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Tenet (2020)
A hard watch but enjoyable.
I, like many, have had to watch this movie a few times to really get a sense of what this film is actually about. Now I stress that this is a masterful movie in the casting, cinematography, directing and technical sense. Nolan knows exactly whta he is doing and works with only the best actors/film producers to make his films really stand out amidst the awful films that have been coming out in recent memory.
However the reason I'm hesitant about giving this a higher rating is mostly down to the plot of the film itself, I just find it needlessly complicated and hard to follow in a quite a few places. The plot of this film just doesn't suit me as I belive all of the truly great and timeless films are ones that have a simple plot that gets straight to the point. Whilst watching this film all I could think about was the saying "brevity is the soul of wit".
I think that the plot of Tenet will be pored over by many and some will try to pass it off as a intellectual powerhouse of a film however the truth is that most average joe's will find it unneccesary confusing and slow paced.
In conclusion I think that it is a stunningly technical, masterful film with one of the most flawed and convoluted plots in film history.
Per un pugno di dollari (1964)
Oh Boy do I love spaghetti
A fistful of Dollars has become one of those timeless films that has etched itself into popular culture. The film follows a gunslinger (Eastwood) attempts to rescue a town from two rival gangs. It is, in my mind, one of the best "spaghetti westerns" ever made and has a unique perspective on the western as a genre. A fistful of dollars was a game changer and gave a grittier take on the western revealing a realistic and violent side to a genre that was dying a slow death at the box office.
Sergio Leone's direction and vision for this film is masterful and his use shadow and unique lighting techniques really add a texture to the film unlike any western before it. Leone's work would go on to inspire heaps of Directors such as Tarantino when he worked on Django and Hateful 8.
Clint Eastwood gives his best performance as the gunslinger called "No Name" or the "Americano". His stoic performance and Anti Hero attitude is perfect in every way, in fact it's slightly unbelievable how his stare and the way he carries himself can tell us more about his motives than any dialogue could ever do. This is especially effective in the shoot-out scenes and provides a real tension and an apprehensive atmosphere.
The story itself is fast paced and very violent which adds a sense of realism to the picture and makes us care for the characters and their plight. I love that the scenes aren't full of expository dialogue or needless explanations. It keeps the story nice and simple with two rival gangs at each other's throats and "NO Name" in the middle. There are a few side plots that help drive the main plot along and fit perfectly into the narrative.
Okay so onto a little problem I had with the film that made it difficult in some places. Some times in certain scenes the lighting does fall a little flat. It looks as if they shot some scenes in daytime and the dampened the colour contrast to appear like twilight or early dawn. This is probably a due to the time in which it was made but it took me a little out of the movie. Literally I sat there and was like "what's wrong with the sky".
The actors lip movements don't add up to what they are saying as well which is quite noticeable in certain scenes. As I said these problems may have to do with the time it was made in and Leone made it work as best as he could. It certainly does not destroy the movie but when you are not fully engrossed in the film because you are wondering what about background inconsistences it is a bit distracting.
The scenes of violence and gore were really ground breaking for their time as most westerns just focused on people shooting at each other and no consequences came from it. In this film we see people mourning over their dead and sadness is a major part of the film. We also see people being crushed or stabbed to death. Leone was obviously going for entertaining realism when shooting this film and it absolutely paid off.
The grit of this film and the way "No Name" is neither a good person nor bad is completely engrossing. Before this film the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black, in this there are no black or white hats as we see the world for what it is. "No Name" wears a brown hat to show we are not in the world of good and evil but in the real world.
I can guarantee that at some point you have heard the iconic soundtrack to this movie in some ad or cowboy themed shoot out. It's great at the start of the film and really introduces the sense of violence and grit that the film is trying to convey. I love how "No Name" gets his own musical thumbprint on the film. Whenever he comes on the screen there is a little tuneful whistle that follows him all through the movie.
I think "A Fistful of Dollars" is a masterpiece in storytelling and cinematography, whilst it does suffer a bit from old age it has stood the test of time. I recommend you to see this film and judge for yourself.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
The Movember Blockbuster of the year!!
This is probably one of my favourite films of the year and while far from a perfect movie I do have no major problems with it. Yes there are some things which I will get into but all in all It's good and If you like Queen go see it. OK! There! I've done a short outline for you guys; if you are too impatient to read the rest at least you know my thoughts now go away.
I like Queen as any sane person does and I found this movie to be a realistic, although a little overdramatic, portrayal of their ups and downs culminating in their Live Aid performance. The film did not focus on Mercury too much and instead looked at the band as a whole. I thought this was a good choice as many other documentaries about Queen usually focus on Mercury and that's it.
This was clearly a choice that Brian May and Roger Taylor, who produced the film, made to show the band as a collaborative effort. You really get the feeling that all the members of the band were great songwriters in their own way. The film does explore Mercury's sexuality problems and touches on his home life as well which I thought was a little rushed and not in depth as it should be. I think the main focus here is the band relationship and not the individuals.
For the most part all the scenes do seem genuine and flow very well in the narrative. There are, however, a few moments brought straight out of shlock Hollywood films and that is something I wasn't too impressed with. For instance there's a scene with Bohemian Rhapsody being made that is a bit corny. This is not a major critique however and isn't a spoiling moment.
The performance by Rami Malik as Fred is just wonderful and so realistic at times that I felt completely amerced in the movie. I loved Malik in MR. ROBOT and here he does a stella job bringing a beloved icon to life. The other members of the band were played well by their respective actors. Gwilym Lee was great as Brian May and I did also love the guy who played John Deacon as well.
The draw of the movie will be the music and getting to know the stories behind some famous songs by Queen like "Another one bites the dust" and "love of my life". All the songs featured were sung by Malik as well which is very impressive and he himself does a great cover of Mercury.
I loved the music in this and thought that It was interesting how some of the time it is integrated into scenes of the bands life whilst other times it is sung onstage by Malik himself. This gives the feeling that the music is the most integral part of the story which, for a film about a band, is essential.
As said I have no problems with this film and it is definitely a great watch with an emotional tread of friendship running through the story. I would recommend this film to anyone, you don't have to love Queen to see it......but it helps.
Rampage (2018)
This film is not even a good bad movie
I won't waste too much time reviewing this movie. The only real thing to say is it is a dumb movie for dumb people. The action is lack luster, the tone is hit and miss, the characters are gross stereotypes that we don't care about and to cap it all off the music is just stock music garbage.
The rock has been doing some really poor movies recently and this is no exception. I have heard people say it is a good bad movie about monsters destroying stuff. While ultimately true the "destroying" bit does't happen until the last 20 minutes of the film. What else is there to say? This movie only has one job and that is to entertain stupid kids on a long car journey
If you enjoy this film good for you and i have no real problem with people liking this but you can't say this film was not made to grab cash off of the idiots that went to see it.....and I include myself in this statement however I made sure I did not pay money to see this film. So please if you have any intelligence don't see this film but if you're dumb go see it.
Nocturnal Animals (2016)
Dark bro, very dark
I really enjoyed this film and loved almost everything. The film has a "story-within-a-story" feel which I just loved and the cast were stella, you could really tell that they cared about their performances and put effort and passion into every scene.
Jake Gyllenhaal gave an emotional, powerful and convincing performance. In my opinion he was able to capture the vulnerability and frustration of a man who struggles to be the man society wants him to portray. Amy Adams was fantastic and really did portray a woman who has everything she thought she wanted but still feels empty inside.
The two of them have great chemistry and I found the flashbacks to their previous life to be very interesting and enjoyable to watch. Especially as their relationship starts to break down because of Edwards sensativity and susans ambition and dissatisfaction, with Edward, grows.
The cinematography has a perfect balance between the light and darkness of the situations presented. The contrast between the "real world" and the "story world", in terms of colour, is very interesting. Everything in Susans world feels fabricated, dark and sleek giving me this feeling of an absence of colour in her life since she left Edward. In contrast the scenes with her and Edward, and the scenes in the "story world" are very colourful with a certain grit to them.
There are some great supporting characters and Michael Shannon in particular is just a great pleasure to watch. The only problem I have is there are a couple of characters, in particular Carlos and Alissia that seem out of place. There is a scene where they mention that Carlos is a secret gay that really goes nowhere. Its like "why put that in the movie"??? It serves no purpose to the plot at all???? In fact it confused me, that's why it gets a 9/10 instead of higher from me. Check this one out....or don't. I'm not in charge of your life!
