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Esteban Madrid Jr. (1 KP) rated Shazam! (2019) in Movies
Apr 18, 2019
Really good movie that could've done just a little more
After having some busy days of work, I finally had time to catch this movie and I'm really glad I did. With this being an origin story of a character I barely knew about about, it did one thing correctly they Marvel continues to do is make you care about your lead without much hesitation. At first he'll seem so idiotic for his actions (after all he's 15 years old), but considering what he went through, you'll get it.
I loved the acting and chemistry that went on between the entire cast, and one character will truly steal your heart (if you've seen it, you know who I mean). Main issue overall is the villain, unfortunately that's something else that this movie picked up from Marvel (weak villains up until Civil War). The actor did an excellent job from what he's given, but he seemed so one note that all he needed was the classic villain mustache to twirl and tie a damsel onto the train tracks.
Despite that issue, this is a definite recommended movie that you'll enjoy and worth a watch in theaters.
Also, be sure to stick for the first post credits scene, the second one is a silly joke that might not work for most.
I loved the acting and chemistry that went on between the entire cast, and one character will truly steal your heart (if you've seen it, you know who I mean). Main issue overall is the villain, unfortunately that's something else that this movie picked up from Marvel (weak villains up until Civil War). The actor did an excellent job from what he's given, but he seemed so one note that all he needed was the classic villain mustache to twirl and tie a damsel onto the train tracks.
Despite that issue, this is a definite recommended movie that you'll enjoy and worth a watch in theaters.
Also, be sure to stick for the first post credits scene, the second one is a silly joke that might not work for most.
Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated It (2017) in Movies
Jan 16, 2018 (Updated Jan 16, 2018)
Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise (1 more)
Child actors
Unlike the original, scares a little overhyped
I had a lot of expectations going in to watch this remake of a classic. But I'm a little disappointed to be honest.
Unlike the original, this film solely concentrates on the cast as they were children, and there are no scenes of them as adults replaying their pasts. However, it is apparent that there will be a second part, as the kids mention their pact to reunite if the clown ever makes another appearance. In this way, they have changed Stephen King's book, but I'm not sure if it's for the better. One of the gifts of King horrors are the actual plots and storylines that run through them. Here, it actually felt like a slightly scarier version of @Stranger Things with even an actor from the series landing one of the main roles in this film.
On the upside, there were plenty of nods to the original movie, with Tim Curry's clown making a cameo in one of the scenes. Bill Skarsgard's version was just as good as Curry's but the downside was that there was too many scenes with him making an appearance losing the scare factor. Sometimes less is more. The child actors were fantastic, and the back stories were far darker, exposing abuse in its many forms. Overall, it was an interesting watch, but it may have been overhyped.
Unlike the original, this film solely concentrates on the cast as they were children, and there are no scenes of them as adults replaying their pasts. However, it is apparent that there will be a second part, as the kids mention their pact to reunite if the clown ever makes another appearance. In this way, they have changed Stephen King's book, but I'm not sure if it's for the better. One of the gifts of King horrors are the actual plots and storylines that run through them. Here, it actually felt like a slightly scarier version of @Stranger Things with even an actor from the series landing one of the main roles in this film.
On the upside, there were plenty of nods to the original movie, with Tim Curry's clown making a cameo in one of the scenes. Bill Skarsgard's version was just as good as Curry's but the downside was that there was too many scenes with him making an appearance losing the scare factor. Sometimes less is more. The child actors were fantastic, and the back stories were far darker, exposing abuse in its many forms. Overall, it was an interesting watch, but it may have been overhyped.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) in Movies
Feb 7, 2018 (Updated Feb 9, 2018)
Chop Sucky
One of those movies where a bunch of very talented people get together and somehow manage to produce something not all that great. The famous British horror movie studio Hammer gets together with Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers to produce a Gothic horror kung fu movie that also manages to pastiche The Magnificent Seven (et al).
