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Dune (2021)
Bored youth notices deserts and Islam
The sci-fi story really seemed to be a leftover from a previous era, when it came to elements like the boring name "Paul" for the protagonist; the prevalence of sand monsters eating people; and the reliance on Islamic culture to seem mystical and foreign.
Audiences in 2021 can't be expected to be engaged or surprised by much of this. Then there were the secret powers which blended aspects of Jedi mind tricks with Lord of the Rings, but in a way that was ultimately just less exciting.
Right from the opening credits, we see that this is only "Part One" of Dune; and we see that Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is absolutely crucial to the plot, so it's really hard to ever feel that he's in danger.
Sure he's cute, but he never really seemed to have much emotion. With the film being so heavily focused on Paul, it might as well have been titled "Bored youth moves to desert barracks".
I'm sure that when the book was written, many of its themes were still fresh. Sure there's nothing new under the sun, but there is even less that's new under the sun of Arrakis.
Den of Thieves (2018)
A cliché crime movie
The lead police officer has marital problems and engages in a rivalry with the lead bad guy.
The bad guys are all muscular / ex-military and capable with guns, but their plans are intricate and smart, so the guns and muscles aren't really justified or sensible, but hey, it's an action movie, so why not both?
The bad guys are always angry, because they're bad guys.
Not only does the lead police officer have marital problems, he also likes to bend the rules.
The movie is very much channelling Michael Mann's masterpiece, Heat; but also, these guys must've seen Ocean's Eleven (for overly complex robberies) and maybe Fast & The Furious (for unnecessary guns and muscle), then decided to mash all of them together.
I still enjoy crime movies, but this film was a fairly derivative work that would've been forgettable, had Gerard Butler and Ice Cube not managed to shine through and take this over the line.
Animal Kingdom (2010)
As dark as it gets without gore
I lost count of the number of times I was left gasping for air, on the edge of my seat. I seemed to become a mouth-breather like Josh, the main character.
Very gritty and absolutely realistic - as an avid listener to crime podcasts, I recognised that some core plot elements here were actually based on real events.
Jacki Weaver is electrifying and the male cast are convincingly sinister.
I had nominated this to my American friends as something we might watch for Australia Day, but just as well I didn't - if you're looking for party vibes, balloons and rainbows, you definitely came to the wrong place. If you want to scratch the surface though, and see what the underbelly of Melbourne can be like, you will not be disappointed.
The Bit Player (2018)
A superficial glimpse at a real story
As a software engineer, admittedly my desires for this documentary skewed more to the academic side than what might interest other viewers, but even then, the explanations were so superficial that I don't see how any of us could find this fulfilling.
In regards to the equivalence between circuitry and Boolean logic, there were a few equations that flashed up for half a second.
For the connection to entropy, an even briefer flash of an equation, with even less explanation about what any of the symbols are referring to.
When researchers introduced a proof of concept for the Shannon limit, the narrative was "fancy that, these French and Thai people who I was ignoring happened to have made an incredible discovery. I wouldn't have thought it would be them." Who is this woman giving us her gossipy take on information theory? I didn't come for your cattiness, I wanted to hear *explanations* of Shannon's insights, along with his personal history.
In terms of personal history, he wasn't a rock star or anything, so that wasn't sufficiently interesting to keep things going. What we ended up with was a simplistic tale of "smart guy did this and that thing which you don't really understand. Computers and tech and stuff".
Incessant mentions of how he was the founder for all this, while mentioning Von Neumann just once; and Turing, never! Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace similarly got no mention at all. What a waste of material for a piece of entertainment.
Rear Window (1954)
A Trivial, Unresolved Mystery
The film centres around L.B. Jeffries, a newspaper journalist stuck in his apartment as he recovers from a broken leg. We're brought into his conspiracy theories about what the neighbours are doing; and it's up to as as viewers to decide what's indeed happening, and whether we even care about it.
Those who enjoy the film inevitably seem to cite the exploration of voyeurism. Some of the neighbours certainly seem to exist as characters in the film only for the voyeuristic pleasure of L.B. and the audience.
L.B. comes to suspect that one of his neighbours has just committed a crime; and as the film progresses, the question is not just about the neighbour's guilt, but whether the crime even happened.
In parallel to this crime plot are other stories that fail to ever relate to the crime. The film inevitably concludes with the end of the crime plot, but that's not to say that this plot is actually resolved, with all its questions answered. How many of the film's plots end up being resolved is obviously dependent on the viewer, but I myself found the conclusion unsatisfactory and frankly, uninteresting.
Cape Fear (1991)
Fearful of Explanation
The film starts with a teenage girl recounting her time in "Cape Fear", supposedly setting the scene for what's to follow, yet it's never actually established where Cape Fear is - do the characters ever actually visit Cape Fear? It's not clear to me.
