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The Tomorrow War (2021)
For the Entertaining, Yes.
The totally stunning face of Chris Pratt who is forced into submission by soldiers and his bloody hot body are absolutely not the most memorable thing in the movie. It is for sure his great acting. No, seriously, the acting is very good. The CGI is realistic. I am huge fan of those well-made monster CGIs (not those high tech robots CGI). And the concept of the movie, especially with a quite novel beginning (at least to me), is a great plus.
The plot holes are not ignorable unluckily. Two types of holes there are: irrelevant ones, like why researching toxins all these ways instead of using massive explosive weapons (because there are many ways to explain "away" these plot holes); relevant ones, like the completely non-sensical physics of time in the movie (this completely destroys the whole narrative of motivation of what the heroes are trying to do).
If time traveling can alter the future, there is nothing to be really sad about a future daughter dying to be honest. She isn't even your daughter, you two are in a completely different parallel universe. I expected that Chris Pratt would somehow irresistibly step into the life that her future daughter has witnessed. And this would make the movie at least two levels higher than its current story. An almost 8-star movie.
Pity no pity. It is still an enjoyable entertainment, and an entertaining thriller with its CGI.
15 Years (2019)
Self-Destructive Instinct beyond Sexuality
There are times where seeds of self-destruction can be implanted. Those are the moments where one discovers a self that is unworthy of his status. Maybe it is the selfishness, egoism, the cowardice, fear, the irresponsibility. The discovery of an ugly self that is undeniably a true one. And what is more unfortunate is that this person is good-hearted at his root.
This seems contradictory, but all I can say is it can truly happen. The struggle of the main character is not whether to become a better person, because the mere thought already suggests his lack of authenticity towards himself and others. The real struggle is whether he should be so selfish (as he believes) to keep them around, to keep faking a non-self or should he pick up the courage of leaving what he loves at their best.
It is like the only good play is to punish himself, to go against all his hopes that he for a second thought reduces into an egoistic self-preservation in disguise. There is no place to reverse the negative to a positive.
I had never seen a presentation of such psychology in a movie before. It is too subtle. This movie does an excellent job in this regard.
The ending is on point and provoking. For Yoav, it is for his bravery that he leaves, for the greater good of the people who love him and who he loves, even if this is not the case in the eyes of other people. A psychological disease. A deep-down self-deprecation.
P.S. I Love You (2007)
A Healing Potion, A Fantasy and Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler looks so good in the movie. An interesting story that is admittedly difficult to put into a movie. Acting is difficult, and is not well executed.
Otherwise, a heartwarming fantasy to make an acquaintance with.
The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)
OK-ish version of Will Hunting + Untouchable
A movie to watch for leisure for daily fun. Not to be watched seriously.
Not particularly original or touching or any kind. OK Warming.
Passable.
Father/parent-children as the central theme. Personally quite like this genre.
Beach Rats (2017)
Maybe it is the state of confusion that the story wants me to feel, but...
Not extremely bad. I don't judge movies for their too much stereotype. In that sense, I can bear the self-loathing-ness of this movie. A confused and closeted beach rat. An image lacking integrity and honesty. Theft and lies. Fear of solitude and uncertainty about the future.
However, the movie is rather uninteresting as a development of a story. I feel confused not because of the character's confusion, but for the lack of any expression. I wish there are more to hear about him in a state of authenticity, like, when it is after having sex with dudes. Instead, the character is like an opaque box. I don't really understand his thought.
This setting is rather unfit to the movie that is already so shy about its colours and emotions, which leads to a kind of uniformity of the movie: everything is so blurry and concealed. All that's presented is only appearance, appearance that is predictable, appearance that don't try itself to be interesting.
I feel a sense of suspense at the end where I feel he was uncertain about his situation, about whether he has already lost his friends, which I see as a positive point. The revelation of his sexuality outgrows his past identity. And he seems to have lost both of them at the end, which I only guess with little certainty.
All in all, things are not clear enough to work.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
One of the Best of its Genre
A cinematic poem. Wonderful music and editing. The rhythm is so on pace. It reminds me the movie Sparta (maybe not exactly the name) or something like that. Kind of historical event or classic story tale and good vs evil and all beautifully presented, getting rid of all unnecessary conversations. Going straight to the emotion, the action, the epic moment, the scene of characters, the symbolism at its most shallow yet conceivable manner.
The most important thing in a CGI-heavy movie is that the CGI style needs to be consistent. We know that we are in a fantasy, but we don't want the details of the movie to constantly remind us of it. King Arthur has done a great job in this regard, except at the very end the scene has some obvious artefact.
