Necroshaman’s Films Watched in 2024

Pretty good thriller that didn’t necessarily go the clichéd route.  Interesting batch of characters all looking for a piece of the pie.  The pregnant lady was particularly strong and resourceful and made for an enjoyable character. 7/10 - 1/1/2024

Pretty stacked cast in this sequel (arguably of both Minions and Despicable Me) that blends what’s good about both.  Michelle Yeoh proves that she is bad ass, even in animated form.  Fun story, stylish scenes and a nice 70s soundtrack. I also liked the Chinese version of Bang Bang. 7/10 - 1/1/2024

Maybe it’s a time period thing but I did not find this sequel scary, suspenseful or even thrilling.  To be honest, the film needed more shark and a heck of a lot more blood.  It was just sort of average. 1/1/2024

A varied assortment of interesting characters played by a ridiculous stacked cast.  The story is fascinating from an historical standpoint but the film was overly long and meandered.  It would have been better with a tighter cut to create a better sense of urgency.  While the cast was amazing, I found the dialogue a little “off” all throughout. 6/10 - 1/1/2024

Terrible film. Tried to insert a lot of sex but was not sexy.  Characters were vapid with awful lines. Kills lacked creativity or good gore.  I honestly expected better out of this, despite the bad ratings.  At least the color scheme was okay (even if unoriginal). 2/10 - 1/2/2024

I either misunderstood what this film was or my expectations were too high.  This was a mostly bloodless, slow moving thriller about I guess a stalker. It doesn’t get particularly interesting until about 20 minutes left in the film.  At least they applied Checkov’s gun to the chainsaw.  Though it seems weird the father would casually have one hanging out in a toolbox in an apartment.  The music used throughout didn’t seem a good fit for thriller or horror. 4/10 - 1/2/2024

Low budget Sisyphean nightmare couples therapy film or something like that. Reminded me of both Triangle and The Incident to some degree.  The pile of headphones on the ground recalled the birds from Triangle. They did well with what they had and created a good air of mystery amplified by good use of sound (eg heartbeats) and minimalist music.  A bit of a gem. 8/10 - 1/3/2024

Better than I was expecting for this thriller with unexpected direction that it went.  The main antagonist was portrayed well by Naud and reminded me a bit of Isabelle Fuhrman in Orphan / Orphan Kills.  The story was overall good, though the ending betrayed Naud’s character throughout the rest of the film. 7/10 - 1/3/2024

I don’t feel this has held up. The script was rough around the edges and wasn’t all that funny. This despite the presence of a very young Cary Grant.  Songs were okay I guess but I feel Mae West was overrated. 4/10 - 1/3/2024

You’ve seen this film before: just replace ballet with whatever other thing they are competing for / training on. Dancing was okay. Characters a bit cliché with lingering 90s style.  Notable as Saldana’s first film. 6/10 - 1/4/2024

Such a well made animated superhero film, well before the MCU invasion. Holds up on repeat viewings well. It helps that the characters are all relatable and human, despite being super.  I loved realizing the Young Sheldon connection this time (Nelson and Shawn). 9/10 - 1/4/2024

Stylish HK film that made a point of name checking other, good movies (baked into the script via the movie store girl). Action was okay but I did find the story droned on after a while. 6/10 - 1/4/2024

Slow burn Hong Kong spook film.  Visually saturated in blue throughout with a decent classical soundtrack.  Jump scares here and there. Shots of blood contrast the blue from time to time.  Overall it was too slow to be scary with a lot of time between anything interesting. 6/10 - 1/5/2024

I was expecting some sort of silly 60s British sexy comedic romp but this was not that.  Basically marital strife mixed with a fling and they all get involved with each other. It was not funny in the least. As a drama, it was okay and was probably more risqué for the time. 5/10 - 1/5/2024

It tried to be funny but I didn’t find many of the jokes hitting. Gwenn looked young but maybe that’s just because he wasn’t sporting a Santa beard.  Some dated bits like the pretending to be Asian on the phone. 5/10 - 1/5/2024

I like these cautionary tales of the horrors of nuclear weapons.  This one is a different spin in that it’s not nuclear war but the testing that sets off a climate catastrophe.  There was an interesting mix of sepia tone and regular black and white to indicate what was happening.  There was also some good scenes of climate crisis destruction (the “caught fire” bit).  The movie itself reminded me a bit of a Twilight Zone episode (“The Midnight Sun”). 8/10 - 1/6/2024

I really wanted to like this.  Millie Perkins looked pretty bad ass as a cowboy, I love Warren Oates and Jack Nicholson is in this too.  But the story was hard to get into and not much exciting really happens. 5/10 - 1/6/2024

Can’t say I really enjoyed the film but I’m not really a big Presley fan either. The whole film is basically a vehicle to showcase his music and thus the story is simple and suffers because of it. Throw in the very dated behaviour towards women and it’s an artifact of the time. Worth it I guess to see him sing Fools Rush In but overall I wouldn’t watch this again. 4/10 - 1/7/2024

More of the same. Womanizing Presley in dated scenes while singing his catalogue of songs throughout.  The situations were probably more comedic in the early 60s than they are now.  He does have a good voice, even if he isn’t my favourite performer. 4/10 - 1/7/2024

A story with heart and humour. Giamatti is stellar as always, though I found his strabismus or glass eye disconcerting but also funny.  It was fun to see the budding friendship between Paul and Angus.  The film itself was well made and scenes were poignantly done. 8/10 - 1/7/2024

Took a while to get going as there was a surprising amount of character development of the various passengers before even getting on the subway. Once the meat of it happened, it was pretty good.  The two hoodlums definitely made you despise them.  Beau Bridges played a heroic character very well.  The black and white and apparent on location filming was quite good.  Interesting to read the subway ads in the background as they appeared to be authentic. 7/10 - 1/7/2024

Bland story filled with awful adults.  You totally feel sorry for Pollyanna suffering these odious people. 4/10 - 1/8/2024

Maybe I’ve seen too many prison set films recently or overall, but this was very bleh.  It lacked any meaningful character development to make you care for the maligned prisoners and so it was just an exercise in watching prisoners get punished by power hungry prison staff.  I also didn’t really care for the use of black and white here. It didn’t really offer anything extra. If they were trying to give off the sweltering vibe, could have used the sepia tone that The Day the Earth Caught Fire used. 5/10 - 1/8/2024

A slow moving thriller that lacked much suspense throughout.  Atmospheric sounds were sparsely used but effective when they were.  Not a lot happens and when it does, it’s not jolting or shocking.  Better editing might have improved the runtime and the quality.  The reveal was interesting enough and there was something soothing about a purring cheetah. 6/10 - 1/8/2024

Famous film but it really didn’t scratch any cinematic itch for me.  The sex wasn’t particularly risqué compared to modern film and in terms of Buñuel, not weird or surreal enough.  It was okay but not great. 5/10 - 1/8/2024