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Voldemort: Origins of the Heir (2018)
It's not bad...
The movie gives us insight on Voldemort's journey to get his horcruxes.
Being a fan made low budget movie it's quite good. The special effects are normal, nothing to bad about it. Normal script, normal acting. Can't point out to many negative aspects about the movie.
It's an entertaining story relatively well told.
It's worth it: quick to watch, not disappointing, not boring. It's not a good movie but it's not a bad movie either.
Escape from Pretoria (2020)
It's a good movie that will satisfy you
1st thing: Don't think this is a great drama/action movie. There's no fight or outstanding escape plans and incredible plot twists. Keep in mind: this is based on a true story and it's a Radcliffe movie. It can't be that good.
Now, the review, please:
I must say that after seeing this movie I was extremely happy. Being a fan of Radcliffe, I am used to be disappointed by his career choices. However, this is a very normal movie. It's a low budget movie directed by Francis Annan that tells the real-life prison escape by 3 political prisoners (one of them Tim Jenkins, played by Radcliffe).
The narrative is well told and what's just an average story turns into something entertaining, intriguing and engaging. The way Francis Annan decided to create tension and suspense is smart and effective and aspiring filmmakers should take notes. The acting is also very good and I wasn't expecting that to happen. Radcliffe proves, once more, his versatility.
The movie has all the ingredients: good direction, good acting, good storytelling, suspense and intensity. It's a good movie and it's time well spent.
It's not great but it's nice to see it.
Wit (2001)
It's a little corny
Well, I saw this movie in a class. Before the start of the movie, my teacher gave a speech on why this movie is so good. The idea that he gave me was that the movie showed a painful and intimate cancer experience. I thought that I would see how badly cancer was and all the pain it caused.
Instead, I saw a woman facing death and reflecting on what death really is.
So, it started badly - I had a very different idea on what would the movie be. Throughout the movie I was always waiting for those painful and intense moments, but that never really came, except for one scene.
But the main focus of the movie is death. And so, the character, who had taught John Donne (a poet that constantly reflects about death) all her life, tries to understand what does death mean, what it really is and how wrong she was about her preconceived ideas about death.
It's a little corny in the way the story is told (scenarios, lighting, music, actors, etc...) and there's no suffering and pain, so don't watch this movie thinking that there is a climax. The actors are all average, including Emma Thompson.
It's one of those movies that makes sense to watch again and pay attention to the details. And it's better if someone that knows and understands the story is explaining you those details and hidden messages. That's what happened with me: I understood the film better after an explanation my teacher gave.
However, even with explanations, this isn't a great movie. And to be fair, it's little boring and (what annoys me the most) corny! There isn't a proper sense of pain and discomfort caused by the movie. The pain the character is going through it's not really effectively transmitted to the audience. It feels that everything is far away from me and doesn't affect me.
So, if you are interested in a mediocre lecture about death... go on!
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Sad to say this: Disappointing
I understand all the excitement around Spider Man: No Way Home. I was also extremely excited with this movie (and I'm not a big Marvel fan), however, I was disappointed with the final result.
The idea of Spider Man having his identity revealed it's genius and challenging. How Marvel decided to approach it not so much.
The movie quickly solves the prospect of Peter going to jail or facing criminal charges. Now, the real problem is that the trio (Ned, Peter and MJ) can't go to university and their life's is completely ruined... So, to solve all his problems Peter asks Doctor Strange to cast a spell so that everyone forgets that Peter Parker is Spider Man. Except, Mj. And Ned. And Aunt May. Surprise surprise: something goes wrong and villains that fought different versions of Spider Man in other realities appear in this reality. The whole scene is a little childish and I was surprised of how ridiculous this scene was. It was getting kinda predictable that something would go wrong.
So now Peter has to solve the problem he created. He and Doctor Strange easily capture all the villains but instead of making them go back to their own reality, Peter fights Doctor Strange because he believes that he can help these mentally disturbed villains (Again, childish). After taking out Doctor Strange (in another great action scene), he takes them to his house (in fact Happy's house) and tries to help them, but things get out of control. No one was expecting that...
Aunt May gets killed by Green Goblin after a great fight scene between Spider Man and him. The scene is really exciting and well orchestrated. But the death scene is jus outstanding and almost made me cry. Not only the acting is on top (Tom Holland once again proves himself as a great actor and shows the depth he can give to the character) but also the way Jon Watts chose to show us the feelings and the pain of Peter it's LOVELY. It's an amazing scene that stops me from giving a 6/10 to this movie. It's an excellent work by Jon Watts. Hats off.
Now (once again) Peter has to solve this mess.
Fast forward: Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spider Man's appear and the three Spider Man's save the day with an ultimate sacrifice by Peter Parker (Tom Holland), who lets everyone forget who he is to avoid the ULTIMATE MESS. You know the story so let me tell you some more.
