Have you ever watched a movie and be totally lost or confused about what was happening?

[Amy10223]

I felt I had to review this one. I belong to a movie group which watches films and then talks about them and I had already bough my ticket. So this one is the Halloween sequeI to Halloween that was made in 1978, called Halloween Ends.

I came in a bit late so I can't say much about the very beginning, but I came in at a scene which took place at a loud party. After this, you got figured out that Michael Myers is still alive, and has a friend (James J Courtney) who is just as nutty (well, maybe not as nutty) who visits Michael regularly in a hidden tunnel. He falls for Curtis's (Laurie) granddaughter and the two are gonna leave the neighborhood and drive out of town, but Jamie Lee won't stand for it because she knows James well. Michael Myers meanwhile, misbehaves once again--invading people's homes and butchering them. The scenes are so horrifically graphic, it would take someone with a strong stomach not to get sick. However, the scenes are also confusing and so is the story, because you are kept wondering why James goes to visit Michael without getting killed, what does Laurie's granddaughter see in him, and why people don't lock their doors. All this movie does after that party scene is make sure you get enough gore all set for Halloween. What was a good first movie back in the late 70's becomes a movie that is just too involved with making you jump, lots of gore, and not much story left. It's what happens after so many sequels--the story line just gets thinner and thinner. Simply put--don't waste your money. Thank goodness I was late!
RATING: 1 STAR

[abc3643]

I can't say "lost" but I can say "somewhat misled until the end".

The 2016 movie "Arrival" starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner was a good movie... until the end when I became furious. And because I am still angry all these years, I am going to give away a spoiler.

In this movie, extraterrestrials arrive in large vertical ships hovering over the land. They do nothing. No one knows how to communicate with them or what they want. The film centers on Amy Adams character who is an expert linguist.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Renner plays a physicist who is in on the US team with Amy Adams trying to figure out the aliens.

Of course, we see he becomes enamored with her and she is able to decipher what the aliens are about.

However, all throughout the movie, we sporadically see images of her with her daughter who is presumably dead with Amy Adams speaking an unwritten letter to her daughter... a daughter that we believe died as a child before the aliens arrived.

>>> So, to answer your question, this is the confusing part of the movie - Why are we seeing these scenes? How are they relevant to the story?

>>> Now to the misleading part...

OK, here's what we discover at the end: The aliens' sensory perception of time is different - as if time is a circle and not a straight line. They tell us that, in 3000 years, humans will come to assist them. In order to communicate with us, they end up giving Amy Adams character that ability to see into what we call the future too. And we learn that Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner get married and THEN have the daughter who will die and that Renner will subsequently leave the relationship. Why? Because Amy Adams' character KNEW that her daughter would die as a child even before she was born, so, in a way, she just played Renner's character - he was a tool to give her this child that would die because it's all part of the natural timeline or order of things or some such bullshit. And those scenes that we saw of her with her daughter? That's what WILL happen.

I became furious for 2 reasons:

1. What she did to him. That was wrong even if it is part of the timeline.
2. Science fiction involving time travel or nonlinear time is bad science fiction. Especially in today's world. It's cheap-ass bullshit sci-fi that illustrates laziness and a lack of understanding of the basics of the natural world.

I want to be clear. This was actually a very good movie. Perhaps the best aliens-have-arrived-movie ever, although I think "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is better. But, the twist at the end made me furious - I felt used and duped by a charlatan story.

This twist ending is a bit of a hot topic. Read whatever reviews, but recognize that anyone who agrees with the ending is an idiot and I say that as a physicist myself.

https://theoddapple.com/arrival-2016-plot-summary-ending-explained/

==============

As for TV shows, quite a few episodes in the Law & Order franchise sometimes need multiple viewings before grasping the full nature of the plot. One that sticks out in my mind is the first season episode of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" called "The Enemy Within" which had a fascinating conspiracy that only 1 person was aware of.

Another episode of that show is "Frame", the last episode from Season 7. What makes this so fascinating is that we are as equally confused as central character Robert Goren. The ending, in the interview room, between "Bobby" and his criminal-profiling mentor, Declan Gage, is astonishing. Gage is a genius but is beginning to succumb to dementia. You have to know the story arc of the series because several important guest characters from throughout the series all have their stories wrapped-up with this episode, courtesy of Gage who wanted to give Bobby one last puzzle to solve and bring him back to life. It is haunting as the episode fades out with Gage taking his hands to Bobby's face like a father to son and says "You don't get it, do you? You're free, Bobby. You're free."

[Amy10223]

This is why I avoid science fiction movies like the plague---or like Covid in today's world--anything and everything can happen and you are left to figure it out to make sense of it. The storywriters/authors of these books don't care if you don't understand what's happening. The more confused you are about them--the better, is how they think. I'm sure it was a good movie with the visuals--but I'd rather have a science fiction movie that has an interesting storyline that makes sense and does not leave you wondering what happened at the end. The film The Shape of Water comes to mind. At least this. movie was one in which you could follow without getting confused by the events--and it was pleasant to watch, at least for me, as well. You were not left hanging and you could actually see why it was that the main character had those fins on her neck. Movies such as these are rare, well directed as well, and that's one of the reasons it won best picture.
It's a tough mistress to find such movies today that will capture your attention and hold it enough to want to continue to watch a film---but that's what happens when you have an industry that is in a hurry to makes movies just to make some money on them.

