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Leave the World Behind (2023)
Leave the world behind review:
Leave the world behind was a movie that had me hooked and interested all the way through right up until the ending, even though it was a rather long movie of 2 hrs 20 mins, I feel it held my attention for majority of it's run time.
Therefore I was very let down by the way the film suddenly ended, I get the idea of leaving up to the viewers interpretation of what happened, however after spending that much time building & setting up all this intensity, it was a very flat ending, feeling like the story wasn't finished.
The characters of the main 3 adult actors did a very good job, even playing unlikable characters in particular Julia Roberts character.
I feel like this may benefit from a sequel/a part II or even a tv mini/limited series, to follow up this movie and further explore the world of what is actually going on and getting a better resolution rather than the ending we got in this film.
Ultimately, I was invested for basically the whole run time of the movie, but the way it ended left a bad taste in my mouth, after the abrupt ending that we received.
Most likely would have been a 7 or 8/10, with a more satisfying ending.
However, as it stands - 5/10 for this movie.
No Time to Die (2021)
No time to die review... The best one since Casino Royale
In my opinion this was the best Daniel Craig James Bond movie since Casino Royale, this movie was a fantastic way to end the Daniel Craig movies.
The good:
The cinematography - This was all very well done, all the shots were visually appealing to look at, some of the stand outs were the at the start of the movie in Norway & Italy.
The action - From the high flying motorbike anddjvy car stunts to the in close fight scenes in the stairwell, the action was all really engaging throughout the film.
The characters - It was good to see the return of Madeleine Swan, Q, M, Felix, Moneypenny etc
Even Christopher Waltz's character though he wasn't in it for long his scene was still impactful to understand the full effects of what Bond was going to have to deal with.
Even with the addition of a new 007, this didn't bother me as I had heard a lot of negativity on this on social media, her character is fine and simply serves as a back up James Bond for most of the film especially in the second half of it.
Safin (Rami Malek) was an interesting villain and the way they tied him back to Madeleine was something I wasn't expecting, but ended up liking.
He may not have been as good or engaging as say Mads Mikkelsen but he did do a decent job as far as Bond villains go. Also the nanobots DNA which targets specific peoples DNA, I felt was a really interesting weapon that James Bond had to stop & try to destroy,
Only a few things that I felt worth mentioned where things could have possibly improved, was that sometimes story hard to follow at first as I think it took an hour or longer into the movie to fully understand what the stakes were, but once I understood what was happening it was thoroughly enjoyable.
And the Paloma character, Ana De Armas was only in it for one scene (for some reason she is in the top billed cast) and while her scene was good I felt they could've used her abit more.
Finally the finale, I feel that this was a good & interesting way to wrap up James Bond's story arch, there wasn't much that they could really do aside from have him die at the end of this movie.
It was a nice way to end it knowing that he did have a daughter and the fact that he had to sacrifice himself due to having the nanobots in his blood stream & that there was no way for him to remove them was a heartfelt scene to watch.
Highly recommend seeing this movie and was worth the wait with all the covid delays it went through.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019)
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order - A great game
At first I was a little hesitant about playing this game, as I have never played dark souls before and was a bit turned off by the idea that I had heard that this game has similarities to dark souls, such as the fighting styles and respawning aspects.
However I can safely say that I thoroughly enjoyed this game and am very glad I went ahead and bought it.
Pros:
- Storyline - the storyline was great, made up of interesting characters and the main villain Trilla was interesting to see her character arc progress throughout the story. Cal our main character was also a good protagonist and his friendship with BD1 was nice to see and develop throughout the game
- Fighting style - what I was originally hesitant about was a nice surprise, the fighting scenes with your lightsaber were very fluent. There was some tough boss fights especially with the main villain Trilla, although I did play on the lowest difficulty still proved challenging enough throughout most of the boss fights in the game
- Planets - all the planets that you were able to travel to were interesting and fun to explore, my favorite one being Kashyyyk (the one with the Wookiees) they looked great, along with the rest of the graphics in the game
Cons:
- Getting back to the ship - sometimes after completing the main missions, getting back to the ship could be a little confusing having to navigate you way back (Zeffo in particular I found was the most confusing to find your way back through)
- Respawning - while I did get used to this feature, could still get a little annoying having to fight the same enemies again
- Tombs - sometimes the tomb puzzles became a little tedious and having played both, uncharted and the tomb raider games the tomb puzzles and sequences felt quite similar to those games
Those few cons probably stopped me giving this game a 10, however a great storyline, good looking graphics and fun lightsaber battles, I had heaps of fun playing this game and I highly recommend it.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
Surprised by the negative reviews on IMDb
As the heading suggests I am very surprised by the negative reviews on here, I am a big fan of the Harry Potter movies & wasn't overly keen to see a new franchise start up just yet as they did such a good job with the original films, so I did wait a while to see this film, but I was impressed with how much better it was than I thought it would be. This was a great prequel to the Harry Potter world, this movie does a good job at setting up a whole new world without relying heavily on the original Harry Potter movies.
