trulyinspiringmovies
Truly Inspiring Movies
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Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
"Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" was made ten years ago and is a prime example of how to do a multiverse story right.
Barry Allen stops Professor Zoom once again with the help of the Justice League. As Professor Zoom is being escorted to prison, he tells Barry that he's still not fast enough to save those who truly matter. This affects Barry as he goes to run his feelings off. The next morning, Barry is shocked to see that his late mother is alive and well. This confuses him at first, but then he's more confused to find out his powers are gone. Barry starts noticing big differences in his world and he has to figure out what's going on before the war between Amazonians and Atlantians destroys the world.
In the last ten years, multiverse stories have caught on like wildfire. Movies like "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse" and "Everything Everywhere All At Once" have changed their respective genres in big ways. Movies like "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and "The Flash" have allowed old faces to return, much to the delight of many fans. It's crazy to think that "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" did this before it was trendy. Even television shows are dipping their toes into the multiverse idea like "Loki" and "Fionna & Cake". The thing is, I think this 2013 movie got the multiverse idea right and only a handful of movies nowadays understand why. There are so many multiverse movies coming out that people are starting to get 'Multiverse Fatigue'. I think this problem is very similar to the Superhero Fatigue most people are experiencing. Sure, these genres are oversaturated, but I think the fatigue comes from the oversaturation of low-quality productions rather than the oversaturation itself. I guarantee that people wouldn't be complaining nearly as much if all of the multiverse movies coming out now had heart and were telling good stories. The reason why these new multiverse movies seem soulless is because alternate versions of characters are glorified cameos. The most soulless example is the distastefully reincarnated CGI abominations from 2023's "The Flash". Multiverse stories are at their strongest when alternate versions of characters serve as foils for our main characters. They have to serve a function in the story that's higher than just cashing in on nostalgia. I think "Spider-Man: No Way Home" struck a fantastic balance between the two. Of course, fans were hyped to see Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield come back as Spider-Man. I was one of those many fans. But, they served as mentors for Tom Holland's Peter Parker because they had history. The same can be said about the alternate versions of the characters in "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox". Barry spends the whole movie thinking that bringing his mother back would fix everything and make the world a better place, but is proven wrong. We learn how grim things would've turned out if things had gone just a little differently. It highlights how lucky Barry's original universe was to have so many great heroes. These dark versions of the heroes we know and love highlight the truth that Barry's life is great already. They're not in the story because they were once famous in the role a decade or two ago. They're in the story because they matter. I'd love to see more multiverse stories because it's a topic that still fascinates me, but I'd like to see them done right, and a good way to ensure that is to learn the lessons from this brilliant movie.
★★★★★
Rewatched on July 15th, 2023
#Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox#July#2013#Action#Science Fiction#Animation#Superhero#PG-13#Jay Olivia#July 2023#5 stars
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The Flash
"The Flash" is a fun movie... if you choose to judge it without its numerous controversies.
Barry Allen is a speedster with the ability to go back in time. Despite the warnings from Bruce Wayne, Barry goes back in time to save his mother from being murdered. This obviously causes his future to change in unintended ways. What he doesn't realize is that changing something in the past affects both the present and the past.
It's no secret that there's been a lot of controversy regarding Ezra Miller and their behavior. I just want to clarify that this review will, for the most part, only be reviewing the movie itself in its own vacuum. I will, however, talk about my thoughts on the controversy after I've said my piece. Now that I've established the format of this review, let's get into it. So, I am a fan of the Flash. I remember rushing home from school to watch the CW television show every Tuesday. I was already a fan of "Arrow", so I remember watching the world premiere of "The Flash". I was also a fan of "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox". When I saw that this movie would be loosely adapting that storyline, I had mixed feelings about it. Then, the initial reviews came flooding in and they were all talking about how this movie was better than The Dark Knight trilogy. The hype started to build within me because of how Warner Brothers was standing by this movie, even with all the behind-the-scenes disasters. I thought that this movie must be worth all the hype. Then I finally watched the movie in theaters and it was just okay. It's not bad, but it's not the best superhero movie ever. It's just average, maybe a little, tiny bit better than average. Ezra Miller's performance was praised by so many people in the industry, but I thought it was fine. There were a few great moments of acting, but it was teetering between good and obnoxious to me at times. The adaptation of "Flashpoint" had some good qualities and some bad qualities. There were a few changes that I thought were creative and other choices that felt uninspired. For example, I thought the connection between the spaghetti analogy and the can of tomatoes was creative, but I thought the final villain reveal was a bit uninspired. I think one of the biggest points of contention for this movie was the CGI. Personally, I thought it was bad, but not too distracting. I just don't really like the backward justification from the director about how the CGI was purposely bad because, from Barry's perspective, there are visual aberrations when going at the speed of light. Other than that, I didn't really care too much for the inclusion of Michael Keaton's Batman. I thought Sasha Calle's Supergirl was fantastic and I'm sad that we won't ever get to see her character explored. That's really all I have to say about the movie. In terms of the controversy, although there's a lot to talk about, I only really want to comment on two of them because they somewhat affected my thoughts on this movie. For starters, I think Ezra Miller's actions have been deplorable. They clearly need mental help and I hope they get it soon. I think a denouncement of Ezra's actions from Warner Brothers would've gone a long way in helping with the controversy, but instead, they never did and instead praised their acting in this film. I think that was a really bad move and I hope they finally come out in the future to address the problems instead of waiting for the drama to die down. The second thing I wanted to touch on was the cameos at the end of the film. That was truly in bad taste. I get that the studio wanted to make the universes all feel connected, but the choices were all the wrong ones. Not only were there a lot of deceased actors who couldn't give their consent to be in this controversy-ridden film, but there was also a cameo from George Reeves, who infamously committed suicide because he thought he couldn't escape his role as Superman. And to put a cherry on top of this shit sundae, all the deceased actors were brought back to life via horrible CGI. The filmmakers also didn't include Grant Gustin at all, who was arguably a more influential Flash than Ezra Miller ever was. The Nicolas Cage cameo was fun for those who knew about the Kevin Smith story, but it wasn't enough to wash the bad taste out of my mouth. All in all, I think this movie is better off forgotten. It really feels indicative of the tumultuous and ugly time that Warner Brothers is going through.
