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guillermomirp
Reviews
Smile (2022)
All fine until some point, then just another fail
I would give 10 stars for the astonishing unsettling atmosphere. For once the picture, the editing, the music and the sounds are well placed.
I would give 1 star for two main issues: having a main character that is a sort of psychiatrist that melts down a bit too quick. And the too many unresolved "in your face" scare parts where the entity is grabbing the character's face then... fade to black and jumping into the next scene ?!?! Although I give that in some other scenes that is properly treated showing the "aftermath" of being something simply imagined.
The MAIN ISSUE anyway is the very poor ending. Comparing this to "the ring", which is inevitable, we notice two things:
1. In "the ring" the evil is never fully disclosed: it does not speak, it does not show its face at full, it does not play hide and seek...
2. It is a one single build up scene with a one final delivery. It is not a compilation of looks-like-the-end, yet again.
Compared to "it follows", which is also inevitable, the benefit of "it follows" is that it does not put a face to the evil. So it is untouchable. Despite "it follows" is ruined by precisely having that moment where the entity shows its fierce evil by... punching people...
So, nice start, poor developing, terrible ending. Nice shots, nice atmosphere, but poor delivery due writing. They copied "the ring" and "it follows" yet they did not profit of the good things from them, and even repeated the wrong paths "it follows" took.
Saint Maud (2019)
Don't waste your time watching this, not worth it
This movies is just like going up and endless stair that just gets to the first floor. Or to the mailboxes. It barely goes nowhere.
The movie is just a concatenation of situations that have a build up to then resolve into nothing. Tension music, some weird camera angles, a very disturbed facial expression... and then fade to black and on into the next scene.
I think they could have make it more provocative, and perhaps less evident, on one hand the relationship with the dying woman could have been more extreme, she could have been more explicit and authoritative... and the religious fantasies of the nurse could have been more subtle and more confusing to the viewer, to really blur the reality and go down the rabbit hole.
Too mild, too shallow. One of the worst movies I have seen in a while. Don't get misled by the positive reviews. There is nothing good here.
Turning Red (2022)
Yep, Pixar lost it
Let me put it this way: a genius way to present a subject is to make it so watchable from so many angles that it will represent something to each viewer. Take Mafalda comics as example: once can read it is a kid, as a teenager or as an adult. It makes different senses, it means different things.
That was Pixar's films from its start to 2010 or so.
Since then, each new film has the same audience target. And it's not me. It's every time ticking the same boxes: friendship, family, self-maturing. With a touch of magic or oneirism.
Visuals are great, music is blah, jokes are nah, it is not super enjoyable and it is very much forgettable.
I hope animation gets out of this dark age.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
Don't stir my nostalgia
The essence at the start is good, it places a valid bridge between the old trilogy and the present movie. That's all the good this reboot has to offer.
Everything else is a silly blend of nostalgia and pretentiousness. It fails to hold the drama, depths and spontaneity of the first movie.
The lack of attention to detail is killing the atmosphere; the shallow soundtrack, the irrelevant editing. Trying to touch all bases, trying to be everything, while not bringing nothing new.
What a disappointment.
Dune (2021)
Filled the gaps of the original one, but too mild
Positive is that it filled the gaps that the original movie had. That makes the movie easy to follow and one can understand the motivations and the actions that take place...
But compared to the original it is too mild. Actors die and sit nude, but the angle is just the right one so that we don't see the blood splatter and the nudity. Which after a couple of times make it look fake. Or nudes or not nudes, but don't do them censoring it.
What's that continued jihad scream that follows each time a freemen is coming in? It's just a repetitive sound that feels copy pasted after the twentieth time...
Ah... why all the repetitive flashbacks and premonitions? One time is enough, no need to repeat them again and again. Specially if it's with that annoying slow motion.
Good, could have been better.
No Time to Die (2021)
Grinding 007 down
007 is a hero that has lost his place when stepping into modern times.
He is slow, classy, misogynistic, a bit dark, and fighting villains that try to destroy the establishment.
Trying to mimic this into modern days was just falling flat in recent 007 movies, just because the formula got old. But, some people yet liked it and enjoyed the way 007 handled enemies and woman alike.
