Friday, October 25, 2024

NETFLIX'S "UZUMAKI" TAKES STRANGE & WEIRD TO THE NEXT LEVEL!...

πŸŽ₯🎞️Series Review🎞️πŸŽ₯ - UZUMAKI [2024] - [PG13] - NetFlix - Directed by Higuchinsky. Screenplay by Takao Niita. An animated Manga-style series based on the graphic novel by Junito Ito. Produced by Sumiji Miyake. Voice actors; Abby Trott, Robbie Dsymond, Christina Valenzuella, Max Mittelman, Aaron LaPlante, and Mona Marshall.

A young girl named Kirie Goshima [Abby Trott] initially wandering around walking in circles. Over time, some people and close friends have disappeared, others have become deformed or have transformed through metamorphosis into another species, but all have been marked by a spiraling bruise prior to transformation or becoming deformed. This girl has to learn what is causing these transformations, some which has proven to be painful and others have shown to be dangerous and deadly to innocent people in the immediate area, and try to prevent exposure to this apparent "spiral syndrome" that is devouring everyone within her little world.

THE GOOD - The animation and graphic detail are outstanding and consistent throughout the series. The visualization of many of the nightmarish scenes strike a chord with horror. The editing and progression of the story from one scene to another is smooth. There is a constant creepy feel to each episode and some of the transformations and death scenes are jaw dropping. The best part of some of the scenes are the ones that contain one-liner jokes that are tossed about freely and perfectly performed by the voice actors. 

THE BAD - As with most animated films, there are scenes with a lot of dialog that occurs during the slower portions of series; some of it useful, but a lot of it worthless.

POSTMORTEM - This series is so intertwined with well designed morbid graphics that one can't shake off the immediate uncomfortable feeling of what to expect next. The mystery is expertly hidden throughout the series run and you will not be able to figure out the stories angle to find an alternative way to combat the entity that has smothered Kirie's little town. The real answer at the end of series will take your expectations to the next level. As much as I liked this series, the black and white presentation helps build the creepy vibe. I don't think this series would work has as much if it were produced in color or with live actors.

⭐️⭐️⭐️πŸ’« [3.5 of 5 Stars]

Saturday, October 12, 2024

NETFLIX'S "LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND" SHOULD BE LEFT BEHIND THE DUMPSTER!...

πŸŽ₯🎞️Movie Review🎞️πŸŽ₯ - LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND [2023] - PG13 - Nextflix - Directed by Sam Esmail. Based on a book by Rumaan Alam. Produced by Julia Roberts, Sam Esmail, Barrack Hussien Obama, Michelle Obama, Lisa Gillian, Chad Hamilton. Stars Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans, Myha'la, and Kevin Bacon.

A little girl [Mackenzie] is on a family vacation to Long Island where the sudden loss of the internet, GPS, and cell service systems leaves the little girl in a proverbial lurch from watching the last episode of Friends. The world about her gets strange, as animals start acting weird, her brother [Evans] has the "instant hots" for a foul mouthed black teen [Myha'la], her flirtatiously drunk mother [Roberts] takes a nibble of making moves on a black man [Ali] who she initially hates meeting at first, and finds out just how useless her father [Hawke] truly is in life altering situations. As the days pass, strange alliances begin to form and even though there are signs that the world has fallen into silence and that [apparently] boats and planes can't function without GPS technology, the little girl struggles to find out what happens at the end of the Friends Television series, even distancing herself from her family, to finally watch the last episode by herself. - Honestly, that's the whole movie! -

THE GOOD - Epic cinematography. Good sound. Good visual effects. Lighting was fine, editing okay.

THE BAD - Lots and lots of dialog between actors. Bad screenplay. Useless character development. Lack of story. Complete misuse of a strong cast. Bad story telling. Bad ending. Lack of story arc. Lack of story details. 

POST MORTEM - COMPLETE DOGSHIT!!! - Definitely the shittiest movie I've ever seen. This film was given some credence because it garnered some attention from the Obama family who decided to help with the story and production, but they were obviously helping two Muslim filmmakers start a career in movie making - sorry to be so political. Lots of white shaming going on in this train wreck...well, more like slow drowning in shallow water. Roberts almost kisses a black man, and Myha'la made it clear in the film [with passion] that she was not going to fuck a white man whose son had the hots for her; totally uncalled for and not professional at all in film story telling. There's nothing cute or smart about this film. There's never any information shared about what is transpiring or why. The gaps in the "secretive nature" of Esmail's character is just dumb and ill prepared in being dramatic. Don't believe the attempt to scare you about how something scary could happen in today's technological world, and seriously don't waste your time on this crap. NONE of what transpires in this film will EVER happen in real life....and don't EVEN get me started on the bad ending!

πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’© [5 of 5 Poops]

Thursday, October 10, 2024

HBOMAX CLAIMS THE WORST FILM OF 2024 WITH "SALEM'S LOT"

πŸŽ₯🎞️Movie Review🎞️πŸŽ₯ - SALEM'S LOT [2024] - [R] - HBOMax - Directed & written by Gary Dauberman. Produced by James Wan, Michael Clear, Roy Lee, Mark Wolper. Stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Pilou Asbaek, Spencer Treat Clark, William Sadler, Alfre Woodard, Bill Camp, and Jordan Preston.

