Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991 film)

Category: sci-fi action

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I think categorising Terminator 2: Judgement Day merely as "the best sequel ever" doesn't do this movie justice - I personally think it's in contention for "the best film ever". Far from suffering from sequel-itis (the condition when a smash-hit original movie has a completely lousy sequel) it's not hard to conclude that Terminator 2 is better than the original Terminator movie.

Having come out in the 1990s, Terminator 2 was the talk at my high school for months on end - cool lines from the movie would get quoted, various scenes would get re-enacted, inopportune screams of "YOU COULD BE MINE!!!!" from the try-hard rock kids, and chuckles about what mischief we would get up to if we had the shape-shifting capabilities as this movie's antagonist. In short, Terminator 2 wasn't a movie - it was a social phenomenon!

In fact, when Channel 9 (the TV station with the local broadcast rights to T2) wanted to spoil ratings for a rival TV station - for example, if the rival station were broadcasting a sporting final or a season finale - Channel 9 would screen this movie as a way of denting the other station's ratings - a testament to this movie's pulling power.

And the result of that policy was that it gave me ample opportunity to record the movie on to my VHS for both myself and my friends. I watched this movie NUMEROUS times on the old CRT TV off of my VHS tape recording, and even then, the visuals were groundbreaking. The only hiccup is that on modern high-res screens and with the advance of CGI since the 1990s, some of the magic is lost in viewing in 2025.

But what made T2 so good? Let's get in to that after a run-down of the plot:

Godzilla: Minus One (2023 film)

Category: Science-fiction creature drama

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This is how you make a movie! 

It's so refreshing to see a movie that has high production values, great effects, good pacing, a plot you can follow, but also doesn't try to shove "the message" down your throat. After all the big-budget Hollywood releases over the last few years that seemed to have been made with a minority audience in mind and turned out to be lousy - be it Madame Web, Star Wars: The Acolyte, The Marvels, or numerous others - it was seriously refreshing to see a movie that shows us it's not that hard to just tell a good story.

And the reason I start my review off with on this line of thought is because it was one of the things that came to mind about 15-20 minutes in - "I'm not being preached to!" - to the point that one can't help but wonder if Hollywood, the birthplace of modern cinema, is now complicit in its death. The COVID pandemic shut productions and audiences to a halt, and we also had the writer's strike, but even with all that in mind, I personally can't help but feel that most big-budget modern Hollywood productions made nowadays are written primarily to avoid allegations of being some type of -ist (racist, sexist, misogynist, white supremacist, et al), and storytelling comes a distant second.

This is NOT how things should be. Audiences should be embraced, particularly when there are hundreds of millions of dollars on the line. The reason that movies are big business is because we love good stories being told - be it in movie form, book form, comic form, or even sitting around the campfire. We want to feel the highs and the lows and the thrills, and the best stories are ones that are told with passion and authenticity and intelligence.

So congratulations to director Takashi Yamasaki - Godzilla: Minus One has relatable characters in a relatable scenario (monsters and nuclear blasts aside).

Don't Move (2024 film)

Category: Chase/hunt thriller

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Not to be confused with "Don't Breathe" (a decent movie in its own right), "Don't Move" really should have been titled "Can't Move", as the premise of this film is that Iris (Kelsey Asbille) is captured by serial killer creep Richard (Finn Whitrock) who takes her to a secluded forest area and injects her with a slow-acting paralytic agent in order to play a very lopsided cat-and-mouse game before Iris succumbs to her supposed fate.

The movie starts with Iris going to the top of a mountain to mourn her deceased son where she just happens to meet Richard, a kindly man who talks her down from the ledge. When they meet back at the car park, Richard tases Iris and puts her in the back seat of his car whereupon after she wakes up, he reveals she has been injected with a paralytic drug that slowly inhibits fine, and then gross motor skills. Richard then gives Iris a twenty minute head-start to escape through a forest, with Iris using her wits in place of her diminishing physical abilities.

Am I Racist (2024 Documentary)

Category: Documentary

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The challenge with reviewing documentaries that cover hot-button topics, and especially ones from figures as polarising as Matt Walsh, is in separating the film as a film from your personal politics about what the film covers. If you so happen to agree with the point of view being presented by the filmmaker, then there will be very little in the way to stop viewers thinking the movie is Oscar-worthy, whereas if you have a pre-existing bias of some sort, then you will be more likely to find flaw with - and maybe even refuse to review - said cinematic work. I'm not personally unaware of that the challenge of personal bias presents, so with that in mind I will fully confess that I am a Daily Wire subscriber, and I agree to an extent with some (but not all) musings and opinions of Matt Walsh and co. I don't agree with everything he and his ilk say and I certainly wouldn’t call myself a DW fan-boi - but I do want to put it out there, and I will review this like I see it.

The Third Wife (2018 film)

Category: Period drama/foreign language film

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Foreign language films can be a treasure-trove for film buffs, and I have to say, I'm glad I came across this one.

Storyline and everything else aside, if you love the art of film-making and storytelling, this movie is a must-watch. The attention to detail and level of authenticity that has gone into this production is simply mind-blowing - while I'm no expert on 19th century Vietnamese serfdom, it's clear the whole crew spent great effort getting the sets right, the clothing right, and even the props. If you want period drama, this is right up your alley!

Now, the name The Third Wife may already give some of the story away, but that's OK.

Sicario 2 (2018 film)

Category: Americans vs Mexican drug cartel action thriller

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"There's no way he survived that!"

Those words was the second-to-last thing I said as this movie came to an end. The last thing I actually said was "oh look - they reflected the opening scene in the ending! That's never been done in film-making before!".

It’s also quite possible that I at some stage said (quietly, under my breath) "Damn! Dora looks hot as a schoolgirl!". If you know, you know.

But in all seriousness, if you enjoyed the first Sicario, this is more of the same, but on a bigger scale and now with extra deus-ex-machina thrown in for good measure.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018 film)

Category: Romance drama with comedy elements.

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Maybe this movie should have instead been titled "Crazy Rich Singaporeans Of Chinese Descent" because, in reality, while the movie is titled Crazy Rich Asians, it focuses only on one type of Asian - Chinese - and only in one country - Sinagpore - as if there aren't also wealthy Asians of other ethnicities, be they Indians or Vietnamese or Japanese somewhere in Singapore, let alone the rest the world. Ah well.

To sum up Crazy Rich Asians, I'd call it a romance drama that borrows plot points from Chinese teledrama series. If you happen to be familiar with Chinese (or other Asian) teledrama series, you'll recognise the tropes right away.

The plot of this movie goes as such: Rachel (played by Constance Wu) is an economics professor who doesn't know that the man she is dating in New York, Nick (Henry Golding), is the son of the wealthiest real estate tycoon in Singapore . However, this secret is revealed when the two travel back to Singapore where Nick is the best man at his best friend's wedding.