Its a great watch pretty good research from the flying aspect. Its unusual to see a plot of British individuals being involved in this sort of crime? Not known of in actuality?
The Indian stuff feels like a pointless side story only serving to fill some time. I hope I'm wrong and that it somehow becomes relevant later.
An extremely fun and well paced movie with a great ensemble cast. Glass Onion follows a similar format to the first film but it is definitely not a just copy and paste. My favorite part was the first act which hooked me into the movie right away.
Once they reach Miles's house, however, the movie unfolds in a relatively simple manner compared to the first film and the ending is not fully satisfying.
I would have really loved an actual murder mystery, not some fake murder mystery game that was solved immediately. And Miles was implied as Duke's murderer way to early on.
Full disclosure, I was and am a HUGE fan of the 1961 WEST SIDE STORY. I know it’s every detail, every word of every lyric, every emotional cue. Rita Moreno was the iconic Rita. So, I went to see this new Spielberg directed, Moreno produced, 2021 version with more curiosity than expectation. Not forgetting that WEST SIDE STORY was inspired by Shakespeare’s ROMEO AND JULIET, the general structure of the movies is the same yet contemporary and musical. The 2021 version is grittier. The context of the drama is more developed, setting it in a disappearing New York neighbourhood, which makes the rivalry of the street gangs more a matter of life and death that either the play or the first movie. Rita Moreno is very much celebrated in this new film, with a newly created character and a reallocation of a song. Two musical numbers in the 2021 version paled when compared to the 1961: (1) the dance at the gym didn’t have the battle fever of the original (probably solely due to the incomparable Rita Moreno in 1961) and by moving Tony and Maria’s first meeting from the actual dance to behind the bleachers it lost the transcendent quality of their love at first sight; and (2) Maria’s “I Feel Pretty” scene being moved from a Dress Shop (where the girls worked) to a department store (where they were but a small part of a cleaning crew), despite the clever use of store displays, changed the context from dreaming of a wedding to dreaming of blending into Americana. I also felt that 2021 suffered from the loss of (a) priest, which stripped away marriage vows in a church for promises in a museum (??), and (b) the the loss of the potion separated the lovers and the tragic death of love at the end. HOWEVER, ALL COMPARISONS OR DISAPPOINTMENTS EVAPORATED when Rachel Zegler’s soaring soprano lifted Maria’s first note. It was so beautiful I had to remind myself to breath. Her duets with Amsel Elgort were transporting. What would have been a rating of 7 (good) was made 9 (superb) by Zegler’s performance, making this a must see film. [Musical Drama]
Insultingly stupid ending after investing three seasons..
It started out so good but this motherfucker went right off the rails in the last two episodes. And, holy fuck, what an unbelievably shitty and disjointed ending that left me feeling betrayed. Wish I’d never watched this abomination.
This show is very good, some of the acting is a little wooden, but it's light years ahead of La Brea on every front.
Lots of mystery, (think Lost), setting is great,. writing is solid.
I think I'm still suffering from shock at how back La Brea is.
Secrets of Dumbledore improves on its weaker predessesor with a more nuanced Grindlewald performance from Mads Mikklesen, as well as a more focused narrative. There are some interesting set pieces here, as well as some surprisingly funny moments and some creative uses of magic that will entertain fans of the series. Unfortunately, it still suffers the faults of a directionless series that should never have extended beyond a single movie. Characters are left woefully undeveloped and plot developments from previous movies are brushed aside, although perhaps for the better. While it is a passable movie, it is unfortunately much too small a step in the right direction for a doomed series.
Unexpectedly theatrical and with substance - like gothic thrilling vice laden modern Shakespeare. This is a film about consumption, the weakness and naivety of arrogance, and a complex first love emotion rolling obsession/jealousy/narcissism into one driving force.
There are three acts for me: Oxford, Saltburn, & madness.
The first act didn't work for me till the second act kicked in. I was worried about a overly-parody-fied and caricatured script. Whilst I recognised the feelings and experiences of Oliver at Oxford, the people were too larger than life and the early laughs didn't land properly for me. Laughing at silly posh young people or uber geeks just wasn't my thing. Some of the cruelty and snobbery played out well though.
