Posts by casualbadger69

Jacob Alvarez said:I thought it was going to be an interesting story, but it turned out to be a total snooze fest.

See, I actually had the exact opposite experience. I went in fully expecting to be bored, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised—those two hours honestly flew by.

For me, the standout moment has to be when Affleck pulls up in that Porsche while A. Parsons - Sirius is playing in the background. 👍

I'll concede that the soundtrack felt a bit forced at times, but there were definitely certain scenes where it just worked perfectly.

Definitely worth a watch for me— 7/10

Patrick Martin said:which means that being "transparent" doesn't actually refer to the outcome or the result at all. It isn't even the first or last movie that lacks a tangible resolution.

But this one doesn't have any real payoff; it feels like watching someone's mundane daily commute where you just randomly curse people out in traffic, knowing you'll be doing the exact same thing tomorrow.

I didn't really grasp the point of the film, even though, to be fair, it was visually stunning (if nothing else, I enjoyed that aspect). If she had wanted to escape, she could have done it a million times over because the island isn't quite that isolated (I mean, even within the film itself, there are characters from other places—for instance, through education, since she speaks and understands a foreign language, though I doubt she was homeschooled, or through work, given she made it past 17, etc., etc.).

POSSIBLE SPOILERS
For instance, at the beginning, I was somewhat convinced that she was actually the daughter of a foreigner and that the whole plot was hidden there. Then, toward the end, I found myself almost rooting for the girl to end up in a pit (the tide) and that the actual ending was just her final fantasy. If nothing else, I was cheering for her to finally strike her father in that closing scene and swim right out of the frame...

But then, once the credits finally rolled and I saw it was a female director/writer, things started to make more sense to me—clearer, I suppose, in the sense of why they were unclear to me in the first place. 😁

This movie is more than just decent; the core concept is a solid five-star idea, especially given the entire setting they chose.

Personally, I’ve always had a thing for heights, though I wouldn't call myself an adrenaline junkie or anything like that. Still, watching this gave me a constant sense of dread—it was honestly chilling. It doesn't feel like some sci-fi nonsense; it feels like something that could actually happen in real life (like those clips you see from Russian climbers).

There’s a bit of dramatic tension involving some infidelity, which I think I sniffed out even before they stepped onto that first ledge. As for the twist regarding the blonde, I won't say it completely caught me off guard, but it wasn't quite what I expected either. I figured she might just have a theatrical fall or something similar—honestly, I was pretty sure only one of them would end up going down.

Of course, there are some logical leaps, but for the sake of the story, I can overlook most of them—EXCEPT for the fact that we're dealing with YouTube and Instagram influencers who basically live on their phones, yet somehow the battery lasts for days on end without any issues.😁 Plus, the fact that they’d likely be dehydrated by the first evening out in the middle of a desert at that kind of altitude.

All things considered, the actresses are great, and the whole thing really worked for me. I can definitely recommend it.

I also watched it yesterday; I was expecting more, of course, but I’d be lying if I said I left feeling disappointed.

It’s an atmospheric film in every sense of the word, especially those bullying scenes which were executed incredibly well—BUT as great as that part was, I found the whole antagonist subplot to be somewhat underdeveloped. Everything started off strong, but I never really grasped the kidnapper's true motives or his backstory. Honestly, until the very end, I was actually convinced that he and his brother were the same person (which would have made much more sense to me—childhood trauma leading to a split personality or something along those lines). Some of the fight scenes between the kid and the grown man felt a little naive, but even then, I let it slide for the sake of the narrative.

I think the biggest issue is our expectations; we were anticipating a gritty horror flick, but the movie is actually more of a psychological thriller with horror elements, focusing on a story of reclaiming oneself and a sort of coming-of-age journey. I can wrap my head around the supernatural elements—I don't particularly care about the origin of the phone itself (even though they mention the villain can hear through it)—but I feel like the film could have benefited greatly from more depth regarding the villain's characterization to make everything feel more cohesive. As it stands, I get the impression that (as I later discovered) the film was based on a short story and was stretched out to fit a feature-length runtime.

It reminded me of the Spanish film "Sleep Tight 2011," which follows a similar pattern, yet leaves you hanging at the end because the villain isn't explained at all, despite there being so much potential to do so.

Regardless, I still recommend giving it a watch. Not necessarily in a theater if you ask me, but definitely worth it just for the atmosphere and the soundtrack.

I actually just caught this yesterday, and honestly, it didn't really click for me either. At first glance, everything seemed great—the premise was absolutely delicious and the opening had such a fantastic, atmospheric vibe—but the execution later on felt pretty mediocre. On top of that, it felt unnecessarily dragged out.

It might be better not to even comment on the ending; I think I would have walked away with a much better impression if it had just ended on that final swimming scene, which was, by the way, painfully naive. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that there was no way out given that kind of setting.

Overall, the whole thing felt somewhat (too) naive to me. If I remember the SPOILER correctly they were part of the 73rd unit, a group of about ten people who only stay there for a maximum of 48 hours. So, you have roughly 800 people connected to that resort disappearing in less than six months, and yet, nobody finds anything suspicious at all. 😵

Still, I'm glad I didn't see this in a theater.