If you love horror films, you'll probably hate this. It doesn't follow the formula and with the exception of kids going into basements alone, doesn't have the normal horror tropes or deliver the jump scares you expect, sometimes even flipping them more for a chuckle or a wink at the audience. But it does somehow come together in the end and make sense in the world they built, at least for me (and I rarely enjoy horror, too boring and predictable). Perhaps its just because I'm a millennial parent of moody and defiant teenagers so I related to the family drama and appreciated the slightly postmodernist reworking of the genre.
Interesting premise that starts out well but falls off the rails before it can reach the end. Clearly the creators couldn't figure out what they wanted the ending to say about the characters or about humanity so they opted to say nothing instead and hope the viewers would think that was profound. It was not. It would have worked better if they had just rolled credits 5 minutes earlier and left everything open ended.
Honestly, better than I expected. I just went because my kid wanted to go and I planned to be bored but I didn't expect it to have as much heart as it did. My nine year old loved it but admittedly, all the little kids around me in the theater were bored to tears.
Very mediocre. Makes several failed attempts at self-aware/self-deprecating humor about being a money grabbing sequel which literally just draw your attention to the fact that it is in fact a money grabbing sequel with few redeeming qualities in comparison to the first.
Easily the worst movie I saw in 2019 (for whatever that’s worth). The much talked about cgi alternates between being nearly flawless at times and being laughably sloppy at other times. Tap dancing through the floor. Faces that slide around as the camera pans. Terrible acting. Terrible singing. Mediocre dancing. You could cut out the first 45 minutes and the last 15 minutes and not lose any important story points and you’d still think the movie was too long for what little they story there was. I think watching two hours of my reactions to bad cgi moments would be more enjoyable than the actual movie.
Just watched this thinking it was the other one. It was not bad but I assume from the ratings that the other one was better. This is available on Hulu tho while the other does not appear to be streamable anywhere currently.
Mostly because I'm not aware of an easy way to export ALL movies and their stats so I'm currently walking through the official top lists and exporting each one and then removing duplicates. If there is a giant 'export-all-the-things' link somewhere, i would gladly use it. Not sure icm would really want me doing that tho since then I could technically create a duplicate site (not that I would) ...
This was definitely better than the good, bad and the ugly. The characters are more defined and their motivations more discernable (although it might take a few hours into the movie before you really know that). That and a plot that is actually intelligent and intelligible makes for a watchable western for non-western fans like myself (the long running time notwithstanding).
Maybe its just because Chaplin has been parodied so much that he feels cliche to me, but I definitely get a deeper sense of sophistication from Keaton, even in his slapstick.
In particular, the stunts in this and The General would never be attempted let alone allowed in today's movie studios. And 90 year old special effects that tricked me enough to make me laugh. Technically, this is an amazing movie.
Very impressive artwork (except for some facial expressions but that's not unusual in anime, it just bugs me) and intriguing story/plot but the English script and voice acting were abysmal. Hopefully the original voice work was better.
How is the Dark Knight above Batman Begins? I don't understand watching a sequel without it's precursor. The only other major sequel on here that falls out of order is Star Wars Episode II and that's fairly self explanatory.
Finally watched this and did not find it as compelling as I expected based on reviews etc. However, its not a bad movie, just very uneven pacing (although I thought the same of Lawrence of Arabia, I found Lawrence's character arc more convincing).
As for the IMDB lists, it currently has an 8.0 rating while the Drama, Romance, and War lists currently bottom out at 8.4, 8.2 and 8.1 respectively so its only just off each of those lists. Go give it a 9 or a 10 rating on IMDB and it might eventually make it. :)
The thing that makes sci-fi movies interesting is the difficulty of presenting the impossible in a way that is believable. Animation of any kind makes it trivially easy to present the impossible and impossible to make it believable (there's no suspension of disbelieve with a cartoon, no matter how well done). It doesn't make sense to combine animated and live action movies in this category.
