Change Your Image
amaranthaxx
Reviews
Me You Madness (2021)
It's neither good or bad
I don't understand how people are accusing it of being an American Psycho ripoff when she literally says it's a AP ripoff but for ~the girls~ at the start of the film. Other than that, it's a silly, bloody, crazy romantic "comedy" where one party is trying to kill the other. It's a lowbrow kitschy 80s fever dream. The acting is ok, nothing special. The costuming and makeup is spectacular, as is the house. The romance is cheesy. I give it a 5 because it's neither good nor bad. The main character is a bit OTT in an almost annoying way. 4th wall breaks are distracting but humorous. Could be worse.
Boo! (2018)
3 stars for Morgan and also... TWs
The acting is impossibly bad EXCEPT the two "teens". After watching, I realized I recognized both of them from other projects that are infinitely better so that checks out. The rest of the cast serious sucks. I know people mentioned the kid but, imo, the parents are almost equally as bad. The most watchable part of the film for me was the romance between the two teens and seeing as how this isn't a romance.. well.. you get the gist.
There's also something else I want to address that I didn't see anyone mention (granted, I skimmed the reviews but still) and that is that this movie has some HIGHLY triggering imagery handled poorly imo. I know it's meant to shock, because that seems to be the point of most of the moments in the movie, but I want to put it out there that there are graphic scenes of an attempted suicide and self harm AS WELL AS very graphic scenes regarding miscarriage as well. Obviously I know the topics were considered important to the "plot" (lol) but they should have been handled with a bit more care or at least contained warnings. I'm a long time horror movie fan and not really squeamish, and have seen worse, granted, but the way the imagery was handled made me uncomfortable and I definitely think the film would have benefited from a trigger warning, honestly. I hope that, going forward, if the movie moves to another streaming platform, it will contain one. I guess the one saving grace is that probably not very many people will watch this film?
Troll (1986)
lmao
It was during the singing interlude between the fairies and the talking mushroom that I decided that I actually love this movie. The acting is not great and every character is played OTT and kind of ridiculous but it works? Most of the time. Eunice (old Eunice) by far and away was theeee best character of the entire movie. She stole every scene she was in. When her younger version came along and gave her monologue about hurting HPJ, it was not great but at least she looked fabulous? And what was the point of her turning young anyway? That's for one. For two, what happened to the other tenets at the end? Eunice turned back but they said absolutely nothing about any of the others, nor did they show them. Did they die? Did they disappear with the forest, whether disappear into nothing or into another dimension, still fairies? Did they turn back? We may never know. All in all, this is a cult classic and worth a watch if you want a good time and don't hate camp/fun. If you want to watch Atreyu get beat up and terrorized by a little girl, this is the one.
Miss Julie (2014)
Well acted...
Jessica's Chastain in particular is brilliant. But really I'm writing this review to say this movie made me hate men forever.
Mi chao (2018)
It really is not that bad
I normally don't write reviews but some of these are just wildly off imo. It isn't that bad and it isn't that good. I personally gave it a 5/10 because I feel it's average and better than the many scifi/syfy made for tv shenanigans (and many straight to video releases too) over the years.
Was it great? Absolutely not. Kelsey Grammer's acting in particular was not good. It sounded like he was putting on a fake voice and it was very noticeable and awful. I felt Kellan Lutz and Bingbing Li were fine, decent even, as were most of the other cast. They were all passably fine, not spectacular and no one rose to the level of horrible of KG imo.
The plot was kind of silly and predictable but it's by no means the worst less than blockblocker/kinda middling/B rate sci-fi around, let's be real. It did get a little monotonous and slightly boring around the 60-70 minute mark for just a bit but it does pick back up toward the end. I do feel it could've done with better direction, and a bit more fleshed out story and some additional action within the palace/tomb itself, but the special effects were decent and the acting was okay.
Was it the best? Again, no. But it was a perfectly decent, higher B rate sci fi and by no means the worst of the genre. It doesn't deserve 1 Star ratings, imo, when even syfy channel productions don't get that. It's definitely a step above that. Think similar but better all around. For that reason, I don't think 1 Star reviews are fair. I think 4-6 is perfectly within reason for the genre. While other reviewers above and below that made fair criticisms and praises, I think the ratings were either too harsh or too much overall.
Be aware of what you're getting yourself into and don't expect the moon. Don't take it so seriously, y'all. If you like slightly bad sci-fi fare, you might actually enjoy it. I wouldn't rent it but I would give it a chance if you see it on or on demand. Ok? Ok.
Call Me by Your Name (2017)
A beautiful dream
I kind of went back and forth when I tried rating this and I decided on 10/10 for a few reasons.
1. Timothée Chalamet is, and I cannot stress this enough, a treasure. His portrayal of Elio was so raw and beautiful. He took me on a journey of young love and a KIND of love that only the young are capable of. The last shot of him was so simple but so powerful. I felt everything and his performance delievered everything I could ever want from a movie. He's a star and I can't wait to see what he does in the future.
2. I cried actual tears. Not just one or two, but for ten or fifteen minutes straight, I'm not sure. It was a lot and I'm not a big crier. I barely have feelings, ok. This made me feel all the feelings.
3. Michael Stuhlbarg's monologue. During which I sobbed so much I had to pause afterwards and I rewound the movie 2-3 times and cried some more.
4. The dreamy, wistful way this was shot. It felt like a summer's dream.
I am not sure I'm sold on Armie Hammer and I'm not sure he was *the best* choice for this movie. I thought maybe he was a bit too old. A bit too straight. He was good, though. His acting is always good. He embodied Oliver and brought him to life. His subtle confidence helped things stay grounded. However, Elio was the star and the journey we took was his, ours, because of what he brought to every scene with Oliver. His uncertainty and insecurity and his purity of feeling was evident in every look and touch and word.
To some this might be another love story. And a good one at that. I've seen some say that the praise had much to do with the novelty of it being a gay love story. I disagree. To me, it wasn't just a gay love story but a love story, period. It was two people sharing something beautiful and rare. Finding a soulmate, even if for a short time. It was two beautiful boys with beautiful souls finding beauty in each other and sharing something that will be carried for a lifetime.
This movie was written, shot, and acted with care. It's evident that the characters and story were important and treated as such. That is something I wholeheartedly appreciate.
I would like to take one last moment to heap every praise known to mankind on Timothée as Olio. He really was that good and could have easily won the Oscar over Gary Oldman imo. And I think Gary Oldman is brilliant, like, who doesn't? I still think that this is a once in a lifetime performance and if he had won, he would've deserved it. Watching his performance was a privilege and I'm so glad he shared it with us. I know I probably seem like I'm heaping superfluous praise on the kid but he really was that good and you won't regret watching this film. You may not love it as much as I do but I don't think you'll be disappointed. It's a simple love story but one that, I think, will strike a chord with so many of us.
I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while, I think.