Palm Springs

POSITIVES…

  • First off, if you like romantic-comedies, and time-loop stories, then this is a movie for you!

  • Secondly, amazing lead duo. Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti are so good together here.

  • Thirdly, J.K. Simmons. The interactions between Samberg and Simmons are fantastic.

  • As a comedy, there are funny lines and situations that you should like.

  • Tons of dialogue between the characters that were great to listen to.

  • There are moments in this movie that are just a joy to watch, like a certain dance number, or a particular part that involves a fork in the wedding reception.

  • Considering the genre, there are montage sequences, and they too are a joy to watch.

  • Also considering the genre, I like the running jokes going through the movie. Pay attention.

  • Even when some of the more heavier themes squeezes into the comedy, they do not detract from how entertaining this movie is. This story has heart, I like that.

  • Oh, and enjoy compacting the sci-fi and philosophical aspects of the story. Just my cup of tea.

NEGATIVES…

  • You’ve seen this concept of a premise before, and it does come with the familiar plot tropes.

  • There are what I would say are legitimate plot holes that don’t get addressed.

P.S….

LOVED IT enjoyeditlikedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

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Superman: Red Son

POSITIVES…

  • One of the most interesting, fascinating, and provocative premise for a Superman movie.

  • Definitely an exciting story, in that there were several pleasant surprises along the way, be it the plot turns, and the alternative depictions of familiar characters.

  • I loved the themes of this movie that should definitely give you food for thought.

  • Animation and character designs are great.

  • Tons of good scenes, and the action sequences were fun to watch.

  • Moves at a nice steady quick pace, that efficiently fills in that one hour twenty-four minutes runtime.

NEGATIVES…

P.S….

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Hamilton

POSITIVES…

  • A testament to the fact that American History should occasionally be presented in such an energetic and creative way such as this.

  • This musical is a wonderfully brilliant telling of Alexander Hamilton’s story. Absolutely an engrossing narrative, and an excellent experience to see how they presented it on the stage.

  • Exciting scenes! Character dynamics! Plot twists! Intrigue! Drama! Tragedy! Real life truly can still provide the best dynamic stories.

  • The songs are amazing, as well as the scenes that go along with them. “My Shot,” “Satisfied,” “It’s Quiet Uptown,” plus so many more. So catchy, powerful, emotional, and educational.

  • Political debates in real life should occasionally be done as rap battles too.

  • Fantastic ensemble cast. Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Renee Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, Daveed Diggs, Chris Jackson, and so many more. Standing ovation to this awesome ensemble!

  • Considering everything going on in the USA right now in 2020, Hamilton is incredibly relevant and prescient, that only helped connect me with the story even more than expected.

  • Casting the American revolutionaries with Persons Of Color is a genius decision. It speaks more to the familiar themes of people demanding to have a voice and fighting for equality, that clearly reflects our modern times.

  • Directed by Thomas Kail, this is a fantastic filmed and edited version of the broadway production, that offers some advantages that you won’t get from seeing this live in a theater.

  • That rotating stage is nicely used for this musical, and the movie takes advantage of showcasing that as well.

  • At the end of the two hours and forty minutes, I loved it so much that I wanted it even longer.

  • Oh, and let’s also not forget the fact that this is the most affordable way of watching the Hamilton musical.

NEGATIVES…

  • I suppose it can’t be avoided, but if you are someone who are not that into rap, R&B, or Hip-Hop music, then this may simply not be for you. You might also need to turn on closed-captioning to help understand what they are saying better.

  • The argument that this is better seen live in a theater is unavoidable, because even if this is presented in a movie format, it’s still essentially just the literal broadway production shot on film.

  • Dual roles; which is common in broadway, might get some people who aren’t used to seeing that in movies confused.

  • Jonathan Groff’s spit shown in 4K HDR…

P.S….

LOVED IT enjoyeditlikedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

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A Whisker Away

POSITIVES…

  • It’s a charming story, that is melancholic, and has its heart in the right place.

  • Fascinating premise and imaginative plot direction, that made me want to see how they get to the conclusion of the story.

  • I really appreciated one particular plot point / reveal, that I’m glad the movie included into the story. Emotionally hit me in a good way.

  • There were some visual gags that I thought were pretty fun to see. Walking on a certain bridge comes to mind.

  • Miyo “Muge” Sasaki; the main character, is ridiculously energetic and fearless, that I actually found her to be very entertaining to watch.

  • The cats in the movie. ‘nuff said.

  • Thematic-wise, there’s a lot that I liked about what this movie had to say.

NEGATIVES…

  • Thematic-wise, I hope kids understand to not repeat the more questionable decisions that the main character makes.

  • Speaking of which, there will be those who will find the main protagonist; “Mugen,” very annoying.

  • Some familiar plot tropes and cliches. How many of those plot conveniences and sudden plot turns can you put up with?

P.S….

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Artemis Fowl

POSITIVES…

  • There were some good world building and plot mechanics.

  • Lara McDonnell was great in this as Holly Short.

NEGATIVES…

  • This is as cookie cutter and typical as young adult fantasy stories goes. Familiar plot tropes, cliches, and plot conveniences.

  • The action set pieces had promise, but unfortunately they just came off as bland and uninspired.

  • There were several plot turns involving several characters that were just so unearned.

  • I couldn’t find myself to care for almost all the main protagonists. How could it not at least get me remotely interested in the main character that the movie is titled for?

  • Josh Gad, I acknowledge that you tried to make Mulch Diggums a fun character to watch, but nope, it didn’t work. He actually came off as annoying and obnoxious. Sorry.

  • It felt like a long movie to watch, and then I realized that it’s just 95 minutes…

  • Fans of the book series will find many things to complain about.