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Closing Walls and Ticking Clocks
I can't say much without ruining this film so instead I will just give a very vague overview of the movie with no plot points and no spoiling will be done. As you will probably have guessed this movie has been anticipated since 2012 when the first Avengers had hit the screen. This sort of thing had never been done before on the big screen with a group of characters. It was the turning point and issued in the Golden age of Marvel comic book movies.
Six years later we finally get to see Thanos and his search for the infinity stones. Thanos is probably the best Marvel villain since Loki and we see why he does terrible things. His reasons are actually quite justified in a sick sort of way and play on the human idea of overpopulation.
For a film with so many characters I think the story does a great job of giving screen time to all however some of the characters do things that are out of character a bit. The film does drag on a little too much and has the habit of sometimes sacrificing a good character development scene for action.
Saying that, the action sequences are probably the best in a long while from any marvel movie. Because this is the serious Marvel movie as well the comedy does suffer quite a bit and I does kind of kill the scene for me when a joke is said as it is not really in keeping with the seriousness of the film.
The score is very great as well and they even threw in a new guardian of the galaxy song to announce when they are on screen. The score is pretty textbook slow piano stuff and the do use a lot of the dramatic violin which has become a bit of a cliché at this point. Overall every technical aspect of this movie is flawless. The CGI works really well and it is everything we come to expect from a Marvel movie.
This movie feels like an ending in every sense of the word. Things transpire and characters do irreversible things. It really felt like I was watching the peak of superhero movie franchises and certainly a change in the status quo of Marvel movies. Although I enjoyed the movie very much, I couldn't help thinking "where do we go from here?" People have been saying for a while that superhero movies have had their day and infinity wars feels like a swan song.
Ready Player One (2018)
fun and full of 80's references......but that's all.
Ready Player one is the story of Wade Watts and his adventure in a Virtual Reality world called the Oasis. When the creator of the Oasis dies he leaves behind an Easter egg in the Oasis which, when found, will give complete control of the Oasis over to the lucky finder of the egg. This is a film dripping with nostalgia centered around the 1980's pop culture which did entertain me but left me wanting more. LETS GO!!!
The good things... The CGI is very well done (like all Spielberg movies) and the actual basic story was okay and had some interesting morals behind it. The importance of reality being the ultimate and most enjoyable game was one I could get behind and in these times an important one to remember.
For the most part I enjoyed the use of music especially given that it was mostly 80s rock and roll which is really in keeping with the style of the film. The use of science fiction inspired scores is very tasteful and keeps things playful and suspenseful where needed.
For the most part the actors are great at portraying their characters in the Oasis and the voice work is very well done. The cinematography was on point when it cuts to the real world, you do get the sense of a bleak future where everyone is happier in their VR world because outside of it the earth is a poor, overpopulated slum. The film captures that really well and I think should be praised for its use of practical as it could so easily have used CGI for both the VR world and the real world.
Now......The not so good things. The plot is very thin and mainly just a rip off of the goonies or any other treasure finding film. Honestly nothing really original is bought to the table. The characters have very little development and certain things that happen to Wade in the real world are not explained very well. The family turmoil he faces at home is very quickly glossed over and even when tragedy strikes at home Wade bounces back in the very next scene without so much as a tear or glum expression.
All of the other characters play mainly to type and have nothing going on in their backstories besides them helping or hindering Wade in finding the Easter Egg. I did say the actors did a good job at playing the characters but my problem is that when their characters are one dimensional and have so little development it's really hard for me to empathize and fell attached to them.
Like I said without the references this movie is basically a straight forward film with nothing of merit and no significant character development. Hollywood at the moment is relying too much on pop culture references, memes and nostalgia in its latest films. Ready Player One is a prime example of this! I'm sorry but I just can't give a film a glowing review if its main draw is "oh look it's a Jurassic Park reference" or "oh it's that thing I love from ages ago".
In the cinema I was genuinely asking myself why I shouldn't be watching Back to the Future instead of this film. Honestly I think you would have a better time watching any of the films Ready Player One references. Don't get me wrong this film is not a bad one by anyone's standards but it is all sizzling 80s and no plot and character development steak.
The Shape of Water (2017)
I loved this film and it hopefully will get an Oscar.
The Shape of water will, in a few years, be one of those films that is a classic watch. It really made me feel emotional, there are a lot of characters who develop in natural ways and the whole story is simple yet effective. I will explain why I loved this film and will explain the few things I had a problem with.
The pacing of the film is slightly stilted in places. No spoilers but in some scenes there are plot errors that you sit there thinking "ok how did he know to go to the docks" or "why did she not just do that in the first place".
Also the fact that the effects of the creature were practical, while commendable, left me feeling that more was needed CGI wise to make him look a bit more realistic. It's not a major thing for me if the plot has holes and the practical effects look a little shaky but it is a noticeable thing that took me out of the movie a bit which ultimately loses points.
The story is just so beautiful. Del Toro's best story since Pans Labyrinth HANDS DOWN. It revolves mainly around a mute woman (Elisa played masterfully by Sally Hawkins) feeling incomplete in her life. Elisa does the same boring things day in day out BUT then happens upon this creature that is her missing piece. I strongly identified with Elisa as, on a personal level, I've felt incomplete at times, as if something is missing and sally Hawkins plays the role so well. The best thing about this film is this charming, unlikely love story that is told so well and with a great deal of emotion.
All the actors bring their A game. Michael Shannon is brilliant as the security guy who is himself incomplete and tries to buy his way out of feeling this way. His character is a little cheesy in places like when he tries his scare tactics. They sometimes work and are menacing and other times the dialog feels clique and just copied from any other movie.
Octavia Spencer gives a fantastic performance as Zelda. She also is incomplete and uses Elisa as a sort of therapy tool. She talks to her constantly as Elisa can only listen to her problems because she is a mute. He husband doesn't understand her and ignores her half the time so Elisa is doing all the listening which really adds another level to their friendship. This film is a great example of how a great supporting cast can add so much to a story and it added that extra bit of enjoyment to every scene for me.
Technical stuff is really excellent and is very much in keeping with the period it is set in. There is a ballroom scene that is shot in black and white and is just wonderful to watch. The cinematography in this is excellent. There are a lot of greens, blues and teal colour pallets used to resemble the sea and the colours water gives off. When we deviate to a sub plot the colour seems to change giving me a sense of tonal shift that is just really interesting to note and separates the different characters from their respective plots.
The 1950's/1960's music is brilliant and it help create the cold war atmosphere that this film is set in. It has a distinct theatrical theme that presents the romance as something that is "straight out of the movies" and a romance that is just time less. Again going back the ballroom scene as a prime example of the way Elisa and the creature feel about each other. The music swirls all around like they are both swimming in one another's feeling for each other.
Needless to say I found this film very emotionally powerful and entertaining. There are points that don't work and it's not a 10/10 but it made me look at my own sense of incompletion. At the end of the day isn't that what art is meant to do? Make you feel and look within to find a sense of self? For that reason this film will always be a favourite of mine. This film deserves at least one Oscar. Really Worth a Watch.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
The Best Movie Of 2017!!
I have now watched this film twice and I can honestly say that it is perfect in everyway. Im going to try and explain why this movie is great but my explaining could not really do justice to this film. This film has all the key things a film has to have to be great like a strong engageing plot, strong characters, great camera work, great sound track all of it.
I will try and not spoil the plot but it starts with a mothers attempt to stir the police of her town into finding her daughter's killer. From there the film leads a dark path of vengence that is very humorous at times as well as heart breaking. The scrip was written by Martin McDonagh who wrote and directed two of my favourite films. This is his third film and honestly it is his best work. He brings his a game in the direction, story writing and camera direction. Honestly the man, in my opinion, is the best director working at the moment.
Not only is the director brilliant with loads of development and twists but the cast is stella and Frances McDormand is THE BEST part of this film. Her portrayal of Mildred is awesome and made me feel for her character and what she goes through. I can say the same for Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell. Sam Rockwell actually has the most character development. He changes from an a**hole into probably the best character. The way he portrays this change in the character is inspired and has cemented him, in my mind, as a fantastic actor.
