Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

haroonoptimist The start of movie was good. Acting was amazing. I like the twists given in the centre of movie. Gradually building up tension. End was crappy and looked like the writers were utterly confused how to end it. However, well executed overall.

MaximumMadness I've been fairly upfront in past reviews about being something of a fan of the famous (and infamous) "Ring" media franchise. From the original Koji Suzuki novels, through the highly-acclaimed original Japanese film series... and indeed through the almost prerequisite American reboot and its own follow-ups, I've been following the franchise for near 20-years now. Through highs and lows. Through ups and downs. I was so captivated by the phenomenal origins of story, that I just can't stop myself from continuing to tag along for the ride... awaiting the next installment whenever it might come.And after a prolonged absence, the franchise finally returned to American screens with 2017's "Rings"- a belated follow-up that was released more than a decade after the previous outting. With a notably troubled production, the film was repeatedly shelved and subjected to near nonstop re-writes, re-shoots and re-edits before being dumped onto screens with little fanfare. And while it did turn a light profit, the film was met with an almost universally venomous backlash from both critics and audiences alike. People hated this film. And sadly it is for good reason."Rings" is a catastrophic failure. Spectacular, even. For a franchise with such high and respected a pedigree, it's almost inconceivable how often and how aggressively the film falters and falls flat. How many times it confuses rather than enthralls. And how many basic, fundamental mistakes could be fit into a mere 100 minute timeframe.Buckle up, folks. This is gonna get ugly.The film's narrative is a discombobulated mass of loosely connected plot-lines, mainly following a young woman named Julia (Matilda Lutz), whom is drawn into the mystery of the legendary haunted video-tape by her boyfriend Holt. (Alex Roe) At the same time, there's some strange business regarding a skeevy college professor (Johnny Galecki) whose obsessed with the tape after randomly finding it at a flea-market, some nonsensical new twists on the origin of the villainous specter Samara Morgan (Bonnie Morgan), and a whole lotta confusing scenes that seemingly add nothing to the film... including a laughably over-the-top cold open that so far as I can tell is completely unrelated to the main plot.To the film's credit, I will say that director F. Javier Gutierrez has a keen eye for visuals, and the choice in shots and composition is suitably decent. It does indeed look enough like the prior films, and there's a few cool moments to be had. But they are too few and far between to salvage what is otherwise a complete and utter train-wreck of a film.To start, the pacing and editing are flat-out infuriating. From the wonky opening act through the head-scratching climax, the film rockets through plot-lines and twists like a cartoon on caffeine. Characters will be introduced one minute, and by the next minute suddenly be in life-or-death peril. A storyline will be brought up in once scene... then completely dropped two scenes later without resolution. All the while, the film just moves, moves, moves. There's no breathing room whatsoever, resulting in an almost immediate inability to follow the story's development. By the fifteen minute mark, I was almost completely lost. By the thirty minute mark? I just didn't care anymore. And by the halfway point? I had to resort to reading the synopsis on Wikipedia just to understand the cavalcade of nonsense being hurled at my eyes.This certainly isn't aided by the amateurish structure and production, which was frankly dumbfounding. The film, as it has been released, doesn't look, sound or even function like a movie. It just doesn't. Almost immediately, the placement of simple things like music or even just the title card made no sense. Yes, you read that right... the film doesn't even put the title in the right place, instead just slapping it in about ten minutes in after a few random, disconnected scenes, in a spot where it feels jarring and out-of-place. And it's immediately followed by a tender romantic scene involving our heroes... that for some reason has scary horror music playing in the background. And it just gets worse from there. Especially in the second half, when revelations begin to play out that basically make no sense and convolute the backstory to the point it starts to contradict the two movies that came before. It's like they slapped together scenes from three or four different movies, dropped in some temp music tracks, and called it a day. And don't even get me started on the dreadful production design. I'm pretty sure the main character's bedroom set is someone's front porch with a bed and a computer desk on it... because it looks like someone put a bed and a computer desk on their front porch. Seriously.And then there's the cast. I don't want to be mean... but everyone is terrible. Absolutely, almost wonderfully terrible. It's clear the actors and actresses were cast for their looks and not their talents, because there's not a single person here who looks like they know what they're doing... except for a wonderfully dopey turn from Johnny Galecki, who hams it up in a performance that I can only call "bad faux Vincent Price." He makes the movie amusing when he's on-screen, at least. Meanwhile, our lead Matilda Lutz is so instantly bland and forgettable, I actually kept getting her confused with the other female characters, who also put in similarly apathetic performances... and who all look oddly alike. I suppose Mr. Gutierrez has a "type," so to speak.Look, there's no other way of saying this. "Rings" is dreadful. Not only the worst of the American film trilogy, but possibly the worst of the entire overall media franchise. As bad as "Sadako 3D" was, at least it had some funny moments. "Rings" on the other hand? It's just confusingly bad. And it earns a well-deserved 1 out of 10. Hopefully the next targets Samara goes after are the director and producers who made this crap.

