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Reviews
House of Gucci (2021)
"That one time good gossip story"
PERSONAL OPINION
This is a light film compared to what Ridley Scott usually offers, but the directing is still beyond words, very smooth and well sequenced events. For sure, Adam Driver and Lady Gaga will be nominated for huge awards this year.
What's great about choosing LadyGaga for this role is that this time she came as a pure actress; no singing, so she was able to actually represent herself in this performance, and I loved how she studied the character. Adam Driver surprised me; He has the potential to be a phenomenal actor and history will remember him. The way he presented the change in the character was beyond words. You could sense how the character was a loving and decent husband to a hateful one and how he resented everything he was.
The amazing resemblance, the creative reflection!! This is how professional work should be. Not only the looks and outfits, but the accent and facial expressions too. Add to all this Adam Driver playing an Italian guy, so convincing that you forget he is acting. Although hated the music, it did downgrade the film. I think they should have used tunes better than an actual 2000's songs.
Recommended.
La casa de papel (2017)
The greatest crime of the century
This is a unique story, acted and narrated in a very unique way. We have all been in love and sided with criminals, even when they do wrong things. It is a matter of attraction and belief. This group united with the rule that they don't know one another, so they chose city names for themselves, and the second rule is to not get involved together for the sake of the mission. Even though the professor is making a terrible mistake, throughout the first parts of the show he justifies his actions with such reasonableness that you are going to believe it too, even though in the end, it's a crime to steal. The first part was very popular. Everyone watched it, another GameofThrones excitement and one of the very few TV shows produced by Netflix that was actually a hit, even though they only produced it later.
The second part was expected to live up to the hype, so people cracked every detail that wasn't perfect. Surely, they made a huge mistake by splitting the final season, which made people get bored easily and surely tired of waiting and wondering why they did not just end it after the first mission. But in my opinion, I did agree that it was a pointless five episodes. But after watching the final episodes, I was kind of blown away, like i did the last time, by the amazing ending, performance, twist, and, of course, the intelligence that makes you constantly wonder. I think every actor did their part as they should have ,the amount of time they took to finish it was fairly enough. I didn't get bored and didn't feel that the extension wasn't necessary. I believe that creating the second mission was satisfying to me, and it completed the whole idea. The role of AliciaSierra was everything to me, I even loved her more than Raquel as a detective, she is the evil mind of the professor.
Every fight, every angle, every shot, even the romantic scenes, had great impact, they didn't stick only to action scenes. They made you live their lives, and the second part with the flashbacks stopped you for a while to take your breath and connect you with the present events.
Spoilers
Unpopular opinion is that I believe they couldn't just stop at the first crime and keep living like ghosts forever, there had to be a way for them to live freely with no one at their backs. Without it, you would have always thought what would happen next. They couldn't just live in the shadows forever. But the second part gave us closure and re-made our favorite characters again alive with the story of Berlin and his son, which in my opinion is the most lame thing about the second part, and they just couldn't wrap it up well after they stole the gold, as if they didn't know it was Sergio who stole, they didn't clarify the note, so it just didn't make sense, they could have gone with a better obstacle. The whole idea of the fake gold just blew my mind. I believe even the most-twisted minds wouldn't have guessed it. I loved how they ended Arturo's character; It was the most satisfying scene ever and an appreciation for such acting by Enrique acre. I just loved the second part as much as the first. I think even the fights and camera shots and the directing were even better. Every character had their fair share and the perfect ending was so emotional it made us angry.
Highly recommended watch till the end, they always surprise you.. this series is like a good meal that needs time to cook!
The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
Its a romantic story not a ghost story..!
Horror!! That's what these two perfectly made series gave us. This review is definitely not meant for people who do not like a good scare, but for people who like stories that have some meaning in them, this is yours. Its easy to scare anyone, but its more difficult to reach a level of reality in it.
Both series' plots revolve around the same idea of a haunted place. The first series talks about their phase in the house and the present one with their separate lives and how those memories keep haunting this family. While the other series talks about the story while they were actually living in it while everything started happening, in 1987 as a ghost story.
I would give them both perfect ratings for the storyline, mainly because of the perfect sequence of events and how smoothly everything falls into place. There is nothing I saw that has no explanation or doesn't make sense. The kids in the second series deserve an award for their acting. The little sister in the first part who died is actually the star of the second story. Watch and listen carefully to the events, because You know you are going to be scared you just never know how, thats what a perfect ghost shot is! The second is much more complicated; It's going to take almost 6 episodes to start understanding a bit. The first one has a very nice moral idea behind it, while the second is much more of a sweet romantic story about how love can build or break you in seconds. I loved Victoria Pedretti even more in the first season, she was extremely pretty and sweet. She stole our hearts with the role of "Nell'
The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
Extremely horrific, extremely meaningful
Horror!! That's what these two perfectly made series gave us. This review is definitely not meant for people who do not like a good scare, but for people who like stories that have some meaning in them, this is yours. Its easy to scare anyone, but its more difficult to reach a level of reality in it.
