I'm not a huge fan of exposition in movies. And the movie started with nothing but unnecessary exposition. They could have shown the world as it was instead of the voice-over.
It's one of the reasons I can't STAND the "Hateful 8". It's going along pretty decent and then they have fucking Tarantino do a voiceover about poisoning the coffee. Instantly the movie went from interesting to "aw fuck this".
If you ever get the opportunity to see Dark City, mute it until the guy wakes up in the bathtub (that's the first scene that's not beauty shots of the city). All that you miss is some atmospheric music, and a voiceover that the studio mandated that spoils the entire fucking plot. Don't worry, the movie WILL tell you everything it says later, but you can at least enjoy the mystery first.
I feel like once we entered the 2000's, Spielberg lost something. I don't know if entering the digital age effected his storytelling, but he's just seemed to have lost the spark on his projects that made them must-see events.
A nicely charming movie that'll please both kids and nostalgic adults. Ewan does very well in the title role, and the voice acting for the animals was generally great.
Deadpool 2.
Liked it okay. Cable was pretty sweet. Cool to see so many other mutants too. However, I don't really want to see anymore of this franchise. It's enough.
Deadpool 2.
Liked it okay. Cable was pretty sweet. Cool to see so many other mutants too. However, I don't really want to see anymore of this franchise. It's enough.
After the Essex references... nah, we need a few more, just because it's the one place i can see Mr. Sinister working while still being his ridiculous self.
Deadpool 2.
Liked it okay. Cable was pretty sweet. Cool to see so many other mutants too. However, I don't really want to see anymore of this franchise. It's enough.
Still a fun film to me, but MAN do a lot of the human characters have creepier designs than I remember, and they were STILL creepy in my memories! I find it weird as Megamind, a film released JUST a year later had WAY better character design.
I'd be up for a Logan/Deadpool one shot. Would fans pitch a fit if Logan was played by someone other than Jackman? I somehow doubt that will happen though. I think I'd rather have Deadpool show up unexpectedly in other Marvel movies.
I'd be up for a Logan/Deadpool one shot. Would fans pitch a fit if Logan was played by someone other than Jackman? I somehow doubt that will happen though. I think I'd rather have Deadpool show up unexpectedly in other Marvel movies.
Yeah dude has mad respect for Hugh, that Wolverine origins scene almost didn't happen on the possibility of making him recreate that said scene like TEN years later.
As an Asian person who doesn't live in the US, I suppose I can't really appreciate the significance of having an all-Asian cast in a Hollywood film. Sort of like how I couldn't fully appreciate Black Panther's significance to American culture and minorities in the US. To me, this was an "Asian" film filtered through a western lens, in the sense that not much would've been different if the characters had been other ethnicities. The girl from the common background, the rich handsome boyfriend, the domineering future mother-in-law, the catty ex-girlfriend and her gossiping posse, the best friend from college, the loving mother, the matriarchal grandmother... would the story really have been different if the cast had been white Americans, or Middle Eastern, or British, etc? Sure, some of the details would've been different, for example instead of Singapore the setting would be in the US, or Dubai, or London, but otherwise there's nothing indispensably Asian about the plot.
The details and aesthetics of the film, though, were delightfully Asian, and beautifully presented. The sights and sounds of Singapore, the collection of Chinese pop songs both modern and classic, the fashions and buildings and food, the way certain people interacted (eg. calling your mother's friends "auntie" is such an Asian thing to do), etc. Though some of the songs were recognizably Chinese covers of English songs, which ties into what I said earlier about this being an Asian film seen through a western lens. All in all, while the meat and bones of the movie don't feel all that Asian, the veneer definitely is, and the movie does this part so very well.
Having said all that, on the whole I found the film pleasant enough. The story is satisfyingly heartwarming in that classic romcom way, the cast all do very well in their roles (Michelle Yeoh was the stand-out for me), and the visuals were impeccable.
Also, rowr, so many beautiful people in this movie, la. It could've been renamed Crazy Hot Asians.
EDIT: A few more thoughts, which contain spoilers so click at your own risk.
The final mahjong scene was meant, of course, to allow Rachel to show that she does have the self-sacrificing nature needed to survive in the Young household, because she discarded a tile that would've otherwise given her a winning hand, and instead allowed Eleanor to win. There's another aspect of this scene that's a bit glossed over, though, namely it showcases Rachel's cleverness and attention to detail. This is because she would've had to have been tracking Eleanor's tiles in addition to her own, in order to give up the exact tile that would give Eleanor a winning hand. This, in turn, is an implied threat to Eleanor: you only won because I allowed you to win, and you didn't even realize it until I allowed you to. My headcanon is that it was this demonstration of Rachel's abilities, and not her showing her self-sacrificing nature, that persuaded Eleanor to come around, because it would be better to have Rachel as an ally than an enemy.
