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Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Krypton in TV
Jul 7, 2020
Krypton Is No Kryptonite, Despite No Supes
Shaft is a 2019 action/comedy movie directed by Tim Story and written by Kenya Barris. This film was produced by New Line Cinema and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, Jessie Usher, Regina Hall, Alexandra Shipp, and Richard Roundtree.
After a failed assassination attempt, Maya Babanikos (Regina Hall), his wife, leaves Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) and takes their son, John "JJ." Shaft Jr., to raise on her own. 25 years later, Karim (Avan Jogia), a childhood friend of "JJ"'s, dies of a heroin overdose. JJ who is a cyber security expert and FBI Agent concludes he must have been murdered. After being violently ejected by drug dealers when investigating who sold the heroin that killed his friend; he is left with no other recourse but turn to his father, Shaft, for help.
This movie was a lot different from how I remember the last one which came out in 2000. I remember that one being more serious and more thriller, where they were trying to catch the bad guy. This one seemed to make too light of the action but did deliver on the laughs occasionally. Also I don't remember the last film being as "adult" when it came to language or nudity either, but I like how the movie acknowledged the main characters dialogue when his son tries to talk like him. Jessie Usher was very funny as JJ but I personally felt that he was trying to act like Nick Canon, which if that's what they were going for, they could have got him instead. It's an ok movie if your looking for something funny with action and don't care about things like story telling, plot, and the characters walking around with "plot armor". All in all, this movie was good but nothing special, I would just wait for it to go to dollar movies, red box or Netflix instead of wasting money at the movies. Of course if you need your fix of Samuel L. Jackson, then you might want to give this movie a shot. I remember the last one being a lot better. I give this movie a 5/10.
After a failed assassination attempt, Maya Babanikos (Regina Hall), his wife, leaves Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) and takes their son, John "JJ." Shaft Jr., to raise on her own. 25 years later, Karim (Avan Jogia), a childhood friend of "JJ"'s, dies of a heroin overdose. JJ who is a cyber security expert and FBI Agent concludes he must have been murdered. After being violently ejected by drug dealers when investigating who sold the heroin that killed his friend; he is left with no other recourse but turn to his father, Shaft, for help.
This movie was a lot different from how I remember the last one which came out in 2000. I remember that one being more serious and more thriller, where they were trying to catch the bad guy. This one seemed to make too light of the action but did deliver on the laughs occasionally. Also I don't remember the last film being as "adult" when it came to language or nudity either, but I like how the movie acknowledged the main characters dialogue when his son tries to talk like him. Jessie Usher was very funny as JJ but I personally felt that he was trying to act like Nick Canon, which if that's what they were going for, they could have got him instead. It's an ok movie if your looking for something funny with action and don't care about things like story telling, plot, and the characters walking around with "plot armor". All in all, this movie was good but nothing special, I would just wait for it to go to dollar movies, red box or Netflix instead of wasting money at the movies. Of course if you need your fix of Samuel L. Jackson, then you might want to give this movie a shot. I remember the last one being a lot better. I give this movie a 5/10.
Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Love, Death & Robots in TV
Jul 7, 2020
Unique And Visceral Experience
Love, Death, & Robots is an adult animated anthology tv series on Netflix. The series is produced by Joshua Donen, David Fincher, Jennifer Miller, and Tim Miller. Each of the 18 episodes released on the first season was animated by different crews from a range of countries. It's also a re-imagining of 1981 animated sci-fi film Heavy Metal. Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Topher Grace, Gary Cole, Samira Wiley, and Stefan Kapicic.
Produced by different casts and crews, and consisting of 18 stand-alone episodes, each under 20 minutes, the title of the series refers to the recurring themes of love, death, and robots in each episode. Full of terrifying creatures, wicked surprises and dark comedy, it's a collection of animated short stories spanning several genres like horror, comedy, fantasy, and science fiction. Captivating stories come to life with world-class animation in a plethora of tales unlike anything else.
