gminetos-38105

This is tough for me to rate. I can appreciate the good production values and some great acting, especially Toni Collette who should get an Academy Award nom for her effort. In fact, her unraveling recalls Shelley Duvall's performance in "The Shining". And there was the unsettlingly weird look of newcomer Milly Shapiro who I thought was the little girl in "Les Miserables" but no. This film was more a study of the descent into madness/psychosis that was colored with horror. It wasn't a horror genre film like Friday the 13th, Halloween, etc. But because it's a story about madness some of the scenes are difficult to understand and to determine if they're "real" or part of the character's madness. I'm a dude and not easily scared or intimidated so this film rather than scaring me was just more unsettling and disturbing, it left me in a bad mood, especially with the very odd, weird, again unsettling final scene. It was good for what it is, but I don't like what it is so I guess that rates a "6", very hard to rate.

I swear I thought I was watching Michael J Fox as the hotel's doctor but it turns out to be look-alike Jodi Foster (nurse)! So funny how their aged faces look so similar. And there's Sofia Boutella who kicked major a$$ in the Kingsman franchise, and yes, she's a killer assassin here, too, so that's great. Jeff Goldblum though didn't measure up to the character he was portraying so that was a big miscast. Dave Bautista was basically a stand-in for The Rock who was probably filming another action movie. I'm spending so much effort discussing the cast because that's what you focus on with this film since the plot drags and then gets predictable. It was decent but could've been so much better. It gets a tepid "5".

Was hoping much more from this. Instead, it's a PC-safe, kid-safe, "let Hollywood tell the world that tolerance matters". So preachy it qualifies as an "after-school special". Apparently, EDM is "bad" and pop standards are "good", too. And did anyone find it ironic and lazy that the ultimate weapon against the monsters was itself a monster?! Makes no sense and will likely be just the latest reason this franchise ends right here. The animation and voicing was top-notch, too bad the screenplay was so lame. Genndy Tartakovsky, director/writer, is not typically saccharine like this. He's done much better work with TV's "Samurai Jack" and "Star Wars: Clone Wars". Expected better..