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Superman vs. The Elite (2012)
Very interesting but visually ugly
It's very surprising to watch this kind of movie and end up with the feeling that it's horrible in all the aspects that these movies tend to succeed, like the action, the character designs and the visual flair that superheroes allow to the animators, but it is good in the aspect they usually do not pay as much attention... the script, the story.
Here we basically explore the question: Does Superman and all that he represents, a 70 years ago creation, still works in the modern world? And the movie questions it with as much nuance as you could possibly expect (and some very interesting critiques) while responding with an obvious and uplifting "yes".
It abuses of moral speeches here and there, all embarrassing and outdated, but overall it shows why Superman "still works" nowadays. So it's very ugly... but it works.
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
I low key hated this one
The animation is just incredible. It's hard to believe how awesome it looks still, 30 years later. It's just timeless.
And that's all the good. The story is just... stupid with ridiculous thing after ridiculous thing... awful characters doing nonsensical (contrary to their characters) things just to advance the plot, a dumb plot by the way.
In the end, all the bad I found could've been saved by the music and a great ending... and yet the ending just betrays the "messages" of the story in my opinion and the music.... my God is bad. Every single song is either boring... bad or boring and bad.
I hated it.
Justice League: Doom (2012)
Simple; straight forward; good
A simple straight forward story well told, without time for valleys but also without particularly amazing moments, we got a movie that represented every member of the Justice League correctly, put them in danger with believable tension and a final situation for everybody to solve together.
There is little to criticize, with every short scene well done, the characterizations on point, good voice acting and ok action throughout.
But at the same time, there is nothing too memorable, including the villains, and the animation and visual flair is just not there. It could be a "7", it can be a "6". In the end... it works.
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Now I see why people adore this one
I probably saw this one as a little kid. I have no idea if I really did, so I'm not sure it matters as I can't recall anything about it that I didn't learn reading or watching later in life (never the entire movie nor really long stretches).
So yeah, basically I saw this one for the first time and my God I didn't expect a movie I thought it danced around a teenage girl love for a... teenage boy prince? Was going to be this good.
Visually stunning under the sea (less so otherwise), with amazing voice acting, intriguing when slow and fast paced otherwise and a simplistic story that touches all the bases and it couldn't be more satisfying with mostly great songs (the love one in the second act... maybe not so much). Amazing.
Batman: Year One (2011)
Quality work, but it doesn't click
With amazing voice acting that includes Bryan Cranston as Gordon, which my God does it work, and pretty good animation and visual flair, the technical aspects are really good.
But story wise, the idea of bringing the whole Year One comics directly to video wasn't the sharpest. Only the Gordon parts comes close to becoming a story, but there are too many origin ones sandwiched (Batman, Catwoman, Gotham corruption; Two-Face) that never gain any rhythm, and like the movie overall, fall flat.
In the end it serves more like a preview of a better movie to come than a coherent story about a few but well rounded characters.
Talk to Me (2022)
Overrated... for some reason
I don't know what it was this time as I haven't read even one critic from the usual suspects. But either because of the inclusive cast, or the mediocre "for everybody" type of story, media hyped this one way too much again, but I didn't fall for it.
So yeah, I knew it wasn't going to be as good as people said it was... and it isn't. It takes way too much to get going, with an awful protagonist and annoying teens as the cast, and very little actual horror, which makes it more palatable for plenty that do not actually enjoy the genre.
So yeah, visually low key sucks, but the story is well written and the emotional connection with the supernatural is so good it allows a literal and allegorical interpretation of the movie that works very well and it's not an easy thing to do. The 3rd act makes everything work and it makes it good... but my God is not great and it is overrated.
Saw X (2023)
Brilliant comeback
After two awful entries that tried to be better written and lost the esence of what made a great Saw movie (the "MCU" connectivity of the story, the out of nowhere twists and the visceral violence/editing style)... the same guys finally hit it with the best movie of the franchise (even if it's not everyone's favorite).
