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Napoleon (2023)
Napoleon Deserved Better
Making a movie on a charismatic person like Napoleon is a huge undertaking. It requires in-depth study of his life and then choosing specific events of his life to show and connecting them to perfection. The film maker is short in time therefore it is important for the movie to be precise, fluent and with a purpose. In this movie, the director, Ridley Scott, fails to determine which points of his life he wishes to portray and consequently it results in a piece-by-piece movie which lacks cinematic flow and confuses the audience.
The movie disappoints in showing the battles, only briefly does it show the battles of Toulon and Austerlitz and then a bit longer Waterloo, of course concentrating more on Wellington's genius rather than Napoleon's side of things, where there is no mention of Marshal Grouchy's failed mission to block Blucher's army from joining the battle.
As great an actor as Joaquin Phoenix is, he barely succeeds in persuading the viewers that he is Napoleon. I felt like Napoleon was intentionally mimicked by the film maker to portray him as a socially awkward person who does not know his way around women, or even his soldiers who loved him so much. During the coup d'etat he is seen as a confused "coward" who escapes for his life and is only saved by the cleverness of his brother. But I have personally grown up around military personnel who are calm and composed in the face of adversity and prudently handle critical situations which makes it even more incredible that a military genius of Napoleon's stature would cower under pressure.
Joaquin Phoenix's character lacks fundamental personal charisma which is so evident in leaders in general, and military leaders specifically. The movie fails to communicate why then the most civilized, liberal people on the planet earth during that time followed this uncharismatic, bland leader in 61 of his battles? French had already beheaded their king, and all French men were citizens with equal rights - at least only men. No other country in Europe has achieved this level of self-consciousness for human freedom at that time. There is also no mention of his civil, political, artistic achievements like the Code Napoleon or the great artists that flourished under him.
Joaquin Phoenix is himself or rather he is still in his Joker character. Apparently, he didn't try enough to get into Napoleon's character. Look at Marlon Brando for example, who shines in his role as Napoleon. Joaquin is so one dimensional who seems to be asleep all the time and has no idea what he is doing while the real Napoleon was an energetic, charismatic, young, and quick individual.
I tried to get over his age difference as he is too old to portray such a young person. Napoleon was 24 when Marie Antoinette was guillotined. He was 35 when he was crowned Emperor of the French. Joaquin Phoenix looks in his fifties in the whole movie. Vanessa Kirby's young age doesn't help much as Josephine was 6 years older. Vanessa Kirby plays brilliantly in her role and dominated every scene she was in as a cold, unfaithful, and then heart-broken queen.
It was a brilliant opportunity wasted by the film makers. It could have been much better - as the brilliant life story is already there. The music could have been better. They should have used one of those music/sound directors Christopher Nolan uses in his movies. The cinematography was very good though. The battle scenes were filmed well. My friend pointed out that the cinematographer found his favorite angle on Vaness Kirby when they were in their private bedroom. I laughed more at this joke than at any "funny" moments in the movie. Overall, it is a below average movie. Don't go there with your hopes held high. I think Napoleon deserves better than this shambolic movie. Now I am not sure I will watch the director's cut. I am looking forward to a young, energetic director taking this enterprise and making a Braveheart-like movie.
Don't Look Up (2021)
Great Environmental Movie
A very well made movie with one of the strongest casts of the year. Meryl Streep and Leonardo Dicaprio were at their best.
It is symbolic, satirical film that keeps you entertained and alarmed the whole time. I think Leo got his movie on climate change that he so much works on to get everyone pay attention to it. The science is there, whether you believe it or not, it's gonna happen. That's the whole message of the movie. I really liked everything about the movie and might watch it again. 10/10.
Chaos Walking (2021)
Good One
Great casting. Good acting. Average storytelling. It's way better than your average teen movie. I haven't read the books but I liked the movie.
There is a world where men and women could see men's thoughts as noises but no one is able to see what women thinks. I guess that's fair. I liked Tom Holland. He did everything for Daisy Riley. True chivalry, I guess. He wanted a kiss and she never kissed him back; only in his thoughts. The director could add a romantic scene between them. It would have been a good idea. Overall, a good movie. Go watch it. You might like it as I did. 6.5/10.
Laxmii (2020)
Film Promoting Tolerance For Transgenders 7/10
I don't get all the hate and bombing the movie with 1/10 rating. I don't see any Hinduphobia or Transphobia or Islamophobia in the movie. I am writing this review from the United States as a neutral.
The movie is trying to promote tolerance for trans people and other minorities in India, which I think is a good thing. The whole movie is a revenge of a Trans who has been done injustice with. She comes back as ghost and gets revenge.
It is not a top notch movie, and please keep your expectations as low as housefull movies. Then you will like it. It is a mix of horror with comedy. Give it a try and ignore all the hatred. 7/10
Aarzoo (1999)
Strong Cast, Poor Movie
Aarzoo has a strong cast of great actors like Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Amrish Puri, Madhuri and Saif Ali Khan in a poorly made flick. The dialogues were subpar. A fourth grader would write better lines. It had a typical Bollywood story. Some nice songs. Other than that, everything was amateur and not at the level of a blockbuster Bollywood movie. The protagonist's story was poorly developed. Action scenes were terrible except for Akshay Kumar's athleticism. 3.5/10
The Wild Bunch (1969)
An average Western
I wanted to watch this movie for so long, because I am a fan of western movies. Other high-rated westerns proved their worth, like Once Upon a Time in the West and the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly or other movies in this series. But, I don't understand why this very average movie has so much high rating. It had good story and cinematography. The movie was around aging bandits. The dialogue, some of the acting, film editing, everything else was so subpar. I wouldn't watch it again. Giving 4 and reviewing just to remind myself next time I want to watch a western.
