A great world war 2 documentary, it feels a little bit fast at some points. But that is to be expected when trying to put 7 years of war in 12 hours.
Although the series is quite good I a bit disappointed that it only covers the battles. And doesn't give an in depth view of WW2.
Similar to Primer (2004) but as a comedy, shot àla Birdman (2014) . Impressively creative and funny.
“You really can't unsee it once you've seen it.”
Guy Ritchie returns to his gangster roots in the underbelly of jolly good England. It’s crazy to think that this is the same guy who brought us last years ‘Aladdin.’ But this time Ritchie isn’t on a leash.
I honestly didn’t expect to enjoy ‘The Gentleman’ as much as I did. A little muddle and sometimes confusing to follow, but the movie has a certain sharpness to it that kept me interested throughout. It’s more in vein with ‘Lock Shock’ and ‘Snatch’. Ritchie has made a successful career being influenced by the work of Quentin Tarantino, hence his given title “British Tarantino”.
The cast are all having an absolute blast with the material and I can tell everyone wants to be there.
Hugh Grant is my personal favorite out of the cast and it’s great to see his enthusiasm in acting again. He plays Fletcher, a gay detective who documents the events in the story into a screenplay he’s writing, so in a way it’s told from his perspective. While debatable if everything in the movie was made up or not, cause “every movie needs a bit of action”. The thing I love about Grants performance is that he isn’t playing "typical Hugh Grant", but an actual character. Although I thought the running gag of him being openly gay and constantly makes flirty hints towards other male characters got old and awkward after awhile. A joke that out stay’s it’s welcome...kinda like Fletcher.
I’m not a big fan of Charlie Hunnam as an actor, as I usually find him bland in everything I’ve seen him so far. However I thought Hunnam delivered a solid performance in this movie and might be his best. He plays Ray, Mickey’s (McConaughey) right hand man who is professional when it comes to business despite the countless idiots in his path. Imagine Russell Bufalino from ‘The Irishman’, but more physical and incredibly British. His comedic timing was pretty good as well that maybe if you give him the right material and character, he’s a better actor than I thought.
Colin Farrell was terrific as Coach and my second favorite out of the cast. He’s ridiculously cool and shows who’s boss, but also display’s some comedic chops. Matthew McConaughey was chilled as Mickey, who is the weed Lord of England that likes things in green, which is money and marijuana. Out of all the colorful characters in the movie, I thought Mickey was the least interesting if I have to be honest. Either because of McConaughey's chilled nature or the less exciting material given to his character.
The style and overall tone of the movie made the whole experience so fun to watch. Everything about the movie is quick. The dialogue is snappy and there’s plenty of clever banter between characters. It’s incredibly clear that Guy Richie loves cinema whenever he’s not held back like some of his previous projects and gets to freely express his passion behind the craft.
The humor and jokes ain't for the faint of heart, but luckily I’m not that soft. Some of jokes didn’t quite land the mark and often times left me puzzled in terms of waiting for the punchline.
Overall rating: A disjointed, but entertaining movie. Misleading title though. There’s plenty of man, but not so much on gentle.
It's ok, the voice over narrative is off-putting but otherwise entertaining.
It wasn't awful, not great just kind of good. Got a bit boring near the end. There was some good acting from most of the cast though.
And all the dynamics I liked from the previous episode are gone.
The show returns to talkyness, choppy storytelling and disjointed acting. Get lots of talky story about Four, One reveals to Two his dislike with Three, and again no storylines that pull at you. Filler.
Episode is a connector episode, fills almost filler and not really moving the story forward.
Episode sets up the pay off that was placed earlier in the season when Six saw the ad for human clones/conscious transfering. We start off the episode with Six being killed and disintegrating immediately. Cut to Six waking up in at a clinic in a Pod. Surprise! It was his clone who died. So many questions!! Why did he have a clone? How long has he had it? Did he join the Raza before or after cloning? Will the original Six have all his memories now that the clone is gone? Is he going to rejoin the team? How will the team react to this revelation?
No wait! Six isn't the clone, Six cloned himself. To be able to move away from the Raza. This is even better than a reveal, it's not for backstory but to push the story forward. Was not expecting this use of the clone tidbit.