The way Harrelson plays the cheif of police and the masterful way he develops this character and breaths life into the part McDonagh has written is beyond brilliant. Then you have a great supporting cast that adds background colour. I even loved the guy who put up the billboards AND HE WAS IN TWO SCENES!!!!
The Two main strenghts of this film are the plot and performances which i can't say enough good things about. However the technical side is masterful with great cinematography, beautiful sweeping shots shots and the scene with Rockwell in the advertisers office is a masterclass in camera work for anyone. It actually looks like it was done in one take however im not sure if it was or not. Again great work and very enjoyable to watch.
The use of popular music is very characteristic of McDonagh and is used to great effect in especially the advertiser scene with Rockwell. I loved that iit captured the mood of the characters an their actions so well. Honestly Im running out of different ways to praise this movie.
You know that annoying friend who is like "Dude you NEED to watch this film". Honestly if he is talking about this one PLEASE for the love of god listen to him it is that good. Hence why it is a 10\10 from me.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
the only thing worst than this is jar jar
Star Wars the last Jedi has been a hotly anticipated film for me. I love star wars like most people and could not wait to see it.....Imagine my utter disappointment at this film. I spent TWO hours AND THIRTY MINUTES seeing something that sort of looked like the thing I loved but the characters were some warped versions of classic characters. I did not enjoy the story and the overall feel of this film was very stop start in terms of the plot. So let's get into what I hated and what was eh okay....ish.
I'll start with what I loved. From a technical aspect this film is great. It's shot really well and has great use of camera angles, lighting and visual effects. There are some great little practical effects in the film that really help cement the Star Wars convention of the use of practical effects.
The Music in this, as in all the other episodes, is fantastic. It is so good to hear John William's score and shows him to be still the master composer we all love. The music took me into the story as well as It could.
Mark Hamill deserves a medal for his acting as I really loved the way he portrayed Luke regardless of how stupid Luke's story arc is. The late Carrie Fischer gave a brilliant performance and the BEST NEWS EVER....YODA IS BACK...as a cameo.
Okay those are the things I loved now onto the biggest let down of this movie...THE PLOT AND THE 22000 SUBPLOTS!!! There is the main plot with Luke and his training of Ray. This is supposed to be the main one however we get very little training from Luke and Ray just basically knows everything anyway. Honestly she is so overpowered the training is not at all necessary and most of it is just Luke saying "the Jedi must end" and that the force is bad.
Luke in this film is haggard, old and a completely different person to the one in episode 6. I won't give spoilers but it completely ruined the character for me and I felt angry at the way he was wrote. Ray as well is such a blank slate that I found her to have no character traits or development really. She learns nothing, and is even more powerful with no real effort, by the end of the movie.
The plot with Finn is just, in the end, pointless and the casino setting that Finn and generic minority girlfriend #1 goes too looks basically like and casino in Vegas...It is just not Star Wars. They basically have to find a hacker to hack a first order ship. This hacker is so obviously going to betray them that when it does come it made me shout DUHHHH in the movie theatre.
The other subplot is with Poe and the rebels trying to outrun a first order fleet at the slowest rate possible. This plot really slows the movie to a halt and just infuriated me by all the plot holes and stupid things that characters did. Poe doesn't trust the captain of the ship outrunning the first order and asks what she is doing. What's the plan? For some reason she tells his to get fuc**d and this leads Poe to take over the ship because of a lack of trust. WHY NOT INFORM YOUR CREW!!!!
The way all of these plots and characters work do not make sense in terms of the movie and in terms of the larger Star Wars universe. That's the big problem I have with this film. I'm not alone. Even Mark Hamill said it was not "his Luke Skywalker" and I just this everyone miscalculated in terms of plot and characters. The kicker is its such a long film and did not grip me or keep me emotionally invested for the two and a half hours.
I think the script writers tried too hard with this film and as Grand Master Yoda said "Do or do not there is no try"
Justice League (2017)
Why do I bother.
It's what you would expect from a franchise batting one eh movie to three abortions. Don't go and see this film.
I know my reviews are normally longer and more in depth but honestly I'm tired of superhero movies. This one is just as generic in all technical ways. The plot is cookie cutter and the actor's try but I was not invested emotionally in any of them.
I go to see these so you don't have to....your welcome.
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Good but not 10/10!!! Really!!! 10/10 is a masterpiece
HOLD ON! before you click "unhelpful" let me just say that this movie is great and easily the best in the Thor trilogy however it does have flaws and that is why it is not 10/10. The comedy in this is really great and I like the overall feel of the film, there is a big difference in the plot compared to the other two that makes this film feel much more fresh and enjoyable. However there are pacing problems, some of the actors seem stilted and dull (especially the grand master).
The comedy is the foundation of this movie. Whilst The Dark world was a serious mess and the plot was really dark and boring, this movie keeps it very light and playful. Honestly even in the serious scenes there is a slight comedic side that doesn't take away any of the seriousness. Waititi is a great comedic director having done some really great films such as Hunt for the Wilderpeople and What We Do In the Shadows.
He has always thrown a bit of New Zealand humor and stupidity into all his films and it really helps to lift the tone and make it a bit lighter which really works well in this film. Honestly I would really recommend his other films as they are all beautifully done.
The actors who really stand out in this are Chris Hemsworth who has taken a tone shift with Thor and made him less serious and "more realistic" as a hero. Tom Hiddleston is great as always. He has not lost his gift of playing Loki well.
The Two I really did not like and Jeff Golblum and Cate Blanchett. Goldblum plays a really dull, goofy character which would work well if Jeff Golblum could play anyone else except himself. All of the characters he plays in every movie are the same character and this takes me out of the film a lot of the time. Luckily he is not a main character thank god.
Cate Blanchett plays a very boring baddie with no real personality or charisma. She is the "goddess of DEATH" and keeps on saying through out the movie that she is which doesn't add anything to anything. WE GET IT!!!!! you like death no can you try and have a personality. Her helmet as well is stupid as fu#k (which is just a side note of something I hated).
The plot of this movie is stilted with random scenes thrown in but I still enjoyed it the story. When the plot was moving forward and the pacing was actually good then the film got a lot more enjoyable. Unfortunately it was hampered by lots of "random character" moments. One thing I really did not like is that random characters are in this for no fu$%ing reason!! Doctor Strange is in this for 5 seconds and really does nothing to help that could not have been done by Thor or Loki. It is just a pointless scene that doesn't advance the plot and probably was a studio executive decision so that they can plug more movies.
The technical side was interesting but had a little flaw. The CGI was meh with no real use other than to look pretty but that's the problem now. CGI should be used to advance the plot and not really as a "look at this" device. If you like CG more than plot and character development then good for you I guess.
I loved the music in this, it fitted the lighter tone Waititi was going for and worked well. It is a lovely score of 80's synth that fits the space theme and tone and gives a sense of other world wonder. Honestly I hold music in high regard in film and this is one of the better fitting soundtracks that Marvel have done. It's mostly all score as well with only one Rock song being used to great effect in the fight scenes.
The colour palet of this movie is more vibrant than the last two films as well. More neon and less dark colours make this film a lot more enjoyable to watch visually speaking. This goes hand in hand with the music and the cinematography to create something which is really good and different from most of Marvels movies.
Overall this film is really good and I did enjoy it, however it was in the end another marvel movie with a few small changes and a great jokes. In a world where we have TONS of superhero films I just want one that breaks the mold and does something different from the norm. The last one to do that was Logan and I wish Thor Ragnarok had done more to fight against the Marvel plot conventions.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
The film of the year so far.........
Blade Runner 2049 is the best film I have seen so far this year. Normally a sequel is dreadful compared to its original brother and with this being the decade for terrible sequels and reboots, like Alien Covenant and Kingsmen 2, 2049 is actually great. This film is Gorgeous in the same way as the original and actually stands apart from the original in such a way as to be a completely different film. It tips its hat to the original Blade Runner but stands on its own two feet.
The story is a continuation from the original set 30 years in the future. I will not ruin the plot for you in any way as you need to see this film. I will say that the plot does revolve around the same kind of themes that the original does however it's done in such a refreshing and creative way that it leaves you with a lot of questions. It Revolves around what it means to be human as the last one did but also throws in love, revenge, sacrifice and wraps it all up with stunning performances from all but one member of the cast.
