Reviews

I think the premise of the story is interesting, but it wasn't executed well.

Ultimately, the movie is about a disgraced cop awaiting trial for a murder (cause he doesnt follow protocol and he's itchin to hurt "bad guys"), coming to the realization that he's a bad cop and needs to take accountability after almost getting a woman and her husband killed (in a series of rule breaking high stakes shenanigans). There's a big twist in the end that leads him to realize he was doing too much and him breaking the rules to solve the case actually just obscured the answers and led everyone down a more dangerous path.

My ultimate issue with the movie is that it is insanely unrealistic to the point that's its distracting. He's in a dispatcher office with other people, also answering calls, yet for the whole movie it seems like no one knows what's going on, or is aware of the madness and rules and laws he's breaking... despite the fact that he's yelling, destroying property, cussing other callers out and calling every officer in the neighborhood to do warrrantless searches and go on man hunts. It just seemed unrealistic that he'd, in the midst of a trial for misconduct and abuse, have that many officers willing to break the law for him and that no one in the office would have something to say about how he's handling calls.

I also didnt really like the style choice. It's almost 2 hours of us starting at Jake have asthma attacks and listening to random voices describe what's going on. Didnt even get much from the people in the dispatch building.

It was a bright and joyful movie with good music, good actors and singers, and for the most part an interesting plot. I laughed, I felt connected to the story and characters but there are a lot of points where the story line doesn't make much sense and therefore overall misses the mark.

Jingle Jangle is a story within a story, it's being told by one of the characters in the main story as she's an older woman with grand children. Through this story those children find out that they're part of a big toy fortune, and at the end of the story fly to the toy factory in the sky and it just makes absolutely no sense and is completely out of line with the inner story that that character's future children or grandchildren wouldn't know when their grandmother herself is a toy inventor.

It's a kids movie though so how much are they digging into the logic of the storyline anyway. It was cute for what it was, just not a 10.

The movie overall was very good. There was good pacing, the main character acted really well, the visualizations really put you in her mind and enabled you to feel and empathize as she's breaking down and not understanding what's going on and having this psychotic break (or realization of reality depending on how you interpret the movie). However, the ending doesn't make clear what you were meant to get from the rest of the movie or what the "truth" is. As you can probably see from many other reviews, it's hard to tell whether this is a movie about a girl having a psychotic break, delusions, potentially schizophrenia etc, or if this is a movie about a girl being abducted by aliens, and realizing it while everyone THINKS she's crazy.

I guess that goes to show how well they were able to convey her perspective, if even the viewer can't tell what's real and what's not. I think as you watch you grow attached, empathetic and concerned for her well being in the end, so to not have a true ending that clarifies where she ends up or if she's okay in the end feels unsatisfying. (But I'm also not a big fan of those "pick your own ending, you interpret the movie how you want" endings so take that opinion with a grain of salt if you are into that sort of thing.)

On the one hand there are a few things in the movie that seem unexplainable if she's just having a psychotic break. There's the scratches on the wall of her apt which we know aren't delusions since her roommate sees them, the scratches on her car, the bruises on her body, and then the horse thing while they're in the art store that happens in the beginning and the end seeming like a time loop or jump.

On the other hand there are also so many things she either dreams or imagines that haven't happened or aren't confirmable by anyone outside of her imagination and perception. There's also the fact that, if she was legitimately being abducted and she wasn't actually crazy, why would she do so much of the crazy things she did in the moments she was in a more sober state of mind. Also almost all of it is played out as a delusion or dream so even the things that are seemingly legitimate "reality" are still from HER perspective (which would explain the horse loop). For example, the graveyard scene with Darren. Even if she truly believed he was a believer in the paranormal and believed in what she was saying, what sane person thinks they can dig up a 6ft grave with a pair of scissors? Even people from the past had shovels lol. Or the 3 days she was in the psychiatric facility, she seemingly broke into the art store had the alarms going off, yet no one called the police? She seemingly sews this elaborate protective outfit for herself and horse, and gets caught by one of the stable people in the middle of the night looking clearly unwell but they also don't call the police? And then, the idea that she's her grandmother would mean she came from the future to go back in time to have her mother who had her? At the point the clone thing makes more sense.

Or maybe, she is both mentally ill and being abducted by time traveling aliens lol, which would honestly be a good strategic choice for the aliens lol.

Anyway, as you can see very thought provoking, would definitely recommend regardless of dissatisfaction with the ending.

The overall premise of the story is interesting and written relatively well. Hugh Jackman does a really good job as Leopold and really draws you into to the romance and makes you fall in love as you're watching her do the same. It has good humor, quirky moments, and overall good acting. I'd definitely recommend watching.

That said, there are a few parts of the story that don't make sense but are potentially acceptable since it's a fantasy romance movie. First, I think Leopold was there for about a week? Maybe a little more, and in that span of time they fell so deep in love that she was ready to jump off a bridge and give up her career that she'd worked her whole life to get, her family, her friends, her ability to contact any of them, the whole present and all that came with that including modern medicine, technology, cars, a little less sexism lol. That seems like an extremely drastic decision to make for a man you knew for less than a month, went on 2 dates with and cuddle slept with once. And on top of that she had only been broken up with Stuart for a month, hadn't even gotten all her stuff back since it starts with her trying to get the blackberry. I find it hard to believe that she could decide to marry a whole knew person she barely knows, only a month and a week after a different long term breakup. I get that it's meant to be some whirlwind romance that softens the heart of the corporate working woman who's given up hope on finding love, but it just seemed so in contradiction to her character.

