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Reviews
Oppenheimer (2023)
Overloud, Overblown, and Overrated
It was interesting to learn a more about Oppenheimer himself, and the lead up to, development of the bomb, and then the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the terrible way he this quite brilliant man was treated.
That's about all the good I have to say because this movie was a chore to watch. I struggled through the first hour and kept going, at about 90 mins I was already 50% invested so I continued. But it more out of spite to finish it because at no point did this movie *really* grab me.
My three main gripes are as follows:
1) Loud, onerous, and cacophonous music drowning out dialogue. Very few sections of what is a dialogue heavy movie were without constant background music that was just intrusive. There was so much to try and add some sort of gravitas, effect, or drama. It failed. I felt a lot of times the music was there to conceal crappy dialogue or worse acting. If I was an actor in this movie I'd be annoyed watching this where my speaking was overcast by the constant droning. Honestly, I would have enjoyed the movie a lot more if I could just hear what people were saying.
2) The movie jumps around at least three (or maybe four?) timelines. It's not clear when these times are and there's a black-and-white section which I think is post-war(?). The jumping around on timelines with no real posting of the chronology was almost as annoying as the above mentioned music. It would have been useful to know when the Senate Hearings were, or the post-war "is he a commie?" hearing. Without this framing of "when" the context of the events and why get lost quite dramatically.
3) Too long - could easily have been compressed into two hours and it would have been fine. There is a lot of fluff that ultimately really adds no sort of value. I can watch a long movie, but this one I kind of suffered through.
Don't get me wrong, Christopher Nolan has made some great movies, this is not one of them. He tried to be too clever and it did not work.
If this has been more of a documentary-style flick about Oppenheimer and a more ordered dramatization of the sequence of his life and events leading up to and after WWII I think I would be a lot happier.
The Killer (2023)
Cool, calm, collected.
I don't quite get the low ratings here - I watched htis last night and really enjoyed it. It was not what I expected and I was pleasently surprised.
The plot is the standard one of revenge and the challenges that come with it.
Fassbender's character is cold, clinical, and unbending - an almost anti-hero. His continues internal monologues are insighfful and quite chilling and verbalise why he is the best anbd what he does; his unwavering code makes sure there are no grey areas.
The people along his path revenge on are distictive but not one-dimensional, fleshed out with enough dialogue with Fassbender's character to take you to the next stage.
Many have commented that it's slow which I did not find to be the case. The two-ish hours moved along at a steady pace enopugh to keep me interested, and was complimented with very cool and slick look that went from brightly coloured to a near-noir styling at the right times.
There's a few Easter eggs that will keep you paying attention for the humour and guesswork of what will happen next.
Not a movie to watch when tired as you will miss a lot and things might not make sense, and watch it with another person as you will bounce things around e.g "did you see that?"
Kick back after dinner in the early evening and don't think too hard and you will enjoy it.
Mobeomtaeksi (2021)
Those who walk the path of revenge...
...had best dig two graves.
What a great show! Engaging, funny, some really good twists and turns, great action scenes and fight, and in some parts, really grim.
I watched with subtitles as I think is the best way to watch. While thing maybe don't translate 100% I deel that get a lot more out of listening to the inflections of a foreign language.
Ultimately, it's about the futility of the revenge and how it can be all consuming. While a few choice antagonists do get what is coming to them in a variety of ways, the long-game lesson is well put across.
The tail end of Episode 15 was quite shocking, and reflects a case that occured here in New Zealand too.
Unlike a lot of American shows there no silly trite romance (because "reasons"), the characters are multi-dimensional, and music is used to effect instead of punctuating every single moment with grating noise that drowns out dialogue.
Oh yeah, there's not a lot of non-Koreans in it either, like almost none, maybe because it is set in Korea. Just sayin'. So if you want "because diversity" Netflix has lots of other shows that will fulfill that.
Also, the insights into Korean culture are very cool. Like me, in scenes when they sit down to eat you will be thinking "damn that looks so good". I want to visit.
As this is spoiler free, I won't deep dive into characters and plots. Other reviewers have done plenty of that. All I can say is put your brain into passenger mode, kick back, and take a crazy ride on the Rainbow Deluxe Taxi.
The Munsters (2022)
I could not even finish watching
If I could give out negative stars, I would.
Seriously, who pays to even make this sort of bollocks? Who reads a script so bad and thinks "yeah, I will throw millions of dollars at this!"?
I can tell you who, someone who has more dollars than sense.
When I say this is bad, it's bad. It is well known across my friends and family that my threshold for entertainment is pretty low. This movie sunk below that, after an hour of enduring it I could not stand any more.
The characters are campy, over acted, and just irritating, and might have been funny 50 years ago. Not today, they need to be a lot more slick that this trite nonsense..
About 15 years ago, there was a pilot that felt like a Munsters reboot called "Mockingbird Lane" which, as I recall, had a bit more of a dramatic twist to it and was pretty good.
This movie is an example of how not to do a reboot. The best comparison reboot of this type of comedy/horror is "The Addams Family" which was slick and had an incredible cast who could actually act.
That was what I was hoping for The Munsters, and was incredibly disappointed.
If you want to watch The Musters, then stick to the original TV show and don't ruin the experience by watching this, it's two hours if your life gone that you will regret. I miss the hour I lost on it...
Vratar galaktiki (2020)
I enjoyed it for what it was.
If you watch this, take the movie and its story with a grain of salt, and switch your brain off for a couple of hours.
I watched and English-dubbed version which means some dialogue gets lost in translation.
The CGI and effects are quite amazing and create an incredible vision of what intergalactic foosball would be like.
