Longform reviews of films, TV, anime, books, and albums — written by the scrobble.life community and published to the Hive blockchain, so each one is owned by its author and can earn rewards from readers. 2,672 reviews and counting.
Would you watch a movie with a 4.2/10 rating?
Well, I did and I also enjoyed it. Why?
Let me tell you about last night!
I was not sure what I was looking for. I was not sleepy, so I would also watch a series if it would catch my eye. Then I saw this title, I saw that the main character was an author, and decided to go for it!
Movie Name: Brazen
(Brazen stands for Bold and shameless, without embarrassment or hesitation.)
Its genre:
Suspense Mystery, Whodunnit (i did not know what it was, but check out below for the response), Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
WTF is a Whodunnit?? and please tell me if I was the only one who did not know what this was
A “whodunnit” (also spelled whodunit) is a type of mystery story — usually a murder mystery — where the main question is:
👉 “Who did it?”
In a whodunnit, the audience follows along as detectives or investigators gather clues, question suspects, and slowly piece together the truth. The suspense comes from trying to guess the culprit before the big reveal at the end.
🕵️ Examples of classic whodunnits include the Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (classic one, I ve read the book!)
Back to the review
Story:
The movie is based on the novel Brazen Virtue by Nora Roberts.
Alyssa Milano's name in the movie is Grace, a successful crime novelist and crime expert who returns home shortly before her sister dies suddenly.
After the initial shock, Grace becomes personally involved in the investigation using her own experience & insticts from writing crime fiction to help uncover the truth.
As the story unfolds, Grace discovers that her sister had a secret double life as an online performer, which adds a layer of mystery and danger to the case.
I think it is not a bit budget film, also Alissa is the only truly “famous” face in the film. However I am happy that I decided to give it a chance.
(How many of you had watched Bewitched series?)
The film mixes mystery, drama, and light suspense in a way that makes it an easy evening watch.
To my surprise, Brazen turned out to be a nice movie with a decent flow. Yes, there are a few logical gaps here and there, but that was ok for me, as my expectations were initially low. Some of the secondary roles feel flat or indifferent in their acting, but overall, it didn’t bother me too much.
For me, Brazen was an easy-to-watch movie with just enough mystery to keep me interested for the night. It’s not groundbreaking or unforgettable, but if you’re in the mood for something light and suspenseful, you will spend an easy hour and a half :)
It has a 4.2 rating in imdb, but I would be more generous and make it a round 5!
Well, I hope that this review was helpful, at least that you learnt something new (what whodunnit is, hahha)
If you are wondering, this is pronounced “hoo-DUN-it" and as I understand Who-done-it :)
Play Dirty (2025) is one of those movies where you sit down expecting something decent because Shane Black is behind the camera, the guy who directed The Nice Guys which was incredible, and then you get whatever the hell Play Dirty ended up being. Mark Wahlberg plays Parker, this professional thief character that's based on those Donald Westlake novels that have been adapted quite a few times but the problem here is Wahlberg looks like he would rather be anywhere else on planet Earth than on this set. Zero energy, zero charm, just this blank stare going through every single scene like he was reading off cue cards for a commercial he doesnt even want to do. The setup actually sounds pretty cool with Parker and his crew pull off a job at the beginning and then Rosa Salazar who plays this new member named Zen just murders everybody except him, takes all the money and disappear, in some way reminds me about "The Italian Job", then she comes back later with this even bigger job involving some sunken treasure off the coast of some made up South American country and they gotta rob it before the corrupt president gets his hands on it. Sounds exciting except the execution is so damn boring and lifeless that you stop caring about 20 minutes in, the effects look cheap as hell too, everything has this weird fake quality to it like an old video game cut scene, that opening sequence at the racetrack where horses are jumping over cars should be this big wow moment but it just looks bad and weightless and fake.
The cast is stacked with people like LaKeith Stanfield, Keegan Michael Key, Tony Shalhoub, Thomas Jane, all these talented people who deserve way better material than this, Stanfield plays this actor guy who runs a failing theater and he is always trying to like method act his way through the heist which could of been funny but they dont do enough with it, Keegan Michael Key is basically wasted here, Tony Shalhoub shows up as the villain and he was doing this weird thing where he was supposed to be intimidating but it never lands, Thomas Jane gets killed off so early that you wonder why they even bothered casting him. The whole buddy movie vibe that Shane Black usually nails is missing here, in my opinion the movie story splinter into so many characters and it wanted to develop each one of them that ends doing nothing, here there was too many damn characters and none of them get enough screen time to become memorable or interesting, they try to do something with Wahlberg and Stanfield but it doesnt work because Stanfield feels like a side character not a co lead. The script feels like it was written by committee, three people worked on this thing and somehow it still came out feeling flat and generic, theres double crosses and triple crosses and you see all of them coming from a mile away, nothing is surprising, nothing makes you lean forward in your seat, its just paint by numbers heist movie garbage that could have been made by anybody.
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I honestly dont understand what happen with Shane Black here, the same guy who wrote Lethal Weapon, the guy who understands action and dialogue and character better than most people working today but this feels like he had zero control over the final product or maybe he just stopped caring, latter after looking up the budget for this movie I find out that Robert Downey Jr was originally supposed to play Parker and hes one of the producers on this, he backed out and I think he probably read the script and knew this wasn't going to work, Downey has that charisma that can elevate weak material, same with Ryan Gosling, those guys can take a character off the page and make it something special through sheer force of personality, Wahlberg cant do that, he is good when hes doing comedy like The Other Guys with Will Ferrell or the Ted movies where he playing off someone funnier than him but when hes trying to be the serious tough guy with no sense of humor he just comes off as dull, its almost like he was born to stay funny and young, because age on his character is another problem for him. His performance here is the same from start to finish, no growth, no journey, just Mark Wahlberg doing his Mark Wahlberg thing and expecting that to be enough, his character has no personality or charm beyond being good at stealing stuff and wanting revenge, you dont root for him, you dont care if he succeeds or fails, he is just there taking up space while the movie drags on for over two hours.
The heist itself isnt even clever or interesting, they are trying to steal this treasure from a sunken ship called the Lady of Arintero if I didnt get the name wrong, its full of jewels and artifacts worth hundreds of millions, there was this whole thing about a corrupt president and Tony Shalhoubs character Lozeni whos running this crime organization in New York and everyone after the same prize, they plan to rob a train thats transporting the treasure but then somebody is a step ahead of them and it all goes sideways. Theres a scene where they derail the train and Stanfield barely avoids getting hit by it, like the train passes inches from his face and somehow hes totally fine, not a scratch on him, the laws of physics dont apply in this movie apparently. The third part of the movie just becomes this mess of people shooting at each other and jewels getting scattered everywhere and revelations that dont mean anything because you never cared about these people in the first place, Zen turns out to be playing everybody for her own reasons, she wants to help her country, Parker kills her because she murdered his original crew and he promised this widow played by Gretchen Mol that he would get revenge, he hands out jewels to people like he is Oprah, but specifically gives his share to the families of his fallen crew members, which actually carries weight given his promise to Grace and his code of honor. At the end its just Parker returning to his simple life of crime alongside Grofield after distributing the jewels and killing Zen, a kind of life reset ending.
This could have been something special, Shane Black had all the pieces, a talented cast, a big budget from Amazon, source material thats been adapted successfully before but instead we get this generic streaming flop that feels like it was made to be fill content quota, nobody involved seems to care, the action is forgettable, the characters are empty, the plot is predictable, the dialogue lacks that Shane Black spark, its Christmas themed because of course it is, Black always does Christmas but even that feels half assed here, its just another streaming movie that you will forget about after watching. I would call this is Shane Black on autopilot making a Red Notice type movie, just bland corporate product with no soul, I know I rant a bit on this one but had to, Wahlberg is miscast, the supporting players are wasted, its a mess from top to bottom and I cant recommend it to anyone. Maybe a 6 out of 10 if Im being generous and thats only because Rosa Salazar looks both bad ass and damn hot, there is also Stanfield who has a few decent line, everything else about this movie is a waste of time and talent, I would say skip it.
The Nun II came out a few years ago in 2023 and honestly I went in expecting the worst after that first movie back in 2018 turned out to be not so great but turns out this one actually manages to be way better even tho thats not saying much since the bar was basically on the floor, something like "Annabelle Creation (2017)", into my journey of watching all the movies from this franchise its like most of the time the second movie is better so far but thats not the case for the main title but its something to discuss on another post. The Nun II develops in France where we see Valak just going completely nuts right from the start burning a priest alive inside a church, which was absolutely wild because the first movie barely showed the nun doing anything remotly violent. Taissa Farmiga is back as Sister Irene and she was still carrying the entire thing on her shoulders with the help of Frenchie guy, this time they pair her up with Sister Deborah who spends most of the movie being absolutely useless and this is not me being mean about it, the character literaly does nothing important until the very end when she suddenly remembers she has faith. The boarding school setting could have been way more interesting but they wasted it on boring daytime scenes with these awful bully girls who I actually wanted Valak to rip apart, those kids were so annoying that when the goat demon showed up I was kinda rooting for it even though thats probably not what the movie wanted me to feel.
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Maurice who everyone called Frenchie in the first movie is back and he was the one possessed by Valak this whole time, which we find out pretty early but the movie still pretends its some big mystery even tho we literally see him twitching in mirrors and snapping peoples necks left and right, he was getting all this work in the background, what I like the most about the movie is that even though I was aware of everything it was still interesting, there was buildup into it. But the whole possession thing gets confusing because at the end of the first movie we saw Valak go into him but that same movie also showed Valak still attacking Irene seperately, so how the hell does that work did the demon just make a copy of itself or is it pulling some multiverse nonsense that nobody bothered to explain??!!. Storm Reid plays this young nun Deborah whos losing her faith and they try to make it this big character but it falls completely flat, she was just there to ask dumb questions and be scared until the climax when she suddenly believes in God again. The demon is searching for Saint Lucys eyes which are burred somewhere in the boarding school and apprently these eyes are super powerfull, but the movie never really explains why a demon would even be able to use something holy like shouldnt God have some kind of protection on his saints relics to prevent exactly this kind of situation from happening, I mean this because we not talking about a bazooka that can be use by the good or bad guys, we talking about something holy unless Valak could some how infect this eyes and use them on his favor, idk this is just me making things up because the movie didnt gave any details on how that works.
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The scares in this are definitly an upgrade from the first one, that magazine stand scene from the trailer is fine I guess but they already spoiled it so by the time it happens your just sitting there waiting for it instead of being suprised, they should have skip it from the trailer. What actually worked was that whole chapel sequence with the goat demon showing up, that thing looked so messed up and wrong in a way that its going to shock you, even when it doesnt make much sense why a completely different demon just shows up randomly without any explanation, is this Valak soldier?. The movie tries to do this thing where Valak can be in multiple places at once possessing Maurice while also appearing as the nun and also somehow being a giant goat upstairs terrorizing little kids and makes me question if this demon is so powerful and can be everywhere at the same time why doesnt it just posses a couple of people to start looking for the damn eyes. That whole vision sequence where Irene sees everything unfold through flipping magazine pages goes on forever and gives her way to much information, she literally figures out that Maurice is possessed and that the demon wants Saint Lucys eyes and where its headed next all from seeing some random images, which is convenient as hell but makes things too easy, was like the writers speed run the mystery through a big info dump.
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Its almost at the third part of the movie where things finally pick up but its also where the movie completely falls apart logic wise, Sophie the young girl finds the eyes first and they start glowing when she is holding them which is weird because Irene is actually related to Saint Lucy but the eyes dont do shit for her. They tie up Maurice in some random alcove instead of bringing him down to the chapel where they could actually watch him, then he obviously breaks free and starts chasing everyone because of course he does. The goat demon is still running around upstairs and instead of helping Valak find the eyes its just scaring children for no reason, like this is supposed to be the ultimate evil trying to gain unimaginable power but it keeps getting distracted by side quests, although the scenes still look scary so for me all start falling apart after I watch the movie when I actually start to break it down, so in resume those where cool scenes though just leave your brain at the door. Its when Valak finally gets the eyes the movie acts like its game over and the nun becomes super powerful floating around and lifting Irene into the air to burn her alive, except we literally saw Valak do the exact same thing to that priest at the beginning of the movie before it even had the eyes so what exactly changed. Turns out Irene cant be burned because she was a descendant of Saint Lucy who was fireproof, well Im not so sure about it so its for the lols only, but yeah the fact that Irene cant get burn didnt have enough context for me.
Now the ending felt too simple for everything else I had seen from the movie and kinda dumb it down when Irene and Deborah start praying real hard and somehow turn entire barrles of wine into the blood of christ which explodes everywhere and burns Valak. First of all this boarding school used to be a monastary that was sold to a winery that then became a school but somehow theres still dozens of wine barrels just chilling in the basement after all these years, I know in Europe in some places wine is more than just alcohol so lets that slide but its just too convenient. The movie did mention earlier that you need actual faith to make the wine transmutation work but Deborah spent 90 percent of the movie saying she doesnt believe in God so how the hell did flip the switch, I could only count this as the last moment before death type of wish. They defeat Valak with the blood of christ which is the same thing they used in the first movie except that time it didnt actually work because the demon just possessed Maurice and escaped, so why would it work better this time around. Maurice survives and walks away with the mom and daughter like everything is fine even tho the post credits scene from the first movie already showed us that Ed and Lorraine Warren had to exorcise him later, meaning the demon is still in there and these idiots just let him leave without checking. The very last scene tries to connect everything to the Conjuring movies by showing the Warrens getting a call about the case but it dosent make any sense timeline wise and honestly feels like they just shoved it in there for fan service so in conclusion so far, sequels are better but connection between movies doesnt fell force. Its a 7 out of 10 for me watchable if you are looking for some drama and get scared here and there but completely forgettable, a great one time watch, this movie also did better than the first Nun movie.
Conocedor de Futbol y las MMA pero malo practicando deportes, me gusta las peliculas y series por eso ahora..."Soy critico de Cine". Viviendo en Venezuela
La franquicia creada por el guionista y director Alex Garland, siempre usó como base las consecuencias de un apocalipsis zombie; las películas de donde Garland es parte, el relato se enfoca desde el punto de vista de sobrevivientes; primeramente quien relata la historia es un hombre que de manera sorpresiva debe lidiar con el comienzo del brote de un virus que en 28 días arrasó con la Gran Bretaña y ahora, 23 años después observamos la continuación, pero con la diferencia de que el relato proviene de un adolescente que nació en una nación condenada por no saber controlar el virus y es por eso que debe crecer y vivir en una nueva sociedad que aprendió a sobrevivir, pero que sigue siendo merced del terror ejercido por criaturas violentas.
The franchise created by screenwriter and director Alex Garland has always been based on the consequences of a zombie apocalypse. In the films in which Garland is involved, the story is told from the point of view of survivors. The narrator is a man who is suddenly forced to deal with the outbreak of a virus that devastated Great Britain in 28 days. Now, 23 years later, we see the continuation, but with the difference that the story comes from a teenager who was born in a nation doomed for not knowing how to control the virus. That is why he must grow up and live in a new society that has learned to survive but remains at the mercy of the terror wrought by violent creatures.
Para este nuevo film, no solamente regresó Garland en la escritura del guion, también regresó el director Danny Boyle y con eso, fue suficiente para tener altas expectativas las cuales fueron respondidas por el gran trabajo realizado por ese director que no solamente generó intensas escenas de terror, sino que tuvo el tiempo para demostrar la belleza de un mundo en tranquilidad, pero bajo el dominio de zombies. Para este film, se usó muchos elementos para captar las maravillosas escenas que la conforman; aparte de cámaras convencionales, digitales y hasta drones, Boyle también usó la cámara de los iPhone 15 Pro Max, lo cual proveyó nitidez a muchas escenas, una alta gama de colores y gran iluminación; personalmente estaba fascinado porque no hay ninguna escena en dónde exista un mínimo de calidad, cada una es perfecta sin depender de la perspectiva que ofrece el director desde la cámara, pienso que Boyle se supera con lo hecho en el primer film el cual también ofrece muy buenas escenas, aprovechando la falta de luz y lo lúgubre de una ciudad en soledad, pero creo que en esta oportunidad era necesario demostrar otro aspecto de ese mundo.
For this new film, not only did Garland return to write the script, but director Danny Boyle also returned, and that was enough to raise high expectations, which were met by the great work done by this director, who not only created intense scenes of terror, but also took the time to show the beauty of a world at peace, albeit under the rule of zombies. For this film, many elements were used to capture the wonderful scenes that make it up; apart from conventional cameras, digital cameras, and even drones, Boyle also used the iPhone 15 Pro Max camera, which provided sharpness to many scenes, a high range of colors, and great lighting. Personally, I was fascinated because there is not a single scene where the quality is less than perfect. Each one is flawless, regardless of the perspective offered by the director from the camera. I think Boyle has surpassed himself with this film, which also offers some very good scenes, taking advantage of the lack of light and the gloominess of a lonely city, but I believe that on this occasion it was necessary to show another aspect of that world.
El guion escrito por Garland es de los puntos más altos del film, es una completa demostración de evolución e involución de la sociedad que al ser o no infectados, de igual manera deben lidiar con las consecuencias de ser parte de un apocalipsis contenido en las islas británicas; ese es un tema principal de la historia la cual es parte del relato ofrecido por un adolescente que no está preparado para dar fin a la inocencia de un infante y tener las responsabilidades de un adulto, eso hace que esta secuela se convierte en un coming of age en dónde un mundo apocalíptico será el parque de atracciones para que el protagonista deba crecer y convertirse en un hombre; creo que es perfecta decisión de Garland demostrar como un mundo sin un futuro o una evolución puede afectar completamente la mente de quien lo habita y al existir una población joven, es difícil que no exista una rebeldía en querer y saber mucho más; en mi opinión es de las mejores historias que he visto en un film del género de zombies.
The script written by Garland is one of the film's high points. It is a complete demonstration of the evolution and involution of society, which, whether infected or not, must still deal with the consequences of being part of an apocalypse contained within the British Isles. This is a main theme of the story, which is part of the narrative offered by a teenager who is not prepared to end the innocence of a child and take on the responsibilities of an adult. This makes the sequel a coming-of-age story in which an apocalyptic world becomes an amusement park for the protagonist to grow up and become a man. I think it's the perfect decision by Garland to show how a world without a future or evolution can completely affect the minds of those who inhabit it, and with a young population, it's difficult for there not to be a rebellion in wanting and knowing much more. In my opinion, it's one of the best stories I've seen in a zombie film.
Un aspecto importante del film es el dar protagonismo a un joven actor como lo es Alfie Williams quien en su muy temprana carrera debe liderar está nueva historia o etapa en la franquicia de "the 28 Days Later"; su actuación como "Spike" es más que correcta, es excelente, ya que Garland no escatimó en crear a un personaje que represente las inquietudes, incógnitas, curiosidad y al mismo tiempo amor que puede presentar un niño, hago énfasis en que está historia esté relatada desde el punto de vista de un niño en su transición a la adolescencia porque es lo que motiva las situaciones en esta secuela y por eso el personaje de "Spike" es de suma importancia para entender lo que vemos en este film; me pareció genial el cómo ese joven personaje toma las riendas de la historia para hacerse adulto y tratar de buscar su propia camino aunque eso lo lleve a enfrentar peligros en un mundo que todavía no conoce; nuevamente repito, el guion que escribió Garland, más la actuación de Williams hace que el film sea perfecto.
An important aspect of the film is giving prominence to a young actor such as Alfie Williams who, in his very early career, must lead this new story or stage in the "28 Days Later" franchise. His performance as "Spike" is more than adequate; it is excellent, as Garland spared no effort in creating a character who represents the concerns, uncertainties, curiosity, and at the same time love that a child can display. I emphasize that this story is told from the point of view of a child in his transition to adolescence because that is what motivates the situations in this sequel, and that is why the character of "Spike" is extremely important for understanding what we see in this film. I thought it was great how this young character takes charge of the story to become an adult and try to find his own way, even if that leads him to face dangers in a world he does not yet know. Once again, the script written by Garland, plus Williams' performance, makes the film perfect.
Tuve la oportunidad de leer una opinión ofrecida por Boyle en dónde él se rehúsa en llamar a estas películas como de zombies, pero es inevitable que tanto 28 Days Later y 28 Years Later no sean consideradas como films de zombies y más está nueva producción que en mi opinión es una carta de amor a lo que ofrecía George A. Romero en cada una de sus películas en dónde usaba a los zombies para crear una crítica política y social; justamente tanto Boyle, como Garland, no perdieron la oportunidad en demostrar o crear una crítica hacia lo sucedido en el Reino Unido en los últimos años, como por ejemplo su necesidad de independencia y por supuesto el mal manejo de la pandemia del COVID, creo que todo eso influyó al director y en especial al creador de la franquicia a escribir una historia de como sería realmente esa independencia y de como un virus todavía pudiera seguir generando terror en sus habitantes. Este film tiene una historia muy interesante, una hermosa filmografía, escenas llenas de acción, tensión, es una historia divertida con muy buenos personajes lo cual son características que dan aprobación a esta secuela que a pesar de estrenarse tantos años después, demuestra vigencia y creo que eso lo da mucho valor y me genera altas expectativas para el film a estrenarse el próximo mes de enero del 2026, en donde creo que será muy diferente a lo visto en esta gran película.
I had the opportunity to read an opinion piece by Boyle in which he refuses to call these films zombie movies, but it is inevitable that both 28 Days Later and 28 Years Later are considered zombie films, and even more so this new production, which in my opinion is a love letter to what George A. Romero offered in each of his films, where he used zombies to create a political and social critique. Both Boyle and Romero used zombies to create a political and social critique. Romero**_ in each of his films, where he used zombies to create political and social criticism. Both Boyle and _** Garland** did not miss the opportunity to demonstrate or create a critique of what has happened in the United Kingdom in recent years, such as its need for independence and, of course, the mishandling of the COVID pandemic. I think all of that influenced the director and especially the creator of the franchise to write a story about what that independence would really be like and how a virus could still continue to terrorize its inhabitants. This film has a very interesting story, beautiful cinematography, scenes full of action and tension. It is an entertaining story with very good characters, which are characteristics that give this sequel its approval. Despite being released so many years later, it proves to be relevant, and I think that gives it a lot of value and generates high expectations for the film to be released next January 2026, which I believe will be very different from what we saw in this great film.
Continue with the saga of watching the entire franchise in chronological events but I got to say thinking back in the day probably nobody expected a prequel to Annabelle to be any good, much less a prequel to a prequel that alredy sucked hard but here we are talking about Annabelle Creation and how it turned out way beter than I though. David Sandberg came in after making Lights Out and actualy gave us something worth watching, wich is wild because the first Annabelle was very trashy ngl, like I remmeber watching that one and being been like hhhmmm is this the demon doll they got locked, yeah is ugly AF but the movie not so scary. This movie gets back to basics with the horror stuff, good sound work, decent camera angles and building up tension without throwing jump scares at you every five seconds, it was all about context, this didnt feel some kind of desperate attempt to keep you awake, the whole setup with the orphanage girls staying at this creepy dollmaker house works pretty well, specially because you actualy end up caring about Janice and Linda and their friendship. These two girls want to get adopted togeather and have this whole future planed out, so when the demonic posession stuff starts happening, its more personal because there is something real here between the girls, instead of just random people dying for no reason, you know when you care about characters it makes everything else matter more and this movie actualy pulled that off. Now the movie is not perfect at all, it drags a bit in the first half with way to many loud noise scares that get old quick but once it gets going, things get prety intense and the demon stuff starts ramping up that actualy made me stay and pay atention, this was not what I was expecting from an Annabelle movie at all.
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The whole thing kicks off with this dollmaker Samuel Mullin and his wife Esther living with their daughter in this nice little house out in the middle of nowhere and everything seems perfect until they leave church one day, their car breaks down on the side of the road. The daughter runs out to grab a lug nut that fell off and she gets smashed by a truck coming around the corner, it happens so fast you dont even see it coming and then we jump twelve years ahead to these orphan girls showing up at the house, because the Mullins decided to open their home to help out. The thing is you can tell something is off from the start, like the wife never leaves her room and wears this creepy mask over half her face, claiming she got sick and the husband is just wandering around being all weird and quiet, acting like he has this dark secret hanging over him, which of course he does because this is a horror movie and everyone has secrets that come back to bite them. Janice is this girl who had polio, so she have trouble walking and has this big leg brace which makes her more vulnerable than the others and Linda is her best friend who looks out for her all the time, they have this plan where they will only get adopted together as sisters and it is actualy pretty sweet until everything goes to shit. The house has this one room that used to belong to the dead daughter and of course it is locked, and of course the girls are told not to go in there, but you know how that goes in horror movies, Janice ends up finding her way inside and discovers the Annabelle doll sitting in a closet, covered in Bible pages, and warnings scribbled all over the walls.
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What I liked about this movie compared to the first one is that it actualy uses the doll in creepy ways, instead of just having random ghost shit happen around it, like there are scenes where the doll is sitting on the bed and then the character looks away, and when they look back, the dolls head has turned to face them. Simple stuff like that works way better than all the complicated demon nonsense they tried to pull in the first movie, where the doll barely even mattered, here the doll is front and center doing what it should be doing, its way more active which is freaking people out by moving when nobody is looking. There is this awesome part where Janice is in the staircase elevator thing, because she cant walk up stairs easily and the doll appears at the top waiting for her, just sitting there all creepy and you know something bad is about to go down, like that kind of simple stuff with the proper sound and setup can be so creepy. The movie does a good job of building tension through these moments, instead of just relying on loud noises every ten seconds to make you jump, although there are still pleny of those, especially in the first half which got annoying after a while. But once the demon actualy starts posessing Janice and things escalate in the second half, I was locked in finding out how it would play out, the actress playing Janice does a really good job of going from sweet kid to full on creepy demon child and it never felt over the top or silly.
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The backstory they give for how the doll got posessed makes sense to within the universe they have set up with these movies, so after their daughter dies, the parents pray to anything that will listen to bring her back and they start seeing her ghost around the house, leaving little notes like she used to do when she was alive. They think it is actualy their daughter coming back to visit them but of course it is just a demon pretending to be her, so it can get invited into their home, demons need permission aparently its very cliche although I have read its a real thing, never met a demon though and dont want to, so they have to trick people into letting them in. Eventually the demon asks to move into the doll so it can stay with them forever and they agree like idiots, just like in the other movies, everyone just think they are helping their little girl when they are realy just trapping a demon in a creepy ass doll that will go on to terrorize people for decades, what a way to screw everything up for everyone else. The movie also try to make reference to other Conjuring movies and thats when it felt force, I think there was no need because it was all good aside from those reference. There is also a scarecrow in the barn that the demon posesses at one point and that whole sequence was pretty tense, with the girl trapped inside trying to get the axe while this thing is waking up and pulling off its mask to reveal demon teeth, I wish they had done more with that honestly because it was one of the creepier parts of the movie.
The gore is kept under control, no savage bloodbath or cutttings or dramatic exagerated pucking which I actualy apreciate after all this just girls, because you dont need to go overboard with blood everywhere when you can build real fear through atmosfere and painting that creepy psychological scenario, there is one brutal scene where the Ester Mullins gets ripped in half by the demon and nail by the wrist to the wall, there is also one part you see her top half crawling after Linda in the basement, which was pretty gnarly, yes there was blood on this scence but Im talking not Evil Dead Rise. What realy surprised me was how this connects back to the first Annabelle movie at the end because it ties everything together when Janice escapes through a hole in the wall after they lock her in the room covered with Bible pages and she ends up at another orphanage where she gets adopted by a nice couple. She tells them her name is Annabelle now, because the demon has fully taken over and then it shows her growing up over the years, until she eventually murders her adoptive parents with her cult boyfriend, which is exactly how the first movie starts, it was a solid way to connect everything, even if it relies on a massive coincidence that the neighbors in the first movie just happened to have an Annabelle doll sitting in their house. It was such a big WTF moment that this specific doll would end up right next door to where demon Janice is living years later. Solid horror movie that makes you think, maybe the franchise finaly figuring out that hiring good directors actualy matters, if they had made the first Annabelle like this one, people would have been way more into this whole spin off thing. I would give it a 6.5 out of 10 because it does what it sets out to do and delivers some cool scares, but it is not perfect and drags in spots, worth watching if you are into horror movies and a fan of the franchise like me.
I grew up hearing the word Nikita, associating it with a famous song by Elton John. Then I learned about a film with the same name and thought that its lyrics had inspired the creation of the main character, but that's not the case.
Nikita is a French-Italian film that was released in 1990. It was a huge success and spawned many remakes, including a short-lived television series and an Asian version. I first saw it when I was little and had forgotten about it until I happened to see it again a few weeks ago and remembered that I had seen it before.
It is a crime, romance and thriller film. In the first version, you can see how old the film is; the photography, costumes and special effects transport you to the past of cinema, but its plot is powerful and timeless, which guarantees success in any production.
The main character is Nikita, a young, violent addict with no family who is part of a gang, with an irreverent style, coloured hair and ripped jeans, which was unusual for the time. She was pure rebellion. The film begins with a scene of a pharmacy robbery where all the assailants were men and she was the only woman. They were looking for drugs, and everything gets out of control when the owner wakes up and recognises his son among the assailants. A shootout ensues, and everyone dies except Nikita.
The authorities see her as a different kind of woman and decide to use her as a lethal weapon. They keep her isolated and detoxify her until they explain why they are holding her and what her rights are, which in reality are none. She was locked up in a place that looked like a school, where she was fed, clothed and taught everything about weapons, wrestling, martial arts, etiquette and protocol, everything she could and wanted to learn to reinvent herself in society and carry out special orders. The system turned her into a hitwoman and she had no choice but to accept this job.
What I liked most was seeing Nikita's transformation from a social outcast with no future to a sophisticated, intelligent and calculating woman, although deep down she was still an innocent girl. The romantic part left me unsatisfied because I always hoped she would have something more intimate with her mentor, and that never happened, but the ending is promising as it gives Nikita hope.
I think this film was a success because it broke the mould of an era. Women were beginning to raise their voices and take centre stage in many areas, and Nikita represents that woman who does not let herself be defeated and can rise from the ashes, although this version is still essentially the same killer. It has its moments of psychological tension. Whether you have seen any of the other versions or none at all, I invite you to watch the original.
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The Long Walk is one of those movies that sounds absolutely stupid on paper but somehow ends up working way better than it should, just a bunch of guys walking until they drop dead or get shot sounds boring as hell but this thing actually keeps you locked in for the full two hours witch is pretty wild when you think about it, they just walking but its their interaction, the things they talk about, their "Moments" as Pete describe it on the movie. Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson carry the entire movie on there backs and the chemistry between these two is insane, you actually end up giving a shit about what happens to them, witch is pretty rare for a movie where you know damn well only one person makes it out alive at the end. Francis Lawrence directed this and he also did most of the Hunger Games movies so he knows how to handle these death game type stories, the guy gets how to make it feel real and heavy, instead of just cheap entertainment for people who want flashy action scenes or cool deaths. This aint some flashy death match with crazy explosions every five minutes, its just people talking and walking, and slowly falling apart both in there heads and there bodys, literally their bodies give up before their mind and somehow it never gets boring or feels like a slog to sit through, witch is pretty impressive when you think about such a very simple action of walking, just keep walking, there is no finish line or ending.