Both series' plots revolve around the same idea of a haunted place. The first series talks about their phase in the house and the present one with their separate lives and how those memories keep haunting this family. While the other series talks about the story while they were actually living in it while everything started happening, in 1987 as a ghost story.
I would give them both perfect ratings for the storyline, mainly because of the perfect sequence of events and how smoothly everything falls into place. There is nothing I saw that has no explanation or doesn't make sense. The kids in the second series deserve an award for their acting. The little sister in the first part who died is actually the star of the second story. Watch and listen carefully to the events, because You know you are going to be scared you just never know how, thats what a perfect ghost shot is! The second is much more complicated; It's going to take almost 6 episodes to start understanding a bit. The first one has a very nice moral idea behind it, while the second is much more of a sweet romantic story about how love can build or break you in seconds. I loved Victoria Pedretti even more in the first season, she was extremely pretty and sweet. She stole our hearts with the role of "Nell'.
The Last Duel (2021)
"How the truth is told since day 1"
Personal opinion
I was concerned at the beginning that it was going be a long detailed boring history story, but the film surprised me with its course and how he took such a small event and narrated it in a very unique way where he decided to tell you the story three times from everyone's point of view. So the movie is divided into three #chapters with almost the same events but from different sides of the story. Even though the story is repeated three times, its very real and very interesting how each one drops details and focuses on others, which has happened almost everyday since humanity started, and its very annoying how true this could be. The Directing and cinematography were on point. I believe this is an amazing experience in a very new way. The story starts and ends with the same scene. What I didn't like about the movie is the combat where he took very close shots which irritated the viewer and made you lose the enjoyment of the combat.
Amazing performance by the rising star Adam Driver, who looks exactly like he belong in this era; He is also doing another Ridley Scott film this november 'House of Gucci'. As usual, Matt Damon played the character so perfectly that when you see him from his own truth how loving and caring he is, and then you see his wife's opinion, you will be surprised that this is actually the same character.
It is a long film, but totally worth every minute, specially since this is a very touching matter about free rape that has been happening since forever, perfect embroidery of the feminist case, and how people should be supportive of every woman in need, and none should go unnoticed.
Hide and Seek (2005)
Where was Robert hidin this horror talent??!!!
This is a new genre for Robert di Nero, yet he nailed it. The movie has a good amount of scares, but its not naive or spiritual as we always see. Theres a sense of neglect and pain in this child that was perfectly made for Dakota's age. I guess this is one of her best #movies, even better than the ones she did older.
The perfect and strange choice for Robert, but when you watch the movie, you can't imagine anyone else playing the role; he depicted the tragedy they were going through and how he dealt with his child in a touching and protective manner.
Game of Thrones (2011)
We needed more season...!
Top episodes
Season 6 Episode 10: The winds of winter
'For more than 15 minutes of amazing soundtrack by Ramin Djawadi with the plan in place, I was just blown away by how you could actually manage to keep almost an entire episode with no words just music and you just cant blink.. how the director executed this episode was enough to make me admit nothing can ever compete'
Season 6 Episode 9: The Battle of the Bastards
'Season 6 just took us somewhere else. This is the kind of episode thats going to make you enjoy cruelty and how euphoric you will feel about revenge'
Personal Opinion:
I loved every bit of this series, eventhough I once said I would never watch it. The acting, the directing, the stories, the links, the new languages, the photography, and the shots were all perfect and engaging, even with 10 episodes in each series. It's the only series that I wouldn't get tired of even if it lasted 20 seasons, and trust me, it wouldn't been enough to explain all the strings he pulled. If there is one thing thats bad about the series, its that it definitely needed more seasons to wrap up everything, yet no matter how he could have ended it, no one would have been satisfied.
'You can't live without watching it, even if the ending is bad, because this series is going to take you into a whole new world and reveal joy you didn't know'
NB: If you just started watching, you might feel a little bit confused and off track.. keep watching, it is going to spice up after the episode 'Baelor' season 1 episode 9.