The second act puts the first into perspective. The first act which shows an alienated and floundering Oliver gain acceptance from a dislikeable group through the actually sane, kind-ish and likeable Felix sets up for the second act. More unlikeable rich people consuming each other and tossing people away like toys. But Oliver has Felix now and has picked up skills in getting things his way, seduction and sweet talking. But the acting from everyone at Saltburn estate is spot on - I properly laughed at Rosamund pikes and Richard e grants moments. Even though they are all spoilt, sheltered, unwittingly arrogant and judgemental - these characters you like, you see their vulnerabilities and insecurities - you have fun when they have fun.
Things start looking beautiful in the second act. Sometimes distractingly so. The light play, framing, and camera work are stunning. You feel you are in the throws of first love in the best summer of your life. Sometimes this was at odds with the drama or tension in the story.
Final act madness. The sympathy built up for the family now leads into the thrilling dramatic unwinding. The consumers become the consumed. Arrogance and haughty ideas of invincibility led to weakness and fractures.
This isn't an overly cohesive film for me, but I think that's intentional as mis direction. Clues for the real story are laid throughout and I had guessed the ending about two thirds of the way in. I really enjoyed the moments of summer headiness, where everyone is enjoying each other's company. Sometimes the inter-character drama and tensions were too much for me - almost descending into reality tv pettiness. I think thats intentional to show the unsympathetic side of the upper class and olivers push back - I just don't think it needed so much.
The pacing and focus was a little off for me at times. The film was full of symbolism and clever lines but it almost felt too full sometimes. Like vacillating rapidly between moods. There was a moment where I was full of tears at portrayal of grief when others were laughing - very interesting but it left me feeling a bit all Over the place. But excited!
The score and the setting and sterling acting efforts lift the film up into a grand feeling vision. I was a little disappointed that the tone of the trailers wasn't present in the film at all (bloc party song teaser trailer was amazing) . But the score takes this to a different place - British, establishment, old money, young love, hubris and longing - great score.
The film is exciting and there are unexpected moments and some brave choices too. I enjoyed watching this a lot and am excited for more films. There's a lot to enjoy here. Barry keoghans metamorphosis through the film is really really thrilling. Reliving 2006 is fun too - wish just a bit more was done with the music and feeling of that time. Some duff moments for me too so a 7.
Recommend
I don’t know what is happening in this show or where it’s going. So confused.
oh look, another episode this season where the cliffhanger fundamentally-changes-the-show event from the end of the last episode is undone in the opening minutes
Demented, unhinged, disturbing, terrifying, and riveting. Rachel Weisz so brilliant you actually believe you’re watching two different people. The real secret ingredient, however, is the genius of Poppy Liu.
Tune in. Hide the kids.
Yikes. Seems like I'm solidly in the minority here. I have not read the book, but the show is not great, not as good as I was expecting.
I have problems with a few choices:
All the Light We Cannot is too over the top, saccharine, cheesy, and cringy. Feels like a WW2 show made for 12 year old girls. It has 0 subtlety.
Character build up is so not smooth. Like I'm expected to believe in seconds that Werner is this intelligent, warm and sensitive kid who's just stuck in the war. Not to mention the kiss in the last episode, it was unnecessary and unbelievable. Especially when Marie instigated it, she'd only known him for like 5 minutes.
Common tropes and clichés everywhere. Werner is only one to survive the bombing of the hotel and just waltzes out of the rummage barely hurt at all. I cannot believe Marie is walking barefoot around a bombed out house, let alone a bombed out city. I am wondering if those scenes were accurate to the book.
It's so jarring to see foreign stories staring Anglos. I don't understand why they use these strange accents, that are neither really French or English, or whatever they were supposed to be. Mark Ruffalo's was particularly awful.
American storytelling needs to stop making Nazism cartoonish, it is bad writing. The gem obsessed Nazi was the worst. I don't know if it was the actor, or if he just got terrible directions.
Why are 30 year olds playing teenagers? The lead guy playing an early teen in the boarding school was simply absurd. Also young Marie and adult Marie are different races? Like we get it, Hollywood needs more diversity but you can't change the race of someone mid story in a historical fiction that’s based on actual events where race was a huge factor.
