Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Great White

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In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated 1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going to review every single movie I see.  I’m going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future).  You can always ask me why I gave the ratings for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses under the ‘About Me’ section).
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Great White                                                                 OK
New shark attack movie that wasn’t direct-to-video or a Syfy channel movie.  It’s a shame it wasn’t (ahem) great.  I love how a shark will bite into a seaplane, enabling it to gradually sink, but it doesn’t bite into a floating raft.  That’s what happens here; a couple, along with their cook, fly another couple on their seaplane before making an unexpected landing, this being where the shark bites the plane and all five people enter the raft.  Since all possible rescue options are out, they hope to float or row to safety while avoiding what lurks below.  This is a realistic movie for the most part; yes, this could happen, but the same went for other shark attack movies like The Shallows and 47 Meters Down.  The difference between this and those films are that they were entertaining as well.  Sure, there were a few suspenseful scenes here and the sharks were passable enough (except for when their mouths opened wide), but the attacks weren’t exactly noteworthy when they actually happened (something very important when watching a shark attack movie).  I didn’t dislike this movie (although I think I am sort of being too nice with my rating), but it definitely can’t stand alongside other worthy entries in the sharksploitation subgenre.  9/7/2021

Bonus review:

AlRawabi School for Girls                                          G
Netflix limited series from Jordan involving high school girls bullying each other.  This is probably the first thing I saw from Jordan if I’m not mistaken; that does mean it’s mostly subtitled, in Arabic, and “mostly” means that a few parts (not many) are spoken in English (if they know the language, why isn’t it all in just one?).  And limited series, which is what it is labeled as, might mean it will only be these six episodes ranging somewhere between the 40 and 50-minute mark, totaling a little less than five hours.  Anyway, I grew up in a time when we didn’t have social media and word-of-mouth is what was mostly used to ruin people’s lives.  It still absolutely can be used to hurt people, in addition to other means, but social media has certainly made it a lot easier.  It should go without saying, but this series proves bullying will always exist no matter where you’re from as long as there are people.  The girls in this school are mean (I’d say they give the ones in Mean Girls and Carrie a run for their money, which are just two movies I was reminded of while watching).  It all starts when three popular girls make up a lie that gets one girl in trouble, and, naturally, this girl plans on getting even with them.  Of course this causes problems for everyone involved.  To be a teenager, especially a teenage girl (whatever, boys ruin lives too, it’s just not talked about as much, nor portrayed as much; as someone once said, you shouldn’t compare suffering).  This limited series may not feel too original, but what the hell is these days?, but it does portray a raw glimpse of high school not much different than an American one, and, for the most part, is the most entertaining teen series (or movie, for that matter) I’ve seen in a while.  9/1/2021

Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

Beasts Clawing at Straws  >>>OK/G
   (In Korean with subtitles)

Black Island  >>>EH/OK
   (Netflix; In German with subtitles)

Come True  >>>EH/OK

In the Earth  >>>OK

In the Heights  >>>OK

Those Who Wish Me Dead  >>>EH

---Sean O.
9/8/2021

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