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The Little Mermaid (2023)
I really should learn my lesson and not have any sort of expectations anymore
So, as we've repeatedly seen over the last years, Disney doesn't really know what they're doing with these remakes (other than the fact that they're trying to make as much money as possible ofc). And this makes me weirdly conflicted when writing this review, because this movie is better than some of Disney's remakes,but it's still not really that good, it's kinda just ok.
And, just to get it out of the way, Halle Bailey is absolutely amazing, and her voice is phenomenal. And also Javier Bardem is practically a guaranty for quality, so as you can expect, he was quite good in this.
So, first of all, one of the biggest problems I had with the movie is that it feels structured weirdly. The pacing feels off, the first half of the movie (before Arile gets legs) feels long and dragged out, while the second half feels rushed.
Also, I noticed that they made a lot of changes to the story, most not extremely major, which really makes you wonder why they were made in the first place. Probably one of my least favourite is the change of Eric's characterisation and his motivations; it literally feels like the writers opened booktok one day, saw something and said "that's cool, let's use it", because it literally feels like they're trying to turn Eric into Elian from "To Kill a Kingdom" (minus the grammatically incorrect Greek presented as a made-up language ofc).
Anyway, bottom line is, the movie is OK, just try not to have any sort of expectations going in.
RRR (Rise Roar Revolt) (2022)
I knew this film was A LOT going in but WOW
So, we all know that Indian cinema is over the top, we all expect that coming into an Indian film. But then, something like this comes along and you're just sitting the trying to figgure put what you just whatched.
This film knows what your expectations are and just swings into them with full force.
This film just goes out of it's way to relish in anything and everything cinema has the potential to do. Anything can be better, anything can be bigger, anything can be louder, anything can be grander, and this film just takes full advantage .
This film is just a treat, do yourself a favor and watch it.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Definitely NOT a masterpiece
BEWARE SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!!
Soooooo............. Where to even start with this movie...........it's just...i don't even know, I can't use just one sentence to sum up this mess.
So, some time has passed since the first film, Jake & Neytiri have kids now and the sky people have returned, somehow Quaritch is back (they explain it but it's not like it makes sense), he wants revenge and Jake and his family have to go into hiding -that's as basic of a version of the plot as you'll ever get. But, despite the setup, the rest of the story is relatively weak. Because the Sully family has to live now in a different tribe, the first half of the film is basically the first film all over again(and it feels weirdly forced), it's just that it's Jake's whole family doing it.
Speaking of which, there's so much character related stuff that I want to talk about....... Here's just some of the character related plot holes: How and when was Spider born (clearly he was born before the end of the last film, so why didn't we know about him before) How did Grace's avatar get pregnant, how was Kiri born and who was her father (don't get me wrong, I'm glad they didn't reveal who her father was, it would have been the wrong person whoever it was) Why does Neytiri not tolerate Spider, and how does she go from mild dislike to ready to kill him over the course of the film when they spend exactly 0 time together (it makes no sense if it's because he's Quaritch's son, because Jake and Grace were working under his orders in the first film, and while she was sceptical at first, she does accept them)Wouldn't that substance they take from the tulkuns make the entire events of the first film avoidable,and, if so, why didn't they use it back then instead of bringing Jake in in the first place; Do the sky people no longer care about unobtanium and why didn't they come back sooner.
Also this film is really good at starting a story-line and dropping it exactly 10 min later or just inventing one half way through and pretending like it's been there the whole time. Some examples include: Lo'ak & Tsireya's relationship (or wannabe relationship); The friendship/brotherhood thing going on between Kiri & Spider, the reason they hunt tulkuns, and why does Ronal hold a grudge against Jake.
Which conveniently leads me to my next point, WHO WAS WRITING THESE CHARACTERS IN THE FIRST PLACE. At times it legit feels like they just rolled the dice and went with it. This is where Ronal comes in in my argument. If I were to ask you about two years and a half ago what you knew about this film you -----like the entire rest of the world----- would have said something about all the stuff that Kate Winslet did for this film; And what did they do with her character ??? That's right, NOTHING !! She's just there for like half the film, occasionally glancing at Jake in disapproval AND THAT'S IT !!! Also, what the hell was going on with the whole Lo'ak outcast story ?! It makes sense that they thought they needed to develop all the characters (which they don't do anyway) and making so that one of them is half the time alone means you have to focus some scenes just on him ,but also, if you wanted an outcast story, Spider was there the whole time, the story was basically writing itself. But No! ,they did that whole thing with him and Quaritch, which I would have been ok with if they would have actually done something with it.
