Predator Badlands 9/10 There is a ton of Predator lore in comics and graphic novels that is untouched (Aliens franchise as well), but as far as the big screen this movie was totally original to the franchise. Not on earth hunting humans and we dive deeper into the Predator's society, structure and tribal customs. It's from the director of Prey, Dan Trachtenberg, who much like the creator of Andor should also, was appropriately given the keys to the franchise. These two movies might be the best in the franchise honestly. The alien world for the hunt and characters were excellent, the story and plot were effective as the characters were memorable. Action scenes are entertaining and on brand. Recommended.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) 9/10 Wanted an amusing movie to watch on a flight, got it. Kind of the precursor to Dumb and Dumber in some respects (not all).
One Battle After Another 6.5/10 - It was just meh The humor in the trailer wasn't there The action was not overly great I found I didn't care about anyone The ending was predictable Rocket River
Gangarine (2020, dir, Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh) 10/10. Gangarine has one of the greatest film endings that I have seen and I put it up there with The Sixth Sense and Lost in Translation. The film follows Yousi (Alseni Bathily), a dreamer and someone who is self-consumed with a housing project that he alone is fighting to keep alive, although it has been marked for demolition. The city believes it is a disaster area. Part of the backstory of the film and how it gets its title is because it was christened by a famous Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and like Yuri, Yousi draws inspiration from him and is deeply obsessed with space and how to live without oxygen. Of course, there is a love interest and his buddies played by Lyna Khoudri, Jamil McCraven. The film has a similar feel to as Silent Running, but moves past that film with the ending that actually turns the movie on its head as it is so unexpected and you realize you have been watching a totally different film, which makes it kin to The Sixth Sense. Although, I personally found the ending to be wondrous some may feel it is superficial, such as how many of M. Knight feels felt. So you will either feel cathartic or you will call bullshit. Either way, this is a truly magical film and I encourage you to watch it. It has hints of Spielberg in this film, and the cinematography is second to none. It is beautiful to watch.
About Dry Grasses (2023, From Criterion, Dir, Nuri Bilge Ceylan), 9.8/10. First of all, I didn't realize until after the film was over and I read the liner essay about it that it was three hours long, actually 3hr 18min to be exact, although at the end of the film, I started to feel that it would never end. Although, I had no clue that I had just spent over three hours with the movie. It actually didn't feel as long as it was. About dry grasses is an epic character study of a dead-inside school teacher Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu ) and his struggle to find meaning in his life. That's about the gist of the film. The more interesting aspects of his film is more about how it is presented, and that is the introspective nature and the character arc, and I will say this that I haven't seen another film with such deep introspection and existentialism since Apocalypse Now. Part of the fun of watching movies is to compare similar scenes and comparing Captain Benjamin L. Willard's decent into the Heart of Darkness to Samet's own private existentialism is really fun. To be sure, I feel as if this filmmaker has taken some of his cues from filmmakers such as the Coen Brothers and Fargo, which similarly feels too damn long. Although here, About Dry Grasses is far less episodic than Fargo. It is like a mashup of Fargo and Apocalypse Now. The filmmaker has interesting "moves" and how he deals with things and fleshes out character. If you are looking for a lowkey character study, with less popcorn value than say: Election and Jim McAllister then give this one a try, but make sure you have the willpower to watch the entire film of an over three-hour film.
Code 3: 8/10 - Wasn't expecting more than an ok comedy to burn some time and it was actually better and a little more sincere than we believed going in.
Hamburger Hill 8/10 - I thought it was over the top but according to veterans who were in that battle, it was spot on from beginning to end. Knowing that going in, it gave it a lot more credibility. Unbroken 8/10 - I gotta admit, I'd been holding out on this one because of Angelina Jolie directing. I was expecting another Pearl Harbor. But man was I wrong. Stood up very well against the book.
