senseijosh11 Reviews

The Irishman (2019)

The best of the decade

[10/10 · 30 July 2020]

This movie is already underrated, in a few years or even a decade, we will look back on it as one of the best movies of the 2010s and right up there with Scorsese's best films.

It takes the Goodfellas/Casino + Al Pacino's masterful performance formula for the first 2 hours or so, then in the last act it turns into Raging Bull with an emotional and poetic ending that really makes me feel sad for the main character, even though you know they put themselves in the situation they are in.

Just the performances alone are enough to makes this a masterpiece, but the script, directing, and cinematography are also top notch. If you found it boring, or too drawn out, please watch it again with an open mind, you will thank me later.

Hamilton (2020)

great music. Decent plot and acting. Horrible cinematography.

[4/10 · 28 July 2020]

Just want to say that i have a huge bias here, I REALLY don't like musicals. I think they are cheesy and the opposite of subtle. But I quite enjoy this, the music was really good. But WHY is this so high on IMBD's top 250 movies? It's above Star Wars, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Chinatown, and The Apocalypse Now??? And great films like The Irishman and Annie Hall aren't even on the top 250, yet this is?

The music is incredible, but when it's on a Top Rated MOVIES list, I need more than just a great soundtrack. Maybe the labeling of the medium is wrong, and it should be on a list of musicals and not movies, who knows. But when it's with the top rated movies I need more than just a great soundtrack, I need great characters, a great plot, a great script, ambitious themes, and great cinematography. This greatly lacks these, but especially lacks the latter.

I get that it's a lot hard to film a live performance, but my god, half the shots in this movie have the characters head completely out of the frame. There's a scene where it holds on George Washington for about 10 seconds, and the frame is centered on his chest and his head is completely cut off. Most of the stuff in the background is cut off. It really took me out of the movie.

Besides that here are some pros:

• Humor was on point
• Music and lyric written was really clever
• as far as I know it respected the history
• Eccentric performances
• King George was especially funny
• ending was cool
• Returning themes felt a little forced but was cool to see returning themes

Objectively the movie is about a 9 but subjectively for me it was around a 5 or 6

Chinatown (1974)

The peak of Film Noir, the start of Neo Noir, and one of the greatest films of all time.

[10/10 · 28 July 2020]

Not only does this film kick off the Neo Noir trend, but it also does so while being one of the best Film Noirs ever.

While most Neo Noirs after this took the genre into new eras and places (ex. Blade runner, Mulholland Drive,) Chinatown takes the usual Noir setting, and expands upon it. Adding twists and differences that you wouldn't expect.

while the plot seems confusing and hard to follow at first, it all pays off with the reveal in the third act. Which all leads to the one of the greatest and most heart wrenching endings in all of cinema.

Jack Nicholson is excellent in this movie. Alternating between the typical Noir protagonist, to a hot headed and eccentric character.

Faye Dunaway is perfect as well. At first she seems like the typical femme fatale character, but you slowly notice the subtle and dark side of her character.

this is one of the best films ever made, and it deserves your attention and patience.

Tak and the Power of Juju (2003 Video Game)

Decent adventure game that hasn't aged well

[5/10 · 24 July 2020]

Loved this game as a kid but finished it as an adult. The game has a great sense of humor and world visuals, but the dungeon are extremely tedious and the game feels a lot longer than it needs to be. The chicken temple was way too frustrating.

The Matrix (1999)

Most overrated movie of all time.

[1/10 · 6 February 2018]

Silly and over top, yet boring. Meaningless, but somehow pretentious. Cheesy, yet too serious. Combined with meh to horrible acting, bad dialogue, dated fxs, and mindless action. And yet, higher than citizen kane, se7en, silence of the lambs, psycho, and the departed on the top 250 movies list? Am I missing something?!