milk-carton-reviews Reviews

Rough Night (2017)

surprisingly, not that bad

[30 June 2017]

When I saw the trailer for this movie, there was no doubt in my mind that this would be a complete miss for me. However, I'm happy to say that I've actually had some fun while watching this movie and that I actually laughed several times throughout it.

The biggest problem of this movie is the beginning, where everything feels just so forced, and none of the jokes really land. It's a good 25 minutes of dick jokes and campy, frat humor that I didn't care for at all, and honestly got me worried about sitting through the whole thing. A horribly, horribly weak start. It's pretty damn bad up until they actually kill the stripper - at that point, the movie takes a drastic turn for the better. I'm not talking about masterpiece level direction, but it actually becomes charming and entertaining to watch. The best part structurally is the fact that these are in fact grown up women each dealing with their own problems and though clearly stereotyped, it's the actresses really that bring their own thing to these girls. If it wasn't for the charming performances by everybody, I don't think this movie would have worked at all. For the most part, the script is pretty weak and with lots of awkward information dumps, and the emotional parts wouldn't have been nearly as effective without the actresses that we got in the end product.

My favorite performance out of the bunch was Zoe Kravitz, followed closely by Scarlett Johansson. Zoe plays this classy, rich girl, but never manages to feel like the stereotype we all know from similar movies. I think that despite the pretty bad script, the characters were written very well. There is a scene near the end where Scarlett Johansson confronts Jillian Bell and audiences can actually get where both of these characters are coming from, which makes for a fairly interesting watch. Their fight actually has weight to it. I liked the fact that Jillian Bell's character started off as a typical, jealous, annoying friend, but actually ended up as a character that, I feel, had a lot more to her that we didn't know and made all of her actions make sense. Ilana Glazer is just fun to watch as always, I had a slight problem with Kate McKinnon because at times she was being a bit over the top, but I'm willing to look over that since at other times she is utterly hilarious. Scarlett Johansson was just lovely, I enjoyed watching her because she is "the mom friend" and she's dealing with all of these things, it's great. The parts where her fiancé is trying to get to her were pretty funny. In fact, all of the casting choices were great, because I know for a fact that all of these people have proved themselves to be funny before.

Now, the reason I gave this movie a 5/10 is because it has almost an equal amount of negatives as it does positives. Firstly, the script, as I mentioned before. Some of the lines are just excruciatingly forced and kind of hard to watch. The jokes don't always land. There were actually quite a few jokes that just didn't get a laugh out of me whatsoever. Secondly, it's nothing we haven't seen before. This concept has been done times and times again, so generally, this movie is going to be forgotten by everybody who saw it pretty soon. The first act of the movie is almost intolerable.

In conclusion, if you're just looking for a fun movie to watch and then forget about shortly after, this is the one for you. It will make you laugh, it will entertain you, and there's nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of campy humor every now and then. However, if you're interested in watching something with the same type of humor but better, I'd point you to the show "Broad City", which actually has the same writers as "Rough Night" but with much better writing.

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)

amazing action movie that lives up to the glory of the first film

[29 June 2017]

Let me start this review off with what everybody already knows: the amazing choreography, action scenes and gun-fu. The action in both John Wick movies is definitely one of it's biggest virtues, often being dubbed as the perfect video game movie adapted from a video game that is yet to exist. And honestly, this movie is just a perfect mesh of beautiful action, neon colors and Keanu Reeves kicking some major ass.

I will say, however, that the first movie was a tad bit better. It had more room to breathe in between the action and was more character driven. The character of John Wick was always something fascinating to me, because he is a morally gray man with a shady past, which has definitely been done before, but John Wick is just so... Interesting. He is so close to falling into the so called "Gary Stu" category, since he is basically a flawless assassin that can do anything, yet he is never portrayed as perfect and as a man he is deeply flawed, which never gets boring. Basically, my small regret with this movie is that they decided not to focus on his character so much. What I really enjoyed, however, was the development of the secret organization that we found out about in the first movie. It was really cool to finally learn all about how things worked in this John Wick world. I'd love to see more of that in the next sequel. Another pleasant surprise for me was Ruby Rose. I didn't know she would be in this movie going into the cinema, and although her role in the movie is relatively small, she manages to bring this presence to her character, and as always, it's just really nice seeing her.

I believe that if you were a fan of the first movie or a fan of Keanu Reeves (he is such a delight, honestly), you are going to love this movie. Go check it out.

Logan (2017)

so much more than i expected

[29 June 2017]

Being a huge X-Men fan, I really hoped this movie would be good and all of the trailers looked amazing, so I went into the cinema with impossibly high hopes, even preparing myself for tears. What I got, however, was an actual punch in the stomach and, like, an hour of crying. This movie exceeded every hope I ever had entering the cinema.