This series was wicked awesome. Reminded me of some of the other animated anthologies I've seen such as The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight, except quite a bit more NSFW. This series also gave me a Twilight Zone vibe but bit darker. More blood and guts and highly sexual. Even though it's pretty graphic, I really liked a lot of the stories they told and the twists that most had in the end as well. Some are kind of hit or miss or just better than others but I think that there is definitely something for everyone despite the gore and nudity and language. I especially enjoyed the following episodes, 1. Sonnie's Edge, 8. Good Hunting, 10. Shape-Shifters, 13. Lucky 13, and 18. Secret War. The way they went about the story telling and world building in each episode was phenomenal. I really feel that some of these episodes deserve their own individual films or series to do them better justice. I mean some were just so good and less than 20 minutes felt like not enough or that they could have been even better. I give the entire series overall a 9/10.
Produced by different casts and crews, and consisting of 18 stand-alone episodes, each under 20 minutes, the title of the series refers to the recurring themes of love, death, and robots in each episode. Full of terrifying creatures, wicked surprises and dark comedy, it's a collection of animated short stories spanning several genres like horror, comedy, fantasy, and science fiction. Captivating stories come to life with world-class animation in a plethora of tales unlike anything else.
This series was wicked awesome. Reminded me of some of the other animated anthologies I've seen such as The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight, except quite a bit more NSFW. This series also gave me a Twilight Zone vibe but bit darker. More blood and guts and highly sexual. Even though it's pretty graphic, I really liked a lot of the stories they told and the twists that most had in the end as well. Some are kind of hit or miss or just better than others but I think that there is definitely something for everyone despite the gore and nudity and language. I especially enjoyed the following episodes, 1. Sonnie's Edge, 8. Good Hunting, 10. Shape-Shifters, 13. Lucky 13, and 18. Secret War. The way they went about the story telling and world building in each episode was phenomenal. I really feel that some of these episodes deserve their own individual films or series to do them better justice. I mean some were just so good and less than 20 minutes felt like not enough or that they could have been even better. I give the entire series overall a 9/10.
Rocket Video Cast for Roku - Stream Movies to TV
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Unleash your Roku device with Roku Rocket Video Cast. With Roku Rocket you can browse the web and...
Rocket Video for Google Cast and Chromecast to TV
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Unleash your Chromecast with Rocket Video Cast. With Rocket you can browse the web and stream any...
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Oxygen (2021) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
A taut mystery horror/thriller that goes off in surprising directions!
You can recognize a ‘lockdown-produced movie’ a mile off. Typically it focuses on a handful of players, who are mostly socially isolated. Here is a classic example. Yet by doing that, the director is forced to focus in on character and dialogue. As such, some of these ‘small’ movies that reign in the director’s excesses are far better as a result.
“Oxygen” is a case in point. When I saw that the film was directed by Alexandre Aja – the man behind the OTT “Piranha 3D” and the equally OTT popcorn-croc movie “Crawl” from 2 years ago, I feared the worst. But this an intriguing little movie that mystifies and jolts in equal measure.
There is probably no such thing anymore as a truly novel thriller or science fiction film. And this draws recognisably from a host of other movies: I personally recognised elements from “Room“, “Solaris”, “Moon” and “Gravity” in there. But the closest similarity is definitely to the Ryan Reynolds 2010 thriller “Buried” which features a very similar initial set-up. If “Oxygen” were to have pulled out an ending like that film (if you haven’t watched it yet – do so!) then it would have been a mini-classic.
Positives:
No spoilers here, but this is a ‘small’ mystery movie that goes off in a VERY surprising direction. The script is genuinely unpredictable.
Mélanie Laurent gives a strong performance as the heroine near the end of her tether.
Although this is a French film, don’t let that put you off. Netflix gives options of the original French, French with subtitles and an English dub. And the English dubbing is so good that it took me until some sub-titles for text written in French before I realised it was dubbed!
Negatives:
After the long drip-drip-drip of context, I found the ending to be something of a disappointment. Too twee.
I found something morally dubious about the ‘re-routing’ request near the end of the movie. (Although, I’m sure given the options, I would probably do the same!)
If you don’t like jump scares, you are likely to spill a lot of hot drinks while watching this one!