No Time to Die (2021)
Devastating ending.. yet a perfect wrap up
In my #personalopinion, I believe the final part is amazing. The complete picture of the perfect #villain, story, sound and visual effects, and of course a part of it matches the previous parts. The ending shocked me and definitely annoyed me enough to make me hate the part, but I believe that was because I was mentally engaged with Daniel Craig as James Bond, the same way we felt about Harry Potter and others, He is the one and only '007 I can digest. Lets not forget the amazing role of #Ramimalek, he never fails to astonish me with the way he portrays twisted characters. Finally take the time to enjoy the major hit song 'as usual'.. #Notimetodie by #Billieeilish collaborating with the genius composer #HansZimmer. Nominated for #Grammy awards for best song.
Lucifer (2016)
The DEVILISH angel
This is a very unique idea, I doubt there are any other series that reflect religion and life. The first 4 seasons were a major hit, loved every episode, the idea, the crimes, and of course, the devil. The story talks about how the devil is in therapy dealing with his feelings and problems, and how he evolved throughout the seasons. Reading between the lines, that no one is born a devil, you make one.
But after 4 seasons where everything should have ended, the series turned into a commercial one with a change in the producers and a huge marketing campaign that only downgraded the series. The series exceeded all the logical sense in the last season with a horrible ending. If theres one person you are going to love, its the demon Mazikeen, amazing acting, looks, and the kind of woman strong and cruel enough to make you fall in love.
The problem with the series is the long episodes that could bore you with the repeated ideas. The crimes arent that professional and very predictable, although thats the best part about the series.
I wouldn't recommend it because its going to disappoint you much but for sure you should definitely give it a shot because its one of a kind.
Personal rate: 7/10.
Beautiful Boy (2018)
Father, son relationship GOALS
This is an amazing story, very true, very relatable.. stories you hear everyday at every corner. It is not the first time you see a story about addiction, yet this one is uniquely made. The scenes are very smooth and quiet, letting you sink into the emotions of the characters. The movie perfectly compares the son's life in the past and the present, and how the parents in crisis can't recognize their children and don't know when did they reached this point and how?... this is very much noticed at the end with the song 'Sunrise Sunset'. An amazing choice of songs! The director gave every actor their fair share. I honestly believe Steve Carrell is better at drama.
Personally, I loved every act that Thimotee did.. He is just paving his way to greatness..
Makoo (2021)
LAMEEE
The idea is new for an Egyptian movie, but it lacks almost every sense of the original idea. The movie should have kept you interested until the very end, but this one ended before you knew it. I like the directing and the under water shots. In fact, they actually dived in for the movie. But the ending just makes no sense. There are an enormous number of mistakes that just can't be ignored. They rushed into the scenes to cut short the movie and spent almost half of the movie on pointless scenes. I would not recommend it..
Modern Family (2009)
Perfection in its simplicity..
I had issues with this series at first because of the way they shot it as if it were a daily diary, but once I started season 1, I couldn't stop. Its one of the most amazing, cheerful, and funny sitcom you will ever see. What is amazing about it is that the actors and actresses doesn't change with the seasons. You actually live with this characters all these years, you experience seeing the kids grow throughout school and uni etc.. You get engaged and emotionally excited with them. The level of humor is amazing. In fact, they make it in a sarcastic way about everything, whites, Latinos, gays, teenagers, farm life; everything.. nothing is excluded here. You get very emotional when it ends as their lives totally change, and after all these years they just grow. What you wouldnt like about it is the length of the episodes, because the idea of the episodes doesnt change a lot, so some might get bored.
I'd like to praise the amazing acting of Ty Burrell (Phil Dunphy) and, of course, the best scenes and sense of humor of the Columbian star Sophia Vergara (Gloria Pritchett).
Luca (2021)
"Simplicity makes anything perfect.."
2021 Animation/Adventure
Rated: 7.5
Directed by: Enrico Casarosa, he created this movie in honor of his time in Genoa italy, and Alberto was his childhood friend's name.
"Its a reminder of how friendships should be"
Plot
The story revolves around a sea creature, Luca, known as the "sea monster", who lives in the sea with his family on the shores of the town of "Portorosso". The sea monsters never go to the surface because when they dry they turn into humans. So, Luca is bored with his daily life and always wonders what it's like out there from the things he collects from the boat that goes fishing, but he is forbidden to reach the surface because it's dangerous. One day, he runs into another sea monster who goes to the surface constantly and they become acquainted.
Personal opinion
The story focuses on the simple ideas of life, which are friendships, sacrifice, family, responsibility, accepting one another and working hard. In just a very simple animated movie, you can get all that. It also addresses different kids who are scared of lots of things, standing up for themselves, taking risks and other challenges.. The movie is very simple and colorful, a great reflection of the beautiful towns of Italy. Yet I loved the rise of events, the ending, the music takes you right into Italy. It has been a while since I have seen a movie that reminds me of how cartoons were in my childhood.
