The Couch Critic
The Couch Critic is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critic brings thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critic
When Mystery Screenings Go Wrong: The Legend of Ochi Reviewed
Cinematic mystery boxes can yield treasures or disappointments – and this week, Nathan unpacks a decidedly strange Screen Unseen experience with A24's "The Legend of Ochi." This peculiar PG-rated creature feature stars Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, and Finn Wolfhard in a tale about a shy village girl who discovers a wounded baby creature and embarks on a quest to return it home.
What starts as an intriguing premise quickly unravels into narrative confusion. Nathan breaks down how the film introduces compelling elements – like a mysterious bite that causes swelling, the protagonist's unexplained ability to communicate with creatures, and hints at village-creature conflict – only to abandon them without resolution. The frustration of watching potential storylines collapse makes for a particularly disappointing viewing experience, especially from a studio known for its boundary-pushing content.
Despite giving the film a measly two-star rating, Nathan finds silver linings in Willem Dafoe's reliable performance (despite the actor's increasingly eclectic role choices) and the undeniable cuteness of the baby Ochi itself. The creatures, described as a cross between Gremlins with Wookiee-like vocalizations, provide some visual interest but can't save the disjointed storytelling. Join us for this brutally honest review that reminds us sometimes mystery screenings miss the mark – and stay tuned for next week's potentially equally disappointing video game adaptation of "Until Dawn." Whether you're looking for films to watch or avoid, the Couch Critic has you covered with unfiltered opinions on every Cinema Saturday.
The weekend's here. It's time to unwind. Grab your snacks, leave the week behind. Blockbusters classics, they're all on the way. Let's kick it off with Cinema Saturdays.
Speaker 2:Hello everybody, welcome to another episode, cinema Saturday of the Couch Critic. I'm your host, nathan, and on today's episode I'm taking on another screen unseen film. If you don't know what that is, that is when you go to the movie. You buy a ticket. You have no idea what the movie is going to be until it comes on the screen. So that's what I did for this movie. A lot of the screen unseen movies that I've seen have actually been pretty good. There have been a lot of winners when it comes to the screen unseen. Unfortunately, this one was not one of those winners, but before I can go into my likes and dislikes of what I watched, I gotta go over the synopsis In a remote village, the island of Carpathia, a shy girl is faced to fear an elusive animal species known as Ochi.
Speaker 3:But when she discovers a wounded baby Ochi has been left behind, she escapes on a quest to bring him home. This movie is called the wounded baby Ochi has been left behind. She escapes on a quest to bring him home.
Speaker 2:This movie is called the Legend of Ochi and it stars Helena Zingle as Yuri, willem Dafoe as Maxim, emily Watson as Dasha and Finn Wolfhard as Petro. So Willem Dafoe does a lot of random movies. He did the Lighthouse, he did whatever I don't even remember what the thing is called with Emma Stone I don't even remember what that movie's called, but he does a lot of weird movies. He did the most recent, nosferatu. Yeah, he does a lot of weird stuff, so to see him in this movie isn't really that big of a surprise. This movie was random. It's made by A24, which, if you don't know that studio, they usually make pretty out there horror movies. Just really weird, random.
Speaker 2:That's what this movie was. There's not much that I liked about it. I sat through it, so I guess that's a like. I guess I was able to sit through it, but the storyline didn't make any sense. It's like they introduced things and then they didn't do like a follow through, so kind of a spoiler. When she gets this Ochi thing, it bites her right, kind of like a vampire. It bites her in the arm and her arm starts swelling up and I'm thinking, oh, she's going to turn into one of these things. And then I felt like it was confirming that a little bit, because at some point she shows that she can talk to them and it was really, again, really random. But then you find out it's because when she was younger her mother for some reason taught her the words to the Ochi. Okay, and it's not really explained why she did that, and there's a lot of things that are introduced but there's no follow-through, there's no explanation, and I kind of wish it was just about the girl forming a better relationship with her father, who's played by Willem Dafoe, but it was more about her reconnecting with her father, who's played by Willem Dafoe, but it was more about her reconnecting with her mother, who really had never been there with her, and you find out it's because Willem Dafoe basically told the mom to leave, and I'm assuming they didn't say why, but I'm assuming it's because she was trying to teach her how to communicate with the Ochi and the father basically blame these creatures for destroying their livelihood, which could technically be true, but again, that wasn't ever really confirmed. The only time you really see them, interacting with them, is them driving around and, I guess, hunting them. So it's not confirmed whether there was ever a conflict.
