wotnotb Reviews

The Immaculate Room (2022)

MEH!

[3/10 · 13 December 2022]

I decided that this review would be as bland as the movie is, especially the plain white setting. It was easy to figure early on that the movie is a psychological test. The only way I could stick it out to the end, which was what I was more curious about, is to do something else to help pass the time. I did a crossword puzzle and looked up here and there to see what was happening. I could hear the dialogue so didn't miss much that would have made a difference in what I thought about the film. I do have to say this kind of film required top notch actors, and it fell short in that regard, but I wonder what fabulous actor would want to take on this role after reading about the plot.

Zeros and Ones (2021)

Left me in the dark...literally too

[1/10 · 13 June 2022]

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and I watch quite a lot. For the most part, the very dark cinematography, and choppy and brusk dialogue, are abysmal. Ethan Hawke stars in it, but who knows? It could be anyone we are watching. The plot is disjointed with scenes that have no rhyme or reason ( maybe because a viewer can't see much). I couldn't understand what was going on, except when there were the anticipated explosions. Adding to that parts in Russian mixed in. The entire movie was a waste of time. I can't imagine the actors being proud to have played roles in this movie.

Caught Inside (2010)

Pleasantly surprised

[9/10 · 2 June 2022]

I was looking for a thriller and this one from over 10 years ago seemed interesting. I have to say that because of the tension buildup, it held my attention the whole time. It took awhile to get to the critical part as Bull' s and the others' characters were developed, but it made for a good story. The actor who played Bull, the psycho, is superb, and he earned the rating I gave for the movie. Although it was silly that the group did not try to overpower Bull during a long period of time when he took control of the ship, it allowed for the build up of tension. The ending was very fitting and straightforward, not like many other films these days. The only thing is make sure you have English subtitles on if you find it difficult to understand heavy Aussie dialect.

The Desperate Hour (2021)

Another exercise video?

[2/10 · 7 May 2022]

Lots of nice repetitive woodland fall scenery and Naomi (as Amy) running, limping ( off and on), gasping and making phone calls to a variety of people for what seemed like 2/3 of the film. An utterly ridiculous low budget movie. In profound desperation, Amy butts into police activity and compromises their work during a school lockdown where her teen son is one of other students held hostage by the shooter. She even does her own detective work while running and gasping on the phone during her endless jogging in the isolated woods. How absurd that she would even be given any consideration by the police detectives and 911 operator in wasting precious time talking to her. She was even able to figure out who the shooter is and get his cell number, all with ( albeit illegal) help from her car mechanic and tax accountant boss. What an overbearing and annoying character Amy is! But as to the plot, what I found most amazing is that in this dense forest, her phone service ( and Google Maps) continued to work, yet even with Verizon, I get some connection challenges on some stretches of open highways. All ends well in this film. So now don't bother to waste your time watching it.

The Requin (2022)

A Sharking Disappointment

[1/10 · 1 May 2022]

This is one of the worst movies I have seen this year. I would rate it zero if I could. The acting was terrible ( or was this a try out after a casting call?) especially by the female lead. She was the main reason why this was so awful. She had a glum looking facial expression; she grunted, whined, screamed and screeched throughout the film, not only when her and her husband's lives were in danger. I am not kidding. I felt sorry for her husband having to put up with her ( ok she had PTSD from losing a baby during birth--I get that) but his acting wasn't too good either. These were lose-lose casting decisions. To attract attention with smoke for rescue (as they were floating out to sea), who would be so dumb as to light a fire on a wooden "raft" which was the floor of all that was left of their cheaply built Vietnamese hotel room on the water after the violent storm? Yup, it burned to a crisp. Close to the end of the movie, all this actress did was screech and grunt because there was no one to talk with. Hey, I know she was getting stalked by sharks on what little there was to float on, and I don't think I would be too cool with that myself, but truly it was very annoying. Her voice was grating on me for too long. It even annoyed the sharks which tried to put an end to it. What was the director thinking? There were some bad outcomes in the movie, (like why does she go back into the water after reaching land?) and other stupid decisions made, but there was one positive part to speak of: It ended. Don't bother or fast forward if you must.

The Alpines (2021)

Not any Alpines

[3/10 · 17 February 2022]

I have very little to say that's good about this movie except I gave it 3 for effort and that's generous. There wasn't even any alpines! We were all duped from the getgo . It was such a waste of my time with a whole bunch of jibberish, tiring dialogue about who is sleeping with or had the hots for whom. The acting was mediocre at best, and the plot was so corny involving the usual 20 something airheads going away in the woods together for a weekend where things happen. It wasn't even suspenseful. Then to top it off, I was left with my time wasted and the classic cop out that it was all a dream... Zack's revenge wish. For what? Because none of them answered the phone or called him back when he felt down and slit his wrists.