Finally today someone has decided that it's enough. And the classic 007 has dead physically and essentially. It would have been clever to use the fact of having a daughter to make him realize that perhaps he misbehaved. That would actually be something interesting.
Instead they washed him up with a surgical death. Ladies are now in charge.
We do not even get to hear the bond theme.
Waste of time.
Cruella (2021)
A good entertainment though soundtrack was overkilling
I had no particular expectations and the movie became a nice surprise.
Finally a storyline that makes sense, with fantasy and exaggeration as any movie of this kind is meant to be.
I actually find myself curious about the classic animation movie, which I have not seen yet.
If the movie has a but, is the constant radio number ones they play through. At some point is just too much and I got distracted. And I found that it's a new experience that never felt before.
Can an excessive exposure of good songs be wrong?
I also think they just hit the music "play" button and forget about it. There is a particular moment when one of the baroness' minions shouts "silence!" when she is coming into the scene, but the music keeps playing. It should have stopped and we should have hear the silence. But no, it kept with the song. I mean: the music was not particularly fitting exactly with the script.
Yet, great performance from both Emmas. They deliver perfectly, and while it could be a bit over the top sometimes, the script does nice twists that holds the spirit together.
I heard that "the Joker" should have been more like this movie. Couldn't agree more.
Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
A review from an "outsider". The trip from stupid, to void, annoying and finally silly.
Let me give my opinion about this movie as a movie viewer, not as a fan of the superheroes universe (I don't buy comics, etc), and without having a fresh memory of the 2017 movie (bad movies tend to be forgotten, right?).
This movie is awful.
This movie might be better than the 2017 cut, but still that doesn't make it a good movie. And just by comparison I will not rate it good or bad. Since when do we rate movies that way? There are tones of good movies that exist by their own, with their own weight and meaning, and those will remain in our memories and even be part of our culture, and change the way we talk and communicate to others.
So, the issues:
As a whole the movie is extremely long. And I don't mind long movies if the story is worth the time. But here there is no story in a lot of minutes. There is only slow paced (really, slow motion) intros and outros. Yep. Almost every transition from one scenario to another is first an outro of the previous point, and then an intro to the next one. There is not a single clean straight cut and move one between scenarios. And it's long because every single punch is thrown in slow motion.
It's long also because we learn via examples (the movie has a silly good-guy bad-guy logic repeating all through) that no matter how well crafted a villain plan is, the power of the hero will beat it. So why do I have to care about the bad guys? If they are empty, flat and dumb, I don't fear them. No fear, no stress, no emotion,... time stops.
Also, the higher in the chain of command the lower the voice, it seems. So it's kinda funny when the bad monster is shown to be someone else pawn, because that other bad monster must have an even lower tone voice. So it's like a contest of who is deepest. I couldn't focus on what they were saying really, i was surprised how low my ears can pick up things. Next bad chief may speak in such a low pitch that maybe dogs will follow him, but not humans I tell you.
So the entire purpose of the bad monster is to bring three cubes together to make a large one and bang earth, as he has done a hundred thousand times before. While this is huge, as a single line of motivation is quite shallow. I mean, yeah, it sounds big and bad, but for the movie to connect with the random viewer there should be an unfolding, a presentation, a sort of pitch or justification of why, what are the drivers, the motifs? There are non, besides the apparent willingness of destruction or like a very ancient redemption that would make sense for someone deep inside their mind. But not to a random viewer.
Also, the bad monster has a legion of fighters (the human sized cockroaches). There is a problem here: the legion is useless. It's purpose it's only to fill time and screen while someone else does X, or other goes from A to B. These pawns are everywhere but accomplish nothing. I have not fear them yet that they are shown as just blurred cannon-fodder. They have the same face, they do the same growling and noises, they do nothing, though they take a lot of time. I think the great achievement is to flesh wound the flash (without consequences indeed).
Think about the orcs and goblins in the LOTR movies, they talk, they discuss, they show hunger and pain, they have tiny plot goals that can drive changes in the major order of things (what if they eat the prisoners?). But here in this movie? nothing.
So, long scenes here and there, villains that does not represent anything I can attach to...
