What breaks my heart when movies like this come out is that most people are so limited by their own movie tastes they can't appreciate a film that does great things in very different categories. As a Blumhouse movie, it stands out for the quality thriller that it is. Nothing mind blowing, but solid twists and drama along with excellent acting to support it.
Additionally though, this movie carries profound messages about the human condition and the effects our decisions have on each other. For anyone interested in the nature of humanity, how we hurt and damage each other, this movie certainly stands out.
On a rewatch it may get bumped up to a 9, but I'm always cautious about my hype. Probably gonna have to buy this one.
Apparently if the people in Zombie makeup scream loud enough, run fast enough, and are filmed on a shakey enough cam, it counts as a "good" movie? It dealt with some interesting themes of selfishness, and had some suspenseful moments, but by the end I felt disappointed. Entirely forgettable...
It was like Snowpiercer meets World War Z, without the things that made them both enjoyable and original.
Interesting info for any fan of gaming history. Annoying as hell interviewer.
The film was a bit slow, though it was a key part of setting the tone. Certainly not a bad film, but not fully engaging. I felt it's value really came from Tom Hardy proving himself to be an incredible actor. If you'll watch an entire film to see one actor do his job well, this is worth the watch. A noteworthy entry into modern crime dramas, too.
Felt like a solid film for the first two thirds, a great modern sequel/reboot, with quality filming and fun music. Last third felt like it was done by different people than who had done the rest of the film, with a very forced racial message that wasn't even consistent. There was a lot of good here, but sadly a lot of bad at the end to tarnish the memory...
First the bad, then the good. (Spoilers, obviously)
The rebel plotline was totally weak. Star Wars is usually pretty epic, and spending about 2/3 of the film on a very slow, uneventful chase was just not wise for a major Star Wars film entry. Felt like a side-story, not the middle of an epic trilogy.
Finn's plotline was probably the worst. It was like they just needed to give him SOMETHING to do. Out of all the myriads of cool plans devisable in the Star Wars universe, wasting a ton of time looking for a mysterious code-breaker is mediocre. And then he betrays them like the writers just gave up. So much potential with the character and Benicio's fantastic acting. Rose on the other hand... was like they were just looking for an excuse to stick an awkward girl from Tumblr in the film? To make it more relatable to Disney fans? Ug, no. The casino as a theory had potential and I don't dislike the poetic mirroring of the original films (and Jabba's Palace), but it just didn't work. The people who were running the creation of the film may have noticed it was like "new Star Wars" but no one asked "is it actually entertaining?"
Slapstick Star Wars... :sigh:... Star Wars has laughs but they are witty character moments, not cartoon peng-whales splatting on a window. I like Pixar but not in my Star Wars. Having them make nests in the Millenium Falcon I did like, but everything else was, like Finn, forcing Chewbacca to have something to do. No need for roasting them so they can make funny faces and make 5 year olds laugh.
So many great characters just got wasted. In addition to the backup codebreaker, Finn, etc. did you notice that Admiral Ackbar died without a word? They really just should have had him in the role of Holdo rather than making a new character.
Okay, now that we're past all the stuff I'm realizing, more and more, was pretty aweful...
The Jedi plotline was majestic. Excellently written, fantastic character development, great elaboration of the force, and fit genuinely as a blend of fresh and traditional in the Star Wars cannon. Kylo continued to be a captivating character. Luke and Kylo's situation was excellently written and equally executed. Luke really did work like a Sith when He tried to protect the force by his own power rather than letting it guide him. Yoda was great and totally pulled a mystical spiritual elder situation that's key to Star Wars (and Yoda). The Snoke throne room situation with Kylo and Rey was glorious. And the reveal for Rey's family was surprizingly satisfying for how much they built it up and then gave a brutally simple answer.
And my second favorite element: the visuals. I didn't know I could be so into Star Wars as a work of beauty in colors and cinematic angles. Where the innovation with slapstick failed, the innovation in visuals kicked butt. The fight in Snoke's chambers and the battle on Crait were beautiful works of art.
There was some terrible humor but also some really classic Star Wars humor, like Poe's dialogue and trashing of Hux at the beginning. I was happily reminiscing on Solo's style.
Honest to say, the GOOD was so good I didn't notice how terribly BAD the bad was until later. I can see why people are so polarized about this film because... it's a polarized film. I enjoyed the heck out of it and probably consider it my favorite of the new films (RO and TFA) but at the same time consider it the "worst" film objectively. I think adding a beginning arc and making the "rebel tracking" part of the film the middle rather than majority of the film could have improved it greatly. And doing almost ANYTHING other than the codebreaker plotline with Finn and Rose.
