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Reviews
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
A trilogy in name only, nothing more
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker caps off the final instalment in the new trilogy and also marketed as capping off the Skywalker nine-film saga. The last point is left to be seen. Director J. J. Abrams had an enormous task at hand, which proved too formidable for him to handle. The final product was an incoherent mess that tried to do too many things with limited time and at the same time.
The destruction and bad will created by director Rian Johnson's Episode VIII - The Last Jedi was too much for the franchise to recover from. There were only so many directions that Director J. J. Abrams could have taken Episode IX from where the story was left off in Episode VIII. So it's not all his fault.
There are so many things wrong with this film, and I don't know where to begin. So I'll start with what was good. The score, visual effects, and most of the actor's performances didn't disappoint.
So what was or what I think was god awful is a lot - basically all the essential stuff. What's makes a movie a movie. The main story and all of the subplots were atrocious. It shows where stories were changed during production and also in reshoots. Its two movies, mashed together. The pace was quick, all through the film, jumping from one plot point to another. There was no breathing room between significant events. This movie was trying to do too many things with no clear story from start to finish. It's a movie that was trying to please everyone. Movies are not made like this. Why they took this direction is beyond me.
The villain was a big let-down. The return of which was announced via a broadcast around the galaxy. How do we know this, well it was in the opening crawl? Yes, no build-up, no intrigue, he's back people. That set the tone in the entire movie, without caring and storytelling. Just a lot of plot points and action set pieces mashed together.
A trilogy in name only, nothing more. Each instalment is supposed to have stories that are started in the first, then progresses through the second and culminates in the third. Episode IX has proven that each instalment was a standalone movie that cared little about intertwining the story. Episode VIII and Episode IX kept on changing the direction of the trilogy, which now messes up the entire trilogy.
This is an unfortunate ending for Star Wars Saga as a whole.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Such disappointment and an overly bloated movie with useless scenes
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi was a severe disappointed. A two year wait and anticipation was wasted with missed opportunities and plain bad writing.
Because so many things are awful and made no sense at times, I'll start with what I did like.
The special effects didn't disappoint. They were of Stars Wars quality and then some. Great colour throughout the film.
The opening sequence of where the Resistance is evacuating their base was awesome. Beautiful action sequence and well done. There was one problem where a bomber released its bombs and the movie completely forgets the laws of gravity but I'll ignore this since there's not supposed to be any sound in space.
Lightsaber battle between Rey, Kylo and Snoke's elite guards was another high point in the movie and should have had a lot more lightsaber battles. Remember it's a Star Wars movie guys.
Now for all the bad.
Humour was overly used and made power characters look like fools, namely General Hux.
Cat and mouse game between the Resistance and the First Order was tremble. A sequence that should have been 10 minutes lasted three quarter of the movie. Bad script and writing.
The Canto Bight scenes burn my eyes. How this sequence got green lighted is beyond me. The movie could have completely done without this part. Benicio del Toro, a talented actor got completely wasted.
And speaking about wasted characters, nearly all was put to extremely poor use whilst others were completely wasted. Wasted ones include Supreme Leader Snoke, Captain Phasma, Finn, Rose, Leia and Luke.
This whole movie was to deal with Luke Skywalker as he is now and training Rey to be the future. His character was a complete 180 from what he once was. His character was not done justice at all. But his performance was still great to watch despite the bad story and is still probably the best part of the movie.
The great Leader of the First Order was a complete joke in this movie. The set-up was great in the last movie which was to pay off in this and in the future film but like so many things that were set up by the last movie the director of this one just flush it all down the toilet.
This movie as a standalone would be considered a good one but completely abandoning the set up from the last one made this movie suffer immensely and is probably the worse in the franchise. Bad writing and storytelling from director Rian Johnson has sealed this. What Kathleen Kennedy was thinking when this script was green lighted is beyond me.
There wasn't anything to hook the audience into seeing the next episode.
Logan (2017)
This movie is the best comic book movie ever. A lot of people are saying that, but I can't.
