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King Richard (2021)
Very good, not great
The performances were all fantastic especially the two playing Venus and Serena. Will was very good as well. So why only a 6/10?
The movie was a bit sugar coated. I don't claim to know the events and conversations that went on behind closed doors with the Williams family however I do know the facts and events that Richard Williams did in the public eye. They ever so briefly touch on some dark sides of his story in the movie but not enough to make me think they weren't pulling punches to make him look just ever so slightly better for the story.
The message of the movie is clear and amazing. Perseverance, hard work, believing in yourself. There is no doubt the Williams sisters are two of the best tennis players (male or female) to ever play the game. I just don't think the movie went far enough in portraying the adversity they had to navigate with their father in this particular movie.
Still a solid worthwhile watch though!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Fun if you don't take it too seriously
The strange thing about this movie when comparing it to the book is it somehow turned out to come off as more of a kids movie. The book, while silly in subject matter, had a lot of adult themes attached that didn't come off in the move - whether the filmmakers purposely made that decision or not I'm not sure.
With that being said, the movie is a fun, cheeky adventure comedy that is worth a watch if you're a fan of these types of movies AND if you don't take the adaptation from the book too seriously. Would I have liked to see some of the more intriguing elements ported from the book to the movie? Sure. Did it piss me off that they weren't? Not really.
For the most part the movie loosely follows the events of the book which is fine but I do feel as though it had a lot of steam built in the first act (introducing characters, the Guide, new worlds etc) but lost that steam considerably over the remaining portions of the movie. This movie started out as an 8 for me but slid to a 6 as it went on.
The entire cast were great. We're they exactly as the book described? Again, no. But I did enjoy a few of the surprise members of the cast - Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, etc. Alan Rickman shined as Marvin and Sam Rockwell is just fantastic in anything he does. I'm a huge fan of Zooey Deschanel but I think they could've utilized her comedic chops a bit more.
At the end of the day I'm sure people who have never read the book will rate this movie higher than those who have read it. Either way though it's a worthy viewing with a lot of fun elements and concepts.
House of Gucci (2021)
Slow with uninteresting events
Pretty disappointed here. I think the biggest issue I had with this movie was that the events that transpired over the course of the movie and over the course of the years were utterly uninteresting. It just seemed like they were trying to make these people's lives more interesting than they actually were. In fact, the most interesting event of the entire movie was the big one at the end and that took more than 2 1/2 hours to get to (movie was at least 30 minutes too long as well). Everything else just fell really flat and I feel like any time I was supposed to be shocked at an event or a characters actions I was more annoyed.
Also, the accents were not good. Some were better than others but everyone kept falling in and out of Italian and American accents.
A couple positives: The movie is absolutely beautiful to look at which you'd expect from Ridley Scott. And Jared Leto's unrecognizable portrayal of Paolo Gucci was comedic gold, even if it was a caricature of the actual person.
Could've been great but just faltered throughout.
Inventing Anna (2022)
Zzzzzz
Too long. Too melodramatic. Too boring.
No likable characters. Every one of the them is in it for themselves.
Not a fan of how they attempt to make Anna into any semblance of the hero of the story.
Rounding it out, the writing is that of a 10 year old. Simplistic, with a touch of slapstick. I gave it three full 70 minute episodes and stopped wasting my time after that.
Should've been a 6 episode max series consisting of a maximum 40 minute episodes.
Eternals (2021)
I don't understand the hate
Not really sure why this movie got so much hate. It's introducing a swath of new superhero's and doesn't really converge with any other Avengers plot lines save for a few mentions of Thanos, Thor and some other hero's. That job on its own isn't an easy one and I think they did a fantastic job of giving us a new storyline. The shear scale of the movie was well done both in terms of time periods and in general how epic and massive everything felt. Loved the diversity of the characters - every one of them added something to the story. With that being said - and this is coming from just your average Marvel fan with no knowledge of the comics - the Eternals powers all seemed a bit underwhelming. Maybe it's just that they were trying to display how powerful the deviants were but even Ikaris couldn't take down one on his own. Other than that the movie was absolutely beautifully shot - maybe the best looking Marvel movie to date. Again, I'm not sure what the hate is about but I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Beautiful movie; brilliantly acted
Beautifully shot and brilliantly acted by an A list cast. Plot and story could've been a bit stronger at times IMO, and I wish there was a touch more character development outside of the main few but I was totally enthralled the entire time.
The Lighthouse (2019)
Technically brilliant movie making achievement
Finally got around to this one. More straight forward than Eggers priors but this one is such a fantastic, technical achievement. Mono a mono acting masterclass as well from Dafoe and Pattinson.
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
It was... fine.
It was a decent movie to watch on a Sunday night I guess. The main problems here were that it was WAY too long. They could've accomplished the same movie had they cut 20-30 minutes off. There were also things that kind of got redundant between the two leads that kind of made the movie drag. The two main leads were really good but I didn't feel much for the relationship with the parents or their friends around them. That part of the story seemed like an afterthought.
Had they shaved off some time of the movie, taken out the redundant interactions of the two protagonists, and added in some more of how their conditions were affecting everyone else around them I would've given this a solid 8 - but it's only a 5 from me for now. It's a good, albeit VERY depressing and morbid, movie.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
What did I just waste my time on?
What. Was. This? Boring story. Terrible CGI everywhere. The only reason I finished it was to complete the trilogy. Kind of wish I hadn't as it left a bad taste in my mouth in the Chronicles of Narnia lore. Blah!
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
A perfect movie
Story telling at its finest. A movie that makes you care about its characters and what happens to them makes this truly a movie to love. It's also a movie that everyone can watch and enjoy, not just a subset of viewers. If you've not watched this classic movie you're doing yourself a disservice. Perfect in every way possible.