robertemerald

Yes, I understand why some people don't think The Hunt For The Blood Orchid is any good. The original movie had a higher tier of actors, and face it, it was clever and intense. The end sequence to this Anaconda is too dark, the leap to Boreo is, well, a leap, and there's one character that is so hyper-sensitive he simply would not be given such a high responsibility role on such a mission, I think, in the real world. Movies are not the real world. That's why many of us love them. And as monster movies go, Anaconda 2 is filled with awesome special effects (and not just the snake!), great performances, a diabolical and believable bad guy and an easy to consume story and script. Loved it. It's going on my list of best monster movies.

Gracie is an important milestone, being true, in the rise of women's sport. The obvious comparison is Rudy (1993), and perhaps Bend It Like Beckham, as well as Eddie The Eagle (2016). If you had all four movies you could make a delightful day of it! Apart from the inspirational determination to make the team, which is inspiring, Gracie is also a pretty accurate take on family dynamics and teen rivalry. This is one of those movies where you can't go wrong.

If you want a movie about the fortitude of an indomitable human spirit, and a true one, then Rudy is for you. Gritty sports action too, shot well. Excellent actor in the lead, great support, and high production values. Timeless.

There were some gorgeously odd sci-fi ideas bumping around 1970s/1980s film minds back in those days. I remember Demon Seed for example. Although I didn't see D.A.R.Y.L at the time, it must have inspired other bigger budget movies, the brilliant Short Circuit and the delightful Batteries Not Included come to mind. I hadn't seen those movies at the time either. Here in Western Australia a lot of credible movies, in those days, tended to pass us by. I am so glad things went to dvd, and the internet now has us catching up, one way or another. D.A.R.Y.L is such a wonderfully crafted movie. There is a shot, for example, of the lead reflected in the sheen of a table in one frame. It is just so clever, and so typical of the movie overall. In brackets above it says this movie is Australian. If so I'm really chuffed (pleased). This movie has been so elegantly crafted. Any age can enjoy it for that reason alone. It's just so easy to watch. The flight scenes are amazing. The whole movie is a wonderful feel-good experience. But it is the crafting .... the framing, the panning, the editing, the location selection, the graphic design touches, the casting, the respect for childcare ... the list goes on, that really impressed me. OK, the science is dubious, and convenient and ambitious, the incentive of the bad guys massively contrived and only believable because this is a 1985 movie, and the computers are 1980s' 'generation', but, what the hell, so what. It's a movie. The story is simple, yet the dedication to the vision around it is easily worth a 10 from me. Set in the U.S.A, D.A.R.Y.L is a massive credit to Hollywood and the filmmakers responsible.

The Outpost is based on a true story. The actors were obviously chosen for their similarity of appearance to the actual defenders. That's a very good thing. If you love history that makes a very real difference. To be honest I thought the movie suffered from a bit of a slow start, and that's where my point disappeared. Once the action begins you won't be disappointed, all the more so that this is based on fact. Terrific!

I kept thinking as I watched Octane that there are some classic images here. Great lighting here and there as well. The shot with a truck and a van leaving a vendor van, backlit, with dust swirling ... it was just so classic. There are touches here and there too. Flashes of blood, a sign thrown away, a doll on the road. I disagree that the filmmakers here had only a vague direction. I loved the mystery mixed with tension over the initial chapters. At first I thought that this was a sort of Twin Peaks road movie. I loved the way highway dashes were laced into the travel of the first half. I do agree that it was a little over ambitious. I took a point away for that. Some of the final scenes were too exaggerated. That's my only disappointment. I for one really enjoyed this 90 minutes. Octane was different in a good way, and thus I still really enjoyed this even though it is over 15 years old. The lead, the Mum, was brilliant. She really knew how to play the terror of desperation. Great horror movie that deserves more praise.

The Stoning of Sraya M. has top class actors at the top of the game. I was delighted to see the politician from The Expanse appearing here. She is remarkable, as is Soraya. The bad guys are superb as well. The village is high on the crest of a huge ravine, it is very cinematic. The effect on children is described as well. This is the sort of movie that has one in disbelief at the medieval things that still happen in our world, and as such, not only is this a great movie in terms of overall production and performances, but also one that is terribly important. I'd urge everyone to see it.