In Episode 1, they just pretty much skipped Ye Wenjie's backstory before Red Coast. They crammed everything into 5 minutes. Episode 2 is called 'Red Coast' but we barely pass any time at Red Coast base. Most of the episode is just present day characters talking and playing the VR game. In fact, we barely spent any time inside Red Coast itself. It doesn't even feel like a secret base/project. Besides the death of Ye Wenjie's dad - which wasn't adapted for censorship reasons -, nothing in this adaptation is honestly better than the Chinese version. I knew from the get go that 8 episodes, each with less than 60 minutes, would not be enough, but they are rushing. There's no way her character and motives will come across as understandable. This whole story is based on her past actions.
Brilliantly written, directed and acted.
Ben Whishaw and Ambika Mod are astounding.
The series gives you a knot in the stomach at seeing the hospital staff stress and working conditions, but it's also full of empathy and signs of humanity. Humour and breaking the 4th wall give it its final unique touch.
Remarkable 7 episodes, truly positive discovery
Absolute painful watch at times - the plot holes were a many. Imagine going to apprehend an arms dealer ALONE, for starters. S1 way better.
Outstanding performances from all four leads. Truly riveting drama.
Very well-researched and well-written episode, up until the ridiculous twist in the end where Rowan hijacked freaking Amazon delivery drones to go up above 50,000 ft and into the stratosphere...
Also, does that mean that Nick Bilton and Alpha were in on it? Otherwise, who prepared millions of drones with payloads of calcium carbonate rigged to disperse upon release?
Great looking visuals, fantastic score and background sounds. Lots of eye and ear candy for home theatre systems. If you like shows about existentialism this show is da bomb! I kept hearing Tom Cruise from Vanilla Sky shouting "Tech Support" in my mind every time I heard or read "wake up" lol.
I loved how the underlying mystery was teased out, with little breadcrumbs strewn throughout the series. Great characters, relationships, backstories and storytelling. Very reminiscent of Lost with lots of nods and tropes to/from other sci fi classics. I wasn't sure what kind of show this was going to be, but was pleasantly surprised to find out how deep this story runs.
This has curried critical and user acclaim but I just don't get it, so this will be a minority review. I'm a huge SciFi/Fantasy fan but beyond being a vehicle to show off Rotoscope animation, I wasn't drawn into the premise, at all, in fact, I was bored, and eventually felt jilted. The film never declares its intention to be a piece of Science FIction or a deep dive into mental health perspectives and it spends so much time exploring the "hows" that the ending was just an empty creator of "why?" for me. I repeat, it is getting rave reviews, and both Trakt and IMDb reviewers are giving it an 8.3 (83%) out of 10. But, the premise is unresolved (it is un-done) for me so I give it a 5 (meh) out of 10. [SciFi? Drama? Animation]
The previews made it look like a female 007... but after 35 mins I had switch it off. Dialogue and stupid scenarios ruined it from the get-go. Yes I was prepared to disengage logic within reason, but to completely disregard gravity and physics is pretty hard.
One example (not a spoiler) how the hell did she 'dispose' of 6 bodies in 30 seconds?
0/10
Although it had a lot of anti-blockchain propaganda, it was a good story. Very Black Mirror-esque.
With its dirty glam sheen, bright chunks of color floating in filth, and an odor you can feel wafting off the screen, After Blue is all about making vomit cool again.
To be incoherent means to have faith in cinema, it means to have a romantic approach, unformatted, free, disturbed and dreamlike, cinegenic, an epic narration.
-Writer / Director Bertrand Mandico in his Incoherence Manifesto (2012)
After Blue is a surreal road trip where, if you aren't sure you're going to like it before you see it, then you're going to hate it. Fortunately, I knew I was going to like it because I'm a big fan of Bertrand Mandico after seeing his The Wild Boys (2017).
As someone who sees a movie everyday, a filmmaker who goes all out, who commits 100% to the bit and turns the style up to 11, makes the kind of movies I want to see because they're going to stand far out from the dump of rom-coms and family dramas that litter the cinema every week.
Look, let's be honest, you're not going to like After Blue so I can't recommend seeing it. It's just too weird. But if you want to watch a technicolor burp spew across the screen, if you like movies with a trippy 70's vibe, if you're into Ken Russell pompous extravagance then you might like After Blue but don't blame me if you don't.
