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Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
The Novel Was a Great Script On Its Own
During pre-production it was in the news that Eric Roth the Academy Award winning writer who co-wrote the script was at Logger heads with Leonardo DiCaprio. Leo was supposed to play Tom White - the lead FBI Agent who solves the whole plot but is highly understated in the film. The script was re-written to accommodate him and he changed roles.
Tom Cruise, Leonardo Dicaprio, Will Smith, etc are great actors but have way too much creative control that sometimes it is not a good thing. Had Apple Inc hired lesser known actors which this film needed and a non-fussy director like Francis Lawrence this movie would be battling Oppenheimer at award ceremonies.
All they had to do was stick to the script which reads like a movie. It is in the last chapters of the novel that the audience know who the killers and their leader are. But in the film we get a hint who it is in the opening hour and a while later definitely know who is calling the shots which make the whole film way too long.
Marty is losing it that is why he can't get funding at traditional studios and has to get it from streaming companies.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Nothing Special
A beautiful mind (2002)- John Nash
Jobs (2013) - Steve Jobs
Gifted hands (2009) - Ben Carson
Sully (2016) - Chesley Sullenberger
Aviator (2003) - Howard Hughes
Downfall (2004) - Hitler
Imitation game (2014) - Alan Turing
The theory of everything (2014) - Stephen Hawking
Ray (2004) - Ray Charles
Lincoln (2012) - Abraham Lincoln
Invincible (2006) - Vince Papale
Devil wears Prada (2006) - Anna Wintour
Ali (2001) - Muhammad Ali
Selena (1997) - Selena Quintanilla
Fighter (2010) - Micky Ward & Dicky Eklund
Labamba (1987) - Ritchie Valens
Malcom X (1992) - Malcom X
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) - Dorothy Dandridge
Molly's game (2017) - Molly Bloom
Goodfellas (1990) - Henry Hill
Above are autobiographical movies, year of release and the name of the person the movie is about.
Oppenheimer is one of hundreds of autobiographical movies. It is 3 hours long and in two parts - 1) The Physics of making a nuclear bomb 2) The politics
The casting is wrong. At least Oppenheimer could have been played by a "newbie" to make it completely believable. This is not to say Cilliian Murphy is not believable, he is and does a great job but we have seen him as a physco in Red eye and other different roles. Christopher Nolan does not need stars, he is the star.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
James Cameron's Weakest Movie Yet
James Cameron is an intelligent man. He says if he did not make it in Hollywood he would have gone to university and studied engineering. He has also said several times that Avatar released in 2009 was to showcase the technology and not about the plot. But it took me several years to figure out that Avatar is Pocahontas in space because it is well directed and a visual spectacle.
The sequel follows the same trajectory and it is underwhelming. I am not even convinced if it was necessary. Maybe that's why it took 13 years to be released because James himself might have not been sure about a sequel. The visuals are out of this world probably the best yet. I kept reminding myself that it is CGI and not real. James has set the benchmark once again. That's how good the visuals are. But the story is sub par. I was expecting a better story since five writers including James wrote this screenplay including the couple who wrote the recent Planet of the Apes films.
Despite the weak plot, I cannot give this movie a 6 as it means below average. I give it a 7 because James did a great job creating Pandora. The fauna and flora seemed like what animals and vegetation would look like on other planets. The spirituality of the Nav'i and their close links to their animals is something Mankind should learn from.
Tali's Baby Diary (2021)
Rare Quality Universal South African Production
Supporting SA film productions is rarely satiating. 90% are mediocre if not bad. The major problems being writing and then acting. Tali's Baby Diary is a rare gem that should have ended on Netflix so that many people watch it. There literally is nothing wrong with this production. I just completed watching the third episode. I could have written this review after watching the first episode but I thought it was a fluke. But its consistently good that it won several awards at the South African Film and Television Awards. The witty dialogue stands out for me. The production design is American-is which is the standard all filmmakers should thrive for if doing a production like this. All the actors are great. No weak link.
