Besides being a thrilling high octane chase movie there is not much here.
While this could be considered as one of Bay his better movies, maybe on par with 'The Island', it still inherits a lot of the flaws that plague many of Bay his films. Especially the editing is of horrendous quality not usually seen with directors and editors with this level of experience. Story is razor thin and of course character writing is non-existent.
95% of the movie is fast paced action that can best be described as an extended theatrical cut of a (good) GTA (Grand Theft Auto) mission.
Where Bay does (not totally unexpected) excel with 'Ambulance' is in the relentless action pounding your screen scene after scene, without giving much room to breathe. And it does create an effective thrill for a big part of the movie. Although there are moments when the lack of more calmer parts start to wear you down.
It is also quite fun to see the actors, especially Gyllenhaal, are having a lot of fun with the material.
The result is still a thrilling, perhaps even entertaining, experience that will probably be forgotten by most in the foreseeable future.
This 2nd season is a chaotic letdown after the 1st one. And it continues to digress with each passing episode...
They forgot to write characters.
I am more interested in what will happen after the ending than anything happening in the movie itself.
The 2nd 'Silenzio Bruno!' of 2021 out of a Disney studio. Someone high up at the Disney company must hate someone called Bruno a lot
:laughing:
But great animated film. Music is decent and fun (although nothing legendary because it feels a bit overproduced at times) and animation is fantastic. Original story, and interesting characters. It is a bit rushed over here and there but that's ok.
Total forgettable film.
Tonal issues and irregular pacing make this the least fun of the trilogy so far. It does not know weather to take itself serious or not, which results in extended boring parts interchanged with laughable scenes that break any suspension of disbelieve. They should have stopped after one movie.
I guess the best thing about this movie is that it gave me an excuse to watch the original trilogy again...
In 'The French Dispatch' director Wes Anderson goes all out with his characteristic aesthetic, beautiful visuals, use of colour and attention to detail. The music is great, fantastic even at times. There are more top actors than you could find at an average Oscars party. And visually most of shots are works of art all by them self. It is rather unfortunate that Wes his attention to detail do not translate to a more coherent story as a whole, holding the movie back.
'The French Dispatch' contains three separate stories, only trivially connected by a fourth overarching story about a newspaper and its journalists (based on the origins of a real newspaper.) On their own, each story is serviceable, but unfortunately the guiding story is lacking enough substance to make it work as a whole. The at times rather dense dialogue, riddled with puns and metaphors, also do not help with avoiding confusion. Especially for the average cinema visitor. However, the jokes and puns are often positively unexpected and with a great show of comedic timing, even during otherwise non comedic scenes. And this is without having to resort to the type of subversive humor we so often see nowadays in blockbuster films.
The three stories on their own, especially the rather quirky first one about the convicted murderer, are all interesting and fun enough to make the viewer invested. And although each story is not likely to be strong enough in its current form to carry a whole film, I think they could have benefited from some more time. To give the characters some more and/or better introduction. It would also have the benefit of seeing some more from all the fantastic actors.
I would recommend to watch this movie at (a somewhat larger screen) at home, where you have the option to rewind. That way it is also possible to appreciate the many details in many shots and scenes.
With every movie Wes improves his meticulous and almost obsessive attention to detail in every shot. Considering the visuals; In 'The French Dispatch' he once again trumps every movie Wes Anderson has made before, including the well received 'Budapest Hotel' and his critically acclaimed stop motion films 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' and 'Isle Of Dogs'. Of course there is an ample amount of his characteristic centered camera work, straight angle moving and panning, and the painting-like sets in almost every shot. He plays with aspect ratio and switches between colour and black and white for significant portions of the movie. And there is even a fully (drawn) animated section, which is a lot of fun.
If a movie was only visuals, this one would have been rated a 10/10.
I absolutely enjoyed the music and music timing in this. Composer Alexandre Desplat (who often composed for Wes Anderson his films) made a score that was often subtle, while still reinforcing the atmosphere of the movie and the scene. I also noticed some parts where video and audio were carefully timed to match one another. On a few occasions the music felt like a temporary extra character in the scene, leading the atmosphere instead of only enforcing it, and I found myself actively appreciating it more than I usually do when watching a film.
