poewilson Reviews

F9: The Fast Saga (2021)

Makes Marvel look realistic.

[4/10 · 21 May 2021]

Every one is invincible and the movie pretends to be meta and point this out, but it is played for dead laughs.

Characters get shot multiple times and never a scratch, any character that dies always come back and Vin Diesel's shirt says it all. Through all the collisions, fires, explosions and all the rest it remains perfectly white without a stain or a smudge on it. Nothing you see is real, it is more unrealistic than any comic book or fantasy film and if this franchise did not make huge bank in China it would have died long ago.

And screw that magnet Justin Lin is to logic and physics what Deepak Chopra is to quantum mechanics.

Us (II) (2019)

Dear Jordan Peele

[6/10 · 7 March 2020]

You are never going to read this, but yet I still must say, you are an excellent filmmaker. US deserves praise, from how it was shot, to the sound save for your use of NWA in the house. However, two movies in and what you got applauded for in Get Out is your demise in US. Your storytelling is poor. Your characters are great. I love Winston Duke's turn as a nerdy, lovable father. Two horror movies in and no scares. Weak structure with uneven storytelling, that does not really understand where it wants to go. You have amazing skills, but writing is not one of them. Find yourself a writing partner ASAP.

What Did Jack Do? (2017)

Lynch

[4/10 · 21 January 2020]

Modern Lynch has become the cinema equivalent of someone who wants to tell you about their dreams. His fans will applaud him as they always have. The acting is horrible, which is true of most post 1990 Lynch projects. The dialogue is basically idioms that never connect to the previous statement, thus creating a dreamscape that may have been surrealist and cool 50 years ago, but now is not much better than a child's cartoon. If you want to watch a directors attempt at putting their dreams on screen you can watch Kurosawa's Yume (Dreams) from 1990 and watch a much better version of such a thing.

Ad Astra (2019)

Koyaanisqatsi with a plot

[6/10 · 6 December 2019]

Ad Astra is a gorgeous contemplative film marketed as action sci-fi film which it is most certainly not. It is closer to being a cross between Koyaanisqatsi and 2001: A Space Odyssey. You are watching this film to be lost in its beauty and to sit in that darkness contemplating humanity and its very existence. If that is not what you are looking for this film was never meant for you and I feel bad that some marketing team manipulated you.

The Lion King (2019)

Deja vu

[5/10 · 12 July 2019]

Honestly whatever you rated the first movie rate this one the same minus one. So much so in the opening sequence, I was worried we were going to Gus Van Sant remake. The film is not really worth seeing in theatres. I would wait until it comes out on Netflix or Disney's streaming service, which I imagine is what all these live-action remakes that came out in 2019 were for. Ultimately it is bland and boring with a lot of the humour taken out of it, still no acknowledgement as far as I noticed to Hamlet or Kimba. The American actors, save for Jones who is Mufasa and Glover who did well with what was there, were the weakest part, Eichner especially. The non-Americans outshined their counterparts and gave their characters depth even though they had so few lines. Ultimately the movie is underwhelming, and I would have liked to have seen more African born actors playing roles rather than singers with limited range.

Aquaman (2018)

Jame Wan still does not understand physics.

[6/10 · 9 December 2018]

The P.H. Metric 60.5/100 The P.H. Metric

In short, Fast and the Furious logic and storytelling in water, but I am sure that is what people are expecting, so enjoy.

*********************************Light spoilers********************************

Directing: 6/10

The directing is decent there is a reason Wan keeps getting big budget jobs, but it is only a little bit more than average as it slams everything in your face. Wan's directing style is more like a comedy that continually keeps firing jokes at you so that you will forget any of the ones that did not work and only focus on the fun stuff.

Acting: 3/10

Not sure if it was the actors or the script, but for the most part, it was very hammy as they say and I am sorry did they read the script and go wow we are recreating a cheesy 1980's action flick let us cast Lundgren in it so that we can show how meta we are. (Also the cheesy 80's style songs as well.)

