Coma (2020)

Coma (2020)

6/10

Starring

Rinal Mukhametov

Lyubov Aksyonova

Anton Pampushnyy

Milos Bikovic

Directed by Nikita Argunov

Here is a brief idea of what you get when you sit to watch this Russian movie titled Coma. Note it is in Russian so you may have to take not to see an English dubbed version of this Sci-Fi.

I like the way Coma starts along the paths of science fiction sucking you into its own world, where you settle into the idea that another world exist which is identical to ours. In this world everything there exist because of memories of the people living in it. These people in this world are all coma patients. At this point the first question that crossed my mind is that, how is it possible that all the coma patients in the world meet at one place? I started to get invested in the idea that maybe all humans are connected in some sort of dream state connection which ties us all together. And when people are in a coma, they are stuck in that dream state and there they meet other people, stuck in the same dream state.

All that and more theories are being built in my head, as the people in this world cannot remember who they are or what they used to do, all they know is that they have to survive in this world. Reason survival is key in a world where everything you see are memories, is that have some creature called reapers in this world that hunts them. When these creatures catch you, you no longer exist in the coma world, I believe then you are brain dead. All these people gather together in a camp like place with their leader who guides them.

Here is the main jolt of this movie, you see all the things I have written above is how much the movie pulls you in to be invested in it, then during a battle of survival it pulls the rug right from under you. Everything, the whole idea of what is going on in this world is just smokescreen for what is really happening. The moment the smoke cloud lift you are lost at first.

I had to skip back to see what connected the coma world to what looked like the real world, only to continue watching and see this movie morph from a sci-fi to a medical thriller.

The movie focuses on a single characters journey into this world. Where when he first woke up into this world after he fell into a coma, he is rescued by a group of fighters who came to save him from the reapers. He is then taken to their camp where their leaders marks him the chosen one and he is told everyone in this world has some sort of power. Some can sense when danger is approaching, others are tech genius and some are like battle warriors. He needs to discover what his power is and how he fits into everything.

This where I am going to stop so that I will not drop more spoilers. The movie is fun to see and very enjoyable a ride. The visual effects of the coma world is very smooth and done extremely well. The acting is also on point and I found myself giving a lot of kudos to the director of this flick for doing a nice job in maintaining the thrill as the movie morphs.

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

7/10

Starring

Harvey Keitel

Tim Roth

Chris Penn

Steve Buscemi

Lawrence Tierney

Michael Madsen

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Reservoir Dogs is an oldie, but an enjoyable one at its best. I have heard of this movie many times before, but this is my first time seeing it. The movie makes the best of what you could see as a tiny budget and even though you do not get to see the heist or get a glimpse of what went down, the movie does justice in letting you know. Which for me added to why this is one classic movie to see. How Tarantino planed and plotted the path to make this one movie you will love to see again in the future is worth awarding.

The movie plot starts with a bunch of men sitting have a meal and talking about a Madonna's song. These men have given themselves names according to colours to protect their indentiy in the case something goes wrong. Next we jump ahead to a man tagged Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) bleeding in the back of a car being told he will be alright by Mr. White (Harvey Keitel).

Soon we learn that the men are put together to commit a heist to steal diamonds. When Mr. White makes it to the rendezvous point with a bleeding Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) joins them and tells White that they were setup. One of the men Mr. Blondie (Michael Madsen) went a little crazy and started shooting which led to the cops coming in. Mr. Pink noticed that the cops came in immediately Blondie killed someone which means they were waiting to take them, but had to move in when Blondie started killing people.

They (White and Pink) do not have track of what happened to the others in their team. It is certain there is a setup, now with the death of some of their men the guys seem confused on what to do, and are interested to know who set them up.

The movie has the normal Tarantino style of movie making, it has non-linear storytelling, bloody, very violent and lot of profanity. The use of the n-word was in my view unneeded. The movie made me uncomfortable somehow when the n-word was used in two different scenes by a white person. The context to which they were used caught me unawares. Call me silly, but I felt it was so so unneeded, there were better ways to have passed those messages across.

In Tarantino’s filmography this movie this is the first movie which he wrote and directed. The movie’s class is how the story is being placed together. Other than the marvelous writing and the intense that comes with this heist film, the acting is also something you will enjoy. It seems all the actors had something extra to give and they gave it all in this movie.

Seen by many as one of the best independent films to see, the movie did moderately in the box office.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

7/10

Starring

Brad Pitt

Christoph Waltz

Michael Fassbender

Diane Kruger

Mélanie Laurent

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Here is a movie I delayed to see much because I never heard enough about it to want to. Finally seeing it I have to admit the movie was intense, interesting and the climax was unexpected. It has some very high tension scenes where the dialogue pulls you in, and the plot which is an alternate take to what happened in World War II was written with grace.

The movie was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in what ended up being a masterpiece which earned numerous accolades and praises for his work.

It has a huge cast of notable actors and the story starts in 1941 at farm house which was visited by German Soldiers during World War II. The soldiers are led by Hans Landa (Chrisroph Waltz) who is on the hunt for a Jewish family who are unaccounted for in the area. The conversation in the farm house is intense as we are shown that both the farmer and Landa are playing a game of chess with words and actions. Landa won.

