I don't think I have ever been in love with a movie, like I'm in love with La La Land. From the first few seconds, till the very end. This movie had me and didn't let go. My english vocabulary is not good enough to express my love, heck, my dutch vocabulary is not good enough to express it. This movie is everything.
It is beautiful, happy, magical, romantic and I could go on for a little while longer but I won't. I wasn't expecting it to be this musical-y, but I mean, I love musicals so I'm not complaining. I think this is a great "musical" because there isn't non stop singing, so people who don't like musicals might like this one because it's more "subtle". I can only imagine how much practice went into all those dance routines and don't get me started on the impressive piano skills Ryan Gosling showed us.
Something that really impressed me as well was the way they filmed everything. It's a very creative and different way, which I really enjoyed and think makes this movie a great inspiration for those who love film and camerawork themselves. The build up and flashbacks and stuff were really cool as well. Yea I really enjoyed that. Also, the storyline, which does so much for a movie, was so great.
This is normally the part were I talk about the actors, but seeing that there were mainly only two actors and they were both amazing (I do think tho, that Ryan Gosling his character wasn't a very challenging one for him because we have seen him in roles like these before. Mixing it up with all the dancing, singing en piano playing though, you got something quite different and I loved it), I'm going to skip this part and say that you should watch this movie, do nothing more, just watch it, enjoyed it and love it.
Before I started watching this movie, I had high expectations. Reviews and friends told me to expect a real science fiction movie. I've been longing for a real sci-fi flick since "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Contact" and "Sunshine". I know people nowadays are calling fiction and fantasy movies sci-fi, but I rather tend to draw a dinstinctive line and emphasize on the word "science".
That being said, the plot is simple, but at the same time realistic. The movie tells the story of humans trying to survive in an utterly inhabitable place - space. It's a movie that will remind kids (and adults alike), spoiled by the strange education they receive through contemporary media, that not everything can be achieved by wishful thinking. Humans are not made for living in space. Every step off earth is a step defying nature. Is that bad or good? That's a decision everyone has to make for himself.
The visuals are stunning. I watched it in 2D and I plan on watching it again in 3D. The spectator has the feeling to actually be there.
At least as important though is the sound. Many filmmakers make the mistake of having sound in space. Of course that's totally ridiculous. The only sound there is, is the sound that's created inside of your space-suit or space-station by the shockwaves that hit it. Throughout the movie I had the feeling they got it right. And actually it didn't make the movie "empty", but quite the opposite, more tense. It intensified the feeling of "this is not a place where I belong".
There was one scene though, I thought wasn't right. When Bullock holds on to Clooney, Clooney should already have the same trajectory as Bullock or the station or he should bounce back. I just don't get what's still pulling him. I think it is a mistake in the movie and a serious one at that.
Anyway, I can overlook that, since the rest of the movie is very good. On IMDB it has a rating of 8.2 right now. I'd give it more like a 7.8. Maybe even less. I guess the rating is a bit high, because for young viewers it is a new experience to see something realistic on the screen.
Should you watch it? Yes, definitely. Should you rewatch it? Maybe, for the CGI and if you haven't seen it in 3D. Certainly not for the story.
“Can you guess what every woman's worst nightmare is?”
You know, I find it genuinely concerning that some people are angry and upset over this movie. I mean, just look on IMDB. Film is subjective and it’s OK not to like this movie, but the thing I don’t understand is why certain people are upset with the themes this movie appropriately presents. Even through deep inside I know why. If it scares them, good, because they deserve to be scared.
‘Promising Young Woman’ is a rare revenge movie that crosses several genres with one sharp sweep. Some parts are funny, other times it’s romantic, but it can get DARK really quick. I thought the way it was executed was creative and interesting. It shocked me at times with its twist and turns, even though it shouldn’t be surprising. The world can be so dark and treacherous that being surprised by its twisted ways is a bit foolish. Certain elements felt realistic, while other elements of the movie felt...well, like a movie.
