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The Mummy (1999)
Classic Adventure Film
It's a massive shame how underappreciated the Mummy is, considering the amount of aspects it balances and gets right. It only has a 60% on RT and only seems to have a small following, despite being an excellent action, adventure and monster films. I rewatched it recently, and only confirmed prior thoughts of greatness. Here some of the pros/takeaways I have:
-The setting is perfectly realized: the movie does an incredible of taking the viewer to 1920s Egypt, a setting rarely used in film. The beautiful desert shots, egyptian-like score and specific period set pieces contribute and enhance the film in many ways. It's often just a joy to look at and listen to the film.
-It does a fantastic job with it's creatures/mythology. The story blends aspects of Egyptian mythology/history seamlessly, as it showcases various locations, gods, objects and characters. It is a lot easier to get into the movie with the excellent world design created here.
-The story is fresh and exciting.
-The actors/characters are excellent. The Mummy has an almost entirely unknown cast (Rachel Weisz being the only actor/actress to star in critically-applauded films) and yet nearly every performance in the film works in its own way. The two massive standouts are John Hannah as Jonathan, honestly in my opinion one of the best comic-relief side characters in movie history, and Arnold Vosloo as the Imhotep, an excellent villain with the perfect amount of humanity. Brendan Fraser is an excellent lead, Rachel Weisz is solid, and even most of the minor characters contribute to the film.
Blue Ruin (2013)
Slow Burn...Great Payoff
After watching the excellent green room, I was certainly interested in some of the director's older works. His feature film, Blue Ruin was almost universally praised (96%), and few movies are more exciting than thrillers, so I gave it a watch. Being a lower budget unknown film starring virtually no one I knew, it was a little harder to get my hands on but provided a less familiar feel. This was a good thing and the indie feel to gives every shot a certain authenticity that makes it beautiful to watch.
Blue Ruin starts off with a bang. Given the entire revenge premise, I was shocked at how early a certain event occurred and was wondering how the rest of the film would play out. After a exciting opening filled with intrigue and wonderful acting by Macon Blair, the movie gets incredibly slow. It's about 90 minutes long, and unlike Green Room "thrills every minute" approach, hardly anything happens after the 30 minute mark. A few interesting characters and plotlines were introduced here and there, but for the most part, it became so uneventful it was nearly boring. Had I not been hooked by the excellent first act, I may have dozed off during the middle.
Just as I was thinking about how disappointing this movie was, the event that I had been waiting for finally happened. The suspense was generally lacking due to the slowness of the film and everything major happening within such a short time frame, the end literally had my heart pounding. The intensity ramps up to a full 10 for the first time in the movie, and the result is one of the most exciting conclusions ever put to film. While the middle drags the film down a bit, this ending more than made it worth it.
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (2017)
Best of the Series
The Lost Legacy doesn't really do anything the best in the series, but is overall the best package simply because unlike every other Uncharted game, there isn't a single tedious moment of gameplay (except perhaps the final fight with Asav, but that lasts mere minutes). Throughout the game, Chloe is a fantastic protagonist and while Nathan Drake is one of the greatest video game characters, it is actually a good thing for one to play from a different perspective. This removed the incredibly boring Drake's journal sections in turn of a more reward lockpick system and more visually appealing photos. The areas in which you could use stealth weren't as well constructed as they were in UC4, but the combat was and the combat was generally more exciting and less frustrating. Sam Drake is an awesome addition again, but is left out just enough to remind that this isn't a Nathan Drake tale. The two aspects that Lost Legacy absolutely knocks out of the park are the puzzles and the visuals. The puzzles, for the first time in the series are actually enjoyable to figure out and the visuals, while similar to UC4 are absolutely stunning. The open world (Chapter 4) has gotten some criticism for not having much to do, and while this is somewhat true, the open world is still fantastic because it is a first for the series and there are still 11 hoysala tokens to find, meaning there are still 15 substantial things to do on the map. The reward for finding all of the tokens gets you The Queen's Ruby, which makes the treasure hunting actually doable. Taking each UC game as whole, this is surprisingly the very best.
Only the Brave (2017)
An Emotionally Charged Ride
Straight from the opening music, I knew this had a certain heroic feel to it and throughout the story, the Granite Mountain Hotshots are portrayed as exactly that. The structure always seems fairly basic for a movie based on a true story but it has an impressive dedication to promoting strength in heroics and community throughout. While it is about a large group of characters, the two main ones are the ones really to stand out, and it's thanks to great performances from the always reliable Josh Brolin and Miles Teller that the core of the movie really work. The characters are almost complete opposite, one being an experienced and the other being in need of guidance which allows both characters to grow throughout the story in what becomes a time of happiness for them. Every bit of the story is very well told with the combination of strong acting, outstanding cinematography, and most of all, squeezing every bit of emotion it can out of this movie. This movie is the saddest I've seen in a while and achieves something absolutely remarkable.
Last Flag Flying (2017)
A Hilarious Showcase of Three Legendary Actors
I wasn't entirely sure what to expect coming into Last Flag Flying, given the lack of the marketing surrounding the film and given that I did not enjoy Linklater's Boyhood (2014). But seeing three actors of such a high caliber was enough of a draw. While the movie appears to be a very emotional drama, it was very surprisingly to find that for the most part, its a road trip comedy. Bryan Cranston as the immature Sal is a strangely genius casting move. Everyone knew Bryan Cranston always had serious dramatic chops and could be charming, but he reaches a new form here as minute to minute, he is simply hilarious. The contrast with Fishburne's minister provides even more comedy when the two finally begin to get along. Carell's Larry Shepherd is the sad, emotional aspect of the story and he really brings in one of his best performances and makes the audience feel every burning pain as he goes through the proceeding to bury his fallen son. Linklater has perfectly crafted three unique and highly interesting, well-developed characters that are at the heart of the movie, providing hilarious, entertaining, thoughtful and even sad scenes throughout this movie. It's such a shame Last Flag Flying was so overlooked, given the quality of these actor's performances, the depth of skill demonstrated by the director and simply being a great time. It's one of the best road trip movies ever made, and one of the best movies of 2017.
Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966)
Great Movie
I thought the good, the bad, and the ugly was pretty good. It was my second favorite out of the trilogy, after for a few dollars more. I really liked how in the previous movie Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef teamed up in the second movie, but were enemies in the good, the bad, and the ugly. Another thing I didn't like about the good, the bad, and the ugly is it is too long. They should of removed the more boring parts. I also thought there was not enough action. What I did like about it was the story. It kept me interested. I also really liked the soundtrack. It is very memorable and cool. I also liked the ending and I think the man with no name(Clint Eastwood) is one of the greatest movie characters of all time.