Change Your Image
rngfarrell
Reviews
Z (2019)
Boring
This movie is absolute tripe. The story is boring, the script is recycled trash, the casting is questionable and there doesn't appear to be any thought put into how the themes and story fit together (because they don't).
Await Further Instructions (2018)
Hilarious family romp
This movie is so terrible it's hard to know where to begin. The characters are all stereotypes and everything that happens is so on the nose that it's just pure allegory, which is preachy and boring as hell to watch.
That being said, the flimsy sci-fi frame upon which this film is hung made it worth staying until the end for. I recommend watching the first ten minutes to get the feel of what the whole movie will be then skipping to the end for the payoff for a laugh.
Death Note (2017)
Forget the original and give this a chance based on its own merits.
I'm probably going to get strung up by my fellow anime fans for saying this, but I thought that this was an interesting and well- done adaptation, with adaptation being the key word here. There are many, many differences from the original story. Too many to list, in fact. if you hate that idea then you probably won't like this movie. They basically took the concept and wrote the script as if this happened in the US, where values and culture are nothing like Japan's. What becomes apparent is that the changes are necessary for the film to make sense. Regarding its internal story, disregarding any meta-knowledge one may have of the original, I felt that the movie really stands up on its own. We still see the same themes explored, the acting ranges from fine to superb and the cinematography can't be faulted. While there is an element of teen romance, I found that the movie avoided the pitfalls of this overused trope by relegating it to a sub-plot. As for the God of Death, I really enjoyed the dark, sinister look that the character was given as it matched his newer, darker personality. Willem Dafoe was born to be Ryuk, so much so that I continuously forgot that I was listening to Dafoe and not an actual Shinigami (on a side note, one of the only things I missed from this film was the use of the term 'Shinigami' to describe a God of Death, although they did have a brief little nod to original portrayal of Ryuk). Keith Stanfield was incredible as L - he captured the mannerisms perfectly, something I didn't actually think was possible - and even though the character strays from the source material, it makes sense within this movie's narrative.
Forget the original and give this a chance based on its own merits. It is a well-made film that does a great job adapting and squeezing the lengthy Japanese source material into a standard Hollywood- format, while also managing to keep it believable to a general western audience. It is clear that the intention was never to imitate the original, but to take inspiration from it, and on this (death) note I believe it succeeds.