Really enjoyed the bit where the group goes out for dinner and ends up drunk. Showing them just hanging out and not trying to not get killed. Also, Three mourning his lost lady love while being drunk is great.
One and Four follow Six via clones, and another Surprise! We are confirmed that One, or the face of One isn't really his. When his real self is revealed via the clone. Again, we are confirmed what was planted in an earlier episode when One meets himself, who implies he altered his feautres to look like the criminal. Now the question, why? Why go through the trouble of looking like an outlaw? Why did he want to be on the ship? So many questions!
Also loved how Four believes he is One when he calls Three a jerk. Like, yes, I've met him.
Six goes after the General who made him a murderer (and fugitive) not a freedom fighter. As he finally kills him only to discover he killed a clone.... well, this clone thing just makes this more complicated. So close, yet so far.
Shit hits the fan for One as the team finds out his truth.
Another reveal! One is a corporate heir and went on the ship to go after Three for his wife's murder.
Well, this is getting more complicated, and interesting, with each episode.
This episode is the show finally hitting it's stride. The writing sets up and pays off many elements that have been placed earlier. And the actors are finally messhing into a workable dynamic.
The concept that memories of the team are implanted, by accident, into a child, Five,and can only be accessed via dreams is interesting.
We see the childhood and history that lead Four to the Raza. He is a young prince and heir to a dynasty. Coming from a ruthless father, he learned no mercy and coldness. By dynasty politics are complicated, more so when he finds out he was framed for the murder of his father, the emperor, by his stepmother. We finally get an answer as to where he learned his sword and fighting skills. Four is the embodiment of his upbringing: distant, reserved and precise, all the makings of an emperor.
We also learn Five was an orphan and also lived with another group of street kids; they stole something that was very valuable and went after them. The young boy that they had found on the cargo hold was her friend who had been stabbed in the attack. Five is a stowaway.
Six learns he was an outlaw but also activist, trying to fight for what was right, but the cost of change, the cost of war, especially the cost of innocents for that change was too much for him to bear. He is a wanted terrorist, killer of thousands of innocents, scum of the earth. He is set up by his commander, when he learns of the betrayal and manipulation, he kills them all.
Kudos to the show for constructing complex and diverse backstories for the crew. Each character isn't a simple bad guy or mercenary, rather complex individuals that have learned that good and evil aren't opposites, but a gray scale and depends of context.
Still not loving the acting on the show. It usually feels very phoned in and flat. More of actors saying lines than acting.
The potential is sky high for Midnight Special and the cast is great. I really enjoyed the movie but there is a very painful lack of depth. I feel like this could've been the movie of the year and it just didn't quite get there.
This is film that enters some very well-worn movie territory. The parents that ruin your life. With a cast most producers would sell their grandparents for and a fine dramatic premise surely The Family Fang could not fail.
For me, it was a little from column A and little from column B. You have to hand it to Nicole Kidman her choice of starrers is eclectic and with Bateman taking on the directing reins and as well as a role he seems to be leading away from his more comic roles. He does a fine job. Walken and Hahn are old hands at this and probably hardly needed any directing.
So having said that, this should be a great film. But something was missing and I can’t explain what. Somewhere deep in the soul of the film that little spark that makes a standard film great was missing. It was impossible not feel sorry for Annie and Baxter but after what they had been put through, whether they agreed it was ‘art’ (they didn’t seem to) or not, you could not help feeling that they would not have anything to do with their parent whatsoever. Even America has a social services programme for children that are mistreated and whose parents make them commit illegal acts.
The story and performances kept me watching with the use of flashbacks in the form of a never used documentary ‘The Family Fang’ being a clever touch but I feel that you get out of the story what you bring to it.
For instance, I sort of get Caleb’s take on art, I truly do, but to take it as far as he does in the film leaves me cold. I could feel the pretentiousness washing over me as I watched. So, in the end, I couldn’t connect with them, I felt they was more of the touch of idiots about them and my tolerance for such people in real life would be lower than it was for this film. Therefore the treatment of the children just became abusive the more the story progressed.
If you want to be blunt this is about two selfish a-wipes who messed up their children permanently for art. How you feel about that is going to be how you feel about this film from the start.