The Counterfeiters is an easy watch. The lead is an original character, a sort of realist criminal, yet it is hard not to find him intriguing. The story is true, though the movie has invented dramas that were not so true. You need to look at the special features on the dvd which interviews the man the lead was based upon, and the man whom wrote the book the film is based on, to realise the differences. But even he admits that the movie captures the essence of the time. It's not as poignant or shocking as Schindler's List, but it is poignant, and there are shocks. This is a wonderful movie. There are way too few movies on the Holocaust. This is an exceptionally interesting one. This is a very good one.

The Lookout is top class production, together with top class performances. The editing has married the story, which gives birth to perfect pace. The soundtrack is perfectly chosen. If it is available as a CD I'll be buying it. Great characters match a great script. I saw this movie last night, yet am staggered now to discover this is already over a decade old. This is en par with Fargo (the TV series), but as it attends an important issue as well as a great heist, it is in a category all its own. This is a wonderful film, which gathers more pace, interest and tension as it travels. Highly recommended.

I like monster movies, even bad ones. I like studying the genre. There's something pure about the sheer exhilaration of our deepest childhood fears coming horribly true. The 7 (The Oakley Seven) gets a point from me for that, and I certainly didn't mind watching it. At its heart it's about a childhood fear coming horribly true for a young teen. The movie would have benefited by staying in that childhood memory, which is the opening scenes of the movie, for a far longer period. If you are wondering at what movie might be suitable to show your 13 year old their first monster horror movie, well, you might consider this one I suppose. The story is full of holes and is a stock standard formula slasher teen horror adventure. Despite the fact her life and others depend on it, our lead fails to remember key details about her childhood monster until over half her crew are already dead. Before that you have to wonder at Henry Czerny's character taking 7 kids out to a secret and highly dangerous desert location in a less than modern bus without telling anyone where he intends to go. We're fobbed off with a story about a research fund he's after and no permission to take the bus and entrusting 7 teenagers, who obviously know nothing about geology or ecology (the grant apparently involves both) to help finish his PHD for him, all in a 3 hour field trip. Imagine ... the cave has bats, which carry disease, the desert has rattlesnakes (one of which, at one point, will prevent a decent escape route from being used) and Henry knows there is a creature of unknown species in the cave. The script for this is basic "teen" and not very imaginative, employing racism, sarcasm, a lot of talk about sex (none of it friendly), and progressively more swear words. In fact, when the group are down to the last two survivors, the boy asks the girl if they could have sex as he is still a virgin. Each time someone dies one girl will scream, and the others will cry, for me, not very convincingly. All the kids act 14, yet look 18. Numerous bends and turns of the "cave' distinctly look like the last set repeated. The gore is not believable, and besides, you don't actually see any violence. I understand the filmmakers here had no budget, but to make a monster movie where you know there is no money for an actual monster, well, even as satire, and given that this is a 2006 movie made well after the advent of CGI being available for home computers, well, you need to be much cleverer than this! I can only give it one point, and cannot recommend it. If it were made by a film student in their first or second year, I might pass it with a 5/10, provided their next effort shows marked improvement, particularly in the story/script department.

Between Clash of the Titans and Harry Potter ... is Percy Jackson. Sea of Monsters has plenty of monsters, is lively and upbeat, should delight 13 year olds, and has easily enough great special effects to keep the rest of us happy. Hollywood may make as many of this type of movie as it likes! Fantastic!

I docked Traces a point for the extraordinary desire the lead obviously has for one of the other players here. In every other sense of the story this highly interesting show was highly believable. However, I found the love affair to be counter to common sense, and was probably included to add to the drama. Others will disagree. Who can tell youth to be sensible? The actual crime drama however is superb. It's well acted, with great overall professionalism. The forensics becomes increasingly clever. If you are a TV crime buff whom, like me, is not that interested in the private lives of detectives, then Traces should be just the ticket.

