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John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
Believe the hype.
I love the John Wick movies. They are unapologetically badass. Suspension of disbelief is required, but if you submit yourself to the experience, it's a ride unlike any other in modern cinema.
This film is truly everything great about the first 3 films turned up to 11. The story, tho somewhat secondary to the action/cinematography, is a fitting fourth chapter to this saga. The new characters are the best to be introduced yet out of all the films. Caine, Akira, Mr Nobody and his dog; they are interesting, exciting, mysterious, and above all, badass.
The star of the show however is obviously the fight choreography and the cinematography. It's what makes this film. Like the others, this film is drenched in neon style and is clearly influenced by Bladerunner and the like. It's amazing. The long shots, the still shots, the camera angles (that one long bird's eye scene, wow) the lighting. This is truly more than just an action movie. There's an appreciation for elevated filmmaking and the art of film that is on full display here. It's "elevated action" if you want to come up with a genre.
The fight choreography is unsurprisingly perfect. The amount of jaw dropping kills was ridiculous. You know when someone is just so absurdly cool you can't help but laugh out loud? Every extended fight scene had handfuls of these moments. Scorsese famously stated that the marvel films weren't cinema, they were amusement rides. I know he was offering a jab, but this film to me was the best of both world. I felt like I was riding a ride at an amusement park, blown away by the views at the top, and laughing at the excitement of the more exhilarating parts.
Fantastic movie, probably the best action film of the 21st century (yes, better than mad max) and an achievement of making just a damn enjoyable movie. 10/10, A+, 5 stars, the whole shebang.
Boku no hîrô akademia THE MOVIE: Wârudo Hîrôzu Misshon (2021)
Bones continues to be the gold standard for action anime
This film delivers exactly what you're going into it hoping to get; entertaining characters who are forced to push through their limits, almost nonstop action, and some of the best animation in the business. The characters here are the ones you're already familiar with, focusing of course on Deku, Bakugo, Todoroki, and a new, film-only main character, Brody. They are all as endearing and funny as ever, and Brody serves as a great one off protagonist for the film.
The plot of the film is pretty one dimensional, it's basically the same exact plot of X-Men: X3, a one-off villain has created this underground movement to eradicate all of the worlds heroes, and it's up to Deku and the gang to put a stop to it before it's too late. The plot is really only there to serve the purpose of giving us a palate on which we can see some of our favorite characters and Studio Bones do what they do best; that, of course, being awesome animation.
The animation is really next level. I am of the personal opinion that Bones is still the gold standard of anime. I'll give you ufotable if you want to argue their innovation of incorporation of CG (nobody does CG the way they do), they too are phenomenal and are Bones' biggest competition for the top spot of you ask me. MAPPA, tho seemingly at the top of the food chain right now in terms of demand, just isn't as engaging as the other two. There's less life in their animation-but this isn't a review of MAPPA or anyone else, I'm here to tell you that Bones continues to get better and better and their animation is just as colorful, fluid, and dynamic as ever. Bones animation is what anime is supposed to look like, in my eyes. The fight scenes here are at times goosebump-enducing.
Overall, this was a great popcorn action flick that delivers on basically all fronts. Incredible animation, exhilarating action, and some really great moments for certain characters. Really worth seeing on the big screen. 4 out of 5 stars.
Dune (2021)
The seeds are planted for what could be truly great.
I'm going to break down this film by certain areas. As you can tell by my score, I loved the film. I recommend everyone go see it. If you have the time to read my elucidations of that sentiment, cheers.
~Cinematography/CG-10/10
This film was, simply put, awesome. Immaculate cinematography and possibly the best CG I've ever seen. There were moments where my brain knew that what I was looking at wasn't real, because those things don't exist, but couldn't accept that what I was looking at could be anything but real-the CG was that good. The world was completely immersive, awe inspiring, and creatively shot. Something Villeneuve often did when showing massive, gargantuan objects/creatures was put something familiar in the shot with it to accentuate the scale. There would be a person, or a tree, or something else to help the viewer understand exactly how large whatever we are looking at, truly is. A fantastic and effective trick to really sell the environment and world.
~Sound Design/Score-9/10
This film has stellar sound design. They used volume to their advantage quite a bit, and I think seeing this film with a top notch sound system (or at the cinema) is a must. It was also scored by Hans Zimmer. Enough said.
~Story-9/10
The story was unique, interesting, exciting, and esoteric-but not so much so that someone like me who has never read the books or seen anything else Dune-related, couldn't follow every step of the way. It actually reminded me of another film that similarly took an old, esoteric, fanatically beloved book series and gave it a high level, Oscar-worthy rendition on the big screen to try to start a franchise. That film is-bear with me-The Fellowship of the Ring.
I know it sounds lazy and preposterous, but I felt the same way seeing Fellowship in theaters 20 years ago as I did this. It's a film that is impeccably put together, takes itself seriously without being corny, and has the potential to be giant and turn a large fraction of the country, and possibly world, into sudden Dune fanatics, just as Fellowship did for the LOTR (soon to be) franchise back then.
~Acting/Screenplay-8/10
The acting was solid throughout. I wouldn't say anybody particularly steals the show, perhaps Chalamet, as he is in nearly every shot of this film. It was actually a bit surprising to see the story so rarely diverge from him. I thought Rebecca Ferguson did a good job as his mother, as well. This film is much less about the acting and more about everything else, however, it seemed to me.
