SvdW | Movies I saw for the first time in 2024

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Monday, January. 1, 2024 | How I Watched: blu-ray on a 4K UHD blu-ray player

✮✮✮½/✮✮✮✮✮

Favourite scene: Sensory Overload

Best actor: Daniel Verbaan

I had originally placed this film on my anti-watchlist [I heard some terrible stuff about it], but read Marion Pauw's novel last year, and thought it was decent.

I tried to get my father to watch it alongside me, but he wasn't in the mood. And after watching it, I actually prefer this to the novel.

Diederik Van Rooijen's directing is great. I like the fact that it looks and feels like a Scandinavian thriller. While there's enough Dutch-ness in here, it feels very grimy and dirty. He also directed the set pieces [when they are here] very well too.

The screenplay is quite good. One of the problems I had with the novel is how it so very obvious that Ageeth is the one pulling the strings, but that's even the case here.

Even early on, we have already seen Ageeth with Twan Benschop on a plane together. And the plot twist of the Benschop family working to stop progress on Iris Boelens finding out what really happened to Ray Boelens came too early.

Date Watched: Tuesday, January. 2, 2024 | How I Watched: blu-ray on a 4K UHD blu-ray player

I was planning to watch Babylon this afternoon, I figured to watch it later because of its massive 189 minutes would mean I finish it quite late and I wasn't really feeling like it.

There were still some extra features I hadn't watched just yet, because of time restraints and the fact I wanted to have all the "short thoughts" of 2023 finished by the end of the year, I moved these extra features to this year.

This isn't really worth watching if you've seen the film, safe for the BTS footage. I was really annoyed at how many actual film clips were used.

Date Watched: Tuesday, January. 2, 2024 | How I Watched: blu-ray on a 4K UHD blu-ray player

This was a lot better than I expected as this delves into the CGI and special effects[*] of Passengers. I thought this was only going to be about the CGI, but it also shows a lot of BTS footage and the special LED room built for a special effect laden sequence to see how light and things would reflect.

And wow, the IMDb rating is quite low! Only a 4,1/10 [as of Wednesday, January. 3, 2024 - the time I am writing these "short thoughts"]?

[*] = I am not a fan of the CGI in the film.

Date Watched: Tuesday, January. 2, 2024 | How I Watched: blu-ray on a 4K UHD blu-ray player

I am not the biggest fan of Chris Pratt in Passengers, but as an extra feature this wasn't the worst thing either, at least for a one time watch.

Date Watched: Tuesday, January. 2, 2024 | How I Watched: blu-ray on a 4K UHD blu-ray player

This is my favourite extra feature of Passengers so far, and this is because this is how the set design and things were built. I think the digital photography and CGI are terrible, I will give credits to the set design.

Date Watched: Tuesday, January. 2, 2024 | How I Watched: blu-ray on a 4K UHD blu-ray player

After watching all the extra features of Passengers, I took a short coffee break and then decided to watch all the extra features of It's a Wonderful Life, which this is the first of the extra features [the other two aren't on IMDb].

I was always curious what the process of remastering films would be like. This explained it so well. I would be dead nervous to have their job.

Date Watched: Wednesday, January. 3, 2024 | How I Watched: 4K UHD blu-ray on a 4K UHD blu-ray player

I have recently rewatched The Northman, and this was the only film I hadn't watched the extra features for yet.

This was a highly solid (short) documentary, but I wished it was longer. There are several other short documentary pieces on here though. I just wished they stuck them together into one.

I am tired of hearing about the "patriarchy," [feminists and Woke Leftists overused it] and Robert Eggers mentions it here, but it at the very least makes sense.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Thursday, January. 4, 2024 | How I Watched: blu-ray on a 4K UHD blu-ray player

[Extended Cut]

✮✮✮½/✮✮✮✮✮

Favourite scene: Julius Caesar's Death

Best actor: Elizabeth Taylor

I knew about this film's existence for quite a long time, but either never got around to it, or didn't feel bored to watch as this is not the sort of film I watch often.

I rented the blu-ray from my local library back in the end of August 2023, but didn't get around to it due to its massive running time, and returned it.

