Reviews

Between the painfully slow pacing, grating musical score, and Kristen Stewart whispering to the ghost of Anne Boleyn, this movie is hard to get through. I heard the buzz about Stewart's portrayal, and it is all her, with minimal interaction with the other characters, but it felt overwrought. The whole movie was "hey, look at how the Royal family is driving Diana crazy! She's about to go over the edge!" By driving the point so hard I felt it took on a melodramatic tone, rather than a sympathetic one. Save yourself the two hours and skip it.

As an adult child of an elderly parent who is constantly bombarded with phone calls from scammers, the films plot set off my anxiety. The protagonist is a conwoman who, with the help of an unscrupulous doctor and manager of a senior care facility, gets herself assigned as the guardian of sometimes perfectly capable seniors, commits them to said facility, where they are kept drugged and imprisoned while she proceeds to steal their money. When she targets the mother of a mobster, the viewer thinks ok, this is going to be satisfying, watching this evil person get their due. But guess what? The mobsters are completely inept. At this point I realized the movie was supposed to be a black comedy and the grifter is being presented as an anti-hero. But it wasn't funny, it was frustrating. I think the writer wanted the viewer to admire and side with a strong female character, but she is a ruthless sociopath who preys on vulnerable. The viewer doesn't want her to triumph, and as the action becomes more and more unbelievable, the story more ridiculous, you realize you've been tricked into watching a terrible movie. I will say this, the acting from the A-list cast is the only reason I rated the movie a 5. I hated it.

Right off the bat, if you're a jaded "end of the world" movie snob, into over the top action sequences, extreme blood splatter and high body counts, this is not your movie.

However, if you're looking for a movie you can watch with older elementary/middle school aged kids, that isn't painful for the adults, this is a winner. A coming of age story set after the end of civilization as we know it. There is humor, action and the right amount of peril to thrill, but not terrify. Even my husband said he was pleasantly surprised by how much he enjoyed it. The ending is perfectly set up for a sequel, and I would be interested in the seeing the story continue.

Like many children of the '70's, the Zuni murder doll in the third story of the trilogy traumatized me. Watching it now, it's totally campy, kind of ridiculous, and so bad it's good. Amelia is the best of the stories, with the other two being downright boring by today's standards. But it's a cult classic, and my rating is pretty generous based on nostalgia.

Apparently you need to be a stoner to get all of the "subtle comedy" of this movie. At least that's what all of the good reviews claim. The opening scene was promising, but it goes downhill quickly. The problem I found was there was nothing likable about the main character. The movie pointlessly meanders around her random misadventures, all of which are brought on by bad, stoned out of her mind decisions. Instead of caring about what happened, I just wanted to slap her face. The cameos by popular actors adds a little interest, but not enough.

A different take on surviving the apocalypse. A wry comedy that follows a pair of actors as they attempt to survive after society has broken down. A lot of the humor is subtle and comes from the characters low key reactions to stressful situations. The absurdity of politely chatting with acquaintances they ran into while out looking for supplies in an abandoned grocery store. Its an amusing indie movie,

Yes, it's predictable and basically an updated Kindergarten Cop, but it's Fun. There are some laughs, a cute, precocious g girl, and lots of action without too much peril. Your kids will love it.

Sleazy jeweler with money problems attempts to score big by selling a rock imbedded with opals. There is not one likable character, and the two hours is spent watching evryone yell and scream and plans fall apart. The musical score added to the stress, I felt the actors inhabited their characters well, and I suppose the writers were trying to induce the same level of desperation in the viewer the main character felt, but it was not my cup of tea.

The animation in Frozen II is stunning. The level of detail and flow is a triumph. The story, however, is preachy and forced. Anna is annoyingly controlling and overprotective. All of the songs are overwrought and not really memorable, and the characters sing a lot. No need to buy this one, one viewing is enough.

What I was expecting; a little action and clever dialogue all folded into an homage to the zombie genre. What I got was very little action, excruciatingly slow pacing, an out of nowhere and ultimately inconsequential plot twist, finished off by a "woke" epilogue. The make up was good though, I'll give them that.

Watch the trailer, it contains all of the entertaining moments, and save yourself two hours.

Here's something that I've learned about myself, and it has a direct bearing on my enjoyment of a movie, and therefore my review; I do not like the current trend of "reimagining" actual, historical people with modern sensibilities. I highly doubt Queen Anne and the people in her court went around liberally dropping f bombs. Then there's the ballroom dance scene that my husband called 18th century "Dancing with the Stars". Actually that made me laugh, so maybe that's what was meant when it was described as a comedy. Call me uptight, call me old fashioned, I don't care. It bothers me.

