When brilliant concept and brillant execution come together, they create something truly magical. A movie about emotions that made me feel all the emotions. One of Pixar's best, instructive for kids and fascinating for adults. There's something so nostalgic about it, the way we see Riley grow up and go through all these emotions and internal conflicts. The emotions constantly fighting, the core islands defining a personality, the stuff they did with the memory archive, imaginary friends, the ideas with the light bulbs... the mechanics of everything is just one of the best concepts ever and it's all fairly easy to understand but still profound. Loved the adventure with Joy and Sadness as they explore this fascinating world, the stakes are high if you care about Riley. Great animation, love the characters, nice score, emotional ending. Funny stuff during the credits, the dog part made me laugh.
In the world of shark movies this is Oscar level and easily in my top 5, in the real world it's a dumb TV level movie... but I don't know, I had a ton of fun with it. There's enough over-the-top shark action in here to keep me fully entertained, lots of bloody kills and the shark effects are top level in the shark genre (they do look poor when a shark jumps out of the water though). The underwater scenes look great. Killer slow-motion shot right before the title sequence at the beginning that sold me on the fun I was about to have for the rest of the runtime. The mayor character was a perfect villain, she was funny and easy to root against.
The tone is my biggest criticism, it's all over the place, most of the time it takes itself very seriously and gets "scary" but then you get cheesy and comedic moments that I believe are unintended. I enjoyed both sides of the coin but I wish it picked a lane. The acting is nothing good but far superior to most shark movies. Terrible decision making from the characters and the plot is so dumb.
All the wild shark action and the epic third act it delivers is enough to call it a decent watch though. This one's begging for a sequel and I kinda want to see it.
What I Wished For!
Go in as blind as you can! Nice little gem that slipped under the radar. This one's a slowburn thriller and let me tell you it was pretty slow at first but then it's unpredictable twists one after the other and I was instantly sold.
This movie likes to put characters in a bad spot, force them to improvise, and watch them do the wrong decisions—it's all very tense and stressful and I fully empathized with Ryan. The character interactions are heated and unpredictable. Good acting from everyone. Decent production value. Some grotesque and disturbing stuff but nothing I haven't seen before. Stays in the realistic lane the entire runtime but there's a few things that don't add up the more you think about it.
I wish it went a little further with the themes and critics on money, society... it was the basics, please expand. I was expecting a bit more action and confrontation in the third act to live by it's "thriller" tag but I didn't get as much of it as I wanted. The ending is unresolved but that fits perfectly actually, as we're criticizing a real life problem that'll never be resolved unfortunately.
Running after Robbie: The Movie
Trying not to think of Scary Movie 4 while watching this was the hardest part but once I started taking it seriously I realized this is great sci-fi. The first sequence with the Tripod instantly sold me, perfect entrance, so thrilling and such a cool design and sound. The fact that they come from the ground and not the sky is refreshing. Tom Cruise's character is alright as a main character but the kids are so annoying, especially Robbie, ruined the movie a little. Great action with the boat sequence especially and the basement part was so tense for so long. The third act wasn't as good though in comparison but still enjoyable. The red roots looked amazing and I love the idea of using blood as fertilizer. Nice look for the aliens. The effects still look amazing to this day. Didn't need the spoonfeeding narration at the end, we can put the puzzle pieces together mr. Spielberg.
Tom Cruise doing sandwiches and throwing it at a window is my favorite part.
Deeeeelicious! Go in blind. Wasn't expecting this from a Tubi original. I was sold with that unpredictable twist in the first act, it's nothing original but so exciting and sets up some interesting character dynamics that had me entertained throughout. Good acting, nice bloody kills, a few surprising practical effects, cheesy in a good way, a bit slow in the second act, poor dialogue but hilarious one-liners, and a satisfying wild third act. Although because that first twist was so unpredictable, I expected something unpredictable in the third act but it's all predictable unfortunately—but hella fun!
Your french is not doing good!
