Everything about this film is sublime and superb. Loved it!
how could a film that bases an entire storyline around a Ratatouille joke not be absolutely fantastic?
DEVASTATING.
I took a little break from BoJack since I was starting to feel burnt out after watching more than my usual one to two episodes a day. This episode was a fantastic way for me to get back into the groove and in typical BoJack fashion, it got me comfortable before leaving me with a gut-wrenching ending.
The first thing I noticed was the reversal of our main characters' roles. Instead of BoJack, Princess Carolyn, Mr Peanutbutter, Diane and Todd as our heroes, we get Vanessa Gecko and Rutabaga.
It was interesting how our character's paths converged and separated. BoJack's foolish choices, PC's past actions, Diane & Mr Peanutbutter dealing with the potential death of his brother, Captain Peanutbutter and the downfall of Todd's company. All of their actions ultimately had severe consequences which were both sad and beautiful to watch. At the start, it's all going great before the episode ends with crushing blows to all of these beloved characters. BoJack ends up without a gig, letting down Kelsey and Princess Carolyn. Without any of the gigs, the pressure and stress of PC's company's situation get to her as she reveals her insecurities, lashing out on Judah before apologising and telling him to go home. Mr Peanubutter has to deal with the difficult truth that his brother could pass away. And it ends with Gecko and Rutabega, celebrating their victory because they're "the good guys."
The episode's ending was heart-breaking, and it reminded me that this show wasn't made to make you feel good. It's made to portray real people with unforgiving and messed up lives. It was so strange to see characters who've been predominantly portrayed as villains, celebrating while the main cast is depressed on New Years Day.
MY NOTES
What an episode.
TECHNICAL SCORE: 8/10
ENJOYMENT SCORE: 8.5/10**
"in this terrifying world, all we have is the connections that we make".
9.5/10. If you'd said to me, "Hey watch this short film that's a cross between Lost in Translation and the opening act of Wall-E," I'm pretty sure I would just look at you funny. And yet that's pretty much what this was, and it worked beautifully. The undersea world BoJack found himself in, where he couldn't eat the food, couldn't engage in his usual vices, and most of all couldn't speak or understand the local dialect, captured the experience of isolation and confusion that can come from visiting a foreign country through a distinctively BoJack lens.
But it also created a great atmosphere for a format-bending episode. Offering a nigh-wordless half hour of comedy in a show that makes its hay from its dialogue could either be gimmicky or bold, and thankfully this episode tended toward the former. It helped to put the viewer in BoJack's shoes -- only able to communicate and express mood through non-verbal cues like gestures, body language, and the score.
And in the absence of dialogue, Bojack Horseman reverts to a certain Looney Tunes-esque vibe where BoJack finds himself inadvertently responsible for an adorable little seahorse moppet. (I had flashbacks to the "Buttons and MIndy"segments of Animaniacs and a dozen other classic cartoons.) The design and personality of the seahorse baby struck the right balance of adorable and mischievous, and it created a nice opportunity for BoJack to be caring, brave, and as always, eternally frustated.
But this being Bojack, of course there's a quiet strain of melancholy through the whole thing. When Bojack returns to the seahorse babe to its father, the dad is mildly grateful, but mostly blase, and the baby doesn't even wave to him when it's time for BoJack to say goodbye. They went through this experience together, through shark attacks and taffy explosions and being stranded, and the moppet is too little to even look up for his soup or appreciate what his equine friend did for him. There's an emptiness there, a sort of existential realization that all that effort, which was quite noble in and of itself, feels a little hollow without someone to share it with or to appreciate it.
So through this experience, BoJack finally finds the words to apologize to Kelsey Jannings, noting that grand acts are nice, but that accomplishments, even ones far more important than winning and Oscar like returning a child to their parent, can seem like building a sandcastle, inevitably fleeting and meant to be washed away with the coming tide. But that those connections between individuals are what sustain us and give us life and reason to go on in a world of sandcastles.
Again, this being BoJack Horseman, those words too are washed away before he can get them to Kelsey in any sort of readable fashion. To add insult to injury, he realizes in the end that he could have talked this whole time, which is the right combination of sad and funny. But overall, this is a wonderful episode that uses some great Warner Bros. silent capering to further the show's project of examining its lead's attempts to find meaning in his life, and finds an inventive way to convey that experience.
No matter your age, this is a very splendid movie. Truly great humor for all the family.
I still can't believe Sir Paul McCartney actually participated in this. For a rather unknown show (at the time), it sure managed to attract quite a few celebrities.
Anyway, from the hilarious Princess Carolyn "adult" relationship with three kids on top of one another to the emotionally intense and brutally honest fight of Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane, this episode covered all of the things that make BoJack Horseman such an eclectic, mature and overall deeply entertaining show, setting itself apart from others of its ilk. Superb episode, indeed!
Good, fun episode with a good conclusion to the murder mystery even though I personally wanted it to go a different way. Someone had the theory that Tobert's elephant story didn't actually happen, instead it was an allegory for him watching Ben trip and hang from the elevator door and instead of helping he just watched him die. I found this theory to be brillant. There was also talks about him working with Cinda. I get that the love insterest being a culprit has already been done with Jan but I don't think the actor's chemistry with Selena has been great enough for me to just accept him as nothing more than a LI, but whatever. The actual confessions and motives were well done so I'm not too mad, it was not bad at all, just a tad too predictable for my taste.
The trio has been great again all season and I did adore the musical aspect of the whole season but I hope in S4 we stay more in the Arconia and its resisdents. More Theo please as well and I hope Meryl sticks around!
Shame the cookie twist was obvious since the audio was first heard. Seems to be wrapping up well enough though. Please don't somehow drag it out into another season
I've been waiting for them to figure out Ben was talking to some cookies since the second episode and FINALLY they did it. I wish it wasn't so painfully obvious but at least it's out of the way now. The rest of the episode was good, I always enjoy our trio working together, there's been plenty heartfelt and fun moments in this ep and seeing more of Ben's final moments was very interesting.
I aspire to have as much energy at 74 as Meryl Streep does.
I think we can all agree that Ben was actually talking to like a plate of cookies off camera and not a person in his dressing room. The question is then, who put them there and were they spiked?
Anyone else get Lucille and Buster Bluth vibes from Cliff and Donna?
“I come from television so I was trained to not question a script.”
Everything is not what it seems, so, I don't think Kimber did it, it is too soon to reveal the killer. I expect next episode they'll focus on Kimber but towards the end, focus will shift to someone else.
Meryl Streep and Ashley Park's voices in that lullaby was so great. Season 3 is amazing so far.
“I can’t cry.” “Why? Are you on Xanax?”
Theory: what if the two attempts on Ben's life were committed by two different people, potentially with unrelated motives?
I really liked Jesse and Selena's chemistry.
While investigating Ben's apartment, a poster for the fictional movie "Sex Panther" can be seen hanging on the wall. Sex Panther was the name of the cologne worn by Paul Rudd's character in the movie Anchorman (2004).
“The people who figure their shit out right away are boring. The late bloomers? People like us? We make the world go ‘round. You can afford to take your time, Mable. What you cannot afford to do is waste it.”
What an amazing first two episodes, I can’t wait to see where this season goes!
Definitely didn't see that twist coming in episode 1. So many potential murderers. Someone attempted to kill Ben at the theater, but failed (maybe poison by cookie?) and then succeeded the second time. I have to say, other than feeling pretty sure that Loretta is not the killer (it feels too obvious), this is wide open for me so far.
This show really doesn't miss - the costuming is always on point, same with the set designs, it’s all perfect.
Meryl & Paul were an amazing addition.
What a great TWO EPISODE premiere! Our favourite trio is as witty as ever, but Meryl and Paul fit right in. God, Meryl was simply marvelous in episode 1. Paul is an absolute riot. This man never ceases to amaze me with his versatility. So many potential murderers, so many potential twists and turns. I can't wait! This season is shaping up to be one hell of a ride!
I need like five more shows with todd
I’m not exactly sure how I would’ve felt about this movie if it wasn’t led by Charlie Hunnam, but because of that magnificent man and his consistent solid and beautiful performance (which carried the movie, imho) I have enjoyed every minute of it, and will probably watch it again. My eyes were glued to the screen the entire time and I was absolutely sucked into that world and his obsession with the lost city. This man continues to surprise me. In the best ways possible.
Very well paced and entertaining movie. There is a lot going on and James Gray never focuses one one thing for too long. I was never bored during the long run time of this movie. Some beautiful shots in the jungle. Charlie Hunnam is great in this, really does a good job showing a man who keeps chasing after his dreams. Robert Patterson was surprisingly good too, I still can't help but think of twilight whenever I see his name. Tom Holland was decent in the part of the movie he was in. Only nitpick with this movie is that it has a little unsatisfactory ending but that is what happened in real life. Nobody knows what happened to Percy.
Some parts were funny, other parts were just too over the top. The first movie was way better then this one.
The last 30 minutes are really good and interesting. But getting there is slow and tedious, i almost fell asleep.
plus they never explain why the aliens abducted all those people and why they suddenly decided to let them come back
Like a critic who starts off every review with a cheap simile, Dial of Destiny runs out of ideas very quickly and resorts to gimmicks to generate a semblance of creativity.
Do you like it when Indiana has to figure out puzzles to uncover the truth? James Mangold not so much.
Do you like it when Indiana is confronted with a swarm of beasts he has to fight to survive? James Mangold says, "Meh."
