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Free Guy (2021)
Best silly movie I've seen in a while
On the surface a very funny version of The Truman Show and to some respect it addresses the same questions: what does it even mean to be or feel real? Still, very original, and don't be fooled by its apparent superficiality as below the first silly layer there are actually some pretty good philosophical gems about life. Great VFX, great cast, cool story and if you are or have been a gamer there's extra humour to catch. As a plus, Free Guy also poses some moral questions about artificial life. Will we have to have a conversation about whether an artificial life has rights? At what point is it "alive"? The movie is an extreme projection into a far future but how far is it? Ultimately it's a movie about empathy with no boundaries. I'd watch this a second time rather than another boring superhero saving the world or the universe.
The Old Man (2022)
Over-casted unemotional story
The show incipit gave me hope to see a story about a vulnerable old man who finds his ways out of danger, it became about how the man is NOT vulnerable. It gave me hope to see an original hero and an original plot but the story arc quickly became a template that chases the approval of John Wick's and 007's audiences. Too much prosaic explanation over action, too many filler scenes, barely any tension.
Excellent performance by Bridges and Lithgow. Good performance by Brenneman but Mrs. Dixon is an underwhelming character used just to throw some weird romance in there. Shawkat's acting seemed a little less believable to me but good performance from her too and all the other cast. Shame such talent went wasted to an inconclusive story with very little to tell but what struck me was the lack of emotions.
I'm glad I watched it, I liked the slow pace, the direction and I enjoyed seeing some of my favourite actors back in action but I would not recommend it.
The Black Phone (2021)
Not too bad
"Ethan Hawke gives a bloodcurdling performance"?... give me a break with this hyperbolic twaddle. Ethan didn't have to do much here. He did it right but nothing outstanding and I can see he was under-challenged for this role. The execution of the whole movie (acting, writing, direction, ...) looks a bit like everyone is doing another day at the office. A repackaging of a few old horror concepts that results in a bit of a dull soup with very little tension.
Nonetheless, if taken as an easy flick to enjoy some horror and pizza without investing too much energy to understand the plot, it's entertaining enough to leave the viewer with some satisfaction.
The Grabber's masks are cool as hell.
In a few words: nice horror movie but mildly unsettling and forgettable.
Il signor Diavolo (2019)
Boring
Firstly, why the hell are almost all dialogues so annoyingly whispered? I have to turn my TV's volume to NUCLEAR to hear clearly.
Some actors look quite out of their role, the story idea is OK, here and there the movie managed to give me some sweet discomfort of a horror, but narration is boring, very boring and too much built over long, whispered dialogues that pretend to build tension... without much success.
In a sense the direction style seems quite theatrical which might meet the taste of some.
Nice soundtrack.
See (2019)
Don't watch
Good cast, marvellous landscapes. But no; not enough for me to keep watching. I'm not the type who easily interrupts series but after the 3rd episode I had no reason to waste any more time on this one. The premise is daring which is kinda interesting but there's too much gymnastics going on to keep it up. There's a desperate need to push characters behaviour to annoying, ridiculous extremes to compensate the lack of... everything else. There's a constant effort to philosophise on everything that only results into tedious waits for the next scene.
Doctor Sleep (2019)
Blasphemously based on The Shining but still good
I have mixed feelings. On one side I think every sane person who has seen The Shining should take deep offense on how the basement of novel was used to build towards a vampire-like stereotype plot. In this movie the Shining, which was something enigmatic in the Kubrick's take, becomes basically simple cliche' Holliwoodian superpowers. Even the reminders of the old movie seem forcibly placed without too much narrative logic.
The movie could really have been better off by NOT claiming to be based on S. King's The Shining and that also means it's actually not a bad movie. If, not without effort, I forget the attempt to be based on the King's novel (I really can't understand King's approval of this), I can say I enjoyed it. There are some memorable moments. Acting has ups and (tolerable) downs.
All in all, it does not scare but it entertains.
Again, forget the claim it's based on The Shining and you'll enjoy it.
The Meg (2018)
The Meh
The Meg is a "why the hell did I watch this?" movie. Almost every tension moment is built over stupid and overly heroic decisions. Everyone is disposable and desperate to be a martyr: it really gets annoying on this. Jason Statham was hired to play his usual sociopathic irreverent action hero, which I like,... to a stress point: It's like they gave him insistent electroshocks to make him do that. Some of the actors could have been replaced by animatronics. Overall a little fun to watch, close to OK if it's an excuse to chug down some ice cream but if you have seen Jaws, making a comparison will be unavoidable and you'll miss that tension. The soundtrack is rather disconnected. Visual effects are OK but look a bit behind to be a 2018 movie.
Watch if your only alternative is The Kardashians.