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Paranormal Activity 2

(mostly) securitycamera footage of a family being haunted

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
10-01-2016
7

Novel en successful idea approach to a horror flick

Probably a rehash of part 1, but since I have not yet seen that, I will honor this one for the brave, effective and chilling way of telling a horror story. The actual events and pacing are a bit under powered for it to become truly terrifying, though.
7

The Hateful Eight

Bounty hunter, his prisoner, and a bunch of cowboys get stranded in an inn, in a Agatha Christie kind of setting

RockmeNow
RockmeNow
15-01-2016
8

Who can be trusted? Damn those cowboys, just shoot them all...

Typical Tarantino twists, blood, gore, and humour in a successfull blend of western and detective elements. The story slowly unfolds in this somewhat lenghty movie, but manages to grasp your attention until the last second....
8

Time Lapse

Three friends discover a device that takes a photo of their house everyday at eight o clock.... tomorrow

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
17-01-2016
8.5

Hats off to the minds that can cook up a story like this

A mind boggling story that continuously left me balancing on whether I was aboard or not, and had me drawing diagrams the next morning. And as if the story weren't complex enough, their is still room for an additional twist at the end too. Very clever.
8.5

White Tiger

During WW2, in trying to deal with a mysterious Nazi tank, the Russian army turns to an equally mysterious tank driver

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
24-01-2016
7.5

Good WW2 movie with a dash of mystery

An intense and sometimes gruesome looking WW2 flick that can be a bit slow at times, but compensates with a nice mixture of mystery, war, interesting characters and a diverging but well done ending.
7.5

Self/less

Terminally ill man signs up for his inner self to be transfared to younger body... they got from... where exactly?

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
24-01-2016
7.5

A very decent in between scifi with good ideas

Original science fiction mystery that gradually evolves into an action thriller. It is quite nice indeed, but could have hit harder by exploring this profound premise and what it might do to people mentally.
7.5

Seventh Son

In medieval times, a ghost hunter requires the help of a seventh son (of a seventh son) in order to defeat an escaped witch with evil plans.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
24-01-2016
6

It's missing factor X

It's all here; bold adventure, dazzling fantasy, witches, dragons, romance, fine effects and music, and amusing performances. But somehow it is all a bit flat, fails to excite or take you along for the ride. Maybe it's exactly this mandatory fantasy mixture that makes it feel formulaic.
6

The Hangover III

The wolfpack gets involved in crazy mafia adventures yet again, but this time they're sober

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
07-02-2016
6

I felt cheated

The 'what the hell happened last night' joke may have been running out of fuel. But as I watched the half-baked comedy that remained without it, I couldn't help but feel cheated.
6

It Follows

Girl has unknown people walking slowly but straight at her

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
07-02-2016
8

Scores in many fields

The seemingly simple story in this little marvel is told with style and confidence, supported by a nice cast, good music and great camera work, and manages to be scary without over-relying on the same old cliches. Unique and refreshing.
8

Couples Retreat

Couples agree to go to a discounted paradise vacation, not realizing relationship therapy is part of the package

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
14-02-2016
6

Predictably average

Besides a colorful tropical scenery and a couple of laughs, this one has only average and mostly predictable jokes and the inevitable moral ending to offer.
6

Insurgent

In a future where people are living in factions based to their personalities, a group of rebels aim to break these boundaries

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
14-02-2016
4.5

Can you make it till the end

I am afraid I loathe these 'young adult' future novels as of late. I can't stand these plastic, one dimensional people living in these ridiculous worlds doing unlikely stuff, always looking oh so pretty as they go along. The only savior are the imaginative and classy 'sim' scenes near the end.
4.5

I Spit on Your Grave

Girl survives a brutal redneck gang rape and comes back to torture them to death

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
20-02-2016
7

A heavy, deeply uncomfortable, depressing affair.

If you manage to finally make it through the rape scenes, the next endurance test is full frontal torture, slightly more bearable because of the payback. I thought the complicated torture setups deployed seemed overly elaborate, prone to errors. But how can we rate movies like this? A 7 perhaps?
7

Blue is the Warmest Color (La Vie d'Adèle)

Girl becomes lesbian

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
21-02-2016
6.5

Beautiful but too long and too slow

You have to admire how the gorgeous lead actrices carry this story with beautifully authentic acting. But everything takes so freaking long in this movie, everything is so spread out that in the end even the intimate love scenes started to bore me.
6.5

San Andreas

Dad needs to search and rescue his ex-wife and then his daughter in the aftermath of huge earthquake

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
28-02-2016
6.5

Too Hollywood

A technically sound, mostly good looking disaster flick, served with the typical cardboard characters, an omnipotent superhero, drenched in a sauce of Hollywood cliches. It ends with them staring across the sunset with an American flag waving nearby. yay!
6.5

Sinister

Writer and his family move into a house where horrible attrocities have taken place, so he can research these and write a book about it. To start him of, he finds a box with old 8mm films...