This movie is the best comic book movie ever. A lot of people are saying that, but I can't. This movie can't be compared to those other comic book movies. This was a standalone, a far different type or concept from its predecessors. It was basically an independent art-house film that was character and story driven. Not a big budget blockbuster that focuses more on special effects and an end of world story.
Logan story was very well done. You can see that the film makers paid a lot of attention in getting and crafting the right story for the concept there were trying to portray. The story may slow down at times but it doesn't drag along. With a run time of just over two hours the slow parts are necessary to the build up to the final act. My only problem with the story is that it feels like a part is missing pertaining to how Logan, Charles and Caliban got to the point that there at the beginning of the movie.
The performances by all the main actors are great, especially Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart. Theirs's are Oscar worthy performances and should be real contenders for next year's award season. Dafne Keen, X-23 stole the show in almost every scene she was in. The only problem I had with her is that she wasn't given much dialog to work with. She only started to speak at the very end but only a few lines which were in Spanish. I wanted to see a back and forth between herself and Logan.
The villain's performances were lackluster at best. No real time was spent trying to flush out their story and to really explain their rationale. Zander Rice and Donald Pierce characters both suffered from this.
The R rating was use very well. The use of expletives, violence and blood were done well and didn't felt force. It served the story. But there is one point of needless violence that the movie could've done without. This was the massacre of the Munson family. Will alone could have met the fate he did and his family should have survived. The ending was sad, demoralizing and hopeless. Some people are complaining of this but I have no problem with it. This ending in most part was predictable from the trailers and more importantly the whole movie, which was from the beginning pointing or building up to this end which is a true send off to a great character.
It's not a perfect movie and has some problems which I pointed out above. But notwithstanding that it is a very well done and entertaining film.
Suicide Squad (2016)
An overly hyped film and a very unfortunate disappointment
Suicide Squad was a disappointment to me. May be I got hooked on the hype or was expecting too much from WB. This movie had a great concept that we saw on the small screen, both TV series and animated. For some reason, those formats did it better than this theatrical release.
This movie suffered from all fronts, poor writing which is the number one problem for me. The story was just all over the place with such in coherency, it's visible at every point. Not enough time was spent in developing these characters for their introduction to the big stage. Poor dialogue was another major problem which is just so stupid at some points.
But Suicide Squad still could have been saved with the main plot and a great villain. Sadly that too was a major problem. The main plot didn't make sense because the movie itself went in so many directions that none of it could have come together and gel.The villain was a total failure. Nothing about this person was intriguing and just falls so flat. Story and main purpose was so awful for a big summer blockbuster.
This movie probably only had about two things going for it. Majority of the casting was great including Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Jared Leto, and Jai Courtney. Yes Jai Courtney, I'm shocked too. I really think his role should have been expanded. Notable miscast would be Joel Kinnaman and Cara Delevingne. Joel Kinnaman portrayal of Rick Flag was out of touch of what that character should be and for Enchantress, someone, more older with more acting depth should have been chosen over Cara Delevingne.
The other thing would be, through and through it's a much better movie than Batman V Superman. I know that's not really helping but still. A weak six stars and a onetime watch.
Stranger Things (2016)
A most enjoyable 80s throw back.
Stranger Things a most enjoyable 80s throw back. This series comprises a lot of elements that I personally love in movie making. The story was amazingly written and the cast was terrific. The two things that most count in making a hit.
The story gels together nicely from episode to episode. The hook is well done at the end of every episode bringing you back for the next episode. The cast was awesome with every actor portrayal be great even the bit actors.
I love the way elements from Steven Spielberg movies and elements form Stephen King books were brought together with the makers paying homage to both. The 1980s setting is so good and well done. I personally love 80s movies and having that feeling was fantastic, pure nostalgia.
I miss movie making like this where storytelling and talented actor drive the film. Now it's rehash, reboot and special effects galore with no substance at all. Originality is out the window with just poor and lazy movie making.
