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Last Movie Watched: Terrifier 2 (2022).
Last TV Show Watched: Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (S2:E10).
Last TV Show Watched: Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (S2:E10).
Smile 2
Why the hell not! I doubt it’ll be as good as the first one, but I really enjoyed it (even if my second viewing was ruined by a first date; that’s why I’d never do a movie first date).
It did have a banal-ish message about trauma being ever-present, but I think it was a good one, and better than the nonsense endings/denouements most horror has nowadays.
It did have a banal-ish message about trauma being ever-present, but I think it was a good one, and better than the nonsense endings/denouements most horror has nowadays.
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I like the concept and I was entertained enough with the first. I’ll watch this one although I’m not exactly overly excited.
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My review.
Smile 2 (Dolby Cinema)
There is only good reason to watch Smile 2 - and her name is Naomi Scott.
She's best known to most moviegoers as the live-action Jasmine in the recent Disney remake of Aladdin. And, as an actor/singer, she definitely brings some high notes to what would otherwise be a tremendously tedious sequel.
Running well over 2 hours, the sequel to Parker Finn's 2022 directorial debut pretty much hits almost all of the same beats, having replaced the protagonist of the original film with, surprise, surprise, yet another damsel in distress.
And despite the fact that it doesn't do much that's new, the sequel does benefit tremendously from Scott's extremely committed performance - it is hard not to be rooting for her, even if you know (from watching the 1st movie) more or less exactly what to expect here.
There are a few other cast members that do the best they can with the trite material, starting with Rosemarie DeWitt as Scott's mom. Then there's Jack Nicholson's son, Ray, in what amounts to little more than a cameo; and Miles Gutierrez-Riley who is having a bit of a hot streak between this and Marvel's Agatha All Along.
In the end, the movie offers few real surprises and the "scares" are both lacking in novelty and not particularly scary. The movie also suffers from being the 2nd one this year that prominently features a fictional female pop star; Scott is easily a cut above Saleka Night Shyamalan in Trap, but still.
Maybe it's time we declare a national moratorium on fictional female pop stars becoming a prominent part of horror movies and thrillers. It is starting to become a bit of a cliché.
Smile 2 (Dolby Cinema)
There is only good reason to watch Smile 2 - and her name is Naomi Scott.
She's best known to most moviegoers as the live-action Jasmine in the recent Disney remake of Aladdin. And, as an actor/singer, she definitely brings some high notes to what would otherwise be a tremendously tedious sequel.
Running well over 2 hours, the sequel to Parker Finn's 2022 directorial debut pretty much hits almost all of the same beats, having replaced the protagonist of the original film with, surprise, surprise, yet another damsel in distress.
And despite the fact that it doesn't do much that's new, the sequel does benefit tremendously from Scott's extremely committed performance - it is hard not to be rooting for her, even if you know (from watching the 1st movie) more or less exactly what to expect here.
There are a few other cast members that do the best they can with the trite material, starting with Rosemarie DeWitt as Scott's mom. Then there's Jack Nicholson's son, Ray, in what amounts to little more than a cameo; and Miles Gutierrez-Riley who is having a bit of a hot streak between this and Marvel's Agatha All Along.
In the end, the movie offers few real surprises and the "scares" are both lacking in novelty and not particularly scary. The movie also suffers from being the 2nd one this year that prominently features a fictional female pop star; Scott is easily a cut above Saleka Night Shyamalan in Trap, but still.
Maybe it's time we declare a national moratorium on fictional female pop stars becoming a prominent part of horror movies and thrillers. It is starting to become a bit of a cliché.
Spoilers for Smile 2
The 'series' needs to change gears if they do another one.
The original had the protagonist investigate what the hell was going on, which helped the audience learn the lore and be on the ride with her to try and beat the 'game'. This one had Scott just be a passenger the entire time. I thought she did a solid job, but at no point did I think she was ever going to beat this thing, which left very little tension in the movie for me. The next one, should be someone beating it or making solid creative efforts to do so. It's hard though, when you can literally pull the rug out from underneath anyone at anytime with the whole 'it's all in her head' gimmick, which made this film suffer in my opinion. We all knew where it was heading and it had been done before in the film Truth or Dare and Rings.
The 'series' needs to change gears if they do another one.
