Ryan Reynolds' well established brand of sarcastic quips isn't nearly enough to salvage this film. In fact, the humor isn't even a saving grace, as it's way more miss than hit, often feeling stilted and obligatory. The paper-thin plot doesn't bring anything new to the time travel genre, boiling down the typical elements to the absolute bare minimum. All talk of mechanics and paradoxes are swept under the rug without any meaningful explanation, with the allegedly high stakes often expressed through nebulous expository dialogue (e.g. when Reynolds explains to his younger self that 2050 is just like in terminator but worse). Combine all that with noticeably cheap special effects, less than compelling acting from most everyone involved, and ineffective sentimental moments, and the end result is a disappointingly forgettable mess.
I'm not sure how I feel about the documentary style opening, which is effectively a long exposition dump, but once we get to the live broadcast that represents the bulk of the lean runtime, I was on board. I'm a sucker for films/TV that explore their own industry, so the live gimmick was appealing. I haven't watched a lot of late night television (and even less from the 1970s), but for what it's worth, this felt pretty authentic - David Dastmalchian's central performance and the production design in particular. Combine that with a reasonably compelling, though admittedly simplistic, demon possession story and you've got a solid horror film with a unique backdrop. Ingrid Torelli delivers an suitably off-putting/chilling performance as Lilly, carrying the tension through the back half. As far as critiques go, some of the interactions during the "cut to commercial" segments feel a bit superficial/rushed (e.g., conversations with the producer and/or Gus), but it's not a major issue. As a final comment, perhaps the biggest impact of the film was making me want to re-watch This Time with Alan Partridge, which makes brilliant use the same live TV gimmick, but for comedy rather than horror.
Even though I've only seen two Miyazaki films before this (Nausicaä and The Wind Rises), I still felt like a I had a pretty good idea of what to expect and thought I would enjoy this one. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Way too abstract for my tastes. Didn't feel like a cohesive story and I didn't connect to any of the characters. You can have the cutest, most impressive animation in the world, but if the story and characters aren't working, it just feels empty. Once we enter the tower, all semblance of relatable story-telling is jettisoned and instead we get a random collection of "wouldn't it be cool if..." visual ideas in service of vague thematic elements. Clearly I'm in the minority here, but this one was just not for me.
I'm a bit surprised at how successful this movie was at the Oscars. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Writing, plus two more nominations? It's a far cry from my experience, as I never found myself particularly invested in the story or characters. Sure, the acting and writing have strong moments, and it explores interesting family dynamics that take the story in some unexpected directions, but the big emotional beats were too hit and miss in terms of feeling authentic vs melodramatic. I'm probably biased by modern mental health discourse, but some of the big ideas just felt superficial by today's standards.
A fantastic premise that didn't quite stick the landing for me. By the final act, the writing starts to feel less clever and more on the nose, with pacing also becoming an issue as things seem to rush toward a melodramatic conclusion. That said, the performances are all excellent, there are memorable moments throughout, and the central return-to-color conceit offers plenty of unique visuals.
As an aside, the parallels drawn to the civil rights movement definitely raised some eyebrows for me given the film's lack of diversity. Not sure how well that would go over today.
I was on board with everything except the overly stylized moments. They weren't enough to ruin the experience, but I would be more likely to recommend the movie without them. The story is compelling, the character dynamics are unique, and the performances are excellent.
I don't have enough knowledge or nostalgia for Mary Poppins to love this movie, but my interest in filmmaking and healthy appreciation of Tom Hanks was certainly enough to like it. I will say that the I enjoyed the first half more than the second, as the initial fish out of water routine of P.L. Travers in Hollywood and the slowly unraveling mystery of her past (with some incredibly heart warming and later heart wrenching scenes with Colin Farrell and Annie Rose Buckley) really sucked me in. In contrast, the conflict and payoff in the back half felt a little rushed and cliché.
