Reviews

I wish I liked this movie more but the problems that plague this piece are too bothersome for me to not notice.

Let's start with the obvious one, the editing. It's horrendous, I don't know why this film is edited in such a way where it almost seems like they didn't really care about a little thing called continuity. Shots are chopped up and mashed in between different scenes and some shots are either cut too early or held on for way too long. To mask the tiresome nature of exposition? Perhaps, but it doesn't work, it makes the movie look ugly. Talking about ugly, it isn't an ugly-looking film. At times, it can look beautiful although there are some questionable directional choices, like how most of the action sequences (especially scenes with martial arts) are mostly shot in close-ups, and unfortunately, the shaky camera-work is also quite prevalent in most of those scenes. Oh well, at least some of the bigger action set-pieces looked good enough. But they do mess up on the CGI, which was very noticeable in a few sequences.

This movie wants to be "meta". How did I figure that out? Well because it beats you over the head about it throughout the entire first act. Simulatte? Seriously? Is this a joke? "Not-so-subtle" doesn't even begin to describe how blatantly it pushes its "ideas" right up to your face and it's extremely annoying. The whole "meta" thing wears off way too quickly and after that, the movie just becomes... for lack of a better term, stale. It becomes just another action blockbuster movie with big, indistinguishable set-pieces that serve no purpose except for making the audience cheer for a minute or two. It introduces so many more plotlines and different threads to a pre-existing story and it just makes everything unnecessarily more convoluted than it already is, but then by the end, it just funnels everything into this one plotline that blatantly says "our free mind can do anything and love is very strong". It's void of any nuance or any deeper layers, all of it is, as some would say "on the surface". There's a character who literally just stands and screams a bunch of expository babble during an intense action sequence, yeah... very "meta". Obvious sarcasm aside, subtlety isn't really a thing in this movie and some of the writing is just terrible.

Another aspect of action film-making that this movie can't handle well is tension. It fails to create any tension because there are no valuable stakes in place, which doesn't make the action scenes feel as exciting as they could have been. Also since most of the action is shot very shakily, the Martial arts doesn't even stand out that much as well. Again, all of it just feels... stale. Needless to say, almost all of the second act is a slog to get through and the third act devolves into another mindless action set-piece.

Not to be all negative about it, there are some things in here that are actually pretty good. The humor almost works to some extent, and some of the actions sequences, especially the ones that are shot wide look really good. There are some really beautiful shots that look great at times. Some of the new characters were quite interesting even though we get little to no character development for them.

All in all, this film... just feels, empty. It doesn't have anything new to say, doesn't have anything good to add to the franchise. It's just another action movie, unfortunately. As if we don't already have a billion of those. It was fun to see Keanu become Neo again though.

The Mockumentary/Found footage style sells the tragedy and the supernatural phenomenon in an organic way. It isn't stylized for the sake of stylization and the scares are kept at a minimum. This movie relies on its nihilistic themes, it tries to get under your skin rather than shoving pathetic jump scares in your face every 2 seconds.

It can feel a bit long and granted, it drags at some points, but that works for the story that it wants to tell. The "shaky cam" that we usually see in a lot of found-footage movies is present here but it isn't distracting and is used sparingly. Unfortunately, it does suffer from its characters, they're underdeveloped and could have used more time dedicated to them rather than some of the expository scenes that are used quite heavily in it.

The horror here is top-notch though and it works so well because of how the director uses the tragic situations that we face in our everyday life, attaching them to something supernatural to amp up the tension and the sense of dread that's present throughout the movie. It's very unpredictable in that way because when something "in-your-face supernatural stuff" does happen, it catches you off-guard... most of the time. I thoroughly enjoyed it despite some of its blatant flaws (as they're ever-present with every found-footage movie apparently)

So Vol. 2 solves the biggest issue I had with the first one in its first sequence, a villain that's both intimidating and formidable for "The Bride". Bill didn't have much of a presence in the first one, he was more of a "guy pulling strings in the background" but in this one, it's his time to shine and boy does he shine. Characters in this film feel more like humans and come off stronger, thanks to the dialogues which are very strong in Vol. 2 when compared to Vol. 1.

