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Vortex (2021)
8/10
Gaspar Noe proves he is one of the most exciting filmmakers working today.
9 May 2022
A slow moving, disturbing, and emotionally powerful cinematic experience. Gaspar really doesn't disappoint, as this film packs some of the most potent performances in any of his previous films, Dario Argento, François Lebrun and Alex Lutz do a surprisingly amazing job performing. The split screen used in the film's visuals are wonderfully implemented with a clear artistic purpose, the film is incredibly well shot and though the pacing is very slow it never feels dull whatsoever. The disturbing moments are much more subtle and quiet when compared to Noe's previous works, though their subtlety doesn't hinder these moments whatsoever. The dialogue is wonderful, every bit of human drama between these characters feels like it was ripped right out of reality with how raw every second is, at points it feels like I'm watching a documentary rather than a drama.

My main issues lie with the film's narrative feeling a little scatter-brained and random, a few plot threads feel picked up and dropped without much development and though I appreciate the use of empty scenes that feel like nothingness as a way to illustrate how our lives are made up of 50% nothingness, there's a point where those additions aren't needed anymore.
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5/10
An Enjoyably mediocre series that tries nothing new but remains moderately entertaining
4 April 2022
Most of Sono Bisque's qualities don't really exceed expectations, the music, animation, characters, episode format as well as plot are all pretty average and inoffensive, though that still isn't a bad thing, just disappointing considering I couldn't escape this show; everywhere I went whether it be twitter, instagram, discord wherever I was someone was talking about this show. I guess I kind of get the hype? Marin's pretty cute and all but the way she's written makes me feel as though the show is pandering reeaaally hard with the whole "I'm a hot girl but I also like anime and video games" thing. As I said previously this is in no way a bad show just a throughly unimpressive and standard one, however it had enough substance throughout most of it's runtime to keep someone as stubborn as myself at least semi- invested.
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Morbius (2022)
2/10
Down there with "Green Lantern" and "Supergirl" with the worst superhero films I've ever ever seen
1 April 2022
Yeah it's just as bad, maybe even worse than everyone's saying. It's a film farted out by Sony as a shameless attempt at starting their own marvel universe by picking an unknown character and quickly dumping out a crappy film to capitalize on the Batman hype. I am being 100% truthful and honest with you this movie had barely any effort put into it at all, it just feels like a complete cashgrab, this is the superhero movie equivalent of a straight to VOD late career Bruce Willis movie.

Okay, let's start with the positives.... uhhhh.... I guess the production design was okay? It wasn't really shot all too poorly, I think? I mean there are indeed some really flat shots and ugly sequences but it's not all bad, and that's where the list of positives end.

Now let me be clear: I hate writing super negative reviews because it feels like I'm bullying the people who worked on this, movies are hard to make and all, but I have next to no sympathy for studio cashgrab movies they had the budget to make it good and took the easy way out, I do feel bad for Jared Leto and Matt Smith, I love Matt, and I want him to be in better stuff, but he's awful in this. I have a really hard time blaming Leto and Smith for their bad performances because it honestly doesn't entirely feel like their fault, rather it feels as though the writers are to blame. The script is dinosaur dung incarnate, I have no idea how someone proof read this and said "yeah that's good," Morbius and Milo have 0 character whatsoever, no defining character traits, no development, no depth, not even a motive, no that's not a joke they have no motive whatsoever. Milo was crippled as a kid and he was bullied as a kid now he wants vampire powers so he can walk and kill people who aren't crippled? I say this as a question because that's what I thought his motive was until it just changed at the middle, he just becomes a bad guy who wants to kill Morbius for some unspoken reason; I assume it's because Morbius didn't give him the serum when he asked for it, but not only is this poorly conveyed to the viewer, but it's such petty drama and makes his character look like a giant child.

Morbius is just a doctor guy I honestly don't know what his goal even is or who he's supposed to be, he has a love interest but the romance is soooo forced, him and his lady friend share 3 scenes together, kiss, and that's it. They have 0 reason to be together at all, and the woman who plays his lady friend was a bad actress as well. There's two detective characters who they keep cutting back to but they're completely pointless, in fact, they just forget about them by the end of the movie. The "jokes" in this movie were hilarious, so hilarious in fact, that whenever they said a joke, NOBODY in my theater laughed. I think I heard a guy cough once. And talk about cliche, holy crap this movie follows that marvel formula to a tee, even ending with that same goddamn giant cgi epilepsy fight, but this time it's so unbelievably lame and uninspired, and there's no reason for it to happen at all. The cgi was terrible, it might've been worse than Venom, it feels so tryhardy, like this movie really wants you to think it looks cooler than it actually does. Some really goofy stuff happens in this movie as well but it's so far and few between that it makes it so you can't even watch it in the same way as Venom. Characters will die and it makes no impact at all because they aren't fleshed out in the slightest, and don't get me started on Morbius's powers, he can like glide on wind or something, he can't do it when he needs to fly off a building but he can fly... in front of a train? What? And even though he says he has "bat sonar" it's just super hearing, like do the writers even know what sonar is? The ending in this movie was horrible sequel bait nonsense, it was completely unsatisfying and just stupid this whole movie is so stupid and it doesn't even know it.

