Change Your Image
danielbrown-47106
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Excellent addition
The cinema was strangely empty on opening weekend, but I am so glad I got to enjoy this excellent addition to the series on the big screen!
Amazing plot, acting and action! 10/10
There where moments which to me seemed too skipped over and not explained well enough.. like, fairly sizeable leaps at times, leaving you to draw the line between the dots. Understandable choice given the short attention spans of today, it wouldn't have hurt though.. -1
Audio was lacking clarity, the muddiness of bass overlapped tenfold in many scenes and high level distortion through the mids and highs detracted from its due sense of quality. I watched this in a v-max cinema, meant to be the pinnacle of audio/visual, but kinda lacked in audio which could've been the cinema or the production. 5/10 stars for audio -1
Overal 8 stars. Great story, universe, cars etc etc. Definitely worth seeing at the cinema and definitely a worthy addition to the series!!
Nowhere (2023)
The life of Pi
In just the same way The Life of Pi was an analogy set in a survival situation in the wide open ocean against impossible odds, so too was this title, 'Nowhere'. Is it overly dramatic like many of the reviews suggest, yes, quite.. is it implausible sometimes, well I would definitely have to submit a definitive YES to that too (within acceptable creative license).. but what this really is is a tribute to single mothers feeling alone 'in the ocean' facing a wide array of adversities with only their own spirit and ingenuity to depend on. Experiencing the storm of child birth to the radical strength of eating herself, healing herself and sustaining both herself and her child passed the point of which she was provided for. Each scene reflects the analogy of an alone mother trying to get by in life illustrated through the tenuous and thrilling experience of being stuck in a shipping container lost at sea. A worthy tribute to all the sisters and mamma's. We all come from one. Respect.
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023)
Great little feel good movie
Adam Sandler movies have always made me feel good. I'm 35 and this is a teen movie, yet I still found it relatable in many ways.
The sentiments of friendship, family, love and all that good stuff being the underlying premise throughout with quirky characters scattered throughout providing good laughs. I think this is basically 'the formula' everyone has come to adore from Sandler productions.
I loved the teacher, she was funny as. I especially loved the Sandler's performance and everyone else too really, but specifically I feel joy that his legacy is being passed on through his kid's who're stepping up to the plate in such a great way.. Obviously they could become anything they want, but with both their parents being actors there's a real advantage they've clearly gained from in the acting department.
I actually had quite a few tears in the end of this one and although these movies are all seen as formulaic and maybe 'basic' some might say, the formula works like all good things, the aim simply being to move you! And this one does just that.
I'm sure the kids will continue bringing their flare to turn these productions into that special something like that of their parents for many many decades to come if they so choose and again, this makes me very happy.
Of course it only gets a generous 8 because 10's are reserved for the Shawshanks and Interstellars that seem in dwindling supply nowadays since everything has already been done to death basically and we're all too media'd out, society at large needs a big detox from screens to find and cultivate any awe inspiring level of gratitude that we once had.
Much appreciation for what you do Sandler's and co.
Love,
Long time fan in Australia.
2307: Winter's Dream (2016)
Definitely not bad
I don't know if it was the big bowl of popcorn that kept me amused while watching this, but contrary to all the negative press I have to say I actually thought it wasn't too bad, and I'm usually pretty hard to impress.
Granted there where many C-grade movie moments throughout and of course plenty of plot holes. It felt like a cheaply made combination of Prometheus, Blade Runner 2049, Prey and a bit of The Revenant, which are all really great movies with budgets so high they could cure world hunger, so you don't mind seeing them amalgamated together on a more humble budget for a bit of entertainment.
There's not a lot more that needs to be said, other than - don't let other people decide if something is worthless or not.
Ambulance (2022)
Decent entertainment
Nothing hits as intensely as it once did. I feel like I'm watching any other Bay film from the past two decades, where once the filming style and overall production was radically exciting, now it's stale beyond belief. I feel like Bay needs to do some entheogens in the rainforest to crack into new reserves of unforseen creativity and move on from the tried and tested formula like its KFC's secret recipe. That being said.. the movie has a couple of good messages about integrity, brotherhood and family. Action gripped me at times experiencing some adrenaline and the end teared me up a little, subsequently bumping up the star rating quite a bit as i realized i had been successfully 'moved' just like a movie intends to do. So all in all... Decent 7/10. Thanks for the entertainment.