★★★
Watched on July 4th, 2023
#The Flash#June#2023#Action#Superhero#Drama#Science Fiction#Adventure#Fantasy#PG-13#Andrés Muschietti#July 2023#3 stars
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Batman Returns
"Batman Returns" feels overstuffed, unfocused, and disinterested in its title character.
Batman is still fighting crime at night and keeping Gotham safe. Meanwhile, Oswald, a deformed man who was thrown away as a child by his own parents, is hatching a plan to get revenge on Gotham. Max Shreck, an unscrupulous industrialist, wants to team up with Oswald for his own selfish gain. All the while, Selina Kyle embraces a new alter ego, Catwoman, in order to get revenge on Max Shreck.
All the reviews I've read or seen for this movie seem to have the same caveat. They're all people who grew up watching this movie, so they have a soft spot for it in their hearts. However, they make it very clear that the distinction is that this is their favorite Batman movie and not the best Batman movie. That's because this movie isn't a Batman movie in any sense. Batman murders freely, which surprisingly doesn't bother me too much. I know that Batman's moral compass is a big part of his identity and wanton murder goes directly against that, but I don't really mind because I just see this Batman as a different version of Batman, which is true. I can get behind this version of Batman not really caring about murder because this version of Batman isn't setting out to be more complex than just being a superhero of the night. My main reason why this is barely a Batman movie to me is that he's barely in it. This movie is more focused on Oswald and Selina Kyle. Batman doesn't really have a character arc in this movie. He's just there to fight a little and then leave the movie until he's needed again for action. On top of that, this movie gets the origin of Catwoman and the Penguin wrong. Again, I don't mind the changes. These characters are separate versions of the characters I'm familiar with. However, it feels like Tim Burton's vision for these characters was a lazy approach. Penguin is a human that resembles a penguin. Fine, that whole macabre vibe that Tim Burton is known for. It's still lazy, but it fits with Tim Burton's modus operandi. I just don't understand what was going on with Catwoman. She gets pushed out of the top of a building and basically dies, only to be revived by alley cats. Now she has a whole shift in her personality, she can fight extremely well, and she basically has nine lives. It's like Tim Burton saw the villains' names and went with the closest thing to a literal approach, even if it made no sense. There were still some redeeming qualities. I thought the score was even better this time around. I enjoy seeing Gotham during Christmas time. The ending was pretty good. Still, I don't think I'd ever want to watch this movie again.
★★★
Watched on July 2nd, 2023
#Batman Returns#June#1992#Action#Superhero#Adventure#Fantasy#Thriller#Crime#PG-13#Tim Burton#July 2023#3 stars
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Batman (1989)
"Batman" is a nostalgic film for most, but without having the same rose-tinted glasses, I can't look past its flaws.
Bruce Wayne has started fighting crime as Batman and things have been fairly tame. That is until Jack Napier is sent on a suicide mission by his boss, Carl Grissom, for sleeping with Grissom's mistress. Batman tries to stop Jack's mission, but it ends up with Jack falling into a vat of acid. Horrifically scarred from the experience, Jack embraces his new persona of The Joker.
I know for a lot of adults nowadays, "Batman" was their first introduction to the caped crusader. Because of this, they grew up thinking this was an accurate portrayal of Batman. A lot of them learned about the real Batman as he showed up in more movies and media, but they still give this movie a pass because it's nostalgic to them. Honestly, I get it. I felt the same way about Spider-Man after watching 2002's "Spider-Man". I grew up thinking Spider-Man was supposed to have organic web shooters. After learning about the real Spider-Man, I still look back at Tobey Maguire's version of Peter Parker fondly because that's the version I grew up with. However, I did not grow up with Tim Burton's Batman. I went into this movie already having a strong idea of who Batman is. Let me get the obvious gripes out of the way. This Batman kills. It completely goes against the character's moral compass, but I guess people didn't mind back then because it was grittier than the Adam West Batman they were used to. Also, the Batsuit looks good... but only when he's standing still. Seeing Micheal Keaton move in that suit is awkward and unintentionally hilarious at times. I remember laughing especially when he had to look up and was forced to move his whole torso. Also, I knew people grew to love Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne, but I don't really see it. He doesn't fit the character for me. Still, after all my criticisms, what's left is something still special. I could feel the sense of wonderment audiences must've felt back in 1989. The gadgets are delightful. The special effects are charming. The Batmobile is iconic. The fight scenes are surprisingly really good, even by today's standards. Jack Nicholson's Joker is really damn good too. This movie has a lot of heart and it was a treat to see when general audiences started seeing this character in a more serious light. It was super interesting to see how Tim Burton was able to play with expectations of Bruce's origin story because general audiences of that time weren't aware of it like they are now. As an accurate Batman film, this movie fails, but as its own interpretation, this Batman oozes with charm. Although I won't be a die-hard fan any time soon, I can't help but admit how fantastic the Danny Elfman score still is.
★★★★
Watched on July 1st, 2023
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Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
“Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” is a perfect sequel to a perfect movie, but I’m not sure I could overlook this one problem.
Mile Morales is having trouble balancing his life as a student and his life as Spider-Man. He’s now completely focused on pursuing a career that will allow him to research ways to travel between universes. One day, Gwen meets with him and shows him that she’s able to travel between universes using a bracelet given to her by Miguel O’Hara. It turns out that she’s not just here to visit Miles. She’s been sent to Mile’s universe on a mission.
