Original Movies (not sequel, not reboot, not spin-off)
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Joy Ride (2023) directed by Adele Lim
Asian-American comedy, second generation, post-Crazy Rich Asians. A lot of self-awareness for being second generation Asian-Americans. The plot revolves around an Asian young woman who was adopted by a white couple embarking on a journey to China to look for her birth mother, then ended up finding out that her mother is actually Korean. Of course she has a cast of wacky friends who tag along. Many crass, cringey, contrived jokes. Not the best in the genre, unfortunately.
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Shortcomings (2023) directed by Randall Park
Asian-American drama. The movie centers around a young Asian-American man with innate character flaws. He wants to be a great filmmaker, yet he could not help making decisions that screw up his relationships and his own life. In many ways, that character reminds me of Adam Sandler's character in Uncut Gems (2019) -- well-intentioned, but cannot help his self-destruction turns after turns.
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Theater Camp (2023) directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman
Basically a musical-comedy whose plot is about a bunch of misfit summer theater campers putting up a show to save their beloved theater camp from foreclosure. Though formulaic in many ways, it's entertaining enough as a musical-comedy. And of course there is that "final number" that the protagonist struggled to compose that comes together beautifully at the end to save the show -- I don't really think the song/music is all that remarkable, but ultimately find the lyrics moving.
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Jules (2023) directed by Marc Turtletaub
Sci-fi/drama, ET for old people. The story is about some senior citizens in a small town finding then befriending an extra-terrestrial who crash landed in someone's backyard. The senior citizens have their quirks and the ET performed a few miracles. No big action, nothing iconic like the Spielberg ET riding a bike that flies across the moon. Still, a nice movie with some subtleties.
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Blue Beetle (2023) directed by Ángel Manuel Soto
Original story for the Blue Beetle superhero from the D.C. comics. Nice enough as a superhero movie, probably no nicer than, say, Shazam or Black Adam in my estimation. The protagonist is Latino and there is an emphasis on the importance of family. Not sure if there is a secret rule in Hollywood that says if your protagonist is Latino, then somehow "family" takes on outsized importance. Too lazy to research if the first/original Blue Beetle in D.C. comics is indeed Latino.
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Strays (2023) directed by Josh Greenbaum
Dog movie. A ragtag team of wacko, quirky, foul-mouthed cursing dogs finding their way home. There are running jokes and near the end a scene about a dog "biting [a human's] dick off." Most jokes are rather crass. Watch if you like to see/hear dogs curse in English.
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Last Voyage of Demeter (2023) directed by André Øvredal
Story about the ship "Demeter" that transported Dracula's coffin from Bulgaria to London. Most of the movie is about the crew slowly getting killed on the ship. As a production it's actually quite polished, just that it does not really stand out among the many Dracula movies that are already out there. If you really want to kill a couple of hours with yet another Dracula movie, this is not a bad choice.
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Landscape with Invisible Hand (2023) directed by Cory Finley
Aliens, the Vuvv, have taken over Earth. The movie is about how the surviving humans live under their Vuvv overlord. Lots of commentaries about social hierarchy, economic inequity, the oppressors vs. the oppressed, the occupiers vs. the occupied, propaganda/whitewashing by the victor, etc. The aliens look weird, even a little bit gross, and "talks" even weirder, which is all good -- there is no lack of "cute" or "scary" or "mysterious" aliens in movies, but this movie managed to adhere to the book and thus make the Vuvv stand-out among other aliens in movies. This is not a brain-dead movie, if you are willing to think, it gives you things to think about. Recommended.
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Bottoms (2023) directed by Emma Seligman
Satirical teen comedy. A couple of misfits take advantage of rumors that they came out of "juvie" and start a "fight club" at school. Has your usual cast of high school misfits. And this being 2023 the cast are mostly female with an increased quotient of LGBTQ+ characters. Pretty violent/bloody by satirical teen comedy standard.
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Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023) directed by Karan Johar
Punjabi romantic comedy. The two protagonists have very different education background and very different family customs. The movie then is mostly about the two protagonists and their families learning about the quirks of and finally accepting each other. Save the Indian/Punjabi cultural elements, this is a fairly formulaic movie. Doesn't mean it's not entertaining, though.
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Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose (2023) directed by Adam Sigal
British comedy, dark. An investigator is invited to investigate the claim that there is a talking mongoose in some country estate. Confusion and mysteries ensues. Not that there is any specific thing that is bad about this movie, just that the overall result is not all that remarkable.
