A Day - Strong concept with weak execution.

Can see the concept being done in a more coherent and engaging fashion. Usually the Groundhog Day mechanic always been the perspective of a single person. The ingenious difference here is three party stuck in the same timeloop. There lies an infinite possibilities and suspense. From figuring out how to prevent the same tragedy happening every time to the reason why it is happening to them.

At the end the idea proven to be too clever for the filmmaker to handle. Cliche and fluffy Korean drama forcefully integrated into the complicated premise. Messy with predictable outcome and anticlimatic.

You were never really here - Another home run.

Movie God has been very generous this year. This early already bestowed me with 2 great films. Annihilation and now this. Lynne Ramsay is the unicorn film director with flawless track record. Granted this is only the fourth feature-length movie under her belt in a twenty odd years career. It's a shocker she decided to do a generic hitman with a conscience premise that usually found aplenty in direct to DVD releases.

Her signature filmmaking skillset elevate this to a new dimension. Joaquin Phoenix is perfect as the hitman with some very loose screws in the head. Drifting in and out of PTSD lapses and a mean streak of violent dishing. He is not a sexy hitman with fancy moves. Just brute force with a hammer. He also suicidal until he got himself in a situation that punch above his weight. On top of that Johnny Greenwood providing the music which is another layer of awesome.

Nicholas Winding Refn failed with Only God Forgives while Lynne Ramsay hit a home run with this. By award season time it may even get some nominations here and there. Joaquin Phoenix could get a nod. Again this is not your mindless Liam Neeson action movie and at its core still an "art" movie.

Batman Ninja - Great visual and anime animation. The story just plain illogical to a point you want to stop watching. It's SMH and Batman is the dumbest detective you've ever seen. The plus side is the Joker here very well done and his fight scene with Batman is worth sitting through the stupid plotline.

Psychokinesis - Netflix's follow-up of high profile Korean acquisition.

This is a movie by Yeon Sang Ho of Train to Busan fame. So like it's predecessor, it's subverting a popular genre to tell a humanistic story of father and daughter. Taking a page from Inuyashiki manga, a loser father bestowed with superpower but instead of the usual fighting a supervillain it's about father repairing his relationship with the daughter. Overall is enjoyable but takes awhile to reach its destination. It's not as crowd pleasing as TTB but still carries over the same DNA across. Thought the psychopathic Director girl very interesting but somehow they did not explore any further on her.

Revenge - new coat of paint.

I wanted to love this movie and yet glaring plot conveniences pull it back for me a little. Love the art directions and some refreshing new spin on a familliar genre. While not an expert in firearms think there's a pretty big mishandling of weapon depiction. It is easy to nitpick every thing inadequate about this movie but you have to give credit where the characters and the story became more than your usual rape revenge fantasy. Bloody and tension filled. Certainly this movie offers plenty of visual style and a pretty bang on in sound design.

After watching Atomic Blonde think it's fair to say Chad Stahelski is the better director than David Leitch. Leitch just another director for hire that just does passable effort but not trailblazing type of film directing. Not that he is lacking effort just not enough substance or the Chinese saying "not enough minerals".

Mou liu tou?!!!...lol...

Thoroughbreds - almost a good movie.

The performances of the two leads very good but the premise not enough to see it through. Olivia Cooke stole the movie and sad to see the plotline does not yield a fulfilling payoff. For sure these 2 young actress going somewhere as credible performers.

Cargo - Bittersweet zombie movie.

If you have watched the original short film, this movie didn't expand that much on the core premise. The father better defined and added couple of plotlines to fill up the screen time. If you've seen some Walking Dead episodes, you will be more or less acquainted to the human more dangerous than Zombies tropes of characters. The only selling point is how to keep the baby safe while the father slowly becoming a zombie.

Having Martin Freeman here at least gives some needed credence otherwise it will be lost in the Netflix streaming library. If you are interested in the original short film.

Hereditary - Toni Collette is the reason to watch.
To those who casually throwing comments like slow and boring to slowburn movies, well this one is not for you. For an hour plus the movie plays like a straight tragic family drama. Mother grieving the passing of immediate family members that set off the family descending to hellish nightmare. All the spooky and unsettling scenes happens during the last 30 minutes. Either you like the ending or underwhelm by it. If you like the ending then you will incline to watch second time for all the clues leading to the conclusion of the story.

Like The Witch, was not impressed with how they tell the story but greatly appreciate the atmospheric cinematography and performances of the actors. Toni Collette is the MVP. Also James Wan fanboys don't bother to bitch it's not scary enough or what not....at least here have the balls not to rely on cheap jumpscares to sell tickets. It's not so much horror for scary sake but difficult and unsettling to watch is the point here.

This post has been edited by 6so: Jun 22 2018, 07:34 AM

Unsane - Incoherent mess.
So Steven Solderberg shot a movie on iPhone but sadly the movie not very good. Psychology thriller of whether Claire Foy actually insane or not as she was trapped in a psychiatric hospital. I don't mind they wanted to tackle the mental health topic but it went boinkers with B-movie territory on the second half. Also the amateur film student aesthetic quite difficult to appreciate. The only saving grace the Queen trying her hardest to keep the movie together with her performance.

An A-list alumni of Solderberg also made a cameo that nobody sees coming which was highly unusual or he is nearing the end of career chapter...lol..

Sicario 2 - It's not a knockout.
By coincidence the main theme of the movie is a reflection of the current US political shitshow. Muslim terrorist infiltrated the US Border and caused a bomb attack on American soil. An eager to act political figure sanction Brolin to once again stir shit up in Mexico with the ever brooding Benicio. That is until their mission went sideways.

