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Travis Scott: Look Mom I Can Fly (2019)
I quite enjoy his music, but I'm very disappointed after seeing this
I was looking foward to this but there's barely anything interesting here. It's just amateur backstage footage aswell as a painfully exagerated amount of clips of dudes jumping into the crowd in his live concerts. No creative insight whatsoever of Travis' music being made, just him jumping around when the producer plays the tracks in the studio.
This is also probably the worst editing I've ever seen in any documentary, it's all over the place. Zero coherency.
I wanted to like this but can't help feeling Travis is what he is because he surrounded himself with top notch producers and big names in the industry. He seemed like an a-hole to his concert crew, for things only he cares about. Also he acts like a freaking child when he loses both Gammys, especially when he lost to Cardi B (Pusha-T should've won BTW). Why do I like him much less after seeing this?
The Walking Dead: Sing Me a Song (2016)
Great setup for Sunday
This was an outstanding episode where we finally get to know Carl a little better and, of course, Negan and his Saviors compound. First things first, some of the most memorable moments from this episode were just like the comics, which was great, all the Carl - Negan relationship is getting pretty interesting. Fasting forward to the end of the episode, Negan finds out about Judith and has no intentions of letting her go! Now, I'll say what "needs" to happened in the mid- season finale: As Negan awaits Rick's arrival all this Daryl/Kingdom/Michonne/Rick and Aaron scenes will be happening, but it would be mind blowing, as Rick arrives, to see Negan holding Judith and seeing Rick going nuts and begging for him to let her go. Negan throws his speech and in the end, bashes Judith's brains with Lucille. OK, it might sound crazy but let's see, this season has had some unnecessary filler episodes, Judith has been in the series muuuuchhh longer than in the comics and, at this time, with Rick's speech about her (that she's not his daughter) and, let's face it, the baby it's just dead weight for them, Spencer for example, it's getting to be an interesting character and I don't think they'll kill him, Olivia maybe, but Judith would be about the best mid-season ending and would save the hell out of the season for most fans. I know it's not a Negan thing to kill kids, much less babies, but hell it would be impressive to see that, it would probably top Glenn and Abraham's deaths in terms of "parental advisory". I'm just putting hopes really high for this next episode and I think Negan without a beard looks great, just comic-like. Let's wait and see what they think of to surprise the fans.
Suicide Squad (2016)
Another Product for our Viewing Pleasure, Succeeds at Entertaining
After Batman v Superman, which I did like, the expectations for this movie went high. I thought, well BvS has its flaws and critics were kinda harsh, I think Warner and DC will save the great stuff for the summer and bring something new to the genre. Turns out, this movie only succeeds at entertaining because there's quite a lot of things that went wrong here.
Directed by David Ayer, known from Fury, which I didn't like much but still think it's a good movie, the expectations were high and with so many new interesting things to give to the franchise, I was hoping this would be better than most super-heroes movies this year, if not the best. But things went wrong too soon.
The writing was unbelievable at certain points. I'd like to leave here a line that the Enchatress said near the end of the movie that was so cringe worthy it took some time to sink in, let's just say it has something to deal with balls. The acting was some of the worst I've seen lately, even from someone like Will Smith who is still a great actor even though he has been in some bad movies lately. Not sure if the writing or the directing is to blame, but in the end that doesn't really matter. Although, I have to admit Jai Courtney did pull off a great Australian accent and kept his acting good, so did Viola Davis which I think had the best performance during the whole flick, and was one of the most interesting characters.
Joker was great, I think it's new, it's different and I can't wait to see more of him in the movies ahead. Harley Quinn was OK. Sure Margot Robbie has the looks but her character was the most predictable and although the movie tries, it never brings a solid emotional connection. Deadshot and Harley had a pretty natural relationship since Smith and Robbie have already co-starred in a movie called "Focus" which I enjoyed very much.
The squad is pretty unbalanced, I don't think someone really cared about Killer Croc, all he did was deliver a couple of lines and swim in the sewers, he's the most forgettable. Katana didn't get much attention, considering this character has a strong background, you end up not caring much about her though. The flames guy looked pretty bad-ass and his story was one of the best definitely. Boomerang was fine, he's responsible for getting Flash to make an appearance and that's all I can say. Deadshot didn't feel like the legit hit-man he is, that's probably because Will Smith can't make himself unlikable and we're to much used to see him portray the hero. Harley's best moments are in the trailers, and I've seen about two trailers, I didn't even know who the villain's villain was. Harley feels really, really out of place here. Everyone's caring guns and heavy suits and she's half naked with a baseball bat. I know her character is fearless but it doesn't feel right, you never get the feeling of danger when she's around 'cause you already know she's not going to die and cuts the intensity out of the fights. The Enchantress looked stunning and seemed threatening, but she was defeated in a pretty dumb way that makes you question what kind of powers did she really have.
