Change Your Image
edmeardon
Reviews
Splinter (2008)
It could have been so much better
I was really enjoying it until it got the the first real monster scene, and then the camera shake got SO BAD that it was unwatchable! It was like the camera man was having a seizure or something.
Up until that time, it was good, because the acting was good and believable.
It did have one point where they could have escaped (at least made it a mile or two down the road) when the good couple was left in their severely overheating car at the gas station while the addict girlfriend headed toward the bathroom and the bad guy was out of the car. Instead, they inexplicably just sat there.
Maybe there were more plot holes, but I'll never know because I couldn't watch any further because of the camera shake. (Sigh)
The Village (2004)
This movie has texture and historical accuracy
I like this movie because it has a historical feel for the mid-nineteenth century that many westerns and other moves don't have. It is far too easy to project our modern sensibilities onto mid 1800 characters, when they had very different viewpoints than many modern people do. This movie displays the lack of understanding that many people of that era had. They may have had superstition or religious explanations for many things, but they were useful in understanding a world that they could not explain in any other way. This movie shows the fear they may have had of simple phenomena that we would easily dismiss today.
I also liked the variety of characters shown in the movie. Some were extroverts (like Ivy) who verbalized their stream of consciousness, while others were more introverts and only spoke when they had something to say.
I also liked the texture of the movie, once Ivy went into the forest. The bare trees, the cold November rain, and the winds all are evocative of Midwest forests. You can practically smell the damp decaying leaves, and feel the bone-chilling cold of the wet soil. It is a desolate and lonely setting.
Lastly, I liked the contrast between the mid-19th century vocabulary and sensibilities with the (relatively) modern actions of the young game warden who found Ivy after she climbed the reserve walls. Many of the things he said, she couldn't understand.
I liked a lot of things about this movie, but I have had friends who HATED it. I think it takes someone who likes history (and the way people REALLY thought then) to understand this movie. Also, it is not a horror movie, but to the characters of the movie, it was a horror movie.
Morgan (2016)
Interesting concept, but VERY female oriented
I liked the issues with AI that this movie tries to address, but I did have trouble accepting that a female scientist created a female AI who was ultimately killed by another female AI. Where were the men? Well, the big guy was a teddy bear that was easily killed by the created female AI. Another man was a scientist, but he didn't do much, until he hung himself. The last guy was totally ineffective in stopping the created female AI, even though he was aiming a rifle at her. (He kept warning her to not "come any closer!" until she disarmed him. Sigh)
Even the Female AI who ultimately killed the created AI was not convincing, because she weighed about 98 pounds, but was throwing people around like they were rag dolls. If they were going to create a combat AI, wouldn't it make sense to make a 6'2" muscular man? He would be that much more effective in combat.
Also, if the created female AI was made for battle (which supposedly is why the big, bad corporation was making her), why did they make her female?
I'm not against "strong female leads", I'm just against "strong female leads" that don't make logical sense.
Others have brought up other objections to the movie, so I won't go into them. This is just what I have to add.
The Alternate (2021)
Very interesting!
After reading some of the reviews, I still decided to try this movie, and I was glad I did! Although the "stars" were no-names, they did very well.
The actress that played Kris (the wife), was very irritating at first (by not even listening to what the guy wanted to tell her about the portal he had discovered/made). To be honest, the husband (Doug) was pretty inarticulate in his description of the portal, but that was to be expected, as he was a loser in life, with no job and no ambition.
I thought the fact that they left the reason the portal existed as a positive element in the movie, as too many movies get bogged down in the fantasy mechanics of it (wormholes, etc). He really didn't know how he made it, but he knew what it was because he had seen enough movies and TV shows about the subject.
I was relieved when he tried to tell a scientist about it, they brushed him off, as it DID sound goofy, as he had NO idea of the science behind it and was, like I said, pretty inarticulate in his description of it.
I had trouble watching the middle portion where he was sneaking around the house of his alternate, as he kept coming so close to getting caught.
It was interesting to see that there was an alternative universe where he was NOT a loser, and him and his wife (and child) were living quite nicely as he was successful in his craft.
It was an unexpected twist when he forced his alternate into the vortex so that he could live the good life, but his old nature kept surfacing (he didn't have a job in this universe either). It was really made plain when his (alternate's) little girl wanted to put catchup on her pancakes, and his wife didn't want to her (because of the sugar, etc). He kept saying "Why not?" He would have been a loser of a father also.
