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Reviews
Venice at Dawn (2022)
Potential in the idea
There's a few somewhat funny moments in this, it has potential in the idea but I think the execution is really lacking. The way it is filmed is quite jarring, more like a student project than a polished movie - actors are a bit underutilised and there are side characters who add nothing to the plot at all. Feels like it was derived from a first draft, with some work and polish it could have a lot more potential, as well as having a bit more production quality to it.
Okay for an evening but I wouldn't recommend anyone go out of their way to see this. A few comedic moments, but much like the movie, IMDB also requires filler to meet review minimum requirements.
All My Friends Hate Me (2021)
Clever, enjoyable, hits the spot
I found this really enjoyable. It builds tension well, and the line of "this is about social anxiety" really does work for it.
Great film. I dont often review movies on IMDB, but this one waas good enough to go out of my way for.
Highly recommended.
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021)
Mediocre and boring.
I'm a reasonable Wes Anderson fan, but to me, this felt like the late seasons of Sherlock. Director/writer drunk on their kool aid and taking it too far.
The whole middle section is boring, the lack of cohesion makes it quite boring. I couldn't wait for this to finish.
Tedious.
The Many Saints of Newark (2021)
Fine but nothing special
This doesnt really hold its own as a movie IMHO. It's certainly not a 'classic' mafia movie, and it lacks a driven plot. Had they shifted the focus slightly towards HOW Tony gets involved with the mafia (and appropriately marketed it), it could have been much more impactful. As it stands, its effectively like someone watched the Sopranos, took note of all the backstory, and spun it together with a small number of twists to make a movie out of it.
Fine, but nothing more.
Stowaway (2021)
Kinda pointless
I was hoping for something like the Martian, or Gravity. It lacks the visual spectacle of Gravity, and the story power of Martian.
A little bit pointless really. Acting is fine but nothing special or noteworthy really, the story could have been developed further and just feels ludicrously unlikely in the first place.
Specific incidents later on on the show seems unlikely as well, e.g. Specific timing as to why things had to be done right then and couldnt wait a bit longer.
Fairly mediocre. Good tension in some places.
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Great topic, great acting, poor film
Maximum spoilers alert.
I thought this film was pretty bad. The acting was fantastic - full credit to the cast - but the way the story was conveyed was amateurish at best. The whole family/freedom thing played about a 3-5 minute role in a film of 2 hours and 15 minutes - and there was no 'pre-kidnap' development of the character to humanise him and let you empathise with him. When it should have been fast, it was slow, and when it should have been slow, it was fast.
A remake of this should have ~30 minutes at the start just to ease into the film and develop the character, and let the audience really empathise with what he was losing in life. Key scenes later on were good but were cut with too many filler scenes to be fully utilised. The ending was also quite anti-climatic, leaving the reunion too brief to even qualify for 'brief but sweet'.
It's saddening as this post will probably be taken as some racist hatred thing, when in fact it's just a review of the director. This film could have been so much better, but sadly this is an opportunity missed.
The Blacklist (2013)
See through.
This is a see through blend of something like Hannibal with CSI or Criminal Minds. Some of the dialogue is pretty much taken straight out of Silence of the Lambs, and the character attributes of Reddington are pretty much 'Lets make Hannibal into a TV show' - ignoring the fact that there already is a (mediocre) Hannibal TV show.
The plot twists were all very see through and obvious, and the whole thing was pretty obvious. Production value was good, but it could do with some investment in the plot rather than just production quality.
Sadly, I think this show isn't to be salvaged - it's been set up to be a 'Silence of the Lambs Procedural' and I think it is fated to be cemented in that way.
Would not recommend.
The East (2013)
Could have been brilliant
I really like the actress Brit Marling, and I've seen Another Earth & Sound of My Voice.
I think she's got a very good rhythm to her, and she's certainly on the up.
This film was flawed by having filler at various moments, or unusual and generally not relevant or useful side tracks.
It's quite a nice film though, could have been improved in execution, but it's a good sign of talent from an up and coming writer.
I think given the time needed, she could write some real classics in due course.
Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
Dreadful Film
This film is dreadful. They've finally taken the step to getting rid of a plot entirely. Actions are irrational in this film (e.g. nuclear weapons don't work that way, the troops would have stormed the White House given the okay, etc). Dialogue is extremely cheesy - there are approximately 4 funny lines in it.
Overall, this film is a dreadful action flick. It is a bad bad film, not a good bad film. It attempts to be Die Hard with Koreans, but offers no ingenuity or novel features.
Very poor. Got my ticket for free and we felt that it was wasted money.
