james-mac Reviews

Inheritance (I) (2020)

Save yourself

[4/10 · 12 February 2023]

Save yourself some time and watch the trailer. This way you will feel like you've seen the entire movie without having to actually sit through it. The premise is interesting but it's a long convoluted presentation.

Simon Pegg and Lily Collins have both made some great movies in their time, but this is most definitely not one of them. Lily's character is inconsistent and is played as a bit of a waif when she ought to be a very strong scheming character. Pegg 's character likewise comes across as incomplete.

In conclusion if your curious about this film everything you need to know is in the trailer. Watch it if you must.

Fantastic Four (2015)

Seems like they wanted to make a different movie

[4/10 · 23 May 2016]

It's such a shame they didn't actually draw from the characters that are established in the comic books. The Fantastic Four comics are overflowing with wild and crazy and beautiful concepts and none of it was used in the movie. It's as if they didn't want to really make a Fantastic Four movie but had all this money and decided to make a movie about a completely different set of characters. And they once more got the iconic Dr. Doom who in many ways is the heart of the comic book series completely wrong. Why do they think that their half-baked ideas are better than those in what was one of the longest running and most original series ever published?

Step Brothers (2008)

A failure.

[1/10 · 22 February 2015]

I love Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. I wasn't expecting anything profound, just some solid laughs. While I laughed here and there the movie never took off; in fact it ran dry early on. There are no real jokes in this movie. It is a series of events in which Ferrell and Reilly act like brats and blurt out outrageous things, which could be funny even. It wasn't. It dragged on until the one premise: Adults acting as children died of exhaustion.

It's a shame because these two are capable of so much more. A huge disappointment and I am a fan of both mens work. I would hope that despite this they will work together in the future and that they will find a better script. If you have to see this good luck.

Sanatorium (2013)

You've Seen This Before

[3/10 · 1 January 2015]

This is another of umpteen hand-held cam films that follow the formula of a bunch of young people encountering malevolent supernatural forces that they initially are sceptical of. The movie then follows the pattern of: "What was that?", "Did you hear that?", "Quit fooling around Joe/Jane!" until the crisis point arrives in which everyone is saying "Oh my God!!!" Chaos then ensues as the POV hand- held goes ballistic until the inevitable jump to black. The End.

You have seen this before. However if you enjoy this genre this is a competent film, but it offers nothing unexpected. Which is unfortunate because what hakes this kind of film work is the apprehension of not knowing what is going to happen. I suppose so many of these films are made because they are cheap to produce and they are very likely to make a return on investment with even a modest audience.

I have certainly enjoyed some of this genre which was spawned by The Blair Witch Project, but this is nothing ground-breaking. Let's say this film is like a cheese sandwich; it's always great if that is what you are in the mood for because you know exactly what you are getting.

The World Beyond (1978 TV Movie)

Buried In the Swamp of Memories

[5 March 2005]

Holy **** I think this was the show I saw when I was a kid that scared the beejeezuz out of me. My parent's were out and I was just old enough to be left alone, but young enough to be freaked out by this moody swamp monster. It was around this time that "In Search Of" hosted by Leonard Nimoy was on every Saturday Night. If there was anything about ghosts on it I didn't sleep. I remember my mother calling to check in when I saw this movie. I told her I was watching something that was scaring me on TV. Her advice "Don't watch it then." I had forgotten about this until I stumbled on this in the weird way that can only happen on the internet. In brief the 70's was a prime time for weird programming (After all this was they hey-day of Love Boat and Fantasy Island). I'd be curious to see this little treasure again as an adult. I suspect it would come across as rather cheezy, but as a ten year old in the basement late at night it wasn't hard to get freaked out.