Denis Villeneuve is the man!
There’s only one word that came into my mind after watching it: finally.
Finally, a blockbuster that isn’t afraid to be primarily driven by drama and tension, and doesn’t undercut its own tone by throwing in a joke every 30 seconds.
Finally, a blockbuster that puts actual effort in its cinematography, and doesn’t have a bland or calculated colour palette.
Finally, a blockbuster with a story that has actual substance and themes, and doesn’t rely on intertextual references or nostalgia to create a fake sheen of depth.
Finally, a blockbuster that doesn’t pander to China by having big, loud and overblown action sequences, but relies on practical and grounded spectacle instead (it has big sand worms, you really don’t need to throw anything at the screen besides that).
Finally, a blockbuster that actually feels big, because it isn’t primarily shot in close ups, or on a sound stage.
And of course: finally, a blockbuster that isn’t a fucking prequel, sequel, or connected to an already established IP somehow.
(Yeah, I know Tenet did those things as well, but I couldn’t get into that because the characters were so flat and uninteresting).
This just checks all the boxes. An engaging story with subtext, very well set up characters, great acting (like James Gunn, Villeneuve's great at accentuating the strengths of limited actors like Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa), spectecular visuals and art design (desaturated but not in an ugly washed out way), pacing (slow but it never drags), directing, one of Hans Zimmer’s best scores: it’s all here.
I only have one real criticism: there’s too much exposition, especially in the first half.
It can occasionally hold your hand by referencing things that have already been established previously, and some scenes of characters explaining stuff to each other could’ve been conveyed more visually.
Other than that, it’s easily one of the best films of the year.
I’ve seen some people critiquing it for being incomplete, which is true, but this isn’t just a set up for a future film.
It feels like a whole meal, there are pay offs in this, and the characters progress (even if, yes, their arcs are still incomplete).
8.5/10
The violence, the class, visuals, audio, psychology and Hannibal's mind control. It is so beautiful I want to cry. I wish I could go back in time and see it for the first time again so I could cry from the psychological and eye candy this show brings. In my crazy head this places as #1 and best show I've ever seen even above Breaking Bad.
Sorry folks but this one didn't go well for Marvel. I don't even know where to start. Acting was average, more like below average. Screenplay was as much ordinary as it could be. No surprise here. CGI was OK but it's somehow expected from Marvel. But I totally didn't like the idea of Wakanda. Hidden city in the center of Africa with tons of technology and advanced weapons and systems and so on. But how the hell did they build all of that? No explanation. It just happened. Yes, they have Vibranium, but they don't sell it. In fact they never did and for whole world they are just a bunch of shepherds and farmers. So where did they take all that money to build empire like this? I don't like movies without explanations and this is one of them. Almost nothing has been told about Vibranium whatsoever. Oh yeah, it's some super thing from the universe capable of anything. That's all the explanation you get. There are too many clichés we have already seen too many times. And we have to see them again. One example: I challenge someone for a fight because I want to kill him. And when I have the chance to kill him, what would I do? Kill him or throw him down from the cliff to the water where he can survive? But enough. If you hesitate if to watch this, I can recommend not to waste your time. Wait for the Avangers where you can also see the Black Panther. You won't miss anything if you miss out this movie.
"Send the dothraki first since they are barbarians"
"Dragons are our heavy artillery let's keep them flying in circles without doing NOTHING for say 2/3 of the battle. Even if they all stop before a flaming trench and sit there nearly aligned for tenths of minutes. We can not win the easy way this must be EPIC"
"It's a massive invasion of Savage, quick and merciless undead but we like to walk orderly and calmly in libraries"
"By the way, libraries are still dead silent while people are being ripped to shreds outside"
"Hey, look, Arya slipped past 4.000 undead and learned Rey's air saber trick"
"Every major character gets to live even after being surrounded by dead. (jorah and theon were already half dead - oh yeah, theon, seems Arya waited in the shadows while you were impalled too. Go team.".
when the critics are using words like "masterpiece", and Den Of Geek is proclaiming that it sits at the top of the MCU, you know a movie is over hyped, and boy, is Black Panther over hyped. the movie is OK, but certainly nowhere near being a masterpiece, and definatly nowhere near the top of the MCU, not even close. Chadwick Boseman is boring and lacks charisma, the female characters are much more interesting. Killmonger is a boring villain, Klaue was much more interesting, but god forbid a white villain be given the spotlight over a black villain. do i care about the plight of black people around the world? yes, do i care about someone's skin colour? no, its not the reason i watch a superhero movie. people are hyping this up into the movie they want it to be, rather than the movie it actually is.
I gave this a chance, so you don't have to.
Follows the now-usual Disney pattern of employing third-rate talent for directing and writing. Not even Ewan McGregor can elevate this to being watchable - he gets nothing to work with. Don't bother with this.
Initial Reaction
After two viewings
The Good
• Deadpool himself is as funny as ever. Ryan Reynolds keeps up a fantastic performance and really gives it his all.