Gosling is the main protagonist and does an excellent job of portraying the is-he-isn't-he replicant "K". In most of his performances Gosling does give quite a robotic performance with a few choice parts of emotion. This usually is his acting MO but unlike some of his other films, where it doesn't work, the robotic acting he does in this film suits his character.
The writing team obviously wrote K well and Gosling listened to them and made the character work. The scenes where he loses it and shows emotional sides are brilliant and really enjoyable. Also the love he shows for Joi in their scenes is really affectionate and believable. I don't usually like him but in this I have to say to was brilliant and really took me into his character and what K is feeling and thinking.
Ana De Armas is great as Joi, as with Gosling she is amazingly adept at portraying the complexity of a self-aware AI hologram and you feel a connection to her plight of wanting to be as human as human can be. Robin Wright is great as the LAPD lieutenant as she plays a great supporting character who strangely enough is less human than the replicants are but is genuinely human
.weird.
Harrison Ford was the main focus of the films advertising and trailers however if you are looking forward to more Deckard you will be slightly disappointed. He is not in the film for very long and has little impact on the plot for the first 2/3rds of the film. While some people are b*tching about this and giving the film a 1/10 (which is a total di*k move) for not having Deckard be the main guy, I think it is refreshing to not rehash old characters to death. Deckard does advance the plot along and gives K something to hope for but K is the main protagonist and that is, in my opinion, a good thing.
Jared Leto was boring as the "villain" in this film. His acting was terrible all of his dialog was weird and did nothing for me. His speech about angels was completely boring and did nothing to advance the plot and every time he was on screen the pacing felt slowed down. His whole character did not feel interesting and I was so underwhelmed. Luckily he is only in two scenes and his replicant LUV is a great character. She gives us a suspenseful, menacing, emotional antagonist who advances the plot well and is actually more human than her human boss.
Like the first film the effects in this are beautiful. The use of CGI adds to the story and is very tasteful. The scene where Joi is trying to make love to K is a brilliant example of CGI adding to the story, honesty it is so good I was astonished at how real it looked. The use of colour is very well done as well.
Brilliant cinematography, great use of a golden colour palette, honestly the effects department should be really proud, amazing work. The camera work is very interesting with great sweeping shots of the futuristic LA skyline and the First shot of the eye at the start really gets you interested in what's to come and is a unique way to start a film.
I listen very closely to the music in films and I have to say that this is one of the best examples I've seen recently of music adding to a film a making the scenes special. The music in this builds suspense, evokes emotion and adds to the characters and their setting exactly the right way.
The use of "soundless" music is used to great effect, giving you suspenseful scenes without any sound to add to the eerie feeling in the scenes. It is important to use music but sometimes lack of music can be just as important and creative. This film is a perfect example of a great use of music and the sound department did an awesome job.
Overall this film the best film I have seen this year and while it does have a few little flaws. The pacing is slow in places, Leto's performance is not great and the nearly 3 hour running time is a hard ask for people with short attention spans. I think over all this film is really good and a testament to sequels being as good as their originals. As I said at the start this film is refreshing and tips its hat slightly to Blade Runner however Blade Runner 2049 is a great film in its own right. I urge you to go see for yourselves.
Along Came a Spider (2001)
Thrilling but has too many flaws to ignore.
The only reason this film was enjoyable was because Morgan Freeman is in it and James Patterson wrote the book the script is based on. This film has a lot of flaws which I will discuss but first I must just focus on the few good things to get them out of the way.
Morgan Freeman is great in this film. He is very believable as Alex Cross and does a great job of playing a criminal profiler. The reason he plays it so well is due to his retrospective, calm but analytical voice that he uses in all of his films to great effect. His voice gives the impression of great wisdom and endless patience which is what a good detective must have.
Freeman's facial expressions, too, are spot on for the scenes he is in and give a gravitas to his performance that only a great actor can give. There are a few little things like he is slightly too old for the character and he has a few lines that fall flat but on the whole I enjoyed his performance.
The plot of the movie is good as well and does follow very close to the excellent book it is based on. I have been a fan of the Alex Cross series for a while and this movie does capture the Patterson style of suspense and thrillingness that we expect from anything relating to this series (thrillingness is not a word but screw you it is my review).
The Problem with this film is every other actor involved is weak. This film has some very wooden performances and terrible actors who emote nothing and add nothing to the scenes they are in. Dylan Baker is terrible in this film. His character has no emotion what so ever and is just so bland on screen that I find every scene he is in to be BLEH.
The problem is that Baker is only good for playing small roles like in Spiderman 3 where he is in it for 30 seconds. When you put him in longer scenes you can tell how much of a poor actor he is. I think it is best to put him in a short cameo or TV show but not a full length film. He just can't act realistically.
Monica Potter as Flannigan is just terrible and does nothing for the characters persona at all. The sad thing is that in the book she was a much more interesting character that I really liked and wanted to see her done right on film. Every emotion she does is unconvincing and really makes me feel a bit embarrassed for her. She only has one emotion and that is "dumbfounded curiosity" which gets a bit draining after seeing it 50,000,000 times. I was hoping for something a bit more real from her character and Potter just failed to deliver.
Child actors in this are a very mixed bag. On one side you have a young Anton Yelchin playing an okay role as a school boy who is semi important to the plot. On the other hand you have Mika Boorem playing an unconvincing captured kid that is just boring to watch and unconvincing. However this did not ruin the film for me as I do not expect much from child actors as they can all be rubbish in film unless directed diligently.
The technical side of things is disappointing. Obviously the music is just stock music that they bought of a company and it completely shows. Its not BAD music it is just very cookie cutter and does some scenes a disservice by being too stilted and not framing a scene in the right light. The colour palet of the film is grey and dull with no imagination and the camera work is so still and undynamic in dynamic scenes that it takes me out of the film a bit.
It is a shame but I suppose when you have a small budget of
WAIT $60,000,000!!!!?? WTF??? For $60,000,000 they could have made this movie so much better than it was. They could have spent much more on camera work, lighting, decent actors ETC. Where the $60,000,000 was spent I do not know but it is a shame that probably most of it went into Freemans pay.
A GREAT film like Reservoir Dogs was made for $1,200,000 and that was shot better, looked better and had a better supporting cast than this movie. It just goes to show that with a great director the budget of a film can be small but still be enjoyable to watch and brilliant on every other level as well.
This film is a decent film with a great plot and storytelling but what lets it down is the supporting cast, the useless music and the drab, colourless cinematography. Unfortunately no matter how much I love Morgan Freeman or the books of James Patterson it will not make me love this movie. I did enjoy this film but the flaws are reflected in the score I have given.
Being Canadian (2015)
Okayish. Disappointing
"Being Canadian" is an okayish documentary but that is how far my praise goes. It is just okayish. Mildly entertaining, at times, and certainly not funny in the slightest. Now before I start I am English so I won't be approaching this from a Canadian perspective as I am an outsider. I do love visiting Canada though which is the main reason I watched this.
I have visited the great white north and it is a great place to go look around. Saying that, this documentary does miss a few provinces on its trip around Canada and it seems stupid to me that it misses the Yukon Territory, which is a stunning wilderness, and Prince Edward Island which is a gorgeous place. The journey they take in this film is so rushed that it doesn't feel complete and I can't help but think if they allowed more time to explore properly they would have made a better film.
The general question Robert Cohen asks is "what is it that makes Canada and its citizens great?" This is a pretty ambiguous question and one that is answered very poorly by Cohen. He comes to a pretty weak conclusion and to get there just simply mentions clichés about Canada and poses them to famous Canadians.
While it is quant to go "holy sh*t Mike Myers is Canadian!!" the amusement wears off very quickly and you start to think what the actual point of him being there is. Most of the famous Canadians don't really shed any light on national history, they just cop out going for the boring questions that people think of to ask a Canadian. Cohen does ask the help of some Canadian history experts but they have about 3 minutes of screen time
.that's it!
I would have preferred a bit more about Canadian history, as an outsider looking in. The only thing that is really said is that "it is not taught in American schools" which is a bit of a stupid thing to say really. In English schools we aren't taught about Scottish history or Irish history. Just because two countries are attached doesn't give an obligation to teach each other's history.