You want to know the plot? Well, a gaggle of Chinese vampires feel they aren't getting the respect they deserve, and so they recruit Dracula as a sort of foreign signing to help with their brand awareness, or something. However, also on a lecture tour of China is Dracula's nemesis Van Helsing (Peter Cushing, using all his powers to elevate deeply suspect material), even though they've apparently never met before, and he sets off with a gang of local kung fu experts to sort the problem out. Cushing is not required to do any kung fu, the Chinese cast are not required to say 'Transylvania' more often than is absolutely necessary, and Christopher Lee flatly refuses to participate (Dracula, who appears to be overdoing his make-up, is played by another actor).
Nevertheless this is still schlocky good fun, although the script doesn't even make sense on its own terms and credited director Roy Ward Baker doesn't seem quite sure of what to do with the kung fu genre. One of the most bonkers of the late-period Hammer horror movies, not that this is necessarily a bad thing.
You want to know the plot? Well, a gaggle of Chinese vampires feel they aren't getting the respect they deserve, and so they recruit Dracula as a sort of foreign signing to help with their brand awareness, or something. However, also on a lecture tour of China is Dracula's nemesis Van Helsing (Peter Cushing, using all his powers to elevate deeply suspect material), even though they've apparently never met before, and he sets off with a gang of local kung fu experts to sort the problem out. Cushing is not required to do any kung fu, the Chinese cast are not required to say 'Transylvania' more often than is absolutely necessary, and Christopher Lee flatly refuses to participate (Dracula, who appears to be overdoing his make-up, is played by another actor).
Nevertheless this is still schlocky good fun, although the script doesn't even make sense on its own terms and credited director Roy Ward Baker doesn't seem quite sure of what to do with the kung fu genre. One of the most bonkers of the late-period Hammer horror movies, not that this is necessarily a bad thing.
Darren Smith (1 KP) rated Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) in Movies
Feb 3, 2018
Storyline (1 more)
Not confusing
Better than people suggest
I've been a fan of Star Wars ever since I was a child seeing "A New Hope" for the first time. Having gone through the sequels, prequels, another sequel, another story, its back to a sequel again and this didn't disappoint like some of the other films did.
First off, I can understand why some people don't like the film. I've never been someone who takes films too seriously. If they don't follow a particular arc, or don't follow stick to a book for instance, it's no big deal.
My main regret in watching this film, is that I should have watched "The Force Awakens" again, just to remind myself of who the new characters are.
The pace of the film is just right and leaves the story at the right point for the inevitable conclusion.
The storyline with Luke Skywalker seems to be the main beef among people who hate the film. I just accepted it for what it is, basing his change of mood on loneliness, regret, age (becoming cantankerous) and other factors that might affect him.
I still can't get my head around Kylo Ren. The character is good, the actor who plays him is not.
Hard to write a review without leaving spoilers, but my main advice is just go with an open mind, don't be judgemental and sit back and enjoy
First off, I can understand why some people don't like the film. I've never been someone who takes films too seriously. If they don't follow a particular arc, or don't follow stick to a book for instance, it's no big deal.
My main regret in watching this film, is that I should have watched "The Force Awakens" again, just to remind myself of who the new characters are.
The pace of the film is just right and leaves the story at the right point for the inevitable conclusion.
The storyline with Luke Skywalker seems to be the main beef among people who hate the film. I just accepted it for what it is, basing his change of mood on loneliness, regret, age (becoming cantankerous) and other factors that might affect him.
I still can't get my head around Kylo Ren. The character is good, the actor who plays him is not.
Hard to write a review without leaving spoilers, but my main advice is just go with an open mind, don't be judgemental and sit back and enjoy
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Fortitude - Season 1 in TV
Dec 9, 2018
A genre-spanning atmospheric thriller
I watched Fortitude when it first aired a few years ago, and have decided to give it another watch now to refresh my memory now the final series has aired.
