Innovative in many different ways, though it also pioneered a lot of shit (from bad imitators of its style to synthetic looking action scenes to the over the top stuntwork that’s found in every blockbuster nowadays).
Not that I’m holding that against this film, it actually gets most of these things right.
I really like the action, cinematography (the green tint for the Matrix was a great choice, which I believe was something they added in later cuts), music, story and characters in this.
The philosophy stuff is a nice side dish, it’s not as overbearing or overcomplicated as in the sequels.
It’s also not nearly as deep as some people pretend it is, just complex enough where it gives a lot of people the impression that this is some mindbending, experimental filmmaking, when in reality it’s not.
It’s just a very well executed action film that’s a little more conceptual than most of the stuff that came out around that time.
The acting, however, is a bit of a mixed bag for me.
Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving are excellent (which is odd, Hugo Weaving is hamming it up big time and that shouldn’t work given what the other actors are doing, but it does), but the two leads are very stiff and often miss the mark in selling their dialogue.
I imagine that must’ve been the big trade-off for the Wachowskis; Carrie Ann Moss and Keanu Reeves are great with the action stuff and a lot of what they do is in camera, but they’re not the greatest actors.
Taking that bullet was the right choice in the end, though.
8.5/10
The video game, Life Is Strange, took a lot of notes from this movie if you ask me. I will admit, this movie definitely calls for a quite a bit of suspension of disbelief, there's one plot hole that sorely sticks out, but despite that it was still very intriguing and entertaining, the ending even caught me by surprise (I watched the director's cut). I will have to watch this one more than once.
Excellent film. It has been quite a while for a solid war film which portrays both sides of the war and the suffering.
The behind the scenes tales of this movie are more interesting than the movie itself - feuding directors, actor injuries, raging Dennis Hopper - but that being said, this isn’t the trainwreck many have called it. Its a bit of a mess thanks to constant script rewrites and studio interference but there is some enjoyment to be had watching talented actors trying to make sense of it all.
An extremely solid farewell for the Craig era.
Though not a prefect Bond film by any means, it has a great deal to like - with a few forgivable foibles.
What's to like?
An intriguing setup and another time jump for Daniel Craig. This time at least 5 years has passed from the last outing. This gives us something to work with and opens the door to a few curveball.
(spoiler) The first section up until Felix Leiter's demise was excellent. Loved the Cuba section and the backstory had been paced well up to that point. The pacing throughout is very good - but from that point on I felt a few things could have benefited from some backstory or explanation and that was absent.
(major spoiler) The surprise offspring. Excellently done. He knows despite what he is told. And for a short time, he has a true meaning in his life. Very touching and I think they didn't overdo it for sentimality. They just let it breathe naturally and it worked well.
The direction and cinematography were fantastic. Original shots and use of really grand sets and views. Well done to all involved, it looks great.
What's not to like?
(spoiler) Who is the nemesis exactly? It looks like Scaramanga's Island, and Dr No's lair inside. He talks of his father being an assassin yet he isn't actually named. Would it not have been wiser to name him clearly and wrap up Blofeld and the others with a bow? Or would that be too final for Bond and it run the risk he never gets another film outing...?
The replacement double-0. Didn't exactly have the same skills as Bond did she? If an old Bond was far superior, it leaves you fretful for the future of the 00-programme...! She redeemed herself towards the end but I didn't warm to her at all as she was unnecessarily combative and the soften came too late and limply.
Overall
A few more explanatory sequences would have been my only requests. It's hard to undo the damage that Spectre did to the Craig franchise (it really is a stinker of a film) but they did well to pull the realism lever back towards Skyfall.
A worthy send off for Craig. A brave way to end any Bond film.
The next guy to carry the mantle will benefit from a slate wipe just as all other Bonds have. I hope the producers refrain from the slow degradation into nonsense that plagued Brosnan and now Craig.
The evidence of this is that perhaps they are finally learning their lesson.
I can't wait to rewatch this when it gets home release.
8.25/10
Bloody Hell!!!!!! What a send-off to Daniel Craig's Bond.
Literally, one of the best films I have seen this year and I have to say one of my favourite Bond films, the action was beautiful and the story had me on the edge of my seat which the previous outing did not do for me. I have to say the reason I think this film is so great is it is the most unique out of all of the Daniel Craig films with pretty perfect directing from Cary Joji Fukunaga and also using the older films prior to Daniel Graig being used to inspire the films action, humour and just characters in general.
Also, I have to say the acting was great in this film as Daniel Craig (James Bond) is one of the best and he brings emotion to the character that no other Bond has, Lea Seydoux (Madeleine Swann) was used much better in this film and I believed her fear/love, Lashana Lynch (Nomi / 007) was a pleasant surprise as I am not a fan of hers but she had such great chemistry with Daniel Craig and sad we won't see them together. The biggest surprises were Christoph Waltz (Blofeld) who was a nothing villain in the previous film but in this, he just felt so much better even though he didn't have much screen time and Ana De Armas (Paloma) who really stole the show in her one scene and she literally had me in stitches but also was freaking badass.
