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Reviews
Dune: Part Two (2024)
Much needed blockbuster!
After watching Dune 2 in the theaters last night, I can ensure that this is the ultimate culmination of Denis Villeneuve's vision for Dune. He can improve upon his previous masterpiece of the first Dune movie in 2021 tenfold. Each shot, each frame is pure artistry. It truly highlights the breadth of the vastness of the desert and mythical culture of Dune. From the desert sunsets in the sky to the fierce fighting sequences in the sands, each scene is a one of amazing magnitude. And the visual effects for every sandworm, ship, and every single aspect is one of master quality. Each sand worm and ornithopter feels so realistic and tangible, like I am watching a real-life documentary than a sci fi film. This is especially important given all the CGI complaints over the past year and a half. But rest assure, the visual effects for Dune are all beautifully painstakingly created and are sheer works of craftsmanship.
Dirty Water (2023)
LOVED THIS!
I stumbled across this by chance. The interplay between all the characters had me in stitches! The group performers work in perfect cohesion and have incredible timing. Scottish humour at its absolute best. I can relate to so many of these characters! The whole thing is brilliant, writers, actors, camera, director, location are all spot on. The comedy is made all the better with perfectly timed camera shots and perfectly time one liners and facial expressions. I cannot praise the show enough.
Watch out for the two suits in episode 2! I'm not sure if there is more of these coming out, the IMDB says (2023 -) so I hope that means there is more to come!
The Wrestler (2008)
Can't believe I hadn't seen this before!
This is as good as the art of film can get. Everything is superb. It is verite, gritty hand-held documentary style, and the smallest details are flawlessly seamed into the larger picture. Ironically, blood and brutality, physical and emotional, are made to feel the norm, while so-called, real, "civilian" life comes across as an alien or distantly abnormal form of behavior, unobtainable in some other world. The "Wrestler" and the "Stripper" are both play-actors, whose survival depends upon destroying themselves within a horrific fantasy world, which ironically is the fabric and creation of mass culture.
T2 Trainspotting (2017)
One of the best squeals!
You can run from the past, but it still finds you. Mark Renton returns to his old roots to find himself after his life has fallen on hard times, despite having betrayed his closest friends. Spud and Sick Boy manage to bury the hatchet with Renton, but Begbie wants to settle the score. Now, Mark must survive the wrath of his former friend as he tries to navigate his unknown future. With the four leads returning to their respected roles, it honors the source material and gives us a possible future.
Choose life.
Choose memories.
Choose escapism.
Choose memes of Arthur and Spongebob and Hey Arnold and anything else that briefly reminds you of sitting in front of CBBC after school with a bag of Space Raiders.
Choose 80s music and 90s kids.
Choose timehops and throwbacks.
Choose prequels, paraquels, sequels.
Choose reboots, remixes, reimagining.
Choose re-releases, resets, reunions.
Choose live-action versions.
Choose to awaken the Force.
Choose anthology stories.
Choose CGI faces of people you're pretty sure died twenty-odd years ago.
Choose playing slowed-down, soft piano versions of original John Williams scores over trailers.
Choose La La Land.
Choose Dwayne Johnson.
Choose Solo, Decker, and Indy.
Choose the Power Rangers.
Choose Batman and Superman.
Choose Spider-Man.
Choose Spider-Man.
Choose Spider-Man.
Choose dumb and dumber, and legacy, and genysis, and creed, and covenant, the hobbits part I and II and III.
Choose Finding Dory, The Incredibles 2, Cars 3, Toy Story 4.
Choose the original cast, original director, choices from the original soundtrack.
Choose nods.
Choose winks.
Choose grins.
Choose nostalgia, because it's your best friend. It's your only friend.
Choose your future.
Choose life.
Napoleon (2023)
Was expecting so much more
Went to the 10pm showing and was expecting something like Gladiator. I really enjoyed the extended version of Kingdom of Heaven from Ridley as well......with that said I was underwhelmed with some of the battle scenes and found it difficult to keep up with the jumping around but at the end of the day.
I am sure the ally from Europe will give some scathing reviews as with Braveheart but at the end of the day I can't really recall a biofilm from Hollywood that got everything accurate for the world to view. I think this is what is best about possible blockbusters like Napoleon......it provides lots of conversations and opinions which the world is flooded with today.
My advice - you won't see the next Gladiator, KoH or Braveheart here.....grab a date that enjoys history and wants to see what the crucial years of Napoleon's rise, rule and fall were like.
Still Game (2002)
JUST RE-WATCHED THIS! ALL TIME CLASSIC
I can only hope I can be even a wee bit like them when I get to that age. Curious, ornery and able to make a huge life in a tiny speck of a place. The show is one of my favorites of all time and makes you pine for a friendships as close as those portrayed in the series. Astounding work by all involved.
I've just "binged watched" the whole 9 series. Over 20 years and I still rewatch episodes. This has been dvd to streaming and it's hard to put into words the depth and sheer comedy. There really are some belters in the early series, but this quality of delivery and storyline still comes through in the later series.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)
Worth the watch
I haven't read the book but I found this to be an adequate origin story for Snow. There was decent character development and the story all in all didn't have any huge flaws (maybe some questionable moments but nothing I couldn't ignore), HOWEVER I struggled with Rachel Zegler in this film, her acting felt unnatural and forced as if she's trying too hard. Might be me being harsh which I fully accept but she was 90% of my issues with the movie. Tom Blythe on the other hand I felt delivered a believable character and really made the role his own, this was the same with pretty much all of the other characters. All in all definitely a movie I would recommend people to watch but not anything ground breaking which is perfectly fine.
We Own This City (2022)
When you're in hell, everybody's a devil.
The writing does what great writing is meant to do, it turns the bad guys into humans that are just swept up in the whole stinking system, were politicians do the bidding of their financiers, the greedy fools that are happy to watch the country deteriorate into the horrible reality of capitalism, the police are just people like any other, that are susceptible to the corrupting influence of power.
The war on drugs is the true evil here, it's just blame being handed to the victims of that poverty, the rich don't make money they take money from those that are poorer them themselves and when the poor break the laws that the wealthy also break, the poor have no legal justifications like the wealthy have, because law is dependent on the wealth of the individual in 'the land of the free' it should be changed to 'the land free from any justice because of the cost of that justice.
It's a must see! So go See...
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Was expecting so much more
Good story, but pretty boring and drawn out like The Irishman. It was nice being able to sit through a movie peacefully but literally like no suspense, no build up, very little mystery, no twists or surprises, mediocre dialogue, the picture was great, they nailed it on capturing the era and unique characters. It was a breath of fresh air seeing something Rated R that wasn't overly sexualized. I love how they captured so well the two different sides of Decaprio's character, a loving/devoted husband who is (spoiler alert) simultaneously poisoning his wife and playing a part in murdering all her family members, shining a light on the dual nature of man. I also love how his wife has almost an aura of forgiveness and unconditional love after coming to find out what he has done, also showing the humanity and compassion a person can be capable of after such a deep betrayal.. Anyways, I'd give it 6.5 stars if I could, wouldn't feel right giving it 6. So here's a 7.