Dora and the Lost City of Gold

POSITIVES…

  • As somebody who has never seen a single episode of the Dora The Explorer cartoon, and have only been exposed to the memes and parodies, I managed to have a lot of fun watching this movie.

  • I’m sure kids; now probably older, who have seen the animated series, will probably get a kick out of seeing all the easter eggs and references, but those who don’t shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

  • One of the main reasons as to why I was entertained by this adaptation, was because it wasn’t afraid to directly call back to its origins, while still remember that it’s suppose to stay right on the edge of being a more grounded and realistic live-action film as well. One could say that this is in fact a live-action cartoon, that follows both laws of reality and rules of make believe.

  • Dora doing the more cartoony stuff like 4th Wall Breaks, singing songs, and interactions with an animated monkey, contrasted to her dealing with high school social pressures, introspections, and things in the jungle that could actually kill her, are what I found to be quite charming about this movie.

  • The self-aware sense of humor, mixed in with the adventure aspects of the plot, helped drive this pass the finish line of being a worthwhile movie to watch. It’s like a more lighthearted version of Indiana Jones, but for younger people. It’s even got the entertaining “jungle puzzle” elements that you’d like to see in a story like this. In terms of humor and plot points, this movie is capable of pleasantly surprising you.

  • What really really helps makes this movie work the way it does however is Isabela Moner as Dora. I have absolute admiration at the fact that she was able to completely throw herself into this role. A character that is essentially this relentlessly positive and energetic live-action cartoon, that still has to look and act believable in a real world setting. Moner flawlessly pulls it off.

  • As a young actress who had major roles in the “Transformers: The Last Knight” action movie, a dark thriller like “Sicario: Day Of The Soldado,” to a family drama like “Instant Family,” Isabela Moner has quite the range for a young actress, and she brings that talent into “Dora and the Lost City of Gold.” Without a doubt, she is the reason to see the movie.

NEGATIVES…

  • I suppose if you can’t buy the more fantastical cartoony aspects, then this movie just won’t work for you.

  • I also suppose that if you can’t get into the more youthful, silly, low hanging fruit humor, nonsensical aspects that are clearly targeted for kids; being that this is technically a kid’s movie, then this just won’t work for you.

  • What also doesn’t work, are most of the jokes that the adult characters make in this movie. A lot of them just fall flat. Some are cringe-worthy.

  • Speaking of adult characters, Eugenio Derbez looks like he is trying too hard with his role.

  • Then there’s the usual things you would find with these kinds of movies… Story cliches, uninspired tropes, plot conveniences, etc… Hopefully it doesn’t break your suspension of disbelief too much.

P.S….

lovedit ENJOYED IT likedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark

POSITIVES…

  • There were some nightmarishly creepy imagery that were shown, that I could just imagine will be haunting some 10 Year old kid that’s watching this movie.

  • Has a really good sense of building up that suspension right before that jump scare hits. Some good freights, combined with disturbing imagery? Yes!

  • There were some scares that I was happily surprised went as far as they did in the execution.

  • Some clever scares in this movie. You’ll end up picking and ranking your favorite scary story. My most favorite scary set piece involves a color…

  • The premise is legitimately compelling, and it was easy to get invested in it once the story gets moving (in the scares department).

  • I appreciated the fact that there were some plot developments that moved in a logically natural manner, as I hate it when they find excuses just to waste time from progressing the story.

  • Standout performance by Zoe Colletti as Stella. Convincingly takes the leading character role like a seasoned scream queen.

  • I suppose I appreciate that this scary film is like a solid introductory horror movie for 8 - 12 Year olds. They may as well start with this, before they get into the really traumatic horror films out there.

NEGATIVES…

  • It’s a horror movie that’s targeted more for the 8 - 12 Year old crowd.

  • I wasn’t a big fan of the opening acts, with the character introductions, and the set up for the premise. Made me impatient for the scares already.

  • No shade to the young actors, but the characters Chuck, Auggie, and Tommy, were just not entertaining to me. Well, Chuck had some good lines, I’ll give him that.

  • There were some STUPID STUPID things that happened. Whether it be a character doing an idiotic thing, or some silly plot convenience just to move the story along.

