snatched

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Unfortunately, there are several factors going against this from being a completely fun movie to watch. One factor is that Amy Schumer playing an unlikable character doesn't really help, and the other factor is that this movie really relies on it's broad self-deprecating comedy which is already highly subjective in terms of being entertainment for everybody. Speaking of things being subjective, I would be lying if I said that I didn't laugh at some of the jokes in the movie. For that matter, I actually did want to see how the story was going to end as well. 

Admittedly, this isn't exactly the best comedy around to watch, but there really were some scenes that I found funny. It's true that there are still a lot of groan inducing, uninspired, and simply unfunny jokes throughout the movie, but it does seem like it's genuinely looking like it's trying to make people laugh. There is also this one unforgettable scene involving "meat as bait" that is so unbelievably outrageous that I really got to give this movie some credit for even going there just for the comedy. 

Some of the supporting casts like Joan Cusack and Wanda Sykes I thought definitely added some fun moments, while the whole joke revolving Ike Barinholtz is borderline annoying. I did find the relationship between Schumer's character and Goldie Hawn's to at least be entertaining enough in it's dysfunctional nature. Hawn playing the straight man to Schumer being the fool, is simply one of the best ideas this movie had. 

The premise itself of merging the horrific act of kidnapping tourists in a Foreign country, and making it into the subject of a comedy, is either going to be seen as daring or offensive. The theme of appreciating your Mother on the other hand is a welcome aspect to the movie. There's also the other theme of women empowerment that is admirable, although it arguably may have gone too far by making just about all the male characters be seen in a negative light. 

It may be easy to focus primarily on the negatives of this movie. Even though this looks like a throwaway comedy with no redeeming qualities at first glance, this was honestly passable enough to be entertaining in it's own right. It just may not be for everybody.

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their finest

This movie, being a movie about making a movie, isn't entirely a unique premise, but it's still an entertainingly clever idea for a movie. Despite this being set in 1940 Britain during the daily threats of the Nazi Blitz bombings of London, this is still essentially a relatively unexciting and reserved look at getting a movie made. For aspiring film makers and screenwriters, there are some nice plot points about studio interference, arrogant actors, writers block, budget and time constraints, plus many more winks towards how movies are made. 

While the movie making magic adds to the appeal of seeing this, the lead actors in Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, and Bill Nighy, are what makes this a charming delight of a film to watch. Gemma Arterton is a very likable main protagonist, which this movie wisely uses her character to give us the reoccurring plot thread about feminism and misogyny during that era. Sam Claflin is the character that Arterton gets to banter with a lot during the movie, which can be pretty enjoyable to watch. Bill Nighy plays the arrogant actor whose pompous personality adds some nice comedic moments to the movie. 

It's easy to praise this movie for what it is, when considering the combination of the interesting premise, charming characters, and the appealing plot, but it's not a perfect film by any means. Some could say that the pacing is slow, or that it has it's fair share of plot cliches, or that it's simply not that exciting of a movie. Those are fair criticisms actually, but I think they can be easily be ignored once or if you happen to find yourself invested with the characters. I feel that the characters; lead and supporting cast, are the key factors on how much you would enjoy this movie. Luckily for me, I liked the cast, and in addition I even liked the movie within this movie. 

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king arthur legend of the sword

The mashing together of the legendary story of King Arthur, with supernatural elements such as giant animals the size of castles, to the highly kinetic film making style of modern action movies, plus the high budget visual overload of special effects, is actually not that bad of an idea. In fact, some would argue that it sounds pretty cool. I'm sure co-writer/director Guy Ritchie thought so too. It's unfortunate his vision for this movie is simply all over the place, and just doesn't quite hit the landing of what could have been a great epic film. 

This movie is yet another example of style over substance. Just looking at the trailer, that's filled with quick edits, fast pacing, energetic camera angles, and stylized color filters, you can tell that this oozes with a lot of style. The familiar premise of a story itself acts like it has a lot of substance, by having multiple plot points and a whole ensemble of different characters, to give you a lot of content to chew on. The truth is that the story telling simply fails to make all those detail and information worthy of your full attention. The story just moves from one plot point to another plot point, without giving us much time to properly take it all in. 

