Ynocrozplatfom Reviews

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

And they delivered

[8/10 · 21 July 2023]

The filmmakers have challenged themselves to improve upon their previous work, and they have totally succeeded. They poured their hearts and souls into stepping up their game and enhancing the stunt sequences, creating breathtaking action scenes that are a testament to their dedication and unwavering commitment to surpassing the achievements of the franchise's predecessors. This movie boasts an abundance of original and innovative stunt work that is perfectly executed, creating stakes that might be formulaic but still feel compelling and authentic. As adversaries grow increasingly omnipotent and omnipresent, it is hard to sit through any movie nowadays without questioning how the protagonist could have endured so long, and this film is no exception. Nevertheless, when comparing it to similar films, it undoubtedly establishes itself as a benchmark for future works in the genre.

Inside Out (I) (2015)

Growing up from Inside Out

[8/10 · 18 June 2023]

This movie deals with a concept where even adults are grappling with every day. Even though it is set in a childhood context that everyone would have gone through growing up, the fact that we are evolving and maturing in a process of self-discovery and introspection just like Riley was makes the film ever so authentic and relatable. Although the movie gets slightly over-the-top at times, it manages to make time for expansive world-building of the inner mind in a hilarious manner that hints at limitless possibilities, without losing focus on the core plot line and "playing" with our emotions, which speaks deeply to the hearts of the viewers.

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Lives up to the John Wick name

[7/10 · 7 May 2023]

As with other action-packed movies of the franchise, this movie lives up to the John Wick name with well-crafted choreography and intense long shots. Yet similar to its predecessors, this movie still falls slightly short on the plot. The story feels dragged out occasionally, and rehashing the similar stakes only make the movie feel less thrilling. It is only the sustained originality with creative camera angles, weapon choices and distinctive combat styles for every main character that keeps adding something fresh to the franchise and fixes the audience's eyeballs on the big screen despite more than 2 hours of pure fighting.

A Guilty Conscience (2023)

A rare enjoyable entry in Hong Kong cinema

[7/10 · 19 February 2023]

When regarding this movie as just a detective/court case story, there is no way that the movie could stand on its own merits given the manner of how the case rolled out. No society would allow such neglect in the police solving a criminal/murder case and such extravaganza in front of the law. Yet, the movie managed to achieved its aim in social commentary notwithstanding the above, potentially overriding flaws, albeit via show and sensation. Sprinkled in with effective humour that does not affect the overall tone, this is a movie that can make you steer clear of all its hiccups and enjoy the story as the movie carries the audience along, which itself is a huge win.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

A distinctive entry

[7/10 · 2 February 2023]

Although the premise of the entire film is built on shaky grounds, and the resolve, unfortunately, succumbs to the obnoxious "protagonist has visions and decides to no longer seek revenge on antagonist" cliché, the movie was eventually able to integrate those pieces from a fragmented style of storytelling during the first acts and tell a somewhat coherent story. Powered by phenomenal performances of the cast from the Wakandan side, the tragic passing of Boseman was utilized to great potential, elevating the movie to end on a solemn and emotional high note, which stands out as a somewhat rare entry in the recent MCU.

Glass Onion (2022)

Very entertaining

[7/10 · 14 January 2023]

The movie has preserved the high standard of narration from the previous one, telling a beautiful and simple yet intriguing story with clever little details sprinkled throughout that made it more enjoyable. Yet when it comes to the reveal, the movie did not feel like layers of an onion peeling off one by one to reach its core, but instead like an arrow being shot straight at the centre of the onion and we suddenly land there where everything just happens and miraculously yet unsatisfyingly falls into place. Despite this, this movie is able to nail its ending in a satisfying way without feeling cliché.

