the lost city of z

From the opening scene involving men on horses hunting a deer, to trench warfare, and of course the many encounters in the jungle, you can tell that this is a highly produced movie, that has an involving story to share with us by the very talented writer-director James Gray. This movie will take you on a journey, filled with adventure, dread, and obsession. From the moment British explorer Percy Fawcett steps in Brazil, it's hard not to get hooked into seeing through this movie to the end, just to see where he eventually ends up. 

While this isn't exactly an Indiana Jones type of adventure, nor does it have the leading man character of Harrison Ford to entertain us, Charlie Hunnam is still really good as Percy Fawcett, and is able to show us a man haunted by his desire to find his so called Lost City Of Z. However, despite the somewhat grim tone that this movie seems to keep throughout, the deliberately luxurious pacing, and the unnecessarily long run-time at 141 minutes, there is somehow still a very romanticized angle to the lead character and to his obsession that people might find captivating. 

Depending on your point of view of Fawcett's actions in the movie, or how familiar you are with the real life history of the man, will likely determine how much you will enjoy this story. I myself had issues with the character of Fawcett, and I'm afraid to say that it has indeed affected by overall opinion of the movie. It's actually far more interesting researching the facts vs the fiction of Fawcett, than what we've seen in the movie itself. 

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the promise

Frankly speaking, I believe there are a lot of people who aren't familiar with the Armenian Genocide during World War 1, that began 20 years before the Holocaust by the Nazi. With that said, there is definitely a sense of importance that is felt within this film to show the world that this atrocity did happen. Scenes of Armenians suffering and dying under their oppressors, are shown multiple times in this movie, and there are definitely many heartbreaking moments. The historical recreation in itself should be enough to justify seeing this movie, but apparently Co-Writer/Director Terry George thought it was necessary to throw in a fictitious love-triangle tale into the mix. 

That war-romance sweeping epic part of the story is arguably the weakest aspect of this film, with it being rather derivative and emotionally manipulative at times. It's not egregiously horrible of a plot though, and I can honestly see the appeal of it. Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon, and Christian Bale, are all effective enough in their roles, that people might find themselves even more invested in this movie, just to see how this genocide will affect the fate of their characters. It hits all the expected plot tropes to generate a reaction from the audience, so it serves it's purpose. 

Like many historically based movies around, the actual history can be much more interesting than the filmed version of it, and this is no exception for "The Promise." I'm not denying that this movie has great production values and beautifully shot scenes, as well as having it's heart in the right place as to why it was made. It's not a bad movie by any means, but the impact it's trying to create as a historical and societal commentary is diluted by the more fictitious parts of the movie. However, if it gets people to be more exposed to the fact that the Armenian genocide did happen, then this movie deserves our gratitude. 

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free fire

You know how shoot-out scenes in movies usually last a minute, a couple of minutes, seven minutes, fifteen minutes, maybe even thirty minutes tops? Well for this movie, the shoot-out scene last for pretty much one whole hour! Keep in mind that this is already a ninety minutes movie, and that includes the credits, plus the John Denver songs that plays in the background on occasion. How does this movie maintain this premise? In a very flimsy way. First they put our gun-toting characters into the one single setting that is inside a warehouse; kinda like a TV show "bottle episode." Secondly, they give them multiple stupidly convenient reasons on why they couldn't just straight up kill somebody, to the point where I was thinking they apparently don't really want to kill somebody. Thirdly, they just make it a really long "Mexican stand-off." 

I suppose this very extended shoot-out sequence is part of the charm and appeal of seeing this movie, and I admit that I did find entertainment in it. The motley ensemble of characters bickered with each other a lot, constantly made jokes and taunts, plus a lot of complaints and confusion on what's happening. At one point, a character actually yells out "I forgot whose side I'm on!" It's also very amusing to see everybody forced to just crawl or hobble around the warehouse the majority of the time from their wounds. The chaos and irreverence is what people will likely find enjoyable about this movie, although it immediately gets to the point when it demands you to suspend your disbelief just to have fun with what's going on. 

