Coproduction between Japan and Germany, directed by the german director Wim Wenders (Texas Paris, Wings of Desire among others) and written by him and Takuma **** won the Cannes Film Festival 2023 for Best Actor and Ecumenical Jury and it is nominated for Academy Best Foreign Movie (my favorite for this **** tells some days at the life of a public bathroom cleaner at Tokyo, interpreted by Koji Yakusho Hirayama, as Hirayama, his daily routine and 4 events in between his usual days. It also shows how some people treat those invisible workers even in a modern civilized country as Japan.Hirayama have a simple, but happy life as he is and what his does with the maximum commitment - it is a marvelou movie about contemplation and what simple things and events can bring of happiness in the life, if you allow **** cinematography is by Franz Lustig (Anselm), and it is beautiful in using the available light and daily variations, mostly in shots with the protagonist.With a slow minimalistic story focused on this philosophy and camera work also directed to the architecture of public bathrooms, it may not be a movie for everyone. My score for it is 9,6 out of 10,0 / A+.
Psychological thriller about a thief end up locked up into a (broken) intelligent rooftop in NY during a heist - directed by Vasilis Katsoupi (in his 2nd incursion as director after "My Friend Larry Gus") and written by Ben Hopkins (Lost in Karastan). So ok, both of them don't have anything good on their **** I must say before anything that I don't think most reviews are just to this movie - he is actually good. Beside the plot he has some underlined themes as the value of art and some curious ways that art can be created. As a side extra the apartment had real art as art not props. All we know that Willem Dafoe acts in very controversial pieces of art when he choses it and 100% of the movie is in motion by him. And as I said it have a message - just not expect a totally explained end (although I got it, and the after is of no concern what may frustrate some people). As a whole I give this one a 7,0 out of 10,0 / B score.
Horror-Comedy (not the opposite) directed by Zelda Willians in her full feature film, and written by Diablo Cody (Juno, Jennifer's Body) that tells the story **** stricken teenager who had her mother slaughtered, and lives now with an abusive mother-in-law and a lovely sister-in-law.Kathryn Newton as Lisa is perfect for her role.Stigmatized by her past and actions the is the black swan of the school, and passes a lot of time in a old cemetery (watch the credits animation closely) of the 19th century on a tomb of another teenager that died with a green lighting into **** movie emulates the 80's teenage romance-comedies (it passes in 89), in a light way till a certain previsible point - for sure it isn't as sugary as you may think to those who wonder. And have an unsuspected ending. I think it was worth for some laughs on a weekend night - I score it 6,6 out of 10,0 / B for the fun.
Fantasy drama- comedy adult film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (The Killing of the Sacred Deer, The Lobster, The Favourite) and written by Tony McNamara (The Great, The Favorite, Cruella), being based on the 1992's novel by Alasdair Gray, that Lanthimos liked and even went to Scotland in 2009 to buy the direct of the movie.Having a victorian semi-steampunk and exquisite atmosphere it tells the story of a newly created woman Bella Baxter, with her body reanimated by the eccentric surgeon Godwin Baxter, that discovering that after her suicide jumping a bridge she was pregnant, and uses the unborn fetus brain on her head.After this she went on a journey from a Frankenstein character and develops her tastes and skills gradually till the end of the filme. I must say that some sexual scenes with Emma Stone and her character sexual appetite are most daring and shows how she grow as and actress in all **** main core of roles are Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, Mark Ruffalo as Duncan Wedderburn, Willem Dafoe as Dr. Godwin Baxter and as a lesser role Ramy Youssef as Max McCandles.According to the cinematographer, Ryan Williams (American Honey, The Favorite) in conjunction with the director Lanthimos used an array of cameras, lens and films included Nikon, Angenieux Optimo and Zeiss Master Zooms, an ultra-wide PL-mount Optex 4mm fisheye, designed for 16mm/S16mm cinematography, that opens up to T2, plus antique 58mm and 85mm Petzvals. Ryan selected EASTMAN DOUBLE-X Black & White Negative Film 5222 for the movie's opening B&W sequences, KODAK EKTACHROME Color Reversal Film 100D 5294 for Bella's elopement and adventures with Wedderburn, and KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219 for the film's **** production design by Shona Heath and James Price and the equip of art direction and prosthetics made and incredible job plus with the unique costume design by Holly Waddington (Lady MacBeth, Clash of Titans) also are striking, from the more bizarre childish dresses used on the start of the film to the more adut on the end. All this with a modest budget of $35 **** movie have 11 Academy nominations for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score), Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Film Editing, Best Achievement in Production Design, Best Achievement in Costume Design and already have 11 BAFTA awards plus Venice Film Festival 2 awards, Golden Lion Best Film and Yorgos Lanthimos 2023 Winner UNIMED Award.I honestly hope that the movie shines and it shinned for me and obfuscated some other movies (maybe only not in best co-adjuvant actress - which we don't have here) at the academy.
A tale (or fable?) of social commentary by directress and writer Alice Rohrwacher (that I first knew in the short "Le Pupille") in rural Italy with touches of anti capitalism and class division, where sharecroppers live, without knowing their semi-slavery state because of lack of knowledge. Lazzaro the protagonist, is an innocent character that is happy to make others happy, in the pureness of his heart. He doesn't know who is his father of mother just who is maybe his grandmother.There are very few signs of when this passes you can guess the 60 or 70's till later you see a cellphone of the 90's. So this is the condition that those people lives.They live under Marchesa Alfonsina De Luna state till one day Lazzaro meets the rebellious son of her, Tancredi, that wants to live away from the rot of his bankrupt family, so he devise a plan.A plan that unwillingly ends ends with and event that throws Lazzaro in the future 20 to 30 years ahead. By chance or destiny he meet robbers in the now decadent rural mansion (not knowing that they are people of his past "family") and in the city where he is recognized by an old female friend (the role is played by the older sister of Rohrwacher, Alba) - the only one that sees the miracle of him not ageing anything at all (and not all broken and bloody by the event that happened so many years ago, not seen by **** this urban future he ends up living within the same ignorant and individualist clan (with some exceptions) and ends up meeting by chance the Baroness son again, decadent as ever in his dreams of richness that broke his spirit. Not telling the end after all this spoilers, but it is sad to see Lazzaro so pure treated as nothing, unhappy by his friend status, and trying to correct things in a wrong way in his innocency (no, it doesn't have an happy ending). A movie that may not be for everyone but that shines to see such saintness and pureness of heart among our society.Good cinematography and choice of colors, with Kodak Super 16mm film by cinematographer DP Hélène Louvart AFC and good acting by the protagonist, the newcomer Adriano **** would score this one a 8.0 out of 10.0 / A-.
