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tomclampett
Reviews
Transit 17 (2019)
Great fight choreography. Pretty bad everything else
In fact, looking at the physiques of the extras, I'd pay reasonable odds this was a passion project of a gym, or enlisted then for at least two principals and a whole lot of army dudes. There's some imagination in the setting, the plot has a least an attempt at complexity, but the script is pretty average and lapses into cliche and trope. Still, the actors are charismatic, they do make good use of locations and the editing is competent which makes it at least watchable, if not good.
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)
Wait, wut?
I'm so confused. I can't tell if this is feminist or anti-feminist, if people in the sixties talked like this or if every line should end with "that's what the kids say, right?", is that Spanish accent real or a linguistic Milli Vanilli? The only thing I'm sure of is substantial quantities of acid went into the writing, directing and filming of this movie. Which makes a nice change from movie made from the 80s onwards, when cocaine took over.
The Barbarians (1987)
Terrible. Awful. Glorious. Amazing.
Bad acting, bad script, foam weapons, oiled muscles - so so much oil - all adds up to an hour and a half of pure over the top fun. Sits perfectly on the borderline between awful and awesome.
Escape Room (2019)
Entertaining, well executed thriller
Solid acting, better than expected characters, and some pretty inventive sets make this a good example of its genre. Most of the movie is in tight focus which adds to the intense feeling, and the pacing is just right to ratchet up the tension as the movie progresses.
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
Pretty sure there's a good movie hiding inside
This movie showed some promise, and the middle third is quite strong, but it just doesn't manage to capture the atmosphere of the first film. The horror elements have either not aged well, or weren't well executed to start with, leading to a lack luster climax.
Some really good ideas in the plotting were unfortunately left hanging, I think the themes that were intended didn't come through as intended because of it.
My "I'm not an editor" opinion is that a lot of these issues could have been fixed in the edit. It's not a bad movie, but I wish I'd been able typo watch the one they tried to make.
Doom: Annihilation (2019)
It's not Shakespeare, but ... It kind of is
Big action scenes, in-jokes, minimal character development, designed just to entertain, it is just like Shakespeare.
That aside, this is a decent action movie. Predictable, a little cheesy, but fun. Loads of nods to the game, and far more loyal to the Doom setting than the Dwayne Johnson outing. The characters are pretty stock standard but played with charisma, the script could use some work, but this isn't a flick looking to be remembered for its words.
A very minor point, but one that made my day, the CQB tactics are better than many big budget action movies. No crossing lines of fire, good fire discipline, clear chain of command. Just nice.