SilentLuminary Reviews

  Genre: Horror/ Thriller Time: 1h 45mins Director:  Walter Salles Quick Summary:  A mother and daughter, still wounded from a bitter custody dispute, hole up in a run-down apartment building, where they are targeted by the ghost of a former resident. I will say that I felt that Jennifer Connelly was a much more interesting character than the mother in the original movie. Overall, the characters were fleshed out better. The original just sort of glanced over many of the details about the divorce and how it was affecting the little girl. Some of the shots were actually more effective than the ones in the original even though I did like how the original lingers with a lot of them, and the ending in the remake is more satisfying and better executed than in the original. I was left confused for a start. Like the original, it is very slow placed. I got incredibly bored throughout most of this. As well it pretty much is a carbon copy of the original, even the script is the sa...

  Genre: Horror/ Drama Time: 1h 41mins Director:  Hideo Nakata Quick Summary:  A mother and her 6-year-old daughter move into a creepy apartment whose every surface is permeated by water. This is pretty suspenseful, knowing where to place the camera and how long to hold a shot just enough to make the hair stand on end.  One of the film's themes is the terrible treatment of women in Japan, and how they have been painted as unreliable and hysterical. Yoshimi is being divorced from her husband, who hopes to gain full custody of their daughter, a kindergartner named Ikuko. The film dramatizes the strain that the strange events in the apartment take on Yoshimi’s mental health. When combined with the pressures of trying to care for Ikuko, as a single mother struggling to hold down her copy editing job, it results in honest, but nail-biting mistakes, such as when she shows up late to pick up her daughter at kindergarten only to find her gone. I really l...

  Genre: Horror/ Drama Time: 1h 53mins Director:  George A. Romero Quick Summary:  A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master. Okay, this monkey is actually adorable.  Ella is a Capuchin monkey, naturally intelligent, and her intelligence has been boosted by injections of human brain tissue, administered by our main character’s friend the druggie chemist after he is involved in a horrible accident that leaves him paralysed.  Right from the first, there’s a special rapport between the man and the monkey. Ella seems to understand Allan (the main guy), to love him, and even sometimes be able to anticipate his needs. She is so sweet, running around doing little tasks for him for treats, cuddles and dancing around to music.  I wouldn't really call this a horror movie as it's gore free maybe has the occasional monkey jumpscare, or an event that is implie...

  Genre: Crime/ Action Time: 1h 53mins Director:  Joel Schumacher Quick Summary:  An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them. Man, this is so underrated and so ahead of its time.  Michael Douglas is the star and absolutely steals it. He is a powerhouse. What is so interesting about Douglas's character, as written and played, is the core of sadness that surrounds him. He seems weary and confused, and in his actions, he unconsciously breaks apart society's flaws in fits of anger. Though he still seems to think he is doing a good thing, pointing out these to people and standing up for himself.  This film screams with tension. From the very get-go, the viewer is chucked into an incredibly tense scene. In every scene, the camera is swung around rapidly at things, but it always focuses on our main character so we can not only watch every single thing he does wrong but in ...

  Genre: Fantasy/ Family  Time: 1h 35mins Directors:  Jim Henson, Frank Oz Quick Summary:  On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal, and to restore order to his world. Wonderfully dreamlike, I adore this film. It takes place in a fantasy world, created by the wonderful, Frank Oz and Jim Henson. Everything in this film is so meticulously done, that it still lives on to this day and you can really appraise how much work and love has gone into this.  Overall the design of this is amazing and how much detail is put into everything is just stunning. It's so immersive and you can very easily get lost in this. I even forgot this is entirely puppets! I find that so amazing that it was possible to be flawlessly that immersive with purely practical effects. I don't think I've ever seen puppetry this amazing, not even in other Jim Henson productions. There's so much detail put into every...

Genre: Sci-fi/Action Time: 2h 30mins Director:  Jeannot Szwarc Quick Summary:  After losing a powerful orb, Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin, comes to Earth to retrieve it and instead finds herself up against a wicked witch. To me, straight off the bat, this felt like some sort of fan fiction someone has written after watching the Superman films. Don't get me wrong though, this isn't completely unwatchable. I like that this stands on its own and doesn't rely on Superman. I mean there are a lot of mentions of him but it's not a carbon copy of him. I mean for a start, Our heroine faces a witch in battle.   Helen Slater I liked in this a lot, she portrayed a much more innocent, sweet hero who is excited to explore Earth's socialities and experiences. I liked how they showed Supergirl learning her abilities when she first landed on Earth. It showed a nice arc of maturing out of innocence. Unfortunately, the acting and script are dreadful. Every sentence that is said...

  Genre: Action/Fantasy  Time: 1h 43mins Director:  Mark Steven Johnson Quick Summary:  A man blinded by toxic waste which also enhanced his remaining senses fights crime as an acrobatic martial arts superhero. Nothing has felt more 2000s than this film. It's so cheesy and "edgy" It's honestly so funny. Absolutely nowhere near perfect but it manages to charm itself a way into your heart and is 100% dated no matter how you look at it. The editing relies on snappy cuts that swoop into the character, a pop-punk cool kid soundtrack to show how rad our main superhero is, training montages with evanescence blasting, and just that gritty look to the visuals.  I am honestly not sure if I loved Ben Affleck's performance of Daredevil. I really did not believe he was a blind person, he delivers his lines as if he's not sure what he's saying OR he is incredibly cocky. But that just made me laugh at this more. A film that is supposed to be serious has a full-on marti...