**A movie about Christmas, and about the way we face it.**
For starters, I must clarify that I have never seen any other material about Grinch, much less the original book where this character was created. I will judge this movie for what it is, without weaves comparisons. He is not my Christmas favorite, never was, I even think it is a little scary for smaller children, given the mischiefs and attitude of Grinch. But it has a good story, good dialogues and other qualities.
What is Christmas? Many will say that's the family or children's party. I accept, but in fact, it is the symbolic date that the Catholic Church marks the birth of Jesus. No one knows when Jesus was born, but the Church chose the date for convenience, coinciding the feast with an older pagan celebration, Saturnalia. For centuries, Christmas was just a festive day when Catholics confessed themselves, listened to Mass and ate fish (the consumption of meat and candy is forbidden on holy days, even though the elites did, by paying cash indulgences... in my country it's still tradition to eat codfish in Christmas Eve). The "invention" of modern Christmas happened in the late nineteenth century, with capitalism, and the creation of toy industries and food industries that allowed the middle classes a more interesting supper and the gift for children, offered to them by Baby Jesus and, later, for the invented character of Father Natal (in Spain, this exchange of gifts is only made on the day of kings in January, what I think makes full sense). This is how, in England, Germany and the US, Christmas became more commercial, more focused on consuming, gift distribution and conviviality, and the religious aspect was putted in the background.
This movie, released in the 1980s, shows us an evil character who learned to see Christmas as futile due to this obsession with toys, gifts and food. He does not know how to express this in the best way, he's unaware that behind this is a greater meaning, but what Grinch rejects is precisely this "commercial Christmas." And I couldn't agree more with him… So, through his mischiefs, Grinch will help people to rediscover the meaning of Christmas, even if this is not his real purpose. This is the beauty of this story, for me: Grinch will help the Whoos while they will help him to understand that Christmas is more than gifts or food.
Directed by Ron Howard, a director whose credits do not require presentations, the film is very well done and was a gigantic box office hit and critical success. It became a Christmas classic, although today it is not so popular. With no dead moments, it has an excellent pace, it does not lengthen too much, it is not tiring, and the script does what it needs, although with various flaws and several jokes that are not working. I liked, in particular, the narrator's interventions and rhymes, something that reinforces the idea that this is a children's story. Cinematography is amazing, with vibrant and flashy colors, and the soundtrack, not being memorable, has good qualities.
Jim Carrey did very well in accepting the difficult task of bringing Grinch to life. I can only imagine how boring it was for him to be subject to that make-up routine every day, but it was totally worth the time and sacrifice: he's unrecognizable and absolutely credible and authentic under that thing, and has a natural gift to model the voice as he wants and suits to the character. Sir Anthony Hopkins also deserves praise for his participation, having lent his voice to the narrator. The rest does a positive job, but merely supports Carrey in its task of building the movie around it.
This is my favorite version and has been my favorite since I was a small child.
At first I didn't like this movie. It's one of my daughters favorites tho. So she would always want to watch a lot around Christmas time. Now I don't mind it and it's like a Christmas tradition for us now to watch this movie.
I'm not gonna lie, this version of the Grinch scared the crap out of me when I was a kid!
But as I got older I started to get use to it.
The trick was to just listen to the whole thing without looking at it and gradually (each year take a peak).
Really good watch, will eventually watch again, and can recommend, but less so for younger audiences.
I never remembered all the weird adult humor in this, it is usually just the charming grinchiness of Jim Carey's overacting that sticks with me, and maybe the Christmas spirit of Mary Lou Who.
The movie manages to ride this wonderfully line between keeping the spirit of the book (even rhyming at times) and being new and refreshing, but it does do that by playing to the adults that would have read the book as a child rather than endearing a new generation of children, but I think they intended to try to do both.
Jim Carey embodies the Grinch like no one else possibly could (I think Mike Myers proved that in "The Cat in the Hat"), and that is the majority of this so if you don't enjoy him, then you won't enjoy this movie. I do think they added some refreshing character interactions, though some of the execution is much better than others.
While it is far from a perfect movie, my biggest gripe is their stupid noses: it seriously bothers me the entire movie. It bothers me more than them dressing the Grinch, which points out that he is naked a LOT with his "co lead" being a young girl: you can see it just distracts from the spirit of the movie.
I don't think that everyone is going to love this movie, but it's hard to imagine that people will hate it.
Creed was a good introduction to a new generation of Rocky movies. Michael B Jordan is great choice to carry on the legacy.
