jmbwithcats

I feel the horror movie THE JESTER had a lot of missed potential. It's a lot like Terrifier. It didn't make a whole lot of sense the way the Jester chose some victims and not others, his motivations were ambiguous and somewhat confusing throughout the movie. His powers were also a bit boring and many kills lacked punch or appeal.

If they had kept up the development and story of the end from the beginning, it could have been amazing.

They could have done more with music, atmosphere, backstory to develop the Jester's motivations, and what he is.

They also could have spent a bit more time on the kills and characters.

Madam Web is Final Destination meets Spider-Man.

Everyone hates Madam Web, Dakota Johnson dropped her talent agency after the first trailer came out, she says she hasn't even seen the finished movie... how can everyone hate a movie they haven't even seen?

Madam Web has a 3.8 on IMDb, and I think it's largely by those who have not even seen the film, I think maybe there's a systemic misogynistic conspiracy against women-driven movies, because there's no way this movie was a 3.8, it's actually pretty good. I give the movie a 7.

I'm going to be the first to say it. I want a Madam Web sequel.

Don't listen to the haters.

Night Swim would have been better if the Asian woman's eyes exploded. So many good elements poorly executed. Here's a big piece of glass on the floor, get ready someone's gonna step on this. A horror for the timid. Lacked story development, music, pacing, execution. 5/10.

The way it should have ended: they fill in the pool, then it jumps to years later and a new family is moving in and finds the outline of the pool and start to dig, leading to a possible better sequel.

Sell the property to a better team to direct and compose a better film with solid music, acting, and origin story, since so much is left unexplored.

I originally rated THE CRAZIES a 7/10 back in 2010, and watched it again for the first time since tonight. The movie has incredibly solid tension, storywriting, worldbuilding, character building and development... from beginning to end it has solid pacing, I really can't see anything wrong with the movie.

Olyphant is so good here, the music, the original Romero film from 1973 is heavily on my radar now as I don't think I've ever actually seen it.

There was also some fantastic camera work in this movie, whether it was the chases, or the threshing machine seen through the half-light of the barn at night, just beautiful camera work.

I really have nothing bad to say about this movie.

I was really surprised to see how good this movie turned out to be, seeing as it is so lowly considered here on IMDB.

The movie deserves a much higher rating being that it has such an original story, solid writing, acting, pacing, and follow-through from beginning to end.

Joe Rechtman does a fantastic job, and it's enjoyable from beginning to end.

I found the immediate premise interesting and something significant to most people, which is what happens after death, and what could happen if we were able to resurrect, and all the complexities that go along with it.

The pitfalls, the power, the problems, and the promise of second chances.

Watched the new Insidious movie, the final installment I believe in the series... I can't say anything without spoiling it, but I will say this about the entire franchise. They should have made it a cable series instead of a film series. I think they could have done more with it, developed more, built on it more, but hey... a series called THE FURTHER could be interesting, right?

Keep Going Further...

A series could really do amazing things with the concepts explored here, from astral projection, out of body, psychic healing, past lives, remote viewing, crystals, spirits, the landscape is rich with content and possibilities.

The best I can say about this movie is that it's sooo close to being good, but the script's 3rd act goes absolutely nowhere. Up until then though I was on board to give Unearth a solid 7. It just kind of ends with no resolution or explanation, with a tacked on Cabin Fever ending, that oh no it's gonna get out to the public now BS...

I thinjk they really could have saved the movie by having them confront the company, maybe it turns out they're aliens or something, and they have to find a cure or they all die, I mean, something. Anything. But alas, the movie goes from a 7 to me to a 4 pretty fast, and now I understand why the rating is so low.

Man, I forgot how good the first season of Channel Zero, Candle Cove is. Glad I decided to stream it in VR tonight. With how many great creepy pasta stories there are, I'm surprised they didn't keep the show going.

I think it was the show "Evil" that did a really good job of including the elevator game intro the series.

The writing, build-up, music, directing, horror... this series has it all.

Man, I forgot how good the first season of Channel Zero, Candle Cove is. Glad I decided to stream it in VR tonight. With how many great creepy pasta stories there are, I'm surprised they didn't keep the show going.

