Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)

Okay... I braced myself for the worst and found myself... mildly entertained...

I am getting ahead of myself again

Did this movie exceeded the first one?

No.

The first is edgier, so, more universally like.

The Good
1) The Pacific Rim universe is expended
2) How the Kaiju came back to our world is actually quite creatively done
3) The new cadets (under used) were actually fun to see
4) John Boyega was decent as Jake Pentecost
5) Alot of fuss were targeted the Kaiju this time round (too Ultraman, I believe the complain was about) and have to add, I actually did not mind it.

The Bad
1) Again, the Chinese are so... two dimensional (I'm am Shao Liwen. A Rich/Powerful industrialist. Hear me roar....)
2) Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) isn't even mention?
3) Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) is back... for THAT!??!!

The Ugly
1) Scott Eastwood... He looked so out of place here (again... He seems out of place in most of the movies he is in...)
2) Like the first movie, "Darn, is THAT how they are going to end this??"

So, I liked 65% of the movie, the other parts could have been done better.

Steven S. DeKnight (director) said a third installment is planned if this makes money...

Well, I guess we will never know what happens next...

PQ and AQ really quite good.

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jul 3 2018, 10:01 AM

Truth or Dare (2018)

Another Blumhouse offering.

Honestly, it would have been better named, Good or Dud?

And it is a dud.

Getting together a bunch of 20somethings (to act as late teens) and make them play truth or dare... a deep DEEP horror story that does NOT make.

And the characters they play, the ones you care about does not get much "air time" and the one you really like you end up really not liking....

Think of it trying to be "Nightmare on Elm Street + Final Destination" = Truth Or Dare and that actually makes it sound better then it really is...

Picture quality is good

Sound is pretty decent.

My Two Sen

I Am Dragon (aka He's a Dragon) (2017)

First and foremost, do note that this is a Russian movie.

If you goto youtube and watched the trailer, if you think they were trying to sell it more akin to Lord Of The Rings, and I would NOT fault you for that.

The Village and Dragon Lair is expensive and breathtaking (great production value)!

Cinematography, Sergey Trofimov, did an amazing work, and this is a gorgeous movie.

The main cast, looks their part, and here is where the praises stop....

I blame the marketing.

They sold it as an action pack fantasy movie, and it is actually a love story.

This is how I would describe the the situation, If you crave Italian pizza and only Chinese food is available, no matter how good the Chinese food is, you are left disappointed....

If you crave a different style of love story with fantasy elements, give this a go.

PQ and SQ pretty good, actually.

Do note that I watched the English dub, since my Russian is none existent.

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jul 20 2018, 08:43 AM

I would, if I could and have to add, that option was NOT available....

The 2015 Russian movie got an international distributor, and was release worldwide in English in 2017, so, the English dub was actually good. Seeing "orang puteh" speaking English does seem to work. It was a far cry from the Shaw Brothers stuff dubbed in English, that is for sure.

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jul 20 2018, 09:14 PM

Mission: Impossible (1996)

Am re-watching all the Mission Impossibles in 4K.

This movie never looked so good.

Let's recap

This movie was made

1) B4 Sept 11
2) Tamagotchi was the rage.
3) U2 was the BOMB (Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen did a remixed of the Mission: Impossible theme song)
4) Tom Cruise was 34yo
5) Emilio Estevez was a thing
6) Hong Kong was still generating income for England
7) Pierce Brosnan had just revived James Bond (Goldeneye (1995))
8) The Bourne Identity (2002) was 6 years away.
9) IBM computer Deep Blue becomes the first computer to win a game of chess against a reigning (human) chess champion, Gary Kasparov.
10) Smartphones was not a thing yet

Fun to revisit after watching Mission Impossible 6 to see how far the franchise had grown.

Supposedly, there were complains about the storyline being complicated.

It was never an issue for me and have to add, I enjoyed the movie the first time I watched it (in a cinema) and also this revisit.

What I can vaguely remember additionally to this movie is Tom Cruise had to goto the head of Paramount, to request for the additional 10 Million to film the end bit with the train and the helicopter, and I for one am glad he did that.

The result, and pretty profitable franchise for Paramount.

Visually, this movie never looked better

Sonic-ally, pretty wow too.

My Two Sen.

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Aug 4 2018, 10:40 PM

Be careful using terms like "old fart" infront of me, boy.....

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

Re-watched this on 4K recently.

Take away from the movie

1) Johnny Woo was a thing in Hollywood
2) Everyone just celebrated the new Millenium (which technically start at the 2001)
3) Tom Cruise, without discussing with Johnny Woo, leaped from one peak to the next, almost causing Johnyy to pass a stone (almost at the beginning of the movie).
4) Thandie Newton was a precursor to Zoe Saldana.
5) Bush vs Gore
6) Can you say flying doves?
7) Everyone was concern about Y2K, b4 this (remember Y2K?).
8) Slow-mo...
9) Handphone started to become a thing
10) Dougray Scott gave out on the Wolverine role, because the shooting of this movie ran long.

Probably the least favorite Mission Impossible to date.

Found the script to be on the weak side (storytelling wise).

Fan of Johnny Woo loved this.

So much so, it made more money compared with the first!!!

Who would have thunk.

Metallica's I Disappear, kicked ass.

Visually, good (seriously, good 4K transfer)!

Sonic-ally, sound.

