(film review) - The Creator

He came on the scene and a lot of people were wondering, "John David Washington, is he as good as his father? Is he trying to ride the coat-tails of his father? What is he going to bring to the acting table?" You could say, he has big shoes to fill, but with everything I have seen him in, JDW seems to be carving out a filmography for himself where, some may not hit well, but he is really good in the role. This would be his 13th film role. Starting in Malcolm X with his father, then Devil with the Blue Dress and then Book of Eli as a co-producer. Since then, JDW has been in BlackkKlansman, Tenet, Malcolm and Marie, all great films, so JDW is starting to become a household name. The Creator though, this is something different. And if I do say so myself, JDW was great in this. Joshua is an undercover operative in a war between humans and artificial intelligence who is tasked to seek out and locate a new weapon created by Nirmata, a mysterious chief architect of the AI machines and a machine called 'Alpha O' which is believed to have the capabilities of taking out a USS orbital weapon named the North American Orbital Mobile Aerospace Defence (NOMAD). When Joshua discovers Alpha O on a mission, Joshua discovers the simulant to be a little girl and must decide whether he should kill the little girl or follow his heart. Gareth Edwards has not done many films at all, Monsters, Godzilla, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and now this. While I do recall things being said about Rogue One regarding his involvement with Tony Gilroy, The Creator shows us where we are with Gareth and exactly what he is capable of. The Creator is a few films fused into one, but delivered in such a great way in regards to storytelling and visuals. Yes, the story is not groundbreaking, but it is told in a way where it is upto the audience to decide who is the bad guy? Morality. Ethics. What we do as people, humans on this earth and how we treat each other, view each other and behave when we do not understand or wish to understand. The film is masterfully crafted giving us breathtaking visuals and special effects which simply looked amazing considering the budget. I have watched movies that were a lot more money and the special effects and graphics were nowhere near as clean as this. The character designs were amazing and some of the designs added lent to some comedic moments in a film that is fairly serious in tone as it tackles the subject matter of trained/learned behaviour. The music is great, Hans Zimmer has a catalogue of scores that pair well with his films and this is simply just another one to add to his ever growing catalogue. The acting, superb. John David Washington's performance here is great and whilst you can close your eyes and hear his father, John exudes confidence and charisma that gels well with the actors around him as well as Madeleine Yuna Voyles who plays Alpha O. She is great and helps to carry the emotional moments within the movie throughout. Seeing Ken Watanabe is always great, along with Gemma Chan. Short roles but they did a great job with carrying the story. This film reminds me of 'A Quiet Place' for the sheer fact that, while the events of this film takes places mostly in Los Angeles and New Asia, what are the other stories across the globe? Are there other pockets of factions fighting wars on their turf? Is it simply just the Americans being Americans (in films like this) or is there a British Army, Korean Army, German Army fighting "Rogue A.I" as well? I would love to see a sequel where Alpha O possibly meets another version like her who is the exact opposite built from the same schematics and raised in a way where they continue to perpetuate the war. There are soo much possibilities with this movie and considering the movie was made for a quarter of what movies are made for these days, hoping the studio make their money back, I am hoping they can push forward for another excellent movie. Something a little longer. Something with a bit more tragedy and moral dilemmas. Something that challenges the audience and pushes us to feel emotions about the things we do. Whilst this film did some of these things, they were considerably light and with the rise of AI and all the stories which have already been told, I feel we could have a great franchise here for the ages.

(trailer review) - The Creator

I heard of this film a few months back and I thought the name of the movie was a little weird, but ultimately I brushed it off for when I would eventually see the trailer. You know, I cannot judge the movie by its name alone before seeing the trailer, right? And now the trailer is here and it all makes sense. The vibe I am getting from this movie, The Terminator mixed with Elysium, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Alita Battle Angel, District 9 and a dash of Blade Runner and The Golden Child? I even thought about Akira as well. What I will say as a running thought in my head watching this trailer was, as we continue to make films about Artificial Intelligence, in the real world, we are now using more Artificial Intelligence and seemingly like, we are embracing it for pictures, script writing and all sorts, as well as the robotic police dogs and such, it just made me think, life imitating art, imitating life and it is quite unnerving.