Inventing Anna (2022)

Disappointed

[5/10 · 16 February 2022]

I decided to see it to the long drawn out end. Unfortunately, I found the character of Anna, originally intriguing, evolving of into being unappealing, thoughtless materialistic and self-centered at anybody else's cost. Her accent was more snobbish than foreign, often sounding like the put on and pretentious tone of a " valley girl." Although Anna was a sad, disturbed character, I couldn't feel sorry for her to the end when she was convicted after trial of some of the 10 counts against her especially since she exploited her friend Rachel to the tune of $60k.

I felt the character of the journalist, Vivian, went downhill and became ridiculous the more she got personally connected with Anna which was actually a conflict of interest in her role of writing an objective magazine article about her. In fact it was so absurd that she gave Anna a much publicized white dress to wear during the trial. I also found her aspect to be overly expressive with emotion that seemed out of place.

As to Anna's lawyer, he should have given up on her long ago since she was so obnoxious and impossible to handle. Furthermore, I felt it was unrealistic for him to jeopardize his marriage by suddenly telling his wife right after the trial that he wasn't leaving with her and their children on the rare family vacation they were taking to Mexico that day. Instead he went back to see Anna in her jail cell at court. Really??!!!

Having said all that, I felt the acting in general was superb, especially Anna's regardless of what I thought about the character(s) . The acting of the supporting cast of characters for the most part was also excellent, with Kacy , the personal trainer being a brilliant voice of reason and levelling force. If it weren't for this I would have not stuck it out to the end .

Dangerous (III) (2021)

Mediocre at best

[5/10 · 8 February 2022]

I thought this film showed some promise, but it started to go downhill. I began to think that it was a comedy of sorts with Clint Eastwood's son playing the lead in a role as "D," that doesn't do him justice as a rising actor. Mel Gibson's role as his psycho therapist, was a sideshow, and no doubt he didn't have to appear much in filming considering many scenes were of him alone in his home talking to "D" on the phone. Maybe they used him for the part to have his name as a draw. The subtly funny parts throughout manifested "D"'s diagnosed psychosis and ongoing treatment by the doctor, sometimes inebriated, he constantly checks in with for advice right in the midst of shooting and fighting, The absurdity took this action shoot em up film down another type of genre road which diluted the action tension and made for a ridiculous plot. With the discovery of the secret door leading to the loot, I felt like I was back in my youth reading a Nancy Drew book. If you have something else to do, do it.

The Boat (2018)

Going nowhere slowly

[7/10 · 14 January 2022]

For most of the time I was very engrossed in this suspenseful film and the only actor in it. He was an amazing sailor who didn't let anything get him down, even when hopelessness looked him right in the eye. However, it started to get weird with doors locking him in spaces below deck, and one time with him in a tiny bathroom filling up with water during a severe storm. Then the ship began taking on a life of its own, and it was getting ridiculous and drawn out. I became disappointed because it seemed like it was of the supernatural genre...as though it were a ghost ship cruising the sea waiting for a sucker to come aboard. I started to wish it would hurry up and end and assumed he would get rescued once land appeared in the distance. At one point in the film, I thought it would have a dramatic ending with the dolphins leading him to safety. I would have found that gratifying. But I'm sorry I invested my time in this movie since it had a cop-out inconclusive ending. He survives with nothing but a couple of lacerations, back to where he started out, and his original lost little fishing boat he was on at the start, appearing as though he never left. What happened..someone lost the script during filming and the director quickly wrapped it up?

Don't Look Up (2021)

Amazing Cast for this satire

[8/10 · 13 January 2022]

I liked this new Netflix movie with a great cast, though it dragged somewhat. Well-done satirical commentary especially about political leaders, characters like the president and chief of staff putting up smokescreens and creating distraction in the face of a crisis.

Very funny ending after all the credits. Many movies do that these days, so I hang on. Best quote: "I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not like his passengers screaming in terror."

Meander (2020)

crawling along to the end

[4/10 · 11 January 2022]

Time crawled along too. This did nothing for me---a woman unexplainably winding up in a sinuous duct- like metal tunnel having to overcome a series of death trap dangers and life defying challenges ( like decision based ones as in Hostel). The plot got tiring quickly. About halfway through, I was already exhausted and had enough, but stuck with it to see if any sort of explanation emerged and what the wind up would be. That was the only hook. Then when it gets to the end, it turns out to be nothing but a science fiction type allegory about a woman who wanted to die after her young daughter had died and now is in survival mode seeking to live. Everything about the crawling moments in the movie had some meaning subject to interpretation whether your own or someone else's which you can read about to bring closure on the WTF reaction you wind up with . I would have preferred it to be more straightforward like a horror chamber created by some sociopath---like maybe the guy who picked her up in the beginning for a lift. A waste of time for me.

