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cjfarley-65939
Reviews
The Beach House (2019)
Slow burn start and nice atmosphere.
I don't know the budget on this movie but it probably wasn't huge. They spent it well. The first half of the movie builds atmosphere and character. Then it takes off and doesn't let up until it's over. There cast is small, and they only use a few locations to shoot, but it looks good and the acting is good. The special effects are practical and used sparingly. The is some well-done body horror and the connections to the Lovecraft mythos is apparent but not overdone. There aren't a lot of jump scares. I really enjoyed it.
All the Devil's Men (2018)
Decent Action Movie
I could pick this movie apart without trying to hard, but why? It did what it was supposed to. I was a decent, popcorn action flick. The action scenes were plentiful and well done. The acting was overall good although a bit uneven. There was a plot, sort of. The hero had a backstory, I think. He was going through things. The female lead also had a backstory and was going through things. I didn't matter, because there wasn't much of what you could call character development. The one complaint I had was the fighting ability of the lead character. His skill seemed to be on a sliding scale depending on what the script needed.
Extraction (2020)
Pretty Good Action Flick
This movies features some awesome action scenes. There isn't much plot, barely enough to string between action scenes. It slows down in a spot or two, once pretty bad. It's kind of a throwback to the action movies of the 80's, without the tongue-in-cheek humor. The acting is very good, especially for a straight action flick based on a graphic novel.
The Addams Family (2019)
Changed my mind on this one.
I didn't like this movie at first. It's obviously a kid's movie, but I am a huge fan of the Addams Family. I grew up watching reruns of the original TV show, watched the animated series, had a couple of paperback reprints of the newspaper strip collections. I watched the live action movies as an adult and still watch them when I have the opportunity. At first, it seemed like this movie was missing the mark on the spirit of the Addams Family. I don't remember any of the other incarnations feeling they were different or odd. Initially it seemed this incarnation were aware they were considered monsters. This was toned down as the movie progressed. It also looked like it was going to be an origin story. Why is Hollywood so obsessed with erasing any mystery a character might have? I don't want to know Han Solo's back story and I don't want to know Gomez's either. Sometimes leaving someone mysterious is just more fun. Fortunately that was just a tiny piece of the movie. I almost stopped there, but decided to watch a little more. I am glad I did because the movie kind of smoothed out and to my surprise was funny and charming. I enjoyed it quiet a bit.
Handy Dandy (2019)
Not as bad as some say.
The movie isn't as bad as most of the reviews state. It's not great, but I've seen way worse. The acting isn't horrible, the effects aren't terrible, at least until the end. On the other hand, the script is weak. The ending was pretty bad. There isn't much in here that hasn't been done elsewhere and better. The characters were pretty stereotypical. There was the rich, popular guy, the jock, the nerdy scientific one (in this case a cute female), the shallow, sex-crazed guy, the dumb blonde model, and the tough girl. There was some time spent letting you get to know them. There were 3 that were halfway likable. But the final confirmation was lame and the ending was really, really bad. You could do worse, but you could also do better.
Eternal Code (2019)
Kind of a waste
Cool idea, not original but cool. Horrible acting, stilted dialogue and poor script. Photography was impressive.
The Dead Don't Die (2019)
Five for potential.
This should have been an awesome movie. It wasn't. It had the star power, it had zombies, it had quirky characters and atmosphere. It didn't have character development, pacing, a coherent plot, a backstory. It might have had a hidden agenda. It did seem to try to hit you over the head with a couple of points, but that didn't work well either. I have to agree with most of the other reviewers on here, it was a very different movie than the trailers showed. Skip it or wait til you can watch it for free.
The Outsider (2019)
Not sure we watched the same movie.
Not sure where the 8,9,and 10 star reviews came from. Trace Adkins seemed to be trying to channel Sam Elliot. The guy playing the villain pretty much chewed the scenery. The hero wasn't developed at all. The action was too little and was either filmed so close or so dark you couldn't see what was happening. Danny Trejo usually brings some life to the screen, he was nice and menacing, but dialogue sounded like he was reading it off cue cards. Flanery was probably the best part of the movie, but his character wasn't really developed either. There were some really strange decisions about what to film. Why closeups of people chewing food?
Strange Rituals (2017)
Don't Expect Much
This isn't a great movie. The dialogue is bad, the pacing and timing are bad. Plot continuity is bad. Acting is not the greatest. The makeup was okay, but production values don't seem to be very high. It's obvious this was not a high budget film, but that doesn't mean it has to be bad. I was hoping for more, since the idea of retro voodoo zombies was a great one.