An average time travelling flick. I have trouble praising the concept, feels like i've seen it a few times before but they did a decent job with it. We get some unnecessary exposition narration at the beginning that I found lazy and this movie has some pacing issues. The first act was very fast-paced and a bit rushed, we're thrown into this so abruptly. Gave off some cheesy B-movie vibes at first with some laughable choice of dialogue. It gets progressively better thought and finally gets good once Emily Blunt enters the picture. Her character and her son are interesting and finally give some much needed character interactions for Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character. He was alright in the main role, Emily Blunt is the best (the "getting lost" monologue was great), Bruce Willis is underused, and the child actor really surprised me. Good use of slow-motion in the staircase scene. The third act is a little silly and unintentionally funny (I laughed so hard at that futuristic bike) but I was fully entertained.
Palpatine: "You don't need guidance Anakin. In time, you will learn to trust your feelings. Then you will be invincible."
Not as great as The Phantom Menace but a good enough sequel. It's more of the same really but this one doesn't have as strong of an adventure and what really brings it down is the unnatural dialogue, bad acting and the story isn't the most interesting.
Hayden Christensen (Anakin) is so cringe and has no chemistry with anyone. The only redeemable performances here are Christopher Lee (Dooku) and Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan). Natalie Portman (Padme) maybe, but she's held down by the dialogue. I do like the funny character dynamics between Obi-Wan and Anakin at the beginning but they're separated pretty fast unfortunately. The romance storyline is cringe and doesn't really work, it feels forced and unnatural. I was bored through most of these scenes and wanted to get back to Obi-Wan's investigation storyline which is more interesting. Kamino and their clone factory is interesting but I dislike the focus on Jango Fett, I wanted to know more about the clones, not him.
The special effects are nothing to brag about but they look better than Episode I at least. No need to talk about the score at this point, it's freakin John Williams. The factory sequences are some of my favorites in this one, so fun, thrilling and C3PO does some of the best comedy he's ever done. The entire third act is what mostly redeems this movie, it's great action and the Yoda vs. Dooku fight is always something to look forward to. They should've gone all out with it though, comparing it to the final fight in Episode I, it's one big tease and kinda uneventful.
Watch it on mute!
In the digital age of short attention span, here I am watching an old 2h33m silent black and white stage play that somehow made it's way on the best sci-fi of all-time list. Unless you're an avid watcher of silent films or a film school student, I don't see how this could hold someone's attention for 2h33m nowadays. I watched it in four sittings and still had a hard time finishing it. Clearly not for me.
The repetitive music almost turned me insane, it's the one you hear when you're on hold on the phone or in an elevator. They played the same tune on repeat for 2h33m but it got better when I got the brilliant idea to put it on mute. That one note elevator music ruins the movie and any attempt at making the viewer feel the right emotions at the right time, you have a scene early on of someone threatening to commit suicide and this cheerful music playing over it—what the hell??
I'd be more into this if it wasn't so hard to follow, not sure how some of the scenes connect or even what's happening most of the time until the scene is over. Beautiful sets and visuals, nice robot design, great performance from the Maria actress especially, and I enjoyed the last hour the most because of some unexpected action. I can only give this one a 5 (meh) because this wasn't for meh.
Nute: "My lord, is that legal?"
Sidious: "I will make it legal!"
The Clone Wars have always been my favorite Star Wars era (strongly influenced by Star Wars: The Clone Wars), it's crowded with cool Jedi, lasers and sabers everywhere, there's a bunch of organizations ready to backstab each other, and the war aspect has never been better. The Phantom Menace is a great start to this era and a good start to Anakin's origin story.
The characters are certainly a hit. Qui-Gon is the Jedi steriotype we needed, he was perfect as the main character. Obi-Wan (minus the rat tail) is easy to root for and gets a killer setup by the end of the movie. Young Anakin's arc isn't my favorite, he feels like a side story when he's introduced but the seeds of his story start to grow when he gets to the Republic. You can say all you want about clumsy Jar Jar Binks but I find him hilarious. Darth Maul is a freakin badass, not just because he has one of the best most memorable makeup of all-time, but he really kicks ass and I feel scared for our protagonists whenever he's around. I wish he actually talked and was in the movie more though.
