Denis Villeneuve is the man!
There’s only one word that came into my mind after watching it: finally.
Finally, a blockbuster that isn’t afraid to be primarily driven by drama and tension, and doesn’t undercut its own tone by throwing in a joke every 30 seconds.
Finally, a blockbuster that puts actual effort in its cinematography, and doesn’t have a bland or calculated colour palette.
Finally, a blockbuster with a story that has actual substance and themes, and doesn’t rely on intertextual references or nostalgia to create a fake sheen of depth.
Finally, a blockbuster that doesn’t pander to China by having big, loud and overblown action sequences, but relies on practical and grounded spectacle instead (it has big sand worms, you really don’t need to throw anything at the screen besides that).
Finally, a blockbuster that actually feels big, because it isn’t primarily shot in close ups, or on a sound stage.
And of course: finally, a blockbuster that isn’t a fucking prequel, sequel, or connected to an already established IP somehow.
(Yeah, I know Tenet did those things as well, but I couldn’t get into that because the characters were so flat and uninteresting).
This just checks all the boxes. An engaging story with subtext, very well set up characters, great acting (like James Gunn, Villeneuve's great at accentuating the strengths of limited actors like Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa), spectecular visuals and art design (desaturated but not in an ugly washed out way), pacing (slow but it never drags), directing, one of Hans Zimmer’s best scores: it’s all here.
I only have one real criticism: there’s too much exposition, especially in the first half.
It can occasionally hold your hand by referencing things that have already been established previously, and some scenes of characters explaining stuff to each other could’ve been conveyed more visually.
Other than that, it’s easily one of the best films of the year.
I’ve seen some people critiquing it for being incomplete, which is true, but this isn’t just a set up for a future film.
It feels like a whole meal, there are pay offs in this, and the characters progress (even if, yes, their arcs are still incomplete).
8.5/10
Everything I wanted it to be and more. Perfectly cast and excellent soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. Epic Sci-Fi at its best.
Eternals really changed the whole MCU. This is a new take on a whole new mcu film without the same old formula. And I kinda like how divisive and deep, dark they went for this. There's so much complexity in each character that I know people can identify with, it's everything the other mcu films could've been. Fuck rotten tomatoes.
Incredibly uninspired.
I haven’t seen one of these in a while, but even I noticed that a lot of its visuals and ideas are directly lifted from better comic book movies.
And it’s ugly, really ugly. Way too heavy on the generic orange/teal color palette, way too much slomo, not a single ounce of tangibility.
They should've just gone all in with making the artifice a stylistic choice, make it look like 300 or something. The hybrid of stylized CGI noise with a world that’s supposed to look at least somewhat real doesn’t work.
The movie itself will have lost any sense of relevancy within a couple of weeks. Yes, despite ‘changing the hierarcy of power in the DC Universe’, there’s not much of interest going on here.
I just feel bad for Dwayne Johnson, the man clearly has a talent that suits this type of film, but he’s stuck in a time where adrenaline driven action filmmaking is at its absolute blandest. This needed way more bite and edge in order to cover up for the basic premise. It’s such a shrug of a movie as is.
3.5/10
I do like the show, but it's not Star Trek. If this was just a new sci-fi show that existed in its own universe, it would be incredible. However, the fact that they've tried to pass this off as Star Trek when it's clearly not sullies the experience.
If it wasn't already apparent, Paramount and CBS have no idea what made Star Trek great, and don't care either. The simple explanation is that the world of Star Trek is supposed to be optimistic; this is pessimistic. And I do enjoy pessimistic sci-fi, but there's so much of it, and to see one of the few optimistic sci-fi worlds turned into something pessimistic is a shame.
Fortunately, we now have The Orville, which is doing Star Trek better than anything has since Voyager ended in 2001.