An incredibly impressive feature debut from Francis Galluppi and more evidence that Jim Cummings presence is a reliable indicator of quality. I've got praise for pretty much every element involved, but the writing might be what shines the most. It's jealousy inspiring how the story lands so many clever moments with a set-up that is so damn simple. It subverts expectations, but not in a way that feels cheap or unfair to the audience. To paraphrase some writing quote that I only vaguely remember - you don't know where it's going, but when it gets there, it feels like it couldn't have ended any other way. Despite what I assume was a modest budget, this movie looks fantastic. There's numerous memorable shots (one that really stood out was Charlotte's hand reaching up from behind the counter with Richard Brake standing over her - tense as hell) and I can't imagine the set pieces looking any better. I'm excited to see what comes next from everyone involved.
I was worried this might be too arthouse for me, but I loved it. Fantastic performances, interesting character motivations/dynamics, and punchy dialogue. I'm sure it's getting meme'd to death, but the consistent club-beat soundtrack definitely grew on me and added to the confrontational exchanges made to feel like an intense tennis volley. That said, maybe the audio mix could have been tweaked a tad because I was frustrated to miss a handful of lines here and there.
I love movies about filmmaking, so this premise was right up my alley and, for the most part, I think they leveraged it well, delivering some fun action sequences and solid humor throughout. That said, I do think I enjoyed the first half more than second, as the plot started to lose some of its cleverness, with several very predictable sequences through the final act. Overall, a worthwhile watch, but not the instant classic I was hoping it would be.
I watched this one a lot on DVD when I was younger and it was one of my favorites but this is probably my first re-watch in at least a decade. Overall, it doesn't quite live up to my nostalgic recollection, but there's still plenty to enjoy here. The performances and the humor are the highlights, with some of the story elements and pacing sticking out less favorably. The first two acts feel a little disjointed, with almost stand alone vignettes that are sometimes awkwardly strung together. The finale also has some abrupt/rapid pacing as the movie feels like it skips some material to tack on the last two scenes. I'll keep my legacy 9 rating, but if I watched it for the first time today, this would probably be more like a 7.
This one will certainly lose some audience members in the first 36 minutes, but if you can have patience and trust in the filmmakers, the experience is an immensely rewarding and hilarious exploration of low budget filmmaking.
Not sure why I didn't see this back when it came out, as I remember hearing generally good things about it. Perhaps it was my residual anti-twilight bias poisoning the well on Robert Pattison. But, having now distanced himself from that sparkly history with some excellent films like Good Time and The Batman, I went into this expecting good things and overall was not disappointed. I think the first two acts are stronger than the third, as the pacing starts to get a little rushed, but other than that I was quite impressed. Strong performances, good production design, and interesting characters.
Another disappointing outing from Guy Ritchie. As with Operation Fortune, this feels more like a poor imitation of his best films, rather than recapturing their magic. It felt like it was going through the motions, with characters I wasn't invested in, overly long/repetitive action sequences, and not enough effective humor.
It appears I've aged out of the target demographic for these types of films. But despite some of the zoomer humor being a bit much for my aging millennial tastes, I still found plenty to enjoy in this farcical, coming-of-age high-school comedy. Strong performances and clever dialogue was enough to keep me invested through a lean runtime that doesn't overstay its welcome. The ending started to lose me, going from over-the-top to straight up crazy, but I guess a female high-school fight club was already pretty ridiculous from the get go.
The last best picture nominee I had left to watch and perhaps my favorite. The writing and performances are brilliant. Even before finishing the movie, I already wanted to revisit certain scenes to look for missed details and appreciate all the little nuances (definitely the flashback/recording scene, which was a highlight, but several courtroom exchanges as well). I really enjoyed the interplay between languages and how those types of elements might affect the judge/jurors. In the same way that it's difficult to judge a performance in a language you don't speak, I imagine it's also difficult to judge credibility. I was worried about how things would end, as these kind of stories can struggle to stick the landing (e.g., I was disappointed in HBO's The Undoing), but they made it work.
Other than serving as a relatively tame introduction to whatever fetishist community Grey is a part of, this film doesn't have much to offer. The fact that the book started as fan fiction makes sense, as the writing feels decidedly blunt and underdeveloped. Despite clocking in at just over two hours, it felt like there wasn't enough story to even feel like a complete movie. The conflict/tension is so narrow and low stakes that I was never invested.