Fortitude is set in a beautiful location in the arctic, and the show really makes the most of showing off this location as often as possible. The plot itself is intriguing and bonkers, but yet doesn't quite go too far. It spans a verify of genres, from murder mystery and crime to drama and gory horror, and it does this really well. Some of the gory horror parts are actually quite disturbing (in an good). This is also a very character driven story, and most of the characters in this are well rounded and developed. It has a fantastic cast including some very well known faces like Stanley Tucci and Michael Gambon. However for me it's Richard Dormer that truly shines in this. He gives Dan a lot of depth and despite his errant and sometime psychotic ways, you do still feel sorry for him. I find it difficult to accept that this is the same person who plays Beric Dondarrion in GoT, he's that good an actor.
If you're looking for something that's well acted, doesn't stick to a specific genre and is honestly a little bizarre and unusual, then this is definitely worth a watch.
Fortitude is set in a beautiful location in the arctic, and the show really makes the most of showing off this location as often as possible. The plot itself is intriguing and bonkers, but yet doesn't quite go too far. It spans a verify of genres, from murder mystery and crime to drama and gory horror, and it does this really well. Some of the gory horror parts are actually quite disturbing (in an good). This is also a very character driven story, and most of the characters in this are well rounded and developed. It has a fantastic cast including some very well known faces like Stanley Tucci and Michael Gambon. However for me it's Richard Dormer that truly shines in this. He gives Dan a lot of depth and despite his errant and sometime psychotic ways, you do still feel sorry for him. I find it difficult to accept that this is the same person who plays Beric Dondarrion in GoT, he's that good an actor.
If you're looking for something that's well acted, doesn't stick to a specific genre and is honestly a little bizarre and unusual, then this is definitely worth a watch.
Best British drama in a long time
I don't really do British tv dramas, mainly because most of them are all very similar or just not my cup of tea, however after the hype surrounding this, I decided to give it a chance.
This is by far the best British drama I've seen in a long time (albeit I may not have seen many recently). Richard Madden is superb as David Budd and I really hope he goes far with his career. There's Bond rumours flying about (although to be fair those same rumours are fixed to every British actor within a certain age range) and i honestly think he would make a great Bond as long as he doesn't go with his native Scottish. The story itself is interesting and there are some fantastic twists and turns. Some of it may be a tad predictable, over the top and cliched - I almost stopped watching after episode 2 when the bodyguard slept with his ward - and you have to suspend your disbelief in parts. If only real police work in the UK was this dramatic! However I was particularly impressed with the final episode. Never before have I felt so tense and terrified watching a British drama, the tension and suspense in this episode alone was marvellous. The final scene itself was a tad disappointing as I'd expected a little more action, but the rest of the episode and series more than made up for it.
This is by far the best British drama I've seen in a long time (albeit I may not have seen many recently). Richard Madden is superb as David Budd and I really hope he goes far with his career. There's Bond rumours flying about (although to be fair those same rumours are fixed to every British actor within a certain age range) and i honestly think he would make a great Bond as long as he doesn't go with his native Scottish. The story itself is interesting and there are some fantastic twists and turns. Some of it may be a tad predictable, over the top and cliched - I almost stopped watching after episode 2 when the bodyguard slept with his ward - and you have to suspend your disbelief in parts. If only real police work in the UK was this dramatic! However I was particularly impressed with the final episode. Never before have I felt so tense and terrified watching a British drama, the tension and suspense in this episode alone was marvellous. The final scene itself was a tad disappointing as I'd expected a little more action, but the rest of the episode and series more than made up for it.
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Venom (2018) in Movies
Nov 1, 2018
Much better than expected
Considering some of the terrible critics reviews for this I was expecting it to be horrendous, but for the most part it was actually quite enjoyable.
Tom Hardy makes this film. He is fantastic as Eddie Brock and Venom, even if he does go a little ott cringey in parts. He really injects some much needed humour and likeability into this film, without him this really would have been terrible. Some of the CGI is patchy in parts and the final fight scene is overwhelming due to the sheer amount of CGI going on. There's some dodgy editing and an even dodgier script, and the ending feels rather rushed. Riz Ahmed is a great actor but vastly underused, and to echo every other reviews Michelle Williams is absolutely awful. She contributed nothing other than major irritation for the entire film.
