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The Night Before (2015)
Add to your Xmas watch list
This is one of those fun movies that you forget about for 11 months of the year and then when you are scrolling through looking for a movie over Christmas and sure enough, you watch it and love it all over again.
There are plot holes in this, but don't think too hard, just enjoy it. It is a sweet premise for a movie of friends helping friends and holding up a tradition. Seth Rogan high on every drug under the sun is always fun to watch.
But the highlight of this movie is Michael Shannon. His weird creepy intense vibe works so well in this and I can't stop laughing every time he is on screen.
The Guardians of Justice (2022)
Great concept, the execution... not so much
This show is a great concept and while I know it's cliché to say, it's a awesome deconstruct of the justice league super heroes and takes them in some bold and interesting directions.
The acting, well, I'm sure everyone was putting in their best effort, but a lot of the acting is what let this down in my mind.
Visually, it's very balls to the wall and all over the place which I think was more on purpose then it is to say poor film making. Borrowing from different eras of comic book heroes. Using cartoons/animation for certain scenes and action was actually a smart idea I could see other productions using as a way to fully realise a scene while keeping costs down, but of course, it would need to embrace that full tilt, almost crazy style this series uses.
If you take the good with the bad here, you come up with a solid 5/10 in my books. The idea and themes explored are well worth watching for.
Again, I'm sure alot of this looks and feels low budget on purpose, but it does make me wonder what this could have been with more polish.
If you have time for a binge, it's worth a try.
The Big Wedding (2013)
More like the white wedding
This is seriously a waste of everyone's time. I usually reserve 1 star rating for Woody Allen movies, but here we are. This trash is so bad it's almost offensive.
Shame on you writers, director and everyone who made this thing possible.
And this is coming from a 40 year old white person, the democratic this movie was clearly trying to pander to.
The Mandalorian: Chapter 16: The Rescue (2020)
If you didn't cry at the ending, you are what is wrong with Star Wars
I have a belief that a movie or series needs to earn its happy ending.
Too many take the short cuts and usually the best shows and movies finish with the unhappy ending.
The mandalorian earns its happy ending. This has been 16 episodes building to this beautiful moment of Din completing his quest to return Grogu to his kind.
It's a testament of film making to get be able to feel such love and emotions from essentially a puppet and a helmet.
While I would miss this show, If the series doesn't go to a third season, I would be happy with this as it's ending. Pure perfection that took us all for the ride.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
A selfish movie
I want to note, I wanted to give this 3 stars, but ruin Johnson being unable to handle any criticism (even valid ones) turned me off this movie even more. (Please note, the only movies I give one star to are woody Allen movies. I think we all know why)
Some examples of valid criticism:
1. Gravity doesn't work in space
2. Jokes are fine, but not every 2 minutes
3. The Rey/Kylo/Luke story was clearly what he wanted to make, but had no idea what to do with the other characters and story
4. There is 76 tie fighters per star destroyer, why only send 3 and then worry about not being able to cover them? Especially with with the hanger full of fighters taken out.
5. No romantic chemistry was built up between Finn and Rose for the whole saving and kiss thing.
6. There is no reason to hold out telling the plan from the higher up like Poe. Also being a dick about it like that really doesn't help it
7. The holdo move completely undoes every thing in Star Wars. Yes the shot looked amazing, but is it worth undoing everything else for it? Again, this being such a selfish movie, it thinks it is.
8. The search for the 'slicer' is ridiculous. Surely someone could have written something, anything! better.
9. Leia Poppins
Say what you will about the force awakens being a soft reboot, at least it tried to set up something. This movie decided that 'nah, we don't want to use any of that' for the sake of 'subverting our expectations' and finished by ending this movie in shambles with nowhere to go.
Sure if this was a stand alone movie, it might be ok, but at the end of the day this is meant to be part two of a trilogy, you have to work in with others, it's called team work.
I held off writing this until rise of Skywalker came out. Hoping that I was wrong and this was all planned. Seeing them all now, it's clear there was never a full story developed or at least no focus on sticking to it and the blame for that sits squarely on this movie.
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
I wanted to like it more
I really really did. Spike Lee is a great director and story teller, but he has a habit of not being able to get out of his own way.
While you can say it's his style, it's over use of and timing of his style that ruins moments of his movie and really takes you out of it for no other reason then having to self gratify.
Over all, it's not a bad movie (But a bit disjointed), with some good Performances (also a bit disjointed)
Tenet (2020)
Meh
........time travel moving always get lost in themselves. This one you can see all the twists coming a mile away
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
The prequel and sequel to this sound more interesting
Yep, this was boring, like reaaaaallly boring. The most interesting part for me was the story about how the African triodes hunted them. That sounded like a movie I want to watch.
And the sequel they set up should sound familiar to any anime fans, it's pretty much the set up for Robotech 2!
On the plus side, I gave this movie an extra star for having Jeff Goldblum
Summer of Sam (1999)
Well I guess it was about that
This wasn't what I expected. The son of Sam killer really is just a back drop for this story and it is an interesting look at communities in the late 70s.
