anthonyender Reviews

Fire Island (2023)

Ultimately Dropped the ball

[4/10 · 2 October 2023]

I really hate giving this film a lower score, and not only because it's got a lot of those as of this writing. It really doesn't deserve ALL the negativity it's getting. I won't speculate on why so many reviewers seem to have problems with the characters - a group of predominantly gay individuals - or why they can't understand how they could be friends etc. The film actually does a good job of distinguishing them, and defining relationships, and I enjoyed the first half while they were being established. I prefer horror films that allow us to get to know the characters, and I give credit to the writer/director for doing a better than average job at it. And the performances from the main cast are all good, with some actors I'd like to see more of. That's pretty rare for such a low budget endeavor.

But once we cut to the detectives at a crime scene it stumbles so badly it is almost impossible to recover. First, the actors are bad. And then what they are saying is so poorly written it makes one question who wrote all the other scenes. Nothing about these scenes (and there are more than one) works on any level. Cops walk through blood trails; detectives jump to the most spurious assumptions; forensics can show up and be done in a few minutes and the chief behaves in such an unprofessional manner the only excuse would be if we are supposed to think he might be a suspect. And then once the action starts happening the film's other weaknesses stand out even worse. Technically there are some weird sound problems and some bad music choices. Weak editing becomes glaring during moments of violence as it tries to cut around budget, effects and stunt deficiencies and fails miserably. The staging and story crumbles; it sets up the murderer in a blatantly obvious fashion which is then treated like it's supposed to be a surprise. Characters run away only to have the killer repeatedly pop out in front of them as if he's teleporting or as if they are only going to the places where the killer is waiting for them. The enthusiasm I felt during the first half hour waned during the next half hour and then crashed. My score dropped from a 7 to a 3, but I'll settle for a 4 because the first half was refreshingly believable. If the filmmaker sticks with character pieces I'd be willing to give them another chance, but if its a genre piece where the attention to staging, logic and style makes the difference between something good or the huge amount of rubbish out there I might not bother.

Girl from Nowhere (2017)

Ending Drags It Down

[4/10 · 10 May 2023]

If you're okay with a flick that is "fairly good" and "almost works" then you might give this one a shot. It's a simple set-up, super low budget with only three actors in one setting (and some driving scenes) and for the first two thirds is where it qualifies as "fairly good". With only three actors it's a shame when one of them struggles more than the others, but one of them is pretty good so it balances out. The location is visually striking although the director doesn't really take advantage of it, and it held my interest for the most part. The weak link was definitely the screenplay. The characters aren't consistent (which only makes sense for one of them) and the dialogue is spare and rather bland. There's not enough being said or done to make a truly gripping psychological thriller, it more or less just plods along. But I kept watching, waiting to see where it would go, but unfortunately it completely falls apart at the end. Basically the script doesn't really do anything with it's set-up and then everybody starts behaving stupidly just so there can be an actual climax. For two thirds of this short little flick it couldn't commit to being a mystery, or a character piece, and then in the last ten minutes tries to be all of the above, plus maybe a thriller, maybe a crime flick, maybe a supernatural thingy, maybe a symbolic representation on the impossibility of truthful relationships. It was a 6.5/10 until the climax then I have to drop it down to a 4. But you might be more tolerant.

Hillwalkers (2022)

Dumb and Predictable Outweigh the Good

[4/10 · 26 April 2023]

This is now, officially, my personal pet peeve about most movies: they have a lot going for them in a very narrow, familiar genre fashion, but then waste it by not making any effort to be original, or intelligent when the plot or action finally kicks in. As if it doesn't matter what they do after a certain point, as if anyone watching the film won't care if it's stops making sense or becomes so downright stereotypical and bland and DUMB that it's kind of an insult. This film starts fairly good (for such a well worn genre convention: city folks go into country and find danger), nothing exceptional by any stretch but the actors do alright with rather dull characters, the cinematography is amazing and the countryside is awesome. Pretty by the book (one character is "strong" and overcoming cancer so you might guess who's gonna survive) but I was interested. They even make a point of what amazing negotiators these folks are so I was expecting that might come into play when they run afoul of the local loonies. But no. It actually just gets forgotten and how they behave from their first meeting on is basically guaranteed to allow the stupid, predictable plot to unfold after that. Very quickly the best thing about the film becomes the interplay between the locals which is amusing in a believable fashion and, thank god, not played broadly for laughs! Their performances are also the best, and if only the script didn't let them down when it came to what happens this film might have been a real winner. They had everything they needed to make a successful genre entry except the ability (or willingness) to fix a mediocre script that falls apart in the last half. It's one thing to suggest the city folks are ill equipped to deal with survival at this level (see Deliverance) but this movie just has the characters become idiots. If you don't consider a directors job to include caring about the script, or character actions, you could say it's still handled well enough but all the good points the film earned in the beginning are wasted.