The things I liked about the film:
The visuals - were outstanding here as all the monsters were really well done & quite different from what we have seen before (especially that oversized rino). Especially once you seen what was inside that suitcase, the world & monsters within really were visually impressive.
Characters - Newt was generally a like-able character as the main hero, I hadn't heard much about him before but thought he did a good job in this film. Kowalski was good as the comic relief for the film but also added some surprising emotional scenes towards the end of the film which I did think was a nice addition to his character. Colin Farrell as Graves was quite menacing as the main villain & the nice little twist at the end only enhanced his character too.
The only negatives I have for the film is that as it kicks off a new universe I feel that there was some things left unexplained such as the Lestrange character, sometimes getting the feeling that often happens in set-up movies that there are many story lines crammed into the one movie, however we can only hope that these story lines are touched on more in future films.
I am now certainly looking forward to the fantastic beasts & where to find them franchise & what lies ahead.
The Mummy (2017)
The Mummy doesn't deserve all the hate it's been getting
I feel like that as a fan of this movie I needed to write this review & defend it from some of the negative reviews it has been receiving. The 2017 version of The Mummy does a good job of kicking of the Dark Universes remakes of all the old monster movies. I feel it has been getting a lot of negative reviews that are undeserved. Here are my thoughts of the good & bad of the mummy........
The good:
Performances - Sofia Boutella gave a great performance of the mummy, I really liked her in this role & felt she was the stand out in this movie, she was great in the first kingsman movie & continues her great work as the villain in this movie. She was very powerful & scary throughout the movie. Russell Crowe was also good as Dr Jekyll, I feel he will play an important role & will be the essential character to link the Dark universe together.
A lot of people are saying Tom Cruise wasn't right for the part, I think if you like Tom Cruise then you won't mind him in this movie, his performance wasn't Oscar worthy or anything like that, but it was good as an action based hero, but also a hero who wasn't always the good guy & making good guy decisions. I personally do like Tom Cruise so had no problem with him being the leading man in this movie.
The action - no surprise here that the action was great & was a visually impressive movie to watch for a big summer blockbuster movie, the best action scene I would have to say was the plane crash scene, I am glad they made this as real as possible as it certainly paid off.
The bad:
Jake Johnson - I normally like Jake Johnson & think he is generally funny in most things he has been in, but in this movie his role as the comic relief didn't really work. It felt very weird when he was apparently dead but still showing up to guide Tom Cruise while still trying to crack jokes, this didn't really make sense & the jokes generally did not land.
Felt rushed - At times the movie did go at a very fast pace & felt that there could have been a deeper storyline with other characters such as Tom Cruise's character Nick Morton. The only back story we got was the mummy's herself at the start of the movie. I am hoping though that's what the future Dark universe movies will do & delve further into the backgrounds of the characters.
The ending also came about very abruptly between the fight between Cruise & Boutella, you just learn about Dr Jekyll's hidden lair & then shortly after the end fight scene took place.
Overall I would have liked some more character depth in the movie and it did feel like it was over fairly quickly but it was still an entertaining movie & good start to the franchise that has certainly made me interested in what the Dark universe has to offer. It did not deserve all the hate it has received.
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
John Wick: Chapter 2 - A solid sequel
John Wick: chapter 2 is a solid sequel following up from the original John Wick in 2014. The film takes place right after what happened in the first film, this time around John is the one being hunted, with a lot of violence and action scenes along the way.
