My cat couldn't bring herself to follow the red dot and I couldn't be bothered either. It's competently made but the twist cheats the viewer, and the film suffers narratively as a result.
For some reason, I wasn't charmed. The concept is not new, but I feel like there was no chemistry between the characters. Or maybe it's their acting? Idk. But it's nice to see Batista's face without the full make up on.
Really not sure what to think of this movie. It's quite boring. Usually enjoy movies with older actors, but this was nothing but a boring c*ck-fest…
Boring story, boring dialogues, boring conclusion, boring everything…
Not good.
The cinematography is like the director was intent of causing an epileptic seizure and obviously heavily inspired by the movie Sunshine.
It's an interesting concept but both Ex Machina and Morgan did it way better.
The gratuitous nudity throughout gives the whole thing an aura of softcore porn which is obviously enhanced by the fact that they cast Stoya as the droid but if there's one redeeming feature about this it's that she really can act.
Next time she might even get a role where she's dressed for more than 50% of the feature.
avoidable... such a dumb movie with a bunch of unlikeable characters
While the story was a bit of a mess (I think?!) the camera work and the action sequences were absolutely insane. How?! Certainly a ride and one of the best action movies of the year tbh.
What could have been a dumb but fun action flick turns into a dumb underwater heist movie. Thank goodness for JK Simmons who breathes some much needed life into this waterlogged adventure.
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.
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.
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
Man that waitress deserved it
Cute little movie about video games that even adults can enjoy.
Armies back
There is no way you feel emphathy for those astronauts because they are dumb as fuuuuuuuuuuuck
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
Brilliant cinematography, brilliant soundtrack and a brilliant plot, this movie has everything going for it. The writing was steady and deliberate with every word and the film didn't make any mistakes in terms of dramatic idiosyncrasies; From the chekhov's gun of the punching bag to the repetitive drinking becoming a key element other than for character development. Everything was purposeful from the sets, to the costume design, to the sound. this is simply an exquisite film. Watch now
This is a great storyline with no backup or character development. I don't even know anything about the main characters by the time the movie ended. It could have been way better.
A classic tale retold in modern times. A shtick we've all seen before in many movies. Though, not a lot can say that they are up to the standards of The Kid Who Would Be King. This film takes the story of King Arthur and flips it. Using the basis narrative to be the forefront of a very meaningful parable.
Yes, this is a good King Arthur movie. It sells itself to be an action movie for kids, but it isn't. It's better than that. It's a family drama with a mystical element thrown in. With commentary that holds true to the characters and even audience watching. Forming to be a journey of lessons that relate directly to family struggles and world views. It was powerful with the aid of visual effects that gracefully captured action and stylised story-telling.
Alex, our main protagonist was acted wonderfully by Andy Serkis' kid, Luis. Showing off lovely emotion when needed and giving a realistic sense of childlike wonder and confusion in sensible ways. All the other cast did have issues though. Not really caring for Tom Taylor's character and neither for Rhianna Dorris'. Feeling too rushed into the story was also a let down with these two. But Angus Imrie did a wonderful job at his portrayal of Merlin. I actually liked him so much that when Patrick Stuart came in, I didn't even give it a second thought as to who I want back more. They both stuck the landing in likeability. But that magic hand movement was maybe a bit too wacky? I don't know how I feel about it, to be honest.
Now the villain is more a metaphor here that didn't need to be shown off a lot. But alas, we got to see them and what a bad casting choice it was for Rebecca Ferguson. She wasn't menacing enough and didn't pose a big enough threat. She would have been better being shielded within shadows for the whole movie. Because what she represents was much better than her reveal. Though, we did get some nice looking action scenes from it. But more questions as well, involving the safety of some people in the last act.
The Kid Who Would Be King is a fantastic family movie. Having a tremendous moral lining that kids should take with them. A bit forceful at times when it came to the delivery. It still gripped me with its visuals. The fight scenes at night were gorgeous and satisfied me for action. I am impressed with how much love and effort was put into this instead of leaving it to be another generic classic retelling of a story for kids. There was care here, and it shows greatly. A true and welcoming surprise.
8.2/10
Like its name, this movie is a bit of a trainwreck. For one, it is far too long. And while Amy Schumer proves that she has the stuff to potentially make rom-coms funny again, the script of this movie does not give her the opportunity this time. There are a few laugh out loud moments, but most of the jokes fall flat.
