Reviews

Let's get one thing straight: this is not a cheap rehash of Shaun of the Dead that's also a knockoff of What We Do In the Shadows as the trailer might suggest. Neither is it a comedy in the traditional sense, nor is it interested in being a stereotypical zombie movie. What this movie is, is a straight up satire. The film shows off all of the laziness and selfishness of the entitlement mentality in all of its glory (or rather, lack thereof). It's a film with bite to it, that by its own admission hates the desire to have everything for little to no effort. It's a film that begs its audience to stand for something and truly care for the people around them. And for the most part it works. It paints such an ugly picture of its entitled protagonists that by the end you are basically begging them to just for once put some fight up for something besides their own selfish desires. If there was one thing that I wish the film had more of though, it's charm. The film shows that each character has their own quirks that could make them charming, but it does not lean into those quirks nearly enough. It does have enough charm to get you to like certain characters, but not enough to make you really like all of them. I understand making certain characters in this too likeable runs the risk of damaging the satire, but some glimmers of light in those characters would have really helped the desire to see them change be more than just feeling frustrated with the characters. Overall though, I enjoyed this film for what it was.

This was a delightful callback to the classic Universal monster movies. Michael Giacchino delivers in both his directing and his score, giving us a tight, tense introduction to a new side of the MCU. Why Marvel didn't push this more in the marketing is beyond me. They were sitting on gold here. It looks great visually and introduces interesting characters I really want to see more of. Bernal and Donnelly both did a good job, and I really enjoyed their dynamic. The story itself is simple, but has enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. And ultimately it really delivers on the fun. I was glued to my TV the whole time, and I can't wait to watch it again.

I REALLY hated this movie. It totally lost me with its depiction of the characters. Wonder Woman is super cringey, Green Lantern is annoying, Cyborg's arc is not well thought out, Shazam! Is just kinda boring, and Superman's entire character is that he can punch things REAL good. Also, exactly three of those characters drool over Wonder Woman at some point in the film, which is neither tasteful nor interesting. Batman's the only decent character in this movie, but even he's not the strongest iteration of the character. He's just good compared to how bad everyone else is. Oh yeah, and Flash is in this movie too.

The story is basically non-existent in this thing. I understand that they were trying to faithfully adapt a comic to the screen, but there are just some comic books where you can't do that. This is one of them. This particular comic just does not translate over to film well at all. And especially after seeing the Snyder Cut do something compelling with literally the same basic plot idea, this is just sad.

The only things saving this from a one star review is Batman and the nice animation. Seriously, the animation team put way more passion into this than the script deserved. I mean, kudos to them for putting out their best effort even if the writers couldn't be bothered to do the same. But still, yikes.

This might be the best of of season, if not the entire series so far. The dynamic between Mando and Bill Burr's character was incredible. They are perfect foils to each other and play off each other so well. And the way Rick Famuyiwa wrote them so that they were able to help each other grow as characters in spite of their differences was brilliant storytelling. On top of that, the episode is just fun to watch. The action scenes are masterfully directed, in particular the chase sequence in the middle of the episode (seriously, I would have been fine if that sequence had been most of the episode, it was that good). The episode is a cinematic feast (seriously, never have I said "That's a beautiful shot" this many times while watching a TV episode), and every design detail was on point (seriously, Boba Fett has NEVER looked this good). And that ending. I have no words. That ending brought me so much joy and got me pumped for the season finale. This episode really is a work of art, and Famuyiwa deserves to spend more time working on this show.

As I am sure most people did, I went into this rather skeptical. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was actually a solid first episode. The task of a pilot episode is to establish who the main characters are, the situation they are in, and the plot of the show as a whole. And it has to do all of this while telling an interesting mini-plot for that one episode. This episode does all of that, and does it fantastically. Sure, there is a pacing problem for about three minutes in the second half of the episode (hence the nine stars), but otherwise this was a solid start that promises a show that explores a part of the Star Wars galaxy that we haven't seen before. Whether or not they will squander this opportunity remains to be seen, but for now this episode gives hope that we have yet another solid entry in the Star Wars mythos from Dave Filoni and co.

The information presented in this film was clearly and accurately presented. For the most part, the presentation of said information was easy to follow and memorable. As an added bonus, the film is aesthetically pleasing to look at. My only complaint is with the last twenty minutes or so of the film. I'm not sure if it was the cinematography used, the editing, the musical choices, or some combination of all of these, but it felt like the documentary ended five times. There were seriously five distinct points in the last twenty minutes of the film where I was getting ready to get up from my seat because I thought the film was almost over. This left me feeling like the filmmakers had several different possible endings in mind and just decided to use them all. The information in these last minutes is still good, but it could have been packaged better. All in all, quite informative, and would definitely show this to anyone who is curious about Calvinism's history and teachings.

I wasn't originally planning to go see this movie, but my roommate told me he was going and after watching the trailer I thought I'd give it a shot. And I'm glad I did. While this isn't a perfect film (the opening feels a little rushed, for example), the qualities of this film far outweigh any flaws in it. It's well-acted, beautifully shot, has a haunting score, and quite emotional. Seriously, you would have to have a heart of stone to not be moved at all by this movie.

I won't go into much detail because I don't want to detract from the experience of watching this movie for the first time, but I must say that the surprising standout is not Oscar Isaac or Christian Bale (although they are both great in this movie), but rather Charlotte Le Bon, who is the leading lady in this film. Her performance just immediately endears you to her character. She is just so great in this movie. Could not do a review of this movie without giving her a shout-out.

Finally, don't pay attention to the negative opinions on this movie. Most of them are coming from people over in Turkey who didn't even want this film to be made in the first place, so they are automatically biased. This is a well-made film, with great performances and a lot of heart. And to top it all off, every cent spent on this film at the box office goes to charity. So go see this movie. You'll get a great experience, and you'll be helping some folks out while you're at it.