I'm actually having a hard time finding any negatives in this movie whatsoever. I wasn't particularly crazy about Dr Rice, but he's such a minor presence in this movie that I barely even noticed him. There are several villains in this movie, Dr Rice, Donald Pierce and X-24, but what I genuinely believe is going fairly unnoticed in all of the reviews I've read is Donald Pierce and Boyd Holbrook's portrayal of him. Honestly, I don't believe we've had such a good X-Men villain since Magneto, and that to me is really important now since we barely get any good villains in movies these days. Villains can be the most interesting part of a movie. I'm excited to watch Boyd's show "Narcos" now, and I plan on following his career from this moment on. X-24 is also a much better villain than I expected, serving as a sort of a shadow to Wolverine. Another highlight of the movie was Dafne Keen, the little girl that plays Laura. She is absolutely amazing, and I can't stress that enough.

I want to briefly discuss the R rating. Honestly, it adds so much to the movie, and it's amazing to finally see Wolverine cut loose, swearing and slicing people up, it's amazing. And there is a lot of blood and swearing in this movie, which just adds on to this gloomy, gritty feel that lingers over this entire film, further pushing the notion that the dream is dead, that this is the end of the X-Men. It's truly depressing seeing this world where all of your childhood heroes are dead. In a way, I'm almost angry with the creators for twisting the X-Men so out of what we're used to, and that's another thing that I sort of have a problem with, even though nothing really could have been done about it. I don't really feel like the message of this movie, to give up after so many years of fighting, to just kill off everything goofy and colorful about the X-Men and shatter all of our hopes is necessary in a time like this. I think that as goofy as they are, X- Men movies and superhero movies in general just need to do what they were created to do - to raise hope in people that things will get better if we all work together and that we can find a family no matter how different we are. That's an important part as to why X-Men were created in the first place, to show minorities that they're not alone. Now we have a movie that shows mutants, a minority already hated by most of the "normal" people being killed off by the government, and I really don't think that's the message that was needed right now. However, "Logan" is a typical example of the director giving the audience what they want (a nostalgic, gritty Wolverine road trip movie) instead of what they need. In this case, it absolutely works because everything is so masterfully crafted, the cinematography is beautiful, the performances are amazing (Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman should seriously be up for an Oscar), the action, gore and script are ridiculously good, there is a compelling villain and it managed to hit an emotional nerve for me. I can't even consider giving it a lower than perfect score.

I'm excited to see what Logan means for the superhero genre. It's definitely up there with the likes of "The Dark Knight". However, this movie can stand alone as something more than "just a superhero film", and as I've heard so many times before, superhero movies get old. It's time for a little change in the genre. While I can't say I'm particularly happy with the implied direction that the X-Men movies are taking after "Apocalypse" (even though the X-Men are my favorite superhero group ever, though people tend to forget all about comic books and animated series), I'm more than excited to see if they will ever again reach anything close to the masterpiece that is "Logan".

Baywatch (2017)

even more ridiculous than i thought it would be

[29 June 2017]

This movie is just a roller-coaster from start to finish. Everything that happens is just so unbelievable, I was left with my mouth hanging as to how something like this could have even happened. It baffles me to think that somebody actually thought that this was a good idea.

Luckily, the writers/director were obviously aware that they weren't making a masterpiece, so they decided to go the completely ridiculous route of just throwing absurd stuff at the audience until they're laughing from how awful it is. And I do believe that this movie is really enjoyable to see as a "so bad it's good movie", especially with a bunch of (possibly intoxicated) friends. None of the jokes land, so you're actually laughing at the unintentionally funny moments, or just laughing from the sheer sadness because there's nothing else you can do, except stare in bewilderment.

During the opening credits, they're not even being remotely subtle about what kind of movie they're making. A ridiculous rap soundtrack, Dwayne Johnson jumping into the water in slow motion, things exploding, dolphins jumping out of the water and giant "Baywatch" letters coming out of the water really dramatically. Everybody in the movie was so obviously cast as eye-candy that it's painful, but then again, I didn't expect anything else from Baywatch. There is a full two or so minute scene of Zac Efron completing some sort of course shirtless, only for us later to find out that the scene was COMPLETELY unnecessary. However, the hottest person in the movie by far was the woman villain drug dealer, and that's coming from me, a straight girl.

I don't think anything else really needs to be said about this movie. I mean, do you even really need to be reading this review? Did people even expect anything from this movie? There's literally nothing else to be said. In conclusion, this is insane. I'm conflicted whether to recommend this movie just so people could see how NOT to make a movie and then make fun of it, or not to recommend it, since that means that the people who made this will get more money and make more films like this.

Wonder Woman (2017)

the best entry in the DCEU cinematic universe so far

[29 June 2017]

While not a perfect movie, "Wonder Woman" is definitely good and by far the best movie of the DCEU. After the likes of "Batman v Superman" and "Suicide Squad", my bar was set pretty low for this movie, and I'm glad to say that it exceeded my expectations.

