Superbgirl

She looks like Will Poulter, but she's not Will Poulter... I have to keep telling myself that.

Kara is out partying when she encounters a kid on a revenge missing, going after Krem. While Kara doesn't want to get involved, Krem makes the mistake of shooting her dog, so it is on! Kara and Ruthye are out to hunt him down, with lots of things getting in the way, including one bounty hunter by the name of Lobo.

This is based on a twelve issue comic and... it doesn't help. This really feels like a lot of different scenes with occasional interruptions of flashbacks to give Kara's backstory. But while that works in comic form, here it feels like those scenes could easily be lifted out without much changing, and so, this movie feels rather bitsy. Not bad, but... doesn't really lend a cohesive feel to it. We do have the main theme of teaching Ruthye to be good, but that is sprinkled in, much like the scenes are.

We have Milly Alcock as Kara, and she's fine. I'm not sure if there is supposed to be something special about her, but I can't say this is a standout performance. Eve Ridley's notable trait is having an English accent. Matthias Schoenaerts feels like he is in a slightly different, sillier movie. And Jason Momoa is letting the makeup do a lot of his heavy lifting.

Not surprisingly this is a heavy effects movie although unfortunately a lot of the CGI moments look like CGI moments. Like obviously they aren't going to get the actors to do that, but there's a lot of Bash and Pow that is clearly fake. And it doesn't help that there are fights where Supergirl is punching people without issue, and it just looks like her fists aren't landing.

Admittedly I felt a little disconnected from this movie, partly because I knew the comic, but there were also a lot of moments where I was consciously thinking "well, they're a main character, they aren't going to have a problem here" so there was a level of immersion missing for me.

I'm sure this will be a big enough hit, but it's telling that the theatre felt rather empty on opening night.

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Cleaning up Demos

I like some cosy games, and Cleaning games are a) cosy and b) have the sense of making a place better. So I tried five demos.

Clean Up Earth: People sent trash back in time, so you go back in time to pick it up. It's very samey, with no real advance on the game play loop. It just bored me. (And apparently there is use of AI that isn't disclosed). That's a no from me.

Emergency Cleanup Co: You take over a cleaning company, and you clean houses. This is early access, but it has definite potential. There are some small things I want to see if they iron out for the full release, so I'm keeping an eye on this, but not getting it yet.

Cyber Cleaner Simulator: Immediately annoying, You are a dude bro who is cleaning up things to get money to... do something. I didn't pay attention too much because there were lots of things that bounced off me. (And possible use of AI, because the developers are only two people.) Another no for me.

HiroBot Clean & Restore: You are Hiro, a cleaning bot. As well as washing things, you can restore some items (suck them in one place and spit them out where they are supposed to be). However, aside from that one idea, this is just Powerwash Simulator but worse. Good try, but a long way to go to a good game.

Island Restoration: You are cleaning up an island, picking up garbage, watering plants, freeing turtles. This game will live or die on how well it gives out upgrades, because I do not want to do the base level mechanics for more than one small island. And twice I got "99%" for getting garbage and couldn't find the remaining no matter how much I searched.

Not a great hit rate, but I gave them a go!

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Supanover

Ah, this is budget Event Horizon.

The rescue ship Nightingale picks up a distress call, and dimension jumps to the signal. Once there, there is a young man where there should be an old man, and a weird alien device. The young man gets his way with several members of the crew, and might just be a little bit evil. I'm sure everything will be fine.

This sounds like a more adult movie, with nudity and some rather messy deaths, but this movie was cut into PG-13 (with still some nudity and deaths), and several directors being involved, and the whole behind the scenes is a mess. So it isn't that surprising that the movie ends up being rather diluted from what it could have been. The opening has a promising set up, but then it just ends up being a rather boring runaround, defeating the bad guy.

Cast-wise, we get James Spader, Angela Basset, Lou Diamond Phillips, Robin Tunney, some of whom only wanted to be involved because of some of the directors, so good luck with that.

It's fine, but could have been something watchable.

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Widowed Bay

So the quiet thing people are talking about at the moment is the new Apple series Widow's Bay, which has just finished season one.

We follow the mayor of the island territory of Widow's Bay, in the New England area, who wants to make the place the next big thing. Unfortunately, the whole place is cursed with at least half a dozen different terrors around the place. The mayor doesn't believe in it, but... and it becomes up to him and two compatriots to do something about it, whatever the cost.

This is one of them "horror comedy" which is light on horror and light on comedy. After watching the first few episodes, I definitely thought it had potential, but wanted to see how it would play out. And some episodes are good, and some are just filling out the back story in a way that is neither horror nor comedy. There is more potential there, and no doubt more for season two (quick check - yes season two renewed).

Matthew Rhys is the mayor, and I haven't seen him in other things. Kate O'Flynn is the assistant, who has a history with the monsters, and gets quite caught up in what is going on. But best of all, Stephen Root, giving great 'I don't give a fuck, I'm just here to have fun' energy,

The episodes are short, some barely more than thirty minutes, so it isn't a long watch. You might be able to tell I'm still undecided on it... but I will watch more.