But during Christmas of 2023 I felt like I could rent the film for 2024, and so I did. I was ready to watch Babylon, but my father wanted to really watch this one, so we did, and... this isn't really my thing.

The directing by Joseph L. Mankiewicz is great. He directed his actors/actresses really well, and captured the locations/set pieces to great effect. There's some nice camera movement in certain sequences, and the big action set pieces have enough energy and life behind them.

The screenplay is a lot to take in. If you have a massive running time like this one, you better have fantastic characters, but alas. I found the characters to be lacking personality beyond their basic lives. I couldn't care for Cleopatra's rise and fall [I do love the final scene in how it shows Cleopatra's demise with her loyal servant girls], the epilepsy subplot, or Mark Antony's love life.

After the 251 minutes I felt like a dead man. I just didn't care for the story. This is the longest film I've seen, with it only being one minute longer than the "extended cut" of Once Upon a Time in America.

The production design is just gorgeous to watch and marvel at. They used its 44 million dollar budget so incredibly well.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Friday, January. 5, 2024 | How I Watched: blu-ray on a 4K UHD blu-ray player

✮✮✮✮/✮✮✮✮✮ | ♛

Favourite scene: Once Upon a Dream

Best actor: Eleanor Audley

I had no real plans for today, except for watching Babylon in the afternoon. I tried to watch Stromae: Racine carrée Live, but its image quality and epilepsy-inducing imagery made me quit real soon.

But I still wanted to watch something. It was either going to be one of the extra features of Cleopatra or the 1953 Peter Pan, but I also saw that I had this film on my shelf.

I have a terrible history with this film. I rented the blu-ray from my local library back in November 2021, but the disc stopped working after three [or something?] minutes, and did try it again the year after, but it didn't work either. I wanted to try it for a last time.

The library blu-ray disc was very dirty. It was full of fingerprints and something I don't know what it really was [it was either mud, shit or chocolate - I will probably never know and maybe that will be for the better]. I extensively cleaned the disc and to my surprise it worked without an issue!

This might actually be my first time watch of this film [but I'm not totally 100% sure of it]. I never really grew up with Disney films, and I do want to really watch some of them. This is a great one.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I am not too big on the animation here. The human characters aren't my favourite and the same thing can be said for the flat backgrounds. I did love the more Gothic imagery in the third act.

It was good to see the iconic scene of Prince Phillip kissing a bewitched Princess Aurora in bed. I did like the blue/pink dress gag throughout the film. There are no justice for Diablo though, and his[?] character gets one of the most creative deaths [if being turned to stone counts] and there's even some little blood when Prince Phillip thrusts the Sword of Truth in the heart of Maleficent [whom has transformed herself into a dragon]. That probably wouldn't be shown nowadays!

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Friday, January. 5, 2024 | How I Watched: 4K UHD blu-ray on a 4K UHD blu-ray player

✮✮✮½/✮✮✮✮✮

Favourite scene: On the Set

Best actor: Diego Calva

When this film first came out in The Netherlands, I wanted to watch it, but the running time made me question myself if I should really do this.

But now, I was ready to watch this, but multiple reasons [its running time, my busy life, etc.] kept me from it, for days.

And I finally watched it, and it was pretty good, but man is it flawed!

The directing by Damien Chazelle is fantastic and his passion really shows in every frame. He gets the best of the actors/actresses, and the way he uses locations is sublime.

The screenplay is good, but juggles a bit too much. It tells a decades-long story of silent films changing to the talkies and such. The problem of this is that I don't think some of the main characters really had a real arc. Nellie LaRoy suddenly is just found dead and while I like how Manny Torres' arc is written, I don't buy that he is a free man just by sheer luck.

And I don't mind the ending where Manny Torres sees Singin' in the Rain, I get that the evolution of film would be a big step, but Chazelle made the scene completely ridiculous. In the scene we see several films that shaped films as it was [film and technology wise - finally someone sees Tron as the trailblazer of CGI that it was], but some films those films came out after the scene that takes place. It is a Meta in a sense where it didn't need to be.