And the ending just feels like it was thought up last minute. There's absolutely no reason for Spider to save Quaritch other than the fact that James Cameron can't find another way to bring him back from the dead again. And also, if they wanted to kill someone, it should have been Lo'ak , not Neteyam, because it would have actually had some emotional weight to it. Also, all the characters feel generally underdeveloped.
And, as a side-note, the film presents itself and really wants you to treat it like a legacy sequel, but the story and the film itself read much more like this film is just a normal direct sequel; so basically the film wants you to treat it like something way more ---I don't think the word is "prestigious" but something around there---- than it really is.
Yes, I know I gave this movie a very high rating for how much I've been hating on it, but this movie is really more than just a movie, it's something you experience, and there it succeeds. The cinematography is more than just gorgeous, so are the special effects and the Oscar was practically already won the second this film got announced.
So, definitely go see it, but don't expect greatness from the story.
The Fabelmans (2022)
Unsurprisingly, this hits home
I honestly don't know what I expected or needed this film to be, but somehow it still did something to me. I've fallen in love with movies a long time ago and considering the fact that that is what this movie is about, I guess I shouldn't be surprised..... In the end I think it kind of comes down to it being the right film at the right time. I'm sort of coming off of one of the worst times of my life rn and I think I really needed to be reminded how much I love filmmaking and why I should still try to pursue it.
As a film, it's not really a masterpiece, but I think we all knew that going in, but it is a good film, I'll give it that. I absolutely adored how Spielberg directed the film in the same ways that Sammy directed his films (at times obvious, at times surprisingly subtle), and I think it's just another small touch that's verry much appreciated in a film that's basically a love letter to cinema.
All in all, I really enjoyed it.
Mogul Mowgli (2020)
it feels...personal
So...I feel like I just watched an entry from someones diary, it feels like I've just walked in on someones life. It feels very personal,like Bassam Tariq and Riz Ahmed are just writing about their lives, their experiences, and telling their stories through the facade of a Pakistani rapper. In a way it feels like this film and Riz Ahmed's album "The Long Goodbye" kind of go hand in hand , as in, they work well together , but also on their own.
And, yes, the premise is a little bit similar to "Sound of Metal" (at least on paper), but that does not make it bad.
Dune (2021)
THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know how to say this, I don't know how to sart this review...I was in the theatre, I was looking at the screen, I was afraid to blink. I forgot about everything, I was completely emerst in this movie. And then it finished, and I got up and left the theatre, and on the car ride home my dad asked me if I thought it was a good adaptation, and I rememberd: yes, this was suposed to be an adaptation.
This film managed to made me forget that it was suposwd to be an adaptation, it made me forget that I was suposed to be in the real world, it brought me to another place and time, it made me feel like few other movies have done before (in case your interested, those are : The Grand Budapest Hotel, Arrival, Nomadland, The Lotr series and the Harry Potter series); that feeling, I can not explain, but I can say this : I FELL IN LOVE !!!!
This adaptation managed to go leegs beyond it's sourse material,was of such grandiose scale that it made the cultural phenomenon of a book that it was based on feel like a cheap nuvela you would buy at the newspaper stand (and I'm not just saying that). This IS the new Lord of the Rings, this IS the new Star Wars ( well technicly, Star Wars was the new Dune, but still) this movie IS the future of film-making and this movie IS one of the greatest movie OF ALL TIME !
Old (2021)
I was kind of expecting something else
So, I saw the trailer and I thought that it was probably a metaphor on time and life and what we do with the time that we are given. Most of the way through I thought that the best ending this film could have was for them all just to die and for the phenomenon not to be explained. So, for like half the film I was just hopeing the ending didn't suck. And, as it turned out, the ending kind of sucked. The twist that they were chosen to be there because of their medical conditions so they would be part of a medicine test, just competely changed the films metaphor half way through, from being about time and life to being about how we are just numbers in a sistem and how our lives don't matter in hindsight. And the way that the twist was executed was not the best : as in, they explaind that they were chosen , that their leave was coverd up by the "resort", that the "resort" was just a cover just a cover story for a medical test facility, but the phenomenon of the island is still not explained. They should have explained either both or neither.
This film could have been amaising, but it kind of wasn't.
