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danielbelcher97
Reviews
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
Too much fluff not enough plot
A long and uneventful film full of A list actors trying to out perform each other in scenes that are about as interesting as watching paint dry. The little narrative that it had was complicated by every other scene being on a movie set.
Neco z Alenky (1988)
This film will make me fail my exam!
I had to watch this film as part of a surrealism topic we are studying in are A2 film studies exam. We've already watched it once in class and I had to close my eyes and block my ears. The film is the creepiest I have ever seen and I couldn't bare to watch it.
Four months later and I wanted to try and re-watch it so I can recall it in my exam. I couldn't get through the first 5 minutes. I was in the library when I physically jumped out my seat at the sight of the Taxidermied White Rabbit that looks like something nightmares are made of.
I understand that its just not for me and I can see that a lot of effort and good direction has gone into making this film therefore I won't rate it too harshly. However unless your a real vankmajer fan then I doubt this film will appeal to you. It is scarier than any other horror film that I've seen and I'm getting chills down my back just writing this review. 4/10
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
I'm not going to give it a pass for its visual effects.
Having never watched a Mad Max film before maybe It wasn't a great idea to spend my money on a action franchise that I know little about.
Don't get me wrong the film is stunning I love the souped up cars and the setting of the film. Im glad this was filmed using practical effects rather than another CGI monster like The hobbit. The car chase scenes were amazingly shot and overall the editing, effects, direction etc. was great. I thought Charlize Theron had a good part and acted well.\
On the other hand Mad Max (Tom Hardy) had about 5 lines in the whole movie and read them out with the same dull expression on his face. I saw very little signs of madness apart from out of context flashbacks that I may have got if I had watched the other three films. This bothered me. There was virtually no character development and instead we got 2 hours of a car chase. I wasn't expecting much more but atlas let me invest in the characters so I'm not watching mind numbingly dull and repetitive chase sequences where I don't care who lives or dies. The villains were also poorly developed with little incentive to chase Max and co down the road for days. The girls that were being "saved" were the most dull motionless set of models. They just stood there.
This brings me nicely on to my next point the plot or rather lack of it. Basically Max gets captured by some white monster things, he escapes into a truck with Charlize Theron's character. they try to find safety from the war boys and in the end just go back to where they came from. No twists, no character development, no story.
6/10. I don't understand how people can give this movie a perfect 10. Are they blind to the stale acting, 10 lines of dialoge and a glorified car chase for 2 1/2 hours
Fast & Furious 7 (2015)
Best Fast & Furious. The movie doesn't try to be something its not.
Critics want to put this movie in a time capsule to review it as if Walker's tragic death never happened but the reality is that it did and the way the film dealt with it was perfect and thus boosted my score. It must have taken a lot to carry on with stunt doubles and archive footage and although noticeable it didn't take me out of the action.
The film has a classic overused plot but the film doesn't hide that it is not about the plot it is about fast cars, guns and explosions. The lack of story is replaced with amazing stunts and interesting characters. Again people take of stars for the "unrealistic stunts" but the film is silly and cliché and the amazing stunts just add to the action.
As a whole this film really enbraces the genre and the audience it is targeted at. As a teenage boy I can't see whats wrong with fun action, fast cars and girls. 10 out of 10 If you like action you'll like fast and furious
Better Call Saul (2015)
Like watching paint dry
This might have been a 6 but I'm deducting a point because the creators of breaking bad should know better! Yes Breaking Bad had a few dull episodes but in them you learned about interesting characters or an important part of the plot. This is just episode after episode of utter dross! It's so slow moving and apart from Saul and Mike there are no interesting characters. It feels like a rip off of Suits without any action. It may improve but as of now its actually getting worse. At least the first few episodes were on par with a few breaking bad episodes. Saul isn't the same either he may change but right now he's a boring moral attorney that doesn't bring anything to the show that characters like Walter White did
American Sniper (2014)
Popcorn Cinima with an unrealistic take on the Iraq war.
