PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (PORTRAIT DE LA JEUNE FILLE EN FEU)

disclaimer
1) chick flick to the max, as in the entire movie... there's only 1 male character, and he's an extra.
2) Pretty slow french subtitle movie
3) You need to know your greek mythology of 2 specific story; didn't think it would make this a pivotal movie at all even with that added in.
4) setting is back in 1770, if this was downton abbey era it would have been much more interesting to see people's costume design etc.

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I did not think it was epic in any sense. Acting was ok, script was medicore, there is no amazing wow ending. Just a standard 1770 setting film with an ok script.

It was nominated for Golden Globes which I found shocking; maybe because it was a female film?

Nomination for foreign film
Parasite (South Korea), The Farewell (USA), Les Misérables (France), Pain and Glory (Spain), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (France)

How this film even stacks up to Parasite is beyond me. Hell, The farewell was above average (bias cause I'm also asian), and this is wave lengths compared to Portriat of a Lady on Fire.
Antonio in Pain and Glory was border line OK at best and this is still below.

I have yet to watch Les Mes, so I'll wait and see.

5/10 at best....

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korean comedy: 6.5/10
Group of cops who are the bottom of the barrel, tried to do a sting, and surprisingly fried chicken store flourishs; it's all in the previews.
Cops are dumb and borderline stupid. There is a find line between good laughs versus just dumb jokes. Story had great potential, but they had to make it like Jim Carey type jokes back in the 90s.

Some action and some fight scenes but the stupid comedy ruined it. It's not lost in translation, just not funny humor.

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Came out in the theatres today. Super legit. Not crazy CGI, not stupid story which the scientist found a potion and started to test on himself.

Leigh Whannell is director, he did Sa1,2,3 + Insidious 1,2,3 so you know he's not the type to CGI and uses crazy cheap ass western scary scene. He leverages good camera work.

Script starts off right at the beginning and cuts out the crap on character development.
Which is refreshing. Then some turning points in the middle and you go in for the ride.
I thought for a 7 million dollar budget, it's pretty good.

I went in with no expecation so it would have been 7.5-8/10.

Good camera work, script could have been a bit better even though I can't thikn of where. Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) was pretty good as they made her look like shit in the movie.

*try not to watch the previews...

Jojo rabbit - 9.5/10

Probably fav movie of 2019 and ranks on the list of my personal top fav movies.

Parasite was awesome, highly recommend but try not to read anything about it etc.

9/10

I'm gonna take your words.

I'm sure there are 90% of the people here who would be happy to provide you with a refund if you don't like the movie. *Just make sure you watch it during the entire sitting as the last 25 minutes is a roller coaster ride.

You and I definitely have totally different movie styles. I can think of 10 other better movies than jojo rabit.

The good, the bad and the ugly. Still plays.

new animated Addams Family:
6.5/10. I liked it, but it felt a bit long. It was fun, but if you don't have time, you don't need to watch it. Story was pretty bland and uninspired

new Charlie's Angels:
4.5/10
I really really really wanted to like this movie. I really did. The intro was pretty cool. But damn this movie was no good. The main characters were incompetent and not cool, and the talking parts were bland and not deep. I expected and wanted more "girl power" but didn't get that at all. They were just shitty spies. Humor was not good. I really tried to like this movie, I did, but it was 30 min too long and the sequences were uninteresting. Don't bother.

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First of all it was called Birds of prey cause Margot Robbie was the producer and she insisted. After 1st week of release, theatre said fuck this shit, we need to add "and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn" back in cause people think its a chick flick.

The score was decent, the colors and ivsuals was on par, just a shit ass screen play. Characters wasn't deeply developed (each character was briefly explained), just a bit jumpy of the script trying to tie it all in (eg// Deadpool) Couldn't get myeslf to see Harley Quinn's character being way too exaggerated. I've always seen Margot as the hot as fuck blonde chick and to see her without a hot body, blonde hair was a bit refreshing.

They try to add a post credit and it just cuts right in mid sentence... wtf... what are you trying to do.. ghezz.

Couldn't get me excited to sit thru the thing. Action sequence was the only thing which was medicore / on par 6/10

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netflix special, not a bad movie considering there ain't going to be any movies to watch int the theatres for the next 2 months.

good mystery case; doesn't really have too much of a intense drama moment. Based on a true story.

Amy Ryan was legit in the movie, good acting, but a bit of a tough bitch which was over at times. Couldn't take her seriously after she played Holly Flax in The Office, so I'm quite surprised she held her own.

Script was missing a bit of a climax but I'm happy. This movie wouldn't have max it big so glad Netflix picked it up. solid 7/10

Watched Knives Out and Rambo last night.

