aaaaaron-frannnnnnnn Reviews

Wonka (2023)

Rounds off to a 7 out of 10

[7/10 · 2 April 2024]

So the movie itself makes little sense. The characters are a weird combination of powerless but sometimes they can just magically pull off something impossible. And if it actually showed HOW some of their plans work, I'd be on board a little more. They only show some details of the "final heist", which they fail at that. And only because of Mr "Little Orange Man" has a Deus Ex Machina moment where he somehow knew where the main characters were trapped, knew how to untrap them, had a jetpack. Then to top it off, he says how he cannot go home, and ends up working FOR someone else depsite the Oompa Loompa being smarter, has more recourses, possibly richer, and also seems to understand chocolate more.

However, the reason why this is still a solid 7, is because the acting and musical numbers make up for it. It gave me the feeling that this was how the movie was thought up: Someone had a few cool musical numbers written and he approached a studio with money. So they inserted his music in a pre-established fictional world. It didn't matter what it was, as long as it had a recognizable name. LOL.

But the ending with Willy getting out the chocolate and seeing his mother was super amazing.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

Could have been Great

[6/10 · 4 March 2024]

So first off, I do think at least some of the hate for this movie is more for Rachel Zegler's politics and the Snow White stuff. But purely objectively for this movie, she is actually alright. Her accent was inconsistent, but her singing was great. Tom Blyth however...that dude stole the show. He isn't necessarily the biggest star right now, but he was incredible. And I hope he gets better roles moving forward. Viola Davis and Peter Dinklidge, as always were great.

As for the actual movie - like everyone says, the pacing was the main issue. The last act shouldve been the longest and the main point of the film, but it was only 25 minutes. The movie is broken up into a few chapters - so spoiler alert -

The first introduces Snow, establishes the program he is in, and introduces his friend, and establishes he will be a mentor to Lucy.

The second act is the actual games. This part was simply way too long. I get the movie is a "hunger GAMES" movie, but this portion couldve been cut down a good bit. It shows how Snow cheats to help Lucy win.

The 3rd act is how he becomes a soldier and gets to District 12 to find Lucy. It shows that their relationship, but they seem to be infatuated with each other.

The 4th act was for sure the best, but again, was the shortest. Basically showing his friend getting too involved with helping rebels, and Snow trying to also help his friend, help the capital, and keep his relationship with Lucy.

So - what they couldve done to fix it:. Honestly, the first act was good. They maybe could have showed how Snow was more so infatuated with Lucy rather than actually having real feelings. The 2nd act, just couldve been a lot shorter. After the games, I thought the movie was done, but there was still an hour. The 3rd act, basically shouldve done a better job showing that again Snow was more so infatuated with Lucy. And it shouldve showed how they more so had a temporary shared trauma rather than true love. And the 4th act - as a lot of things seem to be crumbling, this shouldve been just a depiction of Lucy and Snow's unhealthy relationship. The movie seems to be as if they had real love. But they are ready to leave and kill each other after one moment of skepticism.

Honestly, what couldve been cool, if the movie starts with the 3rd act. Shows Snow in a soldier outfit bribing his way to District 12. Then we see flashbacks to the first two acts. Then the movie could end with some awesome scenes. We could have watched Snow saving his friend, going back and forth with Scenes showing how his friend gets hanged. Also we couldve watched Snow cheating to save Lucy, back and forth with scenes with Snow and Lucy slowly lying to each other.

Futurama: All the Way Down (2023) Season 11, Episode 10

Solid Episode, refreshing after the rest of the season

[8/10 · 13 February 2024]

This was a fun episode. It felt very "at home". And felt like I was watching an older classic episode. The only reason why this is an 8 out of 10, is because the whole "fry and leela" leading up kiss thing. Not only have we seen these two kiss, but we have seen them get married and have a literal life together frozen in time. Yes I know they technically don't remember that, but the audience does.

Other than that, it was a solid episode, and you could tell the writers had fun with the material. I am unsure if the writing staff is the same, but I know at one point they had like a dozen doctorates, dozen masters, and of those there were degrees in astrophysics or something.

