gabriel_sanchez

The Girl in the Spider Web (GSW) comes as an uninvited guest some 7 years after the David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, adding confusion to the storyline. A real shame considering Fede Alvarez's work in Don't Breathe (2016) and Evil Dead (2013).

GSW uses David Lagercrantz's homonymous work as source material, of which I know little about as I haven't read the books yet.

In this entry, Lisbeth Salander has to steal a might computerized weapon, highly visioned by a number of Orgs and criminals, while also dealing with her past that seems to want to hunt her to death, quite literally. If you have come from the Hollywood-targeted The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), you will see familiar names, but no familiar faces - no recurring actors whatsoever.

I assume casting had to work on a budget, and hiring Daniel Craig was off; I wonder why they couldn't bring in Rooney Mara, because she did a way better Lisbeth than Claire Foy. Claire Foy is alright, but she lacks the heart and soul that Rooney put while playing Lisbeth's role.

Speaking of Daniel Craig, GSW's version of Mikael Blomkvist is too funny to go unnoticed. Actor Sverrir Gudnason gets his share of spotlight as a supporting character for Lisbeth, and I feel he was given the wrong directions. It feels Sverrir is trying to be seductive on all his shots, and that's f** annoying. It is funny to compare both Fincher's and Alvarez's Mikael with the Mikael from the Sweden version, which is far more mundane - perhaps too mundane.

GSW has a simplistic plot line, a line that is solid, but unexceptional. Remember that I haven't read the books, so I'm dismissing any comparisons. The fact is that this plot falls under good generic, it has all alright elements we expect, but compared to what we've saw on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the plot is far inferior. I feel the main reason is because the former had elements of a thriller, while GSW is more of a crime-action movie with a few stunts and predictable plot twists.

Tech elements are absent of commentary, I feel, at least for an amateur like myself. There are some slick shots, some humorous wannabe moments; the scenery is alright, but nothing spectacular. The soundtrack is a-okay. You can go brain-dead watching GSW and you would be fine.

And I feel this sums up the experience of watching GSW: brain dead. Do you know when you want to watch something light, shallow, not much thought process to expend, just watch beginning to end, go "yeah", and wrap up? That's GSW.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the second adaptation of the original trilogy work by Stieg Larssen, sadly a posthumous work. Confused? Allow me to explain. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, this adaptation from 2011, is the second major adaptation from Larssen's book. The first one was Män som hatar kvinnor (2009), directed by Niels Arden Oplev and starring Noomi Rapace. We can think of this version in 2011 as the high-budget version.

The premise is what you'd expect from good crime thrillers. Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist accepts chasing down the true events that led to the disappearance and eventual rule-of-death of Harriet Vagner, from the mighty corporate Vagner Family, businessmen that pretty much hate each other in every way possible. To assist him, Mikael ends up getting help of a mentally unstable and lightly disturbed hacker women called Lisbeth.

This movie's story starts off with a great prologue, like in the book. Quickly, we are brought to terms with what this movie is all about, an interesting crime investigation is about to unfold.

Right after the intriguing prologue, we meet one of our protagonists, Mikael Blomkvist, which Daniel Craig interprets. As of 2011, Daniel Craig had already been James Bond twice and was probably ending filming or waiting post-production of Skyfall; Daniel was already the Bond face, and that is a hard stamp to remove out of his play. Mikael has that Bond-y vibe which might work, but, because I didn't read the book yet, I can't say if he really depicts Mikael Blomkvist as Mr. Larssen envisioned.

Regardless, Daniel Craig is a competent actor, and Mikael is likeable enough for us to care.

Soon enough, the story introduces its second protagonist, Lisbeth Salander, who Rooney Mara plays. I don't have recollection of knowing Rooney from other major work, but Rooney does the job in this movie. She is definitely putting her heart into the character, and this dedication pays off. Lisbeth stands at that terrible line where her life is so messed up that we want to see her succeed, and Rooney's acting touch was top-notch. Lisbeth as a character herself has a good development throughout the story.

As the story progresses, we get the good trends from the crime genre. The investigation unfolds in clever ways with everyone being a possible suspect. The good cast of supporting characters adds no room for easy speculation, where you can predict the culprit because of a highly known actor. No, in this movie, all actors are high-grade, and you should suspect everyone.

Focusing strongly in this movie without comparing it to the book, we see that the story focuses heavily on harsh themes. Misogyny seems to be the central theme, displayed even by Mikael's implicit actions. Some scenes are quite graphic and hard to watch.

Other themes involve family secrets in general, again seen not only in the Vagner family but also in Mikael, and abuse, physical and emotional, this theme stronger on Lisbeth and the crimes in place.

Christianity is also a smaller theme, though the movie does not explore it in depth.

David Fincher directs this movie. Known for Seven, Zodiac, Gone Girl, and recently The Killer, David is not a newbie when it comes to driving a crime thriller, adapted from books or not.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is slow-driven, the story focusing on the investigation that unfolds. The sense of danger is imminent, the feeling that things are about to go awry. The editing work is overall okay for the movie's genre; the same is true for the soundtrack.

The scenery is the beautiful landscape of Sweden during winter. Everything is covered in snow, the extreme cold a topic on most characters' mouth, a good connection to the overall cold-hearted motivates behind the antagonist.

150 minutes later, you get to an ending that adds closure to this story and room for other stories. The ending is satisfying enough if we consider the closed arcs.

All in all, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a recommendable crime thriller with good story development and progression, characters, and plot arc. The story is entertaining for its long 150 minutes of length, and the conclusion adds to the desire of wanting to watch the sequel, The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018).

When 4-year-old Amanda goes missing from a low-to-mid class neighborhood of Boston, Amanda's aunt Beatrice hires private detectives Patrick and Angie, who see themselves on a web of lies and deceit. Gone Baby Gone explores the violent world of drug addiction, trafficking, and the toll these acts take on a family.

According to IMDb, Gone Baby Gone is the first full-featured length movie that Ben Affleck directed, and I have to say he's done an okay job overall. Not perfect, but a solid start for his first big project. Of course, he had a good starting point: the source material comes from a homonymous novel by Dennis Lehane, one of the screenwriters of this movie.

A disclaimer at this point: I haven't read the book. Yet.

Gone Baby Gone follows private detectives and couple Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, detectives specialized on finding people mostly for billing firms. Their motivation for accepting Beatrice's request is a bit shady, but their ultimate drive is to find Amanda safe and sound.

Patrick is a great character overall, a mix of a weak exterior with a brave attitude. Everyone dismisses him for looking young and naïve, but he is one strong lead, he takes no BS from anyone, and he is willing to die for this case.

His development in the story is good enough, I'd say. He does not go under serious transformation, but his moral dilemma is strong enough to overcome his flat arc. I believe Patrick proves that you don't need characters that change from A to B on every story; you need someone that delivers a solid likeability leading to buy-in from the audience. We believe Patrick's motives, and his likeability is enough that we care for him 'till his last act.

Angie, on the other hand, has a minor role in this story. She is Patrick's love interest, but she is aside in this story. When she shows strong motivations towards solving this case, I felt that the story failed showing a bit more of Angie's development. Not a big miss, but it's there.

The movie starts off with a monologue, which some die-hard movie-addicts might see as a cardinal sin. Being to the point: it is a sin mainly because it's just exposition. Patrick is the main character, but he is not really struggling with his emotions throughout the movie - at least through most of the movie. So, when we hear him talking to us, it feels like that, like he is just telling us information.