The beginning starts off a bit weak and exposition-heavy, which was slightly off-putting but still enjoyable enough. However, the second that Steve (Chris Pine) and Diana leave her island, the movie takes a turn for the better. It was refreshing to see that the two love interests in a superhero movie actually had chemistry for a change, and watching them interacting and learning things from each other was just a delight. Without a doubt, the middle was the strongest part of the movie, and the most enjoyable aspect was Diana and Steve's relationship, partly because of the script, but mostly because of the performances by Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. Speaking of Chris Pine, his character actually serves a purpose in the movie and works perfectly next to Diana. Both characters learn from the relationship and grow as people, Diana learning about the realism of the world from Steve, and Steve learning something from Diana's childish optimism, and that there is always something to believe in. Gal Gadot was a delight in the role of Wonder Woman. I was slightly worried while watching "Batman v Superman" because I thought she would play a bland and boring version of the character, but this movie just shoved that fear aside. Her line delivery at times could have been better, but it was the emotional lines that counted, and boy, does she know how to deliver a blow. Aside from that, the movie also raises a few interesting points about war and the goodness of men. It forces you to see war from the perspective of someone who never witnessed anything like that before, and who is genuinely baffled by this war and why anybody would choose to start something like it. All of this is brought up in some very powerful scenes, and the goodness of Diana can actually move you, separating her from some other "purely good" characters we've seen before, such as Superman and Captain America.

Now on to the negatives. Most of the problems with this movie come with the villains and the obvious meddling of the studio. Let's talk about the villains first. There's two major villains in the real world - Dr Poison and a German general (I believe), but there's also obviously Ares, whom Diana is set on finding because she believes it will end the war if she kills him. The two "real world" villains were pretty generic and over the top, with unclear motivations and just completely forgettable. Without spoiling anything, "Ares" is not much better. There was a clear point in the movie where I thought "Okay, this is beautiful, I hope they stop right here and end on a quiet, but enlightening note", but they just HAD to shove in a major, over-blown CGI battle at the end, which I thought was completely unnecessary. It completely ruined the point that the movie was trying to raise, and if the ending was different, I would have given this movie a higher rating. Also, a minor thing that sort of bugged me (I know it bothered some people more, it was just a minor thing for me, though), is the excessive use of slow motion. I'm not really a fan of Zack Snyder, and as we all know, he really does go overboard with the slow motion. And yes, I know that the movie was directed by Patty Jenkins, and not Zack Snyder, but he was involved with the film and clearly had a role in it.

All in all, this movie was definitely better than what I had expected, I'm just slightly disappointed that it went the traditional superhero route by the end when it could have been so much more, but otherwise, I think it's a great, fun movie that DC fans are going to love.

The Handmaiden (2016)

a stunning piece of art

[8/10 · 29 June 2017]

I don't even know where to start with this movie. For starters, it ranks up high in my favorite movies of 2016, and it's for a reason. The first thing I would like to point out is the stunning cinematography, which stays consistently good throughout the movie.

The performances were amazing, especially from the two female leads, Min-hee Kim and Kim Tae-ri. They have amazing chemistry together and leave the audience rooting for them the entire run time. The story was compelling and beautifully composed so that the viewer never really knows what's going on until the very end - not for a second did I get bored. I absolutely loved seeing the events of the film depicted from different character's perspectives. This is the type of movie that requires multiple viewings to get the full experience.

Park Chan-Wook nails it with the direction, as was expected of him at this point. He doesn't shy away from explicit content and the entire movie has this erotic aura surrounding it. At the same time it manages to be one of the most empowering movies for women I've seen in a long time and the movie that the LGBT community has been waiting for, which I believe is extremely important for Hollywood at this time. Let's just hope that other movies follow "The Handmaiden's" lead. A truly refreshing representation of homosexuality in film.

In conclusion, this is a masterfully crafted movie that I would recommend to everybody, definitely one of the highlights of 2016. I can't wait to see what Park Chan-Wook has in store for us next and am excited to keep following his work.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

a great, entertaining sequel to a great movie

[7 June 2017]

I had my doubts about this one while going to the cinema, because I am a big fan of the first one and was genuinely worried that this one wouldn't live up to it's predecessor. While I do believe that the first one was a better movie, this one is what I would consider a perfect sequel.

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 does the right thing by letting us get to know the characters a bit better. What I was most surprised by, however, was the choice to focus more on the character of Yondu than that of Chris Pratt's Star Lord. I thought it was a brilliant choice; Michael Rooker really shines in this role and is by far the best character in the movie. There are also some really cool action scenes with his arrow. Star Lord gets thrown to the side a bit, which is good since we already know pretty much everything about him except for who his dad is, which we do find out in this movie. All in all, the action was fun, the characters were great, the colors were great, it was much funnier than the first one (this movie is very much a comedy with some absolutely hilarious one-liners, mostly from Drax) and just overall a delightful experience. It definitely exceeded my expectations.

