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bbsherman
Reviews
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)
Ugh
What a cliché. A CGI mess of a creation with nothing original that hadn't been stolen from other projects. Dialog so contrived you can predict each character's next line in advance. Even the better of an otherwise second rate cast (Anthony Hopkins amongst them) is forced to vomit crappy dialog, and poorly so.10 minutes in, the remaining time left of the story is easy to see coming. It almost feels like a setup for a future video game. The attempt for the scenes to appear "timeless" has viewers needing to reconcile the confusing mashup of 1800's England with some proposed distant future. I hate to be this visceral, but I had high hopes for this.
Copenhagen Cowboy (2022)
Unique and creative
The director used the same camera tricks over, and over, and over again. The 360° pan was used ad nauseum. Many scenes are very Kubrick-like. The poorly lit scenes seem to have been used to create an atmosphere mood, but also overused. Otherwise an intense, and often slow, storyline was held up well by the lead (Bundalovic), in spite of her character's limited dialog. Certainly a well appreciated departure from the same ol' productions out there. I opted to watch the English dubbed version, which I realize usually erodes the quality of the experience. In this case, with as many languages being used in the film, I didn't lose too much in translation.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Holy crap, this was embarrassing.
Absolute Disney drivel. How could so much access to talent and money go so poorly? If this is a sign of things to come with Marvel, it's a damn shame.
Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
Magic is long gone
The first Jurassic Park was a magical experience that benefitted from have been made at a time prior to our over exposure to CGI. When viewers saw the first movie there was a collective gasp at the sight of the dinosaurs. That magic has long gone. With the dinosaurs having become nearly cartoon in the CGI world, there is no longer an interesting story. This last movie is just an assault on the senses by noise and action, and too many scenes which have been regurgitated from of the history of the franchise.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Just awful
I don't see how it's possible for this to be taken seriously by enough people for it be rated as highly as it is. We must be desperate for entertainment at this point. The dialog is just drivel and the rest is just CGI greenscreen overload. Pratt is just flat.
Xin shen bang: Ne Zha chong sheng (2021)
A Piece of Animation Artwork
I really enjoyed the spectacular animation work put into this movie, which I was fortunate enough to enjoy in full HD and get the impact of all the incredible detail. The storyline was equally as well done and the action was nonstop. This rivals any of the MCU projects and I hope to see more creations from the team that put this together.
Sniper: Ghost Shooter (2016)
Decent potential storyline, poorly executed and acted.
Just ugh. Had the potential to be much better. Good location scenes. Poor casting or marginal actors or both.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
Stage-like Feel
Viola Davis is just magic, as always. Boseman and the rest of the cast are fantastic. Unfortunately, so much of this film feels like a stage production version. The dialog exchange and the character interactions are executed as it would be on stage. Makes me wonder how different it would be if they approached it differently.
Malcolm & Marie (2021)
Forced dialog
This played like a stage production full of an excessive amout of dialog, memorized and spit out in a unnaturaly synced way. The camera work, all contained in the few rooms of a single house, reinforced the stage production feel. It was claustrophobic.