Monologue is clearly a director's choice, and I feel like most of these movie's flaws are Direction flaws. Considering Gone Baby Gone is Ben Affleck's debut as a Director, I think it's forgivable, but these flaws exist. For example, another flaw is that the editing is a bit off, for some reason. Gone Baby Gone is from the late 2000s, but I felt like I was in a 1997's movie, 10 years prior to this movie's release.

Now, take this not for granted, the story is good, with twists that keeps the momentum. I felt not cheated once, and the overall story progression is satisfactory, the plot intrinsically planned out to deliver the climax and outcome, both unexpected and full of moral conflict.

And, to wrap up a good story, an ending that pays off. Good arc overall.

On technical levels, Gone Baby Gone is simplistic, but that's good enough for what it is. The R rating is a good choice, considering the themes at hand.

Speaking of themes, you should see themes like the sense of duty, right and wrong, toll that drugs take on family, family overall, and also what justice really means. Strong themes, but no strong preachiness to what they mean, just hints for you to figure them all out on your own.

Gone Baby Gone is a good crime thriller with solid performance by the actors involved. The story is good and involving, and the ending adds closure to what we see. When the movie ended, I was debating with my wife the ending's implications - a good and fun discussion about what we've just watched. Hopefully, you will have room for that level of discussion too, meaning you've watched something that tickles your brain.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM, 2022) tries to reboot the franchise, but flops due to lack of character development and overall innovation. The story is generic and flat, just an excuse to reuse Leatherface on yet another gore fest.

TCM lives by the premise of reuniting two recurring character: Leatherface and Sally, the latter the survivor of the original TCM movie. However, the reunion is really a background to the story, the climax if you will, as the main story is really about some out-of-this-world youngsters.

The story follows Lila, a survivor of a traumatic event huddling along with the group Dante, his wife Ruth, and Lila's sister Melody. Dante and Melody are famous on the internet, and all of them are really activists for a Utopian world. Apparently, they want to explore the ghost-town Harlow to start the creation of a surreal city without the violence of this world.

Everyone in Harlow's surroundings seem to be giving our main group the "you are not welcome" treatment of Texas. We have the first thematic contrast in place here: the Old Way versus the new Teenager Way. This treatment also exposes the trait of characters Lila and Melody, the young, traumatized sister and the bossy, "I take s- from no one" sister.

Probably a good spot to do a little bit of character digging.

Lila, our main character, has everything a main character needs. She doubts herself, she has a traumatic past, she is in a conflict with her real self and what she exposes to her sister. Lila is portrayed by Elsie Fisher, whom I don't have any recollection of any major picture involvement.

Lila's main problem, though, is that the story dismisses Lila for most of its runtime, focusing strongly on Melody, not for the right reasons. Melody is the incarnation of what the Director and the writers see as the youth of this generation. She takes no feedback home, she says what she wants, she has all she wants too apparently, she lives off internet money, she preaches all the good preach that really dismisses reality. Actress Sarah Yarkin did a good job making us hate Melody. She could have been a strong lead, but unfortunately, that's the spotlight of her sister. Not that the story itself cares, as Melody is in most of the movie's length being chased by Leatherface.

That's because Dante and Melody ignite the fire that culminates in the inciting incident. And of course, the inciting incident is what drives temperamental Leatherface to its ultimate insanity.

A bit more about characters.

Richter is one supporting character that could have had a better buy-in from this overall mess of a story, but he falls flat. A shame, though, as actor Moe Dunfold is a solid actor.

Richter is one of those "old style Texans", grumpy but true at heart. He takes no BS, but he is willing to take a bullet for someone he cares about. Unfortunately, he is no more than a pawn in the story.

The same goes for Sally, a huge let-down. Olwen Fouéré gives life to Sally, she is an actress with an okay curriculum, and, although her screentime feels strong, Sally has no real background that potentializes our caring for her. We see Sally's strong implication as someone that just can't let go, but the story doesn't really explore this theme in Sally, which creates a sense of someone that's just mentally ill. One scene with Sally and Leatherface, where Sally had clear advantage, is just infuriating - unforgiveable.

A quick rundown of other meh characters. We have Dante by Jacob Latimore, an actor also known for his participation in Maze Runner. Dante is part of our iconic group of idealistic teens, but his character development seems to take a wrong turn when his intentions appear to be a bit sketchy. Then we have Ruth, Dante's wife, a totally dismissible character.

And even Leatherface himself is just a mindless serial killer, although he is quite smart in this movie.

As the story progresses, we see thematic elements that feel so out of tune with this movie's premise. Themes present mostly target posing this generation's youth as ridicule, which I feel is just too preachy for no particular reason, the movie's premise is not even about the youngsters. You see themes like youth's disconnect with real world and the "teenagers these days" vibe.

Other themes involve dealing with traumatic events and gun activism, all of these themes not really thoroughly explored.

One gore-fest scene in a bus is just plain funny for all the wrong reasons.

TCM is not all bad, though. The cinematography for the tension-filled scenes in the Orphanage house is good, and the same goes for all character introductions, which sets the tone for what each of them really are.

Then you have funny scenes like Leatherface in the sunflower field. That standup with the skin mask was just laughable.

Considering the budget seems to be estimated at $ 20M, I wonder where the money went to. Clearly not the scenery, unless they built Harlow from ground-up as a fictional ghost town.

Director David Blue Garcia, also known for Tejano and Blood fast, and which apparently won an Emmy for whatever, tries to add some sprinkle from the past to the movie, with scenes like Leatherface putting on some makeup, and the infamous chainsaw dance. These sprinkles fall like corn on sh--.

A reboot-wannabe for the franchise, TCM (2022) is just another gore-fest by infamous Leatherface. This story brings no innovative element to the franchise, borrowing the "survivor confrontation" premise from other franchises like Halloween and Scream, and really doing a poor job presentation. Horror geeks might see some value watching another TCM movie, but overall movie-appreciators should find no joy in this story.

Leave The World Behind (LWB) plays with a thought-provoking idea by throwing two families, one that knows nothing, one that might know too much, into an apocalyptic scenario in a weird place: a vacation house.

In LWB, we follow the happy family Amanda, Clay, Archie, and Rose on a vacation trip to recharge their batteries; to recharge Amanda's batteries, in fact, as she seems to be the one that needs this time-off the most. Things take a weird turn at this vacation house when a father and a daughter, G. H. and Ruth, claim they are the owners of the house and, well, apparently there's a major blackout taking place in the US.

Sounds familiar? This story starts quite similar to The Cabin At The End Of The World, by Paul Tremblay, but the gist is that we get to know the truth slightly faster than in Mr. Tremblay's story.

LWB keeps us going by throwing weird curveballs, maintaining our curiosity towards what is going on. The movie is split into 5 Acts, each of them throwing us into the next one with questions and a few answers.

The cast of LWB are no newbies, and the acting pays off. Julia Roberts plays Amanda, the loving mother with a problem against people; Ethan Hawke plays Clay, the loving father with a problem of being too passive; sons Archie and Rose, by Charlie and Farrah, are the perfect brother and sister; G. H. by Mahershala is top-notch; and Ruth by Myha'la is also good as a grown, mature teenager. Everyone does a good job in their roles.

LWB has a slow pace that builds tension. It's not a movie for everyone. There's no action, fright scenes, fight scenes; LWB is about a build up to a finale that should reveal what is going on in the world, and the relationship between the Amanda and Clay's family and G. H. and Ruth.

There is also some symbolism with animals that I didn't get it; the movie does not explain it that well either.

One funny fact about Rose is her teen naiveness. One scene in particular had me laughing, a good laugh, because I totally see my daughter doing the same thing.

What might drive people off is the ending. The ending, although adding closure to most questions, leaves some of them open - maybe a hint to a sequel? Who knows!

