Casual Person

I recently finished this show in its entirety for the first time. A perfect show. Great from start to end. What was so watchable about this show is that there is very little padding or filler. Many shows, even great ones, will sometimes feel like they have subplots or episodes that are there for the sake of filler, but not here. All of it feels justified and adds to the overall story. A lot of shows will tend to lose track of what made the earlier seasons beloved towards the end, but this show manages to find fresh and exciting new ways of keeping the story engaging and is one of the few shows that improves itself with each subsequent season. Each character is memorable, fully defined and has something to offer. The narrative and character arcs across the five seasons are executed phenomenally, and the last few episodes are some of the most satisfying payoffs I've ever seen in a TV show.

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An obnoxiously mawkish attempt to recapture the magic of the original, that lacks any of the heart or sincerity that made the original worth rewatching every Christmas. The music felt far too grand, and not subdued like the original. The attempts at trying to create a bond between the boy and the Snowman and Snowdog lacked any charm from the original. And the ending decision to let the dog stay alive took away any emotional impact from the Snowman dying.

Casual Person

A heart warming and wonderful tale of friendship that I have rewatched almost every Christmas. Walking In The Air has been a song that I have struggled to get out of my head, and the ending always has always been emotional.

Casual Person

It has practically become tradition for me to watch this every Christmas. A Muppet movie that manages to incorporate the Muppets style of humour, all whilst capturing the heart and spirit of the original story.

Casual Person

Outside of being populated with unlikable characters and unfunny humour, this is an obnoxious Christmas comedy that tries to teach the absurd moral that the best way to spend Christmas is to give in to people pressing you for their own personal gain, and doing absolutely nothing different.

Casual Person

Despite some good performances from Michael Keaton (when he is a human), Kelly Preston and the actor playing the boy, Jack Frost is ultimately weighed down by an overly schmaltzy tone and the design of the snowman is far too distracting to be considered heartwarming.

Casual Person

I was not a huge fan of the first Fantastic Beasts, but after seeing the trailer for this one, I was excited but I left pretty disappointed with this, even more than the first. The big issue is that JK Rowling's screenwriting is nowhere near the level of her book writing; she clearly can't balance the amount of story lines and the narrative lacks any sense of build up, so it just feels like we're watching a series of scenes playing out rather than a story that is being told. In addition, the story simply lacks the magic of the Harry Potter movies.

Casual Person

There are some good performances here (specifically Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury) and the film has a lot of scenes that I enjoyed. Specifically, the scenes where they were creating the songs and the Live Aid concert at the end. However, as a whole, it fell short. It never felt like it had a compelling story at its core or have anything to say, so there was not enough for it to leave an impact.

Casual Person

Probably the worst movie of 2018, and maybe the worst mobster movie ever made. Gotti has one of the most baffling production crews I have ever come across: It is directed by Kevin Connolly (E from Entourage), made and distributed by five different production companies and has 39 producers listed in the end credits.

Where do I even start with this? The storytelling is completely incoherent. The direction has no clear style. The characters are merely generic mobster guys with names you forget almost immediately. The actors spend more time on their Italian accents than they do their actual characters. The music choices felt completely out of place. The movie virtually yada-yadas its way through the story, and with no clear characters, becomes impossible to get invested in.

Casual Person

This was a really good movie. What First Man does best is capture the struggle and determination of its real life ambitions very well. The scenes involving space flight put the viewer right into Neil Armstrong’s shoes, and the claustrophobia, tension and realism is felt throughout. The lead performance by Ryan Gosling, as well as the supporting performance by Claire Foy are both excellent and ground the movie very well.

There are some minor issues. For one, I found it a little difficult getting into the movie in the first act, and the side characters did not feel as investing as Armstrong or his wife, but these issues are fairly minor.

Casual Person

What makes this movie work the most is the writing and directing from Adam McKay. This movie manages to be really funny, whilst also being really serious and balances the two greatly. They manage to come up with creative ways of explaining the complicated parts to the audience, but it never feels like has been dumbed down or simplified. Tells a fascinating story and is infinitely rewatchable.

