I remember watching this movie “back in the day” in cinemas and I liked it, but it was one of those films, where everybody around me and on the Internet really liked it. It made me think I might have missed something, as I didn’t understand why everybody seems to love this film as much. Again, don’t get me wrong, I liked it (back then I would have given this movie solid 3.5/5*) because I liked the concept, the main duo, but it felt predictable at times and the ending slightly confused me.

Ever since then, I have re-watched it twice. Once about 3 years ago (where I liked it a bit more) and the second time about a week or so ago and I yet again, I liked it a bit more. What’s changed? I think I let myself to enjoy this a bit more and I also think I underestimated how hard was it to make this concept work as flawlessly as people behind this did. Do I understand the ending now? Still not quite sure, plus I have realised something new, but let’s start from the beginning.

Edge of Tomorrow (or Live Die Repeat as it might be known in some countries) is a great “groundhog day” movie, where we have a person stuck in a loop, unable to die. Or, to be more precise, every time he dies, the day resets. Except it’s not a comedy about a gopher predicting weather, this is an action/war/sci-fi movie about alien invasion. And it’s done really well. Tom Cruise is great, but I do think Emily Blunt steals the movie. Her Rita is really interesting character, and I really liked how you can pick up information about her character slowly, throughout the movie, in “natural” way. It didn’t feel like a forced/clunky exposition, as especially action movies can sometimes do that and have awkward expositional dialogues. But she’s the heart of this movie. If those two didn’t work as well, the movie would have fallen apart.

I really appreciated how the action scenes are filmed. The more new action movies you see, the more likely you are to see bad action scenes, as they tend to be cut to bits, as mostly the actors don’t want to, or are not allowed to do their own stunts (insurance purposes, or if they got injured, it would have stopped the production for weeks, maybe more) so directors need to work around that and unfortunately as a result, most of action scenes can be quite confusing, rather than convincing. Not this film though, as this movie does it quite well – you can feel the madness, the confusion of the combat, as everything is happening at once, everything is all over the place (especially the very first time Cruise’s character is on the battle field) but it’s without you, the viewer, being confused as to what’s actually happening in front of you, where everybody is etc. Notice, how plenty of action scenes in this film are shot with minimum amount of cuts. Of course, that is mainly due to Cruise being obsessed with doing his own stunts and when this happens, most people don’t want to be the “odd one out” and just do it too, allowing the director to have the freedom to plan it properly and not having to cut every scene to death.

One thing I have noticed during my last viewing and what might be the reason I am still not 100% in love with this movie (although I am as close as possible) – the final act really slows the movie down. I can’t discuss it without going into some spoilers, so…

Beware, SPOILERS are coming!

The first two thirds of this film are mostly about the “final” battle on the beach, prepping/planning it step by step, and having fun with it. That is right, for an action/war/sci-fi movie, you will laugh couple of times, as it can be funny too. But from the moment Cruise loses his “powers” and can no longer reset the day, the movie slows down for me. I know this has to happen in order for the film (or the book this movie is based upon) to have any stakes at all, but what this step has done, ironically, it removed the stakes for me, because you know once the main character is no longer “immortal”, he can’t die, so of course he does “everything correctly”. That’s why I also have a problem with the ending. Yeah, I get it, his blood got mixed with the blood of the Omega, that is why he survived, but how come they are gone? Surely, if the time gets reset, the omega also has the same information as Cruise does, so the aliens can plan accordingly…? Or does the movie say that even though the Omega reset the time for Cruise, it still died…? Somebody much more clever than me, please explain it to me. 🙂

And this is where the issue lies with me – imagine this. The movie ends not by time reset, but rather with all aliens suddenly dropping dead, where nobody knows why. Soldiers don’t think about it too much, as they are too busy with celebration, we know, who the hero of the story is, and we as the audience know, he sacrificed himself. But nobody will ever know, because if I remember correctly, everybody who was alongside Cruise in the Louvre ends up dead right…? And then, we would just see Brendan Gleeson‘s character, watching the battle, seeing everything and joining the dots together. If you want super dark ending, he would take all the credit, saying it was him who sent out troops to take out the Omega, but won’t name Cruise. Or we could even do “Nolan” ending, where would just see him, pondering what he should do/say to the media and before his speech, it would end, so the audience can decide whether Cruise’s visit changed him or not…? To me, the sacrifice only makes sense if Cruise stays dead. The movie wanted to have its cake and eat it too, which slightly bothers me, but hey, it seems to be working for plenty of other people, so what do I know. 🙂

Overall, Edge of Tomorrow is one of those movies, where the more I watch it, the better it gets. It has great cast, superb action scenes and great premise. For me, the only downside is the last third feels bit slower and the ending doesn’t make sense to me. But other than that, it is a really great movie, that’s definitely worth watching.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

In a world, that can be really cruel, ugly and sad, movies like Paddington might feel almost disingenuous at times. As we are so wired to always be suspicious about everything and everyone, films like this one are here to remind us, that some genuinely good people still exists, alongside talking bears, who really love marmalade. Although the jury is still out on that one I think.

