MartinOnMovies Reviews

Short Term 12 (2013)

Pure cinematic beauty

[9/10 · 26 May 2014]

When I saw this movie I knew it was supposed to be good. I had read enough about it to understand that it would be a movie suited for me, so I had quite high hopes for this one. And oh boy did it surpass those expectations and then some. I love how it just jumps in to the world within Short Term 12, without necessarily introducing a potential plot or the characters. And it does this so natural, and continues to be this natural throughout the whole film. The cinematography is beautiful, with a fully realistic feeling to it, and every shot is as wonderful as the other, and true to the storyline. It almost has a documentary feeling to it.

The screenplay and story is so well written and natural, and no dialogue bit feels strained. But mostly this is a character driven film, with each part driven by amazing acting. They are all so believable, as is the whole film, and as an audience you can really feel with every single one of them, through hardships and happiness. Brie Larson is a total revelation, acting well worthy of an Oscar (or at least nomination). John Gallagher Jr, Kaitlyn Dever and Keith Stanfield alongside the rest of the supporting cast does beautiful work with their great characters.

Together with Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station (with whom it shares some aesthetics) this was the most gripping and beautiful film of 2013. And it's a shame neither one of these films got the recognition they deserved. Among others, especially Larson deserved a nomination, and the song performed by Keith Stanfield's character Marcus (one of the absolute best scenes of the film). But still, I'm happy they are being made, and hopefully these smaller and amazing movies can get the same attention as the bigger studio produced ones.

This is a film that both takes your heart and throws it on the ground, but also one that lovingly caress it. To sum it up, I love it!

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Too much, too unbalanced and a waste of talent

[5/10 · 25 April 2014]

I can't say I went in to the theater with high hopes. I did enjoy the first installment of this unnecessary reboot, almost anything seemed like a step up from "Spiderman 3", and Garfield felt way more natural than Maguire, and Emma Stone is always welcome. But after seeing the first trailer I thought it seemed like a total mess, and I wasn't convinced by Electro one bit. Unfortunately I was spot on, I hoped to at least get an enjoyable time at the cinema with my friends, but ended up feeling quite uncomfortable and laughing throughout most of the film.

Garfield and Stone has their chemistry and does their best with the incredibly thin script and cheesy one-liners, but their potential quite beautiful scenes together gets lost in the over-full and messy plot. I can't buy an emotional scene that is interrupted by heavy dub-step and a blue electric guy.

Oh Jamie Foxx, how did you go from Django to this? Before he goes all CGI-Electro he tries to play the nerdy unseen scientist (with a worse comb-over than Christian Bale's 'Hustle'-look). As Electro it's hard to say how much is his fault, and what can be blamed on the rest, I'd go with the rest. You don't sympathize with him nor do you believe how fast he becomes this super-villain.

Everything that Dane DeHaan did so well in "Chronicle" just feels unnatural and (maybe not misplaced, but wrong) here. And his character development is way too rushed and quite unnecessary for this film, it just becomes another sub-plot standing in the way of what really matters.

Sally Field does good work as Aunt May, but leaves no lasting mark. Paul Giamatti's Russian criminal is just in the way and only gives a couple of dreadful and laughable scenes. And then there's the mad German scientist named Kafka and I rest my case.

The action and visuals isn't bad, but still doesn't make up for the low "trying to be Marvel"-comedy and horrific soundtrack, a soundtrack that almost itself destroys the film throughout the exhausting 142 minutes. And sometimes it feels like the movie is taking us as an audience to be stupid, with pointers to what is going to happen. I would like to say that you might enjoy it if you just try and see it for what it is, but it's hard, but hopefully possible! It had an interesting start, with a glimpse inside the past and Peter's parents, but it's left underdeveloped, as is almost everything else, to make room for all its action and villains.

It's amazing how the difference between two big-budget superhero-movies can be so huge, if you put this against "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", a great and, opposed to this one, original film.

Oh how I wish that Marc Webb could have continued with a "(500) Days of Summer"-esque movie instead, he could keep the sub-plots starring Garfield, Stone and DeHaan, and it could very well be a great film, and probably not such a waste of talent.