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Life Itself (2018)
A relentlessly good movie
One of the best movies I have seen in the last 5 years. An emotional rollercoaster.
It is painfully and relentlessly good. The all-star cast was surprisignly amazing and did a wonderful job. They acted as if they understood that the movie is not about them, but rather about life itself.
Dan Fogleman the writer and director, hit every beat of this realistic saga masterfully. I believe this movie is his masterpiece.
One of my best 20 movies of all time, and is a nice representation of how life itself is also relentlessly painful and good.
What is also nice is that I wanted to rewatch it as soon as it was done.
Vivarium (2019)
A unique new movie
A masterful director who got the best out of his actors using an extremely unique and thought enticing movie.
Really worth the watch. I have been wanting to see it for years and it delivered. Actually it even needs to be rewatched.
My mind would not stop drawing parallels during the movie, and even some time after that. I love that I could read it in different ways, and in each way it has an idea that is new and original. Keeps at the edge of your seat through out and perfectly paced too.
The set design, lighting and sound were done masterfully and complemented the narrative perfectly.
9 out of 10 for me.
Reminiscence (2021)
A contemporary film noir
An interesting callback to the genre. The narration along with the songs and sets are all faithful to the noir genre and done quite well. The movie to me was reminiscent of Chinatown... and for a strange reason reminded me of Heston's Soylent Green.
All these things redeemed the expected twists.
The Mist (2007)
When a true fan makes a movie
I lost count of how many times I watched this movie. Frank Darabont simply takes Stephen King's idea to its next level. Being a true fan he respects the source material and knows how to play with it. He builds on the already fleshed out characters with an even more realistic take on how humans react to despair. The messiness and diversity witnessed in the microcosm of the store really captures the absurdity of our real world, highlighting the chaos that ensues when any severe situation befalling a large group of people pushes them into the old tribal roles, and relentlessly to self destruction. The movie harshly explores how humans react when hope is taken out of the equation.
Which reaches its crescendo with a gut-wrenching final scene that can only come from the mind of a bold and masterful story teller.
Little Fish (2020)
Perfect alignment of narrative and story
Pleasantly surprised by this modest film. Fullfilled all the elements of a good story.... simple, well done, and intimate. The premise is new but reminiscent of something old. Which is more or less the story itself, which the director used the best technique and narrative to tell.
Lovecraft Country (2020)
A good but rushed premise
The first episode had perfect pace, sound editting, acting and story telling. Regretfully after the 2nd episode things were really rushed. They try to do what fringe did in 5 seasons in 10 episodes, while inserting all Jordan Peele's and J. J. Abraham's signatures.
I think if it maintained the pace of the first episode we would have had the best sci fi, horror, drama combo in some time.
The Hunt (2020)
Now that was not expected
The movie was a blast. Follow this recipe though; read nothing about it, then enjoy.
Cosmos (2019)
One of the most realistic sci-fi movies out there
What an excellent watch. Rarely does a movie get out of its way to present such an intimate and a richly technical issue such as this movie does. Cosmos does not shy from the geeky and the natural but rather embraces them. Aside from some wierd script writing (usually outside of the car) this movie is gripping and realistic to a level that does not have the usual condescending tone that similar movies have.
I really can't understand why the rating is so low!?
I highly recommend. It was surprise to me.
1917 (2019)
The immersivness of the organic
A fully immersive experience. Long shots are used masterfully, and near seamlessly through out the movie. The planning of such an endeavour is done meticulously by Sam Mendes the director, yet leaving enough space for the unplanned and organic performace of the masterful performance of George Mackay and the natural setting/context he performs in. The different forms of natural 'motion' coming out of the unplanned and planned simultaneously tell you a story that couldn't have been told otherwise. Every motion of a head...the eyes...the camera...the light...the body stance...the trees that appear to play an important role in the movie...all together... you lose yourself in. That rich experience and how it revolves around one character brings out even more personal details from each audience member's personal life that then complements the already vivid experience making it even more emmersive.