Paddington could have easily gone the other way, where everything would be way too sweet to take seriously. But it never does. I guess that might have something to do with the opening scene, where we are reminded, that even in this beautiful, colourful world, there are stakes. And because of the caricature of a villain, portrayed quite well by one of my all time favourites Nicole Kidman, the “evil” is almost always looming behind every corner. But despite that, I think of Paddington as movie about family and kindness, rather than good vs evil. As that is the main point of the movie, if you show somebody a bit of kindness, they will be kind to you.

What really impressed me was the CGI. Sure, you can tell the main character is “a bit” animated, but over the course of the movie, you kind of forget that you are basically watching animation. Because the effects are so good, and Ben Whishaw does such an amazing voice work, you soon accept the fact that yes, talking bears do exist, they are really friendly and they really love (and apparently can make) marmalade. Only long after the movie was over, I’ve realised that’s why this movie (and its sequel) are so beloved – because we have reached the age, where if done properly and with care, you can have animated character to be your main protagonist, surround them with bunch of actors and you might just have a great family film on your hands.

Speaking of cast, that’s another strong point. Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent in the main roles simply shine, especially you can believe that Hugh and Sally have been married for some time. I did like the fact how they went with the stereotypical “strict dad, not-so-strict mom”, as this movie presented a perfect example of incorporating this trope. The dad isn’t just strict for strictness sake, he’s a logical business man, who’s having a hard time with ageing, while the mom is free spirited artist, looking for an adventure. We tend to forget that even stereotypes can be done well enough to propel the story forward.

If I were to be really nit-picky about this film, my only tiny gripe with it would be the lack of proper suspense. Almost every obstacle is solved within couple of minutes, so the stakes that do exist in this movie, are as tiny as Paddington himself. And I do understand this being targeted specifically at families and (mainly) children, but believe me, today’s kids can handle much more than when I was growing up, around 20 years ago now. But it’s really tiny gripe, as this movie really is fun, sweet, innocent fairy tale about a talking bear, who makes everyone he encounters into a better person. Well, almost everyone.

Overall, Paddington is one of those movies that’s surprisingly hard to review, as you either buy it (everything is sweet and world can be better place if we are nice to each other) or you don’t. And I bought it, don’t get me wrong, but then, you struggle with writing anything meaningful, as you desperately wish to live in this film, where people truly are kind, if you show them a bit of kindness too. And unfortunately, the cold harsh reality is that plenty of times, that’s just not the case. But that’s not Paddington‘s fault.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Without any exaggeration, John Wick is one part of a reason Keanu is the “God and saviour of our internet” today. If you don’t know what I am talking about, that means you don’t know sites like reddit, where people worship him. And to be fair, there is so much evidence of him being such a wholesome person, it’s hard not to like Keanu. I feel like that is why I have dismissed this movie, or its quality to be exact, as I have heard that it is great action movie, one of the best in the last couple of years, Keanu is back… I thought, well, maybe, but more likely people who really like Keanu want him to come back. But then, I’ve seen John Wick. And they were right.

This film is the pinnacle of “simple story told right”. Your movie doesn’t have to have twists, doesn’t have to be really dark, really funny, or have ton of known actors. All fans need is a connection, to Keanu, his dog and the really simple, yet effective story, of best hired killer that came out of “retirement” just to avenge a death of the dog (I won’t even label this a spoiler, as this is the “I’m your father” of our generation, everybody who even remotely heard of this movie knows that the dog dies) and his car getting stolen. That’s it. That is the story.

The reason John Wick succeeded where other movies (with similar vengeance story lines) failed is simple – Keanu and the actions scenes. Let me break this down.

As mentioned in my opening paragraph, people have always liked Keanu and they wanted him to do well. But ever since mid 2000’s, he didn’t really have a hit movie, or a TV show on his resume. So it started to look like he’s peaked with the Matrix movies and he will never get back to the “big leagues”. And then John Wick comes along. I think this role fit him so well, as certain people might have thought “you might as well retire at this point” and he said no, he kept trying. There is a line in this movie that goes:

“People keep asking if I’m back and I haven’t really had an answer. But now, yeah, I’m thinkin’ I’m back.”