The Family Fang is probably worth a watch but you really have to be in the right mood that’s for sure.
Was expecting something along the lines of Project Power, but got a dull and disjointed movie instead.
I honestly don’t know if this Doctor Who episode was actually a good and solid story, because the bar is so low. Due to the pandemic and all that stuff, it sure feels like this story has been canned for a while now. It's been almost a year since we got a proper Doctor Who story on the telly. This story is a sequel from last year's New Year special, so I guess next year's going to be the conclusion for this Dalek trilogy. I liked it, but not much happened and Chibnall had lousy moments. It feels like it doesn't address anything that happened during Series 12 finale. Ugh… the infamous "Timeless Child" retconning that I didn't like at all. Why is the Doctor questioning her own life again after the Runaway Doctor's (that's what I'm calling the Ruth Doctor) speech? It changed nothing. But now it does? Why did she stay in jail voluntarily FOR DECADES?! And also, Chibnall does not address why was she in jail in first place… oh, wait. Just for "being herself". Ugh. So Jack comes to break the Doctor out without that much of an explanation. Ok. And about John Barrowman's addition… I had fun. It's always fun to see Captain Jack interact with the Doctor and the companions but… I felt like he didn't had to be there. There was no point on having him, story-wise. I think I just liked the nostalgic feeling to it. And him leaving the Doctor just like it was not a big deal was weird. I know it tries to be like a backdoor nod for both Jack and Gwen's appearance later on or maybe a Torchwood revival? We'll see. Maybe Chris Chibnall should move on to write for that show. Am I right? So the Doctor comes back to Earth and doesn't tell any of the companions that she spent DECADES in jail and comes back like nothing had happened. Why? And the episode doesn't address Yaz's obsession or her emotional journey either. But there are good moments. I liked all of them hugging at the end. It was a touching moment. I liked how Ryan called the Doctor out again and deciding to leave the TARDIS on his own. We saw how he struggled to get back to his ordinary life. I loved how Graham decided to be there for his grandson. Ryan and Graham's relationship was the best of both Series 11 and Series 12. It really felt earned. I liked that Yaz stayed with the Doctor. We really haven't got that much of development for her character. I'd love to see how that turns out. I would've preferred to watch just the both of them traveling in the TARDIS alone. But we'll be getting another companion, so… there's that. I'm excited, though. I really do not know that much about British TV but a comedian is always welcomed. I'm excited to meet Dan! Now, in regards of the story itself… I liked it. It was a fun one off adventure. I liked how the Doctor put the Daleks against each other (again) to fix the "drones" problem. I liked how they fixed the back-up TARDIS problem too, because we would be questioning that, I'm sure. It felt more like a Robertson story with a little bit of the Doctor in it, to be honest. And it was weird how it turn out in the end for the Robertson character (with all the Trump fuss going on). But it felt very well integrated into the story. What about the political messages written into the script? Weird. But I think that what Chibnall's take on Doctor Who is all about. Oh, well. I would've liked if the Doctor confronted Robertson (or anyone, really) about the PM's death. It was on the telly! Overall, it was fun to watch new episode of my favorite show again. I'm excited for Series 13, I really am. Now I'm just hoping for Chibnall to improve his writing skills. Blimey.
No spoilers ! Got to watch it earlier this week as a critic. Definitely way better than the first. we get to see a bit more character development and origin. There's a new character revealed that wasn't in the first movie. I'd rate this a 7/10
2020 live action remake of Mulan (1998) is a family-friendly homage to wuxia films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers than a retelling like The Lion King (2019). No songs, no animal sidekicks. While I am fond of 1998 predecessor, I have zero apprehension to this film wanting to be its own thing by shedding much of the connections.
Mulan (2020) had some troubled pasts, COVID-19 delaying and eventually cancelling theatrical release, lead actress Yifei Liu being an outspoken critic of Hong Kong independence movement, and $30 on-demand release tied to Disney+ subscription.
But it's finally here. The trailer certainly looked promising. Is it worth $30 "Premiere Access" fee? Or should Disney+ subscribers wait 3 months when it will be offered to all subscribers? To me, the answer depends heavily on the quality of your home theater.
