djtranny Reviews

Mortal Kombat (2021)

Gory? No... But decent effort 6.5/10

[7/10 · 25 April 2021]

After reading a number of reviews saying how "gory" and "bloody" this movie is and that fans will love the R rating. I was left wondering if I had watched the same movie! Don't get me wrong, this is a far superior and more violent Mortal Kombat movie than previous attempts and the fight choreography, script, acting and overall polish is quite good. However, I went into the movie expecting to be wowed by the gore just like when I played the original game and experienced my first fatality. Unfortunately, the fatalities and overall violence/gore doesn't even come close to that of the games and I feel this is as important an element to the movie as the fight choreography. I went through the movie eagerly anticipating a spine rip that never came. Thumbs up to Josh Lawson's performance as Kano, was the highlight for me. A decent effort and 6.5/10 overall for me. Would have been an 8/10 with higher levels of gore/violence (comparable to the games).

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

The third best in the series

[8/10 · 2 February 2020]

I, like many others was a massive fan of the first two terminator movies. Then was massively disappointed with almost every sequel thereafter. I'm not really sure why Dark Fate is getting such a bad wrap. In my opinion, this was clearly the third best film in the series. Obviously not as good as the first two, but honestly can you really expect anyone to make anything close to T2? That's a once in a lifetime movie that is as close to perfect as you can get. I went into this expecting trash and I was quite surprised that it kept me on the edge of my seat with great action and a far better story than the previous sequels. Overall, my top 4 Terminator movies are: Terminator 2, Terminator 1, Dark Fate, Salvation. The rest should be wiped from the records.

Joker (I) (2019)

5 stars for Joaquin Phoenix

[5/10 · 10 November 2019]

Joaquin Phoenix flawlessly acted the part he was given and I give all my 5 stars to his acting abilities. However, who is the Joker and what should his character portray? I did some research online and here is what I found from more seasoned comic book nerds, far more qualified than me: "The Joker is a homicidal, psychopathic, ruthless, sadistic, maniacal, lunatic, manipulative, intelligent and diabolical master criminal who wants nothing but chaos and anarchy wherever he goes, as well as reveling in the suffering of others". Now, despite Joaquin displaying an amazing performance, I asked myself one question - By the end of the movie, do I see anything close to a supervillain? My answer to that is NO. Sure this Joker is mentally unwell and you feel sad for him. But is he a manipulative, intelligent and diabolical master criminal? Hardly, instead he is portrayed as rather unintelligent and lacking of many qualities that a master criminal would require. What about his age in this movie? What is he, 45? So how old is he when Bruce becomes Batman - 60+? I see this as a good movie for displaying the progression of a mentally unwell person but a bad portrayal of the Joker.

Critters Attack! (2019 TV Movie)

Funny, cheesy B grade goodness

[7/10 · 1 August 2019]

Disregard all those 1-2 star ratings. What the hell were they expecting?! If you watched the trailer then you should know exactly what you're gonna get. I watched this having not seen any of the previous Critters movies. Watched it on a Friday night, had a couple of beers and snacks in hand and I was not disappointed. It was silly, it was funny and it was just what I'd hoped for. If the previous movies in the series are apparently that much better, I can't wait to see them!

Stuber (2019)

Average B grade action/comedy

[5/10 · 11 July 2019]

I'll start off by saying I am a fan of many B grade action movies, even some cheesy low budget ones. I was fooled by some other reviewers saying how good the action scenes were... This movie is mediocre on both the comedy and action fronts. It really is not worthy of a cinema release. There is not enough action to be a good action movie and while there are a few laughs to be had, there are not enough laugh out loud moments. Don't waste your money seeing this at the cinema. It is only worth a rental/stream after a few drinks on a rainy day, at best.

Never Grow Old (2019)

DRAMA/WESTERN - Not an action or a thriller...

[4/10 · 21 March 2019]

Please change the genre titles on this movie. The movie is not even close to being an action movie. This is a drama/western that could maybe and I mean MAYBE considered to ever so slightly be considered a thriller. The movie is well shot and acted in my opinion. The story has been done a million times before though and with a movie like this you'd expect some solid action/thrills to bring some excitement to a script we've all seen executed better in previous movies. The 2 main actors were solid but this movie is boring.

Mulholland Drive (2001)

This review is in the top 250 reviews of all time

[1/10 · 15 January 2019]

Well, why not just dab, this is considered a cinematic masterpiece movie. Smart? It is a movie that I also watched before I knew it existed as I watched it in my dreams. How smart the director must be to have thought this puzzle that people believe is not boring. Is it good? Will it be an inspiration within what cannot be seen?

Don't get my review? Oh that's because you're not smart enough to make the connections. Let me explain and then you will surely believe that this is the greatest review of all time: Take the 6th word of my review, then the 12th word, then the 7th word, then the 3rd word, then the 13th word, then the 14th word, then the 7th word, then take the 5th word and reverse it. What do you get? Oh I'll spell it out for you: THIS MOVIE IS NOT SMART. IT IS BAD.