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
ok enough now kthnx
First one was undeniably glorious in so many ways including being somewhat of a homage to the Neo we never got because sequels notoriously tend to fail dismally regardless of how good the first movie was, such was the case with Matrix and I'm sad to say, such is the case with John Wick too. JW2 was pretty good though, albeit ridiculous and farfetched.. 3 was ok, but felt like much of the same. Now just watching 4 I'm literally bored.. and I love martial arts, guns, tactical training and Japanese culture.. All this "round table" ho-ha is bonkers and Keanu as much as I love the guy is clearly slowing down a lot now whilst enemy's around him do that real obvious dance that makes them appear like they're attacking to the best of their ability but in reality they're just making movement and waiting their turn to be blitzed one by one. The filming style too feels overdone and old. Like watching Matrix now in 2023 and seeing the fight scenes look like something straight out of a WB studio drenched in PG infused unrealism, JW has suffered much the same fate.. although both the Matrix and JW were once mind blowing pieces of art, now they're both like stale bread..
Fall (2022)
all good movies have been made already
With worsening real life crisis's happening all over the world i think it's important we start re-prioritizing what's important. Is it a sustainable future? Or is it more regurgitated nonsense? The amount of money spent making these complete flops of pure stupidity could solve so many real world issues. But we prefer being entertained eating our mcdonalds running head first toward our own demise despite so much overwhelming evidence that our trajectory is off with clear instruction how to amend that trajectory to heal ourselves, our society and our planet that nobody gives much of a single fk about. We're more concerned about lathargy, gluttony and hero selfies, nearly causing accidents while being narcisstic on our phones.
So the plot is dumb, the characters are ultra ultra dumb and ultimately the whole thing perfectly illustrates darwinism - the corner stone of western society. We've constructed our demise and we don't mind staying on that track anyway, much like these stupid characters in this film.
Avengement (2019)
A justice on corruption fantasy
No doubt about it that the highest earning individuals in our "developed societies" are often corrupt, that's judges, police, lawyers, prison guards, even those in the middle class.. we might be a developed society in a material sense, but in a philosophical and spiritual sense to live humbly, ethically and compassionately etc, we fall vastly short. Even new 'green tech' is spear headed by corruption and modern day slavery. SO! To see these ridiculous power hierarchies brought to their knees whilst giving tribute to the torture endured by the innocent is of course very satisfying to watch. I wish it could be different for our planet and those who are 'good-to-do' than for it to be ran by maniacs like it is. BUT take refuge in 1.5hrs of Scott Adkins teaching those fkin pricks a lesson.
You People (2023)
Meet the Parents
I've taken a few goes watching this film and I just have to keep pausing it and turn it off after 25min. There's lots that makes me want to watch it, being such a great cast predominantly, but it's the constant cringe moments like in Meet the Parents that make this one intolerable. Is it trying to be provocative and succeeding to the point of making me cringe? Partially.
There's some insight in the dialog between the parents, especially the way they're so galvanized in their educated backgrounds.. But it is stupid, sorry. Does that make me insensitive? Well look, if you were thirsty, regardless of your background I'm still going to get you some water with a smile and wish you well, so to me it's more important that we learn not to be divided and move on getting along rather than dwelling in self-righteous personal bias about who's past is more victim or more right. Seems the obvious solution to me at least..
Will have another go finishing this movie later tonight, I'm only half way now.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Time hasn't aged this movie well
It may have been some pioneering masterpiece of its time, "best movie of the 90's" they say.. but for me the dialogue often felt forced, over-dramatized and needlessly drawn out. I'm sure even the actors themselves would've had a tough time adjusting to the expected rate for scripts to be read whilst the same three or four ominous keys played on the piano over and over again "to build tension, suspense and unease". Well the year is 2023 now and frankly all these ideas have been milked more than a dozen times before i've actually seen this one and now whatever it was once considered cutting edge for seems cheesy and over-done.
Eyes Wide Shut does however succeed in being one of the only films to have pointed the spotlight at the illuminate and their secret parties without going into much length as to what they do other than harmless orgies with weird music and satanic style rituals. So it falls short on revealing the depth of truth potentially available there. The Stone Cutters episode of the Simpsons said about as much as this movie did. That being said, i'm sure there's a directors cut floating around somewhere, which could be the reason Kubrick died around the time of this movie?
Mystery, suspense, oo, aa.
