NanVIP

10

I like this movie, nothing too special just easy and fun to watch.

A decent forgettable action movie that will fill your need to see things explode but not much more.

While it's not a bad action / adventure movie, I just don't get why a lot of people think this is one of best movies of this genres! For me it is a mediocre action flick!

I enjoyed it for the content - not so much the film making. The interviews aren't remarkable and the editing could make the film more concise. Five to ten minutes of the film makers driving? Yeah.

Still, big fan of the story hiding in the narrative, though likely due mostly to the nostalgia.

I went into this show with low expectations; after the train wreck that was Iron Fist, I was prepared for the worst. By episode four or so, I could tell that this show was turning out to be far better than the others, and now that I wasted my entire weekend burning through the first season, I can say that this is arguably the best of all Marvel/Netflix shows so far, beating out the moody Season 1 of Jessica Jones. The characters are well written, the plot is focused and the conflict is realistic. Rather than burning through interesting characters to move the plot (I'm looking at you Daredevil Season 1!), it instead makes them incomplete and real. Frank Castle and "Micro" make a great team, having good chemistry and performing tasks better with the help of the other. When situations get resolved seven episodes in, it's rewarding and earned. The gimmick episode was nicely done and advanced the plot. Minor baddies introduced early in the season are quietly dispatched and they don't come back to cause trouble later in the season. Sidekicks and mentors don't turn out to be cheap moles.

An excellent effort from the Netflix team, and I'm looking forward to seeing what's next up.

6.6/10. You’ve seen Hidden Figures before. Maybe you haven’t seen this exact movie -- about how three unduly unheralded African American women helped NASA in the early 1960s -- but if, like me, you dutifully watch many, if not most, of the Oscar-nominated films each year, then within ten minutes, you’ll already know this movie by heart.

It features a gutsy but unorthodox protagonist trying to make a dent in a system that marginalizes and ignores her. It’s a period piece, with enough obvious dialogue, signs, and cameos from well-known historical figures to let you know exactly when the story is taking place with plenty of opportunity for the viewer to say, “My, how far we’ve come.” It has supporting characters facing challenges that mirror the protagonist’s, shining more light on the ways in which the order of the day affected those who were quietly fighting to maintain their place in it, and maybe even change it. And it has the untold story/historical injustice angle that’s supposed to imbue it with an extra bit of triumph and tragedy, all unleashed with a heavy dose of Hollywood mythmaking.

The difference, and the thing that distinguishes Hidden Figures from the likes of The Imitation Game, Dallas Buyers Club, and other recent Oscar nominees that play in the same space is that it uses the power of that formula in support of a woman of color. At a time when the world of film is still lingering in the shadow of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, it’s encouraging that Taraji P. Henson can be cast as the star of a movie that follows the Academy Award film blueprint and succeed at the box office in the process. It’s just a shame that the film’s artistic merit doesn’t match its social merit.

Don’t get me wrong; Hidden Figures is a well-made film. It chugs along at a good clip -- telling the story of one brilliant mathematician’s contributions to NASA at a time when someone of her race and gender had to work twice as hard to make it half as far -- in a tight, if predictable manner. It sprinkles in the subplots about her compatriots nicely, allowing them to work well as breaks from the main narrative that still feed into it. The acting on display is solid-to-good all around. It’s impeccably shot, framed, and edited, with colors that leap off the screen and composition that emphasizes the loneliness, bustle, or intimacy of a given setting. And it can boast a jam-worthy soundtrack that fits the movie’s big moments, but which would be worth listening to apart even outside the theater.

But good lord is it full of every hoary trope from every awards season film you’ve ever seen. The film runs through a litany of standard, predictable beats, telegraphing each one along the way. The good guys overcome the heavily-underlined obstacles in their way. They stand up to thinly-drawn, ineffectual antagonists. They offering cutting, cheesy one-liners after finding their footing.

The film provides an opportunity for Henson to give a Big Damn Speech, and for Kevin Costner to give a Big Damn Speech, and for Janelle Monáe to give a Big Damn Speech (which is, surprisingly, the best written and performed of the three). There is a one-dimensional love interest (Mahershala Ali, whose talents are squandered here) whose only true defining characteristic is that he likes the protagonist. And in the end, there are the expected measured but clear victories, culminating in a big historical event and a “where are they now” text-on-screen closing.

