I needed to watch a feel-good, and it does its job as well as could be expected. Unfortunately, what I only discovered afterwards was that although the movie aspires to be a true story of going from being the underdog to the top, the entire thing is a fabrication, as documented by The Los Angeles Times. Montañes has publicly changed important details of the story over his lifetime, and even PepsiCo itself disputes that he had anything to do with Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Most importantly, Enrico was not even with the company at the time this happened, and Montañes was actually promoted to a machinist shortly after starting as a janitor.
Reviews
11 Reviews
Navalny
(2022)
Eye-opener
6 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This documentary has been something of an eye-opener for me. Yes, I remember the poisoning happen, watching it on tv back when it happened. But I always thought to myself, "they have no proof that Russia did it; it's all smoke and mirrors". And then I watched this documentary; and the evidence is right there - extracted in front of our very eyes. It was not as "he said, she said" as I had thought initially. It's mesmerizing moments on screen, very poweful, evocative, and, yes, very scary indeed.
The documentary is laugh-out-loud funny at times. One such instance was when one senior military general directly answerable to Putin was hacked something like four times, each time with a new, impregnable password: Moscow1, Moscow2, Moscow3, and Moscow4. At another point in the movie, I literally shouted out, "are they serious!" and held my hand in front of my mouth, when a Russian scientist behind the whole operation just spilled the beans over a phone call. I believe the New Yorker got it right when they remarked that Putin has under him a network of morons.
On the other hand, the movie is not too kind on Alexei Navalny himself, either: Navalny did rally with certain radical segments in his opposition campaigns, such as neo-nazis, and he is non-apologetic for it. We know that for this reason, Putin used this as an excuse to trump up some terrorism charges. We in the West say that these charges are bogus - after having watched this documentary I am not so certain anymore. Navalny's political headquarters are raided as a consequence. We also see clips where Navalny is shouting rallying cries to-and-fro his supporters which are obviously in a grey-zone of inciting violence versus being just political statements-he makes his supporters utter the illegal words about Putin ("down with Putin"), never himself uttering these words. I thought at that point, yes he is obviously a lawyer, who knows what he is doing. And it does not evoke sympathy for his character. It also does not evoke sympathy when he goes back to Russia, knowing full well that he will be behind bars as soon as the plane lands.
In short, this documentary shows what it takes to be in opposition of a dictator's regime. It's grimy stuff happening on both sides. It is not a flattering image of Russian contemporary society no matter which side we view this from, even if this effect was non-intentional by the documentarists.
The documentary is laugh-out-loud funny at times. One such instance was when one senior military general directly answerable to Putin was hacked something like four times, each time with a new, impregnable password: Moscow1, Moscow2, Moscow3, and Moscow4. At another point in the movie, I literally shouted out, "are they serious!" and held my hand in front of my mouth, when a Russian scientist behind the whole operation just spilled the beans over a phone call. I believe the New Yorker got it right when they remarked that Putin has under him a network of morons.
On the other hand, the movie is not too kind on Alexei Navalny himself, either: Navalny did rally with certain radical segments in his opposition campaigns, such as neo-nazis, and he is non-apologetic for it. We know that for this reason, Putin used this as an excuse to trump up some terrorism charges. We in the West say that these charges are bogus - after having watched this documentary I am not so certain anymore. Navalny's political headquarters are raided as a consequence. We also see clips where Navalny is shouting rallying cries to-and-fro his supporters which are obviously in a grey-zone of inciting violence versus being just political statements-he makes his supporters utter the illegal words about Putin ("down with Putin"), never himself uttering these words. I thought at that point, yes he is obviously a lawyer, who knows what he is doing. And it does not evoke sympathy for his character. It also does not evoke sympathy when he goes back to Russia, knowing full well that he will be behind bars as soon as the plane lands.
In short, this documentary shows what it takes to be in opposition of a dictator's regime. It's grimy stuff happening on both sides. It is not a flattering image of Russian contemporary society no matter which side we view this from, even if this effect was non-intentional by the documentarists.
