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Dune: Part Two (2024)
Denis Villeneuve with another banger
It is incredibly rare to see a great movie with an even greater sequel now a days but damn does Dune pull that off easily. "Dune: Part One" did an incredible job setting up the characters, the environment, the story before going absolutely ham in this sequel. Just wow... 2 hours and 45 minutes went just like that. It felt like 1 hour or something. Timothée Chalamet is such a gem to watch acting. The guy is great. Zendaya of course and let's not forget the incredible psychopath villain, Feyd-Rautha played by the amazing Austin Butler. Honestly, the entire cast was great, hard to pinpoint every single one. Hans Zimmer of course with the amazing music as always, I mean when does the guy ever miss?
"Dune: Part Two" was a wild ride with action filled scenes, fights and incredible story telling. I have never read the books but I can only imagine the movies has lived more than up to it. Definitely one of those rare 10/10 movies for me. Definitely recommend watching both this and its prequel!
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
No matter your religion, give this one a watch!
I decided to give this a watch after hearing and seeing that Mel Gibson apparently is going to do a sequel... Why? Only God knows. Anyways, I have been putting "The Passion of the Christ" off for a long long time for a multitude of reasons. First, because i'm muslim, and we did not believe Jesus died at the cross and/or most of the stuff portrayed in this. 2nd, because of the graphic brutality and violence. 3rd, just not my kind of movie.
But after sitting down and giving it a watch... I honestly liked this. Sure the brutality portrayed in it was a bit excessive at times but believe it or not, I have seen worse. This was pretty brutal though, Mel Gibson, what's wrong with you. The actor playing Jesus, did an amazing job, so much so that I can imagine people not seeing him in any other role than Jesus. After finishing the movie, I went and searched how biblically accurate this was and they were pretty much right on the head, so props to that, I guess. All in all, give this a watch, despite your religion. Genuinely a good movie and probably the best movie about one of the biggest religious figures out there.
Road House (2024)
Fun self-aware popcorn action flick
I don't understand the bad reviews for this. It's a film that doesn't take itself too seriously and it's obvious literally from the very beginning that it's self-aware. It knows how to laugh at itself with its over the top fight scenes and at times bad and cheesy dialogue or even the constant wild music being played in the background. Even the way Conor Mcgregor walked and talked was not serious in itself. I mean come on, it's impossible to hate on a film like this. Sure, some movies that don't take themselves seriously can still be very bad, but this one was actually pretty alright if you don't compare it to the original or just go into it with lower expectations. I'd definitely recommend this as a fun popcorn action flick if you're bored.
Celda 211 (2009)
Incredible prison movie with an emotional end
I've only seen 3 movies with Luis Tosar. "Sleep Tight", "Shrew's Nest" and this and I have to say, the guy can act. He has such wide range in what he can play from just the stuff i've seen so far. Whether it's the depressed father, a creepy stalker or a badass prison inmate, the guy is great.
As for the movie itself, I found it pretty interesting. Alberto Ammann did an amazing job as the prison guard pretending to be an inmate and all the emotions that came with it. Luis Tosar made a likeable 'bad guy', making one actually cheer for the bad guys than the cops. The movie made a great job at keeping the scenes intense with Alberto's character trying not to get found out and there were sprinkles of emotional scenes throughout too. I have seen quite a few Spanish movies throughout my life and man, they can actually make good movies. Definitely going to browse more of them. Give this one a watch everybody!
Poor Things (2023)
Yorgos Lanthimos and his bizarre mind
Yorgos Lanthimos... What a bizarre yet fascinating guy. "The Killing of a Sacred Deer", "The Lobster", and now this. This man has a very bizarre film making style and I think I love it. It is definitely unique, i'll give it that much.
"Poor Things", a movie about Bella Baxter, a woman brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, Godwin Baxter and her experiences with the world.
I have no idea what I just watched but somehow it still intrigued me and kept my interest. The cast did an amazing job, especially Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe and christopher abbott. I expected it to get crazy and weird going into it, since I knew the director was Yorgos Lanthimos, but I am still left... with this weird feeling. What a beautiful, yet peculiar film. And oh my, the cinematography was beautiful as well. Definitely give this one a watch.
