Train to Busan

The zombies are pretty crazy scary. I'd say they were more hair-raising and creepier than Kingdom. That one train lady had that crazy body twisting I've never seen before, and I've seen my share of movie zombies. The plot is pretty simple but how it carries you along into the unknown and unexpected falls nothing short of a job well done. I love how things escalate really quickly. It reminds me of this pandemic we're in. You hear something about it on the news. You think you're safe, everything is fine, just another day. You even hear some commotion from a good distance, then BAM, lockdown! Time to leave work, and run to get your supplies against the mob, and hope you make it home safe. I can definitely see hints of World War Z here, but the scenes don't get as wild and crazy as Z, and it doesn't need to be. It's about people, and their conflicts with other people when survival is at stake. How someone who acts in charge can affect the majority and create chaos with other groups. It's also about sacrifice, and how people change. The ending was not what I had expected so this movie really gets my vote. It's definitely worth watching.

Downton Abbey

The plot revolves around a much anticipated royal visit and stay over to the estate of Downton Abbey, arguably an historic moment of the Crawleys and their staff. Everyone is faced with a challenge, and a question that they have to face and answer. The attention to detail of the production design is outstanding. I’m somewhat convinced in my head that the English and Japanese are related with their level of OCD, manners, orderliness, and honor to name a few. I love seeing every detail of the items in the store, pubs, rooms, kitchen, and clothes. I kept looking at those copper pots and kept thinking of the constant maintenance that must be done to keep their luster and use. It’s just a wonderful break from CGI. The dialog is very polished but full of entertaining witty banter which doesn’t get old because they are spaced and timed perfectly. The cast’s performance are excellent as a whole and none of them takes themselves too seriously which is exactly how it should be. Maggie Smith delivers as always, but here it’s with her great one liners. I was drawn to Allen Leech’s character the most for some reason. To make a movie you can enjoy without having to know everyone’s back story for 6 seasons is a home run for me. All in all, I really enjoyed this movie knowing absolutely nothing about it. This is from someone who’s never seen a single episode of Downton Abbey. Thumbs up!

Mirage

This movie was a surprise to watch. It really hit me with the 80s nostalgia. I can see big nods from time travel movies like Back to the Future and Somewhere in Time, both of which are movies that I love. I was certain that one of the writers, who also happens to be the director, was around my age and I was right on. Oriol Paulo was an eighties kid for sure. I noticed the JVC camcorder, puffy vest over denim jackets, time watch references, and the professor visit to the university. It was just like the movie Somewhere in Time, and was nicely done. This movie is more of a suspense, drama, mystery. No time travel actually happens here though, but more like causalities that affects past and future outcomes. The story was very well done, always keeping you guessing and involved. I really love the twists and turns they throw at you. What compliments the story is the acting. I don't know if I've ever seen the main actress, Adriana Ugarte before, but she was outstanding! She has my vote for sure. Every supporting cast were very believable including the kids. Alvaro Morte from La Casa de Papel doesn't disappoint either I don't really have any negative to say about this movie, except maybe some parts could have gone a little faster or perhaps skipped even. You don't have to be a science fiction fan of time travel to enjoy this movie. That was just a small but pivotal part of the plot. The strengths were in the story telling, and acting. If you want to relax and not be disturbed for 2 hours, this is one movie to watch.

Mute

Great visuals! We are transported to a futuristic, cyberpunk, blade runner type world. Netflix has done a wonderful job in production design considering it's not a silver screen production, I really can't tell much of a difference. The soundtrack is pleasant, fitting the scenes. The actors do a great job here. Paul Rudd, Alexander Skarsgård, and Justin Therox are fun to watch. Now the nit-picking comes. The movie starts off very well but somewhere along the lines it starts to lose itself on what it wants to be. The plot is very simple, but the story seems to be all over the place in trying to build the characters. There's even a point when the Alexander, the mute, doesn't even seem to be the main character. There were also some interesting but arguably unnecessary characters that didn't need the extra screen time. In the end, the movie doesn't feel entirely too satisfying but the colors, wardrobe, locations, and performance makes up a bit for that empty feeling.

