Somehow I had never seen this, yet I did see the remake/reinterpretation when it released. I loved that one, so I always considered checking out the John Wayne style. Finally I've followed through, and... yea, this was pretty good.
The lead girl is really good in this. She has really great command in the majority of the scenes, and makes it feel like she's above the men around her. Of course though, John Wayne is entertaining in every scene he appears. He's just so different from most in his character style. You get a lot... of pauses at weird... places.
I do like the story in here quite a bit as well. It feels very different and not standard film plot. A lot of what I expect in most movies doesn't happen, and things play out in a more realistic sense.
Unfortunately though, there are some times that I felt a bit bored. The movie takes a while to get going and to draw me in. There isn't much excitement or tension for the first 20 minutes really. A lot could have been trimmed down to get the show on the road.
If you like classic westerns, certainly check it out.
Now, this is a difficult episode to write about. On the one hand its an acting tour-de-force and pushes characters in new directions. On the other hand it sometimes tips into really silly territory and turns Dukat into a comic book villain instead of the nuanced, multifaceted character he's been up until this point.
I can't help but feel that it's trying to evoke a similar feeling to the amazing episode 'Duet', which was way back in season 1. It doesn't come close to that overall, but it does achieve a very satisfying back-and-forth between two strong characters. Sisko and Dukat get to really go at it and explore all the aspects of their relationship, finally letting the truth burst out. The actors both give it their all and along with the script they manage to create some truly captivating viewing.
But it's sprinkled throughout the episode rather than being consistent. The lulls are made up for by the excellent scenes with Dukat and his "demons", those being the exaggerated imagined versions of Damar, Kira and Weyoun. These three really move the episode along and provide gorgeously over-the-top caricatures of the real characters - and so much of what they say is true to the real ones while being far more honest and direct.
The episode fumbles things a bit with an unsatisfactory ending in which Dukat just becomes unhinged and accepts his new evil ways. It's hard to not see it as Benjamin pushing him towards that rather than trying to reign him in. At the same time, the truth is liberating and there's a morbid fascination in seeing Dukat admit that he should have killed every single Bajoran when he could.
The scenes on board the Defiant are also troublesome, notably from Bashir and O'Brien who seem to think that Sisko is more important than the thousands of Federation troops their supposed to be protecting. O'Brien even looks disappointed when the find two survivors and they aren't people he knows. It does all lead to a great moment when Worf gets to casually, and authoritatively, put Bashir in his place.
An episode that was aiming higher than it managed to reach, but is still quite captivating. On a side note, I'm watching Voyager alongside this and I can't imagine it ever producing something of this ambition or substance. The writing and characters on that show are just laughable in comparison to the complexity that has developed here.
I’ll first tell you what works about this film as well as what doesn’t. First of all, Adam West and Burt Ward voicing these characters is a true blast from the past. Twenty years before I was born, they graced the screen in roles that are basically completely foreign to how we know them today – but they were comedic gold. Hearing their voices again brings me back to a time before I was even born, and I don’t mind it at all. Furthermore, they made sure to include lots of references to what made the original so great – even by today’s standards. Their ridiculous and unfounded powers of deducement, the ka-pow and blam-o action shots, the holy macaroni statements by Robin, the not-so-subtle hints at Bruce and Dick’s “secret life”, and honestly quite a bit more. They stuck the landing on a lot of good – but miss out on other things.
I’d have to say that one pertinent thing that makes the original show great is precisely the fact that it’s not a cartoon – but rather a live action presentation in the 60’s, before they had practically any technological advances and had to massively rely on humor including practical and cheesy effects – something this cartoon couldn’t do because they had the benefit of being a cartoon. At the same time, I get it, they couldn’t play themselves in a live action presentation anymore given their age…but at the same time, if they did, it would most likely be pure gold. Old geezers chasing each other through the park? Come on. It would be a legend. Another possible negative element this film holds is its episodic structure – I would say that even though there was an absence of credits rolling and it was strung together just fine, I’d say it felt like maybe two episodes put together, and I lost a bit of focus somewhere in the middle. The old show was pretty simple and straightforward on how they did things – but that’s not really a huge disappointment to me either.
Honestly, this isn’t really a movie to miss. It has all the nostalgia you can logically ask for with Adam West and Burt Ward returning to their iconic roles. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s pretty cool to watch. Check it out!
The show says goodbye to Kes and brings Seven of Nine into the family. I have mixed feelings about both, but I like that they handled both events in one episode.
Kes was a character who never really contributed anything to Voyager, despite the intrigue surrounding her developing mental abilities. It's a shame that nothing came of her, because Jennifer Lien was one of the best actors on the show and always brought more to the stories than others would have. Her relationship with Neelix never worked, but her interactions with Tuvok and the Doctor promised that more could have been coming up. Anyway, her method of leaving the ship is very abrupt and denies her a a proper goodbye with anyone other than Janeway. It's a somewhat emotional finish that leaves open ended questions.
And then we have Seven of Nine. A problematic character, because as has been freely admitted she was brought onto the show for no other reason than to have an attractive woman to boost ratings. They stick her in a catsuit, get rid of all the ugly Borg implants and the whole thing is quite ridiculous. What nobody could have forseen is that Jeri Ryan is a fantastic actress who brought a huge amount of weight to all of her scenes and elevated the character far above whatever ambitions the producers had for her.
This episode is all about moving things around, so very little really happens in it. Janeway's ridiculously elastic morals/superiority show up again as she tells Seven that she will have no free will aboard Voyager - at least the script acknowledges how horrible this is by having Seven accuse her of being no different from the Borg.
Once you accept just how much this show is going to rip off, and blatantly steal from Star Trek (notably, it seems to fashion itself around The Next Generation and Voyager), you can sit back and let yourself have fun with it. It mixes up all of the sci-fi tropes which 1990s TV gave us and adds some low brow humour which works more often than not. The show is certainly still finding its feet, but its been well cast and each of the actors involved contribute very nicely.
Out of everyone, the standouts from this season have Alara, Bortus and Isaac - and its a shame that they haven't each been given a bit more screen time. Of the three, Alara has been the one most allowed to grow and Halston Sage really does well when given the lead. Isaac has been fun and intriguing, but I feel like so much more could be done with him. Meanwhile, Bortus has just about stolen every scene he's in so it's a shame that he's not been given more episodes.
This is certainly a show for those of us who really miss 1990s science fiction TV, because it aims to tickle the nostalgia but also cleverly makes fun of so much of it (eg., Malloy looking out of the viewscreen at a nebula and remarking it would make a great desktop screensaver). The humour is also balanced quite well with more serious and heartfelt material, although I feel there is still work to be done in this regard. On the plus side, the show has managed to surprise me with unexpected twists from time to time.
One thing I'm not so much a fan of is the Ed/Kelly relationship. We kept getting teased that they still like each other and honestly it's felt like a dead end to me from the start, so I'd appreciate it if the show would leave it alone from now on. The season finale suggested that this would be the case going forward.
