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Reviews
Oppenheimer (2023)
Someone should tell the truth
J. Robert Oppenheimer is a very interesting figure in the history. Therefore, the buzz around this movie is understandable considering one of the biggest director in Hollywood is making the his biographic movie. Nolan is exceptionally talented but he fell in the delusion that his fanbase created. He is really talented behind the camera. The cinematography is amazing. He has a unique eye for crating scenes and framing.
His last movies though, are not as impressive as the hype his fans are creatied. This movie is not different than the his averages movies that he started to ake since Dunkirk. His storytelling was phenomenal in Memento, then Prestige, Dark Knight and Inception brought him the fame he well deserved. Yet, the editing which contains so many flashbacks, parallel stories, jump-cuts got too much in his mind and he started to use same recipe in his every movies. Oppenheimer is not an exception. This makes very difficult to follow the stories. I know his fans like the complicated storytelling and are proud of getting it, but this is not the case here. Director misses each stories when he forgets to focus the main one. Really, which story line is the main one here? There are so many stories such as building Los Alamos, creating his team, developing the atomic bomb, the hearing, the life with the women, his controversial past, his relation with scientific community. All make a big dull soup here and we end up with few resolution. When skipping the rule of focusing on one story he jumbles everything and creating a mess. A mess that difficult to follow, which I believe intentional.
He needs to go back his routes or started to work with Jonathan again.
Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids (2004)
Amazing work is crown with a well crafted documentary
People forget that Zana spent 5 years of her life in the brothels to help kids. Some reviewers think she went there to make a 90 minutes film. This is a biproduct of a broader project. I am shocked how little footage she collected during this time. Zana's first intention was photographing the women but she faced resistance and shifted her focus to kids. I can only imagine how desperate you'd feel seeing your students are forced or have chosen the prostitution.
The technical aspects of this documentary is very unique and combines filming and photography very well. We the audiences are lucky to see the world from the eyes of these kids.
Extrapolations (2023)
Big names - great topic - so so start
The topic is right on the spot. Even if this show turns out complete disaster, I am glad they touched this sensitive matter. I am happy Apple doing this but I really hope they'll do it right.
After first episode I can say that the quality is nowhere near I'd expect from a cast like this. I know the cast is just actors and they don't have anything to do with the story and filming but I'd expect these big names to be more cautious about their reputation when choosing project. It feels like the budget is spent on casting and not much left for shooting. I didn't expect an HBO quality, we all know Apple needs a long way to go before they can start competing with other big player like Netflix, HBO, Showtime. They have money and obviously they don't hesitate when it comes to spending it.
I hope it will pace up and the story will evolve to something more complicated and exciting. It is just too simple at the first episode and I didn't feel the urge to binge-watch it.
The Last of Us: Look for the Light (2023)
Easiest choice ever
The finale had so many great moments and great lines which are also delivered masterfully. Every scene was epic and filmed beautifully. I know the story is greatest and I had to point out that I haven't played game, so I don't know how these scenes were pictured in the game. Yet, I feel obligated to praise the director, Pascal and Ramsey for the great jobs they did here. Every scene was a piece of art by itself. I could had only one scene this week and I wouldn't complain. The opening, the giraffe scene, or the scene that they had the most honest conversation, hospital scene, garage, the ending, all of them stands out boldly for themselves.
The line Pascal delivered which you all know what I mean is very powerful. Even the one-word line Ramsey delivered at the end had so much more meaning into it thanks to her acting skills, facial impression and how the whole scene shot.
Whole plot and the ending let all my feelings hang in the air. I don't know how to feel about their choices. There are so many rights and wrongs here and I mean life choices not the cinema techniques here. Filming is at its top here. This is why I love the cinema and TV shows which are not shorter to provide these feelings anymore. Kudos to everyone who was involved this season.
Gravity Falls: Not What He Seems (2015)
One of the best scenes in TV history
The scene that you will understand which one I am talking about the moment you see it is the one of the best scenes in TV history. Such a dramatic, touching and powerful scene with a very simple but equally strong dialogue.
The ones who already watched it, y'all know "the scene".
Green Book (2018)
Solid character building
It is not easy to convince viewers to a newly established friendship in 2 hours. Green book is super entertaining and more than that it is a great character building movie. Character development is right on pace, not rushed or not boring. Every scene works for understanding each character and their relationship to each other. There isn't big speech or sacrificing, but you can feel the bond getting created between these two men. Great plot and very successful narrative.