Horror in the High Desert (2021)

Slowly Goes Downhill

[3/10 · 11 April 2023]

It's the easiest way to make a micro-budget film, do a faux documentary that ends with found footage. You can use a lot of photos instead of actually filming anything, have random location shots where nothing is happening, and you never have to stage scenes with actors, just have people sit and be a talking head. And this one starts off seeming to get everything right. The faux actors are believable, the disappearance at the heart of the plot starts getting mysterious, and then after only about twenty minutes it starts sliding progressively downhill. It don't help when you have all these characters (including an investigative journalist who apparently doesn't know how to investigate anything) talking about how super-intelligent and together the missing character is and when we finally see video of him he talks and acts like he just got out of his "special" class for those of, shall we say, far less than average intelligence. Then we spend the next half hour going nowhere with subplots suddenly abandoned or forgotten about and the mystery becomes rather obvious, and then we conclude with ten minutes of "found footage" which is so poorly shot, directed, and overall underwhelming it kinda makes you angry. Shoulda turned it off when the talking heads kept telling how dramatic one of the missing characters last videos was, and then they just say "that video got accidentally erased"; which I took to mean the actors performance was so horrible they couldn't even use a clip of it. And the climactic found footage is literally as bad as you can get. Unless you get scared staring at the same bush under infrared light. One bush. That's pretty much it. From a solid 8/10 in the first few minutes all the way down to 3/10 says it all.

Venom Coast (2021)

Failed flick built around a location

[3/10 · 2 April 2023]

I gotta appreciate a scrappy filmmaker who managed access to an interesting location, in this case a derelict cruise ship, and decided to build a micro-budget film around it. And I'll even give props for trying to make the film be about something more than just young people stalked by crazy killer family. But, sadly, despite the good intentions of the writer/director adding a veneer of wealth vs the 99%, or capitalizing on a location, he stumbles repeatedly once the actors start speaking and then fails miserably once the action gets underway. Could have used a bit more screenwriting to believably get the partiers on that particular ship - it's way too sketchy in appearance for anyone to think it could sail - and just making them stupid doesn't do the trick. But that's forgivable compared to the absolutely stupid behavior once the crazies come out. How many times do we have to see a character watch someone brutally murdered, and then see them rush back to the body (to try and wake them up?) with no idea where the killer just went. Cuz, guess what, the killer is behind them now!! Or how about hiding on each side of an open doorway while multiple crazies walk past, who - miracle of miracles - never look right or left or - I don't know - possess peripheral vision! People stop struggling the moment someone has a hard time tying them to a table (not a one-person job UNLESS the victim cooperates) and I won't even go into the Coast Guard who show up who know nothing about how the Coast Guard operates. Just so there's more potential victims. Attempts to give the crazy family some depth fails (but at least he tried), and everything remains overly familiar tropes from a hundred other Hillbilly Horror flicks. The actors range from amateurish to godawful but the characters they were given to play are one-dimensional and cartoonish. Even when they stop every once and a while to say "something serious". I'll excuse the fact we never believe the ship has put to sea, or that it could even be operated, cuz the director tries his best to shoot around it, but once everyone agrees to the set-up in the first place there's no one to root for (except to die) and no one behaves believably (not even when they die) and there is no suspense, or atmosphere, or decently staged kills to make sitting through the flick worth it. I'll give it 3/10 cuz it tried to be a little bit more, but ultimately failed.

I Hate the Man in My Basement (2020)

A Great Surprise!

[9/10 · 26 March 2023]

Gotta say I loved this one. I love movies that are not what you might expect, and with this title I wasn't sure what I'd get. The title's kind of ironic for a straight up thriller/horror film - which this flick definitely wasn't. It's more a suspenseful drama/comedy/romance with a premise you'd expect from a psycho/serial killer flick. If that description doesn't intrigue you this movie probably won' appeal to you. I was, literally, shocked at how believable some of the performances were and how invested I became in the budding romance. Yeah, the comedy performances (particularly by the friend) were a tad over the top, and yet credit to the writer/director because everyone acknowledges that fact that the guy is weird, and it always feels like it's part of the same world the rest of the movie takes place in. I liked the way the story of the man in the basement grew and I was kept in suspense the whole time wondering how everything would play out. I put the title in my queue not knowing it had experienced pro actors in it until I saw Nora-Jane Noone's name in the credits (loved her since The Descent and Magdalene Sisters) and then recognized several others faces. Well, they were given great parts and played them well.

Movie Money: Confidential (2022)

An HONEST Review!

[1/10 · 24 March 2023]

Most of the filmmakers in this doco praise themselves as if they are players in the industry but check out their IMDB pages! And notice they are filming themselves talking to younger students who probably don't know better - it's a far cry from being guest lecturers at USC or NYU Film Departments. They managed to score a final interview with Burt Reynolds, which they pump for all it's worth, even though at the beginning of his interview he admits he knows nothing about movie financing nor has he ever gone that route himself! But it's all they've really got (besides some footage with Salma Hayek) so they have him dis the current state of movies (like a lot of older people do when - and not even intellectually tearing into things like digital vs film or streaming vs theaters).

