A nice little afternoon watch, where the magnetic Eve Hewson pulls off (90%) playing a young, divorced, ill-tempered mom.
Music (in true John Carney fashion) is then the way to try and reconnect with an equally ill-tempered teenage son.
It is a quaint, charming sort-of movie that is not quite there at the level of Carney's "Sing Street" or "Once". Closer to "Begin Again" in terms of charm & quality.
Aside from a reasonably touching tribute to the deceased T'Challa, it had all the emotional heft of a music video. 6/10. 7 if you consider that the team had to work without the heart and soul of the Black Panther franchise.
Angela Bassett as Queen Ramonda was the only powerful presence on screen. And if you hadn't known the director's work on the first Black Panther and Fruitvale Station, you'd have thought this was the first feature film by someone whose credits only had music videos.
The dissonance between the cool music playing in the background and the emotional scene playing out on screen was unforgivable at times. Bad editing spolied the much-improved fight choreography.
The forced humour also betrayed the lack of confidence in the audience to mourn the character of T'Challa.
Superficial style and nonsensical plot notwithstanding, an entertaining enough watch if you've got time.
Russo brothers' post-Marvel work has not been stellar as expected, and we get attempts like this movie and Extraction.
You still get slick action and interesting camerawork, but it feels like a so-so Bourne movie put through the mainstream Hollywood blender. Comparable to the John Wick series, which is what they may be going for.
First half was surprisingly brisk, tightly packed and, dare I say, sweet and funny in most spots.
Even the action scenes seemed great and hyped you up for the rest of the movie.
But the second half was all over the place and the action scenes were dispensed off with, in favour of clumsy emotional scenes.
Certainly not a dud, but not a memorable entry either.
Florence Pugh's character oscillated between the star, comic relief and irrelevant.
TLDR: If you kinda sorta wanted to see the movie, do see it. For people who wanted a retcon to the trash original, this will do wonders for your mood. Much better action, shitty cuts avoided, juvenile humor aborted, and some real highs in action and drama.
RANT review: Let me preface this by saying that this movie was for people disappointed in the first, and actively wanted a retcon.
That's exactly what this movie is, a good retcon. The first 1 hour 45 minutes is Snyder's bad side - him disappearing up his own a&& and trying to make art when he should be setting up the fun bits. Over-use of slow-mo, going over the same exposition as the original (like I said, this was for returning fans), CGI making action feel static, and buckets of average drama.
From then on, the pace distinctly picks up and hits a few high points on the way to a satisfying finish.
The biggest and most vital improvement being that the team actually feels like a team. It is established that this will be a very different experience, around the 2 hour 16 mark, when the chemistry well and truly shines.
Gone are all the juvenile attempts at humor, and decided-by-committee plot points, for a more focused story that flows from scene to scene once it gets going.
As easy as it is to burn Whedon at the stake, the general direction DCEU has headed points to a bunch of clueless morons given undue power over the creative people.
The Snyder Cut gives us a look at what happens when this is not the case. It is not a masterpiece by any stretch, but for people who (begrudgingly or not) wanted to see it, they will love most of the ridiculous 4 hour running time.
The emotional and action highs are spectacular, but their action physics game is still weak compared to their Marvel counterparts.
Made by director Bong Joon Ho, the guy responsible for The Host, Memories of Murder and Snowpiercer.
Not his best, but still very good. There's an excellent sequence with the central family going from the highs of the success of their plan to the absolute low of returning to reality.
You get the very weird, but familiar switching of tones in the movie. That signature switch is what makes his movies feel so life-like. No matter the plot.
As someone who doesn't live in the USA, or even the western hemisphere, movies like this give me a great look at some of the places that are seldom shown in movies.
I got the same sort of satisfaction from Hell or high water.
Although nothing like that movie, this is a great watch. But like devilsadvocado mentioned very helpfully, you need to be in the right headspace before sitting down to watch this movie.
The drama is not in what you see, but rather what it evokes in the viewer.
I did not believe a movie, wholly set on computer screens, could keep me engrossed. But this one did. There are the expected leaps of logic in the story, but still a solid watch.
can't shake the feeling there's a better movie in there, told from Killmonger's (antagonist) point of view. But then that wouldn't have fitted into the studio's plan and so we enjoy this version.
All the plot complexity of Transformers: Age of Extinction. Of all the $h!ts that DC have Sh!t this is the most disappointing for how much better it could've been. A truly mediocre movie. What they've done to the Batman character is inexcusable. And somehow added bad CGI to a long list of their movie universe f-ups, with a 300million dollar budget.
At some point, they gotta atleast make it look like the humans have a chance. In the last 2, all they do is treat people like fodder for the alien almost as if they believe this would excite spectators.
Comments 1 - 12 of 12
Movie comment on Flora and Son
adiragnam
A nice little afternoon watch, where the magnetic Eve Hewson pulls off (90%) playing a young, divorced, ill-tempered mom.Music (in true John Carney fashion) is then the way to try and reconnect with an equally ill-tempered teenage son.
