Essentially what would happen if Disney made a Mad Max movie. All three movies are at least very distinct from one another but this is not Mad Max, it doesn't feel like Mad Max. It has the same weird characters/costumes and the same dystopian world but nothing about gas of car chases (except one in the third act). It's Mel Gibson playing Max on paper, but this character isn't Max by any stretch of the imagination. No continuity whatsoever with the character or story.
I was really enjoying the first act and the cage fight was awesome. Second act turns into Peter Pan, that was awful and it really made me lose interest. The third act finally picks up with car chases and I had some fun but yeah, the second act made me disinterested in the story.
Tina Turner (god rest her soul) was probably the most interesting character in the movie. It's not really that she's a good actress, but rather that everyone around her is mediocre. And her music does not fit with this movie or franchise whatsoever.
Disappointed, again. Now that i'm finished with the three drafts, I can finally watch the final form; Fury Road.
Ahead of its time in terms of subject matter, but really dated in terms of execution and style. The script is too dumb to be the statement against surveillance culture it wants to be, but Scott still manages to squeeze quite a bit of tension out of this material.
5.5/10
Sometimes, bad is good... But sometimes it's just bad.
Well... what to say about this. It's not bad. It's not superb. It has a bit of a Da Vinci's Demons - vibe to it. Not surprisingly also a Stars series, come to think of it.
The ending was just so predictable... I saw it coming somewhere in episode 2 already. The whole evil duke of norfolk personality made little sense to me and overal it was just.... well.... not so smart or special.
Anyway. I still enjoyed it enough, dont get me wrong. Just over-hyped.
Visually stunning. Stupendously absurd.
This movie is a love letter to AI written by a sixth grader. It's hard to express just how bad the writing is with its over use of stereotypes and clichés, but if you are still watching past to 90min mark you should get an award. It's an all out assault on your intelligence and ends up being nothing more than a popcorn movie with zero meaningful insights into actual AI.
I find it hard to imagine anyone with any sci-fi sensibilities getting any enjoyment out of this at all, but it sure is pretty to look at. Give it a go for a mindless couple of hours separated from any sense of reality, but don't expect anything more.
spoilers
The list of absurdities is very long, but these couple really stood out for me.
Joshua was obsessed with figuring out where "Dian Dang" was, but couldn't be bothered to speak it into his translator?
Robots have a readily accessible Standby switch? (Really?)
I'm a huge fan of SF and AI based plots - I was really looking forward to seeing this but it was a frustrating disappointment. It has terrible horrible shamefully bad writing. Not a single original idea about AI and in fact they don't really deal with AI apart from robots basically being exactly like humans but nicer. No original futuristic sci-fi ideas either with a lot of the futuristic stuff not making any sense. For example the AIs speak to each other in English, no super fast data pours between them. They can't even speak remotely over cellular or whatever... they use walkie talkies lol. They had an old women robot that limped around though the robots do not age?!? I could have forgiven all of this in the 80s or from an adaptation of an Isaac Asinov novel but we're in 2023 and we've all watched the Matrix etc... Also it had very little action and the action sequences it did have were bad and boring with yellow lazer tracers zapping around in the near dark or fog. Visually it was ok and the score was decent but the poor writing completely ruined it for me. Half way through, I couldn't wait for it to end. You can't be a serious Sci-fi fan and think this is any good, it's just not possible... yes that's you good reviewers.
People complain about a movie being slow as if a two and a quarter hour meditation is somehow a bigger crime than fifty hours of deadening CGI about a purple man getting a magic mitten.
She screams at every turn
I mean if you’re trying to hide from a dragon in a cave can you at least :asterisk_symbol:try:asterisk_symbol: to muffle your screams?!
Please explain me HOW do you like that show ? I find it very bad, a bad acting game, bad jokes and a null and boring scenario ! DON'T WATCH IT !
What the hell is wrong with the comments here? Goddamn culture warriors "bravely" fighting against... I really don't know but keep up the great fight on trakt comments you morons
The first season was pretty good. Thankfully the show isn't holding out on all the mysteries for future seasons. Most of the big questions were answered by the finale with some teases for the future. Even if the show wasn't already renewed, I think I'd be mostly satisfied with what we have so far but let's see how the next season shapes up. Pretty good writing, great references to the games, good characters and acting, great sets honestly and decent production values. The power suits are probably the weak link in terms of looks and it's kind of a coin toss whether they look great or kinda shabby. There's enough here to at least look forward to the next season with how much has happened so far.
