Original Movies (not sequel, not reboot, not spin-off)
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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.
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Chevalier (2022) directed by Stephen Williams
Period drama. Story about a mixed race prodigy, born of a French plantation owner and his African slave, rises then falls through French high society, around the time of the French Revolution. Many scenes dealing with racial discrimination for sure, also plot around the protagonist's struggle to accept the black/African side of his identity. Some very good classical-sounding music, supposedly composed by the titular character who was an accomplished musician and fencer in real life. (I haven't look into how true that claim is about the music, or how closely the movie adheres to history.) I am usually not into European period drama, but I gotta say this one is very well done. Some emotionally heavy material. This is a thoughtful and well polished movie.
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Suzume (2022) directed by Makoto Shinkai
Japanese anime, drama, fantasy. Story about some school girl needing to navigate a lot of supernatural quests to save the world. Not that there isn't competence and creativity (e.g., I like the three legged chair character), and there are funny moments for sure, but other than high resolution and sharp graphics, the whole thing feels like it was made 20 ~ 30 years ago. Be it in concept or in execution, these days I expect animated feature films to be more 2020s than 1990s. Watch it if you really like anime (as they are still few and far between in American theaters), otherwise there is not much new in this movie.
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Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (2023) directed by Farhad Samji
Action, romantic comedy. Story about a buff, heroic big brother who is a father figure to his younger siblings finding love and having to fight many bad guys (with much blood spilled) to protect not only his own family but also his new bride's family. Very typical Bollywood, many good looking people in big dance numbers. Not a lot of social commentary. You might miss some jokes for not understanding Hindi and not reading the subtitles fast enough, but words are really not that important to follow the plot. It's a nice pop corn flick, good entertainment.
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Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023) directed by Kelly Fremon Craig
Coming-of-age drama, adapted from a novel from 1970. Story follows a middle school girl dealing with faith and puberty. Not having read the book, I don't know how closely the movie adheres to the book. The movie itself is fine, very competently done. It feels dated to me (cannot blame it, it's adapted from a 1970 novel after all), not detecting much of more contemporary sensibilities. I suppose this is one those films where you will like it more if you like the original book more, and you'd be more indifferent it you are not already familiar with the original book.
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Polite Society (2023) directed by Nida Manzoor
Action comedy drama. I like this one. It follows the story of a Indian teenage girl in the UK, one with an overactive imagination and wishing to be a stuntwoman, somehow getting the idea that her big sister is being forced to give up art school to go into an arranged marriage. Thus starts a series of kung-fu action shenanigans as she tries to rescue her big sister from that fate. This is not the first film about Indian immigrant angst or about Indian teenager coming of age, but this is the first that incorporates lots of kung-fu action, in that it is fresh and new. The action sequences are quite respectable too, and inspires new, interesting aesthetics when performed in elaborate, colorful Indian saris. Highly recommended.
