy. It isn't clear how much her situation has driven her to this level of craziness, or how much of this is born into her.

There are interesting variations on an exploration of a killer. She kills an animal on impulse. But the people after that... The first is seriously injured in an accident during a fight, but she decides to ignore their needs and let them die. The second she kills to cover up the first. The third is actually a mercy killing of sorts. And the fourth is to cover up everything else.

These aren't entirely the acts of someone who kills out of a love for killing.

The big monologue at the end is completely fascinating. It reveals a lot of about how aware Pearl is of her actions, and how conflicted she feels about them. She's crazy, but she's aware of it, and she doesn't feel great about it. But that doesn't make indulging in her craziness less satisfying.

I look forward to returning to his movie again and again, and showing it to people who are more on the fence in their horror consumption.

This movie is nowhere near as bad as the reviews are saying. But the negative reviews have a point. The movie suffers from two big problems - the name, and the audience expectations. Both are obviously linked.

After Halloween Kills, knowing that the next one was Halloween Ends, fans are filled with expectations of a big finish to the series. Dialogue had suggested that there was a possibility that Laurie Strode and Michael Myers had to kill each other to bring an end to things.

Instead, we get an exploration of the role that the town plays in creating a monster. Michael is relegated to a supporting role for the vast majority of the movie.

Thematically, this makes sense. A big chunk of Halloween Kills was about the way that the town has been dragged into making things worse out of their fear.

And that's fine. But it doesn't fulfill the expectations. It's interesting - but it feels like we never reach the fireworks factory.

Because so much of the movie is given over to this other plot, the big finish fight with Michael seems like an afterthought. It's not a bad fight. In fact, attached to another movie, it would be a satisfying final battle.

The plot that fills most of the movie has value. But, since there's a bit less time than a full movie devoted to it, there are things the story needs that aren't developed as much as they need to be. The strong opener leaves us feeling for Corey, but that goodwill is wasted by him being creepy or violent the rest of the movie. It's very hard to believe that Allyson would have any attraction to him. Maybe if they didn't have a romantic attraction? If she found him interesting or compelling, I might be able to buy that.

Released under a different title, maybe released as a spin-off, this could have been a pleasant surprise.

I think there's a chance that this movie will have a better reputation in the future. It's interesting, and it's less like most of the Halloween movies. And that has value.

The start of the series is fun. It's a reasonable way to kick things off, establishing the character and her motivations.

There's still some fun to be had in seeing her learn to manipulate her powers. Her supporting cast is mostly fun.

The show suffers terribly though, and gets less enjoyable as it progresses. I've given it some thought, and I've come to one primary problem.

The show forgets what makes Kamala Khan endearing. She's a fan. She's a stand-in for every kid who idolizes super-heroes. When she starts facing problems, she isn't wondering what Carol Danvers would do.

Her fandom mostly disappears after the second episode. This is exchanged for exploration into the role that family plays in her life. Despite the heavy religious presence in the show, she doesn't talk about it except in the vaguest sense. This isn't as enjoyable as her fandom.

The primary antagonist (?) wants Kamala's help. Kamala agrees. Then the antagonist decides to force Kamala to help right away. None of this makes any sense.

When I think back to what happened, plot-wise, I'm not terribly sure what went on. It was a lot of setup, not much payoff.

The last episode, where they fit most of the action, isn't especially satisfying. Does it matter? Who knows?

It's not a great show, and I'm sure I'll never come back to check it again, but at least it didn't bother me more than it pleased me.

I was in the mood for one of those backwoods thriller type movies. Someone surviving by their wits, being stalked by some crazy person / people. Then they would turn the tables, breaking past their limitations to beat the opposition.

Instead, I was treated to a surprisingly clever story, something that defied expectations, and kept me curious about how things were going to play out. Even at the end, I was still expecting that things would resolve differently.

The antagonists are not motivated by some urge to kill. The protagonist is not helpless, and doesn't need to overcome her weaknesses. She's resourceful, and remarkably in control of herself.

Her relationship with Lowell is interesting since we don't know how it's going to work. Will she turn on him? Will he turn on her? Is there some sort of Stockholm Syndrome thing happening?

My primary complaint is with the main villain. He's a little too... obvious. He sells his evilness too clearly.

I would like to take a little time to address some of the trends in complaints about the movie. First, GPS technology has improved, but it remains pretty terrible in certain parts of the world. Plus, people have been known to do really ridiculous things when the GPS tells them to do it - like drive into areas where roads don't exist. Second, our heroine fights off her attackers using usual self-defense techniques taught for women, especially at the college level. She isn't some unusually skilled fighter. These techniques are not intended to defeat an enemy, they're supposed to give you a chance to escape. And she does. Third, complaints about why she didn't retrieve other things from her wrecked car... what do you think she has in there? She was traveling for a job interview. Maybe she has a suit? Getting her phone was the highest priority. Maybe if she had a crowbar or a tire iron in the trunk, that would have been worth having.