Would not recommend to anyone - it doesn't deserve a watch. The "plot" is entirely artificial, actions incomprehensible, and overall story telling poor.
Motive (2013)
Poor.
Gotta be said, this is an interesting twist on the procedural cop show.
That having been said... Its not very good. Too many coincidences - e.g. in episode 2, conveniently the first car they look for is the suspect one. Conveniently the girl the guy is trying to kill is at the right spot at the right time.
Overall, the concept is nice, the dramatization is quite good, but the writing is really very poor. The most important part of a procedural cop show is the writing - to distinguish it from the rest out there - and this one has been extremely poor so far. Getting dropped from my TV shows list.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Pretty good, but the weakest of the three
I felt this was the weakest of the three films. It lacks the brilliant writing that I've become accustomed with Christopher Nolan films. Things are spelled out, and made highly obvious. There were no real great twists or turns in the plot anywhere, and the ending just made me facepalm.
I don't know why he deviated so much from his normal style of writing - especially towards the latter part of the film.
Positives, though: Despite the somewhat lack of realism with Bane, I liked him an awful lot more than I expected. That was pretty well done. The introduction of catwoman felt unnecessary. Another introduced character (no spoilers) was great until the very end, and then ruins it entirely.
Overall, I liked the film. It just doesn't rival The Dark Knight - or even Batman Begins.
Still worth watching. Just the weakest of the three
Bron/Broen (2011)
Great! :)
This show is great! It's my first real delve into these Scandanavian dramas, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The character writing was pretty good, the plot development and so on pretty good as well. Saga Noren is just a brilliant character, as you get into the show some of the things she does are just fantastically portrayed. I don't want to mention anything as they would be spoilers, but you'll know it when you see it.
The show is really very well done, and having already been on the BBC, I'm sure an American remake wont be long in the pipeline - (Though the location and setting are fairly important to the story line).
Strongly recommend to anyone - especially those who are starting to get into Scan dramas like I am
Prometheus (2012)
Mediocre
this film is beautifully shot, nice 3D. The plot line is okay, but the character writing is absolutely pathetic.
At no point during any of the film did I feel any empathy for anyone in it. The decisions made by characters (will not spoil) are completely incomprehensible, and the last scene actually caused laughter in the cinema.
Its alright, at best. But, considering the hype and expectations around the film, it is a disappointment.
The atrocious use of the characters is terrible. Previous Ridley Scott films I've seen utilize characters far better than this film does.
Sad, as I was looking forward to this, but nothing but disappointment and mediocrity.
The Hunger Games (2012)
Very poor
In a similar way to the film Hanna I reviewed a while ago, this is a film that starts off with a lot of promise, and looks like it could be a classic.
Sadly, as the film progresses, you find that it is nothing but an anti-climatic, boring film, where every move is predictable before hand, and offers no new unique perspective. The easiest way to describe it is 45 minutes of boring mythology build up, then 'Predators'.
I was so disappointed in seeing this film - the only thing that enlightened it for me was the rate at which the audience laughed during the course of it.
Very poor dialogue, poor acting, and unbelievably predictable. For something that purports to be one of the highest ever opening weekend takes, I expected an awful lot more.
Hanna (2011)
Disappointing
This film starts off in really good form - the trailers make it look fantastic, the premise of it is very interesting, the first half hour or so are really good and set it up really well. But it goes downhill from there. It starts very strong but by the end, you will not be able to tolerate watching it. Its a shame - given the premise of it they could have done many great things.
Re-watching it now (not for the first time, either) it looks more like an excuse to get young Ms Ronan out on a free tour of the world rather than any legitimate attempt to make a coherent and decent film that lives up to its billing.
Could have been a 9.5, and one of the top 25 on IMDb, instead, for me its a paltry 6, 6.5
Avatar (2009)
Disappointed.
I've just come back from watching this in 3-D at the cinema.
My opinion: 1) The visuals are fantastic. I presume most of this film is done in CGI, and it is absolutely fantastic. Visually beautiful.
2) The storyline is horrendous. It is very clichéd and could have been stolen from any of a dozen prior films. I can sum it up essentially as 'The Last Samurai meets Star Wars'. Disappointing.
3) Dialogue is atrocious. A lot of it is incredibly forced, and felt like it was out of a game (a la Halo). Really disappointing script writing.
4) Music. Unbelievably bad as well. It starts off quite well, but is essentially very repetitive. It sounded a lot like Civ 4 to me, for the duration of the film.
Given what I paid for it, I'm disappointed. I will probably buy it on blu-ray if it is released in 3-D as the visuals are Planet Earth-esquire at times, but that's all this film is. It'd have been a great nature documentary, but nothing else.
Epically disappointed.