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
29-02-2016
8

Eerie

Didn't crawl under the skin as I thought it would (for some reason), but a very eerie, umcomfortable and stylish horror nevertheless. 8mm graininess is used to great effect together with really unsettling music.
8

Camp X-Ray

Newbie MP soldier get stationed at Guantanamo, where she bonds with one of the detainees

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
05-03-2016
8

Honest little gem

A sober yet rewarding experience, with an awesome looking and playing Stewart and very good music backing it up. I sort of missed a beat in the transition of Lector turning into a genuine nice guy, but that's ok.
8

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

The chipmunks fear that their dad's love interest might lead him to abandon them, so they set out to sabotage the engagement.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
06-03-2016
6

Ok for kids. An endurancetest for adults.

Sure, it's an uncomplicated fun adventure, kids will get some fun out of it, and let's not forget the effects blending so seamlessly we don't even notice them anymore. But a kids movie equally suitable for adults, this is not.
6

Ant-Man

This superhero can shrink to the size of ants and defeat evil

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
13-03-2016
7.5

A small but sympathetic hero movie

A bit slowish, silly and I am not even sure it looked that great. But there's a kind of uncomplicated, honest and straight-up fun entertainment in here, making it more enjoyable than certain other hysteric and megalomanic hero movies.
7.5

The Revenant

After being left for dead and betrayed after a bear attack, a man must defeat nature and other dangers to make it home and take revenge

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
15-03-2016
8

Big

A majestic and profound experience that is beautifully shot. Personally I wasn't able to connect fully with the main character, as he is mostly a puffing and groaning wild man, but that's a minor quibble.
8

The Lazarus Effect

After succesfully bringing a dog back to live, an accident brings the science team to try the trick on one of their own

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
31-03-2016
6.5

Unremarkable horror despite some good ideas

A promising idea and start can't help this movie from soon ending up with rather cliche and predictable scares and a lack of focus. The science 'team' is also an unconvincing bunch of Hollywood stereotypes.
6.5

Jurassic World

In order to keep the customers coming, the parc scientists built a new kind of dinosaur. Of course it stays happily in it's cage!

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
31-03-2016
7.5

Worthy addition, great adventure

The awe and excitement of seeing realistic lifesize dino's on the screen may never be what is once was, but this movies still manages to capture the highly entertaining and plain fun adventure vibe of the franchise. Good 3D too.
7.5

Into the Heart of the Sea

The 'true' story of Moby Dick, of whale hunters becoming hunted by a whale

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
10-04-2016
7

Well made but not engaging enough

It has a nice look and feel to it, and it was clearly made with much love and dedication. But these grumpy and dirty men harpooning whales were hardly sympathetic, so their misfortune was hardly engaging. The thick arty layers of unnatural colors take away a sense or realism too.
7

Nude Nuns with Big Guns

After being sold an abused as a sex slave, a nun sets out to take revenge.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
10-04-2016
6.5

Nice and campy

Much like Tarantino movies, it shamelessly celebrates campy, violent, badly acted, poorly edited movies taking please in sweaty Mexican style landscapes. It does so quite well, but it also doesn't do much more than that. And the guns weren't that big either.
6.5

Crimson Peak

Woman marries a man who brings her to his spooky mansion, where she finds out what a ghost in her childhood tried to warn her for

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
10-04-2016
7

The good bits are mostly a side dish

With almost every scene a piece of art, this is quiet a looker. The ghost scenes were great too. But the story holding it together is mostly a costume drama of love, crime and passion, which I found quite slow and pale by comparison. I really liked Jessica Chastain's performance, though
7

Exists

Them kids in a cabin in the woods are terrorized my Bigfoot. All caught with found footage.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
16-04-2016
6

Average, quite unoriginal stuff

The more we get to see this creature, the less scary it becomes. And for Christs sake, does it always have to be teenage stoners who experience this stuff? And they brought how many camera's? Sit with the other average found footage horror movies please.
6

Kung Fu Panda 3

In order to repell a new threat to peace, Panda must resort to his Panda family to learn the power of chi

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
18-04-2016
8

A very mature and excellent episode

Some fatigue may kick in, as we can sort of predict how everything it going to turn out. But the humor, atmosphere, unique blend of 3d animation and traditional artwork, the loyalty to the characters and the depth of the story remain of a very high standard.
8