LWB is not a transcendent movie, but with the amount of generic trash that we see getting put into the big screens lately, LWB adds a fresh take into a provoking theme. It's an entertaining slow-paced drama about an end-of-world scenario in an unusual situation.

Worth the watch.

Leatherface, from 2017, lives up to its simplistic premise, building up from the success of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre's franchise: the backstory to the infamous Leatherface.

In this movie, we start with some quick background to Jedediah Sawyer's miserable childhood, the youngest children to a horrible family of sadistic farmers. The opening scene sets the stage for Leatherface's arc: an incomprehensible human being traumatized by his childhood. The second part of the opening sets the obvious ending too.

Now we meet the secondary character, the love interest Lizzy. Lizzy is a new nurse at a mental institution where the Jedediah is locked in. We watch the cliché "newcomer gets bullied by old-timers and then saved by the seemingly nice person that's not part of this mess." And the second cliché: facility has room for some shady methods.

Then we get to a point where I think the movie is delusional: Verna, Jedediah's mother, wants to see her son, which she has not seen since he was taken away, apparently. I wonder if that had happened at some point, but, well, plot convenience, the same convenience that sets this story forward - yes, up until this point, we are still in the setup.

After a plot point that sets us to Act 2, we are now following a group, and we start wondering: who is Jedediah in this mess? Believe it or not, this is the main arc of the story's Second Act.

Act 2 also brings the question of what are they actually planning overall? The master plan is just plain stupid, and the explanation "yeah, but they are mentally ill" does not cut it.

This arc ends with the midpoint's plot twist, a clever-wannabe twist that dismisses everything that we've been watching so far. Acts 3 and 4 spiral into fast-paced disjointed scenes that culminate into the boring climax.

And the ending seals this movie with its mediocre rating.

The characters are the generic plank you'd expect out of this mess of a movie.

Jackson is the nice guy fighting his ill condition with a good heart. He seems to be the reasonable person. Solid performance by Sam Strike here.

Lizzy is the naïve nurse that wants to save everybody. She is dismissible.

Bud is a huge kid with some disturbing angriness within. He is slow in all senses but seems to have a good heart too.

Then there are Clarice and Ike, the psychopaths. They are like Bonnie and Clyde.

Apart from Sam Strike, everyone else's acting performance are meh.

Well, there's not really much more to say for Leatherface (2017). Nothing else stands out in this movie, other than a list of bad decisions that would be too boring to add to this review.

Bottom line, Leatherface tries to leverage the weird cult success of Texas Chainsaw Massacre but it fails. The main reason is because the story itself is just trying to be clever, a "gotcha", "who is Jedediah?", for no reason. As a predecessor to everything Leatherface became, this story adds no real background to it.

When we get to the ending, we feel Leatherface's motives are not really strong; he is just a pawn in this whole mess. But with a lack of a recurring character to latch itself onto, Leatherface (2017) was doomed from the start.

The Angel tries really hard to spin a good-willed image of Ashraf Marwan, but story seems to tell otherwise. A quick search on the Egyptian's name reveals a different take on Mr. Marwan's intentions, and although The Angel is an entertaining piece, I wonder what was Ariel Vromen's intentions here.

In The Angel, we follow Ashraf Marwan, a diplomat under Sadat's regimen in Egypt that becomes a double agent to prevent a war between Israel and Egypt during the 1973 Arab - Israeli crisis. A spy-thriller, this movie has what the genre has to offer.

We start early in Ashraf's life, painting a background of who he really is his inner conflicts. Is all we see there accurate? I don't really know. The fact is that all this character development is not relevant; as the story progresses, it dismisses these conflicts for the outer conflicts: the increasing tension between Egypt and Israel.

Ashraf is a loving father and seemingly a naïve, almost weak-looking person that can easily be deceived or pressured. Small research reveals another side of the coin: an Ashraf that had high-level skills, engaged in weapon trafficking, built a wealthy empire. Maybe that's the problem in historical-related stories: accuracy? Regardless, in The Angel portraits Ashraf as a good person trying to protect both countries by avoiding a war, which seems farther from the truth: historical data and events lead to a different belief.

As far as the plot goes, you get your average spy thriller. As a matter of fact, this movie might feel a bit slow.

The plot twist at the end is a bit clever, though, not really a new spin as Soviet tactics used to play in the same fashion.

Overall, The Angel is entertaining enough, but watch is with a grain of salt with regards to its historical accuracy.

Hellhole, original title: Ostatnia wieczerza, which seems to translate to "last supper", is a horror mystery with strong scenery, okay overall story, but lack of a satisfying ending to this mix. An average entry to the genre.

In Hellhole, Poland, 1987, the carrier of the prophecy's mark, now an investigator, willingly enters a monastery set as sanatorium to investigate the disappearance of young women in the region only to find out more than what he expected.

We start the movie with a scene that illustrates a prophecy, seemingly not a good one, though. Shoot forward some 30 years, not accurate, and we see Marek in a desolated countryside landscape, about to join a monastery as a priest. The grim scenery of the lands around the monastery and the place itself is enough to raise all suspicions; at this point, we also suspect something wrong is happening.

The creepiness of the monastery and its clergy is suffocating, and aren't in a horror story after all? In fact, one of Hellhole's stronger elements is its scenery. The reality that people lived in those conditions is amazing.

But scenery alone does not save a story. Hellhole's plot does not evolve to a satisfying conclusion.

Marek, the main character, starts strong, determined and, yet, naïve. However, his development is weak, always one step behind. Piotr Zurawski does an okay acting job, overall.

Nonetheless, the show-stealer is Sebastian Stankiewicz as Monk Piotr. His transformation in the story is great. Prior Andrzej by Olaf Lubaszenko also leads with good outcomes. But we aren't here only for their stories, right? Marek, the lead, lacks a satisfying arc.

Up until the climax, the story is predictable, if we consider the themes in place. With the genre in mind, a horror-driven mystery, Hellhole would have definitely gotten the "okay" trophy. The downfall starts at the climax and the story's resolution, which culminates in a weak conclusion to the story.

Bartosz Kowalski is the director driving this project, and the co-writer of this story. Kowalski is known for movies like Playground (2016) and A Dream in the Making (2012), having a record as a director since 2006; not a newbie. I'm not acquainted with his work, so I haven't really seen his mark, but, overall, I guess his lack of a proper conclusion might be his failure alone.

Hellhole does not add any novelty to the horror genre, ending up like any generic B-movie. If you are a fan of unavoidability themes and strong satanic themes, Hellhole might please, but those seeking for a strong story and character development will not appreciate this movie.

"What have I just watched?" That's what crossed my mind when I finished Only God Forgives. Dear God, please, forgive me for spending 90 minutes on this movie!

Only God Forgives is a weird neon-noir drama about a problematic character half trying to avenge the death of his brother. Half trying because Julian, the full-of-problems main character, is not really doing anything throughout the movie other than live in this glowy melancholy.

The movie starts out with Julian and Billy, his brother, watching a Muay Thai fight. Some stuff seems to get passed around, all sorts of shady nuances in place. After the fight, they both discuss their future in this whole mess of underground fighting and Billy remarks: "time to meet the Devil." Well, good luck figuring out that one; the movie doesn't really go that route.

Billy goes into the night to pursue his lust for little girls. Yup, Billy is scum, and we are happy when he dies. Then Julian, who is tripping balls whatever reason, finds out his brother died and sets for revenge, only to find out the reason is brother died, then he stops being vengeful.