I don't have any deep nostalgia for Winnie the Pooh, but this film made me feel like I do. I guess there's a reason these characters are so well loved - they're cute, hilarious, and wholesome. And of course there's the voice acting. I think the dialogue was strong, but honestly Jim Cummings could probably say any line with Winnie the Pooh's signature voice/cadence and I'd probably love it. The story isn't revolutionary, but its compelling enough to serve as an effective nostalgic vehicle. There aren't many live action films for younger audiences that win me over, so it was a pleasant surprise to find another favorite here.
Explores some interesting relationship dynamics but didn't quite land for me as a complete package. The entire film is focused on this relationship, with effectively no B/C plots to speak of. This resulted in the characters feeling underdeveloped and the pacing feeling rushed. The first couple of sequences felt too short. And I don't necessarily mean short on runtime, but rather short on story. The movie lingers in many scenes, creating a melancholic feel, but not much is actually happening. By the time we get to the longer, present day sequence, I haven't had a chance to fully invest in the characters and so the conflicts feel a bit superficial. That said, the performances are still strong and there was some thought provoking dialogue throughout (particularly enjoyed Arthur talking about how Nora makes his life bigger, as well as Hae Sung's discussion of Nora being the one who leaves for him, but the one who stays for Arthur).
I can't speak to the negative (or positive) aspects of the representation in this movie, so I'm just going to ignore that whole conversation. All I can do is comment on how it landed with me, someone who doesn't have any skin in the game and was just watching it as a movie. Overall, I thought Sean Penn's performance was compelling and the central relationship between Sam and Lucy landed enough emotional beats to carry the film. The story understandably dodges any real conversation surrounding Lucy's conception or some of the practicalities of how Sam raised Lucy for the first 7 years, but they glossed over it efficiently enough that it doesn't really detract. What does detract is Michelle Pfeiffer's character, which often feels superficial and melodramatic, especially toward the end.
After watching both Dune's back to back, I had an itching for more epic, desert based cinematography and decided to revisit George Miller's masterpiece. This also makes for an interesting comparison. While I enjoyed my 5+ hour visit to Arrakis, I think this is the stronger movie. The amount of world building it accomplishes in just 2 hours is incredible. Combine that with an elegantly simple story, strong central performances, and jaw dropping action sequences, and you've got a winner. After almost a decade, the action set pieces remain unmatched, and it's honestly not close. Comparing the practical heavy stunt work to the CGI messes that are so common now is night and day.
I can understand why critics are loving this movie, but I am a bit surprised that its audience scores are almost equally high. I guess it's more digestible than some of Lanthimos other films, but it still feels more arthouse than your typical best picture nominee. But maybe I'm just underselling the appeal of watching Emma Stone's explicit adventure of uninhibited sexual discovery. But, while that element of the movie certainly appeals to some of my baser instincts, I was never fully on board with the rest of it. It just feels like some of the decisions are trying to inject weird for weirdness sake, rather than tying it to any sort of character/story motivation. It's that feeling of an online video that is trying too hard to go viral. In terms of pacing, the final act (or at least everything from the interrupted wedding onward) felt rushed. Now, with all of that said, I still enjoyed the movie. There were lots of interesting characters and ideas being explored and, despite feeling intentional/manufactured, some of the quirky humor still lands.
Spectacle is undoubtedly the focus, and in that respect the movie generally delivers. The one exception might be the worm riding, which is something that seems cooler in theory than it looks in practice. The set-up for it is cool, but once they actual get on the worm it just looks goofy (especially when they show it from a distance). But like I said, that's the exception - there's plenty of fantastic production design, visuals, and audio throughout. So what about character and story? This was a mixed bag for me. I think there are some ideas that worked well (Emperor/Princess interplay, Bene Gesserit intrigue, Feyd-Rautha set-up), but Paul's central conflict of accepting or rejecting the prophecy felt repetitive and ultimately fell flat. Now, I do think the ending salvages the arc and makes it work as best it could, but the path to get there was less than compelling. All in all, I think Villeneuve's two-part adaptation is worthy of praise for its ambition and technical brilliance, but I don't think these will be movies I feel the need to re-watch with any regularity.
