Shorties #3: “Paddington 2”, “Django Unchained”, “To the Bone”, “Fruitvale Station” and “Love & Friendship”

This article will contain short reviews of the following films in this order: Paddington 2, Django Unchained, To the Bone, Fruitvale Station and Love & Friendship.

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Don’t ask me how I ended up in a theater watching this film, but I’m glad I did. It’s an extremely well-directed film with fun and creative visuals that tell a heart-warming story. All of the jokes were funny and very well executed; there was some great slapstick and visual comedy, but also some very good verbal comedy that didn’t feel as if it was
written with solely children in mind, but also adults.
Each actor was fantastic, but Ben Whishaw’s voice work for Paddington was excellent. His voice fits so perfectly with the character. It sounds innocent, willing to learn and still young-minded, but most importantly, it has a lot of heart, just like the movie as a whole. I can’t imagine anyone else but him playing that character. The special effects on the character have also greatly improved since the first film. Another thing that has improved since the last film was the villain, who, while still childish, was handled well and wonderfully portrayed by Hugh Grant.

Grade: A+

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Unsurprisingly this was a joy to watch, just like every Quentin Tarantino film. Quentin is such a brilliant filmmaker that he can keep my interest for nearly three straight hours. Constantly something interesting’s going on and the film never drags on for too long. Christopher Waltz delivers one fantastic performance, but so do Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio. The film’s filled with great cinematography, music and sets that all create an amazing atmosphere.
The dialogue was amusing to listen to and made for some great characters that had depth and were interesting to see developing on screen. Waltz’s character especially stood out to me, but Django’s too was interesting as was the one of the antagonist of the story. In short: it was a very fun film.

Grade: A

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It’s a good movie, with a good message and a fantastic performance by Lilly Collins and a very charismatic one by Keanu Reeves. The movie was well shot with some decent writing. At times the dialogue was quite iffy, but that’s just a minor complaint since the rest of the dialogue was good. My biggest complaint, however, with the film was the third act. I get that they were trying to get a bit emotional and show us some metaphors, but it all just felt way to random, odd and it wasn’t very well executed. It even came across as comical at times.

Grade: B

 

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Fruitvale Station is a heartfelt and moving film with great performances from all of the cast members. While only being one hour thirty it still manages to create likable characters that you care for by the end. The movie takes its time to set itself up, but when tragedy strikes the film becomes absolutely incredible. During the set up some scenes could’ve been left out, but in the big picture, this didn’t really matter.

Grade: A

 

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I’m not entirely sure if I got the point of the film. I don’t really feel like there is any point to the film. And I also don’t see why this film felt pointless to me. The writing was excellent and the performances were good. The humor was on point and the director left his mark, but something was missing: an interesting story. The film felt quite boring and as if the story wasn’t necessarily one that should’ve been told since it isn’t really all that intriguing. I didn’t really get any enjoyment out of this film, but by no means does this mean the film’s bad. Production wise this film’s spectacular if we take a look at the small budget it was given. The film just didn’t resonate with me and that’s why I think that it’s just okay.

Grade: C+

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