Most importantly, when these sorts of questions come up in your head, that means the movie is doing a good job of persuading you that this story happens in the real world.

Watching 90210 is sequence, the show has struggled to handle serious issues well. So how can they manage killing off a character in a dramatic way? More importantly, how can they kill off a character that no one cares about?

This is where they episode does a great job. Scott's death happens fairly early on - I think at the end of the first act. Most of the remainder of the episode is taken up with David's conflicted emotions about this. David functions as a stand-in for the audience in this episode. He knows he's supposed to care about Scott's death, but honestly, Scott no longer was a big part of his life. This is also reflected in the school. Everyone pays lip service to Scott, but there's almost nothing about who he was, what he was like. Dylan has to be reminded who Scott was.

The audience isn't going to miss Scott. He was a dork in the worst sense - socially inept, but also fairly stupid. As David says in the episode - "Look, Scott accidentally shot himself in the stomach because he liked to play with guns." But David feels obligated to feel badly about the death. Instead, he feels... a sense of confusion. This is probably the most realistic way to handle a death of this type.

There are other aspects of this episode that are really pleasing. Donna and David move a little closer, and it plays beautifully. Donna is helpful to David, and acts as a friend. Her behavior isn't over the top. And David gets to move on from being a horndog punchline.

A bunch of circus clowns kidnap a guy, kill his wife, and hold his children hostage to ensure his compliance as they bring him along on a killing spree.

First, the good stuff. Technical work is proficient. No notable problems with editing or sound. Lighting is dark, but most likely was intentional. It was nice to learn about the existence of the strange arcade game, Gals Panic.

Second, the bad stuff. The movie doesn't have that much in way of plot or development of anything. It's one violent encounter into the next. It's mostly an exercise in testing the viewer limits. I don't have resistance to that in particular - after all, I was able to watch this without issue.

But there seems to be a breakdown in understanding what makes thing scary. We should care about the captive, and his children. Without time spent developing him and giving him character, the movie amounts to a big shrug.

The budget limitations are mostly apparent with the lack of any other acts at the "circus". There are extras for an audience, but there only seems to be a ringmaster.

There are a handful of movies that seem to be influences. In particular, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Devil's Rejects. And for some reason, I'm reminded of Bloodsucking Freaks.

By the end of this, the viewer is left wondering where the story was. For a movie that runs over an hour and a half, with the lack of development, the whole thing could have been trimmed down to about 30-40 minutes without much loss to how effective it is.

Why am I bothering to write this review? Because the 5.9 on iMDB right now is seriously misleading. Even for fans of pushing horror to extremes would be disappointed.

Why am I writing this? There are 6,800 reviews right now, no one's going to bother with this one. I guess I just wanted to let it out. Like most people, I love the SW universe. I was a little on the fence with The Force Awakens, but it still felt okay. I'm one of the few who really loved Last Jedi. That one felt like a step toward making the franchise exciting and less predicable. This just left me feeling disappointed. There are obvious problems that I can point out, like the odd planet-hopping that happens, the strange story beats that involve killing characters off only to immediately take it back. Or the choice to undo the most interesting character development they had done with Kylo Ren.

The real result is that... it's boring. There are a few nice bits, and there are some well-directed sequences, but for the most part, it didn't hold my attention. And when it ended, I didn't think I'd want to revisit it.

What makes this feel sad to me is that it took away some of the enthusiasm I had for the SW movies. It hasn't taken away the quality of the other movies, but I no longer have a sense of excitement about upcoming SW movies.

This movie draws a lot of obvious comparisons, particularly The Purge. This is reasonable, since the theme of having to defend yourself against your community is an effective one. But the lack of motivation makes this a problem. Nearly every review here says the same thing - why would people kill their targets because an anonymous letter says so? Are we supposed to believe that people are intrinsically bad?

This huge flaw doesn't make it a terrible movie though. The direction is fairly well done, the technical qualities are solid. And it's great to see a horror movie that isn't an inky black swirl. The sound doesn't have any of the annoying habits of massive dynamic range.

There is some weakness in the acting, and it's hard to pinpoint the problem. Every now and then there are little beats of dialogue that don't land correctly. I can't blame this on the actors or the script - I'm not sure which it would be.

The highlight of the movie is a score that seems to borrow from Vertigo. A welcome touch of class, we need more music like this.

Worth a watch, but don't expect to feel completely pleased with it.