Coming Home in the Dark (2021)

Great start then downhill

[5/10 · 5 January 2022]

At first I was drawn into this movie and thought it was going to be one with a lot of tension. With the family going on a road trip and then hiking into a deserted, mountainous territory, I assumed bad things were going to happen to these people. Then once two creepy men were spotted and subsequently approached the family, I figured it would turn into a survival movie being hunted down by these crazies. The biggest shocker for me that caused me to gasp, was when the lead lunatic, Mandrake, ruthlessly shot both of the couple's adolescent sons.

After that and seeing how little emotion the parents showed, (I would be sobbing and screaming the whole time, even during the very long car rides), it went down hill for me. Mandrake was an incessant talker, and I get the purpose was to establish his character to set the stage of what his revenge issue was all about and to reveal an early teaching experience of the father. But the car ride was way to long. Also, since most of the movie was filmed in the dark, it was hard to see what was going on, by whom and to whom. The fact that the escape of the wife and her jumping into a river from a high point left it unknown as to whether she survived, didn't matter given the final outcome of the movie where it I presumed the husband wouldn't survive his gunshot wounds, bleeding out and the fact that he was left on his own in a very remote area. A big plus was the acting and that is why I gave it a 5 star rating. The best thing I did was put on subtitles because I would never have been able to understand some of the "down under" accent dialogue.

Holler (2020)

Well done authentic storytelling and acting

[9/10 · 2 January 2022]

This is a wonderful, sensitive, and poignant film about personal hardships in the manufacturing center of an Ohio town. The acting is superb and the personal struggles are real. Some reviewers felt disappointed that there was no action, and although there was some tension in parts, there needn't be action to make a great movie. This drama is simply not conducive to action since a mellow and bleak tone, one of hopelessness, pervades the film which aligns with the theme. Although Ruth talks about going to college and getting out of the never ending cycle of downtrodden existence her crack mom and guardian older brother experience, as well as others in the community, she realizes the difficulty of breaking away. She and her brother tried to support themselves collecting scrap metal from abandoned manufacturing plants for a hardnosed scrap metal business owner who undercuts the value of what they bring in. Given all that Ruth proclaimed throughout the movie, about the importance of her getting out from under by going to college, the ending was quite disappointing. It seemed like the director was thinking that there was enough of this film made and suddenly thought it was time to end it. At that point, Ruth's emotional ties to her brother overtake her college aspirations and it appears she remains stuck in the same kind of dying manufacturing town life. I can only hope it would be temporary.

The one problem I felt that was particularly bothersome because it lacked authenticity, was that Ruth and her brother talk about how the cost of going to college was essentially prohibitive since they were so poor. That was the only unreal aspect of this film since someone as smart and poor as Ruth was, would not have a problem with cost of going to college.

No Escape Room (2018 TV Movie)

Wasted my time

[3/10 · 1 January 2022]

I thought this had an intriguing start, but about by halfway through, I was getting annoyed with all the absurdities, and questions about what the heck is going on, started piling up. What's worse is that once I made it to the end of this evolving boring film, I was left with having no satisfaction whatsoever about what the outcome was especially for the two main characters. So, if you like movies where you spend your time befuddled and left to coming up with your own interpretations about every little thing including the ending, then this move is for you. But it's a major letdown for me.

Brotherhood (I) (2019)

Submerged in boredom

[3/10 · 24 December 2021]

I thought this was going to be an exciting survival movie, no doubt with a tragic outcome , but was very disappointed in the way it was presented. The back and forth to different time periods in the characters' lives and at the time during camp was disruptive. The darkness during the capsized boat scenes made it hard to see who was who; the audio was terrible throughout with lots of mumbling; there was no explanation as to why they would all be expected to crowd into a canoe in the first place as though this were a crew team with the correct craft; somebody was mentioned as being at fault for losing an oar ( when?) but the movie doesn't show that; I don't get how a lake would have what appeared to be an ocean size wave coming at them; why didn't they turn back when seeing the dark clouds ahead? The men in charge were experienced camp leaders but allowed this tragedy to happen. The boy characters appeared to look much older than summer campers would be. I could go on and on. But you get the gist.

Path (2015)

Boring Gore Fest

[2/10 · 22 December 2021]

This blood fest survival movie was a waste of time unless you just like gore after gore with no plot to speak of. Nasty characters come and go throughout the budget scenes without explanation of who they are or why they are doing what they are doing. My torture was seeing it through to its confusing, pointless ending, par for the course.

