Original Movies (not sequel, not reboot, not spin-off)
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New Gods: Yang Jian (2023) directed by Zhao Ji
3D animation from China. Very good animation, stunning visuals that warrant watching on a big screen. Very imaginative, intricate, and majestic "world" designed and rendered with impressive details. China has really made a lot of progress with 3D animation lately, to the point where I look at it and I figure "dang, this is even better than Disney/Pixar."
This movie is based on characters in a Ming dynasty novel that is in turned based in part on ancient Chinese mythologies and ancient Chinese history (Zhou dynasty ancient). This movie reminds me a lot of the Cowboy Bebop (1998) animated series, completely with ragtag crew of bounty hunters, a "lazy" team leader impressive fighting skills, and machines that have a bit of that steampunk feel. But this being a movie made under the CCP's censorial regime, the content is decidedly not as "edgy" as Cowboy Bebop. Still, there is a lot to draw from given the richness of the original Ming dynastic novel and thousands of years of mythologies. Overall this is a good movie with very good animation. Highly recommended.
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Living (2022) directed by Oliver Hermanus
Drama. British, very British. Old civil servant with terminal diagnosis uses his remaining time to cut through bureaucratic red tapes to do some good, inspiring a young civil servant in the process. Well directed, well acted. Not exciting, very restrained, a little slow even, but heartfelt and thoughtful with lots of understated nuances and subtleties.
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80 for Brady (2023) directed by Kyle Marvin
Comedy. Four old ladies, all old friends of each other, embark on adventure to attend a Super Bowl game and to meet Tom Brady. These are all established actresses who know what they're doing. The plot is somewhat predictable given the premise. Good for 98 minutes of entertainment without needing to use the brain much.
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Pathaan (2023) directed by Siddharth Anand
Action, thriller, in Hindi. Basically a super cop, super government agent type film. Exciting and entertaining with a Bollywood flare. I used to appreciate India's different action/fighting styles in Bollywood films, but lately the Bollywood films (like this one) seem to have shifted over to imitating Hong Kong/Hollywood action/fighting styles; so a little of disappointment there for losing something unique to Indian/Bollywood productions. Oh, yeah, this one has got a big Bollywood dance number with dancers in police/military tactical outfits, so that's different. While extolling nationalism, the film also acknowledges the Hindu-Muslim tension in India and portray collaborations between Indian and Pakistani agents. In some sense, I suppose these reflect India's national psyche and geopolitical aspirations.
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The Amazing Maurice (2022) directed by Toby Genkel and Florian Westermann
Animation. Something about some mice working with a cat and a couple of humans to defeat the villainous rat catcher and the "rat king." It's supposedly based on a novel. The novel is probably very nice but the film just wasn't remarkable or memorable to me.
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Shehzada (2023) directed by Rohit Dhawan
Drama, action, in Telugu. Basically a prince and a son of a pauper switched at birth type story. The true prince grew up to be a good person while the son of the pauper grew up to be a spoiled brat. True lots of trials and tribulations the true prince was finally reunited with his rich family. Different culture, different sort of humor, different style of action/fighting, different type of contrition needing different suspension of disbelief. Not bad, not outstanding either, basically 2.5 hours of OK entertainment.
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Cocaine Bear (2023) directed by Elizabeth Banks
Some thrill, some comedy, I suppose. The premise is easy to grasp: drug smuggler air dropped a large amount of cocaine into a forest, a big black bear ingested the cocaine and gone berserk, mauling and killing many people. As shocking as the premise is, there is really not much else to the movie. The actors did the best they could with the rather limited material, there is just not much more to be had.
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Selfiee (2023) directed by Raj Mehta
Comedy, in Hindi. This movie I like quite a bit. The plot starts off with a DMV officer and his young son being big fans of an action movie star, and they dream of someday taking a selfie with the movie star. Said movie star, due to some mishap lost his license and needed to apply for a duplicate, which requires him making a trip to the DMV to get the license. This gives the DMV officer an opportunity to meet his idol and to take a selfie with the movie star. Through errors and misunderstanding, the movie star and the DMV officer became enemies and it evolved into a story of "movie star vs. everyman" in national news. Through lots of trials and tribulations, the two finally sort out the misunderstanding and became friends.
Despite the occasional contritions in the plot, this is overall a thoughtful, heartwarming movie. The DMV officer and the movie star both try to do the right thing by their consciences and for their respective families, and the social issue of "the privileged elite vs. the common man" gets a fair airing. Recommended.
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Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023) directed by Guy Ritchie
Action, some comedy. A lot like Mission Impossible or The A-Team or the later Fast & Furious films, some action hero type is tasked to lead a team of skilled operatives to stop some over-the-top bad guys from doing this that or other stuff. The actions are exciting enough, but the plot is ultimately not that memorable. Two hours of solid entertainment if you want to keep some adrenaline pumping. Not much else to this film.
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Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar (2023) directed by Luv Ranjan
Romantic comedy, in Hindi. Something about a man from a rich family who partners with a buddy to operate a breakup consultancy on the side. This breakup specialist is later attracted by a woman and the two are then engaged to wed with both families' blessings, but later the woman had a change of heart and, not knowing that her fiancé is the breakup specialist, hired him to breakup her engagement with the man. Hilarity ensues.