Either way, the crux of the film is indeed fear - Max Cady / Robert de Niro is released from prison and seeks retribution against his public defender (Sam Bowdon / Nick Nolte), on the basis that the lawyer didn't do his job sufficiently well. Whether that allegation is justified is an ongoing question in the film and is left for the viewer to judge, which I feel is engaging and is reminiscent of Studio Ghibli's blurred lines between good and evil.
Murky moral questions furthermore arise amongst other characters; perhaps as murky as their backstories. Sam Bowdon and his love interest (Leigh) speak to the girl (Danielle) in a way like they only recently met her (maybe a step-child?); and he speaks to Leigh like they've been together a year or two. It eventually becomes apparent (not through any plot twist or shock announcement) that we were meant to understand that in fact, Leigh has always been the wife; and is the mother to Danielle.
The lack of clarity about the characters' relationships is perhaps correlated to the difficulty in deciding who to support, as a viewer. Is this person good? Are they bad? Well who are they anyway?
In seeking revenge, Max is revealed to be quite capable and on multiple occasions, he surprises his victims, leaving little to no explanation for them, or even the audience, as to how his actions could've actually been possible. A common explanation for viewers seems to be "prison stuff, you know".
This lack of believability only continues to build upon itself as the film progresses. Events occur with explanations that are weak or even incongruent; and no resolution for what's supposed to happen next - are things supposed to just work themselves out?
The plot holes happen least with Sam, so we're kind of pushed to siding with him, but I just never ended up liking him too much; and couldn't really see why the characters liked him either :/
Beoning (2018)
Boring; misleading
This film had little to do with burning; or with crime fiction in general. I love crime fiction and it's why I saw this film, but it turned out to be just a generic Korean drama - people lead a dull life and an uneventful, unfruitful romantic life.
The point of difference here was that one of the protagonists expressed that they're some sort of dark character; ooh. We see little evidence that this is a reality though.
Major plot points are left unexplained or they just turn out to be unimportant.
It felt like this was written by some sort of apprentice director - we keep going down the route of typical plot developments, yet nothing interesting ensues.
Baby Driver (2017)
Childish attempt at crime drama
In the very first scene, there is a concerted effort to portray Baby as self-absorbed and lacking any personality, but the rest of the film is spent trying to frame him as the good guy who we're meant to like.
This film was portrayed as a crime movie, but instead it's yet another puff piece of a good-guy American who sometimes commits crimes, but it was kind of just the situation; and if he kills anyone, it wasn't with his hands or a gun, so it doesn't count.
I presumed there would be some deus ex machina, but I lost count of how many times this occurred.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
Uninspired, paint-by-numbers film-making
The whole film was just dull and adopted too many elements of modern Hollywood. Far too many key events and plot complications were disappointingly familiar. Important characters have little motivation to carry out key plot progress and I kept asking myself "why does this person even care?"
Storm troopers were more incompetent than ever and felt even more disposable than zombies. The off-screen characters were disposable on the same scale as what's typical of a superhero or apocalypse film. As is typical of those genres, viewers of The Force Awakens are led to believe that for some reason, the protagonists are the only ones who can save the day, even though there could in fact be other groups that could get involved if they so desired.
There was more humour than in previous films, but much of it was low-brow and equivalent to slapstick, with the punchline being based on various people being stupid. Curiously, I found myself sometimes laughing a sentence before the rest of the theatre patrons, all Americans.
I found the new black male protagonist to be about as likable as the brat from Spirited Away. I didn't especially like the new white female protagonist either.
Heat (1995)
A fitting rendez-vous for two titans of cinema
This film is exceptional. Almost all crime films are biased in their portrayal of cops vs robbers. If the cop is the main character, the criminals are snatching babies or just generally being evil and *incompetent*. If the bad guys are the main characters, it's a horror movie. Finally, this is a movie where both sides are experts and they're both like-able. As such, I never knew which way the film was going to end.
Both sides have just as much likelihood to win in the end and I could realistically get behind either side. This film kept me on the edge and seemed so much more realistic about the criminals. They weren't just bad guys for the sake of it. They didn't have the clichés of having "henchmen" and having a taste for fine art. This movie is absolutely compelling; it still gives me goosebumps just seeing the trailer.
Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Too much is unexplained
For a movie that lasts so long, it was somewhat of an achievement to leave so much unexplained. I had to keep asking myself why various events were happening, especially the forgiveness towards the band- member who seems to arrange a greedy structuring of the profits. I was also left wondering what DJ Yella and MC Ren contributed to the band.
I really only felt any sympathy or connection towards Ice Cube and Dr Dre − perhaps this was because Ice Cube apparently had a big part in the making of the movie and perhaps Dr Dre put up a lot of the cash for the project.