In all honesty, I think it's a little ridiculous that this guilty pleasure of a movie exists, and comes off like a throwaway film of no importance. In fact, I think the movie actually does know it's a little ridiculous that it exists, and intends to be a throwaway guilty pleasure film of no importance. So I guess that makes it okay then, because it knows what it is? 

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colossal

Just from watching the trailer, it's easy to assume that this is a fun fantasy tale involving a down on her luck woman who discovers she can control a giant monster on the other side of the planet. All that does describe what happens in this movie, but there's more to it than that. With Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis in the picture, it's easy to assume that it also has some romantic-comedy vibe to it as well. That vibe can be felt in this movie, but there's much more to it than that. Can I just say that whatever you think this movie is, based on the initial level of just what you've seen in the trailer, well there is so much more to it than that. 

It's a giant monster movie, but it's not really a giant monster movie, except that it is. Kinda. Needless to say, this film absolutely subverted my expectations to what it's about. If you're only looking forward to the Anne Hathaway and the giant monster story, don't worry because that is ever present throughout the movie, and produces several very entertaining highlights to see play out on screen. Kudos to Writer-Director Nacho Vigalondo for making this very enjoyable and imaginative take of a giant monster movie. 

To my pleasant surprise, this movie is also much more thought provoking than I initially thought it was going to be. The social commentaries, allegories, and metaphors, featured in the story should definitely make you want to discuss this movie in depth after seeing it. Talking about the negative repercussions of alcoholism, abusive personalities, life regrets, and other heavy subject matters, is a delicate balance that the movie successfully balances between the scenes of fun lightheartedness to those moments that get really dark. There are some plot points that I can see people having issues with, but it's hard to deny the clever writing of this movie. 

This is a genre-defying story that fits perfectly well within the indie-film aesthetics, as it is far from just being another typical Hollywood special effects blockbuster. If it needs to also be mentioned, Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis are fantastic in this, as well as the supporting cast like Tim Blake Nelson and Dan Stevens. From beginning to end, the story and the cast got my complete attention. This giant monster movie is an instant classic in my eyes. 

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P.S. Full disclosure, I am an investor in "Legion M," which is one of the companies involved in this movie. Don't let that sway your opinion of what I thought about the film, because I'm just glad that I loved it as much as I did, especially since my money went into this project in some way.

the zookeepers wife

As far as movies about true stories goes, this one leans more towards a very "Hollywood" adaptation. The tale of zookeeper's doing everything they can to help the Jews in Nazi controlled Warsaw, Poland, is already an incredible story in itself, but this movie version decided to add in all the typical plot tropes you would expect from a typical story about World War II. This can be grounds to complain about the film, but the straightforward and predictable nature of the story telling isn't completely bad. The movie just doesn't feel very inspired, what with it's use of cliches and plot conveniences, whenever there is a need to advance the story. 

At least Jessica Chastain definitely knows how to work in front of the screen as Antonina Zabinski. Chastain gives her character a slight innocence to her personality as an animal lover, while still being able to display the strength of somebody who will do what is necessary to undermine the Nazis. The other cast like Daniel Bruhl and Johan Heldenbergh are also good in their roles, but this is really a story that's made for Jessica Chastain to shine. However, going back to the whole Hollywood effect of this story, most of the characters come off as typical archetypes, that doesn't lend itself to especially interesting dynamics. 

Besides Jessica Chastain's presence, the simple reason to see this movie is just to see an adaptation of this incredible true story. The premise of the story is what will make you want to see the film all the way through until the end, despite all the make-believe content. Besides that fact, I can't deny that the more emotionally dramatic scenes are all very well done, and helps excuse the many liberties that this movie took with the real story. 

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the fate of the furious

Considering that this is the 8th movie in the franchise, there's a lot of character backstory and stories from the previous films, that the audience are already expected to know before watching this. That way, this installment can simply focus much more on the action set pieces than any of that plot development and story telling nonsense. I say that a little flippantly because I knew that the story isn't necessarily what most people look forward to when they plan to see this movie, but the action definitely has to hold up. Does it though? 