I wish there are more movies of this style.
Sincerely Louis CK (2020)
Maybe my only 10 star stand-up comedy special
The first time, I laughed. It was a 7-9 star. Solid content, great comeback, Louie's comedy.
The second time, I laughed and cried. More than comedy. The art of a son to commemorate his beloved mother.
It was the first time I see stand-up comedy as an art of deconstruction be transformed into a tool of reconstruction. Dark humour, for the expression of love.
The absurdity of being so present and so absent at the same time in our beloved ones' life. The absurdity of abundance of love to and lack of knowledge of them. Can the distance be remedied, even if it were as close as between mother and son?
Thank you Louie, sincerely.
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Awesome Music
Music tied the romance and the history together. I absolutely love the song Tennessee.
Brotherhood works on me very well. Little Danny in the arm of his big-o father Ben Affleck. That's good.
The acting is so-so.
The story is a difficult piece to put into a movie. The movie takes care of both individual romance and historical event in a readable way, but not exactly perfect.
Actions and CGI are well executed.
Historical inaccuracies have no importance for me.
The Prestige (2006)
Excellent Job of Christian Bale
Apart from all greatness of this movie, I just want to shout out that Borton Alfred is such an immediately lovable as-h-l- to begin with. Christian Bale has portrayed such a deep character that only after two revisions of the movie do I think I catch enough of his subtlety in this movie.
The character is by the setting intriguing to watch and challenging to the actor. A more arrogant twin who is more obsessed with magic and success than anyone else and is dangerously charming; the tender other one who seems to be more talented and less emotional. They share one life.
The revelation of this truth adds to the movie a heavy stroke of drama that connects all the former details into a tragedy of obsession and love. It becomes extra rich seeing how they react to the lover of each other. Determined by obsession and motivated by the care of each other as brother, they need to maintain the illusion of love so as to keep their half-lives going.
Argo (2012)
Good Entertainment
Absolutely fascinating historical event. Well written script. There are some disagreement for the inaccuracy and the disproportionality of the description of the event. I personally don't think that is really serious issue. Entertainment is entertainment. You never surprise people as much as reality does.
Editing is good. Things are how they should be. Successfully build up tensions in spite of the lack of motion of the story at the end. My favourite scene is after Ben Affleck knew that the action was cancelled, the 6 people began having a little celebration for their little break, in an extremely joyful and warm-coloured scene. That scene strikes as the climax of the movie, where the character's internal conflict is the most delicious and dramatic. The unique political and historical situation presented makes that scene thought-provoking and emotionally intense at the same time.
The family line of Ben Affleck is a bit off. It is not so relevant in the story as told. It seems not to have a significant influence on the story. Even though family may have an influence to the real agent, I think either the movie make this influence more explicit, or the family scene should be removed (For example, their faces are not needed. We can just keep the Ben's part of the phone call.)
Gladiator (2000)
Came for Crowe, Leave with Phoenix
A classic movie successfully portrays a set of intensive characters in a relatively simple plot. The macho and valiant hero Maximus played by Crowe a man worshiped by his people. The beautiful and resourceful Lucilla by Nielsen a loving mother and the true continuation of the spirit of her father. And the envious and serpentine Commodus by Phoenix. The delicious portrayal of these characters creates a classical but still rich dynamics that for me is the main dish of this movie.
In addition to this classicality of the plot and the characters, I appreciate the slightly heavy stroke on Commodus. This leads us to explore the natural question of what this man of jealousy is thinking. It's a man who yearns for respect and love of his father and his sister, all of which the mighty general has taken away from him. He seeks no power or fortune, but the name, which the enslaved Maximus claims so easily. This extra colour on the character of Commodus is like the shadow of the painting. A minor change, a huge enhancement.
The story is complete. As I am not very knowledgable about neither the history of Rome nor the book, for me, the plot is still able to create a noticeable and constant tension that keeps me intrigued till the end. The ending is actually a little surprising, as I expected a realistic ending of tragedy. This ending, while emotionally pleasing, is a bit cliche. But then, the revelation of such ending reminds me that the move is about a poetic story. I don't feel this clicheness deal much damage to my experience to it.
The friends Maximus make when enslaved as gladiator are not completely great. I cannot make a clear point on it. But I feel some of the strokes on these characters are not aesthetic enough and their purpose seems too obvious. This breaks the fluency and the naturalness of the story development. These characters should not bear so much personal emotions with Maximus.
All in all, a great entertainment. An epic with strong characters. A story simple and beautiful. Flaws are not unnoticeable, but forgivable.