Even the canny little moments of repetition and subversion -- the protagonist being handed a piece of chalk, symbolizing opportunity, by her supervisor the same way she as a child in the classroom; or one of her white colleagues having to hustle across the NASA campus to find her rather than the other way around -- feel like a page torn out of the usual awards-bait playbook. The only times when the film transcends this are when it puts its three leads -- Henson, Monáe, and Octavia Spencer (who manages to make a lot out of a little here) -- together. It’s in these moments that they seem like real human beings finding solace in one another and navigating an environment where the deck is stacked against them, rather than mascots for another rote bout of silver screen “triumph over adversity” heartstring-pulling.

Hidden Figures does the good work of telling the world about the trailblazing achievements of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, but it does a disservice to these women’s stories to reduce them to the usual prestige pablum, and it doesn’t have to be this way.

It’s laudable that Hollywood is using its hagiographic abilities on women of color who deserve to be widely known, but even the Awards season fare of the recent past shows that it can do better. The superlative Selma looked like a bog-standard Great Man biopic, and instead treated its historical giant of a central figure with a humanizing gaze that made Martin Luther King Jr., his movement, and his struggle feel more real than all the usual tinseltown gloss and lionizing tone could. The Best Picture-winning Twelve Years a Slave suffers from a small bit of the same white savior syndrome that afflicted the execrable The Help, but it was raw and uncompromising, putting the ugliness of the prejudices faced by its protagonist on display in a way that didn’t reduce them to petty hurdles our heroes would inevitably hop over. These vital stories can be told without sacrificing artistry or giving into the cliches of typical Oscar fare.

But maybe that’s the best thing to say about Hidden Figures. Every awards season is going to feature a certain quotient of this type of film. Every year sees a new crop of competently-made, not particularly inspired movies that deal with Important Things, typically from The Long Long Ago. If this is inevitable, if the awards circuit is continually going to honor films that hit these same notes over and over again, then the least we can do is use this generic form in service of people whose stories deserve to be told, and who are all too often, as the movie’s title portends, left on the cutting room floor.

Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan was just a fabulous experience. I definitely enjoyed the movie quite a bit from start to finish, and usually war movies aren't really my cup of tea (at least not anymore). However, cinematically, the entire movie is just a masterpiece. As a big movie buff, I could appreciate how meticulously crafted the whole movie was. It's so hard to create a movie like this within this genre while trying to remain "minimal", but Christopher Nolan accomplishes it in every sense of the word.

He seamlessly interweaves 3-4 different plot narratives/timelines, while using minimal amounts of exposition. He gives the viewer such a sense of a looming and foreboding threat, while never even having a Nazi soldier on screen at any time. He tells us "so much with so little" and allows the viewer to take in the conflict of each situation (and there are a lot of them) rather than point it all out to us. In that sense, you really feel like you're getting into the mind of each one of the soldiers/main characters when they are contemplating some very crucial decisions that literally determine life and death, for not just them, but many other men as well.

Nolan gives us continued development, closure and solid endings in each one of the tiny subplots that he sets off from the beginning. It's definitely a joy seeing how all the different plotlines intermingle with each other at the end especially with the civilian aspect added in. And, most importantly, he accomplishes all this in less than 2 hours (and by a damn good margin as well).

If you appreciate amazing direction, cinematography, and vision within a movie, this will be an absolute joy. It could definitely get Christopher Nolan that elusive Best Director Oscar come Academy Award season. I watched Dunkirk in 70mm, but, honestly, I couldn't really tell the difference, especially without being able to do a side-by-side comparison to a regular version. Overall, it didn't seem too different from the usual XD or IMAX type presentation at my local big theater. Still, the movie is a visual treat lending heavily to more practical effects that gives a nice sense of realism to it all.

Anyways, this gets a solid 9/10 from me, coming from a war movie curmudgeon. Watch it, and you won't regret it.

Another one of those shows that starts off pretty meh then finds it's footing and takes a significant turn for the better.

Gave up half way through season 1, gave it another chance, and now I can't wait for each new episode!

pathetic patriotic fearmongering bullshit ... first 15 minutes is enough to facepalm. PR movie for white house to sell the tax-waste for the war on terror to the public. Not worth the money to watch this - or even the time

Was invited to an early showing of the film and for those of you thinking of going to watch it.. don't bother, unless you are a fan of 80's action cinema and are able to switch your mind off to the inane and brutal action on screen. The premise is implausible - I mean would the world leaders really gather in mourning for the UK Prime Minister, in one place! Its doubtful the public would line the streets either!

Too violent for a 15 certificate, glorifies the killing of others, and excuses use of drones to wipe out terrorists.

London Has Fallen? Hollywood has fallen more likely!