The first 30 minutes are very fast-paced and adventure heavy but it unfortunately comes to a halt once Anakin shows up. It's all for the sake of character development but it slowed down the movie for a minute. The costumes and set designs are amazing, Padme changes clothes everytime we see her and we basically get a new set piece every 20-30 minutes. Great score. I can see the effects being ugly a few years from now (looks fake and plastic in some parts) but they're not totally obsolete yet. Not the best camerawork in the action sequences, couldn't see much in the first fight between Qui-Gon and Maul.
Wild third act with a lot of tension, the red panels thing was a fabulous idea. Very emotional moment because they made us care. This goes down as one of the best fight sequences in the franchise.
Great concept with the sun stuff that actually makes a lot of sense. The direction feels logical but I was bored a lot of the time. Quite the cast of future successful actors. The characters in here feel like horror movie characters, the actors portraying them are the only thing that drives them—who are they? Because of that I don't care for them and therefore i'm uninterested in who makes it. The importance of the mission and what it represents for humanity is something that's clearly established though and that's what mostly kept me going.
I love the set and the outside shots with the orange lighting. A few cool space deaths and realistic visuals. The space suits look ridiculous. Bad musical choices in some moments that contradict what i'm seeing on-screen. It does the Malignant/Barbarian-ish third act that transforms the movie into something else but unlike those two, it doesn't commit enough and isn't willing to change it's tone. We get serious scenes in the middle of ridiculous events and i'm ultimately unsure what to make of them. It also got confusing to me in the third act, not sure what was happening.
Surface level drama, unsatisfying action, alright CGI, poor acting, cheesy characters and one of the dumbest plans i've ever heard to take down a Godzilla that instantly regenerates. The PTSD guilt trip storyline was interesting and I wish we got a bit further with that. I enjoyed the action set piece in the second act but everything else wasn't epic and satisfying enough. Although looking at all this with the fact that it's done on a low budget, I fully respect the effort.
Gravitational chaos indeed... thankfully the photon torpedoes terminated this black hole of a season.
2001: A Space Odyssey meets Twin Peaks season 3. If you think that's a compliment you'll love Solaris. I think it's a strong recipe for boredom and pretencious nonsense.
I felt every second of this. It took 44 minutes and a 5 minute scene of just traffic before we finally get to space and I was happy for a second but then it's right back to the turtle pacing. There might be a great story hidden in there if you glue all the character interactions and story bits together but all the silences, slow talking, unimpressive visuals and slooowwwnesss in between ruins everything. It just couldn't keep my interest most of the time and never really earned it either.
The dialogue is well-written and profound but the character interactions are so weird, off, slow, like a fever dream. Ugly visuals whenever they show the water but the inside sets are nice and I like the variety of color and black and white filters they used. Good performances. Ok score. Incredibly long. Nice metaphor to the metaphorical metaphor there at the end.
Watch here: https://youtu.be/Z8ZhQPaw4rE?si=oPJROzs9b2WSt1vA
When you ordered a Kaiju movie but you got an unfunny episode of The Office instead.
A refreshing twist on the Godzilla movies as Godzilla is now evil incarnate and must be stopped before he destroys everything. I love the new scary look, coming right out of a horror movie and the "evolving" concept is a great idea. It focuses on the government reacting to the crisis which is boring as hell and slows down the movie considerably between action sequences. Only three action sequences in it's 2h runtime—shame! The action we got was epic but weird, the laser sequences were so exagerated and silly compared to the serious tone in the human storyline. The CGI is nothing to praise. A spectacular score that amplifies everything and gives the illusion that this is a great movie. Laughable final fight, it looked and felt like a fan-made movie.
"Ready for a demonstration, kids? Here goes..."
