Just sat through all three years of Martin Scorcese's Silence. I'm going to say some extremely dismissive things about religion in general and Christianity in particular, so I'll put it in a cleft in the rock and shield your eyes with my spoiler tag in case you're not interested. Spoiler: A cleft in the rock Okay, this is a fucking tedious film. Three hours long, all atmospheric like Snow Falling on Cedars or The Beach, it's more of an Enya video about medieval Japan than a story. Two delusional Europeans go to Japan where they're tortured by a bunch of savages to prevent them from spreading their illness. Kind of like Victorian mental health care. There are no sympathetic characters at all, just some mentally-ill hipster boy who's about two seconds away from putting his hair into a man-bun misunderestimating the way Japanese fall for fads, being hunted and then tortured by some old dude who doesn't want Christianity infecting his country. Why? Well, I guess three hours wasn't enough time to touch on the greater political issues that were in play, so let's just go with Buddhists are bad, m'kay? I'm not religious. Not at all, not even a little bit, haven't been since somewhere around junior high schoo, or, the day I stopped parroting things to gain acceptance from my folks, but that doesn't mean there aren't some absolutely stunning movies out there that deal with faith in a positive way. The Mission a) trashes the Catholic church, b) deals with someone struggling with very real sin and the hope of redemption, c) is visually amazing, d) is one of the Catholic church's recommended movies, and e) is the sort of film I could watch over and over. The Seventh Sign deals with an atheist sacrificing herself to prevent the Apocalypse. End of Days is a fucking Arnie movie that ends up with him defeating the Devil, not with an Uzi, but by praying to the Christian God for support. But the key is, if you want to see the same damn movie as Silence, go watch the Joan of Arc movie with Milla Jovovich and Dustin Hoffman. I've got a bad habit of mistaking Christ in the movies for the Devil, and this was no exception until the end, but for themes of someone having a crisis of faith because what they were really doing was all for the glory of themselves, Joan of Arc is a far superior film. Didn't Scorcese do Gangs of New York as well? Shit, that was like going to Cowboyland at Universal Studios...Who keeps giving him money?
Eh, not a movie, but just finished Akame ga Kill! My soul hurts. So good. A tragically beautiful masterpiece. It isn't often that a story can move me so profoundly. 10/10, will masochistically watch again. --- Regarding mobster movies (more on topic), GoodFellas. Incredible.
Watched Cuaron's "Roma" yesterday. Really slow film, not one of his best but towards the second part, quite strong.
Watched "bad times at the el royale" and I highly recommend it. Good script and cast. I enjoyed it a lot.
I recently had a few long haul flights and while the usual bunch of movies I churned through were forgettable 'noise and flashing lights' amusements, like Deadpool 2 and MI: Fallout, I did choose a drama and was pleasantly surprised. A well balanced, nuanced and strangely tense father and daughter story called Leave no Trace. It's amazing, which isn't a surprise considering the Director. Highly recommended. Will add to my collection.
I can't remember the last time I felt so hyped up about a film as I was for Glass. I don't quite know why, because I knew it would never be perfect. Perhaps it was because in the past 5 years we have been inundated with a deluge of superhero films that we are literally drowning in them. I knew that Glass was going to be a real mould-breaker, just like Unbreakable was before it (even though it came out in 2000, before the age of Marvel really kicked in). I liked Unbreakable, and loved Split, which I only just saw recently. Definitely what I would call a "grounded" superhero movie, possibly the most grounded there is, and also calls into question whether the three main characters even have "superpowers" or not. James McAvoy plays even more personalities in this film and is truly a feat of acting to be able to transition so seamlessly from one to the other in a single scene. Samuel L. Jackson is having the time of his life playing the eponymous Mr. Glass, who must surely have cemented himself now alongside the Joker as one of the most memorable supervillains of all time; Bruce Willis is just okay, although he doesn't really get much to work with. Of course, the other two characters have a much more magnetic personality than the everyman David Dunn, but I still felt like he was getting short-changed. I don't agree with how it got treated by the critics; the 'expectation' is to see loads of big setpieces, long action scenes and world-ending threats, and if that's what you are expecting to see going into the film, then you are clearly not the right audience for the film. That's what I would say. And with cinema now saturated with superhero films, this is what people have come to expect, and slam Glass because it's not that, which is a shame. One criticism I have though is I'm not convinced about the ending. Another 'Shyamalan twist' that he's famous for - but it didn't leave me 100% satisfied. It's not a sort of twist that ruins the film completely though; it does make some sense, just not what I would have gone for. Anyway, I'd recommend it! It explores some interesting themes rather than all the generic ones we see today about love and responsibility and all of that. Definitely makes a change from Marvel, and probably more of a psychological thriller than an action film. I would actually go as far as to say the opposite. I think that the new age of superhero films have really helped Unbreakable, and now Glass, stand out from the crowd. 7.5/10