The end of the movie felt incomplete, as so much was left unanswered. I know that Dr Dre is successful now and I know that Ice Cube did some acting later in life, but I don't know what ended up happening to pretty much everyone else in the film. I believe a film should be complete, I don't feel that I should need to take a pop culture history lesson to enjoy it.
The War of the Roses (1989)
Dull and depressing, not a comedy at all
This was labelled as a comedy, but had no more jokes than any other film. I don't appreciate IMDb wasting my time by saying this is a comedy, I hope I save someone the time of watching this film if comedy is what they're looking for.
The film was just about the rise and fall of the Roses' marriage and is as dull as it sounds. The divorce quickly becomes nasty. This movie might be handy for marriage counselling (well before any problems arise), but isn't useful as entertainment. The description misrepresents the film by only focusing on the divorce, since a large chunk of the movie occurs while they're happily together.
Danny DeVito frequently appears, but rarely with any significance. His client in the office really doesn't say enough, it feels very artificial.
The casting was good, as the pets and children at various ages blend gracefully.
The directing was good.
Undercover Boss (2010)
Bosses who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing
It's curious to see the interplay between the high-flying bosses and the enthusiastic junior employees. Often the bosses are unfit to do the jobs and often they are just going about the motions, not even pretending to be worried that their menial job is on the line.
I don't know whether to blame the show or the culture of North America, but I find it distasteful when the bosses reveal themselves and give out gifts at the end. Having a CEO tell you that you did a really good job should feel special; that's all that really needs to happen. Instead, they want to out-do Oprah and give employees holidays, cars etc. I once even saw one of these bosses give a worker 2 promotions. How does one keep morale in the rest of the team when they know that just because the boss stumbled across this guy, he got promoted from under them to above them?
The problems revealed are often along the lines of "yeah, this has been a problem for a while, but management doesn't care". Going undercover shouldn't really be necessary for that kind of problem.
RoboCop (2014)
Dull
Having studied robotics at uni, this film was pretty much required viewing for me and that's perhaps the only reason I could keep watching until the end.
I especially liked in the first movie, the moment where they decide to "lose the leg", showing the cloudy morals at play, reminiscent of Han Solo iconically shooting Gredo. Any nefarious deeds done by the company in this film are silly and only arise due to plot flaws.
The film was absolutely full of plot flaws − why was Robocop's face fine considering the injuries to the rest of him? Why did his robotic hand switch from right to left? Robocop had bullet-proof armour, yet regularly shot people instead of tasering them. Changes to his operation are explained away with an "I don't know" from the doctor. The head of the machine department has an understandable distaste for Robocop, which inexplicably grows into a deep hatred. There are plenty more, but I don't wish to spoil the film.
All action scenes with Robocop were uninspiring and the film felt like paint-by-numbers from the director and writers. Michael Keaton was excellent as the CEO. Joel Kinnamon playing Robocop was uninteresting, seemingly because of the stigma that manly, straight American men face when considering going to acting school. Resultantly, there is a very small pool of actors with the all- American hero face.
Kaze tachinu (2013)
Only for engineers
This is a trademark Miyazaki film, with its slow, reflective mood throughout and its focus on boring characters. I felt a connection to Jiro and rather liked him, but this was largely based on his affinity for aeronautical engineering (I also studied engineering).
With the long time-line of the film, I was sometimes confused as to who was who; I'm not sure if it was the same woman all along. She was totally uninteresting and resultantly, I had no real concern for her whenever she was in trouble, but perhaps some concern for Jiro by extension.
The detail and accuracy of the animations certainly adds to the engagement of the film and the recurring dreams of Caproni certainly help in conveying Jiro's enthusiasm for engineering. I would only recommend this film to people with an existing interest in engineering or science.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
overuse of deus ex machina
The story was interesting, but the threat of danger became increasingly contrived for all the protagonists. Major disruptions turn out to be fairly inconsequential hickups in the quest to walk around to various unknown places (we never get to see a map) − part of a larger plan to steal some gold before anyone else does.
The costumes, lighting, cgi and acting were fantastic.
The character development of Bilbo consisted of little more than pondering the question of "should I have stayed at home and relaxed or was it correct to be a waste of space for these dwarfs?"
Fans of this film will invariably use the book to justify the unappealing plot developments, but I felt that the film adaptation made its own share of contributions towards this film's status as an example in the gross overuse of deus ex machina.
Ong-Bak (2003)
amateur film-making with one good actor
This movie appealed to me because of the fight scenes, but even that wasn't enough to keep me interested.
I was dragged through tiresome clichés and a plot that was unbearably predictable and dull. Amateur film-makers tried to stick to a formula, but they failed to execute it properly.