Dublin Murders is not that dissimilar to True Detective season 3. Both are about missing children where one child survives. I haven't seen TD through to the end so I can't be definitive about the similarities, but I certainly found watching both to be a very rewarding experience (True Detective is HBO). True Detective is slower. I didn't find Dublin Murders slow at all, and wondered why a lead reviewer here at IMDb would claim that. The pace is awesome, and always interesting. Both series rely on flashbacks, but in TD it is more about the detectives, whereas in DM it is more about the children, though the detectives certainly have a large share of the flashbacks. I suspect both series throw a large number of red herrings about, certainly DM does. Don't let that dissuade you though, Dublin Murders is very clever writing indeed, in fact, I haven't seen anything quite like it. What I liked about both series is that despite both being believers in the modern trend that detectives' lives are more interesting and important than the actual victims (so irritating!!), in both shows these lives are genuinely interesting rather than cliched in terms of marriages, secrets and past trauma. The lead man in DM is a clever character study. You'll love him, then hate him, then find sympathy again. The lead woman is one of the strongest depictions of a strong woman I've yet seen, and a credit to a portrait of Irish femininity. In terms of the pace, one might note that DM is about three crimes, and all are riveting and tension-generating mysteries. Great performances, great casting, great writing, great production. Definitely not slow!!!

I'm truly sorry Follow Me hasn't been more appreciated by amateur reviewers here at IMDb. Its current rating of around 5 is hurtful. Follow Me easily stands beside Escape Room, though with a smaller effects budget, and is very reminiscent of Michael Douglas in The Game. The lead even looks similar perhaps. It's modern with a lot of selfie footage, but not so it distracts or annoys. Yes, I understand the comparison to Hostel. This is certainly as visceral and scary as that movie! Great tension.

Devour is good horror. They obviously didn't have much in the budget for effects, so they cleverly crafted something and either put it in the shadows or carefully framed it. The resulting image, interestingly, was used again in the Hannibal TV series. There are creepy moments in this. the lead carries himself really well, and the girls are good too. There's cheesy blood splatter. This movie is never boring. I approached it not really knowing what it was going to be about and consequently was surprised by the direction it took. The story really is clever. This was probably unsung in its day. I'm glad it's still around. Well directed little horror.

The Caller is almost worth a 10. I found it difficult to get my head around the use of an old dial telephone. I appreciate, for older generations, that has a certain nostalgia, even dread! ... but for this movie to work to that image it would have to be clearly set in a time prior to mobile phones, and this wasn't. Oddly, the story didn't need a dial phone, it seemed to be purely cosmetic. It works/doesn't work, depending on how you look at it. That's where my measly point disappeared. In all other contexts, The Caller has a brilliant actress, great support, lively script with some good lines, good production values, great pace, editing and colour, good framing and creepy sound. This is a fantastically original story done well, and I for one definitely recommend The Caller.

Generally with serial killers there is the business of catching them by dedicated police officers. In Des, the problems for the police begin after Des is caught, which happens by chance. I expected that this, there being no hunt, wouldn't work for me. But it most certainly did, and yes, David Tennant is supreme, but he's only part of the team, and the police lead is also supreme. Brilliant British drama.

I loved The Entity. I've had the dvd for ages but kept putting off watching it because of the dvd cover. The bold explosive "twilight zone" font made me think that promoters were trying to cover up for a B movie. Indeed, some of the effects for this movie are probably in dire need of sympathy, though by no means all. At first I placed this movie in the mid-1970s. By the end I realised that, as it is based on actual events, then perhaps the movie was deliberately back-dating itself a little. Basically, The Entity is a worthy early paranormal horror movie you could comfortably compare to Poltergeist (1982). And, thanks to honest performances and good production, is just as exciting. Interestingly, there is another comparison, with the Australian movie Patrick (1978). Both The Entity and Patrick show what can be done on a limited budget provided you have good ideas and a committed cast and crew. And both movies are now wonderful time capsules of a time gone by. Movie history can indeed be fascinating!

