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jaceodemedici
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Us (2019)
We are Americans
Us is not necessarily as traditional a horror movie as it's being marketed as. It is visually an incredibly beautiful film. The performances from the cast are stellar as well. It seems that many people have walked away from this film feeling like it doesn't have as much to say as Get Out did, and have found it lacking for that. But in reality, this movie is less about the literal plot points and more about the abstract representations of the characters and settings. The Tethered representing lower class citizens that the upper class ignores, so much so in this case that they live in caves underground and no one even knows they exist. The upper class here are represented by our protagonist family, who are maybe not as privileged as some of the characters in the movie but have enough privilege to be ignorant of the Tethered, the way that you or I might be ignorant of the plight of people suffering from homelessness. There's something poignant to be said about the chains that society puts on people of different classes as well. And without spoiling it, one of the late twists of the movie can even be interpreted as a call for all of us to examine who we really are.
If the plot of the movie is taken completely on face value without looking into the subtext it could easily be considered a lesser entry in Jordan Peele's filmography, but taking into consideration all of the concepts Peele has managed to explore with this film, it truly stands out as an instant classic.
The Ritual (2017)
Refreshing horror done well
This isn't an absolute masterpiece but it is a damn good movie. I was kind of surprised that it was a Netflix original because their movie content hasn't been as strong as their series content so far, but this is a much needed step in the right direction.
This isn't the movie for you if you need a cat to jump at the screen as a loud noise plays every 10-15 minutes in order to feel engaged. That being said, this movie has a lot of depth for it essentially being a creature feature.
The movie is a bit of a slow burn, with the first two acts masquerading as a psychological thriller. Throughout the movie we see the main character flashing back to a traumatic event from the beginning of the film, and you're not really sure if there is going to be a creature or if people are just loosing their minds.
Of course then we see the creature in the third act and it looks really good. I really enjoyed the back story for the creature and it worshippers as well. The creature is described as the bastard offspring of Loki, which might mean that it is supposed to be Fenrir, although he is commonly described as a wolf. It could easily be a different bastard offspring of Loki, but who's to say what a bastard wolf god monster would really look like? In my opinion, this is the best bastard wolf god monster we could have hoped for.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Star Wars: It's the Longest One
How does DJ know the rebel's plan? Finn and Rose don't know the plan (and why would they have told him if they did know?), Poe doesn't know the plan and this is all established in the previous scene but somehow DJ sells information that he can't possibly have to the First Order.
Luke is going to burn down a tree with Jedi books in it, pauses for a minute and is then upset when Yoda burns down the tree... Why?
The whole movie is just the laziest writing. They are going to run out of fuel but they are also just fast enough to stay out of range of the First Order ships.
I don't feel like this movie is really bad, it's just disappointing. This movie is style over substance. It's difficult to believe that everyone at Disney read this script and thought it was great.
And none of the jokes are funny.
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
One of the great Spider-man films
This movie was great.
I have heard a lot of nit picky things about it and there have been a lot of people saying that this movie isn't as good as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2. Firstly, I'm not sure if I agree with that, I recognize the greatness of that film but I felt that Homecoming was more joyful, playful and grounded. My second complaint with that criticism is that this is the FIRST Spider-man movie in this trilogy and not the second. People seem to forget that the first film has to do the heavy lifting to get you invested in these characters and then, ideally the second film can go off and be less restrained by all the setup and just tell a better story (not that that has been the case for most of the MCU movies thus far, Iron Man 2, The Dark World, Age of Ultron).
I thought Tom Holland was great, some people said he sounded whiny, those people are probably a**hats. Jacob Batalon was just incredible all the way through, the scene in the library just caps it off brilliantly.
I loved the echoes of the civil war comic book arc at the end with the Iron-Spider suit and Peter declining the press conference.
I've also seen people complain about setting up future characters and I recognize that we've been burnt by that in the past, but I don't feel that this movie is guilty of the same sins as previous films and I think that some people need to ease up on the post- traumatic-bad-movie-disorder. This movie did not forget to be a good film first as Iron Man 2 did, and all of its character setups were really just playful winks that worked really well for me, as the many winks and easter eggs in the previous MCU movies have in the past.