Cinematography: 6/10

I love cinematography it is probably my favourite aspect of a film, but I cannot entirely agree with the shots in this film. For example, the shot when the two are on the boat with the sun over Aquaman's right shoulder. I would not take a personal photo that has the sun burning out my retinas why would I think to put it in my film. Again the action is used to hide the framing and use of the shots, but ultimately it is far from stellar especially in the undersea war near the end.

Editing 8/10

Editing feels reasonably tight. You can see a few times where it could have been tweaked. A slight pet peeve of mine is when you know the camera just got rocked by a colossal set-piece run amok, which breaks the illusion of the experience and reminds me that I am not immersed.

Score/sound effects: 8/10

Sound effects team. Excellent job, no fault there. Score, not so much it comes off as cheesy and a throwback to a time that mainstream blockbusters have long forgotten.

Visual Effects: 9.5/10

Visual effects team did a great job and they deserve all the credit in this film. Not writing, not directing, not any other factor. If people love this film in any way it is down to the visual effects. Great job.

Writing: 1/10

Wow! Did someone steal a script from a 1980's Arnold film and say that is good enough because that is what it feels like. Everything is cliche. Everything. Right down to the kiss the two leads share during the war scene, and she does the left leg lift.

Production Design: 7/10

Was decent enough, but the details were not there. I suppose that can be forgiven given what the director was asking of you.

Costume Design 7/10

The people I went to the theatre with literally said ewww, when they saw the costumes, and they loved this film. Again not sure if these designs were forced on the department or not, but they seemed to miss the mark.

Make-up/Hairstyle 9/10

I want to give them a ten for Kidman. They made her appear exceptionally young, but there were little hiccups here or there, and a little bit of age would have been appreciated on her character. Especially toward the end as the comparison when her and her partner hug at the end seemed quite odd.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

All Marketing

[6/10 · 3 December 2018]

Movie bombs all over Asia. or at best does a mediocre job. Just released in China and makes less than a million in its opening weekend. This is not a movie for Asians. This is a movie for Asians of Han descent in America. Know the difference Hollywood, this film was cliche and was on the same level as most Chinese soap operas. Same stories, same stereotypes. Asia is one of the most diverse places in the world, but most Americans use Asian as a way it to say Chinese, because they do not want to offend anyone. At this moment this film ranks 6.2 out of 10 on Chinese review sites. Stop being cliche and marginalising the most populated continent in the world. Please create engaging scripts and stop trying to sell me garbage with great marketing. Skip this film and try watching a romantic comedy actually from Asia.

Daredevil: Karen (2018) Season 3, Episode 10

Skip ahead to 29:30 or when the words now appear on screen.

[31 October 2018]

Karen's backstory is there to build a redemption song for the character as she is quite miserable and almost alienates sympathy from the viewer. This should have been so that we could witness her evolving as a character but by episode's end she has not changed, and someone else has a redemption arc instead. Which makes Karen appear to be this person who has committed enough felonies to warrant prison time and not evolve as a person. I know the writers are hamstrung by this 13 episode narrative Netflix pushes and I feel bad for them having to figure out ways to extend stories that should be finalised much sooner. So do yourself a favour skip ahead to the church scene or at very least skip ahead to the moment Kevin first confronts Karen's boyfriend.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)

Should be amazing.

[5/10 · 9 October 2018]

This film is the perfect example of why those behind the scenes of a film do not get enough credit. This is a a gorgeous film with talent oozing from everyone, but the director the man who is behind this vision also is the writer and that is where this film goes wrong. The writing, acting and all the rest are sub-par to the point that for the first 20 minutes one might readily assume they are watching satire rather than what the film is. On the technical side this is a 9.2/10 On the artistic side this is a 1.7/10 Which would sit this film at about a 5.9

Jessica Jones (2015–2019)

Marvel Shows

[6/10 · 11 December 2017]

I am writing this about the Jessica Jones, but I could be writing it about any of the shows, aside from Iron Fist. It starts dark brooding and serious. A program meant for adults, moving between the heft of the actions that are committed and the ramifications on the lives they corrupt. But ultimately it turns into a show for kids with adult violence, so skewing perfectly for those suffering from arrested development. As you watch each of the Marvel series, it is always the same a death of a character in the series ultimately results in the show becoming cartoony and losing any beauty it once had. Rinse repeat for each.

