Wow, that good? Damn, I need to see it. Do you have to know the rest of the MCU to understand? The last MCU movie I saw was Spider-Man Homecoming (3.5/5 stars). I haven't seen the latest Thor, Black Panther, etc.
). It actually had a halfway decent premise, but the script and direction was (predictably) awful and ruined anything it had going for it.
Isn’t the Peter Parker in the movie supposed to be the Toby Maguire version? Sure, not MCU, but still a kind of continuation from previous material.
Ok, I've seen a handful of movies in the last week:
L.A. Confidential: 3/5 stars. This is my second time seeing this one. It's an alright movie, but I really don't get the acclaim for it.
It's so fucking obvious that Cromwell is going to turn out to be the villain. In a movie like that, it was bound to be either him or Spacey. So as a who-dun-it, it sometimes could be somewhat disengaging when the movie spends time trying to uncover whose behind the murders. Like when the two cops planted the guns at the three black guys' house. So fucking obvious.
The movie would have been better with Spacey (who gave a great performance) as the twist-villain, even if that would have been obvious too. Also, Kim Basinger annoyed the hell out of me in her performance.
Crowe was decent and Pearce was great at least though.
Ready Player One: 0.5/5 stars. And just like that, Steven Spielberg becomes (unsurprisingly) the first director of all time to have two movies I've given 0.5/5 stars (the other being Close Encounters of the Third Kind).
Goddamn this movie is terrible, and outside of Minority Report (4/5 stars) and Jaws (3.5/5 stars), Spielberg is a complete no-talent hack. His movies are so artificial and so emotionally hollow and manipulative. He is easily my least favorite director (or at least prominent director) of all time.
I was never going to watch the movie given the director until my father watched it (and gave it 3.5/5 stars
Ben Mendelsohn's portrayal of Danny Rayburn in Netflix's Bloodline is in my top 10 favorite characters in a TV series, but his performance in this movie was so bad. It's not all his fault obviously; his character was completely unnecessary. You have a decent story about a virtual world- why do you need to add an evil capitalist CEO and make the movie about some sort of stupid revolution? The movie would have been way better had the protagonists been other characters.
The two biggest things that annoyed me about this movie were Lena Waithe (the black truck driver Aech) and the godawful 80s soundtrack. This soundtrack sounds like it was curated by someone whose never listened to nor lived through the 1980s and its music, and then Googled "1980s top songs" and made the playlist off the search. Both things were Spielberg pandering to the worst level imaginable.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956): 1.5/5 stars. The first half was good, but the second half held almost no suspense whatsoever.
For Christ's sake; even when it's directed by Hitchcock, I know for a fact that a movie involving a kid getting kidnapped in 1956 will invariably end with the fucking kid getting returned to his/her parents. So if the whole suspense thing is predicated on whether or not the kid will get returned, and I know for a fact that he will be, there is no suspense.
Also, the movie should have gone heavier on James Stewart and lighter on Doris Day. Even if Doris wasn't awful, Stewart is just too talented an actor to not be on screen for (what felt like) 40 minutes of the 2 hour runtime. It was actually probably pretty progressive for its day in that Doris Day wasn't just a damsel in distress. I mean, fuck, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy felt like it was set in the '50s a hell of a lot more than this movie did.
Vice: 1/5 stars. What a terrible movie, and how disappointing, after Adam McKay directed one of the best movies of this decade (IMO) in The Big Short (4/5 stars). This movie felt like a collection of 200 different 30-45 second scenes stapled one right after the other. I imagine anyone who has seen it knows what I'm talking about.
I already knew/thought that Dick Cheney was an evil, self-serving bastard. This movie told me nothing new, did not entertain me, and did not connect with me on an emotional level in any sense of the word "emotional." It certainly didn't help that there's absolutely no character development throughout the ~2 hour runtime either.
Third worst movie I've seen in 2018, after Ready Player One and Mandy (0.5/5 stars) taking the top two spots respectively.
Annihilation: 4/5 stars. A great movie with amazing visuals and themes that will resonate strongly with anyone. Without giving too much away, the movie is about self-destruction. The opening scene (in which CSN's "Helplessly Hoping" plays) was so well done, but the last 30 minutes of the movie is what really makes this film. I don't even think there was any dialogue for 20 minutes or so. Just a great movie, and one that is so open to interpretation and so ambiguous that you would think that it's a 1970s art house film instead of a 2018 Hollywood blockbuster.
