Search the site...

COLME AARON
  • Movie Reviews
  • Yearly Top 10
    • Top Movies of 2021
    • Top Movies of 2020
    • Top Movies of 2019
    • Top Movies 2018
  • About
  • Movie Reviews
  • Yearly Top 10
    • Top Movies of 2021
    • Top Movies of 2020
    • Top Movies of 2019
    • Top Movies 2018
  • About

Movies In RevIew

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Review

5/30/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Release Date: May 31, 2019​​​​​​​​
King of Trash

I have never had a movie-going experience like this before. I went into the film with low expectations, knowing that the trailers had spoiled the whole movie and that the tone would be completely different. What I didn't expect, was for those expectations to be crushed. As I sat there in the theater, I thought to myself, "This is the biggest piece of garbage I have ever seen". Never have I witnessed $200 million dollars being thrown away before and hope I never have to again.

​Godzilla: King of the Monsters is awful in pretty much every respect. Going to see a Godzilla movie, made by Hollywood, means that you want to see monsters fight. The ticket price should buy you action scenes where buildings collapse and explosions happen. The disaster porn is in full effect, buts its depiction is pretty mediocre. The CGI was pretty average which was a little shocking. This might have to do with there being so many CGI scenes that the quality went down, but that's not a very good excuse. The choreography of the monster fights was pretty bad too, I felt like I was watching a High School wrestling match rather than giant monsters with special abilities.
Nothing can top how dreadful the plot was though. The movie combines tropes and falls into traps continuously right up until the end. At the very beginning, characters are introduced but are rarely in the film. It's like how they put Brian Cranston in the trailer for the first Godzilla movie and was killed off in 15 minutes. The main characters are a group of people that don't show up until all of the exposition has been laid out. They rival the human villain who ends up wanting to destroy the world because humans are a disease killing the planet. The story is embroiled in lazy writing and the lowest common denominator ideas, allowing the audience to turn off their brains and watch colors flash on
the screen.

The movie also tries to have comedic moments peppered throughout to keep the tone light. This doesn't work in the first half of the film as no on in my theater even chuckled. Once Godzilla is introduced the humor does start to land, but for that first half its very cringey. 

Ironically, since the visuals aren't that special, I can't recommend anyone seeing this in the theater. There is nothing exciting about this film and even less to be excited about for the next one. How can I believe that Kong has a chance against a lizard that shoots beams from his mouth? Yes, tons of characters needlessly die, the music pauses allowing for something shocking to happen, and some of these characters are returning for the third movie. It comes across as the laziest piece of entertainment put together, hoping big monsters fighting would carry the weight. Please never see this. 
2/10
I was physically tired after watching the movie, it took so much effort to try and pay attention

Comments

Detective Pikachu - review

5/10/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Release Date: May 10, 2019​​​​​​​​
Kids Noir Movie

​There has always been difficulty bringing stories that exist in other mediums to movies. The most obvious example is a book adaptation. There are too many details that can’t be put in, sometimes the meaning of the story is changed, and it becomes less special without all the things that make it great. Films based on video games have faced this problem before and in every case, they have failed. So for Detective Pikachu, the odds have been stacked against it since its inception. The brand is already so entrenched in its own identity, how could the property successfully make the jump to live action? 

Detective Pikachu creates a brand new place for people unfamiliar with Pokémon. It has the easter eggs and references that fans of the property will pour over, but the space for everyone. It's here where the movie is at its strongest. The visuals of the city, the early set locations, and the production design are top-notch here. For the first 20 minutes, it looks like a more colorful noir movie, complete with rays of light through blinds and claustrophobic spaces. I was sold on the Pokémon
walking around and believed in the world that was being shown off. The VFX were great considering I felt like this was a real place filled with tons of animals. It also had major Zootopia vibes—that scene where Judy first arrives is almost recreated here. This film has all the production to be taken seriously; it's shot on film and people cared while making it; all of which lends itself for the audience to enjoy it. 

The problems come down to almost everything else. The plot was paper-thin. It was structured like how a child would tell a story, with them constantly going, "and then, and then, and then". Which really bleeds into how the characters came across because they came off as pretty basic. The dialogue is to blame since in some scenes, you could tell actors were trying to do a good job with the material that they were given. It must have been the script considering the dialogue just sucked. It wasn't even that funny of a movie with all the best parts being in the trailer. Any attempt at a joke that wasn't already shown didn't even make me giggle.  

For all the praise I gave the CGI for bringing Pokémon to life, there is a sequence hinted at in the trailer that was awful. The whole thing looked fake and I don't understand how you make a forest seem unbelievable. The music, while not super great, does incorporate sounds from the games as a motif which can't be picked up when watching the movie. Finally, Ryan Reynolds isn't just doing Deadpool without cursing, he adds a lighter touch and smooths out the edges in his delivery.

It comes off more like a kids movie than anything, which isn't bad, but foregoes any depth to keeps adults invested. As pure eye candy and entertainment, it works. If you follow the brand or have children, this could be a good enough experience to see this in the theater. If you have never even heard of Pokémon other than when people were standing in the streets with their phones, this is not for you. As someone who has had some contact with the property and is a sucker for good CGI, I was entertained enough.
5/10
​I guess you can say that the movie wasn't electrifying
Comments

BlacKkKlansman - Review

8/15/2018

Comments

 
Picture
Release Date: August 10, 2018​​​
Yep.