Did you notice that I didn't mention that Julian is a drug dealer? Well, that's because this fact is irrelevant; the story doesn't really elaborate on this fact. What matters is that Julian seems to have some strong childhood traumas, he keeps hinting at that by looking at his hands all the time and having a weird craving for stuffing his hand into "humid and warm" places - yup, your thought is correct.

All this craziness is happening in between scenes where Chang is singing at a karaoke to his mannequin-like crew.

Julian is a weak main character, likely a problem created by the writer and director of this mess, Nicolas Winding Refn, best known for The Neon Demon, which has a very similar cover picture, Valhalla Rising, and, well, who would have thought... Drive! So, you see, he is not a newbie. I guess he was heavily amazed by all the cinematography and hidden message he was trying to convey, but these things flopped.

Back to Julian.

Julian does nothing in the story. He is a pawn, perhaps his major flaw, but he starts and then ends as a pawn, lacking any development. All the thematic messaging makes it so Julian seems so manga-like, a persona as thin as a piece of paper.

Perhaps the better character here is Chang, the could-have-been-protagonist antagonist. Only God Forgives does not explore Chang as much, but he is definitely a character that could have had a chance of being the main focus. Of course, Vithaya Pansringarm was not a strong name for a lead character than Ryan Gosling, which is a shame.

Now, the major selling point, likely to the director, is this movie's cinematography, which I called neon-noir. In fact, Only God Forgives tries hard to look like a serious thematic movie by using camera work and stylish lighting and setting. Had this movie had a better plot, the cinematography would be a nice touch. In reality, though, all the dream-like imagery we watch just adds confusion and delusion.

Overall, Only God Forgives tries hard to be a transcendent film, too hard. Its lack of character development, better plot narrative, and overall eerie tone only adds to an enduring 90 minutes of a shallow story.

What if you woke up to find that your partner is alive, after receiving the news the day before that he or she had died in a car accident? In Premonition, this is the premise of the story. But there's one important factor: As Linda wakes up, she alternates between her husband being alive and being dead.

Premonition brings the intriguing story of Linda Hanson, a stay-at-home mom in a shaken marriage who receives the sad news that her husband Jim has died in a car acci-dent. As we might expect, Linda goes into an inconsolable mourning. However, when she wakes up the next day, Jim is alive, as if nothing happened.

This incident already makes us intrigued enough to wonder what the hell is going on. From this point on, we are paying attention to all the details; And the fact is, every-thing is strange.

The scene that reveals a fake inciting incident - because the real incident in the story is Jim turning up alive the next day - is somewhat unbelievable. I find it hard to believe that the custom procedure for a fatal car accident is to notify the widower and leave her hanging on the door, give her a card and say "call me if you need anything," get outta-dodge. In a real-life scenario, I imagine that the widower would have to recognize the body, sign documents, and start a whole bureaucratic process.

However, Linda has room to suffer in the solitude of her home. And she suffers.

The cast includes Sandra Bullock in the role of the main character Linda Hanson and Julian McMahon in the role of Jim Hanson. I don't have strong connections with these actors, and overall, they perform their duties with acceptable and unquestionable quality. They are a-alright professionals. Supporting characters include Claire by Amber Valletta and Dr. Roth by Peter Stormare; again, they all play their characters without ma-jor flaws in general.

The director is Mennan Yapo who does not have a list of acclaimed productions. The writer is Bill Kelly, who falls into the same limbo. And I think this might be what sets Premonition as below bar.

In cinematic terms, Premonition is a film from the end of the first decade of the third millennium and we can notice this in the film. The TV even tries to improve the pic-ture, but the DVD quality is remarkable. The scenes are also very much in the early 2010s style, including the soundtrack as well.

Premonition is interesting for the most part, but the ending falls short. When we understand Linda's moral choice, the fundamental question she must answer is intriguing, however, Linda does not undergo a memorable transformation in the film and so opts for the kinder, more affable path. However, the unfolding of the climax and the denouement are almost a slap in the face. It feels like we spent 1 hour and a half to end with a "is that it? Is that it?! I can't believe it..." But believe me.

Premonition works until its denouement, where perhaps an exaggerated care in keeping Linda acceptable by the standards of the time spoils the film as a whole.

Nobody is an action-packed movie about a guy running from his dark past, struggling with the urge to kill again. It's a premise that we've seen already - person trying to outrun past demons -, and Nobody really does not add any spice to the mix: it's a generic flick, albeit entertaining enough as a time-passer.

In this movie, we follow Hutch Mansell, a seemingly ordinary middle-ager with a shaken-up marriage trying to be the good husband and father. He lives his life as a routine, rinse and repeat; idleness taking a toll on his will.

However, when robbers put his family at risk, Hutch's suppressed feelings rise. Now he needs to find a way to avoid going back to what he does best.

The plot, though, is as generic as it gets. Although the setup might hint at something possibly elaborate, right before the inciting incident, the story dismisses the main events thus far and throws in a curveball: by chance, he gets into a fight and pisses off a Russian mobster. Now Nobody is simplistic: Russian mobster wants payback, but Hutch is no ordinary man.

Nobody started up good, the starting scene gave a hint at things to tome, and the setup portion of the story had a good edit of scenes to demonstrate mental fatigue and boring routine. When the story picks up in action, Nobody evolves into a regular action movie.

Is all this so far a bad thing though? Not really. Nobody is entertaining enough as a braindead action flick. If you are not looking for something that will make your mind boil, Nobody does the job alright.

These plot-driven, action-packed movies try to drive the story by its events, dismissing character development, and Nobody is no different. Although Hutch is likeable to some extent, his inner demons and transformation are not the focus of Nobody's story. Nobody hints at Hutches past through dialogue, but doesn't elaborate on the matter.

Other characters are generic action movie personas. Hutch's family is his dad and brother, which are just as badass as him. Hutch's wife, Becca, maintains the subplot of a loving wife that is in doubt of her feelings towards Hutch, but there's hope. Hutch has two kids, the cute little girl and the always-bored-and-angry teenager son. You see?

Overall, Nobody does not add new into the old, it's a generic flick on top of a generic premise. Although the acting is high-class, and the action is as expected, Nobody gets no better than the average entries on the action-genre catalog.

Insomnia has a simple premise with basic elements of a mystery thriller: who is Kay Connell's killer. To spice up the plot, the murder takes place in an Alaskan town where, at a time of the year, precisely the period of history, of course, the sun does not set.

📋 Need a quick executive summary? Here it is: as much as Insomnia doesn't sin in any primary element of a good story, perhaps its fundamental problem is the main character Will Dormer facing his antagonist, Walter Finch.

The plot of this story focuses on the elements of the investigation in a beautiful Alaskan town called Nightmute, where, at one time of the year, the sun does not set - the "white nights". We follow the unfolding of the investigation as the main character, Detective Will Dormer, goes into a spiral of daydreams for not being able to sleep.

However, the themes of Insomnia are based on the moral dilemma that Will faces due to the fact that American Internal Affairs Department is investigating him for misconduct, putting in check his reputation, career, and work, which can culminate in several cases being reopened, criminals returning to the streets, and his own dubious conduct in the face of the incident in the story that sets the plot in motion. The incident itself is the basis of Insomnia's moral problem and the investigation of the murder becomes the external factor.

Al Pacino's performance is the traditional one, but who steals the show here is Robin Williams as Walter Finch, one of the suspects in the crime. Al maintains his run-of-the-mill tough-as-gangster side, but Robin delivers a compelling character through well-constructed dialogue.

