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Pilgrimage (2017)
Gritty period piece with lots of symbolism
As far as period pieces set in the middle ages go, this one isn't very glamorous. It's a decently well made film with some strong individual performances that basically carry a mostly disjointed and only slightly nuanced story. My rating for this movie is a fairly weak 7/10. That rating is floated higher than I would have normally given it for three specific reasons.
First, the performances: Holland as the young, pious monk who has never known anything but life in the monastery yet quickly matures when faced with adversity. Bernthal as the obedient and entirely subservient mute with an obviously profound yet mysterious history who becomes the star of the show on more than one occasion without saying a word. Stanley Weber as the Cistercian, the guy the Church sends out to do their dirty work basically and effectively starts the "Pilgrimage" in the first place. Of course, there's also Richard Armitage as the surly French knight commanding his Baron father's equally surly men while throwing surly looks around all the time. This would have been a horribly dull and hard to watch movie if these guys didn't pull off these fairly typical medieval character archetypes well and it feels to me like they did.
Second, the action and set sequences were well done. I tend to be the kind of person who is immediately thrown off by a bad transition or a sequence of shots that just don't really work well together. I didn't see very much of that in this film. Granted, it's not difficult managing scene transition when most every scene is shot outdoors in Ireland but when the action happens, it's brutal and effective.
Third, symbolism. If you are someone who does not like it when a movie expects you to draw your own significance from the story it's trying to tell, this is not a movie you might like. Religion is a central theme in this movie and it is built on a foundation of symbolism that can be taken any number of different ways. If you like diving into the deeper meaning of things, you will actually love this movie. Especially how it ends.
Hancock (2008)
A Superhero with the power to save a movie
It's a nice break from most superhero movies that just try so hard to take the subject matter seriously and fail so hard at it.
This movie does not take the superhero seriously, it takes the person behind the superhero seriously but nothing else. No one does a better job at bringing a lofty character like Hancock down to realistic measures like Will Smith.
The plot is far fetched and the twists it throws at you are beyond unreal. There's no real action. It's just scene after scene of Will, Charlize and Bateman doing what they do. Perfect roles for each of them.
It's a performance movie with a questionable plot but the theme is understood. A comedy about a superhero, not easily pulled off, but an all star cast manages it well enough. Beyond the top three characters, there isn't much. The supporting cast is terrible. The bad guys are ridiculous. You really kind of believe Will Smith is a superhero because nothing else in this movie's world even comes close to him.
He's a normal guy who just happens to save the day, whether he means to or not, but his greatest power is saving this movie.
10,000 BC (2008)
It's not that bad
I don't understand why so many rant and rave that this movie was so terrible. I didn't find it unwatchable at all but it certainly isn't flawless. It has a lot of beautiful panned scenes and a story that at times can be uplifting, other times tense and still some of the time you aren't really sure what to think or feel.
It seems to me that many people are watching this movie expecting a historical account. It's not at all that, it's more of a typical Hollywood epic fantasy and if you watch it expecting that, it doesn't disappoint nearly as much.
I enjoyed the story on the basis of pure fiction. The characters were exotic and the growth of their personal relationships toward each other was fun to watch. I think it tied things together well toward the end, simple concepts become much larger. Overall, it's not terrible but it's not mind blowing either. I'd recommend it to anyone who wouldn't try to take it too seriously.