Luke Cage (2016–2018)

Marvel shows

[11 December 2017]

I am writing this about the Luke Cage, but I could be writing it about any of the shows, aside from Iron Fist. It starts dark brooding and serious. A program meant for adults, moving between the heft of the actions that are committed and the ramifications on the lives they corrupt. But ultimately it turns into a show for kids with adult violence, so skewing perfectly for those suffering from arrested development. As you watch each of the Marvel series, it is always the same a death of a character in the series ultimately results in the show becoming cartoony and losing any beauty it once had. Rinse repeat for each.

Daredevil (2015–2018)

Marvel shows

[7/10 · 11 December 2017]

I am writing this about the Daredevil, but I could be writing it about any of the shows, aside from Iron Fist. It starts dark brooding and serious. A program meant for adults, moving between the heft of the actions that are committed and the ramifications on the lives they corrupt. But ultimately it turns into a show for kids with adult violence, so skewing perfectly for those suffering from arrested development. As you watch each of the Marvel series, it is always the same a death of a character in the series ultimately results in the show becoming cartoony and losing any beauty it once had. Rinse repeat for each.

The Punisher (2017–2019)

Marvel shows

[6/10 · 11 December 2017]

I am writing this about the Punisher, but I could be writing it about any of the shows, aside from Iron Fist. It starts dark brooding and serious. A program meant for adults, moving between the heft of the actions that are committed and the ramifications on the lives they corrupt. But ultimately it turns into a show for kids with adult violence, so skewing perfectly for those suffering from arrested development. I you watch each of the Marvel series, it is always the same a death of a character in the series ultimately results in the show becoming cartoony and losing any beauty it once had. Rinse repeat for each.

Elle (I) (2016)

Stellar acting in bad story.

[6/10 · 13 November 2017]

I have seen this film before, several times before. It is one the most common story lines found in softcore porn and hentai. Which is quite funny when this film is applauded for being so unique and groundbreaking when it has been done so many times before. Only here we have a decent budget, an incredible actress and some average directing, but it speaks volumes about how critics perceive things, they laud films like this with stories that are from films they would ultimately pan. So like everything take the audience score and the critic score add them together, then divide by two and that is roughly the quality of the film.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Expensive art film marketed poorly to get its money back.

[8/10 · 30 October 2017]

The P.H. Metric 78.75/100 The P.H. Metric +Marketing: 68/100

In short if you want an art movie go, if you want an action movie and entertainment stay away.

*********************************Light spoilers********************************

Marketed as an action film this artistic thriller did not serve the general public. During my showing 7 people walked out, and there was only probably 15 of us, and they made it no more 50 minutes in. Several people I went to the theatre with fell asleep, yet critically applauded and here comes the divide. Movies critics love, film does not make money even when they have huge investment and movies critics don't love film makes enough money to fund 5-15 more movies. So in short this film is a disservice, because ultimately fewer studios are willing to take the risk on artsy films and all this film needed was to tighten up its pacing and it would have probably broken even and in terms of cinematic vision that is hardly selling your soul.

Directing: 8.75/10

The directing is superb and I am shocked with the level of investment that Villeneuve was given as much control as he was. Though it must be said that this film draws out shots for too long and this is from a man who loved the film Stalker. Where as something like Stalker is completely about the philosophical nature this film still tries to make it self an action/thriller/mystery film and these long takes end up killing the mystery and feels more like there is not enough story to go around, which ultimately is true. The shots themselves are lovely.

Acting: 7/10

Ford is Ford the man is not that great of an actor and he really is just cashing in on old franchises at this point. Gosling's muted touch was decent enough and while Leto's weird character was weird in a good way the character itself was unneeded. The main villain of the piece was over the top and worthy of being in a film that is trying so hard to be nuanced. She ends up coming off as a jarring screeching noise.

Cinematography: 10/10

Deakins's cinematography shines, absolutely shines and this has to be his year. 13 noms and with Lubezki currently attached to a special award Oscar his major comp for the year is not there.

Editing 8.5/10

I feel bad for Joe Walker he kept the ship as tight as he could throughout, but ultimately due to the nature of these long drawn out takes that it feels like he was ultimately overruled when it came to where to cut the film.

Score/sound effects: 5.5/10

I would have scored this higher if I had not seen Arrival, where as the industrial style sound design should have been more engaging I could not help feeling they were reusing it from Arrival. Of course the sounds were meant to be jarring given all the silence we were fed, but ultimately it feels like that opening sequence in the remake of Funny Games, it is not shocking or jarring in the sense the creator wants, but more in the sense please turn down the TV those noises are starting to give me a headache.

Visual Effects: 9/10

I get a sense of Silent Hill (the first game) it feels like the fog and dust in certain scenes is there to hide rather than enhance and when one goes back to the original Blade Runner these modern effects (specifically shots of the city) do not look like the technology has really pushed the boundaries, in fact it looks more like the status quo, which mind you the status quo is excellent, but not genre defining.

Writing: 3/10

I am sad to find out there was a writer for this film. Now I previously mentioned Stalker which is similar in many regards, however the dialogue in that is profound, where is the dialogue in Blade Runner 2049 thinks it is. With such cliché android film lines as basically sacrificing yourself is the way to prove you are human. This concept never sits well with me, as apparently for an android the most human thing is to sacrifice yourself so that the human may continue to live a better life than you. That sounds like the kind of thing an android would be programmed to do. Asimov anybody? Everything just keeps pushing the fact that these androids want to be human, but ultimately it keeps slapping them down and saying they are not. It adds nothing to the greater debate over AI and ultimately when compared to the sheer quality of everything else in the film it looks out of place and useless, as if someone was brought in last minute to patch it up. Secondly the whole it could be him story was let out of the back to early on, so it made the double twist so predictable that it steals any power it had.

Production Design: 9.5/10

Those in production design you all need more respect and deserve to be pushed further into the foreground, because when you do an excellent job no one says anything, only look how well this and that is, but you owned this film.

Costume Design 9/10

Well done, especially Leto's character, though I will say the only real negative was Wright's outfit. What is this 2049 and she is channelling the 50's or was she literally a copy of the police chief from Futurama. Also Ford's was a little meh.

Make-up/Hairstyle 8.5/10

Again Leto is the high point, but not much else as everything is high quality, but nothing feels astounding.

Schindler's List (1993)

Tragedy in the Mainstream

[9/10 · 4 October 2017]

The P.H. Metric 91/100 Directing: 9/10

A masterclass in direction. Spielberg's connection to the source material pushed him to make something that defies any sort of dilettante criticisms. Every decision from the black and white to the stones hits hard and hits well. Leaving the viewer with a piece that is entertaining, yet horrifically beautiful as well as being the sort of thing any student of cinema should be studying.

Acting: 9/10

Liam Neeson's best role, before he revealed to the world that method acting is not something he subscribes to, which in turn means Liam Neeson plays Liam Neeson every time. The rest of the cast offers more nuanced performances that really provide the viewer with a subdued approach to such horrors, allowing the audience to feel disconnected from the tragedy, yet thrust into its dark world.

Cinematography: 10/10

Red, red, red. Visually perfect.

Editing 10/10

Editing makes a film, it cannot be said enough. Actors and the like get the credit, but editors along with the writers and directors are the heart, spine and brain of a film and this film only furthers to reinforce the fact that actors are far from needed to meld a film into something sublime.

Score: 10/10

Williams provides another stellar score, which raises the question would Spielberg's films be as successful with out them? That said, Williams builds tension that spills morosely over tragedy and celebratory fatigue.

Visual Effects: 8/10

The shower scene aside, the visual effects are done well and kept in the century they are meant to be in and keeps the viewer planted firmly in the time period.

Writing: 8/10

The writing is superb, however it does have one to many touches of the Hollywood penmanship to it, which does cause the film to drift into a territory that feels a little unnatural for the artistic intentions of the piece.

Production Design 9/10

Superb production design, save for a few touches in the concentration camps.

Costume Design 9/10

Authentic and eye catching, though does fall victim to the standard nerd mistakes.

Make-up/Hairstyle 9/10

Several hairstyles feel off for the period and the make-up department does benefit greatly from the black and white.

Stalker (1979)

Poison and Humanity

[9/10 · 4 October 2017]

The P.H. Metric 88/100

Directing: 9/10

The directing is sublime yet minimal, the Hitchcockian long takes are beautiful and really set the tone for the film, in addition these long takes allow for fewer continuity errors and keeps the film on point and in focus. Couple all this with the fact that this film is an art piece the direction truly deserved to be praised.

Acting: 6/10

Acting takes a hit, even though there are very few roles to fill, we can see the actors that are used are not truly in their prime, however Tarkovsky uses this to his advantage and uses their less than stellar delivery to provide an earnest performance that feels natural and powerfully human.

Cinematography: 9/10

I am a sucker for a long take (Rope is one of my favourite films simply because of long takes) and Stalker uses the long take to create a beautifully drab portrayal. Especially near the end of the film the camera lingers reminding you that pain anguish and suffering are not something that are truly expressed in modern jump cut terms.

Editing 8/10

The editing is far simpler in this film than most, this is again due to the long takes. With far less film to connect together it makes it easier to make the edits seamless.

Score: 10/10

The natural tones and sounds are perfectly cued and match the film's tone perfectly. In turn it is hard to fault a film that uses only natural sounds to highlight nature.

Visual Effects: 9/10

The visual effects are limited to increase the natural aesthetics of the film.

Writing: 9/10

The writing is superb. The tangents that each character goes on are cutting and to the point, but with a poetic essence that rivals a work of literature. The words that spill from the writer's mouth are by far the best in the entire film and speak of the hopelessness of humanity as well as its desire to continue on.

Production Design 10/10

They shot in legitimately toxic locations for authenticity. How can you fault that other than saying that is insane, but artistically beautiful.

Costume Design 9/10

There is not much in the way of costume designs, save for the military figures, so there is nothing truly to complain about. What is delivered to the viewer is authentic and visually pleasing.

Make-up/Hairstyle 9/10

See costume design.

The Foreigner (I) (2017)

Average at best

[6/10 · 4 October 2017]

The P.H. Metric 61/100 The Foreigner rings out in the same way a nostalgia flick does, let us take something that was more cutesy and lovable and make it gritty, then get applauded for the dark tones of something that is almost the same as the cutesy original version.

Directing: 5/10

Now the marketing is going to sell you on this is the director that made that gritty reboot to the Bond series (pattern?), but this is also a director that has averaged borderline OK to pure trash for almost every film he has made for the last 18 years, so if they are going to tout the good, remember the bad as well. The Foreigner is plain, nothing special, nothing amazing, average work from an increasingly average director. The camera work reeks of status quo and scenes as well as their shots play like the project was being rushed and not given any true forethought.

Acting: 5/10

Brosnan and Chan acting powerhouses, they are not, but Chan is cast in a similar light as Jet Li in Danny the Dog, do not let him say much and get him to look brooding, but in terms of acting there is very little to display. Brosnan has to carry 90% of the acting in the film and while he makes a go of it, his talent is not quite there to be able to pull it off. Aside from these two, a series of increasingly wooden people try to make their arguments heard, but are nearly pointless in the cause.

Cinematography: 7/10

Tattersall's cinematography is above average but not his best work to date and the fight scenes were shot in a such away that it felt like you could see Chan get dragged by the invisible rope every time he did a double drop kick.

Editing 7/10

Catanzaro finally gets to step from out of the world of television and edit her first real film, (Smoking Aces 2 does not count) it was not a horrible first outing and with a couple steps into tightening up the pace of certain shots and phasing out some action that causes the quality of the film to go down, she could see her star rise higher.

Score: 7/10

The sound crew did not let the film down and those pulsing tones, are felt hard and they are felt fast. One or two miscues drops the score a bit but overall decent job.