More like Boring Boring Boring
Like a tour of the optometrist's: there's a lot of grind and not enough spectacles.
Ridley Scott made the dubious decision to focus the lens of Napoleon Bonaparte's biopic on his love life rather than his military expertise and failures.
So, instead of examining his expansion into the Americas and the political savior faire required to unify a divided France (by, for example, naming the Place des Vosges in Paris after the first French region to send taxes to the empire), we get overlong scenes of him having bad sex with his wife while both of them wear all the clothes.
Not to mention, and I won't because I'm alone in this, that the movie is made entirely in English, which is the intellectual equivalent of watching a civil war movie where the North and the South run around speaking German.
Nope, sadly, instead of a film worthy of an emperor we get a pile of reenactments based on some famous paintings.
A very competent film that just didn't do anything new with a well worn story. I appreciated the creativity with the sex(ual) scenes, and the slow burn of the protagonist weirdo, but I found myself bored by the end. "Rich people are dumb" is just not interesting to me, especially in a post-Succession world.
I've read the main theme was supposed to be obsession and desire but that didn't fully come through for me either.
It's a sumptuous, sensual film, certainly not a bad watch, but left me feeling quite empty in the end. Maybe my expectations were too high after Promising Young Woman but I was hoping for those added layers of depth to ground and round out the film like PYW had.
Made the mistake of reading the IMDB comments. Lots of angry guys complaining about the big “Eskimo” cop somehow taking on someone who is twice her size. Obviously, these people don’t know who Kalis Reis is. I’d like to see them try.
If you only care about an ending, maybe you should watch some other kind of cinema. There are plenty of choices for you.
If you care about a great script, superb cast and acting, beautiful camera work, intriguing plot, a tension feeling without really knowing what's happening kind of movie, well, this one is for you.
Sam Esmail has delivered a great work here. It ticks all the boxes that you could expect from him.
An ending like this one, is very subjective, but it works perfectly for me. It just feels right. We found out what was really happening, and Esmail put it in a clever and kind of funny way.
Read the synopsis and don't watch the trailer, the less you know about the plot, the better you enjoy it. I loved it.
Let's see... town in the middle of nowhere, once you're in you can't get out, trying to live a normal life inside, dangerous creatures wanting to kill you. I liked this better when it was called Wayward Pines.
A really boring, surface level exploration of one of the more interesting musical figures of the 20th century. It makes the classic biopic mistake of retelling the subject’s life through bullet points instead of providing a unique artistic perspective or insight. The writing is so flat and just doesn’t seem to get at the heart of anything that could be memorable, which is strange because there’s potentially so much to work with. I’d welcome a movie that gave us a look into Bernstein’s artistic process/contributions or outspoken, opinionated mind, but so much of this feels like a calculated vanity project for Bradley Cooper. Carey Mulligan is the only one who completely disappears into her role in a way that feels authentic, because the other performers are a little too eager to ham it up for Academy Awards voters. You can tell Cooper did a lot of research for his role, but there’s something about his performance that feels phony and too studied. Thankfully he does a better job in the director’s chair, because in terms of visuals, editing and staging this is an improvement over A Star is Born. The score is often pompous and overblown (not counting the conducting scenes, of course), but I’ll give him a pass on that one because we’re dealing with a classical composer here. He even occasionally flirts with subjective abstractions (e.g. the scenes that refer back to the silent film era), however in the grander scheme of things those moments feel isolated and disconnected from the rest of the film. It’s strange how you can always feel his adventurous spirit behind the camera, but the movie as a whole never stops feeling like hollow Oscar bait. Compared to a movie like Tár there’s a strong argument to be made how writing fiction can loosen the creative restraint for a writer. Because of that I honestly don’t get why there’s still such a strong emphasis on the biopic in awards circles, and no movie from 2023 exemplifies that better than Maestro.