Two (2021)

Glad it was short

[4/10 · 21 December 2021]

At first it held my interest waiting to see who the perverted psychopath was who made this gruesome " connection." But it started to drag on without much happening and then the wind up 15 minutes or so were rushed. I could take the horror of it all, but it was very poorly done because there was no consistency in the way the 2 characters are positioned, given their sewn constraints. As ludicrous as the plot was, the more ludicrous were these obvious errors which were allowed to remain in the film.

Rage (I) (2021)

Don't waste your time

[1/10 · 8 August 2021]

This was a long drawn out movie with a bad plot and acting. The sound effects at times were annoying and loud, there were many holes in the plot and absurd outcomes. The scarey masks on the intruders was trite. Often it was hard to understand what the actors were saying in their Australian dialect, so I suggest you use closed caption/subtitles. I stuck it out to the end to see if the conclusion had any merit. It didn't.

Triggered (I) (2020)

Triggered boredom

[2/10 · 5 June 2021]

I would say that the horror of this movie is the movie itself. First it has very bad nightime lighting for the whole time. Not only can't you tell who is who much of the time, but even the gore that is supposed to be is hardly visible . I guess that way the producers didn't need to spend much on special effects, (except some splattered blood and dripping head wounds), and viewers can use their own imagination as to what was done. The acting and dialogue are terrible, often consisting of corny put downs and screeching. The characters still seem like immature high school kids and not recent college graduates. The producers also saved on the movie set because it takes place in the dark woods so very little is different to create interest. You can hardly see where they are most of the time anyway. None of the characters were worth rootIng for. The best part was when the movie ended after about an hour and a half. I rated it 2 stars for the vests.

The Call (VIII) (2020)

Big Flop

[1/10 · 11 May 2021]

I don't have much to say about this movie except that it is terrible all around. This includes the script, the acting, the cinematography ( a very dark and cluttered set for much of it) the ghouls with black goo coming out of their mouths that looked like tar, the whole storyline, are a big waste of time. And what was with the carnival stuff? Anyway, the best part was that it ended with everyone stuck in their own hell. My hell was watching it, and at least I got out.

Vanquish (2021)

Big disappointment

[2/10 · 7 May 2021]

I am a fan of Morgan Freeman and usually enjoy his movies. But this has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen . There is nothing good about it.... Not the mediocre ( at best) acting, the boring script, the tedious open road chase scenes, and the overly stylish filming, all add up to a waste of my time. The best part was that it came to an end. Watching paint dry would be more exciting. I gave it a 2 for effort and because Morgan Freeman is in it.

The Reckoning (2020)

So So

[4/10 · 5 May 2021]

EH!

This started out like it was going to tell something about the plague and the witch trials, and then it dragged and dragged and dragged on. Many of the scenes were too dark that it was hard to see ( better to view at night) and the costuming was what style: Midieval? Prairie? Victorian? Gone With the Wind? Do something else instead. It's way to long. I was glad it came to an end.

Romina (2018)

Awful production

[1/10 · 3 May 2021]

There is nothing good that I can say about this stupid and inferior movie. I watch a lot of horror films, and this one is just plain horrible...the acting, the plot, the filming, the cheap gore effects and the too loud background lake noise which sounded more like an ocean. The group's childish chatter in the car ride to the campsite was unbearable, and I should have ended it there. My question is, does anyone know what grade the highschool freshmen film students got for producing this project? Ha ha.

Shame on Netflix for showing this.

The Drew Barrymore Show (2020– )

Drew should withdraw

[2/10 · 10 November 2020]

What a waste of a prime time morning slot. Drew is a sweet person but has no talent as a talk show host. I assume she got the role through industry connections, but how long will it take to cancel this very boring show? Drew should stick with movies or find something else to do.

Lamb (I) (2015)

Mixed emotions while watching Lamb. Contains spoilers.

[8/10 · 9 June 2016]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the user reviews for Lamb. I found them very, honest and insightful, and they furthermore validated the mixed emotional feelings I was having while watching the film. My feelings oscillated among anger, annoyance, frustration and pathos. I had a love/hate relationship with this story. It was poignant while at the same time it was outrageous. I think that other reviewers captured my own sentiments well so I won't get into that again. In simplest terms, both Tommie and David are very needy people and are symbiotic. However, given the huge age difference, David is nothing short of bizarre and obviously suffering from a psychosis. There is no excuse for his wishing to be the companion of a young girl rather than another adult who is already overtly seeking his affections. In simplest terms he's a creepy child predator, albeit on an emotional rather than physical level. I loved the acting and I was fully engaged, expecting that at some moment the unthinkable would happen. Perhaps I can chalk it up to having a morbid curiosity. The closing scene of the abandoned knapsack left me somewhat frustrated, but I decided to take the fairy tale approach and be done with it. I think that the possibilities others have raised are perfectly plausible.