If the show felt like taking some influence from Deep Space Nine - the best Trek - that wouldn't go amiss either! A little more consequences for the ending of episodes, sharpen up some of the humour and this show is going to be an absolute winner.
Intense, thrilling, and immensely satisfying. This episode is a payoff to so many things that have been building, and lets rip by officially kicking off the Dominion War. Time is given to each main character as plans are set in motion, and there's a sense of inevitability throughout the whole thing - although, the whole way through we expect the crew to be able to defend the station; instead, they evacuate it and it ends up in Dominion/Cardassian control. A bold move.
There's time for some lighter stuff admidst everything. Rom and Leeta's wedding is short and cute, as well as the Rom/Quark brotherly love which fights its way to the surface. I'm also glad that Kira and Odo finally address the tension between them which begun back in 'Children of Time'. There's further romance in the air when Dax agrees to marry Worf and manages to take him by surprise, which is a rare sight by itself.
I also particular love Garak's view that shooting somebody in the back is "the safest way". He also has a quite magnificent talk with Ziyal.
The episode really revolves around Captain Sisko, though. He's a rock here, making firm decisions and planning things out while recognising that it's a lost battle. Speaking of the battle, it's a glorious space fight that ticks all the boxes and feels pretty epic. It allow us to also see the already broken dynamic between Cardassia and the Dominion as Dukat and Damar clash with Weyoun over their desire to subjugate Bajor again.
The mines seem like a good idea, but the method of implementation felt flawed to me. Surely there were other ships to help out?
But anyway, my favourite moment of the episode comes from Kira as she officially protests the Federations unwillingness to turn the station over to the Dominion, then reports for duty. The planned sabotage towards the end is also a fantastic twist. I know what's coming but I can't wait to watch it all again. I'm going to have to wait a little bit, though, because I'm reading Trek books alongside my rewatch and I have a couple of Dominion War novels to get through which fill in some events between this and the next season.
Suffice to say, there's a lot packed into this one, so it's interesting that it doesn't move at a breakneck pace and spends a fair bit of time on character moments. That's in stark contrast to what Star Trek: Discovery is doing, and I definitely prefer DS9's approach
I've been reading a lot of lists including this movie as one of the greatest of all time, and I have no idea why. Visually it is absolutely amazing, Ridley Scott's direction is amazing and it is incredibly stylish. The score is perfect for the movie as well. Harrison Ford's performance was just not good, I have no idea how no one criticizes just how incredibly wooden he was. The entire movie I was expecting him to say "Hey guess what I'm a robot, that's why I've been acting like an exhausted teenager this whole time".
I watched the movie without the director's cut and it included his awful narration. That was a big mistake, Ford sounds like he got called in to the studio on his vacation and just wants to get it over with. Ford isn't the only issue though, the main idea is kind of creative but the execution is just confusing. I have no idea what leads Ford's character from one clue to the next, and his jumps are incredibly convenient. The story itself just seems like a glorified twilight zone episode. It's not a bad movie, but it just seems so basic. ultimately I give it 5/10, If you look at style alone it is a masterpiece, and I can see just how influential it is, but the pacing is far to slow and the plot seems to basic for it to be much more than a stylish bag of tricks with nothing else.
An away team mingling with different cultures? Oh my, for a moment there I almost thought I was watching a Star Trek episode!
I'm guessing this first season of Discovery suffered from premature ejaculation, since it peaked a few episodes back and instead of ending with the bang it made us believe it was going to, it went out with a silent fart. Now I kinda wanted the over-the-top season finale I thought this was gonna be. It was the exact opposite of "over-the-top", if the war with the Klingons hadn't been (way too quickly) resolved in this episode I would even say this was a filler episode. It sure felt like one. That's no way to end a season.
Kudos for the mandatory season finale cliffhanger, though. I'm sure that kept around some folks for season two who had already decided to quit the show after the tepid finale. I'm a sucker for nostalgia, so of course I squealed like a little fangirl after witnessing such ending. Also thanks for the cute end credits song, now you've pissed the trekkies even more, something I didn't think it was possible for this show.
Discovery is kinda "meh" as a Star Trek series but (ignoring the lame finale), it's still too much fun to not stick around for the second season. I'll most certainly be back for another dose of this delightful space-opera!
I am dissapointed by the last couple of episodes.
As a season finale this was really lame. Zero excitement but instead a fake Giourgou whose behavior would have raised red flags all over with the crew. Her plan was to no ones surprise, that the Federation would go along with it incomprehensible, that she could have been simply talked out of it was weak. They could have at least given us some kind of fight. And we have to go back again to Burnham/Tyler for a considerable time and hearing her recollection of her real parents death. Not a bad scene in itself and possibly good for character depth but not something I want to see in a season finale.
And then there is not much incentive to watch season two to be honest. That grand speach and showing the Enterprise at the end feels exactly like throwing a bone to the fanbase to stick with the show. And playing the TOS music at the end was kind of insulting.
Now I've always said I am given Discovery a chance to develop and to convince me to stick with it and I was really into it for what it was. But after those final two episodes let's just say I won't loose any sleep over the next year to wait for the second season.
After the action filled episodes this takes a step back and slows things down. But I must agree I am not that much in favor with this episode.
First the writing seems rather convenient. They need to replenish the spores so they just terraform a moon in a nearby system. The depiction of the way the Klingons fight the war sound eerily like terrorist methods. The plan to go to Qo'noS and the explanation of how only military targets will be selected - this all has war on terror written all over it and not in a favorable way. Instead of raising questions if it is moral to do so here it seems like justification. Putting the Emperor in command as Giourgou with the lame explanation she's just recently been rescued makes no sense but maybe it was part of an agreement that wasn't shown to us. The whole Tyler-Burnham arch I was never in favor and now it becomes a millstone that has to be dragged along because I don't think with the conversation between those two it is done with.
Let's see what the season finale will bring but I think we are due to another 180 degree spin.
[8.6/10] Detroit is a harrowing movie. It’s supposed to be. There is nothing sugarcoated or tempered about the horrific abuses it puts on display. Instead, it explores the causes, comission, and perpetuation of those abuses in turn, with only the slightest hints of hope to peak in around the edges.
That’s not to say that Detroit is anything less than artistic in its depiction of these abuses. There’s few showy flourishes, as the film matches the faux-documentary, in the thick of the action atmosphere and visual perspective that were on display in director Kathryn Bigelow’s prior efforts like Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker. But that is an artistry all its own. The most impressive technical achievement of Detroit is that, for better or worse, it makes you feel like you’re there, in the thick of such horrid acts, both victim and perpetrator and complicit observer all at once.
