It’s pretty amazing how despite often working in the same genre Scorsese continuously finds ways to keep it fresh. It’s one of his longer films but flows effortlessly because of Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing. Combined with a script examining the hypercapitalism of Las Vegas and solid performances (which to be fair has everyone play the exact part that’s expected in a Scorsese film), this is another win.
8/10
Garbage. Some of the dumbest, misinformed satire I’ve ever seen. Even if you ignore its fascist argumentation and pretend it’s just meant to be stupid nonsense, it still reeks of that typical unfunny early 2000s comedy. Just because you’re making a movie about stupid people, doesn’t mean your movie needs to be equally as stupid. This has no real vision, annoying performances, cheap use of music, bland cinematography, no attempt at writing proper jokes; it’s awful. It’s kinda sad because you could probably make a really great satire about the complete dominance of stupidity in society, democracy or whatever, in fact this is coming from someone who can easily get annoyed at all of that. However, this film only has one trick up its sleeve, which is to portray the stupid masses through as many different caricatures as possible. It’s like watching Adam McKay if he somehow became even more middlebrow after making Don’t Look Up. Please skip this, the joke’s really on the people here who think it’s good because ‘wELl ThIs Is a DoCUmenTarY nOw’.
2/10
Quite a frustrating watch. It has this great concept of showing mundane, everyday life juxtaposed with horrifying imagery and sound hanging in the background, many reviewers have referred to it as the banality of evil. It's an inventive way of doing a Holocaust movie, but there's not much else to this. Glazer spreads the concept really thin over the 105 minute runtime, and I started to check out around the halfway mark. It's lacking in structure (no character arcs or big plot developments), every time it threatens to go somewhere it turns out to be an excuse to use the same bag of tricks. The acting and stilted cinematography are both pretty decent, but because they're both meant to serve the understated tone and nothing else, it can't fall back on those aspects. Again, if the tone is enough to carry this experimental film for you, your experience might be different. However, I became increasingly numb towards the repetitive nature, eventually feeling rather indifferent towards the experience (which is the last thing I want with a movie like this).
4.5/10
Simple, effective, but a little too straightforward and predictable to really blow my mind.
Still, I like what it's saying about migrants, marginalization, postcolonialism, etc.
The cinematography still looks excellent, but the score hasn't aged as well.
7/10
I’m pretty sure that this movie served as an inspiration for many of the GTA games, especially when you look at the yellow and orange soaked hues of everything that takes place during the day.
That’s pretty much the biggest compliment I can give this film, because the directing and editing are shit, the comedy is godawful, the music is obnoxious, the acting sucks, the racial stereotyping is annoying and unfunny, and everything is really predictable and cliche. In short: it’s full of Michael Bay’s lowbrow, overly commercial and at times pornographic sensibilities.
3/10
Damn, we're already milking early 2000s culture to trigger the dopamine buttons? Sometimes I wonder how blockbusters in the future will try to evoke the current era. How do you copy an era that's almost nothing but nostalgia, an era that coasts almost entirely on recycling stale ideas, IP and music from 20 to 40 years ago? Madame Web finds itself at a similar creative dead end. Why does Sony keep persisting on reviving this wave of forgotten B-movies from the early 2000s? I had some fun with Venom because of Tom Hardy's ridiculous performance, but I see no artistic merit with this or Morbius. It feels like everyone involved is several degrees of incompetent, or they simply didn't care. In fact, I probably already put more effort into this review than these screenwriters did with their script, so I see no reason to analyze this any further. Avoid at all cost.
1/10
Another thriller that was massively overhyped at the time of its release.
It reminded me a lot of The Guest; it’s simply too predictable if you’re paying attention, a lot of the character motivations are dumb, contrived or don’t make any sense, and the filmmaking is incredibly bland throughout (everything looks like basic coverage, uninteresting use of colour and light, sound feels like an afterthought).
It’s one of those scripts that demands a much better director at the helm, because the movie generally has a hard time creating memorable scenarios or twists, and I can already tell I’ll have forgotten about most of this within a week. The ending’s a nice, ambiguous choice, though.
The acting’s fine, I don’t think anybody’s being particularly challenged.
I didn’t hate watching it, there’s nothing incompetent going on here, but it’s an average, occasionally schlocky movie that doesn’t do anything special or different.
