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carl_Deconinck
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Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
Not worth to watch
I am a lifelong fan of the franchise. After seeing the 'woke' reviews I wanted to watch the movie even more. Rambo 4 was a great and fun watch so my expectations were sky high. Stallone is a capable man who knows his strengths and flaws, we saw that in Rambo 4 but as well in the Creed series. The director also made some very decent action movies who knew exactly what they were. Everything was set up for Rambo to go out with a bang.
Unfortunately this was not the case. This movie is a train wreck and the worst I've seen in a long long time. I want to start with the biggest problem, but there are just to many. I'll just write what comes in mind.
The movie does not know what it is, so it never finds a good pace or development. It contains several styles that don't mesh. The introduction takes way, way to long, some events make no scene, the dialogues are stupid, the action is underwhelming, the ending is has no satisfaction, there is no big fight scene or machine gun action that's worth a movie ticket, ...
There are some grains of potential in the movie (the gore, the location of the final act, the opponents) but they lead to nowhere, but many characters, scenes and dialogues lead to nowhere.
I truly felt sad after watching this movie. Avoid at all costs.
People who want to watch it, "to know what it is", remember the final season of game of thrones. It just ruins your mind. Don't do it.
Creed II (2018)
A good movie about beeing a good person
The Rocky movies have created some great cinema about life. Rocky I, II, Balboa and Creed I all succeeded in making deeply-human portrayals of real and relatable people.
Creed II did it again. This time the boxing, even though probably best executed and filmed ever in a Rocky movie, isn't even all that important. Make no mistake, the big training scenes are in line with the classics and you feel the bodyshots landing, but suprisingly it's just the background of the story.
The real punch of the film lies in it's showing of what life is all about. Doing your best, loving and caring and be there for your family. With a special emphasis on fatherhood. In a very subtile and non-preachy way. A feat in these SWJ-times.
The relationships between Rocky and Adonis, between Adonis and his daughter and between the Drago's are all key in this movie and carry the emotional weight of the film. In a classy way it's a conservative tribute to family love.
It's not the best Rocky movie of all time, but it is a realy good one, and for beeing number so much, that's an impressive stunt. More than worth it's ticket price.
Where to Invade Next (2015)
Unnuanced leftist propaganda
No context, no hard questions, just showing some benefits of the social system in Europe and interviewing far left people. We know America has less social protection and a lot of things can be said about it, but listening to Moore won't help. If he thinks America should not invest so much in the military, then he should go ask the Europeans if they want to invest in the military, because the social system in Europe exists under an American umbrella. That's a talk that could give some insight. He also singles out exceptional cases that are not representative. He could find most of the things in the US of A as well.
Neighbors (2014)
Not funny, at all
I had 1 laugh in this entire movie, and it was when they showed a scene from "the office US", everything else was just painstakingly humorless. It was vulgar, dumb and boring. Do not watch. Seth Rogan did his thing again, where he propagates drug use for no reason what so ever. It's the only thing that distinguishes his characters in movies. He's always the vulgar, lazy drug using average Joe. Not funny, not cool, not sad, not dramatic, not relevant. His last funny scene is years in the past.
The rest of the film is just as irrelevant. The comedy is absent, but the writing is deplorable. The dialogs truly are dramatic. The best actor in the movie was the baby, who looked cute. Everyone else was lost.
If you have a copy of this movie, destroy it.
Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter (2013)
As far as series go, the quality does not get higher
Due to historical reasons (the Nazi's lost so they are the baddies, America are the goodies) and economical reasons (American and British productions get more money than German ones) our cultural approach of World War II has mostly been one sided. There are several good and excellent "allied" productions in all the genres, from comedy to drama. Yet, they are overwhelmingly in one perspective and tend to show the Germans as Disney-like villains. In the best case we see nuances that are often based on impressions and real-live events from veterans and the like.
The mere fact that we see the conflict from another perspective alone is reason enough to watch this series. But there is more, much much more. Even American or British series have lower budgets than most movies, so action isn't always what it should be. Band of brothers and the like are rare gems on that issue. Here, for a European series in a relatively small language-reservoir the action is very, very well done. Besides that, we have a fantastic view from several people with a diversity of opinions and features who get caught up in the waves of history. The character development is captivating and credible. We see how ordinary people with ordinary lives do what they do and we understand it, even when we don't agree. It's so very human. Instead of villains and thugs, we see how rhetoric, political realities and power relations mold people and peoples. Everything they do, everything we see, it's all very credible and realistic. If you want to see how people lived there and then, you definitely need to watch this
For the rest, on a technical point of view, it's all top notch: the acting, the screenplay, the directing, the sound, etc etc. This is a German classic that can stand next to the great movies Stalingrad and Das Boot. A real must see. By all standards.
Red Dawn (2012)
What did you expect?
A lot of the reviews here way are to negative. Sure, the original movie was better and yes the story has a potential that is not being used at its maximal capacity. But let's admit that the genre is what it is, a remake of a B-action movie. a lot worse is being thrown at us, so hold your horses on this one.
Just turn off your brain and enjoy seeing people shooting at people. Unless it's a really really smart movie and it wants to show the American audience that invaders with a superior army and technology who live in an ideological bubble and have no real connection with the land they are invading never will win the hearts and minds of the population and might rightfully loose in their endeavor. If so, the movie is quite brilliant. OK, no, that probably is not the case. But still. It's what it is and everyone could expect what it is: A mediocre action flick.