Author: Verse

Distant (2024) 3/5

It is not a perfect, there is a scene that looks cool but moves nothing and a hint of romance crops up that is awkward, but I think anyone who enjoys Sci-Fi can find something here. I think the first half is a stronger movie, but thrill junkies may disagree. Seeing what the planet has to offer was fun, even if not surprising. Anthony Ramos was a solid lead.

It is a shame people are going to be so hard on this movie. I have zero regret watching Distant.

Event Horizon (1997) 2.5/5

I have a soft spot for Event Horizon. Cosmic horror is just rare and kind of fun. I’ve seen the movie quite a few times, but when I watch it I know I am eating garbage. Acting, direction, script, everything is all uneven. Still, the many pieces that take inspiration from other sources have something to them.

Lets stop remaking good movies, lets remake Event Horizon.

Glass (2019) 1.5/5

Glass is so impatient with its characters that it feels detached from Unbreakable and Split. The camera jumps around, dialogue is fast and sometimes feels weak, and McAvoy is a delight to see again but even his multiple characters are shown very little patience of time.

Some strings are also pulled way too tight to get all of these characters together again, some not making sense as they are portrayed.

Shyamalan is not always balanced in his casting and direction of said casts either, and this is no exception as there are uneven performances.

Shyamalan also, once again, falls victim to having cool ideas and hamfisting his way to their execution. Ultimately it does what it always does, cool moments mixed with nonsensical ones and an overall feeling of “if only he had done a better.” The characters deserved so much better.

Woman of the Hour (2023) 2.5/5

Woman of the Hour tries to tackle a real life story, and in that regard it falls on its face. In trying to tell a specific story, the film makes up characters, completely reinvents others, and ultimately ends up downplaying the serial killers degeneracy and, like so many of these, give him a smoothness that is inaccurate to history. (the real life character Kendrick played never went anywhere with him, noting he was “creepy”)

The other issue is that Anna Kendrick herself comes across very contemporary and feels out of place. Wardrobe, dialogue, and acting choices could have done a lot to make the character more believable to the period.

I get what the goal was with focusing around Kendrick’s character, her relationship with men at large, and the show, but I think the movie would have been better served without her prominence. It all felt a bit heavy handed and like it took up too much space. There is a more gripping story here, and it is the real one.

Dear Santa (2024) 1.5/5

I am not sure who will be watching this once it disappears from feeds. It does not commit enough to any direction and turns its premise and in-world rules about wishes into nonsense by the end of the film, and it does so for no payoff.

Jack Black’s costume was cool though.

American Gangster (2007) 4/5

An overall pretty good movie with two things I took a little issue with. One, I would have preferred a less fluffed ending, it almost seemed like the close out of a buddy-buddy film. Second, and I know I would get a lot of push back for this, I think Denzel didn’t give it his best. Denzel is great, so his decent is still pretty good, but I think he could have leaned in more at certain beats to drive home the stories intent.