Could have been so much more in the hands of a better writer. The premise is amazing and it only gets half exploited while the rest of the movie is stuffed with bad comedy and unrealistic characters.
It's a plot that deserved more of a humanist take and less of an absurdist take.
Hathaway does brilliantly but Sudeikis is terribly miscast, which doesn't really help sell the second half of the movie when he's acting like a psycho.
One of the (professional) reviews I read about the movie said "What in lesser hands might have been just another tiresome COVID-19 quickie becomes a tautly suspenseful nail-biter in Kimi, thanks to tirelessly eclectic director Steven Soderbergh and seasoned screenwriter David Koepp."
What he really meant was "if the two guys responsible for this tropefest were total unknowns, I'd be telling you to skip it but hey famous people alert so it's not the Lifetime movie of the week it appears to be"
... except it is
Only redeeming factor is Kravitz who pulled this one out of the dumpster but it barely makes it worth the watch.
Yes it's emotionally manipulative but so was the 2015 Swedish movie. There are not enough differences between both movies to make one a masterpiece and the other one a "piece of Hollywood trash". The only difference is people thinking they are cool for watching Swedish movies, even emotionally manipulative ones.
The novel is also pretty emotionally manipulative but you know what? Who cares? If it makes you feel good, in our crappy world, it was not a waste of time.
Personally I found the movie predictable but a good enough watch in between depressing realistic movies about how life really is these days. Hanks is ok but he is kinda out-acted by Mariana Treviño who is the heart of the movie.
So no, it's not It's a Wonderful Life but it's not bad to spend a couple of hours in a fantasy world where people care about each other for a change.
The third movie I see this week that might as well be a podcast and probably was. I guess it's a new genre.
No amount of filters, drone shots (that really are taking you out of the whole 50ies mood btw) and film student camera tricks can make an average plot feel more worth your time.
Multiple long long scenes with people describing events on the phone or the radio is the kind of things that make me go "show, don't tell!"
And when your entire plot is a mashup of classics of a genre with nothing new brought to it, the fact you are constantly referring to it doesn't absolve you of new content, new ideas or a new perspective.
There's a fine line between homage and plagiarism and winking while you clone something doesn't make it less plagiarism.
Didn't really do much for me. The acting was sub par, the direction was terrible and About Time does Emo Time Travel much better with pretty much the same twist just with better acting, directing and superior writing.
A movie that could very well just be a podcast... and probably was before the director landed some grant money and made it a movie instead.
As far as the story goes it's basically just a long setup for a punch line. Nothing you haven't seen before done better.
You know what this movie feels like? It feels like an aging white guy trying to be relevant again by making a movie about two lesbians or something. With the help of a first time writer. And it's not pretty.
I have nothing against interesting lesbian characters. I have a problem with boring walking clichés though and this movie provides in spades.
When your leads are the least interesting characters, you know there's a problem already but when you manage to extract such campy ridiculous performances from proven good actors like Qualley (seriously, even the kissing was unbelievable) and Pedro Pascal among many wasted actors in this mess, well I guess it has to be the point?
It hasn't really worked since O' Brother, but he'll keep trying.
How did this even get greenlit? It's so poor on every level. Even the animation was lousy. The script was worse than Frozen 2 and that's saying a lot.
Inclusion and diversity are long overdue but they cannot be substituted to good writing, art and craft. This is just a lazy lazy cash grab without a soul.
A rather by the number movie about bad parents and theatrical sports. The direction is as heavy handed as the writing and Efron looks like Lou Ferrigno which would be ok if he didn't also act like him. But hey he's unrecognizable so that must mean he's good?
Nothing in here that Coherence hasn't done better. The Hodges brothers should leave writing to others... and the acting also because they really are unable to carry a movie. If it wasn't Danielle Deadwyler doing the heavylifting, I wouldn't have made it to the end.
Could have used some better writing really.
Turning a trope on its head (kinda), which is nothing really new in the genre, is good and fine but it cannot be the entire script.
Especially not when your script makes use of so many many other tropes along the way.