To a certain extent, you could say this wasn’t just John Wick saying it in the movie, but Keanu announcing the fact that he’s back and he’s ready to have his “second coming”. I would label this as a “side” reason of why this movie has done so well.

The main reason this (and the subsequent movies) are as popular and well received are the actions set pieces. They feel new, they feel exciting and there is a very “simple” reason for this – hours and hours of hard work of stunt people, choreographers, and honouring that work by not cutting your action scenes to death. It’s truly great to see an amazing action movie, where they are not afraid to show you where everybody is, they only cut to a next scene/different angle when it’s absolutely necessary. I understand why this won’t really become a standard, as stunt work is hard and Keanu did around 90% of his stunt work himself. Plenty of big Hollywood productions can’t risk their main star getting injured during an action scene(s), because that would delay the shooting, possibly a release of the movie. I get it, I completely get why most Hollywood movies are shot/edited the way they are, and I can’t really blame them. That’s one more reason to cherish these movies as the unicorns they are. The amount of hard work that must have gone to every action set piece…

Every time I re-watch John Wick, it gets slightly better. I remember when I’ve seen this movie for the very first time, I was around 7/10. The next time, a year or two later, it went to 8/10. Now, it’s a solid 9/10. I do need to admit (I might be in the minority here) I prefer the John Wick: Chapter II (2017) slightly more (don’t worry, the reviews for that movie and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) will follow) but at this point, it’s just a minor things, splitting hair. You can’t really go wrong with either of these movies. And all praise Keanu!

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

It seems like every decade or so, there is (at least) one sci-fi movie, that breaks the “barrier” of what sci-fi film usually is (or what it *should* be) and does it in its own, usually fairly quiet, grounded way. You could argue Blade Runner (1982) was a different sci-fi than what the general public was used to at that time, the same way Gattaca (1997) also dared to be different and sneaked under the radar for plenty of people, as it was a distinctive kind of sci-fi – not as flashy as other movies in the same genre, and almost too quiet.

Ex Machina falls into that category too. I remember hearing a lot of really great things about this movie when it came out, and my very first time, my expectations might have been way too high, so even though I really liked it, (I’ve rated it 8/10 at the time) I didn’t quite *love* it as others. And I couldn’t understand why, as it seemed like my kind of movie – quiet, really down to earth movie, with one not so sci-fi idea (as said in the movie, “the question of artificial intelligence is not IF, rather than WHEN) executed perfectly with phenomenal performances by three stellar actors. And it even has a fairly unexpected ending…

But maybe it was that uniqueness I wasn’t prepared for – maybe I had expected a different kind of sci-fi and what I’ve gotten was so different, I didn’t know how to “approach” it. Well, that’s why I’ve decided to re-watch this movie, to see where I stand now, a few years since my first watch. And, no surprise here, the movie played even better than the first time around. Ex Machina is almost a miracle, as this could’ve gone wrong so many different times. While re-watching it, I’ve noticed how any lesser filmmaker would have been so tempted to make this more dramatic, or add a twist or two to make it “more interesting”, but this movie is so confident with itself, it never does that. It’s like hanging out with somebody, who knows they are cool, but because of them knowing, they never have to tell you “You know, I’m pretty cool.” I think this might be the best way of describing this movie – confident within itself, slick, cool “little” film, that managed to not only be entertaining, but also has managed something, that nobody seen coming – winning the “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” the same year The Martian, Mad Max: Fury Road and fucking Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens were up for the same award.

I am still shocked by that, to be honest, as I have never thought I would see a sci-fi movie with a budget of “measly” $15.000.000 beating the multi-million dollar machine such as Star Wars in THAT category. To be fair, Ex Machina is a stunning movie to look at, and for a movie where Alicia Vikander (she was snubbed at the Oscars for that year, in my humble opinion) spends most of it as a “see-through” AI, the movie does feel realistic, that you don’t even question it after a while and just except the fact that yes, that’s how Alicia exists and she’s probably an AI in her real life.

Even though I am much more “sold” on this movie, there is still something, that tiny, final piece of a puzzle, that still needs to fit someplace, that separates me from giving this movie the ultimate rating and I still don’t know what it is exactly. All I know is this – Ex Machina for me, is a near perfect movie, that I liked the first time I’ve seen it, and really liked the second time I’ve re-watched it. Who knows? Maybe, when I watch it again, couple of years down the line, I will finally appreciate it fully…? It’s more than likely. But I can recommend this film to anybody, who enjoys sci-fi movies, especially those, that don’t need big budget or flashy effects to entertain you for almost two hours. Because sometimes, all you need is three brilliant actors, one gorgeous, but slightly claustrophobic house and beautiful piece of nature to contrast with the technology, to make something you won’t forget any time soon.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke