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The Deep Space
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Brazen (2022)
Looks and feels like a 90s television movie...
...and it is not all that bad.
I'm reading reviews that says that it is not a 2022 movie, and it certainly isn't. It's filmed and scripted as a 1990s television crime fiction, and it does its job fairly well. Alyssa Milano's performance is capturing. Detective story is simple but okay. Filming locations are old school to the extreme. Dominatrix themes... well, you might enjoy the looks.
This movie is far from perfect, but it's made for nostalgia, and should be treated as such. It's good to relax and it's good to fall asleep to. Netflix should have things like that in its portfolio.
Clairevoyant (2021)
Could have been good
It could have been a great social commentary on mindfulness, or it could be a nice comedy on people who take the subject of enlightenment too seriously. The movie tries to stay in between, and that doesn't work too well.
Mocumentary as a way of presentation makes no sense. Claire, the protagonist, is presented as a barely educated young woman who can't tell Korean from Japanese or Indian Indians from First Nation Indians. After that, her attempts to trick *mindfulness experts* into saying stupid things on camera don't feel convincing. This movie's creators (including Micaela Wittman, who pays Claire and is a co-director) try to mock everything and eventually achieve nothing.
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)
Does no justice to Jessica Hahn's story
The Eyes of Tammy Faye may have moments of good acting and intense emotions, but it all pales in comparison to how it handled the main story related to real-life PTL and Jim Bakker:
STORY OF JESSICA HAHN.
Jessica was a church secretary in 1981 when, according to her testimony, she was drugged and raped by Jim Bakker and John Wesley Fletcher, another televangelist from PTL (played in the movie by Louis Cancelmi). Later she was paid off $280,000 for her silence using the PTL funds. Jim Bakker claimed that the sex was consensual.
Jessica Hahn is only referred to as "that girl" in the movie. She's first mentioned in a scene after the Steve Peters interview where Tammy Faye is seen genuinely sobbing. The receptionist complains that there's a woman who's bothering the whole crew with calls. Apparently, they call her "the shrieker". Faye calms down the receptionist and dismisses the whole thing as a "prank".
This and all further mentions look like mockery rather than trying to do justice to Jessica Hahn's claims. It seems as if Jim Bakker forbid the producers to mention Hahn's name when he sold the story. At least that's the only explanation I can think of. (Jim is still alive and has been sued in 2020 for promoting Silver Solution as covid treatment.)
Jim and Tammy are shown as kids who never grow up. They can't be held accountable for anything they do, cause they do everything as God wants them to. It may look funny but it's not satire: the movie is dead serious about making them good guys who challenge church establishment on the issues of feminism and gay rights. Apparently, if you do some good, rape and theft become minor altercations.
Cherrypicker (2020)
This movie is completely crazy
Ankle Biters (or Cherrypicker) is a story about four little girls who set out on a quest to destroy their mother's love life and harm their future stepdad, Sean (Zion Forest Lee). And they do succeed in a spectacular fashion.
It starts as a spoiled child comedy and feels kinda innocent. The girls just put spider eggs in Sean's ear and put a pin in an apple he's supposed to eat. But then, well, everything goes sideways. There's gore and there's death.
I was not impressed by acting - except for the four little girls who were just great. The actresses are real-life sisters Dahlia Reed, Violet Reed, Lily Reed and Rosalie Reed, and they keep their real names in this movie. So, not much in terms of acting, and some poor dialogs. But camera work is good, and blood specal effects really deliver.
It's nuts, and it's fun.
Queen of the Amazon (2021)
Great filming location, not much else to note
This movie looks like the producers rented a boat, employed inexperienced actors and let them enjoy themselves while loosely following some sort of script. Amazon River shots are amazing (they're difficult to spoil), and there are some great wildlife shots as well, but other than that it's not really interesting to watch. Acting is not good, action is slow. The hostage situation mentioned in the storyline takes place at about 2/3 of the movie. They didn't even bother to put in some digital blood and bullet marks when someone gets shot.
The Survivalist (2021)
Zombie movie without zombies
The Survivalist is another generic post-apocalypse movie with all the standard disease/zombie tropes (with COVID instead of zombies). There's even a girl who is allegedly the key to cure everyone.
The idea, I guess, was to throw in a few high-tier actors, mainly Rhys Meyers and Malkovich, and make them play out a highly emotional drama about human determination, weakness and self-sacrifice. At some points it works. But mostly it doesn't. Emotional moments look either hysterical or indifferent. And it's not the actors' fault.
Also, why do people in this movie shoot endlessly without aiming when they are SO low on ammo?
Ghost Light (2020)
A guy walks around a theater...
...and kills everyone with blunt weapons. No one is trying to avoid his hits or get away. They have plenty of time, but they are just too lazy. Just like the director. And the whole crew of this thing.
Uploaded (2021)
Not worth it
This thing is lazily written and lazily produced and lazily acted. It's a low-budget murder movie, sure, but more could be done on a budget like this. Eric Roberts is top billed on imdb but he appears for like 30 seconds as a car rental clerk. Total waste.
Vratar galaktiki (2020)
Spectacular movie, uneven storyline
The story of Cosmoball is based on a clash between two cosmic forces represented by two scientists: evil Cherno and honorable Belo, "black" and "white" in Russian. Cherno found a way to produce a superweapon: energy-rich balls that could destroy entire worlds. Eventually, the battle between Cherno and civilized races of the galaxy led them to Earth. Cherno destroyed the Moon but was eventually captured by Belo deep inside Earth. Yet, Cherno is still capable of producing his energy balls.
That's where Cosmoball comes in. Belo designed a game for humans and aliens capable of teleportation. If the ball is kicked five times, it's permanently disabled. Belo converts his spaceship into a stadium that hovers above Moscow. Which is, coincidentally, the location where Cherno is imprisoned. The teleportation gene is a rare thing, and Earth has only three players. That is, until the main hero, Anton, is discovered by Belo.
The coming-of-age story of Anton has its comic, romantic, and epic moments. The attempt to combine many tropes of successful sci-fi movies within one film was not the best choice. It's never clear what this movie wants to be. This movie took 5 years and $15 million to produce, and its story probably saw more than one rewrite.
Yet, Cosmoball has great CGI, especially in space scenes, and, in its serious moments, can be quite touching.
In Russia, this movie has a 6 rating, but it's probably better suited for children of ages 10-12 and above.
Another Life (2019)
Emotions are fine, stellar cartography is not
Most reviews mention overly emotional and "drama queen"-ish crew as the main drawback of this show. I actually liked this part. People can be professional and still show their feelings, challenge authority, and make bad decisions. It's not a sign of "mental illness", as some reviewers said. (Let alone the fact that people with mental illnesses can be efficient at doing their jobs and show sound judgement.)
There are, however, lots of problems with science and storylines in this show. They took every page from the default sci-fi show book, starting from mutiny and numerous onboard disasters as primary ways to move the story forward. What annoyed me most, however, is the stellar cartography issue.
We're being shown Sirius A halfway between Sol and Pi Canis Majoris, while it's in fact at 1/10 distance between them (Sirius A is 9 light years from Earth, Pi CMa is 96 LY from Earth). The "dark matter cloud" shifts the ship's destination a bit farther, but not nearly enough. Also, on the longer route displayed in Episode 1, we can see three stars that allow to make the journey around this "dark matter": Mirzam, Furud and something called 2217. Mirzam is actually 500 LY from the Sun, Furud is 360 LY away, and 2217 is probably NGC 2217, a galaxy 65 million light years away. Yep, they are all in Canis Majoris. But why display them to be waypoints towards Pi CMa? Some research maybe?
Yet, despite all issues, it was fun to watch.
Stargate Origins (2018)
Goa'uld propaganda made to prove that humans are idiots and SG-1 never existed
After seeing lots of failed and short-lived science fiction TV shows, and even fan-made shows, I can tell that this one is the worst. It may be funny, but only when the authors least intent to make you laugh. And it's definitely not Stargate. The whole thing is so completely unprofessional that I won't be surprised if people who were involved will want to erase it from their resumes.