Thank you Daniel Craig for giving us such a great outing but also thank you to everyone involved who made sure this film does not only do justice to the character but also the franchise, I think old fans and new fans are going to love this film. Please see it in the cinema as it was a beautiful cinema experience.
Im kind of sad about the Craig-era ending, but it was a great ride with a good ending. I really like that the whole James Bond-franchise became more action-based and less about goofy henchmen and gadgets. He was the first Bond that could actually kick someones ass. I really doubt that about all the previous ones.
Anyway, the action in No Time To Die was awesome, as expected. The fights, chases, etcetera were all good. The music is amazing (I still can't get enough of the classic Bond tunes). I didn't really care for the whole 'new 007'-bit. But the performances of Craig, Malek and all the others were great. Emotional at times, but mostly bad ass. All in al, they did a good job to tie the whole Craig-saga together and I enjoyed it very much. Worth the wait.
It’s funny to know that this movie was intended to come out before the pandemic, because by releasing it now it might provide some unintentional food for thought for the morons who believe that a certain virus was actually conceived in a lab.
I genuinely wonder if those people will read that far into this film, I’d find it deeply amusing.
The good news is that there are definetely a lot of things this does better than Spectre.
The action is memorable and way more visceral (though it doesn’t quite surpass the Mission Impossible Fallout bar) and the characters are generally more interesting.
I loved the women in this in particular, they all have distinct personalities and they’re not flawless human beings or overpowered (e.g. Ana de Armas is bubbly and fun, but at the same time she’s inexperienced and chaotic), like some blockbusters tend to do.
At the same time, we shouldn’t pretend that this film invented strong female characters for Bond, especially after we’ve had Eva Green and Judi Dench.
Meanwhile, James Bond himself has a very satisfying arc in this film, which isn’t too dissimilar to Tony Stark’s arc in Avengers Endgame , with a bold pay off in the third act. I’m happy that this film gave us confirmation that Mads Mikkelsen didn’t end up castrating Bond during that scene in Casino Royale.
It’s paced very well, more like a traditional action film and less like a drama, which was the case for Skyfall and Spectre. Don’t let the runtime intimidate you, it doesn’t feel longer than 2 hours.
And finally, the whole thing just looks great, it’s produced excuisetely. The cinematography isn’t quite Skyfall level, but Roger Deakins is an impossible bar to clear for any cinematographer.
Unfortunately, this film really struggles with its tone, bouncing between some cartoony stuff and very dark, dramatic moments.
It wants to honor the traditional Bond stuff, but at the same time it can’t let go of the roots of the Daniel Craig iteration, which makes it feel like an uneven artistic vision, because the foundation of Craig’s Bond rests on this idea that this isn’t the traditional Bond.
It’s going for the same tone as Skyfall, meaning its pretty serious, while also incorporating some campy stuff with the plot and the villain (but never going into straight up silly territory, like Spectre).
The problem is that you could still take the villain and the plot seriously in Skyfall (Bardem is still scary despite the camp, the hacking plot feels grounded), and that isn’t the case here, the plot goes too much into sci-fi territory for that.
Also, Rami Malek didn’t leave much of an impression on me, the accent is wonky and he feels like a stock villain (very much like Waltz in the last film). There’s not really an interesting motivation there, or an interesting evil plan. It’s a campy and theatrical plan, and it feels very familiar.
Finally, this film can be fairly predictable at times (for example: Matilde being Bond’s daughter was extremely obvious, but they still try to somewhat play it as a twist. The same goes for Lea Seydoux being framed in prologue.).
So, it’s good, it pushes the creative boundaries of what a Bond movie is in some ways, which is the best stuff.
But I kinda hope they bring in someone with a fresh, fully realized artistic vision to really shake things up again for the next reboot.
7/10
Ps for the Bond producers: please, please make a spin off with Ana de Armas’ character.
A proper send-off for Daniel Craig, he did much for the franchise. One of the better Bond-films for sure, there's lots to like here. The acting is great, music fantastic and obviously the action is riveting. Even at 163 minutes, it does not drag - and even though I wanted more, the ending was perfect. It's exciting to discuss who will become the next Bond, but let's enjoy this ride first and let it sink in.
I feel like I’ve just been yelled at for 2 hours by Adam McKay. Yeah, it's on the nose and way too obvious, but still decently funny.
