Raymond Ocdol
Civil War Review

I really did not know what to expect from this movie, I'd seen the trailers and like most people I was pretty fixated on why a 2nd American Civil war was happening. The western forces of California and Texas? The Florida Alliance? A third term president of the loyalist states. Some pretty interesting choices for factions of a 2nd American Civil War and if you were thinking would dive much into this you would be wrong. Civil War is fundamentally about a civil war occurring in the modern USA, journalism specifically war journalism and the people on the ground. We follow a group of journalists as they make their way to DC. Our lead is Kirsten Dunst as Lee a war photographer, followed by Wagner Moura as Joel her college, Stephen McKinley Henderson as Sammy as their old mentor and Cailee Spaeny as Jessie as an aspiring photographer who tags along. Kirsten Dunst is quite the battle hardened pro while Cailee Spaeny's Jessie is the extremely green newcomer and a good part of the movie is Jessie learning the ropes.

Civil War Review
Raymond Ocdol
Top Games 2023

Really wised i got around to playing more this year on top of the giant backlog. Though I did play some other things besides WoW:Dragonflight. My GOTY is below plus some other highlights

Top Games 2023
Movie Review
Raymond Ocdol
Top Movies 2023

My Top 10 Movies for 2023 plus some special mentions at the end.

Top Movies 2023
Raymond Ocdol
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and ...

It's been quite a while since the YA craze and the last Hunger Games movie but here we are 2023 and a new movie, a prequel, the origin story of the main villain. The Hunger Games series were some of the better movies to come out of the YA craze, the quality was a bit un even especially at the end with Mockingjay being split into 2 part but overall solid movies.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Raymond Ocdol
A Haunting in Venice Review

A Haunting in Venice is Third movie is Kenneth Branagh's Poirot movie series, coming just a year after Death on the Nile though I think that movie got caught up in the Fox acquisition and the pandemic. Personally I thought Murder on the Orient Express was decent, Death on the Nile not so much, serviceable but not great for this third I did not have high hopes. Anyway turns out this movie is pretty good and is the best one out of the three.

A Haunting in Venice Review

Drama

,

Entourage Review

,

Not bad

I'm not super familiar with Entourage, but the trailer for the movie looked interested so I hope to go into this with and open mind. Its also an HBO show so that should at least make it somewhat decent. I found Entourage the Movie to be pretty good, it was interesting, the characters were interesting and it had some good moments. Also compared to the last Drama Comedy I saw (Focus) this was hands down better than that.

I will say this, the movie is pretty short. From what I know there show was 30mins so this is essentially 3 episodes and in a way it kind of felt like that. There are definitely threads that go through the entire movie but everything is more or less resolved nicely. The movie was more about the characters their interactions, how they supported each other and how they reacted to their problems, which I guess is probably what the show is like. Favourite character was definitely Ari, some great lines out of him and the way he handles things is very entertaining. Strangely Vince was the least interesting character not sure how he's like in the show but he was a bit blander than the rest. Then again he was probably also the most grounded character which I guess is something you need with all these different personalities.

Overall I think if you liked the show you will probably like this Movie. It's not high art but it was entertaining has piqued my interested about the TV show (which is not on any NZ streaming service at the time of this review). Anyway it has its moments and was a pretty solid albeit short movie.

8/10

Disclaimer: One of the Accounts I work on at work is Roadshow, the distributor for WB Films including Entourage. I also worked on the campaign for this movie and saw this movie at an early screening.