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The rules are super simple and thats what makes it work so damn well, walk at 3 miles per hour or you get warnings and after three strikes your done, soldiers shoot you right there on the road and the movie doesnt hold back from showing how messed up that whole situation is for everyone involved, every other guy on this walk loose it as they see the rest going down walking on blooded foot or even totally broken ankle. The movie doesnt waste any time with boring setup that drags on forever and dont even care about giving much context of the why this is all going on its just straight to the bone, it gives you the basics real quick, then jumps straight into the walk without spending 40 minutes on backstory nobody cares about anyway. Mark Hamill shows up as the Major and he was good in the role but it feels like easy paycheck work for him, nothing to crazy or memorable compared to some of his other stuff over the years. The whole concept is based on a Stephen King novel from the 60s and apparently this was the first thing he ever wrote, even though it didnt get published until way later under a fake name, the book had 100 contestants walking but the movie cuts it down to 50, witch makes it feel more manageable and focused on the characters that actually matter to the story, feels more personal, they even form a group and call themself Musketeers.
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The entire story develops on a very fucked up world after War as Major describe there is an epidemic of laziness and it does look like from the environment we watch on the country side, after a big war that happend 19 years ago and left everything in complete ruins for everyone, the government is run by this totalitarian regime that bans books and music from before the war and also look like everyone is poor, anyways thats not the important part of the movie so doesnt really matter. The point is that every year they do this Long Walk thing, where one person from each state has to participate in the event and the last one standing gets money and one wish, supposedly this is meant to inspire the nation and boost productivity for the economy but really its just propaganda bullshit, to keep people in line and distracted from how terrible there lives are. Raymond Garraty is the main character and he joins the walk because he wants revenge on the Major for killing his dad in front of him and his mom, his father was executed for reading banned books and thinking for himself, witch in this world is basically a death sentence that you cant escape from, this hole story reminds me a lot of a movie that Bale did many years ago called "Equilibrium". Pete McVrees is the other main character and he was basically Rays best friend, even wanted to be his actual brother, thats all he wanted in life and this topic show up throughout the whole thing, David Jonsson plays him and the dude is phenomenal in this role. There chemistry together is what makes the movie work so well because you believe these two guys actually care about each other as friends, its not just fake movie friendship where they say nice things but you dont buy it for a second cause the acting sucks. Judy Greer plays Rays mom, and she has very few scenes in the whole movie but shes absolutely heartbreaking in both of them, specially the opening when shes driving her son to the start line, knowing theres a good chance hes never coming back home to her again.
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One thing that really stood out was how the movie shows all the messed up stuff that comes with walking non stop for days without any breaks, like how do you go to the bathroom when you cant stop moving forward, what happens when you get a cramp in your leg that makes you slow down, what if you get a rock in your shoe or your ankle breaks from walking so long. All these everyday things become life or death situations and the movie doesnt shy away from showing how brutal it gets for these young guys, one kid has explosive diarrhea and the movie shows is straight up no blur or cover up scene, another kid breaks his ankle and kept walking basically on his bone for hours witch seemed pretty unbelievable to me for me that was the beauty of this movie. The kills are super graphic and straight forward head shot and there faces explode into pieces, one kid gets run over by a tank when he tries to talk to the camera crew filming everything, another one tries to grab a soldiers gun and gets killed instantly without hesitation. The end is a bit confusing so I decided to look up about the story and found out that movie was shot in sequential order witch means they filmed everything in the actual order it happens in the story, this was a smart choice because it lets the actors actually bond with each other over time, just like there characters do in the walk and you can see them getting more tired and beat up as the movie goes on and there bodys start giving out. Francis Lawrence and his crew deserve a lot of credit, because filming something like this where almost every scene is outside in the elements and people are constantly moving without stopping, must have been exhausting as hell for the cast and crew, even if the story has some logical holes in it that dont quite add up.
The ending is pretty different from the book as I mention and its also a bit confusing because things happen out of no where and I think it works better for what the movie is trying to say about sacrifice, in the book Ray wins and just keeps walking off into nothing like a zombie but in the movie Pete ends up winning after Ray sacrifices himself so his friend can live and go home. Pete asks for a soldiers gun as his wish and the Major gives it to him thinking Pete wont actually do anything with it on live television, that sounds totally stupid but it could be just the fact that power got him blind, Pete shoots the Major right in the face in front of the whole country watching on there TVs, witch was pretty damn satisfying to watch after everything but still felt a bit hollow for me, it was just too easy and too simple. Like me some people might want a more clear ending, with everything explained but I think the ambiguity works here for this type of story, I always have this idea that adaptations main point is to sell more books or video games so ending the movie in such gray area works for people to get interested and want to know more about or even buy the book, the message is that even when you win you still lose in the end, because this whole system is designed to break people down, until theres nothing left of who they used to be before. Ray wanted revenge against the government and Pete wanted money to escape his shitty life and terrible childhood, but in the end neither of them really get what they wanted out of it. Its a pretty flat way to end things but it fits the tone of the whole movie perfectly, this isnt a feel good story about overcoming adversity and winning against the odds, its about how governments use young people as pawns and grind them down for entertainment and propaganda purposes. I love this movie and even though it has a few holes in the story I cant stop from giving it a 8.5 out of 10, its probably one of the best Stephen King adaptations in recent years and definitely worth watching if your into this kind of dark depressing stuff, just dont expect to feel good after its over, because you absolutely will not be smiling.
A few days ago, even though I felt like watching a comedy, I found this on NetFlix and I thought to give it a try.
The original title is Svaniti Nella Notte and as you may understand it is Italian. I enjoy Italian films so if you have any to suggest, let me know below!
Story: A father, immersed in a difficult divorce process, embarks on a dangerous mission when his children disappear from their isolated country house.
I dont like movies where children have to suffer in any way, or being kidnapped. However I did give this film a chance.
To be more specific:
If you’re in the mood for a light thriller that doesn’t demand too much attention, Vanished Into the Night (2024) could be an option for you. But you need to know in advance that it won’t leave a lasting impression.
This seems like a low-budget Italian thriller, and at first it does deliver some thrills. The lead characters embark on a journey into the criminal world in the efforts to find their missing children.
The two main actors, who play a newly divorced couple, live up to their roles.
The performances are solid and there is some emotional moments that may keep you captivated.
Unfortunately, the story doesn’t fully use its potential. There are logical gaps in the story and a few slow moments that make you wonder what could have been if the film had received more careful handling, or perhaps a bigger budget.
It’s in Italian, always a plus for me.
The story has potential and a few decent plot twists.
Beautiful sceneries that add atmosphere.
No disturbing scenes involving children (thankfully).
Works as an easy-to-watch film. (only 1 hour and a half
But
Noticeable gaps in the storyline.
Some slow moments where not much happens.
In imdb it has a 5.2 rating and if you ask me, I would agree and give it between 5-5.2 also.
Vanished Into the Night isn’t a bad movie, but it is not a great one.
It offers a few moments of tension and a couple of plot twists, but falls short of being memorable.
My rating: 5/10.
If you’re looking for something truly exciting or innovative, you might want to skip this one.
¡Hola amigos! Hoy les traigo la reseña de una película que estaba esperando con ansias y que se estrenó el pasado 10 de octubre en la plataforma de Netflix, un thriller que se las trae. Les estoy hablando de La mujer del camarote 10.
Hello, friends! Today I bring you a review of a movie I was eagerly awaiting, which premiered on October 10 on Netflix—a thriller that packs a punch. I'm talking about The Woman in Cabin 10.
En esta historia seguimos a una periodista que es invitada a un crucero de lujo con participantes adinerados como parte de una experiencia única. Su trabajo consiste en documentar todo lo que pasa allí. Pero una noche, Laura se despierta por unos ruidos que escucha en el camarote de al lado y tras asomarse al pequeño balcón ve cómo un cuerpo cae al mar. Asustada llama a la seguridad del crucero que alerta a toda la tripulación y se disponen a investigar si falta alguien, pero en realidad están todos. Laura insiste en que había una mujer rubia en ese camarote, el número 10, pero ellos les dicen que nunca hubo nadie allí y ahora toda la tripulación la trata como si hubiera estado delirando. Lo cierto es que algo raro está pasando en ese viaje y Laura no descansará hasta descubrirlo.
