The life of a legendary sea monster hunter is turned upside down when a young girl stows away on his ship.
The Sea Beast is directed by Chris Williams who partly directed Big Hero 6 and Bolt, Netflix animated films have a huge tendency to go in a lot of different ways much more of the time not very good. While The Sea Beast is pretty much a How To Train Your Dragon clone it still manages to create a beautiful picture and makes some of the elements it’s own, for starters the animation is bright, colorful and very well detailed it adds a lot to the characters world and really makes the sea itself huge. The characters surprisingly get a lot of development, there’s some really interesting dialogue that points to a lot of interesting themes that are used. The scale of the movie completely matches the concept of sea monsters, pirates and the sea itself, it’s a huge world with so much to look at on screen. The film makes the viewer’s eyes go on an adventure which is something that I wish a lot of other films could do, the voice acting from the cast mainly Karl Urban, Zaris-Angel Hator, Jarred Harris and Marianne Jean-Baptiste is truly fantastic and really dives deep into their respective characters. Overall The Sea Beast is definitely a film that is going to be overlooked, so highly recommend checking this one out!!
Claire and Aidan make a pact to break up before college with no regrets and no broken hearts. However, one epic goodbye date may offer them a last chance at love.
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between is yet another addition to the long line of Netflix original romantic comedies. While this one isn’t as bad as some of the recent ones, it still suffers from the exact same problems as a lot of them. Talia Ryder and Jordan Fisher are solid enough as the leads and both have decent chemistry between one another but it’s not enough to spark a huge fire, everything else is very by the numbers. The writing falls flat after the movie loses it’s charm, the comedy is a hit or miss and while there are some genuine raw moments that do help the movie it’s not enough to completely save it from being very below average. At the very least this one was competently made and there was definitely some level of effort to make this work, it just needed to stand out far more.
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between is available on Netflix.
Confined to their glasshouse, a family survives the shred, a toxin that erases memory. However, when the sisters are seduced by a stranger, their peace is shattered a past best left buried is stirred.
Glasshouse is definitely a better than expected, the movie plays out like a post apocalyptic version of The Beguiled but manages to make a few elements it’s own. The themes of exploring trauma through memories is quite creative and actually executed pretty well, there’s a bit folk horror thrown in there that adds too it as well. Writing wise there’s some ideas that could have been expanded upon a bit more as the movie does present a bunch at a time, but for what Glasshouse is it’s a very decent movie with well done characters.
Glasshouse releases tomorrow on all VOD Platforms.
6/10 C+
A land developer and his girlfriend are hunted on a remote island for sport by three deranged locals.
Death Hunt is your nothing special about it “bunch of people hunt for some other people” you have seen this done before in far better movies. With that said Death Hunt isn’t necessarily bad, there’s definitely some entertainment to be had and the setting actually takes advantage of the premise quite well. But everything else is unfortunately very beat by beat.
Death Hunt releases tomorrow on all VOD Platforms.
Confined to their glasshouse, a family survives the shred, a toxin that erases memory. However, when the sisters are seduced by a stranger, their peace is shattered a past best left buried is stirred.
Glasshouse is definitely a better than expected, the movie plays out like a post apocalyptic version of The Beguiled but manages to make a few elements it’s own. The themes of exploring trauma through memories is quite creative and actually executed pretty well, there’s a bit folk horror thrown in there that adds too it as well. Writing wise there’s some ideas that could have been expanded upon a bit more as the movie does present a bunch at a time, but for what Glasshouse is it’s a very decent movie with well done characters.
Glasshouse releases tomorrow on all VOD Platforms.
6/10 C+
A land developer and his girlfriend are hunted on a remote island for sport by three deranged locals.
Death Hunt is your nothing special about it “bunch of people hunt for some other people” you have seen this done before in far better movies. With that said Death Hunt isn’t necessarily bad, there’s definitely some entertainment to be had and the setting actually takes advantage of the premise quite well. But everything else is unfortunately very beat by beat.
Death Hunt releases tomorrow on all VOD Platforms.