And not only dialogues, Vol. 2 almost improves a lot more upon the first one in all the right ways. Tarantino took the story-heavy approach with this one instead of the action-heavy approach that he took with the first one. There is nearly not as much action as the first one and it only makes the movie better. Also, it's worth noticing that the action in this one feels more rough and brutal even if the scenes themselves are short, They seem more real this time around. Taking the story-heavy approach with this one certainly helped with the pacing, this film flows beautifully and seamlessly without taking the viewer out of it.

For some, that might be boring but for others it's perfect.

The story itself is quite interesting, it expands upon the straight-forward narrative that the first one followed by quite a bit, and by the end, the viewer is rewarded with a very satisfying conclusion. The camerawork has been improved upon as well, there are fewer fast-cut-jump-cut shots and we get to see more wide shots. Once again, Tarantino tries to incorporate more unique cinematic choices and stylistic choices that work and are stunning to look at. The sound design is amazing as always.

You may not get a lot of "style" this time around but you will sure as hell get a lot of heart.

In the end Kill Bill: Vol. 2 is a film that is much better than the first one in my opinion and I recommend it a lot!

Style is the word I would choose to describe this movie. The stylistic choices made by Quentin Tarantino in this film are admirable. From the start of the movie to the end, you get to experience so many different cinematic choices and all of them look stunning on screen.

The movie gives you everything that you can expect from a Tarantino film. A non-linear story structure? A story that's dark and gritty but very easy to follow? Gorgeous action scenes with an element of gore attached to them? Everything is present here.

But that's not all. You get more! As I mentioned above, Tarantino implemented a lot of stylistic choices in this film, there's a scene that is completely animated like a Japanese anime, there's a scene where it's in black and white to intensify the action sequences and go all-out on the gore element, there's a scene where people are fighting as silhouettes while the background is lit which looks amazing might I add. The camera work is also Top-notch, there a several tracking shots that look stunning and certain camera angles that make the film feel different with each scene.

The story is simple to follow, and it does a great job to make the viewer sympathize with our protagonist "The bride's" hunger for revenge very early. Dialogues and background music are also great. Keep in mind that this is a very action-heavy movie and the action for the most part goes from TENSE to a bit too CARTOONY but I wouldn't blame you if you would ignore that because it still looks awesome nonetheless.

I have but one flaw with the film though, and that would be the rather weak villain played by Lucy Liu. Her acting was good in my opinion but she didn't feel like a formidable foe for "The bride".

It's a great movie, as expected of Quentin Tarantino, definitely recommended.

Apocalypse Now is not a war movie, the war is just a framework. It's about our protagonist, Willard, and his journey through hell. To find the meaning of mortality and death by going headfirst into the horrors of the jungle itself... finally accepting the darkness within.

Willard is sort of a silent observer which helps us to project ourselves into him, to see the world from his eyes, and experience the madness that this film relentlessly relishes. The Jungle can look grotesque, muddy waters and the bloodshed in the woods are enough to make you and everyone around you go insane but there's also a sort of beauty, in the Jungle. Some shots make it look entrancing and bewitching with the use of colorful smoke, heavy fog, slow pans, and its significance as something that provides life.

The atmosphere is captured with excellence, you don't know what you'll see next, how will the confrontations go, you might encounter a battlefield which has distorted circus music playing in the background, or other times you might encounter a very well-lit show for the soldiers, completely randomly. Such events might make it seem like the movie has pacing issues or tonal issues but no, far from it. It flows naturally, the pacing feels perfect and the tones are just right for every scene. Having 2 shots super-imposed onto each other also helps give a more mystical sense to the movie where time is irrelevant, it starts to feel like a fever dream.

