i don't know what to say, other than i love this goddamn movie. i can truly say that my experience was enhanced by the fact that i'm not straight, as i definitely feel like this was a movie made for people who are struggling/have struggled with coming out. that's not to say it can't be enjoyed by a wide demographic of people (as it obviously can and has been), but i definitely feel like they got the "gay high school experience" down to a t in a way that it makes it all the more enjoyable if you've been through it. all of simon's mannerisms are incredibly relatable, and the dialogue is especially touching and well written (i cried buckets). their tagline, "everyone deserves a great love story" pretty much sums up my feelings, and not to be dramatic (too late), but it's a rom-com that i can really connect with on a deeper level and for that i'm grateful.
in addition to literally everybody, i encourage any lgbt+ people to see this if you're struggling with your identity or the fear of what others will think, or even the fear that you'll never find anybody to love or that loves you. this is truly a movie that you watch and think, "this guy gets it".
Flipping through channels, this caught my attention even though I knew I never wanted to watch this version or Wes Craven's original. The assault and revenge subject matter is about the least appealing thing I can imagine watching. Give me malevolent aliens from space, marauding monsters from middle Earth or supernatural beings bent on haunting innocents anytime. But movies that feature such person-on-person cruelty are nothing I am interested in seeing. Inexplicably though, I watched this 2009 remake from start to finish.
Who is the audience for this? The assault of the young woman is horrible. The revenge of the woman's parents on the assaulters is over-the-top. Ask yourself...why would they shove one of the bad guy's hands in a garbage disposal before they slam him in the top of the head with a claw hammer?!? Later, the father (who's a doctor) surgically paralyzes one of the other scumbags and then puts his head in a microwave until it explodes. I don't know why a person would take revenge so "creatively". It changes the mood of the movie from disgust against the assaulters to clouding the motivations of the parents beyond the revenge of their daughter.
I'm starting to question myself actually. Why I would spend anytime with this sort of movie at all? And worse, I believe I've seen movies with even more senseless violence. Not pleased with myself for sitting through this.
Very interesting start, a good setup, having the main character as a psychologist is quite a change for a scifi/alien movie, the creature looks great and original, the fx are pretty good level. There seems to be all the ingredients for a great movie.
However, once you're past the revelation of what's actually happening, it's completely fucked up by the fact that not a single action by any character makes any sense. It's completely ridiculous, and the only thing in your mind for the second half of the movie is "What ? Why the fuck are you doing this ? Are you insane ?"
For starters, yeah the choice of a psychologist is interesting, and makes total sense with the setup of the story. However, once you know what is going on for real, that's utterly stupid. What is she going to do ? Talk the creature into getting out of the body ? And how are either of them going to survive ? In Arrival,they had linguists, that was original, and it made sense. Here less, but it would still make more sense than a psychologist. A biologist ? A chemist ? A zoologist ? A specialist on parasitism or symbiosis ? That would have helped.
Then there's the stupid addition of a useless love story. She's a top qualified psychologist, and yet after 3 days and 2 discussions, she just fall madly in love with her patient (emphasis on the madly given what she does after that) ?
Then there's the other scientist guy, feeling threatened by her presence even if they are not in the same field and do not have the same job. He doesn't even want to talk to her so they can progress in their work, yet at some point he has a total change of heart and is also willing to die to help them escape ??
Even if these actions already make no sense with nothing in the balance, they are incredibly insane when put in context. So the cosmonaut here is more or less in prison, ok. He is not badly treated, he's basically just not allowed to leave. On the other hand, he's inhabited by an unknown alien creature that goes out of his body without his control and eats humans, maybe that's a good reason to keep him locked in ?
It could be considered cruel that he doesn't know what's happening, but he even reveals that he has been lying since the beginning and is fully aware of it and having memories of the creature's action. Not only the fact that he lies is bad, by doing so he also conceals extremely important information for the study of the creature. It also reveals a very dangerous mindset that should trigger all sorts of red alarms for a psychologist.
