Movies that I've managed to see this week.

Like many others, recently I've hadn't had that many things to do. Ever since the global pandemic hit, all my work related stuff (speaking engagements) was postponed and I've been spending my time at home trying to take things as easy as possible

Naturally, since I've had a lot of spare time, this week I've tried to watch some of the latest films that have been released. I managed to watch the WWI movie '1917', the Oscar winning film 'Parasite' and the animated film called 'Missing Link' with my friend.

So when it comes to the first film, '1917' is a WWI based movie directed by Sam Mendes. This 'one take' (in real time) movie is about a British soldier trying to relay an important message across the enemy lines to inform about a trap that the Germans have set up.

Not surprisingly, as a some sort of a history enthusiast (I do subscribe to a history magazine) I was not disappointed by the film. Both me and my friend thought that the movie was professionally made and kept our attention well.

Indeed, the movie not only looks good, but it's also well acted and directed. The scenes in the film flow effortlessly (the edits are cleverly disguised) and you can't help but to be immersed in all the things that are going on. 

In hindsight, the only tiny 'problem' that I had with the film is that there's not much of a story here. It seems that it's not possible to pack that much drama into a story that is as straightforward and simple as the film is (run, duck & cover). 

Still, when you look at the movie as a whole, these storytelling issues don't really matter that much. I'm definitely not saying that '1917' is a movie where the negative aspects in any way managed to outweigh the positive qualities.

In that sense, if you haven't managed to watch the film yet, you should definitely give it a shot and watch it at some point. You should watch it, because even though the story could have been stronger, everything else in '1917' is absolutely fantastic.

The second movie that I watched with my friend is a 'Missing Link', an animated stop motion film produced by Laika studio. This is a production company that has earlier produced films like 'Kubo and The Two Strings' and 'The Boxtrolls'. 

So when it comes to this movie, the story in the film is about a big foot and a desperate British explorer. The explorer wants to a prove that bigfoots exist, whereas the (lonely & well read) bigfoot - once found - wants to join his ancestors in Himalaya.

Not surprisingly, as a big fans of animated films, it was not a difficult decision to give the movie a chance. I was looking forward to watching it, even though the user rating for it wasn't that high (67% fresh by the audience at Rottentomatoes.com). 

So when it comes to the qualities about the movie, it has to be said that 'Missing Link' looks good. It's obvious that a lot of hard work went in to making the film look as beautiful as it does (it's hard to believe that it's actually a stop motion film).

Another really good thing about the film that has to be mentioned has to do with its acting and performances. Like in most other animated films, in this film the voice acting is top notch too (Hugh Jackman, Zach Galifianakis, David Walliams etc.)

Story-wise and character-wise it has to be said that the movie isn't particularly strong. Even though the screenplay for the film isn't bad per se, I couldn't help but to feel that the characters were a bit bland and 2-dimensional.

After all, especially when it comes to the non-big foot characters (especially villains), I couldn't help but to think that they weren't that well defined. It was somewhat difficult to relate to any of the main characters that were present in this movie.

Still, when it all is said and done, once the end credits rolled, I was entertained by the film. I was entertained by it, so in that sense, if you haven't managed to see 'Missing Link' yet, I think it's obvious that you should give the film a chance at some point.

The last film that I saw is 'Parasite', the South Korean film has been the big thing this year in the film industry. It's the picture that won the main prize at Cannes and that won the best picture Oscar at this year's Academy Awards. 

Story-wise it's a comedy/drama/thriller movie where a poor hustler family infiltrates a rich Korean family. One by one the family members come up with clever tricks to get hired to assist them in various tasks (maid, chauffeur, tutor etc.).

So when it comes to the quality of the film, I have to say that even though 'Parasite' won the awards, it's not that good of a movie. There's just too many basic storytelling, thematical and even genre problems that the film struggles with.

By that I mean is that when it comes to the film, in the first half 'Parasite' does do a good job in establishing the characters and their plight. I couldn't help but to root for them, especially when they were scheming to become part of the family.

However, once we reach the midpoint in the film, it becomes obvious that the writers just didn't know what they were doing. They run of out structural story beats and just start to make up random, incoherent stuff - typical for Asian movies.

Indeed, especially once we get to the preposterous basement stuff, the flooding, the morse-code & the massacre nonsense, the movie simply falls apart. It's really astonishing how quickly it deteriorates and becomes unwatchable.

In that sense, if only 'Parasite' would have wrapped itself fairly soonish after its first half, in that case this would have been a pretty good comedy movie. In that case I would have understood what the hype for the film was supposed to be about.

Unfortunately for us, that's not what the makers of the film did here. They didn't wrap up the film and instead switched to slasher drama for another 60 minutes, which did not work at all and at least in my case made me dislike the film and its supposed 'message'.