Right off the bat was not expecting the creative team able to do what Dennis Villeneuve did with the first one. Less is more was my takeaway on the earlier movie. I'm a fan of Stefano Sollima's Gomorrah. His take on this sequel reminded me of when Michael Mann was the king of smart action movie. The scenes are well put together without resorting to shaky cam BS you see in every Hollywood summer offerings. There's some depth in the performance of the actors. It's a shame the script is a mess. Felt like Taylor Sheridan just submitted the first draft of a script without ironing out the kinks.

The big but is the story arcs all over the places. Essentially you are watching 2 movies in one sitting. All the tension set-up thrown out of the window to tell a different story in the 2nd half of the movie. You don't feel plot elements tying together nicely. The ending gonna split some fans of the first one. The messaging also not as strong as the first movie.

This post has been edited by 6so: Jul 1 2018, 01:49 PM

Nope...he still put out good work. Logan Lucky and The Knick were some of his recent great output. Sorderbergh is the type able to come back.

No one director will remain GOAT forever. There will always up and down in their career. The only exception is Stanley Kubrick, even his worst still far ahead in comparison to the others IMO. Lynne Ramsay have yet to made a bad film but only released 4 in her 20 plus years career.

Mainstream director just come and go as competition for the latest and greatest just a race against the clock to what is trending.

Isle of dogs - Still a good watch but not a standout.

Overall it's an above average watching experience for me. It lacks the snappy touch that usually associated with a Wes Anderson movie. Story pacing not as fluid as TGBH/Moonrise Kingdom. It just appeared somehow a wee bit slow to get going. Majority of Anderson's movies does not have a complex premise but the twist and turn of stylish narrative choice is what made them so alluring. On the other hand the animation and voice acting just right on the money. Was having fun trying to guess which famous actor voicing the good boys and girls. Bryan Cranston a standout as Chief. At the end Paddington Bear 2 still a better movie for me when comes to watching wholesome cute animal movie with a similar messaging.

This post has been edited by 6so: Jul 7 2018, 12:25 PM

American Animals - Great use of expectations Vs reality.

As long as you are not going in expecting an explosive Ocean 11 type of expectations, there is a lot to like about how this movie being told. Call it stupidity or naiveté of bored teenagers who thought they can get away with stealing an expensive collection of books in a library. The best bits is all the fantasy imagination of pulling the heist perfectly and "rashomon" each other accounts of what actually went down. Cross cutting between actual interviews of the people involved in the heist and your cinematic reenactment of the event. Two third of the movie is very enjoyable for me but the last 3rd act regressed to your cliche crime does not pay cautionary tale as they wrecked with guilt and the actual act of the heist is clumsy and uninspiring.

Upgrade - this is highly watchable.

Again manage your expectation that this is not BR production quality but your standard Netflix sci-fi type of quality. After all it's a Blumhouse production. So you have Tom Hardy lookalike reliving the origin of Frank Castle's Punisher. His happily married life cut short after some thugs killed his wife and paralysed him. Enter a tech mogul proposing a Faustian deal where a revolutionary chip will enabled him to walk again and a very capable AI voice interacting with him to look for the killers. The joy is the ultra violent killings and snappy pulpy plotlines. If you like Altered Carbon this certainly within that wheelhouse of noirish cyberpunk.

Mandy - Tripping balls of a batshit crazy masterpiece.

Say you an acquaintance of Mary Jane or a "stamp" connoisseur, this is the perfect movie to watch. Wish I was the carefree college bum ages ago who gives zero eff about the world. Here you get to experience a whack out revenge story that got to do with demon biker gang, sex cult leader and the infamous Nicholas Cage crazy acting. Either you get this or totally at lost with what you have just watched. Foreboding score by Johann Johannsson perfectly in sync with hallucinating visual cues. This is Fear and Loathing in Last Vegas with heavy dose of Gonzo Cinema action.

It varies from writers and time period. Lethal Protector arc can clearly see Venom acting out cornball instead of wrecking ball. Post Civil War Venom went full villain and right now he is wisecracking god slayer against Knull the symbiote god. It changes with times at the whims of the assigned writer.

Project Gutenberg - Throwback to gun toting CYF.

If I'm not mistaken the last time I went to cinema for a HK movie was couple of years back. It was Trivisa, I think. Overall this is a highly serviceable HK action thriller from one half of the Infernal Affairs and Overheard trilogy creative. The selling point is seeing CYF being a certified badass since his John Woo days. Aaron Kwok continue his career goal to be a chameleon with just enough pizzaz to be successful at it. Personally I'm quite taken with Zhang Jingchu as the female lead.

While it will not replace any of the best action thriller in the heyday of HK cinema, it is considered an achievement given the sorry state of pandering to China market. Also it is what it is and certain comparison to a certain unreliable narrator classic will be unavoidable.

This post has been edited by 6so: Oct 12 2018, 09:44 AM

Sorry to bother you - not your usual comedy.

The best way to describe this comedy is when Spike Lee had a baby with Charlie Kaufman. It may not have the depth and nuances of a Kaufman movie, the energy felt very much in line to Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. At lesser hand the nonsensical plotline will be difficult to stomach but the broad humour trotting along without overstaying it welcome. Just wish it has a more profound messaging or more daring in making a point. The balls out crazy premise is a disguise to critique capitalism and sowing seeds for activisms. I do like Lakeith Stanfield a fair bit here and hope to see him more.

The Night Comes For Us - The unofficial Raid Part 3.

Was hesitant to watch but end up a pretty solid experience watching it. Those yearning for 90s action movies will not be disappointed. It won't replace The Raid but close enough to scratch that itch to see Iko Uwais dishing out the hurt. By the way he is the big bag here. Brace yourself for an unusual high body count.