thesar-2
Joined Dec 2007
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Ratings2.3K
thesar-2's rating
Reviews2.3K
thesar-2's rating
Now this was total fun movie that they barely make anymore.
Yeah, it's another movie set in the 80s, and while that does fit within some of the stories, it doesn't linger on yet more movie nostalgia. I don't know about you, but I've had it up to the clouds with nostalgia. It's like Hollywood has no clue where to go but dig into the past when they actually made money.
I digress. This is a positive review of a movie I had a blast on. It reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies, 1999's Go and while it's setup that way, it morphs into Kill Bill-territory. Admittedly, the first two of four stories are really good, they weren't as great as the final two.
The movie takes place one night in 1987 Oakland, CA when some freaky green glow appears randomly. Why? Doesn't matter. Let's get to the stor...ies.
Story 1 - Nazis v. Punks. Spoiler - if you're anti-Nazi, you're gonna love this movie. But, then again, who's pro-Nazi, except Nazis themselves?
Story 2 - Rap v. Rap. Not my genre of music, but I loved the 8-Mile showdown.
Story 3 - Pedro v. Past Demons. In Pedro Pascal's legendary 150th movie appearance this decade, he's absolutely incredible as a man trying to retire from his henchman job.
Story 4 - Baseball v. Burglars. Male version of the Bride...this was total fun. Especially if you're, once again, anti-Nazi.
I believe these all got progressively better, though those last two were really close to tying. I'm not that excited to see Pascal in like every third movie released, but I thoroughly enjoyed him here and his arc/motivation and depth.
I love to go into a love cold and this was one of the coldest I went. I knew nothing except the title, poster and a rave review from Facebook, heck I didn't even see a trailer. I'm glad I took the chance to see this and reminisce about movies I've loved in the past, like Go, Kill Bill and 8 Mile.
***
Final Thoughts: I mentioned the mysterious green glow briefly as does the movie. Absolutely could've been removed, but I loved the addition to make this kinda sci-fi for almost no reason except for fun.
Yeah, it's another movie set in the 80s, and while that does fit within some of the stories, it doesn't linger on yet more movie nostalgia. I don't know about you, but I've had it up to the clouds with nostalgia. It's like Hollywood has no clue where to go but dig into the past when they actually made money.
I digress. This is a positive review of a movie I had a blast on. It reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies, 1999's Go and while it's setup that way, it morphs into Kill Bill-territory. Admittedly, the first two of four stories are really good, they weren't as great as the final two.
The movie takes place one night in 1987 Oakland, CA when some freaky green glow appears randomly. Why? Doesn't matter. Let's get to the stor...ies.
Story 1 - Nazis v. Punks. Spoiler - if you're anti-Nazi, you're gonna love this movie. But, then again, who's pro-Nazi, except Nazis themselves?
Story 2 - Rap v. Rap. Not my genre of music, but I loved the 8-Mile showdown.
Story 3 - Pedro v. Past Demons. In Pedro Pascal's legendary 150th movie appearance this decade, he's absolutely incredible as a man trying to retire from his henchman job.
Story 4 - Baseball v. Burglars. Male version of the Bride...this was total fun. Especially if you're, once again, anti-Nazi.
I believe these all got progressively better, though those last two were really close to tying. I'm not that excited to see Pascal in like every third movie released, but I thoroughly enjoyed him here and his arc/motivation and depth.
I love to go into a love cold and this was one of the coldest I went. I knew nothing except the title, poster and a rave review from Facebook, heck I didn't even see a trailer. I'm glad I took the chance to see this and reminisce about movies I've loved in the past, like Go, Kill Bill and 8 Mile.
***
Final Thoughts: I mentioned the mysterious green glow briefly as does the movie. Absolutely could've been removed, but I loved the addition to make this kinda sci-fi for almost no reason except for fun.
Why is Dakota Johnson always chasing after the rich guys? She's pretty, she could do better.
Okay, okay, I'm not a Johnson fan. Much like it's a huge problem of mine separating Kristen Stewart from Twilight, I can't remove Johnson from Fifty Shades of Grey. Both Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey were absolutely unintentionally hilarious, but still very, very bad.
It didn't help that the next movie I saw of Johnson's was Madam Web. That all said, I do recognize she's not a terrible actress. And she didn't do bad here in Materialists. I just didn't 100% buy her arc.
In this obvious love-triangle story, it's up to shallow relationship matchmaker Lucy to decide between a letdown, troubled, antagonistic prior relationship or a super-rich unicorn. You'll know from minute five where this is headed, it's just up to you if you believe her words, reasons and frankly, Johnson's acting, in the third act.
Don't get me wrong. I didn't at all hate/dislike this movie. It was very well shot, I liked Johnson the best here - though, obviously, the bar was low, and I loved pretty much all the scenes where Lucy interacted with her clients, even over the phone. And the conflict created by the 10th date Lucy set her client up with, I actually really did like and I believed every bit of Lucy's distraught with the circumstances.
Aside from the predictability, I just didn't really believe the literal change of heart this character proclaimed she had. At least for the story as a whole. It was like she was telling us what to believe and see versus actually showing us she belongs more with one of the two men.
Not 100% sure I'd recommend it, but if you're still on Team Pedro Pascal after his 15 movies in as many months and are a Johnson fan, you may dig this drama/romance.
***
Final Thoughts: Just a hint, Hollywood - you CANNOT make Chris Evans look bad. In any light. Or look like the lower class. Chris Evans is a God amongst men. Even straight guys would have to admit he's (at least) extremely handsome. So, nice try, Director Celine Song.
Okay, okay, I'm not a Johnson fan. Much like it's a huge problem of mine separating Kristen Stewart from Twilight, I can't remove Johnson from Fifty Shades of Grey. Both Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey were absolutely unintentionally hilarious, but still very, very bad.