“Oxygen” is a case in point. When I saw that the film was directed by Alexandre Aja – the man behind the OTT “Piranha 3D” and the equally OTT popcorn-croc movie “Crawl” from 2 years ago, I feared the worst. But this an intriguing little movie that mystifies and jolts in equal measure.
There is probably no such thing anymore as a truly novel thriller or science fiction film. And this draws recognisably from a host of other movies: I personally recognised elements from “Room“, “Solaris”, “Moon” and “Gravity” in there. But the closest similarity is definitely to the Ryan Reynolds 2010 thriller “Buried” which features a very similar initial set-up. If “Oxygen” were to have pulled out an ending like that film (if you haven’t watched it yet – do so!) then it would have been a mini-classic.
Positives:
No spoilers here, but this is a ‘small’ mystery movie that goes off in a VERY surprising direction. The script is genuinely unpredictable.
Mélanie Laurent gives a strong performance as the heroine near the end of her tether.
Although this is a French film, don’t let that put you off. Netflix gives options of the original French, French with subtitles and an English dub. And the English dubbing is so good that it took me until some sub-titles for text written in French before I realised it was dubbed!
Negatives:
After the long drip-drip-drip of context, I found the ending to be something of a disappointment. Too twee.
I found something morally dubious about the ‘re-routing’ request near the end of the movie. (Although, I’m sure given the options, I would probably do the same!)
If you don’t like jump scares, you are likely to spill a lot of hot drinks while watching this one!
A teen, her mum and dog are moving to a new neighbourhood, on her first day of school she is invited to a party but turns it down to hang with her mum, however, her mum is too busy with her new job so she decides to go to the party. The party ends up being cancelled and the teens decide to drink instead, but as they're underage they struggle to get anyone to buy them alcohol, until a seemingly nice woman agrees to buy it for them. It soon becomes apparent that this woman is dodgy as we see her stalking the teens on Facebook (how did she get their full names?) and phoning one of their dads to tell him of their drinking plan who then phones the police to stop them in their tracks. This doesn't stop them trying again the next day by asking the same woman to buy them alcohol. This time she invites them to drink in her basement which the teens quickly agree to.
The evening turns sour when sue Anne pulls a gun out, but she soon turns it around as a good prank and invites them to party again and again. Eventually the teens realise how obsessed sue Anne is when she's constantly messaging them and they all decide to block her. That's when things go from bad to worse with a few surprises on the way.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie, it was in the horror section of Netflix but for the first hour I didn't really get a horror vibe, I got the vibe of a lonely woman so desperate to be liked that it becomes obsessive and I did feel sorry for her........ At first.
I liked the inclusion of her back story as I felt for her even more, making the second half of the movie such a kick in the teeth. I mean this woman is proper psychotic and the things she does is messed up, but damn it's a good watch! Octavia Spencer plays Ma so incredibly well, I honestly couldn't have picked anyone else to play her.
The evening turns sour when sue Anne pulls a gun out, but she soon turns it around as a good prank and invites them to party again and again. Eventually the teens realise how obsessed sue Anne is when she's constantly messaging them and they all decide to block her. That's when things go from bad to worse with a few surprises on the way.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie, it was in the horror section of Netflix but for the first hour I didn't really get a horror vibe, I got the vibe of a lonely woman so desperate to be liked that it becomes obsessive and I did feel sorry for her........ At first.
I liked the inclusion of her back story as I felt for her even more, making the second half of the movie such a kick in the teeth. I mean this woman is proper psychotic and the things she does is messed up, but damn it's a good watch! Octavia Spencer plays Ma so incredibly well, I honestly couldn't have picked anyone else to play her.
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated Okja (2017) in Movies
Jun 10, 2019
The Film that turned me vegetarian
Netflix has been hitting it out of the park with their original movies and TV series recently. Stranger Things, The Sinner, and Gerald’s Game have all been recent Netflix releases, with a caliber to beat some of the most seasoned of television broadcasters and filmmakers. One of the main films that stood out to me was Joon-ho Bong’s Okja – a heartfelt tale of a ‘superpig’ and her family.
Okja follows a young girl called Mija and her mission to save her best friend, Okja, from being kidnapped by a multi-national company. As much as this is a magical and funny tale of friendship, it is also a heartbreaking satire for corporate greed and the mistreatment of animals in the food industry.