Also, at least on good thing came out of this film: I found out that I can watch four horror movies in a row with no problem ( and belive me, I've watched some pretty gory stuff). So, I guess I can watch a lot of horror now :)
Ex Machina (2014)
This is one of the best films I have EVER seen
So, there is only one way I can describe this film:
You know that scene from Jurassic Park when Jeff Goldblum sais:"God creates dinosaurs, God disstroies dinosaurs, God creates men, men disstroies God, men brings back dinosaur" than he stops and Laura Dern continues:"Dinosaur eats men , woman enharets the earth". Well, swich the word "dinosaur" with "AI" and you've got Ex Machina in a nuttshell.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
When I say I adored it, I mean it !!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't understand where all the hate comes from ( ok, I lie , I know where the hate comes from , but for the sake of a good sounding sentence I wrote that anyway). It's a classic Disney film (aka. small story with great characters that makes an impact, and leaves you thinking and wanting more). But there are a few flaws : the characters don't have an ideal amount of room to grow and by the small synopsis on various websites ,I got the impresion that Rayas journey was about finding Sisu, not about finding the gem pieces ( I know /that is not really about the film, rather about the advertisement ) .
But there are enough good thing for that not to matter : the cinematografy, the score, the animation, the AMAZING fight choreography and character design.
Look, I love this movie and you can't change my mind.
WandaVision: The Series Finale (2021)
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me putt this strait , this was the first part of the MCU visual media that I watched, and I would say that it hit me pretty hard ( I'm writing this like 10 min after I stoped crying ) and the only thing I can say is WOW !!!!!
Mank (2020)
OK yes, GOOD no
Like basiclly everyone else, I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, and, yes I know I'm a little late, but I really wanted to share my thoughts on it non-the-less( I even rewatched Citizen Kane ). And now I think I'm at a point where I can write a review about it without making it 10 pages long.
One of my first thoughts on it was that, the film was somewhere between boring and entertaining, and by this I mean that it had just enough action not to be boring and enough politics not to be interesting. Speaking of witch I was surprised by just how much of the movie was dedicated to politics and also by how well it was recived ( I'm pretty shore I'm not the only one how remembers how much everyone hated the politics in the Star Wars prequals ). Also am I the only one how thinks that Lilly Collins should have goten a Golden Globe nod for this role, rather than Emily in Paris ?
All-in-all, it's ok at best, and I'm going to be so mad it it wins best picture , not only because this year had much better films ( Nomadland, The Trial of the Chicago 7 ,Tenet, Promising young woman and many more ), but also because it's at least 10 times inferioer than the movie it's suposed to be about, and as you might know Citizen Kane didn't win best picture ( but wining/ getting nominated more oscars than the movie / actor/ however in the movie making buissnes it's portraing has been a trend recently so IDK what to think will happen )
As I said, I felt a bit underwelmed .
Nomadland (2020)
BEAUTIFUL
"Beautiful" is the only word you could use to describe this movie. I know that a lot of people are going to call it boring or structure-less, point-less or that it doesn't have a plot and it's just events that come one after the other, but those are people who don't understand it. You might ask: " Why am I bringing this up?". Because I know that this is for most people this is the first movie by Chloe Zhao that they see and all those negative reviews might influence the way that they see not only this film but also her other work, and wile yes it might have some not so entertaining moment, boring is a word only a extremely ignorant person would use ( to be more clear, only a person who didn't understand the film and it's segnificanse would use ). Let me clarify : let's take a agreed upon "good" film like Titanic ( I am aware of the fact that Titanic has been considered "controversial" in the past few years and wile I have not picked the side I'm on just yet, neither of those things will stop me from proving my point,so we'll let that slide), so Titanic has rising action and forbiden romance , and it's clear from the very begining that it's doomed to end in heartbreak . So , in a word, Titanic makes you feel emotional, Nomadland does something way harder (and way less done especially in film) , it explores emotion, deep,raw,real,human emotion , but not just emotion, human expirience as well. This as I mentioned is something way less done and way harder to do, and there are those few directors who do it flawlessly , Chloe Zhao being one of them, and for that reason alone she should be considers of the greatest directors of all time and understandeblly all of her films (not just Nomadland) should be considerd masterpieces.
*just as a side-note,sorry for any spelling mistakes I might have made, English is not my native language*
Tenet (2020)
this movie is AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I remember when it was in cinemas and putting of seeing it, and now half a year later, I wacthed it and adored it (even thow I didn't fully understand it).