The the heroes: they are flat again. And we have the same character in three different faces: a grumpy disturbed decadent hero that seems to have deep reasons to be grumpy disturbed and down, yet the storyteller doesn't tell because the growling is enough.
The the sound: repetitive. repetitive. repetitive. Is it only me that I noticed that EVERY TIME wonder woman act, there is a sudden music silence and a female voice singing ahhhaaahhhaaaahhh...? same thing, same tone, same pitch, over the 4 hours? would not someone find this stupid at first, then later void and finally annoying? I was about to turn the sound off for a second every time that started, though it was funny in the end.
But let's touch the rock bottom of this movie. The what-the-f-shallowest point. The worst coming to worst: Superman.
Basically, the entire movie spins around the concept that the only capable saviour is Superman. But he is dead. So they have to revive him. But once he is back from the dead he is confused and aggressive. That should be the highlight of the movie. It should be a slap in the face to all of the present heroes. It should be the desperation after the last hope is not only lost, but playing against you.
Well... in a 4 hours movie they exploit that for a few seconds, without no damage or consequences, because right there is the girl that tames the ferocity of the confused Superman. Do they then at least exploit the eternal love? the re-encounter of two soulmates that have been tragically been apart? Nope. Superman grabs her and takes off, and we don't follow them until we are back to them in the fields, were a butterfly is tickling Superman fingers (is that a reference to a censored sexual heavy metal catch up?).
Two last things:
What are these mixed scenes at the end? what do they represent? who is this people? How am I supposed to digest the 3h55m previous portion of the movie if the last 5 min are random plots and unknown characters bringing it on? What's the point, man? seriously... let me tell you that: If I go and have dinner, i have first, second course, then dessert, then sweet and over. A movie is not different than that. So after the guys revive superman, and fight together, and superman does its thing and helps defeat the bad guys, and the bad bad guys promises to come back, etc. then it's over, the movie it's over. The End. Roll in credits and goofs and funny relief via outtakes and move on.
But no, we get sips of other movies, pieces of future or parallel plots that are sour and stiff. How can I swallow the ending of one movie where they have just saved the world, to suddenly care about an unknown ninja talking about killing the less relevant fighter (Batman)?.
It does not make sense.
I give it a 2, because in comparison the 2017 movie got a 1. And yeah, in comparison, it was worse.
I could continue but I have to get back to my real life. Ciao.
Soul (2020)
Beautiful, great pace and story, but...
While watching the movie I was sensing that finally Pixar did get it right. It's been long 10 years of crossing the desert with horrible movies. Only Coco was at the same level as the classic ones (Toy Story, Up, Wall-e, Ratatouille,...). And this one was pleasant to watch. I've enjoyed it very much.
Pace is good, with great twists that makes it unpredictable, the editing and sound is also superb. One get immerse in the movie and feels the feeling of the characters.
Then it all goes well, the movie ends, and I continue feeling that I've watched a great spectacle. Good story, good emotions, good music. It's an adult film wrapped in animation.
Yet... after thinking about it... it looks like the scope of it is very narrow. The movie is forgettable. I could watch it again, sure. But I don't feel really moved or captivated by it. I won't quote its lines or hum its songs.
I think the reason is that the message itself is too big. Like a small mouth trying to say a big word. It's fundamentally about a transparent question to life itself. Why do we wake up every morning? why we do what we do? what do we want to do with the time we have present?
And the answer to that is weak, and full of stereotypes:
Be good, enjoy little things, live every day at its fullest, finance people are bored and money is bad... well, while the movie gives a quick to the heart of finance (trading) the main character gets a ride in a taxi without the detail to paying for it.
Life is what it is, but unfortunately (as the mother said) dreams will not buy you breakfast.
The problem is that the movie is the positive, beautiful and captivating side of life. A clean street where you can sit while watching autumn leaves fall. But there is a tedious and difficult side, where if you take a step out for a walk, you better know where you are going. Else, life will wipe you out.
