Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts

Project Hail Mary (2026)

 


 I love the move The Martian so when this movie was announced and it’s by the same writer I was excited! I ended up buying the audiobook and could not stop listening. It’s a fun and easy to follow story that I highly recommend. The audiobook is probably the best I’ve ever heard. The narrator was so great and I do prefer it than the film. But the film is still great! It’s a great way to visualize the story as it is scifi and it is stunning looking. Also Ryan Gosling is easy on the eyes too. 

 I was coming into this movie expecting another The Martian but no, they seem to tackle it a little differently. Ryan Gosling character, Ryland Grace, doesn’t talk as much as I expected him to be. All the science and math talk is very cut down. Which was mostly internal dialogue in the book since he is mostly by himself. It is written in his perspective. He is a lot more funny and smart than what the movie portrays him to be. Practically the same kind of character as The Martian so if they did this to help differentiate from that movie's character than I can understand that. 

So the movie does take some creative liberty with Ryland's character visually. I heard a small clip from Ryan Gosling saying they wanted to add some Chaplin and it definitely shows. They made him be a bit clumsy which adds to his charm. Also his outfits really stood out. The tshirts and sweaters I see people raving about online and I did too. This is a detailed not at all in the book so it really adds to his character. It helps that Ryan Gosling is attractive to make anything look good. The fox sweater would not look good on me but I still want it because its looks like such a comfy sweater when he wears it. 

I find the pacing of the movie pretty fast. I wish they could've push it to the 3 hour mark. It basically covered the major key moments in the books. I do find it visually stunning. Sure, the lighting is darker than I would've liked. I am surprised but glad they used a puppet for Rocky. They did make him super adorable! A lot more than I imagined in my head. The book described him as spider like but the movie made him seem more like a crab to me in its shape but it does have more of a spider movement. 

I find the scenes between Grace and Rocky were a lot better than him on Earth. There is one scene of a badly ADV talk in Mandarin. It was very brief and it made me wonder why they did that. Maybe because I listened to the book already but I did not get emotional during this movie. And I'm a crybaby but the pacing really didn't get me as hook to the movie adaptation. The book got me emotional. I am enjoying seeing people wanting more stories like this and even taking on knitting as the fox sweater isn't a mass produced product but a knitting pattern. I am considering learning to knit to have this sweater too.

Overall, I do recommend watching this movie and hope it also inspires you to get the book or knit! 

Flow

 

 This is an animated movie about animals surviving in what seems like a post apocalyptic world. These animals don't speak words so its more realistic. This doesn't hinder your understanding on the story. 

I do find this movie beautiful. The animals do have a style to them that is more realistic than cartoon. The landscape and water is quite realistic not stylized to fit the style of the animals. 

The story is up for interpretation as some scenes are a bit abstract. Definitely a movie I'd recommend to animal lovers. It might be good for children but its not an action packed movie to keep a long attention span if they're easily bored or distracted if they're young.

The Wild Robot (2024)

 


 This movie exceeded my expectations. I haven't heard of it before so I never read the book that this is based from. It looks cute from the trailers and the trailer didn't have dialogue which is a neat way to handle it. But the animals do talk. It has a great cast of known celebrities. I think the casting is well done! I didn't feel any of them were casted for their big name *cough*ChrisPratt*COUGH*

 

 The movie made me cry. Its such a simple but beautifully done story with barely any humans. Not having humans but a robot that becomes "human" is such a neat irony. Its not the focus but it seems like a subtle message on humans an the way we treat our environment. The premise of the this movie is a futuristic high tech task robot accidentally fell on a island. She faces the challenge of doing her job in the wildness and ends up raising a baby goose with the help of a fox who is also trying to eat it. 


 I love the art style. It has a painterly look that really works well with the cartoon style of the animals. The robot doesn't look out of place either in this style. Definitely got a Ghibli influence too. The robot does have most of the screentime. The baby bird is also a main character. The fox is a side character that brings comic relief and a friend to both the robot and the baby bird. He helps inform them on what is normal for a animal. They meet the other animals as well and really shows how important community is.

 

The story pacing is a bit fast, but nothing I felt was too rushed. The writing is really good. As I said before it has made me cry. All the characters have their own likeable personality and they do talk about "dying" in a real but light hearted way. And they are open about prey and predators. Even so none of them are really painted in a "evil" or "antagonist" way.  

 

Its a great feel good movie! Definitely would recommend for young ones and adults. If you're an animal lover you would enjoy it.