4/10
The stakes in each season have kept escalating, and this latest installment is a wild ride since the very start. This season brought back the same kind of internal conflicts and intrigues that initially drew me into the series, and it was also great to see my faves (Cate and Diane) contributing so extensively this time.
However, I’m not too sure about the way they handled the action in the final episodes. While the overall experience remains exhilarating, it felt like they went a little overboard. I anticipated the Slow Horses would devise a more intriguing and clever resolution. Instead, the climax unfolds in a surprisingly muscular and implausible manner, leaving me somewhat perplexed. It's an undeniably solid show, but I found myself wishing for a more nuanced and satisfying conclusion to complement the series' established depth and complexity.
Barbenheimer: Part 1 of 2
This is the kind of film I really don’t want to criticize, because we don’t get nearly enough other stuff like it. However, mr. Nolan has been in need of an intervention for a while now, and unfortunately all of the issues that have been plaguing his films since The Dark Knight Rises show up to some degree here. Visually it might just be his best film, and there’s some tremendous acting in here, particularly by Murphy and RDJ. However, it makes the common biopic mistake of treating its subject matter like a Wikipedia entry, thereby not focussing enough on character and perspective. As a whole, the film feels more like a long extended montage, I don’t think there are many scenes that go on for longer than 60 seconds. There’s a strong ‘and then this happened, and then this happened’ feel to it, which definitely keeps up the pace, but it refuses to stop and let an emotion or idea simmer for a while. There are moments where you get a look into Oppenheimer’s mind, but because the film wants to cover too much ground, it’s (like everything else) reduced to quick snippets. It’s the kind of approach that’d work for a 6 hour long miniseries where you can spend more time with the characters, not for a 3 hour film. I can already tell that I won’t retain much from this, in fact a lot of it is starting to blur together in my mind. There are also issues with some of the dialogue and exposition, such as moments where characters who are experts in their field talk in a way that feels dumbed down for the audience, or just straight up inauthentic. Einstein is given a couple of cheesy lines, college professors and students interact in a way that would never happen, Oppenheimer gives a lecture in what’s (according to the movie) supposed to be Dutch when it’s really German; you have to be way more careful with that when you’re making a serious drama. Finally, there are once again major issues with the sound mixing. I actually really loved the score, but occasionally it’s blaring at such a volume where it drowns out important dialogue in the mix. I’m lucky enough to have subtitles, but Nolan desperately needs to get his ears checked, or maybe he should’ve asked some advice from Benny Safdie since he’s pretty great with experimental sound mixing. My overall feelings are almost identical to the ones I had regarding Tenet; Nolan needs to rethink his approach to writing, editing and mixing. This film as a whole doesn’t work, but there are still more than a few admirable qualities to it.
Edit: I rewatched this at home to see whether my feeling would change. I still stand by what I wrote in July, though the sound mix seems to have been improved for the home media release. It sounds more balanced and I didn’t miss one line of dialogue this time around. I’m slightly raising my score because of that, but besides that I still think it’s unfocused, overedited, awkwardly staged and scripted etc.
5.5/10
The message of the movie was really unclear, it felt like the filmmakers didn't stop and ask themselves "what do we want the viewers to feel in this scene or this other scene", so the narrative that was created in this 102 minutes lead to nothing.
I didn't care about the characters or the events because I was given no reason to, there was little given as background to the story (which is fine, great storytellers don't need voiceovers or walls of text telling you what are you watching) or the characters and their motivations, so I was really indifferent to these characters and what happened to them.
I didn't know if the movie wanted to say something about child soldiers, or wanted to be a story of survival of a hostage, or an exploration of empathy in an intense situation, or maybe it wanted to be all these things at once that it failed to be any of these things in a fulfilling manner.
Then the movie ended as it was just getting good. I was really surprised as the screen went black and the credits rolled in, I felt like there was still a third act in that story that would've at least taken this movie to a 7/10 at least, just by virtue of taking the story home and giving the viewers closure.
Eh, another one for the "Only if..." pile.
