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Babylon (2022)
Scorsese style Rip-Off in a La La Land 2.0
The rise and fall of the early Hollywood stars is portrayed, although extremely exaggerated, in Chazelle's latest creation. It serves as a double-sided message. One that is a bleeding heart pleading for compassion for those stars who literally give their lives to our entertainment, the other is the absurdity and greed of those celebrities who will stop at nothing to reach a position where they will not be questioned for their debauchery and degeneracy.
Damien said "You look at what these people went through, and it gives you a sense of the human cost that accompanied the kind of ambition that attracted so many people to Los Angeles at that time. There's a darker side to the story of that transition than I'd seen before."
Babylon is nothing new, it is a retelling the same story that we know of big movie stars who end up deceased or in rehab. But the editing, the detailed process of making a film in the 1920s, and the delusion that those stars live in is what kept me hooked. Scorsese's style is my favorite but it is sad to see it stolen and downgraded in this manner.
The excellent performance by every member of the cast is what makes this film shine. Especially Brad Pitt still, he still has a lot to give and he is very good at what he does. A 7/10 to honor the casting choice and their performance.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
I was really worried when I saw the trailer
I wasn't expecting anything but bad news given the hate that I saw on the internet. I was part of that hate too when I saw the trailers and the screenshots shared on the internet. So, jumping in with all of those negative expectations, I was highly critical of every scene. But to my surprise everything was on point. It is not the LOTR trilogy level, but it is getting there. Cinematography and music are both on par, the acting is acceptable, I wasn't buying the Gladriel performer but by the end of ep.2 I think she works fine. And yes female dwarves have beards.
Although we are already introduced to some familiar characters, do not expect to see anything related to the rings in this season, by the pace of things so far I am guessing this season is just an intro to the structure of Middle Earth and its history.
It could be better, but it is not as bad as people put it out to be.
Kira & El Gin (2022)
I wish fans were not so biased.
This movie is historically inaccurate, acting is a bit subpar, all the foreign actors feel like they are reading their lines off a paper, and the pacing is everywhere.
Not to mention the excessive drinking and the extra romance that is forced on every character, which serves as an insult to the real heroes of the resistance.
The Batman (2022)
The roots of Batman that we never knew existed.
The Batman follows the realistic detective adventures of the inexperienced Bruce Wayne. In this one you will not find our smart and resourceful Batman. Instead, this is a new take on how would Batman be if protecting Gotham is a Job and this is Bruce's first day. He lacks his infamous interrogation skills, he is not yet fully capable in using his tools to his advantage, and he follows leads aimlessly without a plan, lacking the wit and cleverness of the dark knight. Definitely a very interesting take and retelling of the Batman story. A must watch for all fellow fans of the caped crusader. It follows some elements of the new 52 comic books and it delivers a very well written story. The sound design is something else, one of the best I've ever experienced.
My problem with The Batman is the pacing. Some scenes are fast, action packed, or very intense, followed by slow sequences that add nothing to the story, which really kills your hype and excitement as a viewer. I think it can use some more editing to deliver a final cut worthy of 9s and 10s. But still it is a very solid experience, a dark, gritty Batman movie. And easily one of the best movies of the year.
Dota: Dragon's Blood (2021)
Valve is testing the water
This is the first media production based on a game project that I actually respect. The stories all told well enough for Dota lore fans. But new comers to this universe will have a hard time connecting the dots or understanding what is going on. The production quality is not the best. The entire series somehow feels a little low-budget. Action sequences are shaky, blurry, and, if you pay attention to the animation, highly chaotic. The story telling a bit unordered and the show is suffering to deliver a grown-ups experience with all of those childish/teenage themes that are forced between the characters. Overall, for a first season, I'd say it is a decent start for Valve, Netflix, and Studio MIR. However, the production quality needs a lot of refinement if this show is to continue.
Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
Zack, I want my 4 hours back
Do not walk into this film expecting the greatest superhero movie ever made. And please ignore all those "10/10" ratings since none of them is a true rating to the film itself, they are just the community's way of welcoming back Zack Snyder to the movie industry and to the DC universe.
I know that Zack is capable f delivering a much better experience than this 4 hour drag. The only difference between this movie and the "fake" one is the much better final battle between Steppenwolf and the JL. The scene lasts a total of 30~35 minutes, and the rest of the movie is wasted on slow motion scenes of the Amazon army with a very annoying background song that repeats every time Wonder Woman, or any of the Amazons, show up.
