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Ares (2020)
Wasted potential due to underdeveloped script
From the start of the very first scene the main aim of this series becomes very clear.
This series revolves around the shock factor from its thrilling scenes and leaves character development and explored thematics as secondary structures. If that is all that takes for you to be entertained then by all means go ahead and see it because that's where it excels. For other viewers I propose you read further:
The shameful part is that the acting, cinematography and set-pieces them self are all decently done. The Cinematography looks good, containing soft glowing colours, great use of framing the characters, symmetrical aesthetically pleasing shots of Amsterdam and it's surroundings and great use of lighting in scenes with artistic renditions around the horror scenes. The horror scenes are all well put together with dark toned lighting presented in small corridors around the basements of the student organisation Ares, which itself is a darkly lit classical looking building where most of the story takes place. Artistic shots are presented in a stage-like lighting setup in the fashion of how "Stranger Things" or "Under the Skin" does it. The only possible downside to the cinematography is that there is very little motion in camera movements and it tends to rely on slow pans or static shots in order to build its tension. Besides the decent cinematography the Dutch cast does an intricate job of portraying the wide range of emotions requested for the characters. Their portrayed emotions make sense in a scene to scene basis but not taking into account the picture as a whole. This is due to one main reason:
All thematics introduced are left as secondary plot devices as the episodes like to set up these shocking dark and gory set pieces instead. For starters the main character, named Rosa, has an inner struggle where her ambition is being pitted against her connection with her family. This is severely underdeveloped. The writer wants you to feel that she is unchallenged in her college life and makes decisions in favour of her ambition, which a satanic student organisation called Ares can provide so she goes deeper into this organisation while leaving her family in the dust. Only a few superficial interactions between her and her family are shown beforehand and this make you wonder if she even cares for them at all. Her ambition itself also makes little logical sense as she is only a first year student while seeming to be as arrogant as they come. Her rebellion during her classes make little logical sense and she almost seems to be portrayed like a parody of what a first year medical genius actually would do. Not only does this make the set-pieces feel less emotionally impactful, but they also aren't believable. The second main character continues this trend and is called Jacob. Likewise he becomes a plot device rather than a character you care for. He is used to set up the thrilling scenes in each episode but his connection with Rosa is never fully explored. We know his family has been involved with Ares but just like Rosa we are supposed to guess he cares for them, or does he? That's my point. Then there is this hierarchy amongst the members of Ares which never makes much sense until the last episode. Some characters know more than others but other than the head of Ares the rest seem as lost in the organisation as the viewer is. Which leads me to the final conclusion of this series:
Mystery is good but the lack of visual storytelling or deeper narrative around that mystery makes it mystery done wrong. The belief systems of Ares are teased and had so much potential. They wanted to implement the rich and dark Dutch history, such as with art and slavery, since the first episode but this never shows up again until the season finale. The hyperfocus on the demonic and satanic scenes overshadows this intend and the traits of the main characters. The final nail in the coffin was that the last episode finally showed all the interesting thematics that were so superficially hinted throughout previous episodes, which does come together in a great produced piece of cinema. But without a strong catharsis for any of these thematics or characters, I can only describe this series as one 'what could have been' and not one 'that is'.
Kingdom (2019)
HIDDEN GEM! MUST SEE NOW, HIGH QUALITY KOREAN PRODUCTION ON ALL CINEMATIC AND STORYTELLING FRONTS!
Yes, the title is in complete caps lock. In fact, this whole review should've been. But I digress, this Korean series which now spans 2 seasons is on equal footing as the first seasons of Game of Thrones. The hierarchy in the collectivist culture of feudal Korea is excellently portrayed here, and used as a plot element in order to diversify the cast between good and evil: The need for equal treatment and helping each other or the need for power and being a manipulative totalitarian ruler.
The cinematography is amazing with tons of beautiful set pieces and camera trickery, fantastic lighting included.
The acting is suberb presented by an all star Korean cast that will suck you in the screen.
The production is extremely well done, you feel you are in feudal Korea with special effects to write home about.
The direction and story move in a clever way. The pacing is never too slow, the writing never corny and the visual story telling is done at it's best here. It's a true adventure, with unique elements to the zombies that make it original.
There are only good things to say about this series. After Parasite the Korean Cinema is booming, and this series continues the trend of delivering quality that many Western production could be jealous of. Go see it now seriously.
Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne (2019)
Beware of the manbaby's, watch out for these terms:
Manbaby definition: A man who acts like a baby. If he doesn't get his way, he becomes crabby and unable to work with. thinks he's always right. Can be angered and upset by anything.
Must proceed with caution!
If you come into contact with a Manbaby, back away quickly and run like hell.
Manbaby's are good at concealing themselves amongst society. They seem normal at first but throw fits not long after dating them. Be wary.
Terminology used by manbaby's with GoT to watch out for: D&D, writing, petition, remake, illogical, writers.
In social psychology we call this group polarization: Groups form extreme opinions compared to individuals. Watch out for the manbaby movement. They don't see beyond their own version of a story. This episode was filled with symbolism and odes to characters, thematics and story arcs. But watch out to say this, manbaby's will shame you for disagreeing with manbaby logic.
Game of Thrones: The Long Night (2019)
Misunderstood, masterpiece of a 82 minute long episode full of terror. (spoilers included)
When looking at the totallity of this episode, the war that has been build up for over 2 seasons is coming to a conclusion in the most visually striking way. Beware, you need a high contrast setup with a high bitrate video file to enjoy this episode to the fullest: it is literrary and literally dark and full of terrors.
The way this episode builds up momentum is through it's atmosphere and hopelessness of the battling main characters, through beautifully orchestrated setpieces that show the recklessness of the Night King and his dead zombie army. The entire cast is hanging on a thread, and every last breath of all the main characters help complete the battle towards to end, as hopeless as it does feel in the closing minutes. The closer the Nightking approaches, the more you get to fear him and feel that the characters whom you so dearly loved over 8 seasons are about to face their end. The reason for substracting a point is due to the due to the overabundance of ineloquent zombie attacks that made me desire the so beautifully choreographic fights the series in the past was known for. But I did not see the episode in a glorified 4K Blu Ray set and it could be that I simply felt the episode was visually too blurry in these parts.
In the closing half hour there is a spectacle of events and all the main characters are under such a struggle, that it made me believe I was watching the end for them. Here the fight choreography picks up and intensifies. The battle slows down after, through a sequence of Arya sneaking through a near impossible maze of Night Walkers. As she is makes it through the corridors of Winterfell, struggling until the very end towards Bran's location, the Lord of Light seems to abundantly come into perspective. Bran's tactical positioning seemed to be as he intended, with what I believe will be better explained the coming episodes: Bran is the Lord of Light and his actions, while not fully articulated in this episode, scream that he used everyone as pillars to draw in the Night King. Yes, the priest, lady Missandei, the fires and probably more mystery Bran was involved in. The episode tricks you into believing he only flies his crows, but under the surface the deep roots of his powers are yet to be reveiled. The identity and mystery surrounding the Night King remains under wraps, and does ask to be further explored in a flashback one of the upcoming last episodes.
Unlike others reviewers on this platform, the mystery does not overthrow the orchestrated effort by the entire cast of beloved characters in order to win this epic battle. TV has never seen such a dynasty live on tv, this season is setting a new ground for what television has become.
Knight of Cups (2015)
Highly inaccessible, Deeply hidden Metaphors within it's framework: Can you see like Mallick?
I can understand the negative reviews. Understanding life with all the strings that are attached to it is an art, that asks both experience and knowledge. If a viewer is not of a high enough level in both these playing fields then he or she will label it based on their experience and knowledge on life this far. Psychology and interaction between human beings mostly runs indirectly. Someones true intentions and feelings can be sought and found in the indirect speech we output during dialogue. Mallick indirectly tries to reach out to the higher conscious viewer by attaching multiple of these indirect strings. And he attaches a lot of them, mostly more at once. It's like he absolutely has no care for commercial success. This film is just as inaccessible as "The Tree of life" if not more than that.
There are symbols and metaphors running all over the place. Over the diegetic dialogue of his characters to the non-diegetic narration to the settings and body language of the characters. There were a lot of times where the meaning of the narration matched the body language, which matched the scenery's emotional impact which matched the scene that followed which then matched the symbol of the scenery in the scene that followed. There are many nuances, creating a gradient in the ways the viewer can understand the scenes. Ranging from blank to enlightened.
There is an ever going debate between Mallick fans and the ones whom negatively criticize his work. The fans state all their personal observations, while the negative critics all tout that the scenes are scrambled and that there is no concrete meaning to the story; That all that the fans are doing is connecting the dots in the way they personally see fit.