We are taken forward to 1944 where Lt Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) is leading a bunch of men in a group called the Basterds who are a paramilitary unit who kill German soldiers. There are so good at what they do that the German army in operation where they operate fear them. Hitler was not pleased about their existence and wanted them stopped.

We soon see two plots merge as a Jewish lady who survived Landa’s Jewish hunt, was to screen a film at her cinema which will have many top German soldiers at attendance. She plans to get revenge on them for what they have done to the Jews. The Basterds also want a take on getting to kill Germans at the cinema, but Landa seems to be on top of things. Being the head of security Landa is investigating and starts to unravel what he suspects to be going down.

There are some performances that crowns an actor and Inglourious Basterds has one of such performances by Christoph Waltz. Although he was not the sort after cast for this role, his inclusion and his ability to speak fluently the three languages needed (English, French and German) made his performance more memorable and easier to digest. Waltz made this movie his own and for his role as Landa, Waltz won the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actor Award. He went on to also win a BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, Critics' Choice, Golden Globe, and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The movie was both a critical and commercial success and I will ask anyone who has not seen this movie to go see it, it is worth every minute.

The Old Guard (2020)

The Old Guard (2020)

7/10

Starring

Charlize Theron

KiKi Layne

Matthias Schoenaerts

Marwan Kenzari

Luca Marinelli

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood

The Old Guard is one of those movies that was done so exquisitely well that you will be eager to see more. The gun fights scenes do not amount to much in the beginning, but when you get to the end of the movie and the group had to be a team to get away from where there were captured, amazing. The best way to describe it is, imagine a scenario of five John Wicks vs fewer bad guys than what Wick faced in his movie’s gun shootout.

The movie is fun, rewatchable and suits the laptop/TV screen so well. The movie has scenes that will make you go, “wait I have to see that again.”

Charlize Theron was the person that carried this movie and she did so with class. Her portrayal of Andy is so classy and with the character she carries the emotional weight of someone who has seen it all. Theron carries that well in her acting that I wish I was in-charge of any award to give her one.

The movie is based on a graphic novel of the same name and it tells the story of four immortals. We do not know why, what or when the whole immortal beings first started, what we do know is that they stay together and do good. The four were joined by a fifth, a lady named Niles who serves as our guide in this movie. She does the asking of questions to get the answers that we the audience needed to understand what was going on.

They were betrayed and two of them were caught. Their leader and eldest Andy tasked the remaining two with her to go save them. The two were caught by a man who believes he will be able to extract what makes them immortal and use it to make money. We soon learn more about Andy and we start to worry about her as she is hellbent on doing what it takes to save her fellow immortals.

In the end, I give more props to Theron’s character for making this movie magnificent. Not saying the director or the screenplay writer did not do their part in making this movie as enjoyable for me as it is, but it was Theron’s acting that did it for me.

Fun movie to see on Netflix and you will be glad you got to see it for sure. I hope after the whole Covid-19 is over Netflix dives into making a second part of this movie and keep this available to rewatch once more before seeing that.

Yesterday (2019)

Yesterday (2019)

6/10

Starring

Himesh Patel

Lily James

Ed Sheeran

Kate McKinnon

Directed by Danny Boyle

Yesterday will not be in the top of the tops as one of the fabulous movies of 2019, but the movie tries to entertain with its somewhat weird plot, and in some instances it does.

The movie’s idea is what catches your attention and keeps you, as you wonder how it will end. I kept asking myself, is this a dream he is having? Is he in an alternative timeline? All these questions had one obvious ending for me which was that he will find himself back in the original timeline and will have learned something from the experience.

That did not happen as the movie decided to choose its own way to end the story, which was a surprise as I did not see that coming.

The movie introduces us to the said to be romantic couple, Jack and Ellie. Jack wants to be a musician and the emphasis is on “wants”. Ellie is his manager and someone who has feelings for Jack which is obvious to everyone including Jack himself. He does not want to explore the idea of being in a relationship with her, for some stupid reason.

One faithful day while on his bike something happens to the world. All the lights went off and came back on again. During the lights out Jack was hit by a bus. He wakes up in the hospital, with Ellie there taking care of him.

After he was released she buys him a new guitar and he sings to his friends the popular Beatles song, Yesterday. They were all moved by the song and asked him when he wrote it, he was surprised that they did not know it. This led to Google The Beatles and he found out they did not exist or better still never existed. He also discovered that some of the things he knows and love seem not to have ever existed.

This gave him an idea, and he tried to remember all The Beatles song he could change the lyrics where he could. He started to record and distribute his CDs and he became popular and rich. That came with a price, the girl he has overlooked Ellie now cannot be a part of his new fame.

It is not having her near him all the time showering him with love and care that made him realize how much he has been taking her for granted.

Also he lives with the fear of someone one day coming to realize that the songs he has been singing and traveling around the world performing are actually songs from another band.

The movie has an ending with his romantic interest that I did not like. What it looked to me was, he took her for granted all these time and when he wanted to have her, he did regardless of the other stuff happening in her life. Did not fancy that.

The movie is not the best romantic comedy out there, but it is something to watch.

The movie is written by Richard Curtis, someone I do admire for his work in sitcoms like Blackadder, Mr. Bean, and The Vicar of Dibley. Also in movies like Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999) and Bridget Jones's Diary (2001). The movie is then directed by Danny Boyle whose other works include Trainspotting (1996) and its sequel T2 (2017) also Slumdog Millionaire (2009).