A writer with a deft touch would have probably managed to get more out of this scenario but thanks to the good performances and the mounting tension, it's a pleasant watch, regardless of the abysmal and largely undeserved negative reviews.
Whodunit without surprise really. The big reveals (two, count them! two!) are so predictable that by the time they finally get there, you're left staring at the screen wondering if the movie shouldn't have made more with the environmental issue that merely serves as a backdrop to a very pedestrian "mystery"
A disappointment in some major parts. Everything that was problematic in the first one is only getting worse in this one: the pacing, the costumes, the adaptation from the book but most crucially the lack of charisma of Chalamet.
Who the hell had the genius idea of casting Kevin Hart as the lead in... you know... anything?
Even the usually good actors like Mbatha-Raw and D'onofrio are phoning it in. That's how seriously they take the movie.
I don't know if this script was written by a chatbot, but maybe it should have because it couldn't have been worse
What a pity. Not only did they not seize the opportunity to do the book justice in everything that was cut from the novel in the previous movie but they didn't even do the stage musical justice.
They cut random songs, a much needed change, but they also cut songs that replaced the letters that gave Celie's perspective, which is sorely missing from the movie.
Barrino does not act, and that also severely undercuts Celie's presence and point of view.
Pretty good if not for the usual Spider-man whining "am I good enough? can I make it? Woe is me" and the horrible voice actor for Peter Parker.
Animation is spectacular. The movie does better with the multiverse in one movie than the MCU has done in what? 4 movies and 3 seasons of tv by now?
Only thing I would really really love to change is the crap music.
As far as heist movies go, this could have been a great one but it's lacking a lot to make it even good.
The screenplay feels like a mix between a dry recital of facts from the real case mixed with half-assed dialog between paper thin characters.
It's hard to believe they could top Chapter 3 in ridiculousness and camp but they did. And not in a good way.
I really envy people who can turn off their brain enough to find this drivel entertaining... or who never had a brain to turn off in the first place maybe, they probably have a lot more entertainment these days than I am when I watch movies.
It's as if someone asked some "AI" chatbot to write a copy of Star Wars but more pretentious and with 1500% more slow motion, in the style of wannabe Kurosawa.
Snyder can already see a "whole franchise" and an expanding IP out of this... can you?
Just another revenge porn movie with techno mumbo jumbo gizmos added for a 21st century feel to an old old genre.
Not even worth the 10 mn it took to write.
Not bad. Not great.
Unlike the first of these, which felt like it was somehow avoiding the pitfalls of formula, there is very little that is not predictable here.
Washington's performance feels a little phoned in, as if he was wondering just how many more he's going to have to do of these before the studio lets him off the hook.
Clichés about Italy and what Americans see as "the typical Italian village life" do not help the movie any.
It all feels a little too John Wick to be good.
Really beautifully made... and that's about it.
Efforts to modernize a story that was already too damn old to be told in 1989 end up just making it feel even more stale and forgettable.
Even the music, which was 90% of the reason the animated movie was successful, feels as flat as a can of soda opened decades ago.
Disney, please please please, just let the other animated movies rest and tell new stories.
It's 10 mn of plot you have already seen 20 times in the franchise alone, extended over 3 movies of over 2 hours by sheer force of... 200 stunt scenes you have already seen before in the franchise alone.
Honestly trying so hard to feel significant that it's exhausting.
The amount of pointless cameos alone is enough to leave you jaded.
Comments 1 - 25 of 368
Movie comment on Colossal
BadFluffy
Could have been so much more in the hands of a better writer. The premise is amazing and it only gets half exploited while the rest of the movie is stuffed with bad comedy and unrealistic characters.It's a plot that deserved more of a humanist take and less of an absurdist take.
Hathaway does brilliantly but Sudeikis is terribly miscast, which doesn't really help sell the second half of the movie when he's acting like a psycho.
