educallejero Reviews

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010 Video)

Simple and entertaining enough, but that's about it

[5/10 · 4 June 2023]

The movie has enough good (and at times great) action, character variety and pretty good character desing to entertain without much trouble. When the fights are between more than one character in both sides, is particularly well done.

But the main story is just full of scenes that feel more like filler than interesting in any way, which makes the conection between characters and of us with them and their situtations a little harder than in other better entrances with a better balance between action and "moving the plot forward" scenes.

The story also requires a random character to be important out of nowhere, just another reason the script feels sloppy.

Last point: voice acting felt a bit flat overall.

In the end, these animation movies for the most part put a lot of focus in the action and the dynamic story and in that sense, it gets the job done. It's just not much more than that.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

2 hours of nonsense

[1/10 · 7 February 2023]

The movie starts (20-30 minutes) "fine", quite annoying with MCU type quips and jokes that almost destroy the exposition destined to explain the main character and her circumstances (and a bit the secondary characters), but good enough to get us interested in the premise.

After that though, it quickly becomes non-stop nonsense, movie references, and repetetive action sequences full of "quirky" "jokes"/"gags" that were only embarrasing, if anything.

The plot and characters are so simple, we (me and my cousin) guessed what the movie was going to say and how it was going to end after15 minutes. Also the tonal disnonance between raunchy humor and "old school" sentimentality was jarring.

In the end, even Disney movies were/are more sophisticated in their way to tell this type of "feel good" stories.

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

Superb talent for a story that... works

[6/10 · 14 January 2023]

But for some reason, I just didn't love the movie. The questions that raises are very interesting, and the performances are awesome, and yet when we start to "get" where the whole thing is going after the first 30 minutes (or before that), the scenes start to get a bit repetetive, which is intentional because we are supposed to live them through the protagonist mind. And yet, it doesn't change the fact that we are seeing scene after scene that communicates the same thing we already learned a couple of times already.

But still, everything is done with talent and the movie is never boring per se, just a bit less explosive than the tension it creates probably required to be more satisfying.

The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017)

Unbearable

[2/10 · 13 January 2023]

I barely could get through this atrocity of a movie, with a lazy and all over the place story that starts slow and a bit boring and it only gets worse as, for some reason, tries to get unnecessarily "deep" in the surfice when it is only repeating a tale done a billon times.

In the end, even with a weak story and weak typical characters, the movie could've survived with better jokes, but all of them (and like the other Lego movies, there are a lot of them) fail for two reasons: they are bad, writers fault; or they are poorly executed, actors fault.

To end this, let's go with the acting. It's atrocious from everybody, but when the hack Dave Franco is the lead, what else can you expect? Unbearable, like the movie as a whole.

The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

Like the Lego movie, but better... because of Batman

[8/10 · 4 January 2023]

Of course that's a particular thing that a non Batman fan may not agree with.

But for the rest of us, this movie does basically the same thing that the Lego movie did (maybe a bit less smart, because Lord and Miller are particularly talented) before, but infused with the world of Batman, which makes it more interesting, something that corrects the only "flaw" (if that) of the original, that is, being a little bland with a super predictable story and a boring protagonist.

The music and score is off but that is saved by the amazing visuals and color design that made this Lego Batman even more beautiful than the first Lego. So, yeah, equally good Lego movie, but even better than the original if you are a Batman fan.

The Lego Movie (2014)

It works, but even with a 2nd viewing I can't see greatness

[6/10 · 4 January 2023]

I'm writing this review now because I didn't care to do it then, considering that I just wasn't enjoying it as much as everybody else and I thought it could be me more than anything in the movie.

But... now, years later and wanting to watch it for a second time, with great predisposition, I still can't see greatness. Even when the pace is awesome for the most part, the slow parts where they develop the characters and story still felt a bit too boring. Understandable because the targets are the little kids, but for some reason the last act gets so predictable in every sense and sooooo family friendly or more kid friendly that my real enjoyment ends basically 30' before the credits (with some fun stuff in between of course, including the action), which is too much time to give it a bigger score, considering plenty of other movies for kids have me from the start with no problem.

Barbarian (2022)

It starts with 42' of horror greatness... and ends with 1 hour of trash

[4/10 · 27 December 2022]

Yeah, after that amazing first act, with awesome characters, a great premise, an a subtle GOOD social message that didn't distract from the horror movie... all got in flames inmediatly by the start of the second act, with the introduction of Justin Long, a horrendous actor, and his character, a walking and talking MESSAGE (well, most of it becomes a message) instead of just a character that is bad, but human.

