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Reviews
The Menu (2022)
Enjoyable but not satisfied...
I am not a professional film critic or reviewer, but oh, where to start? The satisfaction of watching the rich suffer and be led to their own demise, or the satire aimed at overly extravagant fine dining? I would say both criteria are met in this film to a certain extent. I liked the cinematography and description of the meals that were served, the reason why the guests were invited, and how the plot is quite original because there isn't really a movie that has a similar plot (correct me if I am wrong). The casting was great, and the guests were portrayed in such a way that you just wanted to strangle them (to put it another way, their acting was so good that it made me so agitated and realize that there are people in the world who are typically stuck up). I might be biased because Anya Taylor-Joy is one of my favorite actresses, but she definitely fits the role of her character and plays it well, and of course, the star of the show is Ralph Fiennes as Chef Slowik.
The first half of the movie had my interest; however, in the second half, I felt that the pacing of the whole film was off; it was a little slow and draggy sometimes. To be frank, I expected more scenes to happen. This film made me question even more, because I wanted to know about the chef's staff and why they were willing to serve alongside him. I would say that I will only watch this film once, but it left me wanting more, so I decided to give it 6.5/10. It is still worth watching, though.
See How They Run (2022)
Fun movie but decent plot...
As a Saoirse Ronan fan and a sucker for the Whodunit genre, I had to watch this film! It was so enjoyable, of course, it was purely for entertainment, but I'm not complaining about that. I did not expect this movie to involve Agatha Christie, and it felt more like paying homage to her, and I loved it because there were many references to her! The setting of this movie was the 1950s, the cinematography was eye-pleasing, and I liked the style of the split screens. Ronan's performance as Constable Stalker was fantastic because her comedic acting was impeccable, but I was irritated at times by her jumping to conclusions about who was the murderer, which made sense given that she was still a rookie. I loved the ongoing chemistry between Constable Stalker and Inspector Stoppard, and I felt that Ronan and Sam Rockwell played their characters really well. What I like about this Whodunit film is that, despite the fact that it was about a murder investigation, it was funny and full of gags at times.
The weakness of this movie was that it was not amazing to the point where it was jaw-dropping; it was draggy at times, and I got bored at some scenes. It did not feel like a mystery that much; it was more comedic and felt like slapstick at some points.
Obviously, the plots of (for example) Knives Out and even the films of Hercules Poirot are more in-depth and serious, so See How They Run's mystery plot falls really flat because it was predictable (I managed to guess the murderer from the start), and I could understand why people are really not into this film. This film, on the other hand, is ideal for those looking for a lighthearted mystery. I gave it a 6/10 because I did not hate it, and I have my pros, but will I watch it again? No, not really but it is definitely worth it to watch it once.
The Big 4 (2022)
Comedic fun and full of action!
Four words to describe this movie: comical, violent, enjoyable, and SURANTO (you would understand if you watched this movie)!!! I have watched a couple of movies by Timo Tjahjanto, specifically "The Night Comes For Us" and "May the Devil Take You," and was hyped for The Big Four. I watched this film with my partner, who does not even speak or understand Bahasa Indonesia, so I was worried that he would not understand the humor; however, he mentioned that it was hilarious, and I caught him laughing multiple times. The acting of the cast was phenomenal, and they had so much chemistry with each other. The action scenes, especially the fighting choreography, were suspenseful and, in a way, eye-pleasing. To top it all off, the gore, blood, and special effects in this film were surprisingly good, and they were exactly what I expected from Tjahjanto's films. The downside of The Big Four was that it was slow at times, and the movie itself was not entirely sure what it wanted to be as it did not merge genres together as elegantly as other movies would. However, I would like to watch a sequel to this movie and am looking forward to it. This is also a great movie for first-time endeavours into Indonesian movies. To conclude, Tjanjanto has a special eye for horror but could improve more in his action films.
The King's Man (2021)
Wasted 2 hours on this movie!
