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Reviews
The King's Man (2021)
Truly underrated prequel with aome creative historical fiction
I end up watching this due to a mix up of ticket booking and basically went in blind since I missed the marketing. While I've watched Kingsmen 1 and 2 I wasn't sure if this was in the same series or if it was purely historical fiction like King's speech or 1917. Up until the villian is revealed I was pretty unsure but boy did I love it. It's definitely more worthwhile if you're familiar with ww1 history. The twist here is infinitely better than in another recent bond film and the action scenes are slick.
The Notebook (2004)
Probably good in it's time but pretty cliched and boring now
Perhaps people enjoyed this more when it was recently released and they didn't have romance movies with *spoiler*? Death involved. And I feel like that genuinely is the standout moment that made people fall in love with this movie and cry. The build is extremely trope-filled and Goslings characters behaviour would literally be harassment in real life unless he was as attractive as he is. Also extremely childish and immature but I'm guessing the pre-romance movie critique world was happy to ignore that. Their relationship is extremely toxic with the dude constantly negging her (where did you think those pick-up artist got the idea from). I'm going to label this as spoiler but really is it? You can see what's comign from a mile away after alll. I expect those who rated this 10/10 were/are teenagers that haven't actually watched it recently and are remebering how it made them cry.
Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
Review from someone watching this for the first time
Never got around to watching the Josstice league since I had a feeling it'd be bad and sounded like it was and I AM SO HAPPY I didn't. This movie was an absolute joy to watch and honestly perfectly sets up the DC universe for a very very good string of movies. Acting was superb from the stellar cast (one cringey line from Wonderwoman that was directed at female empowerment but just sounded weird to have her saying that to a villian) and a small amount of humour (but not too much). The lnght might turn people off but there are chapter titles so I'd recommend people just pause there if they want to take a break. The lenght though is absolutely justified by just how much depth we get with characters like Cyborg who is new and needs a good origin story. Retrospectively reading about the original release I was just shocked at how much of this masterpiece was butchered and how many cringe jokes there were. I only cannot give this a 10 because the soundtrack is just good but not amazing. You get the nice wonder woman theme song but I didn't feel the score was as amazing as what we typically expect from superhero movies. I really like big noteworthy orchestral pieces and this just didn't stick in my mind. It is GOOD though and doesn't detract from how amazing this magnum opus is. And after this I read the dedication at the end was for his daughter and maaan this is truly a labour of love. Might actually genuinely be my favourite super hero movie now
How to with John Wilson (2020)
HBO basically funding YouTube content.
I honestly can't understand the hype for this show. It covers topics that have been covered better and more indepth in YouTube videos. It's "interesting" in the sense of "oh my gosh New Yorkers are such crazy
interesting people " in a new form of American unexceptionalism. How they managed to get HBO to fund this...I have no idea. Maybe the vibe will click for you but it really didn't for me
Zero (2018)
Define problematic: Zero the Bollywood movie.
Babuaa is your typical chauvinistic entitled Bollywood male lead except he is short. How did SRK play the role of a 38 year old but seems intent on acting like Bahuaa is less self aware than most 16 hear olds? Am I supposed to feel sympathy for him at the end as he leaves? He forces his way into Babita and Aafia's lives and seems to think he is entitled to them. Why does aafia care about him in the end? He spent two days with her at the start, slept with her, spent maybe a day with her before running off to Babita, came back and imposed himself in her work. Why would she care about him?
And this woman is incredibly talented and qualified and of course in India she's a perfect fit for a uneducated dwarf who is a complete jerk to her because she is disabled? Is this how the makers of the movie see the disabled and people born with dwarfism? He leaves her for an insane shot with Babita (and why cause he has a stupid celebrity crush on her)? Have the writers and SRK been so removed from society they don't see how people see them?
This movie makes me want to puke
Free State (2016)
A interesting look at the past from an alternate persopective
Personally I really enjoyed this movie and would love to actually see a longer series that could take more time and delve into building the relationship between the two and take more time tackling their families and societies reaction to their relationship. As you can probably tell from above, I found it slightly too short but I enjoyed the concept and the beautiful cinematography of the outskirta areas of the Free State.