Hasn't aged a day. The Fly is the best body horror of all-time, it's focus on Jeff Goldblum's perfect body slowly degrading is just genius. Some really gross and weird stuff all done with peak makeup and practical effects. Great performances from Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum who's very physical here and has nice dialogue delivery. Some well-placed comedy like that hilarious insect politician line, it all goes with the silly tone. I liked the journalism aspect at the beginning and the romance is believable. I have to say it takes a while before the good stuff starts though and it can be a bit boring at times but as soon as the body horror starts it got my undivided attention. I like how simple yet brilliant the sci-fi aspects are, very easy to understand and quite logical. The transformation scene has to be among the best practical effects ever put to screen. Just when you think that's got to be the final form, we get an even more impressive one after that!
"STEM, you can take over."
Excellent tech thriller, one of my favorites. You have a John Wick revenge story about a man who loses someone, getting an upgrade implant that's kinda like the symbiote in Venom, some robot action that makes me think of Terminator meets IP Man, in a futuristic dystopian setting similar to Blade Runner.
A very strong heartbreaking start for our main character that brings depth to the character. Great performance from Logan Marshall-Green who nails every robotic movement, is believable as a quadriplegic and displays a wide range of emotions. His quest for revenge is easy to root for and I was invested in finding the culprit. The detective character was a nice addition.
The action sequences are so fast, fun and satisfying. The camerawork isn't shaky or too close up, it's actually better than most action movies and follows the very quick moves with style. Love the modified human tech, futuristic cars, sets filled with neon colors, very suspenceful score, and quite bloody. The car chase and the final fight were my favorites. The final twist is maybe too much, too exagerated and obvious.
A good concept but not the best execution. Brainscan is cheesy 90's teen horror but it's not nearly fun or entertaining enough to stand out in that subgenre. The acting and dialogue is terrible but I really like the score. Trickster does some cool tricks but he feels like Freddy Kruger from Wish. His interactions with Michael get repetitive and annoying. The CD-ROM, computers and TV did not age well but it gives it nostalgia. I see the necessity to include the investigation from the police because the objecive of the game is to murder without getting caught but that side of the story could've been better. Got boring from time to time. The reveal of who Trickster is followed by a few cool visuals was the best part. Good ending and begging for a sequel.
Fury Road but with less action and more narrative. Same bombastic action but in smaller doses. Why bother adding a story at this point in the franchise when it's never really been a thing? And if you bother adding one, why wasn't it better thought out? I went to the theater expecting just as much action and now i'm disappointed. I wish I saw Furiosa before Fury Road and not the other way around, how can you watch this after Fury Road and not be disappointed?
As an origin story for Furiosa it's hit and miss, we get the turn of events that leads her to Fury Road all the way from a young age but I still have no idea who the character is at the core. Anya Taylor-Joy absolutely knows how to act badass though, she was 100% believable as a young Charlize Theron. Dementus is the real star though, anytime he's on-screen he steals the spotlight. I have a better idea of who that character is compared to Furiosa. Probably my favorite Chris Hemsworth performance to date, he has excellent timing with the comedy and I love the way he talks.
The first act is important to set up the story and the characters but I was so bored, thankfully the movie came to life as soon as the War Rig shows up. A very impressive sequence that rivals the action in Fury Road, I love the attention to detail on the modified cars, gadgets and the War Rig gets a significant upgrade. The second act was my favorite part of the movie for sure but still a good third act despite a few flaws. Could've definitely cut out 30 minutes with all the excessiveness in some scenes, like a few with Dementus that last too long (especially the last).
There's more CGI than Fury Road which is a shame but I think they still did a great job with the visuals. Some very rough and weird editing especially in the first half. There's scenes where we get 5 camera angles for one stare which is ridiculous. Excellent sound. Great score. Good expansion on the world-building with this one, I like seeing the other fortress'. Overall Furiosa is a good prequel to Fury Road and a good action movie but I just wish Miller took more time to polish it (9 years wasn't quite enough it seems).
Wicked. I went in totally blind and what a surprise. Solid concept and so incredibly layered, Children of Men is a terrifying look at humanity without children (hope) and now living on fear, this leads to even more war and xenophobia.
