armencho-392-524499 Reviews

Infinity Pool (2023)

Great acting, a lot of captivating form, but little function or solid substance

[6/10 · 11 May 2024]

If this movie set out to produce conflicted emotion, it has succeeded with me. But perhaps not for the reasons it ought to -- I acknowledge great acting here, formidable cinematography, and in general makings of a great movie. It is let down by that simple thing that was hiding there in plain sight in between the good things I mentioned -- lack of even an indication at where it (the movie) wants to go, or what kind of philosophies it even would allude to. Don't get me wrong, open-ended can be great, and is one of cinema's fortes, but here I feel I have been treated to a great artistic piece that yet managed to leave somewhere between wanting for more and some resolution that would allow me to leave it behind. It did neither, beyond said acknowledgement of great acting by Mia Goth who's absolutely riveting here to say the least, and the other things. The fact I am willing to repeat myself about the acting and the rest of it, kind of reveals the problem with this movie -- it's accomplishments on one end seem to directly oppose its lackings on the other, which is _substance_.

I loved the weird literal setting of the movie, a fictional country that immediately has the viewer abandon a lot of disbelief about what they expect to assume about it (the setting). That works to the movie's favour, and was ostensibly quite the genius thing to do by Brandon Cronenberg.

And still, for all its accomplishments in horror and weirdness finesse, it lacks that thing some of us at least want from a movie -- a resolution that owes to the vaguest of messages that can resonate with us. Without it, the movie is just _alien_. I will need to sleep on it many more nights to understand what merits I may have missed, and this isn't always a good thing.

Because I believe it lacks basic substance, I can only give it 6. Otherwise, it's perfectly made, I'd say. It's a pity it won't be able to woo more people, when they said the actors are wasted on this one, they probably mean it's too "art house" to lend them credit for it, unless they're satisfied with their work (which on their own they have all the reasons to be).

Cronenberg junior has all the makings of a great directory but his father, for much the same sense for the weird they share, did make some very solid movies, of most of which I am a big fan of. With his son, there's potential shown by this film, but the latter doesn't realize it, in my opinion.

Halo (2022– )

As shows go, this had me mostly entertained throughout, in thought as good sci-fi should

[8/10 · 7 May 2024]

I love "Halo". I find it entertaining, well made in most aspects. As someone said, Pablo Schreiber is greatly underrated and I think that's owed to his masculine hero image, but he can act, I can tell you that. Ironically, even for a character that's supposed to be a silent super-soldier devoid of our "weaknesses", just following orders supposedly -- Schreiber's Master Chief is both a joy and enigma to watch. His mannerisms are on point and he's able to communicate a lot of confliction and other feelings just with his face. Great casting there! The other Spartans are well-cast too. Natasha Culzac starts a bit in the shadows but there's an episode in the second season where she is given enough to show her range as an actress, and her performance had me in awe. Kate Kennedy is consistently captivating on screen, it seems the more she's given to work with the better the scene with her in it. Natasha McElhone is, in some scenes, in a league of her own, which befits an actress of her renomé. But it's a compliment to Halo that the rest of the cast isn't far behind in terms of acting prowess, the show's so much better for it.

Halo doesn't fumble on the CGI. The Covenant are done masterfully, it's all really impressive, at least for a TV show. It's also done with finesse. When plasma bolts are flying, I have to say I am not getting tired of it. All the better stuff's not blown up all the time, the show has commendable pacing switching between meaningful engaging conversations and the rare battle which too seems to be put in the right place.

On a rare occasion, I feel Halo falls into cookie cutter villain territory, but it recovers quickly enough as the more complex elements of the plot are woven back in and get back into front seat.

I find the plot to be complex enough to be thoroughly entertaining.

Halo is a package. You may not vibe with all of it all the time, but it's been long I've had such a pleasure watching a TV show. There's marvelous, ingenous sci-fi out there, and while Halo could be better, I think it deserves my score. It had a tall order to fill -- please the gaming fan base and what not -- but it won't be forgotten by me the way I forget a lot of other stuff I discover and put away.

I hope Halo has a long run on television and I can only hope the actors are given great material to show off their range. It's not often that so much of the cast is so consistenly good, even the chemistry, for the most part(!), works to the cast's advantage.

Spaceman (I) (2024)

A lovely little movie which may do wonders for the occasional viewer

[7/10 · 17 April 2024]

Let's be honest, the theme of Spaceman has been done at least once before -- Steven Soderbergh's "Solaris" comes to mind. The macro-microcosm, the struggle of the masculine outer vs. Feminine inner or however you want to label it -- it's not new on film.

