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Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Cameron did it again, this time proving that HFR movies can be good
Title says it all. I mean I still cannot believe it even after coming out from the cinema tonight I cannot believe it. I never liked HFR movies, I always had a soft spot for 3D but whenever I saw a HFR movie it sincerely disappointed me. Here the trick is that the entire movie is in 48 FPS and the calmer scenes have double frames achieving "24" FPS rather. Coming back to Pandora in the beginning an as a premise is narratively dull, and borderline cringeworthy sometimes but this is a similar blockbuster to the original Avatar so all the environmentalist and anti colonial themes/narratives will be similarly easy to ingest if rather not pushed full frontally exposed to your face. However building the world and characters around it kicks in with a better swing and swoosh (sploosh rather!?) after the first 1/3-rd of the movie and indeed it really shows the way of water. (seriously chef kiss!) Visuals are stunning again, WETA did an amazing CGI work here. The frames are so detailed and vibrantly vivid I had my jaw dropped.. only the explosions were still a bit cartoony unfortunately but did not distract too much to be honest. I really liked that this movie wasn't only about Jake & Neytiri anymore and had a good setup for plenty of supporting characters, Kiri especially I really liked how they treated her in the script.
Could tell all once again what has been told before me and probably will be after, but seriously if you thought Top Gun: Maverick was a magnificent movie sequel (basically retelling the same story in a new cape) you will not be surprised that Avatar: The Way of Water double downs successfully on everything. Seriously, Cameron did it... he really did it... even if it took 13 years for him to do so... Mind-Blown....
Im Westen nichts Neues (2022)
This is the best WWI movie ever
I've just came out from the European gala premier of the movie on ZFF 18. Was quite a bit a thing which gave me goosbumps that Daniel Brühl literally watched the movie first time ever with us (2 rows in front of me..); he spoke super passionately about the project and how they've made it. Edward Berger and James Friend don't really wait a single screenshot to catapult and slingshot the audience into the futile and meaningless horrors of war itself. From the very beginning until the very end the visual allegories (fox holes, mist, snowing, gloomy clouds and occasional raining etc.) are just persistent throughout to reinforce the message that its "All quiet on the western front", the over looming threat of artillery barrage and chemical attacks. First lead actor Felix Kammerer does a superb job to play Paul Bäumer the primary protagonist with enough and convincing naïveté that you believe that among with his fellow brothers and friends (Albert, Haie, Friedrich, Kat, Tjaden) are indeed real life human beings who totally at the mercy of chance and randomness to live or die, even when they have to constantly fight for their survival. The action scenes on the other hand blew me away, I rarely watch things with an open mouth but this movie achieved it around mid-way when the Germans did an offensive and the French countered that with tanks among other things... The madness, the futility and the overall barbaric nature of survival is portrayed so well that its really true to the forewords Erich Maria Remarque gave to his novel: "This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand fact to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war."
This, this is literally the German WWI war movie and story. Very well portrayed and well made film which I'm anticipating to win the Best Picture Oscar 2023.
The Swimmers (2022)
Larger than life true stories always win!
Had the privilege to attend the European premier of the movie which will come to Netflix on 23rd of November. The movie is a very nicely paced dramatization of an amazing human achievement and story, it's amazing because of the nature how far they came along and its amazingly human because they've did it sheerly as human beings nothing more. You could even profanely say as "superheroes" to quote the movie directly. Nothing super fancy directing and editing here, just purely nice narration and sequencing of events dramatization and this is being done nicely by the director Sally El Hosaini. But the real magic and chemistry lies between the two lead actresses Manal and Nathalie Issa who are siblings in real life as well not just on the screen; this chemistry between them gives you the passionate punch which delivers effectively indeed. This movie is definitely an underdog testament, a very good one.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Nostalgic lemonade from the 80s
This movie is awesome! Loved the realistic dogfights (it was quite obvious when it wasn't real at all or was faked)
Score is freaking amazing. I mean they really tickle the nostalgia sensors here with the whole movie and everything, but the score puts this baby into the bedsheets. I just love how they (Faltemeyer, Zimmer, Gaga) reprized the core Top Gun themes. Its really ironic how refreshing this blunt dumb suspension of disbelief is conquering the superhero fatigue wave. Oh boy, I was laughing very hard on many cringe worthy scenes: with disobedience from Mav, "Talk to me Goose", the whole Akira Kurosawa "Hidden Fortress" Star Wars: The New Hope vibes... I mean, sometimes I really thought this movie indeed takes itself seriously. Oh boy and that very cringy Conelly and Cruise scene with "that look" OMG :D
Even though above all these, this is a must see for anyone who is up for a thrill and chill, especially with over dramatic lemonade.... Cruise indeed the "XXXXXX men alive..." nobody else could carry on or get away with this much cheese to be honest.
Boiling Point (2021)
Superb One Shot Take up to the Boiling Point
Had been fortunate enough to watch this during the #17 ZFF and meet the cast afterwards. Have to say I've been a bit skeptical about the title, even though the premise sounded solid but as fine dining like sex it's "what you get what matters not what you are missing". I haven't missed a thing with Philipp Barantini's excellent one shot drama / thriller which is tense and builds up from the very 1st second the camera started rolling. A busy night in fine dining starts when tables are overbooked on a Friday night before Christmas, no biggies here could be an average intro to an average cooking / restaurant drama which we've seen many times before. But here the twist is that the whole movie apart from the scripted story arc is entirely improvised and taken in one shot, which gets immediately obvious once Emily (Hannah Walters) and Tim (Kieran Urquhart) have a genuine pivotal interaction which sets up the movie towards the rollercoaster what to expect and to be suspicious to pay for attention very closely. Don't get me wrong Andy (Stephen Graham) our Chef heads to the restaurant steals the screen immediately to slowly build up tension but up until the aforementioned interaction it's relatively easy going. The ending had me a bit mischieved yet settling in after a couple of minutes fully satisfied and reflected to the entire 90 minutes as its a good ending and perfectly fitting to the whole story, but yet this story is rather a semi cinema varieté towards a cathartic climax. Take an advice and go watch 2021's one of the best thrillers so far!