The story develops not like a typical horror movie, with actual good storytelling (and not good "for the genre"), character development (or at least characterization), and creating a fundation to later go "old saw" on us, deliver everything that we expect and even some new never seen before situations, while also providing the twists and turns that we deserve. Just amazing.
Thanksgiving (2023)
Ive been lied to... again
Social media "fans" and critics alike were mostly positive about this movie and I finally cave in and watch it with expectations... and like so many times before, I just can't even start to understand what they were seeing. The story is weak, the characters and motivations just non existent, the twists totally unjustified and poorly executed.
The only good things were (some of) the deaths, the overall production design and the tension in one or two sequences.
In the end, I can't help but think this movie is just a bad mashup of Scream and Final Destination (and probably all the others that were similar), with non of the wit and without the edge that Eli Roth normally has (for better or worse), making it even worse because it is forgettable.
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
As bad as I thought it would be
I avoided this like the plague, but eventually I caved in and now I saw it. And it was worse than I thought.
I wasn't expecting to laugh at all, considering that I never did with Thor Ragnarok, a parody everybody thinks is so much better. But I also wasn't expecting not to chuckle once, not to see even one clever thing in the entire "film".
Christian Bale somehow survives this abomination with a proffesionalism that this movie and director doesn't deserve, but serves him and the respect that we should all still have for his career, even after the baffling decision of taking a deal to participate in a Taika Waititi movie.
Dune: Part Two (2024)
Visually stunning again... but
Again Villeneuve gives us a perfect visual masterpiece with added perfection in score, production design and special effects, plus impossibly epic set pieces and action sequences.
But with all the groundwork done in part 1, the sequel meanders a bit too much with some things happening, but not a lot of things happening, which can make the movie a bit... slow at times. Let's just say slow.
In particular, everything scene with Zendaya gets a bit boring and uneventful and she just doesn't do anything for me, giving the only bad and unnatural performance (in general, of course she has a couple of nice line deliveries here and there).
Having said that, the greater actors and characters are the ones giving us the most thrilling scenes and intrigues. Ferguson and everything about the Bene Gesserit; Butler and Skarsgard and everything Harkonnen; Bardem and the Freemen culture. In the end, this type of movie deserves to be seen on a Cinema, regardless of how close to perfect it is or not.
Sicario (2015)
It's good, but full of archetypes
After Enemy, Villeneuve returns to play with a higher budget and once again demonstrates his vision to make each scene (that allows it) impressive. This time the score wasn't as captivating as in "Prisioners", but it does its job. The performances are all good and Benicio del Toro stands out (he has the most compelling character by a mile).
But, even if the script and style of this thriller is super realistic (it seems we are seeing the retelling of a true story like Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty"), we still end up with characters that in my opinion become archetypes already seen thousands of times, which ends up making the film quite predictable and somewhat less stimulating than it could've been.
The problme of abusing these archetypes, which are well written and acted therefore do work, is that our protagonist (Emily Blunt) is without a doubt the most bland, flat and boring of them and like the film in general, stops the film to becoming truly memorable.
Enemy (2013)
It works, but It was boring
And that's not the only reason I didn't like the movie that much. It also was ugly, with a weird pace that never gets better, even in the climax, and even when everything ends up making sense when you realize what happened (if you let some scenes and characters interactions "go", done in unrealistic, unnatural and inhuman ways so the mystery isn't revealed too early), it nevers blows your mind like other similar scripts.
In the end, the psychological aspects the movie really go for aren't anything new or deeper that even some Pixar movies have delve into (The Incredibles, for example), so even considering that, the movie just isn't good enough to forget how boring it was.
Prisoners (2013)
A little dark, but genius
Denis Villeneuve showcases his expertise in the first try at a major budget (six times bigger than anything he had before) and a prestigious cast, creating basically the perfect blend of artistic flair and mainstream appeal, not too different of something Fincher could do.
Every aspect of the movie is just superb. Visually beautiful (if you can call it that with this type of movie), a perfect score that consumes you from the inside and then disappears to let the actors cook. And do they. Every actor does an excellent job (Jackman and Gyllenhaal with more screentime, even more so).