Going back to the idea of why this movie exist, the fact that it looks "cool," is pretty much all this has going for it. Some clever exchanges between characters, some crowd pleasing scenes, people that say and do neat things, fast edits of characters doing exposition about a sequence of events, to action set pieces with high production values. All that is suppose to impress you, but since it's so focused on doing "cool" things, it forgot that the most important aspect of good story telling, is in making us really care about what we're watching. By the end of the movie, I just didn't care. 

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the dinner (2017)

Steve Coogan. Laura Linney. Richard Gere. Rebecca Hall. What a fantastic cast, and each one is great in their roles. Out of the four primary actors of this film however, it's Steve Coogan's performance as Paul Lohman, that will really stand out the most. Paul is the curmudgeon, tactless, very opinionated, and highly insufferable man, who would rather not have attended this dinner. He's a very negative and cynical person with issues, and it seems like this movie is also very negative and cynical with a lot of issues as well.  

You would think that for a movie that's simply titled "The Dinner," there will be a display of extravagant cuisine, plus a straightforward dramatic conversation during the meal. There definitely is a display of delicious food; but it doesn't focus too much on that, and there is a dramatic conversation to get involved in; but it's hardly straightforward. The narration of this movie is simply not conventional at all, constantly switching between the present time, to flashbacks, as well as sudden sections of voice over monologuing by Coogan's character. While I understand why this story is told in this manner, it still doesn't stop me from getting frustrated by the direction anyway. It honestly feels a bit indulgently stylish, or just pretentious. Did we really need a huge chunk of the movie dedicated to American History?

There's a lot of big ideas and commentary that's found here, on social issues, family, parenthood, responsibility, racism, politics, class system, education, abuse, and yes history, plus many more, all crammed into this two hours production. It can be a bit overwhelming digesting every bit of information and opinions tossed at your direction, but that's also arguably the strength of this movie. No matter what you may think about the various different subjects this movie is talking about, or of the movie itself, you will at least find yourself having opinions about the topics. That is after all the most interesting aspect about this frustrating movie. 

A toast is made during the movie "to the children," "to health," and "to getting through this dinner in one piece." Apparently that toast is pretty much describing the movie. As an adaptation of the novel by Herman Koch, I'm tempted to just say that it's probably better to just read the book than watch the movie. However, the film does add a nice "American take" to the Dutch novel that might be worth checking out anyway. 

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battle of memories

Using a science fiction fantasy conceit about this possible future where people are able to erase their own memories, is a pretty cool idea. Then adding the fact that our protagonist accidentally inserted a killer's memories into his own, and you got the making of a mind-bending movie. Even though there is a sci-fi element to this story, the movie is actually pretty much just another take on the crime mystery procedural thriller genre, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The memory switching is still very much an important element throughout the story, but it's still pretty much a "figure out who the killer is" kinda thing. 

Directed by Leste Chen, I like the way that the pacing and editing of this story is almost purposefully intended to confuse and misdirect the audience. There are also several scenes with cool visual effects that play on the perspective of a memory. Some of them acknowledging the notion that memories do not always appear to be what they seem to be. That unreliable dream-like element helps keep us guessing on what's going on with the plot, and that's where the fun of the movie comes in. 

Bo Huang as Jiang Feng does a great job playing a man who just wants to figure out who the killer is, and to try to keep his sanity in check as this invading memory is slowly changing his personality. That dynamic switching between a meek man and a dangerous killer is where Bo Huang gets to shine as an actor. His interactions with the police officer who is trying to get him to figure out the memories, are also one of the highlights of this movie. The ensemble cast of actors I thought were generally good in their roles. 

While I really liked the premise of this movie and seeing where the story is going, I do take some issue with the fact that it uses a lot of plot conveniences, leaps of logic, and general conceits, just to keep things going in the general direction it needs to go. While some of the unbelievable moments do add some frustrations to the experience, it still managed to make me care about the mystery and the characters anyway. It's not perfect, but it's definitely worth checking out. 

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guardians of the galaxy vol 2

If you like the first Guardians Of The Galaxy movie, you will really like vol 2. If you haven't seen any other Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, except for the first Guardians film, you will still really like vol 2. While the overall movie's universe is tied with the other MCU movies, I'd like to give this film franchise kudos for being able to stand on it's own anyway, as it's proven by this second installment. 