So maybe wanting to help him is nice, but to do what ? They want to go to Moscow ? With the creature inside him ? Seriously ? And then what ? Leave the creature be ? Or just hold the guy in a less secured place in the middle of a huge city instead of a military base in the middle of nowhere ? It's even pointed out explicitly that we know nothing of the creature. That it could be just an infant form and the adult could be huge. We don't even know if it could reproduce. Or as it learns to stay out of the host longer and longer, if it would not just leave it at term and leave him to die. The danger is incredibly HUGE and childishly simple to understand. And yet none of these high level scholars seem able to grasp it ?
And what about the actual escape ? They already know his life is in danger when the creature is out. Yet they try it. Knowing fully that a lot of soldiers will be killed. And when she finally realizes he can't live without the creature, instead of doing a U-turn and bringing him back to the creature, she just stops the car, and even gets him out of it, what ? trying to get to Moscow by foot ? What the actual fuck ???
There are also included unrelated scenes with the kid, meant to make believe that's the guy's kid when it's actually her as a kid. These serves absolutely no purpose in the story, or character development. There are just here for the "fool you, that was not what you though it was", but they are totally useless.
So great start, good concept, great realization, good fx, great actors, but shitty movie that really turns into irritatingly stupid nonsense.
Nothing to say really besides: that’s how you do it!
This has without a doubt the most impressive stunts of the franchise, and it really knows how to use its characters and challenge them. There’s a lot of propulsive energy, lush cinematography and great editing. Lorne Balfe does a great Hans Zimmer impression, and Chris McQuarrie does a great Chris Nolan impression. Alright maybe I’m oversimplifying there, because I have to commend McQuarrie for doing another stylistic reinvention of the franchise, the cinematography and general feel aren’t just that of Rogue Nation 2.0. I’m not even sure if the constant evolution of this franchise comes from a place of creative ambition or commercial opportunity, but at least it keeps the films fresh. Some of its core elements will always remain the same, however. For example, the plot’s once again just a vehicle for all the juicy stuff. You could call it out for being generic or basic, but they find so much creativity and fun in these tropes that it becomes very entertaining (intrigue, the mask sequences, the craziness and constantly rising intensity). Sure, there’s a very predictable twist at the end of the second act, but more often than not, it managed to surprise me. Henry Cavill is a great new addition, bringing back Rebecca Ferguson was the best choice they could’ve made, and Pegg & Rhames remain the reliable anchors that add some heart & humour. It’s all exceptional stuff, it could very well go down as the best action franchise in history if the next films stick the landing.
9/10
Gotta aplaud the genius marketing move by Netflx but the movie itself is pretty meh and most likely would have bombed in theaters (especially without the Cloverfield branding).
Looking at it as a standalone movie it's a standard and generic space station horror movie verging on being bad with really badly written dialogue.
But I really like how it ties together (altough rather loosely) the other two Cloverfield movies (who I think were both absolutely fantastic) and sets up future installments with unlimited story options (I hope they stay with the monster angle tough. The fourth and upcoming 'Overlord' heavily hints at somethin supernatural a la demons involved). Altough it very much feels like they made (or bought) a standard sci-fi movie and just slapped on everything Cloverfield related with reshoots.
So if you want to watch a simple standalone sci-fi movie you can just skip this one unless you're a big sci-fi fan as it does have decent actor performances, great CGI and cinematography but wonky writing.
But if you're like me and have been reading countless forums and theories about the Cloverfield monsters and aliens and their origins then definitely watch this. But be prepared to leave with more questions than you came in with (as was almost to be expected with JJ involved).
If you ever needed a lesson in not listening to reviewers and making your own mind up about a movie, this is it. The Suicide Squad is brought to life by David Ayer in this summer blockbuster. It is 2+ hours of hard hitting FUN, with incredible portrayals of comic book favourites. Will Smith IS Deadshot, Margot Robbie IS Harley Quinn, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje IS Killer Croc, Jai Courtney IS Captain Boomerang... and The Joker??? I WANTED MORE!!! Well the biggest compliment I can pay to Jared Leto is that I didn't think about Heath Ledger once, it was a completely different yet interesting portrayal.
In this fun action flick, the bad guys are sent to take down a greater evil. Critics of the big bad in this movie seem to have completely missed the point. The big bad in this movie is merely a plot device, to help us get to see our protagonists form as a team. If anything the real villain of the piece is the one who forms this team of misfits. Amanda Waller is portrayed DIABOLICALLY by the incredible Viola Davis and the part where she turns on and guns down her own employees is SHOCKING . Complaining about the villain in a movie where the protagonists are bad guys is akin to complaining about the villain in Deadpool... THAT'S NOT THE POINT OF THE MOVIE!
