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Streaming
Services: Shudder Movie
Name/Year: Blood
Vessel (2020) Genre: Horror Length: 93 minutes Rating: TV-MA Production/Distribution: Rock Island Films, Storm
Vision Entertainment, SunJive Studios, Wicked of Oz Studios, Shaw Organisation,
Entertainment Squad, The Horror Collective, Umbrella Entertainment Director: Justin Dix Writer: Justin Dix, Jordan Prosser Actors: Nathan Phillips, Alyssa Sutherland,
Robert Taylor, Christopher Kirby, Alex Cooke, Mark Diaco, John Lloyd
Fillingham, Troy Larkin, Vivienne Perry, Ruby Isobel Hall Blurb
from IMDb: Somewhere
in the North Atlantic, late 1945. A life raft adrift at sea, and in it, the
survivors of a torpedoed hospital ship: With no food, water, or shelter, all
seems lost - until an abandoned German minesweeper drifts ominously towards
them, giving them one last chance at survival.
Selina’s
Point of View: There are some
things I really liked about this film and some things that put me off. Let’s start with
the good. I absolutely adore
that they took inspiration from the Romanian folklore involving Strigoi. For
those of you less familiar with it, that basically means they returned to a
more Nosferatu (1922) style of vampire. Don’t get me
wrong, I read the Anita Blake series. Sexy vampires can work. In films,
however, I prefer my blood suckers to be frightening and monstrous. They did
that in Blood Vessel. The film also
took a lot of inspiration from legendary flicks like Alien (1979) and The
Thing (1982). It really dove right into that uncertain, unfamiliar,
claustrophobia that both other movies brought to life.
That’s where my
enjoyment ends, though. Outside of the
concept, there was very little depth. There were severe continuity issues and
they dove hard into zombie film tropes – taking all the bad and none of the
good. On top of that, very little happened on screen until half way through. Then, there was
so little contrast on the screen that – even with my brightness turned to max –
it was hard to make out what was happening at times. There were also
about two likeable characters and the ending turned super campy – which didn’t
match the rest of the flick. I wanted to like Blood
Vessel. Unfortunately, I found it to be mediocre at best.
Cat’s
Point of View: I’ve always been
intrigued by the concept of a ghost ship. Of course, that generally ties in
with the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle – but that’s not what we’re dealing
with in this movie. This WWII era story is vampire flick, rather than a flight
of phantasm. In that way, Blood
Vessel sets itself apart from other nautical disaster films. It lacks the
spirits of Ghost Ship (2002), or the far-fetched action-gore of Deep
Rising (1998). It rests somewhere in the happy middle of the supernatural
range. At first, I was
concerned that this film might be a bit campy – quite a few protagonists vs.
Nazi tropes tend to call for such. I was very relieved to find that was not the
case here. The Nazi element was mostly setting, atmosphere, and background –
both literal and thematic.
The cast sold
their performances well. I bought in on the mixed bag of shipwreck survivors
and their differing perspectives. The writing felt solid and I really
appreciated the little details here and there. While this
obviously didn’t have a blockbuster budget, I think they did very well with
both the effects and the decision to film on an actual ship rather than a
soundstage mockup. Visuals were clearly a deft blend of practical with some
understated digital enhancement. What can I say –
I’m a sucker for a story that has roots in folklore. In this case, it is
Romanian lore and I adored it all the way through to the jaw-dropping ending. I
wouldn’t hesitate to steer anyone with a Shudder subscription in the direction
of this movie.
Rotten
Tomatoes Critic Score – 70% Rotten
Tomatoes Audience Score – 21% Metascore – None Metacritic
User Score – None IMDB
Score – 5.2/10 Trust
the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2/5 Trust
the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4/5 Movie
Trailer:
Streaming
Services: In
Theaters Movie
Name/Year: Honest
Thief (2020) Genre: Action, Crime, Drama Length: 99 minutes Rating: PG-13 Production/Distribution: Argonaut Entertainment
Partners, Blitz, Briarcliff Entertainment, Cutting Edge Group, Dreadnought
Films, Dutch FilmWorks (DFW), E Stars Films, Eagle Films, Film & TV House, Forum
Film, GEM Entertainment, Honest Thief Productions, Ingenious Media, J Cubed
Film Finance, Key2media, Kinepolis Film Distribution (KFD), Kinomania, Leonine
Distribution, Media Film, Metropolitan Filmexport, Monolith Films, Noori, Open
Road Films, Pioneer Films, Pris Audiovisuais, PT Amero Mitra Film, Rialto
Distribution, Samuel Marshall Productions, Shaw Organisation, Signature
Entertainment, Solution Entertainment Group, Sony Danmark, Sprockefeller
Pictures, Tanweer Alliances, Tanweer Group, Times Media Films, Top Film, Vie
Vision Pictures, VVS Films, Zero Gravity Management Director: Mark Williams Writer: Steve Allrich, Mark
Williams Actors: Liam Neeson, Kate Walsh,
Jai Courtney, Jeffrey Donovan, Anthony Ramos, Robert Patrick, Jasmine Cephas
Jones, Tazzie Blurb
from IMDb: Wanting
to lead an honest life, a notorious bank robber turns himself in, only to be
double-crossed by two ruthless FBI agents.