With all the actors involved, and the limited time they are given, it is difficult to properly discuss acting as a whole. There are so many fantastic actors in this, but the lack of screentime for each of them makes none of them award worthy. I have to mention Benicio del Toro for his acting though. With his menacing performance he outshines most of the other actors. And that is with a cast like this very difficult to do.
Overall I enjoyed this movie a lot, but even though I would like to recommend it, it is difficult to recommend to most people except for people already familiar with Wes Anderson his work. It might be not accessible enough for the average person, with the separate stories and visual style. While for a film fan the story issues can be problematic. Its shortcomings are especially unfortunate, because it likely will be a cause for less people to watch it.
I expected a run of the mill low budget poor attempt at an action scifi movie, so I was pleasantly surprised about this.
About the low budget and scifi I was correct, for the rest I was not.
The opening feels kinda gimmicky with the whole visual representation and introduction. The parts where this 'theme' of the opening the television screen template is used again, are most likely the poorest part of the film. After this we get dumped immediately into the actual opening. It could use some more easing into, because I felt kind of shocked into it. Mostly because of the instant fast paced talking and heavy dialect. It does effectively sets the tone and expectations for the film immediately, and makes clear that this is a dialogue driven film. More action than some mild running you should not expect!
Dialogue is this films strongest point. Not only the way people talk, but rather what they say are very character-centered. This causes very recognizable identifiers between characters from the second they are introduced, as well as an idea of the time period. Even some of the minor side characters feel like actual characters, opposed to the blank slates we often see in many movies.
Through dialogue and with the benefit of some, surprisingly I might add, good acting the main characters are set up. Nobody will win an Oscar for their performance in this film anytime soon, but the (at least to me) unknown actors held their own very well. Especially considering several slow zoom long shots that were used. Because the film heavily leans on its dialogue, it is commendable that these actors can carry this as well as they do. Many have failed or done (much) worse under similar circumstances (including A-list stars.)
It is a shame though, that this character setup does not really lead anywhere. The 2 protagonists lack some kind of progress or journey or anything at all xD Everything was there, but the characters went nowhere and we were left with just the promise of an arc. Of course stuff happens (especially in the conclusion) and there is story development, but the people we met at the beginning were the exactly the same at the end, and nobody ever had to change or work through any personal obstacle. The story itself is also pretty straightforward. Not worthy of the name mystery, but straightforward enough and with enough substance to not totally crumble. Unfortunately, this leaves with a rather lackluster, maybe even unsatisfying end.
Visually it can be a bit (too) dark, and some shots are a bit awkward or 'too much', but besides the aforementioned opening 'theme' it luckily doesn't fully go off the rails. Of course, again, do note expect any large scale blockbuster CGI or anything even close to that. But it would be silly if you would expect that in a film that costs about the same as just 1 car in the Fast & Furious franchise.
All in all, a decent low budget scifi slow burn that fizzles out in the end. I would only recommend this if you are okay with watching something you won't see from the likes of Michael Bay, Christopher Nolan or Marvel studios.
This is is vanilla ice cream in movie form.
Everything from story and characters to action and sound design is rather bland and lacking substance, it is just smooth inconsequential sailing to the credits. An innocent little movie for (older) kids.
Fantastic show from start to finish. Also great to see Natalie Tran again, albeit in a small role.
Solely based on the last episode and the shows cancellation, I cannot recommend this. There is no resolution of any kind, even a climax is mostly absent. As long this will not get a second season (and it is highly unlike it will) I advice to avoid.
After almost 2 decades of anticipation, I finally watched this movie. Truth to be told, I was a little disappointed. It is okay I guess, acting and realism of the environment is most noteworthy, but it could not captivate me. Maybe because I am too familiar with the story already, and I felt bored at several points. The editing was also kind of chaotic at times in my experience. It's possible that 17 years of procrastination made me have too high expectations, and me already not being a massive war movie fan to begin with doesn't help I guess.