The comedy in this falls so flat at times that it is actually destroying the tone of the documentary. I do understand that some documentaries can be funny as well as educational but in this film it just fails so hard it makes the people look dumb when they say something profound about Canada. For instance there is this stupid bit where Cohen is interviewing Dave Foley in bed with both of them half naked FOR NO REASON!??! It is such a crap joke and has no real context in anything.
I wish they had done better with this film as there are some things that were interesting and some interesting facts were presented in a fun way which was very entertaining. I did like the way it shouts Canada's achievements and it did, in places, make me think of the important contributions Canada has made to the world.
However most of the documentary was taken up with rehashing Canadian clichés and the input from all of the stars left me a bit underwhelmed. This documentary did not feel like a labour of love done by people who really loved the subject they were talking about. It is just a star studded mess. Sorry EH!
In Bruges (2008)
Hilarious, great plot and great performances all round
In Bruges is a great comedy film that is peppered with true emotional scenes and great one-liners. I really enjoyed watching this film as it gave me a real laugh and also really made me emotionally invest in all the characters especially Ray and Ken.
The way this film made me feel is very much down to the writing which is all the work of Martin McDonagh. It is a shame he doesn't do more films as he knows how to write a great script. I implore you to watch this and then watch Seven Psychopaths as they are both masterclasses on how to write an engaging plot with great character development.
The plot then centres around two assassins, Ray and Ken, who go to Bruges after a hit goes wrong. There they take in the sights and await further instructions. All hell breaks when Ken is asked to kill Ray. I will not ruin anything else for you dear reader I will just say that things develop quite well and the pacing is solid.
Some of the best scenes in this film are just of Ray and Ken talking to each other and the banter they have. Colin Farrell is excellent in this film and plays Ray really well. There are scenes where he goes from joking with Ken straight into crying about bad things he has done. These scenes show off the talent he has as an actor and really gets you invested in Ray and the tortured soul he is. I always say a mark of a good actor is if he can cry convincingly and Farrell does this really well.
Another great performance is Brenden Gleeson who plays Ken really well. His character is as tortured as Ray and it really shows in the performance Gleeson gives. He is more the serious type in this film whereas Ray definitely is the comic relief. That is not to say he has no funny lines, everyone in this film does, but you can tell he is the straight man.
Ralph Finnes as Harry is brilliant and his character, being the main antagonist, moves the plot a long at a reasonable pace. He has great lines like the first scene he is in the "you're an inanimate fu**ing object!!" scene which is to me one of the funniest and best put downs i've seen in a film. It's is delivered so well be Finnes that the scene really gets you invested in his character from the start and you realise that he is a well-meaning bad guy.
The actual cinematography of the film is great and gives you a real sense of Bruges as a place and setting. In fact the way it is shot gives the impression that Bruges is not just a place but an actual character in the movies as well. It gives a tone of old European cities so well in fact that I might have a holiday there in the future. In a time when most Hollywood films have a boring tone it is refreshing to see good tone and cinematography.
The music in this film is not very prevalent but it really doesn't have to be. What makes this film good is the dialog and look of the film, not the music which is only in the background and not at all the main focus of any scene in the film. The music is only there to enhance certain scenes and that is all we need it to do.
The jokes are fu*king hilarious and clever in this film, honestly there are scenes in this film that had me crying with laughter. The American tourist joke with the stairs is genius and a great bit of social commentary on fat annoying American tourists and their stereotypical mannerisms whilst abroad. The best thing is that while these funny scenes and jokes are very entertaining they do not distract from any characters development. The jokes enhance the characters, for example Ray is a funny character with some great comedic lines but it doesn't take away from the fact that he has done wrong in his life and you as the audience feel his repentance at all the bad things he has done.
This film is just brilliant and well worth a watch it goes without saying. However the main thing that I found a problem with, and it is a little problem, is the lack of effort the supporting cast gives. The midget was not a very well rounded character and Chloe was not very inspiring as the "lead female" character. In fact the pregnant woman who owns the hotel was better, acting wise, than her.
I think this film is brilliant with a great cast, for the most part, and a great story that is told in a clearly presented way. The plot and characters make it so much more emotional that it becomes more than a comedy film. I can't say enough good words about the script and I really do look forward to 2018s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri which is the next film Martin McDonagh has written. I would advise you to watch any film he has done as you will be entertained.
Doctor Strange (2016)
No originality. Style over substance
Doctor Strange is boring and has some of the worst acting I have seen in a Marvel movie. The best thing about the MCU is that it makes consistently fun films, but Doctor strange just falls completely flat. Don't get me wrong this film is no Suicide Squad but it is such a cookie cutter movie that has bad acting and terrible dialogue by the main character that I found it very hard to enjoy.
Let's look at the bad things first and then lead with some good things the film does right. The reason I hated Doctor Strange himself was partly due to the fact that Cumberbatch played him terribly. The US accent he uses when he is playing Strange is inconsistent at best. Honestly it sounds like a guy from Hammersmith doing an American accent. At no point in the film was I sitting there thinking he's not English. It took me out of the film so many times that I dreaded the bits with him in.
Stephen Strange is very poorly written in this film. He starts off as an arrogant a**hole and doesn't change at all throughout the film. His demeanour would be fine if he was charismatic or a little funny but all of the jokes he has written for him are painfully unfunny and fall flat. The Beyoncé joke he has with Wong is just BLEH and a classic example of terrible dialogue that is throw into this film.
With superhero films you have to make them relatable and at least funny in some scenes. Iron man does this very well as Tony Stark is an a**hole, like Strange, however Stark has charisma and was written with funny lines that made him relatable as a character. Stark is good and tries to put others first which most audience members share and this is how the audience relates.
Strange cares for himself and no one else, making him hard to relate too and making him unlikeable. He doesn't change at the end of the film; he just comes to the realisation that it is okay to loose sometimes. He doesn't even stop being a selfish di*k head so there is little character development for our MAIN CHARACTER!
Tilda Swinton plays the ancient one. I will not go into whether I think Swinton's character should have been played by an elderly Asian man like in the comics, I will let the SJWs get hard over that one
.I personally don't care that much; as I have not read the comics so I'm not that attached to the character. Swinton is okay and does know how to portray a wise woman well I guess. Her character can sometimes be a boring wooden character sometimes but not to the point where it ruins the film
. That's all I have to say on her.
The plot is a simple cookie cutter plot that Marvel likes to use again and again. Honestly the plots in some marvel films are so samey that you really have to wonder about the originality here. Doctor Strange follows the same conventions of most superhero movies like a big fight at the end with a powerful bad guy, sidekicks turning evil and a treasured mentor dying. While there is nothing wrong with conventions it would be nice for marvel to break this chain and deviate from the norm.
The CGI was good in this film. The scene where Strange is first shown the mystic arts and the "dream sequences" where the worlds are turned upside down are great visually. CGI is great and can really help a story along when a character is explaining the magic used. This film is a good example of that and when Tilda Swinton is explaining these principles to Strange it is at least fun to watch.
The other technical parts of the film are barely noticeable. I have no opinion on the music because I wasn't really paying attention to it at all. That is a shame as it shows that it was not used to the effect that music can be used in film. The cinematography, as well, fell short and went practically unnoticed by me. In fact the CGI is the only thing worth note in this film from a technical point of view which is sad. This film is a Marvel "filler movie" that, on its own, is easily forgettable and does nothing to advance the MCU in any way.
Unfortunately the MCU loves to play it safe with these "filler movies" like Ant man, Incredible Hulk, Iron man 2 and Doctor Strange these movies are just there to keep us interested so everyone will go and see the new Avengers film or another Thor film.
This film could be better if they had just made Strange a likable hero instead of an as*hole and Benedict worked on his accent. It is sad but it is true and it is the main reason why this film is bad. The other characters are fine but hardly anything to write home about and the whole movie is a bit on the mediocre side of things. The CGI is good, well done effects team, but it is that classic case of style over substance.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
This film is pandering nonsense. The first was better
Kingsman golden circle is a hot steaming pile of pandering nonsense. The plot is all over the place, characters are stilted whilst others are not utilised properly. The music is terrible, the camera work passable and the whole feel of this movie is BLEH. A far cry from the first one and has none of the charm or wit.