The show is supposed to take place between Enterprise and TOS, but the technology is very different. For example, there are holograms everywhere. Why try to do a prequel again? Why not set this after Voyager? That would make a lot more sense, and they'd be able to add whatever technology they like, and not be constrained by existing continuity. Fortunately, it's not too late for the showrunners to say "hey, we made a mistake, this actually takes place X years after Voyager".
Last, they fucked up the Klingons. For almost 25 years, they had the look of the Klingons figured out perfectly. They're iconic. But this show (and the reboot movies) messed them up and made them look like generic sci-fi bad guys. What happened to their hair and beards? Also, the costumes are ridiculous, and their ship interiors look like they're made of coral. I do like the idea of having an albino Klingon though.
And I applaud their desire to use the Klingon language on the show, but it's pretty annoying having every Klingon scene subtitled. The previous shows used a common sci-fi conceit: the actors speak a language that the audience understands, but it's accepted that they're really speaking a different language. The viewer effectively has a universal translator so they can understand what's being said.
Also, it looks nothing like Star Trek. Once again, The Orville got that right, and this didn't.
All of that said, I do like the show. The characters are interesting (especially Doug Jones), I've enjoyed each episode, and I think the storyline is pretty interesting. But goddamn it, why did they have to try to make this Star Trek when it's not?
This movie was just getting mediocre reviews (it had only been out for a day) when I decided to see it. I think I know why and I’m going to disagree with them. This film is about Norse legend and mythology, no less and no more. It is a bleak tale about a bleak period where honour was defined by vengeance and brutality was its bi-product. Our culture is not use to straight up Homer-esk tales of heroes and gods. Our culture likes its mythical heroes to be served with humour and wisecracks. This treatment is in dark contrast to that. It is, however, beautifully crafted. The locations are stunning in their natural beauty. The cinematography is intentional and captivating. The action sequences and the CGI are painstakingly real and truly brutal. The performances are faithful to the culture they inhabit. As is my custom, I did a quick exit poll of others leaving the theatre with me. The three people I spoke to each gave it a 9 out of 10. Nothing mediocre about those ratings. I agree and give this film a 9 (beautifully crafted) out of 10. [Heroic Mythology]
You know... when people tell you to shut up... you shut the fuck up.
Also what is it with the 30 minutes.
Atrocious! This movie is an abomination. People were moaning midway, some walked out. I don't know if Ron Howard was high when he made this or just didn't care or both, but I regret that I actually paid for this. And that's coming from someone who paid to see Under Siege with Steven Seagal and the Police Academy movies. Seriously do yourself a favor and skip this one. If you enjoyed Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons you will hate this one. Even more so you will ask yourself if this is even from the same people. All I can say is this. If something works please don't try to make it different just so because it's different. Have an idea! This was a total mess from start to beginning and the first 30 minutes where Langdon has hallucinations are barely watchable. Someone was clearly on acid. There is just no other explanation how an accomplished film maker like Howard made something as terrible as this. If someone has that flash thingy from Men in Black please send me a message. I need to get flashed. Twice. Just to make sure.
Pretty engrossing stuff.
I love the basement guy who plays chess.
There could be a whole tv show about that guy playing chess in the basement!
I don’t ever recall there being too many woman chess grandmasters.
Is this fiction? I don’t know. I don’t think I want to know.
Let’s see where this ends up. Will research on it after watching the whole series.
This episode was so dark I figured the Night King was attacking Winterfell
oh my god
fucking finally
I’m so sick of getting excited by watching the trailer and then being disgusted by the actual movie
Well, now I see why this show is being talked about. Amazing start.
I have so much respect for Gunnhild. I never imagined I'd love her character this much when she came onto the show.
Its not a documentary it’s classed as science fiction. It’s already been publicised it’s not going to be factual at all, it’s going to be some alternative reality version of Cleopatra. It’s a shame because it could have been good.
If you love movies and time or at least love being alive.