I'm not a massive comic person but do recall Venom from comics and some of the earlier Spiderman cartoons, and I'm actually fairly impressed with this origin story and how Venom has been portrayed. Let's face it, they couldn't get much worse than what came out in Spiderman 3. Whilst this film has a lot of faults, it's still very entertaining.
I do wish they'd given this a proper Marvel film though. It already comes across as quite dark, and I think this could've been fantastic had they given it a Deadpool type makeover.
Tom Hardy makes this film. He is fantastic as Eddie Brock and Venom, even if he does go a little ott cringey in parts. He really injects some much needed humour and likeability into this film, without him this really would have been terrible. Some of the CGI is patchy in parts and the final fight scene is overwhelming due to the sheer amount of CGI going on. There's some dodgy editing and an even dodgier script, and the ending feels rather rushed. Riz Ahmed is a great actor but vastly underused, and to echo every other reviews Michelle Williams is absolutely awful. She contributed nothing other than major irritation for the entire film.
I'm not a massive comic person but do recall Venom from comics and some of the earlier Spiderman cartoons, and I'm actually fairly impressed with this origin story and how Venom has been portrayed. Let's face it, they couldn't get much worse than what came out in Spiderman 3. Whilst this film has a lot of faults, it's still very entertaining.
I do wish they'd given this a proper Marvel film though. It already comes across as quite dark, and I think this could've been fantastic had they given it a Deadpool type makeover.
Scott Tostik (389 KP) rated Who's Watching Oliver (2018) in Movies
Jan 4, 2019
Lead Actor (2 more)
Disturbing script
Brutal Effects
Not sure what i watched... But oh so dark and twisty
So.... I sat down for an afternoon movie... Closed my eyes and picked this gem of a deranged fest.
Not only was i disguated by the ideas floating around in the plot. Incest... Kidnapping... Dismemberment and Torture... All the wonderful things i like to be disguated by in a film... I was impressed by the acting ability of the lead character... I'm sorry, Boils and Ghouls, but his name slips my mind... Probably because I'm in Canada, and I can legally smoke weed anywhere...
The performance by his love interest as well... Simply amazing... Not to mention the vile and vulgar Mother.
About halfway through the film, my fiance got up from her pre work nap and she watched the movie for a few seconds and turned to me shaking her head... So this is the kind of sick shit you watch while I'm sleeping... She says... To which i reply... And when youre at work, or out with your kids... Or even sotting in the chair next to me... Lol...
Anyways... For the gore fan... Its a definate must... For the psychological fans... I would recommend. And for everyone else... There's always Aquaman.... Or as i like to call it... The Jason Momoa Girl Jizz Cabaret....
Til next time... Meaning tomorrow...
Enjoy the gore... It's a beatiful day to Slay lives...
Not only was i disguated by the ideas floating around in the plot. Incest... Kidnapping... Dismemberment and Torture... All the wonderful things i like to be disguated by in a film... I was impressed by the acting ability of the lead character... I'm sorry, Boils and Ghouls, but his name slips my mind... Probably because I'm in Canada, and I can legally smoke weed anywhere...
The performance by his love interest as well... Simply amazing... Not to mention the vile and vulgar Mother.
About halfway through the film, my fiance got up from her pre work nap and she watched the movie for a few seconds and turned to me shaking her head... So this is the kind of sick shit you watch while I'm sleeping... She says... To which i reply... And when youre at work, or out with your kids... Or even sotting in the chair next to me... Lol...
Anyways... For the gore fan... Its a definate must... For the psychological fans... I would recommend. And for everyone else... There's always Aquaman.... Or as i like to call it... The Jason Momoa Girl Jizz Cabaret....
Til next time... Meaning tomorrow...
Enjoy the gore... It's a beatiful day to Slay lives...