Here Comes the Boom (2012)

Movie is flawed, but still a fun movie

[7/10 · 11 January 2024]

This movie is a simple, yet an enjoyable film that even a "hardcore mma fan" could enjoy. I am going to do the "cons" first. There are two main ones I want to bring up: -The main character with a wrestling background chose to do mma for money, but I just wish there were at least one or two other adults also doing like door dash, or selling something too.

-Joe Rogan flew 30 something kids on a airplane (and assumed paid for a hotel). This was probably. Even going dirt cheap, saying each kid was $500 for a flight, and hotel, thats $15k that Joe Rogan coldve just donated.

The Pro's -Kevin James and Bas Rutten are really funny together. I am not sure why people hate on Kevin James. I would never nominate him for an oscar by any means, but he is still quite funny.

-People that say a wrestling background couldnt win in mma fights, have never watched mma. Daniel Cormier, Brock Lesnar, and actually around 60% of all mma champions have thier foundation in wrestling.

-I see a lot of hate for the slam KO. Again, probably never watched mma. While this is a rare, it is still a functional way to get out of a submission. Rampage Jackson has a few slam KOs, Jordan Leavitt recently had one, and we actually had 2 more this past year.

-When Henry Winkler says to Kevin James "last night on the phone my wife said that you thought I was your hero, youre mine". - This makes my tear up even on re-watches.

The Boys in the Boat (2023)

Very Cliche but still a good time

[7/10 · 4 January 2024]

This feel-good sports movie is about as typical as you can get. But it's based on a true story. Ive heard many people complain pointing out that it's a boring movie because there are 3 races, and they win all 3. So it's the argument of "well did you want them to lie and pretend they lost a race?". Don't get me wrong there is for sure cheesy lines, but overall, it was still fun. For me, these tweaks woudlve made the movie great: -the coxsawin (the dude in the front) shoudlve been the main character. Aside from being the strongest actor, I felt that he had the come compelling story. The main character's dad left him? Like, boohoo, in 2024, thats 60% of us LOL.

-the flashback and the old man was pointless. Take that out -It was one of the first sports movies where it didn't do a "what happened after" section. I wanted a ending montage of "this person went on to get married, and teach at blah blah", next - "this person continued racing, and became a successful blah blah".

However, the biggest pro of the movie: you feel the true speed of those boats. Turns out the actors trained for hours about really rowing those things, and most the of racing scenes were real life practical shots.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Fun Movie

[8/10 · 4 December 2023]

I love that most of the hate is from non-asians saying that the film depicts racist caricatures, affirms judgmental asians, and promotes materialism. While I don't have family in Singapore, I do have Korean and Chinese family who live in extremely expensive high rises in Hawaii and California. Make the money more proportionate to my family, and boom - this movie is my family.

I should point out, I am Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. I think most of us asians can firmly attest that the guilt, judgement, and most things depicted in this film. Trust me, I am poor - and my mom still had the "non good enough" attitude for my wife. And yes, there are a TON of asians that send thier kids to British Boarding schools, so they have that sort of hybrid english-asian accent.

As for the movie itself, it's fun and exciting. The acting chops of Michelle Yoeh, Henry Golding, Constance Wu, and more are all amazing. I mean, it's a romance, so theres obviously going to be some cliches, but those do not spoil the movie.

Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder (2023) Season Unknown, Episode Unknown

Doctor and Donna are super fun!

[9/10 · 4 December 2023]

I am so glad David Tennant is back. It's a shame that Jodie Whittaker is such a great actress but was given absolute crap, mixed with politics pandering. She couldve actually been a great doctor. That first episode was weird, but this 2nd part of the special was fun with.

Not gonna give a full summary, but long story short, the Doctor and Donna come to a space ship at the edge of the universe. While figuring out why the ship is empty, they continue to talk. Really nice seeing the acting chops of Tennant as the "tragic hero". 2 life forms are there who impersonate them and attack them. These alien people were super creepy and it was actually quite intense as our main characters figure out how to get away.