Dag II (2016)
13 Hours meets Tears of the Sun
The mountain II is a military and nationalistic portrayal of a group of soldiers on a mission to rescue a kidnapped Turkish journalist in Iraq. At first scene, she's rescued from ISIS and all her kidnappers are terminated. The operation is successful and they should return back home. But, they receive the news that conflicts between terrorist and other groups is blocking their way. They are determined to defend the last Yazidi village against the terrorists and that's where the climax of the movie comes. At one point, the captain announces an Iraqi village as Turkish homeland and raises their flag there, while waiting for the last standing, "the storm", against the terrorist ISIS group who are about to attack the village at the afternoon. The movie is full of proud patriotic lessons. This is the main reason why this movie is rated so highly. It would give a Turk, chills alongside the good film score it has. The movie has some cons to it. It is very slow for a military mission and action movie, and too violent for a drama movie. The movie goes back to the past of the soldiers a lot. In conclusion, a well-directed and well-made Turkish movie. The acting is very good. It's worth to watch, even only with subtitles. 6.5/10
Magic Mike XXL (2015)
Lacklustre Mike!
Channing Tatum is a retired male dancer/stripper who's been away from it for three years. After his marriage proposal to his girlfriend goes wrong he decides to join his old buddies in the male entertainment group. They go for a last ride to the male strippers' convention in New York. On their way, they come to the house of the girls they meet in the beach some days ago and all they do there is talk about their sex life... Ugh!!!
The movie lacks the charm of Matthew MacConauhey but they took care of including black male strippers. The makers of the movie try to solve it by creating a scene where the band MC is injured and Channing stops by a country club for black people full of women, they find their a new MC there.
Only at the end there is some little mike entertainment for the fans of the first movie. I personally believe that the male entertainment at the end were too much and they all went almost full nude, doing different sex positions on the selected audience.
I wasn't very much entertained, maybe the movie was not for me. Also there were too much nonsense talk in the movie which made it boring for me.
3/10
Knock Knock (2015)
Ignore the bad reviews!
It's not a bad movie at all! Ignore the bad reviews. It doesn't have to be to the taste of every horror/thriller movie fan who seek blood and violence in every movie. You will get amused from beginning till the end. Let me brief you on the movie. All the movie is a game played by two hot girls on a family man (Keenu Reeves) whose family is on weekend holiday, so he's alone in the house. He is a good family man therefor, shelters two soaked girls in a rainy night, cliché of thriller movies, I know. He tries to be very polite and well behaved with them but he notices they are kinda different and weird. The game is lost when he can't resist their seduction and submits to them. In the morning he drives them to their so-called home. The next night they come back and continue second part of the game, torturing him for cheating and for bending the rules. He tries to escape but all comes to no result and at the end of the movie he is buried in his yard with only his head above the ground, watching his previous night's video clip on his Facebook which is uploaded by those girls. It is not a top notch movie and no one expects it to be. In its genre it's a good movie, at least one-time watchable. Give a try.
Gravity (2013)
Best Sci-fi Movie of 2013
In my own point of view, Gravity is one of the best Sci-fi movies made in Hollywood. Probably, it's the best Sci-fi movie after Inception. Sandra Bullock (as Dr. Stone) does a great job and she is absolutely amazing and convincing in her every single scene. If anybody deserves Oscar for this year the most, it most definitely is her. George Clooney has done a fine job too but I hoped to see more of him in the movie. Among all that fascinated me most was the perfect cinematography and sound editing. Those guys work is flawless. I so much loved watching the movie and my one and half hours were well spent. I hope you enjoy it too.
Yaariyan (2014)
A very very poor and unconvincing teen,patriotic... movie by a rookie director
Here we go to 2014's first well-promoted movie, Yaariyan, it may be a commercially successful low-budget film but the movie has nothing to offer to the viewers. There is this College which is one of the most prestigious colleges in the country but due to a land claim, Some Australian businessman plans to demolish some parts of the college and build a casino and a hotel right beside the college. So the selected 5-member Indian team has to compete in a 5-round game vs. Australian team to save the college girl hostel. On selecting the team members the college principal has no reason to select Lakshya (the main lead actor) but selects him only because his father was an Indian shaheed (martyr), really Mrs. D. K. Kumar? The movie is full of unconvinced scenes. The big joke of the movie is the final and 5th round of the game when the main lead actor is competing with an Australian mountain climber, and right when he is miles behind his rival the makers create a big water fall from peak of the mountain and he jumps right close to his college. The maker may have tried to create a teen, romantic, comedic and patriotic movie which she fails in all. The main lead actor who is a new guy in Bollywood is shown as a naughty and funny guy which is a very common quality for the Bollywood new guys. He is nobody and he is everybody. As an actor he has a lot to learn to work in a lead role. He doesn't have the impression of an actor. The same could be said about the lead actress. Those who enjoyed the songs on YouTube may give it a try, as I did. You may watch it at your own risk of your precious time, but I want my 2 hours back!!!