Among all else, the special effects make you wanna tear your eyes out and feed them to a three-headed shark. The CGI looks shameful even by early '90s standards. Watch only if you want to see how Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda was a descent movie.
USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016)
Sharknado 5
Men of Courage is not meant to be anything more than a generic mid- budget war movie with sharks, but it underdelivers even if you keep your expectations low. The script follows historical events pretty closely, but writing has lots of flaws, and romantic storyline is disappointing. Nicolas Cage gives a sensible performance, but his character doesn't move anywhere from "good captain" cliché. The writers add lots of voice-over narration to add depth to characters, which makes things worse. The Japanese captain is reduced to ridicule near the ending, where the two captains burst into tears while saluting each other.
If you only look for special effects, war scenes and sharks wreaking havoc, this movie won't be any less disappointing. Warship effects are of acceptable quality (for television at least), but man-eating sharks are either roughly made CGI, or replaced with smaller sharks which are obviously harmless. Not a single scene shows sharks biting humans; edits carefully avoid that part. No attention is given to the actual details of shark species present on the site of USS Indianapolis demise. For a movie that closely follows actual events (and even includes documentary footage), Men of Courage has an unacceptable number of inaccuracies. It's also badly edited, with scenes interrupted and tied together in strange places. Two hours last like four.
The story of USS Indianapolis appears more fascinating when you read the sources and memoirs, and it certainly deserves a better adaptation than one made by this movie's screenwriters.
A zori zdes tikhie... (2015)
A faithful remake of a good Soviet movie
A zori zdes tikhie (The Dawns Here Are Quiet, 2015) is based on a book by Boris Vasilyev (1969) and is similar to 1972 Soviet movie of the same name by Stalnislav Rostotskiy. It tells a story of a Russian sergeant stationed in Karelia with a group of young female anti-aircraft gunners. The group moves to intercept a squad of German troops moving through the nearby forests. Russians find themselves badly outnumbered, but they are devoted to stopping the enemy regardless of the cost.
The new version is significantly shorter, uses a different style of flashbacks that tell the background stories of the main characters, and has extended action elements. But in general it remains a faithful remake that often uses the same lines spoken by characters and same shooting angles. New version also has a fair amount of nudity which is not very distracting, but might seem unappealing for a serious war movie. Overall, this is a solid production which is superior to other remakes of Soviet movies that were filmed in Russia in the recent years.
The Legend of Hercules (2014)
Not much worse than expected
Hercules is not entirely a disaster, as one might expect. A low-budget PG-13 adaptation of 300-style movies made in Bulgaria, this movie is in line with the expectations on what Renny Harlin is capable of.
While not being a disaster on a whole, it's a disaster in parts. The special effects, while being descent 3D images at times, are badly connected with live shots. There are many moments when perspective of such sequences is distorted in really obvious (and unintentionally funny) ways. There are numerous anachronisms. Characters use costumes and jewelry that could not be available in ancient Greece. Screenplay, while not being completely absurd, has some rather awkward dialog lines and unexplainable plot moments.
Unfortunately, the movie is not a Hercules legend but rather a shallow love story and family drama. There's even a bathing scene in a romantic- looking pond with flowers under a waterfall (the water in the pond is so dirty though that one can only feel pity for the actors). There are no heroic deeds of Hercules depicted in this movie.
One last blow for Hercules is PG-13 rating. There's no blood at all. When swords pierce bodies, they re-appear absolutely clean. When one of the characters was struck in the neck, the next shot showed his neck without a sign of a would or even a drop of blood. One of the few things the movie managed to deliver were some dynamic battle sequences; but PG- 13 made them look fake. In the age of 300 and Spartacus TV show, this is not something you want to waste your time on.
Unless you wish to add to a surprising $8 mln box office success after its first weekend, which will probably make this movie more profitable than most other current releases.