Definitely go see this movie ASAP.
Ok, I've seen a handful of movies in the last week:
L.A. Confidential: 3/5 stars. This is my second time seeing this one. It's an alright movie, but I really don't get the acclaim for it.
It's so fucking obvious that Cromwell is going to turn out to be the villain. In a movie like that, it was bound to be either him or Spacey. So as a who-dun-it, it sometimes could be somewhat disengaging when the movie spends time trying to uncover whose behind the murders. Like when the two cops planted the guns at the three black guys' house. So fucking obvious.
The movie would have been better with Spacey (who gave a great performance) as the twist-villain, even if that would have been obvious too. Also, Kim Basinger annoyed the hell out of me in her performance.
Crowe was decent and Pearce was great at least though.
Ready Player One: 0.5/5 stars. And just like that, Steven Spielberg becomes (unsurprisingly) the first director of all time to have two movies I've given 0.5/5 stars (the other being Close Encounters of the Third Kind).
Goddamn this movie is terrible, and outside of Minority Report (4/5 stars) and Jaws (3.5/5 stars), Spielberg is a complete no-talent hack. His movies are so artificial and so emotionally hollow and manipulative. He is easily my least favorite director (or at least prominent director) of all time.
I was never going to watch the movie given the director until my father watched it (and gave it 3.5/5 stars
Ben Mendelsohn's portrayal of Danny Rayburn in Netflix's Bloodline is in my top 10 favorite characters in a TV series, but his performance in this movie was so bad. It's not all his fault obviously; his character was completely unnecessary. You have a decent story about a virtual world- why do you need to add an evil capitalist CEO and make the movie about some sort of stupid revolution? The movie would have been way better had the protagonists been other characters.
The two biggest things that annoyed me about this movie were Lena Waithe (the black truck driver Aech) and the godawful 80s soundtrack. This soundtrack sounds like it was curated by someone whose never listened to nor lived through the 1980s and its music, and then Googled "1980s top songs" and made the playlist off the search. Both things were Spielberg pandering to the worst level imaginable.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956): 1.5/5 stars. The first half was good, but the second half held almost no suspense whatsoever.
For Christ's sake; even when it's directed by Hitchcock, I know for a fact that a movie involving a kid getting kidnapped in 1956 will invariably end with the fucking kid getting returned to his/her parents. So if the whole suspense thing is predicated on whether or not the kid will get returned, and I know for a fact that he will be, there is no suspense.
Also, the movie should have gone heavier on James Stewart and lighter on Doris Day. Even if Doris wasn't awful, Stewart is just too talented an actor to not be on screen for (what felt like) 40 minutes of the 2 hour runtime. It was actually probably pretty progressive for its day in that Doris Day wasn't just a damsel in distress. I mean, fuck, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy felt like it was set in the '50s a hell of a lot more than this movie did.
Vice: 1/5 stars. What a terrible movie, and how disappointing, after Adam McKay directed one of the best movies of this decade (IMO) in The Big Short (4/5 stars). This movie felt like a collection of 200 different 30-45 second scenes stapled one right after the other. I imagine anyone who has seen it knows what I'm talking about.
I already knew/thought that Dick Cheney was an evil, self-serving bastard. This movie told me nothing new, did not entertain me, and did not connect with me on an emotional level in any sense of the word "emotional." It certainly didn't help that there's absolutely no character development throughout the ~2 hour runtime either.
Third worst movie I've seen in 2018, after Ready Player One and Mandy (0.5/5 stars) taking the top two spots respectively.
Annihilation: 4/5 stars. A great movie with amazing visuals and themes that will resonate strongly with anyone. Without giving too much away, the movie is about self-destruction. The opening scene (in which CSN's "Helplessly Hoping" plays) was so well done, but the last 30 minutes of the movie is what really makes this film. I don't even think there was any dialogue for 20 minutes or so. Just a great movie, and one that is so open to interpretation and so ambiguous that you would think that it's a 1970s art house film instead of a 2018 Hollywood blockbuster.
Definitely go see this movie ASAP.