Way better than any of the recent Right wing conspiracy movies out there. If you want to control the masses, Easily done, just dose the fried chicken.
the negative reviews on this movie are obviously from people who are not the target audience. this is a high concept piece of work, which truly puts the meaning of "show, don't tell" into full force. i absolutely was hooked in the first 20 minutes, and at a point where i thought they were going to go the "hollywood way out", they didn't, and it really subverted my expectations. THIS is the kind of movie that makes me writhe in my seat at high tension scenes, and there are not many movies that do that to me. it gives me ALTER short film vibes, so if you're into that, you'll love this film.
What a treat! No One Will Save You is a dialogue devoid, tension soaked thriller with an understated backstory and a great presentation. Employing my favourite style of storytelling by showing rather than overtly telling, this deeper-meaning alien thriller is decidedly something special comparative to the other streaming movies that get dumped onto their respective services each week. Surprised this one didn't get a run out at the cinema, I think it would have benefitted from the theatre experience. That's to say you should give this one the setting it deserves. Turn off the lights, crank up your sound device of choice and let this one thump and thrill you for 90 minutes. If you're willing to give it your full attention, I think you'll be greatly rewarded.
Much like all of these post/elevated-horrors, many of the elements are metaphor-laden and hold deeper meaning past the usual surface layer. The aliens in this scenario embody the feeling of anxiety, dread and guilt that is currently holding Brynn hostage in her own home. Unlike everyone else in the rest of the world, who let this anxiety and dread wash and takeover them, Brynn has decided after years of solitude and self-hate that's she's going to stand up and fight back. My read on the ending is that Brynn, who we now know killed her best friend in an accidental retaliation during a childhood fight, has now processed that guilt and stopped it from "consuming" her. We see that everyone else has allowed the alien parasite into them and are now living life with the motions, while Brynn actively fights off the possession and kills many of the aliens trying to force it upon her. Now she has faced the guilt head on, she can live her life free and unburdened, as we see her going about her daily tasks and being accepted by the possessed town that once shunned her.
It's amazing to read other reviews where people are completely slamming this movie for "not making sense". I think this movie is a good litmus test for people who actually pay attention and those that have made doomscrolling on socials part of their movie watching experience. Without things being overtly spoken through dialogue, many are missing this movies well conveyed story, and it's pretty depressing. Hope the industry keeps giving movies like this the time of day, they're the kind of movies that really remind me why I love this medium and the places it can take you.
Great documentary showing how hostile the society can be to ideas of freedom. On the other hand, it also shows that even people with the best intentions can become derailed by power struggles. The world would be a better place if people were more tolerant and open minded. I highly recommend the series.
It's interesting that there is never a conflict until the Christians get their panties in a wad.
Really interesting documentary.
Both sides of the conflict are well highlighted and the escalating problems and the size of the cult are almost unbelievable.
I kinda got the feeling if both sides were just better neighbors to each other this whole thing wouldn't have happened though.
Heavy with style but lacking in substance. That's the sum of Peaky Blinders.
Peaky leans hard on slow motion shots and a modern punk/indie rock soundtrack that you'll either love or hate. I actually like the choice of music but how many times do we need to see someone walk past a fire breathing factory with a cigarette in hand and punk rock blaring in the background before some actual character development happens?
Cillian Murphy is excellent but aside from one or two other characters the rest of them are very one dimensional. You see all the faces in the background pic on this page? Less than half of those faces have any real narrative in the show. Because of this you are left with just a couple of prominent figures that tend to be overused
The story-lines are never all that compelling either unfortunately, style wins out here as well.
I thought the first season was decent and I was curious to see if they would improve for the second. When it was announced that Tom Hardy would be joining the cast I was pretty excited. Sadly his role isn't featured that much so his impact was minimal.
I see people trying to compare Peaky Blinders with Boardwalk Empire and I just don't see it, Boardwalk had compelling story-lines and an ensemble cast it actually used. Here's hoping season 3 will be different.
I don’t know why this movie has so many bad reviews. This was an absolutely crazy movie with a very disturbing undertone that you feel inside of you the entire time your watching it. That movie has a really fun wild ride as the story is progressing, but than it takes a very interesting turn, but that’s not to say the movie is bad. Obviously is has to end eventually. Either way Mia Goth was great in this movie, and Brandon Cronenberg did a great job for someone who’s trying to follow in his fathers footsteps and carry on the torch.