This is a review that was a little difficult for me to make. For the past few days, I’ve been debating on whether or not I should give it four or five stars. The reason is that I think this movie is absolutely fantastic. My only problem is with the supposed ending. I felt like this was an incomplete movie. I think by now, everyone knows that this is the first half of a two-part movie. I think a lot of people are using that as a justification and calling it a cliffhanger rather than an incomplete movie. There’s a lot of rising action, but never really any climax. Plot-wise, there’s not a whole lot going on once you put aside all the Easter eggs and references. Now, I still think the writing is still extremely well done and what this movie is setting up is brilliant, but that’s all this movie is: set-up. I find myself comparing this movie with “Avengers: Infinity War” because they’re both the first half of two-part movies. With “Avengers: Infinity War”, there was a third act and the heroes surprisingly fail to stop the antagonist. There’s a climax that pays off all the journeys each character went through, but ultimately they were in vain. It’s still narratively satisfying because you get a full movie, just with an unconventional ending. In “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse”, you don’t get that. You get exposition that leads to rising action, but it cuts off there. If you really boil things down, this movie is just about Miles learning about the society of Spider-people, learning about Canon events, learning his dad dying is a canon event, and then running away from everyone only to end up in the wrong dimension. Miles doesn’t really do much with the new information he’s given. Now, you could argue that he does do something with that information and that’s run away to try and save his dad, but the story ends before he could directly affect that outcome. Don’t get me wrong. I thought the animation was insanely impressive. They managed to push the boundaries of the already boundary-pushing visuals of the first movie. This movie is just, to put it simply, gorgeous to look at. I thought The Spot was a great villain and voiced excellently by Jason Schwartzman, although the movie kind of forgot about him in the latter half. As I said, the writing is ingenious. I have an idea of where they’re going with everything and it’s all super creative and a lot of fun. It’s that perfect blend of meta, but also still stands alone as its own great story. It sucks that I had to give this movie four stars because it truly was a well-crafted movie. But, I always stand by that story must come first, so an incomplete story is a big thing for me. I saw somewhere online that this wasn’t actually an incomplete story because Miles and Gwen are completely different at the end of the movie from where they were at the beginning. I still don’t think that’s enough. I’m excited to see the second part, but not as excited as I would be if I didn’t feel so unsatisfied walking out of the theater for this movie. Still, this movie is damn good and should be watched on the biggest screen with the best sound quality. You don’t want to miss it.
★★★★
Watched on June 3rd, 2023
#Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse#June#2023#Action#Comedy#Superhero#Adventure#Fantasy#Science Fiction#Family#Animation#PG#Joaquin Dos Santos#Kemp Powers#Justin K. Thompson#June 2023#4 stars
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Justice League: Doom
“Justice League: Doom” is one of my favorite DC animated movies of all time and a perfect example of the Justice League portrayed right.
The Justice League is all being strategically attacked at the same time. These attacks are carefully planned out and exploit each Justice League member’s specific weaknesses. Batman recognizes these plans and realizes the mastermind behind them is... himself.
I always tell people that I’m a DC fan first and foremost. I like Marvel, but their stories will never be on the same level for me as DC’s. Then people get confused because all they know about the DC universe is those awful live-action movies. “Justice League: Doom” is one of many great stories done right. DC’s animated movies have always been their strength, but they don’t get as much attention as the big-budget live-action movies. I truly believe that translating comics into animated movies is a better fit than live-action since it’s less of a leap in terms of medium. Plus it allows studios to spend less money while still cranking out a lot of movies that draw from classic stories without much change. Even when they do make changes like from “JLA: Tower Of Babel” to “Justice League: Doom”, the changes aren’t jarring or even sometimes better overall. These stand-alone movies are always the best because they don’t have to neatly fold back to the status quo or follow some grand overarching plan like most franchise movies have to. Instead, they’re able to tell stories that ask questions through choices that have more gravity and finality. I think if the comic industry wants to create more interest in comic books, then they need to focus more on these types of movies. I know DC animated movies are the reason why I started reading and collecting comics in the first place.
★★★★★
Rewatched on June 1st, 2023
#Justice League: Doom#February#2012#Action#Science Fiction#Animation#Fantasy#PG-13#Lauren Montgomery#June 2023#5 stars
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The Little Mermaid (2023)
“The Little Mermaid” is a remake that fails to understand what made the original so iconic and includes subpar additions that fail to justify its own existence for me.
Ariel is supposed to attend the Coral Moon meeting, but misses it because she’s exploring a shipwreck she was strictly forbidden to go to. She later hears explosions go off on the surface and decides to check it out. It turns out to be Prince Eric’s ship celebrating his birthday with fireworks. Immediately a storm draws in and leaves them shipwrecked. Ariel brings Prince Eric back to shore and now he decides he must find the mysterious girl with the beautiful voice who saved him.