In this story, we follow a journalist who is invited on a luxury cruise with wealthy passengers as part of a unique experience. Her job is to document everything that happens there. But one night, Laura is awakened by noises coming from the cabin next door and, after looking out onto the small balcony, she sees a body fall into the sea. Frightened, she calls the cruise ship's security, who alert the entire crew, and they set out to investigate if anyone is missing, but in reality, everyone is there. Laura insists that there was a blonde woman in that cabin, number 10, but they tell her that no one was ever there, and now the entire crew treats her as if she were delirious. The truth is that something strange is happening on that trip, and Laura will not rest until she finds out what it is.
Es uno de esos thriller que te mantienen en vilo hasta el final, no sé sabe muy bien lo que va a pasar y en algún punto desconfías de todos los personajes, ya que cada uno parece guardar sus propios intereses. Aunque si le prestas atención, se puede llegar a adivinar parte de lo que está ocurriendo en ese crucero.
It's one of those thrillers that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the end. You don't really know what's going to happen, and at some point you start to distrust all the characters, as each one seems to be looking out for their own interests. Although if you pay close attention, you can guess some of what's going on on that cruise ship.
Allí hay personalidades muy ambiciosas y cuestionables, pero el motivo del viaje es darle un adiós a Annie Bullmer, la mujer del dueño del crucero que sufre de un cáncer terminal y quiere hacer su último acto de buena voluntad participando de una gala especial a beneficio de su fundación, y de paso planea dejar todo en regla y en buenas manos antes del desenlace fatal. Pero, nada está saliendo como les gustaría con Laura buscando pistas de lo que sabe que vio, porque sí, la mujer rubia existe y no sabemos qué pasó con ella hasta un poco más de la mitad de la película.
There are some very ambitious and questionable characters there, but the reason for the trip is to say goodbye to Annie Bullmer, the wife of the cruise ship owner, who is suffering from terminal cancer and wants to make her last act of goodwill by participating in a special gala to benefit her foundation. She also plans to leave everything in order and in good hands before the fatal outcome. But nothing is going as they would like, with Laura searching for clues to what she knows she saw, because yes, the blonde woman exists, and we don't know what happened to her until a little over halfway through the film.
Mientras tanto todos son sospechosos, aunque nadie le cree a la pobre de Laura y la tratan de paranoica por haber vivido un hecho traumático hace unos meses y la acusan de que lo que vio fue producto de una alucinación tras sufrir una pesadilla con aquellos recuerdos. Ella no está contenta con eso, y está convencida que lo que vio fue real, así que busca a esta chica por todas partes e interroga a todos los tripulantes. Esto no le hace feliz a algunos de los personajes involucrados de la historia.
Meanwhile, everyone is a suspect, although no one believes poor Laura and they treat her as paranoid for having experienced a traumatic event a few months ago and accuse her of seeing things that were the product of a hallucination after suffering a nightmare with those memories. She is not happy about this and is convinced that what she saw was real, so she searches everywhere for this girl and questions all the crew members. This does not make some of the characters involved in the story happy.
La verdad es que me resultó un buen thriller, es entretenido. Te mantiene en vilo intentando descifrar lo qué está pasando y cuando te das cuenta de la verdad es incluso impactante, lo que es capaz de hacer un ser humano por ambición y dinero es realmente espeluznante. Me pareció una buena película para pasar el rato y tiene una duración justa como para que no sea muy densa, ni se vaya mucho por las ramas.
The truth is that I found it to be a good thriller; it's entertaining. It keeps you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what's going on, and when you realize the truth, it's even shocking. What a human being is capable of doing for ambition and money is truly horrifying. I thought it was a good movie to pass the time, and it's just the right length so that it's not too dense or goes off on too many tangents.
De todos modos, sí me pareció que tuvo un cierre algo apresurado y no se profundizó mucho en lo que pasó luego de lo sucedido. También tuvo otros detalles que no terminaron de cerrarme del todo, pero bueno, es una película entretenida con la que no se van a aburrir si deciden verla. A mí me gustó bastante, quizá le faltó un poquito más de acción y escenas que jugarán más con la mente como deberían hacerlo todos los thriller psicológicos, pero estuvo pasable. Así que la recomiendo.
In any case, I did feel that the ending was somewhat rushed and that it didn't go into much depth about what happened after the events of the film. There were also other details that didn't quite sit right with me, but overall, it's an entertaining film that won't bore you if you decide to watch it. I liked it quite a bit. Maybe it needed a little more action and scenes that play more with the mind, as all psychological thrillers should, but it was passable. So I recommend it.
Bueno amigos, hasta acá mi opinión acerca de la película. Espero que les haya gustado y los animo a verla si les llama la atención. Si ya lo hicieron me encantaría saber qué les pareció.
Gracias por llegar hasta acá y apoyar mi contenido.
¡Hasta la próxima!
Well, friends, that's my opinion about the movie. I hope you liked it, and I encourage you to watch it if it catches your attention. If you already have, I'd love to hear what you thought of it.
Thank you for reading and supporting my content.
See you next time!
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Now that "The Conjuring" franchise has been announce to be officially over, they had to retire the Warren's at some point, decided to watch the entire franchise a movie per day and chronologically have to start with "The Nun (2018)", this thing was kind of a mess if we being real about it, another prequel to The Conjuring universe that just does not deliver the same punch as the original movies do. The whole thing takes place back in 1952 Romania, at this creepy monastery, where a nun kills herself and the Vatican sends Father Burke and Sister Irene to investigate what the hell happened there, sounds good on paper but it kind of falls apart after sometime because honestly this demon aside from scary didnt feel like a threat to anyone's soul. The biggest problem with this movie is that its just one jump scare after another and Im a fan of the franchise so Im big bias and I know many might want more than just cheap scare jumps that you can literally see them coming from a mile away and after the fifth or sixth time someone gets attached by something jumping out from behind them, it gets old real fast. Taissa Farmiga does her best as Sister Irene, and she actually looks so much like Vera Farmiga, from the main Conjuring movies, that it makes perfect sense she was her younger sister but even good casting cannot save boring characters, that you just do not care about at all, like I kept waiting to feel something for these people but it never happened for me. The one bright spot is this dude they call Frenchie, who with the little part he got becomes way more important and not only for his movie in specific but others in the future, for that guy you are going to care about like he is the only character that really commits, made him also way more fun to watch.
The story are Romania sounds cool enough at first, you got Father Burke who was this priest investigator that the Vatican sends out to check on weird supernatural stuff and Sister Irene, whos not even a full nun yet that part felt like a joke to be hones because she was still in training or whatever they call it. They get sent to this abbey in Romania because some nun hung herself and the Vatican is like tf how that going to happen on our watch, we need to figure out what's going on over there so off they go with Frenchie who was this French Canadian guy that found the body and knows the area pretty well. The hole visuals of the place looks amazing, super gothic with all these crosses in the cemetery and fog everywhere it was like the perfect scene for a movie like this, to complement the scenery there is this big creepy castle type building, thats supposed to be the monastery, it really does look like something out of an old classic monster movie. The main problem of the movie is been repetitive because once the scary stuff starts happening its just the same thing over and over, quiet hallway with someone walking around holding a candle then BAM loud noise and the nuns face appears or some demon thing jumps out at them. When the same formula keeps going you start to see the pattern and it stops being scary anymore, the joke is over as it just becomes too predictable, the not scary parts of the movie are way more interesting and what kept me watching.