Selina’s
Point of View: I got the chance
to hit theaters again and decided to go with Honest Thief. There’s not a
huge selection these days (for the obvious good reason), and I wasn’t feeling horror
after an entire month of it. So, action. You know what you’re
going to get when you hit a Liam Neeson (The Commuter, Cold Pursuit, Silence)
flick. You’re going to get a story about a man who has a very particular set of
skills. Skills that make him a nightmare for the antagonist. I could go on, but
let’s face it, you know what I’m doing here. He’s got a bit of
a typecast. Nothing wrong with specializing in something one does well, though. That’s the thing.
He’s played pretty much the same character in many of his films since Taken (2009).
The only thing that tends to be in question is how high the body count is. That’s
where we get a slight deviation from the norm here. Neeson plays the
good guy and he stays a good guy. There’s no real arguing if the sacrifices he
made were worth it. When he does have to do something lethal, there’s no
question.
That makes this
slightly different than typical Neeson fare. His action sequences are so infrequent,
that when they do occur it means more for the film. I also really
liked a lot of the other characters. Kate Walsh’s (The Umbrella Academy,
3022, Almost Love) character is kind of bad ass, in her own way. Instead of
playing the meek woman stuck in a bad situation, she rises to the occasion and makes
a difference. Anthony Ramos (A Star is Born, She’s Gotta Have It, Hamilton)
played a phenomenal conflicted cop, while Jai Courtney (Stateless, Semper
Fi, Suicide Squad) used his punchable face to be a thrillingly despicable
antagonist. I really can’t fault any of the actors. I think the big
thing that caught me off guard was that it’s not the rushed-pacing, constant
action, kind of film that I would have expected from the trailer. It’s got more
heart. In fact, there’s a decent thread of romance going throughout it – and there’s
enough chemistry between Neeson and Walsh to support it. All-in-all, I’d
call it a successful film. It had a bit of a recipe quality to it, but the
premise was on the original side and I feel like I saw something new.
Streaming
Services: Hulu Movie
Name/Year: The
Swing of Things (2020) Genre: Comedy Length: 93 minutes Rating: R Production/Distribution: Redwire Pictures, Reflecting
Pool Productions, Sprockefeller Pictures, The Film House, Wildfire Pictures, Lionsgate
Home Entertainment Director: Matt Shapira Writer: Christopher Hewitson,
Clayton Hewitson, Justin Jones, Patrick McErlean, Scotty Mullen Actors: Chord Overstreet, Olivia
Culpo, Luke Wilson, Aleksander Vayshelboym, Adelaide Kane, Matt McCoy, E.E.
Bell, Carolyn Hennesy, Maria Breese, Jon Lovitz, Carl Davis, Leslie Stratton,
Winston Bartley, Joshua Uduma, Boni Mata, Hayley Amber Smith, Jordan Morgan Blurb
from IMDb: A
groom-to-be accidentally books his destination wedding and honeymoon at a
swingers resort in Jamaica.
Selina’s
Point of View: I’m going to get
straight to the point and say that I don’t think this was a very funny film. The
Swing of Things
was raunchy, which is fine for me. I enjoy a lot of raunchy comedies. The thing
is, you still need some kind of comedic timing. The people involved in this
movie seem to have forgotten that. They decided that if they just wrote the
thing, it didn’t matter HOW it was said, as long as it was. That’s just not
how it works. Even if we ignore
that and just picture it with better comedic timing, there was still a pace
issue.
This is definitely
a flick that would have benefited from a shorter run time. The first half
hour of the film is concentrated on the lives of the two main characters before
they meet, and their lazy meet-cute scene. The first part is a completely
different project than the last hour. They don’t even feel like the same movie. There was nothing
of substance until there was and, by then, I just didn’t care. Add to that the
randomly talking animals that didn’t fit, the lack of any kind of chemistry
between characters, and the addition of a strange new comedy trope involving
dolphins raping humans. It wasn’t for me.
Rotten
Tomatoes Critic Score –None Rotten
Tomatoes Audience Score – 13% Metascore – None Metacritic
User Score – None IMDB
Score – 2.9/10 Trust
the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1/5 P.S.: There are bloopers during the
credits. Movie
Trailer:
