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mohammad-z
Reviews
Love at First Sight (2023)
A Truly Beautiful Movie
What a beautiful movie. Happy I randomly saw this on Netflix. Many romantic movies are cheesy, which is why we sometimes watch them. But this one is purely heartwarming. It brought me so many deeply joyful moments, as well as some tears. It made me love life and the beauty of love and also hate the finite nature of life on this earth.
Most joyful moments resulted in the combination of the amazing dialogues, the directing and -especially- the acting of our two mains. So many moments were taken care of by the smile, or the eye contact of the main characters.
I have a strong all time Top 10 list of movies, and when decided to watch this never expected that it will make me overthrow my list to fit this masterpiece of a movie in.
There are too many aspects about this movie I loved. It touched me, made me sad and hopeful at the same time. It just moved me. Not with mindblowing theories like Interstellar did, although Interstellar is about Love as well, but just with the beauty of life, that we often miss to cherish.
The book that this movie is based on must be amazing. But adapting a book into a movie with clever dialogues is a form of high art as well imho.
Watch this movie, I am sure you won't regret it.
The re-occurring character symbolizing Amor (as I guess) is played by a woman and is also a piece that gives this movie a finishing touch of fullness, perfection and just Love.
The Marvels (2023)
3 Stars for the lead cast and some ideas, 0 for the script
I am not a loyal MCU watcher. I watched many of the MCU movies and also some episodes of series from the MCU, so maybe my lack of understanding is partly due to this.
But disregsrding the MCU continuity understanding of the movie, parts of it were just too lazy written. The jokes were mostly lame, I laughed once and that was because I thought of how ridiculously this was written. I don't expect a blockbuster to make scientific sense, but a little bit more effort in made up stuff helps the viewer to believe the story their in.
From the story standpoint this movie is a certain 0 out of 10.
The acting of some of the lead cast and supporting roles was quite impressing. Which is probably the only good thing about the movie besides some ideas as well.
CGI of characters was pretty bad, reminded me of 90s CGI.
If you are a MCU fan watch it, everyone else expect nothing good and you might have a few good minutes.
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
Kenneth Branagh - Why this deserves 10 stars
Agatha Christies Hercule Poirot is an eternal Character. Her incredible (short-) stories gave many writers and directors the opportunity to keep telling murder stories and whodunnits which come with an human touch to them that is subtle but vivid.
I watched many variations of Hercule Poirot movies and series. They all deserve respect and have their unique style and "character". But with Kenneth Branagh Hercule Poirot entered the theatres with a fresh, but very classy style, while still honouring the original stories, his three movies created a new era of Agatha Christie remakes. Thank you Kenneth Branagh! What a joy you bring to crime and mystery lovers!
In A Haunting In Venice Kennet Branagh invites us to a slightly different experience with Hercule Poirot. This Film has a uniqueness in its pace compared to the first two. But imho this third masterpiece offers a lot of what Agatha Christie and her characters used to transport, especially: Mystique.
The topic of supernatural happenings, spirits, demons and the question whether there is another dimension alongside us we cannot see vividly is handled super well. The horror touch is exactly at the right rate. Not too much, but when it hits, damn what a quality of slight shockers and frightening moments! A class act in every frame and scene!
Besides directing to perfection here, Branagh delivers again a great performance of this sympathic character himself.
If you like Agatha Christies stories, if you like Hercule Poirot and if you like a nice, elegant approach towards supernatural happenings, this movie is right for you.
And if you ever forget how human Poirot is, due to his sharp mind and sometimes cool approach of devastating situations, just remember how moved he is when he remembers his "Katherine".
Hijack (2023)
SUSPENSE - At its finest!
I rarely watch series, as it takes too much time to tell a story and is often stretched. Not with Hijack! I couldn't wait for the next episode to air to watch it! Seven thrilling episodes tell the story in real-time. Unfolding in a fair speed.
Brilliantly played by Idris Elba he delivers an intense performance that gave me many goosebumps as you realized why he acted a certain way, his strategy if you so will.
The final episode had an extremely high suspense level. The writing for this series is smart, and although it might often feel like plot parts you knew or saw before in different movies, it then twists and turns and is different then the usual expectation.
Whoever likes suspense, smart thrilling storiey combined with smart strategic thinking of multiple characters (especially the main), should watch this incredible series.
Tenet (2020)
The rating of this movie shows you the current state of art
People confuse intelligence with intellect.
If you don't understand this movie you might very well have a high level of intelligence, but you surely lack intellect. Especially if you don't want to understand this movie.
You have to watch it twice, at least, because the second time you know the for your time linear ending and can view the movie simultaneously forwards and backwards.
Many reviewers think the movie is bad because "they" didn't grasp the concept of it, they are stuck in linear thinking. Not challenging themselves. Fun fact: Same reviewers complaining about Tenet having "unreal" or "false physics" concepts, love every Sci-Fi movie packed with impossible nonsense (according to their wording) or Spiderman movie.
Contra (2020)
Superb acting by Nilam Farooq!
