Detective

The Florida Project - 9/10 I’m struggling between giving it a 8, or a 9 out of 10. Doesn’t matter. Baseline is, it’s a beautiful film — in every sense of the word. Its cinematography is stunning, but more so the locations and the poetic juxtaposition of beauty and misery; of rich tourists visiting Disneyland, and poor Americans struggling to survive. We see empty houses in bright blue and pink, warm, wet, colorful Florida days, children living their best lives in the face of poverty and no future. It really is a beautiful film. The performances are also amazing across the board, you believe every single character and seeing the non famous actors, or non actors definitely helps. The fact that this film doesn’t follow the typical three act structure and character arcs that we’re used to seeing (not that there is anything wrong with it) is also very refreshing. If you haven’t seen ‘The Florida Project’ do me a favor, actually do yourself a favor, and watch it! I think it’s on Amazon.

Game Night - 6/10 First Man - 7/10

Annihilation - 7/10

American Psycho (rewatch) - 8/10 The Transporter (rewatch) - 6/10 The Meg - 5/10

This is funny, I was trying to find my post for forever and couldn’t do so. And I was a little confused because I was scrolling through the posts and going back to posts that were definitely posted before mine, and mine wasn’t anywhere to be found, and then I came back to yours, read it properly and was like ‘ok this makes sense now’. Thanks for clarifying , and don’t worry about it!

I haven’t seen the TV show. I have only seen the 4th, 5th and now 6th installment of the franchise, so I can’t compare the characters.. Mission Impossible are obviously not really character driven films, it’s the action that drives all the films, but the characters are compelling, well acted etc. that you do care about them. And big parts of the story rely on solid characters and their interactions, so I would say that the characterizations of Ethan Hunt etc. are all one could ask for in an action movie.

I am Legend - 6/10

You Were Never Really Here - 6/10

The Foreigner - 5/10

I finally saw “Arrival”. Ladies and gentlemen, I honestly believe that in Denis Villeneuve we have one of the best directors of our time. This man is putting out amazing movie after amazing movie, and I’m still not over the fact that “Blade Runner 2049” was not nominated for ‘Best Picture’. Not much to say about Arrival without spoiling it, so.. Arrival - 8/10 I’ve never seen any of the Hunger Game movies, until now that I watched all of them pretty much back to back. Here are my ratings, which apparently go against the mainstream for some reason. Hunger Games - 5/10 The thing that I hated the most in in the first movie, by far, was the directing, the editing, the look of the film. It didn’t flow well at all, everything was so choppy, and what the heck was all that shaky cam doing there? I hate shaky cam. Also they never used wide lenses to show the amazing set pieces they had available, they always used long lenses and that really threw me off. This was wasted potential in my opinion, a good director could have done so much better, that’s why I was happy that they had gotten a new one for the rest of the series. Hunger Games: Catching Fire - 6/10 This was better than the first for sure. No shaky cam anymore, you could actually see what was going on. Still nothing spectacular though. Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I - 5/10 I thought I liked this movie more than to give it a 5/10, but if you think about it, nothing really happens in this movie, nothing that justifies an over 2 hour runtime. Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II - 7/10 This is the best movie by far in the series, in my opinion. This is the movie, the only movie, that actually surprised me in a good way. I actually enjoyed this one. And that’s what I meant when I said that my ratings of these movies apparently go against the mainstream, because Part II is the lowest rated of the series, which I really don’t understand. Things happen in this movie, a lot of things, there is plot in this, unlike the first part. And I guess some people say that as opposed to the first part, where there was only build up and no relief, that in this film there was only relief and no build up. And I can see that, having in mind that these movies came out one year apart from each other, but having them watched back to back, it didn’t bother me at all. Not in this one anyway. Also, this film is BEAUTIFUL! I have to say that, because I so despise the directing and look of the very first film, and the choppiness etc. Mockingjay Part II shows the capital, it lets scenes breath, it doesn’t cut every 3 seconds, you have some longer takes, you have some wider lenses, and beautiful colors, all of which I think could have made ‘Hunger Games’ a much better movie. I most loved the scenes where Jennifer Lawrence and her squad were invading the capital, running through the empty city and the sewer and all that. Although those weird creatures in the sewers didn’t at all fit the tone of the entire series. I have no idea how many of you actually read what I write, but if you did, thank you for letting me waste your time. Have a great day, and if you haven’t, watch Blade Runner 2049 and tell me it should have been nominated for Best Picture.

World War Z - 6/10 The Equalizer - 7/10 (rewatch)

Incredibles 2 - 7/10 Not going to lie and say I waited for this for 14 years.. I watched the first one only a couple months ago for the first time [emoji51] . Anyway, the first one was a 8/10 for me, the sequel is definitely a lot of fun, but doesn’t quite hold up the awesomeness of its predecessor. For instance the villain isn’t quite as strong in my opinion, I kind of knew who the bad ‘guy’ was going to be after some time and the character wasn’t the greatest, whereas in the first movie the ‘fan boy gone wrong’ had a great story and motivation. Still, I had an absolute fun time watching this one although the theater was packet, there were way too many kids, and I had to sit front row. The best part for me were Jack Jack and Enda Mode (the artist/designer) who, did you know, is being voiced by the director Brad Bird himself?!