I think my only problem is how silly Will is made by the antagonist. At no point, including in the climax, does Will take control of the situation, suffering from the antagonist's manipulation and also from his decadence in the face of insomnia. Even when it looks like Will will take the reins, the antagonist sweeps him off. Not even the character of Ellie Burr gets the spotlight; Maybe she could be the companion that gets the protagonist back on track. However, Will is one of those solo heroes and this ends up being his ruin. By the time the movie ends, we're fed up.

The cinematic elements are a mix of very good and weird. The cinematography is great when it depicts the natural beauty of Alaska. On the other hand, the effects that demonstrate Will's increasing hallucinations are not so good. However, in general, the film has a good rhythm.

The director of this film is Christopher Nolan and we can see his touch on the film. With an estimated budget of $46 million and a super cast, considering the year of release Insomnia isn't an overproduction, but it works; It doesn't stand out for any transcendent factor, in the end being just an acceptable mystery.

Captivating and heavily emotional, Every Secret Thing delivers a powerful drama story about acceptance, parenthood relationship, and the possible effects of segregation and bullying, although the movie might fail a bit on exploring these themes in depth. Engaging enough, Every Secret Thing is recommendable if you like police drama.

After the disappearance of infant Brittany Lyttle, in-charge detective Nancy suspects of two young-adult women that just got out of jail after a seven-year sentence for killing an infant.

Every Secret Thing is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Laura Lippman. I haven't read the book yet, but I'd believe that the book does have more in-depth details than the movie. Its premise is simple: a crime mystery.

The plot centers on the investigation by Nancy and her partner Kevin. Soon into the movie, they start suspecting Alice and Ronnie. Seven years ago, Nancy's contributions led to the prison of Alice and Ronnie for the murder of another infant that looks just like Bryttany.

I like that most adaptation from novels deliver strong characters, and Every Secret Thing is no different. Kudos especially to Danielly Macdonald as Alice Manning, a troubled 18-year-old that grew as an outcast, doubting herself to its core, mainly for her appearance. Alice delivers some compelling dialogue throughout the movie, depicting what years of neglect might do to someone.

Every Secret Thing is not without its flaws, though. With 93 minutes of length, this is not a long movie, but the short runtime might have taken a toll at some character development. The story does not explore Detective Nancy's inner and outer conflicts, like her troubled relationship; or Ronnie's inner conflict on dealing with her past. Their arc ends are a either absent or abrupt.

I found nothing outstanding about the cinematography or the soundtrack. Generic, at best.

The same statement is valid for the directing. Every Secret Thing is a straightforward movie that does not try to reinvent the wheel; it tries to deliver a compelling crime mystery with strong thematic topics.

Overall, I recommend Every Secret Thing if you are a fan of crime mysteries and heavy dramas. Every Secret Thing might not throw hard curveballs, but the story is good enough to keep us engaged and, at the end, pack a punch of emotion.

Der Tote am Teich is a TV movie, and it definitely feels like one. Although the story is well-thought, its simplistic plot-driven narrative and lack of character makes Der Tote am Teich earn no more than 5 starts.

In Der Tote am Teich - in Brazil, weirdly translated into The Ice Lake; free translation seems to be "The Dead Man at the Pond", which makes more sense. Anyway... -, retired investigator Sepp Ahorner finds a dead body at a local pond. Cause of dead, bludgeoning by an object that belonged to Sepp's uncle. Struggling to find meaning in life, Sepp takes the opportunity to do a little bit of informal investigation on his own.

Der Tote am Teich feels like one of those Christmas-themed movies. I guess this happens because Der Tote am Teich is light in tone, PG-13. However, this movie has two major flaws.

The first flaw is the lack of strong lead characters. Sepp seems to be the main character, but so does Grete and Lisa. In the end, though, we see no character development for all of them. Sepp seems to already have moved on from a tragic event, and we get no view of Grete's or Lisa's background. This lack of character development makes the ending scene out of place with the movie we've watched.

The second flaw is that there's no sense of danger. The plot centers around finding out who is the murderer, but there's no risk of the murderer ever doing the deed again, or even leaving. I guess the only risk is that they could either falsely accuse someone or never find the criminal - there are no heavy stakes.

Other than these two flaws, Der Tote am Teich delivers a simplistic story that comes and goes. You can endure the short 90 minutes of its length, and, in the end, the final revelation is, at least, clever enough, but not good enough to raise this movie to the spotlight.

I find it funny that The Ninth Gate has almost a 7 score on IMDb as of 2024 - at least, on Tomatoes, both critics and audience scores place this movie at about 51%, which is still quite high to be honest. This movie was interesting to watch, but after the midpoint, it lost its charm.

The Ninth Gate is a weird movie loosely based on a novel called The Club Dumas, to which I can't attest. In this movie, we follow Dean Corso - funny that, in the novel, this character is actually called Lucas Corso, but anyway... -, a book tracker that accepts a job to track down two out of three copies of a seemingly satanic book that holds the key to summon the Devil. Dean needs to track these copies, then figure out which of the three copies are authentic, and he should be fine to enjoy some large cash. Of course, things are not what they seem as he starts to experience some paranormal BS - or so the synopsis says; in the actual movie, we do see some light paranormal stuff going on, but Dean is so "I don't care, I just want to drink" that the paranormal shenanigan is totally dismissible.

Which brings me to the one of the main problems in The Ninth Gate: Dean Corso, as portraited by Johnny Depp.

By 2024, we all know who Mr. Depp is and everything that he's been in to. With The Ninth Gate featured in 1999, we can clearly see some of Depp's chugging in motion: there is no scene where character Dean Corso is not drinking some booze. Dean is a heavy-drinking loner whose only pursuit is to make money, and, throughout the story, we see no character change whatsoever. I couldn't hold some giggling when each scene had Depp downing some liquor, and I'm pretty sure the booze was real, and Depp was like: "this is going to add to the character." The plot is about Dean tracking down these books, which happens quite fast honestly, and then trying to find out which of the books is the authentic one, if there is one, or if they all are. Some weird stuff is clearly happening to which Dean acknowledges. Obviously, foul play is at large. We know there's some paranormal BS going on, so what keeps us in the movie is the simple fact that we want to know what's up with this whole mess.

All the plot twists are predictable. With no hard thoughts, you are able to figure out most of what is going on. By midpoint, I was just watching for closure, not out of enjoyment.

Some technicalities. The cinematography is quite nice, but the effects are pure early-two-thousands: weird and clunky. The sound score is terrible: clearly early-nineties and too repetitive.

The pacing is also weird. For most of the movie, it's quite okay, but some scenes are so robotic that they feel out of tune. A few of my favorites:

• Dean escapes pursuit by going under a bridge. He catches his breath; he starts climbing the stairs - tah dah! Bad guy closes in again.

• Woman sells her body for the book. After "sale" is complete, woman attacks out of nowhere, cringe-worthy.

If you endure until the wrap-up, I'm sorry for you. The final revelation is not a good one, and most of what it means is left unexplained. Dean's change is sudden, flat, and out of tune. Truth be told, it's like this movie does not have a proper ending.

The Ninth Gate could have been better. The premise is a good one, but I find it hard to believe that Arturo Pérez-Reverte, the source-novel writer, was one of the writers for the script of this movie, and the movie turned out to be so weird and unpleasant. I also don't understand why so many people are praising this movie in IMDb - probably Depp fans.

Are you looking for a touching film about paternal love and overcoming? Look no further, Stillwater delivers on these themes with a strong story about a father desperate to clear his daughter of murder.

📋 Need an executive summary? Here it is: Stillwater is engaging and moving and, despite the slow pace, delivers a strong story about a father's struggle in a foreign country trying to find possible evidence that his daughter says exists, which could prove her innocence on a murder case. Despite the lack of backstory for its main characters, Stillwater is still compelling enough to hold us for a long but powerful 139 minutes.