Great list! It is spelled Battlestar though, not Battlestart ;)

It may not be a masterpiece, I agree on that, but I really loved this movie. I like when Disney keeps it simple and things like family, friendship, love, fear and courage shine in one simple movie. I was teary in two moments of the movie and hoping that everything turns out good for Arlo and Spot. It was beautiful, simple but really beautiful. It was a good reminder that "courage doesn't exist without fear".

It may not be a masterpiece, I agree on that, but I really loved this movie. I like when Disney keeps it simple and things like family, friendship, love, fear and courage shine in one simple movie. I was teary in two moments of the movie and hoping that everything turns out good for Arlo and Spot. It was beautiful, simple but really beautiful. It was a good reminder that "courage doesn't exist without fear".

Finished binge watching the series and wow, what a great series it was! Very true to the original tone of the comics with some great references to the MCU and Netflix Daredevil series. Can't wait to see more of Jess in the Defenders show and hopefully in future upcoming Marvel Netflix series!

So I just watched this whole show (thanks Netflix) and it is great.
The tone and quality remind me of 30 Rock a lot (which makes sense because Tina Fey).
The premise of a girl who just got out of being trapped in bunker for 15 years and trying to adjust to world sounds super dark and depressing, but the fact that the main character turns it into something fun is the charm of the show. She is in infact "unbreakable". Geddit?
The character Kimmy definitely comes off as likable despite being freakishly upbeat all the time. And the side characters are all interesting in their own ways.
This seems like another stop in Netflix's road to credibility as a network ("we can do a sitcom too"), but it is still very funny and a good watch. Even if it is quite short.
Season 2!

The style of this film is honestly the main thing I like about this film. But essentially that covers a lot of ground if we simply split a film into style and substance; the boundaries of which blur as each affects and is affected by the other.

As another reviewer mentioned, the essence of the style feels Wes Anderson-esque but set in a more modern, realistic world. I for one, extremely enjoyed this in the framing, camerawork, character styles, editing and story structure.

One thing I'm not sure about was the character of Earl. But as I think about it, maybe it's just because he wasn't the type of character I was expecting.

I can see why people wouldn't like this film but that's exactly why I do like this film. It's like someone who's unapologetically themselves - can't please everyone.

Just writing this review as made me up my rating by 1/2 a star.

I feel like this a low rent Nashville that makes black people look terrible. The music is mediocre, the story generally lazy and hacky. It's like a show that were it given the attention of an HBO or Showtime might make you feel immersed in, but you're left with seeing how much Terrance Howard and Taraji can carry the series. (edit: Nov 2016 I recently finished watching Power which is a glimpse at what Empire might've been like on a different network) Extra points for making me hate Cookie so much, that's powerful acting or character development.

The relationships are soap opera like, the writing fairly blah and redundant. What could be compelling story lines are wrapped up quickly or ignored all together. It feels like the show can't pick a direction. I don't understand why it's so hyped, it certainly can't be from the song quality, and the superficial glance at the scatter-brained roles each character is supposed to play doesn't endear me to any character in particular. There's way too much TV to compare this to for this to stick out for any other reason than Black-ish does. It caricatures black people and requires zero effort to follow. (Black-ish has laid off the accelerator...a bit)

Well first off I need to say I have been in a total 'bromance' with Jake Gyllenhaal for few years now and biased as I might be, I think this is another movie he nailed just great. I love the subtle way he works to define his characters, how Lou looks gangly and with those big wide opened voracious eyes that are somehow a mirror of what is about to become...Jake has an amazing restraint in acting, especially in this age where tv shows formats brought an often over-dramatized style into storytelling and acting, so his way to sculpt his characters a little at a time manage to build a certain tension underneath that keep you focused on them even in ordinary set-ups and situations..and this approach to acting makes even more intense when those subtle underneath tension gets released like in the mirror scene.
Beside his performance I think Nightcrawler is a very good movie with some really great moments, and a central theme about what we as audience, have been accustomed to consider information and how morbid we grew about the appearance of what happens instead of the reasons or the facts itself.
Directing and photography are stellar, for what seems a well paced and balanced screenplay manage to mix introspection, storytelling and pure action even though there are few unfocused moments. The car chasing scene, considered how has been endlessly abused by movies, is just amazing with a fantastic edit and originality in choosing the point of view af a third spectator instead of the runaway or the chaser, which are the common storytelling perspectives we see in such scenes.
I was slightly disappointed in few aspects about how the plot develops in the last part. I would have liked a more open and thought provoking ending, the final interrogation and the closing scene looked a bit too predictable and not aligned with the overall tone of the story. A bit too 'didactic' in the purpose, probably to accomodate the so called general audience which always needs a proper wrap-up to get what the story is about. If it was up to me I would have ended the movie with the broadcasting of the last reportage for instance.
I gave it a 7, it may have rightfully deserved a 8, but you know the final always influence too much of a movie overall perception. It's somehow unfair even to me, but I can't help it.