The Zone of Interest is a 2023 historical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, that based herself on the life that Rudolf Höss, **** commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp from 1940-43 must had in that time in his residence, just at the side of the **** premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, winning both the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI Prize. For the 96th Academy Awards, it received 5 nominations (including Best Motion Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound) - for me best sound is almost a win, and have great chances for best international movie and adapted screenplay.Both Christian Friedel as Rudolf Höss and Sandra Hüller (from Anatomy of a Fall) as Hedwig Höss are exceptional in their **** focus on the idyllic live of the **** commander, in his house on the most normal life conditions, while the Holocaust and the killing machine he created works at just some meters of distance. The camera focus on medium and large plans, often showing the life of the dreams, but on the horizon we often see signs of the terror like smoke from the locomotives and from the enormous chimneys at the **** also have other signs, extremely subtle, like the sound of shouts and shots at the background, that only shows as more close in rare sequences.Other sequences like the girl, shoot in Infrared that left at night apples and fruits for the camp workers are just haunting (and the cause of one of the more aggressive shout sequence I mention above).Interesting enough is the view as close the view of the concentration camp is on the movie in the past, and in the present as a memorial. Both are unmistakable, but in either vision a far cry from what the reality must have been inside them. For the movie is a 8.6 from 10.0 / A- and a must see for 2024.
If you watched and know the style of Jeymes Samuel as writer and director you know what to expect (The Harder they Fall, They Die by Down). It tells the story of a man that is a con artist that aims to be a new Messiah, in the age of Jesus (and alongside him - 3 days behind), but not a classical Jesus or a new correct etiology one, but one in a black **** have some interesting messages more to end, shows Romans as the whites, and do not mention proper Jews - it also doesn't choose to what it aims as a movie, comedy or drama putting some comic sequences and references of Marijuana (that was used already in that time, a certain thing, accidental or not). LaKeith Stanfield is the star of the movie and does well his role and multiplicity of his character. But this isn't enough to make this a good movie. To me a score of 6.0 out of 10.0 / B-, almost C+.
One of the most hated movies by Ridley Scott, that shows the difference of what versions and cuts can have on a movie. This movie have a Theatrical version (144 min.) a Director's Cut (189 min.) and Director's Cut Roadshow Version (194 min.) (that I watched years after watching the theatrical on cinema). The movie is loosely based on the story of Balian I of Ibelin (originally a noble of French or Italy, but portraited as his son in this movie and epoch) travels to Jerusalem during the Crusades of the 12th century, and there he finds himself as the defender of the city and its people.A tale of noble actions and ideals on the 2nd Crusade among equally noblesse and troubled people. It is not totally historically accurate (let's say 50%) but is one of the most impressive movies about the crusade with all the desert, sun and bloody scenes than you can imagine (and a fictional end).Originally a 7.0 raised up to a 7.8 out of 10.0 in this version B+ (not sure if this is the version that Netflix have).
A bit slow and vague to my personal taste the movie is divided in two parts that shows the travel and settlement of a young Danish priest (protestant) and photographer to a remote village on Iceland, on the 19th century (then a colony of Denmark, from 1376 to 1918), with distinct **** first part focus on the travel and hardship of the travel with the loss of a friend and rising animosity between the priest and some people of the party; the second part focus on the settlement of the priest and some of the locals, with rising of of disputes and claims, while he involves with the daughter of a local farmer and a builder that acompanished him the first part of the **** photography is marvelous with the Icelandic landscape and to a degree it shows the variation between the seasons and the body and soul of man, that loses gradually his aim and mission till he looses all of his former **** other than that it didn't have a really strong message being more a display of beauty in harshness landscapes and personalities than having a message on itself. For this I score it with a 6.5 out of 10.0 / **** likes yet
Another must watch movie from 2023 and another hit from Martin Scorsese. Currently it holds 10 nominations to the 96th Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Best Actress, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Original Score, Best Original **** is based on the 2017 nonfiction book "Killers of the Flower Moon"by David Grann, that basically investigate the Osage Indian Nation that occurred between 1920 and 1930. Just as an outline oil was discovered on Osage lands in the end of 1800, but with the boom of automobile industry it value boomed, making the Osage people one of the most rich on Earth at that time, even if the jurisdictions of the legal rights were done by white man. Based on legal attributions and heritage marriage occurring on that time a wide spread of sordid murders and interracial marriages between Indian woman and white men occurred putting a whole af the money in white mens blood dirty **** course being a 3 and a half hour project (after all not all stories can be condensed on 2 hours, and the rhythm is right), the second of Scorsese after 2019's "The Irishman" - the movie (which had the rights buyed in 2015 by 5M) was to start production in 2019, but obviously it halted because of COVID what gave Scorsese time to get the money for a USD 200M production (by Apple and Paramount) and started the works in 2021.I will not enter in details of the characters here, but all is historically researched, and many details were affected by Osage contributions. On the Acting part, Leonardo DiCaprio, as Ernest Burkhart, Robert De Niro as William King Hale, Ernest's uncle and Lily Gladstone as Mollie Burkhart, Ernest's wife are just perfect. The nominations of Cinematography (Rodrigo Prieto - Argo, The Irishman, Brokeback Mountain among other sublime works), editing (Thelma Schoonmaker), Production Design (Jack Fisk and Adam Willis), Costume Design (Jacqueline West), Best Original Score (using musics from Indians and from that time, in a discrete, but at the same time prominent in the last work of Robbie Robertson) are all spot one.Maybe the best achievement of the movie is bringing to the spotlights another history side of the evil side of USA, as Tulsa was in the same age.I expect a lot of Awards for this ones, even with some strong competition - and give this one a 9,2 out of 10,0 / A score. Do yourself a favor and see it, if you like Scorsese epics.
