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brandonzamudio
Reviews
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
There's a decent 1hr23min movie in here somewhere
This film is in desperate need of a re-edit. I felt like I was watching the director's cut. Feeling like Lore dump the movie. With the revenge and central relationship between the leads being put on the back burner for the entire middle chunk of the film, as Joe and Dementus fight over territory and crap. Not what I signed up for. They should've kept the revenge the central focus. Have a handful of flashbacks throughout film to her childhood as she went on her quest. Would have worked so much better. Instead there's an ENTIRE HOUR STRAIGHT, with her as a child at the start. So unnecessary. Especially when it seems to be setting it up as if the two of them would be spending the whole movie together to an extent. But nope, Dementus just pawns her off as a peace offering of sorts. Before leaving the movie till about near the end, by which point you almost forget he's even in it. She has a love interest, who isn't terrible. But I don't think he was necessary either. Joe and Citadel I would've preferred as just cameo type appearances near end at best. But they're heavily in this movie. This film not seeming willing to leave the shadow of Fury Road, basking in it and feeling as though it's giving constant callbacks. Not a fan of that at all. If I structured/outlined this movie, whilst working with what they had. Here's what I'd do. Start with Anya Furiosa, not kid. Have her hiding in cover as she does in the movie. Once she meets love interest, which I still wouldn't want in the movie but we're working with what we got, have him ask her about her past. Boom, flashback. Lasts maybe 5-10 minutes at most. Establishes Dementus, gives context to where she's from, her mom etc. Back to young adult Furiosa. Love interest starts showing her the ropes as he does in film. She experiences a new side of the world we and her haven't been privy too. Maybe they're driving down one road, she hasn't told him about what specifically happened to her mom as is too painful. She looks longingly out the window as he's driving. Boom, next flashback. Briefer, but shows what specifically happened to her mother in full. Where as before was just quick flashes in her mind in the film. Now clear as day. Back to present. They find Dementus, she gets close to getting him. They get ambushed as in the movie, love interest killed, as in the movie. But she escapes somewhat in tact. She runs to Citadel for help. Last flashback, shows how she was initially pawned off to Joe, or completely new faction they could have made for this movie. Either way, it shows that, and her eventually going into hiding, looping back to more or less where the movie started. Now she asks for help in the present, from someone she doesn't like, but whom she shares a common enemy with. She goes finishes Dementus off. And maybe one last flashback, shows a happy memory with her and her mom. End the movie there. NO FURY ROAD FAN SERVICE AT END. Like how this movie does, with it literally leading into Fury Road with even clips being shown during credits. So bad. So yeah, initially I wanted to be kinder to this film. But it's just TOO long, and how it's edited and structured makes me so uninvested and bored watching it. So no, I think it's terrible. And I love Fury Road. This didn't have to be 2.0 Fury Road. If it was structured and edited as I had laid out. I would have enjoyed myself so much more. But no, this ain't it as it is. Someone get on bored with a fan edit using what I suggested please.
Stuber (2019)
Collateral, but garbage
Title says it all, essentially it's Collateral but not even close to as good. Go watch that instead, would not be surprised if the writers and crew saw that movie and decided to just rip it off. Also title of this movie is dumb and sounds like a bad joke.
The Exorcist (1973)
Scary back then, but not now
This is an infamous film that's left a legacy of being imitated and proclaimed at one point and still by many as the scariest movie ever made. But not only is this movie not scary, it's boring and unintentionally hilarious. I know that people in the 70's had never seen anything like this before so I can somewhat understand why they'd enjoy this, but I've seen a lot of things and this movie tried its best to engage me and it never did. The first biggest problem is that it's a watershed film (a movie that's been imitated and copied), but unlike other similar films like Die Hard and Halloween that to this day yeah have elements that are familiar, still have enough creativity and enjoyment throughout to make them solid. This however poorly executes its "creepy" visuals, almost every time Reagan does something that's suppose to be disturbing, we never get time to let it sink in, instead as soon as something happens it cuts away to a scene where something completely separated is happening, it's like cutting away in the middle of an action sequence and than seeing the aftermath later, stupid. So the ideas don't hold up from being copied and not well executed, to the point where the demon came off more like a 12 year old kid yelling online about video games or something, just ridiculous. Now the extra salt on the wound is the fact that the second problem is its length, this 2 hour movie has one scene after another that just drags on for so long with characters taking forever to get to the dang point already, so the movie wastes your time through its majority runtime and the parts where a little time should be spent to really get involved in the scenes, they cut away from it immediately. And you can say it's well made and well acted or whatever but that only goes so far, I'm not ever angry at people who definitely put time and effort into the things that they make. And yeah the effects are still great but none of it matters when the movie did such a poor job at having me care about anyone, the detective didn't need to be in the movie, the mom didn't need to be in the movie (heck if Reagan was an orphan it really wouldn't have made much of a difference overall since the mom didn't do much other than worry), the one priests mother didn't need to be there. Scene after scene of them trying to figure out with what's wrong with her, when we as the audience already know, this isn't a mystery story so why is it trying to be. She should've been almost fully possessed and getting worked on by the two priests by like 20-30 minutes in. Than have some maybe rivalry like tension between the priest with one doing things differently from the other, that would have been way more interesting and well executed. But no she instead gets possessed almost 3/4 of the way through, up until then you feel like the movie is just wasting your time, and when she is possessed (which by the way isn't a spoiler it's the premise of the movie) there's only about 10-15 minutes of it, and it's not scary in the slightest, none of it it's just hilarious because like I said she's acting like a spoiled kid throwing a temper tantrum. I'd say more but this is long at this point, it's terrible stay away.
Ready Player One (2018)
Shiny new coat of paint
My header says it all, if you've seen enough things than nothing will surprise you here except for maybe a few set pieces. It's a nice repackaging of a formula done before, the dialogue could've been improved for sure though, there's some real bad lines in this. Which is excuse if there was more to it, but this is a pure escapism movie through and through which is what Speilburg is known for, but there could've been more stakes and flaws in the characters, with more interesting things for them to talk about, and things more interesting to show.
Black Lagoon (2006)
Too fun for words
With terrific gorgeous animation from Madhouse, an excellent array of music (especially the opening), a tone that balances being over the top and fun, with intensity and violence. This series hooked me immediately and I binged it all in one day. The central best piece of entertainment, aside from the action, comes from the fun banter between characters especially the two most focused on throughout the series Rock and Revy. I could watch those two just sit and talk for hours, which is much of what the show is, and it entertained me every time. I recommend this to anyone and everyone who wants to have an adrenaline filled fun time, even if you're not an anime fan. But for someone like me who is, it was a treat.