However, in the opinion of this reviewer, a lover of slow-burn cinema, transcendental and timeless themes of space, the Universe and our place in it, this movie has still managed to offer something original and breathe some soul into the otherwise rehashed theme.

Sandler pulls off the role easily and I found the set and the setting of the movie refreshing (I won't spoil it), let me just say... Chechoslovakia?

I don't _really_ understand people who say they love science fiction but who complain this was too slow, too stupid, too predictable and too... unrealistic (not suspending their disbelief). Science fiction is a very broad brush, and we haven't actually colonized even anything in the solar system, so let's dial back the arguing on what is feasible and possible and what is ridiculous.

The important thing this movie did for me is keep me thinking and feeling about the human condition, which is the holy grail of sci-fi in a way -- to get the reader or the viewer reach into the mysterious inner world through outer allegories, which often are about outer space or the extraterrestrial etc.

The fact this movie burns rather slowly is actually what did much of the trick for me. I am very tired of movies that think they have to have something happening all the time. The irony is that while things are happening, not much can be happening, if you know what I mean? And correspondingly when things slow down, through being affected by the \[slowly\] moving image, some kind of reaction between what I am thinking and what I am seeing, produces interesting form of entertainment for me.

Give "Spaceman" a chance, and it may reward you, depending on your mood and predisposition to slow cinema and a bit of the unexpected, if not entirely original.

I loved this movie, which I know by the simple fact that a day after I am still thinking about it and some feeling remains. This is more than I can say about a lot of other supposedly great stuff I watched and have all but forgotten about.

And then there is Hanusz... but Hanusz will introduce themselves.

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Almost flawless and a useful watch

[8/10 · 5 January 2024]

"Leave the World Behind" didn't over-sell itself to me, but over-delivered. I thought it a solid story, with an apt ending, solidly cast. It simply is a case of "playing its cards right". Esmail must have had a well fleshed-out vision, and I think he and his team (actors included) have executed it to near-perfection against that vision. Mind you, I am not saying the film is perfect, it's more that it comes across as a solid package.

Is this a "slow-burn" movie? Perhaps, probably. Is it "cerebral"? Yes, I'd say so, although far more cerebral cinema exists. The story is revealed in almost a musical order and tempo, the acting is compelling even for the known faces like Roberts, Hawke, Ali and Bacon.

I believe this movie has a loftier message that a lot of the movies it is being compared to -- apocalypse or end-of-days genre -- which often do not have a message or don't manage to get across. Granted, not everything must be a message, but in my opinion the message in this one is worth noting and taking with you further.

How prepared is modern Westerner for collapse of the very cradle they grew up in? When we soon cannot navigate without GPS software, when we don't know where food comes from, all the while our politics degenerate into a us-vs-them situations ripe for abuse by a third-party adversary?

And, more importantly, should people stick together or revert to barbarism, when the society that raised us to a standard, is simply not there one day? The "doom-preppers" on one end, the "neo-socialists" on the other?

If money rules the world, and the simplest explanation of an event tends to be the right one, how do you bring down a nation? This movie simply portrays out an eventuality along this premise. There is some allusion to the supernatural (in the sense that it's left to the viewer, not that we have magic or some such), but it's so subtle as to not distract you, and that too I believe worked to the credit of the team behind the film.

I've seen people praise what to me appeared the most boring or regrettable waste of money, films like "Prey" (of the Predator franchise), like "Rebel Moon". To believe there are people honestly applauding these, while "Leave the World Behind" is considered pretentious or to have a "bad ending", to me was reason alone I had to add my voice to praise the latter, in the form of the review. If this film is a well crafted sentence, then the ending is the period at the end of that sentence.

Honestly, after the plethora of all the zombie apocalypse cinema (which has their own allure I won't get into here), a film that instead shows a much more likely and because of that very scary scenario, must be appreciated for that at least.

Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)

Didn't finish it, regret not turning it off sooner

[4/10 · 30 December 2023]

This movie comes across as if someone somehow reanimated Cecile B. DeMille but didn't restore the latter's brain and heart rate, only getting back a shadow of the man. Now place said director in today's competitive movie industry where most variations on the Hero's Journey have been made, and imagine as if all of the reel burned down in a storage room fire and the company had to deliver by splicing together aborted reels from Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and what have you lying around collecting dust behind locked doors in Hollywood. Like someone else here said, this watches like a parody on an attempt at a homage to a... 80's bad fantasy film. Except that there's no way an 80's bad fantasy film could have been that bad. Even the bad ones I occasionally dig up to watch end up being _almost_ worth the 1-2 hours spent watching one.

