First I just want to say, don't believe the low ratings, like in IMDb, because people just voted zero, when it turned out this is not Cloverfield 2, a scifi movie from 2008. 10 Cloverfield Lane is nothing like it, and it's a good thing it isn't.
10 Cloverfield Lane is (like Cloverfield) produced by J. J. Abrams and directed by Dan Trachtenberg. In the main roles we see John Goodman, who's pretty sure a familiar face to many, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, which I recognized from Die Hards as Lucy, and a bit less known John Gallagher Jr.
The movie tells about the triple's survival in the doomsday prepper's bunker, but that's pretty much all I want to say about the story. The whole movie is based on that you know nothing about it before-hand. It can seem a bit of a gamble, but trust me on this one - it won't let you down.
The movie is simply brilliant. I like the direction and the shaky hand-held camera of Cloverfield is replaced with tripod scenes, which is good. The use of the camera is amazing, and is one the main elements with which they achieved the claustrophobic and exciting atmosphere of the movie.
The story is very thrilling and I watched most of the movie not even leaning back, almost literally hanging on the edge of my seat. The story is very unpredictable and to the last minute you are going to rethink whether you are right, or not. The characters are done and portrayed so well, you change your own opinion back and forth all the time.
The acting is also great, especially John Goodman does an awesome job as the doomsday prepper and the character is very interesting. Mary Winstead's character is also good, but mostly I liked the actress' job, as it was surprisingly good.
I don't really find that much to complain about, and this is one those movies, that when coming closer to the end, you just think to yourself "no, don't end ever." It's exciting, with few even scary scenes, and just simply amazing movie to watch. Even though like 80% of the setting is in underground bunker, it doesn't stop or slow down even for once. The pacing is just a notch on, perfect.
I rate it 4,5/5 - simply because I don't want to raise it among the "best movies in the world". Though it was great, you can always improved that one bit more. But, I assure this won't be a disappointment, just as long as you don't go in expecting a Cloverfield-like alien movie with constant explosions and special effects, because this one ain't like that.
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Movie review: The Infiltrator
I decided to do a review here, before the Civilization after all. First, I just want to say, that I usually hate that, when half of the review is just retelling what happened in the movie, so here, my reviews will always be spoiler-free and I won't ramble about the story no more, than what you could find out from the back cover.
The movie is The Infiltrator. It is directed by Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) and written my his writer-mom, Ellen Brown Furman. The movies is based on Rober Mazur's autobiography of the time when he was working as an undercover in the 80's. Mazur played as a corrupt businessman that infiltrated the Pablo Escobar's money laundering organization. On the main roles we see the great Bryan Cranston, probably most well known from the TV series Breaking Bad, and Diane Kruger, who plays Mazur's undercover partner. You'll know her most likely from Inglourious Basterds and National Treasure.
The strongest aspect of the movie definitely is the acting. Cranston does amazing job here with all his micro expressions, which makes his acting very real and live-like. The character development is good and you do really grow onto the characters, caring for them, which makes the intense and exciting scenes more so - you don't want them to get caught.
The true crime story genre has is a difficulties: the makers have to balance between believable, but maybe boring and dramatized, but not-so-believable, and I think they took one step to the wrong direction here. It can be a bit boring at few times and I missed some more drama and exciting moments. Do we really want to see what actually happened? Not always. I think documentary is for that, a movie should be a bit dramatized.
From here we get to the worse parts of the movie: I think it was slightly too long, I one time had the thought: "hmm, how long is this gonna last again", which is in my book, not really a good thing. The pacing seemed also a bit off sometimes, as it seemed to jump from events to other and following the movie, at least at the start, was a bit difficult, if you didn't focus on it all the time. New characters were introduced pretty quick, and you were left wondering, who is this guy? What does he do? What does it matter to the story? It did, however, get better till the end.
In short: it's a good movie. If you like true story based undercover crime movies, this is a good one to check out. It was intense and exciting enough at moments, though could have been more of that at some scenes. Just don't expect an action movie, but a movie about characters, especially Cranston's one, in which we get to see how he grows and changes as a person, when he needs to live in the grim business world of drugs.