4.5/10
Doesn’t really feel like a Scorsese film (besides the needle drops), or a late 90s film for that matter. The harsh white lights that pop up everywhere were a little off putting at first, but it helps with the fever dream feeling the film’s going for. I wonder if this is the film that inspired Spielberg for the look of Minority Report, regardless I think it’s done more tastefully here. Nick Cage is very good, he doesn’t go as big with his performance as you might expect considering that it’s about him going crazy. The problem is that it doesn’t really stand out besides that, it’s a little more on the forgettable side of Scorsese’s filmography. It’s all done with competence; I like the grit and dark humor, the second half bangs, but it still can’t escape the feeling of being a lesser Taxi Driver.
6.5/10
Despite some very minor issues with its tone, this is very good.
However, since this episode mostly consists of a lot of world building, I’m not going to extensively review it.
We still need to get a true sense of the story and characters after all.
I don’t think it’s too early to say that this show is going to be revolutionary for tv in terms of scope, cinematography and CGI.
The score is really well done too, and I applaud the fact that the pacing is tight; the episode isn’t too long or drawn out (this could of course be a budget constraint), which is something that the vast majority of Netflix shows struggle with.
If I should compare it to anything else, the closest thing that comes to mind is Firefly, especially in terms of tone.
I just hope that over the next few episodes the story and characters will become as strong as they were on Firefly.
This one doesn’t sit well with me.
So we should blame big tech companies for making us addicted to their products, and the nasty consequences that come of it?
I very much question that morality.
Addiction is a problem of the individual, something you have to fix by yourself (with the help of others).
It’s not something that a company, seeking to make profit, should be held resposible for.
I’ve seen two episodes now and I’ve got to ask: what’s the point of watching this?
There’s nothing inherently satisfying about the show itself.
Just putting a twist on existing lore and calling it a day isn’t enough to hold my attention for 30 mimutes, nor any sane person, I imagine.
Are people only watching this because it sets up future stuff?
Why would anyone watch something that’s just set-up?
Projects are always supposed to function as an isolated piece of art, and not just as a piece of a larger machine.
This show is so empty, it’s the kind of format that lends itself for short 4 minute videos on Youtube.
But a feature series? Come on.
Edit: alright so there is an attempt to tie the loose ends together in the final episode, but still, it kinda fails to justify its existence.
Let me get this straight: Sam and Bucky just got upset about John Walker killing a terrorist.
Didn’t this entire show start with Sam throwing terrorists out of planes left and right?
The writing in this show is just laughable.
Everything happens because the writers want it to happen.
Like literally nothing, and I mean nothing, feels earned or logical.
This is bound to be divisive, and I can see it getting a cult following in the future.
It plays out a lot like an Edgar Wright movie, starting as one movie and slowly morphing into another.
I personally liked it a lot, I found it very inspired and creative from a story perspective.
It has a great character at the center, some really unpredictable twists, it delivers the scares and gore you want, terrific visuals (Wan’s trademark camerawork is here) and good music (there is a subtle song reference that’s actually kinda brilliant).
It’s not perfect though: the acting can sometimes be a little wonky, there’s too much unneeded exposition, and the tone can occasionally get a little campy, which doesn’t always work.
Still, you have to respect James Wan for bringing creative and fresh ideas into a genre that has continued to give us the same shit over and over again.
6/10
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
A really cool idea for an allegory, but it could’ve, and should’ve, gone a lot deeper with its social commentary.
A lot of it feels half baked and not all that sharp.
Also, the characters are flat, and it leaves you with a lot of questions that needed to be cleared up (Why do people go to this place? Who’s behind it? Etc.)
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
Jonathan Majors , love the dude, but that performance was godawful. He kinda reminded me of Jesse Eisenberg in Batman V Superman
Normally, I like Charlie Kaufman, but this is him at his most pretentious.
Not that it’s all bad, I actually liked most of the first long scene in the car.
It’s the kind of scene that will make many casual viewers dismiss the film right away (due to its length), but I thought it set up both of our leads very well.
Then they arrive at the parents’ house, and my opinion on the film did a 180.
It does what every annoying art movie does (not saying all art movies are like that, I like a lot of them): everything starts to get weird for the sake of trying to be interesting, but without any artistic reasoning.
For example, the acting becomes a nonsensical mix of very grounded performances (our leads) on one side, and extremely heightened, cartoony perfomances on the other side (the parents).
Also, the cinematography is pedestrian at best, and I fail to see the reasoning behind the chosen aspect ratio (unlike films like The Lifghthouse or Mommy).
Just stick to writing, Charlie.
4/10
It's mediocre, yet also really entertaining sometimes. In that regard, the closest comparison to this is Jurassic World.
Pros:
- Visuals and cinematography.
- Conflict within the group of characters.
