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Reviews
Fool Me Once (2024)
Mid Tier UK Soap Acting
What is it with British dramas and casting basic soap opreas actors to be in these deep dramas. They just don't have the range.
Michelle Keegan plays a guilt ridden helicopter pilot, who is also a newly single mother given the death of her husband. She doesnt show any tonboyish masculine distraught edge that you would see from this type of character i.e. Catherine from Happy Valley and acting you can apply to any character. Its not terrible just really mid.
There is an episode where Maya finds out that her husband killed 2 people when he was younger and the episode ends with a closeup of her face. What we get is a mild look of shock with zero tears that generates little emotion from the viewer. I was waiting for the quick cut to ad break like it was a soap.
The director ends up unintentionally making Maya out to be almost no different than the supposed villans, along with a bunch of plot holes.
What was Mayas sister going to do exposing the Burketts? She would be putting her neices, her sister her marriage and livelihood at risk. Why didn't she go to Maya immediately?
There was no way the writers can convince me that Maya who married, shared a bed and had multiple children with this man and was in with the mother in law had no idea on what the family were up to, which makes her complicit.
Also she had no idea on any psychopathic tendencies her husband has over the years. He never showed any controlling coercive signs at all in any aspect of their lives... like come on.
Unwittingly this makes the character look like she used her looks and military status to marry a very rich man, lead a comfortable life and ignore everything I mentioned and only care once her sister was killed.
This would have been interesting if they had actually put some dialogue in from maybe the mother in law or something at the end, to reference this. Or even if she made a deal with the Burketts so that her and her children are safe.
Dr. No (1962)
A Grounded and Barebones Bond film I was not brought up with this.
Being born in the Brosnan error you can understand the level of Bond I have had to ensure.
Watching this was a breath of fresh air.
Although many people preferred from Russia with love I preferred this. Just a personal taste.
Bond is called to Jamaica to investigate a series of deaths. Now to some it might seem a bit slow and boring and I totally understand this. But to me I enjoyed the slow investigation it felt more spy like.
The Baron country side and settings really give this gritty thriller feel, with just a right dose of exotic resorts and houses to give it that bond flavour.
Dr No is also a great villain he is really smart and you really feel that he throws legit challenges at bond and is reacting every step of the way, in a realistic manner how you would expecting a powerful person with a private militarised island and high connections to react.
Bond really feels like a spy in hostile territory against overwhelming odds, he steps off the plane and instantly people want him dead. You really feel the danger he is in. Almost every interaction or thing he does not with his allies results in an attempt on his life or information being gathered by the enemy l.
Generally he is on his own with no fancy gadgets, or a fancy Aston Martin. He doesnt beat up and shoot 40 people on his own there are no big action set peices. Just a man with his smarts and his tiny pistol.
And that brings us to the final part of the film. Which feels dlsatisfying
The only flaw I really had was that there was an excessive use of the main bond theme where it wasn't needed. They play it in full when there is nothing really happening.
He's in a casino playing cards it comes on, he's securing his hotel room it comes on, walks around in the airport and uses a payphone it comes on. You will be shouting "he's not doing anything why is this playing" alot.
Goldfinger (1964)
No woman can resist Bond cue eyeroll
After watching the first 2 amazing films that were quite grounded. This is definitely in full fledged bond cheese mode with big car chases action set peices and silly plot holes and laser beams. I actually don't understand all of the high scores.
This whole thing is based on women being attracted to bond. What cologne is he wearing? Its just ridiculous. None of them can resist.
What I will say that is the way he treats and uses women like playthings in the film really gives him a deplorable edge which is refreshing to see a film not be shackled down as much by politically correct madness.
However the whole film more or less relies on women being attracted to him to for plot progress to be made.
Also pussy galore who is a pretty good villain, she is smart and organised and what is this? A woman who doesn't just fall to bonds knees as soon as he speaks...... until she betrays goldfinger and is literally the only reason his plan fails because...... 1. Plot convenice 2. She wants to bang bond...... nevermind what I said.
Also why would you tell your plan to a bunch of mafia bosses only so that he can kill them. Oh that's right it is just so that bond can listen in and write down the details.
Also pussy didn't shoot bond on the plane because she was warned and seemed to know about cabin decompression. Bond warns goldfinger about it, who is a fairly smart guy. But he just keeps the gun in his and and proceeds to "accidentally" shoot the cabins hence getting himself killed for plot convenience.