Sicario

This movie is a constant suspense of 'what the heck is going on and what's going to happen next?'. Emily Blunt's performance is excellent as we take on this ride with her. She is an honest FBI agent who's only done her job to the extent of the law. When she is somewhat taken under the wing of Josh and Benicio's characters, she realizes things operate in a different way when higher government powers, the CIA, get deep into fighting crimes against humanity, or in this case the Mexican drug cartel. The acting is top notch here. As a bit of a non-related spoiler joke to myself, Jon Bernthal has a small role here which of course he nails but I wonder if this got him the job of Netflix's The Punisher. He does such an excellent job of getting beaten up. It was a surprise to see him in this movie. CIA agent Matt Graves (Brolin) plays it neutral here just doing his job but he's like the buffer between the two extremes, Kate (Blunt) and Alejandro (Del Toro). One can really get into character analysis here which is definitely one of the strengths of this movie, next to acting. A few parts dragged just ever so slightly for me but it did not ruin the experience of the movie. I'm glad to have finally watched this since this was in my old-missed list of movies, and to my surprise I hadn't realized there was a part 2 that just came out. I'm looking forward to that one very soon! All in all, I highly recommend this movie if you're okay with some gore scenes. If not, you could always just close your eyes because you could be missing a good movie with great scenes.

Sorry to Bother You

What surprised me about this movie is that I never expected its tone and how it would turn out. The trailer doesn't serve it justice. I was expecting another okay dumb movie, which I enjoy at times but that wasn't the case at all. The actor were entertaining, fresh and enjoyable. It was absurd in some ways but it all works. An artistic movie no doubt which gives me somewhat the same feel and silliness as Being John Malkovich or I Heart the Huckabees and that's something I haven't seen in a long while. Lakeith and Tessa nails their performances and characters. It was also great to see 'ol Danny Glover again who's still too old for this shit. The movie loses its way a bit for a good 20 minutes after the shocking experience with Armie, who played his part so well too, but I forgive it. I'd recommend this movie to anyone who is up for some thing new and unexpected.

Top Gun

It gets better with age, like fine wine and whisky. Hearing that a sequel is coming out, which isn't necessary, does give me a bit of nostalgia. This movie has stood the test of time.

Phenomenon

I recall watching this when it first came out and it had a pretty big impact on me for some reason. Watching it again today reminded me what a good story with heartfelt characters and good acting can still accomplish today without being flashy. It's hard to get the nostalgia out as I rate this but this is what I feel about it. The memorable scenes I remember still comes out as memorable to me. A good classic 90's movie in my book.

American Made

This movie delivered with a nice amount of intrigue, suspense, thrill and excitement throughout the ride. Tom Cruise does a fantastic job of portraying the main character as the story unfolds. Great locations, aerial scenes, airplane action and early 80s settings giving even more life to the story & characters. The style really reminded me of Scorsese's GoodFellas but with some hand-held camera effect, which I'm not entirely fond of in most movies, but I guess you could say it works here since it's not too overly done. I'd highly recommend this movie for anyone especially if you liked GoodFellas & Blow.

Black Panther

Great characters, outstanding acting, wonderful soundtrack (those drums!) and emotional impact scores high with the feeling it gave me. They are the highlights of the movie. The story should have been in the same league of ten but regretfully have to ding it a point due to one or two slow scenes which could have been more interesting with better dialogue or perhaps conflict as all the other scenes. Production design could have been perfect as well but some CGI wasn't as tight as I'd like it to be at times and a bit distracting. The beautiful wardrobe spared it from losing another point from me. I'm still trying to take in some of the cinematography which I'm not sure I like yet or it could be genius work between Coogler & Morrison that I cannot quite process. It is unique which is what excites me though. Overall, this movie does not disappoint with its tight cast & crew, and a second viewing is definitely in order!