wooozie

This might just be the best Oscars I've ever seen. It was fast-paced, filled with humor, and refreshingly light on the annoying political stuff. Plus, finally, a lineup of nominated films that people have actually seen.  A quick-witted Jimmy Kimmel, a naked John Cena, and an absolutely brilliant Ryan Gosling. Practically every award felt totally deserved. My only gripe is "I'm Just Ken" not winning. I can't remember the last time I heard a song so funny, emotional, and with such incredible choreography and actual relevance for the story.

I disagree with Scorsese's take on the MCU not being cinema but rather a theme park. Even in a theme park, you have to put in some effort to make it look presentable in order to make profit. Marvel has become a product that seems to have forgotten about logic, storytelling, and most importantly, the audience. And well, the audience has spoken with their wallets and made it pretty clear to Disney that they're not digging this direction. It feels like Marvel is catering to a specific target audience, but definitely not the one that made the MCU the phenomenon it once was. Now, don't get me wrong. It's not as much of a trainwreck as Eternals, and some of the action scenes are actually pretty well shot. But the overwhelming sense of boredom and helplessness? That's hard to shake off. If I had to pinpoint just one of the many annoying aspects, it'd be Samuel L. Jackson's lackluster performance. It feels like he showed up, recited a few lines, collected his paycheck, and couldn't care less about anything else. It's probably one of the most half-hearted performances of his career. MCU Phase 4 was a misstep, and Phase 5 seems to be following down this downward spiral.

The relaxed approach throughout its entire runtime and the lingering presence (or rather the absence) of Michael Jordan can make it seem like a well-made movie. But when you peel back the layers, it's as routine as they come. There's not even a hint of an attempt at anything original here.

Perfection! Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has a level of originality, sophistication, and inventiveness that leaves the competition light years behind. It not only lives up to the brilliance of the first installment but also manages to elevate it further. It sets the bar high for what animated movies can achieve. Phenomenal in every detail.

The MCU’s swan song. I’m afraid that the third installment of Guardians of the Galaxy is (and probably will be for a long time) the last MCU movie which made me care about the story and the fate of its characters. Most importantly, it's an awesome movie packed with emotion, great moments, and, as we’ve come to expect of Gunn, an absolutely amazing soundtrack. Yes, it's a bit overelaborate, it does get cringy at times, and there are way too many characters. However, since the end of Phase Three, there hasn’t been anything this intriguing, entertaining, and moving (not just the ending). A last look into the good old world which, whether I admit it or not, has very much influenced my taste in movies, my interest in comic books, and just me personally in general. Thanks, Kevin.

Russia is a terrorist state, and the fuckers in the Kremlin should go on trial in The Hague. Period.

I didn’t enjoy this movie and, apparently, neither did the actors and Guy Ritchie. Synonymous with routine and zero imagination. The only interesting thing is the completely uninteresting title, which (whether it was signed off by Ritchie or the guys in marketing) destined the film to fail, because who in their right mind would want to say "2 tickets for Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, please", ugh.

A classic case of a movie where the studio thinks it’s a good idea to shell out over $100 million for a second installment, but nobody really cares. And, naturally, it’s a well-deserved flop that will give Warner's accountants a severe headache. Granted, the second Shazam is much better and, above all, funnier than the utterly lame first movie. It has more one-liners, jokes, innuendos, and Rachel Zegler’s cute looks, but in the end, it's still an ugly B-movie that takes the superhero genre back to the prehistoric era. Some of the visual effects are truly awful and I can’t figure out where all that money went. Unfortunately, they’re not nearly as awful as Lucy Liu's acting "performance", which was literally screaming for a Golden Raspberry Award nomination. All the scenes with Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren are so cringe-worthy that it's a real accomplishment to make it to the end of the movie without skipping their scenes.

Phenomenal! I had my doubts at first, but it turned out to be absolutely brilliant. Although it sounds quite unlikely (a cartoon series about an anthropomorphic world in which the main character is a horse, a former TV star who has turned into a complete wreck), it’s one of the truest analogies of practically every aspect of life. Life can be fun, but it can also be a real bitch. Some episodes are pure depression that will bring you down in unprecedented ways (the dinner party with Herb, the half-hour eulogy at the funeral, the big fight with Todd (fu*k man...), the episode in BoJack's head (stupid piece of sh*t), the way towards death). These are moments where the show reaches the absolute top of quality TV. Sarah Lynn's demise (and everything around it) is such an emotional blast that it goes even beyond the top of the genre. To put this into perspective, what Breaking Bad is to live-action series, BoJack Horseman is to animated ones... obviously. S01: 9/10. S02: 8/10. S03: 10/10. S04: 10/10. S05: 10/10. S06: 10/10.

While the "Golden Age of Hollywood" began in the 1920s, the era of "AI movies" began in the 2020s. What do I mean by that? They are incredibly sterile, uninspired films, with no chemistry between the actors. They are routine, artificial, generic, as if created by artificial intelligence. Their main goal is to please everyone. They have a nice facade, A-list casting, star cameos, winks to the audience, a soundtrack featuring a bunch of mainstream songs, and the kind of marketing that Apple products get. At its core, they are pathetic B-movies with hideous visual effects. Above all, they are incredibly empty and contribute nothing to the development of cinema. This category includes Red Notice or The Gray Man, and now Ghosted. These films deserve the lowest ratings, nevertheless, I always lower my expectations to the bare minimum before watching them, and I manage to settle for very little. A likable central duo (even if their roles don’t exactly fit them), a fun romantic line (albeit mind-numbingly unoriginal) and... that's it. I could only find two positives. Any rating would make sense to me when it comes to this film. I’ll admit, though, that next time I come across a similar film without lowering my expectations first, the rating will be significantly worse.