Arrival - My Reel Reviews

My Reel Reviews

Arrival (PG-13) Released: November 11, 2016

My Rating: 9.5 out of 10

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Before:

My expectations when I first saw the trailer wasn't much.. I actually wasn't thinking this movie would be good, rather terrible actually. But as this movie came out I was hearing amazing things about it and I started to get curious.

Plot:

The plot without putting any spoilers is simple, Earth is normal till one day 12 pods show up all around the world. No one knows why, what they are, or what they want. So the government hires Amy Adam's character, Louise Banks to make contact with whatever is there and see if she can communicate with the "aliens".

Themes & Tone:

Without spoiling much this movies purpise was to entertain and that it does. Very serious tone. Not your typical alien film with non stop explosions and action, rather this one is a more realistic take on the subject with serious maters. This movie gives off a vibe that just keeps you curious the whole time with plenty of questions. Keeps you engaged.

Acting & Characters:

Everyone seems to hate Amy Adam's I personally don't hate her and I actually enjoyed her very much in this movie. She was a great casting choice for the female role. Her acting in it was good and also realistic. Good job to her! Jeremy Renner was also good being a likeable/relatable scientist. He's always been an actor I enjoy to see so it was nice having him he a main character in here giving off a charming/witty vibe often bringing comic relief to the serious film. Forest Whitaker was also in this movie and it was a treat seeing him! I love seeing him in movies and he played Colonel Weber good and I enjoyed him every time he was on screen. Such a likeable guy even though he was a bit tough at times. Besides that everyone else was good and gave good performances! Great cast!

Direction:

The director Denis Villeneuve is outstanding. His work here is amazing. I was blown away by this film. His direction kept me invested the whole time. His direction helps this movie flow perfectly. The way he directs the movie and what direction he takes it in made me happy. Finally. A realistic drama on aliens. Now don't get me wrong I'm a huge fan of fun alien type movies like Aliens which is still amazing! But I love how realistic his take is on this! It was so refreshing to me!

Score:

I really enjoyed the score! The soundtrack was amazing. It really set the tone during certain scenes. Playing creepy/eerie music during a serious or intense scene. Really made each scene better adding more feel to it. Added to the whole experience. A movie like this needs a good score.

Cinematography:

This movie had me in awe. From start to finish, this movie blew me away with its cinematography. It's so beautifully shot. That was definelty one of my favorite aspects of this film. Some of the shots were jaw dropping! The whole movie I just sat and watched each scene blow me away by its cinematography. It was eye candy. One of the best looking movies I've seen.

Production Design:

The set design was amazing! Everything was so real. It was filmed in such pretty places and made up for great scenery! The alien ship was one of my favorite set designs. It gave off such a strange vibe. In a good way! The whole time I was curious of the ship, a little creeped out too! It was very well made! Very original also. Everything else was good with good sets reguarding beautiful environment!

Special Effects:

The special effects were great! Everything looked so real! Especially the alien pods, they looked like they were actually there! The aliens they selves looked good! Sound effects were also great! The sound effects from the roaring of jets above the alien site, to the aliens them selves were very cool to me! Each sound like that was so loud compared to what else was going on in the movie and that really stood out to me. Also made it better being in a theatre with surround sound.

Editing:

Editing was good! The scene transition was good! Everything flows very well! Certain scenes flowed with other scenes in a very cool way with avoiding spoilers I'll just keep it at that...

Pace:

The pace was good! It all stayed at a steady pace and kept me intrigued.  Never jumped around a lot always just kept going steady.

Dialogue:

Dialogue was good in this movie! It kept me interested in the story the whole entire time! Only advice I have for some one going to watch this, pay attention very close to the dialogue cause that is what will help you undertand the movie without getting confused. There was good charming dialogue that relieved ome tension but wasn't out of placed. It still fit. Most the joking dialogue came from Jeremy Renners character.

Conclusion:

My final conclusion. I loved this movie. One of my favorite movies all year. It was so beautifully shot with amazing cinematography! The cast also to me was a very good choice and they entertained me the whole time. It was a good take on the subject of aliens coming to earth. Was more a serious drama then a blow em up movie. Also it was complex, if you don't pay attention it will break your mind. But when it all comes together, it's such a cool feeling and has a great outcome! I was left very satisfied after. Such an original and refreshing take on what we have seen a million times. Great job to everyone who helped make this film! I recommend seeing this movie as soon as possible, but don't expect a action packed sci-fi, but rather a complex alien film with great story telling! Very good. Loved it.