I'll give it 3,5 out of 5. In it's genre, there are better options, so that's why I didn't want to raise it onto the same level with them. If you like precisely the true story based undercover criminal movie type, this is worth checking out, but if the genre is a bit off, I guess you will see some flaws in it.
The half star comes, because I don't want to drop it among the mediocre mass production stuff either. It has flaws, but is still solid and watchable, if you like the style.
* * *
The movie is The Infiltrator. It is directed by Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) and written my his writer-mom, Ellen Brown Furman. The movies is based on Rober Mazur's autobiography of the time when he was working as an undercover in the 80's. Mazur played as a corrupt businessman that infiltrated the Pablo Escobar's money laundering organization. On the main roles we see the great Bryan Cranston, probably most well known from the TV series Breaking Bad, and Diane Kruger, who plays Mazur's undercover partner. You'll know her most likely from Inglourious Basterds and National Treasure.
The strongest aspect of the movie definitely is the acting. Cranston does amazing job here with all his micro expressions, which makes his acting very real and live-like. The character development is good and you do really grow onto the characters, caring for them, which makes the intense and exciting scenes more so - you don't want them to get caught.
The true crime story genre has is a difficulties: the makers have to balance between believable, but maybe boring and dramatized, but not-so-believable, and I think they took one step to the wrong direction here. It can be a bit boring at few times and I missed some more drama and exciting moments. Do we really want to see what actually happened? Not always. I think documentary is for that, a movie should be a bit dramatized.
From here we get to the worse parts of the movie: I think it was slightly too long, I one time had the thought: "hmm, how long is this gonna last again", which is in my book, not really a good thing. The pacing seemed also a bit off sometimes, as it seemed to jump from events to other and following the movie, at least at the start, was a bit difficult, if you didn't focus on it all the time. New characters were introduced pretty quick, and you were left wondering, who is this guy? What does he do? What does it matter to the story? It did, however, get better till the end.
In short: it's a good movie. If you like true story based undercover crime movies, this is a good one to check out. It was intense and exciting enough at moments, though could have been more of that at some scenes. Just don't expect an action movie, but a movie about characters, especially Cranston's one, in which we get to see how he grows and changes as a person, when he needs to live in the grim business world of drugs.
I'll give it 3,5 out of 5. In it's genre, there are better options, so that's why I didn't want to raise it onto the same level with them. If you like precisely the true story based undercover criminal movie type, this is worth checking out, but if the genre is a bit off, I guess you will see some flaws in it.
The half star comes, because I don't want to drop it among the mediocre mass production stuff either. It has flaws, but is still solid and watchable, if you like the style.
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Welcome!
You probably didn't get to read the first texts I had written here, but it doesn't really matter. I tried to do like a traditional blog, but I figured out it just wasn't my thing. I decided to go towards a bit different direction:
I planned to do something I know how to: criticize. Sure, one just can't start running down someone else's work, but I've had my share of experience from evaluating for fun. I though, why not dig into this a bit deeper.
I was hoping to make reviews of all kinds: movies, games, music and what else. Most likely my interests will go mostly towards the first two, but hopefully I'll get some music album and book reviews too.
Next week I will probably start with Civilization VI in form of first impressions, as in I'll pretty much just walk through my first feelings. After a 50 hours, or so, of time played, I'll make sure to do a full review.
Cheers and thanks for now, be back next week!
I planned to do something I know how to: criticize. Sure, one just can't start running down someone else's work, but I've had my share of experience from evaluating for fun. I though, why not dig into this a bit deeper.
I was hoping to make reviews of all kinds: movies, games, music and what else. Most likely my interests will go mostly towards the first two, but hopefully I'll get some music album and book reviews too.
Next week I will probably start with Civilization VI in form of first impressions, as in I'll pretty much just walk through my first feelings. After a 50 hours, or so, of time played, I'll make sure to do a full review.
Cheers and thanks for now, be back next week!
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