Thor embarks on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced — a quest for inner peace. However, his retirement gets interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher, a galactic killer who seeks the extinction of the gods.
To say the MCU Phase Four has been divisive would be the understatement of the year, while there have been some really installments that I would actually go as far to say are some of the best of the MCU such as Doctor Strange: And The Multiverse Of Madness, Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home, there are also ones that completely missed the mark (Black Widow and Eternals) or had a ton of great ideas but settled on playing safe or were just hindered by the 6 episode format (looking at you Moon Knight even though I gave it a 7/10).
Thor: Love and Thunder is truly baffling the way it came out, there was so much here that should have absolutely worked but didn’t for several reasons. I’ll start with what I liked, Natalie Portman who returns as Jane Foster and becomes The Mighty Thor is truly fantastic here. Like in the first Thor films she really captures Jane Foster quite well and absolutely tries her best with the bare bones script she is given, what hurts her character is she isn’t explored nearly enough which is quite odd considering this was supposed to be a huge part of the film. Christian Bale who plays Gorr (or The God Slayer) also gives a strong performance but is the very definition of underutilized, Gorr as a character is very interesting and has a backstory that could have been quite emotional and actually powerful as well. The problem is Gorr is not given enough screentime to make that work, plus his backstory itself is nowhere near as explored as it should have been, Bale goes all out with the role which is just another huge reminder of how good of an actor Bale is. There’s a few fun action scenes here and there but a lot of it feels very empty that goes completely off the rails towards the end in all the wrong ways. Lastly there’s Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie who for some reason gets put into the backseat and just becomes some sidekick, when she does get time to shine she’s really great but Thompson and her character deserved far better than this.
Now for what it is completely wrong with this movie and that’s mostly due to three major things that completely break it. The first being the jokes, while I do understand the criticism of Thor Raganrock having jokes in it at least they worked to an extent and were at least controlled on a tight leash, the jokes in Thor: Love and Thunder are the complete opposite the first half of the movie is filled to the brim of jokes that are painfully unfunny. Even resorting to the screaming goat meme which is from 2012 (went viral in 2013), the first time it might have gotten a chuckle but the film kept doing it over and over again. The biggest problem here is the movie tries to juggle between jokes and serious moments, there’s some okay setups for some emotional scenes but are hindered by poorly written jokes that feel like they should be in an entirely different movie. The second major issue is the writing which can be pretty much summed up as being the definition of bare bones, characters who could be interesting have no character development, plot lines are introduced and abandoned with a snap of a finger and writing that completely prohibits any emotion or depth. Lastly there’s what I hinted at the beginning of this review, this another case of Phase Four having a ton of great ideas but completely wasting them. Particularly with Gorr and Jane Foster, there were many ideas about them that are interesting the movie just completely fails to do anything with them and if the movie does do then it’s barely anything at all, Thor finding out who he really is could be interesting but once again that’s only mentioned a few times throughout the movie but is quickly abandoned. Overall Thor: Love And Thunder is a huge missed opportunity that should have absolutely worked, it’s honestly quite baffling how wrong this went and is just massively disappointing overall.
When a strong-willed princess refuses to wed a cruel sociopath, she is kidnapped and locked in a remote tower. With her scorned, vindictive suitor intent on taking her father’s throne, the princess must protect her family and save the kingdom.
The Princess might just be Die Hard or The Raid but with a princess and a castle, however the movie manages to be incredibly fun at the same time. Joey King gives a very solid performance here and actually nails being in a completely different genre than she is usually in, what’s most surprising is that the action scenes are quite decent. They might not be anything groundbreaking but they are a ton of fun to watch and there are some decent kills in this movie that are actually quite surprising, the castle setting works pretty well here and definitely compliments the action tone the movie is going for. The movie does get repetitive as it goes on particularly the third act which does lose some steam, but at least continues to have that classic action movie charm to it. There’s definitely some writing issues that are a bit too young adult adaption movie like which can be a bit baffling due to the film being rated R, but those moments luckily don’t stop the movie from being a genuinely good time.
