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squiresk
IMDb member since February 2024
Reviews
Valkyrie (2008)
Historically accurate thriller excites but with technical overthrow mechanics overshadowing emotional depth
17 February 2024 - 1 out of 2 users found this review helpful.
😎 Excellent
- Historical accuracy including some filming locations
- Cinematography and visuals
👍 Good:
- Tom Cruise's ever-consistent lead acting
- Suspense, thrills, and action elements
- Plot design
😐 Meh:
- Pace starts off strong but falls short
- Lacking in creative or interesting technical aspects
- Score and soundtrack
😬 Yikes:
- Character exploration
- Emotional investment into characters themselves
- I would have loved a deeper biopic into van Stauffenberg
🤔 Watch Next:
- 13 Minutes (2015) (for some deeper character exploration)
- Downfall (2004) (another historically accurate story)
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Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Decent balance between danger and levity but falls woefully short of its potential
17 February 2024 - 0 out of 1 users found this review helpful.
😓 Nothing masterpiece or excellent here. Sadge.
👍 Good:
- Decent balance between levity, danger, and action
- Hits the mark for target audience of angry, teenage boys
- Fairly good job at creating new "spy network" arc that clearly was successful enough for sequels.
😐 Meh:
- Overall acting, which is little surprise given writing, amount of green screen usage, and target audience.
😬 Yikes:
- Major plot points and progression are blahissez faire at best
- It's attempts at comparison to wonderful espionage movies are nearly embarrassing
🤔 Watch Next:
- From Russia with Love (for a more classic spy thriller, maybe one of the best)
- Unbreakable (for a better Samuel L. Jackson highlight)
😡 Jump scares:
- 0 true jump scares, a couple slightly surprising moments.
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Next Exit (2022)
Massive missed opportunities and boring, charicatured stereotypes overshadow above average cinematography and acting.
15 February 2024 - 1 out of 4 users found this review helpful.
🤑 Masterpiece:
- Missing
👍 Good:
- Overall cinematography
- Lead acting performances
- Character progression
😐 Meh:
- Moral commentary is average and predictable
- Maybe mildly lowers mental illness stigma
😬 Yikes:
- Massive missed opportunity to explore controversy of "Death with Dignity" and whether it should apply to those with depression, PTSD, grief, etc.
- Numerous missed opportunities to explore important existential questions
- Abundant exaggerated stereotypes make for boring and nearly non-sensical social interactions. The amount of caricature borders on satire, which does not seem to be the aim of the movie at all.
🤔 Watch Next:
- The Babadook (2014) (For those wanting more "psychological horror")
- Melancholia (2011) (For those wanting more "sci-fi" and/or "existential" themes)
😡 Jump scares:
- 2-3, with other mildly startling moments throughout
🤓 Special Notes: The amount of opportunities this movie missed out on is unfortunate. Narrowing the focus to only several of the many themes/devices used in the film would have provided a more cohesive narrative. It is no surprise to find out Mali Elfman wrote this over the course of 10 years during conflicted times in her life.
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The Creator (2023)
A display of incredible visual scale but falls short of an overall masterpiece.
15 February 2024
🤑 Masterpiece:
- John Berkey-like visual scale of technology and setting
- Gareth Edwards' writing with subtle commentary on historical war from same setting
- Soundtrack (Radiohead meets Claire de Lune)
- Awing wide shots of scenery
- World-building
- Voyles' acting
👍 Good:
- Pace
😐 Meh:
- Surprisingly, Washington's acting; moments of humanity but overall stilted and unbelievable
😬 Yikes:
- Some deus ex machina solutioning; surprising given Edwards' history of not needing to tie up every loose end.
😡 Jump scares:
- 0 true jump scares, but several slightly surprising but predictable moments.
🤔 Watch Next:
- Her (2013)
- Oblivion (2013)
🤓 Special Notes: No other contemporary movie accomplishes futuristic scaling as well as The Creator. Edwards' love of mid-late century sci-fi artistry is apparent throughout. Foss, Berkey, and others sci-fi artists would be proud of their clear influence on the genre.
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