When the movie tries to connect the dots of the story, themes and characters, it fails to fit the supernatural horror elements with the realistic ones and both are interrupted constantly by the need to MAKE THE MESSAGE CLEARER AND CLEARER (a good message, by the way).

Of course critics loved it, because of the message. And of course I failed to recognize it would be like this. At the same time, I loved the first act, so I guess I don't regret seeing it.

Glass Onion (2022)

One of the worst pieces of $H1TT I've ever seen

[1/10 · 25 December 2022]

The script has SOME of the good things of the first "Knives Out" (a couple of very well placed twists, and some real clues of what happened for real, although some are cheap misdirections or impossible for us to catch, even if presented as clear)... and that's about it, because every other aspect of this "direct to streaming flick" is awful.

The acting is atrocious (even if the overacting is on purpose); the story, uninteresting, like the characters, which aren't even a bit realistic or funny; the jokes are Michael Bay level pathetic (although not as low bro); the pacing is mind numbing, with 1 hour destined to repeat over and over how annoying the billonaire is to his close friends, picking up the pace when the first interesting thing happens, only to go back to flashbacks and watching the story again from the perspective of another (ridiculous and baddly written and acted) character; all of that just to end the movie with an unfunny, unrealistic, and supposedly bombastic finale that left me as flat as I was watching the incredibly boring first two hours.

But hey, the media liked the message (the superfitial message) and who the movie makes fun of (instead of really go deep at the root of their idiocy or predatory existence), so I guess it's a great movie.

Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010 Video)

Excellent, just a few details away from a 10

[9/10 · 15 August 2022]

The story is a step up from what it came before, with the perfect amount of intrigue, seriousness and pace to make the entire runtime entertaining without the need to use just fight after fight as the only selling point. Also, the dialogue and core of the story is intellectually and emotionally interesting for the genre (animated movies for teens and kids), giving the older audience (me) more to enjoy.

The animation made a jump compared to what came before it. The designs are not amazing, but the action sequences and lighting and colors are.

The bad details are minor, like the futuristic technology that didn't fit the tone of the movie and some extra fantastical action sequences, and major, like how every voice actor not named Jensen Ackles was weak and didn't convey the emotions the really good dialogue required from the characters and scenes.

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

Score, visuals and desings = 10 pts. The rest? Less than that

[5/10 · 14 August 2022]

The movie feels as epic as it should with a great combination of score and incredible visuals. The introduction or first act is pretty great. The ending is awesome. Ok that's the good. And it is alot.

But the bad is also alot. The songs, besides the very first one (more orchestal than a typical "song"), are awful. Like, really awful and maybe even poorly performed. I don't know, maybe is just how terrible the songs are and nobody could've made them work. Besides that, the story is so epic that there is little space for characterization, making the second act and Moses "development" insufferable as it is slow paced and too often interrupted by the bad and boring songs.

In the end, you could say this movie works, really, but it is a musical after all, a really bad one, and with it, takes the whole movie down, making it longer and more boring that it need it to be.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010 Video)

One of the weakest

[3/10 · 13 August 2022]

Great introduction, with another universe where Luthor and Joker are actually good guys and have to find help from the Justice League to save their Earth. From that setup, is all downhill (well, until the very end that saves it a bit).

The animation sucks. The designs suck worse. The voice acting is terrible. The story is very thin and dry and the villains are non sensical and boring. The action is ok in the best moments and beyond generic otherwise.

In the end, considering the movie is mostly action, you would find good parts or stretches, but besides the setup and the end, there is little tod hold this one as anything more than a huge dissapointment.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009 Video)

Spectacle first... and second

[7/10 · 15 May 2022]

The movie tells a story without much nuance, more as a vehicle to showcase the superb action sequences almost non-stop that compose the last two thirds of the runtime.

The character designs are amazing, and the animation is pretty great, and both perfectly combines with the plethora of villains and heroes that makes an appearance. The voice actors are also pretty good.

So yeah, the story is as simple as it gets. Probably a bit worse than that. But as pure action packed entertainment, this one gets the job done.

Wonder Woman (2009 Video)

Terrible start but it gets better

[5/10 · 4 March 2022]

It takes a while until everybody is introduced and the "action" of the movie itself gets going with Diana going in a mission to save the world. The first act of the movie is just a chore.

But after that rocky start, the second act is the best, with on the nose and basic but good social commentary, and mostly great dialogue.