It’s nice to see that Carey Mulligan’s career is getting better and better. In this movie Mulligan delivers an amazing performance that was captivating to watch. It’s difficult to imagine an actor playing a character who is dealing with so much emotional baggage and vulnerability from past events in her life, but tries her best to conceal it, but Mulligan manages to find the right balance. She can be extremely funny, emotional, and really intimidating. Her drunk acting deserves some praise as well, because within the movie her character pretends to be drunk in bars or nightclubs, to trick “nice guys” who want take advantage on her intoxicated vulnerability, before she drops the act to scare them enough to teach them a lesson. The transformation from drunk to sober was nothing short of impressive.
I was surprised to see Bo Burnham here and it’s great seeing him getting acting roles. He is a man of many talents; comedy is one of them and in this movie he never fails to make me smile. Alison Brie and Alfred Molina are also in this movie and both did a great job in their small roles.
I give this movie major credit for being unpredictable. I would sometimes try to guess where the story might be heading, to only have the rug pulled right under me.
It was an interesting choice to cast likeable actors in the roles of predators and despicable people. The movie smartly suggests that people like these can easily hide their sinister side through a fake smile and popularity.
Now I’m being vague about certain things because I’m hoping what I’ve said so far might boost your interest in checking this one. I’m starting to do that now, going in blind and leaving impressed (hopefully).
Director and writer Emerald Fennell did a solid job on delivering a fresh and unique take on a brutal topic with extreme care on the subject matter. This is also her direct debut and everything I’ve seen on screen shows great potential for her as a filmmaker in the future. The look of the movie has that candy-like colour to it, which made the movie look visually appealing to the eye. Revenge has never looked so colourful.
Without spoiling the ending for the movie, but the way it concludes is very strange and rare. I was both sad and happy at the same time. However, it can also make or break the movie for some, while I was kind of mixed on it. Some parts of the ending were realistic, as it was a cold reminder for us that sometimes justice isn’t always severed.
Unfortunately, this is where my issues start to come in. When I said some parts of the ending was dark and realistic, well to me it didn’t quite commit to that with the last few minutes of the movie. I just wished they took more of a real approach to conclude the conflict that could be plausible. I also thought the movie was a little on the nose with its social message at times.
And that’s really it for issues. What, you expected more? Surprise!
Overall rating: Revenge is best severed in confetti and rainbow colours.
As the many professional reviews I read afterwards suggest, Fatman is a movie that doesn't live up to it's promise.
Fatman has a great premise about a gruffy slightly gritty Santa, a boy-child that feels wronged with his lump of coal and a Santa-obsessed hitman hired to kill him. I even think for the most part that tonally it mostly works. It's not overly gritty and it's not overly serious for most of it's runtime. It strikes that nice balance of casual surrealism.
The problem is that the movie knows what it wants to tell you and doesn't have any patience or subtlety in getting there. All the dramatic tension you expected from the trailer when you hear Mel Gibson's Santa yelling to the hitman about "You think you were the first to come for the Fatman?" the movie doesn't actually have much Fatman hunting. There's no series of hide and seek where we see that Santa is capable of defending himself. Even the tension the movie decides to try to generate of the Hitman even trying to FIND Santa in the first place isn't really tension. It's just a road trip without all the fun aspects of a road-trip movie. No interesting stops, No interesting road people. The movie just walks a straight lines from Point A to Point B. Nothing you see even really matters. Santa goes by Chris in this movie. In this small down he knows everybody and everybody knows him. There is however no payoff for this. He saves a woman from going home with a married man by casually reminding him of his wife and kids but while we see her again and she's clearly a friend there's no payoff. It's like a failure of the Chekhov's Gun trope.
There's a semi interesting plot line about Santa being underfunded and having to take a military contract to be able to pay his workers. In retrospect this entire plot line fails to have any narrative purpose other than world building Santa as a factory owner. In spite of their presence all over the final fight scenes these military security personnel plan next to no role in the violence. There's an even smaller plot line about Chris/Santa being grumpy because of his commercialized depictions compared to this underpaid status and while I like the characterization there it serves so little point to the plot that it feels kinda wasted.
Wasted is unfortunately the only way to describe this whole movie. I went into this hoping for a darkly humorous film with a bit of violence and while a lot of the scenes sans context imply that, this is no Ladykillers (either one).
After watching Nomadland I could see how some people would just stop watching after the first third and never go back to the film, likewise I could see how what is played out in front of you gets under your skin like a favourite song.
