Posts by dustycrane5

Most trailers are basically just engineered to bait people in. But then you get those absolutely hideous trailers that make you want to vomit before you even see the movie—even when the actual film turns out to be a masterpiece.

It all comes down to marketing...

Honestly, I can't even get behind this just for the sake of cinema. For more than half the movie, my head was actually spinning because it felt like the camera operators were having full-on seizures while filming. Look, I’ve got nothing against using a little shaky-cam to build tension, but this? This was way over the line.
Don't even get me started on how much they Hollywood-ized this compared to the genius of the first one. You've got the over-the-top explosions, those "smart" dad-zombies, that ridiculous helicopter stunt that had me laughing, then the classic "I have to stay here and die so you guys can escape" cliché... and then, of course, more of those seizure-inducing cameramen...

I really hope someone else takes a crack at a sequel—if they ever make one—and actually tries to stay true to the original vibe.

Lawrence Booth2 said:give me a break 😁 you're gonna tell me 😁 what I was thinking
I watched both movies and I meant the second one when I said it was good
and that was back before I even knew if they were produced by Asylum or not
when you're looking at stuff without any bias...
yeah, you can definitely tell it's cheap, especially the audio... but it wasn't terrible

Fine, if that's what you meant, at least get the actual movie title right. 😁
And why are you even bringing up bias?
I've seen a ton of their stuff long before I ever found out it was Asylum, and honestly, their movies have always been absolute garbage to me, before or after finding that out. Except for the ones that are so bad they're actually funny—that's the only way to enjoy them! 😁

Lawrence Booth2 said:they actually had a few decent titles
like
Dead Men Walking

See, that’s exactly how Asylum makes their money—it only takes one little word to mess with your head...
You're talking about a movie starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon.

But Asylum made Dead Men Walking.

Dead Men Walking:

Man, their movies are an absolute train wreck. It honestly blows my mind how they can even come up with this garbage—like, seriously, a giant snake swallowing a speeding train, or some massive shark leaping out of the water to snack on airplanes...

Michael Bay basically admitted himself that he makes "movies for hyperactive 14-year-olds." To him, a script is just filler used to bridge the gap between action set pieces... and why on earth would he change a style that clearly keeps his bank account full?

Look, I’ll be real: his movies are hollow. Every single one is packed with five or six forced, pathetic little "emotional" moments—and yeah, I said what I said—and they're about as cliché as it gets. But then again, I can't help but stare at those action sequences. They're shot phenomenally... not to mention the visual effects in Transformers.

At the end of the day, if you judge a director by the standard qualities a "good" filmmaker should have, Bay fails. But man, he is one hell of a pyrotechnician.😍

John Peterson3 said:You totally missed my point. In those specific movies (A Perfect World, Thelma & Louise, Man on Fire, Heat), would a different ending have actually made them better films? Like, if Kevin Costner just let the kid go and then ran off from Clint Eastwood, or if Thelma & Louise had just used a parachute, or if Denzel Washington just slept through it, or if Robert De Niro sent Amy the bird and walked away...

Look, obviously I don't want to see the main characters die, but if they had survived, the movie just wouldn't be what it was. It wouldn't work.

I think there’s just a misunderstanding here. My post was directed at whoever started this thread—they were being a little vague.
But man, I completely agree with your take! 👍

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS POST!***

Wait, if I’m actually following your logic here... you don't like it when a movie has a heavy ending that actually means something based on everything that happened before? You just want the main character to drop dead for no reason at all? Just... poof? And somehow, that’s the only way an ending would actually satisfy you... 😕

I don't know... I feel like every ending, whether it's happy or tragic, has to happen for a reason. I'm not exactly a sucker for those cheesy happy endings, but honestly? In Shawshank Redemption, that ending just worked... It felt right.

Look, in American History X, one of the main characters takes a bullet straight to the chest... if you still can't wrap your head around why that happened to him, then honestly, I don't even know what to tell you...