I know this movie is a contentious topic right now, but I want to give a grounded take on what I thought worked and didn’t work in this movie. For starters, I want to highlight my favorite part of the movie: Halle Bailey as Ariel. To me, she is Ariel if she were to exist in the real world. Halle Bailey brings the same energy as Jodi Benson in the 1989 movie. Not only that, but she also manages to breathe new life into “Part Of Your World”, one of my favorite Disney songs, through her powerful voice. I don’t care if people are upset she’s not the same skin color as the original Ariel. I try to be open-minded and hear everyone’s perspective, but that viewpoint only stems from hateful rhetoric and that has no place in actual discussions about the quality of this movie. With that being said, I thought the rest of the movie was subpar. The biggest problem I had was with how the filmmakers fundamentally misunderstood the original story and its characters. Here are some examples of why I feel this way. The initial introduction of Ariel with the shark changed something simple, but extremely important. It’s how Ariel treats her bag. I know that sounds like a small complaint, but trust me, it’s huge because of how it originally paints the character. In the original, Ariel retrieves her bag impulsively and doesn’t stop to think about the danger she was running away from. Then, when Flounder is in trouble, she immediately drops her bag to help him. This masterfully paints Ariel’s priorities. Her stuff is more important than her own well-being and her friends are more important than her stuff. The new movie forgoes all of that for a new trick using the mirror to show how smart she is. Another example is after Triton destroys Ariel’s stuff. In the original, just for a second, you could see a tinge of regret in his face. Javier Bardem’s Triton doesn’t have a moment like that, which paints him as more stoic and unfeeling. My final example is during the shipwreck scene. In the original, Eric is already on the lifeboat, but abandons his safety to save his dog. In this remake, it’s less heroic because he saves the dog while still on the boat and then tumbles out. In fact, I don’t know why they took away Eric’s heroic moments twice. The original movie had Eric be the one to land the killing blow on Ursula. In this movie, it’s Ariel, but it looks totally wonky because she’s flopping on the deck of the ship. This movie makes a ton of these revisions that didn’t need to be made. They add an extra stipulation to the deal between Ursula and Ariel. Ariel basically forgets about having to get a kiss from Eric, but it really doesn’t change the story in a significant way. I found out this was done to try and make Ariel seem less predatory, but I thought it wasn’t really a big deal since she never came off as predatory in the original. The remake also adds three new songs and I hate every single one of them. Prince Eric has a generic song that failed to make me feel anything. Ariel gets a song immediately after her voice was taken away that takes place in her head, but I felt like it minimized the severity of her choice. I think everyone unanimously agrees that Scuttle’s new rap song was just horrible. I was shocked to find out that Lin Manuel Miranda wrote that song because it was atrocious. I never thought I’d see the day when I found one of his songs to be not just okay, but straight-up bad. The rest of my complaints have to do with how much the switch to live-action neutered the movie. Sebastian and Flounder aren’t expressive at all, which was jarring since their voice actors were actually very good. The underwater scenes all looked really bad to me too. It was reminiscent of those screensavers from my childhood of those badly rendered fish on the sea floor. I’m sure a lot of money went into them, but they just looked uncanny and unfinished. I think the only good change in this movie was making Prince Eric a collector like Ariel. It’s a pretty creative change that adds to his character while also making his connection with Ariel stronger. Still, if you ask me, this remake was not justified.
★★
Watched on May 30th, 2023
#The Little Mermaid#May#2023#Romance#Musical#Fantasy#Adventure#Children's#Drama#Family#PG#Rob Marshall#May 2023#2 stars
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The Little Mermaid (1989)
“The Little Mermaid” led us into Disney’s golden age of animation and it’s clear to see why.
Ariel is a mermaid who is enchanted by the human world. Her father, King Triton, forbids her to interact with the humans because they are dangerous. Against the word of her father, Ariel decides to check out a ship where she meets Prince Eric and instantly falls in love with him. King Triton finds out about this and destroys her collection of human items as punishment. Seeing Ariel at her lowest, Ursula the sea witch swoops in and offers her a sinister deal.
I haven’t watched this movie since I was a child, but I’m glad to say that it still holds up. I’m not surprised that it still holds up because this is what started the golden age of Disney animation. Right off the bat, I was genuinely impressed at how fluid (pardon the pun) the animation was. I could tell a lot of it was rotoscoped, but it wasn’t clunky or jarring in any way. In fact, I’d dare say that it was as close to perfection as possible when it comes to rotoscoping. I noticed some CGI rendered in the background as well, but the animators hide it in such a way that it’s barely noticeable and definitely not intrusive to the viewing experience. If you weren’t looking out for it, you’d probably never even notice. I know this is a weird thing to praise, but the movement of the hair in the water was impressive too. That paired with the movements of the bubbles really sold the effect of everything taking place underwater. The colors of this movie pop in the best way possible. It’s evident that the filmmakers were mindful of the vibrancy of this movie because of how Ariel’s bright red hair contrasts with the deep blues of the ocean floor. Jodi Benson absolutely nails her line delivery every single time and on top of that, she’s a phenomenal singer. It’s no wonder I still sing “Part Of Your World” to this day. I know Ariel is criticized for falling in love with a man she just met or that she’s impulsive and dumb, but I genuinely don’t think that’s the case. She’s a strongly written character that’s allowed to have flaws, but those flaws aren’t a negative to the storytelling. She’s a bit naïve, but why wouldn’t she be if the only source of information about the human world is coming from a seagull who clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about? I think it’s an uncharitable view to say Ariel fell in love with the first guy she saw. It’s much more than that for me. He represents the world she longs for and therefore got attached. It also helps that Eric is a good-looking guy and she’s only sixteen. She’s shown to be impulsive, which puts her in danger like when she signs her voice away for legs or when she goes back for her bag when the shark is attacking her. This is offset by her good nature because she’ll put herself in danger for the bag, but she immediately drops the same back when Flounder’s in danger. I think all of those little details make Ariel an endearing and strongly written character. The music is chock-full of great musical moments, heart, charm, and will be a classic for the rest of time.
★★★★★
Rewatched on May 28th, 2023
#The Little Mermaid#November#1989#Music#Musical#Children's#Romance#Melodrama#Fantasy#Animation#G#John Musker#Ron Clements#May 2023#5 stars
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Fast X
“Fast X” finally takes its foot off the gas pedal and feels like the first movie that doesn’t one-up the previous.