The final sequence is just perfect. The colors, the music, the outstanding camera work, and the context of the situation breathe so much life into each scene. It plays well with the idea of our protagonist finally coming to terms with the darkness that he plunged into, and the symbol of power that he has to face. It ends with our protagonist finding the much-needed clarity in the heart of darkness and insanity.

Still, with so much good, there's always some bad and unfortunately, this movie is plagued with one major flaw and that is over-acting. Some actors over-did themselves, to the point of making them feel annoying and unnecessary. I know it's supposed to make us understand how insane everyone around our protagonist is becoming, but it didn't work well with me because of the utter contrast between Willard and his crewmates. Still, Apocalypse Now is an excellent film that went through literal hell in production to finally come to fruition and tell a story about the figurative hell, it's a horrifying journey that everyone should experience at least once.

This movie captures that notion quite perfectly in its first 30 minutes. A teacher slowly reveals the details of a tragedy that left her broken inside, Trying to teach her students a lesson about "life". The chatty and disrespectful bunch slowly come to their senses with each word coming from their teacher's mouth, a sense of fear washes over them. And not just them, but the viewers too! Dialogue is the name of the game here and the execution is perfect, the classroom feels like a claustrophobic closet where the secrets are being revealed one after another. You keep asking yourself "what the hell is she going on about", everyone listening to the teacher, including the viewers get engulfed in a sea of curiosity. And the payoff? It's extremely satisfying. To me, those first 30 minutes were... perfect.

But how's the rest of the movie? Well, picking up with the second act of the movie, it's a drag and really uninteresting. The director opts for a lot of obnoxious stylistic slow-mo shots or shots of characters looking into the camera all edgy-like which only bogs down the second act even more. Honestly, the second act is the perfect example of the phrase "Style over substance". They try to build off of the narrative that the first act sets up but the execution is so lackluster that it doesn't hold up with the first act at all. It felt like it was written by someone from the show Riverdale or 13 reasons why, throwing away exposition behind the cover of slow-mo shots. I can see how that can work for some people, but it didn't work for me at all.

The third act? It's okay. Still can't top the first act, but at least it had something to offer, which was a very satisfying conclusion to the entire story that we've been following. But, it still raises some questions about the morality of our main character which is, unfortunately, never resolved. It felt like a mistake to me, ambiguity can be a wonderful thing if done correctly, but for a movie that has been dumping exposition on your face the entire time, a movie that wants you to know literally every single thing about every single character, it was weird for them to leave out something so crucial just like that.

To be honest, those first 30 minutes could have been a movie on their own since the rest of the movie doesn't retain that sort of quality or creative genius, hard to believe that it was all directed by the same director. It keeps on escalating, to the point where it doesn't even feel like a grounded story anymore. There's so much exposition here that it never lets us breathe with the characters, you get to know absolutely everything about these edge-lords, how they're feeling, what they're thinking, what they want to do, it feels insulting like we're just idiots being spoon-fed information. But hey, at least it picks up in the third act and has a very satisfying conclusion, so that's something. I'd still recommend this, to see how much richness it contains in its first 30 minutes and how it loses all of it going further is truly a sight to behold.

Run Lola Run feels like an experiment. It's a fast-paced film that doesn't want to stop, something that is communicated to us instantly by the fantastic music that is being used in the background constantly, repeating itself since the beginning of the movie. There's a sort of "why not" mentality that is being employed as it's very noticeable how so many different editing techniques are being used here. Zooms, fast-cuts, pans, split-screens, and even animation are used for a few sequences which only enhances the aesthetic that this movie is going for, these sequences are edited in such an organic way that it never really detaches the viewer from the movie, and breaks the immersion.

Not only does the movie excels at being so stylized but at the same time, you also get to see it dabble with a few different ideas and play with its straightforward yet engaging premise in a unique way. There's a lot of meticulous detail that one can notice in each repeating sequence, some might catch even more in several viewings. My only issue with it is that while it tries to play with so many ideas, a lot of them are left unexplored due to how short the movie is. It is a fast ride but it's not a long one. Still, this was a very rewarding experience for me and I can definitely see how much influence it had on the style of some directors at the time and many more that were to come.