That is, understandably, too much for some to bear. The film has an interesting tripartite structure, not wholly dissimilar from that of Zero Dark Thirty. But rather than three distinct phases, each with its own goal and tenor, Detroit is more like a dizzying inhale, an eternity of holding one’s breath, followed by a painful exhale.
The film starts by dotting around the titular American city, as tensions build, riots erupt, and the tumult of the culmination of years of abuse and segregation touches the lives of figures from across Detroit. The opening act traces the roots of this conflict, the way its tendrils spread out and began to impact so many people and so many facets of their lives, from a hopeful singer to a racist cop to a security guard working two jobs and just trying to get by, until their paths cross in horrific tones.
It’s then that Detroit becomes hard to endure. The central event of the film is the real life terrorizing by policeman and other law enforcement authorities of a dozen individuals, all young black men (save for two young white women damned by the cops for daring to consort with them), that involved countless incidents of brutal beatings, psychological abuse, and out-and-out murder.
The film spares nothing in depicting these events. It gives the viewer no respite from the horror, no discretion shots to couch what’s happening more gently or palatably, no cuts away to save the audience from having to stand witness to these horrors. That is by design, intended to shock the conscience and see the pain and unforgivable cruelty inflicted with no ability to turn away or pretend these events were somehow gentler or less horrible than they were.
But that frankness in depiction is at times, too much. Detroit is not a pleasant film, nor one for the faint of heart. It’s easy to watch the film’s extended middle section, which hardly leaves one location or skips and jumps in time, and think it the social justice equivalent of Hostel, or recall the South Park kids’ commentary on The Passion of the Christ -- “That wasn’t a movie, that was a snuff film.”
And yet, it’s hard to call Detroit indulgent. It may be hard to watch, but it never feels like its reveling in this horror, exploiting it the way a gore movie might or fetishizing it for other purposes. Instead, the cinema verite style of the picture is both non-judgmental, making the camera a detached observer, and yet utterly condemning of what it displays, making the statement that “this is how things really are, and you cannot run from them, ignore them, or pretend they aren’t there.”
On the other hand, the film is not merely content to say “this exists.” While straightforward in its dialogue and script, it explores complexities beyond simply the fact that there were abuses by policeman against black communities. It explores the people who could have helped, but who abdicated their responsibilities lest they be caught in the same mess. It explores the intersection of gender, of military service, of respectability politics and so many other pieces of the “bloody heirloom” (as Ta-Nehisi Coates puts it) that are encapsulated by this one grisly event.
The film is also not content to make this a generalized evil, with unspecified victims. It dramatizes the impact of the brutality and murder at the Algiers Hotel through three characters, and how they’re affected by it.
The first is Dismukes, the security guard who sidles up to law enforcement in an attempt to slow the bleeding. Dismukes is played by John Boyega, who gives a reserved but powerhouse performance in the picture. Speaking few words, he is a man who believes in appeasement, in avoiding the avoidable and lessening the pain of the unavoidable, and yet clearly feels the weight of his silence and steadfastness beneath his stoic surface.
The second is Kraus (Will Poulter who, like the film, doesn’t shy away from the monstrousness of his character), the racist policeman who leads the “interrogation.” At times, Kraus feels too evil to be real, and yet he is the sort of down-to-earth, lived in sort of abuser, the one who justifies his actions to himself, who feels confident he can wriggle out of any noose, that he eventually becomes all too real.
And then there’s Larry, the lead singer of The Dramatics, a Motown-aspiring group of singers. Larry is the lamb led to the slaughter, a young man who has no part in even the thin justifications for the assault. He is an innocent, not just of these supposed crimes, but of the social order and system that allows them. And he has the clearest arc in the film.
That arc emerges in the film’s third act, which explores the aftermath of the murder and brutality, in the community and for those involved. Kraus is called to answer for his actions, but Dismukes is accused alongside him. And the film treats their exoneration as the mixed blessing it is, on the one side, the sparing of a good man, and on the other, the escape of an evil one. When Kraus smirks and thanks Dismukes like a compatriot after he’s set free, Dismukes runs outside and vomits. While more understated that Larry’s,, Dismukes’s emotional journey is clear as well, one that makes him realize just what he’s been appeasing, and what he’s been a part of, in the same of trying to do the best he could for himself, his loved ones, and those who share his burdens.
Larry was not a part of that, or at least not cognizant of it, until made to face these horrors. The film suggests that the things done to him, the things he was forced to witness, changed Larry. No longer could he sing with the passion and abandon that fueled his dream. Instead, the only thing left within him were the prayers he sang out with a mortal threat standing behind him. When he walked into that hotel, he was a young man hoping to sign his heart out for the world, and when he walked out, he became a changed man, who could only sing for the blessings and hopes and prayers for the divine.
How you feel about Detroit will no doubt be influenced by whether it has the power to change you. If you are, like some in the film, naive or unknowing of the horrid depths of these sorts of abuses, you may walk out changed as well, made witness to them and unable to deny them. If you are, like me, someone who acknowledges these unforgivable trespasses but will likely never have to experience them, the film is a stark reminder of the horrors that you cannot elide in the theater, but never face outside it, and a call to action. And if you are someone who instead has to face those threats, those anxieties, and the sharpest edges of our society on a daily basis, then the film can only serve as a reminder of what already cannot be forgotten.
But the film has power. It gains that power from the way it personalizes these events, and from the broader societal scope it takes along the way, but also from its unflinching view of its central horror. How we take that horror, how we respond to it, says as much about who we are and the vantage point from which we see it, as anything in the film itself, and that is powerful too.
I was really looking forward to this movie, even though I am not the greatest Thor fan. However, the trailer looked interesting, I love the 80s style with the colours, it promised to be a wild movie with a great antagonist - I mean seriously - what could go wrong with Cate Blanchett, and even better in a dark gothic look?
Well, I was absolutely disappointed. Seriously, what where they thinking when shooting/editing this movie? There is no plot, the story is totally random and has no meaning at all anymore. It's just like a bad 90s sitcom that is progressing from one joke to the next, and this time it didn't stop at anything - stupidity, slapstick, vulgarity, we have it all, and without any style or niveau. I mean seriously "Oh, I'm drunk, I will just fall down" (as an entrance of a new and important character), "oh, I just saw hulks penis", "now we'll have to fly into the anus", etc. What's the target audience of this movie, childish boys in their puberty? I think even for them this is rather embarrassing than funny....
Epic, dramatic fighting scenes, e.g. when Hela defeats Asgard are equaly destroyed by stupid jokes as are emotinal scenes. Someone died? Just make a joke. Haha, and let's go on. Due to this, this movie wasn't exciting to me at all, it wasn't emotional, it was just dull. This movie is so jokes-packed, that even after the first three minutes (and did they really just do the stupid rope-joke in the introduction three times?! It was hardly funny the first time, it was annoying the second time, and the third I was angered, because obviously the director must think I am stupid), I had enough. And that is somewhat sad, because in the mass of stupid jokes there are some moments that actually where pretty great and that would have functioned superb in isolation. Take Jeff Goldblums character that is refreshingly eccentric and funny. Or Korg - great humoristic character. But having a more than 2 hour sitcom, this doesn't work anymore, even if it's good.
