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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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Beaten to Death G
This Australian film doesn’t waste any time as it begins
quite brutally with a man (our protagonist) beaten up Fight Club-style while a woman (eventually revealed to be his wife)
lies dead on the floor in a house in the country (we learn these are city folk). He escapes until he’s assaulted even worse by
someone else in the countryside (you really think everyone isn’t connected
somehow out in those parts?) before just trying to survive in this terrain. All the exposition is gradually revealed
through flashbacks, and I actually think these flashbacks made the film less
harrowing, causing me to wonder how impactful the film would’ve been if
presented linearly. Perhaps that was the
whole intention though to pummel us with depravity upfront. I am going to recommend it (for extreme
horror fans) in spite of a few gripes I had (minor, in retrospect); it is
rather brutal without a hopeful ending (I could see this becoming a cult
classic). 9/25/2023
Bonus reviews:
Reservation Dogs (Season
Three)
Allegedly the final season of this Hulu series (you can
check out my review for the second season in here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-reef-stalkedthe-munsters.html;
I didn’t review the first one). There
are ten episodes this time, like last season, all roughly 30-minutes, give or
take (how long TV episodes should be!).
Similar to my other favorite Hulu series, The Bear (I recently reviewed the second season here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-bear-season-2.html),
I liked how you never knew what you were going to get each time as they all
feature different people (ironically, one of the characters here is called
Bear). I know that one of my gripes in
the second season review was that the series should solely focus on the titular
characters, but this time I grew to appreciate the other members that make up
this community (although Mose and Mekko didn’t get their own episode and, not
only did they deserve one, but I remember reading they were going to have one
this season! Shitasses!). The profound Deer Lady episode and the
Seventies-set Native Dazed and Confused one
with a trippy conclusion were of particular note. I’m okay with this being the end if the
creators keep their word, but I actually wouldn’t mind more episodes if made
(that promised and deserved Mose and Mekko one, perhaps?). This series should no doubt go down as a
worthy addition to Indigenous representation (I wasn’t much a fan of Dark Winds, although
critically-acclaimed). 9/27/2023
The Wonderful Story of
Henry Sugar EH
I love Roald Dahl. Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory is one of my favorite books. I own a lot of his works, the collection
featuring the story this short film is based on (The Wonderful Story of
Henry Sugar and Six More) being one.
I did read the story years ago with zero recollection of any of it, so I
went into this with zero knowledge. It
comes from Wes Anderson, a filmmaker I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of; my
favorite film of his is probably Fantastic
Mr. Fox (another one based on a Dahl story); I recently saw Bottle Rocket for the first time and
wasn’t a fan; I also wasn’t a fan of The
Life Aquatic, The French Dispatch,
and Asteroid City, the latter also
released this year, definitely being the worst I’ve seen this year and one of the worst movies I’ve ever
seen! Of the others, I remember Isle of Dogs being decent (you can read
my review for it in here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2018/07/mooby-reviews-72518.html). So yeah, I can’t say I’m the biggest Wes
Anderson fan. I don’t think I can give
him any points for this Netflix film either; luckily it was barely even
40-minutes. After watching this I
should’ve just read the story again instead since this basically felt like
having it read to us, word for word, by the performers. They break the fourth wall in front of sets
fitting a stage play (they do look nice though; Wes Anderson does have style, if
anything) describing everything we are about to see, or are simultaneously
viewing, and, while the format may appear to be experimental, I found my mind
wandering a couple times because of it (The Swan, another story from the
same collection, was also recently adapted by Anderson for Netflix utilizing
the same format; run-time is even less, but it still didn’t work for me). I don’t see why the same story couldn’t have
been presented in a narrative form with the action unfolding sans any
fourth-wall breaking. I think it
would’ve made a better movie, but we’ll never know that unless someone else
adapts it. 9/28/2023
Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):
The Black Demon >>>EH
The Swan (2023) >>>EH
(Netflix)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem >>>EH
White Men Can’t Jump
(2023) >>>EH
(Hulu)
---Sean O.
10/2/2023
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