Acts of Violence (2018)

Enjoyable B grade action/thriller

[6/10 · 15 January 2018]

Wow after reading some of the bad reviews, I almost didn't watch it. I love the way people go out of the way to watch a movie that they know is a B grade action movie and then come on imdb and write a review that discredits everything you SHOULD expect in a B grade action movie. So let me write a list of things that you should expect in a B grade action movie and check those off first: Amateur script- check, Amateur story - check, Amateur acting - check, but above expected, Amateur camera work - check, but again better than usual, Plot Holes - Check. I like B grade action movies and when compared to the rest (and I've seen a LOT), I'd give this a solid 6.5 as it kept me interested and entertained for the majority of the 86 minute run-time and that's all that really needs to be said.

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)

Movie was absolutely sith-house

[2/10 · 17 December 2017]

The worst Star Wars movie of the lot. So disappointed with the entire story, script and many of the characters. But the most disappointing aspect of the movie was Luke Skywalker's character. He is so far from the Luke Skywalker in the originals that it is just too hard to believe. The attempts at showing why he has become the way he is just seem too far-fetched. It would be more believable if he turned to the dark side and became a sith lord! I really don't know how the script was given the OK. There are a number of elements that are ridiculous and do not fit nicely in the Star Wars universe. The comedic moments, although funny, were not suitable for the characters or Star Wars in general. The movie only gets points for the spaceship battles and the porgs, otherwise a complete and total disaster.

Pilgrimage (II) (2017)

Reasonably well-made but boring

[4/10 · 5 July 2017]

First of all, I must say that I primarily enjoy movies for entertainment and elements such as story, script and even acting come second. This movie, although reasonably well-made, falls very short in the entertainment department and I found myself checking the clock many times and wondering when something exciting would happen. After reading another review on here that claimed the gore was gratuitous, well, I wonder if they were watching the same movie because there was very little gore. When I think gore, I think people getting limbs hacked off and blood spurting everywhere. Not much of that going on here so don't watch this movie expecting to see much of that at all. This movie might be worth a watch if you have nothing else to do on a Sunday and can handle watching a movie with very little action.

Star Leaf (2015)

Low budget, terrible movie

[2/10 · 30 June 2015]

At the start of any B-grade movie review I like to make it clear that I generally love B-grade horror/thriller/action movies. However, this was terrible. Bad acting, bad script, bad editing (at one point you see the actor's mouth move but no audible voice). The horror element is not developed very well, the action is cheap and horrible. The characters are not likable. There were some laughs to be had at how bad it was but mostly it was just bad and cringe-worthy. There is really very little to recommend about this movie. Save your time/money and watch something else. You have been warned. Do not watch this movie unless you have absolutely nothing better to watch or do.

Reaper (I) (2014)

C-grade ReAPer

[2/10 · 15 June 2015]

There seem to be a lot of false reviews for this movie. I enjoy b-grade movies of all types, especially horror movies. I have watched and enjoyed countless B-grade movies that most other people find appalling. I even enjoy watching Danny Trejo strut his stuff in many cheesy movies.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this movie at all and would struggle to even call it a B-grade movie. It falls firmly into the C-grade pile of movies which have no redeeming qualities and are not even in the so bad it's funny category. I am very disappointed that I was fooled into watching this movie and wasting time that could have been spent watching something else. For some reason, I kept watching the movie hoping something good would happen, but it just got worse.

Unless you are associated with the making of this film, you will not like it. Let me just reiterate that - YOU WILL NOT ENJOY THIS MOVIE. You've been warned.

Fury (2014)

Boring... 4/10

[4/10 · 23 October 2014]

The movie starts off well enough but soon failed to provide enough excitement, and scenes that should have been emotionally engaging left me detached from the characters. Most of the action did not deliver - it wasn't tense or edge-of-your seat and by the time the final battle scene came around, I didn't care enough for any of the characters to care whether any of them died or not. For me, Saving Private Ryan is an example of an excellent war movie. This was way out of that league and if I rate Saving Private Ryan a 9/10, then to me, Fury is a 4/10. I would recommend waiting for this one on blu-ray/DVD and instead go back and watch Saving Private Ryan again.

Automatic (1995)

Excellent low-budget action movie

[8/10 · 7 August 2006]

For a low-budget action/sci-fi film, this is a really good movie. Of course the acting is rather crappy as you'd expect from Gruener, but the action is good and so are the sci-fi elements. I have seen a few of Gruener's movies and this one is by far his best in my opinion. One thing that really impressed me in this movie were the guns that were used. They had lcd type screens on them that allowed the holder to see around corners - a few years after this movie was made the military looked into actually using a similar system on their rifles.

I highly recommend any fan of action/sci-fi movies to rent this one as it is actually better than some of the big-budget action movies these days.