• Cable is also really good. Josh Brolin, despite being in many movies this year. Has given a great performance.
• Jokes are really funny when they hit, and they hit hard.
• Secondary characters are also really well done. Some anyway. More on that, below in the spoilers
• It has a true charm to it. Making it more distinct than the first. But not outshining it.
• The action was on point. The director really knows how to capture a great fight scene, and there are plenty here to enjoy and marvel at.
• Villain. This point is actually a fairly good one, but also has spoils. So read below if you really want to know. What I can say is that Ajax is nowhere near as memorable compared to the bad guys here.
• The amount of balls this movie has. It just does things, I would never expect them to do. The first movie gave us shocks at what they could say and show. Now they just go and toy with that to the next level. And I loved it.
The Bad
• Plot. It's not the best. It's also not that simple. The first Deadpool was very straightforward even with the time jumps. Here, it's a bit of a mess. Not to mention it's kind of a rip off of T2. But it acknowledges this at least
• Some jokes don't quite land. They reuse some of the same lines from the first movie, and it feels as if it really is lazy writing. As far as it seems, they are trying to make Deadpool's catchphrases more clear. But to me, it was just annoying.
• The jokes seem to build off the story in this. Whereas the first one felt more improvisational and made it seem like the plot revolved around the humour. Here it just seemed like the comedy was slotted into this action film. But it's not all that bad, just let down the overall tone of the movie.
• CGI is actually pretty bad. It's so distracting, it takes away from the comedy they try to sprinkle over it.
• Wade. He is focused on more than the first. And I just didn't like how they were trying to go about it.
• Along with the focus on Wade, the emotional scenes don't mix that well with the comedy like they did in the first.
Other Things
• You're going to want to stick around for the mid-credit sequences. They are some of the best ever in a Marvel movie, and in movies in general.
• There are two mid-credit scenes (almost back-to-back) and no end-credit scenes.
Spoiler Things
• The X-Force joke is so damn good that I can forgive the lack of build in the team up until the very humorous end. Again such a great ballsy move. Props to the studio.
• The villains in this movie, aren't really present in terms of villains. The first Deadpool had a villain, he had to beat him. Done. This sets it up to be all about Cable, but it actually gives us villains that turn out to be the same as Wade. Which is great for a Deadpool movie to show anti-heroes having a connection with the villains they are fighting.
Conclusion
DP2 is not better than the first. It lacks the simplicity and catchy humour that it had. But, it does grab onto you and takes you on a ride that is not as funny, but is just as enjoyable than the original. I don't see it being as rewatchable like the first. But as its own movie, it holds itself up for a fun experience, wonderful character portrayals, and a damn good time.
So in this big battle where "your favourite characters gonna die" they killed like 4-5 totally side characters nobody really cares about and defeated the night king in a lame ass way. Dissapointment is not even the best word to describe this episode.
This episode literally felt like a PARODY.... That is not a good thing
It is as if the dumb kid copying the exam of the smart kid and doing it poorly. It lacks everything good the original had.
It was so bad. I dont know why it had such good reviews. There was no sherlock element in the whole movie. Waste of time really.
The acting in this show is atrocious.
I'm beginning to think the writing team only had three good episodes in them. Getting predictable and drawn out.
Enjoyable enough although predictable and annoyingly cliché at times. Not a fan of the looking into the camera shtick. The enigmas were Dora the Explorer level (pity), which makes me think this was made for children more than for adults.
Liked the dynamic between Enola and Lord Tewkesbury (plus well acted roles). No comment on the phenomenal cast, love 'em all.
Would watch a sequel.
Nothing makes sense in this episode.
Dialogues feel forced. Like the previous episode, everything is shoved just to make the plot moves. Especially terrible every time the rookie has a conversation.
This episode and the previous feel like series of unrelated events. Nothing literally happened in these two episodes. There are some cool throwbacks and references (cantina scene, dune sea, Amy Sedaris blurping Star Wars jargons, etc) but it's all fanservice. It appears the show is directed by people familiar with Star Wars universe but has zero sense of screen writing.
Showing the studio set at the end and beginning was not necessary.
Some blatant writing and casting errors get in the way of this being so much as passable. To name a few:
- They tried too hard to make child Leia precocious. In one scene she's Sherlock Holmes, in another she makes a self-jeopardizing comment or decision, but for the most part, she talks too much and is annoying.
- Reva is the least intimidating dark-side character I've encountered in Star Wars media. The actress is tragically unconvincing in that role.
- Then if those points weren't enough to make the episodes seem juvenile, Kumail Nanjiani's stupid face enters the picture, instantly signalling to the viewer that this show is ultimately some kind of comedy.