Nope (2022)
Another Writer/Director Self Destructing
Writer/directors almost the kind that writes the entire movie alone often fall into a situation whereby the final screenplay is not good and they are too proud to ask someone to have a look at it and do re-writes. M Night Shyamalan is a perfect example. After the original great movie Sixth Sense (1999) and the slightly above average Signs (2002) Newsweek put him on its cover with the title "The Next Spielberg". Since then he has been consistently writing bad movies to the point that the Big five movie studios would not distribute his movies let alone produce them.
Mr. Peele started very well with Get Out. I haven't seen Us but I am certain its not on the level of Get Out. Nope follows the same trajectory of going down in quality. I did not understand what he was trying to do. I am still thinking the movie has a hidden meaning. I do not understand the purpose of the movie. I mean if he wanted to do a movie of people who record alien crafts in the sky why not just get to the point. Besides I have read lots of UFO books and Mr. Peele made up all that stuff. You can skip this movie or repeat Get Out.
Kedibone (2020)
The Writing Could Have Been Better
Life is a mystery. I honestly do not understand how a badly conjured screenplay gets into production. I am certain there are certain stages a script goes through until it goes into production. Should somehow the script manages to go into production with errors, while filming effort will be made to fix them.
Though it is a cheap movie, a talented crew would have come up with better film. I have watched many splendid movies with shoe string budgets. Primer (2004) comes to mind. I was not expecting Memento (2000) or Her (2014) kind of screenplay just a sensible movie. Some basic stuff just did not make sense in this movie.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Wait Until It Is On A Streaming Platform
36 years and fiver writers later they could only manage to come up with a mediocre movie that is over the top and does not come close to the original.
The movie starts off good with Maverick testing an experimental plane and reaches Mach 10 (12348km/hr) doing so. Then he is sent back to Top Gun to train newly qualified Pilots to carry out a specific mission which is three weeks away. The mission involves flying F18s in a twisty valley at over 1000 km/hr at an altitude of just 100 feet.
Why they used F 18s when the Navy has F 35s which are the latest tech boggles my mind. Also why they used fighters instead of precision guided missiles is also confusing.
There are too many close ups of the action sequences. A movie of this kind with lots of action sequences requires wide shots which are missing.
Why would the Navy send newly qualified pilots when there are more than a thousand F18 pilots to choose from?
The two seater F18 is called the growler but they kept calling it the two seater.
Since Kelly McGillis is not in the right shape to be a love interest, they hired Jennifer Connelly to be Maverick's love interest. Remember the bar tender from the og film? She is the one.
There are just many things wrong about the movie.
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
No Wonder Why Ryan Reynolds Got The Director Of This Movie Fired From Deadpool
James Cameron says he had many fights with Tim Miller, the director of this movie over creative differences.
The reason Alita is so good its because its director Robert Rodriguez "obeyed" James Cameron. " I just want to make this movie. I want to make the movie the way you see it."
Tim Miller, a newbie (This is his second film) went against James Cameron's advice. Robert Rodriguez has many hits and yet humbled himself and listened to the master.
This movie is a remake of Terminator 2 but bad. The bad terminator is called a Rev 9. It has better capabilities better than the T 1000 and yet it is never gets close. In fact it is not scary at all. Remember in T2 when the T 800 went head to head with the T 1000 and always lost because the T1000 was better. In this movie though Rev 9 has awesome capabilities it is whipped by the T 800.
Some action scenes are rip offs of the he ones in T2.
The hand to hand combat is not elaborate like the one in T2. Tim Miller used fast cutting and close ups which is a cheap trick.
The CGI is plenty making the whole thing looking like a video game.
There are lots of loose end. How did the Rev 9 follow them in a air tanker?
This movie could have sealed Tim Miller's directing career. The reason it was reviewed well is because of the women leads otherwise those in the know say it will lose $100 million dollars.
Love Lives Here (2019)
Breathe of fresh air
South African films are getting better. This must be the dawn of the third filmmaking revolution the first being apartheid movies, the second crime and hiv movies. Last year we saw Catching Feelings a romcom. Earlier this year we had Matwetwe a coming of age film. Now we have Love Lives Here which stretches the boundaries with intense sex scenes never seen before in a local movie.
