the-masked-reviewer

[the-masked-reviewer]

Pride & Prejudice (2005) Review

potential spoilers ahead...

This film has amazing frame and camera work. Instead of relying on the camera work to tell the story, the keep much of it simple, using almost entirely the actors to tell the story. When the camera does make any kind of motion, like panning, it's done expertly and only adds to the actors performances. For example, there's one scene at one of the balls where Lizzy and her friend are walking through the hallway laughing and the camera follows just ahead of them when they (and the camera) run into Darcy and they completely stop laughing and tone shift into their conversation. The camera work in this one short sequence is so subtle and perfect. The camera is panning to the right following the girl, and when they bump into Darcy, the camera fully stops the same instant, with only Darcy's torso in frame, and begins panning out to frame all three of them properly, and once it does, they begin talking. It's as though both the characters and the camera run into him like a wall. It's so quick but I get distracted every time I get to that scene (I also replay it and it may just be my favorite) because of how fucking good the camera work is. I could probably talk about just the framing and camera work in this movie for hours.

The story and actors are incredible. I have no idea why it's taken me so long to watch this movie because everyone seems to love it. It has instantly become a favorite of mine, to the point where the first day I watched it, I actually ended up watching twice. This film is just very well rounded and so very good.

#movie review #movies #pride and prejudice #pride and predjudice 2005 #elizabeth bennet #mr darcy #fitzwilliam darcy

[the-masked-reviewer]

Arthur the King (2024) Review

potential spoilers ahead...

This movie has absolutely breathtaking cinematography, especially for a "based on true story" movie. Typically, you'd expect straight forward camera work in this type of movie, leaving the story to do the heavily lifting. But here, both the camera work and general framing do wonders in assisting the story and showing the extremity of nature and adventure racing. Though the praise is not limited to scenes/shots focused on the location, it's obviously, assisted by the downright amazing locations and settings. Despite this, they manage to elevate the shots and not just rely on the landscape and story. They take an already interesting story and elevate it to be further visually interesting.

As for the movie's story, I found it well paced with a good balance between character and story moments. The beginning does well to get you invested in the characters and the race. One character, Leo, has more notably good (and Realistic) development. And all the characters never felt overly dramatized. Even the 'Antagonists' were shown as people just being people, which isn't always the approach this type of story takes. Of course the movie is based on a true story, and from what I can tell the overall story is fairly accurate, although the real team is from Sweden, not America like in the movie(Espn). Many of the smaller details were also shifted to create a more compelling movie, none of which change the realness of Arthur and the impact he had on both the fictional and real teams (ScreenRant).

The whole race is interesting and reasonably suspenseful. Speaking of suspense, the best and most tense scene is easily the zip-line scene. It's intense, focused on the characters approaches to racing, and is an excellent example of the cinematography throughout the film. From what I can tell, this actual event was created for the movie and to heighten tension (ComicBook). Although learning it was filmed practically as opposed to green screen, definitely makes it even more suspenseful.

#movie review #movies #arthur the king #arthur the king 2024 #simu liu #mark wahlberg

[the-masked-reviewer]

Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) Review

potential spoilers ahead...

For starters, I don't think this was a movie that needed to be made. It is not much of a story, if it qualifies at all. the whole thing feels more like an (overly)extended episode of one of the series rather then it's own movie. And was either poorly paced and slow or it was just straight up boring.

Now for an actual explanation. Starting with a community of Goats was a great idea, but I will admit the only reason I think that is because I love goats and am easily bought. Showing Tai Lung attacking the goats with the shots framed to make it difficult to see that he's actually covered in scales instead of fur is an awesome way to introduce the audience to the new villain, even if the execution wasn't great. The lighting and lack of emphasis make it difficult to notice and make out those details. And it isn't explained until later in the movie, after you know who the Chameleon is, when Po finds Tai Lung's footprints that slowly shrink into Not Tai Lung Footprints(TM). Throughout the movie the Chameleon never feels villainous, even as she is doing the Big Bad Thing and in the final fight. It makes it difficult to see the stakes as real and as ultimate as its supposed to. I do really like the consistency of the scales every time she shapeshifts, it looks cool and is a fun way to showcase shapeshifting visually.