Dominic Toretto gets a mission from the Agency to steal computer chips in Rome. He lets Roman, Tej, and Ramsey handle that while he stays at home with his wife and kid. In the middle of the night, Cipher, an old enemy of the family, shows up badly wounded. She warns Dom that his family is in danger because the son of Hernan Reyes, a drug kingpin who was killed because of Dom’s crew, is now seeking revenge. They realize Hernan Reyes’s son has already put his plan in motion when Cipher reveals that the Agency isn’t operating in Rome currently.
I know I champion cinema as an art form to the point of borderline pretentiousness, but I do have a soft spot for mindless popcorn flicks. Case in point, the Fast & Furious franchise. Since the fifth installment, these movies have been unapologetically insane and I’m here for it. What I loved most about each installment was the fact that they were able to outdo themselves on the crazy factor each and every single time. Just when you thought they couldn’t go more off-the-rails, they manage to do it in the sequel. Well, with “Fast X”, I’m sad to say that they finally ran out of gas. With “F9″ literally going into space, it was hard to see how they could top that. “Fast X” was going to have to have a street race on the moon to top that. Sadly, this movie is the first in a long time for this franchise to feel tame. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still absolute insanity, but it’s not more insane than the last movie. There are no action set pieces that were instantly iconic. I know that a lot of people are saying it’s the giant bomb ball scene, but the action in that scene seemed like an appetizer for this franchise. There were no shameless soap opera reveals, which was also a bummer. They did do two reveals at the end, but one felt promising rather than exciting and the other left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. The first one was a welcome surprise because I liked their character and their return has fun potential for how the group dynamic changes. The other just feels like they shouldn’t be welcome back into the franchise after all the bad blood. I guess their career taking a nosedive was just the motivator to put aside the beef and start being a team player again. There’s a character who sacrifices himself, but with how ridiculously durable these characters are, there was no emotional weight behind it. It felt out of place that something as simple as that would kill off a character. Also, at this point, we, as the audience members of the Fast & Furious franchise, have been trained to not take character deaths seriously because we know they’ll come back eventually. That same character also basically has Dom’s son commit murder and act like it was fun. That was a bit weird for me and I’m sure a lot of people felt the same way. Finally, my main problem with this movie is its ending. I know that the movie is planned to be a trilogy to end the franchise, but the ending felt abrupt. The movie didn’t reach the heights it normally does and then it cuts when we’re in the middle of the action. I mean, I’m definitely excited to find out what’s going to happen next, but not to the point where I can’t wait. I really hope these next two movies lean more into the absurdity because that’s how these movies should go out.
★★★
Watched on May 25th, 2023
#Fast X#May#2023#Action#Adventure#Thriller#Crime#Mystery#Road#PG-13#Louis Leterrier#May 2023#3 stars
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Barking Dogs Never Bite
“Barking Dogs Never Bite” is the perfect balance of dark comedy and is an exceptional first entry for director Bong Joon-Ho.
Ko Yun-ju is unemployed and lives with his wife. One day, he’s calling someone, but a dog in his apartment complex won’t stop barking. Sick and tired of the constant barking, Ko Yun-ju decides to take matters into his own hands and gets rid of the dog... permanently. Later, he finds out that the barking still persists and he exterminated the wrong dog. Park Hyun-nam is a kindhearted bookkeeper who decides to try and catch whoever murdered this dog.
This rounds out my viewing of the entirety of Bong Joon-Ho’s filmography and what better way to do so than to finish with where it all started? How does Bong Joon-Ho’s debut on the silver screen hold up? Well, if you ask me, it holds up pretty damn well. If I didn’t know this was someone’s first movie, I wouldn’t have been able to tell. Right off the bat, it’s abundantly clear that sheer competency and inspiration shine through each and every scene. While most directors won’t deviate too far from conventional filmmaking methods, Bong Joon-Ho displays a willingness to experiment in “Barking Dogs Never Bite”. Every scene feels like it’s shot with a purpose. The camera isn’t afraid of moving within a scene to add to either the suspense or the comedy. Speaking of comedy, this movie is really damn funny. I mean, it’s a dark comedy so there are a lot of messed up things, but they’re never treated seriously enough to be of concern. I found myself laughing at everything from the absurd premises to the physical comedy of Ko Yun-ju. I thought the story was a ton of fun too. Bong Joon-Ho manages to flesh out both leads equally and have their paths cross in interesting ways. I can see the ending feeling abrupt and unearned or unsatisfying for some people, but I genuinely thought it was fine. The dark and twisted irony definitely fits within the darkly comedic tone this movie established. I wish I could say more about this movie, but the truth is, it’s just a solid movie all around. There’s nothing more to say other than how impressive it is that this was Bong Joon-Ho’s first movie. It’s no wonder he’s at the heights he’s at now. His starting point was already golden.
★★★★★
Watched on May 22nd, 2023
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Memories Of Murder
“Memories Of Murder” is a master class in filmmaking, but is bogged down only by its adherence to real-life events.
Park Doo-man is a detective who believes he can tell whether or not a culprit is guilty or innocent just by looking into their eyes. Seo Tae-yoon is a detective from Seoul and prefers to stick to hard evidence and facts. After a series of murders, all carried out in the same fashion, it’s determined that they have a serial killer on their hands. While the murders are happening, Park Doo-man and Seo Tae-yoon clash over their differences in detective work.