The conclusion was good, I guess, but the action though, key on this genre, is quite mediocre, only saved by how much violence was allowed to be shown. Besides, the characters aren't particularly interesting, so when all is considered, I can recommend this one as good.

Don't Look Up (2021)

It tried and failed to be funny. I like the message?

[3/10 · 29 December 2021]

Global warming or Covid-19 or whatever. I agree "our leaders" will rather watch everybody dead than sacrifice their power. Social media gives power to ignorant people? True. Everything in reality is now turned into a political "debate" or anti debate "pro or against"? True. Corporate media sucks on both sides, one lying to their ignorant base and the other... lying to the their I guess just a bit less ignorant base? True. Etc. So yeah, great message.

But the movie tried to be funny from start to finish and other than two or three Jonah Hill lines, it just was terrible at it. The characters were awful and annoying (plus Jennifer Lawrence, so even more annoying by her awful "acting") and had not a coherent progression or arcs or anything. The movie is too long and the themes too dramatic for the constant awful and ridiculous humor and then the sentimental third act just doesn't work at all in any way.

But hey, I like the message, I guess.

The Guilty (2021)

Good thriller

[6/10 · 26 December 2021]

One of those movies (like Tom Hardy's "Locke" or Ryan Reynold's "Buried") that requires the lead actor to act the entire movie out in a confined space, letting the script to tell the entire story and its details naturally.

It's not Jake Gyllenhaal's best job, but his lesser works are still pretty great, and he allows the tight script to tell this story that has enough details and twists to make it interesting from start to finish.

A good thriller but without anything particularly great, it ends up being an entertaining and well made movie.

The Unforgivable (2021)

Another generic and "fine" Bullock Netflix movie

[5/10 · 12 December 2021]

It's true that we have good things in "The Unforgivable", including some surprises, but overall, the movie seemed to force itself into the generic pat, with the help of a couple of horrendous secondary characters that either have too much screentime for what they end up doing, or way too little space for us to "get them" and at least understand them.

But the movie is fine, the acting is fine and great when is D'Onofrio, Viola Davis and Bernthal, and some sweet or powerful moments complement an entertaining story.

It's just that... every opportunity to do something different and unique is wasted to end up with just another generic thriller with just sparkles of better drama here and there, which in the end, feel more like the cheaper cousin melodrama, in my opinion.

The Power of the Dog (2021)

Brutal story, beautifully (and slowly) told

[9/10 · 12 December 2021]

It's true, the movie is slow and every scene could theoretically be 20% shorter. But that's just a style that some mind find more or less effective, and nothing more than that. If you can find the patience to "endure" the slow moments, you would get the reward when all the pieces of the simple, but detailed puzzle finally come together by the end.

And even if I did feel that some moment here and there was getting a bit boring, the movie maintained a high level of tension by presenting characters we had to get to know with every minute on screen, instead of dropping simple exposition or over explaining them, with the great duo of Plemons and Dunst, and the Oscar type performance by Cumberbatch...

Eternals (2021)

Horrible

[1/10 · 26 November 2021]

Trying to be "deep", the director uses some long shots (or longer than usual in the MCU) here and there, less frenetic editing here and there, and less Marvel humor (there is enough though), in a thing that turned to be a really, really bad experiment. Valient effort though?

In the end, none of that matters that much because the biggest problems with the movie are the simple things: way too many characters, all flat and not particularly interesting (maybe because there is not time to develop them); the interpretations from the important ones, the leads, robotic and soulless; the story told in unnecessary back and forth, maybe as an attempt to make it seem more complex than it was, and not letting the movie to get into any rhythm; and finally, contrary to what I read a lot, the special effects and the desings of the powers and suits and the actions scenes, all just bad, simple or with awful CGI (or a combination of those).

Other than that, it was great(?)

Dune (2021)

An example of why Movie Theaters should never die

[9/10 · 26 October 2021]

One of the best visuals spectacles I've ever seen (and people that saw much more cinema, I'm pretty sure would say the same). Amazing interior and exterior designs; perfect cinematography and use of every type of shot to showcase the incredible sets (virtual or not); and riveting action sequences with a level of tension hard to find in the typical blockbusters.

The acting from the protagonists Chalamet and Ferguson is as pristine as every shot (the rest of the cast either has simple characters with not that much depth, or not enough to do in this first part).