  • Depending on how you take it, the conclusion to the movie may or may not be to your liking.

P.S….

lovedit ENJOYED IT likedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

the Farewell

POSITIVES…

  • From an Asian-American perspective, this film has a very fascinating and thought-provoking dramatic premise.

  • Amazing ensemble cast of actors here, with stand-out performances by Shuzhen Zhao as Nai Nai, Awkwafina as Billi, Tzi Ma as Haiyan, and Diana Lin as Jian.

  • With the character of Billi, it helps that she was the character surrogate of this story, because Awkwafina was really good at conveying the emotions that we should be feeling when watching this movie.

  • I gotta give another shout out to Shuzhen Zhao as Nai Nai, who does a great job playing that “says whatever she wants to say” Grandma, that you might easily find to be very adorable and affectionate.

  • Considering the strong premise, this film gets away with telling a rather straightforward simple story, that doesn’t have too much excitement.

  • Underneath the simple story however, lies complicated thematic themes that are mostly just hinted at through certain dialogue, subtle visuals, or specific scenes. The social cultural commentaries aren’t just what Billi says here, it’s all throughout the movie.

  • Some of the more powerful moments of the movie are certain conversations that are made by certain characters, and some of them are simple scenes that look innocuous enough.

  • It manage to have me bawling like a baby by the end of the movie. Oh, and there’s that final shot that we see right before the credits too!

NEGATIVES…

  • Some might criticize this movie for being told through the perspective of an Asian-American, and not a purely Chinese point of view.

  • The USA vs China parts might rub people the wrong way.

  • It can drag a bit at some parts of the film. A little bit more editing perhaps?

P.S….

LOVED IT enjoyeditlikedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

Hobbs & Shaw

POSITIVES…

  • Right from the get go, the opening act scenes were just awesome, and got me in the perfect mood to enjoy the rest of this movie.

  • Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs is great. Charming, impressively strong, and loveable.

  • Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw is also great. Grumpy, skillful, and a blast to watch.

  • Idris Elba as Brixton is great as well. Black Superman indeed. Bonus shout out to the bike he uses, which is the coolest tech gadget thing in this movie.

  • Let’s not forget Vanessa Kirby, who is such a badass as Hattie.

  • One of the main reasons that justifies watching this movie, is the oil & water relationship of Hobbs & Shaw. Seeing them banter, argue, insult, and generally make fun of each other is just pure entertainment.

  • The action set pieces are also another reason to justify watching this movie. Some of those action scenes are fantastic to see play out.

  • There are a few celebrity cameos that show up, that were a very nice surprise to see have roles in this movie.

  • You go into this movie wanting a simple but highly entertaining action adventure escape, with characters you enjoy seeing on screen, and that’s exactly what you get.

  • This movie is at it’s best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s just about the majority of it all.

NEGATIVES…

  • As fun as it can be, it’s still admittedly a derivative movie, without too many surprises with the plot.

  • Arguably longer than it needs to be. At one point in the movie, there’s a strong sense that it should have already went for the ending, but no wait, there’s another whole act that it still has to do…

  • There’s also this embarrassing contrived cliche of a plot trope during the last act of the film, just for the sake of setting up this big action set piece.

  • The few more emotional and dramatic scenes kinda feels out of place, halts the movie’s momentum, and just do not land as well as it thinks it should. Par for course with these Fast & Furious movies.

  • In general, I hope you have a strong sense of suspension of disbelief when watching this.

P.S….

lovedit ENJOYED IT likedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

POSITIVES…

  • Amazing huge cast of actors here. If you only need one reason to see this movie, watch it for the acting.

  • Leonardo DiCaprio is amazing as the leading male actor past his prime, and brings a whole level of human vulnerability and intensity to the role.

  • Brad Pitt is probably playing one of his most badass roles. Charming as heck, and the things he does in this movie are so darn entertaining to watch.

  • Margaret Qualley is the surprise scene stealer here, and her character is quite unforgettable.

  • Shout out to Julia Butters as the amazing young actress who has the scenes with DiCaprio. Practically goes toe to toe in acting talent with Leo.