I wasn't expecting this movie to be that good. I was blown away by this movie. Way better then all the rocky movies combined. Just the way they play the history of the movie was awesome.
Creed hits all the best notes of the original Rocky, while also being able to step out from its shadow to deliver a nearly perfect film.
From start to finish, this movie had me invested. It was a brilliant choice to make Apollo Creed’s son the lead of the new franchise. On the surface, Adonis Creed should have it all in terms of wealth and security. But due to him being a bastard child, his life was a struggle, giving him the same hunger that Rocky had in the original, which I thought was done really well.
The chemistry between all of our characters is spectacular throughout. There is a deep sense of care that Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) and Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) have for each other. Rocky and Adonis develop a close father-son relationship as Rocky attempts to fill the void left by his estranged relationship with his son, and Adonis sees Rocky as the father figure he's never had. This connection creates some fantastic dramatic story beats that had me on the verge of tears. Bianca (Tessa Thompson) is a fantastic addition to the cast and creates that motherly figure for our two leads. These three take on the roles of Rocky, Adrian, and Mickie from the original while also having their own unique presence. My one complaint is that the opponent, "Pretty" Ricky Conlan, is pretty underdeveloped, but the main focus is really on the dynamic between Rocky and Adonis, so this wasn’t a huge drawback for me.
The fight choreography is insane in this film; it is without a doubt the best of the series. There is a boxing matchup in the middle of the film that is one take with some incredible angles; it completely immersed me. The ending is really well done, with a super long buildup that had me genuinely nervous for Adonis.
The score is fantastic. There are still similar notes from the original Rocky that are subtly present throughout the film. But they are mixed together with contemporary rap beats and rhythms that give the film a modern feel. It is a great homage to the past while also being true to the culture of our lead character.
Overall, this film surpasses Rocky in almost every way and goes down as the best in the series. I am utterly blown away with how much I enjoyed this.
Score: 98% |
Verdict: Masterpiece
So Creeds kid as a good job and boxes on the side for reasons... and wins.
But he doesn't want to do underground boxing, he wasn't to make it big like his dad, because he's the bestest of the bestest.
And there is a LITTLE struggle here, a little of the heros journey, but Creed starts out on the top and sort of finishes there too... so he doesn't really grow or change as a character...
... because modern movies can't have that for reasons.
Cleverly deducing that he wasn't really fit for the ring himself anymore, Sylvester Stallone engages the services of Ryan Coogler and the hunky Michael B. Jordan to develop this competent spin-off series from his "Rocky" franchise. The youngster (rather aptly named "Adonis") was born on the wrong side of the blanket, and is leading a life of petty crime when he is adopted by "Mary Anne" (Phylicia Rashad), the wife of his father, the late heavyweight champion "Apollo Creed". She gives him a home and a decent education and he ends up working in an office, bored out of his tiny mind. Frustrated, he heads to gym seeking training but nobody wants to touch him. Nobody that is, but "Rocky" (Stallone) who deicides to teach him the discipline necessary to become a winner. Meantime, the actual world champion - "Conlan" (Tony Bellew) is in a bit of a fix with the British prison authorities so an easy defence of his title against the son of a legend looks attractive to his venal manager "Holiday" (Graham McTavish). The fight is set - but can the young challenger upset the odds? What this does miss is the Bill Conte score, but otherwise it is a perfectly watchable story of grit and determination, again demonstrating effectively how boxing was a route from poverty and despair for so many across the world - and the fight scenes, especially at the end, look very convincing. I could have been doing with a little more of a backstory of "Conlan" - anyone who doesn't appreciate that it is just as tough growing up in Liverpool as in anywhere in the USA isn't really given much opportunity to realise that both boxers here are from the streets, as it were. To be honest, Jordan isn't actually a very good actor, but he is very easy on the eye and Stallone brings just enough class to the proceedings to make this a worthy cousin of the original.
**Creed celebrates all the Rocky films that came before while establishing a fresh new direction for the franchise.**
After decades of Rocky movies, with recent entries leading us all to believe the franchise's best days were behind us, Creed burst onto the big screen, proving everyone wrong. Creed is a legacy sequel in league with films like Top Gun: Maverick. The performances, the cinematography, the sets, the fight choreography, and the soundtrack were all incredible. But the most outstanding element of Creed was the writing. The decisions made to enhance the story were BRILLIANT! Changing the story to follow the son of Creed rather than Rocky's son and Rocky's battle with cancer showing his same unyielding fight even against a new foe, signal an exciting new era for the Rocky franchise. Creed sets the gold standard for legacy sequels while being a great place to jump in if you're new to the Rocky films.
