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jakelanda1994
Reviews
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024)
A Wonderful Adaptation
To improve on perfection is impossible. But this show does a hell of a good job of trying to keep up.
Firstly we are spoiled by modern VFX. The fight choreography and bending CGI is nothing short of spectacular.
The show did an incredibly good job telling certain stories like Sokka and Zuko.
The writing for Ang was a bit off. They forgot they were writing for a wise child and the actor simply doesn't deliver a lot of the dialogue well.
Katara is a badass but the show glosses over her bending journey turning her into a Mary Sue, which is a shame.
Overall a great adaptation condensing lots of story.
Kenobi: A Star Wars Fan Film (2019)
Captures the essence of Star Wars better than Disney tripe
Conflict between Kenobi and the empire, personal struggles, interesting predicaments and strong character development all in 18 minutes.
Disney had 3 feature length movies to do that and all they managed was a video game like plot with an endless cast of characters that offered nothing. Was seriously impressed by the production value in this film and Kenobi is actually really well cast. It's lacking the flair of modern Star Wars, but that allows it to do more for the story. Still manages to deliver cool fights scenes. Let down by acting in places but this is the only indication that it's a fan film.
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020)
Exactly what you want. Action. Crazy. More Action.
While this is a clearly feminist movie, I - unlike the cellar-dwelling comic book fans all giving this 1/10 - have no problem with that. It was a much less ham-fisted approach to a feminist anti-hero feature than Ocean's 8, and thoroughly entertaining at the same time. It's no masterpiece but it's exactly what you expect turning up to a movie like this.
Margot Robbie is fantastic as Harley Quinn. She's a once in a generation actress who does a great interpretation of the character. That's what movies are. Interpretation.
If anyone is giving this below a 5/10 it's most likely because it didn't live up the the hyper-sexualised wet dream they had reading the comics. Spoiler alert - people don't make those movies because they're gross.
Good Boys (2019)
Funny Script Doesn't Land
This could have been funny. At times it was. But mostly the cinema was reeeaaalllly quiet. It's the kind of comedy where you see the joke, you get it, you go... Huh, you move on. Bad editing let's a lot of the funnier lines slide by without enough time to enjoy them and quite frankly child casting is always a lottery and the kids weren't that good.
Kingdom (2019)
Beautiful cinematography and thrilling
Doesn't overdo the zombie shindig. Delicate and precise in the way it's shot. Would recommend.
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Worst Movie I've Seen In Years.
Utter swill. This is one of the only movies I have ever walked out of. A classic example of Hollywood mistaking a dead-inside emotionless vibe for quality acting and storytelling.
Drive (2011)
Driver a dud
Despite all the great reviews that have been put out about this film, I'm not buying it. In fact, the only reason i kept watching was that Ryan Gosling and Carey mulligan are probably my favourite actor and actress of this generation of film. I think the cast carried the film, which itself was dull and unbelievable.
Credit where credit is due, I think the actors, sound guys and camera crew all did stellar jobs. Where Drive falls down is the script, and the direction. The film is riddled with long awkward shots lacking in dialogue that give it an extremely European feel. The whole silent montage thing is fine. However, when you're trying to make an audience believe that Gosling's character (We never learn his name) and Irene (Carey Mulligan) are developing some sort of meaningful relationship, you need more than a few lines of dialogue. I think the best part of the film is they way they develop the driver's relationship with Irene's son. That at least I can say was fantastic.
I just can't shake the feeling that the cast was wasted on such a lame attempt to make a great film. The plot is really quite interesting, and it presents some profound moral dilemmas, yet something is just missing. Whether that falls to the editors, the director, the screenplay writer, or any combination of the three, I can't say. All i know is that I really wanted to love this film, and I found myself struggling to even finish watching it.
Some people may have been put off by the extremely graphic violence. I think it was masterfully placed in the context of the film. However, if you can't believe that the driver really cares for Irene, then everything that follows Standard's (Irene's husband) release from prison may as well be in another film.
So overall a disappointing experience in my opinion.