Barthalen
Celluloid Junkie
Member Since: 31 Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Age: 43
Recent Ratings
Check out Barthalen's...
Thanksgiving (2023) - Rated 29 Jan 2025
"Exactly the kind of mean-spirited slasher with bun-clenching moments of anticipation or gleeful-cackling-causing nastiness I have been missing for a while."
Star Trek: Section 31 (2025) - Rated 29 Jan 2025
"It barely has anything to do with either Star Trek or Section 31. The writing is just shockingly embarrassing. Pleeeease let this be the spacenail in the spacecoffin of this specific style of modern Trek. (Lower Decks is cool 'n good tho)"
La Tour (2023) - Rated 29 Jan 2025
"I recently had an oopsie and fell down my stairs (protip: don't date poltergeists) and have been housebound during my recovery. That put me in the right mindset for this 'trapped inside a location with other people' concept. There's some darkly interesting ideas on how this would go (breeding pets for food, yikes) but there doesn't seem to be a message other than 'tribalism is bad'. Recommended only if you enjoy a hopeless and downward spiral into misery, but then again... why would you?"
Things Will Be Different (2024) - Rated 23 Dec 2024
"A small-scale story with a simple sci-fi layer on top that allows things to remain interesting enough even in a very limited location and with a minimal cast. You will likely feel that you're a few steps behind the characters though, which makes it tricky to really become invested. My eternal weakness for timetravelly shenanigans helps raise the score a bit."
The Black Phone (2022) - Rated 17 Dec 2024
"This definitely was more original and surprising than I had expected. Good performances, with a delightfully creepy Hawke as an ever present but mostly unseen menace. Some plot elements that I initially did not care for grew on me as the story unfolded, with some neat reveals along the way as we enter a tense finale. One particular thing I really liked; the police actually believe the 'kid with a Special Gift' for once!"
Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 03: Legend of a Human-Eating Kappa (2013) - Rated 13 Dec 2024
"The momentum-gaining-enjoyment of this series continues, this time with a more 'physical' investigation than before. Director Kudo whipping out the DVDs of the previous two Files made me do a double-take, so good. And a specific item from File 01 once again makes an appearance, which I hope will keep coming back because it's hilarious every time. The low budgetty nature can still make scenes feel silly/clunky but also gives the series its own charm."
Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 02: Shivering Ghost (2012) - Rated 09 Dec 2024
"If the special effects were more convincing, this would go a long way towards being creepy. Despite that, I enjoyed the way this case unfolded and this series is definitely growing on me. I got unreasonably excited when the director character pulled out a specific item we saw in File 01, and I hope the series keeps building upon previously established concepts."
Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 01: Operation Capture the Slit-Mouthed Woman (2012) - Rated 03 Dec 2024
"I am discovering a weakness for these faux-documentary spOoOoOoky productions. Even though the actual scares are barely there, the slow methodical investigation does help build up to make them more impactful. Shame it ends so suddenly. Additionally, I think that the best way to approach a subject like thi- [The man babbles on, while the camera slowly zooms in to a corner of the review and clears up the blurry image. THERE WAS A SCARY FACE THERE THE WHOLE TIME!!!]"
Aggro Dr1ft (2023) - Rated 02 Dec 2024
"This was such an... interesting experience. It felt like watching a movie from a different universe. Not necessarily a góód movie from a different universe. Though I (think I) enjoyed cruising along on its GTA-on-downers atmosphere alone."
Boy Kills World (2023) - Rated 25 Nov 2024
"I tend to rate action movies on a different scale. Boy Kills World has very superficial characters, jokes that often don't land and feels very constrained in its setting. All these points I could easily dismiss because Bill Skarsgård completely nails his role, the action is pretty fun and dynamic, it features Brett Gelman and (the voice of) Jon Benjamin and it gave me that 'this feels so much like taking place in a vidyagame' vibe like Crank did. Enjoyable for what it is."