For me Nomadland is a poem made into a visual feast. Casting Frances McDormand was obviously a coup for director Chloe Zhao who likes to point the camera at real people, film, and then edit down until it is something palatable. McDormand is just the actorly glue that holds the film together and the perfect actor to play a natural role. No showboating, she just looks and behaves exactly like the ‘real’ nomads featuring in the running time. Most of those on the screen with exception of David Strathairn and France McDormand are exactly as they are in real life. Swankie is still alive and well, and she does what you see during the runtime in her own non-filmed life.
If the film has a noticeable fault it appears to show that this tough life on the road in the USA seems to have been somewhat romanticised because it does not take a huge stretch of imagination to realise that even on a good day this is a tough, tough life, with a social security system that does not care, a private health care system and open hostility to people without homes one can imagine every day is hard work. This is not shown to any extent in Nomadland.
For me the film is not there to show these points but more about the ornery, tough character of Fern who is resilient, tough, and self-reliant. She certainly is not painted as an angel of compassion and understanding but as we all can be be – many points between kind and mean. Life has thrown some awful brickbats at her, ending up with her being on the road and needing no one, it has battered a lot of love and feeling out of her to the point where she is incapable of real love, having close friends or even relaxing to a full extent. When her husband died, then Empire the town, she did too but carried on living.
The vistas are both beautiful and sparse and certainly seem to say that travelling up and down the USA in a minivan is not so bad. I’m not convinced. For me the people throughout the film are hanging on to their broken pasts and not wanting to move on up the road but instead just travel the road, almost an easy way out that ironically is not easy.
Fern visits her empty house and town at the conclusion in the most emotionally strong scenes in the movie as the desolated town and her old home sit empty and dusty perhaps a metaphor for her soul and life, perhaps the soul and life of the USA?
It is both sad and beautiful and if you do not fret so much about the story, the apparently ‘whitewashing’ of the hardships what you see is a beautifully made, mournful poem.
That’s the way I see Nomadland and if you know me from my presence on t’Internet then you know I like this type of approach.
I recommend Nomadland, you will either love it or hate it – but it will make you feel something.
I should preface this review by saying that, based on the rave reviews of friends (and strangers), I looked forward to seeing this movie, so, it has a faithful fan base who were of the opinion that the movie full justice to the book. The story was interesting (I was forewarned that tissues might be required). I truly believe that there is not another actor that better portrays the complete, self-sacrificing devotion of a man for a woman than does Milo Ventimiglia (I've believed in him since Jessie in GILMORE GIRLS). Amanda Seyfried is a harder sell for me, though, so that prejudice may have soured the love story for me somewhat. I did, however, learn a lot about racing and driving. The author certainly knew his stuff and was expert in spinning it's metaphors. The love of a man and the devotion of a dog were winsome. The treachery and heartbreak were moving, so the magic was not totally lost on me. I give this film a 7 (good) out of 10, and if you need further encouragement to see it, my bookish friend has told me, “Nancy, I would give it 11/10! I went to see it again. For me, it was about Enzo, the dog who wanted to be "people" and the incredible bond between dogs and their families.” So, there you have it! [Drama]
When did you last go to a movie in which the audience applauded as the credits rolled? (It is not a typical Canadian response.) Behind me, a young female law student was weeping. As I sat there, I was deeply and intellectually moved by the power of this woman's life and the subsequent effect she has had on our lives, on my life, and I had been totally unaware of her. Let me put that in context. Although I am 20 years younger than RBG, her litigational years were my culturally maturing years (college, university and entering the work force). That was the culture of my years, her years, and I thought I knew the seminole personalities of my time but I had never heard of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Indeed, until these past two years (in which she has gained a rock-star like celebrity) I had no idea of her influence on my life. This movie (and the excellent documentary, RBG, which, on the recommendation of other movie goers last night, I watched as background for this review) have now convinced me that I would not have been allowed to be the person I have become had she not addressed the legal restrictions of gender in the law of the United States that undermined a global sense of personhood. I am Canadian, so these were not my laws she changed, but the culture of the civil rights struggle in America was not lost on us. My maturing personal ethic of the time, cradled by my faith in a just God and a loving, growing relationship with Jesus, was not of feminism but of the rights of every person to live under a judicially just system and in a compassionate and culturally rich society. I appreciate now that this was the justice for which RBG challenged her legal system. Thank you, Mimi Leader and Daniel Stiepleman for telling her story. Now, concerning the merits of the movie, itself: The cast is superb and the performances of Felicia Jones and Armie Hammer were deep and warm. I was also impressed by how the role of young Jane Ginsburg, adeptly performed by Cailee Spaeny, gathered in the emotional climate of the time. Wonderfull cameo performances. The cinematography and soundtrack brought a sense of grandeur and the costumes a sense of style and subtle class. I give this movie a 10 (important) out of 10. [BioPic]
Sigh This film could have been so good. And yet...