Troll (2022)
independence day with a rock instead of aliens
Best thing i can say about this movie is that it's modernizing a type of story that's been rehashed so many times already, bringing into some greater sense of appeal to young people of today whom might've missed stories like this over the past several decade. It's a promising story of the underdogs who believes in heart triumphing over mindless bureaucracy to get real results rather than simply settling for shooting off nukes. I mean, maybe we have all these stories nearly identical to each other to thank for it being common knowledge that nuclear warfare is stupid and must be avoided at all costs, so again, rehashing that sentiment for young people of today is a good thing.
In terms of the movie itself, I felt the acting to be kind of unbelievable, like the actors themselves know how overdone and unbelievable the script is. CGI was really decent. Action scenes where actually quite exciting and weren't too much as to be confusing like some other GIANT oriented movies can be such as Transformers.
Looking forward to seeing more originality out of the movie industry one day, but not sure if anyone's quite capable of thinking far enough outside the box without heading into Snakes on a Plane type territory.
But regardless of all that, I enjoyed watching this on my day off. Thank you.
Asking for It (2020)
I'm a guy
So many atrocities in this world, rape being right up there on the top. This truly is women's time to shine the light of truth on our sick unbalanced dis-eased collective society and i'm proud for them and i'm proud for humanity because of this. As a male raised sensitively with a feminist yogi mum whom i adore and seeing the effects of rape from a young age in the family, it's shaped my life massively. I'm a beta-simp sorta as a result (but i try to hide it and hide myself), paid for the karma of my fellow man and their wrong doings more than enough times because of my bloodline, now i'm trying to adopt some healthy alpha to protect myself and finally enjoy the rest of my life without hurting others of course.. Always picking and choosing my influences very carefully and ultimately staying a fair distance from dating, romance, socializing and any unprofessional context with women. The fact that women and men ever procreated or got married or even dated is one of life's biggest mysteries to me. Hopefully with enough time i'll be lonely enough to accept homosexuality so i don't have to be lonely and hated for it my whole life, but its been a very very long time of that and i've never done anything except watch some ethical porn every now and then, not to mention being born with a y chromosome it seems, other than that I've tried my best to be integral and keep my slate clean and I do a pretty good job, just to reassure you ladies that some of us guys to actually try. I know what's happening now has to happen and I'm happy for it, even if it means I'm always going to be lonely.. I've come to accept that that's my fate as a male in 2022. ANYWAY, the movie was really well done 10/10.
Prey (2022)
Awesome!
Reminded me of both The Revenant and the original Predator, maybe a bit of Alpha too. I have nothing bad to say about this movie, it wasn't too slow or too fast, it just paced along beautifully, deeply moving all the way to the end. So cool to see such an interpretation of people who lived with the Earth and hunted and had rich traditions and culture, their warrior skills are phenomenal. Would love to see a behind the scenes. Oh man! So many good battles! You'll love it. Just order some chinese food, grab a brewskie and put it on the best TV with the best sound you have in the house or at a friends house :)
Lady Driver (2020)
worthy film
Great acting, nice story, fast cars and a happy ending.. I'm made. I'm giving this movie 7 out of 10, whilst it only really deserves a 6, just to try and counter balance some of the relentless hate that exists in critic land nowadays. Yes it's a movie that follows a tried and tested formula, but so does our very human nature, hearing stories repeated over and over with different protagonists and slight variations is essentially all we've ever had. Is it short of some inception style upside down try hard attempt at originality, sure.. But is it worth hating on it or any other movie without such lengths of 'originality', absolutely not! We are a mundane species, most of us not reaching any further into our potential than any of these ambitiously themed stories that aim to kindle and inspire our rather fat fingered and fat a&*'d internal fire of ambition and drive aim to deliver us. So it lights me up and key's me in to see a young enthusiastic protagonist inspiring alternative leagues of youngsters into culturally 'contrived' roles in society. Girls fixing and racing cars is likely the real reason most people are offended at this title and have ranked it so low. So don't be afraid to watch it and be your own judge. P. S I teared up at the end - IE: Successfully MOVED.
Unsane (2018)
uncomfortable.