(Mini-rant you don't need to read: Honestly, I don't get the criticisms saying After Blue is 'unintelligible' . Hell, I can tell you what it's about and I'm not even a native French speaker! In a post-apocalyptic world, a young woman (Roxy, or 'Toxic' to the people of the village) finds a woman buried up to her neck in the ground. Roxy helps the woman out of the sand, only to learn this woman (Kate(rina) Bush(owsky)) was buried there to be executed when the tide rose. 'Kate Bush' gives her three wishes, but the women of the village tell Roxy and her mother that they have to go on a road trip, find Kate and kill her. Yes, it's a surreal film, but those who say there isn't a story either didn't pay attention or they wrote a review based only on other critics' articles because they didn't see the film themselves.)
Why is the picture so fuckin’ dark? It’s almost unwatchable.
OYE!! is it me or does any one else know what’s happening this season what’s will all these Cassie’s
I didn't read too much going into this movie, and I'm really glad I didn't. This movie was just an amazing journey to watch.
The opening sequence automatically caught my attention, just watching him build that set, and watching it slowly come to life to tell us this fantastic family story. I also loved how it was narrated by the grandmother, it added so much to the atmosphere. I really felt like I was getting this story told by my own grandmother.
I won't say much about the story but it was really interesting, and it just keeps you glued to the screen, wanting to know what happens next. It was also told in such a charming way that it got a few laughs from me, but also tears. The little interactions that the director had the with the set, and with his dad was also just so amazing that it stuck with me. It's nothing groundbreaking but such a nice tiny detail for you to remember.
Would recommend this movie for anyone to watch, if you don't mind mentions of war, and some other sensitive topics.
Still as great as ever, though I still love 1 best. This season Gaia Girace recedes in screentime to full supporting now and I miss her quite a bit (even if her Lila-focused showcase in episode two is the season's highlight), but I think turning the spotlight more fully to Elena makes me slightly prefer 3 over 2, as the focus helps enrich both her character and story with the time it takes carefully to develop them. Man, those last three episodes are like watching a slow-motion trainwreck happening in real time; I really thought from the premiere's ending that Elena would get over Nino for good already. Another reason I miss Girace is that it seems from the last scene they finally are going to switch the actors for the final season now, so this is probably her last turn out. Necessary though since as good as they are, their characters' age is starting to speed past both Girace and Margherita Mazzucco already. Can't wait for the final season, then I'll start reading the books.
The fact that the entire asylum system in the EU does not really work is common knowledge. People fleeing war and oppression are very likely to be granted asylum or at least subsidiary protection, but they must still endure the perilous journey to Europe. Only after surviving traffickers, slave traders, and harsh environmental conditions can they hope for protection.
However, "Io capitano" is not about people who "have" to flee but rather "want" to take on the dangerous journey due to the rather bleak prospects for their future. The film follows two Senegalese teenagers, Seydou and Moussa, who dream of a better life in Europe. They soon have to abandon their naivety, as nothing goes as they had imagined during their journey. This whole ordeal is also staged quite effectively by director Matteo Garrone.
Overall, however, I find "Io capitano" somewhat misguided in its hopeful tone. The escape is somewhat turned into an adventure. And at the end, we don't find out what happens to the two boys after their journey. However, the likelihood of them being able to stay in the EU is probably pretty slim. In Germany at least, Senegal is considered a "safe country of origin," which means that the asylum recognition rate is extremely low and, in almost all cases, there is a threat of deportation back home. It would be interesting to know whether the boys would have made the journey with this knowledge.
One could certainly argue that the EU should open up legal possibilities for this kind of migration. In any case, it is indisputable that action must be taken against the criminal trafficking gangs that shamelessly exploit desperate people on the run.
But Garrone doesn't have much to say about this whole matter. The film's contribution to the debate is rather small. The strong performance of young actor Seydou Sarr in the leading role is impressive, and there are some depressing images in the middle of the film, but ultimately, it was all a bit too watered down for me. In real life, the escape does not end just off the Italian coast, as the film would have us believe.
By modern horror movie standards, it's a slow film. But that's because most people don't care about set-up and character development when they watch a horror movie.
Regarding how scary it is, horror is like comedy, it's all subjective. I think it's effective and extremely well made. There's a reason it crossed over from horror movie fans to mainstream audiences.
