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Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Unnecessary but ultimately quality entry into an epic saga
A pretty pleasant surprise. They actually pulled it off for me. I was concerned about the mixed reviews and the troubled production but was blasted with:
- Its setting on an outlaw-ridden/underground world, a portion of the Star Wars lore that's been in bits and pieces in the other movies but not that explored. Solo is fully set within that grim, everyone for himself type of world, filled with not only bounty hunters but people going for scraps to pay their overlords, there's also slavery and lots of betting. And I was happy most of the stuff on the ground was practical, it's the most "tangible" Star Wars movie yet, the creature and set designs are so good.
- An engaging set of characters. Alden does a good job as Solo, he's no Ford but who is? He brings his own charm that quickly made me embrace this newer take on the character. Emilia Clarke finally getting a solid blockbuster role as Qi'ra, Woody Harrelson is enjoyable as always as this untrustworthy bounty hunter. And arguably the MVP, Donald Glover rocking with charm and wit as Lando, I liked this even better as Billy Dee's performance. The movie did its job and got down to the essence of Han and how he met Chewie and Lando, I was satisfied. Paul Bettany's villain I also dug, he's nuts and it's the kind of villain that can go from completely relaxed to psychotic/murderous just cause someone doesn't get what he asked for, but if they do it's all fun and chilled. Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37 was also a highlight, she's absolutely hilarious in the show 'Fleabag' and brings her irresistable charm to Star Wars as a quirky droid fighting for droids' equal rights.
- A rather distinct visual style, with a varying color palette to keep things refreshing and fit the tone of the place, I especially loved the brown/yellow-ish look of the underground betting club where Lando was first at. This alone i thought already set this movie apart from other star wars movies and made it its own thing, I read Ron Howard worked closely with Bradford Young ('Arrival') to really nail the special look they wanted and it worked
- Action scenes, they're absolutely fantastic. Really good camerawork, effects, momentum all around, it was always exhilarating to watch. There are two longer, epic setpieces, one involving a train through the mountains and the other the millennium falcon and in my opinion, they're up there with the very best setpieces of the franchise, complete blast. This movie has such a sense of fun and excitement most of the time. There's also a short war scene that felt more like war than anything on this series, loved the atmosphere and intensity there
- The best score the new Star Wars movies have put on. Not on the same level as the OT or the prequels but it brought new interesting stuff to fit in with the "regular" Star Wars score these movies have.
This makes me sound like I absolutely loved it and I did have a blast overall but why I don't give an even higher rating would be that the story isn't that good, nor is it fully cohesive (noticed a couple spots where the reshoots interfered with the original shoots) but it still works really well on its own, it's solid, I just don't think the material is strong enough. I felt like technically it's impeccable and the characters are loads of fun but this movie is held back by its just solid story and some continuity issues, the connection with the empire vs rebels could have been better established, some other minor issues that are spoilers. But nothing that I really outright disliked.
It's a really good movie and I'd recommend to Star Wars fans who are up to watch more Han Solo, more of the Star Wars lore, more thrilling action setpieces and also have a refreshing experience as this movie often feels different from the rest of the franchise. I feel like it earned its existence and is a very welcome addition to the 40-plus-year-old franchise.
God of War (2018)
A masterful action and story-driven game and one of the best reboots ever
Just platinumed this masterpiece yesterday. A reboot that does what reboots should do - provide a fresh, modern take on a franchise whose formula was getting stale. God of War (2018) not only retains the brutal, high-octane combat and the focus on mythology (this time Norse mythology) but also turns the franchise into an open-linear (bloodborne inspired), narrative-driven experience, which was something I would have never expected from a God of War game. The story finally has maturity and a great understanding of the central character, as well as a compelling father-son relationship that grows in interesting and quite emotional ways, and it was carefully planned out with every action and cinematic created in motion capture and seamlessly blending gameplay with cutscenes, creating a continuous shot story throughout, also with no loading screens ever after booting the game.
The gameplay offers more options than ever with more expansive enemy types, badass runic attacks and special moves, as well as the always satisfactory throwing of the axe and pulling it back like I'm Thor. There's a broad skill tree, armor with enchantments that we can use to up our stats (strength, runic, defense, luck, cooldown) and upgrades we can make to pretty much everything we carry, its RPG elements were well placed. The boss fights are perhaps the biggest disappointment compared to the other games, not as epic or cinematic. But the rest of the combat I think it's definitely an improvement.
The graphics are the best I've seen on a PS4, especially the character design, Santa Monica has a reputation of pushing the Playstation hardware to the max and this is another great example. There's also interesting end game and side stuff to do, so it wasn't bothersome to get the rest of the trophies (except for one hardcore boss).
Overall I feel like this is everything right with modern gaming, it combines all the good stuff that makes a singleplayer story-driven game but without making it too linear or limited, but expansive and always evolving as we go through its ~20-hour story, always with fresh locations, combat moves, puzzles, exploration, characters, story surprises, etc. It plays great, it looks great and it's a step forward in videogame storytelling
Sucker Punch (2011)
Surprisingly dark and sad movie, but also entertaining
Saw the movie today.
It's super fun, I loved the visuals that Zack Snyder put into it, great fantasy sequences. Original plot, even if it is too simplistic and somehow muddled. The girls were super hot too, especially the main blonde chick, she's stunning Oscar Isaac as the villain is absolutely fantastic in the movie, amazing performance
I think the main problem with this movie, and why I think critics didn't like it, is that it takes itself too seriously - not in the action sequences but the 'real' scenes. It puts on too much drama and deep thoughts that could be acceptable if it wasn't a fantasy action movie with hot girls shooting around all over the place! It has some philosophical lines with some deep meanings that the movie couldn't achieve by itself, so it was very pretentious on that account. There were some things that didn't make much sense to me but... F-ck it. I wish there would be 1 or 2 more fantasy sequences. Not a fan of the soundtrack either, it stood out but in the wrong way
In conclusion, well made film with great visuals and nice concept that often takes itself too seriously and overly dramatic but never loses the fun
6/10