Upgrade - 8/10 I really like this film! Created by one of the brains behind the first Saw movie, this is a low budget blast! This summer is packet with superhero movies and sequels a la ‘Avengers’, ‘Oceans 8’, ‘Jurassic World’, ‘Star Wars’, which makes it so great to see an independent small original film. Original in the sense of execution, not concept. The basic premise is this: Set in the near-future, technology controls nearly all aspects of life. But when Grey, a self-identified technophobe, has his world turned upside down, his only hope for revenge is an experimental computer chip implant called Stem. We’ve seen movies like Upgrade before, but not quite like this. I know some of you don’t like violence, but if you can put that aside and want to enjoy a small, self contained, interesting movie that too little people will see, then go see Upgrade. I recommend

Wanted (2008) - 6/10

Avengers: Infinity War - 8/10 Deadpool 2 - 8/10 (this is a funny movie. But it also had heart and some depth. But really it was about the laughs. It is really funny, IF this is your type of humor. Also the after credit scene might be the best ever! That’s not an overstatement. I loved it.)

8 Mile - 6/10

Full Metal Jacket - 8/10 Also saw Infinity War last week or so, will wait til I see it a second time to give it a rating, but I have to say that the more thought I gave to the movie, the more I found myself liking it.

Ready Player One - 6/10

Bad Boys - 5/10 Michael Bay sucks, Will Smith is awesome. But even someone like Smith can’t make much of what is given to him in terms of dialogue and characterization etc, so how good can he be.. Lawrence is occasionally funny, occasionally annoying. But then, it’s Bad Boys, it’s almost a classic at this point, it’s dumb, it’s cliche, but it’s enjoyable, and.. it’s Bad Boys. But then, Michael Bay really sucks.

The Adventures of Tintin - 5/10 This movie had so much potential, but didn’t utilize it. My biggest question is, why they chose the story they chose, because in my opinion the comics have some way more interesting and fun stories to tell. It also didn’t at all capture the vibe and atmosphere of the comics, which is really unfortunate, because that’s one of the most fun parts about them. It looked fantastic obviously , started out with a pretty interesting premise, but couldn’t keep it and was overall a disappointment to me (which is crazy, because wth, Steven Spielberg AND Peter Jackson collaborated for this).

Oh sorry my bad , Umm.. yes! I definitely recommend the movie, but you have to bring time and willingness to sit through a 2h 20min movie. Don’t underestimate the runtime. That said, the movie is really creative in its structure and there’s no other movie quite like it, it explores fait and choices and all that and Ryan Gosling as well as Bradley Cooper are fantastic here, maybe especially Cooper.

what?

A Quiet Place - 8/10 Heck yea John Krasinski, heck yea. I was a little scared that the movie wasn’t going to be good, but I really loved the concept and the trailers were promising, and when the reviews and IMDb score (8.3 at the moment) started coming in, I was confident that this movie was great. And guess what, I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a great movie that everyone should see, it’s not just for horror fans, I wouldn’t include myself in that list btw, it’s about family and what you would do to protect them (as Krasinski has pointed out in interviews). It’s a really great movie that tells an interesting story in a very unique and smart way, has great performances, and is just an all around success. To me this movie is a strong 8, maybe even a 9/10. Side-note: I love that A Quiet Place is kind of last years ‘Get Out’, it doesn’t make any big political statements obviously, but it’s a small budget horror movie that has a pretty big hype surrounding it, is written and directed by a man mostly known for his comedic work, it is on its way of making big money etc. I’m just happy to see these original small movies getting a lot of attention and telling movie makers that that’s what we want to see, and that despite the hundreds of sequels and crap movies we’re getting, there’s still ambitious, young filmmakers out there, at the top of their creative game. another quick side-note lol: It really is true that you sometimes have a hard time eating your popcorn, because everything and everyone on AND offscreen is absolutely quiet. Plus, that one scene with John Krasinski’s character, you know it when you see it, literally gave me goosebumps multiple times in a row! It was crazy, so so good and emotionally effective.

The Place beyond the Pines - 7/10

The Outsider - 4/10 Netflix did it again. Disappoint. So much potential, and such poor results. I was pumped after I saw the trailer couple weeks back, was surprised that it was already released on Netflix as I stumbled upon it last night, and watched it after checking it out on IMDb. It has a score of 6.3 and a Metascore of 30, which is extremely low. I scrolled thru a couple of reviews, and people were giving it 10s, 9s and 8s and talking about how the critics got it all wrong once again and how you should not listen but watch it instead. And so I did. And if you have seen/read any review (you probably haven’t cuz nobody has seen this movie lol) you’ll hear one thing: it’s generic, and super predictable. And that’s the main problem. The movie doesn’t take any risks, it plays every card save, its plot points are foreseeable and you have seen everything, i mean everything in different movies before. From the foreigner that has to prove himself in a different culture, the bad guy that betrays the good guys, to the generic love story. The movie isn’t terrible. The acting is good, good enough anyway. The directing isn’t bad, and neither is the cinematography, it’s actually quite beautiful (that said, the characters are really bland, we have no reason to care about the main character whatsoever). It’s just, that one has seen the movie before, without actually having seen it. Oh yea Jared Leto is the lead. And he is generic as well, unfortunately. The Outsider is one of the most forgettable and generic movies I have seen lately. I was even thinking about giving it a 3/10 or so, but the thing is, it didn’t annoy me or frustrate me, it’s not horrible, it’s just horribly generic.