The tree of life orchestrates a much broader concept line. Parallel lines drawn from the life of a family to the motions of the universe. Knight of Cups puts the magnifying glass on the feelings of Rick and his surrounding souls. The focus is more on the psychology and what the stages of time and location, can do to ones feelings and desires.
A level 1 can never see the light of what level 3 is displaying. Level 1 can only understand and comprehend level 1 shimmering, while seeing glimpses of light from level 2. Open your mind and soul far enough and you can ascend to another level by gaining experience and knowledge. Mallick reaches out to the higher levels out there, mostly to levels too high. It creates a gap that allows 95% of the viewers to label this as a fragrance commercial. What a shame, memes might end being documented while Mallick's views could get lost in translation.
I told you that I can understand the negative feedback, but sadly do not relate to it. Amazing film, Mallick at his best. I expect great things from his upcoming projects. Not that he will make many more, the abysmal box office results and reviews will drag him down.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
The force Awakens did what it had set out to do (MEGA Spoiler Alert!!)
There seems to be a polarizing consensus on IMDb regarding Star Wars the Force Awakens. One one hand, we have the average rating of 8.6 based of 262,316 reviews this far (28/12/2015). On the other hand we have IMDb's own users mostly writing reviews where they are negatively criticizing the film's overall tone, targeted age group, story-line decisions and the borrowed story elements from IV. In this review I would like counter the in my opinion unfair criticism to bring balance back to the force on IMDb, this film deserves it.
The film-crew of this film had one mission: Maintain the great things about what made the old Star Wars movies great( IV-VI ) so the old fans would love it, while also introducing enough new elements to a new generation of fans. I have to admit that they took a risk by widening the target audience, making the characters emotions and dialogue not as complex or philosophical as the complex philosophical viewers would like. But one has to remember that this film is the first part of a trilogy. They wanted to show the old characters and old elements, but also new planets and locations and enough new interesting characters that will star in the next two films. I believe this leaves little room for complex explanations and refined character emotions. But again, this is not the job of the first film in the trilogy. The interest of the viewer needs to be grabbed, and enough questions need to be raised so you want to see the second movie immediately after viewing the first one. This film does this so well, that I bet you that Star Wars will have a fan-base of a size like never before.
Rey is the mystery girl of this film. Old force tricks are simply not as hard to learn for the new chosen one, as they were for Anakin or Luke. The spirit of the Light-side(good) versus the Dark-side(bad) is explained very well in this film. Maz (Yoda's spiritual successor) does most of the explaining, when she holds dialogue with Rey. The physical light is also used symbolically. When the last light of the sun being absorbed disappears on both Han and Ben, leaving them into physical darkness, the Ben whom wanted to side with Han then struggles with his emotions once more and turns into Kylo once more. This is the perfect example of how the force is symbolically linked to the physical realm. While the dialogue might seem simplified, there are enough little moments that need to be puzzled together in order for them to be fully understood. How does the movie does this? This film has many, many perspectives and fast scenes, and it is a challenge to keep up with the fast editing sometimes. This makes this film highly re-watchable for a second or even a third time, like I did.
The Millennium-Falcon is introduced as a piece of junk but boy can she still fly. The chase sequences in the Falcon have extraordinary camera movements and are choreographed excellently by the VFX artists. The other aerial scenes are incredibly well animated and all have memorable perspectives (like the killing spree Poe went on in a 20 second shootout). Boy that's one helluva good Pilot, Finn screams. I also want to salute the VFX team for creating authentic looking VFX that are as artistic as visually stunning. This movie has many, many little iconic star wars perspectives and moments. From the camera pans, to the background activity of characters, to general screenplay moments which all scream positive Nostalgia. The old cast are individually revealed, and these moments are spread out enough throughout the film, so the new characters get enough time to be developed as additional new main characters.