Went to see The Man With the Iron Heart today. I dunno. There were moments when it almost humanized him, but what it failed to show was just how he ended up being so hart wie Kruppstahl. One moment he's a naval officer dating a Nazi, there's a moment of setback and weakness, and then boom, he's the most evil man in the Reich.* I know that all of these things are true, but for 120 minutes, I felt like something was missing. Yes, we never saw Amon Goeth's backstory in Schindler's List, but he wasn't the titular character in the movie. Also...casting. Reinhard Heydrich wasn't nearly such a physical brute of a man as Jason Clarke is in the film. I don't know off the top of my head if he was personally involved in physical abuse of prisoners or not, but he looks pretty slender: Jason Clarke, on the other hand, looks like a former college American football player: Actually, if you'll forgive a little levity at this point, he really reminded me of: and I kept mistaking Rosamund Pike for Jenna Elfman. Dharma should not be a Nazi, dammit All in all, not a bad flick, but not a great one. I doubt I'll really remember much of it in a year. ETA: *Reinhard Heydrich was the principal organizer of the Wannsee Conference, and it was Adolf Hitler himself who gave him the appellation of "the man with the iron heart."
I think my post will be more about review, can say a recommendation also. Watch 2 movies recently. Aquaman: Good I think this one of DC's best movie along side Wonder Woman so far. The cast is great, Mera (Amber Heard) so hot lol. Jason Mamoa portray Aquaman almost perfectly. The story it self is simpe and fine, not great. But it safe. Too many intrigue and twist sometimes blows out. Well yeah, I recommend this if you like superheros movie. Glass: Uh ok... The reason I want to watch this is because Samuel MF L Jackson lol. I watch Split last year and its good too. This movie supposedly the trilogy of Unbreakable, Split and Glass. I guess my expectation is too high. Lol The film is a bit dragged and boring, not many action throughout the film. Twist at the end gives a little notch. But yeah, my expectations was too high... Theres a quote that I like though. Spoiler: Mr.Glass This is not a cartoon. This is the real world. And yet some of us still don't die with bullets. Some of us can still bend steel. I've been waiting for the world to see that we exist. This week Alita Battle Angel is comeout, already plan to watch it.
I can't edit my last post to add this reply. So I had to double post. Sorry Mod lol I'm one of those who feel this movie kinda dragged and boring at some part. Spoilers alert Spoiler Well to be fair I want to get more piece of The Watcher vs The Beast, the only real confrontation between them is at the end. Which for me is very lacking. Its like B grade movie fight scene really lol. For me this cant be called superheros movie. No real villain and heroes. The watcher, Mr Glass and The Horde is superhuman. Mr Glass tend to be psychotic genius, in the end he only want to be recognized. Borderline drama and psychological thriller?? 1st part of the movie very promising, at the middle so boring. The only thing enjoyable is James McAvoy stint with dozens of character. Climax is very lacking though the premise is great. I can only give 6 out of 10 max. So it just ok for me
I can appreciate why many people thought it was disappointing. But M. Night films are always polarising by nature, I guess! It is lacking in the action department, but I never really considered it an "action" film in the first place. I think the whole reason why it has done poorly is because there was a wide audience with quite a wide range of expectations, and the film was never going to be able to deliver on them all. I saw Aquaman, but I can't say I was terribly impressed... Looks gorgeous and everything, some good action, but it just felt very paint-by-numbers plotting: nothing terribly interesting or notable story-wise. For the 2h 20min runtime, you really do start to feel it... Black Manta was a fairly interesting character, but barely utilised at all. 5/10 The Favourite was very good. Olivia Colman was the standout playing Queen Anne, definitely can see why she's got an Oscar nomination for her role easily. I don't know much about the era, but she came across very convincing playing a very ineffectual and moody monarch (so ended up being more interesting and entertaining than it's competitor in the genre, Mary Queen of Scots, which I felt was suspect enough that I could never get truly immersed and so really enjoyed it - 4/10). So here is one that I do agree with the critics! 7.5/10
Hmmm Aquaman is good on DC scale lol. Comparable to Wonder Woman. Yeah the story almost has nothing to offer. Spolier Alert Spoiler Aquaman destined to be a king, unite the Atlantean, stop a possible world ending catastrophe, safe his long lost mother, and get a princess in a the process lol. It's almost fairy tales, but yep this story is fine and safe for everyone to watch. But comeon.. 5 out of 10 is so harsh. Personally I give it 7. Mentioning Black Manta character yeah I agree, the early spark of arch nemesis story is solid. The end credit scene promise we will get Black Manta vs Aquaman in the next installment.