My wife said that the "Asians" part of the movie may be a response to the trend of the children of rich Asian families, particularly Chinese families, showing off their wealth in western cities, such as west coast cities like Vancouver, LA, etc. This is why this movie could resonate with audiences, rather than a movie about rich Middle Easterns, Brits, etc.
For a movie set in Singapore, I'm slightly surprised that Singlish was virtually absent from the film. Though given that most of the characters are high-class Singaporeans, I suppose this makes sense. Pity though, Singlish can be hilarious.
I don't know why this got so much hate. It's not without its problems, but overall I felt it was a great change of pace for the franchise. It is, as I was warned, the "least star wars-y" of the franchise, but, as I predicted, that was a strength. I liked Vii just fine but the reality is, the story was stale. It was just episodes IV and V condensed to one with some new fluff added on, and coasted mostly on nostalgia for the original series. Episode VIII really made it clear that this isn't Luke, Leia, and Han's story anymore, and part of that clarity comes from not just character screen time or character deaths, but from a change in the atmosphere and tone of the film. Rian Johnson managed to do that and still produce what is unquestionably a Star Wars movie. I'm very happy with that.
All in all, better than the Force Awakens and miles better than the prequels, maybe a hair behind RotJ. Still not up to par with A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. And I found Rogue One boring and shut it off after 20 minutes in favour of doing dishes.
And I haven't seen the Han Solo movie because making that movie in the first place was a stupid decision.
I don't know why this got so much hate. It's not without its problems, but overall I felt it was a great change of pace for the franchise. It is, as I was warned, the "least star wars-y" of the franchise, but, as I predicted, that was a strength. I liked Vii just fine but the reality is, the story was stale. It was just episodes IV and V condensed to one with some new fluff added on, and coasted mostly on nostalgia for the original series.
But the evil empire attacking the rebel base as revenge for blowing up their death lazzor, and then chasing them around until a hero comes to rescue them at great cost to himself is also been done before...
Frankly, while a bit meandering, the films greatest problem for me was them once again rehashing stuff. At least with TFA i could excuse it as trying to recapture the magic after the prequels.
I don't know why this got so much hate. It's not without its problems, but overall I felt it was a great change of pace for the franchise. It is, as I was warned, the "least star wars-y" of the franchise, but, as I predicted, that was a strength. I liked Vii just fine but the reality is, the story was stale. It was just episodes IV and V condensed to one with some new fluff added on, and coasted mostly on nostalgia for the original series. Episode VIII really made it clear that this isn't Luke, Leia, and Han's story anymore, and part of that clarity comes from not just character screen time or character deaths, but from a change in the atmosphere and tone of the film. Rian Johnson managed to do that and still produce what is unquestionably a Star Wars movie. I'm very happy with that.
All in all, better than the Force Awakens and miles better than the prequels, maybe a hair behind RotJ. Still not up to par with A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. And I found Rogue One boring and shut it off after 20 minutes in favour of doing dishes.
And I haven't seen the Han Solo movie because making that movie in the first place was a stupid decision.
I don't know if it was second best of the series, but it wasn't bad. Better than any of the prequels, faint praise though that may be. Maybe even better than RotJ.
I think the Finn and Rose stuff would have been better if they hadn't started on the ship and were contacted for help from the ship. I also think these movies would benefit if the creators weren't trying SO HARD to reflect the original trilogy.
I think the Finn and Rose stuff would have been better if they hadn't started on the ship and were contacted for help from the ship. I also think these movies would benefit if the creators weren't trying SO HARD to reflect the original trilogy.
Watched that Searching movie starring John Cho. It was probably the best of this kind of mystery movie could possibly hope to be but I'm still not fond of the entire movie being media footage or facetime or just computer monitors. It telegraphs everything SUPER hard so if you have any eye for detail you'll have the whole thing figured out halfway through the movie (or so I thought, friends I saw it with didn't think this as much as I did, but I guess my eye's a bit different). I'm not gonna rail on the accuracy of the things depicted because, I mean, it's still a movie.
Not too bad, actually. Bit slow to get started, but once they get to the island it picks up nicely. Spotting all the references and stuff from the games was fun. And the cast do quite well, with Alicia Vikander playing an excellent Lara Croft.
The more I think about The Predator the more I'm mad and the more I hate it.
It was a fucking garbage heap of bad editing, writing and acting. The action, shockingly, also sucked balls. If you like watching people shoot guns at a bulletproof super Predator, this is the movie for you! Editing wise, it's such a jumbled trainwreck. Characters just disappear forever never to be seen or heard from again. Plot points that are drilled into our heads earlier on are just dropped and forgotten.
If you told me Shane Black had never written or directed a movie before I would believe you.