NEVER WATCH THIS....THING
I think that finally all the inconsistency that this movie had does not matter. It doesn't matter that some villains are there and others are not, that the spell does not make sense, nothing deserves to be explained. And it is not necessary. Perhaps the only thing that matters is that the power that Marvel has to hoard every movie theather, and that in Peru, for example, they have violated their seat separation protocols, that they are charging more to see this movie, even in its third week, without being possible to have discounts on tickets (when even movies in their first week of release have). You might say that all this is external to the film, of course. But if Spiderman: No Way Home references things external to this movie all the time (not just the past Spiderman movies, but even the meta commentary on those movies, which comes from how silly they are to every line from Jaime Foxx about how he is more comfortable in this one). When the film takes us out of its narrative with all this, I think it is allowed that I too can get out of it to think about all this external that I have commented.
This is just one side, of course, and I'm sure I'm being mean or a smartass, sure. Even without all this, the movie should at least be entertaining. Of course, for some, that are so tired and I understand it, entertainment equals quality, "I had fun, ergo it's good." OK. But understand that there are thousands of ways to entertain yourself with a movie, to have fun. It happens with bad movies, The Room, for example, but it happens with the experience of going to the cinema as well (I think of the scene in which Jerry Seinfeld wants to go to see Planet 9 From Outer Space, but not alone, because otherwise it would not be entertaining ). I'm not asking Seinfeld to rate the film, but we are on Rate Your Music, we have to rate. I understand that some have fun with mediocre films, I think that to a greater or lesser extent we have all found ways to do it, but there are some that we can separate that: I surely entertained myself, maybe hate-watching Spiderman: No Way Home, and although I know what to expect with hese films, I think one of the highest grossing films of all time should have at least a clean script (I really wouldn't ask for more than that). I can't lower my standards, and that's okay, I'm not making my life miserable, I'm having fun in my own way (don't pity me poor me). But this fun, at least for me (and that is what many fail to understand) is beyond the fact that the film seems coherent to me.
Even so I found my way of making my experience watching Spiderman: No Way Home interesting, maybe egocentrical, and entertaining. This movie is by no means fun. The first two were okay, fine. Now they say this is stupid or that it embraces stupidity. Okay, but at the same time they are trying to sell us a conflicting Spiderman, who instead of going to chase the Green Goblin, prefers to tell the public that he wants to kill him. A Spiderman that almost acknowledges that he is in a film and knowing what's gonna happen next (he ask is Dr. Octopus knows him, because he called him by name, but everybody knows he is Peter Parker; he doesn't think there are new villains, he thinks something weird is going on). The downside this time around is that the show feels overly plastic, and that wouldn't be a problem if the movie wasn't trying to sell us the Spiderman drama.
And this is my way of having fun, you can't accuse me of being no fun. Okay, you can accuse me of being a cynical fuck, yes. But this is fun. And it's also depressing, of course. Is laughing to avoid crying.
If I want to say something good... well, maybe at least we have Daredevil on the MCU (but they are definitely not gonna reach the series highs, hell, not even the lows... How the fuck can you introduce him and get rid of him right away, there is a trial that we needed a lot more of, that should've been its own half an hour. And even when introduced you just skip all the good parts, how can Daredevil catching that ball be in screen for just a instant, don't you know how to zoom in, make momentum, fuck).
Okay, maybe it is good that Spiderman is kind of restarted now. I'll keep on wanting a better film out of this Spiderman. And I'll have fun while doing it.
Like a battery powered toy robot, it's noisy, flashy and doesn't stand still, but it just runs along its pre-programmed track until it ends predictably.
Sadly, however, this doesn't just run out of juice, it makes a hysterically bad exit...
this movie makes breach looks like a good film.... at least is not pretentious like this garbage.... WTF is happening?Who are allowing bad stuff like this to happen to begin with?
[7.7/10] I liked this. It start out a little bumpy, and frankly, it feels more like a Trekkie version of Star Wars: Rebels than anything we’ve seen from the franchise before. But there’s a lot of potential here. The mix of characters is strong, and while Dal is a little annoying in his quippiness, he has a lot of room to grow and mature. The animation is a bit rough in places, particularly the character designs and movements, but the ship-based set pieces are beautifully and even stirring.