5.5/10
Some movies manage to walk the line of quality with such finesse that it leads to “good-bad” movies. Movies so bad they somehow break through the other side and end up good. Willys Wonderland is not one of those movies. It’s just unapologetically bad. It’s devoid of any of the qualities that make a good-bad movie, leading to an empty, boring and sometimes painful 90 minutes. The FNAF-esque plot is threadbare, the dialogue is stilted and unquotable, the production is poor, Nic is a literal silent protagonist so there aren’t even any classic Cage one-liners to grin at. The animatronic fights lack impact or comedic timing and the effects on some of the caricatures are student film quality. If you’re baked out of your mind and need a Nic Cage fix, Willys Wonderland will probably scratch the itch, but anyone going into this sober should seek out another from Nics repertoire for a more satisfying hit. Mandy or Color Out of Space will serve you much better, trust me.
I really needed Nic Cage to spit out corny one-liners just before he massacres sentient animatronics and I feel like I was robbed of that.
The Forgotten Battle is an incredibly compelling WWII drama. The film follows a British Airborne pilot, a Zeeland resistance fighter, and a German soldier during the Battle of the Scheldt as the Allied forces attempt to liberate the Netherlands and secure the port of Antwerp. The cast gives strong performances and the writers do a good job at balancing the character stories; providing various perspectives on the events of Scheldt. And the production values are especially well-done, creating a gritty, lived-in feel of war-torn European. A powerful film about the realities of war, The Forgotten Battle looks at how even the smaller battles changed the course of history.
Half-way through the movie I kinda have predicted where the direction of the twist is taking, so I just wondered how it would exactly unfold. Comments that expect the film will explain how and why Eloise is experiencing vision I think miss the point of the film completely, as it's never been about thoses technicalities, but Eloise's empathy and experience as a girl finding something that she always dreams of (London in the 60s) yet at the same time completely alien to her (the harsh life of girl moving out to big cities), with focus as the experience of woman. The rape scenes were made to be very personal and frontal, especially in contrast to Eloise' own experience with John. Likewise, the point of the film is not about making the boundaries between hallucination and reality very clear-cut, as we're supposed to see through Eloise's eyes.
I think Edgar Wright does a good job in the dream/mirror sequences, however as the film goes on it kinda removes the mirror aspect and put Eloise as mere audience, which is a bit unfortunate to me, as the mirror sequences were the film's strongest point. Also really liked the hallucinotary visuals and of course the costumes. Everything and everyone looks beautiful here, really a pleasure watching Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy perform. The haunting part of the second half is not the film's strongest point, although narrative-wise it makes sense (explaining what actually happens and Eloise's descent into madness), but I wish it could be visually extrapolated a bit further as I thought the hauntings were confined to Eloise's room. The climax is also not the film's strongest point, a bit cliched even, but I suppose getting very personal with Eloise's experience works out in the end, as I was kinda sad with the climax after I grew attached with Eloise's fondness of the 60s, including her photos of her mother and grandma.
It’s hard to rate, because there are a lot of entertaining scenes in it, but the movie at its core doesn’t really work.
I can’t shed this feeling that Edgar Wright had a visual cue in his head of a girl experiencing visions of the 1960’s first, and tried to build a movie around that second.
The characters, drama, camerawork, music selection and social commentary are all very good, but the whole set up is kinda nonsense once you know the answers to the mystery.
I kept waiting for the twist that’d explain why our protagonist has these accurate visions of things that happened 50 years earlier , but it’s never answered, despite it being the crux of the whole film.
Also, showing CGI ghosts in a horror movie using well lit close ups is never the best idea, it kinda killed a lot of the horror and suspense.
I kinda liked that I thought that I was ahead of the film at one point, only to find out that it was a big misdirect to make you think you were ahead.
5.5/10
Great movie. Loved the cinematography and effects.
I didn't expect a movie that I pick randomly on Netflix can be sooo good!
Well made movie and important from a Dutch historic view point. Hearts!
It’s not a movie.
It’s just another bland, soulless mass product that’s primarily aimed at the Chinese market.
Now that WB is the only real studio releasing big movies, it really shows what a joke of a studio they’ve become during the last 5 years.
Not that they didn’t release crap before that, but at least there was something like a good Mad Max, Harry Potter, Matrix or Lord of the Rings film somewhere to be found in their slate.
It would seem Villeneuve and Nolan are the only real talents that are left at the studio.
For nearly every other film they make, they seem to think that appealing to the lowest common denominator will give them the biggest return on their investment.
I.e. the action scenes are more important than the story or the characters, and the scale needs to be huge, even if it looks tacky and fake.
3/10
It exceeded my expectations - especially for a dutch movie.
The atmosphere in the movie was constantly interesting and really showed the dark sides of war.
It was fine, not as good as the previous movies. There are a few plot holes that stayed with me after walking out of the cinema. I’m not sure if I missed something or if the movie did a poor job explaining things.
Dull. The biggest scare was wondering if Ed would keel over from a heart attack.
Was funny when Ed said come over and have dinner and meet Annabelle, the next scene she looked devestated lol.
2021-01-01T00:00:00Z2021-12-31T23:59:59Z