Six years ago, Li Ronan is cursed after breaking a religious taboo; now, she must protect her daughter from the consequences of her actions.
Incantation was a nice little surprise even if there isn’t a whole lot to it and that it’s heavily flawed, the strongest parts about it are the atmosphere combined with the use of the setting which is a mountainside village that has a lot of frighting moments. There’s some decently effective emotional scenes throughout the movie that does make it standout among the crowd in the found footage movie genre, having that said like a lot of found footage movies it does have some of the exact same problems as other movies in the genre. Which is mainly scenes that could have easily been cut and some obnoxious characters who really don’t add anything to the story, the switch between the past and present was a decent touch and was surprisingly well done for the most part. Admittedly if you took away the time switch and the emotional scenes this would just be another found footage horror movie that sort of exists. But luckily there were levels of attempt to try and make Incantation standout and from what was presented it succeeded for the most part. If you have been dying for a decent found footage movie I recommend checking this one out.
Cecilia and her son embark on a journey. On the third day, she is found wandering alone, not remembering what happened during this time. She is desperately looking for her son and finds herself wrapped in a brutal hunt, carried out by a religious fanatic, whom she faces off against. To her, he’s a lunatic. To him, Cecilia is the enemy.
So from what I’ve looked up about this movie after I finished watching it was that the English dub is absolutely terrible, which seems about right after watching the movie. I honestly couldn’t tell you what exactly happens in On The Third Day because a majority of it is nonsensical, there’s a lot of basic horror cliches with some neat gore every once and awhile but that’s really about it. Despite the movie being 85 minutes it feels like a huge chore to sit through and never gets any better.
On The Third Day is available on Shudder.
1/10 F
While visiting a massacre memorial, a photographer finds herself drawn to a local woman. Later, their romance stirs up painful memories of a shared past.
Jewel has some decent acting from Michelle Botes and Connie Chiume and there’s a couple shots that take advantage of the setting, however the rest of the movie is a very strange mesh of rushed scenes, plotlines that are introduced and quickly dropped with no explanation and has a script that should have been far stronger. I like the story the movie was trying to tell and I’m sure the people involved meant well, but it definitely felt like at times nobody knew exactly what they were talking about. I definitely think with more care and focus this could have been something interesting.
A wealthy businessman hires a neurotic director to produce his crowning achievement, a brilliant art film.
Official Competition has been on my radar for awhile now and I’m glad I finally watched this one. Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martínez all do a fantastic job, each of their characters are given some quite interesting development and there’s truly something to love about each of them. The film does a fantastic job of showing how some journeys artists will take for their final work, it’s also a nice commentary of prestige films seeking awards. There’s a lot of clever ideas presented with different writing styles that bring the viewer closer to the characters, the direction from Gastón Duprat and Maiano Cohn is really strong, between the comedic elements and some serious moments as well, it’s nicely wrapped in a powerful picture that by the end makes you think about what you just saw.
Following a catastrophe on Earth, the planet is covered in a toxic fog. The crew in the space station, must decide whether to risk their lives to get home and search for survivors, or stay safe in the station’s “algae symbiosis system”.
Rubikon takes the survival movie formula but does it in space, something that could have worked quite well if it weren’t for the flaws sticking out like a sore thumb. It does get the confined space element right and the acting from the leads Julia Franz Richer, George Blagden and Mark Ivanir is not that bad. The major problem here is the writing is just not strong enough to engage the viewer and introduces ideas but never fully explores them, what’s happening on earth isn’t relevant to what’s happening with the crew it’s just background noise for the plot to advance and only comes into play towards the second half of the movie when the crew argues with one another. Which is sadly a chunk of the movie, it would be one thing if the arguments were meaningful or had more to them, but most of it consists of arguments that have been said and done before in better films. There’s definitely some interesting moments with emotion, such as with George Blagden’s character Gavin and Julia Franz Richer’s character Hannah has some great moments. But a lot of this is a beat by beat survival movie, which is a shame because this could have been something interesting had the writing been expanded upon a lot more and not be as surface level as it was.
Jerome Reviews... 