Look, you’ve got that movie "The Other Guys," I think that's the title... except we aren't talking about the ending here. It's more like halfway through the film. If you haven't seen it, just go watch it, then you'll see exactly what I'm getting at...

I hope you realize that in all these recent horror movies, they love making the villains win at the end by slaughtering every single protagonist... maybe you'll find some twisted satisfaction in that... 😁

Some people here are seriously talking nonsense, from what I can see! 😂

Someone mentioned the acting was unbelievable, but from my perspective, the kids actually look (acting-wise) pretty convincing in those few shots I managed to catch in the trailer.
That actually caught me by surprise, so yeah, I'm definitely checking this movie out.

Jeffrey Fisher61 said:You totally missed the point. She’s saying she isn't a girl because she's actually a vampire—as in, "I'm not a girl, I'm not even human."

Besides, IMDb says she's female anyway.

IMDb...🙄

In the movie, if I remember correctly, they never explicitly state that Eli isn't a girl. Then again, it's easy enough to figure out if you actually watched the film (the original, I mean) based on some of her lines. So it makes sense to conclude that Eli isn't an "he" or a "she," but just an "it."
Basically, a vampire, just like you said.

Richard Wilson4 said:I don't buy it.
Modern vampire movies are just made for teenage girls. They aren't looking for guys who are actually weaker than them... they just want some logic where it's always a vampire paired with an ordinary girl.

I don't know, I'd say Twilight is pretty much the only one made specifically for horny girls. Aside from that, there aren't even many vampire movies out there. Or maybe they just suck at marketing.

By the way, I don't get why you're attacking nimblewolf71 like that. Why don't you believe him? 🤷
Because you basically just agreed with everything he said! 😁

[REC], this Spanish horror flick is actually pretty interesting and fun. Americans are about to drop a remake of "Quarantine" soon. They basically just ripped off the entire original and slapped some of their usual stupidity on top... they literally copied almost every single scene, even using the exact same camera angles! 🙄

Let the Right One in - this one is truly special to me. It’s cinematically quiet, simple, original in its storytelling, and the acting is so convincing. Plus, it has that brilliant, dark, melancholic, and touching atmosphere... I just love it! 😍

Let Me In - I really don't want to see the same story from that Swedish masterpiece turned into some commercialized American version.

Alright, I just finished watching the movie, along with the "Making of".

My impressions are actually really good—right from that killer opening sequence, you can tell the music choice was spot on, and the camerawork and editing were top-notch. The first thing that didn't sit right with me was the acting, which I mentioned before, but honestly, I wouldn't say it ruined it... if anything, it added this layer of humor. I truly get what it’s like to be an amateur, trying to make something serious while still keeping that bit of friendly banter alive.
But man, I have to mention how phenomenal the technical side of things was, especially considering this is from an amateur perspective. There were a few spots where the audio cuts felt a bit abrupt (I'm a total stickler when it comes to that kind of stuff 😁), but they were almost unnoticeable, so really, great job!
The six stories are all woven together, but the directing is brilliantly structured—the intro, the buildup, the climax, and the resolution all unfold simultaneously. You basically watch the intros for all the stories first, then move into the build-ups, and so on, so it’s impossible for the viewer to get lost. I also found the aspect ratios for the different stories pretty interesting. Specifically, Mozart's and Skot's parts are in 16:9, WWII and Submarine are in 4:3, while Vinar and Western use a 2:1 format, which I thought was a beautiful touch.
Skot's fight scenes are awesome! American professional cinema hasn't produced anything even remotely close to the quality of those fights! Sure, the blood looks a little overdone and unnatural, but hey, I'd rather see that than the cheap CGI everyone uses nowadays.
Look, I won't go on describing every single good thing in every story, but I will just say BRAVO for the submarine part.
The one thing I didn't love during the film (just some minor details, really) was totally redeemed by the ending, thanks again to that excellent music choice!