Keep your expectations at a minimum and you will enjoy.
Cool as Ice (1991)
Wow. Just Wow.
I watched this last night and was left with the puzzling question: WTF did I just watch?
Was it a comedy, a drama, a touch-in-cheek satire that is kind of like Footloose? What is it? Someone please tell me!
From the many "plot"-holes you can drive a semi-truck through, to quaint shots of Vanilla Ice looking into the distance with a manly look on his face (yet also looking thoughtful and vulnerable), and a number of questionable actions of the main character by the standards of today - this movie was everything I thought it would be.
My expectations were very low, and this even went below that.
I would be hard-pressed to consider it so bad, it's good, yet I WATCHED IT ALL (see my review of "Shadow In The Cloud" which I did not even finish)
For the most part I laughed my ass off at the terrible lines, cliched plot, a few tropes, cheesy acting, and just, well, everything really.
To say this should be in the worst 100 films of all time does not do it justice, I would move this into a cult-like status, and take this in the top-ten worst movies of all time.
If you want to see something from 30 years ago that should stay firmly rooted there, then this movie is for you.
Shadow in the Cloud (2020)
Since IMDB deleted my last review, I will warn you again,.
It's well known with my friends and family that my threshold for entertainment is pretty low, I mean I watch all sorts and can be entertained.
That said, I watched this with my wife, we got through maybe an hour of this rubbish and I looked at her and said "I don't know if I can stand any more of this", she said "Me either", and we switched it off. What annoyed us the most is we won't get that two hours back.
The plot was silly to the point of utterly ridiculous, the men so over-the-top chauvinistic, and an even more implausible "twist". Even if I took what was happening with the proverbial grain of salt, it was still unpalatable.
Perhaps, if the movie has been as it was advertised, it /might/ have been ok.
Heed my warning: Do not waste your time or money as I did.
Castlevania (2017)
Three letters: W. O. W.
This was really a fantastic series. A surprisingly expansive story, wonderful animation, and absolutely insanely dynamic and crazy fight scenes. There's a lot to take in, but it's worth it - not really any slow spots and it romps along at a good pace.
It's quite gory, so I would not recommend this for children - definitely for mature audiences.
In particular, I liked a lot of the extended dialogue where key characters dive quite deep into the situation at hand, or their history to bring context to what is occurring.
All I can say is watch it, you will not be disappointed.
Boss Level (2020)
What Did I Just Watch?
....a freakin' awesome movie is what I just watched.
Give me some leeway here, as this is my first IMDB review. The way I judge a film is primarily is when I finish watching I ask myself "Was I entertained enough to such that I would pay to see that again?".
While I admit openly that my threshold for entertainment is low, this one far exceeded that.
I have seen Frank Grillo in a few movies, he seems like a bit of a B-Grade Action Movie Guy - boy was I wrong. My opinion has changed greatly such that I shall go seek out other Frank Grillo movies.
As the main guy Boss Level, he delivered an outstanding performance. His blasé deadpan attitude was very funny - after all he is a guy who was just over it, starting each day, dying, rinse and repeat,
There are some real parallels with Groundhog Day on the journey he takes - the ups and down, and how he games it to his advantage.
Mel Gibson was ok, a typical Action Move Antagonist - some of the other quite unique characters maybe be somewhat clichéd, but still very funny.
There are no Oscar's here, then again who cares about the Oscar's anymore? What I want is entertainment, and that is what I got, and then some.
The 15:17 to Paris (2018)
Polarizing, I get it.
Wow, reading some of the reviews here is quite depressing, but I can understand why.
Many have said that there is a lot of meaningless backstory in the lead up, which I think is unfair as it's important to understand they mindset and psyche of these three in doing what they did - to react and do the right thing at the right time.
Yes, there were others that were will involved with stopping what could have been a horrific tradgedy, but the movie is about them, yet I don't feel that it diminishes the heroism of others. To say it "glorifies the Americans" I think is a bit unfair.
The only reason I don't give it 10 is because the acting is a bit wooden as Clint Eastwood used "the guys" to act themselves.,They are not actors and it shows, but they were there, they were heroes (along with others), so I can appreciate the degree authenticity that it brings.
TL;DR: You will either love or hate this movie - my recommendation is to take it with a grain of salt, sit back and enjoy the extended story.
Poi E (2016)
Superb - 11/10 if I could. Would pay to watch again.
This movie is about a larger than life character, Dalvanius Prime, who after a successful soul music career in the USA, returned to his home town of Patea, a small town in South Taranaki, in the North Island of New Zealand.
Not long after he returned, the major employer, which was a freezing works - for those not of New Zealand, an abbotoir/slaughterhouse - closed, economically devastating the town.
This I part I already knew from the media, and I well remember Poi-E being released in the early 1980s and its impact on the NZ psyche.
What I didn't know, was how this story really unfolded - this is where this movie comes in. I found it to be absolutely one of the most engaging and enjoyable movies I have seen in a long while.
It was touching, funny, inspiring, haunting, and a joy to watch. So many unique characters who all made this song the NZ cultural icon it became.
After watching this, I would argue that this song was the catalyst that sparked a renaissance of the Maori language here in New Zealand, leading to the establishment of the Maori Language Commission in 1987.
As I understand it at the time, Maori (Te Reo) was a dying language. That is because the Maori youth of that time had been actively discouraged from learning it - this is reflected in Maori language speakers today, fluent speakers are either in their 70's or 80's, or in the 20's & 30's, with a 30-40 year gap of those who didn't speak it.
Watch this movie about a great song that was revolutionary in its time, and it saved a language and a culture.