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Reviews
The Reef: Stalked (2022)
I've Seen Worse
No, this wasn't the worst shark movie I've ever seen. Certainly not the best.
I did get pretty frustrated at the silly decisions the girls made, like releasing a perfectly good kayak when their own boat was slowly sinking.
Annie, the main character's sister, was a head-scratcher. She spends 80% of the movie looking frightened or paralyzed. Then she gets a little more gung-ho without much, if any, explanation. I mean, earlier in the movie she couldn't even find the courage to swim for her life, and later in the movie she snarls that she has a plan, and bravely wants to save a girl's life, but we don't see how she got to this point.
The flashbacks of Nic's were a bit too repetitive for my taste. I felt like every time the camera zoomed in on her she was reliving her sister's last moments. Speaking of which, a bit of backstory might have been nice; the audience wants to hear that the man responsible for her murder got punished. We get nothing except a brief talk about the funeral.
The shark scenes were pretty bad for the most part. There were some nice transitions of the real shark with a fake one, which is why this movie is alright. There was a scene that the shark looked VERY bad, extremely CGI, but the real shots of a real Great White looked good. When the movie couldn't use a real shark, they used a shaky camera and lots of bubbles. Not very exciting.
The movie would have been 20 minutes long if the girls had more brains; alas, a movie needed to happen. The girls spent more time looking upset than they did setting about completing their task. I joked at the end that the little girl had died because they couldn't figure out how to paddle correctly! They paddled way too casually for my taste. I understand not wanting to attract the shark, but when you can see it in the distance coming right at you, you might wanna paddle harder!
The good:
Real shots of beautiful sharks
Female power!
The bad:
The story, mostly
Bad decisions by the leads.
Lucky (2020)
An Important Movie
No offense to so many others who gave this movie a poor rating, but I don't think they got it.
This is an important movie--not just for now but always. To this day there is still so much victim-shaming and silence when it comes to attacks on women. This movie puts you in their shoes. Uncomfortably so.
You SHOULD be scared. You SHOULD be mad.
So many times in the movie, people ask, Did you recognize him? Stay vigilant, okay? Women hide their scars and refuse to talk about them...
There is no conflict resolution. At first I was a little put out but then I realized it made sense, because so many victims never get closure. Like I said, this movie isn't afraid to make you uncomfortable.
Please give this movie a try.
Dodgeball Thunderdome (2020)
Silly Fun
I lik this show. Good competitions and I enjoy watching all things Dodgeball. It's silly but fun. I just wish there was more straight, regular Dodgeball, as most of the episode is the obstacle course. But still fun.
Come Play (2020)
Snoozer
Nothing to see here, folks.
I had the privilege of seeing this movie alone in the theater with my friend and we had fun pointing out things during this tame movie.
For example, in one scene the dad is working in his booth and there are pamphlets blowing everywhere. The perspective shows the dad in the front of the screen with the pages flying in the background. Suddenly, a collection of papers - *gasp!* - hit something, forming the shape of a man standing there.
1. This has been done before (see "The Conjuring").
2. The monster in the movie looks nothing like a man... why did the collection of papers form that shape?
Another scene, near the climax of the movie, the mom cries, "I wish you were normal!" to her son. But the monster is chasing them throughout their house and things are chaotic. The timing was awful there; shouldn't she have been more concerned about their safety?
Also, the adults are quite ignorant. Can't they think of anything to do against this baddie than run or throw electronics out of the house? The dad tries to outsmart it by locking it in his booth, but... I mean, the monster just got in with all of the doors closed, you think that's going to stop it? It didn't even work, as the dad is attacked mere moments later.
"Come Play" borrows things from more successful movies like Poltergeist and The Conjuring. It's nothing but lame jump scares that would seemingly only frighten newcomers to the horror genre. Gillian Jacobs, who I loved in Community, gives a good effort but the movie just stinks.
It's also repetitive... get used to seeing the cover of the "novel" the monster appears in, and get used to the first few pages; they will be read often.
Sadly, parts are also predictable. We see the kid using his dad's digital measuring tool, and sure enough, the monster, who is mostly invisible in the movie, is measured by him. The distance gets smaller and smaller... we all saw that coming. Mama asks her son to look her in the eye, which he doesn't do; he is autistic, and that's how it is. But of course, the boy eventually does.
Lame movie, not worth your time.