siderite
Joined Feb 2004
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siderite's rating
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siderite's rating
Half of this film is really good and half of it really awful. A big problem is that it's not a sci-fi movie, but a typical noble savage fantasy. Replace predators with barbarians and the weapons with magical items and you get a classical fantasy story. Replace predators with native Americans and you get a western. Replace them with blue people and you get Avatar.
The plot is ridiculously stupid: a young "defective" Yautja (the way Predators call themselves) has to prove himself on "the death planet" and bring back a trophy. And lo and behold, that trophy is the only thing that separates him from the baddest MF that ever lived. That and the power of friendship. Really, man?!
On the other hand the effects, the fights, the emotional cues, the acting - as little as it is since there are a total of 10 people in the cast of which only one is actually physically there and not in a suit - are very good. In fact, if this would not had been called Predator, I would have probably loved it. But as a part of the Alien/Predator (ugh, and Alien vs. Predator) franchise it is a ridiculous sham. It's like 10 Cloverfield Lane is part of the Cloverfield franchise (spoiler alert: it's not). And, lo and behold part deux, that film was also a good film separately, but tries to piggyback on the success of another franchise for no good reason and is also made by Dan Trachtenberg and is also featuring ten or less people. I see a pattern here!
But maybe what's the worst thing is that this film makes a joke out of the Predators. They are not an ancient race of warriors, centuries ahead of humanity and bound by a complex ritualistic culture that is hard to grasp, but a silly group of semi-undressed Klingons that run around the universe to play hunt, easily tricked and even overpowered by the technological humans. It's the same pattern you see in the new Alien movies, where the aliens are not a perfect organism that brings absolute terror in everything they meet, but just some screeching animals that humans can easily outsmart and overpower even domesticate. It's this arrogant dilution of the original ideas, meant to appease the scared humans in the audience who want to feel in control for two hours, that bothers me the most.
Bottom line: in this day and age franchises are dead on arrival. Once something becomes "franchise" or "IP" it is doomed to irrelevance. It doesn't matter how much effort and love people put in their film if the final outcome is always meant to make the dumbest of us feel powerful and invulnerable. Unfortunately, that is true with the Predator franchise as well. You may still enjoy the film, but only if you don't try to reconcile it with the original two films which started it all.
The plot is ridiculously stupid: a young "defective" Yautja (the way Predators call themselves) has to prove himself on "the death planet" and bring back a trophy. And lo and behold, that trophy is the only thing that separates him from the baddest MF that ever lived. That and the power of friendship. Really, man?!
On the other hand the effects, the fights, the emotional cues, the acting - as little as it is since there are a total of 10 people in the cast of which only one is actually physically there and not in a suit - are very good. In fact, if this would not had been called Predator, I would have probably loved it. But as a part of the Alien/Predator (ugh, and Alien vs. Predator) franchise it is a ridiculous sham. It's like 10 Cloverfield Lane is part of the Cloverfield franchise (spoiler alert: it's not). And, lo and behold part deux, that film was also a good film separately, but tries to piggyback on the success of another franchise for no good reason and is also made by Dan Trachtenberg and is also featuring ten or less people. I see a pattern here!
But maybe what's the worst thing is that this film makes a joke out of the Predators. They are not an ancient race of warriors, centuries ahead of humanity and bound by a complex ritualistic culture that is hard to grasp, but a silly group of semi-undressed Klingons that run around the universe to play hunt, easily tricked and even overpowered by the technological humans. It's the same pattern you see in the new Alien movies, where the aliens are not a perfect organism that brings absolute terror in everything they meet, but just some screeching animals that humans can easily outsmart and overpower even domesticate. It's this arrogant dilution of the original ideas, meant to appease the scared humans in the audience who want to feel in control for two hours, that bothers me the most.
Bottom line: in this day and age franchises are dead on arrival. Once something becomes "franchise" or "IP" it is doomed to irrelevance. It doesn't matter how much effort and love people put in their film if the final outcome is always meant to make the dumbest of us feel powerful and invulnerable. Unfortunately, that is true with the Predator franchise as well. You may still enjoy the film, but only if you don't try to reconcile it with the original two films which started it all.
This film is in a genre that churns at least a few movies every year around the holidays. It's the Christmas Carol, A Wonderful Life, Trading Places. So Good Fortune is basically a combination of the three, but set in 2025. It's not Dan Aykroyd, it's Seth Rogen, it's not Eddie Murphy, but Aziz Ansari and they even get Keanu Reeves as the Angel. It's not corporate financial banking, it's tech bro stuff, it's not homeless people, but app drivers and it's not a ghost or a bet, but a really dumb angel who also works in a corporate hierarchy, be it divine.