Spider-man: Far From Home (2019)



 Spider-man: Far From Home is the sequel movie to Homecoming starring Tom Holland as Spider-man. Big thing to note is that this movie takes place after Avengers Endgame so it will have big time spoilers for that movie! I do think being caught up to that point in the Avengers movies as well as seeing Homecoming would be ideal before watching this, but I think its a good movie on its own as well. Though some scenes may not be understandable if you haven't seen any of these movies before. Anyways, this movie is entertaining and I enjoyed it! I do like it better than Homecoming and Jake Gyllenhaal is wonderful in this! Definitely recommend it!

More of my thoughts below, but also there will be SPOILERS so don't read further if you don't want to be spoiled!!

Toy Story 4 (2019)



 Toy Story 4 is the newest sequel to the Toy Story series. Was it needed? No. Did I enjoy? Yes, for the most part. And this is probably a cash grab of a movie, but it definitely was also a sort of reboot. If you're going in thinking it be the same old gang that you've known the movies for then you'd be in for a surprise. There's quite a few interesting concepts in this movie, and is probably setting up for a brand new kind of Toy Story series. The rest of this post will be spoilers so do not read further if you don't want spoilers and haven't seen the movie!


Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)




 Velvet Buzzsaw is a Netflix movie about this circle of art gallery sellers and critics who are profiting off of the artwork of a man who recently died. The story is set in Los Angeles and revolves around the high art world. Most of the characters in this movie only want the money and success in getting the hottest artists to show and sell their work with them. I did watch this because Jake Gyllenhaal is in this. I haven't watched anything that's he's been in in years, and he's great in this! But the movie itself is ok. The horror, the art, and the backstory of the artist aren't really impressive. It is satisfying seeing the characters die though. The horror isn't full blown so I'm not sure if I would called it a horror movie. I wouldn't worry too much if you're not good with horror movies. So I wouldn't really recommend this movie unless you're a fan of the actors or want to see pretentious art snobs die.

Alita: Battle Angel (2019)



 Alita is a James Cameron movie adaption of a manga about a cyborg girl name Alita. The story is basically her waking up with a new body but no memories. The story sets in this slum like city and above it is a city in the sky that Alita's love interest, Hugo, aims to go to. The story itself is ok but its not the best I've seen. There's only one moment that got me a bit emotional. The dialogue is a bit cheesy. The action and fighting scenes on the other hand are cool and there's quite a bit of them in this movie. The romance wasn't too bad in my opinion, but its not what I watched the movie for so I didn't really care about it that much. Strangely enough, Alita's face and big anime eyes didn't bother me. I suppose since there's a lot of CGI in this movie that she didn't seem like she didn't belong. So I definitely commend the team behind the CGI for this movie for what they've done.

 Overall, I did enjoyed the movie. Its definitely open to have a sequel but who knows. I've heard a few people say its too anime for them, but I'm not exactly sure what they mean by that. I didn't find it too anime. The pacing is a little on the fast side, but I didn't mind it. I didn't feel like the pace ruin the movie in anyway. The story wasn't complex so I knew what is going on. I like the bounty hunter part but the fictional sport thing is a bit weird. If you like action scenes then I'd suggest this movie!

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)


 I wasn't interested in seeing this movie, but all the reaction tweets I've seen since the movie came out has made me very curious that I ended up watching it. Its a pretty action pack movie and it definitely time fly by for a 2 and half hour movie. The cast is quite impressive and they all had a fair amount of screentime. I don't feel you need to watch all the movies to get this movie. You can always watch the movies afterwards if want to find out more about certain characters. I do recommend it and this is coming from someone who isn't a big fan of these superhero movies. The rest of the post will be spoilers so don't proceed if you haven't watched it!


The Shape of Water (2017)


 The Shape of Water is a Guillermo del Toro movie about a mute cleaning woman and a humanoid sea creature falling in love with each other. This story premise and the trailer didn't make me interested in watching this since I've good a lot of good things about it I thought I should give it a shot. And i'm glad I did because this movie was really enjoyable that the weird bestiality thing wasn't a bother to me. Its a charming movie so I highly recommend it! There is nudity, sexual scenes, and violence in this movie so its not family friendly!

 Story sets in the 1960s America, and the mute woman is named Elisa who works at a government laboratory as a cleaning lady. The way the movie lets the audience know what Elisa is saying through sign language is either with subtitles or through her friends. She's close friends with her artist neighbor Giles, and her coworker Zelda. Though half the movie she doesn't need to talk as the creature also doesn't talk as well. The characters in this movie I find to be likeable and I got quickly attached to them. The pacing of the story is great as well. Its not a perfect movie, but its hard for me to find faults with it. Its probably my most enjoyable movie I've seen that came out in 2017!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi


 After two years of waiting, episode 8 The Last Jedi is finally out! I have seen quite a mix of opinions on this movie. As for me I am leaning on the unsatisfied side. I did enjoy the movie but some things did let me down. This is coming from a fan of the original trilogy, and I didn't have expectations or predictions for this movie. Its hard for me to say whether I would recommend this movie or not. Read from some people to recommend seeing it more than once since it seems seeing it a second time you may see things differently. Definitely not a movie to start the franchise with though. There will be spoilers in the remainder of this post!