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Talk about it

Madonna has done duos with a lot of people, and even a trio, and she continues that trend here with Sabrina.

...unfortunately the contrast beings a few things into comparison. Both of their voices feel a little processed, and I know they are capable of great natural sound, so is Madonna needing help these days? (Madame X processing looms large.)

Also, to be honest... you can really see that Maddy has had work done these days...

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Mārama

There are a few New Zealand Māori films I should be watching... but I'm gonna go ahead with one I haven't heard of!

Mary Stevens is brought over to England on the trail of finding out about her parents, but finds the person who summoned her has died. Instead, she takes up with the family there, becoming the governess of the young girl. Meanwhile the father has a liking for things Māori. Like a whole obsession with it. Like to an unhealthy degree. And Mary finds out that he is far more involved with her life than is good for her.

This is not a pleasant film, with depictions of rather gory moments and some very unpleasant notes. It is referred to as a Māori Gothic Revenge Horror set in Victorian England, 1859, so it's good to see everyone getting in on that genre. With the horror being that of what the English did.

Ariana Osborne puts in a lot of work as the lead, and Toby Stephens is suitably creepy. The scenery does a lot of good work too, and hey, that's down in Dunedin!

I've been watching the Wellington Film Society movies, and... this is gonna turn up there some time!

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Confess the II

By film, she means "this is a ten minute remix/medley of the album to give you a taster of the songs."

And there are special guests! Some are singers she is working with, some are random movie stars! (I suspect we'll see more of them when the full videos for those songs drop.)

And if you have premium (and that's a whole different rant) you also get the Afterparty (ie two minutes of bts).

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Hockem

Caveat, Oddity, and now...

Ohm is a writer, and he takes off into Ireland for a bit of a retreat and to dispose of his parents ashes. However, it's not a normal hotel and there's a tale of a haunted room. After a break, he returns to find one of the staff missing, and he decides to look around. Can you guess which room he ends up in?

It's about mythology, it's about the ghosts we carry, it's about do we need more despair? It's probably also about deeper things that I didn't get... but on the other hand, there isn't really anything that special this movie does. Isolated location, people being weird, supernatural events... there is some atmosphere build up, but on the other hand the supernatural is right there, and there are no surprises here. [There is also a good chunk of 1408 in the inspiration too.]

Adam Scott is the annoying yank, or just yank to be non-redundant. David Wilmot and Florence Ordesh give notable performances. And other people were also in the movie. The effects are practical, there is one really good mask, but otherwise it's just averagely decent.

Damian McCarthy has potential, let's see something better.

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Rackbooms

Youtuber movie? Or just a movie from a youtuber?

Clark runs a discount furniture store, but is at a low point of his life... and then he finds a room in the bottom of his store... a lot of room... a lot of rooms... that are in the back... He investigates and drags others in, but what is in the backrooms isn't just rooms but other things as well.

Can you see this without knowing the lore? Other people say so, but I have my doubts. When it starts with an Async video, I know what's going on, but I don't know how well other people will follow. I guess it's fine, but certainly if you know the background it does make a lot easier to track certain elements. But a lot is entirely standalone, and this isn't the Async movie.

Chiwetel Ejiofor does great work as Clark, although Renate Reinsve kept making me think of Winona Ryder with her "mildly upset" face. The set is doing a lot of the lifting, so there are very limited CGI effects (the main one being going through the wall). I'm not sure if the creatures are people with practical or CGI effects, but they say if you can't tell, then it is good work.

This movie is about something, but it's not really the Backrooms themselves, but what the Backrooms are as a metaphor.. in this case at least.

If you want the lore movie, this isn't it. If you want a mildly unsettling movie, this will do.

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I. Ron L. Ung

Yes, it's that "youtuber movie".

There's a moon of blood, and a convict is welded into a submarine and dunked in order to investigate what's going on down there. He has a thoroughly unpleasant time, with strange creatures, and the blood proving more of a problem than water.

This is largely a one set movie, with the iron sub being it, with a few other sets for brief times. Which means we are relying a lot on the main actors performance... and Markiplier is fine! Should he be Markiplier, or Mark Fischbach? Well, the opening credits has the former, so that's what's presented, although the end credits are his full name.

But at two hours... damn, this is long. There are very long takes of Simon (the convict) just staring at horror at various things, or waiting for things to happen or... just not doing very much. He reacts well, but time crawls during these segments.

There is also a feeling of there is lore we are expected to know. Yes, this is based on the game, and I've seen some Let's Plays, and in general you get the idea of "something bad happened and now this is one way people are surviving", but... there are lots of elements and names and items that feel like we are supposed to know more about what is going on, which I wasn't getting. I'm sure there are also nods to the game in the form of easter eggs... but again I wasn't getting them either.

This feels more like a personal passion project than a general movie. It's done well, as Markiplier is very popular, but I can't say this works in and of itself.

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