Basically, Lady Sarah Marlborough, who is an actual ancestor of Sir Winston Churchill and Lady Dianna, was a childhood friend of Queen Anne and a trusted confidant and her personal assistant. She was intelligent, outspoken and did influence the Queen. This is all true. It is also true that her cousin Abigail was a Lady who fell on hard times and was taken in as a servant, and slowly replaced Lady Sarah as the Queens "favorite". I did a little light research on all of this and it is believed that Lady Sarah was pushed out because she was outspoken, domineering and blunt, as opposed to Abigail's softer approach. Serious historians "highly doubt" that any of the women were lesbians or sexually involved. I read that historical movies tell you more about the people that made it than the people and events they portray. Currently the mood in Hollywood is that men are weak and secondary, even when it comes to sex, and it's all about girrl power. That is the perspective this movie takes in telling the story, even though that's not what the reality was for these real people.

I gave the stars that I did based on the strength of the actresses and the elaborate costumes and settings.

I'll start out with a compliment. The movie captured the look and feel of a '70's horror movie. I thought the casting was good, and of course Tilda Swintonn is always outstanding. I thought Dakota Johnson was suited for her role.

Now for the rest. There is a lot of attention devoted to art house montages and subplots that amount to nothing, and not enough development of the main story and conflict. There is a character who never utters a word, no one really interacts with her, and then she dies a sudden and gruesome death. Other than the fact she lives at the dance academy we have no idea who she was or why this happened. By the time we get to the final, climatic scene with a big reveal, we see a character who is very important, but we weren't set up with enough information to grasp the meaning of all that was going on. Just a confusing jumble of over the top visual gore. It really could have been a more effective story if things were streamlined and the focus was on building the tension. At the very end there is a set up for a continuation of the story, but based on the numbers, it's unlkely that will happen.

How do you rate a show with good acting, great cinematography, fairly interesting story, but you hate all of the characters? Hate is a strong word, but all of the people were awful and I couldn't find sympathy for any of them. The female deputy would be the exception, but even then I didn't get why she was so loyal to Roth's character. I stuck with the first season to the end, but I felt like my time would have been better spent elsewhere.

The updated Grinch isn't horrible, but it isnt great. This is a kinder, gentler Grinch. The magic of the classic is the voice work of Boris Karloff. Benedict Cumberbatch and narrator Pharrell Williams just don't have the same wicked tone. I'll stick with the original.

Six separate stories of life in the old west, all visually stunning, well written and acted, some more enjoyable than others. The first story, about the namesake Buster Scruggs, is by far the best. Fast, clever dialog, funny and pays homage to classic Westerns. It easily could have been expanded into a full movie. The second story, which is very short, is full of irony and quite good. The next three stories take a bleak and depressing turn, lose the humor and go on much too long. Another reviewer said it best that although they are well done, it's hard to connect to the characters or stories, and ultimately are boring. I hung on hoping some of the dark wit would return, but it never did.

I am pretty easy to scare, and while I'm not a fan of slasher movies, I do enjoy the more moody, atmospheric, psychological thriller type of horror. Hereditary seemed to fit the bill, and it did start of very promising. First, the funeral, and then a disturbing turn of events. Then things slowed way down. The director relied heavily on music to set the mood. So much so that for a good portion of the scenes, if the music had been different it could have been a drama about a family trying to come to terms in the aftermath of tragedy. I turned to my husband at one point and said that woman needs to get herself into therapy.

As the movie was slowly building up to the climax, most of the things that happened were unsettling and disturbing, but not outright scary. Then in the last 10 or 15 minutes all hell breaks loose. Things escalate and the twist is revealed and all of this information comes fast and out of nowhere. Other reviewers felt the story was not scary, but I disagree. I thought about it a lot over the next few days, and It could have been much more so if the build up was more intense. We should have discovered more clues about the grandmothers secrets in the middle of the movie. I believe another reviewer described the story as undercooked.

The cinematography, special effects and acting were all good. It is worth a rental.

What is with all of these 1 star reviews? Have these people actually seen a truly terrible movie? Based on production values alone it deserves a minimun of a 5 or 6, and then go from there.

I don't often take the time to write reviews, but after reading some of the 1 stars I had to take a moment to say it's entertaining, and frankly no different than all the other Marvrel movies. It's too long and dragged in some spots? They all do. Unbelievable premise? You have a hard time accepting a technologically advanced kingdom hidden in Africa but no problem accepting a Norse God from a distant planet coming to Earth to save the day? Fight scenes use heavy CGI? No duh. Bad acting? Strongly disagree.

It's just like any other Marvel movie, Give it a try.