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A Cure for Wellness - Review

2/18/2017

Release Date: February 17, 2017

There is a Sickness

A Cure for Wellness at first glance is a promise for a more intense “Shutter Island”. It was supposed to take the general horrors of a old time institution to the next level. The idea that it would be an intense experience with the beauty to back it up.

I can without a doubt say, that A Cure for Wellness is probably one of the best shot movies I have ever scene. Every frame is almost like a beautiful still life photo. It oozes with craftsmanship and makes you feel like you are watching art. The cast is amazing, making all of it seem real and substantial. Everyone puts on a great performance, with standouts going to all the main characters. There is one thing though that really makes this movie what it is.

I can’t let you go further if you are planning to see the movie. The more you know about the movie, the less enjoyable it will be for you. So this is my warning for anyone PLANNING to see the movie, if you are not going or already have, go ahead at your own risk.

The thing that cements this movie with its final placement is the script, or plot. This movie doesn’t pace correctly in terms of audience to character revelations. This happens to a lot of movies, but this one suffers from it a ton. It should be obvious that the audience learns stuff differently to the characters in the film, but A Cure for Wellness tries to make it a one to one experience. That is to say, it tries to only give the audience information that the character knows too. This greatly fails in the last part of the movie while you wait for the main character to catch up to where you know the movie is headed. There is also the problem of there being a couple major plot holes that don’t add to the movie. Some creepy movies benefit from the audience’s imagination, but this is not one of those movies. Since the movie is so narrowly focus, it is easy to guess where the movie is going.

In total, the movie is going to be my go to example for loss potential. It had so much good, but the bad was so substantial that it could not be overlooked. Since the good was so good, it saves the movie from an abysmal score.

7/10
Are you here for the cure?

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The Great Wall - Review

2/18/2017

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Release Date: February 17, 2017

Matt Damon and Who?

The Great Wall symbolizes Hollywood’s olive branch to China, to makes sure they can keep making money. Not only was the movie majorly financed in China, but the director of the movie is from China as well. These tid bits might not seem that important, but they all play a huge part in contributing to the final product of the movie.

The first thing to point out, is the approach the movie takes to storytelling. It’s choppy and there doesn’t seem to be a true linear objective other than the obvious, protect the wall. For an action movie, this movie needs way more action. This movie was supposed to meld the two big movie worlds together; the grey “realism” of western movies with the colorful beauty of asian movies. This movie somehow accomplishes to make sure neither aspect is fully realised and just seems to be a waste of potential. There was beautiful color, there was an ample amount of grey, but they didn’t flow together. I blame the script, the actors, and the director for this waste of time.

There is not much to say about The Great Wall because there is not much to talk about. It’s another white savior film through and through. The white guy is the only one that can save this people, and he does. The acting is not convincing, the dialogue is poor, and the visuals are average. It seems like the director, who has previously only made asian movies, didn’t have the say or the know how to make this movie work. Characters do things that are questionable and some don’t seem like they are needed. I can’t even remember the names of any of the characters. There is slight enjoyment from the movie, but not much. It’s still better than the new Rings movie that came out earlier this month, but not by much.

Overall, Hollywood dropped the ball with this movie due to its lack of focus. The movie tried to be too many things at once. It wanted to convey a message but didn’t give it any emotion or emphasis. There was really no reason for this movie to exist, go watch something else.

6.5/10
Are all movies going the Phantom Menace?

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John Wick: Chapter 2

2/12/2017

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Release Date: February 10, 2017

Still Not Retired

John Wick: Chapter 2 takes place right after the first movie, like probably only a day or two after the events of the first movie. John Wick was a good action movie that was light on story but emphasized action. Its predecessor follows this formula that made the first movie so famous but turns up the action to an 11, or 12, or 13. Let’s put it this way, you probably have not seen these action stunts before and that should really excite you.

Right off the bat the movie kicks it into high gear. With an amazing opening sequence that shows a slight node to the first movie but ultimately just makes the entire theater gasp - the good kind of gasp. From the very beginning it is evident that the director forgot what story is again and just focused on everything else, and it shows. This has its ups and downs but ultimately makes for an incredible movie experience. Everything from the cinematography, to the choreographed fight sequences, to the sound design was top tier. It all came together to display an amazing continuation of a weird world were gold coins are everything, and even weirder rules are put in place.

The first movie had basically no story and with a limited budget, it did all it could action wise. This sequel takes the bigger budget and spends it all on spectacle and the ever so elusive wow factor. While watching John Wick: Chapter 2 don’t be afraid to gasp and make noises with the rest of the audience because I can guarantee that you have never seen a movie, or a pencil, quite like this.

To describe any of the action sequences in this movie would be a disservice to them. Nothing can compare to watching this movie on a decently sized screen. This is the movie of the weekend and still might be for next week as well. All I can say is go watch this movie please, and if you are worried about not seeing the first movie, don’t be.

8/10
The first 8/10 this year, it will be joined by others soon

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The Lego Batman Movie -Review

2/12/2017

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Release Date: February 10, 2017

I Work Alone... Atm

My relationship with The Lego Batman movie started with its first trailer. I was amazed at the tone the movie seemed to be taking, it landed every single one of its jokes which had me laughing the entire time. I then proceeded to follow Lego Batman on Instagram which posted regularly with jokes and posts that slowly built up my excitement for the movie for months. Then my surprise when the first round of reviews came out about a week ago saying that it was not as good as I was hoping it to be. To my surprise those reviews were wrong, it’s much worse.

I have a strong affinity for Batman since I watched the animated series when I was younger so anything that drifts away from what Batman stands for is an unwelcome change. That being said, I get the obvious attempt to diversify Batman into a more comedic sense. The movie does a great job with this and still every joke lands in the movie. I’m not exaggerating literally every joke lands and made me laugh, but why is it worse than reviews said it was?

To start off, I will withhold all spoilers because if anything is spoiled for the movie it will not be as good. But I can still tell you where the movie goes wrong without spoiling it. The movie 10-20 minutes in is amazing. It might be a little weird for some but it was really funny and made me hopeful. I wondered how such a great beginning could be ruined, and then it showed me. The nonsense garbage that followed after those glorious first 10-20 minutes was cringeworthy. It made me sad to see what people who don’t understand what Batman is, to transform him into something he is not. Obviously there were some nice messages in the movie for children but Batman is not the property to be using for that.

Even though the majority of the movie was not good there were still good jokes throughout. Like I said prior, all the jokes land, but the movie that surrounds these jokes is not good. If you were to take these jokes and the first 10-20 minutes and put them all together this movie would have been much better. Not only does the messing around with Batman continuity ruin the movie for me, but the hand fisted plot points that slowed the movie down. If you take a kid to see the movie they will probably like it. If you are of post puberty age and like Batman go see it with limited expectations, and if you just want to watch a movie go see something else.

All in all if the movie itself was better this would be great. There are so many good jokes it’s crazy though.

7/10
Second DC movie to disappoint me this year

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Movies In RevIew

A Cure for Wellness - Review

The Great Wall - Review

John Wick: Chapter 2

The Lego Batman Movie -Review

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