It didn't help that the next movie I saw of Johnson's was Madam Web. That all said, I do recognize she's not a terrible actress. And she didn't do bad here in Materialists. I just didn't 100% buy her arc.
In this obvious love-triangle story, it's up to shallow relationship matchmaker Lucy to decide between a letdown, troubled, antagonistic prior relationship or a super-rich unicorn. You'll know from minute five where this is headed, it's just up to you if you believe her words, reasons and frankly, Johnson's acting, in the third act.
Don't get me wrong. I didn't at all hate/dislike this movie. It was very well shot, I liked Johnson the best here - though, obviously, the bar was low, and I loved pretty much all the scenes where Lucy interacted with her clients, even over the phone. And the conflict created by the 10th date Lucy set her client up with, I actually really did like and I believed every bit of Lucy's distraught with the circumstances.
Aside from the predictability, I just didn't really believe the literal change of heart this character proclaimed she had. At least for the story as a whole. It was like she was telling us what to believe and see versus actually showing us she belongs more with one of the two men.
Not 100% sure I'd recommend it, but if you're still on Team Pedro Pascal after his 15 movies in as many months and are a Johnson fan, you may dig this drama/romance.
***
Final Thoughts: Just a hint, Hollywood - you CANNOT make Chris Evans look bad. In any light. Or look like the lower class. Chris Evans is a God amongst men. Even straight guys would have to admit he's (at least) extremely handsome. So, nice try, Director Celine Song.
Definitely not a re-rental.
I'm a HUGE V/H/S Fan. Aside from Part 3, "Virtual," even the lower rated ones, I enjoyed at least 60-70% of the story chapters. Unfortunately, for now anyways, this ranks almost as low as that third entry. I will say, I'm definitely willing to give this another shot. Hopefully, I'm wrong with my first impression.
As for now, I actually didn't really like any of the stories. I mostly hated that they discontinued the V/H/S format as a ton of this was digital and modern filming and, as with most Found Footage movies, the reasons for them carrying the camera during the most horrific episodes of these characters' lives were weak as hell. Yes, even with the inside joke of a couple of "horror found footage" trick'r'treaters. It didn't make up for the lame excuses and completely implausible reasons to not only keep filming but to risk their lives many times to go get the camera they had left behind during chases/intense scenes.
The wrap-around story, "Diet Phantasma" was eh. It was predictable from moment one and enormously repetitive. "Coochie Coochie Coo" was obviously written by a Barbarian fan. As was "Ut Supra Sic Infra" by a Black Phone fan. Okay, okay, not so much, but it did in fact contain a black phone at the literal center of it all and it was nothing really new/fresh.
"Fun Size" was not too bad, but not really rememberable. It also felt like someone was a fan of the Five Nights at Freddie's lore. "Kidprint" was the only one I would've liked to see as whole movie and explored. There was a lot there to unravel and I would've liked more time to really build up the world-building/legends and suspense. And finally, "Home Haunt" was another ho-hum entry but not terrible to watch. It was just obvious how the remainder would play out when the Dad found the perfect item to play in his backyard haunted house.
Again, I'd like to revisit this someday. Hopefully, it'll grow on me as it seemingly got better reviews from other critics and audiences than my take.
***
Final Thoughts: Here's my current ranking of all 8:
1. V/H/S/Beyond (2024) 2. V/H/S (2012) 3. V/H/S/2 (2013) 4. V/H/S/99 (2022) 5. V/H/S/85 (2023) 6. V/H/S/94 (2021) 7. V/H/S/Halloween (2025) 8. V/H/S: Viral (2014)
I'm a HUGE V/H/S Fan. Aside from Part 3, "Virtual," even the lower rated ones, I enjoyed at least 60-70% of the story chapters. Unfortunately, for now anyways, this ranks almost as low as that third entry. I will say, I'm definitely willing to give this another shot. Hopefully, I'm wrong with my first impression.
As for now, I actually didn't really like any of the stories. I mostly hated that they discontinued the V/H/S format as a ton of this was digital and modern filming and, as with most Found Footage movies, the reasons for them carrying the camera during the most horrific episodes of these characters' lives were weak as hell. Yes, even with the inside joke of a couple of "horror found footage" trick'r'treaters. It didn't make up for the lame excuses and completely implausible reasons to not only keep filming but to risk their lives many times to go get the camera they had left behind during chases/intense scenes.
The wrap-around story, "Diet Phantasma" was eh. It was predictable from moment one and enormously repetitive. "Coochie Coochie Coo" was obviously written by a Barbarian fan. As was "Ut Supra Sic Infra" by a Black Phone fan. Okay, okay, not so much, but it did in fact contain a black phone at the literal center of it all and it was nothing really new/fresh.
"Fun Size" was not too bad, but not really rememberable. It also felt like someone was a fan of the Five Nights at Freddie's lore. "Kidprint" was the only one I would've liked to see as whole movie and explored. There was a lot there to unravel and I would've liked more time to really build up the world-building/legends and suspense. And finally, "Home Haunt" was another ho-hum entry but not terrible to watch. It was just obvious how the remainder would play out when the Dad found the perfect item to play in his backyard haunted house.
Again, I'd like to revisit this someday. Hopefully, it'll grow on me as it seemingly got better reviews from other critics and audiences than my take.
***
Final Thoughts: Here's my current ranking of all 8:
1. V/H/S/Beyond (2024) 2. V/H/S (2012) 3. V/H/S/2 (2013) 4. V/H/S/99 (2022) 5. V/H/S/85 (2023) 6. V/H/S/94 (2021) 7. V/H/S/Halloween (2025) 8. V/H/S: Viral (2014)