Cole's Film Reviews

I liked The Drop a whole lot as well. Yet to be letdown by a Lehane adaptation.

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Letterboxd

13. Gravity (2013) - Alfonso Cuaron



I don't really know what to think of this movie. Do I think it deserved to be nominated for Best Picture? Absolutely not. Is it one of the worst Best Picture noms though? No. It's not really that important though, if I'm going to be honest this film could have been a lot better written. Sandra Bullock kind of just talks to herself a lot of the movie and she says these ridiculous lines that made me cringe at times. Her acting wasn't bad though I just think she didn't have much to work with, but Clooney was really good and all the moments he is on screen are the ones I actually cared about. Bullock's character probably could have been exploited more and handled better. For someone who had so little drive to keep going, she seems to find this unspoken energy toward the end of the film that really didn't seem deserved. Another problem I find with all of these movies though is that everything always goes wrong and it almost becomes unrealistic at a certain point, this is one of the same problems I have with The Martian (2015). To be fair, I know you have to create drama and in some scenes you feel the tension, but in others it's just nonexistent. To talk more about positives, Lubezki killed it again with the cinematography and the camera flows through these scenes so well you forget that it's even there. Some of the money shots were beautiful in this film and the attention to detail with all of the shrapnel flying off of the broken carriers is astounding. This film is riddled with CGI though and at times it bothered me, especially when they probably could have used a real set, but I get it. Overall, Gravity tells a cool space story about the drive to live, but it's nothing you haven't seen before and from the guy who brought you Children of Men (2006) this film kind of feels like wasted potential.

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14. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) - Benh Zeitlin



My god, this film is so good. Quvenzhane Wallis does an incredible job at playing the character Hushpuppy who is a girl who lives with her father in a place called the Bathtub, which is in an impoverished bayou community. This film is very smart and has an amazing script, which really understands the people who actually dwell in these real life areas. This film runs rich with symbolism that is beautiful; it also is filled with creative and insightful metaphors about life. There's not a whole lot to say other than please go and watch this movie if you haven't. It's a little slow, but there is a lot of beauty that derives from this small tale. The cinematography is incredible and finds beauty in these grimy, grief stricken places. I can't wait to see more from this director as I am honestly shocked how good this was, as I walked in thinking it wouldn't be that great.

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15. Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) - Stephen Chbosky



An introvert freshman played by Logan Lerman is taken under the wings of two seniors Ezra Miller and Emma Watson who welcome him to the real world. Logan Lerman does a really great job playing this socially inept kid who has a troubled past and I can't believe how much of a roll this kid is on; from Fury (2014) to this, he's just been killing it. Emma Watson also does a great job with the limited amount of time she is given. The story to this film has been seen before, but Chbosky does a great job at personalizing the characters and showing you the troubled lives that everyone leads. The plot is full of twists and turns, some warranted and some not, but interesting nonetheless. The soundtrack and score to this film is very well done and am surprised it didn't get more recognition. I really loved the character dynamics of this film and some of the scenes are so beautiful, especially the tunnel scene. This film does have it's fair share of problems though and the most blatant one is Ezra Miller. For me at least, this kid is very hit and miss with what he does, while I think he is very good in We Need to Talk about Kevin (2011), in this he just comes off as an annoying brat who is overcooking every inch of dialogue he is given. This film also gets a bit cheesy here and there, but not enough to really take away from the experience. My last gripe, is that Overall, the film has so many quality moments and is probably relatable for a lot of people out there and some of the performances are stellar.

16. Short Term 12 (2013) - Dennis Daniel Cretton



A 20-something supervising staff member of a residential treatment facility (Brie Larson) navigates the troubled waters of that world alongside her co-worker and longtime boyfriend (John Gallagher Jr.). This is a kind of film that really enjoy because I like when films show me something raw and real; this film delivers on that greatly. Brie Larson is incredible in this film and you can really tell she is evolving into one of the best actresses working right now, especially after her well deserved oscar from Room (2015). I also really liked all the teen actors who dwelled in this troubled treatment center and I believed most of them, especially Marcus who was great. The story in this film is at times predictable, but is still interesting to watch all these people work through their problems and acknowledge that they are not alone. There is a complexity in this that isn't often found in modern cinema, with all these deep characters just looking for meaning. There isn't a lot to say, but I just really love so much about this. One of my only gripes is that the comedy was a bit forced at times and was treating some dark things a little too lightly. Overall, this is a heartfelt film that shows you the darkness of life, but also that if you keep searching for hope that it can one day be found.