I have to be honest I really enjoyed watching this film. Bradley Cooper was amazing as Chris Kyle, one of the deadliest snipers in American history. The scenes of the war were gripping and emotional and the scenes at home depicted the problems that people go through when involved in a war.
Although a good watch the political stance on this film was ridiculous. Every shot Chris Kyle made was apparently clean and just. In this film if he kills a man, woman or child they're almost always pulling out a bomb or shooting at American soldiers. That is ridiculous! With 160 confirmed and 250 claimed kills by Kyle we are taught to believe that every single kill was because this man was protecting his country and the Iraqis were all terrorists who were about to kill an American soldier Every Iraqi in this movie is depicted as an insane suicide bomber who will stop at nothing to kill American troops its ridiculous. I think that Chris Kyle is nothing more than a glorified serial killer who should have gone to prison for the obvious war crimes he committed. He is not a hero! 250 claimed kills! The man probably went out of his way to kill anyone with a Karan. No way were even half of these kills a life or death situation.
Now was not a good time. With the Charlie Hebdo incident people in western society are going to view every Muslim as a terrorist like Kyle did. A load of right wing Americans are going to use this as an excuse for racism and discrimination. A fun watch but what a load of proper-gander BS!
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
The worst of a long drawn out trilogy!!
This movie is one of the reasons I hate the modern blockbuster. Thin storyline, Little character development, Unrealistic CGI and the ever increasingly common splitting of a minimal story line into more than 1 movie to maximize profits. The Hobbit Battle of the 5 armies ticks all these boxes to become one of the worst blockbusters of all time.
And the audience love it. Storyline isn't important if you've got CGI battles that look like the cut scene from a video game. The whole film was CGI. It seemed like they just used the actors faces on a CGI hobbit body on a CGI horse in a CGI landscape with one shot of a hill in New Zealand.
While I was literally asleep through a fair bit of the movie my friend loved it! And if we asked him about say..
"the 10 different characters we were barely introduced to but were forced to see a 10 minute battle scene of.. Or the ridiculous plot holes and unanswered questions such as why did giant worms appear and then disappear with no explanation at all? Why didn't we see what happened to the gold? And what happened to Bilbo Baggins furniture at the end?"
he would respond with "But those graphics were amazing!". This just shows why all Hollywood blockbusters are investing in CGI rather than a decent plot. This would explain films like The Avengers, Avatar and Guardians of the galaxy. These films are an example of why I've begun to hate blockbusters. If you could only view this film in 360p on your old box TV this would get much much poorer ratings. Blockbusters like the original star-wars trilogy were first watched in those specs and the plot and character development drove those movies. These are just excuses to have long winded battle scenes
The Inbetweeners 2 (2014)
Strangely Hilarious. The Best Sequel!
I have always been an avid watcher of The Inbetweeners TV program and have enjoyed it. The first Inbetweeners movie was fairly funny on a first viewing but didn't trump the quotable down to earth TV show.
The Inbetweeners 2 from the Teaser and the Trailers looked like a predictable sequel that used the same jokes and quotes. I thought the same old jokes would be repeated since the teaser had a very unfunny twist on the famous "BUS ******" line. This set me up for the usual sequel experience (Worse).
I was incredibly surprised by how much I enjoyed the film. There were several scenes where I was crying with laughter! Its cringe toilet humor had worked and I was in tears at several moments.
The whole film was embarrassing to watch just like the original Inbetweeners. That was always what made the shows so good. I was uncontrollably laughing and looking away because it was too much!
There were some unfunny moments where the jokes failed after a minute of building them up. I found that this was more common at the start and the bad jokes at the start made the hilarious jokes stand out even more.
There where some graphic parts in the film. All were dirty rather than violent and anyone who is made sick by the sight of very very dirty slapstick toilet jokes won't enjoy some of the funniest parts of the film which could ruin the experience...
Overall I would have to say one of the best comedies and the BEST sequel I have ever seen. It wasn't just me and my 17 year old friends. The whole cinema was cracking up! If you enjoyed the first Inbetweeners movie you will enjoy this, since in my opinion it trumps it in almost every way.