bruhgmger2 Reviews

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

An absolute treat

[10/10 · 24 August 2022]

This was an absolute treat. It's interesting how this film is very much Blade Runner while still being very much it's own thing. It uses a similar starting point to launch onto quite different paths. For that reason, I find comparing these two films to be at once difficult and also rewarding. I would say that what I liked about the original I liked more, but there was also more that I disliked in the original than here. You could say the original was a "peaks and valleys" film and this one is more consistent throughout.

As for the film in its own right, I would say there's basically nothing I disliked. As you'd expect, the visuals are gorgeous and the soundtrack is great (although not quite as good as in the original IMO). The mystery at he heart of the plot is engaging and really leans into the noir inspirations of the franchise, which I was always a big fan of. The villain is genuinely menacing and you always get the impression he's got more going for him than he lets on. The world is explored more here and I liked basically everything I got, especially the dancing Soviet Ballerina. The emotions this film packs is impressive; you really start to empathize with these characters after a while, and as someone who really dislikes bringing back long gone characters in sequels I really liked how they integrated old characters back into this one. The ending was great too. Overall, a great film and one I'd highly recommend.

Sherlock Jr. (1924)

Hasn't aged badly at all

[7/10 · 7 December 2020]

I gotta say, the lack of dialogue wasn't as big a deal as I thought it would be. The film still flows very naturally. And for a film released 96 years ago, this one hasn't aged badly at all. There were several times watching this where I thought to myself "wow, I can't believe they actually pulled that off!". With the constraints they had, it's remarkable all the things they were able to achieve. And of course, it was pretty funny too, though I can't say there was anything that was laugh-out-loud hilarious. Still, this was definitely not a bad film at all, I'd say it was pretty good. Probably going to watch some other silent films after this because this was a good time.

Knives Out (2019)

Humour, Intelligence, Charm, and of course a great mystery

[9/10 · 17 February 2020]

This film has humour, intelligence, charm, and of course a great mystery at the heart of it all. The first 45 minutes or so weren't amazing but after that everything clicks into place and the film really takes off. Like I said, the mystery is great, but also the characters are very interesting (if not always likeable) people; it's not for no reason I was never bored during this film. Daniel Craig's character in particular was great, if those rumours about Lionsgate starting a franchise centred on his character are true I will definitely be watching the sequels. All in all, a great film, and I highly recommend it.

The Godfather Part III (1990)

It's not that bad

[7/10 · 14 February 2020]

Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I had been warned. I have to admit, in comparison to the first two, the film's reputation is not without any merit; but those are two of the greatest films ever made, and 99% of films are going to look terrible if you compare them to parts I and II. But as its own film? It's actually pretty good. Quite a bit of what was so great about the first two installments is still there but toned down, and there are a lot of new problems I and II didn't have, so like I said it's definitely a downgrade from its predecessors but it's still a good film in its own right.

The Godfather Part II (1974)

I was rather skeptical about this film

[10/10 · 13 February 2020]

If you read my review of The Godfather you'd know I was very impressed. And so, when I heard people saying this film was even better than the original, I was rather skeptical. After all, this film doesn't have any Marlon Brando in it, and he was arguably the best part of the original, and more than that, any film topping The Godfather is an impressive task which few films are capable of pulling off, what with how good that film is, nevermind the film's own sequel. However, upon watching this film, I have to say, this film might actually be better than the original Godfather. It's hard to say definitely because they are such different films, and myself, I can't really say which film is better due to said difference, but there are certainly elements here that work better than they did in the original Godfather, and at the very least the two films are comparable in terms of quality (and trust me even that is high praise).

Fight Club (1999)

Damn, this film was actually really good.

[8/10 · 9 February 2020]

Damn, this film was actually really good. I think I didn't expect much because of the following this film has from filmbros, but it's safe to say I was proven wrong. This film is very intelligent and one of the best explorations of for lack of a better term "toxic masculinity" I have ever seen, and frankly, all the people who idolize Tyler Durden must have not paid attention because this film is not subtle at all with its analysis of the sorts of things Tyler represents. Tyler strikes me rather like a modern-day identitarian, and the film is very ahead of its time in showing how hypocritical and self-serving people like that are. All in all, a very good and intelligent film with an excellent third act, and definitely worth checking out.

Casino (1995)

About the only thing I can say in this film's favour is I think I know what Scorsese feels like to people who don't like Scorsese

[4/10 · 8 February 2020]

About the only thing I can say in this film's favour is that after seeing it I think I have a good idea of what Scorsese films feel like to people who hate Scorsese (well, that and that I got a kick out of seeing Don Rickles and Joe Bob Briggs). Good lord this film is wasted potential. It's from one of my favourite directors and it has a great cast (hell even in this mess of a film the performances are pretty good), and the last Scorsese mob film is a contender for my favourite film of all time, and yet, this film was a near-complete waste of time. So what went wrong? Well, really this film suffered a death of a thousand cuts. I'll tell you this, the film certainly did not start out strong with opening credits that went on way too damn long and were quite dull, and on top of that even the music playing over the credits was sub-par. For that matter, I really didn't like a lot of the score/soundtrack for this film (in fact a few times I found the songs used rather distracting), which is saying something because this is a Martin Scorsese film and usually I love the soundtracks in his films, which brings me to this film's use of voice-over narration. As everyone and their mother knows, Martin Scorsese is usually very good at knowing how to use voice-over narration. Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, The Wolf of Wall Street, and the Irishman are all in my opinion films where voice-over is done brilliantly, so it pains me to say this voice-over in this film is terrible. For one thing, it's much too overused. Seriously, I was half an hour in and I think there had been like maybe 5 minutes where there wasn't a narrator talking. It does get better, but it's still overused. For another thing, I just didn't like the voice-over narration. Something about De Niro's voice I think, but I just didn't like it very much. This film gets compared a lot to Goodfellas, and while I can definitely see the basis of the comparison, Goodfellas is the far superior film. For example, while both films are rise-and-fall stories, Goodfellas does that job a lot better, whereas here I was left saying "not much of a rise in this rise-and-fall story is there", and even the fall was rather lacklustre. More than anything though, this film just really wasn't very interesting. It was extremely dull and I had to resist the urge to turn the damn thing off the entire time. What I liked about this film I didn't like that much, and what I disliked really really bothered me.

The Godfather (1972)

Trust me when I say this film has earned its reputation

[10/10 · 3 February 2020]

It's very easy to let high expectations get the better of you when you watch a film. Maybe the film is perfectly fine, but nowhere near as good as you had expected, and so you are left with a bitter taste in your mouth when sans these expectations you would have had a fine few hours (looking at you, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). Or maybe your expectations are simply too high for any film to realistically meet. The Godfather could have easily fallen into one of these two categories. After all, when it comes to films that carry high expectations, it's hard to top The Godfather. And yet, in spite of all that, the film is still a masterpiece that enthralled me for all 3 hours of its runtime. Trust me when I say this film is one of those classics that has earned its legendary reputation. Almost everything about in this film is done to great effect. Even things I don't usually notice (unless they're really bad) like the editing and the sound design are done masterfully, the score is not only beautiful but the film knows when not to use the score and let the tension build, and of course you can't talk about The Godfather without talking about the legendary director and cast. With Francis Ford Coppola at the helm of Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duval, James Caan, John Cazle and Diane Keaton, and an amazing story on top of that it really shouldn't surprise anyone this film is as good as it is. There are so many more things I could say to sing this films praises, and so many more things that deserve praise, so many amazing scenes and so many memorable moments/lines, but really, you should just see the film yourself.

10/10