Now, you could say the movie is what it is, and it's pointless to judge it from that angle. But... nor Toy Story, Up, Walle, or Ratatouille, felt like I could judge them in that sense. Those movies are perfect, round, and make sense by their own. The message fit the framework. Here it does not.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Boring, confusing, annoying
I only have questions:
- Why all these super fast dialogs? What's the point of such fake discussions between main characters? Why is everybody upset with everybody? If at least it was because there is a cause, fine. But this was like watching childish siblings discussing over toys.
- What is this thing of not allowing the characters to develop the reasons why they say something? Rey says: I will go to Exegol, Leia says "no",... Rey is not interested in why... nor the filmmaker. And by consequence, I do not care too.
- What's the point of bringing in EVERYONE of the old movies? Is it a requirement that every minute there has to be a face/reference to the classics? Is it impossible to create an own spirit? I loved the classic ones per se, I could love new one too.
- Why breaking every dramatic moment with a funny punch? How can I humanly attach myself to a never ending "yeah.. whatever".
- Why this all new superpowers and magical skills? It's like everything can be twisted in favor of a happy end... again destroying any sense of drama/realism.
- So, Palpatine is back. Fine. One of the top villains in the history of films. Great. Should the movie explain who/why/... well, not necessarily. But if you try, why should it be a 2 seconds line by a 4th secondary character, saying something like "dark power, clonation,...". Is it a joke?
- Rey and Kylo are shown as siblings over three movies. Then they kiss. Anyone sees a problem? no? I struggle to understand why he dies afterwards, though if it is to send a subliminal message "siblings should not kiss else death", fine.
- Why is "more" deeper than "intense"? One single star destroyer was enough to spread fear in any of the classic movies. A few was like "omg, we are gonna die". In this movie there are approx hundreds of thousands of trillions of them. I felt nothing.
- Did Luke deny his blood? nope, he proudly defended it. Someone forgot not even the meaning but the existence of a word called "honor".
To the ones that directed this "thing", thank you for the music, it was the only enjoyable item of this experience.
The Mule (2018)
Watchable, not great
It is attractive and enigmatic in the beginning, but some cheesy lines and some weird cuts (following a character walk out of a room?) makes it false and overplayed.
The main weakness is that the main character has nothing to lose. His life is over, and whatever happening is fine to him. In the middle of the emptiness, he finds he can get redemption through earning her family back. That's not enough to hold the movie.
The ending is easy, harmless,... though if you like to drive, you may find the movie a little worthy somehow.
Instant Family (2018)
An empty, misplaced film
This movie makes me feel that our life is empty.
It was presented as a comedy, although it is not. The funny bits are all presented in the trailer, and that's how far it goes in that sense. Even worse: the pace of the film and the circumstances in which the funny bits of the trailer happened, are not fun when they happen in the movie.
The pace, the focus, and the timing of those jokes is all wrong.
But, still, it could be a good movie. It could be a drama, which is to where it points to, but again it fails. Precisely because the framework of the movie is a comedy, its grounds do not hold the weight of true emotions. There is no room for empathy, no attachment to the humans that move and talk in the screen.
The movie tries to reach you, or manipulate you; it tells you when to laugh because a bunch of people laugh at something. It tells you when to cry, because a bunch of people cries at something. So that makes it worse because it pulls the emotions out of you instead of letting you work it out.
All in all, is a forgettable film, plain, shallow, misplaced fun, misplaced drama, that could be meaningful to foster parents or foster kids that fill the gaps of the movie with their own memory and experiences. But for that all the rest of humans do not transmit enough.
Not worth it at all.
Andover (2017)
Not even worth trying to watch it
This is a poor movie. I feel compelled to write this just to say that do not bother in trying to watch it, just to see if those ratings of >5 make sense.
Why?
It is not fun. Not fun at all. They try it -I think-, but they fail miserably. If there was a moment pretending to be fun, then the acting, the music, the editing, the lines, are so dull that the effect is shallow.
What does not work?
I could say everything. But let's try to make a list:
- The cameraman or someone has bought a drone. And they have decided that it is cool to use panoramic shots every now and then. If it is right when the second starring actor shares the most dramatic experience, fading then to black, then the better.
- The sound director or someone has bought an elevator music CD. It's cheap, silly, meaningless, and used at any point in time without any sense of pacing / alignment at all.