Так себе. Местами пафос просто прет наружу - даже противно смотреть. Сюжет вытянет из пальца, особенно не понравилось наличие больных в фильме: девушка музыкант, теряющая слух и рокки у которого находят рак. Если бы не фильмы про рокки, то я в принципе сомневаюсь, что фильм бы заметили.
> CREED is the new ROCKY.
Honestly, I was looking for the 7th film in the 'Rocky' series, so this spinoff was totally unexpected. But it is the right thing since the Rocky Balboa is getting old. Besides, in this reboot era, keeping franchise alive and leaping into the next generation was a very smart move. By doing this, they're keeping the original series fans with them to back it. I hope this will only get going like the Bond movies, since the young star, Jordan has another 30+ year potential to continue the 'Rocky' legacy by delivering some hits in his belt.
I don't know how they have done it, just kept everything so simple yet delivered a successful movie. The director of 'Fruitvale Station' and its actor Jordan's second successive run. I wish the combo return for the third time for another grand scale flick. Of course Stallone's presence made a big difference, but the way his character was portrayed, I feel the next film will get more emotional, especially between Rocky and Adonis like Rocky and Micky. And I'm also hoping for a bit better romantic tale on the side.
I grew up watching 'Rocky' movies, so I wanted badly it to be at least a decent, but it is a fantastic flick and I definitely suggest for those people like me. The youngsters as well can taste the new beginning in the Rocky legacy. CREED is the new ROCKY. The blueprint for the screenplay was exactly same as the original movies, even the music was very comparable yet everything was updated to the current timeline. Now I'm looking for a follow-up in the next 3 years.
8/10
one of best boxing movie i ever watched...it's a spin off to the original rocky series....Michael B. Jordan is perfect in his role...it's maybe one of the Sylvester Stallone's best performance till the date...the boxing scenes are really good....Ryan Coogler done a great job...must watch if u love boxing...
Walker isn't a cop anymore and after the first one we sort of know why don't we?
But then he becomes a contract worker of the DEA or immigration and enlists an old friend to have his record cleared and that is about it. Nothing really comes from it.
He has a crush on a woman who is working both sides of things and saves her by... driving a car into a boat.
Yeah, it makes about that much sense, but, hey, Deadly Little Miho is in it and she really needed to stick around, she would have been a bright spot on this franchise.
Sadly, this sequel really did miss Vin Diesel. Paul Walker tries, he has a glint in his eye, and Tyrese Gibson gives it all he has as the wise-assed sidekick "Roman" but sadly this entire thing resembles an hybrid of "Starsky & Hutch" meets "Miami Vice". Plenty of squealing rubber, the cars and the people all look great but the thinnest of plots and some seriously woeful dialogue make this better to watch with the sound turned down. Poor stuff.
***Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson team-up to bring down a pompous drug lord in south Florida***
Now living in the Miami area and no longer an undercover cop, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) is compelled by the authorities to work with a US Customs agent (Eva Mendes) to nail an arrogant drug lord (Cole Hauser). To accomplish this, he teams-up with an old street-racing buddy (Tyrese Gibson) who’s in dire need of redemption.
Paul Walker is the only notable cast member to return for "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003). The others won’t return until the fourth installment, “Fast & Furious” (2009). Anyway, I like the beginning of this sequel better than the first movie. Director John Singleton has a better eye for photographing women, at least as shown in the first 40 minutes or so; plus I appreciate the diverse cast, which also includes the likes of Ludacris as Tej, cutie Devon Aoki as Suki and James Remar as a lead agent.
But as effective as Gibson is here, he can’t rival the charisma of Vin Diesel. And somewhere just after the midpoint I started to get a little bored. Nevertheless, “2 Fast 2 Furious” is an entertaining race-oriented action thriller. It basically mixes the first movie (2001) with “Licence to Kill” (1989).
The film runs 1 hour, 47 minutes and was shot in the Miami area.
GRADE: B-
Get revved up for a bit of car porn.