It is a quaint, charming sort-of movie that is not quite there at the level of Carney's "Sing Street" or "Once". Closer to "Begin Again" in terms of charm & quality.
Movie comment on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
adiragnam
Aside from a reasonably touching tribute to the deceased T'Challa, it had all the emotional heft of a music video. 6/10. 7 if you consider that the team had to work without the heart and soul of the Black Panther franchise.Angela Bassett as Queen Ramonda was the only powerful presence on screen. And if you hadn't known the director's work on the first Black Panther and Fruitvale Station, you'd have thought this was the first feature film by someone whose credits only had music videos.
The dissonance between the cool music playing in the background and the emotional scene playing out on screen was unforgivable at times. Bad editing spolied the much-improved fight choreography.
The forced humour also betrayed the lack of confidence in the audience to mourn the character of T'Challa.
Movie comment on The Gray Man
adiragnam
Superficial style and nonsensical plot notwithstanding, an entertaining enough watch if you've got time.Russo brothers' post-Marvel work has not been stellar as expected, and we get attempts like this movie and Extraction.
You still get slick action and interesting camerawork, but it feels like a so-so Bourne movie put through the mainstream Hollywood blender. Comparable to the John Wick series, which is what they may be going for.
Movie comment on Black Widow
adiragnam
First half was surprisingly brisk, tightly packed and, dare I say, sweet and funny in most spots.Even the action scenes seemed great and hyped you up for the rest of the movie.
But the second half was all over the place and the action scenes were dispensed off with, in favour of clumsy emotional scenes.
Certainly not a dud, but not a memorable entry either.
Florence Pugh's character oscillated between the star, comic relief and irrelevant.
Movie comment on Zack Snyder's Justice League
adiragnam
TLDR: If you kinda sorta wanted to see the movie, do see it. For people who wanted a retcon to the trash original, this will do wonders for your mood. Much better action, shitty cuts avoided, juvenile humor aborted, and some real highs in action and drama.RANT review: Let me preface this by saying that this movie was for people disappointed in the first, and actively wanted a retcon.
That's exactly what this movie is, a good retcon. The first 1 hour 45 minutes is Snyder's bad side - him disappearing up his own a&& and trying to make art when he should be setting up the fun bits. Over-use of slow-mo, going over the same exposition as the original (like I said, this was for returning fans), CGI making action feel static, and buckets of average drama.
From then on, the pace distinctly picks up and hits a few high points on the way to a satisfying finish.
The biggest and most vital improvement being that the team actually feels like a team. It is established that this will be a very different experience, around the 2 hour 16 mark, when the chemistry well and truly shines.
Gone are all the juvenile attempts at humor, and decided-by-committee plot points, for a more focused story that flows from scene to scene once it gets going.
As easy as it is to burn Whedon at the stake, the general direction DCEU has headed points to a bunch of clueless morons given undue power over the creative people.
The Snyder Cut gives us a look at what happens when this is not the case. It is not a masterpiece by any stretch, but for people who (begrudgingly or not) wanted to see it, they will love most of the ridiculous 4 hour running time.
The emotional and action highs are spectacular, but their action physics game is still weak compared to their Marvel counterparts.
Movie comment on Gisaengchung
adiragnam
Made by director Bong Joon Ho, the guy responsible for The Host, Memories of Murder and Snowpiercer.Not his best, but still very good. There's an excellent sequence with the central family going from the highs of the success of their plan to the absolute low of returning to reality.
You get the very weird, but familiar switching of tones in the movie. That signature switch is what makes his movies feel so life-like. No matter the plot.
Movie comment on Leave No Trace
adiragnam
As someone who doesn't live in the USA, or even the western hemisphere, movies like this give me a great look at some of the places that are seldom shown in movies.I got the same sort of satisfaction from Hell or high water.
Although nothing like that movie, this is a great watch. But like devilsadvocado mentioned very helpfully, you need to be in the right headspace before sitting down to watch this movie.
The drama is not in what you see, but rather what it evokes in the viewer.
Movie comment on Searching
adiragnam
I did not believe a movie, wholly set on computer screens, could keep me engrossed. But this one did. There are the expected leaps of logic in the story, but still a solid watch.Movie comment on Game Night
adiragnam
Enjoyable watch. Not entirely formulaic.Movie comment on Black Panther
adiragnam
can't shake the feeling there's a better movie in there, told from Killmonger's (antagonist) point of view. But then that wouldn't have fitted into the studio's plan and so we enjoy this version.Movie comment on Justice League
adiragnam
All the plot complexity of Transformers: Age of Extinction. Of all the $h!ts that DC have Sh!t this is the most disappointing for how much better it could've been. A truly mediocre movie. What they've done to the Batman character is inexcusable. And somehow added bad CGI to a long list of their movie universe f-ups, with a 300million dollar budget.Movie comment on Alien: Covenant
adiragnam
At some point, they gotta atleast make it look like the humans have a chance. In the last 2, all they do is treat people like fodder for the alien almost as if they believe this would excite spectators.