With this movie -- not so much. "Almost didn't watch it" would be an understatement, as in fact I turned it off somewhere near the end, cursing under my breathe I let Netflix lure me into giving it a chance. What a waste of acting talent. Yes, I believe no small part of the cast can actually act, but with the 2-dimensional depth-less characters they're given to play, they can't do much as demented re-animated DeMille behind the camera, in Snyder's incarnation, seems to bend the project to their bottom-line. The result is like watching a child's show, except there's no humour and it is far more boring to an adult than most of the children's shows I've looked at.

Frankly, I don't know what else to add. The plot is waferthin, and has been rehashed a gazillion of times since invention of movie camera. There's so much tropes badly woven in the movie I am not sure what it wants to be. Even the title is absurd -- I don't know which moon they're referring to.

I can't escape think of Star Wars here, what with Rebels etc. I wonder if Disney will want to try send their legal department after the people who so blatantly "almost" copied Star Wars here?

Regards, a fan of good science fiction. Have I set my sights too high? No, I don't think so, there are many good stories to be told well, I am sure of it. This falls so far off the mark, the stone might as well been thrown _backwards_. Snyder should be allowed to retain directing duty, but his writing seems like scribblings of a pre-school kid asked to write a novel.

Prey (I) (2022)

Just as mediocre as the other recent additions to the franchise, just in a different way perhaps

[5/10 · 4 September 2023]

To put it bluntly, in my opinion "Prey" is a mediocre movie helped somewhat by beautiful photography. Which, however, only can do so much with a plot much rehashed by the genre and "Predator" movies in particular. Does this mean "Predator" franchise is dead? Oh no, I think there's plenty of stories to be told there. But "Prey", ostensibly hiding behind media hype train that quite honestly felt like a deliberate effort to puff up this turkey of a movie, doesn't venture off into any particularly interesting territory. Themes like feminism and female warriors, are definitely full of potential, but in "Prey" it is done in a fashion that does not, for my part suspend disbelief or inspire anything, quite on the contrary, and it ruins much of the movie -- since it has to carry so much of it. The First Nations theme, too, could have been a breath of fresh air into the franchise, and to a degree it does add some value, but again it does not go far or deep enough, I felt. It's more like a painted backdrop, of sorts. When these themes are left to bare, what's left of the plot is so thin that ironically fans of Predator franchise should rightfully be disappointed. "Prey" felt like a college summer camp "Predator" movie, and even though most of the rest of the more recent installments in the franchise, have been mediocre as well, I can't believe this one's being praised as much as I've read. I can count on one hand the amount of times I quit on watching a movie I first set out to watch (I know how to pick them, often enough), but "Prey" has that dubious distinction of being one of those movies I had to stop and come back to continue next day, with fresh hope, but it never got better.

Reality (I) (2023)

If Hollywood is dead, this film helps prove American cinema is not

[8/10 · 3 September 2023]

"Reality" punches well above its weight, and watching it felt from the start like I were in for a treat. It's by no means perfect, given its story potential, but truth be told I had a feeling early on I would not be bored, and the way it was filmed filled me with a sense of hope in the future of moviemaking -- I know, a cliche-like thought, I hear you, but I've been disappointed lately when the likes of "Dune", multi-million dollar blockbusters helmed by acclaimed directors complimented right and left, leave you bored throughout, while this kept me on the edge of my seat. How is it that a film can tell so much through so little, so fast, while another just drones on with no meat on its heavy bones?

The sound arrangement was a pleasant surprise too. I'll be keeping my ears peeled for what comes next from Tina Satter, if she can do so much on a lawn...

