Skip to main content

Quickie Review - Oculus

Oculus is the newest entry into a long line of horror movies that feature nearly all the exciting parts within the trailer. There is nothing new here and sadly, it's been done so much better and actually with the same symbolic "bad guy." The one thing Oculus has that some of the lame horror geeks out there will go gaga over, is production value. It's a clean film, which in my personal opinion, hurts it. I prefer grittiness in my horror, but that's a personal craving.

Oculus has a very nice looking and serviceable cast. The acting isn't the problem, it's the painful predictability. I'll just say this. The apple scene I saw coming a mile away and even the buildup was horrendous. The film is low on gore, violence and any real scares. There is also no clear reason for anything that happens, meaning the writer and director went into this with clear intentions of having a sequel, a la Insidious.

The shining star is Annalise Basso, who plays the younger version of the lead character Kaylie and does so in convincing fashion. Sadly, she can't make up for an awful ending, once again, seen coming a mile a way and a bit of an easy way out ending. This film is everything a film student would do, forgetting the importance of sound, editing and especially lighting. This just came out and already it screams for a reboot. If this was done like many Korean films are done, you'd probably have to adjust the brightness on the screen, but then think better of it, knowing you probably didn't want to know what lurked in the shadows.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

White Privilege

This was a post I wrote on Facebook after surprisingly not seeing any moaning about the Documentary by Jose Antonio Vargas, titled White People Dayyum! I just scrolled my timeline and not a single white person got their feelings hurt by White People. I unfortunately haven't seen it, but the number of fake accounts that popped up on twitter, tells me it was a damn good show. Here's the thing. If someone of color aka non-white says "White Privilege," are you offended? If you said yes, then you are exhibiting white privilege. It has nothing to do with how hard you work or study, how you stayed out of trouble, because here's the thing, that is entirely the point. Somewhere out there, there are 100 Black, Spanish, Native American, Arab, Asian, who worked and studied as hard as you and never got in trouble, but they don't have what you "earned" or achieved. Stop looking at the one person you know who isn't white that achieved as your benchmark. Loo...
10 comments
Read more

Quickie Review - Finding Vivian Maier

While I thoroughly enjoyed the film, especially the first 15-20 minutes, I was a little bothered by the way the film played out. The interviews with the clearly disturbed brother, sister and the mother, who obviously, was in for a cut, didn't need to be in the film. Then the woman who suggested abuse, yet seemed to have her life defined by Maier, as she tried to muster every ounce of emotion and fake guilt. Her friend, more than happy to be party of the charade. People who talk about abuse for the first time, usually don't do so on camera. The fact these scenes were so prominent, shows that they felt wronged that they were not rewarded. Maloof on the other hand, seems to disappear from the documentary during this part, almost hiding away from the fact, he went from complete praise, to even making money off of her, to destroying her personal legacy. He almost mentions the family of boys taking care of her rent, as an afterthought. Her burial spot, never shown, yet a video of her...
7 comments
Read more

If You Listen To One Speech - Lana Wachowski

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/videos/lana-wachowski-opens-up-about-difficult-past-and-attempted-suicide-20121024 Today I saw a link to a video for a speech by Lana Wachowski.  The last name rung a bell, but I could't put my finger on it. Lana, used to be Larry, one of the writer, director, producers of the Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta and the upcoming Cloud Atlas.  Lana is transgendered and has "come out" as a woman.  She was being honored by the Human Rights Campaign. I didn't know what to expect when this broad woman with crazy hair and a raspy voice began to speak.  She began with the usual pleasantries and told of her hair dresser. She then tells of her desire to be a quiet person and how hard the success of the Matrix movies made this.  The first ten minutes is telling of how she's not quite ready to be this spokesperson.  Then she speaks about the new movie Cloud Atlas and reveals the heart of the movie and this speech. She states,"The resp...
Post a Comment
Read more