Maybe there's something wrong with my 4K TV, but the shadow-y black levels for this film and that of The Northman. This distracted me quite a bit, but I don't know if it is an issue I have created for myself or not.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Saturday, January. 6, 2024 | How I Watched: Pathé Zwolle

✮✮½/✮✮✮✮✮

Favourite scene: Recording Evidence

Best actor: Gavin Warren

I do have less of a standard when it comes to picking films due to having a Pathé Unlimited membership. I had seen the trailers several times [as a trailer before other films] and this didn't look that good, but because I do want to not waste my membership money, I booked tickets.

This isn't the worst thing I have seen. I expected this to be a lot worse, but it was better and yet sadly more plain.

The directing by Bryce McGuire is very so-so. I did think he directed the water sequences very well, but the rest of the film looks very plain and cheap.

The screenplay definitely has potential, but it is way too surface level. I don't mind the lore behind the demonic entity [forgot the name of "it," and can't find it anywhere] it continues to break its own rules. When Ray Waller is saved from "the entity," it immediately takes on a new host. This doesn't make any sense. Also, how deep is that pool really [if it is a portal, how does that work]? I couldn't really care for any of the characters.

This was also one of the weirdest showings I ever witnessed. A woman in the same row as me dropped nearly all of her popcorn [poor cinema employees] and the same woman was either sneezing or crying [I believe it to be the latter - but why though?]. She was also using her phone for light. Definitely someone who probably shouldn't be in a cinema anymore. During the final scene a group of four walked in, popcorn in hand. They quickly walked out as they saw the film was already playing. Almost everyone was laughing [including myself] as they left the showing. I did miss the final dialogue a little bit, but oh well.

Date Watched: Monday, January. 8, 2024 | How I Watched: YouTube on TV

Since I recently watched the feature length version of Night Swim, I wanted to see the short film it was based off (made by some of the same people like Bryce McGuire and Rod Blackhurst).

This is way better, but it is just more of an idea than a fully fleshed out one.

I actually thought the "entity" was way scarier here. In the feature length film, it looks like a "fat bastard reject" from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise or something. It has the same sort of disappearance like the opening of the 2024 film, but this is also played off too seriously. I mean, this is about a killer swimming pool! Loosen up a bit!

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Wednesday, January. 10, 2024 | How I Watched: Pathé Zwolle

✮✮✮½/✮✮✮✮✮

Favourite scene: Donegal

Best actor: Michelle Gleeson

I usually like Liam Neeson's films, but his recent cinematic outings aren't really my thing. This struck my fancy as it is a film with Liam Neeson on Irish soil. So, I booked tickets.

There were some issues for me to watch it. The acceleration gear of my bicycle froze up [it's quite chilly as of late], but luckily it was fixed by my father in time (:

I watched it, and it was good.

The directing by Robert Lorenz is fine. He tends to overuse some directorial choices, like the helicopter/drone shots, and some of its low budget does show in several sequences, but overall, the directing isn't half bad.

The screenplay is decent. I don't mind the idea behind Finbar Murphy's killings. Every person he kills, he buries and plants a tree over it. The problem here is that he switches to retirement too soon.

I found Finbar's life after he retires awfully boring and too sweet. And then we have the sudden tonal shifts. I dunnot know what to think of Kevin Lynch. He is 100% a complete arsehole, but the film still writes him too morally grey and helpful, when I don't buy his actions.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Saturday, January. 13, 2024 | How I Watched: Pathé Zwolle

Yeah, this is my first time watch of this film. I know...

I knew about this film for years, but it was to rent for €3,- if I wanted to watch it on a library DVD. And I have to admit that I haven't really listened to a lot of Talking Heads' music.

But then my local cinema played the film and I was game to watch it.

But enfin, I did like this film, but I do have to admit I was a bit underwhelmed by it too [I mean, its massive reputation speaks for itself].

The directing by Jonathan Demme is solid. The three different concerts are very well captured and he did make it feel alive, and not just solely still cinematography.

The stage set-up is so simple, but its that really works. I did have an issue with one scene, because of its flashing lights. While I am not epileptic, the scene in question nearly got me to that point.

