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The Fall Guy (2024)
Bland, soulless, plastic and unfunny
Talk about a movie that's supposed to be good entertainment as it has plenty of stunts and comedy and romance between the characters that seem as hollow as the modern Hollywood. It's exactly the opposite of what people criticize Marvel movies for yet it ends up being quite "Marvel"-esque with non stop yapping and sparkly colored visuals style being passed on as comedy. It's got good reviews by most others as it seems, yet it performed poorly at the box office. Some blame its unnecessarily huge budget, but this movie is PG 13, the previous David Leitch movie, Bullet Train was rated R, had more well known "stars" and was released closer to pandemic times yet that one did quite very well.
Something's definitely off putting about The Fall Guy as I find it hard to believe that people's standards of movie have gone so low they consider this enjoyment. All the crap surrounding the celebration of stunt people and them not being valued by Oscars, it feels wasted here as action in this one is seriously lacking some power. Maybe an R rated version really could have jolted the fun factor. Regardless, the characterization and story of this movie lead it down and it would not have felt so bad if it wasn't dragged out that much, ffs it's bland and spews boredom for 2 hours.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Do you know any other "old" directors who still know what an action spectacle on the big screen looks like?
George Miller is back at doing what he does best. Furiosa is another fine piece of vehicular action picture that carries enough momentum to keep you on edge and just a little bit more drama than Fury Road to show the backstory of a badass character. Anya Taylor Joy felt right as Furiosa, and at one moment her tone felt very similar to Charlize Theron's, and so did the little girl playing her even younger version. Not only that, we have Chris Hemsworth at his most antagonistic role which is a memorable addition to the franchise. Some of the characters known well from the previous movie return here, some new ones appear like the deuteragonist Pretorian Jack and Scabrous Scrotus. This time the story is more focused on the relationship of Furiosa and Dementus, and without spoiling anything, the similar kind of animosity between Furiosa and Immortan Joe isn't explored here as much as it was made to believe in Fury Road. However, it still sets up Fury Road nicely. All technical aspects seem and sound good too although maybe vfx look a little too cgi-ish.
My issue with this one, as I write this review after watching this movie freshly and so early is that it made me left wanting for more despite being the longest movie in the series. I don't remember having such problem with Fury Road, and comparatively this movie feels less intense. Maybe another viewing isn't so unlikely, maybe it'll feel more conclusive and satisfactory then. It is still a good enough one to have seen in the theatre.
Monkey Man (2024)
This isn't Indian John Wick, it's the Indian Tom Yum Goong and Ong Bak, and then some more...
Dev Patel tackles what a few other "dramatic" actors would barely bother to try; a hardcore knuckle-breaking, butt-kicking, tuk-tuk rushing action extravaganza, all while handling the picture's direction and emoting raw vengeance on screen.
The underlying story is presented in a heightened version, over-the-top fashion of a young fighter with a tragic past and his quest to seek both revenge and purpose to his forsaken life, with a bit of mystery and a lot of crime in sleazy underbelly of a fictional Indian city. However, it's quite simple to figure out where the story is headed thanks to its stylish nature and visual exposition. It barely makes up for any unpredictability overall.
Other nitpicking is this picture's editing, which is uneven throughout. The movie stylishly drags in telling a simple story towards the half runtime. The actions scenes have the usual modern Hollywood's "frame skipping on impact" editing to give fighting the extra jolt, which ironically affect the momentum of otherwise well choreographed sequences. But none of this takes away from the overall enjoyment, in fact the climactic beat-em-up sequence is worthy of the most praise.
Performances are excellent from Dev Patel and good enough from the supporting cast. However, Sharlto Copley seemed to be underutilized. For whatever screen time he got, he sure took the screen presence but maybe some more could have been done with his character.
All in all, Monkey Man is a solid directorial debut indeed that could've been better with tightened pacing and a few refinements. I just hope Dev doesn't follow the path that few other Asian action actors like Tony Jaa
got onto; making inferior and derivative action movies after a great one. Looking forward to more from him.
Orphan: First Kill (2022)
So, apparently, insulting the audience's intelligence....
Is the definition of nearly all modern horror/thriller movies now. Right from the beginning when I saw the guard being enticed by the titular orphan, I felt I knew what kind of ride I was in for. The whole brilliant escape plan solidified my view of it. Now maybe horror movies since long time have always shown some level of stupidy or ineptitude in its characters and I was just either oblivious or too much invested in those flicks, and maybe now I've just gotten bored of watching such character tropes. Or maybe it's just the audience that likes watching similar stuff again and again, or maybe the filmmakers don't care what they put out as long as they're thinking that their stuff might sell well. Whatever it is, I'm hoping for a game changer in this genre, which this movie isn't. Now on its technical aspects, why does this movie have a weird, hazy, ugly look? Was it supposed to look bad or just the cinematography process didn't work out as good? Certainly doesn't help to make it look better.