As I was watching the movie I felt like it was calling me dumb. There's no complexity in the story, and the songs they used were stuff everybody has already listened to, just to make it appealing. It's so simple it's frustrating, this movie needed more and even though a lot was rushed, more time wouldn't save from being what I was expecting.
Production design is really great, it surely will become memorable in a few years. Visual effects were pretty great as expected from a movie with this much budget, I'm just really tired to see blue lightning shooting up into the sky in super hero movies. I could make a very respectable list of super hero movies that have a "blue lightning shooting through the sky" scene somewhere.
This movie is a missed shot that may compromise what's expected from this franchise. It doesn't deserve what the most awful critics are saying about it, it's worth to watch and entertaining but not much else really.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
A Highly Enjoyable Flick that Starts a New Promising Franchise
"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" isn't the best name they could have given, but I have to admit, I didn't have very high expectations but it sure didn't disappoint. It's a long movie with a task, and that is to develop all the characters they could fit in one movie. Some characters didn't get the attention they needed, but I'm sure they want to save origin stories for standalone and "Justice League" movies.
Let's start with Batman. Never understood why so many people got mad with Affleck doing the role. He actually looks like Bruce Wayne and his performance was a big plus. It won't be hard to enjoy this Batman as much as we liked The Dark Knight. Affleck fits perfectly in the suit and all the fight scenes were better than ever. They perfectly recaptured the tone that fans so much praise and wanted to see. I wouldn't say it's fan service but I'm glad with where they're going to with this. And then there's Superman. It's nothing completely new, although they brought the man of steel to a deeper layer in character development. Even though Snyder doesn't go with the approach of the comics, where the tones are much lighter and colors are much brighter, this approach makes it more coherent as the movie goes on. Other surprising new characters came into the picture as well like Jeremy Irons as Alfred clearly was one, and of course, Eisenberg as Lex Luther was a completely different yet awesome approach to Superman's most popular enemy. Even though, Kevin Spacey was closer to the original in "Superman Returns", this was a performance that stood out and got us all intrigued.
The movie in general is filled with awesome action sequences that satisfy our needs and expectations. Let's not forget it's a 2 hour and a half movie but still, with so many big characters to develop I felt like some parts were rushed, and they could have used that time for more character development and richer side plots instead of long over the top dream sequences where we don't really know what's going on.
To be honest, I'm kinda tired of the superhero movie genre, but I feel like this one is well above average, with CGI filled non-stop action and a budget that can make anything possible.
The critics were pretty harsh in their evaluation, and if you haven't seen the movie, don't let those awful reviews decide whether it's good or bad. I found it to be highly enjoyable.
Visually it is indeed stunning, although the color grading made it way too dark. Sometimes you don't really know what's happening. Nolan didn't have to dim the lights to bring a darker tone in his trilogy, but Snyder likes to darken the colors overall, and that's something present in most of his movies. Visual effects were made by Weta Digital, the same company who brought the revolutionary effects in The Lord of The Rings and Avatar, so it's guaranteed it looks breathtaking. Doomsday looks pretty great, and its a full CG monster with tons of detail.
As a fan of The Walking Dead, I was really glad to see "Maggie" and "Negan" as Bruce Wayne's parents, it's definitely one of the best moments in the movie.
Since I saw the poster in apocalyptic Times Square on "I am Legend", I've been waiting for this movie, I'd say DC and Warner Brothers might have a new promising franchise on the way. I consider myself a fan of both Batman and Superman but I don't read the comics nor watch the animated series, so I'm rating this movie based on what I saw, not what I wanted to see or should have seen.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
A "Rebooquel" to Satisfy the Fans
This is (probably) the most awaited movie of the decade considering Star Wars is one of the most popular franchises ever. The hype was huge on this one and the waiting time as finally ended.
So what we've got?
The similarities between this and New Hope (Ep. IV) are tremendous. The plot is basically the same thing, but this time everything is bigger. This logic has been used in other titles like Jurassic World and Terminator: Genisys. I feel like Hollywood wants to remake their classics but with all of this CGI madness going on, it's now possible to make absolutely anything.