*Minimal Spoiler*
Stepping into this alternate universe for a bunch of hours feels like the worse choice i made all day, even worse than the choices the protagonist makes throughout the whole movie, let alone to walk into a psychiatric clinic and say to a health care professional that she's considered suicide, even as normal as it is for us all to experience these feelings from time to time, you should never say those words aloud, final.. you can think it.. maybe tell a close friend who you know has a good degree of emotional intelligence, but clinically trained health care people aren't usually equipped for hearing this without immediately over-reacting and creating a mess of your life, it's their training or as they would say, "duty of care". Their training (not them personally) literally wants you in their system which is indeed a business geared toward making money and a way to create a government accessible file on you, it's not at all holistic. There are so many better ways to treat and overcome mental illness than enter into this trap which so many unsuspecting people fall into, the poor buggers are generally equally as irrational as the main protagonist in this movie, so easily triggered and reactive and its them that are the reason we need these facilities. Those who've gone so few faculties left remaining they need round the clock supervision, being medicated, reviewed and so on.. We have a very emotionally untrained humanity. None-the-less it's actually a pretty good film, just really horrible which is what it was going for I guess, aimed at those who enjoy being disturbed. It also comes with a degree of truth. I give it onl7 6-7 stars because it's just so darn uncomfortable to watch.
Zhou (2022)
felt like wasted time
I'd honestly advise doing anything other than watch this if you value your time. Otherwise, sure.. waste your time. The same rehashed ideas with little of anything new to offer. My heart rate didn't go far above average the entire time.
See for Me (2021)
Not bad
Common style of story, done with some degree of uniqueness. Predictable and unbelievable like most thrillers of this nature though, but I really liked the ex military gamer chick. Big undermining factor in this movie is If a cop calls for backup, cops come RUNNING, not just casually strolling slower than the first squad car that was dispatched, and just one cop responding to a home invasion with multiple hostiles.. please.. not to mention just one cop who seems to think of herself as a detective ..unlikely, but I loved the way she acted handling the situation when things got heated, it was really well choreographed, hand-cuffs, call for backup etc.. just again, unrealistic that it was only her, and that she was some kind of female Jason Bourne.. These sort of movies always try to blur over some details in the belief that their audience is naive which in reality is only one corner of their demographic so they really need to start wising up when making these things. All in all though, for a 'Girl Power' flick, it was alright. 6/10 (slightly generous)
CHIPS (2017)
Loved it!
I'm 34 and rarely actually 'LOL' anymore, but this movie managed to succeed over and over again. I loved the cast, the dialog, the filming/directing style, the jokes, the everything almost, except I found the choice of music to be a bit stale and overused, albeit uniformly adequate, just ..generic, I'm not asking for pop songs instead, that'd be even worse, but just not that overdone typical action comedy soundtrack please. This is one of maybe 4 or 5 comedies I've ever rated so highly. Please keep making more crew! Great work!
Interceptor (2022)
Not bad
I have to defend this title a bit because it's been completely ran into the ground by 95% of other reviewers to date, but honestly it's not actually bad at all. I have done martial arts most of my life and I'll say the fight scenes were pretty decent. There's also a lot of accurate military tech and language. The CGI and set design was adequately believable. Story wasn't too farfetched, no less than any other action movie. 1 and 2 stars is a real cold slap in my opinion so I give it 6 because it felt lacking in some areas, and sure there were things that make you think "why would they do that", but other times it was really clever.
All in all, don't let the bad reviews scare you away from this one. It's.about as ridiculous and brilliant as Air Force One. But I'd give Air Force One a 7 because it succeeds better at what it's trying to do.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
I feel old and in need of a therapist, maybe a blue pill..
I booked my ticket well in advance at the nicest cinema an hours drive away for opening night, worth it for a movie that has been such a cornerstone of my life in so many ways. The last time i saw a movie on its opening night was Star Wars Episode II, likewise at the best cinema to fully soak up the experience.. so me and a handful of my friends at the age of 15 or so got the permission of our parents and caught a train at night 40min away and walked several blocks at night feeling quite proud of our new found independence and at the cinema the vibe was alive! There were people in all kinds of Star Wars outfits and everything was so incredible. My experience at the Matrix Resurrection opening night tonight was quite the opposite.. it was mostly middle aged people, quiet, averting eye contact, no conversation, no excitement in the air..
I'm 34 now, not a teenager, i don't need costumes and hype, just a good movie made by real artists which plugs into the backbone of our humanity implanting us with deep life altering food for thought that will continue feeding us with said food for decades to come whilst we digest.
Being 13 yrs old when i saw and fell in love with the first Matrix film in 99, already feeling so grown up at that point from facing what i thought where harsh realities of our world, but unknowingly a stage of my life I'd look back on for decades to follow as a time far simpler, when i comparatively had my life more together and far far more to loose than i do now. Its hard not to be faced with these memories as i re-immurse into this story without experiencing a sense of loss.. loss of family, friends, health, the place i grew up, the people i grew up with, my innocence and my youth.. i can't get these back, having done everything the best i can as righteously and ethically as i can I'm a lone wolf now just battling my way through a life that doesn't seem fair or to have a very bright end, certainly devoid of any love or connection.