I don't have a problem with all the MCU people and concepts that get thrown into the movie either, after all, this film takes place in the MCU and adding those things in just makes the world feel like something that we are getting a glimpse of whenever we go see these movies. One of my big complaints the first time I saw The Winter Soldier was that Tony Stark seemed to have no interest in knocking those helicarriers out of the sky, and presumably what's happening is on his radar in some capacity, so he should (not that I wanted him in the movie, but it did take me out of the film a little. In hindsight, it is one of, if not the best MCU movie to date).
All we can do now is hope that Sony doesn't f**k up Venom, of course, it's all but sure that they will.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Zach Snyder!!!
It's hard to fathom how this movie was as disjointed as it was. None of the acting was bad, in fact the whole movie was acted superbly (I even liked eisenburg's lex, it felt like a welcome extension of the character he played in The Double).
Character motivations were extremely lacking, and the story was incredibly bare bones. If you saw the trailer, you basically saw the movie. There's not much more to it, and the editing is atrocious. It seems like some one was trying to kill the movie, and then accidentally spliced it back together.
Most of the characters don't have strong motivations, if any explanation is given to explain why they're doing anything at all. Superman is largely ignored as well, it's as if they weren't sure how to write the character, so they did as little as possible with him.
I don't know if I care that batman was killing people, but he was a little (a lot) irrational where supes was concerned. Here's a guy who's only ever helped people, but just in case he decides to kill every one we'd better kill him first. Makes no sense for a guy who's supposed to be super intelligent to jump to that conclusion.
Gal Gadot seems great as Wonder Woman, but she really just shows up for no reason. The rest of the justice league's introductions are far worse. Literally just a file stolen from Lex Luthor, who also for some reason designed their logos.
I don't know if they ever had a great script, or even a good one, but they managed to whittle whatever it started as down into a whole lot of nonsense that possibly should have been set in a non-canon universe for its ultra violence.
Cloverfield (2008)
Excellent Monster Flick
I give this movie 8 stars just for the main creature. Coming from someone that is a big monster movie fan, this is a great monster and the little spidery things that come off of the larger creature are indisputably terrifying (almost more so than the larger creature), not to mention that you explode if you're bitten by them (which is super cool).
The downside of this movie is that none of the human characters are all that likable. None of them are very relatable and the movie fails to make you care about any of them or their concerns. So, while the whole movie depends on the crew trekking into hostile territory to save someone, the emotional weight is never there.
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Best Superhero movie ever
Honestly, I am a fan of the MCU. With the exception of Iron Man 2, I have liked all the movies. Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 had good emotional/character beats respectively, but they both had missteps. Also, Age of Ultron could have been better.
I am also a huge fan of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, and I like Man of Steel quite a bit. Honestly, I felt like BvS had some faults, but it was enjoyable.
I say these things to establish myself as an impartial judge.
I wasn't going to write a review for this movie until I looked at the reviews. Everyone who has written a negative review for Civil War has either:
1. Mentioned that BvS was a superior movie, which it wasn't. I'm sorry, I wanted it to be better too.
or
2. Misspelled every other word or had no idea how to form a coherent sentence.
Which leads me to believe that people are either downvoting Civil War because they love DC or because they're plain stupid and can't follow the plot.
Look, if you want to leave a review for BvS, do it on the BvS page.
This movie was awesome. I didn't even need Zemo to have his "my family died" motivation, he was an excellent, convincing villain. He could have just hated the avengers for all the damage they caused and wanted them disbanded. Chadwick Boseman was incredible. INCREDIBLE. Totally awesome. I loved Giant-Man's debut and the entire airport fight scene, it was fun and light-hearted in a way that Age of Ultron attempted but overshot, making AOU a little bit cringeworthy at times (who cracks a joke with their dying breath?) The scene added a needed break from the gravity of the rest of the movie, granting it the balance that both AOU and BvS overshot in their respective directions.
Honeymoon (2014)
Great first film, keep 'em coming
Honeymoon is the first film for co-writer/director Leigh Janiak, and before I say anything else, I'll say that I can't wait to see what the rest of her career brings.
Most of the Honeymoon's flaws seem to stem from it's low budget. That being said, the film didn't have many flaws, and none of them were condemning to the point of ruining the movie.
The film works slowly, building tension between the two leads after a strange occurrence in the woods. At this point, the new husband, Paul, notices his wife is acting odd. This continues for most of the movie, with Paul seemingly nit-picking every semi-strange thing that happens.
