portraitofaladyonfire Reviews

Dune: Part Two (2024)

I'm just thankful that movies like this exist!

[9/10 · 1 March 2024]

I love a lot about this movie: Paul's first ride on the Worm, The fights (especially the Fremen fight style), The sound and soundtrack, Watching this in IMAX, How they managed to organically fit the visions into the story, Literally all the actors. It must say a lot if Christopher Walken is the one that worked the least for me (he still worked, by the way), And so much more.

But unlike the first part, there are also a few issues or at least questions I have with this one: Sometimes I thought the criticism of the religion was a little too in-your-face. I feel like the book handled this more delicately. It sometimes even felt a little tacky.

I also wonder how the structure of this movie holds up if I had not read the books or if I look at the movie with a little more distance.

My biggest concern, though, is how the main change from the book - the alteration of the dynamic between Paul and Chani - will work out in the end. I feel at the moment that this was not necessary, and I felt that the dynamic between them in the books, especially considering the last line of the first book, was way more interesting.

I wonder how I will feel about this movie the next time I watch it.

For now, I'm still far from dissappointed, a little overwhelmed and I'm pretty sure that I will rewatch this movie quite a lot!

Barbie (I) (2023)

Brilliant observations, but social depth is missing

[6/10 · 20 July 2023]

Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach have a knack for incorporating the many little observations of life, whether funny or deeply interpersonal, into a screenplay. Gerwig manages to direct them with great visuals and clever transitions.

Unfortunately, the only major weakness of the film, in my opinion, also lies in the screenplay. When dealing with larger societal issues, it lacks depth and possibly understanding. The observations work, but the contextualization falls short. The approach feels crude and superficial. This creates a confusing overall impression, as the finely crafted small observations remain convincing. A film that is so intelligent, funny, and creative on an individual level suddenly seems foolish in the grand scheme of things.

Key moments in the film, such as the encounter with the inventor, fail to evoke emotions and come across as insincere. The angry rant about the struggles of being a woman feels cheap. There seems to be a lack of sensitivity, as if someone wanted to vent without making any effort to package it intelligently.

Any scenes that trigger a sense of injustice and express societal criticism in small moments no longer feel precise and may even intentionally appear exaggerated, rather than being convincing parts of a larger whole.

Overall, I'm not entirely sure what to make of the film. On one hand, I had a great time, but on the other hand, I left the screening with mixed feelings.

Making it even more confusing are the consistently brilliant acting performances across the board, with Ryan Gosling obviously standing out.

Into the Wild (2007)

I love good adolescent movies

[9/10 · 9 December 2021]

I think many people who don't like this movie, misunderstand something. You can like this movie without thinking the protagonist is just such a good human being or that this is the best social commentary.

This is a film about a spoiled adolescent who thinks he understands the world. And in some parts he's right about it. And even though he's an arrogant brat, he is intelligent. And in the end he has to pay the price for his arrogance. He goes through a purification, but is NOT being glorified. The journey of his is just a very good and unique story. He has a dream he follows without thinking about the consequences. He seeks freedom and truth. He meets interesting people and goes through magnificent landscapes.

In some parts the viewer wishes he could free himself from all the responsibilities and all possessions. In others he's glad he's in his own safe home.

This movie takes you on a journey. It is thought provoking and you get sucked into the story.

Chariots of Fire (1981)

The opening and ending scene are just cinema

[8/10 · 7 November 2021]

As a sports movie this movie is great. It captures the emotions very well, the cinematography is awesome and the soundtrack is amazing. The acting is great too.

There are a few weaknesses though:

• The movie is far away from the true story. It oversimplifises a lot and leaves out a lot of events and circumstances.

• It is way too patriotic.

• It fails to be critical about certain topics, but loves to romanticize.

• Aubrey is a weird character. He isn't a real historical figure and lacks of depth and background. I didn't care at all about him. Still he has a lot of screentime, serves kind of as a narrator of the overall story and seems to be one of the main characters, except at the Olympics itself. Why was he so unimportant in the second half and why even bother to give him so much screentime before?