17. Another Earth (2011) - Mike Cahill



On the night of the discovery of a duplicate Earth in the Solar system, an ambitious young student (Brit Marling) and an accomplished composer (William Mapother) cross paths in a tragic accident. To start off, Mike Cahill's movies have always struck me as a director who always has great ideas, but his execution just kind of bothers me. This film is somewhat different because I think he takes it in a different direction than most people would with this premise. Marling is serviceable in this role, but the most of the true acting comes out of Mapother who does a really good job at portraying this broken man. The script is fresh, but I think I was just looking for something completely different in this film and what I got was kind of run of the mill story repackaged. Some of the technical aspects of this film I had problems with, mostly the cinematography. Not all of the shots were bad, but the mocumentary zooms started to detract from emotional value in the scenes and is just an offbeat choice that didn't really seem to pan out. Another thing is that the lighting is very harsh in some scenes (like most indie films) and makes it look more like a home video than a real feature film. Some motivations also seemed a bit confused because This film also has a painfully slow first 30 minutes, to the point where I almost considered turning it off because nothing exciting was happening. I am glad I didn't though because there really is a lot to like about this film. The story about music and how it plays into later scenes is a really satisfying moment. All of the news reports are also while typical hit the viewer hard and is ultimately where the premise shines. To top it all off I really like the ending to this film because it's just such a great way to tie up all the loose ends. Is it convenient? Sure, but you know what it's also really enjoyable. Overall, it's a fun film that you should watch, but don't expect a crazy sci-fi venture.

18. The Guard (2011) - John Michael McDonagh



An unorthodox Irish policeman (Brendan Gleeson) with a confrontational personality is partnered with an up-tight F.B.I. agent (Don Cheadle) to investigate an international drug-smuggling ring. Brendan Gleeson is such a great actor, the guy does nothing, but different roles; he can play anything from side characters to top billing, probably my most underrated actor. The script for this film is very witty and clever, but leaves me wanting more in the story department. This is probably due to it being a fairly seen storyline, but the characters are what make it interesting. I'm a fan of almost everyone in this cast, besides Cheadle who I always find trying to demand the screen and falls short of being memorable. The direction is probably the best thing about this film however because the comedy is very sharp and well done, which is another thing that makes this film different. The jokes are really well timed and I found them to be hilarious, but also branch out to many peoples tastes. My major flaw with this film is that a lot of the scenes feel like they were put in just because it felt like it would be a funny bit and ultimately don't have much to do with anything. The action at the end was also really cool and I enjoyed the final showdown cliche, but it just worked so well. Overall, it's just such a fun time and although it has flaws you should definitely check out this funny romp of a film.

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I liked The Gaurd more than you, but then I'm a big fan of Cheadle.

I don't know man, he just doesn't do it for me. I'm not really a fan of him in Hotel Rwanda, but I don't think he's always bad. I grade really harshly, but I really like The Guard.

I became a big fan from Boogie Nights and Reign Over Me

19. The World's End (2013) - Edgar Wright



Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from twenty years earlier unwittingly become humanity's only hope for survival. This was such a mistake. I am a huge fan of the first two films of the Cornetto trilogy, but this was really a missed opportunity to end the trilogy off on a high-note. Simon Pegg is good in the film along with most of the cast is pretty good, Nick Frost could have been used a little more and I didn't really feel their friendship as much as I did in the previous films. I don't hate the idea to this movie as much as the execution of how it all is laid out in the end is poor. The script is a mess, aside from the comedy, which is at it's weakest, but still laugh out loud funny at times. The rest of it is pretty bad and the direction of a lot of this misses the mark for me. The scenes don't flow well and it feels to much like we are checking boxes, instead of having more of a flow. The last 15 minutes are garbage and leaves a lot to be desired; it feels like they had no idea how to end it. The characters aren't really interesting at all except for Gary King, but even he is a bit of a stretch since I've seen this character over and over again through numerous other films. Overall, it's so damn disappointing especially coming from a director who before this viewing has made some really good films.

