Silverbrook Entertainment (2025)

09/11/2025

Review:

~ Movies are Art. Art is Subjective. Everyone's Opinions are Valid. ~

"Frankenstein" [2025]. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Charles Dance, Felix Kammerer, David Bradley, Lars Mikkelsen, Christian Convery.

Netflix: "Obsession. Resurrection. Ruination. Guillermo del Toro adapts the timeless tale of an egomaniacal scientist and his tragically misunderstood creation."

Visually stunning costumes, sets and set design as most of del Toro's works have. Great cast and performances. Practical special effects makeup is top-notch as usual. However, because it is just another retelling of an already very familiar story, it was kind of a bore and a chore to get through. Reminiscent of "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" (1994). Heavy drama with elements of horror. Melodramatic and often times forcibly over-the-top. A bit depressing and somewhat sad. Has a couple of decently touching moments. Way too long with slow pacing. I found that a few scenes could have been shortened or simply cut out completely for a quicker runtime. Some audiences might lose interest rather quickly, finding it too wordy and scientific. As it is so often true in human nature, Victor is the true monster here, and does not get what he ultimately deserves. The Creature's design was neat, but to me, was too symmetrical and had kind of a sci-fi look that reminded me of 'Nebula' from the "Guardians of the Galaxy" series. Some of the CG digitally animated filler and enhanced action sequences were a bit cheap and hokey looking. I did like the ending, but overall, the whole thing felt like an unnecessary redo to me. If you do not know the legend or have never seen a 'Frankenstein' movie before, then this will probably be a fantastic watch for you!

06/11/2025

Recommendation:

"Memoir Of A Snail" [2024]. Directed by Adam Elliot. Starring Sarah Snook, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Eric Bana, Jacki Weaver, Magda Szubanski, Dominique Pinon, Tony Armstrong, Paul Capsis.

From TMDB: "Forcibly separated from her twin brother when they are orphaned, a melancholic misfit learns how to find confidence within herself amid the clutter of misfortunes and everyday life."

Very creative. Great animation. Emotional. Unique and original. An incredible rollercoaster of a life journey. Touching and heartfelt. Keep that tissue box close. Wonderful musical score.

06/11/2025

Recommendation:

"K-Pop Demon Hunters" [2025]. Directed by Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans. Starring Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, Yunjin Kim, Joel Kim Booster, Liza Koshy with Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong and Lee Byung-hun.

Netflix: "When K-Pop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey aren't selling out stadiums, they're using their secret powers to protect their fans from supernatural threats."

Really neat animation. Rad voices and catchy tunes. Campy, cheesy, silly, and totally action-packed! Like watching a lengthy music video with tiny breaks. Fun and entertaining! Gave me a huge laugh! Funny to me that girlband/boyband music hasn't changed really at all in nearly thirty years - still heartfelt with a positive message! Very enjoyable!

06/11/2025

Recommendation:

"Barbie" [2023]. Directed by Greta Gerwig. Starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Sharon Rooney, Ana Cruz Kayne, Ritu Arya, Dua Lipa, Nicola Coughlan, Emerald Fennell, Sima Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, John Cena, Michael Cera, Rhea Perlman, Helen Mirren, Will Ferrell, Connor Swindells.

IMDb: "Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the outside world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among regular humans."

Barbie Land is super cool, imaginative and very well thought out. Writing is great. Funny, campy, creative, and poignant. Interesting concept. Groovy songs and dancing. Decently touching moments. Exciting action, albeit, often ridiculous at times. Good pacing. Rad cast and performances. Does have some heavy feminist and patriarchal tones that run throughout, but that content is what makes this movie what it is. Overall, totally enjoyable and absolutely entertaining!

01/11/2025

~ Movies are Art. Art is Subjective. Everyone's Opinions are Valid. ~

Movies That I Hoped Would Have Been Better (*may contain slight spoilers):

[2025] "Elio" - So, let me see if I understand this.. the more I act like a completely selfish, monstrous, destructive, lying and manipulating little brat, the higher the chances are of me getting exactly what I want and being glorified for my rotten behavior?! Gee, that's an excellent message to send! Very manic, shallow and a total sensory overload, making it extremely exhausting to get through. Around thirty minutes in, Mom and I were ready to shut it off. However, it does get a tiny bit better toward the end, but nothing I would recommend or ever watch again.