And what makes it, basically a masterpiece in my opinion, is that the movie not only doesn't lose strenght and force with a second viewing, but on the contrary, it gains value because it allows your brain to catch the incredible details of a perfect script (Aaron Guzikowski), enhancing the experience.
Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (2011)
Superb visually; but impossibly boring
First the good thing: the animation is elite. Beautiful designs, great use of colors and dinamic enough animation.
But beyond looking pretty, this was just an abysmal "movie", a compilation of boring episodic flashbacks about characters that are presented quickly, without any flair and grace, and after a fast paced story we come back to the present for little while until we are presented with the next character and flashback.
There is not build up, no tension, no nothing but Green Lanterns talking about past Green Lanterns, and it never works, not for a single minute straight. So yeah, great animation and that's about it.
A Bug's Life (1998)
Great start; it slows down too much, but it ends very well
Visually its... fine. The designs are not particularly beautiful (although maybe that's impossible with insects? I just don't think so), but the movie looks pretty great, especially for 1998.
The story a little cliché, but starts really well for about 30 minutes, with the cleverness that they showed in Toy Story, bringing natural humor to the ""humanization"" of these insects lives, but respecting (to a possible extent) the nature of all these bugs.
It has so many characters, some better than others, that make the long second act a bit boring, but when the last one starts, we have a bunch of character very well presented, including a menacing antagonist and very high stakes that infuse tension in the very good action and making the whole thing work in the end.
Lightyear (2022)
It's all bad (except for the superb CGI)
One hour it takes for the movie to finally end the first act and provide the main conflict for the protagonists of the movie. It's beyond boring and dull. And then, after around 10 minutes, the protagonist just changes completely how he thinks and it's all forced to get the "final boss" third act, which is full of more boring action with forced stakes and not interesting at all anyways.
The characters are all terrible, annoying and/or stupid (both really easily "acted" by Taika Waititi, by the way), with only idiotic things to do to force the movie forward, until the third act gives us nothing new at all and the most predictable stuff happens in this dull and forgettable movie for nobody, because I can't believe kids would be awake with this after 20 minutes.
Toy Story 4 (2019)
No reason to exist
An absolute disaster leaving again the maturity of the third one for a more "kids friendly" (code for dumb) flick with boring action sequences in which the stakes feel small and not as relevant as in the best movies of the franchise, with less and bad humor and more "emotional" scenes, which were mostly really bad melodrama at best.
Besides that, the cast of the past is replaced with Woody and new characters, all dull or annoying or both, and with an antagonist that couldn't be less relevant and exciting. There is zero edge and no reason for excitement.
Last thing: Woody's act "worked", but the excecution was bad, and the "evolution" or "change" in his mindset ends up looking forced and therefore, not emotional, no matter how much the movie tries to sell it as that.
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Animated Masterpiece
After a great first movie and a terrible, lazy sequel, we get back to the care of the original with smart humor, elaborated action sequences that flow with the story told and clever utilization of the characters "abilities" of peculiarities to forward the plot while involving everybody instead of using them just for cheap laughs.
The characters, old and new, act like they logically would, without sudden changes for the sake of the plot, instead evolving and reacting naturally and changed by circumstances. The antagonist is absolutely frightening and his characterization more matured and realized that those of movies for older people.
Animation, acting, characters, humor are all top notch but with this one we also have a super dramatic 3rd act that works in every level and an emotional finale for all the characters that makes the movie an animated masterpiece.
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Overpraised, overrated terrible sequel
Nostalgia apparently doesn't need that much time, because 4 years later, the love of the original Toy Story made the terrible sequel a success when it's a failure of all sorts.
The writing is just lazy, replacing inventive jokes that work and many levels, with meta humor and pop culture references, clear signs of lazy uninspired writers well before the MCU took it as a formula. The score and songs are even worse. The new characters are impossibly annoying, while the old supporting cast has more screentime, with awful results as they also become annoying while also separating the two stars the whole movie.