This movie leaves you with a thirst for more of these characters, and some shots such as when Will Smith is stood on top of a car and gunning down henchman after henchman after henchman look like they have just been ripped out of a comic book and put on screen by the wonderfully talented David Ayer.
If you are a comic book fan, or a DC movies fan, heck even if you are just an average movie watcher... watch this movie! It is SO MUCH FUN!!!
UPDATE: Just seen the Extended Edition and I really enjoyed the new scenes. This extended version doesn't change the nature of the movie in the way the Ultimate Cut did for BvS but I found it let's the movie breathe a little and solves some of the editing problems people complained about. I still love the theatrical release but my recommendation is to watch the extended version of this movie!
I enjoyed this movie. It's subtle. I found it to be beautiful and thought provoking. How does one deal with waking up to find that they and their lover are the only two people left in the world? There comes a time in many young people’s lives when they begin to question the meaning of life and their place in the world as they attempt to reconcile their religious upbringing with the reality of the world. This can be a very stressful time both emotionally and psychologically resulting in a possible existential crisis. The young man, Riley, has apparently previously dealt with such matters as he takes a somewhat surprisingly Zen-like approach to their situation thus avoiding such crisis or perhaps he is just not given to such thoughts. After all, why spend time contemplating things for which there are no answers? Unfortunately for the young woman, Jenai, finding themselves in the most bizarre and inexplicable situation imaginable seems to bring her to question, quite possibly for the first time, God’s will, even the very existence of God, and the validity of everything she’s been taught. We watch her struggle with a deep existential crisis for which their present situation obviously only exacerbates. Riley loves the stark beauty of Iceland and seems genuinely content to live out his days there. Jenai, on the other hand, appears to feel trapped as they are now essentially stranded in a strange land far from home (they appear to be American). She misses her home, her family, and her book that she describes as more of a log book than a journal. Riley makes constant attempts to help Jenai through her crisis. He attempts to show her the beauty of their new world and how they can have a wonderful life there together. "We have the world at our feet." They stop at a random cabin on a lake in the woods for a relaxing retreat outside the city. There they come across an old man who has gone without food and water for too long. He had gone there to die. They, of course, give him food and water and share his cabin with him that evening. Jenai discusses the philosophical issues of their situation with him by the fire in the hearth. The old man passes away in his sleep and is found dead in the morning. Surely if there is one then there could be others. They make a renewed search driven by Jenai but find no one else. Electricity and Internet service is still available. Jenai holds on to hope that there is someone back at home. She keeps her computer on and monitors it daily for any messages or other signs of humanity out there. As Riley makes continued attempts to help Jenai come to accept their situation, she seems to improve, but then when a message notification sounds on her computer, it apparently becomes 'the straw that broke the camel’s back'. In this movie, as in life, there are no answers. Perhaps it is best to accept things as they come rather than try to reason in vain as to why.
While the first Horrible Bosses was a breath of fresh air, this one is more of a breath of air from the city dump. The plot is muddled and not fully coherent. It could have definitely used a few more revisions to even out the rough spots. It has what I like to call "The Hangover Syndrome". Where Hollywood finds a formula that works and the drives that formula into the ground while making as much money as possible. It simply feels like a rehashing of the original with a few tweaks, in order to try to differentiate itself enough to justify making another movie. The comedy isn't anything sharp or new, and isn't funny enough to distract you from the horrible story. If you're going to make a sequel with a similar plot than your comedy needs to be even better than the original. The original cast is fine, and seem to have a good comedic chemistry together. Jennifer Aniston's character felt more like a cameo, along with Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx; which is a disappointment considering the great job they did in the last movie. Now for the newcomers. This is possibly my least favorite character that Chris Pines has ever played. He's not comedic at all, and his character gets increasingly annoying over the span of the movie. Christopher Waltz did alright, but his role was very minor. It was great to see a cameo from Keegan-Michael Key, but again it was a very minor role. In conclusion, sequels are almost never good and this one definitely fits the bill. Skip it at all costs.