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

Exceptional, a tour de force for both Nolan and Murphy

[9/10 · 30 August 2023]

The first expectation that was shattered on my viewing of Oppenheimer, was that it would be more or less an ordinary life story of the scientist, albeit told in a much better fashion by venerable Christopher Nolan. The movie manages however to be something more than that. First off, even despite Murphy's career-defining performance where I forgot he was ever anyone else but J. Robert Oppenheimer, it is incredible work on part of just about every actor in what almost seems an ensemble cast. That last observation alone is probably due to Nolan's masterful work though, but regardless, the result is stellar on that front. Next, for my part, I quite liked the somewhat non-linear storytelling, may I say I found it pleasantly engaging when telling about the man who was wrestling at a frontier of science now known as quantum mechanics. To put it another way, Oppenheimer appears deliberately "chaotic" at times, like it's simulating miniscule particles that make up the A-bomb, but it aims to do so at viewer's pleasure. Third, I appreciated Nolan telling the story in no small part through what was straight out interviews of Oppenheimer by his then-contemporaries. It's admittedly hard to put into words exactly how he enriched the movie through that particular aspect of it, but I just found it so rewarding watching members of Congress and other interview boards etc, talk to Oppenheimer and hear his responses, all through something else than a documentary, mind you. Nolan pulled a hat-trick there, no less. That's what I mean by him making something _more_ than just a good biography movie. At times, he wants to portray America v. Oppenheimer kind of story, and it's done oh-so-well you can barely notice it until later and how great it was that he did it. Last, but not least, the movie is masterfully shot and cut.

All in all, I think this is a movie everyone should see, at most as a stepping stone to knowing more about the defining events of our history it portrays, and at least as a way for one to be aware of them. The bonus is you get to do so through this particular film, which I'd call a masterpiece had I not reserved the word for absolute perfection which doesn't materialize.

The Last Duel (2021)

Loved it -- slow burn, plenty of detail, had me engaged and thinking

[8/10 · 5 January 2023]

Going into watching this I wasn't expecting anything else but some quality period piece with the bonus of sounds and images of glistening swords and all manner of medieval paraphernalia. This being a Ridley Scott film, I was of course expecting being at least thoroughly entertained.

I suppose me writing a review should mean my expectations were _exceeded_.

In short, "The Last Duel" is actually somewhat of a crime thriller, a "who dun it" story. It is a well built slow-burn movie, if these things are in your style. Acting was top-notch all the way through, even for familiar faces of Affleck and Damon. It seems Scott had his muse with him making this because it's kind of the sum of its constituent parts that makes it work as well as it did for me -- it doesn't skimp on the visuals (with medieval dramas I believe set pieces are important to a degree), actors are professional -- like I said even Affleck and Damon do a splendid job that didn't have me evoke any of their other more mundane roles -- , and the plot burns with a engaging flame like a candle.

I don't like movies that are only cerebral or only everything but. Last night I watched "Prey" which I heard was one to watch, and frankly I was bored 10 minutes in. This one I can recommend for the objective quality factor at least, however; but to each their own, of course.

I wouldn't want to leave this review without mentioning the important message -- yes, really -- that tried to show the enormous weight medieval women had to metaphorically carry and live with, even those admitted in king's court, their plight while being merely a leaf in the wind of fate, among feuding men. This movie made me reach deep into my moral core feeling compassion for the women who lived some half a millenia ago. And it did so in a way deserving of their legacy, if one dares to say so. As banal as it may sound, it had me thinking about the horrors medieval Christianity inflicted on everyone, and about fraternity culture between such men for whom women never became anything but objects.

Arcane (2021– )

A gem the size of a freight train?

[9/10 · 15 January 2022]

I am a 42 year old man who wasn't and still isn't familiar with the source material that is League of Legends the game. I went into watching this series on what premise there was shown to me by Netflix when one night I was browsing for something engaging to watch. My expectations were thus quite low, although I don't tend to "struggle" through anything I don't like a lot.

Well, Arcane blew my mind. It must have truly been a labor of love. The animation is certainly next-level if I knew one but it also seems done with such a finesse, skill and dedication that if it were a bowl of rice it'd be one you'd never forget. The fantastic inspired voice acting across the board breathes even more life into the result, and the narrative and resulting unfolding story of commendable complexity that just edges on the good side of "too complex" (a plus in my book), all these combine to make Arcane into something of a round-house kick to the face if I dare compare it to that. I have to laugh at myself for having seen it being offered to me on Netflix for months yet never plunging in before I did. And boy, am I glad I did -- this is now firmly one of the bright highlights of an entire year worth of watching Netflix. The fact they're making another season obviously fills me with sweet anticipation.

One last thing -- that they made it also kind of invigorated my faith in humanity. I am not a pessimist by a long stretch, but there's been a lot of mediocrity in movies lately, or maybe I am swimming in shallow waters I don't know. Arcane certainly flipped that right side up. Thank you to all the talent involved and to those who produced it and helped deliver it to Netflix.