Perhaps I am being harsh - it is probably better than some other movies I would rate 5/10, lol! But I think I have become more critical of films in recent years as I have begun to watch more, and especially of the superhero genre, which is becoming more and more saturated. There have been some quite impressive ones out in the past year (Black Panther, Infinity War, Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse) so the standard has been stepped up a notch from what was being cranked out even only a few years ago, and that does factor in for me too.
How'd you rate Black Panther and Infinity War then?? Those 2 from MCU are from different class lol. I rate them 9 almost perfect. I think they're on top of superheros movie genre, none yet to overcome.
I'd give them both a 9. Spiderverse gets a 10, because that film left quite a special imprint in my memory.
In a world in which it is much more difficult to be impressed by special effects than when Avatar was released back in 2009 (ten years ago!! I can hardly believe it!), James Cameron proves he still has the edge with Alita: Battle Angel. This movie was just made for I-MAX (though the 3-D, whilst good, was a little under-utilised), it just looked amazing, the cyborgs in particular. Motorball has that Star Wars pod-racing subplot kind of feel, but this is where the action really shines. And much controversy has been made out of Alita's animation (the character) and her oversized eyes but I felt that the actress portraying her (Rosa Salazar) does such a great job emoting that it accentuated some characyer-building scenes in some places, not inhibited by it. Unfortunately, it seems like it is expected to do quite poorly at the box office, which I think is a real shame, because after seeing it tonight, I would pay to see a sequel too. Which it sets up quite optimistically. My one (and only) major criticism is that it very much feels like a "Part One" rather than coming to a well-rounded conclusion, as though success was already assured and a sequel already green-lighted (and with the names attached to the project, I made the same mistake). I was pretty sure that the film was guaranteed to do well, and didn't even give thought to it being anything else. Now this will probably end up doing more harm if a sequel doesn't happen. I still hope that it will happen, but initial forecasts seem doubtful. 8/10
This I agree with you dude lol. But I shall give it 8.5 out of 10. I just watch it last night, damn special effect in this movie is awesome. I'm impressed with the blend of motion capture and CGI. I read this movie announced around 2003, almost 20 years. A job well done I say. From story perspective this 2 hour+ movie ain't conclusive, and has many room to developed. I expect a sequel, prequel or both, lol. If this movie does great in the Box Office ofc, I'm sure it will though. About the character Alita its pure CGI with motion capture portrays by "you know who" lol. The detail is amazing (you can see a dimple on Alita nose if you watch closely), her move is so smooth, extraordinary sometimes but still on the barriers of humanly possible. I like it. Gesture and mimic really brought this character to live. About the big eyes, I think its ok, like Dr Ido said. Spoiler Shes a full replacement robot, means only retain her 14yo human brain. Overall this movie is great. The only cons is it made you wanting more lol. A quote that I like in this movie by one of the bad guy unfortunately. Spoiler: Vector I rather ruler in Hell, than had to serve in Heaven.
What kind of Tolkien movie? Are "they" Peter Jackson and co? Or did you actually mean to say Tolkein and I just have no idea what that is?
It's a biographical drama about Tolkien. Peter Jackson is not involved, to the best of my knowledge. J.R.R. Tolkien is played by Nicholas Hoult. I'm predisposed to like the movie (opinion subject to change when I see it) because hey, a movie about a writer!
That actually sounds fairly interesting (of course I already googled it and, having seen the trailer, I am cautiously optimistic).
Alita: Battle Angel was sadly disappointing. Cheesy, predictable, poorly cast (with the exception of Rosa Salazar) schmaltzy and, ultimately, boring. Every scene seemed family friendly, with dialogue delivered poorly, making it cheesy and not meaningful as intended. Everyone is always smiling and happy, or sentimental... or worse, smirking. It had so much potential. The same script but grittier, darker, with better delivery of the lines, would have been fantastic.