Avatar (2009)

Great technical feat

[7/10 · 28 December 2022]

This film, with that kind of world building, visuals and narration style, feels more like a triple A video game in story mode than a movie in retrospect from the twenties. But concerning that this movie came out at a time when smartphones weren't even a thing, one can only imagine how pioneering and groundbreaking it was at the time of initial release. The film struck a fair balance between telling the story while sprinkling in the underlying themes, with the advantage of powerful and striking visuals, helped elevate the emotional impact and bring out the message from the filmmakers as they obviously intended without making the movie feel too much like propaganda.

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Movie needs to do more

[7/10 · 26 December 2022]

This movie, or should I say, video game story is a familiar product from 2009. The difference from its predecessor being that the focus feels forcefully transported from the forest to the ocean just to show off the underwater motion capture technology they waited so long to mature, yet better capture technology still could not cover up the distracting flaws from bad facial acting. The storyline flaws from the last movie, unfortunately, seemed to be exemplified from being cliché to straight up illogical and self-repeating; and the movie should no longer rely solely on the immersive visuals to stand as a landmark movie.

Table for Six (2022)

Nonsensical but in a bad way

[4/10 · 6 November 2022]

This movie is a random pot of nonsense with cheap and borderline funny jokes scattered across. It has no coherent story, and one may argue this movie has no plot at all. The seismic tonal shifts are also unbearable. One second it seems to be earnestly exploring themes of family conflict and legacy, but a second later they devolve into a slow-motion fist-fight destruction montage for no reason, nothing happens afterwards and the characters still live their usual lives. The characters are still the exact same characters at the start of the movie, and the tiniest of character revelations have nothing to add to the plot at all. No idea why this movie could succeed at the box office.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

A thrilling ride in the skies

[8/10 · 20 August 2022]

Full of fist-clenching fight scenes that always manages to exceed the previous one, this movie is wave after wave of intense fighter jet combat that is absolute pure adrenaline, starting and ending on a high note without a dull single moment.

The Northman (2022)

A stunning Viking drama

[8/10 · 4 July 2022]

The Northman has impressive cinematography that well demonstrates the spectacular Nordic scenery with skillful camera work throughout that serve the thrilling fight scenes well. Despite the presence of hiccups from an occasionally flawed and predictable plot that feels somewhat stretched out, such a story that is carefully intertwined with ancient Nordic cultures and lifestyles gives what is necessary for this revenge story fascinating to watch nonetheless.

Ambulance (2022)

Nonsense

[5/10 · 30 June 2022]

This movie is a never-ending nightmare full of nauseating drone shots, sloppy editing, excessively shaky camera work and non-stop illogical yelling with a plot that defies reality and common sense, yet still tries to stretch out to accommodate for occasioal funny scenes and a seemingly touching story. The end product is a giant piece of nonsense that defeats every single thing that the movie wants to tell.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

This movie truly is everything everywhere all at once

[9/10 · 11 June 2022]

It is hard to imagine a movie that is comical, funny, cool, chaotic, dark and refreshing all at once. Yet the creative minds behind the scenes was able to pack this majestic roller-coaster all into one movie.

This one-of-a-kind film is able to hold up to its ambition of paying homage to multiple genres across the mutiverse and delivering on multiple themes while not feeling disjointed, and the experience just gets better for the Chinese audience who understand the language. Although the movie crumbles slightly at the end under its own weight, and some themes could be developed more profoundly, with strong visuals, cleverly designed gigs, eccentric acting and immersive editing, this textbook version of cinema has excelled in all technical aspects of achievement that few other have achieved.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

A multiversal gimmick that did not work out

[6/10 · 21 May 2022]

Unlike the previous installments of the MCU which made good use of previous world building in establishing their story, Doctor Strange 2 instead crammed too much new exposition into the movie, making the story so violently overpaced that the audience does not have time to digest, and the end product could only be seen as a forgettable fast-forwarded story with little weight. This is situation is exacerbated by Marvel's attempt in making something new with horror elements and a darker tone, which itself is commendable, yet when mixed with out of tune Marvel humour, purposeless characters and poor editing, this movie can only be seen as an inconsistent multiversal mess that one would hope that a better version exists among the vast realities.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)