The adventure is not bad, but it gets beyond silly with all the toys going out of home, with a story that never gains any tension, poorly presented, in which there are no arcs for any characters and the little drama that exists seems forced. So much that when its dissipated quickly, the movie adds a twist just to get a final action sequence and the end of the movie. It's bad.
Toy Story (1995)
Superb initiation from Pixar
Pixar starts the process to destroy Disney animated movies monopoly with a more modern movie, visually and techonologically and overall in writing, messages, pace, humor and action.
Tom Hanks and Tim Allen couldn't be better with their amazing performances, and the protagonists well written with great character arcs that flow perfectly with the overall history.
Having said that, it's not perfect because the score, and particularly the songs, is just abysmal or kind of non-existing, and because even if on paper great, sometimes the reactions of the characters are kind of weak and lose the edge of other aspects of the script. But it's not a big deal and still a great movie.
They Cloned Tyrone (2023)
Weird, but fun enough
First of all, I have to admit, without the pretty great and charismatic performances from Foxx, Boyega and surprisingly Teyonah Parris (only annoying to me in Wandavision), I wouldn't consider this movie good, probably. But they were cast, they acted the heck out of this, and they made me enjoy the movie. It counts.
Besides them, we have a weird creation that starts as a gangsters film, but too nerdy with too many pop culture references coming from characters that wouldn't, usually, ever even know them. But again, maybe because of the actores, it was funny and it worked.
It's with the second half that the problems get a bit more obvious, with the movie turning into weird sci-fi, but with without room for explanations or avoiding plot-holes, concentrating more in entertainment and delivering the message, and I think, overall, it ends up working well enough. Really weird, but enjoyable.
All-Star Superman (2011)
What makes Superman the best... or the worst
This movie is basically a quick recap of what makes Superman such an OP character, the "perfect" super hero, without faults in any way on anything, ever.
For some, this is what makes Superman "the guide" for humans, "what we should aspire to be". Well, for others this is exactly what makes him so irrelevant, like a God that couldn't possibly struggle, even at his worst moments, while we are struggle since birth.
The movie itself is a cheese factory of lines dedicated to showcase how awesome Superman is, showcasing his cosmic feats and absolutely in-human morality, in extremes that makes you wonder if it is possible this movie is actually an ironic way to criticise the ridiculousness of the character. Because you know what movie it isn't? Fun or entertaining.
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
I don't know if it's a better comedy or musical
What a masterpiece of a Musical. When only two songs of the MANY we get are "ok", you get something really special. The quality of the "hits" we get one after the other doesn't end there, because at various times we get those songs mixing with each other with the melodies perfectly blending with each other in a ridiculously masterful way for what it could've been just a vulgar and silly comedy.
And about the comedy: after two kind of bad seasons of the show with just around a handful of amazing episodes that weren't the norm, the creators focused their efforts and made a pretty funny comedy (if you buy into this humor, of course) that surpassed in quality anything they did before.
The only blemish is the Saddam and Devil plot that is fun on paper, but never really works other than some fun lines here and there.
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Amazing first hour and horrendous last 45 minutes
Gene Wilder was amazing and basically put the movie on his back, with a performance impossibly good. The script and cinematography are full of class (for the most part) and the movie looks and feels like an old school horror movie, which makes every joke hit even better.
But then Frankenstein's monster was born and with such a... brute force of a character came brute jokes that were dumber and dumber, and not at all funny. Understandable that the story it was following forced the hand of the writers, but somehow the quality went from 100 to zero in seconds and I basically didn't laugh once after the 60' mark and that makes impossible for me to consider this a really good movie when almost half is just bad.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
What kind of crap was this?
This time, not even the music was a high point for Anderson (except for one Ramones song), contrary to the pretty great score of 1998 Rushmore. I could say the "cinematography" I guess, but it is so alone in an ocean of bad, that is not even worth mentioning it.
The story and characters are depressed but this time the tone is depressing too... but also there is not good dark humor to balance it out nor a serious narrative (Anderson's quirky style is intact), which makes the whole a huge boring mess.
It's seriously one of the worst things I've ever seen. No merits at all. Other than, maybe, Gene, even the actors look terrible. What a joke of a movie.