That is a great film. Definitely on the higher quality side of Stone´s work and highly enjoyable even if you know nothing about American football (which I didn´t when I first saw it). Cast certainly is loaded (and even Diaz gives a good performance here). Only that final motivational speech drags for way longer than it should…
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Encanto is pretty good!
I felt Stephanie Beatriz did a great job as Mirabel, giving a deep, fun performance to the character. And wow she’s got a great singing voice! I only really know her from Brooklyn99 so this felt like a totally different beast.
I also really liked Adassa as Dolores, mostly because of this nervous tick she gave the character – this just barely audible “squeak” whenever she’s anxious about something – it was really entertaining to notice.
I loved the visuals of the songs “Waiting on a Miracle” and “Surface Pressure”
The former because it feels like something straight out of a Broadway show – a big moment occurs and all the actors freeze in place while the central character starts to sing – and I liked the latter because it went all-out with a music-video style presentation. Plus it had a boppin’ chorus.
Of course I have to say that ‘we don’t talk about Bruno’ is my favourite track of the movie. I was wondering why I kept hearing so much buzz about it, but wow, musically and lyrically it’s an impressive tune.
Some stuff I felt was a bit rushed though so I give it a 7.5/10 movie.
(Slight spoilers:
I was very, very surprised to see they incorporated elements of guerrillas and Colombian civil wars in this film (at least that’s the meaning I got behind it, since I’d say the country’s a bit famous for it). The flashback scene where those machete-wielding horsemen drove the people out of town and murdered (off-screen) Pedro was shocking. But, interesting history lesson in this children’s film.)
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If you are wondering the music was by Lin-Manuel Miranda, haven’t seen the film though so I have no opinion on it.
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Oh yeah, I’m super aware Lin was the writer for all the music. He was in so much of the marketing and the songs do have his signature rap/complex-verse flair.
I’m actually currently impressed by how he managed to pull off the chorus to opening song “The Family Madrigal”, since it’s so up-tempo allegro, but it still flows nicely, especially when Mirabel starts getting into some really fast verses near the end of the song.
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I can only imagine he was in the marketing in all the marketing. Second only to an overuse of the phrase “magic realism” in all the interviews of the directors and writers.
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And it has an amazing Soundtrack!
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encanto is so good i wish toxic latino families that come to grips with eachothers flaws and heal were real
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Last Night in Soho is… pretty good!
While it does fall apart somewhat towards the end (especially the epilogue-esque scene where everything’s just kind of fine now) and most of the characters only really exist to move Thomasin McKenzie’s character from one point to another until (and, to a certain extent, even after) she starts falling deeper and deeper into the ‘60s wormhole.
McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy and Matt Smith are all great (and probably the best of the cast), which is good because the play the three most important characters and the movie relies on them, particularly as it starts to buckle under some of its more extravagant excesses as it heads to its conclusion. A little Matt Smith detour real quick, a lot of this movie feels like a particularly trippy Steven Moffatt episode of Doctor Who, especially in the ‘60s scenes.
However, much like a lot of (especially late) Moffatt era Who, there are probably a few too many things going on at any given time for it too reach a completely satisfying conclusion. There are probably one too many genres here for it to juggle effectively and a surprising number of people almost get hit by cars. The last third also felt either rushed or not fully realized or something so the ending is a little weird.
That said, it does a great job of setting the atmosphere, the tension builds well, the use of music and costume are phenomenal and it does a pretty good job of making sure you want the two heroines to be ok, if not outright succeed. It generally sacrifices making any other character even remotely interesting to do so but that’s ok because the strength of the leads and atmosphere really carry and elevate the film anyway, not necessarily the writing.
It also dabbles in a little commentary on the destructive nature of the power of nostalgia. The main character spends most of her time stuck in the past, specifically the 1960s. The movie is simultaneously a love letter to the past and a critique of how much of our modern, rose-colored view of that past clouds how it really was. As a person who thinks nostalgia is one of the worst things we humans inflict on ourselves, the movie’s treatment of it speaks to me.
All in all, despite some shortcomings (including some twists that were either too well set up or just predictable in hindsight or both) and the movie struggling to support all of its many ideas for the entire runtime, this was a pretty solid movie and I’m definitely interested in rewatching. If I find little details and clues I might have missed, great. If not, it still an enjoyable and beautiful adventure with three strong leads.
7/10
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can i have an amen to that!
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You can now download and read the final screenplay for Spider-Man No Way Home
Spoilers, but in text form, obviously.
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I just watched an disney animated movie called Home On The Range
I only really watched this one because I recently got obsessed with listening to one of the movies songs, Yodel-Idle-Adle-Oo. And i wanted to see how good the movie related to the song was. The short answer to that was not very good. The 3 main cows we’re hastily developed and they didn’t have much chemistry. Some of the jokes were very poor and very horny for some reason. and 2/3rds of the movie just kinda drag until Alameda’s villain song. Alameda and the Willie boys also couldve done with more screentime. But the final quarter of this movie is really fucking good for no goddamn reason at all. It’s got some of the better jokes, a great chase scene and a fun plot twist that helps with the development of one of the sidecharacters in a good way. so all in all i give it a 5.7 out 10, could’ve used more yodeling.
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A fun action romp called Nobody
From the writer of John Wick, comes a new retired-assassin-kills-everyone film. Yeah, it feels very reminiscent of the Wick films, with the main character’s “job”, with the ever-escalating violence, with the ties to mob/mafia villains. I guess he really likes writing about assassins.