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019)
A really well executed take on Lesbianism in india
With regards the the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed it, not too many songs and the casting was absolutely on point. I felt Sonam Kapoor did a fantastic job FOR THE ROLE SHE WAS CHOSEN TO PLAY. It wasn't dialogue heavy on her part but it didn't need to be.Her reservist nature is part the character and prefectly portray's the type of woman that holds these kinds of feelings in her heart and hides it from a traditional indian society. It also handled it ina relasitic way FOR INDIAN SOCIETY. Ideally yes woman should be listened to without the support of a man but in indian society that's not what happens ever. If you don't realise this you'll miss a large part of them movie's point! And trust me I write this personally knowing a indian girl in her situation and I could see that personality translate onto screen.
I feel like this movie got review bombed by people unwilling to deal with the fact that they find indian woman being lesbians as uncomfortable and simply bandwagon by saying Sonam's acting is bad (and I assume they label her a crazy feminist as well?). We've come a bit further now from Dostana where being gay was the butt of the joke...and in a way the play was meant to show that. Kinda meta really
Next Gen (2018)
A fantastic animation with a deep storyline (if you're willing to think a bit)
I see a lot of the reviews on here especially the current top ) complain that Mai is an annoying character...the thing is, in reality there are kids like her aren't some hidden genius or actually a brave superhero or something like that. She's just a child that is frustrated and angry with both her parents. Her father left her and she feels a constant fear of losing others. Her mother is there but not really due to her tech addiction. The framing of the mother was designed to resonate with kids and I guarantee more than a few of them will be looking at their parents doing the same thing and immediately see the parallel. That drives her hatred of robots and to her, despite the smiley faces and cheerful noises the robots make - it's still just a robot. It takes her a while to even realise that this super advanced robot is sacrificing himself for her because she's afraid of losing him. Like I can't really fault a child who is confronted with state of the art technology for not realising what the memory deletion would really mean until the end.
I thought it was actually pretty innovative to have a storyline where the robot is actually the moral compass, not the human. Honestly I'm a fan of Isaac Asimov even and I think that might actually genuinely be new ground for this genre. I'll admit that it could probably been spelt out a bit clearer, but if you are familiar with kids who are in her situation (as in kids who have parents that left them and may even stay up at night to make sure their remaining parent doesn't leave) you can see why she is the way she is. It's a far more realistic characterization than what you get in the traditional hero's journey that these movies (such as Big Hero 6) takes of a child with an absentee parent. Usually in those movies they just do a overdone scene of "he's a good kid" and then 'what would my parents think". Those are easy to make you cry but here you had a real character. A kid that feels broken and unwanted who takes their anger out on things that they associate with their parents falling out. It's unusually not a cute story -or one that results in the child magically having some redeeming quality that makes up for their anger but that's what you get here.
Xi huan ni (2017)
A simple enjoyable rom-com with food at the center.
I watched this on a flight (subtitles make following movies a lot better on flights) and I was pleasantly unsurprised. It's a cute rom-com and while it definitely doesn't really break new barriers or tell a new story but it does deliver and enjoyable easy to follow movie. Zhou Dongyu is so cute as hell in this role and her bubbliness ties the entire movie together.
Ni shi ying jiu (2017)
Entertaining and well spun time travel thriller
Watched the movie on an international flight and I was actually pretty surprised at how good it is. Personally I really like how Chinese sci- fi seems to "get" what it is to be a researcher better than western counterparts that hype researchers to be either super-humans capable of achieving any unlikely task or crazy evil logicians. I was really impressed with how well thought out the time travel was and I honestly could not point out a flaw (which is pretty significant since most movies end up screwing up when messing with time-lines). There are even clever little markers throughout that are important further on but aren't spelt out to you that makes me thing the director respects the audience. For example (spoiler) you briefly see on one of the consoles that the H2 test subject becomes more violent. Now as Tia Xing goes through a second time you see her extremely violent but the key thing is they don't spell it out to you - I expected something like in Avengers where in this situation she would say "I am the second level time traveler, so I'm willing to do more than you, and kill anyone in my way" - but no that is something they expect you to pick up - that the degradation is what resulted in the breakout from the other bases etc.