I cannot really rate it, as I have trouble doing that for concert films like this one. It's quite good, but it never reached my expectations. Bummer.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Sunday, January. 14, 2024 | How I Watched: Pathé Zwolle

✮✮½/✮✮✮✮✮

Favourite scene: Adam Clay vs. Lazarus

Best actor: Jeremy Irons

I was looking forward to this one as it looked like a solid actioner, based on the trailer I saw twice at the cinema [played as a trailer before a film].

But then I heard some more disappointing things about it on Friday Night Tights and my expectations dropped quite a bit. It was called "Woke" and "Intersectional," which are fantastic words to describe garbage modern entertainment. And let's bee honest, a lot of films now suffer from that.

But I watched it, and yeah, this wasn't that good!

The directing by David Ayer is really good, while still having many issues of its own. He captured all the locations quite well, got a decent amount out of the actors and actresses. He also shot the action sequences very well too.

The screenplay is bad. I know you shouldn't take the story and its lore seriously [part of Bee-Movie logic], but that is not why I don't like it. Jason ZZZtatham's Adam Clay is quite likeable, but there's a large focus on a second main character, whom is an FBI agent. She [the FBI agent] gets a lot of screen time, while 50%[-ish] of Adam Clay's major moments are in the trailer.

Also, having Adam Clay going into Eloise Parker's house with a knife, as if he wasn't able to hold his own without one. I am not too big on how Adam Clay is written in the second and third act. There's such an interesting idea of him not using any guns [think Trigun], but never mind, he uses them later on! Oh, and remember how many (anti-)heroes would make sure that the "good guys" and hostages would be out of the line of fire? Well, Clay killed several "innocent" FBI agents without any regard.

This film really was one in a buzz-illion.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Monday, January. 22, 2024 | How I Watched: Pathé Zwolle

✮✮✮✮/✮✮✮✮✮ | ♛

Favourite scene: Please Stand Up

Best actor: Anthony Hopkins

I discovered this film due to a friend and I got excited for it. Before I (re)watched The Virgin Suicides, the trailer for this film played, and soon after I showed the trailer to my father, whom became very interested in watching it too.

I booked tickets for the both of us and... this is a great film.

The directing by James Hawes is good, but it has several missteps to it. He captured his actors/actresses, and locations quite well, but his inexperience with filmmaking is a bit noticeable [this is his directorial debut].

Before this he had only directed TV Movies, and many episodes for TV (mini-)series, and it does show in how he directed this. The camera movement is very much like that of a modern TV series, and I am not fond of that. Otherwise, a decent job, but the directing part would've been better if handled by a more experienced director.

The screenplay is solid. I wasn't familiar with Nicholas Winton's deeds and actions, but this does clue you in very well in how he saved many (Jewish) children, by transporting them from Czechoslovakia to England.

While this is a very inspirational story, I wonder if Hawes wasn't the director, and someone else directed it, it might've had more meat on the bone? The story is not the problem, I just wish we got a bit more. The relationship between Trevor and Doreen Warriner is completely undercooked. When Doreen is picked up by the German soldiers, we see Trevor acting as he should, but that's the last we see of her!

I actually got emotional during the scene when Nicholas Winton sees the BBC studio full of the children he saved sitting behind him [now grown up]. It wasn't as emotional as I thought it was going to be, but it luckily doesn't romanticize things too much.

Second best first-time-watch of the year so far. More of this, please?

Date Watched: Wednesday, January. 24, 2024 | How I Watched: YouTube on TV

Well, that was something?

I wanted to finish writing all my "short thoughts" before the end of last year, and felt that the ALTER and DUST short films could wait until next year.

But enfin, this short film has its moments, but it was a bit too abstract for my liking.

Ella is written way too childish, and in how we see her, I don't buy her killing her mother. What was that dog mask supposed to be? A mask or the real face of the dog?

I am fine with most of the blood effects [which I believe almost all are practical], but it looks off when we see it on a green leaf. I was also fine with not seeing the death of the Father. The ending is open to interpretation, but I believe we see the family in the Afterlife.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Wednesday, January. 24, 2024 | How I Watched: blu-ray on a 4K UHD blu-ray player

I was very dead-set on watching Matroesjka's over watching films, and then the disc skipped... I am going to ask my money back!