I'd say The World's End is about a high as note as the trilogy could've ended on. You take it to task because you don't feel Pegg and Frost's friendship, but that's because the bulk of the film is about how their characters' friendship has been seriously strained and so there's none of the friendly banter from Shaun of the Dead or even the gradual build-up of Hot Fuzz. I think that lends it an interesting dynamic to the proceedings and having the actors play against type was an inspired choice. That aside, a lot of your criticisms come across as a little too vague - how am I supposed to understand what you mean when you talk about scenes not flowing or that the film is just "checking boxes"? The same goes for your problems with the last 15 minutes.

I mean, here is what I wrote. See if that helps.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

I just don't want to spoil anything, but I feel like a lot of the action is extremely weak and the ending is awful taking a weird post apocalyptic turn. We never really understand the reasons for these robots to be taking over the world and the ending of them just giving up is just so ridiculous. There isn't really a satisfying ending to anything. Pegg being a victim of addiction and depression didn't really seem very original to me; I have seen this dynamic in so many films throughout the years that it felt very done. It would work if it was a small story, but it kind of dominates the story of the film and it wasn't that interesting. It didn't make much sense to me that Frost would stick around this guy after something like 20 years of being a f*ck up, he has no motivations. I also just think that the other characters side stories were just stupid and didn't really need to be in the film, especially the relationship with Sam side story. About the checking boxes, I just thought all the character changes were so predictable and most of the film I just saw coming from a mile away, except the apocalypse. It also felt very obvious to me that they left a lot on the editing room floor, their should have been more of a conclusion to Pegg's turn, not just him going back to the pub in the end. I don't know if I can convince you of anything else, but I just personally think the last 15 minutes is just so horrible, it's probably one of the worst endings to a film I have ever seen.

I wrote one very long defence of the film that addresses similar concerns to yours in this thread, but I'll address this post anyway.

I guess that's your opinion, but I liked how well-choreographed and clearly-depicted the action scenes were. They were intense without being incoherently shot or edited without losing any sense of humour and the effects work was well-done. Also, the post-apocalyptic ending makes some sense given how the other Cornetto films ended in the wake of smaller apocalypses - Shaun of the Dead end up with England recovering from its zombie epidemic, while Hot Fuzz saw the village still running even after all the most important citizens (doctor, priest, police chief, etc.) were arrested. In that context, The World's End is similar in how it involves humanity rebuilding itself after civilisation collapses.

Uh, there was that entire scene where the Network (the massive beam of light alien) appeared and explained why they were taking over the world. To recap: the aliens/robots are moving from planet to planet and converting the native populations to their regime. They claim to be doing it in order to improve the planets and join them together in a single peaceful galactic community, but they still come across as power-hungry monsters who see no problem with committing mass genocide.

As for the ending where they just give up and leave, well, it's meant to be a little ridiculous. This is a comedy, after all. The idea that an omnipotent alien intelligence can still be out-argued by a trio of drunks is a fundamentally silly one, but it also makes sense since the aliens realise that it's too much trouble to try to convert such a difficult species (hence why the alien's last words before disappearing are just, "f*ck it").

How much originality do you expect from the other Cornetto films, though? Shaun of the Dead was about an aimless slacker finally learning to take responsibility and protect his loved ones while Hot Fuzz was about an emotionally stunted workaholic learning to take it easy and open up to people. At least having his character be a mentally unstable addict lends some dramatic weight to his goofy behaviour and provides good motivation for the plot to keep going even when common sense dictates that it shouldn't. Also, of course it dominates the story - it is the story. If you don't find it interesting, then that's a shame.