Comments 1 - 17 of 17
Movie comment on Imaginary
rvandam
If you love horror films, you'll probably hate this. It doesn't follow the formula and with the exception of kids going into basements alone, doesn't have the normal horror tropes or deliver the jump scares you expect, sometimes even flipping them more for a chuckle or a wink at the audience. But it does somehow come together in the end and make sense in the world they built, at least for me (and I rarely enjoy horror, too boring and predictable). Perhaps its just because I'm a millennial parent of moody and defiant teenagers so I related to the family drama and appreciated the slightly postmodernist reworking of the genre.Movie comment on The Immaculate Room
rvandam
Interesting premise that starts out well but falls off the rails before it can reach the end. Clearly the creators couldn't figure out what they wanted the ending to say about the characters or about humanity so they opted to say nothing instead and hope the viewers would think that was profound. It was not. It would have worked better if they had just rolled credits 5 minutes earlier and left everything open ended.Movie comment on Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
rvandam
Honestly, better than I expected. I just went because my kid wanted to go and I planned to be bored but I didn't expect it to have as much heart as it did. My nine year old loved it but admittedly, all the little kids around me in the theater were bored to tears.Movie comment on Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway
rvandam
Very mediocre. Makes several failed attempts at self-aware/self-deprecating humor about being a money grabbing sequel which literally just draw your attention to the fact that it is in fact a money grabbing sequel with few redeeming qualities in comparison to the first.Movie comment on Cats
rvandam
Easily the worst movie I saw in 2019 (for whatever that’s worth). The much talked about cgi alternates between being nearly flawless at times and being laughably sloppy at other times. Tap dancing through the floor. Faces that slide around as the camera pans. Terrible acting. Terrible singing. Mediocre dancing. You could cut out the first 45 minutes and the last 15 minutes and not lose any important story points and you’d still think the movie was too long for what little they story there was. I think watching two hours of my reactions to bad cgi moments would be more enjoyable than the actual movie.Toplist comment on Rolling Stone Top 40 Sci-Fi Movies of the 21st Century
rvandam
Fixed 'The Host' to be the 2006 Korean one. Thanks @armoreska for pointing it out.Toplist comment on Comedy sublist from 501 Must See Movies
rvandam
FixedMovie comment on Ip Man
rvandam
Beware, the Ip Man currently available to stream on Hulu is a later knockoff/remake. Which I only realized after watching it :(Movie comment on Yip Man chin chyun
rvandam
Just watched this thinking it was the other one. It was not bad but I assume from the ratings that the other one was better. This is available on Hulu tho while the other does not appear to be streamable anywhere currently.Toplist comment on iCheckMovies - 1000 Most Polarizing
rvandam
Mostly because I'm not aware of an easy way to export ALL movies and their stats so I'm currently walking through the official top lists and exporting each one and then removing duplicates. If there is a giant 'export-all-the-things' link somewhere, i would gladly use it. Not sure icm would really want me doing that tho since then I could technically create a duplicate site (not that I would) ...Movie comment on C'era una volta il West
rvandam
This was definitely better than the good, bad and the ugly. The characters are more defined and their motivations more discernable (although it might take a few hours into the movie before you really know that). That and a plot that is actually intelligent and intelligible makes for a watchable western for non-western fans like myself (the long running time notwithstanding).Toplist comment on IMDb's Shorts Top 50
rvandam
As far as Pixar shorts are concerned, I'm surprised that Boundin' is not on here. I've always considered that their best short.Movie comment on Sherlock Jr.
rvandam
Maybe its just because Chaplin has been parodied so much that he feels cliche to me, but I definitely get a deeper sense of sophistication from Keaton, even in his slapstick.In particular, the stunts in this and The General would never be attempted let alone allowed in today's movie studios. And 90 year old special effects that tricked me enough to make me laugh. Technically, this is an amazing movie.
Movie comment on Akira
rvandam
Very impressive artwork (except for some facial expressions but that's not unusual in anime, it just bugs me) and intriguing story/plot but the English script and voice acting were abysmal. Hopefully the original voice work was better.Toplist comment on iCheckMovies's Most Checked
rvandam
How is the Dark Knight above Batman Begins? I don't understand watching a sequel without it's precursor. The only other major sequel on here that falls out of order is Star Wars Episode II and that's fairly self explanatory.Movie comment on Doctor Zhivago
rvandam
Finally watched this and did not find it as compelling as I expected based on reviews etc. However, its not a bad movie, just very uneven pacing (although I thought the same of Lawrence of Arabia, I found Lawrence's character arc more convincing).As for the IMDB lists, it currently has an 8.0 rating while the Drama, Romance, and War lists currently bottom out at 8.4, 8.2 and 8.1 respectively so its only just off each of those lists. Go give it a 9 or a 10 rating on IMDB and it might eventually make it. :)
Toplist comment on IMDb's Sci-Fi Top 50
rvandam
The thing that makes sci-fi movies interesting is the difficulty of presenting the impossible in a way that is believable. Animation of any kind makes it trivially easy to present the impossible and impossible to make it believable (there's no suspension of disbelieve with a cartoon, no matter how well done). It doesn't make sense to combine animated and live action movies in this category.