I believe this movie is going to collect quiet enough awards.
Luca is a good kid who doesn't want to get in trouble, but he had to "silenzio bruno"..
Rated: 7.5 well deserved.
The Game (1997)
Dull, boring and pointless!!!
Plot
The story revolves around a multimillionaire banker who is exhausted in work, and is emotionally distanced from his family and any personal relationships. He receives a strange gift from his brother on his 48th birthday, which he has to drop by a company called CRS to take few tests to apply for a "game" to be designed for him.
From here the story takes turns and life starts to change where he finds himself chased and troubles begin.
OPINION
After 40 mins into the movie I decided to not continue anymore because of how boring and eventless for almost an hour, and then I decided to give it another shot and this is one of the few times I regret doing it. This movie deserves to be labelled sick on Netflix, the idea behind all what happened is very shallow, and as long as you keep watching the second hour starts to have action when it hits you just 30 before the ending that a cartoon has more to tell. The ending is horrible, and the idea of making a 2 hour movie based on nothing is just annoying. You can add to the mess the terrible production, shooting, editing and the dark lighting. Even the important scenes are redundant with zero creativity, the scene which he rides his car talking on the phone happened almost 5 times. The story had a strong emotional part about the death of his father which was totally neglected, don't know why they even mentioned it? Although the film is very engaging at first with the flashback and the music but the cold acting just ruins it all.
What surprises me is this movie has a high rating of 7.7, plus the director and the music producer which definitely should end in a good movie, yet no doubt it has zero awards or nominations.
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
How she taught them to live..
Mona lisa smile
2003 Drama
Top recommended
Rewatched
CAST
Stars Julia Roberts
Co-star Kristen Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Directed by Mike Newell known for "Donnie Brasco, Harry Potter and the goblet of fire"
Definitely, this is one of the best acting you will ever see, Julia Roberts deserved to be the highest paid artist at that time, the best entertaining, full-filling movie, directing was focused and each and every scene had its effect on the storyline, its the kind of movie that keeps you attentive the whole 2 hours, very educating and perfectly imitating the 50s with the makeup, accent and outfits. Sadly its rated 6.5 I believe it deserves a minimum of 7.2.
PLOT
The story revolves around UCLA graduate Katherine Watson, hired to teach art history at the all-woman Wellesley college in the 1950s. The film discusses two parallel points. The first one is the purpose of a professor from California who moves to Massachusetts, leaving everything behind to prove she can change women's mentalities in this era. The second one reflects how narrow-minded society looked at women, where woman was only meant to succeed in her home regardless of any other achievements, how married women were treated differently, how divorce and higher education were off the table for them, and this all was discussed inside one of the top schools in the USA for prestigious students.
The film discusses the professor, the students, education, and society each separately while connecting them to the same end point through the use of art. This movie features the beauty of discussing such an important problem in the easiest and most beautiful way. It features how a true role model can change your life, it features the ability to turn your life around against all temptations, it didn't miss out on the romantic part, which shouldn't always end up with leaving everything and getting married, and finally, it features a problem that happened in the 50s yet it still affects us now.
OPINION
The beauty of this movie is that the author used art, which is totally irrelevant to the case of "gender discrimination" the movie is primarily discussing, to show you that society resembles art in a way that you cant judge a painting if it is worthy or not, just as you cant judge or standardize people's abilities and achievements. The final scene where the students finally understand that each and everyone can do the same thing and a totally different result will end up. Like the part where they decided not to follow Van Goch painting's rules on the box and decided that each one would copy the original painting and see what it might turn out to be. Just like their paths in life, where either staying home to become a wife or join law school will be a wrong decision as long as its their decision not the one where society forces them to take. Loved how the movie shouted that life shouldn't be only about marriage, yet it is an important goal which shouldn't be holding you back from other goals.
In a world that told them what to be, she taught how to live.
Kol (2020)
Korean horror movie outstand..
Its been a while since I have watched a scary movie that doesn't involve spirits. Loved the sequence of events, the story and the performance. Love how asian acting have improved, they got rid of the pointless high pitches and the over acting.
The Big Short (2015)
Complicated, interesting, unique
The big short
2015 movie based on a true story that takes place in the mid-2000s banking housing crisis
Directed by Adam Mckay
Starring Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, Christian Bale alongside the outstanding performance of Finn Wittrock and John Magaro, both play Jamie and Charlie the Brownfield Fund who both discover the housing crisis.
This movie is one of the hardest and most complicated movies I have ever seen even though they tried to simplify things as much as possible.