Most of the characters here are living on instinct, human nature, and it's so fascinating. Some live on self preservation while others are willing to sacrifice themselves to protect hope. The secondary characters don't really get much depth but they absolutely work here because of the human nature aspect, I got immediately attached to anyone who was there to protect. Theo is very easy to root for once Kee is introduced. He feels pretty fleshed out as a character but I wanted more character development with Kee.
I was a little bored at the beginning but it got my undivided attention during a certain car ride, it surprised the hell out of me. Great car chase and unexpected violent deaths. Then it kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. I didn't expect it to turn into a straight out action movie but damn, those war sequences were so intense and well-made. Great cinematography. Good performances. So realistic it's scary. Perfect ending and choice of sound once the credits roll.
"Pull my finger!"
"I'll blow this place up and be home in time for cornflakes."
The first act did not sell me on this at all, I expected a better premise coming from a sci-fi classic. Granted, this came out before many other classics that did it better but Total Recall comes off as a bit generic for the genre (at least nowadays). Every aspect actually, the story had me bored at times and even the action scenes I found ordinary, I don't think i'll remember any of them for very long. What's memorable is the mutants, the cool Mission: Impossible gadgets, and the freakin amazing practical effects, miniature sets and one of the first CG scenes in a movie—huge respect for Rob Bottin and the whole special effects team.
Very average performance from Arnold and everyone else. The one-liners aren't that funny. I kept expecting them to do more with the concept of amnesia and memories but it kinda turns into a normal action flick and puts that on hold. The third act was highly entertaining though and I can't help but fall in love with the spectacular display of practical effects.
"I have a terrible urge to port into it."
It's Cronenberg alright, it's weird, it's gross and everything is sexual. The concept isn't original by any means but the execution is alright. I found it highly captivating for some reason, I think it's the constant weirdness, Jennifer Jason Leigh's character which is mysterious and somewhat magnetising, and the way that it slowly unravels the mystery about the game. That whole first half you're just anticipating the game, waiting for them to finally show it. I wish the game was better in terms of visuals at least because this whole movie is visually forgettable and bland. The game was also boring to me, weird direction within the game. The sci-fi tech is the most interesting aspect, made me think of Crimes of the Future. Kinda mixed on the acting. Allegra and Ted are two completely different characters that make interesting character dynamics. A ridiculous amount of twists in the third act, mostly all predictable but at least something was finally happening.
I've seen my fair share of bad fan films but this one's as good as you can make 'em. In it's entirety, Hope and Glory looked like Mad Max and felt like Mad Max. You get that Fury Road lighting with the orange and blue, the cars, the desert, the sets, it all looks the part. For a fan film it looks like it had a big budget because some of the sets and costumes are quite impressive and full of detail. The acting is a bit rough, the sound doesn't always match with the visuals, the story is alright but generic, commendable camerawork, and some decent thrills.
Watch here: https://youtu.be/ScyL5W8HZkM?si=GDpBD7mG31jJhE8v
–"Why are you doing this?"
–"Why not?"
Call me crazy but I like this almost as much as the original. It's so similar yet so different. It's the same concept really, doesn't offer anything new, could even be seen as a remake but it also feels totally different because of the tone. It's still scary in some parts but it's not afraid of going on the silly side and have some fun and that's what I like about it. There's more characters, more thrills, more kills, and it's not afraid of killing anyone, good or evil.
I would never call the characters interesting or anything but I think they used the family aspect well, it's kinda heartbreaking and raises the stakes if anyone of them bites the dust. The setting changes from a single house to a small village but it's the same isolation, I like it. The killers are just as much scary as they are campy, not a turn-off in my book. Nice needle drops.
The cinematography and acting dip in quality and I wish the kills were better. We did get a few good ones though, like the last one with all the fire that kinda boosted my rating by a half star. The pool sequence was nice too. Some inconsintencies with the killers popping up anywhere and at several places at the same time seemingly. There's also a few frustrating moments like the daughter and mother vs. one female killer... take your chances, you have the 2v1 advantage!