When you notice that these guys are all about trying to appear more famous than they are is it any surprise to see a flood of 10 ratings from accounts that only post reviews for this one film? The more people who tragically stumble on this film, the more low rated reviews it will receive.

To be fair, you'll learn some interesting tid-bits at the beginning, but then the rest is a waste of time. If they're seriously looking into Blair Witch funding, why aren't there any interviews with the filmmakers?

Come on guys, why wouldn't you just be honest and say "we're near the bottom of the barrel but we got SOMETHING done, and this is what we learned!" That kind of honest approach could be interesting, but what they've done reeks of a promotional video for a questionable Time-Share offering. As if they hope this will help them find someone to fund their other films. I couldn't finish it.

Fall (I) (2022)

Should Have Been a Perfect Gem

[3/10 · 20 March 2023]

I started watching this flick assuming it was one of those super low budget movies made by new filmmakers but that was definitely not the case when the director previously worked with Robert DeNiro and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (who is also in this one) and the budget was three million. It just sounded like the perfect sort of set-up for cash strapped filmmakers. And it is. And this movie should have been a perfect gem but it frustratingly wasn't. To be fair it was extremely well acted (director knows his stuff there) and the direction depicting the two trapped on the top of the tower was taut and suspenseful - you really felt like you were up there with them so the director shows great skill in that arena as well. So why the low score? Because the directors grasp of story, character and the details is weak to extremely trite and it frustrated the heck out of me! Of course it starts off with one of the characters losing someone close to them because SCRIPT SHORTHAND! Why not make the characters interesting, or fun, or give us other reasons to be concerned about them instead of resorting to the cliche we've seen endlessly since Cliffhanger? Because writing is hard and it takes work! Must be easier to let an algorithm do it I guess. Except that set up would NOT lead to this situation. Take the depressed drunk who has been on the skids for a year on a tricky climb WITHOUT proper equipment or back-up? And HOPE she comes through? Makes no sense. Is, in fact, STUPID. Like how they avoid the easiest way off the tower with their limited 50' of rope considering the physical shape they're both in. I mean, I'm not a climber but even I saw that, and I checked with some climber friends and they all agreed. Short-cuts and cliches kept piling into stupid behavior and ruined the film for me. Plain and simple. And it had so much going for it too.

Another Descent wannabe that falls way short.

Zeros and Ones (2021)

Trying to be Kind

[3/10 · 18 March 2023]

I get it. Its a pandemic. Everything is locked down and the streets are empty. A lot of us saw drone shots of major cities looking like ghosts of themselves and thought, someone should be using this to film a movie in! So here's an experienced filmmaker who did, but apparently he thought it was more important to start filming than wait until he had a finished script. I love Ethan Hawke and I particularly love that he does genre films as well as art films, he is just a solid presence in everything he does. And he's worth watching in this one too. But there's no real movie surrounding him, it just feels like bits and pieces of a film no one bothered to try to glue together. With a lot of filler. Long eerie shots of empty streets with thrumming guitar would be great leading up to something but in this flick sometimes it doesn't. Or there's a scene that feels disconnected from everything that preceded it. I get that its supposed to be more Godard/dream-like; more about what it "seems to be" than what it is, but two thirds of the way through I just didn't care enough to continue. Nothing held my interest. Nothing made it worth wasting my time. I'm giving it a 3/10 because its filmed competently enough (and has Ethan Hawke) that it might well click for the right viewer. I thought I was one of them, but I wasn't.

Lamb (2021)

Interesting Fable

[7/10 · 18 March 2023]

My title says it all. This is an interesting but not very involving fable. I love solid mainstream films and even some commercial blockbusters if they aren't too formula, lazy, or stupid, but I really enjoy finding unusual, risky smaller films. And this Icelandic option fits that perfectly. And I'll see anything with Noomi Rapace since "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". It's great to see her playing a non-action type role again. The pace of this film is decidedly slow but it works for it. Where it suffers a bit is that it never makes an effort to let us get to know the characters as fully fleshed out real people. Everything is so distant. That fits with the simple fable aspect of it but it removes the viewer from caring as much. Not enough to be a negative, but enough to keep it from being the small scale wonderful film I think it could have been.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)

Surprisingly Good

[9/10 · 18 March 2023]

First off everybody, judge the movie for what it is and not what it isn't! It's not a deep dive look into the Benghazi debacle from a sociopolitical standpoint. It's not particularly interested in trying to present a detailed overview of the Libyan situation or which political party was responsible for what. Yet even most of the critics reviews couldn't seem to face that fact. It's not even as nuanced as Black Hawk Down; but what it IS is the story of the military operatives who took action that night. It is from their point of view almost exclusively and tries to recreate the hell they went through. And it does this surprisingly well! Unlike Bay's Transformers garbage it is not over edited to the point of ridiculousness, nor is it dumb and lame. It is an excellent action film full of intense sequences and believable characters. And that's all it intends to be!