This movie has nothing that made the franchise interesting in the first place

[6/10 · 30 April 2022]

Minimal stakes plot with no suitable exposition. Remotely relevant characters that somehow exist for no reason. Complete scenes that are somehow edited to fragments, making the tone all over the place. Addition of more pointless plot points and devotion to chemistry-less characters. This movie does not seem interested in illustrating scenes that are the most crucial to the main plot which prohibits emotional attachment into any of the characters, despite 2 (arguably 10) previous installments of build-up and foreshadowing, which is a shame given the scale and potential of the wizarding world.

The Batman (2022)

Great Batman but not a great detective story

[7/10 · 23 April 2022]

This reboot takes a more practical and grounded approach to the Batman, which definitely made the film more relatable, but instead of providing more details on the premise of this Gotham city and the character settings, the movie spends time illustrating standard Batman elements, which unfortunately are not closely intertwined enough to the main mystery, making the story feel somewhat unsatisfying and empty. The detective part also seems like a direct exposition that presents itself, which was a wasted opportunity for a step by step drive towards the core that indulges the audience. But all in all, with a matching tone, a suitable colour schema and unique visual effects, this movie stands out as a refreshing type of comic book movie that many fans would love.

Death on the Nile (2022)

Mostly neat

[7/10 · 12 April 2022]

The movie tells an increasingly intriguing story with good direction and great acting from the ensemble cast, but after committing so much screentime into the main characters and interesting side plots of the story, it seems that the movie is ended hastily and is unable to come up with a satisfying ending that is a sum up of many of the plot points that make the story interesting in the first place.

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Perhaps a good type of nonsensicality

[7/10 · 4 March 2022]

This movie is a huge melting pot containing the kind of silly talk with everything you could possibly think of, which seemed nonsensically funny at times but just flat out awkwardly embarrassing at others.

Tenet (2020)

It's just too messy

[6/10 · 21 February 2022]

A movie with an interesting premise and mechanism, but is presented in such a convoluted and chaotic manner that perhaps even Nolan himself wouldn't get if he weren't the screenwriter.

Coco (I) (2017)

Another marvel from Pixar

[9/10 · 19 February 2022]

A thought-provoking and emotional story that wonderfully tackles multiple themes about family, aspirations, tradition and death throughout with a tightly interwoven Mexican culture background and clever plot revelations, which when presented with state-of-the-art animation, powerfully reverberates with audiences from all cultures and backgrounds.

Nightmare Alley (2021)

Can be better

[8/10 · 18 February 2022]

Story is intriguing and captivating, yet with loose ends still present despite a 2.5 hour screentime, this can only be described as a movie with questionable character motives that isn't particularly satisfying or inspiring.

Don't Look Up (2021)

Few takeaway messages from the movie

[6/10 · 1 January 2022]

Movie tries to comment on modern American and world politics but constantly sidetracks itself. The poor direction and editing style let other less relevant elements and plot points get in the way of realizing its full potential in terms of political commentary.

The King's Man (2021)

A perfect example of how not to make a movie.

[5/10 · 30 December 2021]

Poor direction, weird tone, inconsistent pacing. Not even the action scenes are captivating. The plot makes little sense, nothing is satisfying explained for, and the futile attempts to make the plot relevant through erroneous historical narratives have only made the no-stakes movie even less engaging.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

A strong and powerful movie that basically gets everything right

[9/10 · 16 December 2021]

A sensational and engaging story that uses the material of previous Spiderman movies to its full and complete potential, shaping a refreshing and close-knitted plot with spot-on dialogue never before seen; which along with convincing acting from the cast, scuplted an emotionally powerful story that struck a chord in audiences' hearts.

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

Engaging

[7/10 · 3 December 2021]

The plot may seem comparatively weak to other elements of the movie, but with visually pleasing action and good pacing, movie successfully manages to keep the audience engaged throughout even with 4 hours of screentime.