VisionThing

This is perhaps the most genuinely disturbing film I've ever seen. At the same time it is a deeply touching movie. It is not perfect, especially it at times struggles to get the balance between sheer horror-laced confusion and coherent story elements right to create a followable narrative. On the other hand that's part of its primordial effectiveness, but on the other hand this is a movie that can perhaps be fully appreciated only on a second viewing, knowing what kind of image the pieces are part of.

The visuals of Jacob's Ladder were quite unique when it was released; they have inspired so many things since from games to music videos that modern audiences may not even realize how unprecedentedly terrifying they were at the time. But they still remain truly disconcerting and haunting.

Tim Robbins is both perfectly cast and gives a performance of a lifetime in this. He's likable and relatable, which is crucial as the audience needs to root and really care for him to stay invested in his destiny through the at times incomprehensible events. And the way he portrays the fear and confusion of a man who finds reality unraveling is immensely believable and unpretentious.

I will not say one word about the plot. The less one knows of this movie before watching it, the better. But I warmly recommend this, particularly to anyone who likes horror movies, inexplicable mysteries, disquieting war movies, and/or David Lynch movies.

One of the best westerns I've seen in a long while. Knows exactly what it wants to do, and does it well. Very lean, bare-bones even, but the plain production and lack of anything unnecessary serve the austere story well.

Cinematography is very good. Acting is good despite the lack of big names, especially Tim Blake Nelson as the lead is brilliantly cast and really brings his character to life. Stephen Dorff, Scott Haze, and Trace Adkins offer solid support. Gavin Lewis however is not quite on a par with the rest of the cast. The story is straightforward and quite simple, but the dialogues are well written and everything is believable enough.

"Old Henry" does not invent anything new and has its fair share of clichés, but I did find the all-encompassing, unpretentious back-to-basics approach refreshing and enjoyed every minute. It does not outstay its welcome either. Warmly recommended to friends of westerns.

I love weird movies. I love sci-fi movies. I love kung-fu movies. I love action movies. I love comedies. True to its name, Everything Everywhere All at Once tries to be all these things, and more. It fails in most everything.

There are some positive things, but it is a short list. The basic idea and the message the movie tries to impart are potentially interesting (but the movie fails completely in conveying them, to such an extent that it has to literally try to spell them out at the end). Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis give their all despite the relentless nonsense they are put through. Cinematography is rather good. Fight choreographies are decent.

Everything else is just missing. There is no comprehensible plot. Michelle Yeoh's character is the only one who even tries to be anything more than a comic book caricature, and the superhuman abilities make even her totally unrelatable. Pacing is abysmal. There is nothing original nor funny in the movie. It steals ideas from a multitude of sources (like The Matrix, Marvel universe, Hong Kong kung-fu movies, animes) with an utter lack of vision on how to put any of them into good use, and adds "comedy" via elementary-school-yard-funny level completely random stuff (like butt plugs, hot dog fingers and googly eyes).

I love ice cream. I love sushi. I love pizza. I love Chinese food. I love hamburgers. There is artistry in creating delicious combinations from unexpected ingredients. But if you just blindly toss every possible ingredient you can think of into a blender, you get unsavoury, inedible mess. Tossing nonpareils on top does not help, nor does supersizing the deplorable sludge. That is what Everything Everywhere All at Once is.