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Reviews
Tin lung baat bou (2023)
A Truly Awful and Frustrating Movie-One of Donnie Yen's Worst
I started watching this movie with the hope of just a fun action movie with Donnie Yen. It then turned into an awful drama with one of the DUMBEST subplots with a woman I've ever seen in my entire life. No spoilers, but what the movie does with this woman character later in the movie was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. Just pure nonsensical and poorly done. I'm getting upset just thinking about it. What were the writers thinking? Apparently they weren't.
Additionally, throughout the movie, there were so many gaps in logic and so many times when the issues could have been resolved by people just talking to each other. I hate it when movies and TV shows do that--cause drama just for the sake of drama, when all that the characters have to do is explain themselves. That is this movie almost throughout the whole runtime. There are also so many things that did not make sense at all; so many times that I was asking myself, "What just happened?" They also have this really dumb trick that they like to use in this movie that is obviously taking a page from the Mission Impossible playbook by having characters wear masks that look EXACTLY like another character (and they never explain how or when the characters made these masks--at least Mission Impossible has the privilege of using advanced spy technology to supposedly create these masks, but this movie has no such luxury).
Overall, this movie took what could have been a really cheesy but still fun action movie and turned it into a sluggish and painful to watch movie. I almost stopped watching it like three different times. The movie's only redeeming quality is that it has Donnie Yen and some pretty cool action fight scenes in a few places. Everything else is awful. Just look up the fight scenes online. Trust me, save yourself from watching the horrendous drama in this "film." 3/10.
Shin Gojira (2016)
A good movie, but hardly the masterpiece Toho Godzilla fans make it out to be
While this movie is very good in many aspects, the film has been overpraised by Toho Godzilla fans. I have loved Godzilla ever since I was young and first started watching his Showa era films, beginning with the 1954/1956 original. I like that Godzilla can be a villain, a neutral force, or a hero. This movie seemed to hearken back to Godzilla's villainous roots that we had seen in Godzilla 1954/1956 and Godzilla 1984/1985. It's a good movie, and Godzilla was actually terrifying in concept, appearance, and when he made his way to Tokyo and couldn't be stopped, particularly near the middle of the film. The visual, practical, and CGI effects are also the best that Toho has ever produced, although they are not quite to Legendary's/WB's quality in the Monsterverse series. I also thought the music and sound design were very well done throughout most of the film, harkening back to classic musical and sound element cues from the older movies, including from the 1954/1956 original.
Nevertheless, the film is not a "masterpiece" as so many seem to be calling it. Indeed, the movie has its fair share of flaws. For instance, the finale was less exciting than Godzilla's first attack sequence, and far less exciting than his attack sequence near the middle of the movie, which middle attack sequence was by far the standout sequence of the film. The finale also used an odd choice in music, giving a more upbeat rather than intense musical score that detracted from any feeling of intensity. Additionally, there was little to no character development for any character. In fact, I can't recall a single person's name. Further, the US ambassador woman character was pretty irritating and clashed with the tone of the film, Godzilla was a little too overpowered at certain points (back and tail lasers, really? A giant fire blast and a mouth beam weren't enough?), and there was far too much discussing and debating that pervaded the entire runtime of the film.
In the end, The film is good and ultimately surprised me in a good way. When Godzilla rampaged throughout Japan, particularly in the middle sequence of the film, I actually felt a slight feeling of dread and desperation for the humans, which was really exciting and refreshing to feel again in a monster movie. Nevertheless, following the middle breathtaking sequence, the film dies down quite significantly and puts forth a mediocre finale. Accordingly, I don't feel the film quite earns itself an 8 or higher, but I feel it comes close.
Final score = 7.8/10.
The Flash (2014)
My rating is only for Seasons 1 and 2.
Seasons 1 and 2 are excellent with great mysteries and compelling stories. The rest, not so much. After these two seasons, it goes downhill quick. I recommend just watching seasons 1 and 2, and then watching the animated movie "Justice League Flashpoint Paradox" once you finish season 2. Then, just stop there.
The main villains in season 1 and 2 are truly great. The intrigue behind who the villains are, in particular, is extremely engaging. The drama is almost always great. However, the characters do like to keep secrets from each other quite a bit which gets frustrating. Some episodes are clearly just filler and feel like a waste of time. Some of the CGI can also be a little off-putting, but that's to be expected with a TV budget. Overall, 9 out of 10 for seasons 1 and 2. Don't care about the others at all.