No Time to Die (2021)

A Bond movie never had less style

[5/10 · 7 October 2021]

The whole time I was wondering why Hans Zimmer did the score. Then the last 10 minutes happened and I knew.

Billie Eilish's Song is still not my cup of tea and it is not fitting for a Bond movie. Ana de Armas brings some elegance, but has only a screentime of 10 minutes.

The ending is pretty bolt and emotional (thanks Hans) by itself. Still because of the 2 hours before it doesn't strike hard. The movie gets boring during some scenes.

The stunts are not that spectacular, aswell as the sets. The villain is boring af. The lack of blood and all this off camera violence annoyed me after some time.

Dumbest scene of the movie probably was, when Bond gets his 007 back. When its that unimportant why would you give it back to him, huh?

I liked Bond on the motorcycle and the forest scene was pretty cool as well. I liked the idea with his daughter, still the movie disappointed me :( Bye Craig, you still were a great Bond!

Master of None (2015–2021)

A show that's deeply romantic but still not cheesy, just amazing and funny!

[9/10 · 29 September 2021]

Damn, I wasn't expecting a story with so much depth and heart. When I started, I just thought, it was a funny little show about the small things in life. After a few Episodes I realised, it wasn't just that. And it continuously got better over the first two season. The ending of season 2 was bolt, but very good as well.

I didn't continue with season 3 because of the horrendous reviews here on IMDb. Aaand as I said the ending of season 2 does the job for me :)

The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015)

Mediocre

[6/10 · 12 September 2021]

The real story behind this had great potential. In the end the movie itself is despite some good perfomances just mediocre.

Clarkson's Farm (2021– )

Clarkson genius in this is almost frightening

[10/10 · 14 June 2021]

The perfect mixture of informative, entertaining, funny and heart-warming. Nice chemistry between Clarkson and his charismatic helpers.

Kaleb is an absoluten gem.

Bo Burnham: Inside (2021 TV Special)

I wouldn't call this a "comedy" special

[7/10 · 11 June 2021]

I always liked how Bo managed to put a lot depth into his comedy. You could laugh and feel sad at the same time. Of course you can't really compare this special to his other ones and the concept of this being made all by himself in one room is great.

But still: In this special it isn't always comedy. There are many moments which are just depressing, not funny or clever. It probably was meant to be like this. If it was, these parts were not my cup of tea.

The other thing that bothers me with this is the structure. As he joked himself in the beginning the transitions were mostly off.

Still it's Bo Burnham and there are some great moments, observation and songs.

The Girl Next Door (2004)

This movie is based on the dream of every 14 Year old dude

[8/10 · 21 May 2021]

It has no right to be this funny, but it is. Just pure comedic gold. I would recommend not watching this your parents though.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)

It didn't have to be this bad and boring

[3/10 · 18 May 2021]

After watching the second one in the cinema, I never got around to watching the last two and maybe I shouldn't have. But then again Natalie Dormer is in them :)

All or Nothing: Manchester City (2018)

Bernardo Silva seems pretty chill

[6/10 · 14 May 2021]

Putting aside that it's very uncritical and not as entertaining as the Tottenham one, it is a very interesting view behind the scences and well told. I still can't say that I like ManCity more than before except maybe for their fans.

Minority Report (2002)

Disappointing action movie

[5/10 · 15 April 2021]

Can't believe Spielberg managed to make a movie which has such ugly visuals, color grading and set design. This is horrible to look at.

This is extremely unfortunate when you think of the cool concept of the story and the very good cast.

LOL: Last One Laughing Germany (2021– )

Bully should have been in the house

[7/10 · 14 April 2021]

The idea of the show is great.

Still it's hard to rate this because some comedians are way funnier than others. (Teddy<3). So there is some cringe involved but also some really funny stuff :)

Jack Ryan (2018–2023)

Nice

[8/10 · 13 April 2021]

Really enjoyed the first season, but I read the next one is getting worse, so I will just stop watching (was temtped to continue because of Noomie Rapace). Just watch the first season it has a good ending to close the story.