An interesting description on amazon prime, combined with a slightly higher than average rating, inspired me to start this movie up.

The first thing I noticed is how messed up the subtitles are. They have been transcribed without most punctuation, and without regard to changes in who is speaking.

The second thing that jumped out is how awkward the writing is. It's not bizarre like The Room, or strange and preachy like Birdemic. There is a lot of extraneous detail given, and it might be intended as character development, but it comes across like the screenwriter was told that he can't have his characters say only what they need to. There is a lot of repetition, characters reporting to each other what the audience just saw, characters reinforcing character traits, etc.

I thought that maybe it was a Hallmark movie, but it's too dark to be one.

The acting seems odd, and it's hard to tell if the writing is the problem, or if the cast is amateur. It could also be that there seems to be a lot of phone conversations, so actors aren't interacting directly.

There is a wonderfully ridiculous death that involves chopping a tree so it falls on the intended victim. Fantastic. Close to the end, I found myself a bit confused, since the main character seemed to be unaware of things that she learned. She knows the relationship of the killer to the victim, but doesn't seem to realize it.

In more capable hands, this could be a passable movie of the week production. As it is, it feels like the upper end of amateur. Technically, most of the movie is fine. There are a few bits with strange sound problems, but they aren't serious, and you don't miss anything important. The direction is usually passable, with a few unusual choices (particularly, when one character is introduced, we get a series of closeup shots, including one of the wheels of his truck.)

The movie ends with "it was all a dream." As someone who has attempted a bit of screenwriting, I know that this is considered an unacceptable ending. There are ways to twist the story to make it work, but this one hasn't done any of that.

I don't think I can say that it's good at all - but it is completely watchable, and fairly entertaining in a strange way. Worth watching for people who like to look for the good in things.

Simply, it's not for everyone. I don't know exactly how to explain the feeling of the show. It's funny, it's bleak, it's charming, it's uncomfortable, it's oddly soothing.

In a way, it reminds me of Boogie Nights. It's a family of characters who are all closely connected in an intimate way (although intimate, not exactly sexual, most of the time).

The first episode intended to make more of a splash, but fell flat compared to the rest of the series.

If you get through two or three episodes and enjoy it, continue. You might feel conflicted, but the end result is a show that you'll like more and more as you think about it.

I enjoyed Happy Death Day. I didn't think it was great, but I came to like it more on a second viewing. I was happy to see the trailer for a sequel, since it looked like it was expanding in a direction that could make things wonderfully complicated.

This movie is... bonkers.

As we start, we get a different person caught in a time loop. Then it turns out that he has a duplicate. Somehow, an effort to fix that problem results in Tree being swapped into a parallel reality where her mother is still alive, but she doesn't have her boyfriend. The boyfriend is now coupled with an annoying sorority friend of hers.

A lot of that comes out within the first 20 minutes.

I was much more happy with this movie than I expected, for a few different reasons. It doesn't try to spend too much time recapping the first movie. It goes through everything of importance in probably less than a minute. It doesn't try to replicate the plot of the first one, with the exception that she wants to find a way to end the loop. It embraces the absurdity of everything. This movie stretches the genre much further than expected.

The first movie also wasn't much of a horror movie. There were horror elements, but they tended to fade as the rest of the story got more interesting. I would estimate that the first movie was maybe 30% horror. This one, probably closer to 10%.

This isn't a problem. We would be left with a much more frustrating movie if they tried to keep it scary somehow.

There are legitimate problems - the girl pretending to be blind seemed almost cringeworthy. She figures out who the killer is without much effort. On the other hand, how much of a problem is that, if we really don't care who it is?

This isn't for everyone, especially those who expect a stronger horror element. In the meantime, it's really fun, and remarkably self-aware, which gives it a lot of flexibility and freedom to push the boundaries.

When this ended, I felt like something was missing. I didn't feel a sense of closure, or a sense of relief at things working out. This made me reevaluate the rest of the movie. First, the structuring is sort of a pain. It isn't difficult to follow, but it feels like a crutch to stretch the running time out, when something like this actually seems like it would flow better if it didn't try to do something clever that didn't add anything.

I sort of enjoyed the first half of the story. The mass suicides, figuring out what was causing it, being teased with little bits of information like the drawings... all of that was really pretty good.

Once we lose most of the characters, the story gradually falls apart into something that's harder to care about. Gone is the interpersonal conflict in the face of adversity. Instead, it's Sandra Bullock trying to protect kids against... ghosts? Ethereal aliens? Normally I would be fine with not having an explanation of what they're dealing with, but there's a lack of establishing rules. We know that seeing them is a problem. But they don't seem to physically interact with people, but they do stir up wind. And somehow, they are solid enough to trigger a car's collision warning. Not to mention that these entities seem to be able to get inside minds and create auditory hallucinations that are especially personal. What is this?