WWII action thriller about a lone man and ex-military that mines gold in Lapland, Finland during 1944 and the retreat of **** forces. After encountering an abundant quantity of gold he encounters retreating units of ****, a bigger one that encounters him, and a little one that messes with him and hell is set loose.Jalmari Helander director and writer did a good job on this one, that is divided in chapters - similarities with Rambo III and John Wick aren't so coincide since the production crew worked in John Wick.Wait for gory deaths, and very good choreographies on the sequences of fighting. The story is also original in it's way and reminds a lot Tarantino.Jorma Tommila as Aatami the protagonist does a good job, better that Keanu btw. There are some goofs as the post WWII tank used by the germans but ok.Good production and fun if you like revenge and violent movies, a 7,0 out of 10,0 / B for me.
German-Finnish drama / romance by the director Aki Kaurismäki, continuation of his Proletariat series, which was originally planned as a trilogy and already includes Shadows in Paradise (1986), Ariel (1988), and The Match Factory Girl (1990).With simple stories in a stylized Helsinki that seems to be stopped at the end of the 80´s on purpose (although your hear on the radio about the current Russia and Ukraine War, and see a 2024 calendar) it tells about the love story in simple lines of melancholy about two workers, a construction area man and a woman that worked on supermarkets and factories. Think of a Finnish Wes **** lines of the story are simple as the concept, of a couple that have some mismatches around the way till the final encounter, but this simpliness, slow-paced sweetness in the context of the depression and melancholy of the lives and city is what colours the film in the end. Contributing to this sweetness it includes the changes on each other character along the movie in simple **** movie premiered on 76th Cannes Film Festival, and was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in its main competition section, where it won the Jury Prize and will be the contender for the 96th Academy award for best international movie.Knowing what to expect of the movie I gave him a 7,6 out of 10,0 score, or a B+ as I always prefer more complex stories.
The complimentary movie to Chungking Express (1994), this is a neo-noir thriller that was shooted as a different movie because of the length of the total movie and differences between the **** in the first this one also tells two stories: of a hitman (Leon Lai Ming) that wants to detach from his activities and his partner, a woman that cleans his apartment while he is out, and have a secret love for him, while he meets another girl nicknamed blondie. The second one is from a ex-convict escaped from prison, Ho Chi-mo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) that is mute and works and lives with his father, also breaking into other works at night to sell their goods and services (here we have a meet with the Chungking Express with the first movie) and keeps finding another girl Charlie that lost his girlfriend for blondie), aside from a sequence that he meets another character from the first story in the end.While having its themes along with Chungking, it differentiates from he first one by the use of cinematographer Christopher Doyle shooting mainly at night and using extreme wide-angle lenses, keeping the camera as close to the talents as possible to give a detached effect from the world around them, giving an wide-angle distortion of images creates an effect of distance-in-proximity, conveying the characters' solitude. The visuals are frantic, out-of-focus, and neon-lit. The camera also follows the characters and segments of B&W and heldcam camera also are used.Another difference is the use of voice overs (as in thoughts) in the place of dialogues and pop songs this time mainly Cantonese versions of many musics, some of them also being ocidental (like the instrumental "Speak My Language" by American avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson and Flying Pickets version of "Only You" by member Vince Clarke, while he was still with Depeche **** me a score of 8,7 out of 10,0 / A along side with the previous one a must to watch movie of an bygone era before the delivery of the city back to China in 97.
Filmed into the post production of two years of filming the Wuxia epic "Ashes of Time", with low resources, this movie is another example that we don't need millions of USD to make a masterpiece.Wong Kar-Wai have a personal style of using melancholic characters distorted stories, using elaborate soundtracks in the background. This movie show two drama and crime stories about two lovesick policeman and their search over his relationship with a woman, always in a 0,01cm encounter of distance between them. The first story stars Takeshi Kaneshiro as a cop obsessed by his breakup with a woman named May (replaced emotionally with letters and old pineapple cans), and his encounter with a mysterious drug smuggler. The second stars Tony Leung as a police officer roused from his gloom over the loss of his flight attendant girlfriend by the attentions of a quirky snack bar worker called Express - referred in the title (Faye Wong).Both stories circles around Chungking Mansions, a 60's complex of buildings supposed to be residential, but that is made up of many independent low-budget hotels, shops and other services, filled with stores and stalls in the building cater to wholesalers shipping goods to Africa and South Asia, and amid the gigantic Central–Mid-Levels escalator with a length of 800m and one of the two highlights locations of the movie.Both sequences have a unique visual approach sometimes intimate, sometimes frenetic with a beautiful use of color among the chaos that reminds me of the works of the photographer Saul **** the unique soundtrack using ocidental musics we have the use for the first story is Dennis Brown's "Things in Life" and "Baroque", composed by Michael Galasso, can be heard twice during the first part of the **** the second "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & the Papas plays in the key scenes in the second story, which also features Faye Wong's Cantonese cover version of "Dreams" by The **** the plans of making there was a third movie but since it was too long it was released as a separate movie, Fallen Angels in 1995.Another must watch classic with a unique style that differentiates it from other Hong Kong productions - I gave it a 8,7 out of 10,0 / A rate.