1. The lead a nerdy girl who can't seem to get the boyfriend she deserves is believable.
2. The dialogue is alright and sometimes funny for actors dialoguing in english which is their second language.
3. The acting is alright but sometimes flawed (see 1)
The movie does not add up logically. What man does not pitch up to his wedding when he is the one who proposed with a singing crew (reminiscent of that scene in The Best Man's Holiday) ?
1. The cinematography is subpar which is a problem in most local film productions.
2. Some scenes were not necessary. For example there is a roadblock scene but we don't see the car among other cars but just close ups of the characters in the car. I thought it was cheesy.
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
Good enough for James Cameron to produce but not Direct
James Cameron the most commercially successful Director of all time is the producer and writer of this film. He bought the rights of the comic book in the late 90s.
James' first film is Terminator released in 1984. Since then he has written and directed only six other movies. In the same period Steven Spielberg directed 25 movies and Ridley Scott 22.
This tells us James has only certain stories that he is interested in directing. He even said he is now only "in the Avatar Business". Alita: Battle Angel could have been directed by him but it definitely would have fallen short of Titanic, Avatar and Terminator 1 & 2 which is the reason he hired Robert Rodriguez to direct.
James Cameron's signature is all over the movie making me wonder if Robert Rodriguez had a say. The action sequences are excellent, the best in a very long time just what you would expect from James Cameron. Unlike Michael Bay and other action directors who take one shot and divide it into several shots (fast cutting) in this movie each shot is elaborate.
The story could be confusing. I did not get all of it. But it does add up.
One thing that was un James Cameron like for this film is the absence of his triple climax which is even found in movies he did not direct such as Strange Days and Point Break both directed by ex wife Kathryn Bigelow. Just like many others i think the reason for this is to leave room for a sequel.
I recommend this movie be seen in imax 3d because that is how it was intended to be seen by the filmmakers and producers. Watching in this format will get you the best movie experience in a long time.
Five Fingers for Marseilles (2017)
South African Films getting better and better
Films coming out of South Africa are getting better & better. Last week i watched Catching Feelings and it was good. Yesterday i had to watch this one, who wouldn't after seeing the trailer and poster ? This film reminded me of Bruce Willis' 1996 cowboy movie Last Man Standing because they are alike. Difference is Fiver Fingers for Marseilles is not as straight forward and at 2 hours long it seems like 3 because the pacing is slow. The setting up of characters in this case epilogue is around 20 minutes. Then everything seem puzzling and you will ask yourself why, how, when. The biggest flaw is the script. It was written by a certain Sean Drummond who i presume is an English speaker and then given to a translator who did direct translation resulting in some dialogue/sayings/phrases being lost in the process. I don't even speak South African languages but i picked some of it. The other flaw is the casting. The younger Lerato of about 14 years old is light skinned (popularly known as yellow bones) as an adult woman she is now darker skinned which never happens thereby not making sense. It is mistakes like these that turn local audiences off because we feel we are being taken for granted. The bright side is the main cast is just brilliant. I had doubts about Vuyo Dabula's acting chops in Generations because he is one dimensional but now i am convinced he has talent. Hamilton Dhlamini who plays the villain is just magnificent that you would think he came out of a Hollywood horror movie. Veteran Kenneth Nkosi and newbie Zethu don't disappoint.
Keep it up guys.
Catching Feelings (2017)
Could have been better
I had to watch this movie just to forget the dreadful Black Panther i had watched earlier in the day and i must say CF is a breathe of fresh air. Its a South African movie not about AIDS, crime or poverty. I could have easily given 7/10 but that would not be because of the quality of the film but because of the nostalgia of seeing places in Johannesburg i recognized.
Sam and Max are a middle class couple living in Johannesburg. They don't have kids so all they do (when money allows) is hang out with friends. Then a middle aged, well known writer and free spirit by the name Heiner shows up in their home and kind of disrupts the harmony. I say kind of because i had no idea why Max strongly felt Heiner would have sex with his wife while he was in Cape Town because the guy wasn't even talking to Sam let alone getting close to her. If anything he was an ideal guest. This is why i gave 6/10 because Max's fears are unfounded and yet all along he came across as a cool guy. Another issue i had problem with is did Heiner have sex with Sam or it was Max's imagination running wild ? The confrontation does not help answer this question because Heiner does not give a definite yes or no when asked if had sex with Sam.
