Original Movies (not sequel, not reboot, not spin-off)
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Strange World (2022) directed by Don Hall and Qui Nguyen
Animation film by Disney. Definitely has that Disney quality as far as the animation goes. Creative imagination of the "strange world" with colorful, polished visuals to match. The "moral of the story" has a strong environmental message to it. A fun movie to watch. Disney animation usually comes with good music, but in this film none of the music leaves much of an impression with me. For you snowflakes out there, know that there are depictions of homosexual and interracial relations in this film, just in case some of you are easily triggered by these things.
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Violent Night (2022) directed by Tommy Wirkola
Action, comedy. It has many elements of a traditional Christmas movie, with a Santa that has magical Christmas powers and a little boy from a troubled family who still believes in Santa. The twist is that, like the robot Santa from Futurama that violently guns down those on the naughty list, this movie's Santa engages in violent battles to mow down terrorists and kidnappers in all sorts of creative, bloody ways. It also pays a lot of homage to Die Hard, complete with heavily armed terrorists dressed in white snow attires arriving on snowmobiles. It's an entertaining Christmas movie.
I would say bookmark this movie for streaming around next Christmas, especially if you're the sort who thinks Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
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Babylon (2022) directed by Damien Chazelle
Drama. A lot like "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood," it's a movie set in an alternate history of the movie business, with some DEI social commentary mixed in. Very good acting and direction in general; Margot Robbie gave an outstanding performance as the wild and wildly talented starlet-turned-star protagonist. I couldn't help thinking of "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" as I was watching this movie, though this movie is even wilder, more excessive than "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood." I suppose if you like "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood," you will likely like this movie too.
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M3GAN (2023) directed by Gerard Johnstone
Sci-fi horror, think human sized Chucky in robotic/AI form. I like this movie, much more than I thought I would. AI powered robot developing into a good friend/nanny to a young girl, then evolved to become a super killer robot. The plot sounds trite in the sci-fi genre, yet it works so surprising well in this movie. Don't know how the film maker did it, much the robot's facial expressions came off surprisingly convincing (and surprising creepy when warranted) on screen. Really exceptional dance-like action sequences performed by the robot as it moves in for kills that are both artful and creepy at the same time. Not for little kids (this is a horror film after all), otherwise highly recommended.
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A Man Called Otto (2022) directed by Marc Forster
Light drama, comedy. Difficult, suicidal retiree learns new meanings of life, friendship, and community through interactions with a new young family that moves into his neighborhood. Well acted and well directed, this is a heart-warming film. If you are not already sick of Tom Hanks and want a nice movie to pass a couple of hours, this one will fit the bill just fine without being braindead.
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Plane (2023) directed by Jean-François Richet
Action. Airplane struck by lightning and forced to land in a tropical island controlled by heavily armed terrorists who like to kidnap Westerners for ransom. Ex special ops captain proceeds to heroically rescue the kidnapped passengers. Pretty trite plot for the genre. Nicely done, above average within the genre, just not outstanding or special within the genre.
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The Devil Conspiracy (2022) directed by Nathan Frankowski
Sci-fi, fantasy, horror. Czech made movie built on elements of Christian mythology. Something about a demonic cult trying to resurrect the devil by creating a godly body using the DNA collected off the Shroud of Turin. Archangel Michael took over the body of a dead good guy priest to battle the cult. Exciting actions, good visuals and what not. Well done as a movie production, just not outstanding or special within the genre, but noticeably different in its portrayal of Michael the archangel compared to American made films/TV that also depict Michael the archangel.
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Missing (2023) directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson
Screenlife thriller. Yeap, "screenlife" is a new genre now, for plots that unfold mostly on phone/tablet/computer screen. After a teenager's mother gone missing on vacation, the teenager uses all sorts of social media and gig services to figure out what happened to her mother. In many ways this movie reminds me of the "Searching" (2018) movie, where a father uses electronic records and social media to figure out what happened to his missing daughter. The genre is relatively new, and the social media landscape changes very fast, so not a lot of comparisons at this time. Still, this is a good movie IMO. Good plot, good character development, heart warming and intelligent in many places. Worth a watch.
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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.