The story is the same exact story of the previous JL, but this time Zack added an origin sequence to Cyborg and and introductory scene to the flash. He even refined the Steppenwolf attack on Themyscira and added a few scenes for Darkseid.
Zack also added a better version to the "I am too soon" scene, letting us know that resurrected superman actually tore Earth apart, and the flash traveled back in time to inform Batman that Lois Lane is the key to calm Superman down after the resurrection, an advice that the future Joker gave them (yeah, don't ask).
In the battle scene between JL and Steppenwolf, Cyborg needed extra power to enter the motherboxes and split them apart, so Flash had to run so fast to generate that energy, but Flash got shot by a lucky parademon. The plan failed and the motherboxes destroyed Earth, but during the blast, Flash moved much faster, traveled back in time, and gave Cyborg the energy at the right time, so they finally stopped the motherboxes and killed Steppenwolf right in front of Darkseid who was just watching and decided not to take any action against the JL for some reason.
The fight scene is much better that the previous because it shows us the nature of the challenge they were all facing. Batman and Flash had much better roles this time instead of their nonexistent effects in the previous film.
The worst parts about this film are mainly the slow motion Amazon warriors scenes and their background song. The background song that plays EVER SINGLE TIME WONDER WOMAN SHOWS UP. And the extremely under-powered Flash.
The movie does well in setting up the next sequels with its final scenes of Martian Manhunter, Deathstroke, and Lex Luthor.
Overall, this movie is extremely disappointing. The entire story could have been wrapped up into a much better 2-hours version.
And Zack, I am happy you are back in the DC world, But this is not on par with Man of Steel or Batman VS Superman. I hope these over hyped ratings do not boost your ego so much that you ruin this series even further. The Zack Snyder real comeback will be in his next DC movie, if he ever decides to continue. But this "Zack Snyder's Justice League" is just a hype fest and its unusually high ratings is the fandom giving Zack a pat on the back.
5/10
Tenet (2020)
How to create a mystrey? cover the speech with loud music.
This movie is very simple. And you can easily follow along if you focus on what the characters are saying behind that extremely loud and useless music. Good or bad, the music is really out of place in many scenes.
In addition, the characters only explain tiny bits of info to each other and suddenly everyone of them is an expert on handling the reverse-time. The movie intentionally obscures the idea in order for us, the viewers, to lose track of the many plot holes that are there.
Not going into any spoilers, but watch the movie again and pay attention, some characters know things that they are not supposed to know at their exact point in time, but they know it anyway to keep the plot going forward.
Nolan admitted to cheating a bit in his movies and I don't blame him, an idea like that is very hard to pull off, but I expected more from a perfectionist that brought us some of the best sci-fi movies along with the best Batman trilogy.
Overall, Tenet is a fun experience and raises many questions, but don't take it too seriously because the movie itself is not even trying.
PS: props to Robert Pattinson, he really can act now unlike his Twilight days.
Joker (2019)
Just as I expected
It is safe to say that this movie is not for everyone. DC fan or not, this is about the origin of one of the most notorious characters in entertainment. So far in previous movies we have only seen the clown prince of crime Joker. The criminal who went crazy and took things so far. But here the story is the origin of the mentally sick Joker, the simple man who had a rough life and started to act on his own will instead of acting according to what people expect. This movie is dark and grim, it is a dramatic tale and an excellent performance by Joaquin Phoenix and everyone in the cast. They made it look so real and relatable to our life that the idea of a real life joker is not far fetched any more.
I hope that DC continues in this direction and give us a new approach to the stories we love.
The Blue Elephant (2014)
I had every right to be skeptical about this one
Literally everyone I know that watched this film kept pushing me into watching it. claiming it is some sort of a cinematic achievement. I don't think it is bad, but seriously Egyptians and Indians need to stop over-rating movies made by their countries. They're driven by a sense of patriotism that I cannot understand, which usually leads to many unfair ratings like the 8.2 in the blue elephant.
I was impressed with the cinematography but I did not appreciate the slow motion scenes. Also the background music was strongly unrelated in some scenes. The overall emphasis on alcohol addiction seemed like an exaggeration to me and the pacing of the story is all over the place.
still, this might be one of the best Egyptian movies I have seen and is an exciting new approach in Egyptian cinema. I enjoyed it but it doesn't belong anywhere near the 8 category.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
warning: honest, unbiased review ahead.