As you would expect a film written and directed by a stand up comedian is bound to be funny. So is this one except that Max kinds of repeats the joke that same very moment but it only happened a few times.. The acting is good another breathe of fresh air. The sound is not of high quality all the time there is even a cringe worthy scene were two characters are talking in a room and we see them from outside the room and it seems the boom operator was outside too. I don't know what to say of the cinematography maybe that is what was intended.
In short this film is a step in the right direction. Now i am waiting for a South African film with a Hollywood feel in terms of cinematography and production design.
Black Panther (2018)
Another After Earth
These are the faults that i found
1. The basic plot is average or even below. The screenplay seems like it was rushed, not much time was put into writing it. Some of the technology is way over the top and seem like taken out of a James Bond movie. The Villain is not interesting or interesting. I did not understand the reason for the presence of some characters
2. The fight scenes are not spectacular or anyway near that. One shot is broken several times. I expected somersaults and panther like moves but not much came. There is even some ufc style of combat which brings us back to the point above. If research was done The writers would have known of the folk wrestling done by the Serer people in Senegal
3. The Production design was not applicable to this movie. Yes the Wakandans were extremely technologically advanced but i failed to consistently notice the African feel as it was overshadowed by western designs
4. The score was too Western. I expected marimba and mbira type of instruments not the same old score
The good thing i noticed is the acting, the actors made the most of what they were given.
Homeland: The Choice (2012)
Wasted opportunity to rival Breaking Bad
First season was great especially the pilot and last two episodes so i watched the 2nd season with bated breathe because it was still the same kind of edge of the seat stuff until the last two episodes.
A series has plenty of time to tie up loose ends unlike movies. Great series don't pull things out of thin air. It seems like writers are having a hard time coming up with great stuff. This episode left me wondering, confused and disappointed. Disappointed by the chemistry between Carrie who seems to have fallen head over heels in love with a terrorist despite her job hanging by a thread.
Also Carrie seems to have become too 'clever". She figures almost every solution to a problem and the men around her are clueless.
Peter Queen is tasked with killing Brody after failing to get a clean shot all weekend he gets one of Brody facing east and praying to Allah. That should have been enough reason for Peter to pull the trigger but he backs down and next time we see him in David Estees' bedroom telling him that Carrie has been through a lot and deserves a break. Wow
I am going to watch season 3 but i am not in a hurry.
Wonder Woman (2017)
Wonder Woman the Character is better than Wonder Woman the film
Most movies on this website's top 250 films are adaptions, be it a novel or a comic book or even another film. I am not a reader and never read comic books growing up so I am not biased when I watch adaptations which I strongly feel is one of the reasons Wonder Woman has 8.3/10 here and 93% on rotten tomatoes. If Wonder Woman was a spec script this film would not be trending. Until this film Angelina Jolie was the highest earning action Heroine at the US box office with Lara Croft (2001) $131 million. She also managed $118 million with Salt (2010). Scarlett Johanson achieved $126 million with Lucy (2014) and no other actress had been able to carry an action film entirely alone. Hunger games, Star Wars, Divergent and Terminator don't qualify because the male opposite were just as strong.
The other reason is that this film is directed by a Female. People love this film because it is the first time a Female director has worked with a big budget like this. $150 million. It has been long time coming. I hope female representation will improve from here on and it seems so because Ava Duvernay also achieved a milestone by becoming the first Black female director to direct an upcoming $100 million film also becoming the third overall behind Katherine Bigelow who did K-9 (2002) for $100 million.
I give this film 6/10 because there is nothing groundbreaking like Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight. Its actually half that. Wonder Woman is just another superhero popcorn film whose Lead has an accent giving further evidence that Jews runs the World lol. Wonder Woman is played by Gal Gadot who I think is responsible for the financial success not the story or the CGI. She is genuinely funny, sexy and a great actor. I bet She and Chris Pine who plays the male lead will win the Best Duo at the 2018 MTV movie awards. As for Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen whose names are also on the poster they don't make it past the first ten minutes of the film which is fraud because I love Robin Wright.