It was a fun, classic Dr Who adventure.

Bluey: Sleepytime (2020) Season 2, Episode 26

Never cried harder, LOL

[10/10 · 4 December 2023]

So growing up, I was never too Touchy Feely. I mean, my mother and I hugged and stuff here and there, but thats about it. My wife's love language is physical touch, and our son for sure has that too. This episode, with the music, and the dream sequence was fantastic. It talks about how it's ok to want the warmth of your loved one, but its alright wanting to be independent as well. This episode really helped me understand my son and my wife a little more. He is 3 right now, and being an asain hawaiian household - I am one of those "no youre too big to want mummy snuggles". But now, I am like "cmon and snuggle with your mom".

Bluey: Camping (2019) Season 1, Episode 43

Wow

[10/10 · 4 December 2023]

So, this episode hit me hard. I obviously like it because my 3 year old son is getting more and more social and interactive, and will need lessons like this throughout his life; But this episode was great for me as well.

The area I moved into is very transient. Lots of either old people or young people who are saving up to move to a better area. So my wife and I are sort of the only couple our age. I often get sad about the many friend's ive made as an adult who moved away. I obviously try to keep touch with social media, but its difficult. So this episode really hit home about "just be gratetful that you made that friend in the first place", was perfect.

Attack on Titan: The Final Chapters: Special 2 (2023) Season 4, Episode 30

Thank you to all directors, writers, and crew

[9/10 · 5 November 2023]

I was finally talking into watching this show by a lot of people just a few months ago. After the first episode I was hooked. I binged the entire show, not realizing there was still one more episode left. Luckily for me, there was only a 3 week waiting period for the finale.

I loved the animation, the pacing, and how high the stakes were. I also love how my favorite side character Jean essentially became a main character, and was just as important as Armin, Mikasa, Hange and Levi.

My only complaint is that the last scenes of "resolution" and or "epilogue" was a tad short. I mean the last season didn't "lack pacing" by any means, but it was a slower burn. We for sure had time for giving us a slightly longer epilogue. For an anime this intense, I wanted like 20 full minutes of showing us everyone's life afterwards. I wanted to see Jean having a kid and naming his son Eren lol. Wanted to see Levi training new recuits. Wanted to see Armin and Annie getting married. Wante to see Mikasa finally letting go of of needing to protect and maybe help historia on the farm.

But that is just fan fiction at this point. And all in all, I am extremely grateful for this show and the entertainment it has brought me.

It Chapter Two (2019)

Honestly, still fun

[7/10 · 2 November 2023]

Only seen this once in theatres, but decided to rewatch it. So elephant in the room - unfortunately, it's true about the CGI. The amazing acting prowess of Bill Skarsgard is WAY overshadowed by shoddy GCI. The reason why Tim Curry, and Skarsgard in the first movie worked so well was because of the simple and practical nature of the clown. And Bill Skarsgard was able to make those creepy eyes organically. And the CGI on the kids was weird and notable too. Some parts were good, but some not. So again, yeah, the overuse of CGI was sort of weird.

However the rest of the cast had amazing chemistry. The sad moments were extremely heartfelt, the scary moments were still scary (despite the CGI), and the funny moments were funny. The dinner scene seemed real and possibly improvised. Possible homage to the dinner scene in Alien? Just letting the actors have fun and talk organically for 30 seconds just brings so much to a film.

It (I) (2017)

Just Rewatched - Still Good

[7/10 · 2 November 2023]

Watched this once in theatres, and thought it was pretty good. And frankly, still a fun watch. Great job to the effects team (or whomever does the "jump scares"), as they purposefully made it so that as the kids get more and more brave, the scary moments for the audience is also not as scary. For example, at the beginning, you barely see Pennywise. But throughout the movie, they give him more screentime leading up to the loud part, so that it less of a surprise. Expertly done. The acting of whoever plays Billy is insane. Hope to see that kid more and more.

My biggest "con" with the movie are the bullies. Way over the top, and you could take out their part entirely and the movie could be the same. Just have the Losers meet slightly different.