The plot is simple enough for this type of film and does actually dive a little more into the character of John Wick & how he came to be the way he is. But ultimately it is a straight up action film........my thoughts below.
Keanu Reeves again does a great job of playing the John Wick character, it is a perfect role for him , where there is not all that much dialogue & just him kicking serious ass. I also enjoyed the brief appearance of Lawerence Fishburne.
The action & fighting scenes are again done very well much like in the original film & with Keanu Reeves doing most of the stunts & fighting scenes himself made it look even better & more realistic. Also thoroughly enjoyed the two fight scenes that he had with Common in the movie.
The only minor gripe I had with the movie, is that the stakes didn't feel very high as you basically knew John Wick was going to beat up everybody & come out on top, so I guess you never really felt that he was in danger even when all these different hit men were after him.
If you enjoyed the first John Wick movie then you will certainly enjoy this one as well, both highly entertaining action films, a 7/10 for me.
Alien: Covenant (2017)
Does it answer all of your questions from Prometheus?
Alien Covenant is both a solid Prometheus sequel & Alien prequel, it does a fine job at tying into both worlds. I for one was a fan of Prometheus and was very keen to see which direction they would take this franchise. My thoughts below.........
The good:
Michael Fassbender - his performance as both Walter & David was amazing & played both characters very well, but I would have to say that him playing David was by far the most interesting character in the movie. His performance as David had you truly believe that what David was doing was justified, even when he had empathy when he had to kill or experiment on humans (Elizabeth Shaw in particular) as he believed they are a lesser specie & did not deserve to recreate life.
Cinematography: Ridley Scott does know how to direct a very good looking science fiction movie & this is no exception. Even though the planet that the Covenant ship lands on has nothing in it (apart from wheat) still manages to look great & somewhere you would like to visit (if there was no alien creatures on the planet however).
The Ending: Even though many have mentioned they seen the 'twist' coming, first time around i didn't pay too close attention to it & was genuinely surprised when it happened. I thought it was an interesting ending to see where the franchise will go next & to see what David is truly capable of. Adding the face hugger embryos within the human embryos was a nice touch & will be truly terrifying for when the colonists finally wake up.
The bad:
The characters: Other reviewers have said this also but they do have a fair point, as there are several dumb things that the characters do throughout the movie, example of this is the newly appoint captain sticks his head over a face hugger egg as David tells him there is nothing to worry about & of course latches onto his face & an alien ends up inside of him. The characters that made up the crew were not necessarily bad just a few moments like this seemed to be abit predictable.
Storyline: I wouldn't say that the storyline was necessarily bad, just went in a different direction than I would have anticipated, as I said I liked Prometheus & wanted to see the continuation of finding out more about the creation side of things in this movie, however was dismissed fairly quickly by David bombing all the engineers with that black goo & therefore he ends up being the deranged scientist that creates the aliens? I guess since Prometheus divided fans on the franchise was the reasoning behind making the storyline pan out this way.
I felt slightly disappointed after seeing the movie as it didn't quite answer all the questions hanging over our heads from Prometheus. But the movie itself was quite entertaining and am very keen to see what David does next & definitely a solid return to form for the alien side of things after some very disappointing sequels (in particular alien resurrection).
Suicide Squad (2016)
The good & bad of Suicide Squad
Suicide Squad is a bit of a mixed bag, it does have some entertaining moments but overall felt this movie was a bit of a let down.
The good:
-The performances from Margot Robbie, Jared Leto & Will smith. Jared Leto as the Joker sparked a lot of debate with his performance, I feel he did a good job and generally wanted to see more and more of him throughout the film and hope he does feature in another D.C. Film. The 'gangster' take that he took on as the joker was a unique performance & am glad he didn't try and replicate the Heath Ledger version of the Joker. Margot Robbie & Will Smith worked well together as Harley Quinn & Deadshot as the two main characters & felt that their origin stories were quite intriguing as to how they ended up in prison & came to be the way they are.
-The storyline between the joker & Harley Quinn - I felt was more interesting than the actual main plot of the movie and hope this storyline between them & how the joker corrupted Harley gets explored in more detail in another movie (hopefully the Harley Quinn solo movie)
-The soundtrack, most of the songs were quite good & mostly suited the mood of the film.