The charm. The action. The characters. The adventure. The comedy. The songs. Those are all brought back here. There are many stand outs in this installment, with Baby Groot being the most adorable one, and Drax as played by Dave Bautista stealing each scene with his brand of tactless humor. Michael Rooker as Yondu, and Karen Gillan as Nebula, are both given some excellent story arcs here as well. New additions like Pom Klementieff as Mantis, and Kurt Russell as Ego, both also add a lot to the already huge ensemble cast. I'm not even mentioning the cameo appearances. 

Since we already know about the Guardians from the first movie, and how the group is pretty much a family unit, Writer-Director James Gunn gets to go deeper with the characters by jumping off from that angle. If I was to pinpoint a specific theme here, it would be "relationships." While the action-adventure aspects aren't necessarily taking a back seat here, there is an emphasis in providing more dialogue heavy scenes, and I'm not just referring to the witty bantering that are just so much fun. With the whole relationships theme however, it did make the characters even more interesting than before, and even brought us some scenes that are pretty moving. 

In terms of the look of the movie, I would say that this is right up there as being one of the best; if not the best, looking MCU movies around. The vibrant color palette and the amazing CGI effects, all are able to easily capture your eyes' attention here. The retro soundtrack is also once again a huge factor in this movie, and is even more prevalent than before. Some might argue that the song choices aren't necessarily as good as before, and some might also argue that the inclusion of some of those songs to the scenes can feel too forced as well. 

I continue to be impressed with what James Gunn is able to accomplish here with the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies, and how adept he is a juggling all these different elements, easter eggs and sight gags, plus all these characters into this single story of pure entertainment. Very fun movie. 

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sleight

I'm sure you're familiar with the typical inner-city drama movie, involving a young man getting involved in something he shouldn't have, because of some unfortunate circumstances that's put him in that position? What if the movie includes magic tricks into the formula? How about a guy with a superpower? While the "kid from a poor neighborhood, trying to get by with what's handed to him by life" premise is still the main focus of this film, I have to admit that the added genre-defying elements of magic and superpower makes "Sleight" better than it already is. It at least makes things a little more interesting and a little more complicated; but in a good way. 

Jacob Latimore does a great job as Bo, who just wants to take care of his little sister, even if it means doing things he'd rather not do. The movie does an excellent point of not making it so black and white in terms of Bo's part in the moral lesson of this story. That's one of the main things I really liked about this movie, it's that it doesn't completely judge the misdeeds of the characters for their choices in life, but it also doesn't completely excuse their actions either.

The story does start off cautiously innocent and typically familiar enough, plus it definitely progresses into an out of control situation that our hero will need to figure out how to come out on top. You might be able to predict where it's going, but you'll still feel encouraged to see things through until the end. 

I also really like the supporting cast in this movie, from Seychelle Gabriel, Dule Hill, and Storm Reid. They are all really good here, and contribute to the plot in compelling enough ways. Each of their characters aren't as cookie-cutter as they may seem at first, which I really appreciated. Of course there are those cool magic trick related sequences, and those super powered scenes too, which I also really appreciated seeing in this movie. Some of the strongest scenes in this movie, are simply comprised of some strong conversation pieces. Solid film. 

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how to be a latin lover

An essential thing about being a comedy, is that it has to be funny. Of course comedy is subjective, but for me I'm happy to say that I found this movie to be really funny! There are some really good variety of clever jokes in this, from physical jokes, sight gags, lowbrow humor, lines with double-meanings, scenes of comedic embarrassments, hilarious banter, to just the whole adage of being "funny because it's true." There were funny scenes in this movie that I couldn't help but laugh out loud at. Besides the deft comedic direction by Ken Marino, or the witty writing by Chris Spain and Jon Zack, a huge part of what makes this movie work as well as it does is because of the characters. 

