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Reviews
The Batman (2022)
Flawed but not worthless
In some ways this was a welcome change from the endlessly looping origin story. The film didn't retread the same tired ground again, instead picking up in the middle of Bruce's story, getting to the action immediately.
In other ways the film is bogged down by its excessive run time (nearly 3 hours), woke messaging and race swapping established characters, and the fact that this is probably the most ineffectual version of Batman ever. The Riddler got pretty much exactly what he wanted minus the sniper attack at the end. Bruce is continually two steps behind, too late save anyone or stop anything.
The Riddler is actually right when he tells Batman "you're really not as smart as I thought you were".
The same could be said of the film.
The Guilty (2021)
Solid performance, but annoying politics
Jake Gyllenhaal is great, but can't anyone just tell a story without using it as a soapbox anymore? And the arguments are completely reductionist and simplistic.
"Why'd you kill him?"
"I don't know. I wanted to punish him. I was so angry."
Yeah, okay buddy, that's the sum and substance of the police brutality debate. Angry white man must violence. Total strawman.
The Rook (2019)
Takes itself too seriously
The books this is based on are weird, over-the-top, often very funny urban fantasy, with an irreverent, interesting, funny lead. She's not traumatized and falling apart because she doesn't remember why she should be.
There are all kinds of supernatural shenanigans going on in the books like a house being overgrown by sentient purple mold that enslaves people, a dragon, flesh alchemists, a mind-control revenant that turns people into rabid venomous frog people, a serial killer who kills by exploding giant razor-sharp crystals from every surface in a room and impaling the victim, etc. etc.
This show is about human trafficking. Riveting.
The changed characters and plot lines are almost minor issues beside the major tone-shift, and even genre change that the show makes from strange, zany urban fantasy, to thriller with a side note of superhero drama.
The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
Disappointing and average
I was expecting it to be at the same level of quality as Hill House. Disappointed.
It had none of the creeping horror culminating in absolutely mind-bending plot twists (hehe) that made Hill House such a stand-out. I'm a total wuss when it comes to horror (Hereditary had me imagining a figuring crawling on the wall behind me in the dark for months), but it never actually delivered anything that even remotely creeped me out.
The story kind of skipped from one character to another, without ever going deep enough into any of their stories to let me latch on to them emotionally, resulting in a shallow patchwork of a story with no-one I really even cared about. Probably the best performance imo was Rahul Kohli, and he's never the focus.
And then there's the romance. I kind of feel betrayed. I was just here for a good old fashioned ghost story, and instead I was subjected to a nine episode long virtue signal about how diverse and tolerant 1980's Britain was, and oh look, the main character is gay so we should focus on this romance more than the actual horror story. I don't have any problem with gay characters, Hill House also had Theodora, but it's the excessive focus on that part of the story to the point that it borderline changes the genre from horror (which it's marketed as) to LGBT romance/activism that I take issue with.
Networks just need to be honest in their marketing, then stories will find the right audience.
The Alienist (2018)
Is this The Alienist or The Adventures of Miss Sara Howard, Lady Detective?
Overall I enjoyed the second season more than the first, but I really dislike when shows get all political on me. They shifted the focus about 75/25 from Laslo to Sara. That would be fine if that were what it's advertising itself as, but it's called The Alienist, so it really feels like heavy-handed feminist preaching. Just tell good stories and keep your virtue signaling for the awards shows.
Oblivion (2013)
Pretty solid sci-fi
This was somewhat predictable - a quarter into the movie I called about 80% of the major plot developments - but the high production value and solid performances was enough to mostly overcome that, along with my deep and abiding indifference to Tom Cruise. On the whole, a pretty entertaining movie.
The Silencing (2020)
The logic is not strong with this one.
There were so many plot conveniences, unmotivated actions, plain stupid decisions, and even a few blatantly impossible inconsistencies, and unfortunately Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's (admittedly decent) performance can't save it. I was also very disappointed in Annabelle Wallis's performance, as I really liked her in Peaky Blinders. She somehow manages to sound bored while holding a killer at gunpoint.
The film's only other saving grace is the gorgeous scenery.