This was on my list to watch as Cleopatra has such an interesting history. So, I watched it, and it was very good [although, I wasn't quite in the right mood because of my frustration of the disc of Matroesjka's not working and doing a lot of stuff today].

The directing by Kevin Burns and Brent Zacky is fine. The documentary consists of BTS, talking heads interviews and footage of the film. I was fine with how it was directed, but they did overuse the stilted photographs a bit.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Saturday, January. 27, 2024 | How I Watched: blu-ray on a 4K UHD blu-ray player

After sleeping terribly and having lunch, I was planning to go to the library with my sister, but wanted to check out if Sleeping Beauty had any worthwhile extra features on the blu-ray disc, before returning it, and this is the only extra feature I had my sights on.

The directing by James Algar is great. He captured all the different areas of the Grand Canyon very well. Not only shows it the shots made out of a helicopter[?], but also several shots on top of a mountain, and the rivers. It is almost like a dialogue-less documentary, mixed like a music montage video. Cannot praise the directing enough.

I am not big on films without a plot, and I have to be honest and admit despite its beautiful cinematography and music, I had trouble in caring about it. This is why I didn't like it completely.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Sunday, January. 28, 2024 | How I Watched: Pathé Zwolle

✮✮/✮✮✮✮✮

Favourite scene: Wine Glass

Best actor: Aoibhe O'Flanagan

I was only planning to watch this because this is one of the last films with Julian Sands. And the trailer didn't look totally terrible, but then I saw the reviews and got knew I was in for a hell of a time.

I wouldn't have touched this without my Pathé Unlimited membership, and this was a terrible film, and the worst film I've seen this year [so far - we can only go down from here].

The screenplay is rat poison. The idea behind the film isn't too bad. Take the world of classical music [something I quite like] and the idea of music being able to take ahold of people. But then the many parallels to the story of the "Pied Piper of Hamelin" are used. I am not really a big fan of this story being used next to the thing I mentioned before.

The jump scares are cheap and tacky every time, and I never found that the Piper was much of a threat. The way he's defeated is by a musical stand-off [laughed my arse off when I saw it] by playing a flute differently. It is also so noticeable when things are set up to pay off later [for example the hatch], and it is so cheap at it.

Please less films like this!

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Wednesday, January. 31, 2024 | How I Watched: Pathé Zwolle

✮✮½/✮✮✮✮✮

Favourite scene: Aftermath

Best actor: Penélope Cruz

Man, to say I was looking forward to this is very much true. I always wanted to see a Michael Mann film on the big screen and the trailer [which played before a film in cinema] made my interest go up a notch.

But then I didn't see the trailer for a few months, as it was shown in September/October[?], and not until recently they showed it again. I got a bit sick of the same trailer being playing over and over again. And the reviews were quite disappointing to see as well.

I booked tickets [for myself] for a Dolby Atmos showing, and yeah, this wasn't quite my speed.

The directing by Michael Mann is good, like it always is, but it has some problems. He directs his actors and actresses quite well, but I found his vision lacking a bit during the car scenes and the focus pulling is terrible. And the car scenes are shot a bit too up close for my liking, in several scenes.

The screenplay is severely lacking my interest. I honestly don't know what the film wants to be about. Is this a biography focused on the life of Enzo Ferrari, or the Mille Miglia? And it doesn't work out both in the way I wanted to. I found Laura Ferrari quite the interesting character to follow. But I just couldn't give a tosh about Enzo Ferrari.

And the Mille Miglia scenes are fun to watch [Cars Go Brr...], I wished there was more of it. There's too much drama and too little car scenes. The pacing was way off too. Also, there are several scenes where the camera lingers on some kind of thing as subtext, but this is more distracting and ultimately falls more flat than a flat tire.

I knew before watching it is rated R, but it is another recent one that barely uses that rating to its advantage. There's some male nudity [buttocks], and a bloody and graphic aftermath of a car crash, which killed nine by-standers. And maybe some curse words, but that's it. I had expected it to be more ballsy, but it isn't.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Saturday, February. 3, 2024 | How I Watched: Pathé Zwolle

✮✮✮½/✮✮✮✮✮

Favourite scene: They Left?