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Sister Irene had to take the wheel because Father Burke felt like he was useless for the most part because you think he was gonna be this badass exorcist type guy who knows how to handle demons but nope, he just walks into danger constantly and gets his ass kicked every single time. I remember one scene very early where the demon buries him alive in a coffin, six feet under ground and his sorry ass was totally helpless trying to ring a bell to get help, this is suppose because back in the day they put bells on graves that I had no clue about but incase someone got buried by mistake but this actually make kinda sense during old times where plagues happen and science was not as advance as today. Sister Irene hears it somehow even though she was like way across the property, and digs him out pretty easy and after that you would think he would be like we gotta get the F out of here its way too dangerous for us, but no he just keeps investigating and walking around dark rooms by himself like getting buried alive wasnt a big enough warning sign for him. When this kind of ridiculous situations happen on a scary movie it honestly becomes hilarious for me, another ironic reason I had an ok time watching like what are you doing, just get the hell out of there before something worse happens to you and then there were also all these visions he keeps having, of this boy he failed to exorcise years ago, the kid shows up multiple times spitting snakes at him and messing with his head, but it never really goes anywhere interesting. Its just there to give him some backstory I guess but it feels tacked on and not really connected to the main story, about the demon Nun at all, like they could have cut all of that out and the movie would have been exactly the same and that is not so good for character development.
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Sister Irene end up been the main character and hero of this story along with Frenchie since she was the one who ends up defeating the demon at the end, she starts having these visions where she keeps hearing Mary points the way, over and over again. Eventually she figures out it means, there was a key hidden in a statue of Mary that leads to this chamber where the demon is sealed, real groundbreaking detective work there and thats the investigating aspect that kept me watching too. The backstory they give for the demon is actually kind of interesting but they explain it so fast, that it just feels rushed, apparently during World War Two a bomb hit the abbey and opened up this rift that let the demon Valak into the world, the nuns have been praying constantly to keep it sealed away but now its getting stronger and breaking through. The only way to stop it is with the blood of Christ which Father Burke conveniently finds in this old vial, the way they use it at the end is just ridiculous though, Sister Irenes under water getting strangled by Valak and somehow she breaks open the vial and gets the blood in her mouth, while shes being choked, then when Valak pulls her up, she spits it in the demons face and boom its defeated just like that, see you just reading this might laugh because its ridiculous. I was like wait what, how did she do all that without Valak noticing and also why would the demon pull her up out of the water instead of just drowning her right there, it felt really convenient and not thought through at all, like they just needed a way to end the movie quick.
By the end I was just disappointed but also entertained and laugh a couple of time, the demon was scary looking but was not a movie that gives you nightmares, very classic cliche crosses turning upside down and dark figures in hallways and people getting thrown around by invisible forces, all stuff we have seen done way better, if they had only included something or someone very dramatic getting possesed and tormented during the most part of the movie like in the other Conjuring movies. The whole climax feels more like an action movie with everyone running around this flooded chamber, fighting the demon, instead of actual horror, Frenchie even shows up with a shotgun at one point trying to shoot ghosts and I was like wtf but even that felt more natural because its that defense, horror and ignorance at the same time. The very last scene tries to connect it to the first Conjuring movie by revealing that Frenchie is the guy who got possessed that Ed and Lorraine Warren had to exorcise, they show the demon leaving a mark on his neck so you know he was gonna get taken over later, its supposed to be this oh damn moment but it doesnt hit because of how the movie was developed, like they were trying way too hard to throw you this bone at the end to tie everything in the franchise together. The Nun had potential with this awesome looking scenery and the look of Valak, who was very creepy looking, the makeup is great, but good visuals cant carry a whole movie specially when there is nobody to play the over dramatic part as the script and pacing are this weak and repetitive. Maybe a 7 out of 10 for me just because Im bias but I can understand why it got destroyed on the internet, easily the weakest entry in The Conjuring series.
Caught Stealing is one of those movies that sounds way cooler in theory than what it actually delivers on screen but I still like it enough to give it an 8/10 something that is weird no this post there is going to be a love and hate, not saying its bad but damn its such a weird experience watching this thing, like you are suppose to laugh and you do but its like some scenes start great and in the middle they screw it up and I dont know if all this was on purpose because there are still certain aspects of the movie that are very controversial like clothing, Math Smith character looks, the cat Bud. Darren Aronofsky doing a Guy Ritchie style movie sounds good on paper except the big problem here is the movie never fully commits too being one or the other, your left with something that feels like two different movies fighting for screen time. Austin Butler is carrying this entire thing on his back, I mean that literally, the dude is in every single scene doing heavy lifting, he does an amazing job playing this regular guy named Hank, used too have dreams about being a baseball star back in high school, talks too his mom on the phone about the San Francisco Giants, watches games at work, lives a pretty simple boring life until everything goes too absolute hell. The whole mess kicks off because Hank agrees too watch his neighbors cat named Bud, neighbor is this punk rock British guy named Russ who needs too go too England, his dad is sick or dying or something like that, sounds simple enough until suddenly Hanks getting his ass kicked by Russian mobsters, these guys beat him so bad he loses an entire kidney because they thought he was running away with their money, wakes up in the hospital confused as hell, now hes trying too figure out where some mysterious key is hidden for a locker that holds $4 Million, people around him keep dying left and right, the body count piles up, Hank is stuck in the middle of this shit storm he didnt ask for.
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The movie takes place in 1998, it really does feel like the late 90s with actual cameras from that era, he nails that late 90s vibe completely, no cell phones anywhere, Twin Towers still standing in the New York skyline, everything looks kinda grainy, like your watching something that was buried in a time capsule for twenty five years. But the movie at certain point gets lost and real messy with the tone, sometimes the movie is trying too be funny, sometimes its trying too be dark, sometimes its both at the exact same time, those two tones just dont blend right so easy, its like oil and water, its like watching a comedy that suddenly turns to aggressive, insults can be funny but only until a certain limit, not that they were just insulting each other but just as an example, the movie goes to both ends of the rope and never stays in the middle. There are moments where I was laughing at something Austin Butler said, he does have a comedy side that suits him depending on the script but this time the movie doesnt help that much when all of the sudden something brutal happens, someone gets shot in the head, the cat gets kicked by one of the Russian guys, I am sitting there going wait why did they cut off the scene this way? they just ruin it, is this suppose too make me laugh? because it cant be both sick to the stomach and funny, neither one is working the way it should. The pacing in the middle section drags quite a bit too, no way around that fact, theres this whole chunk where Hank is just running around New York, trying too piece together what happend the night he got blackout drunk, he lost the key somewhere, cant remember where he put it, I guess this is part of the journey that at times felt they were completely lost waiting for something interesting too happen, they are basically scavenge hunting, rinse and repeat for like twenty minutes straight. Matt Smith plays the neighbor Russ, who they marketed him in the trailers like he was gonna be a way bigger part of the story, I like Matt Smith alot from many of his roles but mostly from HOTD, the guys got range, does his punk rock British guy thing, mohawk, leather jacket, but over all he doesn't get too much screen time, such a waste of a good actor who could of added way more too the story.
The cat honestly gets more screen time than half the human characters, Im a cat person and love "Bud" with his hurt paw, his attitude, its like the movie wanted you to care more about the cat than anyone else, thats not a good sign when the animal is more interesting. Zoe Kravitz plays Hanks girlfriend Ivonne, they have great chemistry together in the early scenes, they do care for each other, you want too see them figure there shit out, she wants him too stop drinking, face his past traumas, hes trying but keeps falling back into old habits, even sounds familiar so at least it work for me, here is the part, until now you can tell how there are some aspects of the movie that I love and others I just hate and still like the movie. Next is exactly a moment I hated and its she getting killed halfway through the movie, it feels like such a waste of a good character, we barely got too know her beyond being the supportive girlfriend, she had this whole backstory about being something medical related, she just dies and becomes motivation for Hank too keep going. The action scenes are fine but nothing special if we are being honest here, theres a foot chase through Chinatown that looks cool, Austin Butler jumping over stuff, sliding under things, a car chase that ends with Hank crashing into stuff, nearly dying, even some shootouts in a bar that get bloody fast, all this scenes felt very creative but just that cool scenes, its like the movie is a bunch of clips, I would have prefer if they gave more character build up to Russ and kept him with Hank, but for the most part the movie is fueled by guild, running from your past mistakes, those two things dont always mix together too well.