Inspired from the now famous Stephen King book, a writer [Pullman] returns home for inspirational purposes. After a short while, local nieghbors, old friends, and a few kids start disappearing and he beings to understand that something strange is occurring and endangering all of the local townsfolk. Before he can actually grasp the type of danger he is in, he learns that a vampire is turning all of the towns people into vampires who are quickly spreading their demon-like life around like a deadly virus. 

THE GOOD - The cinematography is impressive. There's some notable editing and the movie flows seamlessly from one scene to another. The lighting is on par with a good production shooting scenes clearly at night. There's no over acting. Great use of location spotting. The sound is above what I expected.

THE BAD - There's nothing creepy about this film. There's a lot of under-acting by several extras. The story arc, even though it may resemble Stephen King's book, is an off shoot with the director/writer taking a lot of liberties that don't work. Tons of 80's horror effects and bad acting concerning the convergence of people turning into vampires. Silly use of cut-aways; where some vampires just suddenly disappear into the dark. There's bad gore, bad delivery of jump-scares.

POST MORTEM - This is a bad movie. Almost "slasher-like" and it was boring. I ad to stop watching the movie and restart it on the next day. There's no flair, no substance to developing the good guys. I honestly didn't give a shit about any of the characters who were trying to fight to survive. There's a part in the film where a doctor [Woodard] outsmarts a vampire bite, treating it like an infection without any real chemical analysis. I'd say don't bother watching this film. It almost fell into my infamous "DOGSHIT" rating, but I'll leave that to local amateur indie films.

⭐️πŸ’« [1.5 of 5 Stars]

Sunday, October 6, 2024

APPLE TV HAS A DEFINITE HIT WITH "WOLFS"

πŸŽ₯🎞️Movie Review🎞️πŸŽ₯ - WOLFS [2024] - [R] - Apple+ - Directed & written by Jon Watts. Produced by Apple Studios, Plan B Entertainment, & Smokehouse Pictures. Stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, & Poorna Jagannathan. Budget $85 Million.

After a married woman [Ryan] witnesses her "side-lover" fall to his death crashing into a glass serving table in her luxurious hotel room, she calls a special cleaner [Clooney] to "clean up" the mess and get her out of the trouble she may be in. All is going according to plan until a second cleaner [Pitt] arrives, being hired by the hotel manager to observe the first cleaners job. During a time of cleaning, the duo share notes on how to clean a scene, when one of them finds a backpack full of unprocessed drugs.  They both summarize that the drugs belong to a local cartel who could start up lots of trouble, so they both use all of their known contacts to help them track down the possible real owners of the drugs. This is where a real adventure begins as the cleaners have to find the owners of the heroine and erase any existence of their work, and more especially, their identities.

THE GOOD - A large part of this film was filmed using the new Apple iPhone 18 Max; which was a good call with the slow motion and close up shots. Clooney and Pitt have outstanding chemistry, both developing parts of the same type of character; dressing the same, carrying the same weapons, being prepared for the same type of upcoming scenario, knowing the same contacts, etc. The visual effects are outstanding and the location spotting was perfect. Filmed entirely in New York, the director flawlessly showcased the underbelly of New York with some impressive cinematography. The editing was top notch, making the movie flow seamlessly from one scene to another, presenting a realistic feel of the consequences should the duo fail to complete their jobs.

THE BAD - Some of the bad guys in this film are never shown, only mentioned in passing or with mysterious phone calls; leaving all kinds of questions lingering. There is some dialog between the two main characters that seem to goo too long at times.

POST MORTEM - This is a great action/dark comedy, with some well thought-out twists and turns that tie the whole thing together with a surprise ending that had me as surprised as the main characters. This could be an interesting first part to a two-part film. Kudos to Apple+ for producing this little gem which is sure to beg for a follow up sequel!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️πŸ’« [4.5 of 5 Stars]

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

THE OCTOBER 2024 EDITION OF THE QSE.357 E-MAG IS RELEASED!

QSE.357 ISSUE 37 of 10/1/2024

42 Pages

ON THE COVER - Ramiro Avendano Mireless

MAIN ARTICLES

A Legend By Others - Five years ago, Ramiro [Ro] Avendano-Mireless had a strong following of supporters in Las Vegas, NV; five years before that, he had a cult follow him in San Antonio, TX. Today he's escaped the indie film grind, wasted $200K of investors money, while the people who religiously followed his footsteps remain punished by things he promised, planned, & stripped away. [28] pages of investigative reporting couldn't cover this whole story, but this time we have the names who followed, supported, and also turned him in.

Indie Film Rabbit Hole - Many film scams waste your time driving wedges between known indie actors in film communities.

Are There Streaming Platforms
Looking For Good Projects?
-
The answer is "No" - But read why
.

 YOU MUST BE A SUBSCRIBER TO VIEW THE FULL CONTENTS THIS NEW 2024 ISSUE OF THE QUANTUM STORM .357 E-MAGAZINE AND FOLLOW THIS BLOG

 Thank you for stopping by!