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Jawan (2023) directed by Atlee
Hindi action movie. Story about a vigilante pulling off various "terrorist" plots to expose corrupt government officials and force the Indian government to do the right things. Got hi-tech gadgets, explosions, epic fights, etc. Like many recent Indian films, this one also has its nationalistic moments. Despite its protest against government corruption and against socio-economic inequity in India, it ultimately promotes pro-India nationalism. Overall a good production.
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Outlaw Johnny Black (2023) directed by Michael Jai White
Think of it as a Western, where the hero cowboy and most of the main characters are black. It has many trappings of the typical Western. But the subplot about the black pastor is an inspiring master stroke, something that elevates the film above being merely a Western that merely switched skin colors. Not all straight, not all comedy, not all satirical. This is a film with complexity. Recommended.
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@Axtremus said in Original Movies (not sequel, not reboot, not spin-off):
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023) directed by Karan Johar
Punjabi romantic comedy. The two protagonists have very different education background and very different family customs. The movie then is mostly about the two protagonists and their families learning about the quirks of and finally accepting each other. Save the Indian/Punjabi cultural elements, this is a fairly formulaic movie. Doesn't mean it's not entertaining, though.
Bollywood canned plot #1
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@Axtremus said in Original Movies (not sequel, not reboot, not spin-off):
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.
I was curious, and lazy.
(my numbers might be slightly off).
In 2023 you left a total of 54 movie reviews. 27 of these films were released in 2022, and 27 in 2023.
You've been to the theater 54 times in 2023 (assuming you saw these movies in 2023. That's about once a week that you go to the movies - unless there are double features.
This year, you've left 19 reviews. I would guess some of those were viewed last year, however.
"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):
You've been to the theater 54 times in 2023 (assuming you saw these movies in 2023.
Not done yet with reviewing the movies I watched in 2023. More coming.
That's about once a week that you go to the movies - unless there are double features.
More frequent than that, actually, because here I review only "original movies," not counting sequels, reboots, remakes, spin-offs, etc. that I also watched.
This year, you've left 19 reviews. I would guess some of those were viewed last year, however.
Yes.
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Relax, I'm from the Future (2022) directed by Luke Higginson
Sci-fi, dark comedy. Story about a time traveler smuggling himself into the past to alter or ensure certain past events to enrich his future self. Not all that remarkable or expansive. The author/director think too small. The schemes and ambition of the protagonist are limited in scope and rather small minded. Not all that remarkable as a movie.
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Creation of the Gods 1: Kingdom of Storms (2023) directed by Wuershan
Chinese epic fantasy, based on the classic novel "Investiture of the Gods." Very good production. Good costumes, good cinematography, good special effects/computer graphics, good action. The original novel is itself very imaginative, and this movie takes advantage of that. Generally competent directing and acting. It's yet another movie that showcases the Chinese entertainment industry's prowess -- when they want to make an "epic" movie, they deliver an "epic" movie. (Compare to the "Adipurush" movie reviewed earlier.) The plot is vast and complex, with war, politics, wizardry, and complicated relationships between humans, gods, and demigods, etc. (The original novel is vast and complex.) And this is only the first of what is planned as a trilogy. If you ever feel like watching a good epic fantasy in a foreign language, this is as good as any.
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The Creator (2023) directed by Gareth Edwards
Sci-fi. Set in a future world where AI and humans are at war with each other. The androids look very much like humans, have attained sentience, and have even developed religion. But the humans are winning the war. So the androids are depicted as the oppressed. You get many scenes that looks like "Apocalypse Now" where the human military tears into the oppressed androids' villages and obliterating the androids. The story revolves mostly around a special ops soldier being tasked to track down and deliver the AI's latest weapon thought to have the capability to shutdown the human military's gigantic space laser and thus tilt the balance in favor of AI, but it turns out the "weapon" looks and act (mostly) like a human child, so emotion got involved. Anyway, not all that ground-breaking for the genre, but also not a bad movie. Mostly it makes me think of Apocalypse Now where the Vietnamese are AI/androids.
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Dumb Money (2023) directed by Craig Gillespie
Dramatization of the GameStop "meme stock" short squeeze saga. If you have read the news stories about GameStop's crazy stock price movements during the pandemic, you already know the plot and you already know the ending. Predictable as it is, it's still a captivating movie. It still makes you want to root for the "little guys" who put their faith in GameStop. There are little details here and there about the GameStop meme stock saga that I was previously aware off, like the Robinhood stock trading platform at one point enforced a restriction that only allowed their users to "sell" but not "buy" GameStock. Overall I would still say it's a good movie. Showing now-historical video footages of various key players' congressional testimonies at the end is a really nice touch, as it allows you to compare the real testimonies with the dramatized versions shown in the movie. Recommended.
