You know I have to say, this one surprised me. I had it on my list of "To Watch" on Letterboxd for some reason, and I finally got to it this past week. While in Paris with his snobbish and very unlikeable fiancée, along with her insufferable parents and friends, Gil, played by Owen Wilson, wanders off late at night, bumping into Mr. and Mrs. F Scott Fitzgerald, Earnest Hemingway, Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein and many other of his literary heroes. He also falls for with Dali's muse Adriana who, like him, is in love with the past. Gil travels back in time to France in different time periods on these late night strolls. The storyline couldn't be more interesting. It was so soothing to see all of the old-timey clothes and hear all of the accents and see what earlier Paris looked like. The movie is SO nostalgic, and Woody Allen does a fantastic job here. (Yes I know he isn't necessarily the BEST guy, but I didn't let that get in the way of my personal experience and reaction to the film) The night lights, and scenery of Paris were breathtaking to say the least. I felt so comforted the whole time while watching this. It also had its funny moments, like one where a detective, who Gil's fiancee's parents hire to see where he is going at night, gets stuck in a old timey palace as he accidently travels back in time as well. Owen Wilson does a really good job at his role, and while I haven't seen him in very much, I really like his voice and think he fit his part well. He really does seem like he is a lost guy, who ends up finding his way in the end. This movie could of very easily sucked, as the aspect of time travel could of been overused and made the book feel like it was both a sci-fi and a realistic movie. However I feel like it is a fun addition, and isn't too dramatic. This movie just clicked for me, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I want to give it a 9.1/10.
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Baby Driver, to me, was phenomenal. This movie had a great soundtrack, with a compelling storyline, interesting characters, and great casting. Throughout pretty much the whole movie, there is music playing. The protagonist, Baby, has a condition where his ears ring all the time due to a childhood accident. He combats this by listening to music on headphones all the time, and that is why there is so much music during the movie. The 3 other heist people are all interesting in themselves, but Jamie Foxx's role stands out the most. He plays a loose-cannon of a person, and his acting really shines as he easily embodies the role he is put into. I also really liked the deaf guy who Baby is taking care of as I felt like he was really sweet and gave the story some warmth. Moving onto the storyline, I never once felt bored or like what was happening was straying too far from the main idea of the movie. It is a "one last time" film and though sometimes the story felt a little cliche, it felt like a classic the way it was executed. The car chases were SO good, and felt like miniature musical numbers with the sick soundtrack. The action is brutal, but not overdone which I think is important as movies with tons of gory violence feel fake and like a video game. I honestly have no real critiques of this movie other than I felt like Baby's boss' motives were not clear. He said no to giving him back his music tapes, and then changed his mind and took a bullet for him within a couple minutes? Not sure what happened there. Overall, great movie 9/10
Looking back to when I read Ender's Game, written by Orson Scott, I remember really liking it. It was actually my favorite book at one point, and it got me into sci-fi action books sometime around 7th grade. Therefore since I liked the book so much, my review might be a little bit more critical. The movie, I thought, had all the potential to be good, but was not. A mixture of many problems made it feel unfulfilling. It was definitely rushed, and things like the flying shooting game were glanced over. The casting was good, but not great as Ben Kingsley's role was pretty un-satisfactory, and I also don't think Harrison Ford really fit his role as I see him as Indiana Jones and Han Solo, not a man who sits back and watches from a distance. The main concept of the movie/book is that it is hard to be a good leader, and that there are many struggles and difficulties that come with leadership. I think this movie did that well, as I felt like it stayed focused in that regard. However the brutality of the fight, and the devastating story about children going into battle was also not properly depicted. The end of the movie Ender gets mad with himself and with the battle, because he realizes he kills a whole race. The characters acknowledge this being a problem (genocide) for about 2 minutes before they put Ender to sleep, and then he wakes up and is obsessed with his sister again (what was up with that???). I just think Ender, and also his friends (who weren't even shown in the last 30 minutes of the movie after the battle), had a very lame response to killing the whole race of aliens, and it was very unsatisfactory and annoying since it was described so well in the book. This movie is a 6/10.
The nice guys was a very enjoyable movie. Ryan Gosling is one of my favorite actors, and he was so good with Russel Crowe. Also the girl who played Ryan Goslings daughter I thought killed it. The story itself was very entertaining and fun, and was never too slow. It was a perfect mix of comedy, and action. The visuals of the 1970's stood out and was done perfectly by the designers. It was dark with the deaths and murders, but was countered with funny, subtle jokes. It reminded me of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for some reason, with the set design, and since I am a Tarantino fanatic, that speaks for itself. Something I didn't like was the parts when the kids were put into weird sexual situations. It made me uncomfortable and felt unnecessary even though I understand it was to make Holly seem independent. Her and her dad's relationship is great, and has some really cool development and evolution. Russel Crowe's depiction of his character is literally perfect, and his character arc thanks to Holly was sweet. Even though the movie kept changing from being wholesome, to suspenseful, to funny, I was enveloped in it throughout the whole movie. I think I'm going to give it a 9/10. It was very involving, suspenseful, funny, and really well done.
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April 2024
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