BlacKkKlansman is a period piece based on true events with a message meant for today's audience. It delivers that message through a story that draws parallels with modern events and brings home the fact that there is still work to be done. I feel the movie does a good job of depicting the story. This has to do with the mirroring effect it does with the Black Student Union and the Ku Klux Klan. Both are shown to be groups with devout members, willing to stick with each other no matter what. But it also creates a third group that stands in as the moderate perspective. This group being the Police force.

The balancing act the movie does is enjoyable to watch. While trying to be fair, it makes you think about groups in general - the danger that can come from them. It makes you think about what side you fall on, even if you didn't think about the division before. The greatest strength of the movie is roping you into a culture war that is still being waged today.

As for actors, production, editing, music, and all the other stuff you talk about in a movie review, its all pretty good. John David Washington does a great job being the center of the movie. Adam Driver delivers a great performance of someone conflicted by the events that unfold. I believed that the movie took place in the 70's even though it was speaking for today's generation. My favorite thing about the music was the use of a theme. It had a song that would play throughout the movie, emphasizing moments of importance.

I think you probably know if you want to watch the movie or not based on the subject material. So my recommendation would be to see it at any time. It doesn't have to be on a big screen so you can wait to rent it on streaming.

7/10
It really is Spike Lee's best movie
Comments

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

6/22/2018

Comments

 
Picture
Release Date: June 22, 2018
Dinosaurs Smallest Ever

Jurassic Park and the movies that followed owe their success to the idea of a theme park about dinosaurs. A great idea brought to life with care, now morphed into something more generic. When Jurassic Park came back in 2015, it did what so many movies now do. It acted as a vampire feeding off of nostalgia and became one of the most successful movies of all time. With the park destroyed and forgotten, how does the franchise try to go on? The answer is to put dinosaurs in different genre movies and forget about the childlike wonder and soring music. All is lost in exchange for a darker tone with loose story ends that physically made me uncomfortable.

The beginning of the movie is the weakest. It tries to introduce new characters quickly, the problem being that they don't fit in the movie. Not yet anyway. Just like the first movie, the main cast consists of paper-thin characters where nothing resembling an arc happens to them. If anything, one of the new characters randomly becomes a different person during the third act. At the start of the movie, they are painted as this unsociable nerd who is supposed to deliver the comedy relief. This never works out and I never laughed with or at the character.

But maybe you don't watch these new movies for characters that act like humans. You're here for the dinosaurs and cool set pieces for you to enjoy. This movie really doesn't have anything like that. The movie attempts to have a more intellectual angle than pure spectacle. This means everything is shrunken down to have a more intimate feeling. So if the movie doesn't have those big moments, does the more personal atmosphere work? No. From the bad music accompaniment at the beginning of the movie to the poor man's Robert De Niro, this movie is just bad.

What about the third act of the movie? If the majority of the movie is bad, does the ending at least rally? A little bit. You finally get that dino on dino action. It is considerably smaller in scale than the previous movie and less fun to watch. The movie tries to justify some of its more puzzling aspects in this part of the movie, but there is way more happening. With more things going on, this part of the movie is much more fun to watch.

I can't suggest watching this movie. There is so much about it that irks me. From not diving into actual consequences of character's actions to the minor horror elements to the movie. If you wanted to make a horror version of Jurassic Park, then maybe make it more thrilling and don't carry over the stupid character actions that happen in those kinds of movies. The first Jurassic World did well but had a small backlash. This movie will not enjoy that movie's financial success and is being thrown under the bus already for not being good.

                                             3/10
                          Baby Blue was the best part                          


-Addition-
I always read reviews AFTER I finish writing my own and wow. I want to address a few comments I have seen. How can people enjoy the plot for this movie. The last one was about making a new dinosaur, this one is literally about the same thing. How can you be happy about that? Someone said that the "twist"/reveal in the movie was really cool. NO IT WASN'T. The movie literally did nothing with what it did, it was a useless plot point. Some people were actually scared by the movie which baffles me.
Comments

The Great Wall - Review

2/18/2017

Comments

 
Picture
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?
Comments

    Categories

    All
    20th Century Fox
    A24
    Action
    Adventure
    Amazon
    Animation
    Annapurna
    Blue Sky
    Blumhouse
    Comedy
    Comic Book Movie
    DC
    Detective
    Disney
    Disney+
    Disney Animation
    Drama
    DreamWorks
    Fantasy
    Focus Features
    Foreign Language
    Horror
    Illumination
    Kid's Movie
    Laika
    Legendary
    Lionsgate
    Live Action Fairy Tale
    Lucasfilm
    Marvel
    MGM
    Monster Movie
    Musical
    Neon
    Netflix
    Paramount
    Pixar
    Science Fiction
    Sony
    STX Entertainment
    Thriller
    Universal
    Video Game Movie
    War Movie
    Warner Bros.
    Western Japan Movie
    Zombie Movie

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.