It’s been a long time since Star Trek made something to appeal specifically to kids. This definitely fits modern young audience-focused sensibilities more than the 1973 Animated Series did. That means parts of it feel a little broad relative to what we grown-ups expect from Star Trek. But it feels like the series’ heart is in the right place here. While the Star Trek connection feels more like set dressing for a traditional action adventure series than a core part of the conception, I like the elements that Prodigy puts forward in the early going, and I’m curious to see where it (and Captain Janeway) will take them from here. Godspeed, kids!
Can’t believe Samuel L. Jackson is 72!
Thankfully not another tired Taken clone. This one tries to be a bit more dramatic whilst having a few action sequences to bolster it.
It's a bit of a Rambo V in quality - ie. cheap and sombre. It does benefit from the relationship with the boy though.
It was okay. Predictable yet not boring. There has been worse put out by Neeson these last few years but you wouldn't watch this a second time.
6.25/10
The amount of evidence they show must surely be enough for a legal investigation- why hasn’t this happened or will it ever happen… who knows
It's hard to be moved by the couple at the center of the story when you really don't care about them.
"I don't ever want to hear about Murder House"
Me neither, kid. I'm glad they burned it down. Time to move on.
STOP. GIVING. FILMS. WITH. MEDIOCRE. SCRIPTS. AND. CHARACTERS. A. GOOD. RATING.
There is no excuse for it in the 21st century. We know how to make coherent stories and good characters, and we should NOT FUCKING ACCEPT ANYTHING LESS.
You folks even admit it's got shallow characters and a nonsense story. That is not a 7-8, ,much less a 9. Five is AVERAGE. You have been normalized to not give anything below a Seven, and that is wrong and makes ratings pointless, and it makes YOU a consumerist goob.
Rant Over.
1/10 rating to compensate for all the noncritical consumerist trained monkeys.
Well I didn’t learn anything from this. I already knew it was a fraudulent election. This is for those that needed more obvious & abundant proof.
Same old bullshit***"".
if you're IQ is less than 80 then you should probably watch this movie.
i should rather watch Christopher Nolan's trilogy to clean my mind
I thought this double opening episode was a blast. Clearly taking cues from the Star Wars animated shows but that's not a bad thing to me. This was high energy and exciting with some good mysteries presented.
I like some characters much more than others. Rok is great, Zero is kind of fascinating. Gwyn probably has more depth than the rest of the characters put together. Dal was the problematic one, far too in-your-face, so it's a shame that he's ostensibly the "lead" role.
Visually this was glorious too. I loved a lot of the designs and use of colour.
The big questions for me:
- How did the Protostar get there, and what happened to its crew?
- The bad guy said he had been searching for the ship for a long time, but we've been told by the creators that this show is set only a few years after Voyager, so something doesn't entirely add up at this point.
- Similarly, how come there were so many Alpha Quadrant species here? Mysterious!
The real horror in this episode was that social media is a sickness and influencers will do whatever it takes to be famous, being blinded by the consequences. It could have been written way better, not the best episode. ultra cringey ugh
The ending of this episode creates very strong feelings in me. I'm not sure if I'm angry, confused, irritated, offended, pranked or excited.
That kind of cliffhanger should not happen with a series where it's unknown, when (and if at all) it continues.
Additionally, it's too obvious that Mr. World is Loki (too many hints) and that he needs to sacrifice Tech Boy, while it was also too obvious that Shadow is just some kind of resurrection pill for Wednesday. Besides that, still no clue what Bilquis' mission is, where Gungnir has been or why Laura still seems to be somehow important even though it wasn't even planned that she survives Sweeney's murder.
Oh, and I still wish for a return of Mad Sweeney. Sad to say, but IMHO the show lacks his best character since he got pulverized.