Lucky: No Time for Love (2005)
Actually pretty creepy...
So I don't know how the rest of the reviewers are able to get over how damn creepy this movie comes off as. Lucky is 17 supposedly but seemingly acts like she's 12 and it's so cringe worthy to see an old guy like Salman Khan going after her... That's a pretty crazy thing and on the face of it sort of reminds me of Nishabd (which handled this topic SOO much better). It almost feels like it's pandering to immature boys with schoolgirl fetishes. And having it set in Russia I'd think maybe there's a reference to Lolita but this just seems creepy
Dead Set (2008)
Short and quite a good watch for the length
Was recommended this series after watching Black Mirror and I think that affected how I experienced it. Black Mirror is leagues ahead of this show but damn its actually a really good series with a very to the point mediation on the zombie like nature of humans and the consumption of pop media in the UK. I felt like there could've been more commentary as the story developed but for the length it does it's job as a zombie series well. Definitely rather watch this rather than Walking Dead. Character development can be a bit blunt with inexplicably difficult character but it leads to a cathartic conclusion.
Okja (2017)
Great performances and direction
Overall a fantastic move. I do recognize that they're definitely pushing an anti-livestock messages BUT I think it's absolutely great that it's presented in this manner. Tilda Swinton gives an interesting performance as Lucy. A bit narration heavy at the start to setup the concept right at the beginning but she does pull the crazed corporate CEO off well. I do wish they explored a bit more with regard to her relationship with her father. The supporting cast did fantastic as ALF in particular Paul Dano did a fantastic job as a composed rebel (kinda want to see him in Wes Anderson movie). Finally and most importantly Seo-Hyun Ahn delivers a fantastic performance with Okja. I usually pause when I see child actors in western movies but she gets it down to a T. The heartbreak and realization you feel at the end through her eyes is really moving at the end. I've watched the Host by Bong Joon Ho and his direction is quite evident in the shots. The awareness of how to pan and capture a scene is evident and I particularly liked the scene where Jay beats Kay. The camera dolly's to the left and you don't see the beating but just hear it. Pretty clever way to avoid a higher rating but still cleverly carrying the scene.
Master of None (2015)
Fantastic look at dating in the modern age
Actually not just dating but life in general. Those questions you have when you're in you're in your twenties and wonder where life is going, who you're going to marry and the complexities inherent in dating. The characters are flawed and so beautifully human. His friends admittedly are a bit stilted but Rachel and Dev are brought to life superbly. His parents acting is odd but you get how natural it is since they're Aziz's actual parents. His dad is pretty amazing and hit's the note as an immigrant father perfectly. It's pretty short at 10 episodes and it's pretty satisfyingly realistic. It doesn't have hilarious punchlines or slapstick comedy but honest to goodness funny intelligently written dialogue.
Hou niao lai de ji jie (2012)
Touching movie that's almost impossible to find
Randomly decided to watch this movie on a flight to Dubai and I can't seem to find it anywhere unfortunately. Absolutely fascinating look at the contrast between life in rural and urban areas of Taiwan. Based on two brothers experiences one moving to the big city and getting married whilst the other stays at home looking after their mother. Superb acting and the tone of the movie fits perfectly with the story line. A very thoughtful meandering(in a good way) movie that you need to sit and watch properly to fully experience the emotion behind it. Since you more than likely won't find a copy of this movie outside of maybe Taiwan, the closest movie I've watched to this in terms of tone is Paper Man (the one with Jeff Daniels). It's a movie about life and watching it you'll really feel the amount of love put into this movie. O honestly wish I could be more descriptive but I saw it some time ago and can't give a proper review
Dekh Tamasha Dekh (2014)
Probably the best Indian movie I've watched
Well typically I hate Indian movies - the big name ones with all the dancing singing where everyone is happy and the plot is pretty much as predictable as it gets. Generally I wonder how directors are able to put their names to those works knowing how derivative they are (besides the oodles of cash they get). This movie stands far and above those. It tackles serious matter and does it in some ways that I haven't seen before. Sure the bit about the Muslim girl/ Hindu boy story has been explored before but here it takes on a serious tone. The Hindu boy seems to actually be a parody of the "one-liners" Bollywood actors spout but the the girl is actually human enough to see through them. On top of that there's the addition of actual voices of reason throughout the story! The author, the journalist and the commanding officer all take very fresh perspectives of what happens in the town. There were admittedly a few issues in terms of the fact that they try to shoe in some humour here and there and whilst it's not particularly glaring it does seem to me that the movie would be better served without them.