It feels like one long movie with a running time of just over 7 hrs with episodes being roughly 52 minutes long with others a little shorter. My only problem would be the slow pace in some episodes, the ones which are over 52 minutes. It could have been edited a little better by shortening the episodes to about 48 minutes.
With every actor's performance being good from child actors to adult actors, good story telling and a 80s styling, Stranger Things is a great example of how movie making should be done. A strong nine out of ten, near flawless and I highly recommend it. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)
All in all very entertaining,brings back memories form the 1992 series
Batman: The Killing Joke is one of the greatest comic book stories and one that I wanted to see adapted into a live action movie, but I'll settled for the next best thing. I was very happy with the original voice actor's return. I grew up watching the animated series and for me these guys are the definite portrayals of these characters. Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Tara Strong are awesome and didn't disappoint. This movie on the other hand is not one of the greatest Batman animated movies but still should rank higher than others. My biggest disappoint was the opening twenty five to thirty minutes. This was the part of the movie that was added in and not taken from the original graphic novel. While watching this portion I thought I was watching the wrong movie up until the Joker appeared. This whole opening sequence could have been done better. Batgirl is being tormented and obsessed over by a character. Somehow there needed to tie this story into the main story and show that Batgirl is caught off guard by the Joker because of what happen or that Joker somehow was pulling the strings. Once the main story starts it's great. A lot of the sequences are taken directly from the comics. In some cases line by line, this was fine by me. Now the comic itself was a short story so what there could have done was too elaborated more and maybe adds a sequence or two to meet the running time which to me should have been near ninety minutes. Batgirl and Batman sex sequence really wasn't necessary. It just alienated the fans. This story part should have been excluded all together. Also this movie achieved an R rating but too me I found the violence dialed down a lot from the graphic novel which took away from the impact of the entire movie. All in all very entertaining brings back memories of the best animated Batman series ever made that is the 1992 series. Without the opening Batgirl sequence this movie could have been an eight or a nine. With all the short comings I'm going with a strong seven.
Ghostbusters (2016)
It's not even funny enough to be a D movie.
Ghostbusters is a movie that should not have been made. It is one of those movies that are so hard and painful to watch because deep down you know it should have been great. This movie is nothing but a cash grab, plain and simple. It's an insult to the previous movies, especially the cameos that were incorporated. Almost all the cameos felt force and added nothing to the film. They were better off making a direct sequel than a reboot. I have no problem with an all- female cast, just write the movie better and have a cast that more fits the roles written. Bits and pieces are enjoyable but not enough to make it a hit. Individual characters are written all in the same vein with nothing to differentiate between one another. A blockbuster no, a one-time watch, way yes, painful one at that. This movie could have been good. Just dial down the dumb comedy, do a better story that gives a more meaningful reason to get together and fight these paranormal elements. Probably the most important character, have a well written villain and a talented actor to portray him or her. This movie has the worst villain and story to go along with. It's not even funny enough to be a D movie.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Batman v Superman is a good movie, nothing more and nothing less
Batman v Superman is a good movie. Nothing more and nothing less. It's not awful and it's not great. It's somewhere in the middle. Why I say it's just simply good. This is because of the movie lacking in so many fronts. Let's take the first one, Ben Affleck as Batman. While his portrayal delivered, the script didn't. This is an established Batman fighting crime for over 20 years. Why is it necessary to go over his origin story again? The script fails in dialogue and story. These areas were weak in justifying why these two characters fight in the first place. The story just wasn't there for the build up to this fight, actual fight and the reason for them to cease fighting and joint forces. The reasons just didn't make sense or just wasn't epic enough. The actual fight was kind of a disappointment. To me the fight was one sided. This was a man of steel sequel and the character of Batman just took over the story. The biggest disappointments were Lois Lane in terms of story and Lex Luthur who was a catastrophic disaster both in story and portrayal. I always wanted to see corporate Lex Luthur in the big screen. This young and overly erratic version was not appealing at all. It wasn't a character that you would want to see in future installments. This movie ends up being just like man of steel, a good movie but not a great one mainly because of the special effects and overall look of the movie which were the best thing about this movie.