RRR - Randall's Review Room

"Pleasure" Where I watched it: Crave "Pleasure" is the story of a young Swedish woman who travels to LA to make it big in the porn industry. Not knowing much about her backstory except that she finds Swedes "boring" we are thrown headfirst into an explicit world of smutty casting calls and porn shoots that reek of predatory vibes. One thing this movie is really good at is making you second guess your gut instincts and clearly this is done with intent. Some scenes will keep you on edge as you fear the worst, but then will alleviate those fears moments later when the productions prove themselves to be handled in professional/consensual manners. At other times, the opposite happens. One scene in particular will make you never want to watch porn again. The acting is surprisingly good despite the majority of the cast being actual porn stars. Not that porn stars can't act, but the bar has always been substantially lower. The film basically serves as a chara...

"Spencer" Where I streamed it: Prime Everyone's talking about Kristen Stewart's performance but nobody's talking about the camera angles. I'm actually surprised that this wasn't nominated for any directing/cinematography awards as it's super proficiently executed. There's a tightness in the shots that feels claustrophobic and suffocating. The aspect ratio is slightly tighter than a standard 16:9 and coupled with the excellent score by Jonny Greenwood it makes for pure anxiety. Reminiscent of some of Kubrick's best works with lots of long steadicam tracking shots through ornate hallways. This film has nothing to do with the car crash and is instead a character study of a person alienated in their surroundings in search of their sense of identity and well being. So... of course let's talk about the performances. Timothy Spall is excellent in this with his droopy bloodhound dog face. Kristen Stewart is a weird choice... her accent slips in and...

  "The Irishman" Very well written/shot/acted/directed. Scorsese sure knows what he's doing and this movie is a testament to his ever growing strength as a filmmaker. That being said it was extremely long and at times was quite boring. It left me with little to no desire to revisit any time soon although it did make me want to rewatch Goodfellas and Casino. It was exhausting despite it being a well made film. 6/10

  "Underwater" I saw an early screening of UNDERWATER starring Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel and TJ Miller. In a blatant ALIEN rip off, Norah (Kristen Stewart) finds herself leading a group of underwater research facility crew members through the depths of the ocean after being attacked by sea aliens. It's important to note that the film was set to be released in 2017 but was delayed until 2020 due to allegations against TJ Miller and the recent acquiring of 20th Century Fox by Disney. There isn't much to say about this film as it's as standard a sci-fi plot as they come. Large group of crew members try to survive an alien attack in a other-worldly environment (in this case it's not space, its underwater) and get picked off one by one. While that might sound like a fun night at the movies, its ultimately dissatisfying due to it's PG-13 rating.   The acting is adequate, although TJ Miller's typical comic relief character completely goes against the to...

"Between Two Ferns: The Movie" Overall easy watching but tonally all over the place. The "interviews" are the least funny parts of the movie. The mockumentary stuff is much better but I don't think Zack Galifianakis knows who he wants his character to be. He's at times Ron Burgandy, others he's Michael Scott and then he's just Zack Galifianakis. Some decent laughs but nothing memorable. 5/10

"The Package" Dear God this was a cringe fest. This is embarrassing on a lot of levels. I laughed once at something that I'm pretty sure wasn't the punchline of the joke they were going for. Acting is next level awful. 1/10  

"Annabelle Comes Home" The best Annabelle movie which isn't saying much. Was tricked into thinking the Warren's would have a larger role in the story which of course they don't. The scares are decent and it was refreshing to not have a million jump scares. Main problems come from the story or lack thereof and stupid decisions by characters. 5/10

"Rattlesnake" Rattlesnake was a lot like a Black Mirror episode. The premise is silly but fun: take a life to save a life. It starts off strong with the main character having the moral dilemma of taking someone's life and fumbling about in her attempts but as soon as she finds and locks in on her prey the movie goes downhill. They could have done a lot more with it. Still not bad for a straight to Netflix film and good filler for a day off. 5/10  

  "In The Tall Grass" National treasure Vincenzo Natali knocks it out of the park yet again with this Stephen King novella adaptation. This film is basically Cube in a different setting with much better actors. It's own logic collapses on itself toward the end of the film but other than that, it was thoroughly entertaining. Definitely feels like an episode of Black Mirror. 7/10