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Aug 7 2018, 01:52 PM

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

This movie took a long time to make

1) Tom Cruise and Sumner Redstone (owner of Viacom, which owns Paramount) ended their feud.
2) Pluto is downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet
3) J.J. Abrams directed, breathing new life into the franchise
4) Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein is executed
5) Julia (Michelle Monaghan) was introduced
6) Google Buys YouTube
7) The late and great Philip Seymour Hoffman channeled his inside Blofeld
8) North Korea declares it has carried out its first test of a nuclear weapon, becoming the worlds 9th Nuclear Power
9) Jonathan Rhys Meyers was hinted as taking over Tom Cruise mantel, in the franchise.
10) China was featured heavily in the movie.... because of AliBaba's involvement.

I like this.

Mostly because the story worked, and the villain is extra, villainous.

J.J. Abrams took a page from Alfred Hitchcock and never quite explain with the White Rabbit (MacGuffin) is.

Depending on the earnings, Paramount used that figure to determine if

1) Tom Cruise should continue to lead
2) New guy takes over
3) End the franchise as it is.

The franchise continues, with Tom Cruise.

Because it is newer, visually this looks the best (so far) in 4K, with the exception of the lens flare (bad boy, JJ)

Sonic-ally, pleasing.

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Aug 7 2018, 02:14 PM

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

This is a hard movie to write about, because.... I am getting ahead of myself...

1) Brad Bird directed YAH, but that is how he ended the movie??? Nay....
2) Tsunami, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant...
3) Josh Holloway... did THAT?? Okay....
4) Singer Amy Winehouse dies on July 23rd.
5) Benji (Simon Pegg) becomes a field agent.
6) United States - Occupy Wall Street Protests
7) Brant (Jeremy Renner) is strongly hinted to take over the mantel of the franchise.
8) Russia officially became a part of the World Trade Organization
9) Dubai scene happened! Yah!!
10) India scene... Really, Brad, you ended with THAT!!!!!!

Brad Bird proves that he can do both very good and very bad action movie...

I actually like the side story (Ethan, Brant and Julia).

Obviously this made alot of money, because there is a fifth.

Good Picture (4K, love, love, love the starting prison and the Russian Red Square scenes. The chaos is so... palpable)

Good Sound

My Two Sen

The Nun (2018) (Addendum)

Managed to watch the making of, and interestingly alot of GOOD scenes ended up on the cutting floor?

What the hey...

This movie's sound design is OFF THE CHART.

Your sub-woofer gets a workout.

My Additional Two Sen

Revenge (2017)

Well, first and fore most please note that this is an "R" rated movie, so not suitable for small children...

Lots of violence

Lots of nudity (guys and gals)

Lots of simulated sexual violence (which I truly do not agree with).

So, you are warned.

How is the movie as a movie?

Story wise I will describe it as Fatal Attraction (1987) and the married guy is the cuckoo one...

There is a tinge of Quentin Tarantino and a smidgen of Robert Rodriguez and before you get excited, a tinge and a smidgen a good movie they do not make...

I don't think director Coralie Fargeat, pulled of a Quentin Tarantino or a Robert Rodriguez, because the audience need to do a leap of faith with the main female lead Jen (Matilda Lutz) after her ordeal, that she could pulled off what she did.

Honestly, I think she should have died from

1) Blunt Trauma
2) Blood lost
3) Septicemia
4) Shock
5) Internal bleeding

Before she pulls off what she pulled off...

I am not saying the guys did not deserve what they got...

I am saying she succumb to the above, before she could done what she did...

Picture wise, the Cinematography Robrecht Heyvaert, chose a warm palette, which actually is pleasing to the eye (as oppose to John Wick's blu'ish cold palette)

Sound is exciting enough

Other then the above, I have nothing else I can add

My Two Sen

I sold it to you on THAT point??!?

Er... I assure you, that is not my intention for the said review....



This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jan 2 2019, 06:48 PM

Glass (2019)

If, you are like me, at the end of Split (2016), you probably went, OMG OMG (when Bruce Willis/David Dunn appeared, proving that Split and Unbreakable is a shared universe)!!

I have to say, that this is quite a anticipated movie.

I have read many a reviews and have to add that most reviews I read were either undecided or negative.

So, I recently watched this and I like this movie.

I can understand why there were so much "hate" for this movie, and have to add, most people went in to watch the movie with certain expectation and was disappointed when they expectation was not met.

I have to say that this is NOTHING like Marvel/DC superheroes movies, and I don't think that is what M. Night Shyamalan wanted to do.

This is very much a drama piece and Horde, The Overseer and Glass character get built upon.

Some claim that Bruce Willis could have phone it in, and I think they are missing the point. The Oversea has been "doing" it for close to 20 years... He is tired.

Glass has been scheming for 20 years and The Horde is his opportunity to expand on his theory, on a much MUCH wider scale.

Yes, in the beginning, the movie went one way

The second act, went another, and the third act went in a totally different direction again and aI am actually fine with it.

The movie kept me on my toes, storywise.

Yes, this is a Blumhouse production (20 Million production budget) which is not even close to Avengers: Infinity Wars 300 million budget.

Having said the above, I still enjoyed this 20 million dollar budget movie, because, it has a story to tell, and it told it. Not many people appreciate the more original story and therefore the negative reviews.

To that I say, to each their own.

M. Night Shyamalan is a very detail oriented person, and based on this picture palette for the movie, it in itself tells a story.

Kudos Mr. Shyamalan, and I for one hope that movie story driven movie, derives from Glass.

I give this movie a 7/10.

Picture 7/10

Sound 8/10

As usual, My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Apr 21 2019, 09:39 PM

Please proceed to part III