Beautiful and brilliant animation with an overly simple story even for a kids movie.
With the latest live action translation 'Cruella', Disney is trying to mimic the successful formula used for 'Maleficent',. Take an antagonist from one of their classics and switch her to an anti-hero protagonist. Pulling the same trick twice is difficult, even for veterans with big artistic freedoms, the strong studio influences don't do them many favors either.
Disney's firm grip on its own material is understandable, but as we see time and time again is more often than not problematic for most of their current live-action translations. There is not much in the story of 'Cruella' that makes any of the characters very relatable or recognizable for people unknown with the 'source' material. Unlike the 2014 'Maleficent' there is no redeeming villain act in 'Cruella', neither is there a positive message (or any clear one at all for that matter) in the film. Add to that some repetitive and dragging scenes, only kept together by flashy visuals and music. I am unsure this is a movie you want to show to your kids, and for adults it can be rather dull.
Most problematic is the soundtrack. First of all, the choice for a focus on rock & roll and especially punk music is very complementary with the themes in the movie (although the whole status/fashion part of that is contradictory.) However, the songs often feel very forced and only superficially connected to what is happening on screen. Secondly, the movie is simply to family friendly to really be able to carry any sort of punk theme. The mix with Disco and R&B was a mystery to me, especially when 'Car Wash' played i was totally taken out of the movie. There is also an overload of well known songs to be recognized by the audience, not contributing much to the film.
Absolutely the most positive part in this film is the acting. Emma Thompson is impressive and steals the show in this movie. Even though Emma Stone performs great, Thompson kind of outshines her most of the time. Emma Stone is a great actress though, and she does notably well here too. Especially noteworthy is Emma Stone her use of voice. She clearly studied the original voice actor for Cruella wel, and her use and tone of voice is done very accurately and fitting.
Besides the acting and some nice visuals every now and then there is not much value in this movie to put your time in. An overly long runtime, unclear or poor message and a soundtrack that does not do more than a good Spotify playlist drag down the movie as a whole. If you want to see Emma (any of them) shine, it can be worth the watch though.
Weird series of movie shorts (NOT a feature film) with high amounts of 'just-out-of-filmschool' feels, mixed with attempts at being Terrence Malick. Not recommended for most.
Intriguing world and premise, but the terrible pacing and uneven quality destroys a promising show.
Characters are fairly one dimensional, especially their introductions are lacking. The plot moves at the speed of a bullet train launched into space, which especially hurts the world building and character development. It also causes the themes to be hardly explored, and side plots to feel trivial. CGI and cinematography are a mixed bag, ranging from nice to terrible (especially the color filter is often hideous), The acting is ok in general, but dialogue can be uneven.
About halfway into the 1st season, the show stabilizes somewhat, but it never recovers from the problematic opening, making any investment in the characters and world shallow at best.
It is a waste because the world seems highly interesting, and I have to assume it deserves much better than this uninspired work.
'Raya and the Last Dragon' is a story that mirrors reality and some of the problems we face currently. It brings a positive story about coming together in a time of turmoil and polarization, in the face of a (not so subtle real world metaphor) imminent threat. With the best technical visuals an animated movie can probably bring us today, likeable characters and a good balance between serious and lighter tones, this is a perfect movie to watch with your kids or just alone on a big screen.
'Raya and the Last Dragon' is once again a new frontier in (3D) animated film. The absolutely stunning animation is rich in color and with a lot of attention to detail. The lightning, water, facial expressions and movements are of a level rarely seen before. Disney once again proves to be at the utmost forefront of technical capabilities in (3D) animated film.
One of the most noticeable issues in the movie is the editing. Pacing and tone are never actually bad, but events happen fairly quickly one after another, which makes the journey not feel like much of a challenge to overcome. There are also some tonal issues between moments when the dragon is on screen, and the main characters conflict. Considering the primary focus group for Disney is kids, this is not something I would call as too problematic.