Before watching this movie, I had no idea that this movie was inspired by the real-life murders of Hwaseong. Perhaps if I had known beforehand, I would’ve enjoyed the movie a lot more. The reason why I didn’t have such a great time with this movie was because of how the movie wanted the audience to be invested in circumstantial evidence. While Park Doo-man and Seo Tae-yoon were chasing down some pervert who masturbated in the forest, I was thinking about how his actions didn’t outright make him the murderer. When Inspector Kwon brought up that she noticed the song “Sad Letter” play every night a murder took place, I just thought how the murderer could like operating on rainy nights and someone else could want the radio station to play a specific song on rainy nights. It felt like such a reach that I couldn’t get on board with it. The only things that felt remotely like a lead were the red dress theory and the rainy night theory. Both of them turned out to be false in the end, but it was still in the realm of believability. I feel like if there was a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie saying that this movie was based on true events, then I would’ve been praising the movie for showcasing the incompetence of the police at the time. Instead, I was focusing on trying to figure out who the killer was before it was revealed with really bad clues. Still, this is a Bong Joon-Ho movie, so it’s chock-full of amazing filmmaking. For starters, I thought the reverse arcs of both Park Doo-man and Seo Tae-yoon were brilliant. It turned Park Doo-man, a character I hated, into one that I genuinely enjoyed thoroughly. It turned Seo Tae-yoon, a character I was rooting for, into a complex and interesting character. Bravo to Bong Joon-Ho for that. I know there was a lot of consideration when it came to the music in the movie. The main score is fantastic and still plays in my head as I write this review. Some songs felt out of place or awkward when matched with the tone of the scene. I think the highlights were definitely the legendary stand-off on the train tracks and the final shot. Those, for me, cemented this movie as something special in Bong Joon-Ho’s already stellar filmography. While movies like “Memories Of Murder” or “Zodiac” feel like empty mysteries, I’m glad we finally know the actual murderers of both those movies in the real world.
★★★★★
Watched on May 21st, 2023
#Memories Of Murder#May#2003#Thriller#Mystery#Crime#Action#Drama#Comedy#NR#Bong Joon-Ho#May 2023#5 stars
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Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3
“Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3″ is incredibly funny, dark, and heartwarming all at the same time.
Rocket is relaxing on Knowhere when suddenly he’s attacked by Adam Warlock. He’s mortally wounded and can’t be operated on unless the kill switch in his heart is deactivated. The Guardians Of The Galaxy must now go to Orgocorp and find the override code before it’s too late for Rocket. On their adventure, they learn about Rocket’s traumatic past.
With the current state of Marvel movies, “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3″ had to be a smash hit to win back people’s favor. And, if anyone is going to make a fan-favorite movie, then it’s definitely going to be James Gunn. So, what did I think of the movie? Is it the smash hit that’ll save the MCU? I liked it, but it’s probably not going to singlehandedly save the MCU. It’s a good step in the right direction, but it’s not good enough to win back the goodwill of the people. Let me start with the positives. This is probably one of the more emotional movies that Marvel has put out. There were multiple moments when I felt a lump in my throat and I was on the brink of tears. James Gunn knows how to write characters that truly feel like a family, with all the good and bad that come with it. In the third act, Mantis and Nebula were really tugging at my heartstrings. Dave Bautista continues to impress me with his acting chops because he finally showed me why Drax was a good father before joining the Guardians Of The Galaxy. Before this movie, I’ll admit that I had a bit of trouble seeing this version of Drax as a father. He was too dumb and goofy in my opinion. This movie showed me how his goofy nature was actually his strength as a father. There were a lot of genuinely funny moments. A lot of comedy movies get a slight chuckle out of me or the occasional sudden burst of air from my nose, but this movie was actually funny. To be honest, I wish the movie held back on some of their jokes because it was starting to undercut some of the more serious moments for me. I can see the filmmakers thinking it was necessary to have a little more comedy than usual to balance out the darker tone this movie had in store for us. Plus, I bet it’s really hard to cull comedy gold. Speaking of darker tones, I think this movie benefitted greatly from them. We’re so used to PG-13 fight scenes in Marvel movies that seeing an arm breaking is considered ‘dark’. Still, it was effective for the story that this movie was trying to tell. It set the stakes right away and completely sold me on the gravity of the situation. It allowed characters to be more emotional than usual and that sold the feeling of finality I was looking for. Other moments were really pushing the PG-13 rating. I’m surprised there wasn’t much talk about a potential R rating. If any MCU movie deserves it, it’s this one for the gore alone. The whole Rocket origin side plot broke my heart. They really let James Gunn have at it for this movie because the fight scenes were spectacular. There’s this one long-take shot that was just jaw-dropping. I genuinely think it’s the best shot in the entirety of the MCU. I was trying to wrap my mind around how they achieved it. Probably a lot of CGI, but still. Also, unlike other movies and shows from Phase 4, this movie’s CGI is perfect. There wasn’t any moment when I thought the CG could’ve looked better. Marvel is back to their typical, high level of quality. There’s a lot to praise about this movie, but there are some criticisms that can’t be overlooked. For starters, I thought Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary was a fantastic villain, but he lacked character development. He was genuinely terrifying because of how evil he was, but he doesn’t get much more than that. James Gunn’s music choice is always a stand-out in his movies, but this movie’s soundtrack seemed ill-fitting at times. The music is great, but I don’t think some of them fit their scenes all too well. Adam Warlock felt like wasted potential. He was teased as this big thing in the last movie, only to be another bumbling idiot with little relevance to the plot. They definitely should’ve saved him for another movie where he would’ve been better utilized. Also, I don’t think Will Poulter was a good fit for the character. He’s probably a great actor, but he just doesn’t fit my idea of Adam Warlock. The movie also flips back between the present and Rocket’s past, but it felt like it was done randomly. I would’ve loved to see a clear reason why each flashback was inserted into each point in time. Finally, the ending felt a little unsatisfying. I get that the movie was going for a more emotionally mature ending, but I wanted a little more positive ending. It just felt like the Guardians Of The Galaxy needed a more positive and uplifting ending, especially with everything they’ve gone through. Still, this is definitely promising from Marvel Studios and if they keep this up, then I might start getting excited for future movies again.
★★★★
Watched on May 7th, 2023
#Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3#May#2023#Action#Comedy#Superhero#Science Fiction#Adventure#Fantasy#Thriller#Space Opera#PG-13#James Gunn#May 2023#4 stars
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Evil Dead Rise
“Evil Dead Rise” banks entirely on Alyssa Sutherland’s performance and puts little into every other aspect of the movie.
