Movie review of The Batman

 The Batman - 8/10

Directed by Matt Reeves

It's been 2 years since I last wrote a review and oddly enough the last one I wrote had Kirsten Stewart in it and this has Robert Pattinson. Oh well... let's get on with the review.

When I first found out that Robert Pattinson aka Mr Twilight will be the new Batman, I was thinking to myself, "this fella cannot lah. What is he going to do sparkle his enemies to death ah?" Fortunately, He has sort of proved me wrong. Robert Pattinson as Batman? Good, he has the look. Perhaps the voice can be alittle darker.  But Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne? Terrible. This pundei is a billionaire but cannot afford a comb to comb his hair ah? Whats's with the emo look? And the topless back shots of him were disgusting. He needs to pack in some muscles if he wants to show off his back. All I saw was bones. That was my one of my two peeves about The Batman. Pattinson was a terrible Bruce Wayne and it's a good thing that there weren't many scenes of him.

Apart from that, the rest of the cast was pretty good. Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman will never beat Michelle Pfeiffer. That one take of using the whip to blow out candles has cemented her as the best Catwoman ever. However, Zoe is definitely better than Anne Hathway and Halle Berry. Her fight scenes were pretty slick. Maybe get a better mask.

Colin Farrel as Penguin was amazing. You can not tell it was Colin cos of the fantastic make up and how he speaks. A damn good redemption for Colin Farrel in comic movies cos he was absolute shit as Bull's Eye in Daredevil. Penguin is also one of the scene stealers for this movie. He has some funny lines.

Paul Dano as Riddler was perfect. I've always admired Paul Dano's works and he revels at quirky yet evil characters. Characters from Little Miss Sunshine to There will be Blood. Paul Dano is one actor, everyone should take note of. His rendition of Riddler is way different from the campy one Jim Carrey did. His mask reminded me of Kickass. He was definitely more terrifying without the mask.

It was nice to see John Turturro aka Jesus (Big Lebowski) as Carmine Falcone. His scenes were not many but there is a reason why. Andy Serkis as Alfred is my 2nd peeve. He is the worst Alfred ever. Serkis just doesn't cut it as Alfred, all scenes involving  him and Bruce were dull and painful to watch.

I still think The Batman is a really good movie and I definitely enjoyed the production part of it. The fight scenes were brilliant. There was a particular gunfire fight scene that was damn impressive and reminded me of the Darth Vader fight scene in Rogue One. Interestingly enough, The DP for Rogue One is the DP for The Batman. Greig Fraser. So far the movies, Greig has done have been amazing. Dune, Zero Dark Thirty and Vice. He really captures some brilliant shots. I also love the tone and colour of the movie. There are tinges of green for Riddler scenes and red for Batman. There have been complains that some of the scenes are alittle too dark, I have to disagree on that cos it does capture the state Gotham is in. 

The Batman is about 3 hours long and the pacing was good that I do not feel the time at all. It really did feel like a crime, whodunit detective story (Bats is a detective afterall). You can feel the change Bats goes through. From his monologue intro which was doom and fear to his outro which was hope. The new Batmobile had a really cool intro with a weird abrupt pause but the car chase scene was brilliant. 

All in all, The Batman is a interesting take on the classic comic and I would recommend Batman fans to watch it in the cinema.

Movie review of Underwater

Underwater - 2/10

Directed by William Eubank

Underwater had so much potential to be a cult film like Event Horizon or Alien but unfortunately it failed to do so. Too bad though, it had a good idea and setting it in the ocean was something different than the usual space shit.

One of the problems on why I didn't like Underwater was how the movie started. From the get go, the action immediately starts, without any warning or explanation. It may seem like a ballsy move from the director but I definitely needed the introduction. Movies like this, you need to have an introduction of the crew at the very least. It is a good build up. They should have done that, instead the audience has to figure out slowly who are the crew and what are their vocations as the movie progresses. 

Casting was not too bad. Even Kirsten Stewart( the idiot from Twilight) was not terrible. Though there are moments she attempts the "Keanu Reeves" blur look but fails. Sorry Kirsten, only Keanu is the master of that. Sadly Vincent Cassel was severely underused for this movie. TJ Miller tries to provide some comedic relief but sadly a good 80 percent of his jokes and lines were not funny and what the fuck is it with him and some stupid cuddle toy. That was annoying.

The second problem was the whole reveal of the monster and scenes outside of the ship. It was so dark and very hard to see what was going on. If you want an example, think of the fucking battle scene in Game of Thrones where you cant see shit. That whole scene was very frustrating to watch. And the monster... looked like fuck. It looked like a retarded version of Cthulu.

All in all, Underwater was underwhelming. Don't bother watching this in the cinema. Wait for it on cable or Netflix.

Movie review of Bad Boys For Life

Bad Boys For Life - 5.5/10

Directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah

The third installment of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence's Bad Boys. This is surprisingly way much better than the second one. I recently watched the second on Netflix to recap and it was terribly painful to watch. That is if you do not like Michael Bay movies. Bay did not direct nor produce the third one and perhaps that's why it isn't that bad though he does appear in a cameo in this.