The bad:
-The main story - felt this was a bit of a let down as the squad basically just had to stop a portal in the sky which we have now seen several times in movies over the last few years e.g the avengers & TMNT
-The villain - did not like Enchantress as the villain, she was way to powerful for most of them in the squad (except Diablo) & did have to question why some of them where there & to what they could actually do to stop enchantress. Felt I would have enjoyed them Going up against the joker or having someone more human like him as the villain instead.
-The pacing - Went from the origin stories to all of sudden trying to stop the super powers of enchantress, felt this was brought on very suddenly & didn't allow much time to develop the characters - which leads me to.......
-Supporting cast - some of the characters such as Killer Croc & Captain Boomerang, I would have liked to know more about their origin stories which perhaps could have been done in another movie. Killer Croc was very underutilized, Kitana & slipknot don't even know why they were in the movie & Rick Flag just seem to love struck by Enchantress to be the leader of the squad. Captain Boomerang however was good in the scenes he was in.
Maybe I had too high hopes for this movie, after Batman vs Superman which I actually enjoyed. I would like to see a more in depth sequel to this movie or perhaps a Harley Quinn solo movie exploring more of her and the Jokers relationship & would be quite happy if Margot Robbie & Jared Leto reprise these roles.
Logan (2017)
Best superhero movie since the Dark Knight
Logan in my opinion is the best superhero movie since the Dark Knight.
The films story begins with Logan as a limo driver and with a very old and fragile professor X, who Logan must provide him with his medication to basically sedate him, as his powers cause people & xmen to be temporarily paralyzed, as he is suffering from a form of dementia.
That is until they come across a little girl who changes everything when her 'guardian' asks for Logans help.
The decision to make this move rated R was a brilliant idea as the action scenes in this movie were not only brutal but wildly entertaining & feel that they should have made this decision a long time ago in all Wolverine movies.
Laura (X23) managed to give a great heartfelt performance even with her minimal dialogue, as her & Logan continue to grow closer & closer throughout the film and she provides some exciting action/fight scenes of her own. If you have ever played the Last of Us game, i couldn't but think of Joel & Ellie whenever Logan & Laura were on screen together.
Logan was a fantastic ending for the Hugh Jackman portrayal of the Wolverine character and will be a hard task for whoever tries to take on the role of the wolverine next, especially after this movie.
Dark Shadows (2012)
A brief review of Dark Shadows
I was quite intrigued to see this movie as I am a fan of both Johnny Depp and Tim Burton and really enjoy the movies that they have worked on previously together. After seeing the trailer for this movie, I felt it had a lot of potential and was really looking forward to seeing this movie.
After a great opening scene, it is set up for what should continue on to be a entertaining and interesting movie, however sadly the film did not deliver and live up to my expectations like I had hoped it would, the storyline at times seemed to be lacking and therefore occasionally my mind tended to wander throughout the film.
Johnny Depp does give a very good performance in his role as Barnabus Collins who is a vampire, there are also some very good colorful and graphical scenes throughout the movie. Also at times there are some moments of comedy in the film. However the supporting cast fails to deliver in their roles throughout the movie.
Tim Burton is a very talented and unique director and If you are a fan of his movies I would still encourage you to see this film, I just feel that it could have been better than it actually was.
This Is 40 (2012)
A good sequel
This is 40 is a consistently funny and dramatic movie, but overall did not live up to the original film 'Knocked Up'. The movie deals with real life problems, such as Pete and Debbie are both turning forty in the same week, in which Debbie is having difficulties coming to terms with, their financial struggles with Pete's music business, Debbie's dress shop which is missing around $12,000 and also Pete's father who is always pestering them for money in order to raise his own young family. Also their eldest daughter who is approaching her teenage years, between bickering with her younger sister and continuously on her Ipad or computer or various other forms of technology, is constantly causing problems for her parents.
There is a lot of chemistry and connection between Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann and a lot of their fights and arguments do feel real and are very intense and at times funny. I thought Paul Rudd gave a great performance in his role. There were several good performances from some of the supporting cast such as Jason Segel, Megan Fox and in particular Chris O'Dowd and Albert Brooks.
Overall the film was quite lengthy going over two hours and at times the arguments would tend to get a bit off track, in which case did not live up to the hype of 'Knocked Up'. However I thought the film was still good, funny and do recommend others to see it.