I am thankful that I have no idea what the next film will be about. They set up for a VERY epic scale tale and I hope they deliver.
Man of Steel wasn't a bad movie, it just ended up being mediocre. Bvs DoJ was a bad movie. Whoever wrote the script and story should be fired. I get the dark and gritty Batman, but he was downright emotionally unstable. No one could get through to him, even Alfred, with all the reasonable and obvious arguments, but saying his mother's name helped him immediately reconcile all his differences? Am I also to believe that, for 12 years, Superman never made any real attempt to talk to the public? He was in such an emo mood he couldn't figure out maybe he should actually try and tell people his side, his thoughts, or something else? Eisenberg didn't do a bad job, but he didn't really work as Luthor. they basically turned him into a Joker-esque figure, and it didn't fit the feel. They needed a General Zod-Presque villain for the tone of the film. The movie definitely made some attempt at saying something important... but what that is isn't clear.
I'm all for a good social justice narrative, but this is just lazy, aggressive, preachy writing. Every villain is an over-the-top misogynist white guy, and the heroes are all minority women. I mean, give me a few misogynists, but having a therapist husband who gaslights beyond all reason at every opportunity... what on earth?
The main character is insecure, selfish, and unlikeable. Give us someone noble, someone who cares more about right and wrong than proving herself. If you want me to cheer for the black women all you have to do is make her a person worth cheering for.
The corruption of the cops is blatant and obvious, and yet no one bats an eye. It's just absurd. They're way to smart to go from extremely professional and tactful to aggressive gaslighting where everyone can see. There's a whole investigation department for the slightest bullying accusation but constant, blatant, public demeaning and harassment is ignored by everyone?
Cmon. This is just bad writing.
(And the irony is it was written by white guys, lol.)
A few points on this film.
The races are fun. That's what we wanted most of all, and the eccentric Wachowski style hit the spot. It's very hard to adapt source material not at all designed for a live action film with a balance of respect to the source material and creativity. For the races, this worked stupendously.
The rest of the time, the visuals are some of the weakest elements, feeling at least as cringy as the worst of the Spy Kids franchise. With the rest of the film's positives though, I'm happy to overlook it, even if I have to cringe at times from the effects.
One of those other strengths is the film is the family drama. I could see someone calling it cliche and predictable, but honestly it just works incredibly well for me and has a lot of heart. This is not a movie I would expect to make my eyes water a bit, but it happens multiple times throughout. It's truly a heartfelt film.
But additionally, one of my favorite themes in anything is the idea that you shouldn't love anything as a means to and end (as the villains do with racing), but you should love things for their beauty in themselves. Like Goku in Dragon Ball Z with fighting, Speed learns to love the race and the car as beautiful ends in themselves. This theme drives the film beautifully and once again connects to a deep humanity similar to the family dynamics. It's always a good pairing when you have a character who learns to love something for it's own beauty in a film, combined with a beautiful film (with aforementioned exceptions).
While I have to make a conscious effort to ignore the cringy parts, overall this film leaves me with very positive feelings. If they toned down the "Spy Kids" vibe I think it could have been an 8.
Great acting, good horror. Sadly, it felt like it completely fell apart in the final episode. The relationship resolutions felt like fluffy words without any actual content, and the resolution of the mysteries didn't really add any depth to the show. I thought this show was going to be at least an 8 but the end felt rather hollow.
This was a mixed bag for me. Overall deserves a good experience, but I didn't feel fully satisfied by the time it ended. The mystery took some time to get compelling, and the ending felt like it didn't bring some of the characters to a satisfying conclusion. Some, however, did, and the acting overall was excellent. Too much sex and nudity, but that seems to be the norm these days, especially on HBO. What really rubbed me the wrong way was the jazz soundtrack. I love jazz, and I know it was era-appropriate, but it just clashed with the mood of the show. There were some serious theatrical tracks that fit really well, and then in a somber and dark show a weirdly upbeat and slightly flamboyant jazz would kick in. It always felt a bit jolting, with the exception of the "resurrection getaway" scene.
Overall good show, but just weird weak points and I don't feel ready to recommend it to anyone.
"Kill me." That's how you'll feel watching this movie. The plot was difficult to follow, the acting was mediocre, the cinematography was bad, and the soundtrack was terrible. Maybe there's a good movie in there somewhere, but I never found it. They tried to do their own Primer and they failed.
The tone at the beginning was great. The tone in the middle was solid, and the two major plot points were fantastic. And yet... the movie just kinda wanders into this abstract artistic tone at the end that just kind of flopped for me. It's got some great content but as a whole it just didnt work for me, and the failed potential breaks my heart.