Knives Out is a great watch but I think it could have used a few more twists and turns for a murder mystery. No complaints but I just wish I would have suspected it was another family member or 2 before it was clear who the killer was. 9/10

Rambo’s storyline is very similar to Taken.. so that was disappointing. Still some great action and a watchable movie if you can shut your brain off and just enjoy the show 6.5/10

Better Days (少年的你)
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SUCH a FOOKING amazing movie.
Slow at the beginning and it's just so touching / pain killing / heart breaking movie with such a strong script.

Summary: bullying in China with 1 top of class student along with a low life drop out punk kid; girl gets bullied during provincial exams.

Extremely rare script which is contraversal + truth versus hiding + lying + justice... all mixed into 1 movie. Solid chemistry between the casting leads.

Amazing acting, huge scarafice of lead actress (she had to shave her head)周冬雨 + just so many scenes of her crying. I can't even explain the acting she put on for a 28 yr old.
* fun fact: Lead actress has 18 scenes of actual tears; which is around 7.5 minutes per scene of crying.
During the movie, there is a scene of guy + girl shaving her hair, lead actress requested everyone on the set to shave their head too.

I gotta say, actresses from Beijing Film Academy are SUPER legit. NIGHT and day compared to shit ass acting from Hong Kong.

Would definitely recommend 9.5/10 beginning was a bit slow.
BTW, director is actually 曾國祥, dude's dad is famous in HK (曾志偉，MH（Eric Tsang Chi Wai) and he did his dad proud. He's pending to see if he wins for best director.

That's annoying that she requested people on set to shave their head. It's not their job to do it. She's the lead actress and paid accordingly. Does that mean, sound guy has to do it or the pa? :rukidding:

Take it with a grain of salt... not diff then Leo Decaprio filming the revelant... when he had to rescue his co-star in the cold freezign water, he request the co star to actually be the actual dead body instead of using a dummy.

The group who did the film was from the exact production unit from preivous film, i'm sure there was a synergy between the group and I'm sure it's wasn't a retarded request eg// actor only wanted M&M with no red color etc.

Lots of movies are skipping theatrical releases (rather than delaying them) and going straight to VOD. Not the big ones though like F&F and Bond, those will be delayed until theatres are opened again

One day (2011) 8/10
-romantic drama that illustrates the progression of love and wasted opportunities.
-ending tugged my heartstrings

The Thing (1982)
7.5/10

Very solid movie. Some of the scenes and actions are definitely era specific, but overall the movie is well done, and the effects still look good for it's time. I would imagine the movie definitely being scary and gory AF for back in 1982. I thought the acting was pretty good. Good escalation of paranoia in the film.

This movie is as shitty as DC Justice League

1/10

Characters were poorly developed.
Casting was all WRONG on those Birds. None can act.
Huntress, Black Canary, The Cop, Asian girl... all crap

Watched the Netflix movie “the platform”

Kinda fucked up, twisted movie, I’d recommend it

^ yeah i watched it... a lot about capitalism and what society is like... i thought the concept was really great and lots of hidden meaning, ending wasn't as much of a wow for me. nonetheless, it was great to watch a different genre type of film compared to the normal hollywood junk

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比悲傷更悲傷的故事: More Than Blue
Probably the saddest movie made in taiwan, broke some huge records; 153 million USD which is not bad for a foreign film

total chick flick, as in 65% of girls in taiwan were the key driver to watch this movie. Title is called "Even more tragic than a tragic story", the same song title was sang by A-lin back in 2018. Movie actually dethroned captain Marvel back then.

Guy and girl are roomates, tragic shit happens, both realized they are in love, both wants the best for each other... and tears ... very typical ending with tears.

I thought the cast was good, twist / tears and sad ending was a given. Worth a watch to be honest. Taiwanese movie does pretty well and doesn't go too far off like bollywood movies.

8/10

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Had some expectations going in, and knew it won't be as epic as Toy Story, but seriously, it's wasn't bad at all. Serious formula each time, tugs you at every direction; decent flow, solid family + brother + adventure quest.

I thought the music / score was pretty good and Tom Holland + Chris Pratt were great voice over too
8.5/10

Extraction.
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Chris Hemsworth in gun shoot out movie; i actually liked it. Brainless, shooting, rescuing a kid in Bangladesh. I like the location and just no story, just shoot. Vancouver Sun did a review stating it's 1/5 stars so I was going to ignore it.

It is not that bad. Glad netflix picked it up. It's definitely better than Ryan Renold's 6 Underground cause that was just insane michael bay blow up non-stop with minimal plot.

could have cut out any character building during the middle and I'm so glad they didn't try to mimic this to be a john wick 4 movie.

oh.... there is one scene where they used continuous shooting (like 1917); no idea WHY they decided to do so... Was it necessary.. meh. Did it help.. mehhhh I did think the acting has to be spot on during the shot and it was good.
The supporting actor; the kid, did a good job to say the least.

8/10