Also, how does Stuart get stuck in the hospital that long? Does he not have any family? I mean the dude fell down an elevator shaft (and magically healed from so many broken bones all his body parts were hung up) and no onneee comes to check on him? Even if they put you on a psych hold they'd call family, an emergency contact, something.

So it makes absolutely no sense with any of the other timelines. People die that are supposed to be alive on later dates, Jean getting the phoenix powers doesn't align with this being a later time period than the last movie where she used said powers etc etc.

I think it works as a stand-alone movie not considering anything else that's come out but that's really disappointing considering this was supposed to be the culmination or closing of the xmen series. Also, even as a stand-alone it was only okay. The cinematography and effects were good but a lot of the acting was mediocre (like cyclops doesnt really stand up to sophie turner whose really built up her abilities during game of thrones), the story moves really slow and it doesn't really feel over when it's over.

Overall didn't hate it but it's not what I felt I was waiting a year for.

It was really good humor/effects/action etc.

I just have like 3 problems with it. (1) I don't think Tom Hardy really had chemistry with the love interest. It felt very awkward and forced (maybe excluding 1 or 2 scenes towards the end. (2) Her wig was trash the whole movie, it annoyed me so deeply...like im sure her real hair would've looked better so why. And (3) they didnt really get into venom's choice to save the planet or stay on earth. It was like a few light convos, some light exposure to love and then suddenly he's willing to go against his own race and murder hisown pple cuz he likes tom?

I loved awkward black girl when it was on youtube and I sincerely love this show, the acting, the exploration of LA, the comedy, the drama, the soundtrack, the depiction of black culture and aspects of black culture that aren't normally shown etc. etc. etc.....

BUT there are gratuitous amounts of sex FOR NO REASON sometimes. Like I get it, it's HBO...half their shows are essentially soft-core porn so it's not like I'm expecting it to be some squeaky clean family friendly show. HOWEVER, I feel like sex scenes, especially when they're super explicit, should have purpose and not just be added for shock value. Sure there are some points where a long sex scene makes sense because something is being explored between the characters, like this is the first time or there's going to be an awkward moment or an argument or something adding value to the general storyline that requires more from the scene than usual. But most of the time, the audience can get the point without a whole 60 seconds of bouncing boobs and grinding especially when it's between a main character and someone who doesn't even matter in the grand scheme of things.

Like the latest episode (for season 3) had a Lawrence flashback so we could kind of see what he's been up to since the last convo with Issa, and literally the first 3-4 mins of the episode was just super explicit sex scenes of him with diff women. And on the one hand, I get that they were trying to show him in his hoe lifestyle and it definitely had a stronger affect than if they wouldve only shown him talking to a bunch of different girls in a bar for example. However, there were other ways to have that same effect without almost 4mins of a 30min show being strictly dedicated to him in diff sex positions on a couch grinding against women with their boobs out. For example scenes of them kissing, or closing a door behind them, or leaving a bar etc. would show us the same thing, "Lawrence is now a hoe" without me feeling like I'm just watching porn. And even if your down with explicit sex scenes, when they take up so much of the show it just feels like a waste the very limited minutes of the show on scenes with no real value (when we could be getting into some of the other drama I'm actually interested in).

This may be an unpopular opinion, maybe people are actually into gratuitous amounts of useless sex scenes, but for me it makes the show an 8 when it has the potential to be a 10.

They did a good job on the cinematography, and the acting is well done for what the script is. It's definitely an interesting concept, and I was intrigued enough to watch the whole thing, but there are a lot of holes in the story.

For example, they do a lot of flashbacks for the main character about his dad who it seems used to be a traditional fireman, eventually had his books burned and the main character was raised as a child by the new "firemen" who indoctrinated and brainwashed him to believe in this whole goal to eliminate all books in the world. However, despite these flashbacks going on throughout the movie there's no point where he actually confronts or acknowledges the memories except in maybe a single line when he's beginning to question his mission. He says something about having confusing memories of his dad, but then it's not acknowledged beyond that. Then throughout the movie they're emphasizing the bond between him and his Captain. It's clear he raised him, and his Captain has made him believe his Dad was a 'fireman' and would have wanted his son to get as high as he can in this line of work. But after all that set up, they just gloss over the big reveal that the Captain was not in fact his father's friend and essentially kidnapped and brainwashed him. There's a semi-emotional moment, some facial expressions when he realizes but no confrontation, no exchange between these two characters regarding the big lie, there's just a flash of a memory and he angrily continues what he's doing ultimately sacrificing himself. Then the relationship with the girl is very superficial, like suddenly they're in love after reading a book together one night and the very next day they're suddenly this "ride or die" couple with no real look into why (beyond him finding her attractive while stalking her for work). Then beyond the big things there are so many little (but important) things about the world itself that they don't fill in, like what does it mean to "erase someone's life", what's the goal of the true elite behind the agenda to burn all books, what does all of this technology mean (for example it's clear he's popular on the internet or whatever the tv thing is, and people watch and follow him as an agent and as the firemen burn things but there's no real context for it)...etc. etc.

I feel like it had potential...good actors...well shot...good scoring but there were just too many plot holes to make it complete. I probably have a less harsh rating because I haven't read the book so I had no expectations that the movie would follow a certain script or that characters would be a certain way. From the previews I somewhat expected it to be like Equilibrium. But with all these plot holes that I'm sure the book deeply explored, I can see why fans of the book would dislike the adaptation.