The original had the protagonist investigate what the hell was going on, which helped the audience learn the lore and be on the ride with her to try and beat the 'game'. This one had Scott just be a passenger the entire time. I thought she did a solid job, but at no point did I think she was ever going to beat this thing, which left very little tension in the movie for me. The next one, should be someone beating it or making solid creative efforts to do so. It's hard though, when you can literally pull the rug out from underneath anyone at anytime with the whole 'it's all in her head' gimmick, which made this film suffer in my opinion. We all knew where it was heading and it had been done before in the film Truth or Dare and Rings.
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The 'series' needs to change gears if they do another one.
If this one's a hit (which looks very likely) then he'll get to do another one, for sure.
My review.
Smile 2 (Dolby Cinema)
There is only good reason to watch Smile 2 - and her name is Naomi Scott.
She's best known to most moviegoers as the live-action Jasmine in the recent Disney remake of Aladdin. And, as an actor/singer, she definitely brings some high notes to what would otherwise be a tremendously tedious sequel.
Running well over 2 hours, the sequel to Parker Finn's 2022 directorial debut pretty much hits almost all of the same beats, having replaced the protagonist of the original film with, surprise, surprise, yet another damsel in distress.
And despite the fact that it doesn't do much that's new, the sequel does benefit tremendously from Scott's extremely committed performance - it is hard not to be rooting for her, even if you know (from watching the 1st movie) more or less exactly what to expect here.
There are a few other cast members that do the best they can with the trite material, starting with Rosemarie DeWitt as Scott's mom. Then there's Jack Nicholson's son, Ray, in what amounts to little more than a cameo; and Miles Gutierrez-Riley who is having a bit of a hot streak between this and Marvel's Agatha All Along.
In the end, the movie offers few real surprises and the "scares" are both lacking in novelty and not particularly scary. The movie also suffers from being the 2nd one this year that prominently features a fictional female pop star; Scott is easily a cut above Saleka Night Shyamalan in Trap, but still.
Maybe it's time we declare a national moratorium on fictional female pop stars becoming a prominent part of horror movies and thrillers. It is starting to become a bit of a cliché.
Smile 2 (Dolby Cinema)
There is only good reason to watch Smile 2 - and her name is Naomi Scott.
She's best known to most moviegoers as the live-action Jasmine in the recent Disney remake of Aladdin. And, as an actor/singer, she definitely brings some high notes to what would otherwise be a tremendously tedious sequel.
Running well over 2 hours, the sequel to Parker Finn's 2022 directorial debut pretty much hits almost all of the same beats, having replaced the protagonist of the original film with, surprise, surprise, yet another damsel in distress.
And despite the fact that it doesn't do much that's new, the sequel does benefit tremendously from Scott's extremely committed performance - it is hard not to be rooting for her, even if you know (from watching the 1st movie) more or less exactly what to expect here.
There are a few other cast members that do the best they can with the trite material, starting with Rosemarie DeWitt as Scott's mom. Then there's Jack Nicholson's son, Ray, in what amounts to little more than a cameo; and Miles Gutierrez-Riley who is having a bit of a hot streak between this and Marvel's Agatha All Along.
In the end, the movie offers few real surprises and the "scares" are both lacking in novelty and not particularly scary. The movie also suffers from being the 2nd one this year that prominently features a fictional female pop star; Scott is easily a cut above Saleka Night Shyamalan in Trap, but still.
Maybe it's time we declare a national moratorium on fictional female pop stars becoming a prominent part of horror movies and thrillers. It is starting to become a bit of a cliché.
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this got stupid at the end with a similar ending to the substance,. decent up until that point
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A premise for social media-autists traumatized by the thought of looking at actual faces "IRL" and having to discern the true meaning of facial expressions.
this got stupid at the end with a similar ending to the substance,. decent up until that point
Feel like horror needs to try to do more with male pop/rockstars (‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’) if they can’t leave the celebrity theme alone. At least the paternalism and overbearing managers and mothers and whatnot wouldn’t be as obvious there imo. Something about the female celebrity protagonist is always about the clothes, the entourage etc. (which is an issue with reality rather than character building, heh), but it is somewhat boring.
I generally don’t mind
WARNING: spoilers below
downer endings, especially in horror — I don’t even mind Final Destination.
WARNING: spoilers below
’What’s real?’ side of things is getting old/overused. I did think the idea of the entire audience being ‘infected’ in the final scene is pretty funny.
Last edited by AgrippinaX; 2 days ago at 06:43 AM.
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currently in my top 5 of the year though i agree with others that it dips a bit in the second half, mostly to do with the exposition dump from the guy from House.
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A premise for social media-autists traumatized by the thought of looking at actual faces "IRL" and having to discern the true meaning of facial expressions.
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