This thing is very hit and miss. When it hits, it's heartwarming and profound, but when it misses it just feels weird and out of place. Keanu gives maybe the most wooden performance of his life. Not completely bad, just creepy. And stop it with the "tall and handsome guy" stuff from every woman in the story. The man is 61!
And there are no villains, really. The world as a whole makes people live like sh*t and not even angels are above it. No one can do anything about it. It's AI, robots and bureaucracy all the way up. Or down. For a movie that was supposed to teach hope, it sends a really terrible message, because there are no heroes either, just a soul crushing universal system that you can only learn to bear, but never truly change.
And then there is the casting. Keanu is first billed, but he only gets to be in the film halfway in. Same with Seth Rogen. It's like they all have their chapters that got glued together later. It's character whiplash. And Sandra Oh? Basically a cameo. This is an Aziz Ansari vehicle and it shows that he is writing, acting and directing. There are some people in this film, you can tell they are not really actors. I mean, they might never have seen a film before (looking at you Felipe!)
Bottom line: this movie is as good as Gabriel is good as an angel in this film. It kind of tries to get a message across and it does the opposite. It's not not funny, but I wouldn't recommend it. The best joke of the film was also in the trailer.
This thing is very hit and miss. When it hits, it's heartwarming and profound, but when it misses it just feels weird and out of place. Keanu gives maybe the most wooden performance of his life. Not completely bad, just creepy. And stop it with the "tall and handsome guy" stuff from every woman in the story. The man is 61!
And there are no villains, really. The world as a whole makes people live like sh*t and not even angels are above it. No one can do anything about it. It's AI, robots and bureaucracy all the way up. Or down. For a movie that was supposed to teach hope, it sends a really terrible message, because there are no heroes either, just a soul crushing universal system that you can only learn to bear, but never truly change.
And then there is the casting. Keanu is first billed, but he only gets to be in the film halfway in. Same with Seth Rogen. It's like they all have their chapters that got glued together later. It's character whiplash. And Sandra Oh? Basically a cameo. This is an Aziz Ansari vehicle and it shows that he is writing, acting and directing. There are some people in this film, you can tell they are not really actors. I mean, they might never have seen a film before (looking at you Felipe!)
Bottom line: this movie is as good as Gabriel is good as an angel in this film. It kind of tries to get a message across and it does the opposite. It's not not funny, but I wouldn't recommend it. The best joke of the film was also in the trailer.
This miniseries is a situational drama with some comedy in it. It's supposed to make you feel good, therefore the sloppy ending, but if you just ignore the last scene, it feels very true. The actors do a wonderful job and the plot is complex and full of little character treats and reveals. It feels like guilty pleasure watching it, like girl gossip, but it's the sensation of seeing something intimate that makes it so.
That being said, once you get over the great artistic achievement, you might or might not like the people in the film. The main character in particular is quite annoying and ungrateful. She goes through a personal mental crisis, so it's me me me me, while the people around her are too scared to be honest. She is constantly testing others for failings towards her, so they don't dare. The titular film club, a little weekly get together to watch one film while being fully immersed in the theme, is the only thing keeping her afloat, but also keeping her stuck in the same hole.
Suranne Jones as the mother made the show enjoyable, though. Her character, played perfectly, kept the film from being "yet another story about nutters" and actually evoked the most empathy from me, even towards others. If she wouldn't have been there, the whole thing could have crumbled completely.
I don't know what to say. It was a great story, with very careful personal touches that made it feel grounded and intimate, but in the end it kind of felt pointless, too. Wonderful as a character study, I guess.
That being said, once you get over the great artistic achievement, you might or might not like the people in the film. The main character in particular is quite annoying and ungrateful. She goes through a personal mental crisis, so it's me me me me, while the people around her are too scared to be honest. She is constantly testing others for failings towards her, so they don't dare. The titular film club, a little weekly get together to watch one film while being fully immersed in the theme, is the only thing keeping her afloat, but also keeping her stuck in the same hole.
Suranne Jones as the mother made the show enjoyable, though. Her character, played perfectly, kept the film from being "yet another story about nutters" and actually evoked the most empathy from me, even towards others. If she wouldn't have been there, the whole thing could have crumbled completely.
I don't know what to say. It was a great story, with very careful personal touches that made it feel grounded and intimate, but in the end it kind of felt pointless, too. Wonderful as a character study, I guess.
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