Bill Baker, a former oil-rig professional, struggling with unemployment, travels to Marseille, France, to visit his daughter Allison in prison. She has been incarcerated for 5 years of a 9-year sentence, convicted of the murder of her partner Lina.

Here we have perhaps the only slip of this film. Stillwater begins almost in-media res, with Bill heading to Marseille after a brief introduction to his current conditions. The film reveals backstory with dialogue, raising Bill's serious problems with Allison's life which, although it doesn't affect the overall story we watch, could reveal the impact that some scenes should have had.

Bill, in general, is already transformed. His arc is almost flat in this film. When we begin to follow his actions throughout the film, we are already following a Bill who undergo change in relation to his disturbed and negligent life as a father and, possibly, husband. The Bill we follow is a nice guy trying to regain control and his sense of life; he moves to Marseille to be closer to Allison, now that her sentence allows visits - at least this was my understanding of why Bill decides to move to France only 5 years after his daughter was sentenced; either that or Bill made his life transformation 5 years after his daughter's arrest.

The visit between Bill and Allison is what you would expect out of a visit between a known-to-be-relapsed father and a daughter who haven't seen each other for so long: superficial, although there is a touch of love between the two; certainly on Bill's part. Then, Allison throws the curve ball: "do you know the guy who is the real killer, but the police were never able to find him? I found out he was spotted on a nightclub my friend goes to." Well, this revelation Bill actually discovers with the help of Virginie, who plays an important role in the story. When Allison's lawyer refuses to investigate the complaint, Bill realizes that the only way to save his daughter is to act on his own.

Stillwater runs for 139 minutes, a length that may drag depending on your energy level while watching the film. At times, I asked myself when something would happen - I remember my wife commenting: "it's time for something to happen, right?!" In general, I agree that the film can seem boring if you are tired or don't have the energy for a heavy, dense story. However, it doesn't mean that the editing was wrong, just that the film is long.

In terms of cinematography and soundtrack, I didn't notice anything that stood out. The views of Marseille are interesting, but the film's visual art isn't focused on creating stunning views; the main care is in the acting and the characters.

Matt Damon delivers Bill Baker to us with care and dedication. My feeling was that Matt took care with the role and this care payed off, with Matt delivering to us a great performance of a reformed man, a father trying to do what is right for once in his life.

This care also exists in the Direction by Tom McCarthy, most famous for his role as screenwriter and executive producer.

Stillwater captivates and exhilarates. If you like slow dramas, Stillwater is a good choice.

Alive starts with an interesting premise, true to its mystery roots. Both a female and a male person wake up in a bizarre hospital without recollection of who they are and what are they doing there. To make matters worse, their doctor seems to have odd intentions about their staying at the hospital.

📋Need a quick executive summary of this review? Here you go: Alive builds good momentum as a creepy slasher mystery but does not deliver a satisfying conclusion to the arc it so neatly built. Keep reading for the detailed revision.

This premise is what drives the overall plot. Let's call both protagonists Female and Male; well, Female and Male wonder what the f has happened to them, how did they wind up in such a decrept place. As the movie progresses, we get possible hints to what could be the answers; and this crave for knowing what is going on and how will they get out of this mess is what keeps us hooked to the movie.

To add to the creepy scenario, Angus Macfadyen throws a good performance as a demented doctor. Throughout the movie, you love hating him and you want to see him suffer.

And this hate leads me to one flaw in this movie. After enduring so much, Female and Male do not take their chances in a plausible way. One scene presents a crazy-good opportunity to kill their delusional caretaker, but, for plot movement, they dismiss killing the doctor, adding to our frustration.

Female and Male grow to our liking, and we want to see them win, despite the curveball that the story keeps throwing at them, either by chance, or by their own inability to save themselves. By the middle of the movie, we get a plot twist: are they connected somehow?

This movie's cinematography and soundtrack are on par with average slasher horrors and body horror. Gore, a lot of blood, a lot of endured pain.

When we get to the final act, we are ready for some revelations, and some action. Will the movie pay off? Well, not quite, unfortunately. Through some odd twist, the final revelation is weird and out of tune with what the movie was so far. The last scene is so out of place with the movie, depicting some weird acting by Gerrick Winston and Chantal Perron, that I wonder if the same director was behind all this.

The final scene shows how Direction might either save or destroy the movie. Though the idea of the movie, once we get it, is quite interesting and could have been done right, the last moments of the movie, which shows weird tie-ins with satirical and parodical movies, do not deliver the closure we were expecting.

Alive might please genre-specific fans, but its ending did not complete the arcs of Female and Male in a pleasant way. An unfortunate conclusion to a quite interesting story.

Mal de Ojo starts with an interesting premise if you are fans of folk horror. Sisters Nala and Luna are sent to her grandmother while their mother searches for alternative healing methods for Luna's strange sickness. But Nala suspects their grandmother might be an evil witch.

Now, for once, I need to be pick about the title: Evil Eye. I really did not notice any correlation between the title and the movie's story. I wonder what was the Director thinking.

Nala is a neglected teen. Her parents only have eyes for her dying sister - understandable, but Nala's flaw is exactly this: she wants attention, she is tired of being left aside. As the story progresses, we see minor themes like parenthood neglect and submission in place, but these themes don't have a toll on the story's arc. The arc is about the folklore surrounding witchcraft and the likelihood that their grandmother is a witch.

The character Nala is a bit off with current kids, I don't know. I even asked my 11-year-old: "would you be that naïve?" She denied. I tend to believe kids nowadays are not that stupid or gullible; Nala does look like a smart kid, but she keeps struggling to act for no apparent reason other then being submissive to Josefa's demands. I doubt someone so "I do my own" as she seemed to be wouldn't try something different faster. I guess only Stephen King knows how to truly depict children.

Some facts in the movie are obvious, but what keeps the movie strong is Paola Miguel's and Ofelia Medina's acting. Their on-going clash builds momentum as the story becomes darker, building their characters and leading us to the climax.

A climax that derails the movie a bit.

Up to this point, Mal de Ojo, whatever that means, is keeping us hooked enough for the ending revelation. The story does add a bit of exposition "just because", which detracts the entertaining factor. For example, the scope of the witchcraft's influences seems to affect more than just the grandmother's house, but the story explains nothing about this situation.

To wrap up the story, a twist leaves the overall arc too dark. The final scene keeps the story with folk roots, which dissatisfies the audience, as we'd expect a stronger arc ending for Nala.

Mal de Ojo doesn't stand out as one-of-a-kind, neither reinvents the wheel. This movie keeps to its folk-horror genre, delivering a promising story that builds itself strong, but the ending might throw some people off.

Unlocked raises a good premise and execution, delivering a quality story about a serial killer that uses high-tech, modern methods to subdue his victims. Although some characters could have better arcs, the overall movie pays off.

Unlocked raises an interesting premise in the age we live in: what if your phone fell into the hands of a serial killer determined to harm you? Considering that we live in a period where our entire lives are literally in the palm of our hands, the idea of someone having access to everything on our phone is terrifying. Modern horror. This movie's theme is centered on our dependency of being connected, most things depend on being connected to the Internet.

Lee Na-mi is a regular woman attached to her smartphone and highly connected to the world of the Internet. After an ordinary night of female partying, Na-mi loses her cell phone, which is found by a serial killer who now discovers his new target. Na-mi retrieves his cell phone, but the serial killer already has his plan hatched.

As the story progresses, we see Na-mi rise and fall, as the serial killer approaches to make Na-mi's life miserable until she succumbs. In the middle of that arc, we have The plot is plausible enough to keep us intrigued. In the style of a police drama, we also follow the arc of Woo Ji-man, the detective investigating the case that has a great connection to his past.