Although I expected much more from this movie, it is still satisfying for me and a decent finale to the avengers series.
The movie starts with showing you how the snap affected one of the heroes life. then followed by the remaining avengers trying to protect the remainig world by fighting crime normally as they were doing before Thanos's time. After losing all hope, Ant-man finally returns to the avengers and introduces an idea that might actually work, but one that he can't carry out himself. This leads to the reunion of the avengers team which will spark events that will change the MCU forever.
The pacing of the events is not quiet thorough and some prolonged dramatic scenes fall apart and make you feel bored instead of sad. Also the most exciting and effective parts are all packed in the last hour.
one of the technical aspects that I did not like was the blurry transition, the camera takes a long time to focus on a character or un-focus from a scene and move on to the next, which really hurt my eye in the IMAX theater.
but overall, it was a nice experience and you shouldn't miss this one, infinity war is still the best MCU movie for me but endgame is among the greatest in the series.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
I was skeptical about this one but...
I guess I wasn't really ready for another spiderman movie, after the new Tom Holland movies, and the video game "which was really good" I felt that the whole spider-thing was being rushed. but I saw that movie reaches the top 250 and I have it a shot. I wasn't overwhelmed but everything about this one was so well done. the jokes were not actually funny but there was no cringe factor like most of the MCU movies. and instead of adding up different spidermans together the creators managed to put all those internet memes and pop culture into great use. they pulled off the (ready player one) style of using real life references and they added their own touch of making it relatable to the spider verse and even emotional at times. overall the movie is really entertaining and a new take on the spiderman stories without all the already known boring stuff. totally recommended.
Captain Marvel (2019)
this movie is below everything you expected
Firstly, I am not sure that Brie Larson is a good casting choice, she's a great actress and I am a fan but she just doesn't look like (captain marvel). the entire movie is very prolonged. they spent too much time overly explaining things that we already now, and sadly they do so with a boring script between the uninteresting characters. Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury was one of the most serious characters in the MCU, but they also managed to ruin that. 6/10 is me being generous.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Don't get your hopes down yet
Before you move on this review contains spoilers.
.
Okay, this movie, by far, is one of the best movies from the MCU. It has a very decent fighting choreography, the acting is really good (surprisingly) and the plot unfolds with style. no long talking sequences to explain what is going on and no advanced computers/weapons to save the day (as is the case with most of the MCU movies). However, this movie might come as a disappointment when the upcoming movies are revealed. since Marvel won't really kill more than half their characters just like that, there IS a way to bring them back. I felt happy that Marvel actually found the courage to kill some of its characters (happy that things finally got serious, but not happy that the character died), but then, in that post-credit scene, I felt a little disappointment. that scene indicates that some hero (Captain Marvel) is comming to save the day. and given the announced future MCU movies (they shouldn't have announced them too soon, they made things too obvious) which includes some of the characters who died in infinity war, all clues says that they will come back. whether they will come back from the dead, some other hidden dimension thing, I'm still not sure. Also, try to separate between the people who died during the movie and the people who died in the end. During the movie, Loki, Heimdall, and Gamora have died due to natural causes. Unlike the others, who died due to some super powers from the infinity gauntlet carrying the six stones. so there is a fair chance that most of these characters will return.
But let's not cloud our judgement by the upcoming movies. Infinity war, on its own, is a great film. But I think it is about time Marvel dropped the super technology mumbo jumbo they always fall back too as a Deus-Ex Machina when the situation gets too dire. And I really want them to get rid of Natasha Romanoff, her ability to fight super strength villians and withstand explosions and strong impacts while she has no powers at all is seriously ridiculous.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Every disappointment from the prequels is back
The force awakens restored hope to the star wars series. And for me, Rogue one was one of the best Star Wars films. then again, disney pulls their Marvel-Style move. great trailer with an empty movie.
I will not get into spoilers, but long story short, this movie is an excuse to create a fight between the major characters. with many attempts to please the fans by showing more and more of the old droids, too much sentimentality that literally destroys the movie, and finally the completely expected story and boring turns in events.
The only plus side in this film is the great acting of Mark Hamill and Adam driver, at least disney didn't manage to destroy that.
Do you think Jar Jar Binks was cringy? watch the Last Jedi.
Suicide Squad (2016)
First of all, let's stop comparing any DC project to Nolan's trilogy
Nolan set a very high bar that no superhero movie can reach, so, without comparing any DC project to TDK, let's just see what a movie has to offer on its own. based on that I can genuinely say that suicide squad is one of the worst waste of times I have ever had !!