Once the movie got past the uncomfortable "almost getting caught in the alternate's house" thing, I think it got pretty interesting with the twist.
I won't tell you how it ends, but it's not well.
The Cave (2005)
Too many cliches for me to watch all the way through
I started watching this, and it starts out interestingly enough, but soon I noticed that the women (one a diver and the other a scientist) were super-model beautiful. The woman diver was "just one of the guys", which was unbelievable, because she was stunningly beautiful, and it was be EXTREMELY unlikely that none of the guy would have noticed her. The (male) head diver was also super-model good looking, That threw up a couple red flags for me right off the bat.
I kept watching, and soon they were stranded in the underwater cave, with just enough supplies to last until the outside world would start to look for them (of course).
The guys then proceed to fight like a bunch of junior high boys over a Pokémon card, instead of the bunch of highly trained and disciplined professionals.
That's where I had to turn it off, because it obviously was not going to get any better from there.
Koma (2019)
Very original!
I really enjoyed this movie, because the lead characters were not super-model scientist super-athletes. The special effects were very interesting, because of the wild angles that different buildings took off at. I found that I could not predict what was going to happen next, which made me pay attention to the movie.
The various characters were believable and stayed in character, with no one suddenly having a change of heart that was totally opposite to their established character.
Additionally, there was no hyper-butch female fighter, throwing guys who were twice her weight around like rag dolls. There was no forced diversity either.
One of the movies antagonists seemed to enjoy his role with super-strength and fighter and leader (Phantom), so you could tell that he may not have wanted to leave that fantasy world.
The ending had an interesting twist where the characters, who wanted to escape the weird reality of their world found out that they probably didn't want to go back to their realities because they had severe psychological and physical traumas that were crippling.
In the end, only two of the main characters got to leave the fantasy world. As a retired respiratory therapist, it hurt my heart when they self-extubated without deflating the cuff on their endotracheal tubes (breathing tubes). That can hurt, if you don't deflate the cuff! Also, there was no associated mucous after extubation (as is common) and the endotracheal tubes were not held in place with a holder or tape. Oh well, not big things, but as an RT, you notice these things.
This was enjoyable, because it had thought provoking concepts, and there seemed to be very little wasted words or scenes. It was unpredictable enough that you couldn't just assume that any person was going to live or die.
Riftworld Chronicles (2015)
A great show that needs to be picked up!
I just watched all eight "episode" (about 6 minutes each) of "season 1" and it was VERY good! As others have said, it IS a good mix of fantasy and comedy. Please continue this series! (Although by this time, it has been 7 years since it was made!)
The "wizard" was very believable, and the girl who he finds, has a brother who is a gamer, and knows "things" about the "wizards" world. Why? (The series ended before this could begin to be addressed.)
Also, WHY did the girl's mother have a necklace with an emblem found on the back of one of the coins the "wizard" was carrying? We need these questions answered!
Also, the series ended before the earth people could meet the assassin and begin to question their doubt of the "wizard" (who they thought was crazy).
So many unanswered questions!
Doc Martin: Listen with Mother (2013)
This episode has about made me stop watching the series.
I don't think I can watch any more of this series because of the conflict between Louisa and Martin. Sure, he is very broken, but his upbringing (cold father, mother who loathed him, and a failed romance in college) obviously contributed greatly to it, along with his possible Aspergers. He's just not coping in a constructive way with it.
Louisa has also had some childhood trauma (with her mother leaving her), but she focuses so completely on Martin's faults that she doesn't begin to address her own (like running away every time they have trouble). To me, this shows how little she values marriage (for better or worse?). I think many women focus on the faults of their partners so that they don't have to deal with their own issues. On top of all this, she knew what kind of man he was when she married him. Why did she expect him to change?
The focus on the conflict between Martin and Louisa has drug on long enough without any kind of resolution (either stay or split already!) that I no longer care.
I checked a head, and the first three episodes of season 7 are about the conflict between Martin and Louisa. I could skip them, but I find I don't care anymore.
Love and Monsters (2020)
Surprisingly good
This was a very entertaining movie. The main character kind of narrates it like Zombieland. It did drag in a few places with his teen angst, but thankfully, I have a fast forward button!
It had many weird and disgusting monsters, but it also had a dog! (I love dogs). He instantly made the movie better.