Visual Effects: 6/10

I feel mean giving the visual department such a low score, I know they can only provide what is scripted and asked of them and in this case I am sure they could have provided more if they were pushed, but the effects felting underwhelming.

Writing: 3/10

"OK did we make our protagonist sympathetic?"

"Not really."

"But it is Jackie Chan, did we at least make it seem like the system was screwing him over?"

"Not really, we gave him a stalkerish vibe and showed no ineptness by the police or the Counter terrorism people."

"Great, did we at least make it cohesive with plot-holes."

"Well we turned all 500 plot-holes into one big plot-hole."

"Perfect, sounds like we can knock off early."

Production Design: 7/10

Production design was probably the highest ranking factor in the film and good on them, but that generally should never be the case.

Costume Design 7/10

Very limited, for a good portion of the film every one is dressed in black and there happens to be a couple of issues with Jackie's outfit.

Make-up/Hairstyle 7/10

Limited, though the work on Jackie was well-done, though the question of what is natural and what is not does pop up, but still decent job.

Dunkirk (2017)

Silent Era War Film that relies on sound

[8/10 · 4 October 2017]

The P.H. Metric 82/100

Directing: 9/10

The directing takes a hit, not because of Nolan's efforts, but because of the script supervisor who I place in the directing section. Within the opening bombing of the film, (aside from PG-13ing something that should have been utterly horrific) the beach that was just blasted with several bombs does not seem to have taken a strike in any form. The men laying on the ground have no blasts sites near them or anything of that nature and this same issue reappears through out the film.

As for Nolan from the moment we hit the beach and you see that shot taken of those two wooden pillars you can feel the influence of silent era films, which gives Dunkirk a completely different delivery to 99% of the other war films out there.

Acting: 6/10

Due to the film be shot in the vein of a silent film the acting did not need to be perfect and the sheer lack of dialogue presented Nolan with the chance to cast near unknowns which added to the depth of the film and the soldiers naivete, however what little acting was on display did not amount to any grand gesture of the art, but instead more akin to Bicycle Thieves.

Cinematography: 9/10

Superb, not Lubezeki great, but excellent none the less (also I should divulge I am a huge Cinematography nerd) I have been a fan of Hoytema's work since Låt den rätte komma in and he continues to impress with some of his most exquisite work to date.

Editing 9/10

Superb, couple of shots that did not quite gel as well as they should but ultimately the editing is on point and delivers action in just the right manner.

Score: 10/10

Hans Zimmer's score is pulse pounding and on point in every frame of the film, from start to finish it will leave you a sense dread that the film itself never truly captilaises on, but that is in no way the fault of Zimmer. Nolan's use of the Shepard tone was brilliant and really gives life to the piece.

Visual Effects: 9/10

Are stunning and capture the world perfectly, but this like many of Nolan's other films are due to his love of practical effects and I tend to agree if they are done correctly, you get a better quality image that does not age near as horribly.

Writing: 5/10

The film takes a heavy hit in terms of the writing, what with the script running a lean 76 pages. I can appreciate the improvised nature Nolan was trying to create, as war is chaos and there are no heroes spewing golden lines of perfection, however the lines that were on display were unrelentingly movie-esque to the point that the sense of realism that he was trying to portray with the improvisation gets washed away in a sea tropes.

Production Design 8/10

Again only for the pedantic but there are host of anachronisms that plague the film and several shots with buildings that should not be there, that really feel like production design and costume design issues.

Costume Design 8/10

Again only for the pedantic but there are host of anachronisms that plague the film and several shots with buildings that should not be there, that really feel like production design and costume design issues.

Make-up/Hairstyle 9/10

Make-up had an easy run on this film when compared to many modern war films, but for what they did contribute they did a great job. No awards obviously, but they came out and made sure that everything looked decent.

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Directing

[9/10 · 17 July 2017]

Amazingly shot and directed, with poor pacing. That is Gone with the Wind. It is the Titanic of its day, financially viable, idealised and romanticised to levels that only Hollywood can bring and given that the source material is basically one of the world's first harlequin romance novels it is impressive what Fleming achieves and nothing should take away from the skill he exhibited, but ultimately the movie is lacking in knowledge of the time period (but given the history of films that is to be expected) and in its writing which is not something a movie based on a book should ever fail at, but we have all seen countless poor films spun from decent literature.