French movie with a drama / courtroom theme that is gripping more into it's realistic tone than others movies that create unexpected and unbelievable tones, directed by Justine Triet from a screenplay she co-wrote with Arthur Harari (Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle).Currently it is the winner of Canne's Palm D'or and nominated for five Academy awards, being those Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Best Original Screenplay, Best Achievement in Film Editing. It tells the story of In an isolated mountain chalet near Grenoble, where the problematic couple French Samuel Maleski is playing music in his attic so loudly that interrupts an interview of his German wife, Sandra Voyter (played by Sandra Hüller), and son Daniel (partially blind), returns from a long walk with his guide dog Snoop to find Samuel dead below his attic window. From there and all the theories, criminal analysis and courtroom judicial processes guide the movie and gain the midia of the country. Do not expect CSI level invention on this one - it is logical and reasonable as a movie that analyses the crisis in the couple and the impact on the son with a heavy focus on the courtroom that gabs your attention.Sandra Hüller is the protagonist that leads with an incredible performance on her role. The direction is solid as well as the screenplay. The cinematography varies from formal takes to more active ones and the editing is perfect in joining all the takes.I usually found courtroom movies to be boring but this wasn't the case that holds your attention till the end even with the slow moving of events and investigations from the live of protagonists to the dispute of the lawyers.A strong contender for all the prizes but knowing the academy I am almost sure it will grab 2 to 3 prizes.From my point of view the movie is a 8,5 out of 10,0 / A. For sure one of the movies of 2023 that must be seen, so it gets a like from me too.
Don't listen to the kids talking about something they don't know. An american A24 very adult romance and drama movie that gets in you little by little, slow burning with a gentle flame and involves more than just love, but personal choices and fate too.Compared to a lot of romances this one is very real, and tells the story of two korean child, that lives closely together in their 12yo in sort of a "proto-date" till she emigrate to Canada and then US, already searching better changes at what she planned to do as a job (writing).Jump 12 years later accidentally she discovers that he was looking for her, and they start to chat online together, and the old fire starts to ignite again... till the day she says with a broken heart that because neither of them can see each other too soon and because she need to focus on her work they should to stop talking for a while.A while that passes in another 12 years and she gets on her life in America even marrying another writer aspirant while he gets a girlfriend. Then he decides to come visit her in NYC (that's shown in the very start (2min) of the movie, watch closely for the details in expressions that this tells so much) .A great strat for Celine Song at her debut on the big screen (as director and screenplay) and great performance of Greta **** 9.5 out of 10.0 / A+ for me - most real than 80% of the ommances that you see around. Got a nomination for Academy on original screenplay and best Movie but should get more categories imo.
Who watched the Mrs. Marvel series already knew the tone the movie would have. It achieves what it wants, and it is fun and cute, not a cinema masterpiece (and it never intended to be). One things that annoys most people are the connections - literally to know much stuff here you needed to be catch up with all the movies and series related on MCU. Also the space between Mrs Marvel are too long to remind of the **** a "normal" Marvel movie as could be done in a series, but I think the intent was to show to more people the "new" characters and create interest (could be a series).Score: 6.0 out of 10.0 / B-.
From the director of "Greenland", Ric Roman Waugh has an established style of working, this time again with Gerard Butler. This action-thriller from the starter writer Mitchell LaFortune doesn't fall far from other films of this genre that became a trend lately (the relation of black-ops agents or soldiers and the translators that follows them, many times not credited from the danger they expose themselves **** is is a solid movie with far distance and expansive shots of landscape, another mark of the director that used the spanish MacGregor cinematographer (The Fall) for this work, filmed in in Saudi Arabia, being the first big-budget U.S. feature to shoot in the country's Al-Ula and Jeddah.Solid action scenes and the interesting fact of being one of the few movie's that I'd view that shows the complexity of faction in the region, between Taliban, ISISK, Warlord and even the Iranian and Paquistan on the **** had potential to be more, but it is worth the watch: 6.5 out of 10.0 / B-.
Based on a screenplay by David Scarpa (that is writing the screenplay for Gladiator 2 too... oh oh) rather than a history book this is as epic as Ridley Scott makes his movies technically.... and that's it. After Ridley's Scott last movie (the magnificent and accurate "The Duel" of 2021) went under the radar on its year my expectation bar was set too high for this one.I can't dismiss all technical work because I just love all Ridley Scott movies because of his singular style, and the movie is truly breathtaking in the major battles **** as a whole it simplifies the real personality of the character (that Joaquin Phoenix plays) as a commander and personality of the time (maybe the most famous of that era) and minimizes the intrincancy of his relations with Empress Joséphine (played by Vanessa Kirby). Joaquin plays Napoleon role very well, even with the limitations of being just a caricature **** gaps and errors in historically accuracy and battle scenes tactics are just fathomless deep, and history is compressed as it where from a history book name and resume of chapter to another, loosing the chance to achieve something grandiose here. I can just dream on a well made screenplay and accurate movie here with the same quality of Ridley's work - nevertheless that it would take more than just one movie to get that chapter of Europe's history.Maybe it will get one or two nominations at Academy for production, costume or cinematography here but that's **** it was a historical movie of a lesser known character or just focused on one part of his life it the score could be higher but here I just can get a 6.0 out of 10.0 / B - (but with a A for the technical **** seems thar a version with 92 plus minutes will be released on Apple, but without a final director's cut version date.