The Wrestler (2008)
A great depiction of most wrestler's lives
I watched this ages ago, but guess I must've forgotten to review it. Stupid me. Anyways, "The Wrestler" is one of those rare wrestling movie gems. Not a lot of good wrestling movies gets made, so this is definitely a diamond in the rough.
"The Wrestler" takes a look at a faded professional wrestler who must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle which some athletes do in real life no matter the sport. That sport is everything for them to that point that they don't know nothing else.
Mickey Rourke did an amazing freaking job with this role, I mean my goodness. That performance at the end makes even grown men cry. The fact that he didn't win an Oscar for this role in 2008 is disgraceful but life goes on. Amazing movie.
The Iron Claw (2023)
Finally, another great wrestling movie
I am a huge wrestling fan and been following wrestling since I was a child, I am 26 now. Unfortunately in Hollywood, it is very rare to see an actual great wrestling movie. In my head, I can currently think of 3 great wrestling movies in the history of Hollywood and that is, "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke, the luchador movie with Jack Black, and this, "The Iron Claw" with Zac Efron and cast. I am not afraid to admit that yes, I teared up to "The Wrestler", why wouldn't I? That movie has one of the saddest endings of all damn time. But, I also teared up at this movie. My goodness, it was beautiful in the way it told its story.
"The Iron Claw" is based on the true story of the real life wrestling family, The Von Erichs and about their breakthrough in a tough era of wrestling in the 1980's, exploring their family troubles and etc.
There are a very few inaccuracies in this movie and most of them I could overlook. They were minor, almost not noticeable (like David actually not sending Kevin that letter or Kevin and Pam's first two kids were girls, not boys or it being Fritz who discovered Kerry's dead body and not Kevin and so on), but there is one that kind of had my attention throughout the rest of the movie...
What happened to Kerry's leg did not happen in 1984 a few days after winning the championship, it happened 2 years after in 1986 but I digress.
I loved this movie and I hope this sets the precedence for future wrestling movies to come.
Aquaman (2018)
Why the low ratings? This was pretty good
I watched Aquaman in the cinema which always gives a bit of a different experience as to when you just sit and watch it at home so maybe I got a better impression of this than some people who thought it wasn't good, but honestly, it was fine. I didn't particularly grow bored with this movie and there were some pretty awesome moments in it, and Jason Momoa is just an awesome person in general. I mean sure, there was a boring villain and sure maybe it was very formulaic and cliched as another viewer said, but come on now, you should get used to that by now, that's every superhero movie.
Pretty good. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Jason Momoa as Aquaman was perfect casting. The overall plot was amazing and it stayed somewhat true to the comics. Definitely a movie to check out if you like superhero movies.
The Marvels (2023)
Thank God it was only 1 hour 45 minutes
"The Marvels" the sequel to "Captain Marvel" unites the three marvels, Kamala Khan aka Miss Marvel, Captain Marvel and whatever the third one was called, I honestly couldn't be bothered to remember, and together they try to save the world.
Here's the thing with this movie... I really did not with all fiber in my being wanted to watch this at all whatsoever, but because I have this little annoying completionist in me, I felt the need to watch it, even though I knew it would be straight garbage trash. I've watched all what MCU has offered so far (yes, even the series) through trash and not so trash and actual good movies/series so I thought "Why not just get this sorry excuse for a Marvel movie out of the way already" and oh boy was I ever so right. This movie stunk more than I don't even know what. I felt like 1 hour and 45 minutes of my life was wasted and by the way, that was the ONLY good thing about "The Marvels", that the run time was only 1 hour and 45 minutes instead of 2+ or 3+ hours. Thank God. Anyways, if you like torture, go ahead and watch this, if you don't like pain, go ahead and skip this. I really wish I did.
Captain Marvel (2019)
Bland and boring
Very mediocre Marvel movie compared to the many great other movies they've made. So bland and boring, almost fell asleep during it. Does not hold a candle to even the Doctor Strange movie (which wasn't a bad movie at all. I'm just saying, that out of the marvel films of that golden era, Doctor Strange for me ranked lower than the others). But Captain Marvel was all around boring and I don't get the 6.8 rating, but i guess if you're really bored or if you are on a marvel watching spree... give it a watch.
I have to say, I really wanted to find something to like about this, but nothing ever came which is a damn shame, but oh well...