I have a modest home theater setup: 65" OLED TV and just so so Dolby Atmos soundbar. Nothing that can even begin to replicate extravagant theatrical presentation that Niki Caro and her team intended. But even on this setup, the film is an audiovisual feast that hints how amazing proper cinema experience could've been.
With beautiful sets, sumptuous cinematography, colorful costumes, and competently choreographed action sequences, the film makes for fun family evening. Some critics dubbed the film Crouching Tiger, Jr. and I think that's very apt summary of the film. Toned down violence is suitable for younger audience (I think 7 or older is entirely suitable) and intentionally stylized martial arts scenes are treats. Music is understated for the most part, without any songs as mentioned earlier, "Reflection" theme from the animated film used on few occasions for nostalgia, as well as one notable cameo towards the end.
The film starts promising enough, precocious Crystal Rao playing young Mulan. But once Yifei takes over, the film starts to drag its pacing a bit. While the lead actress certainly looks the part and does a bang up job with martial arts sequences, she emotes little and lacks the charisma of Crouching's Ziyi Zhang. Thankfully, her limited thespian skills is somewhat masked by the veteran cast, led by Gong Li (plays by far the most interesting character that sadly wasn't given enough), Jason Scott Lee, Tzi Ma, and Donnie Yen.
Uneven pacing aside, which spends too much time in military training, the film is unfocused and lacks heart. As flawed as it was, 1998 animated counterpart carried the theme of self sacrifice to its sleeve. Despite its svelte 88 minutes running time, it felt epic. Even though this film runs nearly 30 minutes longer, stories feel disjointed and motivations underdeveloped.
But the most problematic is Mulan's sudden embrace of her "true" identity, and rapid acceptance and embrace by her peers. There's almost no sense of urgency, and the final battle feels anti-climatic as a result.
Still, at the end of the day, my family had a good time watching it last night. While the martial arts sequences do not break new ground, they look great and fun to watch. I just wish the film aimed higher for more emotional payoff.
The Big Ugly doesn't make any sense with its useless plot lines and characters. A colossal waste of time.
This hillbilly noir/British gangster flick is just a very, very, very basic revenge action movie, oh and and they mention oil a lot but you never get to see any oil. The action is really quite minimal, the plot is unclear, the characters - macho men, who repeat themselves over and over again.
That's the worst, lowest, worst security "max security" prison ever from all max security prisons!
This is a fascinating watch, it’s such a great insight into filmmaking.
I’d advise anyone to watch this and the theatrical cut back to back, you’ll learn so much about the process, rearranging scenes, editing, etc.
Pros:
- Compared to BvS: the script is much more structured, coherent, and simple. Also, this film doesn’t try to have any political depth or social commentary, which is a plus because that requires a filmmaker with subtlety, and Snyder is no such filmmaker. Finally, it doesn’t make any major mistakes like the Martha scene or Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor.
- Compared to the theatrical cut: it does a much better job at fleshing out the characters. This particularly helps for Cyborg and Steppenwolf. It kinda turns Cyborg into the coolest character of the DCEU. Also, the editing of the action scenes is much better.
- I love that it has a big, epic tone. The storytelling feels like it takes a lot of inspiration from Lord of the Rings.
- Some great character moments, particularly with Alfred (I also liked Flash running back in time, the killing of Steppenwolf and Aquaman’s scene with Vulko ). There are actually quite a few laughs in this, more so than you’d expect from a Snyder film.
- The score is good (ignoring the overplayed WW theme).
Cons:
- It looks kinda hideous. There is an artificial and fake feeling to most of the scenes. The way it’s directed and shot can only be described as cheap and a visual overkill.
- Casting. Some of the main actors aren’t competent enough to star in a film like this. As long as they keep Momoa, Gadot and Miller, these films will always feel like discount Avengers films.
- It kinda drags, there are some scenes that could’ve been cut or shortened in order to improve the pacing. This is one of the things the theatrical cut does way better, even if it’s much more bland as a cut.
- The Flash still runs and acts like a moron. It particularly stands out in this cut because his Looney Tunes-esque antics are cringeworthy and don’t fit here, and his character still feels very barebones.
- Like BvS, the setting up of future films feels very clunky and forced.