In that respect 1917 is everything Dunkirk was not.
Where Dunkirk was a low-res generic overview of a situation including a large number of people...1917 is a hi-res focused image of an incedent of fewer people shown through the point of view of one person. This brings out the gritty, heroic and agonizing details of war, presented with masterful real time long shots that grip your attention relentlessly through out the movie.
Joker (2019)
A Minimalistic social horror movie
Todd Phillips ...directed the 3 Hangover movies and other mainly light movies...Joker is his first 'dark' movie...and he did it masterfully.
He wasnt shy from relying on the brilliant work of Joaquin ...the OST composer...and the cinematographer (who also mainly worked on comedies)...and together they made a movie that is truly a masterpiece in the sense of focusing on the 'unit', where every thing is kept simple.
A minimalistic movie where the clutter is removed, and one is forced to reflect inward and grasp the common pains and horrors that we have as people in our relentless modern society...bringing to life a character that resembles every isolated audience member in their own life story, where the weakness every one feels in their own life has a place in the movie and helps paint a darker picture than the one already presented minimalistically on the screen... creating a horror movie highlighting our personal fears of giving in to our madness and completely failing as social units of our societies. That is why I do not consider it a psychological horror movie where the person breaks down, but rather a sociological one where the institutes of society make sure the break down occurs, and break down themseleves in return.
Hold the Dark (2018)
A master of a director
Saulnier is in complete control of his tools as a story teller. Every word... every scene... every pause has a meaning and serves a prupose. The epilogue quote was spot on for the story.
I also like how he went beyond the closed settings of his previous movies yet was still able to tell a story of a person trapped in some other people's world.
I had several guesses regarding the meaning of some scenes in the movie and when I read more about the novel and found I was correct I was even more amazed at how the director made me subtly come to those conclusions. This has lead me to want to watch the movie again, which is a feeling I haven't had for some time now.
I also liked how the writer and director wove their commentary on the human condition, local issues, and world affairs successfully and subtly in the narrative of the story.
Explaining too much of the story is usually a problem in movies, but Saulnier is really learning how to gauge that with every movie. I would have given it a 9 if only he was able to leave more breadcrumbs of the more intricate details of the plot found in the novel.
But it i really a movie worth watching.
Chernobyl (2019)
A Master of a Director
Johan Renck was able to capture the attention of his audience from begining to end by; being a master at directing the cast, making every scene and shot count, and respecting the audience's intelligence.
To make us fear the two unseen horrors of 'radiation' in the first couple of episodes and 'corruption' in the last and induce that sense of gripping dread throughout every minute with no actual creaping monsters or jump scares is the work of a true master.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
A movie suspended between narratives
A long, light, fan-service of a movie that is stuck between; concluding a decade long narrative; and kicking off new storylines tethered to decades old comic plots.
As I left Infinity War a year ago I knew the Russo brothers will have to resolve the problem they have made for Marvel fans with its ending, but the first 2 acts of the Endgame took a shortcut that left me feeling cheated.
The movie also fully retorts back to the old, light and humorous MCU movies tone, and due to its multitude of concluding goals its tempo was convoluted and rushed, leading it to let go of its new-found, bold and nuanced 'Inifinity War' approach.
Aparantly the movie makers chose to pay tribute to their journey, while honouring expiring contracts rather than venture further into new terrains as they did in the last movie.
The final scenes, although strong in implementation, are easily anticipated, while being a bit socially charged.
The end scenes try to leave us with a sentimental sense that was ill-prepared for.
I was also looking for a stronger tribute to Stan Lee.
That being said, it was not boring. The movie does induce many laughs and tears, and serves its purpose of ending the long series well...and might even deserve a second watching.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Best Spider-man movie yet
A coming of age movie for the whole animation genre, which stays true to its medium while nicely embracing the comics medium.
A really moving movie with an ambitious approach, that surprised me at how much spiderman is instilled in my psyche...even as much as Superman is.
The movie simply embraced how the character is a cultural phenomenon, and stopped treating it as merchandise.