Tag / idris elba

by Jaime Rebanal

Molly’s Game – Review

✯✯✯½

This is the unfiltered version of Aaron Sorkin, now that he finally went behind the camera to direct Molly’s Game. I consider myself a fan of Aaron Sorkin’s quick and witty delivery but there’s also a point to which I felt that a lack of filter for once with Sorkin’s trademarks can become rather excessive and knowing that this is a product that speaks Sorkin through and through, now it’s easier to see where his indulgences end up getting in the way. That said, I don’t want to give away the idea that I didn’t enjoy Molly’s Game, because I don’t see myself ever resisting the sound of Sorkin’s smart-sounding dialogue coming out of Jessica Chastain’s tongue and I got what I expected.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Thor: Ragnarok – Review

✯✯✯½

Taika Waititi makes his first step into Hollywood with directing a film as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But at the same time, it isn’t without him playing around with the familiar mythology to the point that he even shows a sense of self-awareness regarding the state of these films from the film’s opening sequence. It was something that I wished to see from more of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general, just this sense of self-awareness and creative freedom that felt lacking in many of their films. It’s nice enough to see that Taika Waititi is willing enough to play with what we can recognize to turn out what is easily the best film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in quite some time, because it was a film that clearly had fun from the roots in which it was stemming from almost like Waititi would have brought to us for vampire mythology with What We Do in the Shadows.

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by Jaime Rebanal

The Dark Tower – Review

✯

Adapting Stephen King to film is a complicated case, knowing that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining had taken liberties with its source material to the scorn of King himself. With that having been said, it still remains the best of the many adaptations that King’s work has spawned, but perhaps the case with “Stephen King done right” as proven by the Shining miniseries would only have proven itself disastrous, so fan reactions to The Dark Tower could set expectations in place for they didn’t get what they would have wanted as a means of introducing a story they love to newcomers. Coming in with a newcomer’s perspective for I’ve only read the first book in the series and wasn’t a fan, I already feel the anger that such an audience would have felt to see something they loved bastardized the way Nikolaj Arcel did so here.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Prometheus – Review

✯✯✯½

Ever since James Cameron laid his name on the Alien franchise with his more action-oriented sequel, Aliens, I’ve only grown less fond of the direction that the series has moved for. The very idea behind Alien was always one that I enjoyed most when it was confined, and although a fantastic sequel in itself, Aliens was also home to what would eventually become one of the biggest problems with the Alien franchise as a whole: the universe ended up becoming far too big for its own good. With Prometheus it feels nice that Ridley Scott wants to return the franchise back to the roots of where it all had begun, yet it still suffers what’s plagued the universe ever since Aliens had come along. The success of the original Alien was clear from how little we knew about how the creature worked before it started killing off its victims, but as more films come by, said approach has become worn out and lost.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Star Trek Beyond – Review

✯✯✯½

I’m not a huge Star Trek fan personally. I was always rather indifferent to the series (even though I admittedly quite love The Wrath of Khan) but when the series hits its highest points, it’s usually rather interesting what pops out. With Star Trek Beyond I was admittedly rather skeptical because I was not particularly fond of J. J. Abrams’s takes on the series and now with Justin Lin behind the camera, there were only two things that I could expect knowing that a radically different approach were going to be made with the series. Either it could go down the path to which Lin chose to suit the Fast and the Furious films (which I’ve never been to fond of) and in turn head down a much worse route or bring a kick of energy to the franchise that could grab my interest. Thankfully, Star Trek Beyond leaned toward the latter, even if it suffers what the previous reboots suffered through at the same time. Continue reading →

by Jaime Rebanal

The Jungle Book (2016) – Review

✯✯

While not lifeless, there’s not enough presented by The Jungle Book for me to get on board with. I like the fact that it knows whom it’s geared towards, but what I hate about its acknowledgement is how in turn something more restricted comes about. After Cinderella (which I’m indifferent to) and Alice in Wonderland (which I despise), Disney comes about with another live action remake of one of their classics, and this time, they tackle The Jungle Book. I was hoping for more out of this adaptation because I was particularly indifferent to the original Cinderella film and I was wondering what Jon Favreau could have done with his own spin on a different Disney film, and one which I had more of an attachment to at that. It was certainly something that looked very nice as it should, but trying to find the reasons for myself to get invested was where the real challenge came in. Continue reading →