Iron Maiden: The Writing on the Wall (2021)
Something's not right with the reviews for this...
It looks like this page is plagued by new age of music nazis. This song is great, the music video is fantastic; you don't need to be literature professor to see its brilliance. Iron Maiden rules and even after 40 years it's still going on stronger. Up the irons; the rating crap got metal up theirs.
We Were Soldiers (2002)
They were heroes --
A film catered to americans and their veterans.
Do the soldiers who get back home consider themselves to be heroes? I don't know, I've not been in their shoes, what I do know that others consider them and particularly media portrays them to be heroes. This film does exactly that, it's full of characters who are more or less caricatures of what great examples of american men should be, with their wives and kids. And this is exactly why this film doesn't work well for non-americans, also, partly because of what was the real deal with Vietnam war. This is why it's nowhere close to Saving Private Ryan, because SPR wasn't about heroes but about regular americans who actually felt like human beings with their own characteristics and differences going to and suffering in war. SPR pulls you right in with them and even shows its characters' faults without trying to make them look superior, and so it's a universally liked film. We were soldiers does the opposite, it shows just enough violence and action with multiple slow mo shots and sentimental music and nicely acted drama with their families to boost up feelings for a very specific group of people in the whole world, or just the USA.
Ong-Bak (2003)
Not just great action but also a great visual storytelling film too...
First of all, the action is the core of this film, reminiscent of some of Jackie Chan's freestyle fighting, as well as few "in-ring" fights. The story isn't very complicated, it's about a man searching to bring back a stolen statue head to his village, to restore hope and faith in his people as they are going through drought.
The direction is what keeps this one step up, one who doesn't understand Thai can watch this film without subtitles and still understand almost everything in it. We see who the bad guy is in the beginning, what he's done, how people react to it, they give their money to the young man played by Jaa despite being poor themselves so that he can sustain in the city, the plot of a son of one of the villagers who ran away to the city, how he dupes his village buddy(Jaa) when he asks for help, how he comes back to his senses, the bad guy's drug habits and his boss being irreverent of course. Every meaning of what's happening is displayed with characters action and their understandable reactions. Even the music is good, it gets a bit sentimental at right places. This is what was missing from later Tony Jaa films, even though they had more intense action. Tony Jaa's best movie, unfortunately he hasn't been in anything this good again.
The Last of Us: Part II (2020)
A step up in technical aspects and gameplay mechanics, but 2 steps back in story and character development
The amount of hate this game got is unfair for those who wanted actual criticism for it, then again it also got critical acclaim and praises much more than it deserved. This is indeed polarizing on a larger scale, but as an individual, I think my overall experience with it was still positive. The important details are already known by many, because of the spoiler leak months before it was gonna get released. I'll try to say something different rather than say what's already been said and focused on by everyone.
I like how the gamemakers tried to put Abby's side to the story in between Ellie's journey. The game seemed overlong sometimes but I dont mind the pretty sight, I love to pretend I'm sightseeing, just walking and exploring, doing nothing else in between tense moments. The best change from its prequel was the addition of dodge mechanic. Seeing two protagonists engage in different melee styles was immersive, especially Abby's burly punches and brutal smashes. There are also little details of their individual characteristics. The gameplay suffers one major problem that's been present in a lot of other horror/survival and even action open world games: gathering materials for crafting. It gets tedious after a while, like in later Far Cry games. The gunplay and AI although good could have been a little more refined. Still, it's better than many modern shooters. Enemies react after their friends got killed and try to move in around your position and not let you rely on cover at just one place.
Now, although Abby's story side is a good addition, the way it's presented makes it difficult to root for her at first for few hours. We get to know her backstory and current situation, but what makes it worse for her side is that she is surrounded by obnoxious "friends". None of them seems to make any sensible decisions. What's even weirder, Abby is portrayed as the most muscular person in the game except for the giant enemies, and she lives in a community with limited resources, she must consume a lot to maintain her physique, like maybe food quantity equivalent to feed 3 children per day, or two adults per day for one person. Maybe I'm overthinking. On the other hand, Ellie's side is portrayed as a complete failure, it's like they tried to antagonize Ellie too much and make us feel sorry for Abby, whereas in reality, the reverse happened. This is what happens when the writer of any creative work thinks they have high moral ground and intend to "show" it in their work. Whether you agree with them or not is matter of opinion, but it's not free from valid criticism of the work.