To be fair, this is probably something that's just at the right level for some people. No real gore, long sequences of slow tension... it's a horror movie for people who are turned off by most horror movies.

I don't think it will persevere very well, because even if the ending had done better, I wouldn't have felt like it had anything to offer on a second viewing.

One weird movie. I was expecting this to be worse, and in a more enjoyable way, but it's bad. Not bad in an unwatchable way, either. It's bad in a very puzzling way.

When it appears on the screen that this is based on a Harlequin romance novel, that should give a certain amount of warning about what we're going to see. There will be some hunky guy who will sweep the lead off her feet, and get her past her issues, or get her to see the problems with her current beau.

The story is a passable setup. Our heroine is trying to work as a wedding planner, when she finds that a private investigator has been looking into the groom. Her own concerns lead her to team up with the PI.

That premise should be enough to carve a decent story from. Instead, the movie is mostly fluff, then the plot elements seem more confusing than anything. The supporting characters are almost entirely comic relief, which is really annoying. We get three bridesmaids, each assigned a trait. The last one, who is supposed to be clumsy, looks like she's about 10 years older than the other ones. We get a strangely particular baker. I'm not really sure why he's in the movie at all. And we get a chef, who partly owns a restaurant (or bar? maybe a diner?) that our couple frequents. He also provides lots of talk, and he's supposed to be funny, but it's just a bit confusing. I can ignore most of the bad directorial choices, the pacing problems, the writing and acting problems, even the bizarre sound design choices. But I can't ignore the lack of the basic fundamentals of a romance. The characters have no reason to get together. He seems very aloof for almost the entire movie. She is swept off of her feet by being kissed. They have nothing in common. Suppose that the ending weren't as absurd as it is (you can tell from other reviews - the two people get married after knowing each other for a week or two). If the movie ended with the two deciding to go on a DATE, that MIGHT be reasonable.

In spite of every terrible decision, all of the weird writing and strange events, the baffling passage of time, etc., the move does have a few things going for it. It remains in focus, competently lit, and the sound is clear enough to understand. It moves along at a decent pace, making it watchable. It's a brisk 80-something minutes. Do you want to watch it? Only if you're looking for a Christmas movie odyssey. The Princess Switch was better.

There are lots of negative reviews here, and I understand them, but I think they're being much harder than they should be. This isn't trying to be some sort of psychological horror or anything like that.

This is a low-budget movie. It's not fancy at all. It uses mostly one location, plus a few extra shots. (I'm pretty sure that the TV show set early on is the same location as most of the movie.) Effects work is all non-cgi. Buckets of gore are cheap.

The story itself is pretty simple. A fan of a youtube shock channel decides to hold his idols captive and force them to play a lethal game of Truth or Dare. Obviously, the dares are pretty gory.

The writing isn't noteworthy, but it does things well. First, with a series of truths, our captives reveal generally bad things about themselves (with two exceptions, very obvious ones). This makes it a bit more acceptable when bad things happen to them. The script ramps things up appropriately, tension building at a reasonable rate.

To its credit, the movie does have a message. Not a complex one, and not one with real depth or nuance to it, but it's more than just a pile of gore.

Ultimately, this is the way that low-budget horror should be done. It works within constraints and budget, focuses on delivering what it needs to, and avoids reaching beyond limits.

I was really more happy with this than I expected. The trailer implied a very derivative story, and something about the tone suggested that it was going to take itself too seriously.

It's actually not bad. The acting and script is about what you would expect, but the story is engaging enough to keep your attention, and it doesn't make you cringe. It's actually pretty fun, even if some of the bits slow things down.

The movie has a massive, massive failing though, and it isn't clear until the end. Once we reach the last monologue to tie things up, and the heroine gives her call to arms... it's over.

This is the first act of a three-act story.

All of the problems that our heroes have are resolved very easily, usually by the next scene. They ID the bad guy? No problem, he's defeated in the next scene. They hear about a safe place for kids, but they aren't given the location? No problem, they decode the clue in the next scene, and reach the location in the next scene!

This is all to say that this is all setup with no payoff. If this were a TV miniseries, they could have done this. As a feature film, it's a terrible idea.

There are other problems. Lack of development of the main character, which should be an interesting thing, since she spent 6 years of her youth in a concentration camp. She has a lot to learn about the outside world and how to function, but that's just skipped over.

This had potential to be a solid YA franchise opportunity, but I've never seen a non-experimental movie that botched the "tell a story" part of the criteria.