At the start of the film, it is clear that Frost has not seen Pegg in years and wants absolutely nothing to do with him (especially since they have some unresolved issues that are revealed late in the film), so Pegg has to guilt-trip Frost into going along with his plan by saying his mum died. Frost doesn't want to be on the crawl anyway and he tries to bail on it around the same time that the aliens are first discovered, at which point he's forced to keep going with it. It's also pretty clear that Frost still considers Pegg his friend and is mainly just disappointed by how Pegg has constantly let him down in the past - friendship does tend to be more emotional than logical, after all.

It couldn't just be Pegg and Frost by themselves, and the extra characters do reflect other sides to Pegg's own narrative. Eddie Marsan's character is also like Pegg's in that his life is still controlled by his high-school experiences (though his childhood was about traumatic bullying instead of Pegg's being the coolest kid of high school). Paddy Considine's character is supposed to Pegg's romantic rival to their love triangle with Rosamund Pike's character is supposed to further demonstrate just how immature Pegg's character is. Meanwhile, Martin Freeman's character is admittedly a bit flat and doesn't go much further than his being an uptight tech-savvy yuppie who is uncomfortable with people hitting on his sister, though given what happens to him it makes sense that they don't really bother to give him much more personality than that. These don't have to be great characters, but they make for solid support and their arcs do tend to pay off (especially in the case of both Marsan and Considine).

Yeah, this is a side-effect of the Cornetto trilogy's whole thing where every line of dialogue can be interpreted as foreshadowing a later event, especially when the opening montage foreshadows the bulk of the film anyway. It may make the film kind of predictable, but it wouldn't be the same without it.

There was enough of a conclusion. The fact that Pegg walks into a pub and only orders water is supposed to be a sign that he's grown beyond his personal demons - compare that scene to earlier on when he mocked Frost for ordering water. Frost's narration did point out how Pegg had apparently learned to find more of a purpose in life than just getting trashed all the time. The whole reason he and his robot friends go in there is to start a fight with the anti-robot humans inside.

Well, it's not like you've said anything more substantial than "the ending was terrible and I hated it". In the thread I linked to, mack went into detail about why she didn't think it was that good an ending.

Hot Fuzz is the best directed film.

Shaun of the Dead is a personal favourite

The World's End had balls to end it the way they did.

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Suspect's Reviews

I just don't think the ending where they talk the Network off is entertaining or satisfying it. The Usual Suspect is right when he says its ballsy, but not in a good way. It's just such a stupid ending that comes out of nowhere, which just frustrated me so much. About Pegg, I expect to see something different with his character arc because in the other ones it's more interesting to me. I'm not really understanding why he is with robots in the end? The other movies also had other characters that had problems that were more engaging, whereas the characters in this film are all just vehicles for Pegg to get over his inner turmoils. The editing is what loses me in the fights, it's so fast moving and I just don't think it's interesting to look at. I'm also wondering how any of these men are able to fight off a bunch of robots, but once again it's a silly universe so I'm not calling that a fault. Although I liked the comedy, some of the jokes in this film are also so recycled and I have seen them done before so many times. It's actually not clear that he hasn't seen Pegg in years since Pegg pays him a bunch of cash as soon as he sees him. What does Frost expect from Pegg? He has always been a drunk and there isn't much you can change about him, when is it time that he gives up and just stops bothering trying. Why does this apocalypse make Pegg suddenly change his life? Just none of it is earned in the end and it just leaves you wondering how the f*ck we got to any of these places. The guy who was in the love triangle practically only has one line in the whole film, "I had her first." It's such a blank character and gives me no real reason to actually care for the guy. Pike is okay in the film, but I don't really feel any chemistry between any of these characters so it's hard for her to do her job. Iro I think we should just agree to disagree.