Incendies
(2010)
Most powerful opening sequence in a long time
5 June 2023
The film begins in what looks like a defunct school. The windows are broken and we pan inside to look at kids getting buzzcuts. The kids are young, some have dried flakes of blood in their faces, one particularly young kid has a black eye. Although we don't know who they are, where they came from, where they are going, nor why this is happening, we do get the sense that a major human tragedy is taking place right before our eyes. The adults are standing guard with loaded rifles in heavy duty boots, seemingly not protecting the kids, but making sure they stay in place. Then, in a gripping sequence, the camera centers on a young boy currently having his hair cut off. The scene is painfully slow to a point. The boy looks at us, the audience, defiantly. His demeanor appears understandably angry. And then, just when the scene has lasted long enough to evoke empathy, we see it; underneath it all his glance is accusatory-j'accuse. Why are we just looking on and doing nothing? Incendies may have one of the most emotionally
powerful introductory sequences of any movie I have watched in a long time.
Top Gun: Maverick
(2022)
Much better than the original
26 May 2022
It is truly amazing how a movie, done right, can make you fly. Top Gun Maverick took us to new heights, quite literally. It took me away, just for a moment, and made me experience something that I will never be able to in real life. I left the theater feeling just a little bit cooler than I felt before, just for an instant, as if I were part of something bigger.
Granted, I did not enjoy the original "Top Gun". But this sequel surpassed my expectations-of sequels in general, but especially as the sequel to a movie that I do not particularly enjoy.
I especially liked how Maverick took the audience with the pilots into training to teach us something while toning down the "broness" of the original that I found so unappealing. Maverick is funny while retaining some emotional depth and gravitas gained from its source material. And the stakes in Maverick are still high. In this case it is not so much the anonymous enemy that keeps tensions high, but the fight against physical limits, the natural constraints that we battle against to reach our target. These are the qualities that make Top Gun Maverick a truly captivating movie to watch.
Definitely would recommend.
Granted, I did not enjoy the original "Top Gun". But this sequel surpassed my expectations-of sequels in general, but especially as the sequel to a movie that I do not particularly enjoy.
I especially liked how Maverick took the audience with the pilots into training to teach us something while toning down the "broness" of the original that I found so unappealing. Maverick is funny while retaining some emotional depth and gravitas gained from its source material. And the stakes in Maverick are still high. In this case it is not so much the anonymous enemy that keeps tensions high, but the fight against physical limits, the natural constraints that we battle against to reach our target. These are the qualities that make Top Gun Maverick a truly captivating movie to watch.
Definitely would recommend.
Thoroughly disappointed with the discontinuity
8 May 2022
The director of Dr. Strange 2 openly admits he did not even watch WandaVision. That really goes to show in the movie we got. I was disappointed from quite early on in the movie once we learned who the villain of the movie is. I mean, even the trailers for this movie misrepresents what the movie is about. I have watched Daredevil and the other Marvel-Netflix series, and I was always disappointed that they were a complete waste of time as there was never any tie-in with the wider MCU other than the occasional honorable mention. With WandaVision, Loki and What If? I finally got the feeling that Disney was going to fix this disjointedness. Alas this movie clearly goes to show that those series were a complete waste of time. From the early onset the movie completely ignores what happened in WandaVision and repeats the same story over again, and does a bad job at retelling it. This time around the plot device is very shallow. It never goes beyond Wanda's basic, maternal instinct. I found myself bored in the cinema, actually, with yet another shallow Marvel story that relies too much on CGI. It basically is a bad retelling of WandaVision. Additionally, the movie does not know the story it wants to tell: The word "multiverse" is in the title, but the movie in actuality does little to no exploring of said multiverse. It does give us a quick snapshot of a number of dimensions, but no exploration happens. And that is a shame since actively engaging the multidimensionness as a plot device like in What If? Would have been entertaining to watch. As in, I would have liked to know if there was some large, hidden secret with the mirror dimension? Or the astral dimension? I actually expected there to be a huge tie-in with the Loki Series on Disney+, but alas instead we get a movie that tries to do too much in too little time. We get zombies, weird space starfish monsters like if it were a Suicide Squad replica. We get a disjointed story and an odd cameo from those other franchises that Disney now own. In conclusion, I am afraid that the MCU will become yet another X-Men disaster. What basically killed the X-Men as a serious franchise was the lack of cohesion between movies and its blatant disregard of continuity. Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is exactly this: A disaster of continuity for anyone having watched the Disney+ series leading up to this movie release. But at least now Marvel can just make up the cheap excuse for every continuity error that happens in future: "The story takes place in another dimension". And that is what this movie basically is. It's nothing but a strategic move from Disney to make more movies that do not necessarily relate to one another, because they now introduced the multiverse concept.