Needless to say, the story is at best just serviceable. It created the necessary premise for an ultimate betrayal within the group of our familiar characters to drive the plot forward. There's a bigger threat that needs to be stopped, which means that this movie created a villain, that is a bigger villain than the last villain, who was already suppose to be a bigger villain than the last villain... With that said, Charlize Theron plays the stone cold villain pretty well, but then there are new characters like the one played by Scott Eastwood that I wished wasn't in this movie at all. At least the movie is automatically better when Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham are on the screen. 

At this point, the characters really are just there to play their parts, and not too much more. Character development is now superficially done at best. This is honestly disappointing. It only makes this franchise seem like it's starting to spin it's wheels in place, without doing anything really interesting, besides just trying to one-up itself. That derivative factor, the plot conveniences, the huge requirement to suspend disbelief, are all starting to feel really obvious and tiring now.

Luckily, it seems this franchise can still rely on what it's good at. Figuring out ways to make action sequences with vehicles; plus now there's a submarine involved too. I would say that there are at least five huge action set pieces that highlight this movie, and some of them can really justify that price of admission. From a fun street race, to a heist involving a lot of cars crashing, this franchise is still able to entertain me with how they use vehicles like super weapons. How far can they go with this franchise though? It's starting to feel like it's getting past it's expiration date. 

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your name.

Romantics and hopeless romantics should really enjoy this movie, that converges two typically regular teenage life stories, with a fantastical element that adds a very entertaining twist to the plot. Story elements of history, traditions, self identity, friendship, social standings, romance, the passage of time, risks, proactive action, and longing, make for a familiar but engrossing tale that should keep your attention from beginning to end. The beautiful animation also helps a whole lot in getting your eyes glued to the screen as well, and wow are there some amazing imagery in this anime movie, with a few sequences that actually play off like music videos. 

I really liked the premise of this movie a lot. Although it may pander to the audience a little too much at times, and may rely too much on your own knowledge of some typical and predictable anime tropes in the plot progression, I found myself absolutely charmed by the story anyway. It's sense of adventure in the mundanity of a teenager's life; plus the fantastical premise, it's sense of humor in the more ridiculous aspects, and it's ability to raise the emotional level when needed, all together makes it easy for people to fall in love with the movie. The characters are also very endearing, especially the two leads of Mitsuha and Taki, as well as the supporting cast of friends. You're going to want to root for all of them to achieve a happy ending. 

While it's very easy to praise this movie for it's accomplishments, there are a few factors that will determine how much you will really enjoy this movie. Those would be the fact that there are quite a few major plot holes and plot conveniences, that kinda forces you to have a huge suspension of disbelief for this movie, and asks that you don't question the logical flaws that effects the plot and characters of this story. While it's also easy to root for both the primary leads equally, I felt that the character of Mitsuha was simply more developed than Taki was. The romantic angle of this movie was also frankly a little bit rushed, and I would have liked more exposition to completely buy into it. 

As a feel good movie, it's hard not to find it very appealing. It's heart is absolutely in the right place, and that's what will resonate the most with an audience. 

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ghost in the shell 2017

Visually, this movie is very pretty to look at. From the cinematography, the CG work, the costumes, and the set design. Most importantly, this movie does a great job in bringing the world of the manga and the anime Ghost In The Shell original source materials to life. At least in the looks department. I especially like the gigantic holographic advertisements that can be found all over the city, and the general future-tech stuff. 

As for the story, despite the fact that this is an adaptation, it actually attempts to be it's own thing. That's a good thing, and a bad thing. The good thing is that I actually appreciated some of things added to a certain character's back story, as well as seeing the live-action recreated scenes from the original source materials. That's about it really. The bad thing is that while the story technically has some interesting things to say; usually the elements found in the original source materials, the general premise of this adaptation is rather mediocre, drab, and just plain boring. What's unfortunate is that the screenplay is not able to adequately handle the scenes that diverge into philosophical topics, with the dialogue just ending up sounding stilted and awkward. 

