jc666999 Reviews

A Murder at the End of the World (2023)

Terrible

[1/10 · 25 November 2023]

It was extremely painful to finish the first episode. Ridiculous characters, ridiculous dialogue, nonsensical plot that never managed to make me want to know more about anything, cringe-worthy scenes, the worst one being where all the "geniuses" introduce themselves on the plane. The lead actress has zero charisma and there is zero need for her to have pink hair. It's mind-blowing how it feels both like it was written by out of touch older people trying to be hip with the kids and like it was written by 17 year olds trying to sound smart. Not watching any more episodes. A big disappointment since the OA was great as weird as it was.

Telemarketers (2023)

A C A B

[9/10 · 29 August 2023]

Blue lives matter people are review bombing this show. Do not listen to them and watch it. Patrick Pespas is a wonderful character, his arc is very inspiring and emotional and the doc is worth watching for that alone but the whole show was great. With many twists and turns narrated by some very interesting (as in, weird) people, it leaves you wanting more until the very last moments. It just shows how rotten and corrupt the system is in America in ways that are actually surprising. How is it possible something like this has ben going on for so long? And it's not even at its worst yet. AI will make sure of it. ACAB!

Lightyear (2022)

this is supposed to be a 1995 style action movie

[3/10 · 25 July 2022]

I really don't get the disclaimer at the beginning of the movie saying this is supposed to be the movie Andy from Toy Story saw in 1995. It's basically Interstellar for kids, something no one was going to do back then, even in this fictional setting. Nothing about this movie is remotely 90s, which makes it an absolute failure from the get go. The structure, humor (please, add more Siri jokes, I don't think there were enough), characters, *everything* is modern and lame. What were they thinking? When you can't stick to the concept behind the movie the whole thing has no reason to exist. Pixar has ran out of ideas and talent.

Paris, Texas (1984)

Do not believe the hype.

[5/10 · 9 May 2022]

This is a movie about ruining a kid's life. It is not endearing nor a love story. People finding the beauty in this story aren't right. That said, visually it gets to look pretty good at times but it's uneven in its cinematography and acting. I can confidently say it's overrated.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Boring and predictable

[5/10 · 31 December 2021]

I was very disappointed with this movie. Having enjoyed the previous two mcu spiderman movie I did not expect it to be. This movie picks up immediately after the previous one and depends so much on not only watching several mcu movies but also the FIVE pre-mcu spiderman movies it becomes almost unbearable. The story was ok for a crossover multiverse story of this kind but the script and acting are so weak and awkward it feels more like watching a random episode of a show in its tenth season. Like the actors are not into it and are just going with the flow. The whole movie depends entirely on big surprise moments to keep it going but almost every single surprise was known before hand thanks to trailers and internet buzz. I imagine even if you didn't pay any attention to any of that and tried to see it a second time it wouldn't hold up because without the surprises the movie has little to offer. And the few moments that weren't known beforehand online are entirely predictable, and feel very superficial when they're supposed to be dramatic and character changing. It's very weak writing.

Not everything was bad though, Willem Dafoe does a great job as the green goblin as does Alfred Molina as Dr Octopus, but that's it. Disappointing overall.

The Scary of Sixty-First (2021)

Unironically good

[7/10 · 19 December 2021]

I enjoyed this movie a lot. It's incredibly funny, it's very obviously not meant to be taken too seriously and you have to have a certain sense of humor and interests to get it. This is half horror movie, half post-irony pop culture commentary in the style of the director's, Dasha Nekrasova, podcast, and the resulting mix is a very fresh and entertaining one. The story feels like a european horror film from the 70s and it nails the atmosphere for the most part, but add that everything mentioned about Jeffrey Epstein in this film is true, and it becomes something like a South Park episode, where fact meets fiction. This is not a bad thing, I find it very fun to watch someone explore current events in such a creative way. The score and editing were pretty good too.

The bad: the acting is generally bad but the weakest point has to be the cinematography. Half the movie is out of focus and it gets to be pretty annoying because I'm sure it was not an artistic decision. Shot on 16mm film, it feels like a waste.

Not a great film but not bad either, just made for a very specific audience. Everyone else just got filtered.