Let's start with the pros. Lily James shines as badass zombie-slaying Elizabeth Bennett in a version of the character that feels very fresh and contemporary. Uninterested in finding a husband, this incarnation of Lizzie is much more concerned with the more pressing matter of the recent zombie outbreak. With no patience for polite society, she openly expresses what she thinks and takes out her frustrations by hacking at bushes with a sword. A standout moment involves the iconic confrontation between Lizzie and Darcy after he proposes - but this time the fight involves literal hand-to-hand combat.
Some other standout characters include Matt Smith's hilariously bumbling Mr Collins and Lena Headey's intimidating one-eyed zombie-slayer Lady Catherine, though Sam Riley didn't feel quite right as a snarling, leather-clad Mr Darcy. However despite some interesting and original characterization, the script as a whole left a lot to be desired, full of awkward dialogue and poorly developed plot-lines.
Too ridiculous to be considered a drama but not funny enough to be considered a comedy, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies sits awkwardly between the two. It strikes an uneven balance between the zombie plot-line and the period romance, with neither feeling fully realized. Without sufficient development, events such as Wickham running away with Lydia feel very sudden and random and the romance between Elizabeth and Darcy never quite comes off - due partly to a lack of chemistry between the two lead actors and partly to poor writing.
The overall result is a confused mess of a story centered around an unconvincing romance and a lacklustre action plot. A great concept poorly executed; I'm sad to say this film is another title to add to the long list of mediocre Jane Austen adaptations.
It was surprisingly really good! At least as good as it can be while still keeping younger audiences in mind. When I saw the trailer for this movie I thought it looked kinda shitty, but then the reviews started coming out. So I saw it more out of an obligation than anything but I'm glad that I saw it because it was very enjoyable.
I did not expect to be barraged with such dystopian social commentary right off the bat, but it's those clever little statements about society that allows people other than children to enjoy the movie. And not only that, but it made so much sense how they orchestrated those statements about individualism, bringing back nostalgic images of Lego instruction manuals that the character carries around with him. Now I'm not the biggest fan of Lego as a franchise. I mean, to me the video games just seem like a really easy way to save money on animation, but the animation in this film was fan-fucking-tastic.
Objects and characters would mostly have a lower frame rate to imitate stop-motion style, and because all of it actually was computer-animated, they had a lot more freedom as to what they were able to do, particularly with the facts in camera placements and most noticeably during the action scenes. But not only did it just imitate stop motion as a style; a clever decision was made to keep certain depths out of focus at any given time, and by doing so it instantly reminds you of those old Lego camera sets. The movie didn't really leave too much room for emotional investment, but I don't really think that I tried to. It pretty much knew exactly what it was and it tried hard to avoid falling into clichés that you would normally expect, and the writing made it clear that they were aware of these clichés that they were intentionally avoiding.
It's funny, entertaining and it feels somewhat unique. And yes, I'm aware that it is basically just one giant ad for a toy company, but this movie is the best Lego commercial I have ever seen
Life of Pi is simply magnificent, a truly masterpiece and is now part of my all-time favorite movies.
From the technical point of view, it is astonishing, the colors dance with the forms to create landscapes to take your breath away, it is amazing to see how realistic a CGI can be nowadays, even if they have filmed 4 different tigers, Suraj Sharma (Pi) was never even near a real tiger.
Life of Pi is not just a survival story of a castaway in challenging conditions. While all this is present, it is a simple fixture for a table of allegorical representations of several life happenings, survival instinct, faith and affection. Interconnected, the film makes no judgments about the authority in relation to each other, leaving the choice to the viewer, who will decide according to his own disposition on life, faith and relationships.