Mija is trying to save Okja from Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) – the CEO of the Mirando Corporation, who wants to create a ‘superpig’ to fuel her latest food venture. This movie really highlights how we, as humans, see animals as less than us, when actually they are our friends.
The ending of this film is especially poignant. Not to reveal any spoilers, but I haven’t cried that hard at a film since Marley & Me. It puts you in the position of these animals, innocent but not naive, and seeing things from their perspective really made me consider my actions in a different light.
Before I went to university, I wasn’t that interested in vegetarianism. I had tried it a few times, forgot I was a vegetarian, and then given up almost immediately. When I moved to uni and one of my flat mates was a long-time veggie, it intrigued me.
My interest was cemented after watching Okja. This story of friendship between man and beast made me realise that animals, as much as people may not like to think about it, can feel and think and be in pain. Whilst watching this, my heart ached for these imaginary creatures, that much that I made a big decision.
I decided to try to be vegetarian. For once in my life, I was going to genuinely try. It took me a while, and of course, I have lapsed at some points in these few months since watching the film. It’s only recently that I have genuinely been sticking to a mainly vegetarian diet, and I feel so much better, both morally and physically, in myself.
There’s no denying the health benefits of vegetarianism. It lowers your cholesterol, you tend to lose weight, and you generally have quite a balanced diet. However, the idea that I could be fighting against the mistreatment of animals just by changing my diet a bit, was reason enough for me.
By no means am I the perfect vegetarian. I still eat meat sometimes, if I want to, or if I don’t fancy any of the (usually awful) vegetarian offerings at a restaurant. I am just trying my hardest to live a 90% vegetarian lifestyle.
Some may say that this is a bit of a drastic decision to make off of the back of a film that isn’t real. This is the power of good storytelling. It can make you feel things, say things, change things. It’s a powerful skill to master.
By no means am I telling you that watching Okja will make you vegetarian immediately. It’s just so heart warming and also devastating at the same time, that I couldn’t ignore what it was telling me.
The friendship between Mija and Okja is beautiful. It’s fun, it’s hilarious, it’s special. They have a bond that even the threat of death cannot break, and Mija will not let go of Okja until she has her back.
Overall, this movie is an absolute triumph. Director/writer Joon-ho Bong creates a script that’s almost lyrical in its approach, so fluid and well strung together that there are no seams, no breaks in the approach, no cracks in the well-polished veneer. He creates a story that breaks and heals, it takes the watcher on a journey of both the mind and the heart. It’s art.
This film’s aim is not to make you vegetarian. It’s not to make you feel bad about your food choices or your love of meat. It’s a story of love.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2017/12/13/okja-review-the-film-that-turned-me-veggie/
Okja follows a young girl called Mija and her mission to save her best friend, Okja, from being kidnapped by a multi-national company. As much as this is a magical and funny tale of friendship, it is also a heartbreaking satire for corporate greed and the mistreatment of animals in the food industry.
Mija is trying to save Okja from Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) – the CEO of the Mirando Corporation, who wants to create a ‘superpig’ to fuel her latest food venture. This movie really highlights how we, as humans, see animals as less than us, when actually they are our friends.
The ending of this film is especially poignant. Not to reveal any spoilers, but I haven’t cried that hard at a film since Marley & Me. It puts you in the position of these animals, innocent but not naive, and seeing things from their perspective really made me consider my actions in a different light.
Before I went to university, I wasn’t that interested in vegetarianism. I had tried it a few times, forgot I was a vegetarian, and then given up almost immediately. When I moved to uni and one of my flat mates was a long-time veggie, it intrigued me.
My interest was cemented after watching Okja. This story of friendship between man and beast made me realise that animals, as much as people may not like to think about it, can feel and think and be in pain. Whilst watching this, my heart ached for these imaginary creatures, that much that I made a big decision.
I decided to try to be vegetarian. For once in my life, I was going to genuinely try. It took me a while, and of course, I have lapsed at some points in these few months since watching the film. It’s only recently that I have genuinely been sticking to a mainly vegetarian diet, and I feel so much better, both morally and physically, in myself.