To say something not quite as perfect: the dreamlike tone of the film doesn't mesh as well with the more exposition heavy parts of the second act. But even after some moments that might feel a bit too slow, there is often some high tension moment, a good action sequence, or something particularly interesting that balance that out until the third act, which gets back on track to the very high level of the start.

Army of the Dead (2021)

Epitome of mediocrity

[4/10 · 25 September 2021]

In dumb movies, we can accept mediocre and shallow characters, plus a boring cliché ridden story. We can have that and still enjoy the spectacle (Aquaman) or not at all (Transformers sequels). Or even with more stunts as the only thing that matters movies like John Wick, you can enjoy (or not) the violence and superb action, without taking in consideration how hollow the rest of the elements are.

But here, everything is mediocre. The action is ok but offers little to nothing new. The gore is ok, but of course that doesn't really matters that much. The visual spectacle just isn't there, which is weird with Snyder, and that includes a horrendous cinematography with no depth that made the whole movie claustrophobic.

In the end, we have one great scene with tension and the zombies, some (sparse) fun here and there, and an entertaining but overlong forgettable movie.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

Questionable script (and Awkwafina is just the worst)

[5/10 · 14 September 2021]

The characters are a bit incoherent and straight up contradict their own characterizations at times, because the plot needs them to do it. There are a bunch of unneeded "deux-ex machina" or conveniences because the writers trapped themselves into corners for no reason (that's what happens when you get the 2021 "Mortal Kombat", "WW84" and "The Expendables" writers).

Also, we have Awkwafina destroying every type of scene (dramatic; epic; and also the comedic ones) with one of the worst "acting" I've ever seen and a same type of joke ("awkward nonsense") over and over, from start to finish, with a role ridiculously large for a dumb comic relief.

But... Liu is actually pretty good as a lead (and his character is potentially great), and the "Shang-Chi world" is beautiful and it has everything to be super fun to watch in the future...without Awkwafine and better writers.

Spiral (2021)

Chris Rock is just awful (the writers too)

[3/10 · 12 September 2021]

And they wrote a Jigsaw movie that actually kind of needed a whole lot more acting than the originals before (2017 "Jigsaw"), which forced Rock into acting mad; tired; emotional; exhausted; sad and desperate. And yet his face was the same for every single scene of the movie, regardless of the emotion his character was supposed to be feeling.

The more superfitial things about the saga were there thanks to Bousman, the director (also director of Saw II, III and IV).

But the fundamental stuff that made Jigsaw legendary was his "code", his "purpose", his "logical madness" (and also the ingenious traps). There is none of that here, with brutal but not that clever traps, and a villain that lacks any kind of coherent philosophy, which makes him basically a simple (and boring) serial killer.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Excessive drama almost sinks it, but it started too well to fail

[8/10 · 29 August 2021]

The first half is just absolutely amazing. The rythm is great, the stakes impossibly high, there is a good amount of nice humor, and great action.

After that, the movie starts to get a bit too dramatic, with repetitive dense scenes, always well done by McAvoy or Fasbender, and also always poorly done by Lawrence.

Also, the story gets a bit stale too, with too many scenes with a weak villain and unnecesary attention given to Nixon and the news reports in an attempt to appear as realistic as possible, something done much better in "First Class".

But still, thanks to the amazing McAvoy, and a good ending with both the "present/past" and "present/future" going crazy, the boring stretch isn't more than that, a bump in a really good ride.

Green Lantern: First Flight (2009 Video)

Weak origin for a fine origin story movie

[7/10 · 23 August 2021]

It just fails to really introduce us to Hal Jordan before he gets the powers, and after that, he's kind of a "Gary Stu" (male's version of Mary Sue) that in my opinion is a pretty weak character beyond some fine jokes here and there.

Yet, when the plot of the actual story takes off, it has great pace, good twists and particularly violent action (compared to other movies of the genre), that serves the (considerably serious) tone well.

The third act is more "typical", but the animation finds another gear (and the great use of color and good desings help) and the action is good enough to end the movie on a high point.

Batman: Gotham Knight (2008 Video)

Just one chapter makes it worth the watch

[3/10 · 23 August 2021]

Sadly, you have to go through a whole lot of nonsense, including an embarrassingly bad 12' intro. If you can do it like me, thanks almost exclusively because the amazing animé style animation, then great. But if you can't stand the first 5 minutes, you can relax and just skip this one.

The writing goes from awful to awful, to good (Goyer) to awful. I don't understand why they give these awful stories to the japanese (and much, much better) animators. It kind of looks on purpose, just to make sure nobody asks for this production style ever again after this crap.