Pretty realistic movie of the events of the tragedy of the uruguayan flight with the that crashed in the Andes in 72, showing the strive for survival and realistic events that occurred (including the cannibalism as last resort for survival when the searches were stopped). The film closed the 80th Venice International Film Festival, and was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy **** flight was carrying 45 passengers and crew, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby union team, along with their families, supporters and friends. Out of the initial crash, 33 people survived but with natural exposure, starvation, infection and other causes the final number was 16. This because, two survivors, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, climbed the 4,650-metre (15,260 ft) mountain peak on the western rim of the glacier cirque without any mountaineering gear whatsoever and hiked for 10 days into Chile to seek help, traveling 61 km (38 miles) to find a rescue team by helicopters. On 23 December 1972, two months after the crash, all 16 remaining survivors were rescued. The news of their miraculous survival drew worldwide headlines and evolved into a media circus about the fact of cannibalism. The director J. A. Bayona (The Orphanage, The Impossible, A Monster Calls, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), discovered the book of one of the survivors while researching material for the Impossible and bought the rights for the book when he finished filming that movie, while taking more than 100h of interviews with the survivors, and was shoot in location around the crash site and into the actual crash site coasting mor than 60 million Euros. The cinematography by Pedro Luque (Antbellum, Don't Breathe , Blue Beetle, The Girl into the Spider Web) is pretty gritty and realistic, and prosthetics by David Martí and Montse Ribé, Academy Award–winning special effects makeup artists of Pan's Labyrinth were **** general the best of the movie depicting the events, in a more than realistic way than Alive.Score: 8.1 out of 10.0 / A-
Based on a 1973 short story of Stephen King, the movie itself doesn't bring neither anything new and follows the pragmatic of 80% of the terror movies out there. The issue isn't the style of Stephen King, that is more than know today, but the way you convey it on a screenplay. It simply didn't have any jump scare of of the obvious.I expected a bit more from Rob Savage ("The Host" released in lockdown, and that I still need do see) but it wasn't this time. The actors are ok in their roles but nothing much there.I still search to find another horror movie that innovates somehow, but it gets harder and harder. Basing the horror around a real character instead of fictional also didn't help at all, because all the logic you can make of how defeating it (that isn't so hard) is lost in the **** and yeah it left a little of the closet door open for a **** this one a 5,0 out of 10,0 score / C.
Psychological drama well in the beginning of Ben Aflleck and Matt Damon in their careers - they star (with Matt in the role of the protagonist) and wrote the script together. The director was Gus Van Sant (Drugstore **** movie tells a story about a irish-descendant boy in Boston that works as janitor in a mathematics faculty, and it is a self-taught genius, with a troubled past and present - some mathematical riddles are left by the head of the chair in the faculty (Skarsgård) and mysteriously solved by night. Catching up with Matt Damon character Will he can be out of parole if he gets a job and consult with a psychiatrist what shows to be a tid bit tough thing. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $225 million during its theatrical run against a $10 million budget, and received nominations in nine categories, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won in two: Best Supporting Actor for Williams and Best Original Screenplay for Affleck and Damon. Nothing bad, at all for someone being just out of Harvard University. Anther curiosity: character Skylar in the movie have the same name and background of Matt Damon's girlfriend back then.Robin Williams acts as the psychiatrist that could connect with this troubled boy, in a solid role - speaking of solid role it was nice to see Matt Damon out of some action movie in really nice drama scenes. Another actor that shows up is Stellan Skarsgård, yes the father of the four sons the most known being Bill (of "It"). Nice heartwarming moving movie thought the end with a solid script. I would scorre it a 8.0 out of 10.0 / B+. It is strange that I didn't even reminded this one back in 97, but then I remembered that that year I was in the 3rd year of Medicine so not much time to seeing movies I guess.
First movie of John Woo in Hollywood since Paycheck in 2003 (that was an average movie). This movie is almost all based on the expression of the protagonist and secondary characters, even being previsible and a bit melodramatic (but the melodrama is dispersed thorough the movie), without any line whatsoever is something to be praised and offstream.A father suffers the sudden loss of his son in a gangs shootout in a fictional city on Texas, and barely surviving trying to catch the killers - no explanation why he have those skills in the start of the story and in the end being all movie a preparation for revenge is a big no-no on the script **** is enjoyable especially if you like revenge is better served cold movies. The tension is present and even being previsible the movie delivers the satisfaction of revenge in the end, building up tension till the end (I liked the final scene btw - it was something that was bothering me, and that little bit was explained [ I mean his reactions to the mother that suffered such a hard loss too ] ).Being a John Woo movie you expect very electrifying action scenes and you get those on sequences on the start, middle and especially end as it should be. Really nice and bloody btw - and for the acting of Joel Kinnaman as the only protagonist I decided to gave the movie one star more than it would be without him. So a 7.0 out 1f 10.0 / B for this one. If you crave action and revenge for Christmas this is it (speaking of Xmas, it only serves as a more dramatic starting point for the story - it could have been any time of the year, but hey we need something for the season every year right?).