Ghost in the Shell

Cyborg police officer is threatened by an entity from within her hardware

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
08-05-2016
7.5

Dialogues not overly succesful, but the rest is

The dialogue can by long, stiff and unnatural. But the wonderful imagery, music, mysterious atmosphere and mesmerizing scenes of future Japan still make it an intriguing experience.
7.5

Captain Harlock: Space Pirate

In a spacewar for access to earth, a man inflatres a space pirate's ship to bring him down. Gradually, he starts to doubt where the real evil lies

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
13-05-2016
6.5

Just enjoy the pretty graphics

Some stunning and quite unique 3d designs can't make up for the usual overacted, over dramatic way everyone behaves. And a pirate ship that is literally indestructible isn't really helping to make the otherwise vivid combat scenes exciting.
6.5

Spectre

Just when the 00 team is cancelled, Bond faces the architect of all his pain

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
16-05-2016
8

Tight

With a sense of perfection in each scene, the the movie is confident enough to never rush or over-do things, instead rolling along nice and tight. I found Bond himself is a little too 1-dimensional with his grumpiness and fearlessness. The man seems utterly bored with his job.
8

Piranha 3D

Prehistoric piranhas attack horny party teens on boats and beaches

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
22-05-2016
7

Quite good for what it is

Overall, this mixture of bad movie making, bloody horror, crap fx and boobs (and other genitalia) make for some for remarkably satisfying brainless popcorn entertainment.
7

Pressure

Divers get stuck in a diving bell on the bottom of the ocean during a maintenance gig

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
22-05-2016
7

Shame about the crew

Perfectly adequate in it's display of deep water fear and claustrophobia, but making all members chagrined assholes probably wasn't the best way to make me care.
7

Poltergeist (2015)

Family moves into a house in which a ghost goes after the little girl

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
29-05-2016
6.5

A but uninspired

Right from the start it quite mundanely runs by -=scary scenes=-. Then the science team moves in, after which the scares are pretty much gone. The boy's trick of constantly turning his head toward a scary event VERY SLOWLY was also getting on my nerves. DeWitt rose above it all.
6.5

Everest

True story about a terrible day on the Everest on which several lives were lost

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
29-05-2016
8

Engrossing and impressive

A thrilling and chilling story with powerful footage and acting, shot in very smooth 3D. It didn't completely knock me down, but I am not yet sure why.
8

The Visit

Brother and sister document their first a visit to their grandparents. Including what happens with them after 21:30.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
29-05-2016
7.5

Evolves into something good

What starts of somewhat doubtfully as yet more mockumentary by cute rapping teenagers, gradually evolves into a rather dark, vile, nasty and scary movie indeed. It's slow pacing and lack of gore/fx only make it stronger.
7.5

The Fountain

While trying to find a cure for his terminally ill wive, a man gets entangled in her manuscript for a story. Also, he is flying through space in a bubble with a tree.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
05-06-2016
7

Over aware of it's uniqueness

A courageous and unique movie that dares to be different and strange. Beautiful and meaningful on the one hand, but hardly subtle as the symbolism is sort of rammed damned your throat and feels slightly too pleased with itself.
7

Insidious

Family moves into a home, soonafter which paranormal things happen and the boy falls into a chronic sleep (but it's not a coma!)

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
12-06-2016
7

Half great, half ok

Starts of terrifying indeed. But then the inevitable ghost expert team moves in and sort of break the tension with misguided humor, along with the cliched medium and a tacky explanation for it all, and it sort of drifts into a slightly messy Poltergeist clone.
7

Beyond the Black Rainbow

I THINK it's about a woman in therapy in a secluded hypermodern (in the eighties at least) facility, trying to get out

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
13-06-2016
7.5

If you see it you might need therapy also

A weird ass trip of the first kind, in which you mostly have to figure out for yourself what to make of it as you are being sedated by the psychedelic colors and imagery. Its crawling pace is both a strength and weakness. Not for everyone, but I was quite hooked indeed.
7.5

Zootropolis

Rabbit tries to make it as a police officer in the big city inhabited by all kinds of animals

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
19-06-2016
8

A matured quality animation

A wonderful tale that is brought to live with colorful charterers, a good sense of humor and a detective crime story that has an mature quality to it.
8

10 Cloverfield Lane

After a carcrash, a girl finds herself hijacked in an underground shelter, appearantly because there's global catastrophy outside?