The cutting is too fast for my taste though. A bit more time to be able appreciate the beautiful shots of landscapes or other scenes would have been nice. And where the editing mostly starts to fall apart is when fast paced scenes (like fighting scenes) happen. The cutting is too often and too fast, which can trigger a feeling of dizziness at times.
Again, as a movie primarily aimed at kids, I do not expect depths to the likes of 'Mulholland Drive', 'Se7en' or even 'Spirited Away', so the following is not a major complaint. The characters are decent, sometimes original, and well rounded, world building is done well (although I personally thought the exposition could have been a bit better integrated) and the dialogue does not feel forced and has a good flow.
At the end of the movie I do feel the characters and story are a bit lacking in depth. I think that even without making the characters or story more complicated, this could have been improved by giving a but more time for the characters (and viewer) to grasp the situation they are in. To let them contemplate the situation, and give them some time to breath.
Because of the clear message the movie is giving off, the story is fairly predictable. And even while the message of trust can be a bit in your face at times, this does not detract of the enjoyment I had while watching.
With beautiful animation, good world building, a nice sounding score and rather original characters and the general fast pace, this is a movie that is a feast to watch (especially with kids.) The decent but predictable story is good enough to carry it's message properly, without it getting annoying. Overall 'Raya and the Last Dragon' is a good new addition to the Disney animated movie collection.
It is hard not to compare the 2021 Snyder's Cut to the 2017 release, which was generally perceived as a messy film due to its problems during production. There is definitely more coherence and structure in this version, with less plot holes and more time for the characters to breathe (not in last place because of the significantly increased -doubled- run time.) However, in many moments it is clear the movie has been edited together from incomplete and/or unfinished material. This is especially noticeable in several of the (many) CGI scenes, which look outdated and unpolished. It makes (some of) the choices made in the 2017 version more understandable, even though it does not make them any better. The hated reshoots that ended up in the 2017 version were clearly not unnecessary, just the execution was poor.
Light Spoilers ahead (marked.)
The antagonist is clearly one of the main improvements. Steppenwolf is relatively well fleshed out, and no longer a completely forgettable generic bad guy (and I thought his costume looked awesome! No idea why that was changed in the earlier version.) It remains a problem that he is just a henchman, and the big bad guy boss (Darkseid) plays no real role in the story. Darkseid appearance has not much added value because of that. It adds significantly to the antagonist motivation, but his appearance is mostly used to make way for a next movie.
We also spend more time on Cyborg and his character, which is deserving and rewarding and makes him a more interesting character to watch.
The dynamic within the team is also much more balanced, with less awkward forced moments.
That being said, the main focus clearly never was the characters themselves, which is not unusual for a blockbuster (superhero) movie. There are scenes that feel out of place because of sudden shifts of tone and focus. Also, several events, plot lines and choices or alternatives are never explored or given a pay off.
There are several setups that are never paid off, especially with the introduction of additional characters. This pads the runtime unnecessarily and often makes the movie feel like a set up for later movies (which will probably never see the light of day.) Secondly, their are so many endings, it could compete with LOTR's Return of The King for most endings in a major film release, and unlike RotK, it is not to finish up those aforementioned loose ends, but rather to set up new plots.
Of course this has to be mentioned. The choice for 4:3 ratio has been done for creative reasons, and it has already caused division among the viewers. Their are many shots where the 4:3 ratio is exceptionally impressive, and it is justifies the choice for that aspect ratio. However, in just as many scenes the lack of widescreen makes the experience underwhelming. This is (logically) mostly the case with wideshots and the big battles. When the ever present but lacking CGI meets those wideshot angles, this negative effect is even more increased, and it made me feel like watching an episode of Friends or other old television show.
In conclusion, the chosen aspect ratio has both its merits and demerits. The difference between 4:3 and Widescreen is not impossible to overcome to use in 1 film, but it is significant which makes it tricky to naturally switch between them. The choice to stay dedicated to an unchanging Ratio is logical.