Terrence Mallick is just making movies, and probably my favorite director among all, and he is responsible for the direction and screenplay. One characteristic of Mallicks movie is the dream-like essence on his way to approach the direction and cinematography and here were are not far from this: many of the acne narrations are like phrases resonating inside the (many) characters minds, and the paradisiac movie beginning sequence with a soldier AWOL into a melanesian tribe, played by Jim Caviezel (Pvt. Robert E. Lee Witt) in a scene that correlates with one of the final scenes of the movie.With a Budget of $52 million and Box office of $98.1 million, it has been nominated for 8 Academy Awards, winning none. One factor maybe is the bad decision of the year for the release: the same year that “Saving Private Ryan” by Steven Spielberg was going on the big screen (it had 11 nominations and 5 **** incredible assemble of actors, many in minor roles, the movie doesn’t have only one protagonist, although it revolves by the character based on the author of the books played by Adrien Brody (as Cpl. Geoffrey Fife). The cinematography by John Toll (Braveheart, Vanilla Sky, The Last Samurai, Cloud Atlas) is just suburb it is a beautiful yet haunting movie to see, the way it focused on the wildlife and vegetation while carnage rolls on the background - it was shoot 100 days in Australia Daintree Rainforest and Bramston Beach, 24 days in Solomon Islands and 3 in **** edition work is by Billy Weber, Leslie Jones, Saar Klein (team that had previous works with Mallicks and knows of his habit of lining up the right movie in the edition room). The music is by Hans Zimmer (Lion King, Dune, Gladiator). The use of the Malaysian chorus in some scenes is just awesome.Story-wise it is the soulful version of the 1962 book “The Thin Red Line” by James Jones (already made into a movie in 1964) , based on his real experiences in the Battle of Guadalcanal in WWII, when he was around 20yo. I watched the 2:50h version and then the Criterion restored version, the one that has the 18 min of cut out scenes that didn't make it on the final theatrical cut version, with some actors parts completely out. I wish someday those scenes could be seen in any **** story tells about the men of C Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, who have been brought to the island of Guadalcanal as reinforcements in the campaign to secure Henderson Field, seize the island from the Japanese, and block off their route to Australia. As they wait in the hold of a Navy transport ship, they contemplate their lives and the upcoming invasion.This may be one of the few times I disagree with Roger Ebert's vision of a dissociative movie between what the director wants and what the actor plays. I totally understand the version for a realistic action / drama movie but understand what the director made - on how many such dramatic moments in our lives snes pass like a dream or flow of thoughts? But on one aspect I agree the phrases are totally disconnected from what the characters are, too educated and less worldly. Still with this defect I can say that I enjoyed the movie a lot, but it isn’t just for everyone. One of the few movies that I gave a 9.6 score out of 10.0 / A+.
Landscape with Invisible Hand is a 2023 American science styrical fiction film movie written and directed by Cory Finley (Thoroughbreds, Bad Education), based on the 2017 novel of the same name by M. T. **** film stars the young black man with artistic aspirations Asante Blackk as Adam Campbell and Kylie Rogers as Chloe Marsh as protagonist, both bellow average, through the role who really shines is from Tiffany Haddish as the matriarch Beth **** two younglins meet by the obsoleted (and soon to be closed school) and is invited to live in the basement of the Campbell family, that retained the house in a impoverished Erath where the rich sent to flying city to work (in minor jobs for the alien race, the Vuvvs) and the rest of the population lives in Earth receiving rations by the Vuvvs and living scavenging under impoverished **** Vuvvs observed the humans since the 50´ where they thought the human race was in their better era, and are tiny physically limited in Earth, where they use they technology and a funny clamp rushing to make sounds as language. Their "invasion" where peacefully as they had replicators for everything, also being able to reproduce more money that the richest of Earth to create a peaceful and Vuvv cultured servent species.Humans can use little technology pieces of metal in their heads that receive and transmits images and transmissions to the Vuvvs that are especially interested in paying to see real romance between humans (and to pay for it) - another satyre to apps like TickTock, Instagram, **** Styrical part here is obvious against capitalism and social levels. Maybe way too obvious but not into the source that was over simplified for the target audience. Maybe some more writing and adult plot would make the movie betters (I see why Brad Pitt is one of the producers and why he saw potential on this one).Maybe like the average "Big Bug" (2022, Netflix) from the magnificent and eccentric Jean-Pierre Jeunet that went under **** score: 6,0 out of 10,0 / C+
A movie that marked one generation, of course most of the post-90's generations won't see the worth on it. But for the 80´s afternoon movies it was perfect.Well done as most of Spielberg's movie are joined with a fantasy story with a bunch of kids like many other classics of that generation (Neverending Story Flight Of The Navigator, Back to the Future for example) that we don't see anymore. The music of the music was a hit on that era and it generated a lot of videogames based on it. It is the sort of movie that kids around 10 would enjoy even to this day, as a family-friendly **** have this sort of movies nowadays but their quality don't match of those era - maybe by the lack of a better director and writer, is most cases - I can even compare it to the earlier Harry Potter movies of the 90´s, were the naive and childhood adventures enjoyed the crowds. Even not being my favorite of the bunch still regard it as a 7,5 out of 10,0 / B+.
Written (along with his brother) and directed by Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Wyatt Earp), Silverado is one Western that remounts to the golden age of westerns - when I had put the movie on my to watch list, I surely thought it was some lost western from the **** alas, no it was a mid-80's to 90's transition movie what gave me some concerns, that proved wrong otherwise. The director doesn't have so many hits in his career other that RotLA, but it is simple in screenplay but not naive as most of the 50-60's westerns with some greater tone on violence and **** tells the story of 4 cowboys, two of them brothers, united by their own reasons, they being played by Kevin Kline and Kevin Costner, a black man with a vow of vengeance Danny Glover (that points the story around the 1870-80) and the lone wolf Scott Glenn that saves the first one that lead to encounters with the **** way off all 4 points to the city of Silverado, on which an ex-"friend" of Scott is the ruthless and abusive sheriff (Brian Dennehy, one of the best roles on the movie along with the saloon owner Linda Hunt - another great star on the movie, with just 1,45cm height that you have seen and heard many times in your live I assure **** movie for sure have its share of action and relations betweens characters, and a degree of violence that differentiate it of older westerns. I gave to the movie a 7,5 out of 10,0 score / B + . If you like Westerns it sure worths your time - being on Criterion collection it can shows that it is worth it.
Versatile, brutal and gritty - the right movie with the right Director and main actor. Guy Ritchie is well known by his frenzied and energetic filming style and this one not escape the pattern - as with Jake Gyllenhaal that is a well suited actor for action movies (ans strange to remember him in Donnie Darko and Brokeback Mountain to show as versatile as he can be).Gritty and realistic story (not based on a single story but in a collective of stories of true events), where a US MArine saves a Afghan interpreter life after they fall behind enemy lines. Expect a more realistic and tense movie till the end - if you like war movies this is for you.Filmed on Spain as the real territories of Middle East are dangerous to film into (with some exceptions as Jordania). Engaging enough to link the emotional links between war translators (usually locals, that were observed closely) and their marine squads, it shows little pieces of both protagonists life's into a long and dangerous road toward rescue. Score: 8,0 out of 10.0 / A-, as I am a fan of war movies.