Sarah (7798 KP) rated A Monster Calls (2016) in Movies
Dec 30, 2018
Heartwrenching
Anyone who’s read my reviews on here knows I very rarely like film adaptations of books, but for this one I make an exception. The book is excellent, and the film is not only as good as the book, but possibly slightly better.
This is a heartwrenching story about grief, and doesn’t shy away about being stark and honest about a very brutal and difficult subject. And it deals with this subject matter in such an elegant way. The film really surpasses the book when it comes to the visuals. The monster looks and sounds amazing, and is sinister looking without being too scary, and the stories he tells are animated brilliantly - looking very similar to the Deathly Hallows animation. The colours and effects are truly impressive. And it helps that the film sticks very true to the book.
Conor is a relatable young character and is played brilliantly in this. The rest of the supporting cast are also excellent, although one of my few criticisms is that Toby Kebbell is underused. He’s a fantastic actor and I appreciate that there isn’t much room to include his character more, I just always wish to see him more no matter what film he’s in.
This is a beautifully made heartwrenching film, that deals with a very difficult subject in a fitting matter. I can’t find anything bad to say about this Not a dry eye around when it got to the ending.
This is a heartwrenching story about grief, and doesn’t shy away about being stark and honest about a very brutal and difficult subject. And it deals with this subject matter in such an elegant way. The film really surpasses the book when it comes to the visuals. The monster looks and sounds amazing, and is sinister looking without being too scary, and the stories he tells are animated brilliantly - looking very similar to the Deathly Hallows animation. The colours and effects are truly impressive. And it helps that the film sticks very true to the book.
Conor is a relatable young character and is played brilliantly in this. The rest of the supporting cast are also excellent, although one of my few criticisms is that Toby Kebbell is underused. He’s a fantastic actor and I appreciate that there isn’t much room to include his character more, I just always wish to see him more no matter what film he’s in.
This is a beautifully made heartwrenching film, that deals with a very difficult subject in a fitting matter. I can’t find anything bad to say about this Not a dry eye around when it got to the ending.
KalJ95 (25 KP) rated Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) in Movies
Dec 30, 2019
Love letter to Golden age of Hollywood. (2 more)
Chemistry of the cast carries the film.
Hilarious, tense and moments of sheer genius from Tarantino.
OUATIH is very simply put; A love letter to the golden age of Hollywood. It spans through the 1960's of Hollywood's obsession with Westerns, whilst focusing on the friendship of an ageing irrelevant actor, and his no nonsense and loyal stuntman, all set to the backdrop of the infamous Manson murders.
That alone sounds like a cocktail only Tarantino could blend, and a runtime of almost three hours unbelievably isn't enough to immerse me into the plot. It just feels second nature to what the film wants you to focus on, which is the friendship of Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Their chemistry is the forefront and heart of OUATIH, bringing hilarious and ludicrous moments every minute their on screen together.
The Manson family and Sharon Tate's brief film exposure do serve their point with the overarching storyline of Rick's dying career, but they don't make you care as much. That being said, the moments of pure madness, especially in the grand finale, really do keep you biting your fingernails. Remember, this is Tarantino, its bound the get a bit bloody.
The 9th entry in Tarantino's outstanding catalogue is by far not his best work, but it's a really sweet and sentimental love for all things cinema.
That alone sounds like a cocktail only Tarantino could blend, and a runtime of almost three hours unbelievably isn't enough to immerse me into the plot. It just feels second nature to what the film wants you to focus on, which is the friendship of Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Their chemistry is the forefront and heart of OUATIH, bringing hilarious and ludicrous moments every minute their on screen together.
The Manson family and Sharon Tate's brief film exposure do serve their point with the overarching storyline of Rick's dying career, but they don't make you care as much. That being said, the moments of pure madness, especially in the grand finale, really do keep you biting your fingernails. Remember, this is Tarantino, its bound the get a bit bloody.
The 9th entry in Tarantino's outstanding catalogue is by far not his best work, but it's a really sweet and sentimental love for all things cinema.