Do not waste your time or money viewing this piece of trash, it is boring nonsense from start to finish, it not a so bad it's good movie like venom, more of a so pathetic it's dull type of movie.
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Skin (I) (2018)
2/10
Ridiculous.
21 March 2022
A short film that somehow won an oscar regardless of it's abrasive use of sterotypes, terrible acting and directing, extremely ugly color grading and laughably stupid ending. Just watch American History X instead.
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Airplane Mode (II) (2019)
1/10
Worst "movie" I have ever seen in my entire life.
21 March 2022
This isn't even a movie, it feels like an unnecessarily long youtube video made by one of the most obnoxious, egotistical, rich losers on the face of the planet. Burn every last copy of this.
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Eraserhead (1977)
10/10
A Truly Nightmarish Film
15 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I love films that feel personal. Films that allow you to feel how the director was feeling while making it. Watching Eraserhead, and thinking about David Lynch's life while making it, you can definitely feel his emotions through the film, the sadness, anger, fear and discomfort Henry expresses throughout the film feels like a projection of Lynch's own emotions.

Eraserhead is scary in the same way a nightmare is scary. Imagine accidentally having a baby with a someone you barely even know, having to meet their parents, unknowing of how little you know each other, having to sleep with someone you barely know because you want to take care of your child. Having to listen to it cry all night, having to lay there and deal with your new partner's tossing and turning and teeth chattering, all while listening to the rumbling of factory machines from outside the window of your tiny apartment. It sounds hopeless. You start wondering what death is like, after your dead you don't have to hear the baby cry anymore. You meet a new person, someone you've always admired, and you hit it off. It's going great, you're making a new connection and maybe opening a new door in your life, but they learn you already have a kid, and that door quickly closes. It's the kid's fault that all this happened, so you take it out on the kid, but now you've killed it, and you feel like a monster, and you decide that it's probably better in heaven after all.

Putting yourself in Henry's shoes, and you realize just how scary all this is. It's all of David Lynch's worst fears, and it's some of mine as well. Pretty coincidental given we share the same first name.

As far as the actual review of the film and filmmaking itself, it's professionally shot with great cinematography and really clean camera movement, it's very well acted with good performances from the whole cast, the sound design is fantastic and really does a great job when it comes to making the viewer uncomfortable. The production design is great, the puppeteering on the baby is seriously perfect, the effects look a little goofy but never break immersion and look extremely impressive given the minuscule budget size. There's a good amount of comedy sprinkled in, great pacing, the whole film really flies by due in part to how atmospheric the industrial ambient soundtrack is, along with the visuals completely absorbing the viewer into this surreal nightmarish world. And lastly, theres many ways to approach the film, there's a lot left up to interpretation so it's best to let your imagination run wild.
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Possession (1981)
10/10
Possession: A True Horror Masterpiece
14 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The term "Masterpiece" is a word that usually describes a piece of art that demonstrates the artist's mastery of the art form. When it comes to film, a masterpiece not only requires a masterful director who knows what he wants from the start and is fully committed to the artwork he creates, but also requires a team of other people who are all on the same page from start to finish. Team coordination is the key to creating an astonishing piece of filmmaking, which is why it happens to rarely.

Andrej Zulawski's 1981 film Possession nothing short of cinematic excellence from start to finish, a true demonstration of what passion and dedication to one's artwork looks like. The film is was made during and based on Zulawski's own marriage and divorce, and it utilizes over-the-top eccentric acting to convey emotions that are usually repressed and hidden as a way to illustrate what his divorce felt like and how it impacted both him and his now ex-wife's lives. It spins a horrific event in ones life into a piece of horrific fiction that challenges the audience with the questions it poses.

Possession is an extremely dense film that proves difficult to unpack, the film features many double, sometimes even triple meanings for every action taken, the way scenes are cut, the way the dialogue is written and what is said, the way objects are placed, the way the set is designed, everything in this film is done for a reason and there are hundreds of little tiny details that will take countless rewatches to find them all. The film also utilizes some really, really subtle reincorporation that rewards attentive viewers who pay attention to every word said to every book on the self in the background.

For example: in the beginning of the film Mark finds a card from Heinrich saying "I have seen one half of God's face, the other belongs to you," the "you" is of course referring to Anna, and later in the film Heinrich tells mark "I fear nothing except God" to which Mark replies "God is a disease." If we take into consideration what the postcard said in the begging about how Anna holds one half of gods face, we can then connect that with how both characters view god. Heinrich fears Anna because of her control over his emotions, and Mark thinks of Anna as a disease because she has hurt him and his son to the point where all Mark thinks about is Anna, distracting him from his actual job. Not to mention later in the film Anna refers to the creature as God, and when Heinrich sees the creature in person he is overcome with great fear, and Anna is the one being infected by the creature's disease causing her to become possessed by its will.

Just some tiny little detail reveals so much about the characters and the film itself, and there are still so many more to discover. This film is also marvelous on a technical level, having a very clear style to it's visuals and cinematography, the sweeping camera movements really adding to the overall feel and personality of the film. The color pallet changes depending on where the characters are located in the film, in Mark's house the colors are much more clean, a simple blue and white, but in Anna's house the colors are much darker and dirtier, those colors being yellow and green. The special effects are fantastic and the creature looks really impressive, another example of why practical effects are always better than cgi. The music is incredibly stylish and unique, with a fait bit of experimentation in the instruments used in its composition. The performances are volatile and always demand the viewers attention, and the film is open to such a wide amount of interpretation and can be viewed in so many different ways makes for a fun film that you can repeatedly come back to and still find new meaning in.

My second favorite film of all time, I even bought the expensive signed limited edition blu ray :)
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