P.S….

loveditenjoyeditlikediititsokay IT’S MEH itsterrible

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Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga

POSITIVES…

  • Has a great cast from Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams, and Dan Stevens, who all looked like they were having fun embracing the comedy of it all.

  • While it’s a familiar story of underdog singers trying to win a singing competition, it’s still likeable, fun enough to watch, and there were some solid scenes all around.

  • Some of the running gags I thought were hilarious.

  • The song numbers are pretty entertaining to watch, and are one of the main highlights to watching this comedy… like “Ja Ja Ding Dong.” Play “Ja Ja Ding Dong!!!”

  • Pierce Brosnan. ‘nuff said.

  • There’s a certain plot point that I wanted to play out a certain way, I didn’t think it would, but at the same time I figured it would go there, but was still pleasantly surprised that they went there after all.

  • This movie is just silly fun, and it’s heart is in the right place. It either put a smile on my face or made me laugh out loud.

  • Fans of Eurovision should check this out!

NEGATIVES…

  • The humor can be pretty basic, or too broad, and sometimes the comedy just falls flat.

  • It’s predictably predictable. Expect the usual plot turns and reveals from a movie like this.

  • Doesn’t always maintain its fun comedic tone for certain set pieces, and just kinda drags at times, plus it definitely didn’t need to be 2 hours long.

P.S….

loveditenjoyedit LIKED IT itsokayitsmehitsterrible

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Da 5 Bloods

POSITIVES…

  • Fantastic cast! From Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Jonathan Majors, Norm Lewis, Melanie Thierry, Chadwick Boseman, Johnny Nguyen, Paul Walter Hauser, plus a fantastic performance by Delroy Lindo.

  • Produced some excellent scenes of exchanges involving history, politics, and camaraderie, that got my attention.

  • The story got me invested to see how it was all going to end. Certain plot turns liven things up.

  • Appreciated the many callbacks and sidebars to African American History, and all the other historical references too.

  • Has multiple themes in the story to digest, and felt appropriately provocative.

  • Excellent soundtrack.

NEGATIVES…

  • Narrative can be a bit all over the place.

  • There are some cliche plot points and a few coincidences that felt unnecessarily cheap.

  • It can tend to meander a little too much. Hope you don’t get bored or impatient.

  • How about a little bit more editing? It just doesn’t justify it’s 2 hrs 34 mins runtime.

P.S….

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All Day and a Night

POSITIVES…

  • Ashton Sanders has got that stoic, simmering rage, acting in spades.

  • His character of Jahkor has an interesting story, and I was invested to see how the film ends.

  • Highlights some cultural and socio-political aspects of living the inner-city life as a black man.

  • This film really gives us a taste on what everyday life is for Jahkor, in an almost slice-of-life kind of way.

  • It’s not often I get to see Jeffrey Wright play a gangster tough guy, so that was entertaining.

NEGATIVES…

  • It’s a familiar story you’ve seen before.

  • Kinda slow moving, and boring at times.

  • Meanders a little too much for my taste.

  • Not exactly a feel good movie.

P.S….

loveditenjoyeditlikedit IT’S OKAY itsmehitsterrible

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Inside The Rain

POSITIVES…

  • What an odd premise for a movie, but it actually worked marvelously. It was hard not to be invested in seeing through the story, and with the characters.

  • Writer, Director, and Actor, Aaron Fisher, made this movie. Literally, and figuratively. His character of Ben Glass is easily the most engaging element of this film. His journey here takes you to random places you may not expect.

  • A comedic factor in this dramedy are the sometimes outrageous things Ben would just blurt out with no reservations and that’s quite entertaining.

  • The other comedic factor would be the almost sitcom level situations Ben would find himself in.

  • Another winning factor in this film are the scenes where Ben interacts with either the firecracker that is Rosie Perez, the always solid Paul Schulze, and the enigmatic Ellen Toland.

  • Humorous, charming, heartful, and even inspirational. Kudos to Aaron Fisher for making this movie.

NEGATIVES…

  • There are some obvious plot tropes that does in fact happen, and makes me wonder if the movie would have been better off without that.

  • I think there were at least two other better titles that could have been used for this movie, instead of “Inside The Rain,” although I get why that was used. Alternative obvious titles would either be “Recklessly Extravagant” or “Odysseus.”

P.S….

lovedit ENJOYED IT likedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

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The Lovebirds

POSITIVES…

  • As a comedy, I highly enjoyed this movie’s fun sense of humor, comedic timing, running jokes, and visual gags.

  • The dialogue is excellent! You know how I complain when movies do banter and bickering just for the sake of the fact that it’s supposed to be automatically entertaining, and then it’s not? THIS is how you do good bantering and bickering, that is actually fun to listen to! Well done movie!

  • Fantastic use of pop culture references and social commentaries. The way the conversation just randomly segue into them are really fun.

  • Far and away, Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae makes this movie so much fun to watch, as Jibran and Leilani. It’s really entertaining to see these two work so well together here.

  • Part of the fun charm of this movie is seeing how Jibran and Leilani react to the situations they encounter.

  • Speaking of situations, there are a lot of set pieces that really knows how to work in that comedy to make the most obvious scenarios into a fun time, like some particular chase scene, diner scene, interrogation scene, and more.

  • With the story being so fun as it is, it was easy for me to get invested in where the mystery was taking Jibran and Leilani, and to see what’s going to happen to the couple.

  • Despite some familiar grounds covered, it seemed to have that self-awareness to know what it is, and used that to its own advantage. This is a well made fun movie to watch! I shouldn’t have expected anything less from Michael Showalter; the Director of “The Big Sick.”

NEGATIVES…

  • There’s a sense of familiarity and derivativeness to the plot.

  • Remember, comedy is subjective.

P.S….

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