This is an average but fun epic superhero movie that is enjoyable to watch if you have the time and patience for it. The movie is split into several distinct sections, with headers, so it is possible to watch it as a mini-series. It does not rise to the heights of Infinity War, but it also does not steep as low as Suicide Squad.
Did this movie have any dialogue written before filming? Because it looks like it was all ad-libbed on the spot. I will give them some credit though, some lines were probably written in the break room on a dirty tissue a few minutes before the shoot.
Everything about this movie is bad, except for maybe the filming equipment. Probably in my top 10 worst movies I ever saw.
This movie is as if the 1980's and the 1880's were mashed together into one. A slow paced, incomplete and try-to-be creative, but not very convincing, story about the life of brilliant inventor Nicola Tesla who was ahead of his time.
Besides the acting power of Hawke, and some (questionable) creative choices, there is not much here.
They are setting the bar high with the events happening at the end of this episode, although a lot of information is still withheld. Hopefully this will result in a fantastic season, and not a massive clusterf. 7 episodes for a whole new balance of power is certainly short, although this might flow over in the 6th and final season
ps. I hope Amos got off earth in time.
Interesting and binge-worthy Sci-Fi show.
The best thing about 'Raised by Wolves' is the Ridley Scott (inspired) envisioned visual style. The show looks like it has a decent or big budget, although I could not find any definitive numbers anywhere, and it looks very good as long you are not put off by it's dark and bleak environments.
Storywise it is interesting enough, but it can be somewhat messy, switching between character focus and plot focus, and fails to indulge us more into the depth of characters and philosophy. A lot of ideas, and not a lot of answers. The aim seemed to be to present as much ideas as possible in this first season, to feed off of them later during multiple seasons. It cumulates into a season that was akin to one big pilot episode.
~ This comment was written after season 1. ~
This is incredibly average and boring.
What a fantastic albeit bittersweet movie. Chung Keun-sup both wrote and directed this by himself. And it results in an almost Villeneuve-style movie. Although the constraints of the genre and probably the lack of experience of the director sometimes show in certain aspects. Needless to say he did a great job in creating a captivating story and film. Such a shame that I could not find any more work from him, bc he looks like a promising and talented director.
The camerawork and editing is of high quality, and in the writing of the story there is great attention to detail. Even though the story in itself looks not that remarkable on the surface, what was done with it in 'Montage' shows an understanding of the craft of movie making well.
'Mulan' suffers from poor character writing and questionable creative decisions that ultimately could disappoint both audiences it was made for.
As with most of the Disney live action remakes, 'Mulan' uses a similar base as it's 1998 animated version. However it does not try to recreate it's predecessor scene for scene, while also not deviating as much as some of the other remakes did. Ultimately the balance of originality was pretty well done in this regard. Combine this with stunning set pieces and an inspiring message and this should make for a good, or at least an entertaining, movie. The bad news is that it doesn't.
Warning: Spoilers ahead! (hidden)
What Mulan (played by Liu Yifei) initially is fighting for is the safety of her family (mostly her father) and bringing honour to her family. This is a challenge for her, because her skills do not conform to what is accepted for girls in her society. Mulan has a high amount of chi inside her. Chi (in this movie) is an inconsistently used power that is either a stand-in for magic, or for being able to do martial arts at high levels without (proper) training.
The problem starts with that Mulan's whole character arc is based on this aspect, foregoing any actual personality and turning her into basically a Mary Sue. Only mid-second act we are shown she can outsmart others and can think tactically, which is not (properly) set up.
The sad thing is that the aspect of chi does not enrich the story, but rather takes away from Mulan as a character.
At the opposite side of the spectrum we have the "witch" Niang (played by Gong Li) who uses her chi to wield magic. She has arguably the best character development in the film, however predictable. She joins the enemy Rouran army because she was not accepted for who she was. In this way she hopes to change the world and get rid of the oppression against woman that are different. However she gets betrayed by the Rouran leader, Bori Kahn (played by Jason Scott Lee), who has the same denigrating ideas about who she is. After Mulan gets accepted for who she is by her fellow soldiers, the witch redeams herself by sacrificing her life to save Mulan.