Movie comment on Kimi
BadFluffy
One of the (professional) reviews I read about the movie said "What in lesser hands might have been just another tiresome COVID-19 quickie becomes a tautly suspenseful nail-biter in Kimi, thanks to tirelessly eclectic director Steven Soderbergh and seasoned screenwriter David Koepp."What he really meant was "if the two guys responsible for this tropefest were total unknowns, I'd be telling you to skip it but hey famous people alert so it's not the Lifetime movie of the week it appears to be"
... except it is
Only redeeming factor is Kravitz who pulled this one out of the dumpster but it barely makes it worth the watch.
Movie comment on A Man Called Otto
BadFluffy
Yes it's emotionally manipulative but so was the 2015 Swedish movie. There are not enough differences between both movies to make one a masterpiece and the other one a "piece of Hollywood trash". The only difference is people thinking they are cool for watching Swedish movies, even emotionally manipulative ones.The novel is also pretty emotionally manipulative but you know what? Who cares? If it makes you feel good, in our crappy world, it was not a waste of time.
Personally I found the movie predictable but a good enough watch in between depressing realistic movies about how life really is these days. Hanks is ok but he is kinda out-acted by Mariana Treviño who is the heart of the movie.
So no, it's not It's a Wonderful Life but it's not bad to spend a couple of hours in a fantasy world where people care about each other for a change.
Movie comment on The Vast of Night
BadFluffy
The third movie I see this week that might as well be a podcast and probably was. I guess it's a new genre.No amount of filters, drone shots (that really are taking you out of the whole 50ies mood btw) and film student camera tricks can make an average plot feel more worth your time.
Multiple long long scenes with people describing events on the phone or the radio is the kind of things that make me go "show, don't tell!"
And when your entire plot is a mashup of classics of a genre with nothing new brought to it, the fact you are constantly referring to it doesn't absolve you of new content, new ideas or a new perspective.
There's a fine line between homage and plagiarism and winking while you clone something doesn't make it less plagiarism.
Movie comment on Aporia
BadFluffy
Didn't really do much for me. The acting was sub par, the direction was terrible and About Time does Emo Time Travel much better with pretty much the same twist just with better acting, directing and superior writing.Movie comment on Monolith
BadFluffy
A movie that could very well just be a podcast... and probably was before the director landed some grant money and made it a movie instead.As far as the story goes it's basically just a long setup for a punch line. Nothing you haven't seen before done better.
Movie comment on Drive-Away Dolls
BadFluffy
You know what this movie feels like? It feels like an aging white guy trying to be relevant again by making a movie about two lesbians or something. With the help of a first time writer. And it's not pretty.I have nothing against interesting lesbian characters. I have a problem with boring walking clichés though and this movie provides in spades.
When your leads are the least interesting characters, you know there's a problem already but when you manage to extract such campy ridiculous performances from proven good actors like Qualley (seriously, even the kissing was unbelievable) and Pedro Pascal among many wasted actors in this mess, well I guess it has to be the point?
It hasn't really worked since O' Brother, but he'll keep trying.
Movie comment on Wish
BadFluffy
How did this even get greenlit? It's so poor on every level. Even the animation was lousy. The script was worse than Frozen 2 and that's saying a lot.Inclusion and diversity are long overdue but they cannot be substituted to good writing, art and craft. This is just a lazy lazy cash grab without a soul.
Movie comment on The Iron Claw
BadFluffy
A rather by the number movie about bad parents and theatrical sports. The direction is as heavy handed as the writing and Efron looks like Lou Ferrigno which would be ok if he didn't also act like him. But hey he's unrecognizable so that must mean he's good?Movie comment on Parallel
BadFluffy
Nothing in here that Coherence hasn't done better. The Hodges brothers should leave writing to others... and the acting also because they really are unable to carry a movie. If it wasn't Danielle Deadwyler doing the heavylifting, I wouldn't have made it to the end.Movie comment on Damsel
BadFluffy
Could have used some better writing really.Turning a trope on its head (kinda), which is nothing really new in the genre, is good and fine but it cannot be the entire script.
Especially not when your script makes use of so many many other tropes along the way.
Movie comment on I.S.S.