 

,

Get Hard Review

,

Solidus

Get hard is a comedy starring Will Farrell and Kevin Hart, and while they are very funny people the movie itself ends up being a bit of a mixed bag. For people not aware the gist of the story is that Will Farrell a successful stock trader/investment banker/financial something has been found guilty of fraud and faces hard time for his crimes. He enlists the help of Kevin hart to get himself prison ready. Not the worst premise in the world and some potential for good jokes. I feel like I have been saying this for a lot of my reviews lately but the movie does not start off strong. Before Will Farrell gets arrested and he and Kevin Hart are just living their normal lives I feel the movie is pretty weak. The jokes are pretty meh, the way will Farrell goes about his life is absurd and Kevin Harts set up is also a bit odd. Once Will Farrell gets arrested the movie gets better and then when Kevin is training will for Prison the movie gets pretty decent. The jokes become better, the banter is good and Kevin Hart and Will Farrell work pretty well together. There Will Farrell has some pretty good scenes at the beginning of his training, at one point the two have to go into the hood and that’s pretty funny and at one point during the movie there is a confrontation with neo Nazis which is really good. The finale has some decent jokes but the ending is a bit predictable. Not all the jokes are good and there are a few that could probably considered homophobic and racist though I don’t think there mean spirited. I guess I should also mention the rest of the cast, they are fine. Alison Brie is in it and I did not recognize her at the beginning, but she is in it. Her character is a lot different than Annie on community, though as usual she is pretty hot.

Overall the movie was decent and Kevin hart and Will Farrell are pretty funny in. is this their best work? defiantly not Will Farrell has been in way funnier movies and Kevin Harts stand up is also a lot better than this movie. If you're looking for a comedy to watch this movie is not too bad, but defiantly check out Will Farrell's other movies or Kevin Harts stand up if you're looking for something better.

6/10

, ,

Ray's Top Movie's of 2014

, ,

1. Guardians of the Galaxy

2. Gone Girl

3. SnowPiercer

4. Edge of Tomorrow (Live Die Repeat)

5. Grand Budapest Hotel

6. Captain America The Winter Soldier

7. 22 Jump Street

8. Lego Movie

9. Interstellar

10. Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies

Special Mentions: Boyhood, Selma, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Xmen Days of Future Past

 

, ,

Quick Fire Oscar Movie Reviews

, ,

Boyhood

Really liked this movie, really interesting to see everyone age and I think that ads to the character growth you see in the movie. There is some kind of dark stuff in the movie especially in the middle, it's also quite long.  If you looking for a good coming of age movie than this fits that bill.

8/10

Birdman

Quite interested to see this, did not really know what to expect and it was a lot different than I thought it would be. Its shot to look like one big take and between the music, the camera movements and everything everyone is doing it feels a bit trippy. About 1/2 way through the movie I was on board but yeah it did take a awhile. Decent movie, very different probably not everyone's cup of tea.

7/10

Selma

This was a pretty good movie, David Oyelowo as MLK is really spot on. Everyone else is pretty good, Oprah is in it because I guess that’s what she does(to be fair she isn't bad). There are some scenes that are a bit unsettling but I guess that’s what it was like and people definitely had and some still do have these terrible views. It was good seeing a side of MLK that you don’t really see when you hear his speeches.

9/10

Big Hero 6

Pretty decent movie, the design of Baymax is amazing and the themes were handled well in what is ostensibly a kid's film. San Fran Tokyo is a really weird setting though, kind of cool a bit silly but I guess it was interesting at least. Quite a few questions brought up such as how on earth it came to be a thing. Anyway decent movie not as good a Disney's Animations last movie Frozen and not as good as the Lego movie but solid nonetheless

7/10

,

Grand Budapest Hotel Review

,

Grand Budapest Hotel Review

Quite liked this movie, had a really nice charming story. The visuals were amazing and the characters were good. There is a bit of darkness to movie especially background of some of the events and I think that added to it. For being primarily set in one place it had a great sense of adventure to it and bit of an old school feel especially with the 4:3 aspect ratio used for most of the movie. I watched this on an iPad not really knowing what to expect and it turned out that was a great decision due to the iPads aspect ratio which fit the movie perfectly. Overall very enjoyable, charming and gorgeous movie. Not the usual type of movie people go to see but it you get the chance go watch it you are in for a treat.

9/10

raymondocdol.com