- The director or the person in charge of the editing has heard that there is something called metaphor, so they used a couple repeatedly all over the movie. Right to your face. The intention seemed good, but the final taste is just poor. So it is kinda silly.
- Open threads that are kept open. I explain this later.
- The drama part is non-existing, because the poor acting makes it difficult to feel attachment to any emotion presented (because there are barely any human reaction to what unfolds). People die, reappear, develop, love and are murdered with the same gestures and fake behaviours.
I gave it one start, this is one of the few movies that you can feel the intentions of the people behind the camera failing genuinely. I feel sorry for you guys. Just... stop thinking you can make movies. Go and find something different to do and to express your inner art.
Alien: Covenant (2017)
"There is an explanation for this, you know?" - "I don't wanna hear your goddamn explanation!"
In Alien (1979) there is that moment when Ripley is communicating with mother, discovers what's the order 937, and the synthetic appears at her side willing to unfold the reasons behind. But Ripley is just trying to run away, and she doesn't care about reasons.
In that moment there was an open door to fully explain the whole thing, the writer could have gone on and use the android to put a light in the dark. But Ripley moves away, and the movie shuts that moment down. That leads to something: there were the movie does not arrive, my imagination would do. And that's why I believe that Alien is so powerful. It is a door towards a complex future, as deep and obscure as I want to dream. More in detail: - There are reasons backing up the reactions and choices of the characters. - They do mistakes, they scream, cry, sweat, bleed, and they are all scared to the death. - The technology is realistic, not even dated in the Nostromo. And it is secondary to the plot. - The conspiracy of the "Corporation" setting profits ahead of human lives is again realistic. - The figure of the android is deep, and one could spend hours thinking whether it goes through a "malfunction" driven by contradictory orders (as HAL in 2001 space odyssey). - The music makes one uncomfortable. - Every single scene is well thought and in line with the previous and the next one. -...
Then Prometheus happens... bringing light to that universe and showing that the spacey jokey is not an ancient civilization, but engineers that created humans; they walk still around, and they do act as bad guys.
Then Covenant happens... and suddenly the alien is a creature breed by an evil android.
All the beauty of the unknown is perverted. And worst of all, it looks like the people behind the writing were aware of the difficulty to reach the imagination boosted by the initial movie, so they have created twists and turns. They desperately try so hard, that fail miserably.
- Why the people in the ship is so plain and take critical decisions without a good thought? - Why do they explore a new world naked? I ended up thinking that they die because they want to. So I don't care much about the people in the screen, they are idiots and they deserve what happens to them. - Btw, aren't there any actors in the market able to show better the emotions and reactions that one would imagine for this movie? - Why David kills the engineers-like in the world? Why is he having such contradictory decisions? When he is asked why, he decides to explain everything. In a matter of seconds, with images overlapping one another, he says it all. But it's confusing, as if the director would expect that the viewer is able to cope with everything in seconds. And still, why then there were alien-like reliefs in the Prometheus building? - It doesn't matter anyway: it is understood that David is the decision behind it all. A very small vessel for such a potential universe. - The black goo, the jellyfish-like flying spores,... between Prometheus and Covenant there are so many twists about that thing that is easy to not care anymore.
So at the end, I don't care. I don't care more about the aliens, the black goo, the spores, the engineers,... This movie is awful, together with Prometheus, because they two kill the spirit of the original movies. They are too bad to be true.
Piper (2016)
Disney has swollen Pixar
I have to say that I did not like Piper as much as others reviewers here. I liked the story, the detailed work and quality of the images, yes, indeed. But...
Pixar was for me a source of animated movies for adults. Clever, sharp, and deep. Disney was creating movies for kids with some rare hint to the adult audience, and Pixar arrived producing movies clearly for adults. Those included some fun and entertainment to kids as well, but mainly it was a good time for adults.
I can tell that since a few years ago this has changed. Now the last movies from Pixar are clearly childish, very interesting and funny, but childish. Piper is one more: I, as an adult, rather would like to enjoy the kind of feelings that Up, Wall-e, Toy Story, brought in. The fight-for-your-self and keep-it-up stuff is no longer attractive.
I hope the good Pixar will be back some day.
10 star for the image quality, 3 stars for the content: 7.