Po has no real development in this story. He's supposed to be learning how to teach and not approach every conflict with violence. In the entire movie we see him teach the fox, his sidekick prisoner trainee person, ONE thing, and attempt diplomacy(if you can call a single line that is not entirely non-aggressive that) twice, failing both times. At the end of the movie its treated as though he has become the spiritual leader he begrudgingly set out to become, but in reality nothing changed and there was no lesson for Po, or anyone really including the audience, to learn from the adventure that was had. Jack Black (the god that he is) was great, but this doesn't feel like a movie about Thee "Kung fu Panda". The other movies all have Po going on adventures that teach about believing in yourself, creating a family, self confidence, and more. This movie's lack of clear message and hope feels like a major let down from such a positive children's series.

As for the fox, I didn't like or care about her at all. She was annoying, and I know that's Awkwafina's shtick or whatever, but you can't expect anyone, even young kids, to like or care about the annoying criminal that shows no redeeming qualities until the last ~40 minutes with that quality being questionably redeeming. She meets Po when he catches her stealing and she does nothing but cause problems and be annoying from then to the point where (Surprise!) she double crosses him. She only fights on his side in the end because of the classic reasoning, she didn't know anyone would get hurt. Things are classic for a reason, but here it all feels extremely superficial and cheap.

Shout out to literally every scene with Li and Ping, Po's goose and panda dads respectively. They were, and are, hands down the best scenes in the entire movie. They're the only times I actually had fun watching the movie and it would've been greatly improved if the movie was just a buddy adventure between them and not everything else.

They definitely suffered for the lack of The Furious Five. Even the in universe explanations for where they were were flimsy and bad. Its clear DreamWorks just wanted a quick, cheap, easy money maker and weren't willing to shell out the money for the voice actors.

#kung fu panda #kung fu movies #kfp 4 #movie review #movies #kung fu panda 4 #the furious five #kung fu panda ping #the chameleon #tai lung #dreamworks animation

[the-masked-reviewer]

Howl's Moving Castle (2004) Review

potential spoilers ahead...

The animation is stunning. Everything from the character design to backgrounds and environments is just on another level. The story is interesting. It is easy to see how so many people fall in love with this world and story. The comedy is fun and helps to expertly balance out the literal war going on. The sound design, and dub work in general, are incredible. It brings the animation to life beyond just giving the characters voices. Having no background music and only general sound design in the majority of scenes makes the audience really be a part of the world. This choice makes the world feel even more real, and when there is background music it tells the audience when something truly important or meaningful is happening.

#calcifer is the best #calcifer #howls moving castle #movie review #movies #animation #studio ghibli

[the-masked-reviewer]

Thor (2011) Review

Potential spoilers ahead...

For starters, I've never really liked Thor's stories. I don't think they're bad or poorly done as a whole, just to me they feel boring and lacking any real stakes.

As for the actual film, the opening sequence does a good job of introducing Asgard, the Gods, and the tension between the Gods and the Frost Giants. The primary story centering around what is essentially Thor getting grounded by his father, Odin, and losing his powers until he learns his lesson plays out slowly. Having such a powerful character, even at a weak point, in an environment where you can hardly tell there is any less power makes any tension or costs feel arbitrary and exaggerated. Most of the interest comes from characters who don't get much exposition, like the scientists and Thor's Asgardian friends.

#thor #movie review #movies #marvel #thor odinson #loki laufeyson #loki #thor 2011 #thor 1

[the-masked-reviewer]

Iron Man 2 (2010) Review

potential spoilers ahead...

This movie is a good extension of the story you get in the first movie. The character arcs of the various characters, mainly Pepper and Rhodey, help to round them out and show the audience there is more than the few traits you learn about in the first movie. It also brings in the concept of other people using the Iron Man suits with Rhodey creating War Machine. As for Stark's arc in the film, it feels like a natural progression and shows him slowly trying to shed the narcissism he portrayed in the original. He doesn't completely grow as a character, but by the end of the movie, he has clearly improved and wants to go further to be a better, less selfish person. The actual plot is fun but most of the more interesting scenes come in the sub-plots. Everything involving SHIELD and creating the new element, while tangentially plot relevant, are more just there to build interest and attention for movies down the line. It's fun to watch but definitely not the best Iron Man movie.

#movie review #movies #marvel #iron man #james rhodes #war machine #tony stark #iron man 2 #pepper potts

[the-masked-reviewer]

Napoleon (2023) Review

potential spoilers ahead...

