CinemaShafiq

  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

  The King Caesar Rises. The Last Temptation of Caesar. Wow, a perfect threequel to close probably the most underrated trilogy in the modern cinema thanks to being drowned in the sea of other superhero and massive sci-fi blockbusters. The best element of this film was probably its cinematography and the visual effects. The CGI oh wow, they all seems so real that you will sometimes forgot that you're actually watching a movie based on a premise that a CGI ape on a horse is leading a revolution against mankind to succeed planet Earth; which, if such premise is on the hands of different persons/studios, would end up as a horrendous silly B-movie. With that being said, hard to believe that everything that happened in this film's universe was thanks to James Franco. If Caesar was Jesus, so he's God... I guess?  8/10

  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 

  I am glad that I have finally watched this film after holding it on my to-watch-list for so long. A good directing debut from Aaron Sorkin and while I was watching it I can't help but feeling that it was like a blend of Gone Girl (cinematography and vibes), The Wolf of Wall Street (a biopic film of a hustler narrated from start to finish) and Casino (a narrated film on gambling and card games); and I meant this in a good way. I think this was Jessica Chastain's best performance so far, she played the character very well and tbh her physical attractiveness add a lot to the role. 8/10