polexia_rogue

Once upon a time, a mean person kidnapped 8 people to create his webcasted reality show. The story follows Kasper, a Swedish wannabe actor who rose to fame as the husband of a popstar. He meets a cast of characters from around the world, but is immediately drawn to Lonni. The American beauty rose to fame as the first contestant on the bachelorette-like show to get rejected by both men. This caused her to go down a path of lawlessness, leading to an unwanted reputation as a reality TV fame-chaser.

The 8 contestants had 3 days to get to know each other before the first elimination, which unfortunately reveled that this particular game show was 'kill or be killed.'

This revelation leads to anger, fear as one by one they die horrific deaths. The final 4; Kasper, Lonni, 'Headstone' Malone (a former champion fighter crippled by addiction) and Cat (a former chess champion turned tv actress,) bond over the mistakes in their highly published lives.

Kasper and Lonni, as the two people who gained fame through putting themselves in the media spotlight in the name of love, find a sense of belonging in each other's arms.

The gore can be a little much and the ending is needlessly tragic, but it's worth a watch.

As a Barry Pepper fan, I have been waiting since 2019 for this movie to finally find a place to call home. Netflix is as good of a place as any, with all of its shows based around the thriller/horror genre.

Basically, this is a zombie apocalypse movie. An illness overtakes the population, and everyone is either running, fighting, or trying to find a cure.

In the case of Awake, it's an odd alien-like "solar flare" that knocks out the electricity to the entire world. All modern cars stop, phones, computers, and even humans. Humans (and some monkeys) can no longer sleep and it's driving people insane.

No spoilers but Barry Pepper is only in the first 1/3 of the movie. He is truly inspiring as the town pastor. As a man of God, he tries to calm people by suggesting that humans are just being tested. At one point he tells the story of when he died of an overdose, only to come back to life (God has a plan for all of us.)

His story sort of gives away the 'cure' that the main characters find a bit too late. IMO.

While trying to keep his congregation from attacking each other (because their sleep-deprived minds are hearing their own "instructions from God",) he meets an uncertain, off-screen fate. (involving a gunshot.)

:(

I watched the movie until the end. It has a very "spiritual/Christian" movie ending, surrounded by an ocean of blood and death. I appreciate the creativity that went into the concept (and even the ending. )

But I can see why it struggled so long to find a platform.

5/10.

I have been looking forward to this for over a month. I knew that it would not get a major release since it was in direct competition with the new (rated R, all Australian) Mortal Kombat movie.

So I was beyond thrilled that I could BUY (not just rent) Trigger Point for 14.99 on Itunes.

Verdict: 6.5/10

Why?

It gets 3 points for Barry Pepper's amazing performance. The director himself said this character (Nicolas Shaw) is inspired by John Wick. He is alone, a former warrior trying to restart his life in a small town. But unlike John Wick, there is no dead wife and no dog. (Although Nicolas Shaw does leave out a can of tuna for a pregnant stray cat.)

I will also give 0.5 of a point for his relationships. He is not a loner; he acts like a retired senior, hanging out at a cafe, talking to a young waitress (Janice, a single mother), and at a bookstore (owned by Irene, an elderly woman with a passion for tea.)

So that is 3.5 points.

Nicolas Shaw has flashbacks to a time when he was tortured by two figures (his memories come back little by little until he can recall their voices; one male, one female.) This is a running theme that adds depth and replaces the 'dead wife' aspect. He is mourning his past, his lost memories in the same way John Wick was mourning his wife. For this aspect alone I will add 2 points.

And for the main reason, we watch a Barry Pepper movie; gun! He has a collection of guns, makes his own gun, and of course, there is a sniper scene.

Now for the bad:

Fiona Shaw (played by Laura Vandervoort) who the heck is that? His wife, his sister, his daughter? (Minor spoilers: she is the female voice present when Nicolas Shaw was tortured. ) I have a feeling the bigger answer is being saved for a future movie.

As I said before John Wick was in mourning for his wife, while Nicolas Shaw is in mourning for his lost memories (since a certain bad guy had him convinced that he gave up names to save his own life.) This makes it difficult to sympathize with him as a character.

Does he clear his name? No.

Does he constantly mention how the torture incident 'ruined his life.'- yes.

Maybe that's my issue; what kind of life did Nicolas Shaw have before being forced into hiding?

Only a sequel can tell us.

The Painted Bird is a WW2 drama that follows a single boy (who has no name until the last scene of the movie) left alone to find his family (by traveling across the bulk of Eastern Europe.) Each section is labeled with the name of a person the child met.

Spoilers; most of these people are absolute monsters. The boy is abused (physically and sexually), nearly killed (several times) then at 2 hours, and 9 minutes he finally meets his saviors: the Russian Army.

The Russian military leader (not Barry Pepper) finds the boy and takes him to the camp, introducing Mitka to his new little roommate.

Mitka simply takes a nap (while the child watches.) Later the child is given fresh clothing that made him look like a mini-soldier. The child hangs out with Mitka, sharing food, listening to music, observing how he cleans/assembles a gun.

After a few nights, the Russians suffer a loss (since they were harassing local villages, the local villagers decided to kill a handful of the men.) Mitka is not directly told to go after the village but he does anyway, leaving in the middle of the night.