Napoleon was a very interesting movie. It shows his strategical prowess and his ambition to both be remembered. The battle scenes throughout the movie are dynamic and show the quick and deadly battles like every other war movie. The scenes that focused on the politics and his life in France were exactly what you would expect. The acting didn't feel very dramatized and felt more realistic throughout, especially in the scenes with more emotional turmoil, even though the entire movie is a dramatization. The choices of what parts of Napoleon's life to include and what to leave out were well done. The battles and excursions chosen to be explicitly shown and focused on were ones that truly show just how ambitious, wide spread, and well strategized Napoleon and his armies were at the time. The movie was entertaining despite any and all historical inaccuracies, of which I wasn't able to find many, but I am not an expert.

You go into a movie about Napoleon and you get a movie about Napoleon. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad, it was barely even notable. At the end of the day, it was a movie about Napoleon, which is exactly what it tells you it is and is exactly what you expect. It is exactly what you want from a movie about Napoleon, in that….it's about Napoleon and its fun to watch.

#movie review #napoleon #napoleon bonaparte #movies

[the-masked-reviewer]

Downsizing (2017) Review

potential spoilers ahead...

This movie had the potential to have a really good story about so many things, for example, classism, environmentalism, overpopulation. It could have been an amazing apocalyptic story too, especially once they introduce apocalypse theory shortly after the halfway point. But instead they went and made it a nothing movie with a slight romance, which to me makes no sense and is just poor writing. The ending negates every chance this movie had at making any kind of statement or commentary on literally anything. It almost feels like despite having characters straight up mention global warming, overpopulation, even going as far as making class divide jokes they never realized they could actually say something. All the building blocks are there, they are just sitting in the dialogue unutilized. Even if the lack of social commentary was a deliberate choice they still could have had a much better movie by just sticking to an apocalypse story. Instead the apocalypse is only mentioned at the very end and the MC decides to just "live" life at the very last second, literally leaving the supposedly apocalypse safe bunker, to get with a girl who he's barely even had an actual conversation with because neither of them speak the same language and made no attempt to learn.

In all honesty, the movie doesn't suck that much (I wouldn't even wish it upon my worst enemy, but details) it is just extremely frustrating to waste over 2 hours on something that had the potential to be Something instead of being just nothing. The actual story, jokes, and concept aren't mind numbingly boring, they're just an ok experience that a wasted potential turned into a terrible experience.

#downsizing #movie review #i hate this movie so much #like actually

[the-masked-reviewer]

X-Men: First Class (2011) Review

potential spoilers ahead...

As the fifth movie in the X-Men series, this does the impressive job of Not being about Wolverine. This film shows the origin of the X-Men team as we come to know in the first movie(X-Men). However, it only brings back 4 of the known characters from this point in the series. Which, for a team story structure, is not as many as you would think.

The first act of the film is spent on various characters, both new and old, and their backstories. As the story moves along, the team grows to resemble more of what we know it eventually becomes. The final fight shows most of these new characters dying. The very end of the movie solidifies the future plans for what the X-Men will become.

This film is stuffed full of origins and backstories that would have done better if the audience had any reason to actually care. The stories we get are interesting but only cover the surface problems. The attention is mostly focused on Eric, aka Magneto, with his origin being the opening sequence and with the movie revisiting his life story more than anyone else's. The main conflict being a personal motivator for Eric, while everyone else is there for the "greater good" reasoning, makes the film feel more like X-Men Origins: Magneto, with the sub-plot being about the X-Men team instead of actually showing these characters in more depth. Choosing to focus on one character and not the entire team, seems to be something this franchise regularly struggles with, something I talk about more in my X-Men Origins: Wolverine review.

#movie review #x men movies #x men #xmen #x men first class #magneto #beast x men #beast

[the-masked-reviewer]

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) Review

Potential spoilers ahead...

