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Showing posts from November, 2016

Harper's Island (2009) - TV Series Review (Mini-Series)

Harper's Island is a show about an island where a couple decides to get married, but soon after arrival, people start dying one by one. Sooooo, I didn't like it. The show was just filled with so many stupid moments that I couldn't take it anymore. There are a lot of characters but most of them were cliched meh. Acting wasn't that good either from a lot of the cast, so that didn't help. The first couple of episodes really weren't doing anything for me, but since there were only 13 episodes in total, I decided to stick with it and end it (would have dropped it otherwise). But I'll give the show credit where credit is due. It increased my interest in the story after several episodes. There was this stretch of 4 or 5 episodes where it actually got good, and I was on-board. The pacing felt fine, the thrills were coming, the situations were entertaining. The characters I did like got better, and the ones that were meh, got less meh. Also, being on an...

Star Trek Beyond (2016) - Movie Review

"Better to die saving lives, than to live with taking them."  Star Trek Beyond is the third entry into the star trek rebooted franchise, and follows Captain Kirk and team, who are 3 years in their 5 year exploration mission. After following a distress request, they get stranded on a planet encountering a new villain hell bent on destroying the federation.  I'm a big fan of this reboot franchise. I loved both previous parts directed by J.J Abrams, and while I was a bit worried that he wasn't returning to direct the third one, I was excited nonetheless. Thankfully, this is yet another great entry in the franchise. Simon Pegg and his script, Justin Lin at the helm, and with the same amazing team of cast reprising their roles, created one hell of an entertaining adventure, from start to finish. I was completely hooked.  Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and the rest, gave great performances and made the whole crew dynamic feel natural and fun, once again. I love ...

Thoughts on Suicide Squad Extended Cut

So I gave it a watch yesterday. Now I actually liked most of the squad in the theatrical release, and one of my biggest issue with the film was that it just didn't give them that many interactions with each other i.e poor development. The extended cut definitely adds or extends some more scenes, which helps develop the squad just a bit more. It's not enough to make a huge difference, but it is better than nothing. Also, there is more development between Joker and Harley here, some added scenes and extended scenes that give you more info about their crazy relationship. Jared Leto's joker on this re-watch still is 50/50 for me. His performance varies so much from scene to scene. In some moments, I actually like what I'm seeing, but then it shifts and cranks up the cringe level and I'm like "NOPE.". So overall, he still doesn't work for me. And those hoping for tons of new joker footage, yeah, that didn't happen. The movie is still choppy, poorly...

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) - Movie Review

Kubo and the Two Strings is a stop motion animated film from the studio Laika, and is about a boy who must go on this journey to acquire a special magical armor in order to defeat the forces of evil. I'm deliberately not putting more in the synopsis since I believe this movie is best watched with as little knowledge as possible, and hence why I'll keep this review short as well.   From start to finish, this was a beautiful, heartfelt, entertaining, often really hilarious, and a magical journey. It's an adventure movie that really reels you in with the aspect of adventure. The world/setting was really interesting, and the mythos, the legends, the stories etc all kept adding to the experience. Just the type of adventure I love.  Kubo was a great character. You feel and root for him throughout. And the supporting characters were just as great if not better. Their relationship with each other, and the way it progresses, was so sweet. Animation quality was outs...

Jason Bourne (2016) - Movie Review

Jason Bourne is a sequel to The Bourne Ultimatum and is set some years after the last film. Bourne is forced once again to come out of hiding and face the CIA, as well as uncover things about his past. Now, I'm a huge fan of this franchise. I love The original Bourne trilogy to death, and I even enjoyed Legacy. So naturally, I was extremely excited to finally watch this film considering Matt Damon is teaming up again with director Paul Greengrass (Supremacy, Ultimatum). Unfortunately, 2016 being a year of disappointments (Big or small), this followed the same suit.  Now, not all of the movie was disappointing. There were some things I liked. I enjoyed Matt Damon reprising his role, he was great again. Some action sequences were exciting and thrilling, like the finale, even if a bit more on the over-the-top side as compared to previous parts. Hearing the score from the previous parts again was so satisfying. The story, while being mostly uninteresting, did have some as...

Sausage Party (2016) - Movie Review

Sausage Party is an R-Rated animated film about...well...food. Just like how toys were alive in Toy Story but unknown to humans, the same concept is applied here on food, fully utilizing its rating.  Now the concept itself was very fun and entertaining. Just seeing food items stereotyped according to real world traits was hilarious, and the jokes/situations that ensued with it. And there were some great scenes, two in particular, which you've probably seen in the trailers.  Problem is, concept alone is not enough, and that is where this film faltered. Instead of creating creative and fun dialogue that complements the concept, Seth Rogen and the team just added crude humor, tons and tons of profanities and sexual innuendos, in order to raunch it up to the max. And while it does reel you in at the start with the novelty of a 3D animated movie with an R-rating, it all just gets old really fast. Just because the food is saying 'Fuck' for like 200th time doesn't...

Chappie (2015) - Movie Review

Chappie is the third film directed by Neill Blomkamp, the guy who directed the awesome District 9. And while I enjoyed his second film, Elysium, it was no where near as good as D9. And after watching this, I guess I'll have to wait for his next film in hopes of getting something equally good as D9. Now, Chappie is set in a not so distant futuristic Johannesburg where police force is dominated by Robots and one of them gets a new programming which makes it a fully fledged A.I Sharlto Copley did a great job voicing Chappie. Loved him. Hugh Jackman played the main antagonist, and while he was good in it, his character just wasn't fleshed out more. He ended up being cliche typical villain. Sigourney Weaver was totally wasted in the movie. Her role was very limited and could have been played by anyone. Dev Patel was Ok. Those Gangsters were NOT GOOD AT ALL. Sure they had their punk/hip style and all but as actors, MEH. Chappie sets it self apart from most other A.I films ...

Automata (2014) - Movie Review

"Surviving is not relevant. Living is. We want to live." Automata is a movie set in dystopian post apocalyptic future. Robots or the Automata were created to help humans survive and serve them and are programmed with certain protocols. Antonio Bandares plays an Insurance agent of the company who created these machines and is investigating cases where robots seem to be violating their protocols. In some ways, this movie felt like Blade Runner+I, Robot. The city, the atmosphere, the human condition, all looks bleak and hopeless. The director certainly had a good vision. The execution of said vision left much to be desired though. The thing this movie excelled at was capturing the fear of characters in the movie from true A.I. We, the viewer really do feel a certain creepiness and eeriness when looking at pure cold expressionless Automata and the soundtrack accompanying it elevates the feeling. Went really well with the flow of the movie. Also, the Autmota were clunky and s...