- The characters of John C. Reily and Toby Kebbell (although underused)
- Action, particularly the climax.
- The editing stands out a few times.
- Nicely paced.
Cons:
- Too many characters, meaning you won't care about pretty much all of them. They also don't take their time to develop them, meaning that most of them come across as Fast and Furious cartoons.
- Some iffy CGI (not with Kong, but with the other creatures).
- Some minor moments that felt out of place or coincidental.
- Besides a few gags, all the humour falls flat.
- The second act drags a bit.
- Sometimes, the colour grading is overdone.
Grade: 5/10
Wow, how the mighty have fallen. Was this season produced by the Hallmark channel? The schmaltzy music that plays in the background every other scene, the forced feel-good vibe, the corny jokes, the cringy musical interlude during this episode, that fucking Ed Sheeran montage…. it’s all so incredibly lame and cheap. Any of the sharp wit and quirk from the first two seasons has completely disappeared from the show. Instead this entire season felt like a bunch predictable, bland, sentimental nonsense made for the broadest of audiences.
I usually hate shouty, overly dramatic comments, but this show doesn’t qualify as a professional production IMO. I’ve never seen directing, writing and camerawork this amateurish in a major production.
Are you feeling nostalgic for movies like Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Elektra, Ghost Rider and The Punisher?
Well, you’re in luck.
Easily the worst comicbook film since Hellboy (2019), but I doubt that’s to many people’s surprise.
It’s produced by Avi Arad and written by the guys who did Power Rangers, Gods of Egypt and The Last Witch Hunter.
Its director has never made anything noteworthy, and the lead is an overrated, pretentious hack whose performances have derailed many films over the past ten years.
It’s exactly what you think it’s going to be: dated, nonsensical, overblown and completely soulless.
It’s got crappy acting, predictable story devices, weak dialogue, weird editing choices, everything looks cheap and blue; you probably get the gist of it by now, especially if you’ve seen those movies I mentioned earlier.
This is nothing more than a quick cash in by a studio who thinks they can sell anything for as long as you slap Marvel’s name in front of it.
And they’re probably right, so who can blame them for making it?
2/10
I really want to like this show, but when you create an actual interesting character for once, and then sideline him by the end of the episode, you’re not doing yourself any favours.
This is one of those films that is just impossible to hate.
It’s such a well made crowdpleaser; from the acting, to the score, to the camerawork.
From the very first scene, you know you’re in the hands of a filmmaker who knows what he’s doing.
It’s long, but you don’t feel its length at all.
The predictability of the story is the only real issue.
7.5/10
Good world building, I would've preferred it the Pokemons looked more like animals and less like cartoons, but this Roger Rabit approach will do. Also, decent cinematography and score. But, the script’s complete ass (conveniences, unnecessary exposition, uninteresting characters without development, extremely predictable storyline etc.) aside from some of Pikachu’s snarky lines, so you’ll probably get bored at some part.
4.5/10
It’s a Milla Jovovich movie.
What the fuck were you expecting?
When you’re rooting for the dinosaurs to eat most of the characters (especially Franklin) during the movie, something’s not quite right.
Despite not wanting to pull the trigger for a genuine emotional pay-off, this does have the most heart and emotion out of any Marvel movie throughout. I think people will be surprised by how dark and emo this gets, which is established straight from the opening credits. Unfortunately the rest of the movie is a bit of a mess. Adam Warlock and the villain are bland, the plot has a strong ‘we’re making it up as we go along’ feel to it, the tonal shifts and needle drops feel more jarring than cohesive and the action (despite a cool hallway fight) isn’t handled with the same care as the previous 2 (or The Suicide Squad). It’s probably the worst looking Guardians movie, however that incidentally still makes it the third best looking MCU movie. The characters and acting are the two main things that keep it watchable (especially Mantis, Drax and Nebula get a lot of time to shine here), but the entire picture feels unbalanced.
5/10
A fantastic short film that’s bound to become the major highlight of this season for most, while also likely to trigger some mentally deficient adults.
One of its best qualities is that you could in theory tell this story with a straight couple , and it wouldn’t lessen any of its emotional impact.
It’s such an original, creative angle for a zombie apocalypse show, and Nick Offerman/Murray Bartlett both deliver career best performances here. If their section was a bit more fleshed out, I genuinely think you could make a great indie/arthouse film out of it.
I also love how it portrays a hardcore Republican character without making him some incapable buffoon, we don’t get enough of that in movies and tv.
Ps: I’m pretty sure they used an existing piece of music during the marriage montage , I’ve heard it before but can’t quite place where it’s from