The child follows. Mitka allows him to stay, even sharing food and letting the child use his binoculars.

As he slaughters a dozen or so people before declaring himself to be done. "Remember this," he says to the child, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

I think this was meant to imply that he could have continued shooting people but he was only going to kill a number equal to the number of Russians killed.

The true angelic scene was when Mitka had to say goodbye to the boy. Knowing the boy would be sent to a local children's home he gave the child a gift wrapped in cloth, saying, "Do not open it here."

It was a gun of his very own.

Needless to say, the gun came in handy because this was still WW2 and the child still had a long way to go before he was reunited with his father.

The Painted Bird is available on Itunes. (But as I said, it's pretty dark for the first 2 hours.)

I watched this in 2020 after the tragic death of Harry Hains. After his death he was constantly listed as 'Guest star on American Horror story.' Long story short, that is a very small role and not worthy of being his legacy.

Harry Hains's performance as Evan Jones is what he should be remembered for. Evan is a lost soul who searches for a permanent 'home.' But what is home? Love, happiness, fulfillment?

Having grown up an orphan, Evan knows nothing of history or family. But as he says it, 'that makes everything mine.' He doesn't have his father's eyes or his mother's creative talent; it's all his.

In the end, it's not the love story I would have liked it to be, but it's a sexy journey of discovery.

The idea is hope. The year is 1986 and Gabe, a mid 30's former hippe has just been located after 20 years on the road. His parents are typical; his father was a war veteran who thinks that nothing he did was ever wrong and his mother just wished she knew the right words to say.

Through music the characters learn what is important; the moments to remember, the moments to change, the moments that will scuplt their souls.

I cannot express enough how uplifting this movie was. Anyone who is a fan of music and anyone who just needs a bright spot in their day needs to see this.

This movie was over 10 years in the making. For the 10+ years since the original fans expected this movie to be every thing that the original was not. We now know; be carefull what you wish for.

This version wanted to be taken seriously as a action film. They came up with a more developed story of an innocent girl who learned to follow her heart to become something legendary. And a bad guy who was left alone in as a orphaned baby; growing up to be a corporate psycho.

BUT gone are the colorful costumes and carefree look of the original movie or even the video game. They went too far.

Because; gone are the original video game characters. From appearance to personality; this was not the movie we waited over 10 years for.

Now all we, the fans can say is ; maybe they'll get is right next time. Maybe the creators can learn to toe the line between 'serious movie' and maintaining the spirit of the original game.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful maiden who was slain by evil rogues, leaving behind a lost child, a lost treasure and a promise (for a loyal warrior to uphold.)

If you strip (no pun intended) away the blood and nudity you are left with a unique, beautiful story. I admit ,in the first 20 minutes I was confused by the many characters; what they all meant in the context of this modern day fairytale. But through the many deaths of bad guys, many tongue in cheek jokes, and very unique looking strippers, it all came together in a way that was logical, and beautiful.

I don't want to post spoilers, but please do not walk out on this movie because of the lengthy periods of sex and gore; it will all be worth it at the end.

Natassia Malthe was the main reason i saw this; she was as good as she always is. She brought a passion ans intensity that made the movie actually seem like a movie (as opposed to a poorly funded student film, or high school play.) The sets looked like they were recycled from a long dead stereotypical western (hence why i compare it to a high school play.) And the acting from most, if not all the minor characters, left allot to be desired.

But i am giving it a 5/10 because of the rare moments where I was pleasantly surprised; rare moments when the characters go beyond what is expected.

This short film is the perfect pick me up to any bad day. It is essentially a day in life of a struggling actor; living in the slums, trying his hardest to catch a break. But in a letter to his home town sweetheart, he gives it all a positive spin, making his life sound down right cool.

Each moment of humiliation is rephrased as a positive, almost to the point where the viewer starts to believe in the main character, Brian. Perhaps he does see life as something so beautiful, even when it's hard. Perhaps this story is about more then a lie to his girlfriend; it's about never loosing hope.

I was stuck in a theatre with at least 3 elementry school classes, all of whom found the basics of the film to be very entertaining. But for those of us who want to see something a little more grown up- WATCH THIS MOVIE FOR WARREN PEACE. Played by former model Steven Strait his presence lights up the screen, and I would even go as far as to say he steals the movie. And during scenes where his mature looks are meant to contrast the otherwise silliness of the moment you can tell that he has a future as the next great film star. So for the movie as a whole I would give it a 5 (good enough for kids a and good enough to see more then once without getting bored.) but for Warren i give a 10 which averages out to an 8.

Like an ancient poem the ideas, meaning and even aspects of the plot are left up to interpretation. This is a movie for anyone who has ever been so bored with his or current situation that he or she can just lay back and dream up a world of love, death,sex, drugs and aliens abductions and the end of the all life as we know it. Each character is kind one sided as we see the world through the eyes of Dark, the aptly named lead; these are not representations of all teens but only the annoying stereotypes as they relate to Dark's life. so taking all that in to account this is a great movie to share with friends (and confuse the heck out of them) or to watch when you're feeling a little bored yourself. With sets painted wild colors and out of place visuals it's clear that for Dark-life is but a dream.