Ellie is a single mother raising three kids on her own. Her sister, Beth, comes over to visit to tell her that she’s pregnant. During dinner, Beth accidentally brings up the sensitive topic of her husband, so the kids are asked to leave and get pizza. On their way back, the kids experience an earthquake. The earthquake causes an abandoned part of the apartment to reveal itself. The kids decide to explore and find a mysterious book.
The start of this movie was very promising. After thoroughly enjoying Fede Álvarez’s “Evil Dead” and seeing the high reviews for “Evil Dead Rise”, I was pretty excited. I love it when modern horror installments use contemporary ways to pay homage to the originals and there’s this great drone shot meant to emulate the Deadite POV shot from the originals. There’s also a surprising gore scene in the beginning that just threw me into the action and I couldn’t be more hyped. The opening title was also super creative, so I knew I was in good hands. Then, the movie comes to a grinding halt. We’re introduced to the main family and they just seemed like they hated each other. All of them seemed defined by one character trait, which made it hard for me to care about any of them. On top of that, the older brother’s dumb decision to explore an abandoned part of a decrepit apartment building that just witnessed an earthquake and was scheduled to be demolished next month annoyed the hell out of me. It’s such an idiotic move that only makes sense when you realize the script needs a way for this kid to find the book. Also, why was the book here anyways? 2013′s “Evil Dead” had clear rules for the audience to follow, but “Evil Dead Rise” seems content with not explaining anything. Then a huge chunk of the movie just revolves around the family slowly getting infected one by one. I’ll give credit where credit is due. Alyssa Sutherland is fantastic in this movie. She can definitely carry a horror movie on her back. There’s some decent gore throughout, but nowhere near the level of the previous entry. I think the filmmakers were trying to achieve a happy middle ground with the tone by having the comedy of the original trilogy and the brutality of the remake. For me, it missed more than it hit. The people in my theater seemed to enjoy it, so I guess it’s all subjective at the end of the day. Still, most of my theater was cackling at the trailer for “Strays”, so I don’t know how much I can trust them on what they think is funny. I think the ending of the movie missed the mark completely. This is a spoiler alert if you haven’t seen the movie already, but the Deadites become this human-flesh-spider amalgamation. This feels like the final boss of a video game, but doesn’t feel practical at all. They’re now slower, louder, less dexterous, and are a bigger target. I get that it looks creepy, but it just seems like a downgrade. After everything is done, the movie reminds you that the main chunk of the movie was technically a flashback. It reveals how the victims at the start of the movie were connected to the events that unfolded and it’s such a barebone connection that I don’t understand why they bothered with it in the first place. I definitely think this is probably the least inspired entry in this franchise. I know that most people are loving the movie so I’m in the minority here, but I thought it’d be worth detailing why I didn’t enjoy the movie like everyone else.
★★★
Watched on April 29th, 2023
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Evil Dead
“Evil Dead” is a stellar remake and is probably the most violent movie I’ve ever watched.
Mia Allen meets with her friends and her brother in a cabin in the woods to finally kick her drug addiction. This isn��t the first time she’s tried to quit cold turkey, so this time, her friends are determined to not let her leave the cabin until she’s completely cured. While at the cabin, one of the friends, Eric, studies a book they found. It’s called Naturom Demonto and when the incantations are spoken, an entity called The Abomination will claim five souls to resurrect itself.
Director Fede Álvarez impressed me with his extremely tense and creative movie, “Don’t Breathe”. It’s no wonder that his remake of “The Evil Dead” also highly impressed me. During an era when soulless horror remakes were trying to forgo the complexities of decades worth of continuity, “Evil Dead” sought to actually put some thought into its script. It’s always daunting to remake such a beloved movie, especially one that was a pioneer in the horror genre, but Fede Álvarez managed to do the impossible. There are only a handful of remakes or requels that managed to impress me. “Casino Royale” was a brilliant reimagining of James Bond. “Doctor Sleep” managed to balance originality with respect to both of its clashing sources. “Evil Dead” respects the staples of Sam Raimi’s “The Evil Dead”, while also reimagining them to be as horrific as possible. I love how a simple change to their motivations for staying at the cabin could add so much to the movie. It adds relatability, stakes, and character development that the original was lacking. This movie also manages to fix the mistakes of the original movie. The infamous tree scene is now reimagined to be horrific instead of oddly tantalizing. There are clear rules on how to stop the Deadites now, so it’s now easier for the audience to buy the extreme difficulty of having to kill one. There are callbacks to certain moments or lines in this movie that rewards the people who watched the original movies, but stand on their own so that newcomers could still enjoy them. Finally, I think the biggest achievement of this movie is the gore. Believe me when I say that the gore in this movie is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I think a huge part of that is thanks to Fede Álvarez’s strict adherence to practical effects. Every moment feels tangible and visceral. It’s genuinely almost hard to watch at times. I like to think that I handle horror and gore pretty well, but even this movie had me squirming in my seat. All around, this movie is the gold standard when it comes to remakes in my opinion. It comfortably sits up there with the greats and completely deserves that position.
★★★★★
Watched on April 28th, 2023
#Evil Dead#April#2013#Horror#Thriller#Fantasy#Mystery#Supernatural#R#Fede Álvarez#April 2023#5 stars
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Army Of Darkness
“Army Of Darkness” is a quotable mess of a film that was still fun to watch.
Ash Williams has been transported to the Middle Ages and is captured by Lord Arthur’s men. He’s a prisoner alongside Duke Henry and is sentenced to death. This is because Lord Arthur suspects they’re working together to plague them with Deadites. Ash must now fend for his life so that he could prove his innocence and try to get back to his time period.