All that personal stuff helped me relate to Neo in Resurrection. Heck I've always related to Neo.. in 2006 i earned a green belt in Kempo after years training and black belt in Karate 2010 greatly inspired by The Matrix and The Karate Kid. After 2010 I've been in sylvatical mode.. silent peaceful warrior introspective monk mode.. with moments of real weakness and moments of incredible strength and sacrifice, and creativity has always been the bread and butter throughout. Knowing and seeking deep truths of our reality and been chastised and further alienated everytime I've tried to do anything good about it. In 2019 after 9yrs abstinent i had enough of trying to fight the good fights so i started metaphorically taking the blue bill, trying to indulge in a bit of blissful iggnorance, but 2021 comes along and has other plans. "See the choice is an illusion when you know what you have to do". This year I'm taking steps to reclaim my strength and not give up on love, next year I'll continue that mission and I'm learning a new martial art Jiu-jitsu which i hope will help give me a less binary approach on the world.
As for the movie itself.. look it was brilliant, there's no denying that. I loved how it brought in more familiar elements from the animatrix, i loved how Neo is weaker than his former self but not when it comes to love, i love the direction the story took and there being a bit more graphic content like when you see Neo being dissected by the machines, i love the new (and old) characters, however i felt they could have talked more clearly especially at the start of the movie they're mumbling and talking too fast.
I wished the choreography would have improved after all this time but it was much the same as it always has been with the previous three (think crouching tiger), there were some cool techniques executed but overall the fight scenes were average along with a shaky cam to worsen it further, especially considering their abilities are meant to be superhuman effectively.. you'd do better to watch John Wick or Marvel's The Punisher if you like real martial arts and considering Reeves had put so much work in for his John Wick character I'd really hoped for some of that realism to spill over into this new Matrix film, but it really didn't sadly, so for a character that "still knows Kung Fu" lol, well he demonstrates very little. So fight scenes and scattish scenes reminiscent of Inception aside, I'm in it for the story and like i said, it delivered, but not without a few unanswered questions here and there.
So it's an 8/10 from a huge fan of The Matrix. Im not at all disappointed, but not really amazed either, just kind of integrating and digesting, unable to sleep at this point from drinking too much caffeine in the theatre lol.
Good work Lana and Crew. Just please get another fight scene choreographer in future 🙏
Queen of the Amazon (2021)
If you have nothing better to do maybe..
It's a C or D movie so don't expect too much. Some talented performers and creatives have played part in making this film, but it's seriously worsened by a majority of less talented/experienced people.
Acting is pretty terrible (D)
Cinematography is quite amazing (B)
Plot works, just (B)
Music sounds like a midday soapy (F)
Directing is scattish at best (C)
Underlying Message is pretty good.
All in all. If you have nothing better to do, go for it..
Castle Falls (2021)
Perfect action movie
Likeable, believable characters, Awesome martial arts and combat scene's, Great plots and acting. All round one solid action movie that i didn't want to end. 8/10 well earned stars.
The Titan (2018)
Great concept
Really interesting concept which pulled me right in. Some plot holes detracted from its value, and an overemphasis on the politics turned it into more of a thriller than a sci-fi which was kinda disappointing and derivative. A lot more could have been done with this concept, but at least in the end there was still a nice fuzzy takeaway message. I'd hoped for more detail on Titan itself, whereas like so many of these space themed movies, there for some reason has to be a primary regurgitated plot of love.
Finch (2021)
A sad probably reality
A sad probably reality of our future generations and what they have to look forward to. We don't care for our planet, period. If our flimsy systems which continue to rape our planet and our innocence aren't overhauled majorly by our will to do better, it's our inability to do any good at all which will turn us against each other, period. Childlike robots though.. unlikely, but children murdering.. absolutely.
Love Hard (2021)
It got me
At first I was cringing at this movie so bad I was ready to write a review straight away, "Yuk - People actually live like this?", incidentally, just like the premise of the movie, I was judging too shallow and by my giving it some time it revealed itself a gem.
I think it deserves 6 stars because it got me in the end, the story struck quite a few chords because of how relevant it is to today and the characters grew on me nicely too. The family and the main actress/actor are really lovable. I ended up liking the boss too, but he wasn't that bad from the start I guess.
I saw the end coming of course, but it still made me tear up ..so the movie was successful in moving me *thumbs up*