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Greg Mueller

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7.5
Plot/Story
7
Characters
7
Acting
7
Cinematography
10
Soundtrack
5
Production Design
10
Execution
9
Emotional Impact
5

Full Review Page

Society

Society is camp horror and in fully embraces it. Practical effects are always better than CG, even when they are terrible. Society has some really fun practical effects, like The Thing, and some pretty bad ones, but it still works within this movie. The plot is fun and the acting is serviceable, but the less you know, the better it is.

By : Greg Mueller| Date : 5 years ago




4.5
Plot/Story
4
Characters
4
Acting
7
Cinematography
7
Soundtrack
2
Production Design
7
Execution
3
Emotional Impact
2

Full Review Page

Unfriended

The R rating throws you off. This is solidly a "teen" horror movie. The entire plot is bullied dead girl killed herself a year ago and now she is a computer hacking ghost out for revenge. The rules of her ghostly-ness are inconsistent and unexplained, the characters are unrealistic and erratic (and really dumb, as a "teen" horror movie would usually require), and the story is treated as tertiary at best with very little back story beyond pretty girl got bullied and shot herself in the parking lot. The shooting is shown within the first five minutes and a a great showcase of how they managed to make a real movie with a million dollar budget; the effects are terrible and the acting is a little better than you would have expected from The Hills. The deaths are underwhelming at best and when we do actually get to see some effects, they are crap that any schmuck could do in their kitchen. If you aren't as cynical as me, you can probably get a small bit of legitimate horror movie feeling from the atmosphere Unfriended creates, but I can't imagine anyone being humanly able to give less of a crap about the characters. There is very minimal gore and the language easily and "sexuality" should easily place Unfriended in PG-13 territory, where it's audience is, but the R rating gives false hopes. The novelty of the Skype/Facebook messenger found footage-esque movie was interesting, but Unfriended often feels like an ABC Family Channel movie when it keeps trying to push anti-bullying within a horror movie. Unfriended gives itself too much credit to try and make a statement. Some unintentionally funny moments, but very little actual horror. For teens in 2014 who seem to be at least semi-affluent, these people have the worst internet connections. That was the only time I felt even a little bad for these kids.

By : Greg Mueller| Date : 5 years ago




3.5
Plot/Story
7
Characters
6
Acting
3
Cinematography
2
Soundtrack
2
Production Design
3
Execution
3
Emotional Impact
2

Full Review Page

The Marine 4: Moving Target

This is a WWE Studios straight-to-dvd release and it shows. I haven't seen Marine 1-3 and neither did anyone else, but I really can't imagine what seeing Marine 3 (the first with The Miz as the lead) could possibly add to this film. It feels like they found a film school sophomore and gave them a couple million dollars to make a by-the-numbers action film. Predictably, the plot is routine, the acting is bad, and the action scenes are lack luster (I even noticed one shot where they missed they missed their blood effect). What was surprising was how bad it looked. I watched the Blu-Ray (which I found at the dollar store, go figure...) so I saw it in HD, but it still looked DVD quality. There were some really bad cinematography choices that took me out of the film, including perplexing camera angles, shots where the camera focus caught a background element instead of the actor, and really odd 80's fast-forward sequences. All of the actors were bad, all the dialog was bad, the story had tons of plot holes. I liked seeing The Miz in a movie and you could tell he was trying so hard and enjoying himself, but it just doesn't work. If you recognize the people on the movie poster, you can get your dollar of entertainment just seeing Miz and Summer Rae run around pretending to be soldiers, but if those names mean nothing to you, neither will this movie. There is nothing here for non WWE fans.

By : Greg Mueller| Date : 5 years ago




5.63
Plot/Story
7
Characters
6
Acting
8
Cinematography
6
Soundtrack
6
Production Design
6
Execution
3
Emotional Impact
3

Full Review Page

Stealing Harvard

A comedy that isn't funny, but is unoffensive and unique. Jason Lee feels like a knock-off Ryan Reynolds and Tom Green is Tom Green. Everything was technically and the story has some potential, but nothing is impressive or memorable. Stealing Harvard is the film equivalent of a Lean Cuisine, bland and forgettable, but digestible and tolerable.

By : Greg Mueller| Date : 5 years ago




8.63
Plot/Story
10
Characters
8
Acting
8
Cinematography
8
Soundtrack
8
Production Design
8
Execution
9
Emotional Impact
10



3.88
Plot/Story
4
Characters
2
Acting
2
Cinematography
5
Soundtrack
6
Production Design
5
Execution
4
Emotional Impact
3

Full Review Page

Troll 2

Commonly called the Best Worst Film, Troll 2 is an abomination that has just enough unintentional humor to make it worth your time. The acting is just awful (especially from the father), the plot is just stupid, and the goblin (yes goblin, there are no trolls in Troll 2) costumes are the worst Halloween masks I've seen. It's an American horror film made by Italians, and you can almost feel the language barrier in the dialog. Everything about Troll 2 is so terrible that it manages to transcend its awfulness and glide into that Tommy Wiseau niche. Troll 2 is in no way a sequel to Troll, it's an independent movie that no one wanted to see, so they tacked it onto the Troll series and hoped to maybe trick some people into wasting their money on it. I've seen it called the worst movie ever, but that just isn't true, there is plenty to be enjoyed Troll 2, it's just not the stuff the creators wanted you to. If you like "so bad it's good" movies, Troll 2 will make your day. If you live a strict theatrical diet of Oscar Bait and classy foreign cinema, Troll 2 will kill all of the faith you have left for humanity.