This movie was a complete disappointment! I gave it a chance for half an hour, and I actually had to pull myself through the whole movie in the end. As a fan of the Kingsman franchise, I thought that this movie would exceed my expectations, but NOPE! The only memorable scene was the Rasputin fight scene, and that's it! The storyline was supposed to focus on saving the world but it was all over the place. Other than that, the action scenes were decent and fun, and the Kingsman manners were still relevant. To be honest, this movie makes me want Eggsy from the previous two movies instead of this horrible plot. I give it a 1.5 because of Rasputin's character and the Oxford family drama.
Bones and All (2022)
Cinematography was pleasing, but that was it.
This film felt like a fever dream to me. I have read the book, and I felt that the film should be a separate review and not be compared with it. When watching the film, I had the book plot in my mind; however, Luca Guadagnino had made the film in his own interpretation. I actually read the script that Guadagnino had written, and I felt that he should have stuck to the plot of the script (it added so much depth to the story), but the film would have been longer. The cinematography takes the icing off the cake with the 80s film grain; the atmosphere of uncertainty lingered throughout the film to show the journey of the main characters, and the acting performances of all three lead characters were believable and heartfelt. When it came to character casting, Taylor Russell was fantastic as Maren; however, I did not picture Timothée Chalamet as Lee because he did not fit Lee's behavior of being more deviant and full of risk. Furthermore, I wanted more scenes that showed the sibling relationship between the characters of Kayla (played by Anna Cobb) and Lee.
When talking about the gore or eerie scenes in this film, it was so-so. As this is a film about cannibals, you'd expect more blood and gore. The effects looked average, and it just looked like the cannibals were chewing on "gummy" bodies. I did watch Guadagnino's Suspiria (2018), and I had high expectations that he would make this film spine-chilling, but I was disappointed. I give this film a 7/10 because I actually enjoyed it, I cried at the ending (even though I knew that it was going to end up like that), and overall, I am a sucker for beautiful cinematography.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)
Where were Leon Kennedy's golden locks?!
This is a late review, and I am trying to remember the strengths of this movie, but I cannot remember anything. As a fan of the games, I understand that they tried to follow a mixture of the two Resident Evil games (RE2 & RE3) but it was horrible! The acting was average, but I was content with Kaya Scodelario acting as Claire Redfield and Robbie Arnell as Chris Redfield (even though I had specific actors in mind for the characters). However, I have to point out that they should have chosen someone who has similar features to Leon Kennedy (a lot of fans, including me, wanted to see the iconic Leon Kennedy hair flip), but maybe I am just too ambitious. I gave it a 3/10 because the movie was a disappointment and overall really bad. The undead from the Resident Evil series (2022) had much more potential and gore than this movie.
Resident Evil (2022)
Underwhelming and unsurprisingly bad!!!!
As a fan of the games and the Resident Evil movies (both animated and the film series of Alice), this series was underwhelming, a waste of time, and a letdown. I did not have high expectations for this series, but I decided to give it a try; however, in the end, I felt like time was being taken away from me, and I concluded that this series was a regret of mine. The plot was all over the place, the acting was tolerable, and the series was a little draggy. Despite those criticisms, the backgrounds of the characters were intriguing, but that was just it. Makes sense that it got cancelled and that shows how bad the series was.
KKN di Desa Penari (2022)
Atrocious rise to the hype and overrated plot
To be frank, the hype for this movie was overrated and did not exceed my expectations of it being a good horror movie. When compared to other Indonesian horror films, KKN Di Desa Penari was only mediocre. The jump scares did not surprise me that much; even with the special effects, they did not improve. Furthermore, the story did not flow as well as the Twitter thread that inspired the film. The plot only gave rise to more confusion and ended up raising more questions than answering them. I only gave it a 4 out of 10 due to the cinematography of it trying to be eerie, the comedic timing in some scenes, and the great acting of the cast.