I do believe the story had potential, I mean they had a great soundtrack, stunning visuals, perfect CGI, absolutely gorgeous colours and scenes, a really great cast, I already mentioned the great Jeff Goldblum, who I found ingenious. Cate Blanchett is always a win, and she could have brought so much to this movie. And Tessa Thompson also stuck out to me - great charisma, interesting character. But none of them gets enough chance to really portrait their character, none of them gets any dept. Especially Cate Blanchetts talent is totally wasted - she could have been absolutly evil, strong, powerful - the perfect villain. But she isn't - the antagonist is (as with so many comic movies these days) a joke and a total disaster. There is hardly any substance, much to short screen time for character develpment, for backgrounds, for some seriousness. Nothing.
Seriously, I wouldn't have been surprised if there was laughter from the off.....
4/10
Almost the whole time I was watching this movie (including the bath-scene with Margot Robbie) I felt like the biggest idiot on the planet.
I'm not a numbers guy nor do I know all the terminology in American banking and mortgage systems and most of it looked like watching some kind of alien language. In the end though I knew what happened, I saw people warning us for what was about to happen and watched it all crumble down when it did happen.
All in all though it's an excellent portrayal of a system that is quite frankly a big con, stripping away money from those "below" with people at the help that don't really know what they are doing. An intricate web of rules, regulations, lingo, faces and characters who don't know the full picture. I think the movie quite nicely mimicks this chaos in the way it is set up, the catchy camera movements and often loud and noisy environments the scenes play out in. Here's a famous face that will teach you plebs what it's about, "let's simplify this for ya" so you're lured in.
Despite it's dry subject, the vast amout of stuff I personally didn't fully grasp it is a very enjoyable movie that will keep you hooked till the end.
Oh and it took me about at third the movie to realize Brad Pitt was that one guy.
No Spoilers at all.
So, i just finished first season of the series, and having watched this far, i dont really know how this series got an 8 here... its a "kinda good" series, it makes use of a lot of good characters from british literature and has a good cast of actors, really good actually, and they kinda put together a good "ambience" for these characters on a good plot, the problem here is, the plot moves too slow, so slow you actually lose interest in the middle of the episode, i start watching it, and around 20-30 minutes i am already picking my phone and doing something else and not even paying atention, which is a shame, cause the series has everything to be good, another problem i find with it is the way the characters are "connected" everything sees so random that it doesnt seem random at all, its like, every character find each other from time to time with no reason whatsoever besides advancing the plot, its too much of a coincidence.
Its not a bad series by any means, but if you are like me, and like a little bit more action packed and not so "wait for the plot to happen" series, this is not for you, my personal score for this would be 6, cause of this point in question, but since this is a review for other people and not myself, i am confortable with giving it a 7, but i dont find it deserving any more than a 7.
It's a testament to the quality of this film that you soon forget what a technical marvel these ape characters are and become much more focussed on the story. Caesar, once again, is at the forefront of this film, and the exploration of the ape community is fascinating to watch. Yet rather than simply focus on Caesar, Reeves is more interested in showing the fragility of peace between the human and ape communities, the distrust and hatred that can develop between two opposing factions and how easy such emotions can tear down any attempts to bring an end to hostilities. It's as relevant an issue that you could find to explore in modern society and it works wonderfully well here. Although the human characters are not as well developed, Reeves doesn't rush the story and the tentative steps to building trust between the two "families" in the opening half are beautifully played and help to ensure that the audience has some investment in both sides when all hell breaks loose. And whilst there are no real surprises in where the story is going, it is this focus on the characters like the previous film that help to make the action sequences tense and exciting to watch, even if the finale strays a little into CGI overload.
I guess I should not be too surprised given the Spider Man character we saw in the latest Captain America but I have to say that I was, well, hoping for something else, as in something better.
If the producer/writer intended to make a Spider Man movie for kids, and I mean kids, not young adults but kids, then this movie is hitting the spot. It is an excellent action/adventure movie for kids. Unfortunately I am not really in that viewer segment and for me this movie was pretty bad.
The movie is childish. There is no other way to describe it. My memory of spider man is a quite serious young man with a sharp and witty tongue. Not the fumbling and childish Spider Man in this movie. His best friend may be a good computer geek but otherwise he is dumb as a door nail and just tiring to watch. His, supposedly adult handler is a screw up who, surprise surprise, is hanging up the phone because he cannot be bothered to listen to kids.
The FX may be good as FX goes visually but it was also the typical, nonsensical Hollywood rubbish like boats that stays afloat forever despite being split in half etc. etc. The talking Spider Man suit appears to be programmed by the same guy who wrote the childish script.
The main bad guy pretty much has zero charisma and is nothing but a simple thief. Same goes for his buddies.
The SJW crap spread out here and there in the movie, especially in the Washington Monument scenes, was unwanted and just pissed me off.
I am afraid that this movie missed its mark for me by a wide margin. I do not understand why it seems to be so bloody difficult for Hollywood to make a good Spider Man movie. I like Spider Man, the comics character that is, so I find the slew of substandard movies really disappointing.
The only reason it doesn't get less than two out of three stars from me is because, as a kids movie, it is not at all bad (except for the SJW crap). It wasn't what I was looking for though.
I went into this show with low expectations; after the train wreck that was Iron Fist, I was prepared for the worst. By episode four or so, I could tell that this show was turning out to be far better than the others, and now that I wasted my entire weekend burning through the first season, I can say that this is arguably the best of all Marvel/Netflix shows so far, beating out the moody Season 1 of Jessica Jones. The characters are well written, the plot is focused and the conflict is realistic. Rather than burning through interesting characters to move the plot (I'm looking at you Daredevil Season 1!), it instead makes them incomplete and real. Frank Castle and "Micro" make a great team, having good chemistry and performing tasks better with the help of the other. When situations get resolved seven episodes in, it's rewarding and earned. The gimmick episode was nicely done and advanced the plot. Minor baddies introduced early in the season are quietly dispatched and they don't come back to cause trouble later in the season. Sidekicks and mentors don't turn out to be cheap moles.
An excellent effort from the Netflix team, and I'm looking forward to seeing what's next up.
And yet, they keep making money....
I'm not sure how, but they do. As a fan of the franchise, I introduced my sons to the original cartoons long before the first of these installments was released. They quickly progressed to the other new shows that still air. Imagine our excitement when there was talk of a movie!
The first one wasn't bad - I actually enjoyed it. But these movies have continued to spiral further and further down the garbage pit. The only real difference between all of them is the number of curse words -- the first one had literally none, and this one sounds like a 7th grade boy who just learned how to curse. Pathetic. It only further cheapens the already pathetically weak dialogue.