The second instalment of what will become an on going film franchise, 2 Fast 2 Furious ticks all the boxes of the action junkie fan. Paul Walker is back as Brian O'Conner and joined by Tyrese Gibson and Eva Mendes, who all get involved in an undercover job to bring down Cole Hauser's nefarious bad guy. There's lots of awesome cars, pecs and breasts, noise, carnage, violence and awful dialogue. The story is weak, but are we really looking for some brains over brawn here? We want car porn and we want it now! And so it delivers as per our polite request. John Singleton directs, David Arnold scores the music and Matthew F. Leonetti photographs the sumptuous Florida locations. 6/10
**Not the worst. Definitely not the best.**
Heard it was horrible, but it has Pierce Brosnan and Sean Bean in it. I can't pass up a Goldeneye reunion! Also, to be honest, I have a soft spot for these mediocre cheesy Disney adventure movies, and that is precisely what this is.
Ted 2 packs more unhumorous stuffing within its formulaic synthetic fur. MacFarlane is a talented comedian, I’m sure of it. His profusely crude humour captivating millions with his legendary ‘Family Guy’ TV show. Even ‘Ted’ was tolerable to a certain degree, and that’s saying something. Yet here we are, with an inevitable sequel, that essentially felt like a glorified episode of the aforementioned animation. It’s cutaway structure for unrelated gags. Relentless wave of pointless cameos. Ted becoming Peter Griffin. Close your eyes, let the voices infiltrate your senses and you’ll soon realise it’s just ‘Family Guy’, just less funny. Ted now married and struggling to maintain his relationship, has his rights taken away when he is no longer viewed as person but property instead.
A particularly strong aspect to this comedy that more or less is the power source of its story, raising a civil rights lesson in ethics and morality. It was so *interesting* that Morgan Freeman himself got involved and slam dunked the jury with his God-like soothing voice. And despite Seyfried actually picking up the script’s remnants and transforming the scraps into a functional film, it’s utterly forgettable. So much so, that once Wahlberg becomes drowned in rejected semen samples (literally swimming with the sperm...), I experienced a moment of déjà vu (ironically, so did Ted). Surprisingly, I had seen the first half before. Yet it took me a decent forty minutes to encounter this epiphany, that’s how unmemorable this comedy truly is.
It exercises all of the same plot points from its predecessor, the inclusion of the mentally unhinged Donny and the friendly break-up between the leads cement this sentiment, and rarely explored new avenues. Sure the friendly chemistry remained intact, but only one or two lines made me frustratingly chuckle, mostly due to Warburton’s comedic execution (urgh, that voice...). Besides that, there’s nothing here. Same old MacFarlane profanity. Worth a squeeze if you enjoyed the first film, but exhausts its preset lines of dialogue extremely rapidly. “I love you”? Eh, please don’t.
> The return wasn't as exciting as the previous one.
No surprise why this film failed to excite me, but a few people thinks its a passable sequel. The original movie was atypical, so the success followed it. In my perspective better that should have left as a one-off movie. But as a low budget product, they knew it was going grab back twice, thrice they spent because of the star value and indeed the first film's influence.
There is no story, simply based on the usual Hollywood road adventure like the flicks 'Fanboys', 'Dumb and Dumber To', 'Not Suitable for Children' et cetera, except the character Ted which makes this theme a special. A couple of good jokes and that's it, the rest were ineffective, sometime keep repeating the same ones. The 2 hours in a too plain concept, is way too long to sit and watch/focus.
The cameos were weak, or maybe worthless/meaningless, especially Liam Neeson's. The best things were the production quality, acting and like I mentioned before, the character Ted. For the one time watch, I think kind of manageable, but definitely not suitable for repeat viewing or to recommend it to the others. But overall, a little disappointed with the outcome. They have got one more chance to end this franchise on a high note as a decent trilogy if the next film gets a better storyline.
6/10
"Jason Bourne" (Matt Damon) lives quietly with girlfriend "Marie" (Franka Potente) until a CIA-Russian deal goes wrong, their safety is compromised and after moving around from pillar to post trying to stay one step ahead of their pursuers - tragedy ensues. All of which drives the highly trained assassin to the conclusion that the CIA have screwed up his life for the last time - and he sets out for answers, and revenge! It hasn't quite the style of the first film, but as sequels go it's a strong, gripping effort with Brian Cox reprising his role as "Ward Abbott" and Joan Allen entering the fray as the CIA Deputy Director "Landy" who sees "Bourne" as a lethal threat who must be apprehended and/or eliminated at all costs. As with the first film, the story sticks closely to Robert Ludlum's book and Paul Greengrass picks up well from Doug Liman with a pacy and exciting story of betrayal and manipulation. Great stuff.
