MovieMeditation’s Diary Reviews // “Come and meditate with me!”

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I think I liked your review for this more than I liked the actual film
Are you not able to have fun or what?! Screw your moody loves stories In The Mood for Love bullsh*t! Battle Royal my ass and Suspiria is crap!!!!! AAAARGH



Survivor 5s #2 Bitch
Are you not able to have fun or what?! Screw your moody loves stories In The Mood for Love bullsh*t! Battle Royal my ass and Suspiria is crap!!!!! AAAARGH
1.
2. Battle RoyalE*
3. You like Quarantine. Argument = invalid
4. I quite liked it, but, I like other actioners a lot more



3. You like Quarantine. Argument = invalid
This can be used pretty much whenever arguing with MM.



I rewatched Quarantine recently and it's not only still better than the original, REC, but also still a fun and great roller coaster ride.

Only people who don't like it are those who adores the original for being "oh so creative and great" and can't even look at the remake just because it's mostly a shot for shot remake. They don't even want to look at it or try to enjoy it, they are just like "this scene is a total rip-off, these characters are so flat", but what they don't comment on is how flat and boring the characters already were and the original and how REC wasn't even that original in the first place. Quarantine does some things better than REC and REC does some things better than Quarantine.

I will stand by my word, Quarantine rocks! F y'all!



Survivor 5s #2 Bitch
I rewatched Quarantine recently and it's not only still better than the original, REC, but also still a fun and great roller coaster ride.

Only people who don't like it are those who adores the original for being "oh so creative and great" and can't even look at the remake just because it's mostly a shot for shot remake. They don't even want to look at it or try to enjoy it, they are just like "this scene is a total rip-off, these characters are so flat", but what they don't comment on is how flat and boring the characters already were and the original and how REC wasn't even that original in the first place. Quarantine does some things better than REC and REC does some things better than Quarantine.

I will stand by my word, Quarantine rocks! F y'all!



MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
226 .......................... 243

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July 13th

—— 2012 ——
21 JUMP STREET
—— comedy ——
REWATCH


This time, the boys are
going to high school!


You can’t really call the countless quantities of cop comedies to be an entirely new phenomenon, but it seems to be an unstoppable force that is always being crammed from the canny ass of Hollywood, no matter if we like it or not. Thankfully, there are both good and bad additions to the peculiar parings of people more alike than they even thought themselves, and this one happened to be one of the better ones. Basically, it is a supercharged self-aware cop caricature that happens to be so much fun that it stands on its own way better than it had any right to – but that didn’t come all by itself, because without the dynamic duo of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, this wouldn’t even have been half as good as it turned out to be…

With a crazy cool combination of clichés in action, and chemistry in acting, this action picture parody boosts with gut-busting amusement and high-octane entertainment, which doesn’t fail to either make you excited or embarrassed by whatever Schmidt and Jenko get themselves into along the way. I would almost call this movie a diamond in the rough, since it could have easily been a huge failure at first sight, but thanks to the double directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, we have a film that leaves the sirens and flashy flashes on from the very start, having the movie jump straight into the chaos with both feet. You never quite know which way the movie takes you, since it wants to reinforce the clichés as much as it wants to recreate them – you may have been driving down ’21 Jump Street’ before, but you have never been racing down it doing 100 miles an hour, drifting and U-turning, while looking cool as hell.

The boys may be on a simple mission – infiltrate the dealer, find the supplier – but they are without a doubt going to mess that up and we love watching them doing it. It is also quite clear that they had as much fun doing it as we have watching it and it is this kind of self-aware atmosphere that makes it a blast to watch! The spot-on chemistry between Hill and Tatum really lifts this film out of the norm, while the witty script, stylish directing and modern soundtrack helps improve on what is already a fun time. This film has it all and also a little more than you ask for – and you could say its strong points are also its weak points in some way – but it was a great rewatch and I think you can watch this many times without ever getting bored truly with it.




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Survivor 5s #2 Bitch
I started watching 21 Jump Street with my sister & ended after first 10 minutes because it looked like one of these stupid comedies. (:
I agree with Med here, it really is better than a lot of comedies coming out recently, I'd definitely give it another go!



Well, it is an American comedy, it is going to be a bit raunchy and a bit silly, but with '21 Jump Street' the execution and approach is key to why it is better than others within its subgenre.

I hope you will enjoy it if you choose to watch it again!



I think that everything MilLord have done looks stupid when you read the name and premise, but more often than not it works out. Personally I think 22 hit higher peaks, but 21 is really good too.



I think that everything MilLord have done looks stupid when you read the name and premise, but more often than not it works out. Personally I think 22 hit higher peaks, but 21 is really good too.
I rewatched 22 recently, and though I used to think the same as you I thought a little less of it on a rewatch. But to some extent it does aim and hit higher, as a sequel should, but overall the experience is kind of the same with the two (no pun intended) and I like them more or less equally.