Cinematography is pretty decent. From New York City and new yorkers to the beauty of the nature of south and southern lifestyle. Everything is needly put together. Viggo Mortensen is in one of his best works and Mahershala Ali is helping him great. Probably in the best threes movies I've seen so far in this year.
Charlie's Country (2013)
Challenges of Aborigins in one person's life
Dutch Australian film director Rolf de Heer take a look of the years running problems of Aboriginal Australians in his last movie Charlie's Country which is shown in many festivals around world. We see the problems caused by two sides from the eyes of an old and stubborn member of Aborigins, Charlie who feels like a outlander on his own lands.
Charlie can't accept being assimilated or living like how white Australians impose with the help of his stubborn and shrewd character. With the stunning performance of David Gulpilil Charlie represents all his nation with his riots, outcries, falls and obedience. He makes same mistakes that his nation did but also resists to forget his roots deep in the lands. He is driven away from his village to wild, from there to the big cities and it's crowd and chaos. It takes time for him to accept that this land is same land he loves with every living on it even it has changed.
Director's style resembles our Cannes awarded director Nuri Bilge Ceylan with long cuts and silent scenes. Showing same scenes in different spirits and witnessing alteration of Charlie in these scenes can be boring. And yet this style of filming helps a lot to feel the characters and their states better and deeper. Audiences feel all strugglings of all Aborigins from the eyes of Charlie.
Fortunately de Heer was in theater for answering questions of us. His care to Aborigins impressed me and hearing all questions about Aborigins proved that he did really good job in his movie with making a difference for Indigenous Australians in the eyes of everyone who watched the movie. That means shooting the target you aimed. I hope it will not take centuries to solve all issues in Australia as he said.
Fúsi (2015)
A Virgin Nature of a Giant Soul
Glaciers of Iceland melt with warmth of Icelandic cinema. Virgin Mountain is distant but full of love, steady like a paint of cold colors but earnest and sincere same as Fusi who is naming movie. Embracing Fusi is a complicated state for audiences. It is so easy to love and to be one with him but he reminds us people who are same as him around us and who are ignored by us. It gives an amount of heartache scaled with moral compass of every individual viewer. Besides it, the empathy we feel for him gives us a hope to be better person.
Fusi may be the most naive man in the world. He has not evil inside and everything is so simple for him even sometimes he can't see the consequences of his actions. He doesn't get mad against people who are unfair to him, he even doesn't know what revenge is. Everything he knows is helping other and acting for the common good. But beyond of his fragile look, he keeps a solid persona as same as his size. He is like a virgin nature which welcomes the torrid heat of sun and the fruitful spaciousness of rain with same excitement. After all a smile on his face is a relief in our souls.
Virgin Mountain promises a good time for watching even though relatively dark and slow shootings. Good balance with dram and comedy keep viewer's eyes open and modest acting of Gunnar Jónsson makes movie reliable and striker. This festival movie reflects the real soul of Icelandic cinema in a very successful way.
Selma (2014)
a man who has all responsibility of one race in entire continent only at his thirties
Selma one more time reminds us how black people gained their rights in USA. We watch an important part of Martin Luther King's war which he dedicated his life. There are lots of production about racism in USA which is one of their biggest dishonors with atomic bombs. Yet, Selma is different from processors with telling not the life story of Martin Luther King but a short period of his campaign which has big impacts for the whole movement. King is already a well-known and appreciated person in world history. For people who didn't study American history in rest of the world, movie gives us a chance to know about Selma – Montgomery march which is a big milestone in Martin Luther King's civil disobedience.
After opening with a shocking scene, movie keeps same harsh texture as same as historical conditions bring to the real world it tells. Actually it takes a general look to social struggles of American people with using a short period of time and with a specific right that blacks try to gain. Fire of tension is kept alive along the whole movie. Most shining part of movie is David Oyelowo who is not just playing but living Martin Luther King. Such a convincing performance shows how much he interiorized his role. Other salient point is the brave language at telling the ideas and beliefs of politicians at their time. From president Lyndon B. Johnson to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, from Kennedy to Alabama governor George Wallace many powerful figures find place in movie with their crystal cold renditions. Mentioning Malcolm X himself and responses of his acts in White House, also showing the tracing records and conspiracies about Martin Luther King are very brave choices with such clear language. I t is obviously a hard movie like a stone which is thrown to the head of narrow-minded societies.