To be honest, the first Bad Boys is still the best. The action, the humor and the chemistry was really good and I don;t mind watching it on reruns. Bad Boys for life at first was going towards that direction at the start. It even had a good villain as well. Sadly the plot started to suck ass towards the end. The plot twist was just awful. The moment I saw the plot twist, I was groaning. Why did the writers had to complicate shit like that? Just keep it simple lah. Martin Lawrence's character is even more whiny than the second movie till it got to a point it was not even funny anymore. I hope if they do make a fourth Bad Boys, please stop Martin Lawrence from being a whiny bitch. Make his character like the first movie.

Action sequences were fun and the new cast weren't that bad. Alexander Ludwig aka Bjorn from Vikings was not bad. Paola Nunez was good and pretty. Even Vanessa Hudgens was decent. Some of the old characters came back as well. One of my favorite among them was Joe Pantoliano as Captain Howard. He was hilarious. Even the kid who was gonna date Marcus's daughter was in as well.
Direction was decent but there are obvious traces of Bay's style. I would like to see Adil and Bilall stamp their own style in the fourth one if that was confirmed.

All in all, Bad Boys For Life is still a fun movie to watch even with a silly plot twist. It's the "leave your brain at home" kind of movie. Worth watching on a weekday.

Movie review of 1917

1917 - 8.5/10

Directed by Sam Mendes

When the Golden Globes results came on, and 1917 won for Best Picture and Director, A lot of people were upset that Todd Phillips, the director of Joker did not win Best Director and nor did Joker win for Best Picture. Even though I did not watch 1917 at that point( haven't release) and I loved Joker a lot, I knew Sam Mendes had done something special with 1917. True enough, I was blown away.

I have always been a sucker for one takes. I remember watching that infamous scene at the restaurant in Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese) and I was awed by it. I always appreciated the work put in by everyone for a one take and it truly is a team effort. The movie, Atonement had one such mesmerizing take as well. Birdman directed by Alejandro Innaritu took one take sequences to a whole new level,by making the whole movie look like a one take with clever editing. This time round Sam Mendes raised the bar by doing a movie about World War 1, in one take with sublime editing.

The amount of work put in this movie is phenomenal. Everyone must have practiced the one takes numerous times before actual filming. It really isn't as easy as how it looks. I have to give credit to Same Mendes for his direction. The plot maybe simple but the way it was filmed is why 1917 deserves to win as many awards. I will not be surprised at all, if it won Best Picture, Best Director and definitely Best Editing.

Editing one takes and making it seamless like as though it was one continuous take is not easy. Lee Smith, the editor for Nolan's movies like Dunkirk, Inception an Dark Knight was the prefect man for it. It is really hard to tell the cuts at times. Mad respect for that.

If cinematography is at its finest, then you know it is done by none other than Roger Deakins. Some of the shots are so beautiful, that I forget that it is a one take. Simply Solid.

Casting was good as well, it really took me a while to recognize Dean Charles Chapman though, aka Tommen Baratheon of Game Of Thrones and a barely recognizable Colin Firth. I knew it was him cause of his distinctive voice.

All in all, 1917 is a really good movie. Even more so if you know a thing or two about filming and editing. Worth the watch even on a weekend.

Movie review of Dolittle

Dolittle - 3.5/10
Directed by Stephen Gaghan

Robert Downey Jr's first movie after Ironman. It really has been a while since we saw RDJ doing other movies. His last movie outside Ironman was The Judge which was a feel good family movie. I enjoyed watching that. Dolittle however, I did not. Even though, it is a kids/family movie, it was badly done.

At first Dolittle was supposed to be released around the same time as Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker, however fearing competition, the studio decided to release at a later date. Then it was released in January. Whenever studios release a movie in January, it sometimes mean they know the movie is shit and doomed to fail. Now Dolittle going through expensive reshoots and rewrites due to poor test screenings does not help the film one bit. Sadly it was quite evident as well.

Casting was good. There was an array of top notch actors and actresses doing VOs for the animals. I don't doubt RDJ's acting but his accent is fucking annoying. This was worse than his Sherlock Holmes accent. He sounds like he has asthma and doesn't know when to breath. Despite so many good actors as VOs, the script was just simply too dull. I won't be surprised if kids find this movie boring af.

As I painfully continue to listen to RDJ's asthmatic English accent, the plot for Dolittle just went downhill. Towards the end scene, where he has to "help" a dragon by pulling out a bagpipe out of its arse, was pretty much the lowest point of the movie and quite possibly RDJ's acting career.

All in all, Dolittle might have started like The Golden Compass in the beginning and ended like an unfunny slapstick movie. Don't bother watching this even with kids. Go watch the original Dr Dolittle or even Eddie Murphy's Dr Dolittle. At least they were funny.