Skinamarink walks on a thin line since it requires much from its viewers. The experimental nature of this movie can come off as boring or laughable to others, and downright terrifying for others.

Rather than having a full, cohesive narrative, it instead opts for a more unconventional approach to its storytelling which can feel frustrating, and to some extent, it is because it presents a series of vignettes. Vignettes that don't last very long, are random and don't even show our characters in frame most of the time, but that's exactly what works for it. It fills the camera with that negative space that the viewer wants to avoid looking at, maybe something is lurking there. There's not a lot of dialogue either, we get noises, sounds, and one or two pieces of dialogue in what feels like every 10 minutes. It seems as if the intention here is to trap the viewer in its feverish nightmare, through the eyes of the two children.

It reminds me of the creepypastas and those strange, viral "ghost caught on tape" videos that were so prominent on youtube in the 2010s. But this time it's turned into a feature-length film and I have to give it props for what it's trying to achieve on such a low budget. But this way of storytelling also proves to be a major detriment to the film itself. You need to be really immersed in order for it to work, you need to be patient, give it your undivided attention throughout its runtime, and just let it work on its own. And then maybe, you'll experience the nightmare for yourself.

Aftersun is soft. It doesn't give you many answers, as it's more interested in showing than telling. Something that was helped greatly by how well this film is shot, written, and executed. Throughout its runtime we see a father and his daughter, spend time together on a vacation, and while most of it seems sweet and sensual, you can feel that something isn't right. It builds on that lurking dreadful feeling which slowly starts to make sense as the film goes on and by the end, you still don't get a clear answer, but you do realize where it's pointing its finger at.

Every frame and sequence is there to tell you something about the two of them. Even little things that might seem pointless are still trying to give you more. Whether it's Callum spitting in the mirror or his daughter just simply telling him that he doesn't have enough money to pay for her singing lessons. Callum is struggling, but the film never outright tells us what he's struggling with. You are given implications but his struggle is not the point. It's how he tries to hide it and mask it in front of his daughter while his daughter tries to decipher him as a person. What makes him tick, why he's always practicing his "weird ninja moves" as she playfully puts it? The film is about them, and what might just be their last vacation together.

It's quite subtle with its technical side too, smaller details like having Callum out of the frame for many of the shots hold so much more meaning once you realize where the film is going. A lot of the heavy lifting is obviously done by the actors themselves, Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal play their roles perfectly. Still, even though I can praise this movie for days, I couldn't connect with it personally. There's something about it that couldn't break me by the end, but I desperately wanted it to. That might change in the future someday. But as for now I still liked it a lot and appreciated it for what it was going for.

I couldn't understand Ad Astra. It's a film that talks a lot but says very little. You could try and peel off all the layers that it tries to set up but once you do peel them off, you'll realize that it's hollow. Which might just be the reason why I didn't feel much during its runtime. I never felt frightened or empty inside by the depiction of the space, I never felt anything for the characters or their hardships, I never felt the weight of the message that it was trying to deliver.

The constant voice-over that lets us know about everything that we need to know is tiring, to say the least. Our main character, just like the film itself, talks a lot but doesn't really have much to him. And his father is the same, as for other characters, well they don't really matter since they're disposed of rather quickly right after they're introduced. So is it trying to be an art-house character piece? Well if it is then it's failing at that. Maybe it was trying to be a sci-fi thriller since it does have those "space pirates" and angry primates, but it fails at that too since it can't keep up with those ideas either. Was it just trying to be a good sci-fi movie that provides escapism? It can work in that regard if you're not feeling bored by its extremely slow pacing which makes its runtime feel like it lasts for an eternity.