It's tackling of fundamentalist religion is great in that it doesn't actually draw a clear distinction between the average believer and the "moderates". In this town the people slavishly follow their leaders and religions without thinking for themselves. The hooliganism is presented in very real terms ( for India at least) and the preaching of religious leaders are unfortunately quite close to what really is said in mosques and by Hindu leaders in India.
The end as well is done spectacularly well. I expected a bloodbath and I was glad no such thing occurred. The technicality served and excellent point of how pointless rituals can not only cause communities to tear apart but also lead to destruction of property and death. SImpy superb and this beats out any other Indian movie I've seen thus far quite cleanly.
Inside Out (2015)
Soo much potential
I honestly can't believe how much wasted potential this movie has. The trailer did however give a hint to it admittedly because just watching the trailer I thought well this looks very much like a kids movie. Now don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with that, I did of course realize that this was Pixar and naturally I expected a lot more.
To a large degree though the trailer actually hyped me up immensely and from it I got the impression that Riley would be the main character and the emotions would serve as the comic relief- they would bounce of and exaggerate what she felt just growing up and to be honest thats the direction I was hoping this movie would go. That it would show her growing, show her reactions to love and depression and confusion and watch as her emotions literally and figuratively mature. Instead it turns into a fetch quest. A fetch quest with a major plot-hole that even watching the movie for the first time was obvious. I'm sure it's been mentioned but they did have an actual tube that would actually transport the memories directly to the control center! The fetch quest really took away the main feature of this film- the emotions. Firstly they separated them so we didn't get to see interactions between all the emotions throughout the time Joy and Sadness were taken out. Secondly the emotions were now the main characters and the story could then be placed in literally any context. We have to get something important and take that important thing to a place or horrible things will happen...Additionally it opened up other room for wondering do the emotions then have feelings if Joy can be sad/upset and Sadness can be happy?
To it's credit it did a decent job of getting it;s message in the chosen time period of Riley's life across quite well. It dealt quite effectively with depression and I'm sure at that if I was at that age the movie may have resonated a lot better with me and even more so if the kid watching it was dealing with those emotions. It's a good movie no doubt but in my opinion for the potential it had, making the story into a generic fetch quest really really removed the massive amount of potential this movie could've had had it not been aimed towards a certain demographic.
The Interview (2014)
Not the greatest movie ever but there is some semblance of a message
So I've actually seen very little of the usual crass and lowbrow movies ( in fact the only ones I've seen are The Dictator and 21 and over as far as I can recall) so I can safely say that that humour neither impresses nor makes me turn my nose up just because I'm so use to seeing it. So yeah there are a ton of moments that are silly and contrived for the purpose of getting a joke across. Neither is it some amazing satire nor does it provide a great political commentary on the situation. In short this movie doesn't really bring much to the table. However it does still have some shining points. Firstly well there's quite a nice take lampooning the ridiculous segments that news channels actually do show as well as the type of news that has become the norm of the day.
Additionally I actually and kinda impressed at the tone the director and writer took with Kim. They could have made him a bumbling buffoon like General Aladeen and just played of jokes one after the other of how stupid and childish he is but they actually did a commendable job on giving him a sort of humanity and showing that he's not just "crazy" as people always think of but rather giving him some sort of background into why he does what he does. They did a pretty ham fisted job of showing how controlling Kim would be once frustrated (at the dinner scene) but they did a good job of highlighting his ability to win people (admittedly gullible in Skylars case) over. It's actually commenting on the fact that dictators like the Kims have an ability to get people to do what they say much like Hitler. I digress but I found that quite interesting.
Admittedly the plan to kill Kim was remarkably stupid and it got called out towards the end resulting in (roll credits) "The Interview". A war with North Korea should never actually be to destabilize the government through US or foreign means but through internal resolve and changing the hearts and minds of the people of Korea