tev
Film Freak
Member Since: 15 Mar 2023
Bio: Ratings are my subjective enjoyment. Low ratings not meant as hate, just my taste. If you like something I didn't, I'm still glad you found something in it. Some of my minireviews contain labeled potential spoilers, though I do try to write what I'm saying as vaguely as possible since there's no way to actually hide them behind spoiler tags. Some older ratings and reviews I ought to update but haven't yet. My tastes and gripes have changed over time.
Recent Ratings
Check out tev's...
Reincarnated as a Sword (2022) - Rated 02 Jul 2025
"Seen S1. First half of S1 rates ~58, fun but undistinctive action show. Seems a bit PG13-ified relative to the bit of manga I read. I'll probably watch S2 when it comes out. 2nd half of S1 was less fun due to a character (the one with a whip) who stinks up every episode she shows up in like microwaved fish in an office kitchen. Hope she's not in S2."
Spellbound (2024) - Rated 01 Jul 2025
"Really excellent movie with a central theme of working through grieving the loss of childhood stability. I teared up a few times. Lovely animation and environments, gorgeous songs - excellent singing from the MC, adorable creature designs. Songs were reminiscent of Frozen's songs stylistically. The only nitpicks I had were small. Great!"
Luck (2022) - Rated 01 Jul 2025
"Kiki's De-luckery Service! I really enjoyed this. Great character design, lovable characters, delightful interactions between them. Sam and Jiji - I mean Bob - were both great. I don't agree with its underlying worldview about luck, though; I think it's trying to explain things through metaphor, but IMO the dragon was closer to right. I'll try to imagine I didn't notice the "tropical" figure in the juice bar because I'm not sure that was a wise choice."
The Mechanic (2011) - Rated 01 Jul 2025
"Besides a couple interesting fight scenes toward the end this was pretty dull. Not into the visuals, something about the color grading maybe? Felt like it was going for a '70s or '80s look at times. Some unconsidered stereotyping of women and Black characters."
Ava (2020) - Rated 30 Jun 2025
"I liked the music and the action scenes. Characters didn't have as much development as I'd prefer."
The Emoji Movie (2017) - Rated 27 Jun 2025
"Colorful, fun, great songs, made me smile. Keeps the pace of the narrative moving, and I enjoyed the visuals. Excessive product placement for awful companies. Thoroughly clueless about technology, despite ostensibly depicting it."
Cars (2006) - Rated 27 Jun 2025
"Nice message and satisfying character development. I found the anthropomorphic cars and (automotive) body horror an initially offputting choice; was slowly starting to get used to it by the end of the film. A lot of the film is centered on nostalgia and cultural cues of the past, which I should have expected from the retro-styled logo but still surprised me anyway. A lot of details and humor for car nerds. Some of the humor around poor people seemed to punch down. Romance plot didn't work."
Kill Command (2016) - Rated 27 Jun 2025
"Decently executed military sci-fi thriller. Knows what it sets out to do, and does it. Characters could have used more distinction from one another; it likely won't stand out in my memory. Reminded me positively of The Hunger Games (though this movie thankfully avoids the shaky cam that plagued the Hunger Games film adaptation)."
M3GAN (2023) - Rated 27 Jun 2025
"Entertaining. Plot doesn't always withstand scrutiny and stretched my suspension of disbelief. Emotional and technophobic themes lack nuance. I enjoyed Ronny Chieng playing a bumbling corporate executive. Quite a few things (both plot and specific scenes) felt distinctly derivative of the excellent 2010 sci-fi "Enthiran", but taking influences from a good film isn't a bad idea!"
Your Lucky Day (2023) - Rated 25 Jun 2025
"Engaging movie with some characters I could care about. I don't think I'll feel the need to watch it again, but it was good once. It's a rather dark and violent film, which isn't always my thing."