Gossip Girl (2021–2023)

A disgrace to the original

[3/10 · 6 December 2021]

I waited until I finished the season to review this show. Nothing about it is good. Most of the cast are terrible actors and the writing is so inconsistent they change personalities every other episode anyway. Direction and photography are awful in some episodes, where truly confusing choices are made in several scenes that makes the show look like a bad film school project. Never mind there is no clear plot through the season other than "there is a gossip girl again" and the subplots are no better, often rehashes of every teen show of the last 15 years but with more sex so it can claim to be provocative. It isn't. It was never clear if the show was trying to be critical of modern culture, or just exploiting its worse aspects for shock value. As a sequel to the original, it's very unoriginal, forced in every aspect, and generally boring. It's a complete disgrace. This should've never been made.

At Dusk (2019)

Good film - no bias review

[7/10 · 29 March 2021]

It seems a lot of the reviews on here are politically motivated, which is an abuse of the review and rating system and shouldn't be allowed. I know nothing about lithuanian history and partisans so my opinion is strictly about this film as a film.

It's a pretty good movie, even it it's a bit long and has a lot of what could be consider filler. For example, I don't think the story of the son's real parents matters to the story at all but it did add depth to the characters. Could've spent that time on the partisans instead. The acting is fantastic and made me feel sad for the characters getting killed. It's a depressing story about the changes that come after war.

It looks pretty good too. Nice colors and locations. If this was an american film it would get some award show hype I think.

Saint-Narcisse (2020)

bad, but entertaining

[4/10 · 28 March 2021]

The most basic elements of the story in this movie are actually pretty good. Twins separated at birth, one living in a monastery raised by a priest that has molested him his whole life and the brother who finds him and wants to reunite with with their mother, whom he just found recently too after he finds she's still alive and was kept in the dark by the grandmother who raised him. Add all the other elements and it starts falling apart. The mother's lesbian romance is barely justified as the reason why her sons were taken away from her. And her adopting of her lover's daughter, who becomes her lover too because she looks just like her is just nonsense. But then it turns out the brothers are incestuous too and they have sex the day they meet. At this points it seems like fetish after fetish horned in the film.

In the end all four of them live in a polyamorous incestuous household, with a new baby and another one on the way. Just what is one supposed to get from that? Are the children going to be brought up to participate in this incestuous household? I have no idea what that was about.

The acting gets to be pretty abysmal at times with stiff line delivery and lack of consistency in the way the two brothers act, both played by the same actor. The editing was pretty bad too with some cheap transitions in between scenes and unnecessary flashbacks through the movie's climax.

All said it was entertaining watching it even if only because you're constantly thinking how everything could've been done better.

Cryptozoo (2021)

Excellent

[10/10 · 24 March 2021]

Not since I saw Wizards as a kid was I so excited about an animated film. Cryptozoo has a great weird story and intense actions sequences with beautiful animation that feels very Raplh Bakshi or Heavy Metal. Psychedelic. The voice acting is pretty great too, something always lacking in most american animation. I watched it without knowing anything about it as part of an international film festival and was very pleasantly surprised. Highly recommended!

Dragon Quest: Your Story (2019)

extremely disappointing

[4/10 · 17 February 2020]

This movie's first flaw is the pacing. everything happens too fast and if not familiar with the series, and the game this movie is based on specifically, you're going to get lost pretty fast. its second flaw is that it's made for fans of the series and disregards appealing to anyone else. it's nothing but fan service and nods to the game nonstop. not a good thing. but the third flaw is its most serious flaw: the ending. it completely throws away the whole story up to that point in the dumbest twist possible in an attempt to appeal even more to long time fans of the video games. as if it was necessary at that point in the movie. and i understand what they tried to do but it just doesn't work, when i realized what was happening with the ending i lost all interest and felt i had wasted my time watching the movie up to that point.

the cgi, animation and character design are gorgeous, even with the changing of the way humans look from the original designs by akira toriyama. the monsters look better than ever but the voice acting and humor are just ok, standard for a japanese animation movie. huge disappointment for a long time dragon quest fan.

Booksmart (2019)

Not bad at all

[8/10 · 30 May 2019]

This movie does have a very similar plot to superbad but stands on its own as a comedy just fine. The jokes are funny, the lead actresses are great together and the pacing and editing are perfect, even the photography is really nice. Enjoyed the small roles played by big names in comedy, a nice bonus if you like their work in SNL and other movies. The humor and characters' personalities represent teenagers today very accurately, especially in los ángeles, as well as superbad did when it came out. Times change and it seems the people giving this film bad reviews are people who want things to stay the same as they were when they were young and it's rather sad this mentality prevents them from enjoying a decent film. I recommend giving this film a chance and am looking forward to more comedies from Olivia Wilde.