[2025] "Snow White" - The animated classic is one of my favorite Disney cartoons, and even though this 'live-action reimagining' has some elements of that film, it is definitely not! Making it a full musical was a horrible decision, despite some decent voices among the cast. The writing was not too good and the changes, to include the new songs, felt self-righteous and preachy, making the whole viewing experience less enjoyable and seem much longer than it needed to be. I mean, only a few minutes in and I'm like, 'just be quiet and eat the apple already!'. The poorly made CG dwarfs were just freaky and artificial looking, and shame on Disney for not hiring actors of size for these iconic roles in the first place; after all, there is one in the 'Robin Hood-esque' group of bandits, so what the hell?! I could have done without that whole side story as well, talk about an unneeded time-filler. There is more, but why bother at this point. However, anything that mirrored original content in the slightest, which there wasn't much, was pretty cool. Overall, the whole thing felt so absolutely unnecessary. Particularly with the huge difference in context and direction. Why not just make a brand new movie about that, instead of remaking an older one just to incorporate it? ..oh wait, they already have.. a bunch of times.. recently! Seems like such a waste to me. This new piece was a soulless, sad destruction of a beautiful tale, very much lacking the love, innocence, purity, joy and happiness that makes the 1937 film always the better and way more entertaining choice.

[2025] "The Lost Princess" - Watched this for Gary Dourdan, who I enjoyed in "Alien: Resurrection" (1997) and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2000-2015), and Eric Roberts, who I've been a long time fan of, but sadly, looks like he is reading his lines from cue cards or an off-screen prompter. The writing isn't the best and the story is just kind of dull. Acting is so so. The quick and erratic flashing multi cuts while transitioning to the flashback segments were intrusive and almost caused motion sickness. However, does feature a rad musical score; Beautiful scenery and buildings with amazing tile work, carvings and paintings.

[2025] "Warlord" - Unfortunately, the writing is as cliché as it gets, with absolutely nothing fresh or original to offer - a first draft of a first screenplay turned into a movie, sorta thing. Dialogue tries, but is way too wordy and basically nonsense, constantly repeating conversation elements immediately after just speaking them - droning on and on, dwelling on a lot of non-plot related ideas as well. The whole thing is simply cut and pasted material from "LOTR" and such films with it's own 'like' musical score and similar scenescapes reminiscent of any fantasy RPG. The real locations, when used, are beautiful. Cinematography, editing, and audio are questionable throughout - feeling quite amateurish in places. Some odd CG digitally animated filler, shots and scenes. Has the feel of a much older, made for BBC television movie or series with a huge helping of 90s American Soap Operas. The action and finale are cheap, hokey and unexciting - even having the gall of an open-ending to continue on their own 'epic' saga. Absolutely unnecessary - should have finished the dull, uninteresting story then and there. In all honesty, sometimes it is not the best idea to write, direct, and star in your own "LOTR" meets "Robin Hood" nerdy wet dream fantasy flick. Real tough to get through.

29/10/2025

Recommendation:

Have a Spooktacular Holiday!

Happy Ten Year Anniversary!

"Tales Of Halloween" [2015]. Directed by David Parker, Darren Lynn Bousman, Adain Gierasch, Paul Solet, Axelle Carolyn, Lucky McKee, John Skipp & Andrew Kasch, Mike Mendez, Ryan Schifrin, Neil Marshall.

Prime: "This critically acclaimed film weaves together ten chilling tales from horror's top directors. Ghosts, ghouls, monsters, and the devil delight in terrorizing unsuspecting residents of a suburban neighborhood on Halloween night."

Adrienne Barbeau as the Radio DJ was awesome! Good blood and gore - practical special effects are great! Thrills, a bit of humor, exciting, action-packed, and macabre. Each story runs just enough that you get an incredible ride, only to still want more. Excellent pacing. Loads of fun! Very enjoyable and totally entertaining! Perfect for this time of year!

29/10/2025

Recommendation:

"Imaginary Friend" [2012]. Directed by Richard Gabai. Stars Lacey Chabert, Ethan Embry, Amanda Schull, Jacob Young, Marc McClure, Sam Page, Heather Tom, Richard Portnow with Ted McGinley and Paul Sorvino.

