Obdurate
Bio: I have a twitter: https://twitter.com/flickmetictyler
I even occasionally tweet.
Here's a big long empty space to symbolize the void in my soul.
Anything 51 and up is a recommendation, meaning you aren't wasting your time seeing it. Anything between 51-79 ranges from mediocre to very good. Anything 80+ is what I call a "Great Movie" and it's a must-see and is awesome to various degrees. Anything that's a 50 is something that I'm a fence sitter on (meaning I'm too useless to actually be able to make up my god damn mind) so it could go either way. 49 and under means you should avoid. Under 10 means I was probably raped by the movie or, at the very least, fondled. Despite the effort I've put into explaining my rating system, numbers are fairly often chosen at random (well, maybe my gut feeling) so I might actually like a movie I rated 75 more than an 85, I just really can't be bothered to go back and constantly re-do my ratings.
I even occasionally tweet.
Here's a big long empty space to symbolize the void in my soul.
Anything 51 and up is a recommendation, meaning you aren't wasting your time seeing it. Anything between 51-79 ranges from mediocre to very good. Anything 80+ is what I call a "Great Movie" and it's a must-see and is awesome to various degrees. Anything that's a 50 is something that I'm a fence sitter on (meaning I'm too useless to actually be able to make up my god damn mind) so it could go either way. 49 and under means you should avoid. Under 10 means I was probably raped by the movie or, at the very least, fondled. Despite the effort I've put into explaining my rating system, numbers are fairly often chosen at random (well, maybe my gut feeling) so I might actually like a movie I rated 75 more than an 85, I just really can't be bothered to go back and constantly re-do my ratings.
Recent Ratings
Check out Obdurate's...
| 55 18% | Azrael (2024) - Rated 19 Nov 2024
"I like that it doesn't spell anything out, we're just dropped into the world and have to figure out stuff based on some hints. Weaver's performance is strong. The action is brutal, though a little sluggish at times. Dug the premise. Some of the moments with the Burnt Ones were scary. It gets a 55 because it's too long for what it is. It can't maintain its momentum for much of it, occasionally sprinkling in cool scenes. Just feels slow. Make this a short film and it's a banger."
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| 75 54% | Heretic (2024) - Rated 16 Nov 2024
"Grant's villain is interesting because he is really just layering his lunacy with theological talk, not unlike Jigsaw "helping" people even though he's torturing people. Great performances all around. As noted, trailer is misleading for what this is, but if you take it without the marketing, it's a pretty tense horror-tinged drama (it's not really scary) that delves into competing views on religion. Is it the deepest? Well no, you aren't in church, but it does well."
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| 75 54% | Smile 2 (2024) - Rated 14 Nov 2024
"Though saying that the entertainment industry is hard isn't a new message, I appreciated how aggressive this was with it. That the "demon" makes people smile plays into it exceptionally well, because it reflects what an entertainer always has to do in public. Naomi Scott was powerful here. Watching her unravel was endlessly fascinating. Wasn't that scary and I think it could use some work with creating atmosphere, so it's not one of the great horror films, but I was also never bored."
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| 30 4% | Megalopolis (2024) - Rated 14 Nov 2024
"There are flashes of brilliance. Cast is great all around. Visually beautiful moments. Some cool scenes. Interesting plot points. Militant filmmaking. But I say flashes because outside of the cast being solid throughout, most of this is never fully realized. Cool scenes are too few. Visual moments are buried underneath "artsy" aesthetic that sometimes looks amateurish and obnoxious. Plot tries its hardest to be boring, dialogue is gibberish. Meandering. Militant but also self-absorbed."
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| 75 54% | Juror #2 (2024) - Rated 11 Nov 2024
"Solid filmmaking all around. Very understated, nothing calls too much attention to itself, even though the performances all around are good. Instead, the script organically unfolds, dealing with pretty complicated emotions. I don't LOVE this because there are a few things that frustrate me and I'm not a huge courtroom drama guy, but it's good. Maybe even really good. Zoey Deutch is always a welcome presence for me, as well."
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| 75 54% | Saturday Night (2024) - Rated 11 Nov 2024 |
| 85 81% | Strange Darling (2023) - Rated 10 Nov 2024
"The beginning is incredibly obnoxious, insistent upon its artsiness, and that does persist occasionally throughout. But then, at the same time, the non-linear structure works incredibly well to introduce little details and make you think the movie is going one way when BAM, an excellent twist that recontextualizes the entire experience. After that it's a bit on autopilot, but what I like most about this (besides the great performances) is that it's a thriller that never stops, never slows down."
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| 90 91% | The Wild Robot (2024) - Rated 06 Nov 2024
"A simple story told extraordinarily well. You know where it's going but it has so much heart and humour, married to great animation, that it doesn't matter. A lot of death jokes, but they're funny and allows the movie to confront some pretty harsh realities of animals in a way that isn't too depressing. The beginning, when Roz wakes up and is completely out of her element, is a chaotic ride where you understand why the animals view her as a monster, even though she didn't do anything wrong."
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| 65 30% | The Outrun (2024) - Rated 05 Nov 2024
"Driven almost solely but a great performance by Ronan, The Outrun is an honest but familiar story about addiction. Nothing about it reeks, but I saw very little that stood out amongst the sea of movies about this subject. Besides Ronan, I guess the next best thing is the way it's looks. There are moments of extreme beauty, visually."
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| 35 6% | Venom: The Last Dance (2024) - Rated 05 Nov 2024
"It hits when Venom sacrifices himself, but I think that's mostly because I'm a softy, so I think I did most of the heavy lifting there. The last movie was an improvement on the first but this was just not good. Hardy is a wonderful actor but he phoned this in. Action was very meh. Plot was ridiculous and kind of a waste of time when you consider that is just going to come anyway. Felt meaningless by the end. Not funny. Some super cringy parts like the dancing. Venom deserves better."
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