semichan-kokonut Remember Samara Morgan ? Well she's back, back, back again ! Adapted from a 2005 short from Jonathan Liebesman (which was serving as a prequel to "The Ring 2", released that same year), this nearly 2 hours long movie drags you all along and was 10 times more efficient as a 16min clip. Most good shorts just don't do it as full features (i.e. : "Lights Out") and this one is no exception.The movie opens with the most ridiculous scene and instantly turns you off - this is the nicest way I can put it. The rest is by no means brilliant either, however. In "Rings", people watch the cursed tape despite all fair warnings and hints, they know what they're getting themselves into - when this film unfolds, Samara Morgan and her story are pretty widely known and the urban legend is now part of a whole subculture/cult. You would thought this would work as a natural selection of sort, but sadly, we have to follow the adventures of those who didn't pass the test. Additionally, there's a mysterious new tape. It's not that mysterious at all though, and quite poorly conceived. "Put some mildly scary and vague imagery in there. Yeah, crosses, churches, dead birds... Hey, what about an Ouroboros ?" Anyhow, this tape is getting watched and someone (Julia, played by Matilda Lutz) will try to understand and solve it all again, to save themselves (her and her boyfriend, played by Alex Roe), and ultimately save Samara, too. Let the 7 days countdown begin.(+) Samara stepped up her game! Now coming through flat screens, smartphones, and onto planes. She's not going to let herself be stopped by technical difficulties, no mam'.Contains usable advises such as "how to get yourself out of a hostage situation by using a cup of tea".It's a high budget film, and it shows. Jokes apart, it's visually pleasing.(-) Jump scares, flashing images with loud, disruptive noises. Are you scared yet ? Have another jump scare anyway.The plot is bland, did anyone really ask for this ?Matilda Lutz's character is a classic "I want to save the world because everyone has some good in them" case.Johnny Galecki and Vincent D'Onofrio were wasted over just as hollow parts.The sad truth is, no one shines in this movie except for, maybe, contortionist Bonnie Morgan who brings a tad bit of life to Samara. The ending is predictable, too (and the trailer literally gives it away). It probably tries to pass on a feeling of dread and fatalism but will only leave you with a terrible sense of annoyance. The ending is not an end, and I can only cross my fingers that this wasn't a sign a sequel was ever considered.I gave only one star to "Rings" because of how exasperated it got me. As much as I tried to be objective with this review, I couldn't find anything positive to say. I've seen this exact same movie too many times these past 10 years and the horror genre isn't going anywhere with this.

Dark_Lord_Mark Trash SIN-ema for a trash movie.Actress tried and so did the actor, but this had a poor script and very cliched everything.It was no scary. It's the usual, man has an issue, females are the victim and is able to solve issues that her superlatively might be gay boyfriend could not.Bad movie, bad plot, okayish acting and just not very good.2 out of 10.