The plot revolves around this woman who wants to make drugs that kill people and bribes the president with an antidote in return for fame. The president is an evil man who gets impeached and replaced with a "strong, truthful" woman who is his vice president (VP). This is strongly prevalent during the film and is obviously a poor analogy for the Donald Trump situation at the moment.
The fact that the VP looks like Hillary Clinton as well is majorly pandering to the audience and this part of the plot is so rammed down our gobs that we choke on this pretentiousness. It adds nothing to the movie and is just a sad attempt at getting political in what was meant to be a goofy, fun spy movie.
The rest of the plot is disjointed at best with Colin Firths character getting a downturn. In the first film he was a master spy with great reflexes and a charm that left us all rooting for him. In this film he is such a wimp that he needs help from Elton John (of all people!!?) to kill a robot dog. Even his "manners maketh man" scene is done again for no reason. In the first that fight made sense and had a point to the plot. In this the fight happens for no reason other than the studio wanted to rehash it.
The villain in this film is poor as she has no real personality and is so dull. She also spends all of her time in a 50s diner and never leaves. Not even when she knows the Kingsmen are coming for her does she run out or try to escape. She is so removed from valentine who was a great goofy villain. In fact she is so boring that I even forget what she is called and I saw the movie 1 hour ago
.That is how forgettable she is!
The Swedish woman, who was barely in the first film, is very prevalent in this one for some reason?? I thought she was just in the first one for comic relief and so Eggsy could fuc* her in the a*s. I don't know why they killed off Lancelot (Roxy) and kept the Swedish woman in the film. Roxy was very prevalent in the first one and she gets killed off in this for no real reason and it's such a lacklustre, boring death as well that leads me to believe that she wasn't really important in the first film after all.
The statesmen are a really stupid idea. They all have southern accents and wear denim jackets and cowboy hats. I don't know if the writers have actually been to the US but that is not how all Americans act and dress. You don't see the Kingsmen pandering to English stereotypes like drinking Tea all the time and having fish and chips. So why then do we get this from the statesmen? It seems too stereotypical and just a dumb thing to throw into a plot.
Channing Tatum got a huge portion of trailer time however he is hardly in the film at all. He has one 30 second fight scene and that's it. I think he was just put in so women who get wet at Channing Tatum and will go see it. Sorry girls but he ain't in it
.but the sexy Mexican guy from Narcos is
..Not Pablo Escobar! the other one.
To cap it all off the technical parts are terrible, especially the music. First that dam "country road" song by John Denver plays in this film which is becoming a standard for films in 2017. It was used in Alien Covenant AND Logan Lucky AS WELL AS this film. Maybe that's a mark if a film is sh*t now. If country road is playing you know the film is garbage! All the action scenes for the last half of the movie have country songs in the background which just takes away so much from the scenes that you feel bored watching them.
The good stuff is few and far between. The taxi chase at the start is great and sets the movie off well and the camera angles and shots are competent. Mark Strong is okay and is trying his best with what he is given. The comedy is okay in bits but is let down by all the rubbish and painfully unfunny Elton John scenes which kill the comedy dead.
All in all this has been a rubbish sequel to a great first movie. I liked the first one and was going to give this one a chance however so many things fell short. The characters were boring and in Harry's case were turned into wimps. The Statesmen where caricatures of what people think Americans look and act like and to cap it all off the political pandering this film does if just so BLEH!
I hate Donald Trump as much as everyone but having an analogy in a fun spy movie about his politics is completely boring and takes the heart away from this film series. The main thing this film is missing is the fun and goofiness the first had and it is just sad to watch if I'm honest.
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Really good film but bad supporting cast
Kingsmen is a film filled with loads of funny jokes and great characters. The best thing about this film is how clever and stupid it seems to be. That may sound like a bad thing but let me explain. The film deviates from all spy films by having great jokes like a villain who is scared of blood and hero who is a wannabe gangster which makes it refreshing and clever. The stupidity comes from the ridiculous scenes that are a parody of spy thrillers like James Bond and the Bourne series. These parody scenes work so well with all the clever scenes and the self-awareness the film has with itself.
The film follows spy movie conventions as there is a bad guy who wants to take over the world and the spy is sent to stop him from destroying earth with a virus of some kind. The bare bones are then layered with incredible characters and great, tasteful humour.
All of the characters in this film are great and while I had some problems with the supporting cast I thought all of the main actors did a great job and portrayed good strong characters that all contribute to the plot and move it forward to a satisfactory conclusion. I think some honourable mentions go to what I would call "the main guys"
Colin Firth as Harry Hart is just such a great casting choice. He emulates a level headed spy who is just great at his job and fights with the class that the kingsmen agency is all about. Firth has not got a lot of comic lines but the action scenes he has are the best I have seen in a film in a long time. The "manners maketh the man" scene is brilliant and is so well choreographed that it is hands down the best action scene in the movie with the possible exception of the church scene.
Taron Egerton who plays Eggsy is really good in this movie also. He plays a wannabe gangster really well and we see during the film how he changes into a man who understands that actions have consequences. He has a lot of joke lines in this film and they work in the film so well. Some movies, like Ghostbusters 2016 will stop the plot to tell a joke however this movie has the right flow and a good quality script so that the plot is intertwined with the jokes. Egerton does a good job of acting like a chav turned spy would act.
Samuel L Jackson as Valentine makes this movie for me. Having a villain who is grossed out by blood and violence is an inspired idea and Jackson does great work in this film and actually gave a sh^t about the character he was playing. Valentine has a legitimate reason for killing the population as he is worried about man's effect on the environment and has to save the planet by culling the population. This bit in the plot smells a little bit like Dan Brown's Inferno to be quite honest.
However you soon get over that by how goofy and charismatic Valentine is, with his lisp and his love of McDonalds coupled with a good Dom Perignon to go along with it. The jokes that he has are masterful and I love how he remarks (in the film) that this is not an ordinary spy film. Honestly I think Valentine is the best character in the film.
The supporting characters like Eggsy's mom and the drunk, abusive stepdad are the worst characters in the film. Chiefly because the actors playing them can't act and are very wooden in their performances. Even when the stepdad is being all manipulative and controlling the mom you never really believe in the performances they give and it adds such a different and violently sad tone to this movie that I actually wished they had not had so much screen time. Their parts you can just ignore anyway so it doesn't completely ruin the film but it does take you out of it due to their unrealistic and boring performances.
From a technical point of view I think the movie works well with a lot of great camera work creating some good visuals and decent CGI. There was CGI blood which is never done realistically and in this film there are BAD CG blood moments but they didn't take me out of the film a lot and did not make me enjoy the action sequences any less.
There were some bad camera panning where the camera would pan up and then to the right to show movement of characters from one place to another scene. However this was not used a lot and I can only think it was used in the train scene where Eggsy and Harry go to kingsmen headquarters.
The music in this is used very well as a way of making the audience feel and adding emotion to a scene that needs a little umph. There are some great songs used in this movie and they all make sense in the points of the plot that they are used so well done whoever was in charge of sound in this film.
All in all this film does have a few flaws and bad actors and crap CG blood use but its good points are really good. Great characters and great humour make this a film worth seeing and I advise you to go see it on DVD or download. It is worth it.
Deadpool (2016)
Different in a good way
Deadpool is a breath of fresh air in a world dominated by generic, boring Marvel movies. Not all MCU movies are this way but there are a few that follow the same generic pattern like Ant Man, Thor the dark world and Doctor Strange. Of course the film takes place outside of the MCU and is coupled with the X-men movies made with 20th century fox who are not afraid to go out of their comfort zone. Sometimes it does not work, like in X-men age of apocalypse, but the nicest thing about this movie is it takes risks and succeeds.
Is this film a masterpiece
..NO however it was thoroughly enjoyable and went where not many comic book movies go. People die in this film and Deadpool does a lot of the killing without remorse and adding in some really funny lines that flow easily. Most of the jokes in this film make sense and add an air of comedy to the situation. However some jokes were not funny, in my opinion, like the "brown pants" joke which falls short.
Anyway the plot! Plot wise this film is simple, Wade Wilson (Deadpool) falls for a hooker, gets cancer, tries to save himself with experiments which give him a fast healing factor curing him but leaving him disfigured. He goes after the guy who did this and ultimately kills him and saves his girlfriend in the process. Nothing more to it.