Perhaps I am being a bit too harsh, but it's because I can sense the lost potential here, which is squandered by the mishmash of so many random ideas that were just being thrown at the wall. Is this journey to Neptune worth it in the end? Not in my opinion. I can however give it props for the way it looks. Honestly, if the inconsistencies are too much for you to ignore and if the plot isn't grasping your attention then the visuals just might because it definitely looks beautiful. There are even some shots that may remind you of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey or Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 which can seem charming at first but that charm wears off quickly once you realize that there's not much beneath the surface of this beautifully decorated shell of a film.

Tokyo Night is... strange. It was released right when the actual Paranormal Activity 2 came out and is supposed to be a forgotten side-quel(?) which is not even canon anymore. This is a shame because I enjoyed it way more than most of the actual sequels that came out in this franchise. That's not to say that Tokyo Night is some misunderstood gem. It's mostly just a retread of the first film, but this time in Japan. I was expecting it to put a J-horror flair on the Western Paranormal Activity formula but it didn't do anything to carve out its own identity. Although it did manage to somehow terrify me during its last 20 minutes but I do think that it needed a bit more ambitious approach. Unfortunately, Tokyo Night is a strange anomaly that has been forgotten in time because it couldn't be bold and just did more of what already became tired after the first Paranormal Activity.

Koyaanisqatsi opens with a visual of a fire, raging across the screen. There is no other context. Just this visual is accompanied by a haunting score composed by Phillip Glass. The fire slowly opens up to a rocket that's taking off, exploding the fire we saw earlier. It's majestic and terrifying at the same time.

A non-narrative experimental documentary, which doesn't even have any dialogue or any written text throughout its runtime might seem like a chore but somehow it had me captivated. Reggio provides us with an almost alien-like perspective of our own world. Showing us all the things that we've now grown to think of as mundane. From people walking on sidewalks to cars driving on different roads, buildings, mountains, and more. He manages to elevate such mundanity to a hypnotic level, making us see the both horrifying and the beautiful nature of life, How chaotic it can be. Of course, the background score adds to it a lot as well. Giving each sequence its own sense, and you can feel the sadness that is present in such sequences. By the end, it left a heavy impact on me, the chaotic nature of life can be quite chilling when we actually take our time to look at it. This film is definitely not for everyone and I completely understand why some might not be as captivated by it as I was, or they might even put it off completely. But for me, this film will haunt me for a long time.

Oppenheimer is exhausting, in a good way of course. It is long, slow, and brutal. There's a vision behind this film that is so grand in its execution, you feel it, even at the beginning. The overwhelming score, the editing, and the dialogue let you know what you're in for.

Unlike Nolan's other past films, this time he's not tackling any fascinating concepts, instead he's going for a fascinating story about a human being which gives him an ample opportunity to layer the people in this film with actual depth that has been lacking in his characters from his previous few films. He is also trying to stay grounded and keep his characters real while also giving us a grandiose perspective into this man's life. Showing us how he got to where he was, and how he became the father of the atomic bomb. The score and the way most of the scenes are shot, along with his persistence over using very minimal CGI or none at all, pays off in achieving that grounded yet ambitious vision. But the creation of the bomb isn't everything, we're watching a film about the man, not the bomb after all. We're shown the guilt that haunts him, which was brilliantly accentuated by the use of more surreal sequences. We're shown how he deals with the aftermath and what Strauss does to him. We're shown how flawed he is, and how that affects the people around him.

I didn't even touch over the acting but I don't suppose that I need to. It's a given that everyone in this film acted their absolute best. Cillian is perfect for the role of Oppenheimer as he captures that guilt that's hidden behind his eyes. You can feel that he is broken, even though he doesn't show it. His obsession over quantum physics, with those visions of fire and explosions that were intercut, were some of the most beautiful sequences in the film, especially how such loud moments are juxtaposed against the quietness of the scenes they're intercut within. In the end, we're left with something that is complex, visceral, and brutal. And even after 3 hours of constant dialogue and slow-paced sequences, it still left me wanting more.