[abc3643]

Well, keep in mind, most science fiction movies aren't science fiction. Star Wars, for instance, has nothing to do with science fiction.
There are good science fiction movies made and easily understandable premises and story which isn't absurd.

One really fun and well-reviewed science fiction movie (*) is 2014's "Edge of Tomorrow" also known as "Live, Die, Repeat". It stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt with Brendan Gleeson and Bill Paxton.
It might be a little hard to follow and I had mentioned earlier I don't like SF with time-travel or other time manipulation (which is why I had the (*) earlier - this movie involves that), but I made an exception with this one because, while the premise is still a bit fantastic, its a great story with good acting and action, thus its great reviews.

The basic premise is the Earth is invaded by a race of alien animals (they are not technologically advanced) which we call Mimics and that we learn have a 3-level social structure. The lowest level are the hyperviolent "soldiers" (my word), but for every several thousand or more of them is an "alpha" which is like a sergeant commanding the soldiers. However, an alpha has special blood that psychically connects it to the one "omega". This one omega is the leader controlling them all. It is sedate but, most importantly, it can "reset time". So, when an alpha is killed, the omega detects it and interprets that there is a problem in the invasion plan, and then it resets time back to before the point when the alpha was killed, but this time, alters the invasion plans. In short, it constantly learns from its mistakes and starts over. Thus, in the long run, the aliens, called "mimics", can never lose; the omega will reset time until they have victory.
(more)

[abc3643]

On the day of the big D-Day-like invasion of Europe (where the Mimics arrived), Tom Cruise is a unwilling soldier sent to the front lines who happens to kill himself with an explosive but also killing an alpha in the process that was going to kill him. The alpha's blood mixed with Tom Cruise's so the omega now interprets Cruise as an alpha. And, of course, it reset time back to the day when Cruise, guilty of desertion, was sent to the invasion training camp. Cruise keeps getting killed with the omega resetting the day, so Cruise is killed in a new way every time. It is implied he is killed hundreds or even thousands of times... He keeps reliving, in a new way each instance, that same period of time during the war. However, between deaths, he learns, like the omega, from his previous experiences. Thus, he too is becoming smarter and better able to fight the enemy.

Emily Blunt plays a huge role too; She had the same power he had, but her character got a blood transfusion and lost the power to connect with the omega. I will leave it at that, but it's a very good movie and definitely worth watching for the ideas, the action, and the acting.

[DryGermanGuy]

Not exactly confused but bored and annoyed about its slowness, long-winded unfolding or radical form over function approach. The Tree of Life is an example for that.

[abc3643]

And yet "The Tree of Life" is considered a masterpiece and I find it fascinating because it doesn't pretend to be anything than what it is. No driving riveting story. It's the snapshot of the memories of a men when he was growing up in the 1950s and that his and his family's existence is precious and important, but an infinitesimal part of the infinitely long tapestry of existence.

I will let Roger Ebert speak as to why he added it to his 2012 (and last) solicitation of "Sight & Sound magazine's famous poll to determine the greatest films of all time"

https://www.imdb.com/poll/rpd10f_SI3I/
www.rogerebert.com/.../the-greatest-films-of-all-time

[DryGermanGuy]

@abc3643
Yes, I know. I always enjoy reading Roger's opinions. I wanted to like the film, but it just wasn't for me, I guess...

[Amy10223]

I've not seen that... I do avoid movies that sound liek that, though. If I am bored by the time the move is half-oevr, I can't watch anymore.

[abc3643]

Well, yes, you'd pretty much be bored by almost every movie made before the 21st Century.

[Amy10223]

@abc3643 Not exactly bored, pardon me. I did like the films "Alien", "Signs", "The Village", and many others that some would see as Science fiction and some not. I believe there are things such as aliens in our world, so Signs was not science fiction to me.
"Star Wars, for instance, has nothing to do with science fiction." I beg to differ.

[weysally]

I have started to watch a film or a program, either I can't make head nor tail of it, or I can't hear what is being said,

[Guy13]

Yes. I watched this supposed classic movie Killer tomatoes. Okay whatever... vegetable on steroids and meth?

[Amy10223]

Hahaa! I'll havw to watch that one.

[Guy13]

I should have know with a stoner... hallucinogenics friend sending me that and a list of top 100 movies... "must see", DuuuuuuDE

[Carolus]

Funny you got a Rating of 1, I give it a negative, movie so annoying and depressing.

[Amy10223]

That was for the effort--haha. It really was a bad film--nothing like the previous ones.

[20yearsolder]

Yep, lots of times

[Amy10223]

Which ones left you cohnfused that you ermeember?

[20yearsolder]

That's the issue, I don't remember the titles