October 2019

#9: Gemini Man

I really just wanted to see this because Mary Elizabeth Winstead is in it.

The concept of this film seemed very ego-centric in terms of Will Smith standards.

From the advertisements, it seem like they(Skydance) were gloating about how many screening types there are for this film since it's in 4DX, Imax and 3D.

First off, the CG action sequences were dreadful(Early 2000s esque). I'm not the kind of person who suss out which parts were CG and which were not but wow. It was so easy to see the imperfections.

The amount of ADR during was shocking especially since Will Smith filmed the scenes twice(one from the older version of himself and one for the younger version).

Literally the only redeeming thing about this was Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the only part that really interested me.

3/10

#8: Addams Family(2019)

I just wanted to see this because it would fill the 10 slots as well as it starring Chloe-Grace Moretz and Elsie Fisher.

This was ok, not really entertaining.

I only laughed at two parts

One time when the Lurch played the Mr. Roger's Neighbourhood theme.

The other time was when Bogsly was literally climbing the walls very demomicly(with possessed-like eyes) when Morticia said "Yes, he has been climbing the walls for weeks for this moment."

There was surprising quite a lot of references to old adult horror films. For example, when Wednesday Addams resurrects the frog she does the 'Invasion of The Body Snatchers' point.

The ending was quite disappointing. I expected for the towns people to turn on the home redesign woman when it is revealed she was spying on all of them.

Overall, this was not really entertaining for me.

4.5/10

#7: Judy

I mainly wanted to see this to fill in the 9 movie slots in the rankings

This was good, definitely has flaws.

I would've enjoyed it more if it was in chronological order. So it would've shown how the Hollywood lifestyle corrupted her immensly when she was an adult.

The end performance was very heartbreaking and also heartwarming at the same time. The crowd in the scene singing 'Over The Rainbow' once Judy stopped was amazingly filmed.

It was quite upsetting finding out before the credits that Judy passed away at the age of 47, only six months after her London performances.

I did enjoy this, but at the same time it majorly dragged and seemed quite boring at points.

6/10

#6: Maleficent 2

The first half of this was very dull and the twist about Aurora's mother killing her father wasn't a twist at all! They had to state that she was the evil one very early on.

The second half was very chaotic with all the Dark Wings dying left, right and center.

The self-sacrifice from the guy who saved Maleficent from the iron bullets did not feel earned. He was literally introduced ten minutes prior to his death.

All in all, this was ok. I enjoyed Angelina Jolie and Ellie Fanning's performances.

6.5/10

#5: The Day Shall Come

I only wanted to see this because of Anna Kendrick. 

This was surprisingly funny and quite emotional at times.

I loved Anna Kendrick's performance in this.

The whole scene where Moses was talking to his horse prior to the lightning strike on the crane was hilarious.

The reveal of Moses imagining the horse was definitely surprising and upsetting at the same time.

Overall, I was surprised by how good this was.

6.5/10

#4: Terminator: Dark Fate

I've only ever saw abit of the first film.

The colour scheme from the trailers reminded of Rambo: Last Blood(Which I saw last month) which is not a good sign.

I found Last Blood to be very disappointing and lackluster, here's hoping Dark Fate isn't.

This was really enjoyable, hundred times better than Last Blood.

The de-aging for Linda Hamilton was amazing. Although, I couldn't say the same for the T-800 and John Connor, both looked like they were from an animated film.

The action scenes, while a awesome spectacle, suffered the same fate as the CG from Gemini Man(at times)

Linda Hamilton's performance was great, especially after the reuniting with the T-800 and also during The Terminator's death. Visibly upset and emotionally in pain.

I immediately noticed Stephen Oyoung(Mr. Negative from Insomniac's Spider-Man) when he appeared in a scene during this scene.

Speaking of The Terminator's death, the self-sacrifice of Arnold's Cyborg was beautiful. Ending his tenure with the words that were repeated during this film, "For John".

Overall, I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did.

8.5/10

#3: Shaun The Sheep: Farmageddon

I've been hyped for this since it was announced. I love everything that Aardman releases.

This was really great!

The stop-motion was superb.

The 'Grand Day Out' moon scene playing in the background in TV shop was awesome. Also, I popped when Lulu dug out The 3rd/4th Doctor's Screwdriver.

The final act was amazing. With Lulu reuniting with his/her mum and dad, also the antagonist finally proving that aliens do exist after being laughed at when she was young. 

The scene where Lulu finds out the UFO was destroyed meaning she couldn't go home was captured beautifully tragic.

9.5/10

#2: Zombieland 2

I first saw the original back in 2014 because of Emma Stone.

This was amazing. Very funny, emotional and gorey(obviously).

It was honestly, alot better than the first one. The sequel's opening titles were a damn sight better in this one.

The set pieces were brilliant; including tracking shot where Tallahassee and Columbus were trying to kill their look-alikes.

The narration over Tallahassee's supposed "self-sacrifice" at Babylon nearly brought to tears.

This was really enjoyable for me especially since Emma Stone starred in it.

9.5/10

#1: JOKER

I've been very approving of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker from all the trailers, promo images and stills that I have saw. 

This has been one of the films I have been anticiapating all this year.

I was interested in the look of the setting, a grungy looking New York-esque Gotham City set in the '70s/'80s. As well as Zazie Beetz starring in this.

HOLY SHIT, that was amazing!

It was gripping, quite uncomfortable at times, intense, dark, strangely beautiful as well as obviously being tragic.

It reminded me alot of the film NightCrawler(starring Jake Gyllenhaal) especially the subway sequence when Arthur kills the 3 Wallstreet guys. How unexpressive he was when shooting with the gun as well as the dancing in the bathroom shortly after.

The soundtrack was fucking awesome. One song in particular that is repeat over the duration of this film reminded me alot of Unbreakable/Split/Glass.

Joaquin was fucking incredible, his laugh is perfect(On par with Mark Hamill's). He definitely sold the type of person is tired of being a victim of society and wanted to take a stand.

The cinematography interms of scenery was fucking beautiful. I love when any film heavily features shots of rainy city streets as well as just some night time shots too.

I had a feeling the origin to Arthur getting the name "Joker" would be from his idol Murray Franklin.

I was not keen on the outfit and face paint at first(during all the promotional videos and images). 

But, wow. He looks amazing and it is a stellar look for any Joker, especially Phoenix. 

The sequence when he is dancing on the steps he once was walking up during this was amazing and the song playing definitely helped drive home he has fully turned maniacal and evil.

I knew about the tourette-style laugh and it was honestly heartbreaking to watch. Especially, when Arthur finds out he was adopted and often abused as a kid by his father.

The ending was wonderful, with it setting up Bruce potentially coming Batman as well as Joker becoming The Clown Prince of comedy to millions of Gotham Citezens.

This without a doubt succeeded all my hopes I had going into this and did not disappoint me since I was anticipating this ever since I saw the first teaser I saw of Joaquin as Joker.

10/10