The ONLY true saving grace for any of these movies now is the understanding of the actually awesome tech that goes into making them. But even that is crippled by the fact that this movie looks like what would happen if all the computers used to make it drank heavy one night to the point of vomiting out images. WAAYYY overboard on the CGI.
Bottom line, my young sons like these movies. They're kids. This movie is just yet another cog in the Micheal Bay CGI machine.
And yet, they keep making money....
Like the last four Transformers movies, The Last Knight is over-long and overstuffed. While screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (Batman & Robin, Lost in Space, The DaVinci Code) who came up with the story added some DaVinci Code like subplots to the film. Which has Anthony Hopkins sending Mark Wahlberg's character on a quest to find Merlin's staff.
The upside is that there's some nice visuals and set pieces. All that seems wasted on films that don't add up to much. Sarcastic Spoiler Alert: They all have pretty much the same ending for movies that are so epicly long. "My name is Optimus Prime and I will always fight for humans and their planet....blah blah blah."
Michael Bay, before the start of some recent movies at theaters bragged about testing the limits of IMAX for the viewers. Yeah when he did that, he let the writer of Batman & Robin worry about the story. The film looks great but is it great ? No.
There's some laughs and cool new Transformers and robots but the movie is so long with a scattered plot that the good points don't save it . You also have Josh Duhmel back and chasing Wahlberg and the Autobots throughout until he's suddenly not.
Plus why are the humans even still after the Autobots that saved them four times and are their best defense against the Decepticons ? That's something for example that makes the film a mess. Bay hasn't learned from making any of these movies. Never takes notes from a bad review and just presents similar movies each time.
It's like "screw you, I'm Michael Bay and people will keep seeing these movies. So I will make it longer, louder and add more explosions!!"
Wonder Woman is... well... wonderful! This movie is a true representation of the characters I have grown up with and loved from DC comics and the justice league animated series. This movie is about how Diana the princess of Themyscira becomes Wonder Woman, a classic fish out of water tale of innocence and heroism.
The chemistry between the two leads feels so natural and it is because of this chemistry that Steve's sacrifice is so heartbreaking . While the movie may not be as layered or multifaceted as other DCEU offerings such as Man of Steel, making use of a more classic 'by the numbers' superhero formula, it is undoubtedly a more meaningful movie. It shows us the true nature of humanity through the eyes of an Amazon who has no preconceptions or history with our species. It shows us the ugliness of mankind, how cheaply we value human life with the wars we create, and how stereotypical gender roles have been/are to the detriment of women without bashing us over the head with a heavy-handed feminist agenda. On the other hand, through her eyes, we also see the things humanity is capable of through the power of love.
Despite the importance of this movie, Wonder Woman doesn't depress or bog the audience down. It conveys these important messages within the context of an uplifting film filled with fun, action and romance.
Critics have voiced their approval for this movie, but that shouldn't make fans of the DCEU fearful. Wonder Woman seamlessly fits in with the DCEU, making use of similar colour palates, action direction, and story telling. While this is a movie all little girls must watch, it is truly a movie for everyone... it is simply... WONDERFUL!
Best Sci-Fi series this season!
Like any good science fiction series, it starts with two episodes meant to introduce the characters. After that, you get some very interesting stories.
Capt. Ed Mercer is in some way a little bit like Michael Scott from "The Office US".
His Ex-wife and 1st Officer Cmdr. Kelly Grayson is very interesting. She's broken her husband's heart, but seems to still love him in some way. She's also very capable.
LaMarr and Malloy are a hilarious duo. They pilot the ship together and have incredibly funny conversations.
Bortus, who's got his husband in the ship, is a very dutiful officer with an interesting background and home life.
Kitan is a young bridge officer who only got the position as chief of security because people from her planet don't join the military often (she says so herself). She's extremely strong and can open any jar of pickles in the known universe (you'll get that after watching a few episodes).
Dr Finn has a humour as dry as Mars' surface. I'm surprised she's not British, she could very well be.
Isaac is the absolute Anti-Data. The president of his home world could be Skynet. His Android race considers any carbon life as inferior. And they don't mind telling you that. Isaac has taken the position on the Orville to study human behavior. Or their weaknesses. Like any artificial life form, he's got problems understanding jokes and slang. I like him and I don't fully trust him.
Last but not least, there's Yaphit, a jelly life form whose favourite hobby it is to annoy Dr Finn with his flirting.
So far, there've been great stories which got you thinking and had fun and action.
I can already see the potential for the development of more surprising and serious stories, running gags and maybe even some longer lasting story arcs.
You can see the love Seth MacFarlane put in this project. I'm not that often this enthusiastic about a TV series, but here, it's absolutely justified.
(No) Update after episode 6:
No need to update my review. The show just continues being great :-)
(No) Update after season 1 is finished:
This serial will become a TV legend like Star Trek TNG has become one. There'll be a time when fans will do fan fiction serials in the Orville's universe.
If two movies ever went on a date and decided to have polygamous relationship with a third movie: they baby of that relationship would have been called The Wall.
this is a movie with all the familiar features from its predecessors like : "Buried", "Mine" and "American Hero". one thing that is missing is the thriller part, the suspense.
In Mine as well as in Buried, you were attracted to the story, the characters grew on you and made the acting part even more enjoyable.
A philosophical Iraqi sniper is challenging the spotter to review his life and the deployment to Iraq. Hence the war is over, yet he keeps returning back for another tour.
to be honest I had a good feeling in the beginning, but (spoiler alert) the miraculous revival of Sergeant Matthews from the afterlife, the superficial conversation with Juba and lack of depth in performance of the main character killed the story. The Dean part, where he was shot should have been the beginning of the movie and afterwards the rest of the play.
How the Iraqi sniper could intercept high encoded military communication and know all the right commandoes was even more a buzz kill
in short, it had some great potential, but after seeing the ending I give the movie 4/10. POOR
"I'm Mary Poppins y'all"
This is just insane and I love it.
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" is so far Marvel's funniest and touching movie to date. With it's humor being more dry, weird, and visually pleasing to the eyes. James Gunn takes key elements of the first movie that we love and expands on it. The opening credits is more grand and the Skittles-like color palettes is off the roof here. I think Gunn's directing/writing is much stronger here, as he can work freely without any studious interference.
Honestly, I don't understand the mix feedback this is getting. Not as good as the first, but it's still a good movie. At least this was more memorable and joyful than "Civil War".
"Vols. 2" goes more in depth with these characters and give them arcs which later get payoffs. Exploring their broken pasts and flaws. Giving a richer understanding to these characters. That's why they so intriguing to watch, just for their weird & nonhuman personalities, yet feel the most human to us.
The performances from everyone were all fantastic. The comedic timing and deliver was all spot on. But my favorite character/performance was Michael Rooker as Yondou. For years I always thought Rooker was a great actor and in this he really shines. Having more character development and screen time than the last movie.