A powerful telling of the destructive power innate in the cult of celebrity. This is a really well told narrative of the excruciating rape of innocents and the long term damage of kept suppressed truths. The story is told with incontrovertible authenticity. This is an important film, not because of the perpetrator but because of the heart wrenching destruction that littered his legacy. This is only two testimonies of what was probably dozens of others whose lives were profoundly compromised by one man, masked by an illusion. I think it is also a wake-up call to a society blind to the danger of building its hopes and dreams around, and placing its faith in, the perceived intimacies and hollow promises of celebrity. I give this film a 9 (important) out of 10. [Documentary]
At this point I feel like it might be better to just stop watching as Obi-Wan, one of my favourite characters in the SW universe, will be forever linked to this lazily written show.
I guess Disney thought all the viewers wanted to see is some iconic characters back on screen not caring about how they'd have to do it because people would eat it up anyway. And the worst thing is, they were right.
But hey, EPIC LIGHTSABERS ON MUH 4K TV SCREEN AND VADER IS BACK!!! WOW BEST SHOW 10/10. Absolute joke.
Visual and aural experience to sit through. Performance by De Niro as Neil McCauley is something to behold. The amount of attention Michael Mann paid to details while filming this is insane. The action sequences are unrivaled, both in aural and visual sense. There's a sense of professionalism about them that you just won't get from anywhere else. It's only logical, Mann took all the actors to weapons training that lasted for 3 months. All of the scenes were trained on shooting range with built sets, using live ammunition and 3-4 people at time. The documents 'Making of', 'Return to the Scene of the Crime', and 'The Conversation' are essential and must watch after you've seen the movie. It's one of a fucking kind.
Consider my mind blown! Did I understand the movie? Not always. Was I scared by the movie? Not really, though it did get under my skin. Will I remember this film in months to come? Yes, and you can't say that by all the other cookie cutter horror movies out there. Did I like the movie? Yes, quite definitely, not only for the weird ass story, but for the acting, the camera work, and the deliberately slow pace. I understand how this movie has split people down the middle - as I came out of the film, one woman said "well, that was sh**" - and it clearly isn't for everybody, especially those who favour jump scares and gore over something a little (or a lot) more intelligent. This is a film for those who don't want to be patronised, for those who want to debate a film's merits and plotting, and is for those who want their minds to be stretched, rather than pampered to by lazy directors. Recommended.
If you were to look up "mindfuck" in the dictionary, the dictionary woud bitchslap you into a coma then proceed to surgically insert The End of Evangelion DVD straight into your brain.
Waste of time A bad story. Lots of plot holes nothing is explained. There is No emotion for any of the characters. Rey is so over powered its laughable This Feels like three movies rolled into one. With Lots of wtf moments. This is a pathetic and insulting End to this 40 year epic franchise started by george lucas. avoid this movie at all cost don't waste your time like i did. AVOID.
Very good series with good actors. Definately worth the shot
If you ever wanted a Scott Pilgrim show with barely any Scott Pilgrim in it, then this one’s for you!
You know when your friend keeps talking and talking and talking, jumping subjects without warning and nothing makes sense? Yep. This movie was it. Everyone in the viewing just got up in silence and went home. The atmosphere before and after people watched this movie in the theater was such a contrast it was sad. Just. Sad.
Awful episode. The whole dragon fight does not make any sense. The training grounds are empty and for target practice they shoot the water? No creativity whatsoever. And what is actually the point of this season up till now?
This is by far the weakest season, if it weren't for the cool intimate looks behind the scenes I would not be watching it. The show's format in season 1 worked well to introduce laypersons to the sport, but continuing that now completely disjoints the true storylines . For example, episode 2 was complete nonsense, how are you going to completely ignore Charles smashing into the barrier in Monaco and just say "o he's out with a gearbox issue". The show needs an overhaul and probably try episodes being race focused instead of character focused so everything makes sense chronologically, otherwise it's absolute chaos and half truths, you don't know when the highs and lows are for each of the drivers and teams.
Edit: Episode 7, Ocon's win, no mention of Alonso defending against Hamilton to keep him behind Vettel and Ocon. It's unconscionable to be this lazy with story telling.
Highly anticipated as we would all like to know what condition the man is in. That he isn't in daily pain and was it the right decision to keep him alive after such an accident.
This tells us nothing. We get many indirect comments that infer his state but nothing direct or concrete. What is inferred is that he is in a very poor state of health - and personally, I think the decision to keep him alive in those early moments after the accident would appear to be dishonourable to a strong, successful, powerful man like him...
As a documentary, this isn't Senna. There are many liberties taken with the truth of circumstances around his racing decisions. We all know he was a nasty racer and would rather crash to win than allow a competitor the rightful chance.
It does a reasonable job of humanising him. Gives a nice insight to his marriage. But the constant economies with the truth - for the bits where I knew the colour - are tiresome.
It was a shame he had the accident he did. If he passes in the next 12 months as whatever palliative care he is being given is withdrawn, I sincerely wonder if this is an honest enough tribute to the man...
6/10