Simple plots are sometimes a great thing as they allow for characters to be introduced and interact in interesting and fun ways. Deadpool is shown to the world as a wise cracking, violent, forth wall breaking anti-hero and that is just what the audience want to see. The fact that none of these characters come to any realisation or develop is half the charm of the actual movie.
In generic Marvel movies the character does develop in lame ways by either learning a new skill or learning to work together as a team
something along those lines. This film has none of that and instead we are treated to nearly 2 hours of gags and violence. Honestly in this movie it is not a bad thing to have that as it is a unique experience and a break from the norm.
Anyway onto the characters and the actors who play them. Ryan Reynolds does a great job as Deadpool. He is very charismatic, funny and acts the part of Deadpool. Like we can say Hugh Jackman IS wolverine we can also say that Ryan Reynolds IS Deadpool. In my opinion they could not have picked a better actor to play him. He just fits the idea of what most people think Deadpool should sound like and act like so well done Ryan.
Ajax or Francis is a boring bad guy. His major thing is that he hates being called Francis for some reason?? It really triggers him as well which I found a bit retarded. Most villains are wronged in some way or have a traumatic experience. Ajax has none of these things and is a bit of a boring character to watch as he just fits the "British bad guy" stereotype. If we take a villain like Loki or Magneto we see that really Ajax it not a very competent villain. His henchwoman that he hangs with is boring too and doesn't say any lines of interest. She is only in the film as muscle.
The X-men are characters that work well in this film however they are the most stereotypical "good guys" in a marvel inspired movie to date. This is not really a thing that destroys the movie or takes you out of things however I found their lack of depth a bit disappointing considering colossus can be a really interesting character if done right. If fact to say that most characters, in this film, stick to a stereotype would be a true enough statement.
From a technical side the CGI is done really well and even the CG blood is done tastefully. The music is all popular songs instead of score and brings a sense of fun and playfulness to each scene, especially the violent scenes. The camera work on this film is pretty average for a superhero movie. However I do like the bits where the camera being there is used to break the forth wall and provide a bit of comedy to the scene.
This film is great. I just wish it had a better villain and a little bit of depth to the supporting characters, not just Deadpool. However I would advise seeing it and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Just the nods to other comic films and the Easter eggs in the film will be enough to satisfy the Marvel fan boys. The funny jokes and Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool will be enough to satisfy everyone else.
Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014)
This movie sucks and is painfully unfunny
Why do people think this film is good?! Watching this film is as close to torcher as I'm going to get. This film is not a film at all there is not one single bit of entertainment I got from it and saying that it's meant to be sh*t on purpose and is a comedy is wrong
. Just wrong. I came very close to getting a seizure at how angry I was that this film stole 1 hour 35 minutes of my life!
To people who say this is meant to be a film that's "so bad its good" I say NO ITS NOT!! Making a film sh*t to get some laughs is not really a joke and is not funny in the slightest. Putting some clear jokes in this "movie" would have made it a "film". Instead I got treated to everything that makes a film poor with the added slap in the face being that it is not funny!
The plot and performances are garbage with a special mention going to Tara Reid who is just in this for the money and can't act at all. You were good as the bit*h in American pie Tara but time has withered away your looks and acting ability.
Cameo are nauseating in this "film" with some people randomly appearing in the film just because they were asked to and needed to pay rent somehow. For instance there is a scene where Richard Kind plays a homerun guy and hits a shark with a baseball bat then doesn't appear in the movie again
I know how stupid that sounds but it is actually in this "film" for no real reason.
Scenes like that happen all the time with little cameo being randomly thrown in without any rhyme or reason. Cameos are always very enjoyable in films, don't get me wrong, however they have to at least flow with the story, make sense and be subtle to be enjoyable. Throwing that stupid Subway guy into a film about sharks is nothing more than giving Subway massive product placement. Subway sandwiches appear more times in this "film" than a decent bit of camera work or comedy does!!
The camera work is dreadful. The shots are always too dark and underexposed. The camera shakes to let us know that fast paced action is happening which is such an awful way of doing things. Is it too hard to ask that some decent action take place?? On IMDb it says this "film" falls under horror!!?? Where was the horror? All I saw was CGI blood that was done so poorly that it made me put my head in my hands.
The CGI is crap because the writers wanted it to be. This was in a poor attempt to get laughs by having some sh*t CGI the audience can laugh with instead of giving us an actual joke or something. Comedy films have bad CG, I get it the budget is low, but they compensate with good humour. For instance Sean of the dead has bad CGI and unrealistic effects but Simon Pegg and Edger Wright compensated with actual jokes and plot that flows. Having garbage CGI in itself is not a joke and therefore this "film" should not be a comedy.
The music is an abortion; I have read reviews praising the music and use of it in this film. To these reviewers I say you have never seen a good use of music in a film. It is just the worst generic score music I have ever heard and is used poorly in this "film".
Needless to say I don't understand why this film exists. To those people who genuinely love this film and think it's hilarious I say good for you. What makes you laugh is very subjective but for me an actual joke beats bad acting, poor CGI and rubbish plots every time. I personally hate this film with every fibre of my being and advise you to get all the copies of this "film" and burn them.
Memento (2000)
One of Nolan's best
Memento is a classic film with a plot that is mysterious, fast paced, intricate and brilliant. I will try to not give too much of this plot away but I will start of by saying what everyone else is saying which is "GO SEE THIS FILM". Honestly it is that good.
To start we get the main character Leonard, who has short term memory loss, committing the murder of his wife's killer. This scene has beautiful pacing to it perfectly explaining Leonard's condition by using only visual means. He is taking a picture of the dead man at his feet and is shaking the Polaroid picture. As he shakes the picture slowly fades from a clear picture to a blank one. This perfectly explains Lenny's mental condition of not being able to retain memories. It sets the film off perfectly and introduces the audience to Lenny and what he will do to overcome his condition and find his wife's killer.
After this the story works backward from the point where Lenny kills to how he got to this moment. The pacing and editing of this film is so unique that you are actually in the same position Lenny is as you do not know what has happened at which points in the story until the story cuts back to show you how Lenny got there in the first place. That sounds like a mindfu*k and it is exactly the way Christopher Nolan wants you to feel. Christopher Nolan is, in my opinion, the greatest director of the 2000's. His camera work is very detailed where it needs to be and you can just tell that he approaches every kind of film with caring and intelligence. Than is not to say that other directors don't but I personally find whatever Nolan puts his talents too succeeds. Dunkirk, The dark knight trilogy, inception, interstellar etc. are all timeless films that give a sense of excitement and enjoyment to me whenever I watch them. Memento's story is great and you can read into so many things with this film but let's now focus on the actors. With all the dialog and misinformation that Lenny receives during the film it would be hard for any actor to go from playing guy who has discovered something to a guy who has no idea where he is. Luckily Guy Pearce is a talented actor and plays this role perfectly, you really believe in his performance and you are completely immersed in this film and the emotional way Pearce portrays Lenny.
Carrie-Anne Moss is also great in this as Natalie. She manipulates Lenny for most of the film and does such a great job of switching from one emotion to the next. In one half of the scene she is screaming at Lenny in frustration and the next minute pleading with him to help her. It's just a great performance, nothing more I can say.
Joe Pantoliano was okay in this film. While he is believable as Teddy (the cop who helps out Lenny) and has some great dialog given to him he just wasn't as good as he could be. Whilst watching I was reminded of the role he played in the Matrix and that did at times take me out of the narrative a bit. Don't get me wrong he is a great actor and plays Teddy competently however I thought that the real performances were Moss and Pearce.
The music in this film is very generic however it is used to great effect to emote the scene we are watching. As I have always said, there is nothing wrong with generic score music so long as it is used correctly. The music in this film does what it is supposed to, creates atmosphere in the suspenseful parts. Music does not have to be the main focus and it isn't in this film. The main focus is plot and pacing in memento.
Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan have written a great movie here. The actors pulled together and there are great bits of dialog and action. The pacing and editing is gorgeous and flows really well constructing a narrative but backwards. Honestly this is a great film, on of Nolan's best, and I implore you to see it.
Get the Gringo (2012)
A disappointment, but only an hour and 30 so not long
This movie is not great. Unfortunately Mel Gibson has been in some very poor quality films and this is certainly one of them. The plot of this movie is dull, the characters are dull, the music is garbage and the editing is so poor that it actually gave me a headache.