I figured I'd finally watch this movie before I started the James Bond marathon, and do you know what? I LOVED this film. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there are no problems/mistakes in here. But the deal is that those issues are small and infrequent. What I love about this is that is basically a 007 film with some humor and fun action. Seriously, the action scenes in here are so much fun to watch. The other part that made me really happy though, was that I thought I had the final act figured out right off the bat. I was sure I knew where the film was going, but it didn't really bother me too much either. I predict films all the time, so it has no negativity on my opinion. But not this time. No, I was totally off and loved the 3rd act so much.

I'm not saying all of you will love this movie as much as I did. I bet few people will hand out the 5 out of 5 like me (my 007 love is going to push films like this up), but I think almost all of you will enjoy it nonetheless.

Tatiana Maslany is so underrated, what a brilliant actress.

I'm on s2ep6 and I don't understand why some people gave it such bad reviews.. The show had to evolve in season 2, I think the direction is just as interesting. I started with s1ep1 yesturday and binged it. I read reviews before starting new shows I binge so anyone considering watching this show.. It Is Fucking Awesome! And I watch alot of tv.

Story, characters, visuals, sound. They're really polished and has a lot of small, but noticeable things that make you smile. Sadly, I can't tell the same about the ending. I don't know, had it been corrected or something, but it's so illogical and silly. Still, Chappie IS a very good movie worth watching.

Visually stunning.
That's about all I have to say about this film. The story line was ridiculous, the acting was less than bearable, and for it's over two hour run time you would think that something would have connected. A random overacted film that could have used a lot more work in the story department.
I stayed for the visuals, but tuned out the story line.

It was painfully slow at times, but visually, as with all of von Trier's movies, it was stunning.

This is a slow one. Maybe a little too slow but at least it felt more closer to what it would really be like. I kind of liked it. Unfortunately seeing the robots walk made me sigh. If I would do a robot movie I would make one thing damn sure: that it won't look like the robots must fall over when they walk. This was sort of cheap.

Fury sucks. Okay, most of the movie was actually alright, but then the protagonist rapes someone in what is meant to be a tender moment. Hurr, I bet somebody being forced into a bedroom by two soldiers with guns can definitely give consent. And then Brad Pitt's character's depicted as this great leader who keeps this ragtag group in check by forcing them to shoot unarmed POWs and as this gentleman by threatening to rape someone and swapping plates instead of just telling the men who he's in charge of to stop being assholes. What fantastic leadership skills, what a true war hero. Of course, war itself may not be glorified in this movie, but Pitt's character definitely is; Pitt himself said that it helped him become a better father. And then ending happened and hahaha, that means the Americans in this movie are literally worse than Nazis. The action was bad, it was just this huge cacophony and colour-coded tracer bullets that looked like light beams from Star Wars. The sound mixing was pretty muddy but that's probably the screener's fault.

Best Snyder movie so far. Sadly it is deeply misunderstood. Movie is way more deeper and complex than it looks like on first glance.

People don't realize Sweet Pea is the protagonist, Babydoll is a figment of Sweet Pea’s imagination. Babydoll does not exist. Babydoll's story is Sweet Pea’s story. Sweet Pea was sexually abused, killed her sister and is in psychiatric hospital in therapy. Babydoll is Sweet Pea's avatar. Way of dealing with grief, with guilt, and way to manage her current situation and overcome it. Babydoll is also Sweet Pea's guardian angel.

Sweet Pea is the only fully rounded character, other girls represent aspects of her psyche. Babydoll represents strength and courage, Amber loyalty, Blondie fear, and Rocket represents guilt. In the third level reality her psyche fights for the things to get her free from her current state. Second guardian angel (the Wise Man) guides her through. To fully recover she needs to get over her guilt (Rocket dies as a symbol), also other girls represent things which she needs to leave behind to fully recover .

Babydoll is one of those things. She is the fifth thing (“The fifth is a mystery. It is the reason. It is the goal. It will be a deep sacrifice and a perfect victory.”). Lobotomy of Babydoll represents Sweet Pea’s mind of taking control. Sweet Pea needs to sacrifice Babydoll to be “cured”. Escape at the end is a symbol of that process of being cured. That’s why the driver is the Wise Man, he guides her further.