Casual Person

A really, fun and entertaining spy comedy that never takes itself too seriously. Rowan Atkinson does really well as Johnny English; he makes the character feel like a comedic take on James Bond, whilst making the character likeable on its own right.

This is hardly one of the greatest comedies ever made, or even one of the best spy movies or spoof movies, but there is enough entertaining action, comedy and characters to keep you watching until the end.

This was also the first time I had ever seen Daniel Kaluuya and Rosamund Pike in a movie. I had no idea I was going to see them appearing in more movies after this.

Casual Person

Extremely disappointing. The directing and style felt flat and uninspired, as well as tone-deaf, uneven and messy, and the pacing felt sluggish and it takes way too long for Venom to show up. In all honesty, the only parts that I liked were the Venom scenes. He was a really entertaining character, even if it takes a while for him to arrive.

Tom Hardy’s acting was fine, but his attempt at an American accent made it impossible for me to connect with his character or take him seriously, especially with him interacting with American actors. Granted, he was nowhere near as bad as Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3.

The supporting characters never worked. Michelle Williams had nothing interesting about her. Jenny Slate was completely miscast and I never bought her character. Riz Ahmed tried his best, given his weak character.

There is also something else I noticed. The movie desperately felt like it wanted to be set in New York, but it couldn’t do that because Spider-Man is in New York, and setting this in New York would have been too on-the-nose, so they set the movie in San Francisco.

Side note: If you are wondering if there is a scene at the end of the credits, there is a sneak peak for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, but keep in mind, you will have to wait through 15 minutes of end credits. Not even joking.

Casual Person

I will say A Star Is Born was a really good movie, not a masterpiece, but definitely a really good movie. What makes this movie work the most are Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. They have great chemistry together and I was invested in their relationship. Their performances also work on their own right. I never knew Bradley Cooper could sing and I never knew Lady Gaga could act. The strongest act was definitely the first act. I loved that the movie took its time introducing the main characters and letting the audience get a connection to them. We get to see who they are and see them build their relationship with each other.

What stops this movie from being a masterpiece in my eyes was the second act. Not that it was bad, but it moved at a different pace compared the first act. It felt like it moved quicker and skimmed over points in time, and I appreciated the movie more when it moved one step at a time in the first act. However, it did not affect the movie too much because the story and the two main performances are so investing. In fact, the best scenes are between them two. Once it reaches the third act, it moves at the same pace the first act did, which I appreciated.

Also, the music is great and Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s vocals bring them to life. I also really liked the concert scenes; I really felt like I was on the stage with them. Bradley Cooper does really well as a director, even if the narrative structure falters at times.

Casual Person

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a movie that I would say I have mixed feelings on. It is by no means bad, but I would not say it is necessarily great either.

The biggest problem I have with this movie is that it tries to do way too much. This movie needs to do a lot: Bring what people liked about the first Avengers as well as other Marvel movies into this one, have a ton of jokes, bring together the Avengers whilst also introducing new characters, set up future movies and also tell its own story.

Because of this, the movie feels completely overstuffed due to an overabundance of characters, and since there is so much going on that none of the characters feel like they have an arc. Some characters have things going on, but that is not the same as an arc.

Another problem this movie raises is that in trying to satisfy the audience, it feels afraid to take any chances, as if they were worried taking risks would backfire. This becomes a problem when regarding Ultron, the approach to comedy and the story as a whole.

Ultron is not a very good villain. He is not as bland or generic as some of the other Marvel villains, but he tries to be both intimidating and comedic at the same time. It felt like Joss Whedon wanted to make him intimidating, but the studio was worried the children would be too scared and because of this, he is too comedic to be intimidating, and is too intimidating to be comedic.

Some of the Marvel movies can be undermined by its approach to comedy, but this movie is affected the most by it. Virtually every single character is firing one-liners all the time, and becomes too much for them to leave an impact. The comedy even becomes a problem for the third act because the world is as stake and yet they constantly feel the need to crack jokes. The writing did not feel as smart as it did in the first film. There are many moments that I did laugh, though it became too much.

