CinemaShafiq

It's not as bad as the critics make it to be. Actually Eternals was probably the most unique and freshest installment in the MCU yet, with the whole film feels like a Zack Snyder film instead of another MCU film.  I respect and like the fact that the story, the tone, characterisation, and underlying moral and philosophy questions are different than what we used to get from a MCU movie. Plus, this being a film from Chloe Zhao, the cinematography and the visual effects were fresh and outstanding. With that being said, the fact that it's being the most challenging and ambitious MCU film is also the reason for it's flaws. The pacings were off at times and the story got messy on the second and third parts. And to be honest, I think the Eternals line up is just too many. It will be better if they only focus on 5 or 6 Eternals instead of 10. Still, I respect the different route that it takes and the fact that at least it makes me feel that there could be new things to anticipate f

  It might seems like it's not that of a massive scale or it can cause important consequences in MCU like Loki or Falcon & Winter Soldier , but I like Hawkeye for it's heartwarming Christmas story and the fact that it served as a good Kate Bishop's origin story. But at this point, it already felt like there's just a bit too many releases of MCU content in 2021 that one may wonder do we even need this. 6/10

  What a disappointment. I appreciate the meta jokes and subtle commentary on modern Hollywood and endless reboot/sequel, but this film lacked that true reasoning for this franchise to come back. Halfway through, I keep wondering is this film necessary? A big Matrix fan here but a pointless sequel is just.. pointless.  Should've spent my money for second rewatch for No Way Home. One more thing, there were two films released in 2021 that heavily relied on nostalgia of their previous films and they did it right - Ghostbusters: Afterlife and No Way Home. Watch these films, Warner Bros. 5/10

  The end of an era. The quintessential Bond film, even with it flaws. It's not until the last 20 mins of this film that it truly hit me that Daniel Craig had been Bond since 2006 (much earlier than RDJ as Iron Man) and that he's basically the Bond that I grew up with; and this is his last outing. It stays with me even after the film ends, that it's finally the end of an era, just as Logan did for Jackman's Wolverine and Endgame did for RDJ's Tony Stark. As his last and the send-off film, I think the film worked well in delivering that and it is also one of the good Craig's Bond films. Definitely miles better than Spectre. But still far compared to Casino Royale or Skyfall. NTTD feels fresh with great action sequences in the early parts of the film - exciting action scenes since Casino Royale. Also, it's fresh because this is the first film in Craig era that we get to see James Bond as a normal guy, with quippy banters and romantic side to him. Overall, the

  Stupid, contrived and messy. A film about the hardships faced by modern day women is a good premise for a film, but the executions that this film did was just plain and cringe-ly bad. Forced characterisations, and the expected simple generalisation of males in this universe. A film in which the central theme of its story is the hardship of the daily lives faced by it's main character(s) is akin alike Roma , Hidden Figures or even as back as Spielberg's 1985's  The Color Purple - and big budget or star power was not the strength of these films, but their good writing. And that is definitely what this film lack.  4/10

  Good effort for a directorial debut by Hairul Azreen and his team. Technically, the film was excellent, it had good cinematography and the scores were on point. But it got a lot of flaws especially on actings, and the story itself.  Zahiril Adzim's acting carried the whole movie by himself while the acting by other actors were either weak or non-existent. The plot and the twist may be "smart" for a local film but it actually has been done a lot of times and not groundbreaking really. Still, it's a watchable film and you can watch it on Disney+ Hotstar in Malaysia. 4/10

  A well-crafted, well-performed, and well- directed film. Another entry of a good landmark film for local cinema. Namron and Amerul Affendi brought their masterclass performance in this film, and this duo cannot be anymore better.  The film felt like a well-directed stage play, geared by strong script and performances, with some bits of satire/dark humor throughout on love, relationship and social criticism. I like that some of the satirical or dark humor bits felt like something out of a Coen brothers' film. The 4 years wait for the film to be released is worth it, it's like savoring a damn good wine and Mencari Rahmat is probably the best local film to come out this year, and definitely one of the best to come out in recent years. 7/10 

  A good female-lead assassin revenge thriller. Probably one of the few of decent Netflix films. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was amazing, and at least this film got a heartfelt story and beautiful cinematography unlike other numerous cliche modern female badass movies. This is how you make a good, badass female lead film; not with random preachy scenes or bland action scenes (Enola Holmes, The Old Guard), but with a strong front character with a good story and deep characterisation. I would be excited if there's a sequel. 6/10

  VHS is back, baby. VHS is probably the most underrated horror franchise and I personally like it and found it to be more entertaining and creepier than these other horror franchises with millions of budget. VHS 94 was not as good as V/H/S 2, and there were segments that I found to be mediocre, but there's still also good segments and 94 felt fresh and a good revival for the franchise. Beware for Raatma. 6/10

  At this point they should've just bazooka Michael Myers. I love Halloween 2018 but the second movie of this new Halloween trilogy felt like a filler in a TV series, there's no direction and coherent story. It also relied too much on nostalgia factors. They should've just make it a 2-movie story instead a trilogy. Still, Michael Myers is as badass & terrifying as ever 😩👌🏻 Michael is the OG of horror/slasher icons and none of the modern killers/ghosts can beat his creepiness & brutality. Michael kills everyone and he doesn't discriminate. There's some cool shots of Michael killing scenes & also some new creative kills, so there's that. But besides watching Michael standing and walking menacingly, there's nothing much. 5/10

  A fresh, intense and well-written series. It's been a while since I watched a series that got me real hooked and just makes me binge-watching it till the end.  There's some comments saying that this series was not original and it was ripping off The Hunger Games, Battle Royale or Alice in Borderland. In my opinion, it's common for a modern film/series to be inspired from other works, just as long as it didn't rip it off 100%.  Squid Game also had a very fresh & unique set and costume design as well as good scores. The characters were also well written, and you'll be hooked to 1 or 2 of them, and this depends on each viewer.  It seems like just as Netflix were doing great original Hollywood contents back in 2015 (Daredevil, Stranger Things), now they're doing the same thing with the Korean market (Squid Game, Kingdom). This is great and hopefully there'll be more coming from Netflix Korea. 8/10 

  It was a good fun time and a well-fitting film to celebrate the reopening of cinemas. And I like the fact that this is probably one of the few recent Ryan Reynolds' film that got his typical-sometimes-annoying Deadpool's quippy jokes controlled and reduced.  The premise of a film involving a gaming world or a character realising that he's not real has been done a lot before, but this film still managed to be fresh, fun and enjoyable. 7/10 

The long awaited 2021's The Batman trailer was finally released at the DC Fandome Event and fans around the world cheered for it. There are also some voices questioning concerns as to the slight differences of this Batman's interpretation compared to the previous Batmen that we had. Robert Pattinson is our new Batman, and when he was announced to be the new Bruce Wayne, not everyone exactly was happy with this news. Probably because he is mostly known for his Twilight role, a franchise that is not known for being highly rated or praised for its acting, rather the opposite so of course, people would not associate the lead actor from this cringy vampire franchise to be the next face of the most popular superhero. However, having watched several of Robert's recent works, I did not share the same concerns. If anything, his acting from Good Time (2017), High Life (2018) and The Lighthouse (2019) not only assures me that he is going to do fine, but to be fair his performance