**The Bourne Supremacy is my favorite of the franchise because it cranks up the action, raises the stakes but also remembers to grow and deepen its characters.**
The Bourne Supremacy takes Bourne to new heights with bigger set pieces and effects as well as new depths by exploring more of Bourne’s mysterious past and trauma. The action in Supremacy is cranked up with a larger budget allowing more exciting sequences with multiple car chases, explosions, and hand-to-hand fights. This sequel also highlights Bourne’s spy craft and skills at infiltrating. He pieces the clues of a mystery together by stealing information, flipping sources, creating new contacts, tapping phone lines, and more. In addition, matt Damon shows more of Bourne’s struggle and agony in this film as he discovers more about his past and is disgusted with his past misdeeds resulting in a quest for some sort of redemption. The Bourne Supremacy takes everything from the action to the storytelling to the next level with that sequel that, in my opinion, is the best of the franchise.
Well done sequel that's not quite as good as Identity but still entertaining. Most of the movie was shot well however could've done without the shaky cam during the car chase scene at the end. Otherwise, solid movie through and through. **4.0/5**
It appears that disgraced asshat Bob Chapek (not going to link to IMDb for this asshat since his bio there is just corporate gibberish written by Disney themselves, and not updated to show that he got fired) has scared away any form of actual talent from Disney so that even when they do something that is not blatantly woke and preaching it still turns into a turd.
Already in the first scenes I was going what the f… is this? Are they turning the franchise into a comedy?
Thor himself has been turned into a rambling moron. The rest of the Gods are either unbelievable assholes or fat slobs only caring about their orgies or some combination thereof. Most of the movie I was just cringing in my seat.
If they were actually going for more of a comedy movie than an actual Thor movie they failed miserably. The “jokes” where unfunny, unintelligent and just bad. Superhero slapstick at best.
The only character that I found remotely likable and cool in the movie was King Valkyrie. Jane Foster was not too bad either. The rest was just a joke. The portrayal of the mighty God Zeus and Olympus was an affront. The bad guy was not too bad although I would not call him likable of course. He is not supposed to be likable. At least he was not turned into a parody.
It is really a shame because the underlying story is not half bad… if it had been given to someone with actual talent to implement. It is predictable of course but it is okay. If it had only been given to someone who could have turned it into a real Thor movie instead of this failed comedy turd.
I have to admit that I did not have my hopes up very much when starting to watch this movie. Given what Disney has turned into I was afraid that they were literally going to turn Thor into a female and luckily that did not happen. Unfortunately they found another way of ruining the franchise. This movie is nothing like the previous Thor movies. I really liked Thor: The Dark World for example. To me this movie is very close to a franchise killer.
The one and a half stars is for the special effects. They were pretty good. The rest of this movie is really bad.
Bad humor, characters teleporting all over the place, terrible plot. A thing capable of altering the universe happens to exist, you don't even need infinity stones *facepalm* I can't believe there is a worse Thor movie than The Dark World.
As usual for the MCU, 'Thor: Love and Thunder' is a good watch. I did want more from it, though.
Chris Hemsworth remains the star of the show, I'm adding nothing new by saying he is just perfect for the role. Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi and Natalie Portman all make for good support. Christian Bale is also someone I enjoyed, I like the look of his character but kinda felt that I wanted to see more of him - it's like we see a beginning and an end, but part of me feels like we coulda had something in-between.
The special effects are solid, as is the music; even if the track choices aren't the most creative. I probably would've shortened the run time a little, though that isn't anything all that noteworthy to be honest. There are some funny moments in there, which is always something I expect from a Taika Waititi flick.
As for me and my own personal Thor ranking, this - like the 2011 original (also 3*) - isn't one of my favourites (fwiw, I enjoy 'Thor: The Dark World' and 'Thor: Ragnarok' (both 4*) way more) but it's still a fun enough time that I'd recommend it.
I simply cannot (cannot, I tell you!) believe they didn't just call this 'Thor Four' btw... 💔
**It’s definitely worth seeing but doesn’t quite reach the height of its predecessor.**
This is a tough movie to explain. I can’t say there was a part of Thor: Love & Thunder I didn’t enjoy, but I also left the theater feeling unsatisfied. There were great parts! The space goats and Thor’s jealous battle ax were highlights. There was a big fight scene with some of the best special effects in a Marvel movie to date. But the ending felt sudden and disappointed me, while the movie overall lacked something that made me connect and care about the plot.