To start with the movie opens with a dog taking a wizz in a field followed by a man in a horse drawn cart. Then it cuts to a car chase with Gibson in the car wearing a clown suit (which is never explained)??? Why did we need those two first scenes? Why could it not start with the car chase in it? These sorts of scenes make it really confusing to watch the film because you sit there and ask "why were these scenes put in?"
The car chase itself didn't make any sense as Mel crashes through a metal fence and he is in Mexico. I have actually seen the border between Mexico and the USA and trust me it is a lot more tightly controlled than a metal fence with a convenient ramp placed half way across it so you can do really cool car jumps through it. Sorry to go on so much about the opening scene but it really is that stupid and makes no sense at all.
The overall plot is stupid and difficult to enjoy due to the pacing and editing that was used. The editing in this movie is all over the place with scenes being glued together with lots of cut scenes of babies crying, Mexicans making fajitas and dogs barking. Bad editing leads to the film not being structured in a seamless way and you really tell with movies like this.
Stupid plot points ruin this story as well. If the prison town is so secure and even the big crime boss who owns the police can't escape then why can school girls walk right through this town? Also the fact that they let kids and civilians in and out of the prison to get around is inherently dangerous. Surely one of them would be held hostage, murdered or raped.
The characters are dull and have no development to them. Gibson plays just an older more depressing version of Riggs from Lethal weapon and has no real report with both the kid his mother who he later fancies for no reason other than she is there. The kid is not a great child star but does okay and some of his scenes are passable with real emotion in them.
The mother is the worst character by far. She is just there to be tortured and act scared the whole time and she can't even do that right. She fake cries a lot which is just terribly distracting and brings the tone of the scene down. Her "romantic" scene with Gibson at the end when he asks "can I bite you?" and she says "maybe" is terrible, creepy, flat and not convincing at all. Their whole relationship and the back and forth they are supposed to have is utterly non-existent and is just bad character development on the scripts part.
This movie is directed by a guy (Adrian Gruberg) with only two directing credits to his name, this being the first film he has directed. Every director has to start somewhere however his inexperience is what leads to this film being poorly shot with terrible camera work, cinematography and bad direction of characters on camera.
The CG blood in this film is awful and you can tell it is not used to the right effect. I have no problem with CG blood when it is done well, like in the film Zodiac however in this you can really tell it is CG. The worst thing is that in some cases actual blood packs would have worked way better and added a nice practical effect to the stilted action scenes.
In this film they seem to have got a hold of what Americans think typical Mexican music is and just put it haphazardly and ineffectively into this film. The music in this is so bad that it actually pains me to say that even I could do a better film score and I'm an idiot. For me music makes a film better and when you just put generic Spanish/Mexican music in a film just because it is set in Mexico the music adds no feel to a film. From Dusk till Dawn uses music very well and that is set in Mexico, so why couldn't this film do that?
The only thing I loved about this film was its short running time and I would not really recommend this movie to anyone interested in film. If you want a dumb story with glaring plot holes and lots of meaningless violence please watch this.
It (2017)
IT floats.....okay...done that dumb joke, lets review!!
I do not go out of my way to watch horror films. I scare easily for one thing and I HATE jump scares which all horror movies seem to have. Jump scares are just lazy tools to make a film scary by having a sudden, violent thing happen to a dumb character and just making the music louder to provoke a reaction. Having a monster or character that is actually scary and has menace to him/her is much more enjoyable to watch and infinitely scarier. This film delivers that but still has jump scares in IT.
I can sum up IT by saying that IT is just a scary version of the Goonies without pirates, retarded strongmen named sloth and treasure. That is not such a bad thing but I just could not shake this impression and it took me out of the film a little bit, especially whenever the fat kid was involved. I just couldn't help thinking "sloth love chunk" whenever he was there.
Okay I have talked about the bad parts, of which there are few, let's talk about the good. This film has very good pacing for starters. Most films have scenes that are filler and serve no purpose whereas all the scenes in IT help with plot and character development. The editing is good with no shaky cam going on when there are chase scenes which is my pet peeve. What is the point of having shake cam in scary scenes or chase scenes??? But luckily this film doesn't do that and that adds to feeling of dread when pennywise is coming straight for you.
The music is very well mixed with the climactic parts being well complemented by music that ups the intensity of the scene and allows the audience to feel the appropriate emotion. As well as score music there is also use of pop music which sets the time of this film (late 1980's) quite well.
The plot is like any other horror plot and follows some conventions like a haunted house or things being hidden in basements but these things are a given in horror films. The film surprised me by having most violent happenings take place during the day and sometimes in the open. Because there is another chapter for this movie already being produced it might be that we learn more about Pennywise and what is he and why does he do these things. It was not explained in this first chapter but that is to be expected I suppose.
The characters are very well played by the child actors, each giving 100% and looking genuinely scared and not breaking character. Child actors are always a mixed bag; some can be great, some can destroy a movie totally. In this film you can tell that they all cared, yes there are some fake crying scenes by some of the cast and this is not great but I usually don't expect much from child actors so this did not ruin my experience.
Not only is the acting good, the character development is good. In the space of this film we see all the kids start to grow up, take on a bigger responsibility and fight their own demons. Beverly Marsh in particular starts off as the social outcast but ends up being a hero of the moment and shows great courage in adversity.
With a good plot and some great, scary scenes this film will give me nightmares but like I said I scare easily anyway. This film, for me, is let down by the jump scares which are cheap and the Goonies vibe I got from it. Everything else was pretty good and I would say watch it if you are or aren't a King fan. It is for everyone
except people under 15
. Because of laws and stuff.
Fantastic Four (2015)
Why did they reboot this?
I know at this point it is like flogging a dead horse but this movie is all kinds of terrible. I really did not want to watch this film in the cinema so waited for it to be available on Netflix and thank god I didn't waste £8 on a movie ticket. I only wasted 1 hour and 39 minutes of my life which is much more expendable. Anyway let's get down to the meat and potatoes of this film then.
The film starts off really poorly with the worst scene in this film. The school career day scene that makes no sense!! Reed Richards stands at the front of the class and says that he wants to be the first person to invent teleportation. For some reason this really angers his teacher who starts berating him in front of his class (who all look to be different ages and sitting in the exact same position at their desks for some reason). This is something a teacher would never do in a class room and this scene sets the movie up for more fails.
The plot is very BORING with nothing exciting happening for 2/3 of the film! In a superhero movie you want the powers to be gained in the first 1/4 not have to sit through 50 minutes of filler until we get to something. The film feels it has to explain everything before we get to the action of the film which is at the far back end of the movie. The plot pacing is all over the place with scenes being rushed forward at inconvenient times to make way for some of the worst character development I have ever seen.
The characters in this film have no development what so ever. No one learns anything, the four of them do not even become a proper team that work together and they have no real back and forth with each other. Ben Grimm is thrown into the mix when he is essentially written out of the plot half way through.
Sue storm is played by a terrible actress. Kate Mara's performance is flat and she only uses two facial expressions in the entire film (one of them whilst in her force bubble thing). What's more in this film sue storm is adopted and we are told that she is originally from Kosovo or some place? I mention this point because it has sweet FA to do with her characters story arc, her emotional blueprint or anything else. It was just a useless bit of info that we did not need to be explained.
Miles Teller was great in whiplash but here he is not helped by a flat, BORING script which gives him nothing to work with and not much character background to feed off. As I said before there is not one single joke between the characters and everyone is so serious (WHY SO SERIOUS??). Even the human torch, who is supposed to be the comic relief, is flat and always seems to be angry at life for some reason. Honestly after watching this movie I sat back thinking that I should cancel my Netflix subscription, the film was that frustrating.
The music, cinematography and all other technical things I look for were all lost as I was just distracted by how boring and nonsensical the plot was. I guess if the sound and colour were really bad it would have registered with me but the sound and colour are just like elevator music it just is so unimportant that you don't notice it.
Poor writing is what kills this movie for me. Nothing about this films plot is interesting or exciting but at least it doesn't fail on a technical aspect like suicide Squad. This is easily the worst Marvel movie of the 2010's so if I were you I'd give it a miss and watch Avengers instead.