Doctor Strange - My Reel Reviews

My Reel Reviews

Doctor Strange (PG-13) Released: November 4, 2016

My Rating: 8.5 out of 10

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Before:

Before I saw this movie, I saw I think just one trailer. Looked cool, but didn't blow me away. After that I just kinda let this movie pass by, but heard from other people that the trailers were awesome. Was also late on his movie. So I heard lots about this movie when it came out, all good. Very good. So my expectations were pretty high before seeing this. Plus it's a Marvel movie so I've become accustomed to high expectations when it comes to there movies.

Plot:

The movie plot is Dr. Stephen Strange is going a good career when he gets into a bad car crash. It makes him lose the ability to use his hands, and medicine or nothing helps. So he goes to find someone who may be able to help and eventually gets trained by sorcerers. Then evil comes and he must stop it. That's the quick summary with little spoilers!

Themes & Tone:

This movie was meant to entertain like all Marvel movies. And it did deliver! The tone ranges like most marvel movies with some serious moment, some comedy moments, fun moments with lots of fun action, etc. This movie balances all those tones very well also, it all fits. Besides that not much to touch on here.

Acting & Characters:

Benedict Cumberbatch. Wow. This guy is a star. I want to see this guy in more stuff! He was fantastic! The way he portrayed his character was amazing! I loved every second of him. He has such. Good acting range. You can tell he had fun with this movie and it payed off! What a great guy. Tilda Swinton also gave a great performance! I really enjoyed her character in this and she nailed her role. Chiwetel Ejiofer played the charming side kick. Only problem I had was at times he exaggerated his role a little to much to me, but besides that I found him a fun character. For the villain which was played by Mads Mikkelsen, he was mediocre. It's not his fault though, more of the scripts I would say. He wasn't given a whole lot to work with so I don't put this on him, but I did enjoy him still. He just didn't quite capture that menacing villain feel.

Direction:

The direction of this movie was great! The director was very good! Hands up to him.  There were some shots in this movie I was so impressed! The way the action is directed as well is great! You can tell what's going on the whole time no "shaky cam" which is good when two people are fighting. The color scheme also in this movie really caught my eye. Loved it! I liked the way the director, Scott Derrickson told the story, kept me engaged in the movie. Never was I bored.  He also directed the movie Sinister which I really enjoy, so I'd like to see more of this director in the future!

Score:

The score was good. Nothing outstanding but good. Soundtrack fit in when needed such as in a battle certain music would play to get you engaged and such. It didn't blow me away in any way what so ever but it wasn't terrible so just mediocre.

Cinematography:

The cinematography is good, especially during moments wit CGI in it. Breath taking shots honestly. There were shots where I was super impressed actually. The camera shots and angles were all good and flowed very well. Impressed! The shots during the fighting were amazing too! It didn't make it look like a cluster of a mess, it was clean and cool looking when spells were going all over the place.

Production Design:

The sets in this movie were awesome! They were so cool and breathtaking! Especially when the CGI was implemented and buildings were turning upside down and people were running on walls, way cool! The costume design... the costume design was amazing! One of the number one things that stood out to me! Doctor Strange's costume was SO COOL! That was my favorite costume! Everyone else had good ones too! They looked real and authentic, very impressed! Marvel always does great in this department!

Special Effects:

The special effects in this movie... OUTSTANDING. They were so good! If I'm being honest I might go as far to say they were the best I've ever seen... they're that good. They looked so real! They were so mind bending and cool!! It was eye candy honestly. Big props to every who helped make this movie look so incredible! The SFX fit perfect into the story and weren't out of placed, it was all perfectly needed and payed off.

Editing:

Editing was good in this movie! Every scene transition flowed well! Wasn't choppy at all.

Pace:

The pace was good for the most part! There was a time in the movie, the beginning when he first got injured, where I feel like it went by a bit to fast. It skimmed through him trying to get help and medication to heal a little too much.. but besides that it flowed good!