Do you like the same chase scenes you've seen in all the other Indiana Jones' movies? You're in luck! James Mangold thinks you can never have too many of those.
If you've ever felt like watching a movie that is the definition of playing it safe, you should definitely give the fifth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise a chance. There really isn't a single risk taken here, which leads to a film that is shockingly boring for long stretches. Tension or even a sense of adventure hardly ever arise in the 2.5 hours of runtime. And even the finale disappointed me, similarly to the miserable fourth part.
In spite of that, "Dial of Destiny" actually gets off to a halfway promising start. If you can overlook the fact that the deaging technology is still not truly ready, then the opening sequence during World War II is really fun. Unfortunately, it's also the last time the film is genuinely good. James Mangold is by all means a capable director, but here he fails to convey any personal style at all. The plot is pretty basic, with pretty much every twist and turn being predictable until the absurd finale.
The cast also, regrettably, didn't entirely work for me. Harrison Ford is still good, but age has definitely caught up with him. Mads Mikkelsen isn't bad as the villain either, and there are a few nice cameos as well. However, I was disappointed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, whose character Helena is terribly written and who seemed like a miscast to me. In my opinion, she's no better than Shia LaBeouf in the fourth movie. And I don't even want to mention anything about Ethann Isidore, who plays a poor man's Short Round.
It all certainly sounds a bit more negative than it actually is. Ultimately, the film has hardly any serious lows, but it also has pretty much no satisfying high points. It's all pretty mediocre. At most, the occasional fan service moment managed to elicit a chuckle from me. But for a good film, they should have taken some risks, at least at some points. As it is, I can't really recommend "Dial of Destiny".
A lot of people saying it is better than Crystal Skull, and they are just in denial. It’s not offensively bad or anything, it’s just boring and a chore to get through. There was legit a point about 3/4s through the movie that I had to remind myself that it was an Indiana Jones movie because I forgot why I was watching it. Dr. Jones got a fine ending in the last one and there really is no reason for them to force this old man to wear his fedora and get the whip back out, this is abuse.
What a sad sack of a film. If you keep having to CGI Harrisons Ford's face onto all the stuntmen that can actually participate in the scene then that's a good sign you probably shouldn't have bothered. The opening with a de-aged Indy at the end of the war is legit fun but is full of shonky CGI (there's a bit where a totally animated Indy running across a train in silloette that I honestly can't believe made it's way into the final cut) then it's downhill fast and never lets up. I'd take Shia as a companion over the irritant that is Phoebe Bridge unlike Toby Jones who steals every scene he's in a good way.
Oh and people that moaned about aliens finale in Indy 4? Well Indy 5 is like hold my beer I can top that ending in a tardis.
The projector packed in the cinema on the last ten minutes and it was more amusing than anything that happened the film. The projector was sorted and the madness wrapped up.
I honestly preferred Kingdom of Crystal Skull. At least it had Spielberg magic.
Plots of the movie:
This is so bland and inessential, they might’ve as well put it directly on Disney Plus. Why are we investing 300 million dollars in an action/adventure flick starring an 80 year old grandpa? Look I have a lot of respect for Harrison Ford, but everything that’s wrong with this movie is connected to the larger issue of him and the franchise being way past their expiration date, so this never should’ve been greenlit in the first place. Nothing is offensively bad here, but it’s more a case of wrong decisions piling onto each other.
I understand Lucasfilm’s decision to hire a director who just delivered two crowdpleasers in a row, both of which were acclaimed by normies and snobs alike. Mangold understands what makes the world and character work, but he doesn’t get the soul. Right from the opening scene, the movie looks drab, underlit and generic. There’s almost no imagination to the set pieces, and some of the more impressive stuntwork is undone by poor effects work. Take the Tuctuc chase. Ford’s stunt double puts in the work for the wide shots, but when you cut to a close-up of characters in front of a green screen, you’re not exactly selling the sequence. It’s not going to stick on my brain, it’s too unremarkable. Again, what’s the point of making an Indiana Jones movie if there’s no viscera or imagination to the action?
Then there’s the story, which is also very by the numbers and low on risk. It feels like wheel spinning, which in theory could be fine (the Bond franchise got away with that for decades) but there’s nothing to hold my interest. Some of the new mechanics introduced during the third act I found to be underwhelming, and this is coming from someone who didn’t mind the inclusion of aliens in the last film. All of the new characters are boring and underdeveloped (especially the villain), despite the actors putting in decent performances. It’s quite funny how this suffers from the same problem as Furious 7, where villains will show up on the same location as our heroes despite there being no story reason for it. Occasionally there’s a brief fun interaction, or a fun set, or a good visual idea (like the final shot, for example), but that’s not enough to fill its bloated runtime.
4/10
Visual perfection
Great film with a beautiful soundtrack going hand in hand with a plot that while being simple, it captivates the narrative by how everything played out at the end.