You over graded Ready Player One. Maybe Spielberg should make some more crappy Jurassic Park movies nobody asked for, or ruin a few other classic series. Maybe pull out some more Indian Jones movies with some more aliens or some crap.Ok, I've seen a handful of movies in the last week:
L.A. Confidential: 3/5 stars. This is my second time seeing this one. It's an alright movie, but I really don't get the acclaim for it.
It's so fucking obvious that Cromwell is going to turn out to be the villain. In a movie like that, it was bound to be either him or Spacey. So as a who-dun-it, it sometimes could be somewhat disengaging when the movie spends time trying to uncover whose behind the murders. Like when the two cops planted the guns at the three black guys' house. So fucking obvious.
The movie would have been better with Spacey (who gave a great performance) as the twist-villain, even if that would have been obvious too. Also, Kim Basinger annoyed the hell out of me in her performance.
Crowe was decent and Pearce was great at least though.
Ready Player One: 0.5/5 stars. And just like that, Steven Spielberg becomes (unsurprisingly) the first director of all time to have two movies I've given 0.5/5 stars (the other being Close Encounters of the Third Kind).
Goddamn this movie is terrible, and outside of Minority Report (4/5 stars) and Jaws (3.5/5 stars), Spielberg is a complete no-talent hack. His movies are so artificial and so emotionally hollow and manipulative. He is easily my least favorite director (or at least prominent director) of all time.
I was never going to watch the movie given the director until my father watched it (and gave it 3.5/5 stars
Ben Mendelsohn's portrayal of Danny Rayburn in Netflix's Bloodline is in my top 10 favorite characters in a TV series, but his performance in this movie was so bad. It's not all his fault obviously; his character was completely unnecessary. You have a decent story about a virtual world- why do you need to add an evil capitalist CEO and make the movie about some sort of stupid revolution? The movie would have been way better had the protagonists been other characters.
The two biggest things that annoyed me about this movie were Lena Waithe (the black truck driver Aech) and the godawful 80s soundtrack. This soundtrack sounds like it was curated by someone whose never listened to nor lived through the 1980s and its music, and then Googled "1980s top songs" and made the playlist off the search. Both things were Spielberg pandering to the worst level imaginable.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956): 1.5/5 stars. The first half was good, but the second half held almost no suspense whatsoever.
For Christ's sake; even when it's directed by Hitchcock, I know for a fact that a movie involving a kid getting kidnapped in 1956 will invariably end with the fucking kid getting returned to his/her parents. So if the whole suspense thing is predicated on whether or not the kid will get returned, and I know for a fact that he will be, there is no suspense.
Also, the movie should have gone heavier on James Stewart and lighter on Doris Day. Even if Doris wasn't awful, Stewart is just too talented an actor to not be on screen for (what felt like) 40 minutes of the 2 hour runtime. It was actually probably pretty progressive for its day in that Doris Day wasn't just a damsel in distress. I mean, fuck, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy felt like it was set in the '50s a hell of a lot more than this movie did.
Vice: 1/5 stars. What a terrible movie, and how disappointing, after Adam McKay directed one of the best movies of this decade (IMO) in The Big Short (4/5 stars). This movie felt like a collection of 200 different 30-45 second scenes stapled one right after the other. I imagine anyone who has seen it knows what I'm talking about.
I already knew/thought that Dick Cheney was an evil, self-serving bastard. This movie told me nothing new, did not entertain me, and did not connect with me on an emotional level in any sense of the word "emotional." It certainly didn't help that there's absolutely no character development throughout the ~2 hour runtime either.
Third worst movie I've seen in 2018, after Ready Player One and Mandy (0.5/5 stars) taking the top two spots respectively.
Annihilation: 4/5 stars. A great movie with amazing visuals and themes that will resonate strongly with anyone. Without giving too much away, the movie is about self-destruction. The opening scene (in which CSN's "Helplessly Hoping" plays) was so well done, but the last 30 minutes of the movie is what really makes this film. I don't even think there was any dialogue for 20 minutes or so. Just a great movie, and one that is so open to interpretation and so ambiguous that you would think that it's a 1970s art house film instead of a 2018 Hollywood blockbuster.
Definitely go see this movie ASAP.
To each their own, Film quality and the enjoyment one gets from a film are completely subjective.