The constant feeling of playing it safe and overstuffing it made the movie feel kinda bloated. In all honesty, the scenes that I love are not the action or the visual effects, but just the scenes where the characters are simply talking with one another. We care about and like these characters, and I would watch a movie focusing simply on them and would not care if there was no action. In fact my favourite fight scene was the scene where they are all arguing before Vision is created.

Weirdly enough, my favourite character from this movie was Hawkeye. He has the best jokes, Jeremy Renner gives the best performance and is the only character to feel as if he has ending once the movie ends. Everyone else feels like their roles are being kept on hold for their next movie.

Overall, this movie has a lot to like, so I cannot say it was a bad movie, but there are a lot of problems on display here as well.

Casual Person

The first Avengers movie succeeds on so many levels. Nowadays, seeing a group of Marvel characters in one movie seems natural, but at the time of this movie, it was completely unheard of.

The original six that start off The Avengers are all great in this movie, and work off each other very well, whilst also having great moments of their own. This movie is really cleverly written, with lines I love with every rewatch. The action, and how the characters use their powers on their own and in a team, are very creative and well done.

But what this movie succeeds at the most, and that none of the other MCU movies have failed to top is the third act. Virtually every single moment from the third act is everything I love about this franchise. And when I witnessed the 360 shot of the team all together for the first time, I knew the Avengers had truly assembled and that this franchise was here to stay.

Casual Person

Doctor Strange is one of those Marvel movies that never really worked for me.

The biggest reason I watch the Marvel movies are for their characters and stories, and this movie falls completely short on that aspect. The story line felt very basic and uninspired. The writing for the most part has no charm or wit. It is practically a Marvel tradition to have comedy, but that falls flat on virtually every occasion.

As for the characters, they are pretty weak. Benedict Cumberbatch is fine as Doctor Strange, but his character never felt strong enough to support an entire movie. He worked better in Infinity War because he was part of a team and had others he could work off. Rachel McAdams’ character is... a nurse, that’s honestly just her character. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelsen and Benedict Wong are fine in their roles, but I never truly felt a connection with their characters.

The biggest problem I have with the characters is that they have no chemistry with one another, so it becomes really difficult to care about any of them. The fight sequences and visual effects are undoubtedly amazing, but they are ultimately weighed down by a story that feels painstakingly basic.

Casual Person

The sole purpose for the existence of this movie is to be a rip off A Bug’s Life and Antz. That is honestly just about it. This movie is the textbook definition of bland. There is not a single frame of this movie in which anyone involved felt like that they cared about what they were making and were merely just in it for the money.

The story, characters, writing, directing and animation are as thin and as one-dimensional as a piece of cardboard. I honestly think The Little Cars and Foodfight had more conviction put into them. It is so soulless, that I really don’t think it’s worth getting annoyed over. This movie is just... nothing.

Casual Person

I have never understood what people have liked about this movie. Virtually every single character was either cliched, obnoxious or unlikable. The script never has a single funny line. There is absolutely no charm or wit to it and I felt nothing when watching or listening to the singing.

Casual Person

I have been reading a lot of good reviews for this movie when it was released on Netflix, and quite frankly, I do not understand this praise at all.

The biggest problem I have is that it believes it is something new, original and clever, but is oblivious to how cliched and derivative it really feels. Like it was convinced it was on par with other great teen movies like The Breakfast Club or Ferris Bueller when it is nowhere near on par with those movies. Those movies have great storylines and characters, which this movie does not have and it gave the movie this pretentious feel to it.

Most of the characters and plot points felt cliched and derivative. I have seen these exact same tropes done way more effectively in better teen movies. There was virtually nothing to get attached to.

That being said, there were some positives: I liked the younger sister, she provided the movie some effective comic relief, and I liked the love interest, usually in these movies the love interest is one of the weaker aspects, but I really grew attached to this character way more than any other character. The movie also has some nice cinematography. But that is really it.

Overall, despite two interesting characters and nice cinematography, this movie did not work for me.

Casual Person