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
23-06-2016
7

Decent scifi mystery that fails short of being great

A very decent flick with some nice ideas and a good script. The mystery of what's going on, as well as the performances and darkness were a bit mellow for my taste.
7

Maggie

Father gets to take care at home of his daugther, in her last few days before turning into a zombie

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
26-06-2016
6.5

Sympathetic but hollow

I liked the idea of focusing on just one case amidst a global zombie mayhem, and Schwarzenegger is probably at his best ever. Ultimately though, I thought there was a lack of substance and depth, and the pretty shots starting feeling as a coverup for a slightly empty shell.
6.5

Eye in the Sky

Covert-op to in Kenya, seen from within the situation room as well as airborne droids, constantly balances taking out most wanted terrorists at the cost of civilian lives

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
01-07-2016
7.5

Exciting fly on the wall

A nail-biting experience that had me hooked and managed to make the legal ramifications of firing a missile quite exciting indeed. I just thought the crying, insubordinate drone pilots were ridiculous.
7.5

The Other Side of the Door

Devastated by the tragic loss of her son, the woman resorts to an indian supernatural ritual to speak to him one last time - and exectutes it wrongly

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
10-07-2016
6.5

Fair horror

I loved the Indian setting and the story had potential, but ultimately it keeps relying on familiar tricks and I thought everyone was overacting a bit.
6.5

13 Hours

On the 2012 attacks on USA compounds in Benghazi

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
10-07-2016
7.5

Chest pounding action with suprisingly restrained Bayism

The beginning was restless for the wrong reasons, everyone was chatting and doing stuff I could not follow. There's also a fair dose of Bay kitsch en patriotism, albeit less than I expected. But it's still an intense adrenaline rush - so much so that I had trouble falling asleep afterwards.
7.5

Independence Day: Resurgence

Mankind has had a major tech and weapons upgrade, but will it be enough to counter a second alien invasion?

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
11-07-2016
6.5

Leave brain at home

I guess it rightfully is the brainless over-the-top popcorn scifi movie it needs to be, so that it doesn't need to make excuses for being shallow, stupid and hardly exiting. Fun, but ultimately I find these movies less and less satisfying. Couple of days later, I have already forgotten most of it.
6.5

Fifty Shades of Grey

Woman falls in love with mysterious and wealthy man, but he has sadomasochistic desires

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
17-07-2016
4.5

What a turnoff

Mostly a boring soap opera where they speak in Hollywood cliches. Their relationship is ice cold and unconvincing. The woman is confusingly flip flop towards the SM, and the corresponding scenes are bullshit as they kept it 'romantic' and pretty to look at. A feather? Really!?
4.5

The Finest Hours

Against all odds, courageous men on a small coastguard boat sail into a storm to help the crew of a wrecked oiltanker

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
17-07-2016
5

Sunk

Not withstanding the good looks and production values, I thought this was a mess. The 50's atmosphere felt cliched, all characters are either obnoxious, one-dimensional or off, the love story was getting on my nerves and I was sort of glad it was over.
5

Blackhat

In order to combat cyber assaults on a powerplant and the stockmarket, the FBI calls in the help of an incarcerated superhacker

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
02-08-2016
6

Nicely shot nonsense

It looks and sounds slick, but it is ruined by a lazy, romanticized and dumped-down Hollywood view of 'hacking' and a miscasted pretty boy as a hacker. Also, the hacker apparently was allowed to engage in FBI activities like shooting, fighting and pursuit. Preposterous.
6

Hitman: Agent 47

Evil coorporation plans to revive a program for superhuman killers, but they have to deal with an earlier 'model' of superagent trying to stop them.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
02-08-2016
6

Some cool action served in a tired Hollywood sauce

I sort of get the cool and stylish action scenes in here, but it is hard to enjoy them given the the over the top coincidental story and one-dimensional people speaking Hollywood gibberish, like "Sometimes when I can't sleep, I like to take things apart"
6

The Witch (The VVitch)

Exiled to live at the edge of a forest, a deeply religeous family is terrorized by a witch which causes them to turn on each other as well

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
02-08-2016
8.5

Effective through authenticity

It's not necessarily scary like jump scare horror, but the outstanding depiction of the Puritan life and language, together with restrained but terrifying witchcraft make for one of the better horrors of recent times.
8.5

Spy

Condemned to work in a basement supporting agents doing all the action, a CIA agent finally gets a change to do some fieldwork of her own

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
14-08-2016
8

Dare I say hillarious?

In a time where 'comedies' merely evoke a vague smile at best, I was delighted to find this genuinely funny movie that had me laughing out loud several times. Deliciously nasty and hysterical.
8

God's Not Dead

Christian student is forced to prove the existence of God by one of those malicious atheist philosophy teachers. There's also substories of other idiots (like cancer patients and muslims) finding God

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
14-08-2016
3.5

but this movie is

I was sort of hoping for some passionate debate with interesting arguments from both sides, but that came out underdeveloped and sloppy, smothered in the cringe worthy side stories, performances and bizarre depiction of atheists. Thank God all heretics died.
3.5

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