Everyone's acting is acceptable, but I must comment on Im Si-wan's performance as Oh Joon-yeong. Kudos to Si-wan; what a great performance. As the story goes on, you like to hate Oh Joon-yeong, a mark of a great performance for a villain.

The villain's arc, though, could have been a bit better. I like what happened, but the ending left his arc too open-ended.

Na-mi is a likeable woman living the bacheloress world. She parties with her friends, she posts stuff on the Internet. Mundane teen living in the highly connected world.

Naiveness might be one of her fatal flaws. The story hints at this problem through multiple characters, like her best friend and her boss. Perhaps this is the movie trying to show how people connected to the world often forget that being cunning might save your life.

Then there is the detective, Ji-man. He works alone and he is an omitted father and husband. He is on the tail of the serial killer for personal reasons. His arc could have been better; in the end, his development felt flat.

The dialogue felt natural, nothing out of context or forced. As the movie progressed, exposition happened at proper scenes, without raising the feeling of something shoved down our throats.

Some scenes use good visual language, clearly artistic, like when they find the serial killer's hideout. The story progresses at a nice pace, no dragging or being too fast on information. The effects are practical and good, when VFXs happen, they happen to show the smartphone screen and look good.

The direction and execution of the movie was good. Nothing really stands out, to be honest, but there is also nothing bad about it. The movie progresses and everything feels natural and believable.

Is this movie a masterpiece? Not quite. Some choices were not good, for example, the serial killer's motivation; others, were quite good, like the climax and final revelation. Overall, Unlocked is a good thriller about crime in modern age. A nice timewaster to enjoy, if you are a fan of grim thrilling stories.

Mindcage tries to spin a new take on the detective against mastermind interaction, but something feels off. You will find an okay story, but nothing else.

In Mindcage, rookie detective Mary partners with senior detective Jake to find the serial killer that is copycatting the Artist, a serial killer that is already imprisoned. To help speed the arrest of the copycat serial killer, Mary agrees to ask for the Artist's help.

Sounds familiar? Well, this plot is similar to the plot in The Silence of the Lambs. Though the similarity is in the premise, using one serial killer to catch another, and in the plot, Mindcage has enough entertaining value for what it is: a crime thriller; we wanna know who is the serial killer copying the murders done by the Artist.

The plot is centered on a strong theme about religion, but the execution is off. In fact, the Direction of this movie is a bit off throughout. As the movie went on, I felt disjointed, as if the pacing was not quite there.

I guess much of this detachment came from the development of the characters. As in any movie about buddy cops, we'd expect that Mary and Jake would get along eventually, but this never happens. When Jake tries to open himself up to Mary, it feels out of place and mostly cringe. There's a lack of interaction between Mary and Jake that destroys the later relationship they develop out of the blue.

Some of this problem becomes clear through dialogue. The core of Mindcage are the interactions between Mary and the Artist, like in true Starling and Hannibal fashion, but these interactions are flat. When we are approaching the finale, the connection Mary and the Artist try to share to us is not there, something amiss.

And this is the overall feeling with this movie: like something is off.

All these character problems are not because of the cast. Apart from Melissa - I don't know her from other blockbusters -Martin and John are great. Well, Martin does look a bit funny for the wrong reasons, though. I guess casting a comedian actor to a violent thriller movie and asking him to "look beat down, a bit over the edge" do generate funny results.

Technicalities, nothing to add. Soundtrack is there, nothing special; same for the FXs.

The cinematography is quite low, actually. I'd expect some visual cue on the copycat's murder hole, but we get a generic satanist overlord's pit that does what he does for reasons we've seen before on other stories, nothing new. To wrap that up, I guess the Producers were aiming for a lower audience rating, but the shot flopped, so we got an R-rated movie that really has no real violence...

But let's not forget the main driver: who is the copycat. And this revelation is the only real original plot point trying to really detach Mindcage from The Silence of the Lambs, which, although quite interesting, feels too "gotcha" when we see the revelation. Mindcage never really explores this originality factor that much, and, in the end, the revelation is a bit abrupt.

Mindcage tries a different spin on what The Silence of the Lambs delivered but falls a bit flat. The crude editing, original, but done-wrong, plot twist, and the lack of proper character development set this movie as another average entry on the crime thriller catalog.

The Abandoned didn't stand out in the list of possibilities. Its premise might call your attention if you are looking for a thriller, mainly because the premise feels serious, and the genre is the classic "who is the killer and why." Struggling to cope with the death of her partner, grieving deputy chief Wu Jie stumbles upon the work of a serial killer. Now she must solve the case before another girl gets killed.

The Abandoned follows classic mystery thriller elements, with some detective work and suspects. The climax is figuring out who is the killer and, of course, why he is the killer. It's your generic "whydunit" that The Abandoned executes well enough, entertaining if you want to watch a serious mystery thriller set on Taiwan.

The theme of dealing with loss of loved ones and betrayal are present throughout the movie. All relevant characters deal with some form of the theme, one believes one is guilty for one's loss, one believes one is right for standing his ground against one's loss, one believes one is right for murdering women that one believes are personifications of one's loss. Although the theme is present and strong during character development, the theme is not the focus; the focus is figuring out the serial killer.

The characters are variations of how one would deal with the theme. Main character Wu Jie is the character that feels she is responsible for her loss. Drama is real and effective as expected, but I felt that Wu Jie just abruptly embraces the case and her new partner Wei-shan. They didn't really share any relevant relationship, and Wu Jie, who in the beginning was reluctant about accepting hew new partner, out of the blue defends her, which feels a bit odd. The rest of her development is fine.

The interactions between the characters are alright. The dialogue feels believable, except for Wu Jie's sudden change from "I don't want to work anymore" to "let me work with Wei-shan and solve this case".

Police procedural is a bit absent in The Abandoned. Most of the investigation development happens in dialogue. Wu jei and Wei-shan figure out pieces of the puzzle and communicate.

The story takes place in suburban Taiwanese district. Nothing stands out in cinematography elements or in soundtrack: regular movie style.

Perhaps the only flaw in The Abandoned is that the list of suspects is small. Honestly, we get only three main suspects, which Wu Jei and Wei-shan dismisses quickly through detective work. When we get to the killer revelation, we feel a bit cheated.

The Abandoned does not reinvent the wheel. The story is purely entertainment.

Overall, The Abandoned is amusing for a quick mystery thriller entertainment. The movie does not raise any new factor or try to be innovative; it tries to tell a story to entertain, and it delivers alright.

I've noticed high praises for No One Will Save You (NOWSY), even praises from Stephen King, the Master of (Novel) Horror, but, although I found the premise to be very good, I felt that NOWSY missed the point by an inch.

📋Do you want the Executive Summary? Sure, then! Though NOWSY is scary and suspenseful, the lack of character development for Brynn might pay a toll on the dark ending. Read more for details.

In NOWSY, anxiety-driven and recluse-homegirl Brynn receives an unexpected guest: an alien, and he is not friendly. The problem is that Brynn has no one to ask for help because her past set her as hated by all townsfolks.

The missed inch here is with the character Brynn. The setup is too short, which gives us no context to her anxiety problem other than one major scene where she is having an anxiety crisis and one small glimpse of common anxiety when she has to go the post-office. I'm husband to a woman that suffers from this disorder, and I know her pain and struggle; even though people cope with anxiety in different ways, I felt that Brynn's anxiety was - pun intended - scripted.

Another problem is the hate townsfolks have towards her. Again, with the setup being too short, we get no real sense of the hatred that she is in. And this hate is also a turning point in the ending.