So what I gathered from this trailer, humans create Artificial Intelligence to help them with everyday stuff, A La iRobot and eventually, the AI became self-aware like in Age of Ultron and nuked part of the world like what happens in The Terminator story. But a resistance, also like The Terminator are fighting back for humanity before these robots that look like a cross between Blade Runner, Alita Battle Angel and Ex Machina kill all humans on earth, but "The Creator" as it were, is a small robotic child, A La The Golden Child and Joshua, John David Washington's character chooses to help the robot child rather than killing it/her because of reasons currently unknown. This is sci-fi and may not be a lot of people's cup of tea but I love this type of stuff. Gareth Edwards the director behind Rogue One, although there is a rumour that he may not have completed or solely directed that movie, I enjoyed that as well as Godzilla and its looks fantastic so it will be interesting to see how this pans out. Hopefully, nothing like Chappie or Elysium. Ken Watanabe looks excellent!

(trailer review) - Beckett

Ummm, what is this please? Netflix of recent have been dropping a few gems here and there.  Whilst some shows and movies do need work and they are striving for their own IP and having lost a few IP back to Disney, it is refreshing to see Netflix as an independent studio like MGM, Fox and Sony etc.  But what is this? John David Washington back in a Netflix movie since Malcolm & Marie and this movie looks different but also very intriguing.

I'm not sure what it is, but it comes across as very intense and somewhat racial?  I'm definitely getting some racial tones in here, possibly because it's a bunch of white people chasing and shooting at a black man, especially as he had a white girlfriend and it seems as though she is killed.  I'm thinking the movie, 'The Fugitive' with Harrelson Ford.  Maybe they think he did it?  He's a foreigner on their soil as well, it's all a bit crazy and intriguing and intense.  I think I'm down for it! I do like Alicia.

Directed by Ferdinando Cito Filomarino and starring John David Washington, Boyd Holbrook, Vicky Krieps and Alicia Vikander

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(film review) [STREAMING] - Malcolm & Marie

This was a surprising film in many ways.  To learn about, as I never knew about this film until it was a few weeks from being upon us.  The actors involved, one hot off of a Christopher Nolan movie which was more of a mind-twist than anything and another who was noted for her brilliant performance in a TV show also directed by Sam Levinson, Tenet and Euphoria respectively.  I'm not a romantic movie-goer either, so this movie didn't really strike me as a must see, but having these two great actors, I thought I'd give it a whirl.  And how was the movie? Well...from the trailer, a little of what I expected, but also, not. I'll explain.

Malcolm (John David Washington) is a black film writer-director in the industry who arrives home with his girlfriend, Marie (Zendeya) after his film premier screening.  Glowing and on a natural high from the emotional responses and feedback from the screening, Malcolm waits in anticipation for the critical reviews but when he notices his girlfriend not glowing with as much enthusiasm as him or seemingly displeased and slightly distant, he challenges her and as reluctant as she is to address it, when she does, an argument ensues.

This film, as beautifully and artistically shot it is, this film is beyond ugly.  Possibly ugly enough to drive the viewer away to want to watch something else instead.  This film does not hold back any punches as it capitalises on the very raw elements of any "relationship" labelled a relationship and anyone in one and the real arguments that can happen within them and how often AND repetitive they can be.