IT (2017)


 I have heard good things about this movie and the trailer does seem pretty good. I have seen the old miniseries, but I hardly remember it. This movie is around 2 and a half hours, and is only the first movie of two. It is a pretty decent movie with a more modern taste, and the young actors are impressive. I didn't mind the changes they did, but it still stayed relatively the same. It is a good movie though.

 While there are scary moments, it is quite disturbing. Its disturbing from beginning to end. The story didn't flow too smoothly, but that's a minor nitpick. There are a few things that didn't make sense to me, but that is also a minor nitpick. Overall, I do find this to be a pretty good horror film and I look forward to the continuation.

Thor: Ragnorak (2017)


 The trailer for this looked neat and also Cate Blanchett looks amazing as the antagonist in this so I was interested in this movie. I'm not a big fan of these superhero movies so I don't really keep up with it. This movie is a sequel to Thor and Thor: The Dark World. I've only seen the first movie so this movie did spoil for me on what ended up happening in the second movie. Ragnorak is a rather entertaining movie and a lot more comedy than I expected than I realized afterwards its categorized as a comedy movie.

 This movie would be a bit awkward if you didn't follow previous movies so its not something I would recommend for anyone starting to watch them. The story is rather simple with Thor trying to stop Hela from taking over his home Asgard. He does end up getting stuck in a different planet were he meets the last surviving valkyrie. Loki is obviously will be part of this and the Hulk as well. Doctor Strange did make a small appearance in this movie.

 Since the movie takes place outside of Earth, it is a more scifi feel than superhero. Hela looked great and can do neat stuff, but she is quite a one dimensional villain. Though I didn't expect the story to be the focus so it hardly bothered me that it wasn't satisfying. Overall, this is a fun film and the new short haircut they put on Thor looks so darn good!

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)



  I heard a lot of good things about this movie which was a surprise to me. The trailer for it didn't look good to me plus I don't put a lot of faith into movie sequels. Though I saw it since people have talked about it like it was a masterpiece. I actually watched the original movie recently before I went to see this. If you haven't seen the old movie or don't remember much of it I do recommend giving it a watch.

 For a sequel, I do think that it is really good. It kept the same kind of style as the original movie too. The sound effects and the music is really haunting though. Its kind of alarming when the music gets intense, but Ryan Gosling's character is just staring and not moving. This is just my bias, but I'm not a fan of Gosling so I didn't care that much for his character. If someone else had played his character, I would've find this character more interesting. For a sequel character, I do think it is rather well done though. Even though the story is just "find this special kid" which isn't interesting as its been done countless times, the way this movie does it isn't as cringy. That's impressive to me. The other side characters were a bit interesting, but they didn't have as much character as the old movie side characters had.

 While I did enjoy this movie especially for its visuals, I'm not going to praise it as much as others have. There's a bit too many naked women bodies than I think was necessary to me. There's not a whole lot of scenes showing the kind of culture that goes on in the city. There was a few scenes that had Gosling's character in the street and interacting with locals. Would've liked a bit more of that happening. Even though there were a number of Asian culture influences, there were hardly any Asians in this movie. There weren't any sea of people shots like in the old movie that had a number of Asians in it. It really made this impressive city feel very empty. Also would've liked more Harrison Ford. He probably was in 1/4 of the movie. Overall I do like this movie and would recommend it!

Moana



 I finally saw Moana. This movie is charming and sweet. Also its visually gorgeous! The water, the islands, and the hair all look really amazing. Story is basically a daughter of the chief goes out on her own to search for a demi god and save the world. The food is getting scarce because the world is dying.

 It mostly revolves around the girl and the demi god since they are out on the ocean the majority of time so they don't come across anybody else that much. There is a dumb chicken that is with them that serves as comic relief. I do think this movie is great though. It made me laugh and cry so I highly recommend it. The only thing I'm indifferent about is the songs.

Stephen Chow's Journey to the West Conquering the Demons and The Demons Strike Back


 As a fan of Stephen Chow and Journey to the West, it interested me a lot when I heard about these movies. This take on this classic story is quite entertaining and interesting to me. I find the comedy to be almost perfect, and the action scenes exciting. Both movies are good and would recommend them to anyone. If you're not familiar with either Stephen Chow or Journey to the West, but are at least interested it may be take a bit to take on though I think it has some good scenes that I think are worth watching these movies for. While both are connect, the actors are different in both so that is a bit odd but it doesn't take away my enjoyment for these movies.