The bloke in the wheelchair had breathing problems because he's the boss of the bad guys; there was a girl because there has to be a girl (she had no reason to be involved in any of the story); bad guys make poor decisions just so they can be evil; and the good guy doesn't use guns because good guys don't use guns :/
There's no CGI in the fight scenes, but that doesn't stop them from looking frustratingly staged, especially when we get to review each big move three times.
The Departed (2006)
good movie spoiled by unexplained/confusing events
It was intriguing to see the gang and the cops predicting each other's moves, except this play of deception suddenly stopped making sense towards the end of the film.
It shouldn't have been too hard for the cops to work out that when Capt. Queenan was killed, the mole was either Colin or one of the officers following Queenan that day, yet nobody mentions this. When Colin orders the followers not to pursue the van, it makes it even more evident that he's the mole.
During the meeting with the Chinese, how do the FBI tapping everyone's phones not spring Colin?
Before Frank's downfall, why does Billy try to convince Frank that he's about to be sprung?
Once the psychiatrist discovers that Colin is a spy for Frank, why is she left alive?
Instead of running away and master-minding a failed plot, why didn't Billy run straight to a high-ranking cop and reveal Colin as soon as he noticed the envelope?
How did the FBI mole know about Colin and why would he protect him?
How did Dignam find out about Colin? The police wouldn't have told him or they would've arrested him themselves. Madolyn could have only told him if Billy had given her Dignam's contact information, but he was never around the police computers to check and any contact information relevant to Dignam's former position would have likely become invalid as soon as he quit (I assume he wouldn't have used his personal number to contact Billy)? Besides, if he had Dignam's contact information, why was there any need to leave the evidence with Madolyn?
If Billy knew Dignam's contact information, he would never have had to arrange the risky meeting with Colin, as he could've relied on Dignam to back him up in the case that Colin had erased Billy's file. Why did that come as a surprise to Billy anyway? Shouldn't it have been obvious? Considering that Billy wasn't aware of his file being erased, what was the point of running away then later arranging the meeting anyway? His only request in the extortion of Colin was to get his identity back, which he could've got easily if he just stuck around at the police station instead of running away. The fact that he could arrest Colin at the meeting left him in the same situation as if he had stayed in the police station, as he would still need to explain the story to the rest of the police.
Why does nobody spot Colin during the presumed investigation of the Chinese cook's murder/assault? Even if they didn't know that Colin was a detective, surely they should've spotted Colin in the footage then done a search for him?
Forensics experts might've seen problems with Colin's explanation for Billy's murder and why any of them were there in the first place, but that's not a big deal compared to the other problems in the movie.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Confusing, Endless
The movie repeatedly refers to events that happened in past movies as though viewers are intimately familiar with those details. If you don't really remember what happened there, be prepared for an eternity (2:45) of asking what's going on. Thankfully though, there is still enough new material to keep the movie reasonably interesting on its own.
I was left feeling unclear about Bane's motives for wanting control of Gotham City and I didn't understand the financial arrangements that Bane invoked to inflict pain.
Plenty of the police elements were ridiculous, for example, how could the sewer gang grow so large without the police knowing about it? Furthermore, Bane not only pre-empts, but relies upon some of the police's actions even though those actions are only triggered by what's presented as genius breakthroughs.
Batman's habit of refusing to use guns is childishly naïve, inconsistent and it occasionally causes the deaths of police. This is a movie that gave me a strong urge to yell at the screen and give advice to the main character.
In Bruges (2008)
disgusting
First of all, this was advertised to me as a comedy, but it most certainly was not. There were a few repetitive and tasteless jokes by the characters made about paedophilia, black people, dwarfs and Bruges. The plot itself was not funny, but in fact, repulsive.
Ray killed a priest (near the start of the movie) without feeling bad about it, he starts arguments and fights with anyone, he stole from his girlfriend and yet the movie seems to be presented as though we should like this guy?
Ray's friend comforts himself about his career as a hit-man by saying that his victims were mostly bad people, yet doesn't want to kill his grubby friend Ray??
The work with the camera was good and so was the sound.
21 (2008)
Interesting plot with unappealing characters
The plot about the professor training these people to count cards was interesting, but it seemed totally unnecessary to recruit bright engineers and the like.
The idea that this guy was a promising engineer who wanted to give all that up and go to medical school already made it difficult for me to like him.
If you end up watching this, you'll see that the main character does plenty of other deeds that make it unappealing for viewers to like him and in fact I didn't really like anyone on the card-counting team. They all cheated on tax and none had any ambition for using the money on anything other than a good time or (in the main character's case) an unnecessary degree.
The notion that this engineer devised a better method than the famous "Newton method" was preposterous. Furthermore, being good at engineering-type mathematics would not imply that he'd be quick at calculating the price of a suit.