The real stars of this movie are the actors.  They were powerful and engaging.  The verbal blows felt like heavy weight punches and the music complimented the artistry of the scenes and shots.  Sam did a great job with making this film feel sexy in places, but also claustrophobic and overbearing even when the home in itself felt spacious.  I felt the movie did well to show how some women are overlooked and unappreciated in life, whilst the man basks in all the glory without even acknowledging her efforts in the entirety of the process or his journey.  It highlighted his arrogance in a way, complacency and neglect and when challenged or felt attacked, he would hit back with very ugly and toxic energy.  Home truths that felt like he has held these things over her head ever since he met her.
I also felt the movie did well to highlight her insecurities to an extent, the need for validation, the need for security, the need to feel respected, but most of all, to have acknowledgment, but also showed us, as damaged and insecure she may have been and with all her baggage, her worth was more important because without her being who she was and what she had been through in life, Marie wouldn't have been an inspiration to him to write and direct such a great film, judging by the responses at the screening.  The film reminded me of the saying, "Behind every great man, is an even greater woman".

In some respects, the film does feel repetitive and does feel like it drags in places because the entirety of the movie is one big argument essentially - "why are they going around in circles", but real arguments in relationships can be like this and any relationship worthy of that title would have experienced some type of ugly argument, something that isn't usually captured on film like this and usually because they stem from bottled up emotions or just not having those uncomfortable discussions.

The movie is very polarising and as un-pretty it can be at times, at the heart of it to me, is acknowledgement, understanding and communication, something we all fail and repeatedly fail on in relationships day-to-day and will always fail on.  Some due to complacency, some due to arrogance and ignorance, but mostly due to sometimes just not acknowledging the people who have helped you on your journey.  Being a man, sometimes it's easier to thank those outside of your immediate unit but not because it would be difficult to thank those inside, but some things go without saying, but for women, it's more to do with the saying than not saying, if you know what i'm saying.

I'd say to watch with caution especially as I'm not even sure if the film ends with a happy ending or not...it kinda just ends.  And definitely not a Valentines Day film to snuggle up to...lol

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(trailer review) - Malcolm & Marie

I only found out about this movie a few days ago but I was unable to watch the trailer at the time.  The only thing I could remember about the trailer were the two actors, John David Washington and Zendeya.  I was hearing a little buzz about the movie so I looked for the trailer and watched it.

The film looks like it stars only two people, John David Washington and Zendeya throughout it all.  It seems very claustrophobic, intimate and centered in one place, their home on a single evening.  From the trailer, it seems they will be going head to head fighting each other regarding the truths of their relationship and where they see each other in it.  It looks like it will be very emotional evoking a lot of patterns and conversations that have tested relationships through the ages.  Let's see if they will survive the night because it could end tragically.  This film looks like the acting is as gorgeous as the film being shot in Black and White or at least this trailer.  They both produced it too, nice.  It will be an interesting watch.

Directed by and Starring Zendeya and John David Washington

(trailer review) - Tenet

(First Initial Trailer)

Christopher Nolan is adamant to still have this film shown in the cinema in the next few months during this here pandemic.  And although he is one of my favourite Directors to date, I'm not sure if he should really pursue this without delaying because I'm not sure how comfortable people will be in the cinema for the rest of the year let alone in a few months.

What I will say though, this looks amazing already.  It's like, can you expect anything less from a Christopher Nolan film at this point?  It looks like a guy has been chosen to have these abilities and he also enlists on the help of another guy in order to stop World War 3 from happening by using time against....the...plot? Huh? Using time from the future in order to stop the future be rewinding the present?  Whatever it is, we will know at some point and if anything, it will leave us as baffled as Interstellar and Inception.

Directed by Christopher Nolan and starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, with Michael Caine

(trailer review) - Tenet

I remember hearing about this a good while ago and totally forgot about it.  Christopher Nolan is one of my favourite Directors to date.  I've not seen ALL his movies, but I will.  My favourites are, Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy and I thought Dunkirk was decent, but THIS?

At first I got a '6 underground' premise (only because I just watched it), which then got toppled by some James Bond and Mission Impossible vibes.  This movie looks truely insane.  This movie looks soooo good. And I'm here for it alllll.

Directed by Christopher Nolan and starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, with Michael Caine