If I had to make any critiques, I would say the dialogue and some of the line delivery was stale, and inconsistent at times. It seemed to fluctuate between old school, proper "I mustn't go, for father forbids it" type dialogue to modern "eyyyy what's up bud?! Long time no see, good to see ya, killer!" Which can be somewhat off-putting. It's possible that those are just different ways different planets speak, as in earth different countries speak differently, even if they speak the same language.
I will say that the length wasn't an issue to me at all, although I could see that being an issue for some. I'm a fan of epics. If you're the kind of person who would be prone to binging 3 episodes of some epic HBO show anyway, or enjoy the aforementioned LOTR films, then this won't bother you. The story moves at enough of a pace that you never feel like you're dragging.
~Overall-9/10
This will get comparisons to Star Wars, surely, and rightfully so; but think Star Wars through the lens of Game of Thrones. It's adult Star Wars, gritty Star Wars, artsy Star Wars. There are no pure comic relief characters, no goofy names, or even bright colors in this film. It's a serious political, mystical, sci-fi drama epic. And it's amazing.
If I can be candid, I sincerely hope this film does well at the box office, because it absolutely deserves and requires a sequel (or two). It only sounds crazy if you haven't seen it, but this film truly has the chance to be the Fellowship of its era, and the potential Dune franchise the Lord of the Rings of its era. A film/franchise that crosses the bridge between mainstream blockbuster and Oscar darling, something only LOTR has done before it. The rare film that satisfies mainstream movie goers, cinephiles, and hardcore nerds alike.
I'll admit I had my doubts, despite loving everything Denis Villeneuve has done prior, I happen to think he's in the top tier of directors working today, and have for many years now. I felt this film might be too large a task to take on, too non commercial to be appealing to a non fan, too drab to be mainstream, among other things. But this film very quickly swept any doubts away. It's just that good.
The Lion King (1994)
The pinnacle.
This is peak Disney, their magnum opus. All other Disney films since are measured by how they compare to this one, and so far nothing Disney's done has come particularly close. The only other animated films of the last 30 years that deserve a seat at the table with this behemoth are Studio Ghibli's 'Spirited Away' and Pixar's 'Toy Story', with The Lion King still being the best of the three.
What puts this film above all others is its engagement factor-there isn't an age group that won't be just as entertained and intrigued by this film as another. It's heart-wrenching, hilarious, romantic, exciting, dramatic and at times even a bit scary. It never hits a lull, and-so far-never gets old. This film is, by every measure, a masterpiece. A true gold standard of cinema.
Riverdale (2017)
went from one of my favorite current shows to a mockery of itself.
The first season was a pleasant surprise. I selected it on netflix on a whim and binged the first two seasons in a week or so. I loved it, it was essentially a hot topic version of twin peaks, in the best way possible. It was cheesy but interesting, cringy but nail-biting. It found a way to sort of keep the audience in on the joke, i suppose.
When season 3 came out i was excited and watched it instantly, and enjoyed it well enough. The signs were there of the potential downfall, but i didn't wanna to abort mission quite yet. It was pure cheese, way too self serious (i often imagined how the set must've felt-those actors saying those lines with whatever forced emotion they could with a straight face). It was *almost* too much. But i hung in there. Unfortunately my perseverance wasn't rewarded.
Season 4 feels like a "scary movie" franchise rendition of the first couple. It honestly feels like the someone is holding a gun to the show-runners heads telling them to make the most convoluted, self serious, uninteresting, unrealistic dialogue, plots, characters, motives, etc. The character of archie of one of the most shallow i've ever seen on television. I cant tell if the actor is absolute garbage or if the fault belongs to the writers/directors. Its very deflating. A world where every high school kid in the school has the vocabulary of broadway lyricists, and has a fluent knowledge of all things Shakespeare, greek mythology, technology, sherlock holmes level deductive abilities, FBI training, my god. And the one kid-archie-who doesnt (yet?) wanna go to ivy league college is the most predictable of them all until he becomes freaking batman? I thought they were joking when they hinted at his soon to be superhero aspirations (that he acts on, even down to the mask) which are not so subtly foreshadowed (if you can call the trashy exhibition they gave us that) by him dressing up as a superhero for halloween in the exact same episode. And veronica... why does she tell her dad literally EVERYTHING she is *going* to do to screw him over, BEFORE she does it, and then acts surprised when her omnipotent billionaire father beats her to the punch and squanders her plans before they start? But then she'll say it's no matter, come up with another plan, go to her father, tell him what she's going to do in full detail, only to-you guessed it-have her father squander her plan yet again! Just stop running your mouth! This is truly just lazy writing, she is arguably the most calculated character in the show and yet they make her a moron when it comes to her father just to create false tension and drama.
I like alot of the young actors, theyre cool and seem like genuinely nice people. I hope this show can turn it around because they had the potential for a campy cult classic on their hands (again, a la twin peaks) and they turned it into a trashy gossip girl soap opera knock off where every character is completely uninteresting and predictable. Like other commenters have said, at this point I'm only watching it to see if they turn it around since i enjoyed the first season or two so much. I am holding out hope, but i think it'll only come from an entirely new writing team, because they are reaching the point of no return i fear. This last season was a 1/10 for me, it pains me to say. Like twilight before it, its only watch value is to maybe laugh at its absurdly poor everything, and if you arent into that then just steer clear, or only watch the first season or two.