Bastarden (2023)
Mads Mikkelsen is rarely in bad movies
"The Promised Land" (Bastarden in Danish), based on a book by Ida Jessen called "The Captain and Ann Barbara" which in turn, based on a real life person is about a captain (Mads Mikkelsen) who sets out to conquer the Heath in Jutland which is said to be impossible to grow anything in. Throughout, he meets a lot of resistance working towards his goal.
I like Mads Mikkelsen as an actor, let me just get that straight out of the way. This guy rarely RARELY makes bad movies. He's just too good and underrated. The movie itself was pretty good too. I found myself pretty invested in the plot and the different characters. Mads Mikkelsen was brilliant in the role of Ludvig Kahlen and Amanda Collin was amazing as Ann Barbara the housekeeper. And not to talk about how good Simon Bennebjerg was as the villain, Frederik de Schinkel (also based on a real person). The film was emotional at times too.
Here's my only strife with the movie and literally my only strife... Although both Mads Mikkelsen and Frederik de Schinkel existed back in the 1700's which the movie took place, in real life they had absolutely nothing to do with each other. At least from the little i've read online. I found it weird they decided to mix them together in this.
Saltburn (2023)
Been done before and BETTER
"Saltburn" kind of has the same plot as "Parasite", the korean movie (family works under rich family, and ultimately pretty much ends up living there). With "Saltburn", it's pretty much the same with the character, Oliver Quick, moving in with this rich family slowly working his way on the inside albeit his tactics are way more dark and dirty.
I was not a big fan of this movie, I have to say straight up. It's been done before, and it's been done better. The plot twist I could see coming halfway through the movie although they did a good job doing the whole "who's the evil one here" shabang at the beginning. Just got predictable the longer you watch. And also there were some very cringe inducing scenes in this and not the good kind of cringe. Once you see the movie, you'll know EXACTLY what scenes i'm referring to. Plot had potential, could've been done better, hell, could've been done different. All in all, this was pretty average and that's about it.
(On a sidenote... Why does Barry Keoghan always play such creepy roles? He played a weird creepy character in "Killing of a sacred deer" too.)
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)
One good scene, that's about all this movie has to offer
I'm just going to be direct. This was for 80% of the movie, not so good. Borderline boring i'd even say. The ONLY somewhat exciting part was the Hunger Games scenes where they fought each other and that's about it. Also, I feel like halfway in through the movie, they didn't quite know what to do with Snow's character and near the end realizing... "Wait... This guy is supposed to be evil! Let's turn him heel in the last 20 minutes after 2+ hours of seeing him as a bad guy."
Honestly it was so stupid. They should've just stopped at the end of the main Hunger Games franchise and called it a day. Why they decided to capitalize off of that franchise with whatever this was, is a disgrace. Therefore, this for me is a below average Hunger Games movie.
Cape Fear (1991)
Very unsettling
One of Martin Scorsese's lesser known films, "Cape Fear" revolves around a family being stalked by a psychopathic rapist who left prison after 14 years. Chaos ensues.
I looked this film up seeing it as a suggestion on a horror movies Reddit thread and did not know what to expect going into it. After having watched it, I was both impressed but also very unsettled by certain scenes. Who knew Robert De Niro could play a bad guy so well?? Yes, I know there's Goodfellas but here he was a proper psychopath bad guy full on. There was this specific scene between Max Cady (De Niro's character) and Danielle Bowden (Juliette Lewis' character). I won't go into details because I don't want to spoil anything but man, that scene was so unsettling. Nick Nolte did great as the stalked lawyer and Jessica Lange as his wife. Honestly, if you like De Niro and unsettling movies, give this one a watch.
Freaks (2018)
It has been done before and much better
"Freaks" (2018), a movie about a dad protecting his daughter from the outside world from the "bad" people.
This could've gone a lot of ways when it comes to its plot. A lot of creative stuff could've come out of it. What are the "bad" the dad is trying to protect his daughter from? Zombies? Monsters? Aliens? BODY SNATCHERS?? Nope, none of those more interesting stuff, no... basically it's just a dad with superpowers, protecting his daughter, who has superpowers, from ordinary people who wants to kill them for some stupid reason or another. Now, I have seen a lot of superhero/superpower movies in my lifetime with more realistic themes, example, "Brightburn", "Chronicle", etc. Who pulled off the whole "People getting superpowers, turns evil, killing people shtick" much much better. I feel like this movie would've been much better if it just went the Body Snatchers route with monsters pretending to be humans. Much more scary and exciting than this. But all that critique aside, 6 stars, it was alright at best.