Whether you're a casual fan, or someone beginning to dabble into superheroes, this is a great origin movie. Even for those more acquainted with the source, it's still interesting and well done. I completely see why they would focus on Wolverine. His story is interesting, they were hinting towards the movie since the start of the series, and he is just a popular and common character in X-Men properties. But honestly, I don't care that much. It feels like he's overdone, and the focus of all the movies at this point in the series, despite this being the only Wolverine-centric one. Doing an origin movie on a lesser known character with an equally interesting story would've been better. For example, characters like Beast, Nightcrawler, or even Magneto, whose more known and established, would've been just as interesting and would've shown an audience less familiar with the comics why they should care about these characters who were only in the background, or a semi-fleshed out antagonist. Instead, they focus on Wolverine, and shove a later movie in the series (X-Men: First Class) full of origin stories, boiling them down to the main talking points, making it difficult for new or movie only fans to really grasp just how cool some of these more niche characters are. The movies never even talk about Nightcrawler's origin, probably because it would've made their working timeline messier, but it's easily one of the more interesting and is never even hinted at (I recommend giving this article by Marvel a quick look through because it is genuinely interesting). Logan is an interesting character with a compelling origin and arc. The film does an excellent job at portraying it and it's all well paced. But show me someone different, shine a light on the characters sitting un-utilized in the pages of comics that have an unknowing audience waiting for them. Yes, it's a risk, but you're already working with adapting niche content to the screen so go all the way and show the range of characters on the pages.

#movie review #x men movies #xmen #x men #wolverine #x men origins: wolverine #why is everything about wolverine #like really

[the-masked-reviewer]

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) Review

potential spoilers ahead...

Out of the first three movies for this series, this film is where you get the most character progression. The cure story allows for the introduction of some new characters to the film's audience, and more importantly, the completion of Rogue's character and story arcs. It does need to be mentioned that this is what causes Storm, a woman whose mutant ability is to control the weather (arguably something that could never be negative), to tell Rogue, a girl whose ability prevents her from having any sort of normal human contact without nearly killing someone, that being mutants is not "something to be cured" because nothing is wrong with them. I understand wanting to make it clear where in the debate on the cure Storm sat, but I feel like someone who works and cares for all of these kids would have a little more empathy for them. As for the Phoenix/Jean Gray story line, it's clearly what they have building towards since the start. While utilizing Wolverines love for Jean and their relationship, especially in the context of him being the one to kill her at the end, was taken almost directly from the comics, (ScreenRant) the movie and series as a whole really treats the relationship as something the audience will just know and not something that deserves real development. They use two make-out scenes, one in this movie and one in X2, as the only solid evidence they truly care about each other, when they could have, and probably Should have, given them actual reasons or at least A conversation not about Scott to prove to the audience that it is more than looks and first impressions. Unless you are familiar with the comics, and the fact that these two are almost always together in some way, you miss a lot of the more interesting details in regards to the relationship.

#x men movies #movie review #xmen #x men #x men the last stand #rogue xmen #jean grey

[the-masked-reviewer]

X2 (2003) Review

potential spoilers ahead...

The story is continuation of the first movie, which is to be expected of a sequel, but most of it ends up feeling like its' just further exposition of the characters with a plot clearly made to set up the next movies (X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine). It does introduce you to a couple new characters, but they all remain in the background with little to no character exposition, despite their important roles to come. Nightcrawler, who was introduced and fairly important to the actual plot, gets very little attention or any depth add to his character. His arc, and the movie as a whole, would have benefited greatly from giving him more screen time and detail. While Nightcrawler is one of my favorite X-Men, to the point where just his inclusion definitely gave this movie a 1-2 point boost his story is the kick starter for this movies entire premise and yet once he's found by Storm and Jean, he gets sidelined completely. As much as this movie feels like a precursor to the following movies, and not it's own story, the story you do get is interesting at some points, though it's much more favorable if you already like and enjoy these characters and their stories. Having the entire base team, the one established in the first movie, be almost entirely separated makes it difficult to, you know, build team dynamics. That's a pretty difficult thing to do and expand upon when the team isn't even together.

#x men movies #x men #x2 #xmen #x men 2 #x2 2003 #nightcrawler #storm #storm xmen #movie review

[the-masked-reviewer]

X-Men (2000) Review

potential spoilers ahead..

This movie has really good CGI and special effects. The effects feel real and do a wonderful job of putting you into the movie's universe. Considering this was over 20 years ago, and the current quality coming from the same studios, I am truly impressed by what they were capable of delivering. The writing and the casting both do a good job of bringing these characters and their world to life. The fight scenes are well choreographed and really fun to watch. The story sets up the rest of the franchise and does a lot of world building. There is quite a lot of exposition, and while the movie does have an interesting story, the remainder of the movie really leaves you thinking that it's building towards later movies and not something that is really its own thing. Something I think contributed to that feeling is just how much time is spent focusing on Wolverine and not the entire team and their dynamics. I understand why they chose to focus on Logan. He's one of the most well-known characters in the X-Men franchise. However, I wish the movie just focused on the team and their dynamic as a whole. They still do a pretty decent job at introducing the rest of this version of the team and start to show some of the inner-team dynamics, just not as much as they could have.