20. John Wick (2014) - Chad Stahelski and David Leitch



An ex-hitman (Keanu Reeves) comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him. What a hell of a ride this film is. The action in this film is great, but everything else is relatively lackluster. The story is also entertaining, but isn't something that hasn't been done before. The writing at times is good, but at others is kind of weak, it could just be the poor acting though. Keanu like always isn't great, but he's still always enjoyable to watch. A credit I can give this film is it's style for the most part is very cool and I enjoyed a lot of the choreography, which is one of the main selling points of the film. It also is very good at building a lore behind it with the mysterious Continental Hotel, which once you figure out what it is, is badass. The villain however is very weak and leaves much to be desired and I wish instead of the father, it was the son, who was much more interesting. There isn't much more I can say, other than it is a fun ride, but not to expect much depth from it.

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21. Arbitrage (2012) - Nicholas Jarecki



A troubled hedge fund magnate (Richard Gere) desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire makes an error that forces him to turn to an unlikely person for help. The acting in this film is stellar, Gere reaches heights that I have never seen him go and Nate Parker is also excellent, this is my first time seeing him. The rest of the cast is also very good and Brit Marling in her limited screen time does a great job. The story for this film takes enough twists and turns for me to say it brings something fresh and the writing keeps it interesting as well. The score was good, but not remarkable and probably could have been handled a little bit better. The side story involving Parker was well handled and very compelling until the end where Marling's side story lends to the film very well though because you see the pressure the family is putting on Gere to succeed. Jarecki does a great job of making you feel the stress that is being impressed on Gere by all of these people. The twist halfway through the movie kind of comes out of nowhere and the motivation for what is taking place didn't make much sense to me, but it was still intriguing. Another minor gripe is that Gere Toward the end it also started to feel more like a Lifetime movie than a heavy drama because it felt a little comical how much was getting thrown in Gere's face. Last thing I just wanted to remark on is that I really thought the cinematography was amazing in this film, some beautiful well lit shots. Overall, this film is gripping and shows off a very talented cast, but at times the drama feels a little forced.

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Eh, I can accept that out-talking the alien is the only way for the humans to actually have some sort of victory over it and the army of murderous robots. It's ballsy because it actually goes through with the world ending (though this was not a deliberate choice by the characters). It makes enough sense that the supposedly enlightened alien would rather just walk away from the argument and (probably deliberately) ruin Earth in the process, which does mean that humanity is sent back to the Dark Ages but at least they aren't being influenced by an evil technological entity. It's a bittersweet ending.

The robots are replicas of his friends as teenagers, so when the Network leaves he decides to protect them from more violent humans.

Yeah, I'll admit that's the point. I'd still say that Frost and Marsan played characters who were still pretty fleshed out in comparison to the others.

Fast editing is a bit annoying, but I'd say The World's End does a better job with it than most modern action movies. As for how easy it is to beat the robots, well, they clearly aren't established as being especially durable. They might be strong, but they can be broken into pieces really easily, hence when a handful of drunk middle-aged men are able to fight them off unless there are too many of them.

It's sort of established that he hasn't seen any of his friends in years (he has to ask one for "the same number he's had for ten years"). Also, friendship is complicated. Just because your friend is a ****-up doesn't automatically mean that you stop thinking of him as your friend and that you might still be able to save him from himself (which explains why they fight at the very last pub). Even if Frost is supposed to be a sensible straight man, he's only human.

It's an apocalypse - everyone changes their life because they have to in the wake of the worldwide collapse of civilisation. Frost goes from being a lawyer to being a farmer, Considine gets together with Pike, and the two characters who got turned into robots just go on with their old lives as if nothing's changed (because, well, that's what the robots do). Pegg had to face his demons over the course of the film's events and, in a weird way, the end of the world actually does grant him the sense of purpose necessary to turn his life around as he quits drinking and walks the earth fighting for someone (his robot friends) rather than for himself.

Fair cop.

I get that a lot, and it's only fair. There were a few points where it seemed like you had actually missed bits of the film that explained the stuff, so I figure that if you're going to dislike the film anyway, it might as well be with a stronger knowledge base.

Iro, I'm not gonna give my rebuttle because I feel I have nothing more to give, but I gotta say man you are good at changing opinions and backing up with evidence. I also feel like your one of the only ones on this site who would be willing to fight for his opinion like this. Respect.