As a costume drama, I can say that we have a successful result of devoted hard work. Scene settings, costumes and make up help us to feel the essence of time. If a movie pushes you to research what it tells after you leave theater I consider it as an influential one.
The movie gives us a good opportunity to watch a man who has all responsibility of one race in entire continent only at his thirties.
Chef (2014)
Ancient cooking story with modern times seasoning
As a spouse of food blogger wife who is dreaming to have her own bakery, i recently had to watch food channels and cooking shows. Eventually i became familiar to cook and different cuisines. Surprisingly this obligation has also some advantages. Thanks to my wife i didn't miss two movies of 2014 with stories based on cooking, chefs and food industry.
Chef is not telling only a story of cooking but tells the challenge of a successful chef in social media and its huge effect which design our new world. And for them who knows this impact well, it is not a bad choice. To see bottom in a second or being in the center of all attention is mostly not related with how you are performing your work but how you are using internet tools. With social media, dedicating yourself to your dream or even dreaming bigger is not scary as it used to be. We all are sharing things on internet with a significant purpose. I will not start writing an essay about our instincts which pushes us to leave a trace for humanity or being noticed by others. But we all know that these are much easier than how it was in the history. Though it is easier for everyone, so we still need to be better than others while we can push our fears.
I need to talk about movie little bit, right? But what makes a movie good is how it tells itself to us right and how much it makes us talk about the main idea besides acting, directing, music etc. Still I should add something about this movie which is special for me. Telling ancient cooking story with modern time seasoning in the taste of road movies and doing it right with good musics like all good road stories should be appreciated.
A Film with Me in It (2008)
Movie with them in it or day with them in it is filmed?
Mark is rejected by one more movie project. Permanent looser Mark is living in a wrecked house which he can't pay for the rent for three months together with his brother in wheel chair. His life is falling apart with his failures at job and problems with his girl friend. Leading role in his friend's movie sounds for him like the solution to everything. The script of Pierce who is an impenitent alcoholic coincides whit what we are watching. We can't be sure if the movie they want to make at this specific day is what we are watching or they are inspired by this day for their movie. After such shrewd start, movie presents 90 minutes laughters to us.
Tragedies one after another don't change Mark's indifferent attitude to life even when he has lost almost everything. Mark's astonishment and Pierce's reactions are main objects of the movie represents British comedy manner. What is happening to them is too much absurd even for a movie according to a movie writer Pierce he says but they again find the solution in a scenario idea.
Everything is fabulously funny in this good sample of British comedy which resembles "Shaun of Dead" and "Hot Fuzz". A Film With Me In It, second movie of Ian Fitzgibbon has various critics like his first job but still it attracts attention in some Festivals include Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA).
St. Vincent (2014)
Thank you St. Vincent for good time you offer!
St. Vincent has a cliché story and tells it to us in a cliché way but it has a good taste of humor. Especially first half is hilarious, perfect for having a good time with laughter. Like most of the movies do, they feel a necessity to put story together and finalize it. This necessity shows the movie simple with all predictable twists. Secondary characters are week and their stories are not natural unlike the relation between Vince and Oliver. What is happening after second half is preparing us to the final in a cheap way. Alright, it is not so disturbing but watching some predictable events for bringing us to the obvious final distract audiences. Despite all these, movie makes a strong connection with us at the beginning with sincerity of Vincent and we count it on.