This premise is not new, and there are some elements of Indian/Hindu sensibilities incorporated into this film that makes it a little different from other rom-coms using the same basic premise. Basically a solid 2.5 hours of (mostly) feel-good entertainment that does not require expensing much brain power.
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Moving On (2023) directed by Paul Weitz
Comedy, drama. Old ladies #1 and #2 attend the funeral of an old lady friend. Old lady #1 was sexually assaulted by the dead old lady's widower a long time ago but has kept it secret. Old lady #2 was once the same-sex lover of the dead old lady and has also kept it secret. Movie is essentially about old ladies #1 and #2 finding ways to "move on" from their old traumas. The "comedy" part comes from old ladies #1 and #2's amateur attempts to murder the widower. Acting is good (as it usually is with old actors who have been acting professionally for many decades), the movie is otherwise not remarkable.
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Champions (2023) directed by Bobby Farrelly
Comedy, drama. Disgraced professional basketball coach sentenced to community service to coach an intellectually challenged basketball team. Coach learns to become a better person and a better coach as he takes the team to the Special Olympics.
One of those feel good, heartwarming sports movie with a positive social message. The actors playing intellectually disabled characters are actually intellectually disabled, and they certainly look very authentic in the film.
I like this film more than I thought I would. Recommended.
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@George-K said in Original Movies (not sequel, not reboot, not spin-off):
@Axtremus in four hours you posted about a dozen links. Have you watched any/all of these movies?
Yes, I have watched all of the movies I write about in this thread.
I have said this before: in this thread I review only movies I have watched.
So far limited to movies I have watched in theaters. Easier to track those using ticket stubs (be they physical or electronic stubs). Every few weeks (more like every few months lately) I go through my ticket stubs and write about what have made lasting impressions (e.g., things or aspects that are “still memorable” after I let the ticket stubs sit for weeks/months). Internet search is used only to (1) check if a movie is indeed “original”, (2) verify the release year and get the names of directors because I figure those are information I would need to lookup these movies in the future if I ever want to revisit certain movies.
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Inside (2023) directed by Vasilis Katsoupis
Drama. Basically a one man show with Willem Dafoe carrying the whole movie. Story is about a lone art thief trying to steal from a fancy penthouse who is then trapped inside that penthouse. With the resident away on vacation, the penthouse's many automated systems are shutoff, making life increasingly miserable for the trapped art thief -- physically and psychologically. The script gives the actor a lot of opportunity to show off his acting chops, in that sense Willen Dafoe got to show off a lot in this movie much like Joaquin Phoenix got to show off a lot in Joker (2019). Treat it like an art film, watch it if you want something off the beaten path and appears like it's exploring something deep, or if you really, really like Willem Dafoe.
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65 (Million Years Ago) (2023) directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods
SciFi. Story about some space pilot traveling back in time and crash landed on Earth 65 million years ago, with one little girl as the sole survivor among his passengers. The duo had to deal with many hazards, including dinosaurs, to try to get back to the future. Not that actors do not try, and the CGI and special effects are professionally done, but it's just a trite concept in SciFi. There just isn't much in the plot. Watch it if you really like Adam Driver.
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Paint (2023) directed by Brit McAdams
Comedy. Story revolves around a character based on Bob Ross (painter with an afro who paints on TV). It tells the story of a celebrated public TV star painter falls from grace and then rediscovers love. Overall I would say it is well done and has its moments with sparks of brilliance, with laughs, heart, and at times understated yet piercing social commentaries. The acting style is very much typical of Owen Wilson. Not a blockbuster, but a nice movie nonetheless, one not completely brain dead.
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Mafia Mamma (2023) directed by Catherine Hardwicke
Comedy. Story about a somewhat neurotic American woman suddenly being told that she is an heir of an Italian Mafia boss, who then has to return to Italy to inherit the Mafia empire after the old boss was killed. Then follows the trite arc of a bumbling American somehow conquers the world of Italian organized crime and make them all nicer. Not much new there, but good effort.
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Renfield (2023) directed by Chris McKay
Horror, comedy. This one is entertaining and enjoyable. Story about Dracula's servant with special powers who is tasked with bring blood to sustain and ultimately revive the severely weakened Dracula. Said servant ultimately found love and wakes up to some new meaning of life and has to reevaluate his relationship with Dracula. Lots of blood and gore, often framed in funny settings. Colorful cinematography. Somewhat edgy, lots of laughs without requiring many brain cells, good entertainment.
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Say I Do To Me (2023) directed by Kiwi Chow
Romantic comedy. Story about a pair of YouTubers trying to "make it" it as YouTubers and kept failing until they stumble onto the idea of going a "solo wedding" and selling the idea of "self love" with the message of "independence" to the online world. From there the couple stage a breakup, with the woman going down the path of being the "solo wedding" princess and the man making up another online identity to play a masked villain flaming online antagonism against the "solo wedding" princess. Many fans and supporters on both sides getting into the flame war, which predictably spills into real life. Not sure how it goes down with the far eastern audience, but the plot seems contrite to me. Not completely brain dead, there are tender, thoughtful moments for sure. The original dialogue is in Cantonese, not sure how well it will translate to another language.