By the end of the movie we, as an audience, are convinced that this isn't Paul's wife. So, in a scene where Paul has her tied to the bed, interrogating her about their past, it's a little lost when the script tries to play the who's-really-crazy card.
The movie plays as a more intimate re-imagining of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Which is great, cause Body Snatchers was always missing that touch. There's a great alien abduction subplot that gets thrown out the window when the aliens turn out to be shadow people (which are two different things in the world of sci-fi/horror, I'm sorry. Read John Dies at The End if you wanna know how to do shadow people right). One could argue that the aliens are just in the shadows, but it's clear this was just a budgetary short fall, which I can forgive.
Overall, Honeymoon is well written, well directed, and well acted. As I said, I look forward to what the future of Leigh Janiak's career may bring, as she definitely brought a unique and fresh approach to this character driven story.
Ant-Man (2015)
Great fun, Great addition to the MCU
Somewhat off topic to begin in this review, I have to say that some people should have to earn a learner's permit to express their opinion on the internet. That having been said, it's time for me to "Ride Home" about this movie.
First off, I have to say that, like most people that have seen Paul Rudd in almost anything he's been in at all, I can't not love the guy. I mean, come on, "slappin' da bass, man," and "60% of the time, it works every time." He's funny, he's intelligent funny, but he's also goofy funny, and he's an excellent ad lib. Not to mention that he had a hand in the re-writes of the script after Wright left.
Since I'm on the subject of Edgar Wright... Would Ant-Man have been better if Wright had been able to swallow throwing in a Falcon cameo, and swapping out ten- rings for hydra buyers? It probably would have been, but we'll never know. What we got was a great little movie that i would love to see a sequel to, and a character that is going to add a lot to the MCU.
Under the Bed (2012)
Bogeyman done right
This movie is way under-rated.
The monster in this movie is awesome, first off, it's one of the better (if not best) original monster creations in recent horror movies. What's more is this movie remembers a time when a monster could be set up, through darkness and shadow play. Teased at, only to be revealed in the climax of the film. It's an art that has been forgotten by most in the genre. And this movie knows how to use gore without overusing it, another balancing act long forgotten.
There were a few things that didn't make sense, the biggest being what the dad is so mad about through the whole movie. The only reason for this (plot-wise) being that he pushes the children into confronting the monster.
We don't really get any sense of the motivation of the monster, but what are you gonna do? Sit down and try to ask him why he wants to eat you? We all know the tropes that are widely used to explain back-story in these films, but this movie sidesteps those, and I don't find it that detrimental to the film as a whole.
Overall, this movie isn't a masterpiece, but it's worth watching with a bag of popcorn.
Godzilla (2014)
This is a Godzilla movie!
If you don't know anything about Godzilla, if you've never seen a Godzilla movie before, If you don't know what a classic Godzilla film is... DO NOT WRITE A REVIEW OF THIS MOVIE!!!
DON"T DO IT!!
I have loved Godzilla, and monster horror of all kinds, since my youth.
This movie is long, and it teases at the monsters, mostly Godzilla, more than it shows them. However, from the point of view of a true Godzilla fan, this is the best introductory Hollywood Godzilla movie that could have been made, and I'm hoping for more of them. This movie is well done, and it renders Godzilla in the best way possible for a modern movie, not quite a hero, but not quite a monster.
Infini (2015)
Intelligent, well executed sci-fi
After watching this movie, reading through the reviews, and re-watching this movie, it is clear to me that the reason Infini has such a low rating is because a bunch of people had no idea what was going on. They then chose to blame the movie for this.
I'm not going to explain the plot of the movie, there's no need for that. If you watch it and you don't get it, that sucks, so sorry. If you watch it and you do get it, rate it high.
What does need to be said is that, while this movie is a little short, and possibly under-developed in some areas due to the run time, this is an outstanding example of (as the title says) intelligent, well-executed sci-fi.
Infini takes a well worn concept, and injects it with familiar, stylistic imagery. However, where many films would, and have, failed at taking this concept and making it unique and different, Infini triumphs. This film manages to say something new in a world of stale, pseudo-zombie movies. What's more than that, is it manages to say something worthwhile in a genre where exploration of the human spirit is key. Something that seems to have been forgotten in the age of effects driven movies. Not that i don't like big budget, cgi heavy films, but they would do well to remember that sci-fi isn't only about spectacular, over the top cgi imagery.