Disney's influence is visible. I found it odd that before the movie started they had a lot of Star Wars toys commercials, and that got me thinking. I mean Star Wars is made for all ages (basically), but I felt like the movie wasn't as mature as I expected it. The plot wasn't as complex as I imagined, and characters like Rey had a really generic background.
- SPOILERS START HERE:
There are some weird and unexplained things like why was R2-D2 in battery saving mode just because Luke left, like 20 years before, and he just set there for all that time. And, out of nowhere he "wakes up" and shows them the map, which BB-8 had to complete. Rey never picked a light-saber before, and she managed to defeat Kylo Ren which was trained for many years by a Jedi master. How could she suddenly had control of the Force? How was the new colossal Death Star easier to destroy than the Death Stars from episodes IV and VI? Is badass looking Phasma even a threat to anyone? Why the only shots of Republic we had were it blowing up? What happened through all the time between this and the last movie?
To some of this questions I hope to find answers in the next movies, but to others I'm sure I won't.
The best things about this movie were Han Solo and the nostalgia of seeing all the good old characters, and the fact that Stormtroopers finally have (at least better) aim. There are some interesting new characters like Finn, and I'm still not sure what to think about Rey and Kylo Ren. I think I'll have to wait until Ep. VIII to reach a conclusion.
Special effects were better than ever, you can finally see light- sabers casting some light over the actors faces to bring more realism and make it look like they were really fighting. The balance between practical and CGI was satisfying and I'm glad they kept the title crawl and those fancy transitions as well.
Lightsaber battles seemed really awesome since they didn't look too much choreographed like the prequels and too much paused like the original trilogy.
Basically, I think this is a 2015 version of what we've seen before. Even though I don't think it's quite there yet, I do think it's promising.
The Martian (2015)
Realistic concept of a modern space trip to Mars.
There are two very-well known individuals who went in the making of this movie, Ridley Scott and Matt Damon. This year's space blockbuster has proved to be very well-executed, as usual. Mark Watney (Matt Damon), is a lonely astronaut that is left behind on Mars when he's considered dead by his crew on take off back to Earth. He has to find a way to contact Earth so he can go back, but meanwhile he has to save and produce supplies to last about 2 or 3 years, while help is on its way. Matt's portrayal of a character who is completely lonely on an entire planet and has only hope to hold on to is formidable, including the fact this character has a very strong personality. So once contact is made, Earth begins to work on a rescue plan, and when everything seems to be going well, it isn't. After Mark finally figure out a way to survive for several years on Mars, everything goes wrong and everything gets lost. It leaves the audience with thrill and wonder, because every time you think you're predicting what's gonna happen next, it never goes that way. This is an example of good screen writing. The movie is not hard to follow, but some scientific aspects may leave you a bit confused. This movie also includes a strong cast and well performed acting in a way that, even though this is fiction, you can't help but notice how real it feels. There's no year representing the happenings in this movie, it just feels like nowadays. Visually, there's a lot to this movie. Although it isn't as overwhelming as Interstellar, it looks real enough to make you believe "this is Mars". Some space shots from Mars didn't look as photo-realistic as expected them, but that was probably because it was too much saturated in color grading. I'm expecting at least 1 Oscar nomination for either sound editing or mixing, since there was so much about. I usually don't watch a movie thinking there's something special about the sound but this definitely has in the way it was edited/mixed. Overall, "The Martian" proved to leave me at the edge of my seat, not many movies can do that. It's at least one of the best movies I've seen this year from 2015.
Jurassic World (2015)
Much better than the average blockbuster, truly a masterpiece!
Before watching Jurassic World, I expected good things about it, but I didn't feel like it was going to be something close to the original. I kinda felt like the trailer showed a lot from the movie itself, mainly the big bad dino. Well, I was wrong. I don't like to judge a movie by the trailer, but when I watched the actual movie, I was clearly surprised.
The movie starts off with very-well done character development, and you get to know what Jurassic World theme park is all about. The way it works, the main attractions, the overall park functionality are actually believable. The characters stand out for they personality and it's quite impressive the way they connect through-out the movie run- time.
Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) is able to think like the dinos, and he raised 4 Velociraptors to obey his instructions. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) is in charge of the park functionality. Zach and Gray are Claire's nephews. They get into serious trouble by running away from the park.