Hmmmm... difficult one to and review. It is mainly a coming of age romance story with 40% drama and 10% comedy on it, but my issue with it is another:My main concern for it is that it sugarcoat too much a chaotic mental disease showing, let's say... the good side of it.Nevertheless it is a touching coming of age and romance story. The multiple characters of the schizophrenic mind (disease where the invidious dissociate of the reality, by means of auditory, olfactoric, visual or character alterations - without discerning what is real and what is not) are really well portrayed the way they appear on the mind but not always the person realize that what he is viewing isn't real (aka see "Joker"). Charlie Plummer, acts very well on his character - and I realize that the audience of the movie is oriented to teenagers, but I think it could be more comprahanced to a more serious and less sugary view of a so discriminating and serious disease that most people don't really know (and thus also making newer generations aware that it exists and can me manageable, but not cured).This condition is not portrayed very often in cinema, and I remember few movies that addresses it (like the really heavy drama "Jacob's Ladder", 1990), and lightly show on another's as just hallucinations.I think that this one has a heavy influence of Netflix "Atypical" series but it could be a bit more different than this one. Aside from that it is heartwarming: my score 7,0 out of 10,0 / B.
A dystopian sci-fi set into 2065 directed, written and produced by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One, 2014's Godzilla) were AI already a part of humany sets a nuke warhead to explode in LA in 2055, causing a world division into the West and New Asia (far Asia and southern asia), were AI robots, humans, ans hybrids cohabit in **** counter against this threat US military develops a suborbital station called USS NOMAD (North American Orbital Mobile Aerospace Defense). The movie moves around John David Washington as Sergeant Joshua Taylor, that haves a prosthetic robotic arm and leg lost in the nuclear explosion. Back then he involved himself with an asiatic woman called Maya (Gemma Chan), that the learns to be the one called Nirmata (Creator) the founder of the AI of New Asia, through the daughter that they had together, a robotic simulant called Alphie that possesses powers toward machines. The positive: the visual both at scenes, characters or settings are just EXPLENDID, well done CG - just imagine Rogue One, but into this Asiatic setting that mixtures basic living and hi tech. All this was done with $80 million (box office: $101.8 million) a low budget compared to most of todays movies. The visual effects were provided by Industrial Light & Magic, SDFX Studios, Yannix, Virtuos, Weta Workshop Folks VFX, MARZ, Misc Studios, Fin Design + Effects, Outpost VFX, Lekker VFX, Crafty Apes, Jellyfish Pictures, Proof, Territory Studio, Atomic Arts and VFX Los Angeles are top notch, and surely must have an indication for an Academy **** negative: thought it have a good base to work with, the story is just too weak - the inspirations from "Blade Runner' and 'Apocalypse Now', with a bit of "Avatar" thought other movies, just turned to be too shallow and predicable and we don't engage so much with the characters till the very near end. It's ****'t developed enough. At some moments it even reminded me of "Elysium". Don't be fooled by the names cited here, they just shows what could be **** music is by Hans ZImmer - good, but not outstanding, and the cinematography by Greig Fraser (Dune) and Oren Soffer are good, but outshined by the visual **** movie had a great potential, but was broke in the ain point, the story. But I consider that it is something to be watched because of the digital effects and production, as a basic that no movie must cost more than $ 100 million to have stellar visuals. For me the score is 6,0 out of 10,0 / B - C+. The stars are for visual effects only.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a movie directed by André Øvredal (Troll Hunters, 2010, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, 2016), that tells basally the prologue of 1897's Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (1847-1912) that tells about the Captain's Log of the Bulgarian ship named after the movie tile in 1867, before the events that happens in England.Bragi Schut Jr. that took almost 20 years to put the idea to a movie adapted the text to a full screenplay (Escape Room, Velvet Road) and there may reside the big flaw of the movie, because the rhythm is inconsistent and the plot even being interesting moves very slowly, with many flaws. It tries to emulate an ancient Alien the 8th passenger movie to this setting.Maybe the worst mistake was to put a protagonist Corey Hawkins in the role of the afro-english doctor Clemens that survives the trip and will start the hunt for Dracula, this already show in a pre-credits scene where the doctor is on a bar and see's the shadowy figure of Dracula, alrey telling the viewers that will de a sequence, on cinema or streaming.Nothing to say about the well know story - a massacre of the tripulation of the ship, that consists with the book, and the arrival at the destiny as a wreck with the coffin containing earth of Dracul's "bed" (I wonder if it sunk in the middle of the Atlantic what would happened - no earth, but no no sunlight so...anyway:). After some gruesome assassinations on the ship, is obvious that somebody would be suspicious of each other, but not in the scale they happen, The mouse and cat cat between Dracula (in his man-bat form) and crew is the main core of the movie. Göran Lundström made the wonderful prosthetic work that was used almost 100% oon the scenes with dracula only using CG to put the artist that interpreted it on the creature (that is very similar to the one at Midnight Mass at Netflix)Beside the prosthetics and some scenes, the movie is too slow, and the final is ridiculous. I would give it a score of 6,0 out of 10,0 / B- by the effort.