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Austin Butler has this whole backstory, car accident in high school, killed his best friend, ruined his baseball career before it even started, he has nightmares about it every single night and wakes up in a cold sweat reliving the crash, the hole event is something that hunts him down for ever and marks his character for the entire movie, it really makes you want the guy to get over it and pass the page so he can move on because of the weight he is carrying for a life mistake. Butler sells the hell out of those emotional moments, his face, his voice but the movie keeps cutting away from that depth, shows us Russian gangsters yelling at each other in broken English or these two Jewish hitmen played by Liev Schreiber, Willem Dafoe, quirky characters, there dressed in traditional Orthodox Jewish clothing, they visit there mom whos played by Carol Kane, this two hitmen work for the Russians, the movie is kinda of a mess to properly explain the hole thing of why now Hank and Russ are on this ugly situation but the truth is Hank is the innocent here, all he did was feed Bud and access Russ apartment. I wanted too love this movie more than I actually did, the pieces are all there, good director, great lead actor, interesting story, such a cool era too work with and they did get the 90s vibe clean, but the execution just misses the mark, I cant call this a great movie but its good, its watchable, its entertaining enough for a one time watch but its not what it could of been.
I will say the ending does land properly and almost makes up for some of the earlier problems, Hank finds out that the two Jewish hitmen killed Ivonne, collateral damage too send him a message so here is whe he snaps, crashes the car there all riding in, straight into a concrete pole at full speed, kills them both instantly, really brutal scene and its hilarious because its like he when through literally his worst nightmare crashing again, its like he finally said screw it I need to crash again so I can get over with like this time he did something good on the same act, taking responsibility for his actions even if that means becoming a killer himself, it works as a character moment even if it feels a little too neat. He ends up escaping too Mexico, all the money stuffed in a bag, the cat tucked under his jacket, sends half the cash too his mom, then he is just sitting at a bar on a beach somewhere warm, watching baseball on TV but he turns it off, hes finally ready too move on from his obsession with what could of been. Its a solid ending, gives Hanks journey some closure but also leaves you wondering if he actually changed for the better or choose violence over his soul, if he just became more numb too everything after all the violence, all the death he caused, but this might be just me trying to over complicate things but honestly Butler has given us this kind of complex and deep characters in the past where he plays them out awesome but the ending felt more like I just watched something that was almost great but fell short. Overall Caught Stealing is a fun movie to watch, you are going to laugh and feel for the characters, specially for Bud, its not peak crime thriller but its something in between that doesnt always work, Austin Butler is fantastic, carries the movie even when the script lets him down, the 90s setting is done really well, great attention too detail everywhere you look, there are enough interesting ideas here too keep you engaged, even when the execution felt flat at times, I would still give it a weird 8 out of 10, for this weird movie that is worth watching once especially if your a fan of Austin Butler.
I took the time watch both Season back to back and I got mixed feelings about it but at the same time I cannot deny the ending was pretty damn good, like the whole second season felt a bit all over the place with the pacing jumping from one problem to another without giving us enough time to breathe but that finale really hit different, I dont know what is about two season series that never end properly, I felt there was so much more to unwind specially with something like the TVA been one of the craziest concepts I have ever seen from the MCU but the Kang character was always a mess for them, I think because they actually over hype it just too much. What Tom Hiddleston did with this character over two seasons is actually wild when you stop and think about it, going from this selfish asshole who only cared about power to literally becoming the protector of every single timeline in existence, that is one hell of a transformation and I cannot be mad at that. The way they showed him grabbing all those timelines and basically turning into this god figure sitting alone on a throne for eternity its like ok so you wanted a throne is one alone for the end of time no show off no way to share, that scene alone made the whole season worth it, yeah sure there were some bumps along the way the whole Victor Timely thing did not really work for me and Sylvie got pushed to the side for most of the season which sucked because she was so important in season one but when it came down to it when Loki had to make that final choice between killing Sylvie or finding another way he chose to sacrifice himself and give up everything. No more friends no more adventures just an eternity of keeping the universe together, that is actually pretty novel in a really sad way and I think this is where Lokis story should end because where do you even go from here, the guy is literally holding the entire multiverse in his hands and he already failed massively with the hole Tesarack persue.
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The whole season was about Loki trying to fix the temporal loom without realizing the loom was never meant to be fixed in the first place, it was a fail safe created by He Who Remains to keep everything under control and the sacred timeline was never about protecting people it was about protecting one version of reality that benefited one guy. Every episode we watched Loki time slip backwards and forwards trying desperately to save his friends at the TVA and fix this broken system, watching him loop through the same moments over and over again was funny and sad at the same time because you could see the frustration building up in him but at the sime time dragg hard and made me felt bored for quite some time, he spent centuries learning physics and engineering from OB just to realize there was no solution to an infinite problem, you cant scale for infinity its like trying to divide by zero, the loom would always fail no matter what they did. Mobius and Sylvie were there with him the whole time but in the end it was Lokis choice alone to make, he could either let the multiverse die and go back to the sacred timeline with He Who Remains in control or he could destroy the loom and replace it with something better, something that gave people actual free will instead of the illusion of choice.
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The series also had that reference of Loki character that work so so good that went back to that first Avengers movie when he said he was burdened with glorious purpose, back then he was just a villain who wanted power and control but now after everything hes been through he finally understands what that phrase actually means. Mobius told him that most purpose is more burden than glory and that line hit hard because thats exactly what Loki ends up doing, he takes on the burden of holding the multiverse together so everyone else can have their freedom, its the ultimate sacrifice from a character who used to only care about himself, I laugh so hard because he didnt died for the rest of the universe although did lock down himself so the rest of the existence could function almost like he is Jesus. That scene of him sitting on that throne at the end of time with the timelines glowing green around him like branches of a tree that I dont know much but for sure has a deep meaning either on the Asgard mythology or something about the universe supreme beings, it was such a powerful image that perfectly captured what Loki had become, he went from wanting to rule over people to actually serving them by keeping them alive and giving them choice.
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Not everything is unicorn and rainbows, season 2 had some issues that bothered some of them more than others like I mentioned before the pacing was weird and it felt like they needed more episodes to really let unwind certain storylines as a fact I would say another season because the escape too easy from the void, the whole Victor Timely subplot took up so much time and I dont think it payed off the way they wanted it to, Jonathan Majors did his best with the script but the character just felt like a distraction from the main story most of the time, proof of this is all they need was his head because he was not necessarily needed to test a theory that never work. Renslayer also got sidelined pretty hard this season and her entire story felt unfinished, she should have been as important as in season 1, she was supposed to be this big antagonist but then she just kind of dissipated into the void at the end and we never got a satisfying conclusion to her story, I hope they bring her back in some future project because it feels like there was more to do with that character, she also wanted either revenge or at least know the truth this almost look like when John Week wanted to bring down The Table. Sylvie also got put aside badly this season which is a shame because she was one of the best parts of season one, her and Lokis relationship was supposed to be central to the story but instead she spent most of her time working at McDonalds in an alternate timeline and only showed up when the plot needed her to argue with Loki about free will, and what about her romance with Loki?? so many inconclusive things.
I have to say that even with those problems I still think the finale brought some closure and made the whole season worth watching, seeing Loki finally find his glorious purpose after all these years was satisfying as hell and Tom Hiddleston absolutely killed it in every single scene, the man deserves all the awards for what he did with this character over two seasons going from this narcissist power hungry character to the one that saves the universe. The ending where he walks up those invisible stairs and sits down on the throne while the timelines form this beautiful tree around him is one of the best endings in any Marvel show or movie, its a bit sour too because Loki gets what he always wanted which was a throne but it comes at the cost of being alone forever, his biggest fear was being alone and now thats his reality for the rest of eternity, thats some heavy stuff and the show didnt shy away from showing how much that choice hurt him. I think this is the perfect ending for Loki because theres nowhere else to go with his character after this, hes literally become a god who holds the multiverse in his hands and any future appearance would just diminish what they accomplished here. Overall I would give Loki Season 2 a solid seven out of ten, it had some pacing issues and underdeveloped subplots but the character work was top notch and the finale was beautiful in a really tragic way.