I gave T-34 a shot tonight based on your recommendation here. I thought it was pretty bad. I thought the writing was pretty bad. Movie seemed fairly low budget. Over the top hollywood type stuff compared to what I would consider more realistic depictions of combat. Acting isn’t very good. Tons of CGI. I’m about 40 minutes in. Not sure I’ll make it to the end. Doesn’t touch Das Boot or some of the better WWII films IMO. I’m looking forward to Hanks/Spielbergs depiction of “Masters of the Air” which is a great book I very much enjoyed. My grandfather flew something like 22 missions over Germany and German occupied territories. I have mixed feelings about the morality of the allied air campaign against Germany though.
Watched Joker this weekend. 2/10. I was so bored the entire time I had to switch it off every 10 minutes to do something else. It felt like a chore watching it. I kept hoping it would get better, but it only slightly did. I've liked other movies with the Joker in it; even cartoons and video games. But this movie was just bad.
Sorry my review and the movie didn't click with you. It was a relatively low budget film and the clumsy dubbing may have added to your dislike of the acting. And you are correct... its not to be compared with the great war films like Das Boot, Saving Private Ryan,1917, or Platoon. Its not a gritty movie. I think the Russian government produced it and it was likely intended to be like the "Hollywood" movies of the fifties and sixties that focused on heroism and patriotism. Its not much of a "spoiler" if I say the female lead isn't realistic and "the hero gets the girl in the end." My wife and I still enjoyed it, as did her parents. I think if you go into the movie not expecting gritty realism but rather a popcorn movie it probably will succeed. And I will look forward to the Spielberg movie you mentioned... I like war movies in general.
Jumanji Next Level has to be broken down into 2 parts: 1) Kevin Hart & Dwayne Johnson as the old dudes & Jack Black as the black dude (first 60-70 minutes) 2) everyone as their old selves (previous film) and Awkwafina as Spence's grandfather (last 35-45 minutes) Part 1: 6/10 - only because DeVito was great, the part in the middle-eastern type town was great, the bridge scene was created beautifully and the sincere talks between the old farts by Kev & Rock. The rest was very meh, Jack Black as a black guy was way too cliche and over the top, same goes for Kevin Hart who was just annoying and not at all on point as Danny Glover w/ his forced deep and slow voice, felt like a 30 second joke that kept running for way tooooooo long. The Rock was the worst though, his inconsistent dialect and just odd acting didn't work. Part 2: 8/10 - Awkwafina steals the show, but the gang is great as their old selves + the horse is nicely done. Only didn't like the GoT guy as the main villain, was underdeveloped in my opinion and just served as a prop. Overall: 6,5 / 10 - as great as Awkwafina was, overall the story, the lack of DeVito and Glover among other appearances and bad voice work and acting of the first 60-70 minutes was too much to overcome. They should've just doubled down on the previous film or gone a completely different way. Now it felt stuck, in between a more mature movie with the old dudes' big side story and a typical family movie with the same old ingredients. I agree with another review that said the movie only knows two speeds: stand still or super fast. They say a 3rd one is already in the making and if it is, then it's time to go all-in on Awkwafina as grandpa and the other characters as the original, but maybe due to an error get stuck in the real world as their avatars. Perhaps make it that DeVito is now very ill at the beginning of the movie and goes to search for the console to play, just to have some fun and maybe see his friend again, he goes in and is Awkwafina again where he just walks around a bit. He gets into some adventures by himself. Then Spence joins him and tells him to come out, that it's dangerous. Of course, the gang finds out and they all go in. After some time in there, something goes wrong with the wiring or it's switched off by someone and they are forced back out, but now as their video game avatars. Now they have to find a way to repair it and reverse it, but how will they manage? Do they have special skills in the real world? Should they tell someone? Maybe they run into the Nigel or find out who created the game? Lots of ways to go there, but I think another movie just as avatars in the game would be much of the same, but worse like in this one.
Parasite - 7/10 Watched it on the plane. While enjoyable, not the best picture everyone is raving about. Out of the Oscar-worthy movies I've seen, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Parasite: I enjoyed Jojo Rabbit the most.
The Invisible Man- 5.8/10 I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It wasn’t great, wasn’t awful. Nothing new in a movie like this. I was good with most of the characters. The CGI was pretty terrible, thankfully there wasn’t much of it.
We saw Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen yesterday and loved it. His Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998, and 2000's Snatch are classics. Sort of like working class English b*stard children of Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. Unlike those two earlier films, which could border on unintelligible, the accents being so thick, The Gentlemen isn't hard to follow at all. Heck, even my significant other could understand what was being said, and she needs closed captioning for Snatch and Lock, Stock etc., and so on. Richie's first film, The Hard Case really is unintelligible. I would pass on that one, unless you're a hard core fan. Ritchie took off several years from this genre to direct Sherlock Holmes and other, more mainstream flicks. Now he's back to doing what he does best. Anyway, go see The Gentlemen. It's great. Seriously. I'm not kidding. So I'm a fan. Shoot me. 9/10
I love the trailer. Talking to me about the laws of the jungle. What was it? Something about being beneath me? Silver on back? There’s only one rule in this f**king jungle! When the lion’s hungry, he eats!
Knives Out 9/10 This was a joy from start to finish. I am not going to spoil a dang thing, so if you are one of the few who hasn't seen it, just watch it ASAP. Plus, Ana De Armas! If you enjoyed the classic Peter Ustinov 'Hercule Poirot' movies, then this one will be right up your alley. JoJo Rabbit 9/10 Redbox was good to me, I picked up Knives Out and JoJo Rabbit at the same time, and watched them both over two consecutive nights. You already know I thought Knives Out was terrific. What about JoJo? It's clear that Taika Waiititi is becoming one of our best and freshest movie directors working today. How in the world do you take an idea as insane as the story of this movie and not only accept the challenge, but in fact embrace it with both arms, and in the process turn something as horrific and ugly as Nazi Germany into something .. profoundly good? I don't know, but Taika did it. After thinking about it, it seems to boil down to this: Children are inherently innocent. They have wild imaginations. They try desperately to understand the world around them - even if that world is mostly just a horror show. And they can be easily led astray. The performances were superb, across the board, including and even especially the child actors. I have not yet seen Parasite, but it had better be a damn great movie to end up being better than JoJo Rabbit. If you have not yet seen this one, see it as soon as you can.
Valkyrie 8/10 - This movie was panned (I believe) but I was pleasantly surprised at how well done it was. I thought Cruise did a masterful job of playing this role very understated instead of his typical overly intense style. He clearly didn't want to use this picture as a vehicle for himself and I appreciated that.
Anybody watched the Gabriel Fernandez Netflix documentary? Heard a little about it and I dont see myself being able to pull thru without getting PTSD.
I need to give this movie another shot, I walked out of it but that probably had more to do with my mood than anything. It's out on DVD, yeah?
We saw it at a local Alamo Drafthouse. No dvd. Maybe pay per view? Sorry you had a bad experience. That surprises me. Like I said in my review, we really enjoyed it.
That and Edge of Tomorrow are my favorite movies of his, Collateral is a good one too. I like Tom Cruise when he's not being "Tom Cruise".