This movie is a german remake (directed by Sonke Wortmann) of the french original Le brio. This remake is well done and shines with the superb acting by Nilam Farooq. The storyline is set up early, much of it through images. Yet the movie is not subtle on a cinematic level alone, the whole story is based around rhetoric on the one hand and racism on the other, prejudices on one side and brilliance of roses that grew from concrete (not giving immigrants the same opportunities) on the other. A must watch and with the unfortunate often low quality of german movie productions this one definitely is a very nice piece. Commendable.
Pig (2021)
Made me cry, don't ask why
One of the best movies I've ever seen. This movie tells so many stories, without telling them. Cage is playing brilliantly.
"You took of the curtains..?"
"Lori always wanted to."
"It's better."
So many movies have so much dialogue, so many details, backstory, flashbacks, vividly, subtle, but yet cannot touch you. All it needs is a shot of a man, his facial expressions mirrored partly in the doors windows, three simple lines and his final reaction, his endless love.
The Foreigner (2017)
Way better than you would expect
Story - Great
Acting - Beyond Great
Production Design + Score - Wow
Watch it, rate it, so others watch it. Jackie Chan is more than a martial arts phenomenon, he is an incredible actor as well.
StartUp (2016)
By far best thing I saw in years!
Wow. I'm just stunned. How could this be around for years and no one talking about this masterpiece? I barely watch series. I don't like to spend too much time on a story which can mostly be told in 90-120 minutes. But I saw Startup trending on Netflix and just gave it shot, kinda felt something good about it.
Edi Gathegi, Otmara Marrero and Adam Brody all three do a fantastic job! Especially Gathegi and Marrero are over-delivering on a premium oscar-worthy level!
So first, if you haven't watched this until now, go and WATCH IT. You won't regret it! The actresses and actors are AMAZING. It's acted damn natural! The character development is brilliant! Beyond what you would expect from a series making no noises! Sometimes you can feel how writers worked hard for characters to be developed well etc, but in this case it feels natural, not forced. While you're watching the characters evolve more and more, you will just be sucked in by the story itself and their lives.
In fine detail topics like programming, creating a startup, corruption, living with criminal family members or in a criminal environment, money, money laundering, violence, friendship, love, heartbreaking toxic human behavior, heartwarming nice human behavior, etc etc are shown to the audience on a for me never before seen human-level that is kind of non-fictional although the story is obviously fictional. It's like a character study wrapped in a perfectly timed and mattering story.
Usually you get a sense of how they stretch the screentime for a series to tell a short story long, but damn, every frame of this series is on point. Every shot staying on a character for an unusual long time is telling a deep human story. It's fantastic! Beyond that, it's perfect!
We definitely need more seasons! There is nothing I want so badly to be continued in movies/series like this masterpiece! Go and see for yourself.
PS: I haven't watched it earlier because there is no Sony Crackle in Germany. So basically there was also no real marketing back here.
L.A. Confidential (1997)
This is a 10/10.
10/10. Watch it, enjoy the ride. Every frame od this movie is on point, perfect!
Greenland (2020)
Absolutely not what you expect
There a lot of movies dealing with the world (possibly) coming to an end. Most of this movies focus on the type of destructions, or on heroes, who do the impossible and save humanity from whatever is coming. Of course all of them will have some kind of human interaction included in their storyline. Love is a key aspect to an ordinary screenplay. So what is then so special about this movie?
It is an emotional rollercoaster drive. It digs deep into human nature. Not only scratches it on the surface of what human beings could be capable of, when the world would face such an disaster, but it drills inside, you can actually feel it. You can actually understand, what such a scenario would really mean. It was the first time I was watching an world-ending scenario movie, where I actually believed everything I was given on screen. For me that is absolutely unique, and as I learned from TENET's reviews on this and other platforms; you cannot rely on the publics opinion, when it comes to your own taste.
Whrever you live, if theatres are open, do yourself a favor and go watch this incredible piece in a cinema. Far away from distractions, that video on demand comes along with. Never forget: When you subcoinsciously know, you can pause a movie, you won't get sucked into the plot as you would be, when you're in a theatre.
Have fun.
Unfinished Business (2015)
Time is money
Unfortunately a waste of time.
Yea, there are a few dialogues which are quite good and a few scenes worth watching, but overall it's a waste of time, unfortunately.
Columbo (1971)
Brilliant and unrivaled
Peter Falk's role Columbo is as iconic as Falk himself. The entire Idea and setting of the series is unique as well. Instead of guessing WHO commited the murder, in this crime series you actually WITNESS the crime and watch and guess how Columbo SOLVES the crime.
Too bad the last episode -Columbo's last case-couldn't be produced due to ABC's money policies and finally Falks illness.
The Matrix (1999)
Sinply one of the best movies in history
The concept of the matrix is beyond brilliant. And the movie is perfect in any way.
Timeless.
The Accidental Spy (2017)
One of the worst Movies I've ever watched
It starts with the animation of the first studio right at the very beginning. So 1995 and cheap, that I kina felt what the movie will look like. Nearly everything is cheap in that movie.
Story
Actors
Real heli (drone) shots mixed up with 1995 cgi helo shots
And the directing is bad
There is nearly no continuity invetwern the shots when going from overshoulder to the other side
The 180 rule is not available but in a mean confusing way
How can such a production be aired on Netflix?