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Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
A disgrace
Disgusting
Incendies (2010)
Quite the disappointment
First of all, in my opinion, Denis Villeneuve is one of the greatest film directors of our time. Blade Runner 2049 and Enemy are some of the greatest films in recent memory, but this does not mean that all of his work has to achieve the same threshold of brilliance or even the the slightest bit of ingenuity. One such miss, I believe, is the 2010 movie Incendies.
The plot follows Jeanne, a young up-and-coming mathematician, and her twin brother trying to uncover the mysterious life of Nawal, their deceased mother, and fulfill her last wish of giving a letter to their lost father and brother respectively. What we end up with is a melodramatic retelling of Sophocles's immortal tragedy Oedipus Rex with a somewhat meaningful commentary on religious extremism and the destructive power nationalism on the side.
I believe that most problems of the film reside with the stupidity and the lack of foresight of Jeanne and her brother, impossible coincidences and the dubious motivations of of their mother. First, we know that Jeanne roughly knows how much and at what time did Nawal spend in the unnamed Middle Eastern country. We find out for ourselves the moment she visits the old university from Jeanne herself. Later on she finds out for how long Nawal spent time in prison from the school janitor and that she was raped and impregnated there. It is at that time that she found out that she got pregnant there as well. The twins age align perfectly with the time table given by the film. One would think that a mathematical prodigy like Jeanne would at least suspect a correlation, but no. What we get instead is an hour more of beating around d the bush culminating in the overrated and predictable reveal worthy of any Turkish/Spanish soap opera, i.e. that their brother is also their father, which brings me to my second point: the coincidences. Nawal just happens to unknowingly find her son in a prison who just happens to rape and impregnate her and there is obviously the moment when she conveniently stumbles upon him at the swimming pool where she could identify him by the tattoo on his heel in a completely different country almost twenty years later. This is some Star Wars level coincidence nonsense here. Thirdly, I simply reconcile Nawals need to tell the truth to her son. The film goes out of it's way to establish that Nihads personality is almost completely a product of the environment that he was raised in. This is something that Nawal certainly had the capacity to understand. We even see that Nihad made and active effort to become a functioning part of the society after leaving The Middle East. But thanks to the terrible realization of what he had done, his efforts will most certainly fall apart as he descends into a never ending cycle of guilt. I simply cannot find a way to justify Nawals choice of action. Sometimes, ignorance truly is bliss.
Although I believe that ultimately there is more good than bad about the film, there are some interesting aspects of it. The acting of Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin is great and at moments superb. Social commentary had quite a bit of potential, but even this, I believe, was not explored to its fullest extent.
All in all, I find this movie to be a complete mess and an overall disappointment.
The Dead Don't Die (2019)
A unique take on a dull genre
Paternon was the only movie I saw from Jarmusch before watching The Dead Don't Die and enjoyed it quite a bit. I was surprised when I found out Jarmusch was making a zombie movie, but was excited even though I don't think much of zombie movies.
The plot revolves around a small fictional town called Centerville trying to battle the hord of the undead caused by the polar shifting of the earth... Sounds like the most meta zombie schlock ever unteal you realise what direction is the movie actually taking. Throughout the movie little bits and pieces of information were given like the moment when the two main characters Ronnie and Cliff are talking about the song on the radio and Ronnie saying that "It's the theme song". At that point the audience can only suspect what that means, but it becomes obvious that the whole movie is just a jab at 50s and 60s b movies with a sprinkling of social commrntary. Amateurish dialogue, slow pacing, emotionless acting and ultimately the braking of the fourth wall all add up to an almost perfect satire. The main complaint that I have with this movie is its end when the hermit Bob has a monologue explaining the already pretty obvious themes of consumerism layed throughout the movie.
The critics weren't very generous when reviewing this movie, but I'm certain that it will gain a cult following over time. I highly recommend it.
Avatar (2009)
Just pathetic
I've been hesitating to se this particular flick for quite a long time. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, most of my fears became true.
Avatar is a bland, predictable and boring movie that relied almost completely on it's groundbreaking 3D technology that started a new era that lasted about six months. I personally hadn't had the fortune, or misfortune, to see it in 3D but no special effects can change the fact this movie is so lazy.
The movie follows a white American male who is sent to a frontier so he could meet a mysterious new culture. After learning about their beliefs and way of life, the man understands that his people, the colonizers, are intruders and should leave the natives alone. Sounds familiar? Of course it does. If it weren't for special effect this film would be looked at as just another "Dances with wolves" ripoff. Painting Native Americans blue and calling the new precious resource "Unobtainium" does not make your film deep Cameron!
The acting was sufficient, but I'm really disappointed to see so many fine actors wasting their talent on such second-rate garbage.
If you haven't seen the movie, I encourage you not to.