By : Greg Mueller| Date : 5 years ago




3.88
Plot/Story
5
Characters
4
Acting
3
Cinematography
5
Soundtrack
5
Production Design
5
Execution
2
Emotional Impact
2

Full Review Page

Bad Ben

Bad Ben is a standard "Found Footage" film, with the unique element of a home security system and an Iphone being the sources of the footage. While I appreciate taking a new direction, we still end up going down the same, well worn path that 90% of Found Footage films follow. Plot wise, there really isn't anything new and it's pretty predictable. IMDB estimates that this movie cost about $300 to make, and it shows. There is only one actor in the whole film and he isn't that great; nothing he says is believable (which could be the writers fault and not his) and the only emotion he convincingly portrays is anger. His character is unbelievable and his actions are confusing at best. Most of the "action" is bad CG and practical effects. This movie is Paranormal Activity with slightly better acting and one-fiftieth the budget. It's not terrible, but it isn't particularly scary, realistic (for a "ghost movie"), or entertaining. For a movie that probably cost less to make than you spent on the TV you'd watch it on, it's decent. I applaud the intent and effort, but am unimpressed with the execution.

By : Greg Mueller| Date : 5 years ago




8.13
Plot/Story
9
Characters
7
Acting
9
Cinematography
9
Soundtrack
7
Production Design
9
Execution
7
Emotional Impact
8

Full Review Page

Life

Life definitely takes notes from previous Sci-Fi classics, but adds some new, interesting elements. It's a fun movie that definitely drags in parts, but never really stalls. There are plenty of surprises, but nothing far enough to qualify as a twist on the formula. The acting was solid and the cinematography and CGI were good. Not amazing, but a strong film that delivers on the expectations.

By : Greg Mueller| Date : 5 years ago




5.13
Plot/Story
6
Characters
6
Acting
7
Cinematography
3
Soundtrack
8
Production Design
5
Execution
4
Emotional Impact
2

Full Review Page

La La Land

La La Land wants to be Singing in the Rain, but tries too hard and comes off as indulgent to the detriment of the film. Everything feels like the 50's, but Stone has an Iphone (with a default ringtone even though she's mid-20's in California) and drives a Prius. Plot lines are dropped with no resolution or explanation and what plot points to happen are way too predicable and cliche. The only surprise is the ending, which is only a surprise because no one should have chosen that ending which is abrupt, confusing, unfulfilling, and wanky. There is no chemistry between Stone and Gosling and they were clearly cas based on star power and not their singing or dancing, which is a problem for a musical. The worst part is the overly boring cinematography. I normally only notice and pay attention to cinematography if it's impressive or unique, but La La Land's is monotonous to the point where you can almost guess the next shot. Even the editing is off with multiple scenes ending abruptly and jerking to a new one with no closure. The sets are a mixed bag, with some scenes that take place in a character's imagination (and are supposed to be surreal and obviously a set) are beautiful, but shots that could easily have been done on scene are done on a terrible set with an obvious green screen. This is a $30 million film, you can afford a real shot. I'm used to suspension of disbelief in Science Fiction and Fantasy, but this much should not be required for what essentially is a textbook drama. Characters have uncertain personalities and are consistently making unrealistic decisions. I know I've been ragging on La La Land, but there are a few things it deserves credit for. Although Gosling's acting isn't impressive, the amount of work he put into the role is astounding. Gosling wanted to really play all of the Jazz pieces in the film, so even though they had a "hand double" on set to do the songs, Gosling was dedicated enough to learn Jazz piano within the couple of months before filming and was good enough that they didn't need the "hand double". The musical pieces (which there were surprisingly few for a musical) were serviceable and gave the film some depth. Maybe I'm not the target audience, but for a film that won 7 Golden Globes and 6 Oscars, there really isn't anything special here: the story is cliche to the point where the average person knows almost exactly how everything plays out (minus that dumb ending) within the first 20 minutes, the cinematography is bland and uninspired, and even though it obviously takes place in current times, it is constantly forced back into the 50's.

By : Greg Mueller| Date : 5 years ago




7.88
Plot/Story
8
Characters
6
Acting
6
Cinematography
10
Soundtrack
7
Production Design
10
Execution
7
Emotional Impact
9

Full Review Page

Cannibal Holocaust

One of the most controversial films of all time, it's lost a lot of its impact since the 80's. While there are some disturbing scenes, the gore is pretty tame by today's standards. The only thing I can see as still being highly controversial is the legitimate animal cruelty in the movie. Of course all of the human violence is just acting and effects, but the killing of animals is not; there are actual animals being actually killed on screen. Many physical releases now offer "Animal Cruelty-Free cuts" that eliminate these handful of scenes. The plot is a lot more interesting and thoughtful than I expected for one of the notorious "Video Nasties" and actually asks some thought provoking questions. The film is still disturbing (although not nearly as convincing in 2018) but the acting is pretty bad in parts. While not a film that I can imagine watching over and over, It's certainly an experience.

By : Greg Mueller| Date : 5 years ago




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