The history is just perfect, it is full with symbolic meanings that you only realize at the end of the movie, both the introducing and the ending wrap the main history giving it even more meaning.
Ang Lee performs probably the most significant film of his career with the adaptation of the book bythe canadian Yann Martel. The reflection of Taiwanese filmmaker is noticeable in the way each image with meaning grabs and transforms simple scenarios as a boat on the water to subliminal images full of spiritualism.
Life of Pi is a technical marvel and a treasure film destined to become a modern classic. In my personal opinion, this is a movie you must see, and ofc among the best of the year.
This movie was a huge disappointment! The only positive thing I can say about it is that the special effects where not half bad. The movie itself was childish, unfunny, unintelligent and generally really bad.
Some reviews giving this movie 9 or 10 stars (which is just ludicrous) are saying that people cannot handle the feminism in the movie. What feminism? Replacing the original actors with women is not feminism as far as I am concerned and anyway, if you care about such things should it not have been two women and two men to be politically correct? Also, the supposedly intelligent women in this movie behave in a typical old-fashioned Hollywood stereotype of women way. They are mostly downright silly. If I were a feminist I would actually have been insulted by this movie.
Then we have the male clerk that is dummer than a piece of rock. If someone had stacked four supposedly intelligent men and a single blond bimbo that is totally devoid of any trace of intelligence together in a movie the social justice warriors would have cried foul so loud that you could hear it across the planet. But since it is four women and a stupid male it is okay (not really). It is even feminism according to some people. What a load of bollocks.
There is actually a story in the movie although it is well hidden under the silly jokes and silly behavior. It is paper thin and rather silly in itself but it could have worked if the rest of the movie was up to snuff but sadly it is not.
As I wrote above the only good thing about this movie is the special effects. The few scenes that I actually enjoyed was during the big shoot out at the end which had some cool moments. I especially liked when Jillian pulls a pair of pistols out of her Ghostbuster suit and goes on a ghost killing spray.
Apart from that this movie is best forgotten
I knew that quite a few people had complained about the realism in this movie even though it hold high ratings on most movie sites. I was hoping that the complaints were mostly nitpicking like wrong model of Sherman tank and such like. Well, I am afraid that it was a bit more than that. I would say that this movie is clearly written by some Hollywood writer sitting in his comfy chair and never ever having been close to any military activities, not to mention live action, in his life.
I can live with a movie being inaccurate or somewhat unrealistic if the rest of the movie is good but I have to say that I did not really like the movie even after trying to filter out the unrealistic nonsense.
The movie is very dark and gritty and there are really no likeable characters in it whatsoever. Well, the clerk that got thrown in as a tank machinegun gunner was perhaps somewhat likable but then him getting assigned as a tank machinegun gunner in the first place was one of those nonsensical bits. In this movie the “heroes” are not really any better than the Nazis. The scene where “Wardaddy” forces previously mentioned clerk to shoot an unarmed POW is just disgusting. I am sure this is not too far from reality in some cases during the war but I’ll be damned if I am watching a movie to be entertained by it.
Having said that I must also say that the movie was very well done in terms of acting and cinematography with one exception. The ridiculous overuse of tracer bullet effects. Tracer bullets do not look like you are in a Star Wars movie and yes I have been using tracer bullets during my military service, obviously unlike the producer and consultants (if they had any) of this movie.
The pacing of the movie was somewhat uneven. Some of it was fairly fast paced but then some parts, like the part in the apartment of the two German women was quite slow and somewhat dull.
The “last stand” at the end was just silly and nonsensical. It started pretty much right away when the poor clerk spots the arriving German infantry just using his eyes. Then it just takes forever until they actually arrive so our “heroes” have all the time in the world to prepare. There would of course be no way for a lone Sherman to hold off an assault like that and the Germans would of course not be charging around shooting useless fine caliber weaponry against said Sherman. Also when they had all this time to prepare why the f… did they leave some of the ammo outside the tank? Obviously because some dumb scriptwriter thought it would make for a good scene. And do not get me started on the fact that the Germans apparently just stops in their tracks every time the director thinks it is time for some slow scene inside the tank.
The ending? Well I do not like bad endings and this one certainly did not give me any feeling of reward for having suffered through over two hours of this movie. Needless to say I am a tad disappointed.