The story recreates the housing crisis that happened 2007-2008 in the USA but reflects on the few people who figured it out a few years back and predicted the banking fall that will happen. The first to calculate the problem was Michael burry played by Christian Bale, who owns Scion Capital.
Throughout the 2-Hour movie it moves from one story to the other of each and everyone who predicted the housing market bubble regardless of any connection between them, each one knew one another in a way but no overlapping happened between the stories.
Each one of them has their motive towards the crisis, some of them wanted to be rich others were scared of the economic fall and tried to warn the investors, and others like Mark Baum played by Steve Carell wanted to protect the people from losing homes.
I cant talk enough about the exquisite performance of Steve Carrel, he portrayed a character in a unique full of humor, sarcastic attitude towards the system and his regret about his brother's death, how hard it shattered him and made him question everything. He is the character with integrity who only cared about the people, he wrapped up his great performance with a final scene predicting that no one will take responsibility for what happened and that they will blame it on the poor and immigrants. Loved the performance, You can feel struggle and anger, every emotion perfectly played.
I believe this movie deserved more than one academy award (best adapted screenplay). Great actors choice, the idea of combining all those Hollywood tycoons and still manage to make you enjoy each one as a star. The directing is unique shifting from one idea without interrupting the sequence of events, because it is a hard, full of banking terms he had to add the comedy to light up things, adding different stars to simplify terms such as Margot Robbie and Selena Gomez was very catching.
In my Personal opinion what I don't like is the complicated banking terms, the fast events, even when they try to simplify the movie you still don't get it, subtitles wont help anyway. Its an important crisis that affected the world yet its impossible to explain in a 2-hour movie so you just give up in the end.
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Not the first choice for a mental illness movie yet worth watching
1999 movie based on a 1993 best-selling book with the same name written by Susanna Kaysen, This is an autobiography about her own experience with mental illness.
This movie stars Winona Ryder known for other roles like Edward scissorhands and the well-known series stranger things. Co-star Angelina Jolie as Lisa Rowe and the handmaid's tale star Elisabeth moss as the role polly 'Torch' clark
This movie is filmed inside the mental institution for most of its scenes, its a mixture of drama/psychology that happens during the year 1967 about a girl who commits suicide and is admitted to claymore mental institution. This movie, not like any other movies that usually deals with the corruption inside the mental institutions, it reflects the feelings and the issues that happens to a girl who seems normal to any one of us but is on the edge of completely losing control of her personality. This is one of the very first movies that discussed Borderline personality disorder which was new at that time in the 60s and is still new now because it's the disease of the 'normal'. In med school we studied this disorder in psychiatry which is a deviation of everyday's personalities, in fact, we all can be diseased, this disorder is classified into three clusters, Cluster A as odd, eccentric, Cluster B as dramatic, overly emotional, and Cluster C as anxious, fearful etc..
One of the main flaws of this movie is that it never explained the disease which if you have never heard of it you would come out of the movie with zero addition. This movie discussed other characters with other disorders and yet none of them was explained. Another flaw is the poor lighting in the movie while during the movie you think its a movie made in the 70s due to the poor quality, this poor lighting could be a way to put you in the mood of the institution but still its not appealing.
This movie for a whole two hours puts you in this emotional rollercoaster where you for half of the movie don't know whether to support admitting her into the institution or if the parents are just taking the easy way to try not to deal with their teenager troubles.
This is the kind of movie thats going to make you cry and yet gives you hope for a change.
This movie has been awarded quite a lot of nominations and won the joker prize academy awards for best supporting actress for the great performance of Angelina Jolie, she acted out the role quite surreal with almost no makeup. In my opinion, she always knew how to show how she is feeling even with no words, you can tell the struggle of a sociopath can feel and how she breaks when she loses control over the kingdom she built in the institution and the followers who she manipulated with her charisma, and thats one of the best demonstrations you will see. Yet I believe that Winona Ryder performed two of the best scenes ever that gave this movie its appeal, she was credited with the critics words but with no nominations, everyone's eyes were on Angelina Jolie.
Apart from the actors and the story, in my personal opinion the best thing I liked about this movie is the starting and the ending, the opening instantly grabbed your attention and its the main thing that kept you going through the whole movie regarding it can bore you out for a while with the repeated scenes that brought no change until almost the time they escaped the institution.
Directed by James mangold also known for Ford Vs Ferrari and Logan, an excellent director has a smooth way to walk you throughout the story which can be noted in most of his movies.
This movie is rated for 7.3/10 which I believe can be quite good for only 6.8-7/10 as a personal opinion.
If I'm recommending a movie that deals with mental illness I wouldn't recommend this as a first choice but its a movie worth watching since its a true story.