Once again, hats off to the whole crew. Even though they made something we've seen a thousand times before, they did it their own way, with their own resources, and probably showed a lot of American film amateurs that anything is possible with enough willpower and a love for movies. It certainly did for me.

Anthony Smith3 said:Sure thing.😁

Thanks again for showing up... I honestly thought you were going to bail because of all that stuff you said you had going on.

Heh... I thought the same thing, but honestly, it’s not even my problem.😁Honestly, I had zero clue what this movie actually looked like until yesterday. I didn't know what to expect, but thanks to those little bits of inside info, I could finally wrap my head around just how ambitious this project really is. Still, I ended up being pleasantly surprised!
I’ll give you one thing... the movie is definitely a joke. It’s clearly trying to be some kind of low-budget parody of those massive Hollywood blockbusters. Of course it looks amateurish—that's most obvious in the technical side, which is easily its biggest weakness. You can tell right away they weren't shooting on high-end gear, the lighting is hit-or-miss in several spots, and the framing isn't always great. That said, if you ask me, that one segment with the Skots is way more interesting and exciting from a directing standpoint than the rest of Ivandin's "Knight," even with its flaws. But honestly, all of this is expected when you know the whole thing was made on a shoestring budget.
Look, despite everything... the sheer level of seriousness, passion, ambition, and grind poured into this project lifts it way above some neighborhood joke. The fact that they spent four years of their lives building sets and sourcing costumes—when they could have been out drinking at the local pub every weekend like everyone else their age—IMO makes it stand out. We're not talking about a few bored kids grabbing a camera for a weekend just to mess around before getting bored. To dismiss them like that would be an insult to all that effort and raw enthusiasm they had to make something people might actually enjoy. It’s basically like "Forest Summarum"—a film made specifically for an audience (probably the only one of its kind in the US). Or at least, that was the goal, even if it is amateur. Too bad you didn't stick around for the documentary... you really have to see it. Honestly, the documentary was genius, maybe even better than the actual film (even the director said so, haha). Watching it, you get the feeling you're seeing a high-budget blockbuster in the making rather than some low-budget indie project. And if they learned anything from the process? Yeah, they definitely did.🙂
By the way, the same crew is already prepping a new sci-fi flick. They’re still building sets, sewing costumes, and working on props. But getting back to Etida...

What really caught me off guard—in a good way—was the production value and how they handled the concept. The direction was solid. The way all six stories weave together into one cohesive unit with a clear beginning, middle, and end is impressive. In my opinion, nothing feels forced. Everything connects perfectly... every single thread hits its setup, conflict, climax, and resolution at the same time. It’s not some anthology like "Four Rooms" where you just jump from one story to the next; you're living through them all simultaneously. Like you said, the ambition here is insane, especially considering this was done within the realm of an amateur film...

I meant what I said then, and I still stand by it: there are plenty of these "enthusiasts"—talented amateur filmmakers who just need more seasoning—scattered all over the US. But these people will never get a shot at a big-budget Hollywood production because established directors like Papić, Matanić, or Ivanda will keep getting millions of dollars for movies nobody actually wants to see. Honestly, if those guys were given those same budgets (or even smaller ones), I bet they could make something far better and more engaging. This film is proof of that...

Anyway, thanks again for coming out and for the comment.🙂

It sucks that some of our local directors couldn't make it. Milić called me right around 6:55 PM saying he was still stuck on set... but I promised him a DVD.🙂

I couldn't agree with you more! American cinema is desperate for something other than just the same old comedies and dramas. We need genres that actually connect with the audience, but the current professional directors only seem to care about pleasing those pseudo-critics (you know, the same crowd that gave that disaster called "Remember El Paso" a 4.3/5 rating). 😲

I think it’s high time the amateurs stepped up. Hrgović and his crew started out strong, especially with that cult classic "Burek." I just need to see "Etida" to be fully convinced of their talent, but I don't doubt them one bit. 👍