Anyway, one more instance of lgbtq is addressed by adding a trans boy with a tragic story in the latter half of the game on Abby's side. I was angry at the game's final fight at first, but I realized that trans boy was a key in ending that circle of violence at the end as Ellie had to realize that she was about to leave another child lose his guardian.
Now even if everything doesn't work out well with the game there were many positive and unforgettable moments. The overcast and rainy weather made certain areas just perfectly atmospheric. There were some good scares and monsters too, particularly one boss fight. A little late to write this review. I hope ND makes its sequel with a better narrative. Like ND said, this game was about hate, he shouldn't have been surprised if he got so much back in return.
A Quiet Place Part II (2020)
Adds absolutely nothing to its story
As a sequel, it does not build upon anything other than showing that the family has a child now, a new male side character and some crazy evil humans just like you'd have seen in any other post apocalyptic movie. It felt like a 90 minute episode 2 of the first one. So, the good things about this are acting, direction and effects. For most of its time though, it is very intense and does not bore, even when it gets predictable and nonsensical. With the addition of a little flashback on how it started and presented with good and emotional performance from everyone I can see why it felt better than the first one, even though it is not.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Sam Richardson made this already dumb movie even more unbearable
Why do characters need to be portrayed as constant mumblers when they aren't funny? Is there a need to be intoxicated while listening because i can't understand or relate to anything what these characters say as funny or entertaining. There's nothing wrong with mindless entertainment; take a few Michael Bay movies for example, but this is too painful on the senses.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: One World, One People (2021)
Why does the Indian PM sound like a Russian?
And what's the deal with this flag smasher antagonist, why was she doing those "terrorists" attacks, what's her story again?
Now John Walker could've had a great build up in 4th episode, but in the end it feels underwhelming what they did with this character.
The positives of this show are the heroes.
Army of the Dead (2021)
Snyder gives his best and his worst one this year
As usual with his other movies, the problem lies with characters, their portrayel and the story. Ironically, Snyder had full creative control with Netflix, and he made this junk, while previously the studio that did him bad allowed him to create a superior superhero movie, which was still meant to be his own cut.
Anyway, this felt like an inferior mixture of Zombieland and Fast Five. Snyder movies are best suited within dark superhero/fantasy genre.
Nobody (2021)
Another one bites the dust...
...and another mediocre movie that's got overpraised, possibly because lack of any idea what good action movie is supposed to be. This is nowhere close to John Wick, neither in character nor in fight scenes.
What works well in it? Bob Odenkirk, of course, though his only good fight is the one in the bus. A failing family man who is respected by no one, not even his son. One day, he snaps off after surviving some criminals, and goes off berserk. And that's all there is to the premise. No dead dog, or dead family member.
While Christopher Lloyd's presence is welcome, RZA's isn't. Nor any other characters are well portrayed, including a cliched villain.
By the end, it becomes a worse mess than John Wick Chapter 3's second half, now here's a proper JW comparison.
Editing of action sequences decide if they are thrilling, or dull, and as said above, except the bus fight every other one looks crap. Geez new movies are getting worse in every genre.
Mortal Kombat (2021)
The rise of trashy movies. "Dad, use uppercut!"--
- says the daughter of someone who is supposed to be earth's fighter/protector but can't use uppercut unless he's told.
It's been while since we got used to seeing high vfx action movies, this isn't any better. Throwing off stupid hand gestures and flying legs high with quick cuts is considered action. "Vfx will make it look cool." Right... that's the only good part about it, but it's 2021, vfx is supposed to be good thanks to modern tech.
Bumbling characters are considered comedy, or whatever, I thought Kano's lines were meant to be passed off as funny. Except the Sanada's character, all characters are idiotic. No motivations, no sense of impact in action, nothing really is well put together.
This is an R rated movie for kids. It's easy to impress them with any flashy nonsense.
Love and Monsters (2020)
Humorless, non-stop yammering... The dog was good though
The protagonist just won't shut up. Cringeworthy dialogue delivery. All attempts at humor fail, unoriginal story, boring. You can tell you've seen characters like that in other movies, except the dog.
CGI was just good enough but the monsters were terribly underused. The events build up the tension, but they are quickly resolved without any effort, so no real moment of rejoice throughout the movie. They even tried to spice up the story by introducing a villain in the last half hour. Nothing special happens though.
Better see something else, unless you are easily amused by generic teen-ish acting, bland characters and a plain story with couple of nice moments here and there. The dog was the only likeable character.