The biggest strength of this film is the extreme contrast between the story of the Höss family and the story taking place on the other side of the wall. The former gets most of the attention, with the movie playing out like a slice-of-life family drama. But the latter, which exists only in the background, unspoken and off screen for most of the film, is what packs the punch. The writers leverage the knowledge that most audiences already have - we all know what was happening. And that's where the contrast is - watching a man help orchestrate one of humanity's darkest moments without any acknowledgement is disturbingly compelling. That said, this isn't my favorite kind of film, as it feels less focused on building a narrative arc and more focused on the thematic ideas. Just a little too arthouse for my tastes.
Re-watched in preparation for part 2 next week. I wish I had been writing reviews back when this came out, because I'd like to compare my current thoughts to my initial reaction, but overall I suspect they didn't change much. This is a spectacle focused movie that rightfully prides itself on production design, cinematography, and audio. I have a distinct memory of my brother coming out of the theater and raving about the costumes and you know what - he's not wrong. But through all of the impressive visuals and thunderous soundtrack, the characters and story felt a little thinner than I would have hoped. Not bad, by any means. I think the performances themselves are excellent. But I just didn't find myself particularly attached. I think part of the problem is that the scope is so ambitious that even with a 2.5+ hour runtime, things have to move pretty quickly to get through it. There's also the problem of being a part 1, as the arc definitely feels incomplete and the ending is somewhat abrupt/unsatisfying. Luckily, that last problem will soon be solved - looking forward to part 2!
I didn't have high expectations for this movie. First, I'm not the biggest fan of musicals. And second, I hadn't yet been sold on Timothée Chalamet. Now, the first issue remained an issue for me, as the music here wasn't catchy enough to win me over. But on the second issue, I was happily surprised by Chalamet's goofy/optimistic performance. He's fun and wholesome and carries the film. There's a solid ensemble with plenty of humor that lands throughout. I'd also generally compliment the writing. The whole opening sequence, even when wrapped in a song that I didn't love, was an impressively efficient and clever way to introduce the character, the world, and the conflict.
Having unexpectedly enjoyed the TV show Heels, I was looking forward to another dramatic story in professional wrestling and was not disappointed. The relationship between the brothers is the highlight here, with nuanced writing that reveals complexities and contradictions. The wholesome moments are disarmingly heartwarming, which makes the gut punch moments land so much harder. The performances are excellent across the board. The production and technical filmmaking deliver memorable shots throughout. My only minor complaint is the pacing in the final act, as things moved rather quickly, with the final scene feeling a bit too on-the-nose/cheesy.
John Carney has carved himself quite an interesting Dublin-based, musical niche. The advice of "write what you know" can be controversial, but here is an example of someone who seems to have leaned into it and the results are consistently excellent. Flora is not the type of protagonist we see very often, with flaws prominently on display, but the writing and performance was nuanced enough to win me over. Not just to sympathize with her situation, but to cheer for her. The relationships are interesting, the dialogue feels real, and the story comes together in an unexpected way. The one thing holding the movie back for me was some pacing problems, as I felt like things were rushed in the back half. At only 97 minutes, it seems like there was room to let things breathe a bit more.
Went into this one blind and perhaps the most interesting aspect of it was how the central premise felt more like a B plot. It'd be interesting to look into relative screen time, but I suspect family/relationship drama comprises as much, if not more, than the pseudonym author plot. Luckily, the writing and performances are strong enough to make both plotlines compelling. I will say that the meta ending felt a bit like a copout, but even there the execution (and a hilarious performance by Adam Brody) makes it work. I don't know if Jeffery Wright's performance will be enough to land him the Oscar, but at the very least I hope it lands him more leading roles, because he deserves them.
A big step down from to the first film, which was already not great. Superficial writing, bland action, questionable CGI, and less than compelling acting from most everyone involved. I'll give Patrick Wilson credit for being the only somewhat okay part of the movie. With the material he's working with, somewhat okay is actually pretty impressive.