I think it was the show "Evil" that did a really good job of including the elevator game intro the series.

The writing, build-up, music, directing, horror... this series has it all.

The horror movie Abandoned (2022) starring Emma Roberts (American Horror Story), Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire), and John Gallagher Jr. (Gaslight), star in this movie rated 3.7 on IMDb for being too slow and meaningless, but it's none of the above.

Emma stars as a new mother dealing with postpartum depression in their fresh-out-of-the-way farmhouse, where she is haunted by the ghosts of its past tenants who did unspeakable things which will not stay silent.

In many ways, the movie is about how women are gaslit by estranged husbands and doctors instead of listened to empathetically and understood.

Many unsettling elements seem like they could have more profound importance. Still, they show why the husband is having trouble engaging, i.e., overworked, the difficulty of his job as a veterinarian, though why he's gone 18 hours a day when he only seems to have two clients could have been better explored.

The historical horrors of the house must inevitably crash into the mother's presence in a way perhaps only a mother could understand.

I think there are many ways the story could have played out better. Still, I believe, in the end, it's a story about a mother recognizing past abuses and finding gratitude for what she has so that she does not become the next abuser created out of trauma and neglect.

Those who fail to see deeply will not see anything but the wind rustling over old leaves, failing to see what beauty lies beneath.

I enjoy the series "Single Drunk Female", but hate to say, I think Sofia Black-D'Elia is poorly cast in the lead. The ensemble cast is great with diversity, but they chose the little rich girl who had it all as the lead, makes no sense. Privilege taints an otherwise great show.

Season 1 was okay, but season 2 just gets flat and rather boring. The lead is just not interesting in any way or relatable.

I enjoy the series "Single Drunk Female", but hate to say, I think Sofia Black-D'Elia is poorly cast in the lead. The ensemble cast is great with diversity, but they chose the little rich girl who had it all as the lead, makes no sense. Privilege taints an otherwise great show.

Season 1 was okay, but season 2 just gets flat and rather boring. The lead is just not interesting in any way or relatable.

I enjoy the series "Single Drunk Female", but hate to say, I think Sofia Black-D'Elia is poorly cast in the lead. The ensemble cast is great with diversity, but they chose the little rich girl who had it all as the lead, makes no sense. Privilege taints an otherwise great show.

Season 1 was okay, but season 2 just gets flat and rather boring. The lead is just not interesting in any way or relatable.

Watching Renovation Goldmine on HGTV, and episode 3 they renovate a billiard table and a poker table in the most ugly yellow and tan and green I've ever seen... omg to me they just look hideous. The tan completely lacks depth too, which is not complimenting those tables at all.

Are they color-blind? This is absolutely madness. The clawed feet of the pool table should look commanding and cool, and looked so much better in plain wood than painting it an ugly yellow.

They find an old beautiful hidden mural by a local artist and get this, they painted over the whole thing a disgusting dark flat blue... what a disrespect to this beautiful original whimsical artwork that they found.

The Lucky One 2012 would have been a better movie if they showed redeeming qualities to Keith, but he was awful throughout, unlikeable, until this moment where Logan says you're not a bad guy, then the movie rewrites Keith as not so bad, but it doesn't work. Script was a mess.

First he lies, then he withholds, then he finally comes clean in the end. It's one of those movies that feels so close to being good, but all of the characters just feel rather thin, unrealistic, paint by numbers and then inconsistent and unrelatable.

The music was pretty milktoast as well, no consistent tone, or characterization.

Vaughn Stein, influenced by James Bond, McGhee's Alice, and Dark City, brings us "Terminal."

A great script leads you through a movie and avoids exhibition by monologues in the final chapter. A lousy film leads you to a senseless act, then explains why the action matters.

The best thing about this movie is the poster... nothing in the poster happens in the movie... this was the most boring pointless movie I've ever seen and nothing happens worth watching or talking about. I cannot recommend it. It was awful.

MY REVIEW OF BEHIND THE SIGHTINGS...

Everyone I've seen discussing the movie, Behind the Sightings, has hated it ever since it came out. But, being me, I like to make up my own mind, so I watched it today, and honestly, I think the movie is full of a lot of great elements. There's a lot of funny stuff, stupid character choices by Todd, specifically, but overall I find it pretty entertaining.