1h 32m of a stressful night at a restaurant done in one single take! Despite this, we get a bunch of great performances from the actors that made me wonder how many times did they restart the whole thing? The answer is FOUR TAKES ONLY, the third take being the one they kept. Boiling Point is a fascinating look into the struggles of working in a restaurant and how it can affect your mental health. Some characters only get one or two scenes to shine and get the point across and they nail it, each one of them represents a different side of the nightmare. I have to say I was a bit bored a few times with some of the conversations but it always picks back up especially in the second half. Excellent escalation and drama in the third act, totally deserving of it's movie title.
Very relevant and wild follow up to the great documentary. Same quality but a bit more "on the spot" I guess you could say. The cinema scenes are great drama, consider me fully entertained. Some of the dialogue was hard to understand unfortunately but still awesome that they got everything on camera. Hilarious that YouTube captions D'Amato as tomato.
Watch here: https://youtu.be/K88xF9mOUjc?si=7XOmtoi_zB0OSPLu
"One of the strangest sports i've seen" indeed! I'm not one to usually watch documentaries or care for them but Tickled had me intrigued within a few minutes of it's runtime and then captivated for the rest of it. Totally unpredictable with a unique and weird real story. At times I couldn't believe such a weird series of events actually happened—i'll surely remember it for a while. For a documentary it feels scripted, but that's only because it's done so well you have the feeling you're watching something straight out of Hollywood. Almost like a thriller at times and some very stressful and suspenceful scenes. It's also informative and respectful of the tickle fetish which I found fascinating and commendable. I was getting worried things would be left unresolved by the end but the last phone call was perfect.
Thanks to Jordy for the link to the 20 minute follow up on YouTube, a must-watch after this documentary!
https://youtu.be/K88xF9mOUjc?si=7XOmtoi_zB0OSPLu
"I don’t want to survive! I wanna live!"
Made 16 years ago already but WALL·E feels more and more compelling as a story about environmental degradation, humans relying too much on technology, and human (and robot) interactions getting rare. So many emotions, I laughed at the excellent slapstick comedy and cried at the heartwarming love story. The first act is the strongest of the movie in my opinion, I could watch WALL·E picking through scrap for hours, he's the cutest robot ever and it's so easy to root for him getting with Eve. I got worried when the humans got introduced sinse it drastically changes the recipe but what they did with them was very compelling. Getting to know all the rogue robots and different models was a big part of the fun. Great animation, inventive sci-fi elements and a good score. The only negatives I have is it needed a better villain than that small fry robot and a bigger conflict. Overall still one of Pixar's best and I don't see any of the themes or story getting old anytime soon.
Where can I get a pizza plant??
"Ants are the only creatures on earth other than man who make war."
So disappointed, we barely saw the giant ants! Saying they got 2 minutes of screen time in the entire movie would be exagerated. I like the giant puppets they used and the screeching sounds the ants make. Nice score. The flame thrower scenes were my favorite. I liked the scientific aspect, I learned a bunch stuff about ants thanks to the professor. Boring second act with the investigation and interviews, just go battle the ants already. They spent the whole movie making plans but we only see it in effect in the last 10 minutes.
An average episode of Elite. So incredibly restrained, safe and frustrating. Like a 2h 12m seance of masturbation with no climax. What starts out as a hot and interesting 3 way dynamic quickly becomes generic hallmark romance with melodramatic beats. It becomes kinda predictable once you realize tennis has 3 rounds and so does this back and forth. The characters are so hateable I didn't care who ended up with who, they all deserve each other. Nothing too crazy on a performance level but all I know is I want more Zendaya, put her in everything please. Nice energetic score but too much of it at times. Laughable last 20 minutes with too much slow-motion and a game of tennis that just won't end.
Tries to do for visa, what Everything Everywhere All At Once did for taxes. I liked the imaginative sci-fi stuff and the themes of immigration but the comedy not so much, it's trying so hard to be funny but I didn't laugh. It hurts me to say this because I love Tilda Swinton but very annoying characters and performances.