And for people giving this 7-8-9 or even 10 rating, please watch Chronicle or Brightburn and I guarantee you, you will at least 80% chance lower your rating for this.
Leave the World Behind (2023)
Had potential, ultimately fell flat
"A family's getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyberattack knocks out their devices, and two strangers appear at their door." - plot summary
From that summary you would think this would have some twist and turns to it and it wouldn't just be what the summary says... right? Wrong.
"Leave the World Behind" had a fascinating and ominous beginning which carried on throughout the middle but the climax ultimately fell flat. Albeit a cyberattack ending the world type of scenario is very rare to see in movies today (or ever for that matter), it's still just isn't intriguing enough for me. I wanted some better twist/s than it literally just being what it says in the plot summary. Everything was perfect, cast was A-tier, the environment was ominous and mysterious, the plot kept us guessing but ultimately it went a disappointing route and that's sad to see because this had so much potential.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
3.5 hours just for a... meh?
Immediately after finishing this very dragged out movie, I was thinking about giving it a low rating since the conclusion wasn't that well done, and the story just felt plain boring and veryyyyy dragged out. The fact that I didn't fall asleep watching it, is astounding. No movie needs to be 3 and a half hours. NO movie. (Except the very rare few that manages to keep your interest throughout the entire long duration), but this one just felt... I don't even know.
First of all, let me get this out of the way, the actors were incredible. Leonardo DiCaprio as always did an amazing job in his role, this man can not miss, and Lily Gladstone was very surprising too. Robert DeNiro and so on. The cast wasn't where the movie went wrong, far from it. The plot and pace just felt so drawn out which led to it being exhausting just halfway into the movie. Now, what I will give it is, it was gritty and realistic i guess the word to describe it is. And we all know Martin Scorsese loves making these gritty and real movies. In fact, one of my top 10-20 favorite movies were from him. "Goodfellas". But "Killers of the Flower Moon" just wasn't it. Now, I will play Devil's Advocate and say that since it was based on a true story, it's probably hard to actually make a it exciting but it definitely has been done before so why not this one? My conclusion is, this was just... meh.
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)
The end?
I don't know whether this is a unpopular opinion or not, but I actually preferred this over the first Minions movie and i'm sticking to that. I liked the plot surrounding Gru and his upcoming together with the Minions and him trying to get into a supervillain group but everything just starts turning into chaos and so on and so forth. Minions had their own funny enjoyable storyline too and it all concludes nicely in the end tying everything up with a nice knot. Again, not anything amazing, but I did kind of enjoy myself with this one.
And with this, it has been the end to a somewhat amazing franchise (so far? No idea whether they're going to make more.) Despite my many compliments but also many criticisms, all in all, I would definitely recommend the Despicable Me/Minions franchise but I would recommend even more so if you don't have a lot of time to watch movies to just stick to the 2 first Despicable Me's.
Despicable Me 3 (2017)
Worst of the trilogy
For all those who somehow has seen my previous reviews on the previous entries, did I not say it would just go downhill after the 2nd Despicable Me movie? What even was this?
How did this somehow manage to be worse than the "Minions" movie? That should've been impossible, but here we are. I didn't like much about this movie, but let's take the very few things I did enjoy. Voice acting as usual was superb, had some good emotional moments here and there... had a very few funny scenes... That's about it.
There wasn't much else about this third entry to the trilogy. The story had potential but fell flat, villain was ok at best, the script just wasn't as good as the first two movies and it's honestly baffling. Could've been a perfect way to end the trilogy and have a perfect 3 but that is what that is. It wasn't awful or anything, but not particularly good either.
Minions (2015)
It was just... fine
Oh man, what do i say about this... I have very mixed feelings here because on one hand, I really wanted to like this but on the other, the minions albeit funny, just isn't as entertaining to watch without Gru by their side or something to that extent. A whole movie about the minions just gets annoying really fast for me. Not to say I didn't like it, but I didn't completely dislike it either.
"Minions" (now voiced by just one person doing all the minions) personally to me just wasn't good enough to compare to "Despicable Me 1 & 2". Comedy aspects were alright, villains were kind of boring and obnoxious, and poor attempts at doing emotional scenes. This just felt like a "Damn, Despicable Me 1 and 2 did amazing at the box office so let's just make a spin-off of the Minions" type of deal. Not a fan, it was just... fine. That's it.
