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tkiziewicz
Reviews
Sankuchuari -seiiki- (2023)
I'm still in the ring with this one.
So, I shall start by saying I am biased towards traditional Japanese ideology and stylistic film/TV making. I grew up watching Samurai and martial arts movies (in the early 90's) and have since have been fascinated by the bredth and depth of Asian culture and philosophy. That said, I knew practically nothing about Sumo other than its existence and basic premise. It interested me still, but with little to no access I paid no attention.
Then this series landed yesterday and I finished it a day later. I am practically slapping my own chest like the ugly gorrilla at the cliffhanger in pure anticipation for the next series to land. I write this review because I feel the need to share that I have not been this entertained on so many levels in such a long time. I even watched the intro on every episode. Perhaps I am just starved from watching too much of the garbage that has been produced or I harbour a strange fascination for Sumo that I never got the chance (until now) to experience.
This series is a high quality production but not for the feint of heart. There are several story arches at work at the same time throughout, but to me they really added a level of depth to the characters and provided nothing but insight and empathy towards them. The last episode finally drew me to tears within the first 10 minutes to share that ceremony with the cast. I rated every performance and felt well fed by the writing at all times, despite parts being very hard to relate to personally (I am White, Male, British) there were characters within that felt like my neighbours. People I have known my whole life. Troubled and damaged young men, strong.oppressed women, sporting industries struggling with tradition and modernisation and this series really braught that all to life and put me in the ring with it.
TLDR: If you don't like any of the Rocky films, reading subtitles or seeing body fat then skip this. If you want easy to follow narratives about the same old basic drama, skip this. If you like some traditional Japanese style with some modern and whacky moments, than go all in on this series. I'm off to ytube some real sumo showdowns now just to see if it slaps me as hard as this series did.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
Elton John, saving grace.
I want to write a massive review about how mad I am that they messed this sequel up so badly, but it just doesn't seem worth my time. Read the other reviews, the low stars say it all. However I do really wish to stress the point that what got to me most was taking such a wonderful cast, superb job Elton J, a nice original first film and then taking some kind of morals and spitting them all into the wind for the sake of cheesy action with meagre dialogue for a cash grab. Such a travesty. Truly disheartening considering it was the same writers/director. For shame.
I am also seriously p***ed that they take such an awesome lead female bad gal (Julianne Moore), make her out to be this drug Queen that can threaten the world, and then reduce her to being an idiot that OD's on the floor of a diner. What the funk? SO many stupid choices made in the making of this film. MERLIN!! God DAMN it Merlin. THEY HAD A MINE DETECTOR. Lets get Channing Tatum, have one slick fight then box him for the next 2 hours so we can use him more in the 3rd film.
I want my money back.
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)
I had to chime in on this
This opinion comes from a lover of films, including a big fan of the original 'Cloverfield' and a passionate film maker (not famous) myself. I don't normally jump onto IMDB to write reviews, simply to background check some of the people involved to help my god awful memory with names, but... this film did something to me that I feel deserves a comment. NO SPOILERS, MUCHO OPINIONS.
I have self deduced using my extensive knowledge on film and from previous experience with the franchise, judging by the theme, style and mood; this is supposed to be a science fiction horror. Well, it totally failed to scare me. At all. I can feel fear rather easily when I want to and I tried, I really did. My biggest emotion, well more like sensation, was confusion, which was only covered up or distracted at times by sheer disbelief and the feeling of questioning my own mentality that I was still watching. There were however several keen moments of tension that were really working for me, a sense of dread and impending doom reminiscent of the early 90's, but alas. It turned out to be more like that moment of waiting for the toaster to pop, only you realised you put the kettle on instead, like a doofus. Wait a minute, I have an orange juice right here, what the hell am I doing? The only reason I even came to the kitchen was to get a sandwich. Screw it, I'm going out. ALIEN!
I am personally disappointed, more-so because I feel 'Cloverfield' and '10 Cloverfield Lane' provided so many options and this just feels like no one has the balls or the budget to step up to the task, or chance an original idea. We're left with these cut and paste jobs that circulate ideas to match fan bases and expected content to secure an audience. I'm not sure who to blame for this. Ourselves as the media hungry viewers that cannot consume enough meaningless information, the writers that are slave monkeys to form new ideas that match the old that don't challenge our basic intelligence too much or too little or too aggressively, or the director for having to create a visual reality that makes some sense of a story that has been eaten, digested, regurgitated, chewed again and cooked with bland vegetables that the producer likes on Sundays.
The glorious part of this whole performance for me was the acting cast. Bravo. The moment I was introduced to the cast near the start of the film I saw faces that I knew and respected, despite being slightly baffled by the collection. It was as if I had attended an alcoholics anonymous meet at a mystery location and we just all came together as better people. Somehow, despite a large amount of the dialogue being somewhat predictable, weak and poorly imagined, the actors managed to bring something to every part. None of it made much sense in the grand scheme of things, despite the supposed narrative you have been told, but it certainly felt like everyone was having a lot of fun with it. No one ever seemed to lose heart or give a crap that it was meaningless dribble leading to another boiling toaster being left on. And in the end, neither did I.
TLDR: This film is crap. It's utterly, ridiculous franchised crap. And by god, I enjoy some of that crap. Mucho gracias Netflix, this would have been a truly AWFUL cinema experience, but from the luxury of my favourite spot with some OJ and a good sandwich on a lazy night, I fully enjoyed this rag tag bunch of supposed scientists fall victim to... well, it is a Cloverfield film. Who the heck can tell what? If you're bored and slightly insane, give it a crack.