There’s no denying the health benefits of vegetarianism. It lowers your cholesterol, you tend to lose weight, and you generally have quite a balanced diet. However, the idea that I could be fighting against the mistreatment of animals just by changing my diet a bit, was reason enough for me.
By no means am I the perfect vegetarian. I still eat meat sometimes, if I want to, or if I don’t fancy any of the (usually awful) vegetarian offerings at a restaurant. I am just trying my hardest to live a 90% vegetarian lifestyle.
Some may say that this is a bit of a drastic decision to make off of the back of a film that isn’t real. This is the power of good storytelling. It can make you feel things, say things, change things. It’s a powerful skill to master.
By no means am I telling you that watching Okja will make you vegetarian immediately. It’s just so heart warming and also devastating at the same time, that I couldn’t ignore what it was telling me.
The friendship between Mija and Okja is beautiful. It’s fun, it’s hilarious, it’s special. They have a bond that even the threat of death cannot break, and Mija will not let go of Okja until she has her back.
Overall, this movie is an absolute triumph. Director/writer Joon-ho Bong creates a script that’s almost lyrical in its approach, so fluid and well strung together that there are no seams, no breaks in the approach, no cracks in the well-polished veneer. He creates a story that breaks and heals, it takes the watcher on a journey of both the mind and the heart. It’s art.
This film’s aim is not to make you vegetarian. It’s not to make you feel bad about your food choices or your love of meat. It’s a story of love.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2017/12/13/okja-review-the-film-that-turned-me-veggie/
kitty ♡ (68 KP) rated Thirteen Reasons Why in Books
Feb 15, 2018
Unsettling. Troubling. Heart-breaking.
Contains spoilers, click to show
Thirteen Reasons Why is a heart-wrenching story of young tragedy and all of the ways a girl's death could have been prevented.
When I first read this book, I was 18 years old, and feeling exactly like how Hannah was feeling: depressed and alone. I could hardly get out of bed and drag myself to school, often times wishing I was dead. Despite constantly being around people, I didn't feel loved. I didn't feel like people really wanted me around. So, when I first read this book, I absolutely loved it because I felt exactly how she felt.
After being discontented with the series Netflix released in 2017, I decided to revisit this book, with the criticisms the Internet had given the show and book in mind. Those criticisms didn't make me hate the book or the concept, it just simply opened my mind to how harmful it may be, and it also helped me focus on the true intent of the book: to show people how their actions affect others.
I will agree that this book glamorizes suicide. It does. If you look at the surface of the premise, it basically reads as: "Girl kills herself and makes the tapes to get revenge on those who've hurt her and contributed to her pain. So, if you want to get back at your bullies, kill yourself and blame it on them." There's a lot of finger pointing happening in the book, even beyond the surface, but like I said, the intent of the book is to show people how their actions affect others, and it does. While it's not as explicit, since it was limited to Clay's point of view, there are little hints that show how the other characters, the other people on the tape, are affected. A character (Alex, I think?) was being pushed against a locker, Tyler's window was a target for people throwing rocks, Marcus going out and watching others target Tyler.
Clay Jensen is an incredibly realistic character, and Jay Asher's done a great job of writing his and Hannah's voice. Clay's the perfect in-between character because that's where he stands in school. Unpopular, but still known, he's welcomed at parties, yet he doesn't always go to them. A "nerdy" type but not entirely stuck with that label. What I love most about this book was Clay's part on the tapes, and how even Hannah claims he doesn't deserve this, that he doesn't belong on the list. But he's on it because she needs to tell the story fully.
When it comes to the potential of a Clay/Hannah romance, the most realistic quote is: "What if you weren't the person I hoped you were?" That particular quote resonated with me because I'm sure we've all felt the same at one point or another. We've all had these crushes for someone we don't know, and so we absorb the little information (most likely rumors) that float around about them, and hope that they're the person we come to think they are. I'm guilty of doing this, which made the Clay and Hannah relationship more painful. Because she wasn't like that, and he never got the chance.