Sweet Girl (2021)
MMA at a local gym = Military combat and survival training......apparently
I watched this film because I got suckered in by the little trailer that plays before you select the movie on netflix.
Boy was I fooled.
The film stars Jason Momoa as a family man who seeks revenge bascially on a big pharma company who is responsible for his wife's death. I did really feel the character and story building at the start. I could feel the hope and then the despair as the hope is snatched away. You are left to deal with a slowly dieing loved one and you can't do anything to save them. All for corporate greed.
This is in part due to Momoa. He does a great job here at being that intense alpha male that he always does, mixed with being a really soft family man who deeply loves his wife and daughter and we see some really strong acting and character work at the start. We then see the bond between his character Ray and his daughter become even stronger as they both try to continue life after their loss.
Not sure where the film was shot but ir does have a really cold gritty dark feeling which is very welcome.......
And then then the silliness begins. Usually with these type of films when you have a lone person going around beating up, and outsmarting the FBI, trained bodyguards and armed mercenaries with full tactical gear, with just their bare hands. Usually the character has some sort of extensive military background and survival training to give some sort of rationale. The rationalse here.......is MMA just MMA from a local gym, nothing else. This is what really breaks the film.
This is before we even get to the twist everyone has been mentioning.
This just sends the film from being incomprehensible to really incomprehensible. I felt that the twist was the true way the director wanted to go with the film from the start. But I felt that if they did that they knew that most people would turn off immediately because it would have made the film silly right from the start..
Brincando com Fogo: Brasil (2021)
The best version of THTH
Yes this is guilty pleasure TV for me when I just want to shut my brain off. What I do like about this THTH unlike love island UK which I hate, is that race never really feels like a factor. Especially with this Brazilian version given how massively ethnically diverse the country is and you really see that here.
Its really fascinating to see human beings even when presented with the chance to win a pile of cash fall to their innate urge to have sex and it really shows the power of it vs money that we have been conditioned is existentially critical. But when we are faced with a highly attractive human on a hot island villa. We as humans alnoat disregard the need for money, in favour of our innate urges , we almost dismiss it entirely. And those who are a bit more strong minded end up conflicted and you see this here.
I dont know whether it is the producers nailing the formula after the English version, giving them more alcohol and parties. Or whether it is a cultural differences in sexual relationships and communication or a bit of both. But right from the start they are all very outspoken and very sexually touchy feely, direct and full on with each other. It really hit me hard and they a seem to argue with each other...... Alot! There seems to be more drama each episode than 2 seasons of the English version. It is great and I think it is the best version of this series.
Midsommar (2019)
Deepness for the sake of it.
Going to try and be fair here. I gave this a 5 because this film starts strong and the character building is good.
Christian whilst is supportive of Dani is mentally exhausted from her always leaning on him emotionally. He doesnt want to be but he is. He cares for her deeply but he has possibly fallen out of love, hence he forgets little things like her birthday and not telling her about the trip because he secretly wanted to go alone and wanted the break.
The film builds tension really well and doesn't hold your hand. You fill in the blanks of what these villagers have done and why they do it. You just have this sense of looming dread that you cant shake as the film progresses which is genuine.
The film then however plods along in usual pretentious "psychological art House" fashion. Full of long drawn out scenes, with little dialogue for no other reason than to create fake deepness.
Christians friends all start to die one by one they even hear screams in the woods nearby and nobody really thinks about escaping or doing something.
Then when Christian decides to drink that hallucinogenic drink knowing it dangerous, plus being aware that his friends have been killed or gone missing, plus knowing the villagers want him to procreate with one of their women. He decides to drink it anyways, because plot thats why.
Then Dani chooses to sacrifice the guy who has emotionally supported her vs the villagers who she must know are responsible for her missing friends. Again because forced deepness thats why.
The director completely goes back on the character they established earlier. That is Dani being a very emotionally vulnerable person. Although she had doubts about Christians feelings. I feel that it is established enough that she loves him extremely deeply. She wouldnt want him to die despite what she saw. He was also heavily drugged. She still decides she wants him dead at the end......because pretentious thats why.
Then we get the usual "psychological arthouse "fade to black non sensical ending and you are left questioning why you wasted 2.5 hours on this.