  • People are going to appreciate how this movie creates the look and feel of late 1960s Hollywood.

  • People are going to really appreciate that huge set piece at the end of the movie. One of the best scenes in the movie.

  • This movie is filled with so many great scenes, you’ll be hard pressed to pick one single favorite.

NEGATIVES…

  • Could have used more editing to make it feel tighter.

  • Oftentimes feels like it meanders too much or seems aimless.

  • As good as Margot Robbie is in the role of Sharon Tate, what her character does in the movie seemed very superficial.

  • Big fans of Bruce Lee are probably not going to like what happens to him in this film.

P.S….

lovedit ENJOYED IT likedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

Crawl

POSITIVES…

  • Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper are good in their roles here, as people trying to survive against alligators, while trapped in a crawl space, while a Category 5 hurricane is going on.

  • There’s enough basic work given to Scodelario and Pepper’s characters, that you should find yourself invested with what happens to them.

  • As a horror thriller, there’s definitely entertainment to be had for fans of the genre.

  • The main reason to see this is of course the alligator attacks and this movie does not disappoint. They are fantastic!

  • Alligators look great in this movie too.

  • The other reason to see this movie; and this might not be for everybody, is the gore work. Graphic? Why, yes. Prepare to squirm and wince. Awesome stuff.

  • Fun movie to see with an audience.

NEGATIVES…

  • This has a stupidly simple premise, to the point where it may as well not have bothered writing a story for the movie..

  • I get that people can push themselves harder even when hurt, but wow did it seem so unbelievable for the characters to achieve what they achieve when they look like they should just curl up in a ball and just die. Really pushed my suspension of disbelief here.

  • Some stupid things happened. ‘nuff said.

  • Some overly coincidental things happened. ‘nuff said.

P.S….

  • Can we please stop putting dogs in movies involving human chomping creatures? We’re all just anticipating that something bad is going to happen to the dogs, and we don’t want to see that. People getting torn apart though? Go ahead. It’s make believe. hehe

lovedit ENJOYED IT likedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

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Stuber

POSITIVES…

  • The premise is decently solid for a buddy action-comedy.

  • Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani have great chemistry together here, and are both super entertaining in their roles.

  • Bautista is fun as the overbearing hard boiled cop, and Nanjiani is very enjoyable as the wise cracking civilian that’s dragged into these extreme situations.

  • Some of the visual gags are entertaining enough to see play out.

  • There are some jokes that did crack me up.

  • Did I already mention that Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani are the sole reasons to even bother checking this movie out?

NEGATIVES…

  • If it wasn’t for Bautista and Nanjiani, this would have been such a big dud of a movie.

  • The movie acts like it’s this super energetic action comedy, but it never really felt that exciting.

  • Basically, the narrative involves a lot of half baked hijinks and action set pieces that do not feel super thought through in terms of actually being super entertaining, or in making sense. Maybe on paper it did?

  • It doesn’t help that this movie does the whole close up shaky cam thing when it’s showing the action. News flash! That isn’t the best method for me to properly see the action.

  • Iko Uwais’ talents as an action star is so wasted in this movie.

  • Somehow, Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino is just sidelined here. Another talent wasted.

  • Jimmy Tatro’s character was also just a big NO. So not needed.

  • Story-wise and Comedy-wise, it’s a big hit or miss. Mostly miss.

P.S….

loveditenjoyeditlikedit IT’S OKAY itsmehitsterrible

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Midsommar

POSITIVES…

  • Writer / Director Ari Aster once again gives us an interesting non-typical horror movie, that’s going to make you uncomfortable and disturbed by it.

  • The way the narrative is told should be enough to give you that extra bit of uneasy paranoia while watching it, because you know something bad is suppose to happen.

  • Tonally, the film is spot on. The gradual yet casual tense build up of the events in this movie, punctuated by shocking imagery, are what you should expect from this type of horror experience.

  • Prepare to get weirded out by several scenes in this film.

  • Thematically provocative and captivating in what this movie is trying to tell you. Thought provoking for sure.

  • The supporting cast are great here, but they are overshadowed by Florence Pugh. She continues to prove what a versatile and great actress she is, and is showcasing all her talents as her character Dani.

