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rockenenglish
Reviews
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Mama Mia! My Daughter's new Catchphrase
All I can say is that it was Super Fun and Nostalgic for myself (37) and my daughter (5). I loved Super Mario games from NES, GAMEBOY, SNES, N64, CUBE, Wii but did take a brake until more recently on the SWITCH. I also enjoyed the live action Mario Bros movie back in the 90s (man those Gumbas were hilarious, I mean...ridiculous lol) as so was the cartoon I used to watch as a kid.
This movie was just a great way to tie in so much nostalic happy memories of all those games crossing over 4 generations. That ain't easy to do in 1hr20mins. When I went to see it, it was mostly Parents with their kids. Not many adults by themselves. But, that's the question, who was the target demographic? Is it the OG game fans who are 30-40? Or Kids 5-15 that love playing Mario on Switch?
I thought the designs were great, especially the platform for Mario's Test Trial. And the Rainbow Course in the Mario Kart race was epic with all the different weapons from SNES to Switch.
Jack Black as Bowser was amazing.
I get some of the criticism at the other actors for a lack of creativity with their voice.
And the lack of character depth besides Mario.
For me, it's memorable as it was my daughter's first movie at the cinema and she loved it all the way through. She now loves saying Mama Mia! So it's a 7 for me but an add point for my personal memories.
A Tourist's Guide to Love (2023)
A Tourist wants to Escape life, a Traveler wants to Experience it
A Tourist's Guide to Love is a wonderfully shot, culture experiencing, kinda cute Rom Com. But it's incredibly cliché and cheesy, I guess what you'd expect from its title and being a Netflix movie. I just couldn't get past all the forced smiles on every sub-character's face and cheesy conversational lines. The only line I remember between the protagonists is my title " A Tourist wants to escape life, a Traveler Experiences it"...which is kinda cool.
Rachel Leigh Cook was my teen crush, she's still got it and a decent actress. But she did look a bit mature for this role.
I watched this with my wife as we just got back from Vietnam a week ago. We went to Hanoi, Da Nang, Hoi An, so there were many familiar scenes in this movie. We particularly enjoyed the market scene as it reminded us of our experience bargaining with the market ladies. Also the bikes are much worse IRL!
Ah, another point I liked was when Sinh mentions Westerners only think about the War, but that was only a tiny part of their History. Truly, there's so much more to Vietnam and I do think this movie does the country/tourism market justice.
Overall, great journey and setting and interesting scenes. Story and romance pretty average. Great having an Asian Male Lead and seeing Rachel Leigh Cook again. Just too cheesy.
Beef (2023)
Breath In, Breath Out...A Moment of Road Rage takes your for a Ride!
Saw the Trailer with a kick ass track, Today by The Smashing Pumpkins. Steven Yuen is cool and Ali Wong is okay from what I've seen of her. Gave this a shot and it didn't disappoint. The acting and characters were all top notch. I liked the character development and how a moment of road rage encompassed and changed their lives forever. It shows how we often allow negativity to overshadow so much in our daily lives. I really enjoyed the journey the character's were on, how so much was connected to one another. The emotions, loneliness, anger, love, hate, betrayal, jealously and so much more was so well depicted by all the characters in different circumstances and situations. Lastly, the soundtrack was awesome. Great to hear Danny's rendition of Drive by Incubus. And Bush's Machinehead, Bjork, SOAD, Smashing Pumpkins and a Linkin Park joke, nice!
Welcome to Wrexham (2022)
2 Guys in over their head and a Football Club
Big fan of Reynolds, Loved the shoutout to 2 Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, which was one of my favourite shows as a kid. Ryan and Rob remind me of Berg and Pete lol.
The working class, small town community of Wrexham and the fans is what makes this shoe stand out much more than the team it self. Football is truly more than a sport or a team, it really is such a big part of so many peoples lives. And that's why the players and manager needs to give their all. The fans deserve it. But these lads aren't on big bucks and you can see this doc and the takeover mentally affecting them. Football is more than scoring goals, skill and money. The mentality, team spirit and everyone playing for each other is needed.
I hope to see Wrexham get promoted and to hear Always Sunny in Wrexham banging out at Wembley!
Imawa no Kuni no Arisu (2020)
Living is more than just Surviving
Alice in Borderland is not my favorite show ever, but had all the ingredients to make me love it, rewatch it and give it a decent rating.
The characters kept me engaged, they look great, the mystery of deceit, survival and the questions of the Borderlands keeps you on your feet.
Some of the Games are really thrilling, imaginitive and perhaps could've done so much more with them.
Yes, some parts are overly exaggerated (I'm still confused how Akane / 1 leg archery girl didn't die) but so are many amazing shows like TWD, GOT, Squid Games etc. And if you've watched Japanese movies/shows before, it's just their style.
I love all dystopian stuff and this is definitely up there with creating dichotomies of life.
The ending is a surprise and a deserved ending if it is the end?
As they say, Living is more than just Surviving.
Live your life to the fullest.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
4DX Panorama was made for this!!!
Watched Maverick in 4DX with Panoramic Screen and it was probably the best cinematic experience ever. Going into Maverick, I didn't know anything about the plot nor remember much from Top Gun, just the characters I temrmbered. But Maverick was entertaining from beginning to end. The story and mission was clear and Tom Cruise did an amazing job leading the young guns. I'm not American so must be honest and say it was very American lol, but didn't bother me much. Some characters were a bit cheesy, but the action was just so captivating. Now watching this in 4DX PANORAMA was just amazing. My seat was flying around almost literally, like seriously having to grip my arm rests to stay put. The 3 screen panoramic view came in to effect in certain scenes, especially plane scenes and it was just so perfect for this film. I found myself smiling like I was on a roller-coaster. Best film of the year!
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Couldn't really care to what's at Stake, as the characters didn't
I'm no fanboy, but do always see every MCU movie at the cinema. Was expecting an epic action, dark, part romantic, humorous MCU movie with a kick ass soundtrack. All these were met, but delivered terribly bar GNR (had all their tracks in my head all day). I was psyched about Christian Bale as the villain, imagining a dark and sinister Gorr. But his character doesn't get to develop much in the story and any darkness he brings, the seriousness vanishes in the next scene with poor stupid humor. That is the biggest issue, the humor and attitudes of the characters really breaks up any seriousness of the fate of the captured. There are serious themes
such as cancer, faith, child kidnapping, love and loss and the extinction of all Gods, yet none of these seems like a major issue. More like a road trip with fun on the way and some extras being killed. Thor is still cool, badass and funny to an extent, but it all just needed to be toned down and less gimmicky. I guess my expectations were way off. My wife actually left half way to go shopping lol, luckily we had 2 for 1 tickets. Phase 4 is seriously lacking. Lastly the goats are f'n annoying.