 The first movie, Conquering Demons, is about Tang struggling at being a demon hunter. He doesn't face against any small demons but 3 powerful demons. A skilled female demon hunter name Duan saves Tang from getting himself killed by these demons, and she does fall for him. She is an interesting character and can make being annoying rather entertaining to watch. This movie is mainly about Tang and Duan than the demons.



 The sequel, The Demons Strike Back, is of Tang and his three disciples traveling and defeating demons. His disciples are a handful and make his journey of collecting sutras difficult. So this movie is mostly about the relationship between the monk and his disciples, mostly between the monk and the monkey king. Together they have trouble dealing with people and demons. The gang do not get along which is different from the many adaptations that have the disciples who are already loyal to their master. The flow of this second movie is faster than the first movie, and I enjoyed there's much less romance in this.


 Story for both movies I think fits well for the length of the movie. Its a decent story but don't expect anything deep in these movies. Many of the female characters are rather flirty and sexual, romantic interest, or for laughs at their ugliness. That is probably my biggest issue, but I can understand that it maybe hard to break out of that old mold of female characters in a classic story as this. There is some classic music as well, and there is one track they like to reuse that I think was also in previous Stephen Chow movies, but its a good song so I didn't mind they kept reusing that track. The action doesn't take up too much time like they tend to do in hollywood movies. They are well done in my opinion. Overall, I think its worth watching these movies if you're interested in them. They are a bit refreshing take on this classic story which I appreciate.

Koe no Katachi (2016)


 The one shot manga got rather popular on social media some years back, and I did read it at that time. Its definitely a powerful story of a deaf girl who got bullied at school, and the boy who was her biggest bully. When I heard it was getting a movie, I knew that it was going to make me cry and emotional like the manga did. Even though Kyoani is animating it, I knew they were going to do a good job with it that I will definitely cry. They're good at doing emotional scenes. I finally did end up seeing it when I feel like I need something to cry about. This is definitely a good movie for that. Its a great story of friendship and redemption that I feel anyone can relate to even if you never had experiences with bullying.

 The one shot apparently had a continuation which I haven't read yet. The movie is rather long for an animated movie. Its 2 hours and 10 minutes long! Definitely went way beyond what the one shot had. Since I didn't read the continuation I don't know if it covered everything, but I have heard its a bit different. The pacing throughout is great as well. The only nitpick I have is probably the ending since it felt a little abrupt for me.

 I did cry quite a bit watching this movie. Not to make it seem the movie is sad, its not really that sad but it is emotional. The characters do go through some personal struggles. The initial bullying happens when they're in grade school. The movie does mostly take place a bit further into the future when they're in high school. I think they balanced the ugliness and the goodness of people well. The characters do feel somewhat realistic. I was really surprised that there was a comic relief character. Hearing Ono Kensho voicing this entertaining weird green haired guy did help give me a break from all the crying. He is a good character though so I am really thankful there is at least one kid who isn't an emotional wreck. Definitely highly recommend it if this interests you.

Suicide Squad (2016)


 Now that I've watched Batman vs Superman and now Suicide Squad, it is very apparent to me that these DC films are connected to each other. They continue to the story with each new film and both lead up to Wonder Woman which I have yet to see. I had thought Suicide Squad was its own thing, but its connection with the super heroes is slightly there. Suicide Squad 2 is in the works so that's also a thing.

 This movie is about the government needing to fill the hole Superman left behind. Their answer is rounding up super villains to fight along with them. Obliviously none are willing to help them, so they are forced to cooperate. While this movie hardly has the artistic shots and visual effects that Batman vs Superman had, the interaction between the villains with the soldiers and Waller is entertaining.

 While there are like 5 villains, Deadshot and Harley Quinn took up most of the screentime. Deadshot is played by Will Smith, and all I could see is Will Smith. I don't know these DC characters so I'm not sure if Deadshot is suppose to be like that or not. It didn't take me out of the movie so I didn't mind the way Will acts. Harley Quinn on the other hand really stood out from everyone. I can see why she's as popular as she is. Though I really didn't care about her backstory or her romance with the Joker. He really didn't get to do much in the movie so honestly I didn't feel he was all that necessary, but he is quite creepy. And the actor, Jared Leto, is attractive to so this combination with the craziness is unsettling in a good way. Not the perfect Joker, but its good. Diablo, the fire man, also had a backstory. The rest didn't get backstories. There's also Katana who isn't a villain, but is there to keep the villains in check. Her character would've been more interesting to me if they toned down the sterotypes. I mean she only spoke in Japanese and has a cursed katana sword. Its a bit much and I don't think anyone (even asians) would find her relatable. She at least has some cool fighting shots.

