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kastchei2112
Reviews
A Primeira Tentação de Cristo (2019)
Hilarious even through subtitles
This was hilarious. I don't speak any Portuguese, but even reading subtitles at break neck pace, I was laughing out loud the whole time, something which hasn't happened in a long time. The father spat between god and Joseph was hysterical. I definitely recommend.
Midsommar (2019)
Simply boring
Two thoughts came to mind as I watched this:
1) "This feels like Melancholia": more a meditation than a movie. It's so boring. Surprisingly little happens, yet it takes 2.5 hours to do it. The camera lingers too long on everything, and not just a few seconds too long, but 10, 20, 60 seconds too long. It's probably a conscious decision to try to heighten tension and make the audience feel the frustration and disorientation of the characters; but instead, it instills boredom. Symbolism has a weak impact when pulled across such a long frame; and the symbolism is pretty sophomoric (pun intended!).
2) "He's already M. Night Shyamalan'ed himself." There are so many laughable parts of this movie that are intended to be intense. I saw some reviews which said the comedy was intentional. It doesn't come across as intentional, though, so you're laughing at the director, not with him.
I was checking my watch and debating when to cut and run nearly the entire movie after the introduction which was really cool but had no bearing on the rest of the film. It's up there with Melancholia and The Thin Red Line as probably some of the worst movies I've ever seen. I don't judge bad movies by outrage or morals: I judge them simply by how much I wish not to be watching it. I spent nearly all the movie debating how much my friends would be mad at me if I left.
Save yourself the time, or at least wait for it to come on TV somewhere so you can play on your phone at the same time. Trust me, you won't miss anything. Like a soap opera, after finishing writing that work email, they'll still be on the same shot.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Re-evaluated after 12 years
I saw this movie in the theater, not on opening night, but shortly after. I was friends with folks who knew the original series by heart, played Star Wars games, and read Star Wars books. They were horribly disappointed with this movie, and I took all that negativity to heart.
I just rewatched it for the first time since the theater (perhaps there was one other viewing in there). I watched it with someone who didn't know anything about Star Wars; and I expected us to hate it. Actually, we loved it.
It's not a flawless movie. Some things were definitely missteps: racial stereotypes, midi-chlorians, some flat acting. But overall, the movie was incredibly fun and intriguing. Nothing I hated before was nearly as bad as I had thought, including Jar Jar; in fact some things were enjoyable that I disliked before.
The original trilogy was no polished work. It had a lot of bad acting (e.g. Luke) and more than it's share of kiddy jokes (e.g. Yoda when we first see him, Ewoks). But it also was incredibly linear. The plots of all three original movies were fairly simple, straight-forward adventures. The only curve-ball was Darth Vader being Luke's father. In contrast, the new trilogy has a much more in depth and intriguing plot. Figuring out who is what and exactly what is happening turned out to be half the fun - and once it was figured out (it actually does make sense if you focus on Palpatine), it's much more ingenious.
I kinda think of it like this: if you like great characters, a romping adventure story, and a happy ending, the original trilogy is better; if you like political intrigue, mystery, and tragedy, the new trilogy is better.