Not as bad as I thought! But also not as good as it could have been. ELI was a typical ghost/haunting movie with a twist. I won't talk too much about the twist but it does actually enhance the film by quite a bit. Acting is generally horrible. Gore is decent. Some pretty creepy imagery. Not bad for a straight to Netflix horror film. 6/10

"Yesterday" I would highly urge anyone who hasn't seen this to check it out immediately. While it doesn't go as far as I would have liked to have seen it go, it still explores enough within it's amazing premise to satisfy. Great performances all around and of course a fantastic soundtrack. 8/10

  "Crawl" This movie is stupid but at least it knows it. CG alligators and CG gore make up a good portion of this movie and it's almost always disappointing to witness but despite that the film is ultimately pretty fun and entertaining. 6/10

"Terminator: Dark Fate" This was unbelievably bad. I went with a friend and we determined that this is actually the worst Terminator film in the franchise. Yes, even worse than Terminator: Genysis and Terminator 3. Linda Hamilton is absolutely awful in this as is everyone else. This film is Attack of the Clones level bad. 2/10

THE ASSENT amassed quite a lot of interest after its creepy poster and trailer were unveiled. As goes with most films, you have to exercise some degree of caution when looking at a film’s promotional materials as they can be misleading. The movie that was dubbed “the scariest film at THE TORONTO AFTER DARK FILM FESTIVAL ” was mildly entertaining. Unfortunately, this film is destined to be lost in the sea of forgettable possession movies on Netflix. The film starts off with a found footage segment of an exorcism where a young boy is having a demon banished by a priest. The usual exorcism commotion ensues with the child writhing about and resisting restraint. A voice over explains the films title. Apparently there are 3 stages to possession: 1) The Presence 2) The Affliction 3) The Assent. The Assent refers to the point at which a demon bonds with its host’s soul, making it practically impossible for the separation of the two. This was probably the most interesting aspect of the film...

"Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling"  I watched this show religiously as a child. It was a nice dip into the nostalgia pool to see and hear the characters again but this film/special was far from good. In fact it was a complete waste of time and I think the creators intentionally designed it that way to... point out the fact that remakes/revamps/reunion shows are always in demand but never satisfying? Or maybe it wasn't intentional. Who knows. 4/10 

"Mission: Impossible - Fallout" Waaaaay too long. But having said that, also an amazing ride. The action is top notch, the fight scenes are unpredictable and exhilarating and Tom Cruise shows no signs of slowing down when it comes to big blockbuster stunt work. The twists and turns however predictable are still quite fun. Didn't expect a lot from this but it delivered! 8/10

"Head Count" A cross between The Thing and Coherence but not as good as either. Totally passable low budget indie horror, good tension in moments, doppelganger shit that I love... but ultimately leaves more questions than it answers and feels more like an homage than it's own thing. (pun intended) 5/10

  "Destroyer" The user review section on IMDb is filled with comments like "this movie should have moved at a faster pace", "there wasn't enough action", "it would have been better if Jason Statham played the lead role." Obviously this isn't your run of the mill knucklehead action cop flick despite its aggressive title and its undercover cop/gang/heist premise. I've seen a number of Karyn Kusama's films, my favorite still being "The Invitation." She has a great sense of building tension and it's done quite masterfully in both "The Invitation" as well as this film. The big selling point here comes in the form of a barely recognizable Nicole Kidman who plays an aged former undercover cop under layers of prosthetics. This film wasn't mindblowing. It was engaging enough for my mind to not wander during its 2 hour run time. The performances were above average and there were some touching moments, in particul...

Written by video game and children's show writers, this might be the worst film I've seen all year. The writing is seriously embarrassing. It actually feels like it was written by children. The acting is on par with the writing. Nothing is plausible. I will admit the last 2 minutes are hilarious when it goes full SyFy movie (frognato?). Whoever "they" are... they shouldn't be "watching" this. 1/10

Another gimmicky and exploitative "revenge" plot. The film makes no sense from any realistic or logical standpoint but as a over-the-top fantasy film it's pretty entertaining. The gory stuff is tough to watch. The revenge is satisfying... as it usually tends to be. 6/10