Best actor: Sandra Hüller

I wasn't really feeling the need to watch it at first. The two Jonathan Glazer films I watched weren't to my liking, but the idea behind the film sold me on it.

I then showed the trailer to a friend and he (too) became very interested in watching it. I booked for both of us several weeks later in the afternoon [didn't exercise because I would give it my all and have no energy left], and man, I sure wasn't ready for this film.

The directing by Jonathan Glazer is quite good. He gets a lot out of his actors and actresses, and a great bit of the locations too. Some of the directing can feel a little bit up its own arse [he wants to be Stanley Kubrick so badly - nobody can ever be him though] in how he films certain sequences. The opening overture is a two-minute-long [I believe?] black screen with nothing but ominous music.

There are several other sequences that use colours as transitions, or a few sequences shot by means of a thermal camera, at night. While these sequences are quite unique [I do get the reasoning for using thermal cameras in night sequences, because where else would the light be?], I wish Glazer restrained himself a bit with the things I just mentioned. Either way, directing is great.

The screenplay is a very ballsy one. This is a film that wouldn't have been made years ago, and the whole idea of following an Auschwitz Kommandant and his family, whilst never showing anything inside the camp itself [one sequence does, but you only see Rudolf Höss' face] is such a scary one. This shows every character in a very human light, yet doesn't sugarcoat the horribleness of it all.

The problem I have with the screenplay is that I never got the sense it was but a slightly cohesive story. It is already hard to watch the entire film, but there isn't really a narrative threat to really get engaged with. I get that it is more realistic, but let's not pretend some story beats like the Hansel & Gretel bed story, and the greenhouse sequence aren't just storytelling tricks. The Hansel & Gretel story is good for a comparison with the gas chambers, and the greenhouse sequence is a good comparison of one of the youngest copying his father's behaviour.

I am good with only watching this once, and this has definitely ruined my day.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Wednesday, February. 7, 2024 | How I Watched: Pathé Zwolle

✮/✮✮✮✮✮

Favourite scene: ?

Best actor: Daphne Deckers

There's barely anything interesting [to me] playing in cinemas, so I did book tickets for this film which I knew was going to be bad.

And what I got was 100x worse. This is the worst film I've seen since Sneekweek and Crush, and that's really saying something!

The directing by Jamel Aattache, Mohammed Chaara and Sinan Eroglu feels very lifeless and like they were all ready for their next paycheck to roll in. The worst thing though is that I could see how punches and such didn't really hit the characters, and how they still acted as if they did.

The screenplay is horribly unfunny. If this film was supposed to be funny, it failed miserably. I did crack a slight laugh for the tram joke, but that's it! The worst thing was that the audience laughed quite a bit, and I found myself more ashamed witnessing both the film and the audience.

I never felt the main characters were once believable coppers. And in one scene Mo or Sino [was mentally blocking out at this time] swings his gun around, totally not something you shouldn't do with one [yeah, I've seen the scenes in the end credits where it went wrong - that's what you get]!

Date Watched: Sunday, February. 11, 2024 | How I Watched: YouTube on TV

Like my ALTER short film watch of yesterday, I watched this DUST short film in the weekend instead of my working days.

I do appreciate elements of this, but it just doesn't come together for me.

Orfeas Avgoustidis is not very charismatic. And because the time travelling/world building wasn't explained much, I couldn't care if he would be eliminated by a hit squad of the state[*].

The CGI and green screen effects aren't my favourite either, but this wasn't probably the biggest budgeted affair either. Some of the futuristic props are fine.

[*] = I had to rewatch the ending because I had already forgotten most of it.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Wednesday, February. 14, 2024 | How I Watched: Pathé Zwolle

✮✮✮✮/✮✮✮✮✮ | ♛

Favourite scene: The Von Erich Curse

Best actor: Zac Efron

This was one of the films I was looking forward to watching the most this year, despite it being released by A24 [most of their films haven't really been to my liking].

It was quite difficult to find a good time to watch it, as it played quite late, safe for Wednesday, February. 14, 2024. The thing was that I had already booked tickets for The Notebook, so I decided to cancel my tickets and watch this film instead.