The Handmaid's Tale (2017– )

Gets weaker each season.

[7/10 · 8 April 2021]

The Handmaid's Tale starts of very strong with a very interesting dystopian future. It is told very slow, but that helps with the dark and depressing atmosphere.

This show has some great acting perfomances and shocking moments captured on screen.

Something that is very interesting is that the horrible footage, you get to see, loses its shockvalue because you get used to it. But also because after some time you get bored by nothing moving forward or being reversed after change (Then the slowness starts to get annoying).

Unfortunately in the second season many of the characters started to make less sense for me, which threw me a of. This continues in the third season. But the worst thing is that Gilead and the punishments seem to be inconsequent and more like the plot needs them to be. It seems like the longer the story continues June can do more or less whatever she wants without punishments as hard as other sidecharacters would get... I stopped watching during the third season because I thought about the logic as a whole and noticed that quite many things already during the first season don't add up or are inconsistent.

So in conclusion, against the mainstream: The Handmaid's Tale gets weaker, not stronger each season. And if you don't get soaked in by the atmosphere but question the plot and the world in its logic it starts to make way less sense. I really thought this would become one of my favourite shows :(

Scrubs: My First Day (2001) Season 1, Episode 1

The begin of a long journey

[9/10 · 1 April 2021]

Am I the only one who thought at first, the intro of Scrubs is super cheesy and now loves it and sings along? :D.

The King of Comedy (1982)

Wanna be successful in showbusiness? -> be a madman (I heard it works in politics as well)

[5/10 · 26 March 2021]

As good as the idea of the movie and the people involved may seem on paper, the movie is not as good as it promises to be.

It leaves a lot of room for interpretation and critiques fanatic fans and showbusiness.

Still the endproduct is a often boring movie. Especially in the beginning the movie takes a lot of unnecessary time.

It took me three session to finish the movie because of its slow and dragging start.

When the story unfolds it starts to get better.

The ending is good, even though it reminded me a little too much of Taxi Driver.

Sicario (2015)

Very good

[9/10 · 21 March 2021]

It's hard to top the intensity and tension of the whole sequence where they are driving through mexico, especially at the border.

Nerve (I) (2016)

Cinematography is strong on this one

[7/10 · 17 March 2021]

Unfortunately the last third of the movie lacks of logic and the characters start to become incomprehensible. The finale is way over the top and inconsequent. I wish the movie would have taken a more realistic direction, because it had the possibility to be great. Like this it was still better than I expected.

Weathering with You (2019)

Does her power also work on meatballs?

[4/10 · 16 March 2021]

A joke told repeatly in the movie: Hodaka doesn't listen to the conversation, stares at boobs Girl: "Are you looking at my boobs?" Hodaka with a tomato red face and high pitched voice: "Noooo"

All in all it has all its good things from your name but is way worse than Your name.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Maybe if i was 10 years old

[6/10 · 15 March 2021]

I really wanted to like this. All the visuals are stunning and it's very well made. But the story just couldn't excite me. I was bored nearly all the time. What a pity...

The Usual Suspects (1995)

.

[6/10 · 14 March 2021]

Unfortunately I saw the twist coming, which kind of ruined the movie for me:( Because, when you can foresee the ending, the rest of the movie only is mediocre.

Scrubs: My Finale: Part 2 (2009) Season 8, Episode 19

Wow

[10/10 · 14 March 2021]

Scrubs was a good show, but it had its flaws. Not this finale though. It was just perfect. They managed to make it funny, honest and emotional, without being cheesy.

Scrubs aside it captured beautifully how sometimes in life you have to move on even though you liked the status quo. It's that feeling of a goodbye, mixed with the hopes for the future. (I know that this sounded like one of JD's narration at the end of an episode)

Truly an amazing episode!

Jexi (2019)

Oh man

[2/10 · 9 March 2021]

It's so bad, it makes you wanna be on your phone while you're watching. How ironic.

Also: I wrote this as I was watching. And that too.