It was rather predictable in that the girl he was traveling to see had a relationship (although he was now dead), but the main character did rise to the occasion.
He had an interesting character arc where he was paralyzed by fear, but eventually trained himself to be self sufficient in a wild landscape.
Of course, the movie had to have some strong female characters (that could fight like a man), but they didn't overplay this side of the movie.
It was good enough that I could watch a sequel where the different groups went to the mountain stronghold, where supposedly there were fewer monsters because of the cold.
If they wanted to, they could even follow that with another sequel where the different groups started rebuilding civilization by networking with each other.
All in all, a very enjoyable movie!
Life (2017)
While more realistic than many, the astronauts lacked discipline
I could only watch the first half hour, and then had to turn it off. Too many movies have characters who either are supposed to be military or astronauts, but totally lack the discipline that either would have.
In this movie, when the alien life form gets free from it's environment, it is still contained, but one of the astronauts opens the door and enters the room.
You HAVE to know that they have procedures for such situations, but they acted like they had NO IDEA of what to do, and let their emotions rule their behavior.
Even before the alien life form gets free, they are all yelling and screaming as if they hadn't trained for exactly such a situation. NASA trains it's astronauts for every conceivable situation, and even the ones not covered, had procedures to guide their actions.
I could not watch the rest of the movie.
Radius (2017)
A very, very, very good movie!
This movie keeps you guessing the whole way through. It slowly reveals what happened to the lead man and the lead woman through flashbacks, so that you can identify with them. It makes you ask, "What if I woke up and couldn't remember anything about my past" but people kept dying around you.
I won't reveal more about the movie, but it is very well directed.
There are no real plot holes, and the characters think logically through their situation, trying to make sense of a senseless situation.
A very, very, very good movie!
The Last Days on Mars (2013)
A total lack of discipline ... and zombies
I have several problems with this movie.
1) The astronauts don't listen to orders from their superiors, and don't follow any procedure. They would have to have a strict command structure and procedures as they would NEED to work together for survival on Mars. It's constantly amazes me that astronauts and military personnel completely abandon all structure when faced with a crisis in movies. That is exactly what the command structure and procedures are for!
2) They fight with each other constantly, even though they would be rigorously screened so that conflict would be minimized when they would be so far from home. I could see more problems arising once a settlement has been planted on Mars. There would be many more people, especially civilians, on the planet, so that politics and personality conflicts would arise just as they have on earth.
I think that's what I didn't like the most about the movie, was the way the characters acted so irrationally and with total lack of discipline, even though they NEEDED to depend each other for survival.
3) The equipment is crazily unreliable. I know that mars would be a hostile environment for equipment, but there would have to be back ups for the back ups for the back ups, because help would be SO far away. (About 140 million miles, which would take about six months in the movie). There would have to be work-arounds for any possible problem that could arise, or they would be dead.
4) And then, as others have already noted ... there are zombies. Really?
Defendor (2009)
Surprisingly good!
I've become pretty jaded with modern movies, as they all seem to be CGI driven, formulamatic, or pushing "THE MESSAGE."
Woodie Harelson played his role well, although he obviously was not as dumb as they kept saying he was supposed to be. He was KINDA dumb, but mostly very literal. (Like when the bad guys gave him a note saying, "Talk and the girl dies". He then was afraid to say a SINGLE word to anyone.
Plus, at the end, when he dies, his color was WAY too pink. I've seen people die (I work in a hospital), and they get that "death pallor" when they've lost a lot of blood.
Still, it was an entertaining movie, that kept you guessing as to what exactly was going to happen next.
I would recommend this movie (and I don't recommend a lot of movies!)
Absolutely Anything (2015)
Typical Simmon Pegg
While it's not the greatest movie in the world, it is enjoyable. It is patterned much along the lines of "Bruce Almighty" but with a British flavor (I like British humor).
It is well fitted to streaming, as you can jump past the sections where the humor seems to drag on.
I did laugh several times, and the ending was a bit surprising. It doesn't break new ground, but is better than 90% of the films out there.
I definitely didn't feel like I lost 90 minutes (or so) of my life that I will never get back.
One does have to wonder about the morality of the aliens judging the earth when they are so quick to condemn us to death. When all the alien ships that are judging (and mostly destroying) civilizations are destroyed, one has to think that is a happy ending.