I appreciate some of the ambition that this movie does have, but it doesn't help that the only thing really fleshed out in the world building are the visuals. The thematic topic about whether a human is still a human if 95% of their body is artificial, may constantly be present here, but that's as far as the movie is capable of handling in terms of big ideas. One could argue that this is the most dumbed-down version of the Ghost In The Shell story, and one could even argue further that this is just another typical western adaptation that focuses more on action sequences, eye popping visuals, and familiar plot tropes, that is meant to be easily digestible to the viewing audience. 

It's too bad that this is how the movie turned out. I generally like this ensemble cast of characters and the promise that they could bring into a story. Batou, Aramaki, and Major, are characters I'd honestly like to see more of in a live-action format. The way the movie ends with these characters, it's almost like this is just a prequel story to what could potential result in a more fleshed-out sequel with better plot development. Speaking of characters, Scarlett Johansson is just serviceable as Major Mira Killian, especially during the action sequences. Unfortunately she is playing her mostly robotic character, like a robot, as she should I suppose. It doesn't make for a captivating performance though.

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P.S. I would like to give kudos to the movie for figuring out some way to justify the fact that the Major is played by a western actress, when she is typical portrayed as a Japanese woman. There shouldn't have been a need for it's justification in the first place though, if you know what I mean... 

raw

What do you get when you combine a vegetarian, a veterinary school, hazing, peer pressure, dance parties, a strong willed older sister, and eating raw meat? You get this movie that is like a combination of multiple different themes that involves a coming-of-age story, sexual awakening, to gore horror scenarios. You also get a movie that was able to get me to squirm uncomfrotably in my seat, by being absolutely disgusted and horrified by what I was witnessing on screen. This movie definitely has scenes that will not be leaving my mind anytime soon. Just, wow. 

In terms of being a horror movie, this isn't exactly a jump-scare-a-thon type, and more in the disturbing side of things. The downward spiral of Justine; this intellectual prodigy that's lacking in some social skills, who discovers something unusual about herself, is quite the journey for us to follow. Garance Marillier is absolutely incredible in the role of Justine, and carries this movie with such confidence; especially considering some of the things that she has to do in this film. A fantastic and captivating tour-de-force on Marillier's part. 

If I didn't make myself clear enough, this isn't a movie for everybody. Some people are likely not going to be able to stomach some of the more gruesome scenes, or just the content of the premise in general. Despite the crazy stuff that happens in this film, there is also a bit of erotica to it, which is likely helped by some of the cinematography in several of Marillier's scenes. Needless to say, the visuals in several of those scenes are beautifully riveting to see, even if you may not want to look at some of them. 

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t2 trainspotting

As much as I'm not a fan of the title; since I associate "T2" with a certain killer robot from the future, this is still a welcome sequel to the cult classic from 1996. The whole premise of it being a literal 20 years follow up and update to the characters, brings with it a nice sense of nostalgia, which in itself brings in a nice thematic structure to this movie that is filled with middle aged men defined by the memories of their youth. There's definitely a strong sense of sentimentality to what has come before with these characters, and how they are dealing with their past and what they want with the future. 

What we have with this movie is a good ensemble cast of characters; played by excellent actors, who are going through some reflections on who they are, and what they mean to each other. There are some crazy moments here when things come to a head, fun coincidences that lead to chases, schemes that go sideways but end up with an entertaining song, to serious moments of truth and realizations. From beginning to end, the story takes us through different forms of excitement, intrigue, and emotions.

While the kinetic visual style of a Danny Boyle film is still present here, this sequel isn't completely like the original in tone. The energy between the two is different, with this one being a little bit more subdued and polished than some fans of the original would prefer. The thematic emphasis on nostalgia might also be very effective with people older than 35 years old, but it might not resonate so much with younger people. The point is that the target audience for this movie is a little bit more specific than a typical sequel usually caters too. However, if the movie works for you with what it's trying to say, then you might just enjoy this a lot. 

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