The film is obviously not a masterpiece, but is far to be bad and unwatchable: taking into account the other films of writer-director Amy Heckerling (Look Who is Talking etc.) it is not expected something worthy of any nomination. The movie is a light romantic comedy, and unpretentious movie, about two vampires, one older (1840) and other "younger" (1990) who live together and their adventures and romantic conflicts in nowdays New York. It features an interesting cast with Alicia Silverstone and Krysten Ritter in the lead roles, besides other known actors such as Sigourney Weaver and Malcolm McDowell (Clockwork Orange The - any movie with him to me is worth watching). The performances are of a light-hearted comedy, with a mocking tone. The film's visual effects are at least basic and do not know whether they were deliberately forced to refer the B horror movies, with hours that they are hilarious... The story unfolds gradually with a meeting between Krysten and another person who I will not name (spoiler) and this event turns to be the main line of the story until a cute end, typical of those light romantic comedies. The jokes are good and funny, but not hilarious. Ends up being a good fun to watch with your wife / fiancee / girlfriend, off course, if she likes this genre of movie.
Exellent movie: what most people doesn't realize is that the story of the movie is a big classic by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan, and was written in 1912... Don't believe the critics or mindless public that doesn't known the roots behind this one, or the classic books. Do you think the movie has cliches? Well, I guarantee that the book was written years and years before the cliches existed... It's a great classic made in a great movie, and I'm sorry that that the sequence movie doesn't seem to be made.
"Red Tails" (2012) is a film (fictional, but based on real events) directed by Anthony Hemingway and written by John Ridley, based on a book by John B.Holway, which tells the story of a team of African- American pilots, in the Tuskegee training program at a time when racial segregation was diffuse and explicit in society and in the army. The movie presents production of George Lucas film with excellent fight scenes and aircraft recreations, one of the best films in this aspect of computer graphics recreating battles of World War II, despite having literally a more "clean" and idealized scenarios than in reality. The land filming are also very well produced and well cared for, until the rebuilding of items used at the time and the scenario itself, but again too clean ans sterile to be real. The retraction of everything in the film, is reminiscent of a romance book with bright colors and spreading posters that refer to the fictitious character of the story without forgetting the important events they represent, and in many parts recalls Star Wars in some scenes (perhaps by association). However suffers from the excessive romanticizing of the environment of World War II, for example in the Italian city where the team has its basis, nor does it seem that they are in plain Second World War, in a country newly taken by the allies. My other criticism comes from the viewpoint of someone who likes aviation, especially the period of World War II: The recreation of the battle scenes are perfect graphically, with minute details on the planes, but is erroneous in part by using unrealistic characterization of the fighting, the ease with which German pilots were destroying bombers (it was not so easy to fly among the fire defense ), and in the fighting scenes, where many German pilots have almost no skills, especially against pilots recently started in the fighting. Another thing is about the explosiveness of various vehicles such as ambulances, which in reality were destroyed and not exploded in tremendous fireballs. The characters have reasonable performances, and different for the various main characters, who make up the cast, each with a distinct personality of each other, but suffers from overuse of clichÃs for both the allied Afro-American characters, as for the Germans (we have the classic German pilot scars on the face and evil nature). This among many other things that do not match, such as flight and strategies including the use of some aircraft in inaccurate roles and fictitious defense strategies, which do not correspond with reality. The research on the appearance of the aircraft was very good, but on the conditions of their use was not. Some combat scenes though graphically very good, just like the characters, are characterized and more like a video-game / light romance than a movie about war, which in other respects make the general overview of the film as a matinÃe of the 50- 60's, highly romanced and unreal. The unfolding of the story the film tells how this group, that was segregated even from the white pilots, won an opportunity to show their value equality among whites in battle theaters in Italy and Germany (at the end of the film). Among the main story we have small portions of drama and romance by distinguished members of the squad. The highlight of the film, is to show the history, which must be unknown to many people of the general public. Another film that must be watched on the subject is HBO's "The Tuskegee Airmen" (1995), which is a little more realistic. In the end, this movie turns out to be a choice for an uncompromising movie for fans of aviations scenes in general, or who wanted to know some more about this historic event, excelling in the subject of the aerial scenes, but sinning by the characterization of characters and excessive romantic dramatization.
"The Inkeepers" (2011) is a suspense-horror thriller, written and directed by Ti West, which takes place in the Yankee Pedlar Inn Hotel (which really exists, in Torrington, Connecticut, USA), and tells the story of the two last attendants in this centennial Inn (Claire - Sara Paxton and Luke - Pat Healy), which is about to close and having his last weekend, along with the rare (and strange)final guests in the Hotel. The hotel has a history of being haunted, due to a woman who committed suicide in the past there (Madeline O'Malley), after learn that her husband died, and two attendants try always when possible to investigate when the hotel in search of apparitions or signs supernatural, to prove it, with "professional" ghost hunters equipment(as seen in series). Well done visually, the film has a classic filming approach, which emphasizes the place, almost always empty - it is very interesting the opening, with images of the site since its founding in 1891 until the present day, and 98% of the movie goes on inside it or around it. Also I liked the sub-division into three chapters of the film at key points, like a book, each chapter presenting a different climate. The trail is suitable both musical and sound effects ones, and perfect for this film and its narrative, nothing worthy of an Oscar, but well produced and I do not offer any criticism of the acting of the characters (yes, they are well characterized), especially the two protagonists. Another detail: the cast is reduced, up to 15 people, but well selected. Initially the film, which I consider more a Thriller, shows a trend towards comedy, and passes gradually to the suspense and finally to terror. Gory scenes are mostly absent until the end, where they are relevant, and the script emphasizes the psychological of the characters, especially the main character, the young and naive Claire. The Innkeepers ends up being one more example that a movie with cast and limited production does not necessarily mean something bad, beating many current films with a greater budget - a well-written script is crucial. For those who like stories of old-fashioned thrillers, this movie is a very pleasant experience, and not abuse of blood, and have a atmosphere of ghost story without being something heavy or appellative - contrary to what many fans expect a horror movie has a lot of blood and violence, full of special effects. A good movie to watch.