And I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but Marvel finally got it right with it's villain. The thing I've been criticizing for years has finally hit it's bullseye. However, I can't go much into the villain without spoiling major plot points. Still, the villain was interesting and caused a lot of harm, not from mass destruction, but emotional harm to are heroes.
Uninformatively this goes into my problems I had with the movie. The film is a bit predicable, which you see things coming a mile away. Then again, despite being obvious of what's going to happen, it still got a reaction out of me.
The movie has some tone issues. Every time the film gets serious or sad, it quickly cuts to a comedic joke. I'm not saying the movie should be serious or anything. My problem is when you get so into the emotional scenes, but gets deflated before your eyes start linking water. Basically stopping me from having an emotional reaction and it got annoying after awhile.
And I didn't think the Awesome Mix tracklist isn't as strong as the first one. I liked the songs in this, especially the one at the end. I mean, at least it actually fits in with the comedic and dramatic scenes.
Overall rating: While "Guardians 2" has it's messy elements, but has its heart in right place and that's what matters. A dazzling adventure with dynamic action sequences from these likable characters. Oh and some of the best one liners in any other Marvel movie ever.
Vol.3 is gonna be some weird shit.
[7.8/10] So much of Guardians of the Galaxy’s narrative is standard. This isn’t the first, and it won’t be the last film to feature a collection of rogues and nobodies reluctantly coming together to save the world. The tale of the dissolute young man who eventually learns to fight for something bigger than himself is a well-worn one, and a motley crew of suspicious characters slowly becoming a family is a cliché. In other words, when Guardians was released in 2014, it didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel.
And yet, it is a film full of such charm, such character, such inventiveness in ways beyond its story, that it becomes incredibly easy for give it for the ways in which it proceeds through the usual blockbuster story progression. The audience will put up with, and even enjoy, all the hoary tropes in the world if you can world and a cast of characters they want to spend more time with.
It also comes from a sense that director/co-writer James Gunn is content to make a film that doesn’t take itself, or these galaxy-spanning adventures, too seriously. That begins with movie’s much-ballyhooed soundtrack. While Guardians still employs much of the usual orchestral swell of the studio tentpole film, it scores much of the adventure to the dulcet tones of the sixties and seventies. Gunn and composer Tyler Bates flip nicely between the piped in tones of those classic greatest hits and the diegetic music emanating from Peter Quill’s holy artifact walkman.
Scoring scenes to the likes of “Come and Get Your Love” or the trailerrific sounds of “Hooked on a Feeling” serves two purposes. For one, it immediately gives Guardians a sonic identity distinct from its fellow Marvel brethren, and it’s an appropriately goofy one. A grim, intergalactic prison suggest ominous chords and haunting musical stings. Instead, Gunn deploys “The Piña Colada Song,” and it’s immediately clear that he’s more interested in riffing on the beats of the reluctant rogue-turned-hero story than playing it straight.
But it also roots Star-Lord’s attitude to a particular time and place, one tied to his lingering pain and connection to his mother. The film underlines it a little heavily in places, but there’s still a nice subtext that part of Peter Quill’s adolescent bent stems from the fact that he lost someone very close to him, and had his world turned upside down, at a very young age. There are notions of arrested development, of a veneration of a particular time in his life when things were normal and happy, that manifests in the form his prized piece of eighties paraphernalia in the midst of advanced alien technology, and the music that comes out of it.
That also syncs up with the film’s other big theme -- family. Hitting those thematic notes is where the film is at its most heavy-handed, with images of Peter’s dying mother spliced with those of the outstretched arms of his new comrades, followed by an appearance from his surrogate dad. Still, the film does a nice job of giving each of its titular Guardians a hole in their lives where family is supposed to go, that makes them each resistant but ultimately welcoming of the kinship that develops.
In addition to Peter’s complicated parental issues, there’s Gamora, whose horrific adopted father (Thanos, naturally), killed her real parents and taught her nothing but brutality and rivalry. There’s the very literal Drax who lost his wife and daughter to Ronin and has vowed to avenge them. And then there’s Rocket and Groot, a pair of science experiments who, for Rocket at least, carry the traumas of having had a creator tear them apart and stitch them back together. Each is understably adrift in their own way by the time their paths cross.
Guardians dutifully moves through the usual story beats about these misfits coming together and creating a found family. It provides plausible enough reasons why this normally self-interested pack of rogues would join forces, with each individual’s goal requiring the help of the others. The film glosses over a bit of the actual bonding, but offers enough of a “They hate each other”/”They’re starting to like each other”/”No they’re back to hating each other”/”No wait, they’ll risk their lives for one another” progression to keep the viewer invested in the group and their relationships with one another.
And of course, when the time is right, they do come together. They find their conscience in the face of a shouty evil zealot guy (Lee Pace, as another in a long line of generic, monologuing baddies) and his threats to use a doomsday weapon to kill millions of people. They make amends with the lawmen, strap into their spaceships, and dive into the explosive, third act brawl-for-all legally mandated for superhero films.
But what sets Guardians apart in the midst of all this standard mythmaking and hero-development is that every time the film hits one of these stock beats and threatens to get overly dramatic or cheesy, it undercuts the moment with some well-placed humor. Each dramatic speech is followed by a silly line to liven the moment. Each major reveal is accompanied by a pratfall (no pun intended) to take the edge off. Every hokey moment is followed by one of the film’s characters rolling their eyes before the audience gets a chance too.
Humor quickly proves to be the trademark of this budding corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the way the film employs it to keep the audience laughing at any point where it might otherwise be sighing is Guardians’s not so secret weapon.
It also gets by on the complete and utter charm of the Guardians themselves. Chris Pratt’s human puppy dog qualities are familiar to anyone who enjoys the superlative Parks and Recreation. Zoe Saldana brings resolve but pathos to Gamora her third sci-fi blockbuster franchise. Dave Bautista offers a near-perfect dry comic wit, a surprise even to those lapsed pro wrestling fans who watched his heydey in the ring. And Bradley Cooper really is the hidden gem of this film as Rocket Raccoon. He nails Rocket’s sarcastic comments and perpetually beleaguered nature, while also capturing the tragic, touchy, and haunted dimensions of the character.
Then, of course, there is Groot, who represents the best things about this movie. For one thing, he is quietly (or tri-syllabically) the performative equal of his co-stars. Vin Diesel may be in his seventh go-round of implausibly smashing cars into one another, but he has experience from his early role in The Iron Giant of taking grunts, groans, and halted speech patterns and turning them into the expressions of an endearing character, a talent on full display in Guardians.