  • Stuff that happens in the background of some scenes really enhances the whole experience of watching this.

  • The cinematography is simply amazing in this. A visual treat for sure.

  • Considering the subject matter, this is arguably the funniest movie Ari Aster has done so far. Take it as you will.

  • Did I mention that there are definitely moments that are going to make you feel really uncomfortable watching this?

NEGATIVES…

  • There could be a huge flaw with how the movie ends, because I couldn’t get over the potential “real world” repercussions that should surely come about, because of what happened to the characters.

  • Some of the things that Jack Reynor’s character does in this just boggles my mind, to the point where I had to question my suspension of disbelief.

  • There will be people who will just get too weirded out by this movie to actually enjoy it.

P.S….

lovedit ENJOYED IT likedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

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Spider-Man Far From Home

POSITIVES…

  • Having the epilogue story for Avengers: Endgame be a Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero take on the European Vacation Adventure Comedy genre is simply brilliant!

  • Give Director Jon Watts some extra credit for pulling off so many enjoyable set pieces through a wide variety of different set locations.

  • Does a good job being mostly a plot driven movie, but I’ll give acknowledgement to some of the themes that the story is tackling.

  • The whole cast was like a finely tuned ensemble group. Tom Holland is amazing in his role, but kudos to the rest of the cast for their equally spectacular work here.

  • Besides Holland, standouts for me were Jon Favreau, Jacob Batalon, Samuel L Jackson, Angourie Rice, Martin Starr, J.B. Smoove, Zendaya, and of course Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck AKA Mysterio.

  • There were definitely a lot of fun comedy bits found throughout the movie. Loved the humor!

  • The running jokes. Who doesn’t love running jokes? This movie has some very entertaining ones.

  • Several of the heart to heart moments between certain characters, were done really well.

  • Some of those action sequences, especially during the final act, were just a blast to watch.

  • Fantastic mid-credits and post-credits scenes. Wow!!!

NEGATIVES…

  • There are some moments that relies a little too much on coincidences and conveniences.

  • A few scenes that slowed the momentum of the movie more than I would have preferred. Some would call those scenes “pee breaks.”

  • Kinda predictable in certain ways.

  • As a comic book fan, I regret to say that there was one particular reveal that just didn’t hit as hard to me, as it probably would have to non-comic book readers. Not the movie’s fault really. Just saying.

P.S….

LOVED IT enjoyeditlikedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

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Yesterday

POSITIVES…

  • Needless to say, if you are a fan of The Beatles, then this is a movie you’ll want to check out.

  • While it’s not a full on movie musical, several songs are performed on screen, by actor Himesh Patel himself.

  • The premise of the movie is in itself a lot of fun, and you’ll want to see how it all plays out.

  • There’s also a running joke related to the premise; that also involves google, that I found to be quite entertaining.

  • Besides being able to pull off those Beatles songs for the movie, watching Himesh Patel’s character Jack Malik navigate through this whole experience is a lot of fun. There’s also that little bit of thrill, since you know what he’s trying to pull off here.

  • Lily James is simply a delight in this movie. ‘nuff said.

  • The supporting cast from Joel Fry, Kate Mckinnon, and even Ed Sheeran, were all good in this movie as well.

  • There’s a particular surprise that’s revealed before the final act of the movie that caught me off guard in a very pleasant way.

  • Despite the lighthearted and “what if” nature of this movie, there’s surprisingly a lot of thought provoking thematic messaging found in it. Things I’d like to discuss, but…. spoilers.

NEGATIVES…

  • I’m a little divided with how they go about the conclusion to this story. It almost broke my overall enjoyment of the movie.

  • Have a strong suspension of disbelief when seeing this, that’s for sure.

  • Despite some fresh ideas found in this film, it still has a relatively predictable plot progression.

  • There are certain plot turns that should make the story even more complicated than it has to be, yet the movie seemed annoyingly afraid to actually tackle such things.

  • The movie can also feel a bit patronizing at times too.

  • There’s one particular scene that involves Ed Sheeran that kinda bugged me more than it should.

P.S….

lovedit ENJOYED IT likedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

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