Lastly, the acting is phenomenal. There is something to love about all the new main characters. Finn and Poe for their strong willpower, high energy and comical moments. Rey for her mysteriousness and her epic ability to learn new skill-sets. Maz for her calming deep emotion(she did need more screen time though, just like Phasma). Kylo for his frightening dark side acts(excellent sound design with his force actions by the way, just amazing) yet the conflicted state he portrays without his helmet(great facial expression from Adam Diver). General Hux is also interesting as he and Kylo rival each other with their dark choices, and the speech Hux delivers before all the stormtroopers is every bit as epic as it can be. BB8 is my favorite new Droid. It is truly a main character as it is presented in all scenes, at all times(where it is present) and makes this film all the more perfect for all age-groups. My mother was laughing throughout this film because of the droid. All the other characters with minor appearances all carry the Star Wars theme people have come to love of the previous films. The acting is always delivered passionately while still being realistic. This is not the perfect film for everyone, but is a fantastic film for anyone, if you allow it to be. My favorite films mostly consist out of deep films like Waking Life, The Prestige, Mr. Nobody and the Tree of life for example, but the complex viewer should not watch this film to fuel all their philosophical needs like those movies did. And the hardcore Star Wars fans decoding the story elements, have to come to terms with the fact that this is a new Star Wars Trilogy with many new elements to the force and to the universe of Star Wars that have yet to be introduced in the upcoming two films. Let go of what this film not is, because it is exactly the film it should be. THIS IS Star Wars at its best. This is the fantasy film from a galaxy long ago and far far a way that both the old and new fans deserve. The force has been Awoken.
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Funny, action-packed, Metphysics within it's narrative, brilliant aesthetics and orchestra, repetitive plot with holes.
In this review I will summarize of what I believe the movie did right and wrong. As with any review I will do, I watched the movie twice to confirm my opinions, and analyze the concepts I might have overlooked.
The Wachowski's are brilliant in their own right. The average viewer however, can not always appreciate their way of bringing screenplay to the Silver screen. All their past movies have been absolute favorites of mine. From Speed Racer, to Cloud Atlas to the famous Matrix Trilogy. It seems that the Wachowski's always want to try something new. And for this and many reasons more, they are my favorite set of Directors.
Jupiter Ascending however, is their most confusing entry yet. Not terrible in any way though, quite the contrary actually. Nevertheless, the movie has problems finding it's own identity. This film tries to be too many things simultaneously, and in my opinion this leads to a rather illogical story.
This movie has some terrific action, it starts of this way at least. After the first action sequence I wanted more and the movie kept at this pace until they go into outer space. This is where the film tries to explain how the Abrasax industry is part of a higher level of "consumption", and that harvesting planets(because more time is what everyone wants) is a normality. There are different alien types, from reptilians to the cliché looking aliens(in crop circles) to humans with their DNA altered.
The scenes with Kick Gurry are just hilarious, as are the scenes where Jupiter is trying to register herself as queen where the Wachowski's are making fun of the government their work flow(just hilarious). The Wachowski's always incorporate smart clever humor that always brightens up a serious tone.
I found it hard to get emotionally attached to any of the characters as they were either speaking the Metaphysics the Wachowski's are known for incorporating in their scripts, or about the Jupiter Ascending's universe it's background/information. The characters simply don't get enough screen time interacting with each other as it's always about the setting and visual effects. This leads me to believe this movie's script should have been simplified or made smaller.
It should have been either a 90 minute movie with Titus out of the picture(the way they got out of his ship was completely illogical as well), or a 3 hour movie with more character development and interaction. It is clear that this movie was set out to be produced as a stand alone title. With only 2 hours as the running time and with such a big universe that needs explaining, the sacrifices made to present this story within the given running time leads to unlovable characters. The cast fits in the aesthetics the film wants to achieve though.
The action scenes with it's special effects and Michael Giacchino's Score are such a treat that it makes this movie already worth seeing. This film is a complete work of art and I love it. Original craftsmanship from John Gaeta and team as always. Just like other reviewers have stated, this film is overly ambitious where the characters are just there to share their knowledge of their surrounding so it remains impossible to connect with them thus care for their actions.
It is not the Matrix(1), and this is the very reason viewers criticize their current latest work for it not being that film. It always overshadows the beauty their films actually do have. Cloud Atlas is the best spiritual movie to date, Speed Racer one of the most visually appealing and in my opinion the most powerful ending any movie has to date. The Matrix trilogy is still unmatched with it's Metaphysical/philosophical depth.
Where does that leave Jupiter Ascending? What is the statement of the Wachowski's with their latest film? I believe they wanted to make one of the most beautiful aesthetically appealing films of all time. And they succeeded. They have the right cast, the right visual effects and music. Overlook it's character's and story's flaws, and you will get one of the best Visual experiences in film. GO SEE THIS FILM for it's action and visual/musical presentation. Pure gold.