Prime: "A talented artist is haunted by the presence of a childhood imaginary friend, and her psychiatrist husband wants to have her committed to a mental institution."

From the start, it feels a bit like a made for Lifetime television dramatic thriller. Once the friend actually showed up, things got interesting. Just like a redo of a 'Tales from the Crypt' episode. Decent writing and good performances. Fun and delightfully twisted. Loved the haunting music score. Enjoyable and totally entertaining!

29/10/2025

~ Movies are Art. Art is Subjective. Everyone's Opinions are Valid. ~

Movies That I Hoped Would Have Been Better (*may contain slight spoilers):

[2019] "Doctor Sleep" - The runtime is absurd for such a simplistic and relatively uninteresting plot, and the director's cut is even worse. Stop creating your movies like television miniseries - so much down time and useless filler. Writing is a bit wordy and melodramatic. Not scary or creepy at all. Should have been only two hours max, any version.. fifty-five minutes in and I should have only had an hour left. Does have some interesting parts. Great cast. Abra is the best character. Reminiscent of "Lifeforce" (1985). Revisiting The Overlook for the finale was cool, but not just to replay the famous bits from the first film, seemed like a waste of the neat location. Overall, I felt that it had potential, and was attempting to build to something exciting, but as it went on, it lost the gumption and seemed to fizzle out in the end. Very anticlimactic. Might be okay as a one time watch for some.

[2021] "Jakob's Wife" - Cool and sometimes haunting musical score. Nice gnarly special effects that are often over-the-top, however, the Master seemed to have an unfinished or incomplete makeup job. Barbara and Larry are great! Fun with a touch of humor. Has some decently creepy moments. A bit odd to me though, I didn't hate it, but not sure if I really liked it that much.. just didn't really draw me in as I thought.. probably not something I'd watch again. Might be okay as a single view for some.

[2025] "V/H/S/Halloween" - The 'hand-held' style camera work used in every episode was so jerky and shaky that it nearly made me motion sick just trying to watch them. A couple cool concepts, but ultimately mostly just cut and pasted ideas from other films and shows. All very gruesome, gory, and ridiculously over-the-top. My only favorite was "Fun Size", because of the silly and somewhat unique candy monsters. In the end, my ears literally hurt due to way too much screaming and yelling throughout. Sadly, not very enjoyable or entertaining for me.

[2025] "Weapons" - For the extremely simplistic plot, it sure took forever to get to a point - talk about tons of down time and endless amounts of filler. Such a boring yawn to get through. The last few minutes are the only worth while part, but it is not worth the headache of the first hour and forty minutes plus just to get to. The blood, gore and violence don't even help in making this an enjoyable or even entertaining flick. Cast is good and delivers decent performances, that's about it. Aunt Gladys is the highlight of the piece, portrayed very creepily by Amy Madigan! There was a tiny level of intrigue, but it is quickly lost in the mess of roundabout storytelling that is filled, once again, with huge plot holes and unanswered questions.. biggest being - the villain literally has no reason or purpose for their actions and misdeeds, which, in my opinion, is just uncreative, lazy, and lame. I was hesitant to check this out after seeing the poorly written "Barbarian" (2022), and rightly so.

29/10/2025

~ Movies are Art. Art is Subjective. Everyone's Opinions are Valid. ~

Movies That I Hoped Would Have Been Better (*may contain slight spoilers):

[2024] "Bagman" - Pretty and eerie musical score. Beautiful scenery. Feels like every direct-to-video or made for cable television horror movie from the early to mid 2000s. Had a couple cool, semi creepy scenes. Writing is slightly simplistic, cliché and predictable. Plot was a bit repetitive and took a little longer than it should have to get to the point, even for a ninety-three minute runtime. Auntie Anna was my fav! Lame and disappointing finale.

[2021] "Malignant" - A silly mash up of villains from "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (2001) and Stephen King's "The Dark Half" (1993), either way, I had the big twist figured out about twenty-five minutes into the thing. Not really an original concept, but a decent version of other filmmaker's works, if you are into recycled stories, concepts and material. Has some implausible elements throughout. Also, gets quite melodramatic, silly and hokey as it goes on; like when the sister goes to the expansive hospital and miraculously finds the one box with her sister's background information. Again with the bad digital blood and gore effects - however, the practical stuff looks pretty good. Overall mostly disappointed with the viewing experience - and I'm usually a fan of James Wan's flicks.