Speaker 2:To begin with, it was just a random movie that I I'm kind of mad that I watched. I Not gonna lie. I think this might be besides the Kneecap movie about the Irish rock band. That one I was kind of disappointed too. So there have only been two screen-unseens that I've been disappointed with, and this is one of them. The Legend of Ochi is totally random.
Speaker 2:I I'm assuming it's coming out wide, wide release in theaters. It won't do anything, it's not really being advertised and it's just. I don't. I don't understand it. I don't understand why, why this was made, and I was looking at what the director of this movie had made before and this is the the director hadn't made, hasn't made that many movies, so I guess this is the first one that's had like a wide release, because I hadn't heard of any of the other movies that this person directed. So yeah, there's not really much else to say. Finn Wolfhard is from Stranger Things and the Ghostbuster reboot movies, so there's that it has some star power there. And, of course, obviously Willem Dafoe is a good actor and I guess he's just at a place in his life where he just feels like he can do whatever he wants and it really doesn't matter. I mean, I'm assuming he cares about the roles that he takes. But I also feel like a lot of actors get to a place where they're just like you know what, whatever, sure I'll do that.
Speaker 2:A random movie about a random creature, yeah, why not? And strangely enough it's rated pg, so there's no real bad language in it. Uh, there probably will be moments that would scare children, like the hunting scenes and what the adult creatures look like at night, but it's not really scary. The creatures kind of remind me it's like a mix between the gremlins, and the way they talk to each other reminds me of Wookiees from Star Wars, like they have really high pitched Wookiee voices. It's kind of like that's what it is. So that's the legend of Oshii.
Speaker 2:This is going to be a really short episode because it just wasn't. It wasn't good and I kind of had a feeling that that's what this movie would be, because usually I like to go in surprise. But it was rated PG and the time was a little shorter than usual movies. So I was curious to see if I could find a movie that matched up to the time and the rating, and I did. So. I kind of already knew that this that's what this movie would be, and I could. I should have just been like I think I'll skip it, but I didn't have anything scheduled for this episode, so I went to go see it for you, the listeners, don't you just love me for that? You don't have to. So I have really nothing else to say about this movie. So, coming up next Saturday, on Cinema Saturday, there is a movie scheduled and I'm slightly excited about it because this is from a franchise of video games that I, I'll be honest, kind of like with Minecraft. I never played it all the way through, and I've also already heard negative things about this movie, so I'm kind of not excited about seeing it.
Speaker 2:It's Until Dawn. It's based on the well, it has the title of a video game series, kind of like a choose your own adventure. The decisions you make determine what happens in the game, and that's what this movie is supposed to be. But everything I've heard is that it's nothing like the game. So, yeah, yay, excited about watching another. Another winner, I mean, I'm not gonna lie. So far pickings, movie pickings there ain't much to pick from that. I'm like, oh my gosh. So I would give the Legend of Ochi a two out of five. The only reason I gave it a two is because I do like Willem Dafoe. I do think his acting is still good, even in this. And I gotta admit, a baby Ochi is cute. It's a cute creature. So Willem Dafoe and the cuteness of the baby Ochi, that's what does that for me. And also you can listen to Katie and I discuss Chitty, chitty Bang Bang on my Journey of Christmas movies on Tuesday's episode of the Couch Critic, where every movie gets its close-up.
Speaker 1:So grab a seat, let the credits play. We'll see you next for Cinema Saturdays.