Felt a bit off
1 August 2020
I need some serious cross-referenced research and real scientists on board when a guy claims that he does not touch filtered water and that 'the WHO warns that pure water can be harmful'. We filter water for a reason and I can find no such evidence from any credible source.
It is very dangerous when celebrities with no factual scientific basis spread dubious claims around, because some people actually listen, and drinking unfiltered water straight from a lake could be fatal.
It is very dangerous when celebrities with no factual scientific basis spread dubious claims around, because some people actually listen, and drinking unfiltered water straight from a lake could be fatal.
Into the Wild
(2007)
Unapologetic Performance
26 May 2015
This movie is so well acted and -crafted that it does not deserve ten stars of excellence. It may seem contradictory at first but allow me to elaborate: The acting of Ronald Franz, the old man in this motion picture, who had no family of his own and who, lonesome and vulnerable, wished to adopt Chris McCandless; it was the most unapologetically true and striking performance I have yet to experience. His tears were my tears, his grief so. The left-back and never-to-see-again feeling all mine, too. So the quality of the acting turned out to be on the whole lineup. Steady and contrastive, but seamless. The craftsmanship was so well done that one forgets what these actors really are - that is - actors. The unapologetic performance and the true feeling turned only truer with their acting entirely. They acted so well that I came to judge them not on the performance criterion - as do I usually when rating movies from a range of criteria and then averaging to my final vote - no all criteria were at their maximum. They acted so well that I came to judge these actors not on their performance, but on whom they portrayed. And the parents with all their misdemeanours, and Chris McCandless - leaving behind his sister and Rob, and those homely and welcoming camping people with the woman who herself had not seen her child for years. It was heartbreaking. And it felt soulless and empty. Simply put: While this movie cannot be said to salvage what Chris McCandless did - but it may - and while it does nothing to defy this view, I cannot but assert that the people and the sort of true, erratic behaviour that led to this motion picture altogether, do not deserve the unapologetic and true ten of ten stars of excellence. That's how good this movie was. The honest truth of the narrative that led Chris McCandless to live an inane life was grieving and dull and I feel it nought to celebrate. Therefore only nine stars. Be it as it may, there need be many more of this sort of motion picture in the future.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
(2015)
Lacks Emotional Drive
8 May 2015
I was honestly disappointed by this movie. It felt like a mediocre filler-in and it utterly lacked taste and the emotional picture and innate development present in the first Iron "Men", where Tony was captured for so long in a cave and came back a changed man; in the first Captain America, which took us back in time to the late 1930s and early 1940s and something was lost (love) that could never again be regained due to the time parting them; and in Guardians of the Galaxy, with the death of the mother and the intrigue of who's his father.
This movie (and so it seems from the trailer of Ant Man) was emotionally devoid, though with mediocre to good jokes (the hammer lifting-thing). What I and hopefully many other fans seem to be hoping for is something deeper than hour-long suspense, empty talk of freedom, and protection of Earth - for what is there to protect if nobody feels? What is there to be screaming about if the spark is missing? We need something where the people of the Earth are no longer the innocent and helpless children waiting to be saved by the Avengers as now portrayed, but grassroots, which aid one another and the Avengers by cooperation. We need that silent shot of the ravaging nature of war and destruction; and the deafening picture of the mother sacrificing her life for her child. There's no saving everyone, and it's about time that Marvel and the Avengers learn this cruel fact of life because in turn this movie franchise will turn into a mere farce.
Sure, it's a superhero movie, but it lacks the subtlety, reality and naturalness that evoke the truly good movies (Finding Nemo is a great example).
This movie (and so it seems from the trailer of Ant Man) was emotionally devoid, though with mediocre to good jokes (the hammer lifting-thing). What I and hopefully many other fans seem to be hoping for is something deeper than hour-long suspense, empty talk of freedom, and protection of Earth - for what is there to protect if nobody feels? What is there to be screaming about if the spark is missing? We need something where the people of the Earth are no longer the innocent and helpless children waiting to be saved by the Avengers as now portrayed, but grassroots, which aid one another and the Avengers by cooperation. We need that silent shot of the ravaging nature of war and destruction; and the deafening picture of the mother sacrificing her life for her child. There's no saving everyone, and it's about time that Marvel and the Avengers learn this cruel fact of life because in turn this movie franchise will turn into a mere farce.
Sure, it's a superhero movie, but it lacks the subtlety, reality and naturalness that evoke the truly good movies (Finding Nemo is a great example).
Tell Your Friends