I went in not expecting much, which helps. So it starts out okay, but then it all turns to crap.

The clowns remind me a bit of the ones from Hell House, LLC... some cross-over would be kinda cool maybe for a future movie...

I think the problem I have is that you would think they'd go into this backwoods and dangerous place at night at least armed. Characters who have so little awareness and intelligence make for a pretty dumb movie, and I am sure this is a big part of why so many hated the movie. It feels like they didn't really spend time to write a good script.

One of the reasons ALIEN is such a classic is because Sigourney Weaver's character is so intelligent and supports a smart script where people do their best to figure things out and survive, which is entirely missing from most found footage films and I think it'd be nice to change that.

No sane person with a wife that hot would have brought her out into the middle of the woods to chase clowns, completely unarmed.

This goes so far beyond suspension of disbelief as to warrant the hate it gets.

So, from the humor and aesthetic, this movie clearly has A LOT of potential, but it wound up just absolutely sucking because the script is just so bad.

What a waste.

My score: 2/10.

South Korean horror movie, The Closet reminds me of the story, Battle Royale. Where parents turn to desperate and inhuman solutions due to hardships of the economy in a sick society that has leeched all compassion and joy out of life... and the innocents who pay the price.

Being that the show starts with one character whose fiance died suddenly, became a stone that sunk me to the bottom of this series, because my fiance died suddenly in 2018.

I have found every episode so far very good though, unlike some other reviews who call it boring. Maybe it's a show that requires one be a bit older, a bit more seasoned. Someone who has experienced loss and looking for something to connect to.

I think for those, this show will be perhaps a little light in ways, but mostly meaningful.

SAINT MAUD was a thought-provoking look into the human experience. A study on the dynamic balance between rationalization and reality. Mental illness and religious fervor. Faith and fear. Loneliness and seeking a true path.

Morfydd Clark was brilliant.

I'm watching Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin and honestly, even though some say it's a reboot or unrelated, it feels completely related to the series... the Amish family teaching the children in part 5 are a lot like perhaps who these people are before they came to the city.

It feels a bit like a partial origin story... but my worries were completely set aside as the farmhouse, secluded and natural environment works really well with the story, making me far more hypersensitive to the experience.

I have no idea how anyone else feels about it, but I really liked the new Paranormal Activity movie by Oren Peli, Blumhouse, and Christopher Landon. Next of Kin reminded me of The Shrine gone horribly wrong... scary movie, solid story.

This movie reminds me a lot of THE SHRINE.

I kept waiting for something to happen, anything... but there isn't much of a movie here, or plot, or anything that really happens... I was bored.

The first episode of CSI is so good. It's like when Square had to destroy Final Fantasy 14 to recreate it but made it part of the story with A Realm Reborn... it works because it's all in the story. That's how they brought back Jorja Fox and William Peterson with like poetry.

I've heard said The Night House is anticlimactic, I disagree. I think you need to know grief to understand. The movie is about a woman whose husband kills himself and the entire movie is about her needing a reason why until she accepts the truth.

Each of the first few segments had an element or two I enjoyed, but some felt too short, others too long, and the final part to me was unwatchable.

I want to like La Brea, but one word keeps flashing in my head... the daughter missing a leg like Avatar. Hey, I feel the disabled are under-represented too, but... the father has visions, dad is a navy seal and a surgeon. That word is contrived. The reviews are even harsher.

I still think it can be good, if the writing follows through... but for now, the dialog, acting, cast, CGI, and script is pretty bad.

I'd rate the first episode a 4/10.

Recognized Glynn Turman instantly in the 1985 episode of Twilight Zone, "Paladin of The Lost Hour". Always liked him, in a Sidney Poitier sorta way, you knew just by his demeanor he had a unique intelligence. Brilliant in The Wire too.

One more thing. The old man doesn't want to die because he's afraid, rather, he's afraid to leave his wife behind. Oh, she's already dead, but by leaving himself, there will be no one left to keep her memory alive. That is beautiful.

No wonder this episode's writing is so damn good, it was written by Harlan Ellison!

My first 10 / 10 ranked episode of the 1985 series so far.