But overall, good movie. And while it for sure has jump scares, it doesnt rely on it. HUGE props to Bill Skarsgard to making those freaky clown eyes naturally.

Scrubs: My Finale: Part 2 (2009) Season 8, Episode 19

Perfect Ending

[10/10 · 9 October 2023]

I am sad to admit that I didnt watch this show until just recently. This show hits pretty hard. So many episodes made me cry and laugh just minutes apart. The biggest Pro with the show is that they really leaned into the sad or deep moments. There was rarely moments that were ruined by comedy.

As for this ending, this was the perfect amount of nostalgia (like bringing back some deceased characters), reminding us about the present with some side characters, and of course the ending montage. This montage (which some may call cheesy), was awesome. The song "Book of Love" was actually my wedding song, and it played while JD saw the possible future. Marrying Elliot, continuing memories with Turk, watching his family grow up, and even seeing Dr Cox. All of it was perfect.

Parks and Recreation: Halloween Surprise (2012) Season 5, Episode 5

We don't deserve Ben

[10/10 · 11 September 2023]

Ben was literally a late addition to this show, but somehow became the best combination of the "Straight Man" along with "Lovable Nerd".

In this Episode, Ben and Leslie are still apart and Ben is offered to stay on with Jen and to run another campaign. But in different scenarios, both Ben and Leslie learned the lesson of thinking about the future. Leslie, being a great girlfriend supports Ben in his away-from home campaign job, and goes to cancel the house that they were going to rent together. But because Ben is the best boyfriend suprises Leslie at the rental house where he drops down on one knee. Leslie become emotional because despite her chaotic couple of weeks, says that everything is perfect at that moment in time.

Ben and Leslie are hands down the best TV couple of all time. Ross and Rachel, Marshall and Lilly, JD and Elliot, Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago - all Do not hold a light to Leslie and Ben.

Parks and Recreation: Smallest Park (2011) Season 4, Episode 8

Leslie and Ben!

[8/10 · 11 September 2023]

So sometimes TV shows have "annoying Plot points" for the sake of drama that everyone makes the worst decisions. The writers in these shows rely on "Suspension of disbelief" (which humans disregard 100% objective realty for the sake of enjoying a work of fiction). Which there is quite a bit of that in this show. However - the POINT of this whole episode is that everyone BESIDES Leslie is realizing she is being selfish and self destructive. For all intent, Leslie is the "villain" of this episode, and is SUPPOSED to be like that. That is why at the end, when Anne finally gets through to Leslie, it is supposed to feel like that tiny bit of release of tension.

Then of course Leslie and Ben decide to actually get together, makes this episode worth it.

Parks and Recreation: Moving Up: Part 2 (2014) Season 6, Episode 22

Perfect Series Finale

[10/10 · 11 September 2023]

This episode was pretty dang perfect. Not sure why Season 7 exists at all, LOL. The unity concert was the best way to end the series. Incredible that a show that the Pilot Episode got a 6.9 Rating, and did terrible - became one of the greatest shows ever. Honestly Seasons 3,4,5 is probably the best and most consistent TV ever. Season 6 was close too. But everything from the concert itself with Andy doing the final show, Ron joining in, the team convincing the Federal Parks guy to let them stay in Pawnee, the acting chops of Amy Poehler and the rest of the cast - was all incredible. Easily top 5 comedies of all time.

The Equalizer 3 (2023)

Denzel is awesome!

[7/10 · 7 September 2023]

So, this movie was a good and fun action movie. After very heavy movies like Oppenheimer and political movies like Barbie, we needed a break. So Equalizer 3 was a breath of fresh air: Denzel happens upon a small and friendly town, which he protects from mobsters. No big twists, no messages - just a good movie with impressive kills and one-line speeches. This is not an ocscar movie, but nor was it trying to be. If you like watching a guy, who kills some bad guys, this movie is right up your alley.

The small touch of Dakota Fannings character being the daughter of Denzel's friend in the first movie was nice.