I will not talk about Leto's Joker (although I seriously wanted to stop watching after he put his laughing mouth tattoo on his face and started laughing), when it comes to all the characters in general I saw a great possibility of making a movie about "crazy" people who were forced to help, while all their thinking was focused on how to escape they started to feel responsible for saving the world, or themselves at least, and end up doing good! instead all I saw was a bunch of funny crazy wannabes who are surprisingly very good at fighting any sort of creatures, with some flashbacks from time to time to tell each character history, which was supposed to make me feel a little.... I don't know, sympathy?
about 20 minutes into the extended version I realized that I am watching some nonsense, that I must finish to give a fair rating. after finishing I realized that I would have felt better today if I spent those 2+ hours doing anything else.
Every second I watched today told me one thing; DC should stop making movies, no don't try to make them better, just stop. you were legendary once and you have the greatest comic book characters ever created, don't ruin your legacy, please.
Arrival (2016)
I love everything about space and Aliens
that said, I was so excited about this movie, but after watching I got a little disappointed.
Don't get me wrong, the movie is really good, but I expected something much better. First of all the music feels so out of place, the prolonging in some scenes (I will not get into spoilers) gave me the feeling of boredom, the story is so exciting until you learn about the reason why the aliens are there, and how easy it was for them to just "connect" with humans, it makes the whole movie feel pointless.
Denis Villeneuve is known for his slow paced movies, and his style feels somehow artistic in Arrival, but it could have gone better if he improved the way the story unfolds. I do not blame him though, I just expected something much better.
eventually, I recommend this movie to everyone, it is a movie where all of us will understand the same thing, but each of us will feel differently about it, it has a nice touch of humanity.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
one word: Noisy.
A new experience for almost everyone, trying to send short messages that explain the story without spoon feeding it to the viewers. explaining the lifestyle of the wasteland people through action only.
I think the above lines explain why many people like this movie so much, that would be justified if there is a story to be told! Honestly I find it creative, telling a story with decent details using only fighting scenes and explosions, but what good is it if the story you are telling is so lame? All of the loud rock music and slow motion scenes proves my point, they want to show us how creatively they can blow up cars and set up chase scenes, they added a small story between the lines so they can wrap up a long sequence of chasing scenes into a movie. CGI doesn't determine how good a movie is because each movie is made with the latest PC software at its time. Certainly not artistic unless you like paintings of sand. Plus a package of useless scenes that doesn't add anything to the plot or the action. 6/10 may be a compliment for the director's effort in this.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
Peter Jackson, I AM DISAPPOINTED!!
If you are a big Middle-Earth fan like me then you will feel the same. After the epic LOTR trilogy and the two promising Hobbit movies, the battle of the five armies simply can not be related to the whole series. It is not another epic tale, amazing adventure, overwhelming battles, or the enchanting world of Middle-Earth like we are used to.. this movie is just a fighting skills competition between the characters, a massive cliché of drama. it is entertaining with some popcorn, but sadly, nothing more.
It was my first time to watch a Middle-Earth movie in the theater, and maybe one of the worst theater experiences I've ever had.
Long story short: it is not worth the ticket price.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Straight to the top of the movies tower
First of all, when I was in the theater watching (The Dark Knight) I said to myself that there's no way I'm going to miss the next movie in this series. after the epic nature and the overwhelming performance also the art of directing that makes you live inside the movie as we have seen in The Dark Knight, I expected this one to be at least the same level and I was absolutely correct. Christopher Nolan is the best Director out there, the way he makes you become part of the movie and feel the same feeling of every character you see is just magical, and add to that the fantastic music of Hans Zimmer, not to mention the Perfect Selection of the Actors and Actresses in this movie. Before The Dark Knight all of us used to watch super hero movies and consider them the kind of thing that would never happen in real life but things changed after the epic clash between batman and the Joker, The Dark Knight Rises even make it more reasonable it makes you think that if there was a batman he would be exactly like this. and it is being proved in each scene as you go through the movie, how hard it is to live with the cruelty of bane, how it is really hard to find weapons and devices to use that they use everything they got (unlike other action movies that everyone suddenly have a 100 gun when it is time to fight) it is like what would really happen if Bane came to your city and Batman was to defend it. in other words you can call this movie a masterpiece,if you didn't watch it yet then what are you waiting for?