The Ritual (Netflix Original 2017)

The Ritual (Netflix Original Movie)

If you do a gender swap, and settings transplant, and change the basic plot of Descent, then add in a dash of The Wicker Man, give a splash of Predator, and top it off with The Blair Witch Project, then you would have The Ritual. I liked this one. I would call this film overall "pretty decent." The acting was believable. The directing was quite good. And the script was not too shabby - I am not going to ruin the plot, I recommend not even watching the trailer. Don't expect a Citizen Kane, but it is no Feeling Minnesota. Heck, I would go as far as recommending it if the initial description caught your fancy.

Netflix, your track record is just good enough to keep me watching.

***Warning, I found the begininning particularly brutal.***

The Cloverfield Paradox (Netflix Original Movie 2018)

The Cloverfield Paradox

If Event Horizon had a one-night stand with Alien, and gave birth to a child that was raised by a pseudo-scientist, then you would have The Cloverfield Paradox. It was not a bad film. But it was a film that had a difficult time pegging exactly the tone and feel it wanted to convey. It at times felt like a drama, at times like soft sci-fi trying to be hard sci-fi, and then at times it might as well have been Army of Darkness... seriously. 

The pacing was not very good overall, but that is made up for for the most part by the acting and special effects. If you dazzle and entertain me, I can overlook issues with plot movement.

Some of the plot seemed to not know where it was going. It seems to have hints and revelations, and if you want to extrapolate some, you go right ahead. And those hints might or might not reveal some about the previous franchise films. Is the setting fleshed out? Well, no. Does it do a good enough job to set up the anthology style mutlifaceted multiverse that the movies are set in? Sure.

What would I say when someone asks if they should watch it? I would say: 1.) Just go with it. 2.) Don't take it too seriously. 3.) Don't expect too much, or too little. 4.) Have a few drinks. :-)

Not bad, and slightly above average, but just slightly. 6 paradoxes out of 10.