And then, there's Indominus Rex, the genetically modified hybrid, that is able to think, hunt and make chaos like no other dinosaur. It's huge, and it's the most vicious creature ever seen in a Jurassic Park film yet. The Indominus like every other dino in the movie looks absolutely astonishing, it's wonderful to see how much the CGI advanced since the first movie.
There's tons of detail in the dinos expressions and CG landscapes. But it's not all CG, like the original they also used special effects with real life props of dinos in some scenes.
It's predictable in some parts, but I can assure you that it won't cease to amaze. A movie like this, is the perfect example of what a well-done sequel is, even though the movie ignores the existence of The Lost World and Jurassic Park 3.
This was, for me, the most anticipated movie this year, because I've been waiting for it for several years and it's finally here. I recommend to anyone who's a fan of Jurassic Park series.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
The best 2014 movie I've seen so far.
The movie starts with a little explanation of what happened since the last one. It appears that 10 years later the apes managed to build their "society" in the wild. They've managed to breed, hunt, talk a little better and even ride horses. So, in 10 years the apes evolved and humanity was almost wiped out. Might seem a little too fast but it's definitely an interesting scenario. The story is actually quite simple, not as complex as I expected, but it leads the movie to a more elaborated conclusion. The way the apes turn against the humans was quite a surprise. There are several plot twists, which is great because it surprises the audience. The movie also comes with new characters and I think everybody played well, acting doesn't seem to be an issue. There were major improvements since 2011 as for the Visual Effects and CGI. The apes were very highly detailed, the fur in different environments looks really convincing, so did their eyes and basically everything. This movie proofs that CGI is getting really close to reality, and it will definitely leave a landmark in the VFX industry. Overall the movie was absolutely amazing, in my opinion, this is best 2014 movie I've seen so far. It is worth watching.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Why the hate? This movie is great!
Some called it the best Spider-Man movie, others said it was the worst. Some even say the cast wasted their talent, the truth is this movie divided Spider-Man fans, although most people liked it! I think it was a great movie, the introduction of Electro really moved towards the story, and now people are expecting the Sinister Six and Venom in the next movie! I also think the new Spider-Man suit is much better than the one in 2012, it's more like the one from the comics. In my opinion the movie had some influence from The Ultimate Spider-Man comics because of the design of Electro and the big eyes in Spider-Man's mask. About the story, it was good but not very solid, it had its gaps, but overall they managed to introduce 3 new villains and continue Peter Parker's story correctly. Acting was good, not great, I think Andrew Garfield is a great actor, he did very good. Jamie Foxx did good too, some people think he did bad, I think he played a unique character, a fanatic that felt betrayed by his hero. The movie introduced another important character which was Harry Osborn. This one looked more like the one from the comics comparing to James Franco in the trilogy, and I think he really mattered by being the Green Goblin, which looked better than I expected. The VFX were very well done, it looked really authentic, they made it look even better! Overall the movie was amazing, I can't wait to watch the third one in 2016!
Godzilla (2014)
Best Godzilla movie! Great cinematic experience!
THE FOLLOWING REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Read with caution. First of all, let me tell you this has nothing to deal with the one in 98, the only thing it shares is the title. So, Godzilla was indeed a great movie, I really had a good time watching it on IMAX. They managed to bring back to life a classic monster from the 1950s. The cast was brilliant, Bryan Cranston did the best job, his acting was very well performed in such believable way. Aaron Taylor-Johnson did good too, although in some parts it was not that much convincing, but I think that's more of a writing issue, it's not really he's fault but still, quite good. As for the main character, he always escaped from disaster "by an inch", this kept happening again and again throughout the movie, it gets a bit less realistic in the story. The storyline was more based on how they were going to kill the monsters, what are they and stuff like that, which was nice, I think the monsters were well developed, especially the MUTOs, Godzilla kinda came as secondary character, but it's still great because you get to see Godzilla in different scenarios and environments, not just the generic city, and that kills the "monster in new york" cliché. It was ironic the fact that in the end of the movie, Godzilla was called a savior of San Francisco, but they were forgetting the fact that Godzilla destroyed all those military boats and jets, and even the Golden Gate bridge, but I understand, if it wasn't for him nobody would have killed the MUTOs, which would have resulted in global disaster. As for the VFX, they were freaking' unbelievable, it looked so good, you really feel the intensity of the battle, it was indeed a great job on the CGI part. I give a 9 out of 10 stars for Godzilla because it's really enjoyable and I really liked it, that's it.