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Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Ummm....That was....ummmm
Well what a two hours this film was. Two hours spent with characters that, by the end of the film, I knew no more than I learned when they were first introduced, but I'd already forgotten their names.
There was a British guy who, umm, had some experience somewhere? (James), an idiot who's obsessed with war and there purely so there'd be some conflict in the film (Preston), Brie Larson from Room (Mason), weird Santa Claus (Marlow) and an annoying teenager that needs babysitting the entire movie (still don't know his name).
The majority of time I spent watching this movie I was frustrated at the characters. The worst was when we were shown that one of the soldiers (don't know his name) was eaten by one of the monsters. We were then shown the war obsessed character claiming that they had to go on a suicide mission to rescue him, either trying to act noble but failing, or it was the writer's horrible choice of conflict. We, the audience would then be frustrated by them risking everything in order to, 'save' some soldier (who's name I DON'T know) that we already know is dead. Then, when they tell Preston that the soldier is actually dead, he continues to insist that they go anyway, probably purely to annoy me.
Preston then has to kill Kong because, ummm, the soldiers invaded his land, started attacking him, and Kong ended up killing some soldiers in self defense? What a biggot. Long story short, King Kong ends up saving Brie Larson just because she, ummm, did something? I say he should have killed all the humans because they are the ones who disrupted the somewhat peaceful state of the land he was on by blowing stuff up and nearly burning him to death.
Anyway, I hope I didn't ramble too much and that you actually understood what I was saying. I didn't like the film, but hey, if you ever want a brain exercise, try watching the film and see if you can remember all the character's names! I bet you won't!
Doctor Strange (2016)
A film with much potential, but the writers needed to understand what they were writing.
I actually really enjoyed this film. It was very entertaining, and a good way to spend two hours. Benedict Cumberbatch was good, the background of his character was very unique and interesting, and the other characters were complex and somewhat relatable. However, this movie had many flaws.
Firstly, the storyline. Now, the backstory for Dr. Strange was very interesting, however, it was after he stopped being a surgeon when things began to get odd. It is all too common for movies to not explain their stories, because there are, 'things you don't understand.' However, in movies such as The Matrix, that line is used to evoke mystery and keep the audience engaged. I found that in this particular film, this was a tactic used by the writers to not have to explain their own story that they wrote. It gave me the feeling that they conjured up a great storyline for a great film, but they were unable to think of what the characters were actually doing in the film. It was not really explained what the characters were doing, it was just all of a sudden, Dr. Strange could conjure up a gold weapon and they had to fight people who wanted to ruin the world for no particular reason, and ended up concluding the film using time travel, another tactic used for easy endings.
Now I am all for time travel movies. Films like Back to the Future are some of my favourite films of all time, but time in this film does not work for me. Time can be used to solve all of film's plot issues, and does not require any creativity to do so. I just felt that the messing with time in this film was not done cleverly, it was simply done to conclude a complex plot.
Overall, I did enjoy this film. It had some good elements such as the backstory and acting. However, I felt the storyline could use work, which would have made the film an 8 out of 10.
Rogue One (2016)
Tedious and Underwhelming
I had quite high expectations for this film. I enjoyed the original Star Wars films. The title character was portrayed by a well known actress. People I know have said that they really liked it. It had good reviews on this site. However, when I actually saw this film, I was very underwhelmed.
One of the main reasons was that I found the plot really hard to follow. It seemed like one minute the characters were on one planet, then they would fly to another. In a film where the whole galaxy is open, the filmmakers really need to narrow the setting down to avoid confusion. One would think that the names of the places on the screen would help, but since those names were gibberish to me, they did not at all. It just ended up confusing. I never new which planets the good guys were on and the bad guys and I did not know why they were on certain planets at certain times and it was all just a mess.
Another reason was that the character simply were not developed enough. Do not get me wrong, I am not having a go at the actors, they were fine. I just felt that I did not necessarily like any of the characters besides the comic relief robot, K2 which really spoiled the experience for me. Jyn was not developed enough and her partner lacked depth and their development was far too rushed. I did not get time to get to know any of the characters and that makes it difficult to enjoy a movie.
Overall, the film is not dreadful, however flawed and it did not gain my attention. I ended up continually checking the time to see how close it was to finishing. That is a red flag for me when it comes to viewing films. It really had the potential to be a great film, it just needed a simpler plot, better character development and less coincidences when it comes to plot, especially at the end.
Les Misérables (2012)
Faithful Adaptation, great acting.
I went into this movie unsure of what to expect. As someone who had seen the stage production three times, I was worried that the movie would ruin Les Mis for me and it would not seem right as a film. I was proved to be wrong.
From the first song, I was hooked. The dramatic scenes, costumes, makeup and acting really worked well to set the scene and give an emotional appeal. I found that the film did a great job of giving the story something a stage production couldn't have much of, close ups and setting. I found the setting really added a lot to the film and it was something I really enjoyed.
Now, onto the actors. Starting with Hugh Jackman, I thought he was great for the role of Jean Vajean. The way he looked and acted was very good. However, although his acting was very good, I felt that at times he did not have quite the vocal abilities. An example is during the song, Who Am I. He spoke more than sang and did not hold the notes long enough. However, the emotional delivery of that song was spectacular.
As many said, Anne Hathaway was very fitting. She had a great singing voice and put her heart and soul into the character. Although Russel Crowe was widely criticised for not being a good singer, he really portrayed Javert very well and his singing was not terrible. It did lack power in some areas, but he was good overall.
Eddie Redmayne gave by far the best delivery of any solo song in the entire movie. he had great facial expressions during the closeups and his singing and delivery was amazing. Amanda Seyfried's singing voice was also beautiful. It was high but not ear piercing and she really portrayed the beautiful and dainty Cosette very well.
Overall, I really enjoyed Les Miserables and probably cried about ten times throughout. It is definitely a must see for fans.