Leading the charge in this movie is international funny man Eugenio Derbez as Maximo. Derbez has amazing comedic timing in this, and is able to juggle being an embarrassing doofus, as well as a sympathetic loser, that makes it hard for us not to root for the man even when he is being such an idiot. His chemistry with his nephew Hugo; fantastically played by Raphael Alejandro, and his sister Sara; played excellently by Salma Hayek, is also one of the main highlights of the movie. Rob Lowe, playing his best friend and fellow gigolo, also brings us some good scenes to the movie. If there's one rough patch in the ensemble of characters, it's likely the ones played by Rob Huebel and Rob Riggle. 

The premise of this movie is arguably not that original, and isn't necessarily something you haven't seen before. However, this story usually applies to some young dumb blonde woman, and not some middle aged Mexican man. So despite some familiar plot tropes, this feels like a fresh take of it anyway. A quarter of the movie is also in Spanish with English subtitles; which gives the characters a nice air of authenticity. As typical as it is, there is a moral to the story, and there are lessons to be learned. Oddly enough though, not every plot thread ends up with a learned moral lesson, which honestly surprised me. 

After watching this movie, I found myself repeating or reliving some of the jokes and funny scenes from the movie. I think that's a good sign that as a comedy, this might be a lot more memorable than initially thought. Funny movie! 

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the circle

Simply put, this movie is going to rub people the wrong way. Not necessarily by it's sleek production value, like the clever floating text bubbles of social media that permeates certain scenes, or the beautiful location settings. While this is really nice to look at visually, the movie is really more focused on being a cautionary tale and a social commentary about human surveillance and privacy. How it goes about doing that is what will antagonize the audience, because it's message feels almost like it's directly criticizing anybody that has embraced the modern tech in an almost one-sided way. Isn't that most of us though? 

This really felt like a propaganda movie that is very heavy handed in it's point of view, and I would have liked a bit more subtlety. I admit there were plot points that would suggest that it's not completely biased in favor of one perspective, but it's hard not to think it is anyway. I'll give it some credit for being ambitious with it's big ideas, and I actually do appreciate the concepts that this movie is trying to relay to us, but it still felt like a rather undercooked story. I would liked to have just suspended by disbelief and just go with it, but it was really hard to do so with this movie's plot conveniences, logical flaws, as well as it's biggest problem; the characters. 

A lot of the characters in this movie simply do not act like they are real human beings. There were simply some unbelievably ridiculous things that "The Circlers" would say and do, that I was utterly gobsmacked into thinking that the filmmakers can't possibly be serious into believing that this is what the so called enlightened people of the tech industry would act in real life. I also noticed that the Circlers were predominantly people in their 20s too, which makes me also question if this is how they believe Millennials act. 

It also doesn't help that Emma Watson was just simply average in her role, or that her character just wasn't as interesting as this movie thinks she is. All the other supporting characters were also just passable and unfortunately underdeveloped; which includes the roles played by Tom Hanks, Patton Oswalt, John Boyega, and Karen Gillan. I will however say that I did like the characters that Bill Paxton and Glenne Headly played, so there's that at least. 

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the devotion of suspect x

As far as murder mystery crime thrillers go, this doesn't necessarily elevate the genre to new heights. It may have a really good premise to be entertained by, but it's not that much different than most procedural shows you can see on TV. The production value is just not that high, plus the story and direction is generally very straightforward. Despite the by the numbers feel and look of this movie, you're still going to want to see this through to the end. 

The mystery for this movie should hook you in pretty easily, and the crux of the matter is not even about figuring out who the murderer is, because it's revealed during the first half of the story. The mystery of this movie is in the "why," and the "how." While there is some detective work and some procedural aspects to the story, this is really more about the tense face-off of competing minds. Expect some twists and turns that you may not suspect. 

Kai Wang as the very smart police detective Tang Chuan, and Luyi Zhang as his former classmate Shi Hong who is also a very intelligent man, are what makes this movie work. Their cat-and-mouse relationship drives this movie forward, and you might actually not be able to decide on who you should be rooting for between the two. The neighbor connected to the murder case; Ruby Lin as Chen Jing, is also really good in this and adds an alternative point of view to the murder. 

Despite the fact that this movie isn't exactly what one would typically consider to be a prestigious film, it's still pretty good at telling this excellent crime mystery of a story, as well as adding some effective drama that may even move you to tears. 

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