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FlickFilosopher.com

handcrafted film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997

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found footage

Blair Witch movie review: more like blah witch…

Wed, Sep 14, 2016
4 comments

An entirely superfluous attempt to recapture the magic of the original film. A remake masquerading as a sequel that goes nowhere and has nothing new to say.

| 4 Comments

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension movie review: beyond the pale

Thu, Oct 22, 2015
4 comments

Cheap, lazy, and limited by its slavish adherence to the found-footage trope. Bonus: features the most cynical use ever of 3D to boost cinema ticket prices.

| 4 Comments

The Visit movie review: grandma’s house (of horrors?)

Wed, Sep 09, 2015
31 comments

Over the river and through the woods to yet another banal, anticlimactic attempt at storytelling from M. Night Shyamalan. And this time, it’s found-footage.

| 31 Comments

The Gallows movie review: hang it high

Wed, Jul 22, 2015
2 comments

Unpleasant characters do things that make no sense in “found footage” clearly edited together from multiple sources. Negligent storytelling at its worst.

| 2 Comments

Unfriended movie review: the call is coming from inside Facebook!

Thu, Apr 30, 2015
16 comments

There’s little less compelling than a vague evil spirit with loosely defined powers doing random “scary” things as required by the script.

| 16 Comments

Project Almanac movie review: temporal d’oh!

Fri, Feb 27, 2015
7 comments

There are things in which horny teenaged boys were not meant to meddle. Like we needed the warning.

| 7 Comments

Ejecta movie review: ech file

Fri, Feb 27, 2015
2 comments

Quite possibly an alien torture device designed to turn our brains to mush. *sob*

| 2 Comments

Hangar 10 (aka The Rendlesham UFO Incident) movie review: where has all the sci-fi gone?

Fri, Nov 07, 2014
1 comment

Found footage has come to be an excuse for storytellers to completely bypass drama, character development, and plot in an attempt to be “authentic.”

| 1 Comment

In Darkness We Fall (aka La cueva) movie review (London Film Festival)

Mon, Sep 29, 2014
6 comments

An effective mood of claustrophobia cannot overcome the fact that you’ve seen this all before, and better.

| 6 Comments

Into the Storm movie review: all wet

Fri, Aug 22, 2014
7 comments

A movie to make you despair of the found-footage conceit (if you weren’t already). Suddenly Twister looks like Shakespeare.

| 7 Comments
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