The relation between Vince and Oliver and the extraordinary teacher at school are main comedy elements. They were so natural that I felt like Vince and Oliver improvise and I didn't want it to be over. Through Oliver's eyes we watch Vince's desperate and ruined life closely. Vince seems that he doesn't care anything but he still follows his routines decisively and he has his own way to handle with problems. I don't know if he was a good man or Oliver makes him one but thank you St. Vincent for good time you offer.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
The Argument of the Five Mobs
The Battle of the Five Armies is even worse than The Desolation of Smaug and at the bottom of Hobbit Trilogy. It seems that Peter Jackson didn't want Hobbit movies to outcompete the LOTR Legend same as he didn't want to make it as trilogy. This movie literally fell short of the expectations. Real reason of disappointment is not only related with this movie but with all the series. First movie was promising but after disaster of second movie, expectations were even higher for the last one because it was a good opportunity to save the trilogy with the all epic stories in it. Comparing war scenes and choreographies of one to one fights with the ones in Lord of the Rings would be unfair. They were botchy and far away of being magnificent as we expected. We can call the movie The Argument of the Five Mobs more than a battle of armies. Low class and unnecessarily long one to one fights are covering more time than they should. I would watch an old Van Damme movie if I wanted something like this. Nothing is enough to describe how much I felt disrespected. Love scenes, stupid comedy element which you all understand without saying, blockbuster movie tricks, absence of big battle and ignoring some important characters are not as awful as the worse part. Thorin's scene when he understands golden's power on him and fighting against it should be a joke. For Peter Jackson who filmed Boromir almost in same situation in LOTR it was unbelievable and he own an explanation to us. This was the funniest scene I have ever seen this year and it took the all dignity away. I understand the concerns of producers and I accept that Peter Jackson shouldn't stick to the book but mocking with us in this way and making a movie for box office just ruined the Hobbit image in our minds. Fortunately we had Galadriel.
Whiplash (2014)
Obviously a remarkable movie
One of the most spectacular movie of the year is Whiplash, obviously a remarkable one.
We can't call Miles Teller's acting performance as a perfect one but what he does deserves respects. Teller is weak at representing feelings as an actor but what he does is exactly what Andrew tries to do, so we catch all the challenges he faces. What J.K. Simmons does is kicking ass of acting. His performance is beyond movie time to time. He creates a character that we believe, we love, we hate and we love again.
Everybody loves Jazz. Jazz is attractive. Jazz has created it's own culture, exist with it and represent it. It is a success story among this culture which is told in the movie but not in the usual way. You need to compete with your mentor too for succeed, as much as you do it with your competitors. You need to give up your life for being better and be ready to face up to blood and sweat and tear. It is a war that never been easy to win. There are rises and falls. But eventually legends are born out of the ashes.
Supporting stories are not so original but how they are told and how they are finalized are not usual at all, such as a cliché dinner table conversation, the girl friend issue and rivalry for the place in orchestra. Movie doesn't take any risk to express feelings that wants to pass on us and uses approved successful methods for it. Characters are not solid and backgrounds are not clear. We watch Andrew's fight through only one perspective and we are pushed to understand all his twists. Fletcher seems to be focused only one purpose. We see him in couple of scenes out of orchestra but this scenes are more confusing than identifying his character. They are like puzzle pieces that we can't fix anywhere in his background. Many pieces feel this way and we can't totally put ourselves in the story.
Besides everything, Damien Chazelle proved himself as a promising director even at his 30. With all deficiencies he presents us a strong movie. Some movies are as terrible as they are exaggerated but Whiplash deserves all attention it has and all excitement it brings.
Deux jours, une nuit (2014)
Stories from real Life
Deux jours, une nuit, is a sincere and realistic French movie with a story from inside of life. It carries all characteristics of French movie style and it has Marion Cotillard in with a splendid performance. She is so successful at playing a changing mental state that audience never doubts about anything they watch. Starting with first scene she is admirable. With help of her performance and filming technic and camera uses of Dardennes we become a part of story more than a viewer.
We witness and touch so many different lives of lower middle class division of people who are immigrants and locals from ghetto to suburban in France with following only one main drastic plot. We are shaken by every door we knock. Every time our name is called we turn back with a hope. That hope gives us a reason to believe a better world. Sometimes we face devastation sometimes the news makes us to hang tighter. Support we feel and hope we carry procure us the power not to give up and to drive to the end. As saying "we" I mean Sandra, because she reflects all her emotional states so well, after some time we put ourselves in her shoes and we become part of her journey. Every desperation we feel is not only from Sandra' situation but also every person we met is right in their own context and we justify it. We remember that being survival has it's own challenges at every land in the world.
In Sandra's situation to decide a direction to follow is surely not easy. Every incident has different aspects to consider. That's why it is inevitable to be shaken and to lose the way. What is important is having a hope to save us in this storm. Because you never know when and how you find satisfaction and happiness. It may appear at most improbable moments; sometimes with a single vote, sometimes with a song we love and sometimes with a decision we make all our own.