During a key scene of the movie, Mulan and Niang meet, and Mulan declares she fights for the emperor because she knows her place. In that moment she chooses to continue the cycle of oppression she experienced in the first place. This was such a strange moment for me, because it contradicted her original motivation completely. It looked like it was a later change after studio intervention, and it was what broke Mulan's character.
It did not help that most of the performances of the actors were rather lackluster. I can not qualify it as bad, ,most of the time it was just fine. But there were moments when the acting was not convincing or too mediocre and lacking dedication. I had hoped to see a bit more of Jet Li, but with the role he plays my expectations were not set too high.
As said in the opening, the set pieces, background and photography that are done for this movie are stunning. CGI is done very well too. Not too in your face, and most of the time not obtrusive. Costumes and make-up is also masterfully done, and deserves big compliments. So many times you can just look at the images on screen and forget about the story for a moment and feast your eyes.
The directing however is awkward from time to time. Rather intrusive camera movements and strange angles and cutting. Especially during two action scenes of the Rourans attacking, several confusing and unnecessary camera rotations were used that had no function other than being a gimmick. Cutting was often at not intuitive moments and unusual time- and locations jumps happened more than you would want to see. There might have been some inconsistency in the editing process or during the re-shoots, but it was noticeably distracting.
The story itself was done well enough. Of course there was already a solid basis for the story, and I think they build nicely on that. They worked in some new material, gave the enemy a more appropriate name than the kind of inaccurate 'Huns' it used to be. The action was expanded and some interesting perspectives were added. I did not miss the comic relief dragon nor the music, I think it could have messed with the tone of the movie too much. Overall it was a rather coherent and consistent story, but it also did not achieve great heights.
It was obvious that Disney did not want to rub the message too much in your face. The movie can lead to some debate even as it is. And Disney clearly did not want to scare away the Chinese audience, or worse, displease the Chinese government. I think it was difficult for the studio to balance between keeping western audience satisfied as well as the Chinese audience, while also satisfying fans of the 1998 animation and newcomers. It affected the story in making it safe, while at the same time trying to please several camps resulting in some inconsistencies. But in the end, I think it could have been a lot worse.
While 'Mulan' is beautiful to watch at times, the characters and message of the movie are broken. The studio trying to please too many people from very different backgrounds damaged the movie, even though it could have been much worse. I think it is a fine movie for the majority of people to enjoy, but don't expect much special.
Incredibly boring characters, the way colours and lightning are handled is making the show hideous to look at. I could not finish even the pilot episode. I was not a fan of the movie, although it has some great qualities. Those qualities do not exist in this trash.
Fast paced action movie with decent visual effects and a setting that reminds of 'Limitless' (2011) but with a wider range of powers. Its major drawbacks are a lack of character depth and the absence of a decent antagonist.
This low budget movie offers some lighthearted fun for gamers and fans of the 80s, although it might still be enjoyable for others too.
Expect poor acting and a ridiculous story in a reference rich environment. Fitting for the comedy of Kevin Smith and Wil Wheaton and (at least partially) funded by a kickstarter campaign. They clearly went rampant with this project, and the passion and fun everyone had while making this film jumps off the screen. So even if all else fails, at least it has that.
With a good cast and some good ideas it is disappointing this movie does not achieve more than the average cop crime thriller.
The ideas are there, and at several points the movie tips its toes into intriguing territories. However, it avoids to tackle the themes and questions it sets up, which results in frustrating moments and it lets the movie as a whole fall way below the potential it had. Even though it does not manage to outshine some of the other movies in its genre, it still is a decent movie to watch.
With over 90 comments already existing, I will keep it short.
It looks like the two writers responsible for this movie bit off more than they can chew. Looking at their experience, they were involved in some rather questionable movies already, with the best ones being comedy. I think this is what resulted in (some of the) the poor character decisions, awkward tone shifts between sci-fi horror, thriller-action and even comedy, and some poor plot decisions.