I rewatched 22 recently, and though I used to think the same as you I thought a little less of it on a rewatch. But to some extent it does aim and hit higher, as a sequel should, but overall the experience is kind of the same with the two (no pun intended) and I like them more or less equally.
That's why I chose my words carefully. I'm not sure if 22 is the better movie (and I'm not sure if I like it more than 21), but I think that the best moments of the sequel do better than the best moments of the first.



MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
227 .......................... 244

__________________________


July 14th

—— 1997 ——
FACE/OFF
—— action ——
REWATCH


"Hello? This is Sean Archer."
"Well, if you are Sean Archer, then I must be Castor Troy..."


After recently reviewing ‘The Rock’ we now arrive at the second film in the infamous and unofficially entitled 90s trilogy, in which the combo-career king himself, Nicolas Cage, stars in all three films. I call him that because he must hold the record for the biggest acting diversity, in terms of movie quality, both acting in cinema’s top and trash, respectively, whether being direct to dvd disasters or booming blockbuster brilliances. Thankfully, this film has Cage uncaged and at the top of his game, facing off against another actor who was riding the waves of success in the late 90s – no other than John Travolta himself. Helming this beast of a film is director, John Woo, the undisputed master of slow-mo shoot-outs, sparkly explosions, bullet-time bad-assery and, uh, doves... I would say it's hard to have a film that feels any more 90s than this!

What makes this movie succeed is, surprisingly, non of the above elements, neither the fighting duals or flying doves, though it definitely makes this movie more than enjoyable to watch. For a film called ‘Face/Off’, it has a surprising amount of expressiveness and personality, which is shown through stylistic action and witty direction and writing, but the strong point lies somewhere below the surface. In reality, it is the emotional and creative core of the story, which carries the film out of the action normality and onto more inventive and entertaining grounds.



Because, below the surface, this film is actually a heartbroken story, about a father, who loses his son to the hands of a cold blooded killer – a man this father has been hunting for his entire life ever since. This causes the father to outcast everyone around him, who doesn’t directly interact with the investigation of his son’s murder – which means mentally leaving his own family behind on the way to closure. He has been looking for the killer for years at this point, so once he gets the only opportunity available for stopping Castor Troy’s evil plans, he grabs it – but that means stepping into the shoes of the killer himself, quite literally, and take his identity. But once the real killer, by the name of Castor Troy, steals his identity as well, the fight for the ultimate identity crisis can begin!

John Woo really took the action genre and gave it a serious face-lift with this one. This movie isn’t just another one of those with face-offs in alleyways and on lonely streets; this is also - actually moreso - about the face-off between two minds with two different mentalities, living two different lives, in two totally opposite ends of existence. Stripping it down to the bone, it is basically two eternal enemies, who must learn to overcome their worst fears by eventually become their worst fears, only to come out on the other side as the winning man – but them winning means to see their enemy smiling, which must be one hell of a weird phenomenon. Anyways, the film basically plays around with all these elements to ignite various thoughts and feelings within its audience, whether having the characters emotionally mess around with each others personal lives, on the most sacred of grounds, or perhaps visually portray their ongoing situation using clever techniques or stylistic touches – for example, the infamous mirror scene, which is so very simple yet damn effective!



It is this toxic blend of bad-ass adrenaline-fueled action, and a storyline that is both clever and heavier to take in, than your usual dumb blockbusters – because this isn’t any brainless action film, this is a faceless action film, holding much more character than you would think in terms of how that term is usually used. When the emotions don’t get to show their face, we are off to the action instead, which is a whole lot of fun – not as fun as the opening church scene though! I could watch Nicolas Cage preach for hours, but I’m still glad the movie has more to offer than crazy Cage, though admittedly he is at his best here. And oh my God, John Travolta might deliver the best impression of his o’ so ominous opponent, Nic Cage as Castor Troy, in which Travolta totally nails the typically manic persona we see Cage do so very often – especially the scene where they are face-to-face for the first time is like literally watching Cage with the face and voice of Travolta.

A lot in this film is brilliant and clever, but with that said then I will also have to agree, that all of which is clever about this film is also slightly dumb; but surprisingly it works and is executed elegantly throughout. And if the main story or characters aren’t enough fun for you, then ‘Face/Off’ also has many memorable action set pieces; especially the boat chase is one of the best and most realistically achieved action scenes I have ever seen. This is full-blown 90’s action-satisfaction, turned turbulently around 180 degrees, which makes for a movie that is watchable 360 days a year… the other five days I will be watching either ‘The Rock’ or ‘Con Air’, obviously, but I will probably cram more than one of these bad boys into one night! Action, slow-motion, explosions, fist fights, gun fights… and Nicolas Cage. It really doesn’t get much better than this...




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Survivor 5s #2 Bitch
I did actually like this one great review as always though Med! I don't know how you stay so committed either, it's really admirable, watching over 200 films over several months is just