Dialogue:

Dialougue was good and kept me entertained! Funny dialogue also that made people chuckle and made me smile. Dialogue was good and not TOO serious which is what you need for a movie like this. Dialogue was easy to follow as well and helped you know what is going on and what you need to know.

Conclusion:

In conclusion this movie was fantastic! I really reccomend seeing this ASAP if you haven't seen it already! Very good movie over all. Marvel does not dissapoint with this movie and Benedict Cumberbatch is FANTASTIC! Very cool story, with great action sequences! I want to be a sorcerer now and be able to do cool magic like this. Also want Doctor Strange's costume.. so cool. SFX were outstading. That alone is worth seeing how good they are! Acting was all good! This is a movie I would definitely buy on Blu-Rey!

Hacksaw Ridge - My Reel Review

Hacksaw Ridge is a World War 2 film that is based on a true story directed by Mel Gibson. In this movie you have Andrew Garfield, Teresa Palmer, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthigton, and many more talented members of the cast. Quick little info on what the movie is about, Desmond Dos played by Andrew Garfield enlists himself in the military during WWII to go save lives as a medic. The only catch is, he won't use a weapon. He doesn't believe in using a weapon to take another mans live part of the teachings in The Bible. So he goes into battle with no weapons, there to save as many of his fellow comrades as a medic as he can.

The story was great. A rich story with good pacing. This movie dosent glorify war. It gives a very realistic take on war like Saving Private Ryan. You see the gritty war scenes and when they are on screen, they are intense, and brutal. It gives you lots of character development the first 45 mins to an hour. And for a movie like this it was needed. It got to show Garfields motives and you understood them. It made you care for certain characters. For a war movie, I feel a lot of character development is needed or you won't care what happens to them. The story in this movie is very inspirational and is a true story. Desmond Dos rescued 75 men in one day and that is portrayed in a very inspirational way in this movie and can be a great life lesson as well.

So next off let's talk about the cast. The cast is amazing. Andrew Garfield shows that he has a wide range in his acting career. He nails his role so well in this film. From his accent, to his acting of a new marine in the war is all good. He gave this role his all, you can tell. And his effort pays off in an excellent performance. Vince Vaughn was my next favorite roll in this movie, he was very well at the hardened sergeant. Yet you also see a more touching side of his character and he balances it very well. Those two stood out the most to me. The rest were all fantastic. I feel everyone in this movie gave there acting parts such good effort. They showed good acting, even in actors I didn't know had that good of range.

The special effects in this movie were great. There was lots of practical explosions which looked great. Practical flames from a flame thrower that were superb. But then there were times the movie implemented CGI and it didn't look good at some parts… took me out of the movie for a second cause it distracted me. But then other times the CGI wasn't bad. The practical blood and gore effects were also very great. Gave a very real look and added to the gritty environment. The effects really give off the tone of the movie. The guns had a very realistic feel to them and looked real, sounded real, and showed how devastating the effects of weapons in war. The cinematography in certain scenes had my jaw dropped. During the battle sequences the camera shots and angles were amazing and there was no “shaky cam” luckily. Mel Gibsons direction was fantastic in my opinion.

The tone of this movie is very realistic like I said before. Shows the real side to war and dosent try to sugar coat it at all. When the battle sequences happen, Mel Gibson’s direction does not shy from its R rating. It is brutal, and realistic. But it adds to the film showing what

Desmond Dos had to go through and what he saw. You get to see how he reacts to it all. How it emotionally and physically affects Garfields character and that push to keep going and save more lives. Another vibe I talked about a lot earlier that this movie gives off is inspiration. Lots of it in this movie. I put it into situations in my life while thinking about the film. The way the movie depicted the enemy made me scared of them.. very intense. Made it seem very real to me. Certain scenes had you holding your breath due to the intensity.

Overall this movie is amazing. I really enjoyed it and recommend it if you like movies like Saving Private Ryan and Lone Survivor. Good take on the story of how Desmond Dos saved 75 lives in one day. Has great acting and cast. Good cinematography during the battle scenes which is what stands out the most. Has a good message in it as well. I'm going to give this movie a 8.8/10. Very impressed and satisfied. Good job to everyone who worked on this film.