Exactly why I never watched it. I hate preachy entertainment. I prefer subtle, veiled, approach if they have to do it. Ultimately I want my entertainment to be more interested in telling a story instead of sending a message.
Predestination: 8.5 It was a compelling watch inspite of might not really being interested in a transgender story, so credit there for the performances. All I can make of it is that it's like a cycle of never ending selves and outcomes. How many more of them will there be and when will it end? Interesting to think about. I wasn't quite able to forsee the baby thing although it was easy to see an ironic twist coming and that everyone was connected. It's a little creepy and mysterious. The pace was fine. In general I liked and can't say I had come across that time travel angle before. So that was interesting.
Dunkirk - 8/10 Had to watch it twice. First time I was on my phone + trying to watch it and I got confused with the timeline skips. After paying attention the 2nd time, it was a lot better.
Back in the 70's, cable TV companies had a movie channel that played 2 movies over and over all day. I saw a Star is Born several times and loved the movie. My wife and I went to see the 2018 version and absolutely loved it. Even more than the previous version. Great performances from Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. The supporting cast of Sam Elliott, Dave Chapelle and Andrew Dice Clay did a great job too. Soundtrack was great and believable. One flaw to me in the 70's version was Streisand singing her show tunes in front of her husbands hippy fans and them not responding whose mom is that? This version did a much better job of blending Gaga transforming in to the pop star singer. The ending of his version is super emotional. Here's where Cooper gets Gaga to come on to the stage for the first time with him
Has anyone watch Ex Machina 4k on netflix? Is it me or the picture quality is bad. It's letterboxed and the bars are grey. blacks are not black at all. I watch other 4k shows on netflix and everything is fine. It's just Ex Machina.
Overlord was so good. Imagine Inglorious Bastards but with a ton of blood and Resident Evil like Monsters. 10/10
Transcendence - There was a short period of time where I thought it wasn't as terrible as the reviews... Wrong. 5.1/ 10
Mandy. For what it is, a perfect 10. I think. When I was in college—and all that entails—I used to seek out really weird movies to watch late at night. Eraserhead and Naked Lunch come to mind. Mandy is up there with the weirdest. Watched it with a nice sound system, and it seemed to enhance it more. If you’re in the right mood, or a bit weird inside like me, check it out......although it’s certainly not for the masses.
The Raid Redemption - 6/10 The whole movie is just one giant action sequence and not much more. It's very entertaining in that regards but thought it could of been better with a little more character development.
I rented Alpha and Juliet Naked in the Redbox. I'd give them both a 7. They weren't great, but the stories were interesting, so I didn't feel like I wasted my time watching them.
Chinatown @Ottomaton was talking about the genius of John Huston the other day, and he ain't fooling. 7 stars
Searching 7.9 (by Chaganty) I am on the John Cho bandwagon. It ain't easy to get used to this way of storytelling but it's a good film.
Fantastic Beasts 2 4/10 Disclaimer: haven't read the Potter books and have only seen a couple of the movies, so maybe I don't know what the **** I'm talking about. This sequel should have been called Fantastic Explaining. Each scene was just different people explaining **** to the audience; it gets old fast. There's an annoying couple that are supposed to be in the story for comic relief but it fails hard and just wastes everyone's time. The main character has had zero development since he was introduced in the 1st movie; absolutely nothing has changed about him, nothing has evolved, we haven't learned more, nothing. Just the same quirky guy with no real highs or lows. He likes animals and wants to do good. Ok. The highlights of the movie were Johnny Depp (which I did not expect as I'm not a fan) and Jude Law. Unfortunately Law was barely in the movie at all. In all, this movie was just a way to explain **** for other future movies. You might be better off just reading a paragraph synopsis of the movie than sitting through 2+ hours.
Ralph Breaks the Internet Not sure how to rate it yet. Liked it, but didn’t love it. I expected more. My boys said they like it better than the original. I’m thinking it’s just due to burnout on the first one.