 Overall, this isn't a bad movie. While I don't think its a must see, I don't think it be a waste of time. It does have flaws, but its a relatively fun movie.

The Huntsman: Winter's War


 Honestly, I watched this because Charlize Theron looks amazing in it. The Winter's War is apparently the prequel to Snow White and he Huntsmen which I didn't see. You don't need to see it to be able to watch this. Overall, this is good background filler, but personally find it to be a bit boring. Charlize Theron is excellent in this so that's the major good thing I got out of it. Her makeup, hair, and costume is really neat!


 The movie does have some interesting design and reimagining of the classic Snow White world. The whole big gold dish being a mirror is definitely unique. This movie barely has Snow White in it as its only focus is on the wicked queen and her younger sister. Both sisters have powerful magic and want to be queen. I don't think the movie descriptions makes the story that interesting, but I do find the story between the sisters tragic.


 Unfortunately the movie mainly focuses on the two huntsmen children that the younger sister, Freya, has taken and trained. They grew up and fell in love with each other, but since love is outlawed things didn't go well for them. Half the movie would be about these young people going against the sister queens. There are dwarfs are kind of forced in there as comedy relief, and some other magical creatures. That half bored me. Chris Hemsworth is eye candy, but I didn't care about his character at all. Overall, I wouldn't really recommend it.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)


 I'm a little late to see this Batman v Superman movie, but I thought this was an ok movie. Visuals is pretty great though. There are some really great artistic design in some scenes, and strangely some spooks. This isn't at all how I imagine a Batman v Superman movie woull be like, but I don't hate it.

 First off, I am not a super hero person, but theres always movies about them throughout my life. I don't watch all of them, and this movie was just something I watch to pass the time. I ended up wanting to finish this movie a day later. For nearly 1/3 of the movie, I wasn't sure what was happening. Truthfully, the story wasn't very compelling to me, nor do I find the acting that great. I feel Lois Lane had a bit too many scenes. I do enjoy Wonder Woman, which was a surprise for me to see her in this movie. Haven't even her new movie yet, but heard great things about it. There's also an attractive asian woman in this movie that barely had lines yet had quite of few scenes focused on her. She didn't prove to have any kind of significant importance which was disappointing. I was more interested in her than Lois.



 Overall, I do enjoy the visuals of this movie and it was good enough for me so I didn't think watching this movie was a waste of time. Music is also great since its Hans Zimmer. I think its a good movie to watch when you are bored, but its not something I would suggest people to watch right away. Its not bad to tell you to avoid it at all cost.

BLAME! (2017 movie)




 BLAME! is an adaptation of the manga of the same name. I was surprised and excited to see that it was getting  a movie since the manga is a bit old. Its a Netflix original so it will be streamed which is good for us international fans since we wouldn't have to waited months before getting a DVD to watch it. Despite the way its spelt, it is a sound effect like "BLAM" than the word "blame." Its a scific story on humans trying to survive on a expansive city that has kidn fo turned against them a very long time ago. A man name Killy has traveled thousands of levels from below looking for something. The movie focuses on the more action packed part of the story. Though it is been forever since I read it so I don't remember much. The manga is worth a read and it won't take long since there's rarely dialogue.

 The studio making this is called Polygon Pictures. They did Aijin and Sidonia which I haven't seen before so I didn't know the quality of their art and animations. I learned that Sidonia is from the same manga creator as BLAME! so I may check that out later. Didn't know he had other works. The studio does a decent job of capturing the BLAME world into modern graphics. They do use CGI models for the characters. I know people are rather anal about 3D modeled anime characters, but it didn't bother me in this movie. The only thing that was weird looking was a few character's hair, but that's it. CGI hair is defintely needs some work, but everything else had a more 2D look than 3D.

 The Japanese voice cast is also greats! There are some top actors on the cast as well. Sakurai Takahiro voices Killy, but since Killy hardly talks you will not be hearing much of him. While Killy is the main character, the villagers do get the most focus mostly because they talk more. From what I remember, Killy hardly meets other people but I can understand why they wanted the movie to be the way it is instead of Killy just walking around alone. It wouldn't be an enjoyable movie. I think this movie is a good teaser of the manga. If this movie made you at least interested in the world, I definitely recommend reading the manga! Overall, as a fan of the manga I enjoyed this movie and I hope people will pick up the BLAME! manga if they haven't read it already.