Big Hero 6 (2014)

The Man in the High Castle the later years

[6/10 · 25 March 2017]

Real rating: 6.7/10 The intentions of the writers might not have been to link to K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, but a Japanese controlled San Francisco is bound to invite that comparison. Which gives the film a horrendous back story that it never intended, but still infiltrates the viewers mind. Could they not have kept them in Japan like in the comics? That said the animation team should be patting themselves on the back, this is a masterclass in human emotion and natural movements which most animated films still have yet to get right two years later. Which if one were to view solely for the animation then yes it was deserving of its Oscar. However if we take the writing into account, then this is a cliché within a cliché that leads to a point where the villain gets rewarded for his endeavours, while the good guys might save the day, they are the one's who ultimately lost more. The work was predictable as predictable gets and one could see everything before it happened, so if you are a future animation student watch and enjoy, if you are anyone else, then it is average at best.

Iron Fist (2017–2018)

Scott Buck

[4/10 · 21 March 2017]

It is bad, simple and plain. Scott Buck needs to take the blame. Iron Fist was a miscalculation on every level, the writing was rushed, the actors never really felt connected to their characters. Characters from a far off distant land are speaking multiple accents from different countries, yet have no contact with the outside world for 15 years at a time. Characters are trying to have each other killed one moment and then oh your my best-friend in the next. No one seems to have a moral compass. The most endearing characters are a drunk who appears for 5 minutes in one episode and Madame Gao. The character of Wing is decent but the love story is so tact on and cliché I heard 1980's action writers rolling over in their graves. Given how trashtastic the entire effort was any negative stuff being thrown toward Finn Jones should be left until the Defenders when the story and development are in another's hands and also dear Hollywood. 90% of China speaks Mandarin not with a Cantonese accent. Cantonese accents are extremely noticeable. Imagine a guy from the Bayou in Louisiana acting like he is from Brooklyn but speaking the entire time in a thick native Louisiana accent and that is what it is like hearing Mandarin in this accent.

Prisoners (2013)

Love = Wrath

[8/10 · 25 August 2016]

Real rating: 7.8/10 Those who love dearly are destined to be victims of wrath, a true yet cynical thought. A decently paced thriller for its length struggles with the weird morals of its characters, or lack thereof in 80% of the cast, as well as their inability to see that they are all prisoners to their own ideals, beliefs, desires and wants. They are inhumane creatures being portrayed as humane and no better example of this is the wife character thanking god for one of the most heinous atrocities an average human could conduct. The acting, while a touch over the top in scenes, is stellar, the cinematography is excellent and the directing superb, the writing is actually the let down, though it feels like it shouldn't be and most will be able to gloss over this as we the viewer tend to accept weaker writing so long as our emotional strings are being played eloquently.

The Help (2011)

Disney does racism

[7/10 · 25 August 2016]

The film won a deserving best supporting actress Oscar and lost out a best actress Oscar to a performance in a film that as of this writing has an IMDb score of 6.4, that more than anything sums up The Help. The important story is overshadowed by a more marketable one, which to Disney's credit is what they do best, they are marketing juggernauts. As for The Help it never feels genuine, in the same way that most people of a certain age remember white Christmases, when in reality the historical data shows there were actually very few. That is The Help, a white Christmas from our past that is marketing induced rather than a truly honest memory of the way things were.

Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Part 3

[4/10 · 14 June 2016]

It is part 3 of an animated film that should be enough to tell you the level of quality you shall see. It has the cash in quality of any animated part 3 or direct-to-DVD product out there. There is no story or pacing. The voice cast of the originals show up for two or three lines and then vanish simply to obey their contracts. It is one of the most overly used story lines in the genre and one just simply has to roll with the punches hoping your children laugh. It is a cash in and you are watching it for your children or something in that regard. Any other reason other than that leaves to me ask then why are you watching this?