That being said, I do have just a few problems with this movie. They don't ruin the movie for me and they're not that bothersome, but still. We all know about the recent trend in big superhero movies such as this one, which is bad villains. And, honestly, all of my problems start with the villains. The Guardians are being followed throughout the movie by these golden people, which ultimately serve no purpose in the movie other than being "villains", I guess. I say "villains" because it's very much debatable what their motivations are and even who they are, and we just don't know enough about them to care. Everything they do is pretty ridiculous and over the top. The other problem I have is with Kurt Russel's character. Now, I love Kurt Russel and I was excited to see him play Peter Quill's dad, but his character just feels like a big exposition machine and, not to get too spoilery, goes the typical cliché route. His motivations are clear, but very much overused and he's basically in the movie as a plot device. These two things, though, aren't that big of a problem to me because they were just devices for the movie to give Star Lord something to do (of course, a movie needs conflict), and they were background things working around the jokes, fun, and the adventure the characters we love were on. And the ending does get quite emotional.

Ultimately, I think fans of the first movie will have no problems enjoying this one as well and I believe it has done everything right as a sequel. Let's just hope Marvel continues down this path of movies that know what they are and are just plain fun.

Fallen (II) (2016)

fails as a movie

[7 June 2017]

I wasn't a big fan of the books (to be honest, I started reading the first book and then couldn't finish it, it was just god awful), but since the first one came out in 2009, I forgot they even existed. The biggest mistake I made going into this movie was that I hardly looked anything up for it, and for some reason failed to connect it to the book I hated so much. I genuinely believed that I was going to see something average at least. Then, as I was entering the cinema, my friend told me it was an adaptation of the "Fallen" book, and all I could do was laugh.

Right from the start, the similarities with "Twilight" are uncanny. It's honestly ridiculous. Firstly, there is a very forced love triangle, where the outcome is nothing short of predictable. This entire movie can be summed up with; "It's Twilight with angels", because that's essentially what this is.

The two male leads were god awful. The main character's best friend is annoying. I don't even know who the villain is (possibly Satan? I honestly forgot) and they honestly gave it their best to insert every possible cliché in the movie ever. The characters are so frustrating, especially the default male love interest who keeps making dumb and selfish decisions. There is, however, one thing that I liked, and that was the actress who played the main character. Notice how I didn't say that I like the character, because I don't, or her acting in particular, I just feel that she was the only charming cast member with at least some likability surrounding her. It's a shame it was wasted in this god awful movie. This brings me to the ending; there practically isn't one. Of course, they had to have a big overblown CGI battle, but it only lasts for about five minutes and then the movie ends, without any resolution. Worst of all, it's open to a sequel (based on the money they made back and the horrible marketing for this movie, I doubt that's going to happen). Also unfortunately (I guess), the movie doesn't even know how to set up a sequel and leaves tons of stuff unresolved. The result is a flat, unsatisfying ending.

In conclusion, I did like the movie better than the book (or what I read from it) and it definitely had potential if it just bothered to be at least a little bit different and keep a consistent tone. At times you could really see this movie trying to be darker than your typical love story for teens, but it just didn't have the guts to steer away from the formula and lose it's target audiences. It's a very boring and forgettable movie, and I wouldn't even recommend it to the fans of the genre.

The Lost City of Z (2016)

The film takes place in the 20th century, where British explorer Percy Fawcett journeys into the Amazon to discover evidence of a previously unknown civilization.

[1 May 2017]

I'm sad to say that I was disappointed by this film in almost every aspect. It seems to me that the biggest problem it has is the pacing. For a two and a half hour long film, pacing is important to keep the viewers engaged and this movie just gets it completely wrong. It feels like three movies clumsily stuffed into one, and as if that wasn't enough, it adds a bunch of utterly irrelevant scenes which could have easily been cut out of the movie entirely. I, for one, was expecting to see at least some beautiful cinematography, but the movie fails to deliver even in the aesthetic aspect. I was also expecting to see a lot more of the actual journey to the Amazon, but instead we got scene after boring scene in England, where nothing of importance really happens. After about an hour and a half I was left wondering how so many critics found this movie watchable, desperately trying not to fall asleep. To make matters even worse, Charlie Hunnam delivers an awful performance and makes for an overall uninteresting lead. Surprisingly, the only performance worth watching in this film was, out of all people, Robert Pattinson. I'm certainly glad he's moving away from his Twilight years and I hope to see him in more roles like this one in the future. Overall, this was a forgettable, boring, mess of a movie.