[2010] "Prowl" - Not a big fan of shaky 'hand-held' camera work - it exacerbates my motion sensitivity and makes it very difficult to watch for any extended period of time. The green screen driving bits were seriously laughable. Has some decent intense moments. '30 Days of Night' type creatures. Nothing unique or original. Typical 'cat and mouse' horror flick with a simple plot. Pacing is erratic. Not really anything you haven't already seen before.

[2023] "The Last Voyage Of The Demeter" - Way too much digital animated filler and CG nonsense for me to enjoy. I think the boat might have been a real set, but they definitely were not on the water at all - a large pool perhaps, in a giant green screen warehouse is more like it. I know the monster was mostly practical makeup and effects, but due to extreme overuse of filters etc., it looks like hokey cartoony trash. Even the blood and gore was extremely fake looking. Writing was uninteresting as was the whole overall concept - seemed so unnecessary and a complete waste of time, money, and resources. Long, boring, poorly paced and not exciting. A huge yawn. Mom and I watched this and both found it unenjoyable and unentertaining.

29/10/2025

~ Movies are Art. Art is Subjective. Everyone's Opinions are Valid. ~

Movies That I Hoped Would Have Been Better (*may contain slight spoilers):

[2023] "Beau Is Afraid" - What could have been a real messed up and twisted, psychological trip, turns into an absurdly long, multi story, poorly paced yawn. Consists of three shorts, beginning with one, moving into the next, into another, then finally coming back around to the original, where we should have stayed the whole time. Good cast with decent performances. Does capture well, the feelings of indecisiveness and anxiety in the beginning, but very quickly becomes dull and quite a bore, taking forever to get to the point. Should have cut out the pointless side plots, stuck with the original and had a shorter runtime. The su***de by drinking paint was quite funny though.

[2021] "Caveat" - Sounded like it could be interesting. From the get-go, the lead, who appeared to be fairly level headed and refused to do the job because of the outrageous stipulations, suddenly decided to go completely against his character and become the victim... didn't really make a lot of sense to me, made me worry that I was in store for a bunch of far-fetched forced writing just to propel a very weak story forward. Had a few creepy moments especially at the end, a spooky and intense awesome couple of minutes; but mostly just slow and uneventful. Even with the short runtime, it took way too long to get to the point. Cast was talented though. The last thirty minutes seemed to drag on, feeling like a waste of time.

[2025] "Morgan: Killer Doll" - I was pleasantly surprised - by the title, I thought it would be some silly horror flick, but it was actually pretty well written, has a good cast with decent performances, some depth, cruel teenage moments and a touchingly sad backstory for our 'evil entity'. However, about halfway through, when the carnage began, things sort of took a step down and became melodramatic, cliché and silly. One death seems totally unnecessary too. Another teen scream featuring an LGBTQ+ co-starring lead. I really don't like floating text message communication shown on the screen, a bit hokey for me. Nice plot twist. When used, the practical special effects were not bad. Last twenty minutes drug on. Does feature a very familiar sounding music score by Harry Manfredini.

[2024] "Oddity" - Beautiful scenery and great cinematography. Unfortunately, it turned out to be slow, dull and uninteresting. Reminiscent of "The Fear" (1994). Main actress was good, but enjoyed her much more as the twin sister that dies. Neat props and set, but just slow and lackluster; even the finale was a let down. Could have been so much better if all the downtime was better utilized with more in-depth storyline or character development.

29/10/2025

~ Movies are Art. Art is Subjective. Everyone's Opinions are Valid. ~

Movies That I Hoped Would Have Been Better (*may contain slight spoilers):

[2016] "Green Room" - Patrick Stewart is always excellent and I love it when he is the villain - my only reason for checking this out. Good cast and performances, but in the end, just a 'capture and torture' flick as I call them - morbid, gruesome and cruel. Decent practical makeup effects though and a nice level of intensity throughout. Some might really enjoy it - just not my thing.