Russian doll was one of those new series, like The Leftovers or The Glitch, that attempt to branch into new twilight zone style drama. This is such a refreshing and inspiring trend in new television. Russian doll is movie quality and, much as it it driven by excellent production and direction, the choice of the lead is also a major driver. She's sassy, witty, and, dare I say, utterly liberated, and a consummate actor both as a character and as a performer. What a pleasure to watch! Such an easy binge! Mind you, like Leftovers (though not nearly as serious!), the themes investigated are strangely conservative. Perhaps that's what the world needs right now ... the important things in life rising to the surface even in the face of bizarre circumstance. Conservative themes are given an intellectual slant however, perhaps unlike The Leftovers. And it is often quite funny! There is a little blood, and a bit of spook, but that is mainly later in the first season (I haven't seen the second), so certainly don't look to this show if that's what you are after. You'll also like Russian Doll if you love New York. I wish I could say more, but I don't want to give anything away. In recognition of how good this television is, the show deserves a chance to truly surprise everyone.

So many horror movies, from the past to today, are, well, so so. There are so many of them that you tend to see the same tropes repeating, the same characters, the same general story lines, the same tricks of production. I only just saw My Bloody Valentine and this one is different, or at least produced and performed at a level of overall excellence. I don't know whether the makers lucked out thinking they'd make a slasher and see how things went, or truly thought about creating something original that would stimulate fans of the genre. I loved the gas-masked baddie. To me this was novel. Great attention was given to the slashes with his pick axe. Honestly, the violence was supreme, and it must be noted as interesting that gas-masks have featured in several well rated horror flicks since 2009. I don't know if it is au par to describe violence as tasteful, but this was something along those lines. Even though the movie was a decade old by the time I got to it, it all seemed really fresh to me. I could end the review there, given I rate this a 10 out of 10, but actually other aspects of production were right on the money, including the the soundscape, with sound engineers knowing just when to turn up the volume for maximum shock and suspense. The framing was cool too, as were the locations. My Bloody Valentine doesn't come across as low budget as a result, and despite a lot of the action taking place at one location, you are never bored with surroundings, and the movie moves expansively across a wide arc of other locales and has a brilliant pace. And it cannot be argued there are not classic images here. The naked lady storming into a carpark, for example, was certainly as classic as anything from Texas Chainsaw or American Psycho. It's great to see the star of Supernatural in an early role as well. If that TV show had this sort of direction and production value it would have been twice as popular as it already has been. This is a must see for horror fans, and a must must see for fans of slasher pics.

All through watching the first season of We Hunt Together I kept thinking. .. this is just as good as Killing Eve. Indeed, the leads from each series, of a powerful, calculating young woman in each case, must surely have occurred to others. Fantastic casting, acting, script, characters, movement, tension, editing. .. the whole nine yards! This was perfect late night viewing for me.

I couldn't find fault with Goodnight, Mister Tom. This is a warm and rewarding little story, full of heart, and every aspect of the production was supreme. I liked John Thaw in this because he wasn't a cold detective, but a taciturn and sweet old man from a very quaint English village. I liked how the piece captured the early war years as well. There are brilliant ideas and moments in this. Wonderful!

I'd be careful comparing 5ive Girls to The Craft. For starters, the story isn't about witchcraft, and is more a genuine teen horror. I was surprised at the low score here at IMDb. Perhaps that is retrospective. These days there are all sorts of movies and TV about teenagers realising they have a superpower or two. It has become a genre, and it is popular! In that light I can recommend 5ive Girls as a rather brilliant early example of this new and popular genre. The effects were good, frequent, and done tastefully. I am surprised this movie hasn't received more traction. I loved it.

I thought Visioneers very important in light of the current genius trend in American imagination, thinking back to the wonderful leftovers and other brave experiments in bold fiction. Monk (2002)even turned up with a brain eating virus in a TV series a couple of years ago! I was unhappy with the darkness mixed with hope of the closing scenes, but appreciate that super editing got me that far, so the movie is at least worth a 9 to me. There is a way to compare this to Brazil (1985), but other movies as well.

Tanna is a beautiful way to weave yourself into a anthological miracle. Am I saying that correctly? It's brilliant. Very very sweet, yet always interesting. Reminded me a little of Australia (2008). However this is a true story, the framing, ideas, dialogue, all blended. Easily worth a 10.