I felt that this movie was too funny... and this is a bad thing. Having some comedy in this type of movies (as we've seen in basically all Marvel Movies) is good. After an intense action movie, a good joke is quite pleasant. What's unpleasant and truly a shame is turning a, supposedly, more serious movie into a comedy. There are just too much jokes and many of them are unnecessary. It makes me feel that producers didn't knew what to make of this movie and just decided to make loads and loads of jokes. Some of them are really funny, others not so much.
A reunion of villains and heroes from the past movies it's also something risky. Some of the villains (such as The Lizard or whatever his name was) didn't help the story at all and had little screen time. I also think that Electro was the weirdest villain. He had this great power that (I feel) was not unloaded and too easily taken down. This character was probably the strongest but didn't really affect too much the story.
And, for the last, my main critique: the multiverse. It's a complete mess (I am using this word way too much) that it's going to create endless plot holes. This movie is probably full of plot holes but I don't want to dive into it. Search if you want :)
Now, the good things about this movie.
The action, not being something outstanding, is good. I liked it. Jon Watts shows once more that he is capable of achieving levels of emotion that I was not expecting for a superhero movie. Tom Holland, again, shows how good of an actor he is. It's a funny movie and you'll laugh for sure.
Overall, the movie has everything it needs to be an amazing movie, but falls short of its greatness due to a weak story development. However, if you are looking for a funny and entertaining movie to end the year... there you go! It's worth it.
PS: If you think I'm being too harsh with the movie, keep in mind that I'm already into another type of movie and so, coming back to watch Marvel movies it's always harder than it was 3/4 years ago when I was 13. Because, after all, Marvel is made for 13 years old kids... and that's perfectly fine!
A Herdade (2019)
You are a hero if you don't walk away!
*I am not going to make a summary of the movie - I just want to explain how bad this movie is*
Heading to my sofa to watch this movie, I wasn't actually expecting this to be a great movie or something like that. Knowing relatively well how bad portuguese cinema is, it was no surprise for me to be extremely disappointed with the final result. It's worth mention that I watched this movie two years after it came out, so I wasn't affected at all by the hype this movie got. I was prepared for this to be a slow movie, with a weak plot, very poor acting and very very very bad sound.
And guess what: I wasn't wrong (about some things). The sound is the worst about this movie. It's really hard to see this movie because the sound is so unpleasant and so poorly recorded. It's a shame because it's not that hard to record with quality these days...
I also wasn't wrong about the slowness of this movie, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Slow cinema is beautiful if you make it so. There are beautiful slow shots in cinema everywhere, however, there's a barrier that separates what's beautiful and what's boring/unpleasant. That's why I don't like Tarkovsky: he pushes it to the extreme and makes these slow shots extremely boring and makes a maniacal use of slow scenes in his movies. That's sort of what happened in this movie. It's too slow and sometimes (actually, most of the cases) it doesn't add anything to the story. Also, a lot of times the actors make long pauses during dialogues, in an attempt to create tension... which fails miserably.
Now, about he plot: I think this is a good story. The idea of a rich and powerful man with an enormous domain it's quite cool. And to dive into all that's going on in that large territory where a man is in control and everybody around him respect him it's also interesting. I really liked the main character of this movie - the owner of the domain (or homestead if you prefer). His name is João Fernandes and he is played by Albano Jerónimo. Let me say... I was surprised by what I saw. It's quite a performance by Albano Jerónimo. He can dive deep into that character feelings and emotions and showed it to us. Also, he is capable of showing us how respectable and imposing João is. This may not be the best way to describe it (I have seen the movie 4 months ago...) because João has his downfalls and not so beautiful features, but he is really a great character. That's probably what the movie has best to offer you - a very good performance by Albano Jerónimo.
However, what is missing in the plot is story itself. It feels that (after 3 long hours) nothing has happened. The whole story could be told in about an hour or so. And the worst thing is that the main plot twist is kinda ridiculous. Not only was obvious and predictable as it was... lame. Idk, it just wasn't a good plot, which left me furious because there's so much stuff and great things about this movie, starting by the main character. If this movie was made in a different direction it could be great. What should be the main intrigue of this movie - the communists trying to take land from the biggest producers such as João and shaking the country - it's just something that goes in the background, which is a shame because it's a very recent event (it happened in the 60s/70s) that means a lot to the people in Portugal.
So, overall, the movie sucks, has a terrible sound and the plot was poorly created and told. A movie with such a great potential that ends being trash. I understand why people are saying this is a good movie. The idea is there, the concept is there, the cinematography is there (I forgot to mention, the movie has a GREAT cinematography. Lighting and the look of the movie is awesome. Great DP!). However, what the movie needs the most - an engaging well told story - is what's missing.
I am sure that if this movie was made in Hollywood it would be nominated for the Oscars. 100% sure that this would be a hit. But we are in Portugal, and what had everything to be a great movie turns out to be disappointing... really disappointing.
It's not an easy mission, but it's worth take a look.