[2018] "Revenge" - Another totally unnecessary remake of "I Spit On Your Grave/Day Of The Woman" (1978), but definitely not very good - predictable and boring from the beginning. Unlikable characters, who honestly get what they deserve due to their choices and actions or lack there of. Poor writing. Hokey and several implausible elements throughout. Tries to deliver an empowering, 'rebirth from the ashes' if you will type tale, but simply falls flat on every attempt. Blood and gore are decent, but do not make up for the lack of anything interesting or entertaining at all in this dull foreign made flick.

[2022] "Sisu" - Everything and everyone was dirty and filthy - I felt like I needed a shower just watching this. Most of the blood and gore was CG and animated, practical effects, when used, were okay - didn't care how 'satisfying' the kills were, still silly and hokey to me when done like this. Fights were cheesy, delayed and too choreographed - didn't feel natural. Slow moving. Predictable, totally unrealistic and uninteresting. The last twenty-four minutes of the flick were the best part - even though extremely unbelievable and implausible.. the pick axe to get on the plane was some seriously stupid s**t! Even the main villain's demise was a let down, along with a couple other scenes. When recommended to me, I was instructed to 'not take it seriously', but that was difficult when it deals with such serious subject matter. All in all, there was about twenty minutes of worthwhile footage, the rest was complete downtime and a huge bore.

[2024] "The Fall Guy" - Very simplistic plot which arrives around forty-five minutes into it. Some humor. The action was awesome and totally practical and is definitely the highlight of this piece - really neat stuff. Good cast with decent performances. Pacing is erratic, quick then slow and so on, but that is my only real complaint though. Overall, it is entertaining. Based on the television series of the same name and even features cameos from Lee Majors and Heather Thomas, who were the stars of that show.

29/10/2025

~ Movies are Art. Art is Subjective. Everyone's Opinions are Valid. ~

Movies That I Hoped Would Have Been Better (*may contain slight spoilers):

[2015] "Goodnight Mommy" - Happy ten year anniversary. Austrian film. Had hoped it would be twisted and creepy, but was totally disappointed. Just a torture flick. I had figured out the 'would-be' twist at the beginning, so it was not shocking or surprising at all. Was essentially a remake of "The Uninvited" (2009) which was a remake of "A Tale Of Two Sisters" (2003), both good movies, but this was a huge let down. There is also a U.S. remake that was done in 2022 with Naomi Watts in the lead, but I didn't enjoy the original enough to merit watching a redo.. seems so unnecessary.

[2018] "Hereditary" - You get halfway through this thing, before it ever begins to let you know what it is going to be about.. that to me, is bad writing. And sadly, when you do finally get a plot, it is simplistic, unoriginal and recycled material from other films. Has some decent performances, albeit, melodramatic and slightly over-the-top at times. The only thing that adds even the tiniest bit of tension is the musical score, without it, the piece would be even more flat and emotionless. I found the whole viewing experience to be too long, very uneventful and a total bore with poor pacing. Not really sure why critics are raving so much about this.

[2019] "Midsommar" - Yet another version of someone else's film. I really didn't even want to watch this, just knowing what it was going to be.. a remake of the excellent and wildly crazy "The Wicker Man" (1973, 2006 - not such a good version). The runtime is absurd. Tons of downtime and wasted minutes of pointless and non-plot related nonsense, especially at the beginning. Takes forever to get to the already very predictable finale. Not really any likable characters. Practical special effects are good and pretty gnarly at a times. However, I found myself extremely uninterested and bored throughout, just waiting patiently for it to be over.. which felt nearly like a full day. Not enjoyable or entertaining at all.

[2024] "Q***r" - The 1990s band songs did not fit and frankly really distracted from it being a 1950s period piece.. bad choice! The only thing that felt of the era about this was the costumes and vehicles. Should have known better when I realized it was based on a novel by William S. Burroughs. Drug trippy, odd and psychedelic, confusing, super artsy, long, not too interesting, strange and weird. Decent performances. Pretty racy s*x scenes. Same kind of feel as "Naked Lunch" (1991), and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1998). Overall, kind of bleak, sad and depressing. Definitely a one time watch only and probably recommended for a specific audience who enjoys this kind of bizarre content.

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