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
Almost as good as the first one, recommended
I'm sad to say but this was the last great entry into the franchise. It just fell off from here. "Despicable Me" 1 & 2 were amazing, and at first I didn't think the sequel would even compare to the first entry but I actually also enjoyed myself with this sequel, although not as good as the first, it probably will hold a special place in my mind for some time to come.
It had all the charms from the first movie, the minions were funny, Gru was an evil funny genius, the plot was fun, and the introduction of a new female character who manages to be hilarious as well. (Ok, that was not meant to come off as sexist, but rapidly moving on...)
I loved "Despicable Me 2" and I definitely recommend this and the first part to really anyone. But maybe you should just stop at this one, like i said, just goes downhill from here.
Despicable Me (2010)
A great entry into the Despicable Me franchise
I went into this thinking it was going to follow the same recipe as "Megamind" (both movies came out in 2010, albeit "Megamind coming out before "Despicable Me" to my knowledge) but the only similarity between those two movies is that the MC is a villain and got minions that's pretty much it. This made each movie unique in their own ways but now that i've watched the "Megamind" movie and the whole "Despicable Me" franchise, I can say hands down, this movie takes the crown. I just enjoyed every aspect of this way more, despite of how star-studded the cast of "Megamind" was. The comedy was funnier, the plot, the emotional scenes, those damn annoying minions who somehow both gets on my nerves but also manages to give me a few chuckles along the way. Will Ferrell did an outstanding job as the voice of Gru, Russell Brand as Nefario, Jason Segel as Vector and ofc whoever voiced the minions did great too. This is definitely the best movie out of the trilogy and ofc better than the 2 minion movies. This won't be topped by any future sequels ever.
The Village (2004)
How did this get a 6.6 rating??
M. Night Shyamalan has a very unique directing style and it is obvious to notice in almost all his movies, and just to make it clear, unique does not always equal good and that especially counts for this movie because it was sort of boring. I don't quite know what M. Night went for here but it felt direction-less to me.
"The Village" actually had a lot of potential with its cast of amazing actors like Adrien Brody, Joaquin Phoenix, Sigourney Weaver, Bryce Dallas Howard etc. But it ultimately just fell flat. I can't talk about the bad parts of the movie without spoilers so... Spoiler Alert:
Personally I think the movie would've been 1000x better if the "monsters" were actually real instead of just the village elders in costume trying to scare the village people from going into the "towns". Maybe that's just because I love horror idk. Also, literally nothing happened throughout the film except Joaquin's character getting stabbed by a mentally unstable Adrien Brody and then commence blind lady trying to go through forest to get to the "towns". If this plot sounds boring, it's because that's what it was. I honestly don't think Shyamalan will ever top Sixth Sense ever, because he just keeps missing with all his newer movies, it's honestly sad at this point.
Megamind: The Button of Doom (2011)
Fun quick sequel
A 16 minute sequel to "Megamind" which explores the aftermath of where the first movie left off. This will be a short review because there's not much to say about this that I haven't in my review for the first movie.
"Megamind: The Button of Doom" was a fun 16-minute thing to watch, which doesn't take much of your time but neither does it garner your full attention. It was basically a quick in and out with this one, not much to say. Fun plot, Megamind and his fish are a funny comedic duo, gave me a few chuckles. But it was not as good as the first one obviously, but definitely recommend it to anyways because it's a easy and quick watch and it's just fun to watch.
Megamind (2010)
It was alright
Megamind is one of those movies i've wanted to watch for the longest time but for some reason just kept post-poning it but I finally sat down, popped some popcorn, got a nice glass of cold water and put on "Megamind" and it was... alright?
Now hear me out, I loved the whole satire on the superhero and villain thing, and the voice actors did an amazing job portraying the different characters, soundtrack was awesome (because Hans Zimmer is just great) and everything was fine and dandy but it didn't blow me away or anything. It was just one of those fun animated movies to watch when you're bored one day at home just like Puss in Boots or Despicable Me and what other animated films have you. It isn't one of those that blows you away like Shrek or Frozen and etc. You catch my drift. Anyways, "Megamind" was actually a pretty fun movie, I did like it and would recommend.