There was something about the ending that got me. How Clay picked up on all of Skye's signs, and so after the tapes, he calls her name and he (from what we can presume) acts kindly toward her. He wants to be there for her so the same thing that happened to Hannah wouldn't happen to her. He feels hopeful that maybe he can help Skye, which is nice.
Overall, I did enjoy my revisit of this book. Jay Asher has created some of the most interesting characters, from Clay and Hannah, to Skye, Jessica, Justin, Sherry, Marcus, and Courtney. A lot of their actions are realistic, which is what is haunting about the book. I hate reading those criticisms talking about what they (the critics) would've done, because you don't know! You're not sure! While I do wish Hannah hadn't actually committed suicide, that there had been a plot twist, this book certainly resonated with me because I know exactly how Hannah felt. I may not have been bullied to such an extent, but the exhaustion, the desperate need to let go, I felt that.
P.s. Please don't say that this book or the Netflix series helped you to realize that you need to be nice to people. If you needed a book or a series to realize that, I hope you get the help you need.
When I first read this book, I was 18 years old, and feeling exactly like how Hannah was feeling: depressed and alone. I could hardly get out of bed and drag myself to school, often times wishing I was dead. Despite constantly being around people, I didn't feel loved. I didn't feel like people really wanted me around. So, when I first read this book, I absolutely loved it because I felt exactly how she felt.
After being discontented with the series Netflix released in 2017, I decided to revisit this book, with the criticisms the Internet had given the show and book in mind. Those criticisms didn't make me hate the book or the concept, it just simply opened my mind to how harmful it may be, and it also helped me focus on the true intent of the book: to show people how their actions affect others.
I will agree that this book glamorizes suicide. It does. If you look at the surface of the premise, it basically reads as: "Girl kills herself and makes the tapes to get revenge on those who've hurt her and contributed to her pain. So, if you want to get back at your bullies, kill yourself and blame it on them." There's a lot of finger pointing happening in the book, even beyond the surface, but like I said, the intent of the book is to show people how their actions affect others, and it does. While it's not as explicit, since it was limited to Clay's point of view, there are little hints that show how the other characters, the other people on the tape, are affected. A character (Alex, I think?) was being pushed against a locker, Tyler's window was a target for people throwing rocks, Marcus going out and watching others target Tyler.
Clay Jensen is an incredibly realistic character, and Jay Asher's done a great job of writing his and Hannah's voice. Clay's the perfect in-between character because that's where he stands in school. Unpopular, but still known, he's welcomed at parties, yet he doesn't always go to them. A "nerdy" type but not entirely stuck with that label. What I love most about this book was Clay's part on the tapes, and how even Hannah claims he doesn't deserve this, that he doesn't belong on the list. But he's on it because she needs to tell the story fully.
When it comes to the potential of a Clay/Hannah romance, the most realistic quote is: "What if you weren't the person I hoped you were?" That particular quote resonated with me because I'm sure we've all felt the same at one point or another. We've all had these crushes for someone we don't know, and so we absorb the little information (most likely rumors) that float around about them, and hope that they're the person we come to think they are. I'm guilty of doing this, which made the Clay and Hannah relationship more painful. Because she wasn't like that, and he never got the chance.
There was something about the ending that got me. How Clay picked up on all of Skye's signs, and so after the tapes, he calls her name and he (from what we can presume) acts kindly toward her. He wants to be there for her so the same thing that happened to Hannah wouldn't happen to her. He feels hopeful that maybe he can help Skye, which is nice.
Overall, I did enjoy my revisit of this book. Jay Asher has created some of the most interesting characters, from Clay and Hannah, to Skye, Jessica, Justin, Sherry, Marcus, and Courtney. A lot of their actions are realistic, which is what is haunting about the book. I hate reading those criticisms talking about what they (the critics) would've done, because you don't know! You're not sure! While I do wish Hannah hadn't actually committed suicide, that there had been a plot twist, this book certainly resonated with me because I know exactly how Hannah felt. I may not have been bullied to such an extent, but the exhaustion, the desperate need to let go, I felt that.
P.s. Please don't say that this book or the Netflix series helped you to realize that you need to be nice to people. If you needed a book or a series to realize that, I hope you get the help you need.