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Movie Reviews, movies

Movie Review: Kept Woman (2015)

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Kept Woman is a horror movie where the monster is toxic masculinity. The film is about a strong, intelligent, independent Jessica who is kidnapped and forced to live the rest of her life as a 1950’s American housewife in her neighbor’s basement. It is a story about the struggle between modern womanhood and the pressure of an always creeping outdated ideal. Kept Woman attempts to create horror in the mundane, almost like in Stepford Wives or Get Out. The monster isn’t scary, but rather the need for idyllic perfection. As a result, there are some beautiful set designs, but faulty execution.

The movie spends the first half of the movie establishing Jessica as the here. She is a quirky and intelligent amateur sleuth. The movie wastes so much time on her development, that the horror is limited to the last 30 minutes of the film. It is dull and disappointing. I believe the intent was to build up to a powerful moment when she escapes, but it doesn’t pan out as such. It feels rushed and forced. Some cool moments in this movie suggest that a bigger budget and better writing might have saved this movie, but as is, this movie is a waste of time. 

If you want a movie with the same plot done better, watch 10 Cloverfield Lane. It has the same plot done better, even with the whole alien subplot. But if you don’t believe me, you can watch it on Amazon Video with a Prime subscription. 

Series Reviews

TV Series Review: Upload Season 2

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I need to revisit my initial review of this show because of how disappointing the second season is. The second season of Upload is full of plot holes, filler, and bad acting. There seems to be a trend with shows that go to streaming where they are made too long to be watchable. You see this a lot with those true crime docuseries. Instead of a meaningful story, you get filler. Filler served its purpose when shows were released weekly, but filler has no place in streaming. Filler is the death of good storytelling. The second season of Upload is more filler than story. 

I enjoyed the first season of Upload. It is a cheesy love story that explores philosophies about life, death, and personality. It isn’t revolutionary, but it has its charm. All of this charm is gone. The second season turns into a generic and boring spy thriller with a plot riddled with plot holes and obvious twists. There is maybe an hour of meaningful content within the second season; the rest is boring filler. Any growth or interesting plot points made in the first season are forgotten and replaced with a story that isn’t worth your time. The characters are unlikable, the holes are too many to ignore, and there isn’t anything to care about. I don’t care about Nathan and Nora’s relationship. I don’t care about this weird rebellion that is brewing. I don’t care about who killed Nathan, and that is a huge plot point in the first season. I don’t care because everything takes so long to happen that I lost interest. The only reason I stuck with this show was that I loved Ingrid’s character arc.

Ingrid had the best character development until it is ruined by mediocrity. In the first season, Ingrid is presented as this shallow, entitled, and vain character, but there are meaningful moments where she allows herself to be vulnerable and be compassionate. You learn that her attitude results from her complicated relationship with her family. In the second season, Ingrid begins to do a lot of self-reflection. She begins to work through the guilt she has about Nathan’s death. Ingrid realizes that she is alone, and her personality is to blame. There are powerful moments in this season where she begins to grow as a character as she learns from her experience. She even expresses a desire to become more compassionate, loving, and motherly. The tragedy of Ingrid is that she wants someone to love her as much as she loves Nathan. 

I really thought this show would have her become a more complex character as she works through her flaws. I wanted her to realize that she doesn’t need the approval of her family or Nathan to be happy. She could have had interesting character growth, but she doesn’t. Instead, they make her the crazy obsessive ex-girlfriend. There is also a clone of Nathan now because the writers want to lazily set up an ending where everyone ends up with their true love. Gag. There is no risk, no tension, so why does it matter?

Don’t waste your time on this show. It isn’t worth your time or your data.