#xmen #x men #x men 2000 #x men movies #wolverine #movie review

[the-masked-reviewer]

Wonka (2023) Review

potential spoilers ahead

The movie is a fun story following the start of Wonka's chocolate empire. Both the soundtrack and the score were amazing and catchy. Strongly written and well performed musical numbers only add to to fun of the experience. The casting is amazing, all the actors commit to the bit wonderfully and embody exactly what you want and expect from their characters. Timothee Chalamet not only sings wonderfully but manages to capture and embody Wilder's brand of Wonka Insanity almost perfectly at points. Some moments throughout the movie you almost feel as though you ARE watching Wilder. The movie vastly outperformed what i was expecting of it based on its trailers. I'd put it as the second best Wonka movie, right after Wilder's of course.

#wonka #wonka 2023 #willy wonka #wonka movie #movie review #movies

[the-masked-reviewer]

The Portable Door (2023) Review

Potential spoilers ahead...

This movie is incredibly fun to watch. It's one of those movies where every little detail is important and comes back around at the end. The story has some obvious inspiration from other Magical Adventure stories, but makes it it's own. For example, the entire title sequence was very clearly inspired by Pixar's Monsters Inc. with its one line drawing through everything, along with the door motif makes it difficult not to notice. The score is beautiful and adds to the events playing out wonderfully. It really sells the discovery and life within a magical world just beyond the regular. This movie may not be everyone's kind of movie with the interest coming mostly from speculating story points based off small details. They try to make the important details as obvious as possible and even foreshadow in some very clear ways where the story will go, making it lighthearted and an unexpectedly fun watch.

#movie review #movies #magic #the portable door #the portable door movie

[the-masked-reviewer]

The Beekeeper (2024) Review

Potential spoilers ahead...

This film is interesting and exactly what you want based off of the trailers. It's very played up and exaggerated in terms of the score and sound design. For example, many of the punches sounding more cartoonish than realistic. The fight scenes are very well choreographed and visually interesting. Many of the deaths are creative and add to the proof that Clay, the main character and The Beekeeper, is on another level when it comes to accomplishing his goal. One of the fight sequences includes two of my favorite deaths and great examples of the creativity; a man getting split in half by a falling elevator and one where clay hangs a guy mid fight and the camera follows him as he uses the guy as a pulley to get out of the ceiling.

For an R rated action full of creative deaths and big fights, there is a distinct lack of blood. For instance in one of the fight scenes we see Clay shoot a guy in the face twice, and you are clearly shown blood splattering up but the next cut reveals that he has almost no blood on his face or clothes, despite this happening in the middle of the final fight and them actually showing blood splatter.

This movie uses some absolutely amazing framing, the camera movement and what they choose to focus on in both close up and range shots is just expertly done. The bee symbolism and parallels are extremely present and allow the audience to predict where the story is going, especially the moment framed as the twist. The cast does wonderfully at portraying their character, and the acting adds so many layers and interest to the entire story.

#movie review #the beekeeper #the beekeper 2024 #beekeeper 2024 #beekeeper #action movies #action #thriller #film review

[the-masked-reviewer]

Right "more put together comparison" has very quickly become looking at every little detail and difference between the two and it's way more than the adaption Rick was promising should be

I'm planning on making a more put together comparison between the Percy Jackson book and the show but I've got thoughts that I don't feel like sitting on.

The second I realized how short the "show" season was, I knew it wasn't going to be quite what I wanted/what it deserves to be bc they'd have to cut so much to make it fit. It's a good show, and I am enjoying it but...it's not everything I hoped it would be.

I like getting to see things from other perspectives, but you lose out on percys internal dialogue and joke and just how SMART he actually is. The ep literally named something something ZEBRA something HAD NO FUCKING ZEBRA. The four pearl thing, might be one of the changes I actually liked the most. But having everyone know what they're walking into before it happens takes away from the story and the tension. The focus seems to be more on Percy and anabeth which is fine but it really makes it hard to believe that him and grover are platonic soulmates like they are.

There's definitely more to say, and I fully intend on doing a more extensive thing once the whole show is out.

#percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo tv show #pjo series #pjo