Prisoners (2013)

Essentially Perfect

[10/10 · 22 August 2023]

This is probably the closest thing to the perfect movie since Shawshank. It is for sure not for everyone, but from an objective standpoint, the movie is near flawless. The acting duality from Terrence Howard and Hugh Jackman was phenomenal. Also, I don't think Jake Gyllenhaal gets NEAR enough credit for his acting in this movie. The subtle ways he look at Hugh Jackman's character when they first meet is incredible. Prefect combination of suspicion, empathy, a little sadness, and a little defensiveness.

The driving the girl to the hospital scene was probably the most stressed ive ever been in my life. And the very ending of Hugh Jackman's character sounding the whistle and Jake Turning around was awesome. I am personally in the crowd of "hope" and choose to think they found him.

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

Murphy can act!

[9/10 · 24 July 2023]

This movie was fantastic. Nolan confirms that there was no CGI usage. All effects were practical, including the bomb exploding. Friggin unreal LOL. The shots of the explosion's test was incredible. I am personally unsure on who is responsible, the cinematographer, editor, photographer, director, or all of them. Either way, they all should get so many awards.

The acting was crazy insane. Cillian Murphy should get so many awards for this. Just with some mild changes to his eyes, he can go from sad, to angry, to confident, to happy, to guilt. The "Big Stars" like Damon, Blunt, Robert Downy Jr, all could've phoned it in and simply ride on the coattails of Cillian Murphy, but they all brought it.

The only complaint, and reason for me giving this a 9/10 instead of a 10/10, is the oddly long sex scene. I am not a prude at all, but showing the sex scene, let alone the nudity all together was just very out of place. I understand letting the audience know when the character is distracted or seduced (in this case literally LOL), but as I mentioned, Cillian Murphy can portray being burdened by himself. But again, this is a personal thing, and a nitpick.

But man this movie was great, props to everyone who was a part of it.

Sound of Freedom (2023)

Well Done!

[8/10 · 17 July 2023]

This is such a good movie. And knowing their budget was $14mil, which is just a fraction of most movies, was all the more impressive. And finding out that while the movies for sure took liberties, some parts were actually LESS than what actually happened. For example, that island rescue was part of a 2 part operation that went down at the same time. If I recall correctly, around 120 people total were saved that day, and the 54 kids total were saved between the two locations. But for budget and storytelling purposes, they basically only depicted one location, and made it as if they were only kids, and all 54 of them. The other one that I wish they showed in the movie is that when Tim's original international operation was called off, he had a moment of weakness. When he called his wife, he told her he is coming home and he almost wanted her to support his decision to come home. But SHE is the one that told him he needs to stay there and rescue those kids.

The only reason why this is a 9 out of 10, is because just the budget showed here and there. Some edits felt a little off, and there is one time that Tim is shown talking on his phone discussing the operation very loud while walking through a crowd. But these are EXTREME nitpicks, and this movie is still a solid 8.5 or 8 out of 10.

One of the most impactful movies of all time, and really makes you question why all of Hollywood, politicians, big companies will not talk about this.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

A Great Movie, and a Fun Time!

[8/10 · 6 July 2023]

So this movie was so fun. The animation, and the creativity was amazing. I loved the different variations, and I love Jake Johnson as one of the main Peters. The bad guy, Spot, and how his story escalated was pretty incredible. I usually don't like whole trope of the "villain not taken seriously then gets more power later", but this one is forgivable because Miles' Spiderman is still young, plus Spot acts really weak at first. Great job.

The reason why I cannot quite give this movie a 10, the Multiverse Spiderman Leader guy caved in way too easily. Miles is like, "please can you tell me more?", and the guy was like "okay", and shares the craziest information to a young unhinged spiderman, so when Miles (rightfully) overreacts, all hell breaks loose. Plus Peter B Parker and Gwen had to do the whole "kept this secret to protect you" thing, which Miles (rightfully) feels betrayed. Plus this whole part was the part that felt the longest, and could've been cut down.