And man, that might've been one of the better decisions I took in some time. This film was fantastic and is my second favourite first-time-watch of this year [so far].

The screenplay is quite good. At the first few minutes I was getting scared this film wasn't going to be my thing, but it started to click with me with its drama. The more emotional moments concerning death by natural causes, suicide, and such really got to me.

I pretty much got on board with every bit of the story except for the "Afterlife" sequence. I get this is meant to be a closure to the real Von Erich family, but it always feels like it is telling the audience committing suicide is a good thing. While I don't believe in the way suicide is stigmatized [not going into that further on here], but this part of the story just doesn't sit right with me.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Saturday, February. 17, 2024 | How I Watched: Pathé Zwolle

✮✮/✮✮✮✮✮

Favourite scene: An Attack

Best actor: James Norton

I am not really that big on Bob Marley [never listened to his music - just never felt like doing so], but I saw some decent potential with this film.

But man, this was such a waste of my time!

The screenplay feels rather rushed. This is [of course] about one of the most famous musical artists of the twentieth century, but this barely stretches the surface.

Bob Marley has zero problems to really call his own. And the one time he gets angry is when one of his group is bent. His extramarital affairs are implied, but also totally glossed over. If that isn't bad enough, the archive footage during the ending shouldn't have been used, but why not use real actors and actresses to re-create those moments? If I want to see that, I can scout the interwebz, or watch a documentary.

It is also very lazy to have some scenes with several other characters, mostly for one sequence to explain the terminology of the characters. Those scenes add nothing but padding.

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Saturday, February. 17, 2024 | How I Watched: Pathé Zwolle

✮✮✮½/✮✮✮✮✮

Favourite scene: Graveyard

Best actor: Michael Caine

When I saw the trailer for this before a film in cinema played I found myself intrigued to watch it with my father.

The release window at first was a real pain, which it has only two showings in May, but luckily it had more showings and sooner too.

At first I saw going to see Argylle with my father, but I convinced him to watch this instead [I might've dodged a real bullet there].

The directing by Oliver Parker is quite great, but I do have to admit the over-usage of slow motion in the war scenes is absolutely not needed. But he works well with all of his actors/actresses and the locations.

The screenplay is solid. I was quite surprised by the amount of humour and I did laugh quite a bit. It did become a bit much at points and it feels it doesn't mash with the more serious moments. The war scenes feel like they are from an entirely different film. I couldn't really care that his friend[?] died when his tank blows up.

And what's up with the bizarre "F-bomb" in the third act? In terms of editing, directing and a storytelling standpoint it doesn't make a lick of sense. And what is up with Irene running to the hills to see the planes if Bernard was a soldier on the ground?

[Review] ------------------------------------------------------- Date Watched: Saturday, February. 24, 2024 | How I Watched: Fraterhuis Zwolle

✮✮✮✮½/✮✮✮✮✮ | ♛

Favourite scene: Not on my Watch

Best actor: Seydou Sarr

I was actually both excited and scared to see this, because I really found Matteo Garrone's Dogman a fantastic film, but was scared the film wouldn't hold a candle to it.

But I saw it, and man, it far succeeded in my expectations, and it tops Dogman, and it is a toss-up whether I like Godzilla Minus One or this more [in terms of 2023 films].

The directing by Matteo Garrone is great. He gets the most out of every actor and actress, and doesn't make the locations unrealistic. I've got no problems with the directing.

The screenplay is quite impressive in how many locations, situations, and characters are presented, without it ever being confusing. It can jump a bit a too much at times, but that's a minor complaint. The film was fine, but after the prison sequence I was fully hooked. I really felt bad for the main character who just wants to go to Europe and find luck there.

Oh, and I love the ending. I hate how most European films end with a long shot of nothing conclusive happening, but I love it here. Seeing the Sicily text was such a rewarding thing. And the final scenes are great because I felt the story had gone full circle. One of the things I was scared about was that this might be really preach-y in terms of its story and such, but this luckily isn't the case.

Seydou Sarr delivers what I think is the best performance I've seen of yesteryear. He is a newcomer in acting [apparently he acted before in the 2001 film Fifi Martingale, but nothing else] and he is just so believeable.