While the first movie in this franchise was pure horror, this movie is on the other end of the spectrum and is pure comedy. On the one hand, I really enjoyed the comedy of this film. On the other hand, I don’t really like such a dramatic shift in tones in so few movies. Another franchise I enjoyed a shift in the genre was the Fast & Furious movies. They went from grounded street race movies to world-ending spy movies. I think I enjoy the shift in genre for two main reasons. The first is because the street racing drama genre got stale quickly. I’m sure they could’ve had a few more movies in the same vein, but the second and third movies ruined the goodwill of audience members. The second reason is that the change in genre felt like an upgrade to the storytelling. The stakes were higher and the action was more over-the-top each time around. Why am I mentioning the Fast & Furious movies in my review of “Army Of Darkness”? Well, it’s because I think the shift from horror to comedy is a bit of a downgrade. The horror genre relies on the audience buying into the world and taking things seriously. Comedy does the exact opposite. While the Deadites were once menacing and virtually unkillable monsters, they’re now doing a Three Stooges routine. Looking into the production of this movie, it feels like a reactionary piece of content rather than something made of passion. I know Sam Raimi wanted to make this movie as the second installment, but I think his severe turning down of violence was in fear of its MPAA rating. A lot of choices feel like they were made to appease the rating board rather than delivering Raimi’s pure vision. However, this movie isn’t devoid of any good merit. The claymation is really clean in this movie. You could tell they were more ambitious with claymation this time around by making an entire skeleton army. I think most of the quotes I know from this series come from this movie alone. If that doesn’t make this movie iconic, I don’t know what will. Finally, Bruce Campbell’s physical slapstick comedy is top-notch here. He really put himself out there for this role and I’m glad he did. I can’t think of anyone else that could’ve played this role better than he could. Still, at the end of the day, I would’ve preferred a more traditional horror movie with humor injected within it for levity rather than just a medieval comedy movie.
★★★
Watched on April 26th, 2023
#Army Of Darkness#February#1993#Horror#Comedy#Action#Cult#Adventure#Dark#Fantasy#Historical#Drama#R#Sam Raimi#April 2023#3 stars
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Evil Dead II
“Evil Dead II” feels like the Evil Dead movie that Sam Raimi always wanted to make.
Ash Williams and his girlfriend, Linda, stay in a cabin in the woods for a romantic getaway. They find a tape recorder of an archaeologist who accidentally summons the dead. Linda gets possessed and Ash has to do the difficult task of killing her. Afterward, Ash meets the daughter of the archaeologist on the tape recorder. Together, they must survive another night in the cabin.
While the first Evil Dead movie felt like a student film, “Evil Dead 2″ feels like what the first film should’ve been if Sam Raimi had more funding and experience. The beginning of this film was a little unorthodox because it shamelessly retcons the first movie. I know that it was because of rights issues with studios, but it was interesting to see such a blatant retcon. Still, I think condensing the events of the first film down like that was for the better. It also allowed Sam Raimi to correct some of his past mistakes like the infamous tree scene from the first movie. The retcon also wasn’t lazy because they add this incredibly animated claymation dance, just to flex the bigger budget this time around. There’s a lot more comedy this time around, which I think was a great touch. It really helped give these movies an identity separate from any other horror movie of its time. What really elevated the comedy was Bruce Campbell’s excellent physical comedy. I’ve only seen him in the original Spider-Man trilogy and his cameo appearance in “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness”, so I never really got to see him be so animated. It’s definitely a treat to watch him in this movie. The possessed hand scene is probably the highlight of the film. Bruce Campbell fumbles around and convincingly sells the idea that the hand has a mind of its own. I really enjoyed this movie more than the first, but the ending had me scratching my head a bit. It seems like the final movie in this trilogy is going to swap horror for medieval fiction and I don’t know how much I’m going to like that.
★★★★
Watched on April 25th, 2023
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The Evil Dead
“The Evil Dead” isn’t the best horror movie by today’s standards, but it’s a piece of horror history that oozes with charm.
Ash Williams is on a trip with four of his friends and family. They vacation in a cabin in the woods. While there, strange things start happening. They find a strange book and a tape recording. When they listen to the tape recording, they learn about the Book Of The Dead. The tape recorder also recites an incantation that starts summoning a flurry of horrors.
I’ve been told that this franchise doesn’t start finding its signature voice until the second installment. Still, the first outing was pretty good. First off, I think the most apparent detail has to be the camera work. Sam Raimi is known for his dynamic camera work and I was glad to learn that he’s been doing it since day one. At the beginning of the film, the dynamic camera work was used sparingly. It was only used to really see through the perspective of whatever was haunting the college students. In the third act, when everything is kicked into high gear, the camera work becomes unashamedly frantic. It really added to the sense of madness that this movie was going for. I also appreciated the fun idea of Ash and Linda pretending to be asleep with each other. The first time, it was a really quirky and endearing way to get me to care about the characters. Then it’s used again towards the end when Linda’s decapitated head pretends to be dead. It’s a twisted callback that really shows the level of love that went into the project. Bruce Campbell is always a highlight in movies and it was fun to see him in his earlier roles. The behind-the-scenes tidbits were probably the most interesting part to me. I loved learning about how they got the POV shot of the entity breaking in through the window. I loved learning about how some of the effects were pioneered by Sam Raimi and how they were built upon in later movies. They reminded me of when I used to make stupid little short films. Just learning about how this film was made gave me a whole new appreciation for the film. Sam Raimi went the distance and did what I always wanted to do. I have nothing but the utmost respect for him and now, “The Evil Dead” has made him one of my favorite directors of all time. I can’t wait to see the other movies in this franchise and see why so many people love the lunacy of Ash Williams.
★★★★
Watched on April 22nd, 2023
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