gnekhin Reviews

The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

Corruption and Reckoning

[8/10 · 6 February 2024]

I've personally encountered this movie after watching a thorough review of all the Ryan Goasling's movies. Imagine my surprise when I found out he wasn't a main character of the movie, at least only one of the many 😂

This story masterfully shows how our sometimes ambiguous decisions can lead to the profanity and suffering of others. The idea of reckoning over some obviously cruel but just deeds makes a very profound effect on the story as well as the corruption that puts the second act of the story in motion.

There has never been a great movie without a good compounding story as well as there can never be a great movie without great actors. Apart from Bradley Cooper and Ryan Goasling I was delightful to see many nearly forgotten (shame on me) faces and their accordingly great performances. Ray Liotta (Goodfellas), Dan DeHaan, Ben Mendelssohn were superb in their respective roles. The casting for the movie is nearly perfect. I have not seen any other roles performed by Eva Mendes so far, but she surely gives one of the best performances of this picture

My biased assessment Good movie 6/10 +1 Interesting and engaging plot +1 Acting and Great casting Total: 8/10.

Morbius (2022)

Why we still give any credit to Sony Universe?

[4/10 · 31 March 2022]

This film might have been considered interesting sometime in the beginning of this century, but now it's nothing more than a basic superhero plot with no intrigue whatsoever.

So what we are dealing with?

1) Main charachter's goals and motivation

Dr. Morbius is a genius of his generation, whose goal (at least on paper) is to cure himself and his friend from a disease that involves constant supply of blood. He finds a cure, but it comes with some drawbacks. Basically the doctor will now have to kill to stay alive. I believe this was a basic promise for this movie. However when we first see Jared Leto I can't help but think, that he was an awful idea for this role. His character doesn't show any regard for human life and if he has to deal with life-or-death situation he seems to save lives out of necessity and not because of his moral principles. That's why when he finally has to kill (at the end of the second act) I don't get any emotional feedback for his deed. Usually this kind of action shows us how far has the main hero fallen and why they should be considered an antihero, e.g. Remember how unconcerned Lou was when Rick was killed (Nightcrawler).

2) Interaction between characters.

In the second scene of the movie two of our main characters meet each other and the "eternal" friendship begins. The only act of care for each other happens exactly in this scene, when Morbius saves Loxias's life due to morbius's unprecedented genius. After that we don't get nearly any scene that shows Matt Smith and Jared Leto being friends. Why you ask? Because movie doesn't have time for this. A few moments later Matt Smith's character already becomes the bad guy and well is now to be stopped.

Basically the same transpires between Morbius and other side characters. There's no chemistry between any of them.

3) And finally the awful third act consisting of a lot of CGI mess and some questionable decisions by the main antihero. This finale is so basic so I can't even be bothered to describe it, you have seen it some many times already, so you know what's going to happen before it all even begins.

Epilogue: a few years ago this movie might have been considered "quite good", but for 2022 it's an awful movie that thankfully will fail at the box office.

4/10 Jared Leto won't be appearing in any cinematic universe soon 🤷‍♂️

P. S. I think the only way to pull you to the cinemas to watch the movie may be Michael Keaton's appearance. However it happens only in the after-credit scenes and remains ambiguous.

Annette (2021)

Is it a movie or a bizzare modern opera?

[7/10 · 18 August 2021]

This film reminded me of a new wave of opera directors, who, it seems, only want to find an interesting way to make another performance and not to tell a new exciting Story. I assume that opera directors don't have to find new stories anymore, as the audience doesn't even want a new story, they are much more interested in an another original look at the existing one.

With all this out of the way, I think, that "Annette" is not being understood correctly. The story (even if it's slow and dull) isn't the only thing that makes a movie. If you find yourself watching this film again, pay attention to the acting and editing of the movie. If not for editing I would have assumed that I'm watching a recording of a modern opera or a theater piece. That's why I can recommend this film only to the dauntless among you, namely to the opera fans, who want to see something modern without an additional classical orchestra, and also to the "Sparks" fans, who no matter what will be really happy to hear "Spark" songs in an expensive musical video with a transparent plot.

I have 2 grades for this picture. If I was grading a movie I would have given it 6/10. If opera than 8/10. At average the picture gets 7/10.

Chinatown (1974)

The Movie Everyone has heard About

[9/10 · 3 April 2021]

I personally have heard about "Chinatown" as I was reading Syd Field's "Essential Screenplay". Field has given so many examples from that movie that I've already thought that I already knew the plot when I started watching. Nevertheless I was pleasantly surprised.

"Chinatown" is Roman Polanski's attempt to pay respect to the genre of Noir in the 70s. Main character is a private Detective, main female character is so called "femme fatale", a woman, whose real motivation you will only know in the end of the third act.

To all of you, who enjoy watching movies from the 70s, I must recommend to watch that movie as soon as possible. To all the others, you must be aware of an unnecessary huge amount of male characters, whom you forget just as the next scene begins, I guess it was the way movies were constructed 50 years ago.