Here is my "fan service" and way to fix the long scene and make it more reasonable. Miles gets into the Multiverse hangout place, and it goes similar. He meets the guy in charge, and when he asks for more info, the guy says no, but would tell him later. So he chills with Peter B and Gwen for a bit, and before they walk with him out, they confess that they know this information that would be detrimental to his home planet. This does the following: shorten that whole scene, make the Multiverse Spiderman bad guy seem smarter, less drama with Gwen and Peter B, and make the whole movie smoother.

Again, the movie still a solid 8/10, just like I said coulve been streamlined a little bit.

The Whale (2022)

Brendan Fraser is back!

[8/10 · 6 July 2023]

This film was a pretty good movie, but with one of the best performances. Fraser brings it, and 100% deserves the Oscar. Also, Hong Chau (who plays Liz) is also recognized for being incredible in this movie too. But one thing, is I am not sure why Samantha Morton (who plays Mary) wasn't nominated for anything. She was only in the movie for I think 2 scenes. But the scene she actually spends with Brendan, when they start reminiscing about their old life: she goes from angry, to sad, to happy, to super angry, back to sad, all within a couple minutes. And while she is certainly yelling, she also delivers those emotions with subtlety as well.

As for the story, just being 100% honest, wasn't the most original. We have seen the English Teacher, getting impressed by a student because the paper is anti-establishment. And we have seen the self-destructive hermit as well. Yes, there are probably a dozen different ways you can relate the characters to Moby Dick, which in a way gives the movie additional poetry and another layer. But we've honestly seen the Moby Dick metaphor for movie characters lots of times. Not saying any of this is "bad" by any means, it was actually done quite well. Just pointing out that these concepts have been done a lot.

Friday Night Lights: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall (2008) Season 3, Episode 11

Good Episode

[10/10 · 6 June 2023]

So many good things in this episode. Joe McCoy slowly turning more and more into the "bad guy" was incredible. As far as a high school sports show goes, having the bad guy be an overzealous father is pretty realistic.

It's good to see Landry and Tyra on more of even ground, and supporting each other. Tim Riggins being more aware of others (and specifically Lyla), is a nice touch.

The best part of the episode, is Tyra crying wondering, why she was given these dreams and ambitions, rather than just settling. And when her mother responds with "you surprise me...and you are gonna have everything you are dreaming of. You're gonna get everything your reaching for, honey. And I want you to keep reaching, you keep going. And of of these days, you're gonna surprise yourself." Such a profound speech.

Friday Night Lights: New York, New York (2008) Season 3, Episode 8

Great Episode!

[10/10 · 5 June 2023]

Seriously, one of the best episodes in the series. Absolutely love the segment of Matt slowly getting Coach to let him play wide receiver. I also love the McCoy family just slowly infiltrating the town.

And the best part of the episode in the title: Rig and Street in New York City. Honestly, them going to Mexico and getting into shenanigans was fun, and wish they went to more places. Would love to see them going to Europe, or a even smaller town in Ohio or something, LOL.

But Jason Street being able to get his friend to the smaller agency, where he got a job, then being able to convince his girlfriend to let him stay. Taylor Kinch's acting was phenomenal.

Friday Night Lights: Hello, Goodbye (2008) Season 3, Episode 4

"thank you" - smash williams

[10/10 · 5 June 2023]

Wow. No idea how in the world no one has written a user review for this before. I know there was some other plot points, but this episode really was about the send off for Smash (we do hear about him and see him on tv a couple times later, but last episode for the actor).

The intensity of the actual try out on the field, and Coach's speech to Smash, and Smash scoring a touchdown against bigger and stronger college guys was phenomenal.

And of course the phone call...I think I have watched this series 4 or 5 times, and therefore have seen Smash Williams get "the call" a few times now. But still makes me cry like a baby. His fake-out to his mom saying the phone call was just for his new pads, but then he says "nah i'm just playing...they want me". Then seeing this family embrace each other for Brian going to college.

Then of course, you have to mention his goodbye to Coach Taylor. And when he does, Coach wants to give him more advice, but Brian cuts him off to say "thank you".