But he also represents the film’s visual acuity. The way Groot expands and contracts, unleashes unexpected beauty in the form of bioluminescent flowers, or offers a expectant, joyous expression after whomping an entire room full of bad guys, demonstrates the way Guardians uses the tools in its aesthetic toolbox to deliver character, not just thrills. It is a visually engaging movie, one where the Easter egg blue of Yondu or the preternaturally clean yet colorful world of the Nova Corps. make a film that is as distinct in its palette and iconography as it is in its style.
That also contributes to the sense of place imbued in the film. From the multicolored denizens of Xandar to the hive of scum and villainy in the interstellar cranial confines of Knowhere to the unique collection of miscreants among the Ravagers, almost from the word go, Guardians gives the viewer a sense of the ecosystem they’re stepping into. It’s one that stands apart from the rest of the M.C.U., offering a place where the Groots of the world are as unremarkable as they are unusual.
But it’s also a place where sacrifices are made for the members of those conveniently found families. For all the triteness of Guardians’s themes, it nails the big moments it really needs to, particularly in the third act, where many threads from earlier in the film pay off. From the group reluctantly resolving to fight Ronin, to Groot’s game-changing vocal variation and the gesture that follows, to the big, inevitable confrontation with the film’s villain, Gunn finds a way to move the story along, but do so in a way that’s true to the rough-around-the-edges characters he’s crafted for the screen.
And if all of that should devolve into a dance off that warrants genuine befuddlement in the midst of globe-threatening annihilation from the bad guys? All the better! That is the shine of Guardians of the Galaxy, a film that is content to tell a familiar story, but which adds such endearing texture, presents such charming characters, and freely belies the self-seriousness of its genre, that you cannot help but enjoy the star-lined ride.
It might feel like Q is just shoe-horned in to the various Trek series by this point, and after his pointless appearance on DS9 you'd be right in thinking so. There's an especially dangerous area in including Q in this show, because he could get them home in an instant and the writers would need to consistently give us reasons why Q doesn't just send them back to Earth that don't feel ridiculous.
It's surprising, then, how well this episode does manage to get him on to Voyager and even more so how it pushes his character in a very different direction than the pure comedy that has come before.
We are given a classic Trek conundrum, a moral dilemma about whether somebody should be allowed to take their own life or spend eternity trapped in a prison. Some of the writing aspects of that could have been handled better, I thought (Janeway is no Picard when it comes to this sort of stuff), but there's some elegance to it. I especially liked the portrayal of the Q Continuum as a long road in a desert. But the episode does drag in parts, and as mentioned above, the moment when Q teases sending the ship back to Earth just feels cruel.
Q2 is also a very sympathetic character, far removed from the Q we know so well. What most intrigues me, though, is that Q becomes so much more interesting when he's being serious. There's a nice chemistry between John de Lancie and Kate Mulgrew, and hopefully his future appearances will be equally as fun. Nice appearance by Riker, too.
In possibly my favourite entry so far, we get a far more traditional "episodic" story. A situation develops at the start, complications occur and things are happily resolved by the end (although, Harry Mudd may disagree with that assessment). Although, that final shot was a doozy!
Everything felt like it was working better here than it has previously. The Klingons have been the most difficult thing so far as they slow down the episodes so much, but here we get them speaking English and behaving a lot more like the classic Klingons that Star Trek presented us with for so many years. These guys want to fight and hurt other people, and no religious nonsense is going to get in the way.
This gave us a much more detailed look at a couple of characters. Captain Lorca reveals more and more what kind of person he is. He wants to help people, but he also recognises the sacrifices that may need to be made to do that. It's easy to disagree with his perspective when we hear about the results, and the news that he destroyed his own ship and crew is a lot to take. He's also extremely intelligent and perceptive, and he has no qualms about people paying the price for what they've done. Rainn Wilson's portrayal of Harry Mudd isn't too far removed from the Original Series character, but he also managed to put his own spin on it. Maybe it was just due to the quite horrible situation he was trapped in, but this Mudd was more serious while being no less selfish. Still, I don't know if I agree with Lorca leaving him there.
More compelling to me was the different side we see of Saru. It felt like his desire to be an effective captain (going as far as researching the traits of Starfleet legends) began to override his more natural decision making. The debate over the use of the Tardigrade was exactly the Star Trek storytelling we've been waiting for, but at the same time the context here made it kind of one-sided. Placing Saru on the side of using the creature made him seem unsympathetic and cold, and it's only when we realise that he has to make these choices because he believes that saving his captain is the highest goal that we can begin to see why he's doing that.
There was also scientific joy as Stamets uses himself with the jump drive. This is one part of the show that I wasn't quite clicking with, but the more detailed explanations here have made things clearer. As it stands, it seems to me that this method of travel isn't sustainable given the high cost on the user (is Stamets going to be willing to do that again?) and I'm really interested in where it's going to go. I was also pleasantly surprised to hear the first use of the word "fuck" in all of Star Trek. Tilly continues to be a delight.
Very disappointed to see the online homophobes and bigots crawling out of their holes all over the place.
[7.2/10] For better or for worse, this is the episode of Star Trek Discovery that’s felt the most like a regular episode of its predecessor series so far. If the first two episodes were an origin story, and the third episode was a pilot, then this episode was the closest thing we’ve gotten to “business as usual” so far.
That’s not a bad thing! 90% of the Star Trek franchise is business as usual, outside of a few two-parters and DS9’s experiments in serialization. What made each show and the franchise great is what they did within that structure. But “The Butcher’s Knife” feels like the modern day twist on that sort of rubric, with a problem of the week for the ship, a personal challenge to overcome for Burnham, and even a short arc for the (sympathetic) villain of the series.
That ship-wde problem of the week is a Federation colony under attack by the Klingons. No Starfleet ships are close enough to defend them, and the colony produces 40% of the Federation’s dilithium (think magical engine juice) so it’s of great importance that they be saved and the Discovery, with its magic spore drive, is the only ship that has a chance to do it.
It creates a nice opportunity for Captain Lorca to seem like a “by any means necessary” wartime chief as he demands more, sometimes in harsh terms, like his crew, and for Lt. Stamets to do his sarcastic, perpetually annoyed, “I can’t deliver what you want” routine in return. It’s overwritten at times (like a lot in this episode) but the conflict between Lorca as a warmonger and Stamets as a scientist, and the way they stand for the larger conflict within the peaceful Federation that finds themselves at war is well-positioned.
That theme extends to Burnham’s personal challenge, which is to figure out how weaponize the macro-tardigrade that Lorca extracted from the Discovery’s sister ship last week. Again, the theme is not subtle. Burnham is sent to figure out how to turn a living thing into a weapon, and instead she not only starts to understand it, but figures out that they can have a symbiotic relationship rather than an antagonistic one with the creature.
(As an aside, I’d admit I was pretty surprised when the tough-as-nails security chief died at the hands of the tardigrade. Sure, opening the creature’s container was Prometheus levels of stupid, but I’d just figured out she was Tory from Battlestar Galactica so I assumed they had more for her than that.)
So the episode gives the other characters some one-on-one time with Burnham. Saru is still a skeptic, but she uses his danger ganglia to prove that the tardigrade isn’t hostile, and Tilly shows her own kind of awkward bravery by helping Burnham feed the creature with spores, which gives Burnham the connection she needs.
Naturally, the two stories on the Discovery converge, and the tardigrade is the missing piece that allows Stamets to make use of the equipment he got from the U.S.S. Glenn and allows Discovery to get to the colony in time. It’s admittedly a little easy, but it also feels like a hallmark of Star Trek writing, where two pieces come together and suddenly the crew can solve the whole puzzle, so there’s something warm and familiar about it.
What isn’t familiar is the show, but impressive cinematography. Bits like the microscopic zoom out from the replicator making Burnham’s uniform, or the upside down perspective as Voq walks the husk of the Shenzhou, or the zoom in from space to the Discovery bridge show a visual flair that doesn’t do a whole lot in terms of symbolism (though the flipped perspective adds something to the peculiarity of Voq walking the halls of the ship he helped destroy) but it’s pretty to look at.
Speaking of Voq, he has the Klingon equivalent of a meetcute, where T’Kuvma’s second in command and he find their mutual respect metamorphosizing into something more. Of course, it’s coupled with Voq’s ship (formerly T’Kuvma’s shop) running out of food and power, and a pledge of fealty from a rival house turning into one of those Klingon coups you’ve heard so much about.
Once more, there’s some pretty heavy-handed theme work, with L’Rell giving a grand (at least in the subtitles) speech about bridging both sides of something. That’s the overall theme of this episode. L’Rell is of two houses; Voq has to resolve T’Kuvma’s purity with their need to survive, and the Discovery and its crew need to balance the need to win the war with their principles to advance the cause of peace and scientific advancement. It’s underlined strongly, but it’s nice enough and there’s something oddly compelling about the slightly hokey Klingon romance.
Last but not least, we get Burnham opening the video will of Capt. Georgiou, who left her the telescope they looked through in the pilot. It’s a nice touch, even if, say it with me, the writing is a bit too blunt, that works well as a symbol of how Geourgiou’s memory is both a source of solace and a source of guilt for Burnham.
Overall, this was a meat and potatoes episode of Star Trek, but a reliably good, albeit not great one.
The production levels are through the rough in this show! Every episode looks like a movie. Visually, it's been one hell of a ride.
They do seem to be consolidating the idea of a grittier, bitter Star Trek with Discovery. And, quite frankly, I've given up sort of scoffing at it ("this is Star Wars in Star Trek uniforms!") and I'm all on board, now. I like this show, it's growing on me, despite its apparent disregard for the essence of Star Trek. At least I consider it to be better than the movies (I wonder what other Star Trek fans think of this...?).
A giant menacing tardigrade acting like a puppy was something disturbing to see. A giant menacing tardigrade acting like the ship's navigator was just plain weird. But I'm definitely enjoying the science side of the show (it's a science-fiction show with some actual science thrown in, even if it's, well, fictional).
Hey, I liked how they considered Elon Musk a visionary, by then ;)
People seem to not be enjoying the Klingons, but I'm genuinely interested in their part of the story. It has betrayal, love, pride, shame... All the ingredients of a good telenovela! :D
Now I'm just waiting for the Borg to appear so I can forget about any other villain on this show. It's very unlikely, given that TNG was the first to encounter them (I think), but since they seem to be getting rather flexible regarding the Star Trek lore, I'm getting my hopes up.
I was excited as a fan of the originals. Played the VHS tapes till death and memorised lines etc. Yes even the third one with Tina Turner in it.
I was very disappointed with this as a movie never mind a Mad Max movie. It would have been better adding slapstick and marketed as a spoof called Miffed Max: Irk Road of displeasure.
Many simple little things from the start annoyed me like Max's escape. Super Max? No struggle at all. Also there's a water shortage and I presume food shortage etc... where did all the bodybuilders come from? This stuff is fine in an old exploitation movies but this is supposed to create a somewhat realistic feel of a society suffering. Did I just see someone with botox?
Too much CGI. Takes you out the movie and because of the way the action is shot with the CGI it looks like a video game cut scene at times. Sadly that's probably what they wanted. CGI occurs when they didn't even need it. Tacky.
Gibson didn't even have to speak as Mad Max and he did a better job telling us how he felt than the potatoes in this. What is Tom even saying/grunting half the time? He's took the hollywood male gruff voice trend to a new level. Sorry George Clooney you've been beat.
Mad max 2 was shot in a way that the action felt dangerous and gritty, almost as though you part of in it, where this has a standard hollywood staged feel but with more of it. Odd how some extra twirling around and jumping on cars on top of what they already do in movies nowadays is supposed to amaze us. More slumped on the seat than on the edge of it action. Not engaging.
Where is the feeling of isolation in this movie? Not just visually but in the characters? Where are the awesome natural looking visuals? We get overbearing visuals that try so hard to look epic. This movies looks like a screen saver.
The characters? Awful. What's going on in this movie anyway? Who cares. It takes forever to get our first bit of suspense between the main charcaters and it's taking a mask off Max. Wooo. Keep it on for Christ's Sake! Even the music sucks during that scene.
On the whole this movie crams in as much staged action as possible and hopes you buy into it with the all the hype and positive critical reception. Who did the wardrobe for this, Richard O'Brian on April Fools? Needless makeup at every opportunity... cuz kids love them colourful superhero movies.
Even the most ridiculous post apocalyptic movies have better plots. If you're gonna have no plot and loads of action least have some memorable dialogue or a bit of meaningful dialogue. 150! I just watched 150 Millions pounds worth of turd that they couldn't even remotely polish.
Side rant: I knew that Kermode would love this trash. What did he hate about transformers? Lot's ov CGI. Aimed at a specific market. All action shot in a particular style. No plot and loads of explosions to compensate. Couldn't hear anything..... weird he liked this then.
This is the Unforgiven of superhero movies, a brutal yet tender portrayal of former heroes growing old. Logan is tired and world weary, waiting for death to take away his pain. Charles is 90, riddled with drugs to mute his mind, his "super weapon." Despite their friendship their relationship is fractured. Into their lives comes a new mutant and a road trip begins.
I don't want to say much more, having given away a little of the premise already explored in the films trailers. This is a tough, violent and sad film with few moments of humour. There is action but not of the blockbuster kind, one key car chase is like something from a 70's thriller.
This is the swan song of Logan and Charles, both actors giving it their all in their final performances as these characters. To bring them back after this film would undermine their work and the story here.
The film is brilliant and I can't recommend it enough - don't expect a traditional X-Men movie and you will be blown away. If the film itself were a mutant I would say its genes had been spliced with Mad Max and Shane, with a little bit of Children of the Corn (and I mean that in a good way). Excelsior!