Life (2017)
If you hated The Martian you will enjoy Life
Life is a an enjoyable movie given what we have been fed for example The Martian (2014). A crew of six is on the International Space station after exploring Mars 8 months earlier. Three of them fly the space ship the rest are specialists in their field of study like Hugh Derry a British Biologist who is experimenting with a butterfly like creature they found on Mars. At first the creature is sweet and lovey dovey before unleashing unimaginable terror. I say unimaginable because this creature is something you have never seen before. It is very different from outer space creatures we have been accustomed to maybe that is also why i give the film 7 not 10. Its only the creature that is original otherwise the story is not so original and no one is to blame. Even with that the film is enjoyable with an original ending you never see coming and a huge surprise before that.
Noem My Skollie: Call Me Thief (2016)
A glimpse into the History of South Africa
This film is a drama that is thought provoking because its a true story. The set is the Cape flats in Cape town, a notorious area for gangsters and drugs and violent crime in general. The era is the 60s ,when the minority still ruled South Africa through a system of racial segregation called Apartheid. One day Abraham , a teen from a wonderful family goes through a very traumatic experience. His behavior changes and its not long before he is caught on the wrong side of the law and sent to prison. The conditions are appalling. Even today , the year 2016 prison conditions are still horrific in South Africa. While in priosn Abraham works on his gift of story telling while incarcerated. When he is released he has to choose to return to the life of crime or use his gift to earn an honest living. The only gripe i have is the lack of that broad 60s feel like Long walk to Freedom achieved (because of budgets constraints) but the actors try really hard make up for it and succeed. scenes.
The Fourth Kind (2009)
We are not alone.
Tagline : An encounter in the first kind, that's when you see a UFO. The second kind is when you see evidence of it: crop circles, radiation. The third kind is when you make contact. But the fourth kind, there's nothing more frightening than the fourth. You see, that one is when they abduct you.
You have to see the movie to believe. Fourth kind is a Sci-fi horror film based on true events that happened in Nome, Alaska in the 3rd quarter of the year 2000. There is dramatization and also real footage which sometimes is disturbing and shocking. A female psychologist's husband dies in his sleep mysteriously and she is convinced that it is abnormal so she does sessions with three unrelated people who have trouble sleeping and see a white owl when they wake up. The results are catastrophic as more sinister things start to happen. A must see!
Antichrist (2009)
Very Disturbing film. Not for the faint hearted !
The film explores aggressively very simple issues such as pain , grief and despair. Expect Michael Mann kind of shooting-shaky camera, blood like in a Quentin Tarantino movie only that in this movies it comes from mutilated body parts and first degree assault. Also expect few words between two people who also are the only ones who feature in this all new movie which might have created a new genre. The actors are Willem Dafoe and Charlote Gainsborough. The setting is a cabin in the woods. The movie is complicated and its about hallucinations triggered by thoughts , beliefs and studies and accelerated by loss of a loved one. Husband and wife are partially negligent when their Son dies and the mother blames herself and eventually suffers a nervous breakdown. Also expect to see lots of sex and 100% nudity.
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)
Great cast. Waste of Time
Tagline : Dear Mother Earth... I will drink your blue waters... and eat your green skin. As the title warns "the men who stare at goats" expect not to see or hear any film. The film tries to be funny and most of the times fails dismally. The Pentagon has learned that the Russians have undertaken paranormal warfare after being lied to by the French that the Americans are at an advanced stage. Binh (Jeff Bridges) a Vietnam war veteran is recruited to spearhead the research and he in turn recruits Larry (Kevin Spacey)and Lyn (George Clooney). There is only one reason to watch the movie, the soundtrack by Boston and maybe the settings.
She's Out of My League (2010)
Way better than i expected
Seeing the poster i thought it was one of the movies we have seen before but now have different actors. I was completely wrong. The film is a breathe of fresh air. Original in its on way, catering for almost every age group and very funny. The acting is superb especially the lead actors who are also well supported.
The film is about a law school graduate who is also a business woman and lives a comfortable life and her ex boyfriend is a fighter pilot who finds herself falling in love with an airport security guard who has been trying to get back with his ex girlfriend for two years and has a very low self esteem.