Sucker Punch is Sweet Pea’s journey from “madness” to “sanity”. Movie is philosophical / psychological investigation wrapped in a special effects action-fantasy. As the movie changes realities (mostly in the third reality), Snyder uses more fetishized image of the girls. He uses clichés and cluttered iconography (nazi zombies, sexy schoolgirls). It is a way to detached and disconnected characters from second reality. Second reality, the brothel, is the “main” reality. In which everything happens.

This was a very nice movie. It is sort of a Facebook 2.0 with elements from the movie Live Free or Die Hard (2007). To be honest i shudder at the thought that a single network on the internet would ever get so much power. But then again, this is a movie and there anything can happen.

What i thought was really cool was that family values were mixed with technology and awesome computer battles. I did not understand that card game though, it seems to be a purely Japanese card game.

All in all i thought it was very good. As those last seconds of the countdown ticked away and that satellite was crashing down to that big mansion i knew that it wasn't go hit the mansion and kill anybody (it not that kind of movie, you can see that right from the start) but still, i was still cheering for Kenji to finish the hacking the system in time to change the course of the satellite aimed at them. What an awesome scene was that!

Why this movie isn't more popular i don't know. Everything you could possibly wish for a in a family feel-good movie is in here. I can definitely recommend this movie to anyone, even people who don't know or like anime.

After a long time, finally we can see the great Robert Downey Jr. do something different than the superhero Iron Man, or even the very intelligent but insane Sherlock Holmes. Nothing against, as the success of these two blockbusters owes much to his talent and what he gives to his characters. In The Judge we can see him doing a deeper and more serious role, never losing his ironic side and that funny that always makes us laugh whenever it is necessary. Here plays a character that can be perfectly adapted to real life and I confess that I've been missing to see him again in a different register.

The Judge is divided between the courtrooms and the family drama of a family marked by problems from the past that are still unresolved. Attorney Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) is forced to return to his hometwon in Indiana, 20 years later, for the funeral of his mother. Hank always had problems with his father (Robert Duvall), a very well respected judge in the city, and during his short stay his father is considered the main suspect of an homicide. Hank is forced to help his father to find out the truth and eventually re-connects with his brothers and even with some old acquaintances of the small town.

The film is not simply a story about courts, laws or criminal justice, but a family drama where the characters are going to rediscover themselves, learn how to forgive and respect each other. The emotional side of the story is more important than everything else, and despite the numerous clichés that the film may have, they result in a perfect way to what the film is supposed to give us and it never disappoints.

It is certainly a film of great performances! The chemistry between Downey Jr. and Duvall is really great and all their scenes together are very intense. The entire supporting cast does a very good work, but is mostly Downey Jr. and Duvall what make The Judge to be not just a drama of conflict between father and son, but a real portrait of many families, sincere and honest that has a slightly different ending than we are expecting.

After a long time, finally we can see the great Robert Downey Jr. do something different than the superhero Iron Man, or even the very intelligent but insane Sherlock Holmes. Nothing against, as the success of these two blockbusters owes much to his talent and what he gives to his characters. In The Judge we can see him doing a deeper and more serious role, never losing his ironic side and that funny that always makes us laugh whenever it is necessary. Here plays a character that can be perfectly adapted to real life and I confess that I've been missing to see him again in a different register.

The Judge is divided between the courtrooms and the family drama of a family marked by problems from the past that are still unresolved. Attorney Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) is forced to return to his hometwon in Indiana, 20 years later, for the funeral of his mother. Hank always had problems with his father (Robert Duvall), a very well respected judge in the city, and during his short stay his father is considered the main suspect of an homicide. Hank is forced to help his father to find out the truth and eventually re-connects with his brothers and even with some old acquaintances of the small town.

The film is not simply a story about courts, laws or criminal justice, but a family drama where the characters are going to rediscover themselves, learn how to forgive and respect each other. The emotional side of the story is more important than everything else, and despite the numerous clichés that the film may have, they result in a perfect way to what the film is supposed to give us and it never disappoints.

It is certainly a film of great performances! The chemistry between Downey Jr. and Duvall is really great and all their scenes together are very intense. The entire supporting cast does a very good work, but is mostly Downey Jr. and Duvall what make The Judge to be not just a drama of conflict between father and son, but a real portrait of many families, sincere and honest that has a slightly different ending than we are expecting.