- Though nowhere near as bad as in BvS, I once again noticed some painfully overwritten and forced dialogue.
In short:
Is it better than the theatrical cut, or BvS? Yes.
Is it a good movie? Not by any metric.
3.5/10
WOW! This took me by surprise, cant wait to see what else this show has to offer.
Man that waitress deserved it
This show is very unbalanced. Some episodes are utter shit, while other are very polished and well filmed. This is true both for the UK version and the new Starz + BBC version.
Only exception is season 3 which was pretty intense from the beginning to the finale.
[6.0/10] Oh man, what a crock this is. It is so full of cheats and shortcuts and self contradictions that it's hard to take any of it seriously. Suddenly, we've pivoted to the prospect of mortality and self-sacrifice as the most important theme of the season, despite the fact that those have been, at best, tangential to the ideas the show was exploring up until...last week.
And it's totally contradicted by what the episode actually does! Picard trying to "give his life" to prove to Soji that organics is good would have more weight if we hadn't seen him jump into death-defying situations throughout the season. What makes this one any different? And when he "dies", it's not because the Romulans blast him or really anything to do with his grand stand. His brain abnormality just acts up when it's dramatically convenient, with no apparent connection to his attempt at self sacrifice.
Then the episode just wipes away that sacrifice anyway! I can't tell you what a cheat it feels like to have Picard die, learn a very important lesson about the beauty of life coming from the fact that it's finite, only for him to then immediately cheat death! Then the whole bending over backwards to try to explain that even though he has an android body now, he'll age normally feels contrived and bullshit as hell. It's a dumb plot choice that immediately contradicts the episodes laudable themes about accepting mortality as something inherently human.
It's not all bad. As deus ex machina as Riker's arrival, it's still a cool moment. As weird as Data looks in the "quantum simulation" (oh brother), his death and appreciation for Picard's love is moving. And even if Jurati feels like she's from a different show, her quips and jibes got a chuckle out of me.
Everything in this finale is just so rushed and glancing and ultimately unsatisfying. There's some good ideas here, but they're all shortchanged for a meditation on death that feels out of step with the show's ideas to this point, and a bunch of easy plot fixes and character relationships that haven't actually been developed.
On the whole, this season was a real missed opportunity. Assembling this kind of talent and deploying it only for this wobbly mess of a season is a big shame. I'm a sucker, so I'll be back for season 2, and I hope they'll work out the kinks But after this, I'm not terribly optimistic.
Cute little movie about video games that even adults can enjoy.
Armies back
Cancelled again! Hated the new characters. It deserved to be canceled now!
There is no way you feel emphathy for those astronauts because they are dumb as fuuuuuuuuuuuck
Okay, kids. 'Twas a good episode, a step up from previous series: fast paced, very Doctor Who-y, with a twisty little twist at the end but still.. maybe it's just me but it felt somewhat... empty? I don't know it's like something is missing and I can't understand what exactly.
So right off the bat... As a movie, this is pretty shit. Maybe a 6.5/10 overall if you had to rate it honestly.
It's mildly funny, predictable, overacted, arrogantly and self-righteously American.
But that's not what the sum of the parts is.... That is exactly what it is trying to be.
What you have here is a searing indictment of modern humanity. Self-obsessed, intellectually inept, molly-coddled Americans who - when faced with the end of the world - decide to turn it into a political battleground, attempt to milk it for profit, hand it over to sociopathic billionaire industrialists as the government officials are too incapable to handle the situation, who ultimately pay the price for their decisions.
It's a sadly accurate depiction of where the West stands at the moment. Crippled by 40 years of mind-numbing entertainment that has depleted our intelligence, our ability for critical thought and common sense.
I wouldn't rewatch this if you paid me. And it is 30 minutes too long. But it is the most realistic holding up of a mirror to society as I have seen in a decade.
The most reasoned and insightful view of how messed up we are as nations today is coming from satirical comedy. Just as it always has.
7.5/10
Artistically, it is perfect and the story behind it is really interesting. However, the actual entertainment value of it is lacking and the acting really isn't very good. It's still a classic that everyone who wants to learn about cinema should watch
So a bit of wood was enough to change the air pressure but all that water wasn't?