BadFluffy
A writer with a deft touch would have probably managed to get more out of this scenario but thanks to the good performances and the mounting tension, it's a pleasant watch, regardless of the abysmal and largely undeserved negative reviews.Movie comment on The Dry
BadFluffy
Whodunit without surprise really. The big reveals (two, count them! two!) are so predictable that by the time they finally get there, you're left staring at the screen wondering if the movie shouldn't have made more with the environmental issue that merely serves as a backdrop to a very pedestrian "mystery"Movie comment on Dune: Part Two
BadFluffy
A disappointment in some major parts. Everything that was problematic in the first one is only getting worse in this one: the pacing, the costumes, the adaptation from the book but most crucially the lack of charisma of Chalamet.Movie comment on Lift
BadFluffy
Who the hell had the genius idea of casting Kevin Hart as the lead in... you know... anything?Even the usually good actors like Mbatha-Raw and D'onofrio are phoning it in. That's how seriously they take the movie.
I don't know if this script was written by a chatbot, but maybe it should have because it couldn't have been worse
Movie comment on The Color Purple
BadFluffy
What a pity. Not only did they not seize the opportunity to do the book justice in everything that was cut from the novel in the previous movie but they didn't even do the stage musical justice.They cut random songs, a much needed change, but they also cut songs that replaced the letters that gave Celie's perspective, which is sorely missing from the movie.
Barrino does not act, and that also severely undercuts Celie's presence and point of view.
Movie comment on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
BadFluffy
Pretty good if not for the usual Spider-man whining "am I good enough? can I make it? Woe is me" and the horrible voice actor for Peter Parker.Animation is spectacular. The movie does better with the multiverse in one movie than the MCU has done in what? 4 movies and 3 seasons of tv by now?
Only thing I would really really love to change is the crap music.
Movie comment on Heist 88.
BadFluffy
As far as heist movies go, this could have been a great one but it's lacking a lot to make it even good.The screenplay feels like a mix between a dry recital of facts from the real case mixed with half-assed dialog between paper thin characters.
Movie comment on John Wick: Chapter 4
BadFluffy
It's hard to believe they could top Chapter 3 in ridiculousness and camp but they did. And not in a good way.I really envy people who can turn off their brain enough to find this drivel entertaining... or who never had a brain to turn off in the first place maybe, they probably have a lot more entertainment these days than I am when I watch movies.
Movie comment on Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
BadFluffy
At times feels like a half baked Guardians of the Galaxy in a fantasy setting but by far the best fantasy movie we've had in yearsMovie comment on Rebel Moon: A Child of Fire - Part One
BadFluffy
It's as if someone asked some "AI" chatbot to write a copy of Star Wars but more pretentious and with 1500% more slow motion, in the style of wannabe Kurosawa.Snyder can already see a "whole franchise" and an expanding IP out of this... can you?
Movie comment on Upgrade
BadFluffy
Just another revenge porn movie with techno mumbo jumbo gizmos added for a 21st century feel to an old old genre.Not even worth the 10 mn it took to write.
Movie comment on The Equalizer 3
BadFluffy
Not bad. Not great.Unlike the first of these, which felt like it was somehow avoiding the pitfalls of formula, there is very little that is not predictable here.
Washington's performance feels a little phoned in, as if he was wondering just how many more he's going to have to do of these before the studio lets him off the hook.
Clichés about Italy and what Americans see as "the typical Italian village life" do not help the movie any.
It all feels a little too John Wick to be good.
Movie comment on The Little Mermaid
BadFluffy
Really beautifully made... and that's about it.Efforts to modernize a story that was already too damn old to be told in 1989 end up just making it feel even more stale and forgettable.
Even the music, which was 90% of the reason the animated movie was successful, feels as flat as a can of soda opened decades ago.
Disney, please please please, just let the other animated movies rest and tell new stories.
Movie comment on Fast X
BadFluffy
It's 10 mn of plot you have already seen 20 times in the franchise alone, extended over 3 movies of over 2 hours by sheer force of... 200 stunt scenes you have already seen before in the franchise alone.Honestly trying so hard to feel significant that it's exhausting.
The amount of pointless cameos alone is enough to leave you jaded.
Showing items 1 – 25 of 368