Movie Reviews: Suicide Squad ★☆☆☆☆

Suicide Squad (2016) 

Director: David Ayer
Genre: Action, Superhero (once again)
Running Time: 123 minutes 

Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto

Blegh. I don't know why I keep watching these DC/Marvel shitty film, but apparently I can't keep myself from them. Because all these films are incredibly shallow, I'm going to do an equally shallow review.

+
Margot Robbie is fabulous. She's making a habit of being the only great thing in bad films.
I guess the action sequences was all right.
Joel Kinnaman and Viola Davis
-
Cara Delevingne is truly awful. Why can't models be models and actors be actors.
The uneven contrast in the film between 'emotional drama' (take this very lightly) and cartoonish comedy.
STOP trying to make Jai Courtney happen!
Wildly uninteresting characters that form an incredible intimate band in one evening, magically.
Joel Kinnaman's American accent.
Killer Croc. What the hell happened there?
Jared Leto's Joker is about as good as Halle Berry's Catwoman.


Please, no more than two big superhero films per year from now on.

★☆☆☆☆

Movie Reviews: The Purge: Election Year / The Legend of Tarzan / Independence Day: Resurgence

Well, over the last few days I went to a lot of different films. Unfortunately, they were not all great. These three tiny reviews are from films that disappointed me (in order from worst to 'best').

The Purge: Election Year (2016)

Director: James DeMonaco

Genre: Thriller, Horror

Running Time: 105 minutes

Starring: Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell and Mykelti Williamson

This was utter shit. The reviews were relatively positive, which I just cannot understand. I cannot find one single good aspect of the film. The concept of 'the purge' has been taken completely out of context. There are no scary or exciting scenes at all. All the characters are uninteresting. I almost walked out. So please do not go see this one.

★☆☆☆☆

The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

Director: David Yates

Genre: Adventure, Action

Running Time: 110 minutes

Starring: Alexander Skarsgard, Margot Robbie and Samuel L. Jackson

Alexander Skarsgard is a good-looking man, but he has so little screen presence. It's just not that interesting to watch him. Margot Robbie, on the other hand, has some serious screen presence, but she's stuck in the damsel-role of Jane. The movie is quite flat in general with a lazy script. It's not really bad, because it looks beautiful and has some nice cinematography, but as a whole it's a bit boring. I don't think I'm going to see this for a second time any time soon.

★★☆☆☆

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Director: Roland Emmerich

Genre: Science Fiction, Action

Running Time: 120 minutes

Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman

All right, I loved that this film didn't take itself seriously. And I love Jeff Goldblum. And I love Aliens. That's it. The rest is just a big pile of impressive-looking nothing. This was, in comparison to The Legend of Tarzan however, not boring. It was a fun, dumb blockbuster with ridiculous characters and a shockingly thin plot. But who cares about a plot when there is a gigantic alien trying to destroy the world, right?

★★☆☆☆

Movie History: Week 3 - Taxi Driver (1976)

A few months ago, two friends and myself participated in a film quiz. Unfortunately, half of the questions were about films before 1980. This is an area of cinema of which we all knew basically nothing. I've seen a Hitchock film of two, but we've never taken the time to watch all classic movies everyone always keeps raving about. So what to do about that? We started a little club and aim to watch one old/classic/vintage film a week. 

Week 2: Taxi Driver (1976) ★☆☆☆☆

I was truly, thoroughly disappointed after watching this film. Everyone loves it, it's 'one of the best films ever' and 'one of the best performances ever' and both me and my two friends just didn't get it. I started looking for reviews afterwards, because I needed to know why it is 'such a good film'. But I found the reviews, just like the film itself, quite vague. Apparently, the atmosphere of New York at night is amazing in the movie. I believe that's true, but not having been in New York, it's a little difficult to judge that. Plus, in the description at the back of the DVD it said that Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) was a Vietnam veteran and has insomniac/mental issues. These aspects of his life are barely covered in the story (he says 1 time that he's been a soldier). I think that, because the film delves into his psyche and his downfall, that these issues should be brought way more often. This way, the viewer would actually understand why Bickle is going through his drastic transformation.

I was looking forward to seeing Jodie Foster in the role that got her an Oscar nomination at a very young age. Unfortunately, her role was very small and not that impressive. The only reason (we thought) that she got an Oscar nod was because she took on a very gutsy and mature role at a very young age. It's not that both DeNiro and Foster are acting badly, but just not as (shockingly) good as everyone says they are. 

A final problem, which I've had with all older films I've seen so far, is the representation of women. Besides Jodie Foster there is one prominent female character and the naivety of her is unbelievable. She meets a guy who has been stalking her for a while and she gladly goes out with him (to a Swedish sex education film)? Seriously, who on earth would even consider doing that. In Citizen Kane (1941) the women were also very one-dimensional, but Taxi Driver is more than 30 years later. And the film industry is not a stranger to strong women, because in the next year Star Wars IV: A New Hope (1977) would come out with Carrie Fisher as the feisty and confident Princess Leia. 

All thing added, I cannot (and believe me, I've tried) come up with great aspects of the film. It has a leading character that I have truly no sympathy for whatsoever and I don't care what happens to him, boring supporting characters, an over-the-top ending (why, seriously why, is Travis Bickle suddenly a hero for shooting a few people to death? All right, they weren't perfect citizens, but it's still cold blooded murder!) and a very limited and superficial storyline. I realize that I'm basically the only one who strongly dislikes Taxi Driver, but I would love to someone to explain to me with specific arguments why exactly is actually a good film.

Movie Reviews: Alice Through the Looking Glass ★☆☆☆☆

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)

Director: James Bobin

Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Running Time: 113 minutes

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter

Did anybody ask for a sequel? Did anyone wanted to see more of Depp's Mad Hatter? I seriously doubt it. The first film (Alice in Wonderland (2010)) was overstuffed and predictable, but it looked pretty. The sequel is nothing more than that: very overstuffed, very predictable and very pretty. 

Let's (try and) start with the good stuff. Mia Wasikowska is always a joy to watch. She's proven herself to be a diverse actress during the last few years with Track (2013), Maps to the Stars (2014) and Crimson Peak (2015). It's unfortunate she's stuck in such a poorly written role. I liked the creative visual effect (well, some visual effect: because Tweedledee and Tweedledum are truly horrifying). The 'sea of time' was a nice idea and it was generally well thought out. I am, however, not willing to call a movie 'good' because it looks good. Every movie that has come out the last ten years looked good, but special effects are no indication of quality.

The main problem of the film (besides a sloppy script and unnecessary side characters) is Johnny Depp. His Hatter is even more annoying than it was in the first film. Depp acts like he is a 10-year-old. Helena Bonham Carter's Queen of Harts is also nothing more than a big head yelling and screaming. These characters (plus basically everyone else) were (kind of) intersting and original in the first movie, but now it's just repetition, repetition, repetition. Also, I get that it's family film so it's not going to a serious, dramatic film. But when I was in the theatre no child laughed. Neither did I. Okay, it's not as unfunny as the Mad-Hatter-dance from Alice in Wonderland (that truly was one of the worst moments in the history of film), but the jokes are, just like the rest of the film, unoriginal. The film needed a much better script and is in dire need of new (interesting characters).

★☆☆☆☆