So, these are the only cons of the movie; moving into middle-ground territory, then, the lack of dialogue is doubtful. Even when Brynn meets Mrs. Collins, there's no dialogue, regardless of the encounter being a key scene.

The cinematography is alright, but nothing spectacular. CGI is clearly CGI, and perhaps having the aliens so up-and-close was not the best choice. The ambience, though, is very suspenseful and frightening, especially when slow pace is setting the mood for a thrill.

As aforementioned, editing is alright, but the setup was too short. I'd sacrifice the scene with the small-sized alien for more setup, which could develop the Brynn character further.

The sound effects are alright, but nothing that should give you goosebumps or something. General effects overall, if you will.

The ending was dark, but not highly aligned with the Brynn character's desire. Because Brynn has no development in the beginning, the ending feels a bit out of place and, perhaps, too dark. The ending also does match Brynn's persona at all as she dismisses a slightly diminished version of the ending previous to the actual ending.

NOWSY tries to send a strong message about anxiety and society cancelling, but Direction misses the point. Though, NOWSY is thrilling, and the horror elements are there, NOWSY ends with a dark tone that feels out of place with the overall movie pacing and plot. For horror geeks, it is recommendable, but NOWSY is no masterpiece.

Ox-head Village, also known as Ushikubi Village, fails because it doesn't know how to wrap up its story and because of a lack of character development.

The story focuses on Kanon, a high school girl who lives with her father. One day, Ren, her friend, shows to Kanon a video where one of the girls is identical to her, basically her twin sister. This fact makes Kanon decide to look for this girl. Up to this point, we already know that evil spirits are tormenting Kanon.

We are able to notice the lack of character development since the inciting incident. There is no apparent reason for Kanon to decide to search for the girl, other than the fact that they are identical. The girl in the video, Shion, is missing; If you're going to search for a missing girl, the first thing you'd probably try to check is the local authorities, no? Of course not! Kanon and Ren decide to visit the haunted hotel where Shion disappeared because, well, why not?

Going back to this review's reasoning, Kanon wants to find out Shion just to know why they look so similar? That seems to me to be a weak motive. As the story progresses, we realize that there is a main motive behind this frantic search, a stronger motive, but one that the film does not know how to properly explore. The holes in character development leave them all feeling unrealistic and contrived.

All the backstory about the Oxhead is expendable. The film uses this folklore to try to create a "gotcha!" moment that doesn't work. When the story reveals to us the truth about the deaths, nothing makes sense.

All this confusion culminates in the denouement, a meaningless denouement. The characters we have followed so far are literally thrown into the final scenario, to face the beast, so that we have the final confrontation with a nonsensical antagonist that has no apparent motives other than to be evil simply for the sake of it. In a ridiculous ending scene, the story bids farewell with the usual horror movie cliché.

I don't recommend this movie on any possible hypotheses.

This review has two parts, in order of occurence: a part for people who haven't watched the movie and are looking for a "watch it/ don't watch it" review, and a part for people who watched the movie but wants a thorough opinion of another fellow movie appreciator. Look for "If you've watched the movie" to find the second part of this review.

I'll Take Your Dead follows Gloria, the daughter of a seemingly recluse, widow farmer who, in fact, works disposing of bodies that are casualties from gang fights. By when we enter the movie's storyline, Gloria is used to her father's occupation. Now, Gloria does have one odd characteristic: she sees the spirits of the dead.

One day, her father, William, needs to accept the disposal of three bodies. Turns out of them is alive, a woman by the name of Jackie. This event sets in motion a spiral of love and grief when Gloria starts to like Jackie, using the woman to fill out the grief of losing her mother.

I'll Take Your Dead is a slow-paced heavy drama. In the catalog that hinted at this movie, I'll Take Your Dead had the "horror" label, but this is not a horror movie. The only horror elements present are the ghost that Gloria sees and William's grim job; the rest of the movie is about the bound between Gloria and Jackie, which is where this movie fails.

I guess what this movie lacks is depth. This story has the potential for being a great story about mother love, dealing with grief, and innevitability, but, instead, we get a shallow cut-down 85 minute movie that does not hit us hard as it should. The above-average acting is not enought to save this long-screen.

The ghosts are a weird addition to the story, like characters that the writers threw in and didn't know how to use. They feel a bit ex-Machina at the end.

Overall, I'll Take Your Dead is alright for die-hard horror fans, but it does not hit the mark when it comes to delivering a satisfying story. It lacks depth and connecting the dots, leaving too many loose ends for appreciation.

***Warning!!!*** If you've watched the movie, continue past this point. Be advised.

Gloria sees spirits, but this is not a major point in the movie up until the end. Throughout the movie, one demon-like spirit is tormenting her, a person completely burnt, carbonized. This seems to be Gloria's vilain, but, in the end, the spirit actually saves her and, by the closing scene, it's like all spirits liked her, what!? These points show how this movie lacks depth. The ghosts, in the end, are in the story just to set the events in motion. For example, in the climax, the gangsters searching for Gloria, William, and Jackie also see the ghosts; the carbonized demon-like ghost saves Gloria, it's a mess.

We get very little exposition to Jackie and Gloria's bound as mother-ish and daughter. We don't feel their love, which is the main theme of the movie. Jackie has a past that the movie does not explore, which could play a major role as to why she gets closer to Gloria; Jackie even hints at her past to William: "You don't know me, don't act as if you know me just because of how I arrived here. You know nothing about surviving," hinting at a backstory that we never get to know.

The major plot twist of I'll Take Your Dead, though a foreseeable one, is that Jackie's boyfriend, Carter, was the mentor of the shootout that killed Jackie's friends and almost killed Jackie. In the climax, Jackie realizes this, but Carter and the gang are already at the farm pursuing them. This twist does not add to Jackie's arc, in fact, Jackie's arc is not present. We don't know how close Jackie was to Carter, if Carter treated her well or anything relevant other than, well, Carter set Jackie and his and her friends up for money. More explanations? None given.

I can't recommend I'll Take Your Dead for casual watchers. This movie is only for people that crave for stories, good or bad, and are willing to watch anything for the sake of watching.

Saw X is hard to swallow, with a number of flaws and no tie-in to the series, this entry into the Saw franchise feels exploitative and dismissible.

I guess the only thing that worked in Saw X is Tobin Bell, as expected. His portrait of a dying delusional man is top-notch, heartbreaking.

I also like Costas Mandylor because I like Detective Hoffman.

Other than these two, the rest of the movie is acceptable at best. Keeping up with the actors, I guess time was not a gift for actress Shawnee Smith. Not that she is ugly or anything, far from that, but we can clearly see the difference between Amanda in Saw II and Amanda in Saw X, which sources chronologically place between the original Saw and Saw II.

The games were not as original and, I guess placing Saw X between Saw and Saw II, this means John was experimenting, which makes sense. This fact makes reason of one plot point that happens later in the movie.

I had a hard time accepting Mexico as the background scenery for Saw X. Why Mexico? A third-world country seems like an ideal place to host what happens in the movie, okay, but I beg to differ that Mexicans scream in English when in extreme pain.

Saw X looks like a fanfic-driven movie. It sets John Kramer as this ruthless but incomprehensible god, everyone flattering and licking his boots. Ir brings in recurring characters that everyone love from the Franchise, however, it doesn't tie-in with Saw II other than having these characters. In the end, Saw X does not add any new or relevant information to the major story.

I guess Saw X is okay for die-hard fans of the Saw franchise, but, with its flaws and lack of depth, I guess this entry is dismissible as a standalone movie.