My one glaring problem with this movie? The try hard version of the punk rick scene. I was too young to be around it at that time, but I think Spike Lee just took a really stereotypical view of them (an almost insulting to be honest). For a director who seems to love detail it was disappointing
Deadwood (2004)
Perfection
Simple as that. A perfect show. I feel like any must watch show we have now is thanks to deadwood, because it changed how we look at TV. Before it, there was always a big difference between tv and movies (with a few exceptions of course). This series closed that gap.
There is not one bad performance in this, but the highlight of course has to be Ian McShane's Al. One of the greatest and most complex characters ever put to tv. Without him and this show, you probably never get Walter White
1917 (2019)
Give this movie oscars
Some amazing cinematography that almost seemlessly blends into one shot.
George McKay is great as is Dean-Charles Chapman but for me, it was the supporting cast that made the most of their moments. In particular Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Adrian Scarborough and Mark Strong
Samurai Pizza Cats (1990)
What sick days from school was for
In Australia, there is an entire generation who remember this show fondly as the one that helped them get through whatever sickness they had at the time.
On Agro's cartoon connection at about 8:30am, this was one of those shows that everyone could agree was a funny poorly translated comedy that you couldn't help to just go along with and enjoy. This was spongebob before you were a stoner.
Thank you Samurai pizza cats for helping me get through glandular fever
Die Hard (1988)
The perfect Christmas movie
Yeah that's right, you heard me love, actually
You either love Die hard or you are wrong
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
Meh
True ending was cool, but there is seriously an hour that can be cut from this movie and not have any impact on the movie.
I'm sure people will say it's a master piece and a love letter to Hollywood. Let's be clear, LA is a hell hole and not everything is fun and glamorous in Hollywood (actually most of Hollywood isn't).
If you loved LaLa land, well I guess you now have Amore violent version of that to love.
Also, if you ever wondered if Tarentino has a foot fetish, this should put it beyond doubt.
Catch-22 (2019)
Read the book instead
Catch 22 is now in the same category as the great Gatsby and watchmen as great stories that are difficult to put to film.
This was really just skimming over the source material, which is a real shame. The bombing runs are actually done really well and Christopher Abbott is good as Yossarian. Same can be said for Grant Heslov as Doc.
But after that, it's a poor version of one of my favourite novels, missing a lot of key moments from it.
I really feel this should stretched out to eight or nine episodes just to get everything in
Hellboy (2019)
Meh
I mean, I don't want to hate this movie, but if ADHD was a movie, this would be it
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
The ending makes this movie
I was hanging out for this movie for a while and it didn't disappoint.
Rami malek deserves an Oscar for his performance, I can't even think of anyone coming close to what he did.
In saying that, it's not just him. The supporting cast is equally as amazing and deserve full credit for it as well. Gwilym Lee especially is great as Brian May.
The only flaws I can find in this movie was it didn't dig quite deep enough. I would have liked to have seen more of the wild times of Freddie, but in saying that, I didn't feel short changed by what we got.
I also would have loved to see more of the creative process the band had in creating their music as what we did see was very interesting and captivating.
In watching the movie, it may feel like a standard bio pic as it goes on (which I think is fair to say) but what sets this apart from other bio pics is the ending. They did an incredible job of recreating live aid and you not only really felt like you were there, but you could also feel Freddie (as the rest of the band did that matter) putting their entire life force into them at performance.
Again, an amazing movie that should be atleast nominated for oscars
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Perfection
Every so often, I need to watch this movie. At first it was because I would be in need of a laugh. Now it's like chicken soup for the soul.
I will admit, first time I watched it, I thought it was ok, but it needs a second viewing, a deeper viewing. That's when you will realise how much you love it.
It's a film filled with career best (and loveable) performances. Particularly from Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and an insane performance from John Turturro.
Also Sam Elliot's stranger is the standard that all narration should be held to. His final speach in this movie makes me smile and cry at the same time. I can only hope that someone will say something as beautiful at my funeral.
Baby Driver (2017)
oh its an Edgar wright, so straight away we have to call it a great movie
Sorry, some spoilers in this.
Look, I liked this movie, really I did. It probably wins best sound track of the year over Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. I enjoyed watching it, seeing the little Edgar Wright shots we have all come to expect from him (kind of like Sam Raimi) and I had a fun time watching it.... Then I started to think about it about 20 minutes afterwards and found a lot of plot holes, especially in the second half. A lot of flash, not as much substance.
A lot of where the movie goes in the second half is kind of lazy writing to set up for scenes later in the movie and really, just a lot of non common sense going on. Best example is with the diner scene. Bats wants to go there and Baby is afraid of him hurting Deborah. All he needed to say was "I got there a fair bit, they know me there. They could ID us if something goes wrong" and simply drive on down to the next diner down the road. Just little things like that. Not to mention, also the reason they had to do that job that next day and the whole picking up the guns really didn't make a great load of sense to me.
As I said, I did really like this movie, a lot of fun, well acted and well put together. But its not the be all and end all of movies or anything cutting edge or ground braking. Anyone who says it is, well, they need to take their fan boy/girl Edgar Wright glasses off. He is a good director, with a growing decent track record, but to lather his movies with praise as soon as they come out just because he directed them seems a bit much