But, it’s a great fun time! Plus they do enough different that it becomes a great action film in its own right.
Bob Odenkirk plays ‘Hutch’, a family man bored of his life, who after failing to stop a home robbery, vows to make things right, and sends him coincidentally angering a Russian mob boss.
Things get wild. Lots of blood is spilled. The movie is written as a typical action movie with plenty of one-liners, and… yeah it’s what you’d expect. But it’s fun. And funny. They really show off a lot of silly, actiony moments that are pretty ridiculous but cool.
Props to Christopher Lloyd to show up at the end of the film just to walk around and shotgun people (and have a damn fun time doing it), and RZA for equally doing that with some fun stunts.
There’s even an epilogue and mid-credits scene that are clearly trying to set up a franchise here. 
We’ll see how long they can take it.
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I just saw Drive for the first time, great film. I’ve ordered the Novel.
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I love that film. It’s very slow paced with not much talking and then there are these explosions of massive violence.
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Just saw Spies in Disguise. The final Blue Sky movie before they closed down.
Will Smith plays Lance Sterling, the best secret agent in the world and Tom Holland plays Walter Beckett, his gadget man. Where Lance, who after an accident with one of Walter’s gadgets, transforms into a pigeon.
It was enjoyable, though has some issues with a slow beginning, and the body-transformation plot getting a bit old near the end, and some of the jokes are a bit silly and childish.
The middle stuff, when it picks up into the main conflict/plot, is a lot of fun. They blend in a lot of mature humour into this film and it flows naturally, as well as some slapstick that doesn’t go too overboard. I also liked how it subverted the usual trope of how many people usually die by the good guy’s hand in these espionage stories, focusing on Walter’s drive to find peaceful ways to dispatch foes. The “rubberizer” gadget that turns people into a total malleable blob of a person had really impressive animation.
It’s good, but I’d give it a 6.5/10.
Fun fact: it was based on this short film called “Pigeon: Impossible”. Doesn’t really have much to do with transforming into pigeons, but it is about a secret agent dealing with a pigeon causing hijinks. (Also the agent is called Walter Beckett, so that’s probably a nice reference the film did in its honour.)
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Spiderman No Way Home
Great movie. Definitely the best one out of the homecoming trilogy. The level of quality seems to have jumped a great amount compared to the previous film. Here goes a few spoilers:
Spoilers
The beginning was quite okay. It straight up continues from where Far From Home’s after credit scene ends. The return of J. Jonah Jameson was quite funny and fitting for the given scenario. When Peter goes to Dr. Strange for help I felt like some of Strange’s scenes were a bit out of character. Him acting a bit careless when asked to do a spell and basically responding with “yeah ok gotcha fam” was strange (get it? 
).
Then the villians came. I liked how the old school villians were shown in their respected comic form. Goblin with the hood, electro with the 
on his face, etc. Doc Ock’s intro felt a bit random to me, but alas. Every single one of them was a blast to look at. I’m really fond of Willem Dafoe’s portrayal of goblin. His acting was sensational and I loved how they gave him the prostethic teeth like in the old spiderman. Halfway through it was pretty clear he was made the main ‘main-villian’ of the movie when he killed aunt May. Though it struck me as weird how right after he killed her he dissappeared until right near the end of the movie where he was saved.
Jamie Foxx also delivered a stunning performance as Electro. His role was greatly written to achieve all the full potential of his character. I felt like the lizard and sandman were a bit lacking here. That’s the problem you’ll get when you (re)introduce too many characters who need to have a spot on the podium but don’t have enough time for it. Still loved their presence, if only it was for nostalgia’s sake.
Now what made the movie a true masterpiece for me: unexpected cameos. Tobey and Andrews spiderman. Words cannot describe how cool it was to see three different spidermen, from which two childhood icons, fight next to each other to beat the fantastic villians. I loved the chemistry between the 3 and it made up for some hilarious sequences. The nostalgia train was on full speed during the second half of the movie and it brought a tear to my eye. These are things from your wildest dreams and you can’t imagine it actually happens until it does. People were clapping and cheering in the theatre. So incredible.
But the best cameo for me: Matt Murdock (aka Daredevil). Even though he had only 3-ish minutes of screen time, it was still special enough to make my fanboy heart skip a beat. I had seen the Daredevil series only a few months back and spent my entire summer vacation watching the red vigilante. I already pissed my pants when Wilson Fisk made his return in Marvel’s Hawkeye, but seeing Matt return as Peters lawyer was 10/10 for me. Honestly really gratefull Marvel respects the Netflix series like they do.
All in all a fantastic movie. Full of action and heartwarming moments. You should really see this if you’re a spiderman fan. It may be one of the best one’s out there. I’d rate it a 8,5/10. Would be a 10 if the villians weren’t introduced in such a sudden, random way.
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Unhinged.
An engaging and fun 90 minute film. Would recommend. The idea of mental traffic recurring throughout is both realistic and unrealistic. Then again it’s a film…
Edit: movie or film whatever you call it
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LOL. I just watched it as well, for the same reason (saw the RLM video).
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I was fine with it. It feels a bit silly when compared to “accepted vampire lore” but I’m always open to one or two deviations if done well.
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Thanks to my partner I finally watched Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.
At first I hated it because Pee-Wee (who I’d never seen before) freaked me out and made me uncomfortable. But the movie actually picked up.
Darker than I expected, and it had dogs, what’s not to enjoy?
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