Movies that I managed to see this October.

So even though I haven't been able to see that many movies lately, I've still managed to see some of the recently released films. I've managed to watch with my friends some of those movies that I thought looked interesting and that would be worth watching.

Indeed, even though things have been a bit challenging lately, we've tried to find time to do things together. As long as it has been possible - either in person or through skype / discord, we've managed to spend time together watching these movies.

So this time I have three interesting movies to review. I watched an animation about a girl and a Yeti called 'Abominable', a Sherlock Holmes spin-off movie called 'Enola Holmes' about his sister and 'Borat 2', a sequel to the popular Sacha Baron Cohen comedy film.

In any case, the first movie that I watched with my friend is 'Abominable', an animation from the Dreamworks studio that I watched with my friend. We watched the movie, because as fans of animations almost every animated film is worth seeing.

Premise-wise, we're talking about a movie where a Chinese girl in a big city befriends a Yeti that escapes from a research facility. Together with the help of some side-kicks, they try to avoid the bad guys and try to get the Yeti to its homeplace in Himalayas.

Quality-wise, I have to say that we were both positively surprised by the film. 'Abominable' as a movie manages to be genuinely entertaining and story-wise has a good & uplifting message in it (95% fresh rating by the audience on Rottentomatoes.com).

Indeed, as we follow our likable characters, you can't help but to be interested in what happens to them. As they get closer to their destination, you can feel how they keep growing as characters and become better as human beings (especially the self-centered guy). 

Story-wise, the only real problem in the film is that as our heroes ran into obstacles, the Yeti creature too many times comes up with magical skills out of nowhere to save them. These transitional scenes were almost too lazy and could have been better.

Still, when you think about the film as a whole, considering the entertaining nature of the film, those aspects didn't bother me too much. They weren't too serious, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, you should give 'Abominable' a chance at some point and check it out. 

So the second movie that I watched with my friend is the recent Sherlock Holmes film 'Enola Holmes'. We decided to give the film about Sherlock's sister chance once we noticed that the film was released on Netflix and was available for us both to watch.

Indeed, even though the reviews hadn't been that good (6.6/10 at IMDB.com), we thought that the adventure / mystery movie would be worth our time. It was likely that there would be enough redeeming qualities in it that we would be able to appreciate.

So when it comes to the basic premise in the film, the story is basically about Enola trying to find out what happened to her mother. Once her mother one day disappears and she doesn't contact Enola for quite some time, she feels like she has to spring into action.

Plot-wise in the movie, it won't take long before in in the story things start to get complicated. Once Enola hops on a train to go to the big city to find out more, she meets a young man who is being chased by an assassin trying to kill him for some weird reason. 

Later on, it's revealed that this young handsome man is a heir to a powerful family and that a big political decision in the kingdom is about to occur. Together they try to find out what is going on (women's suffrage) and how to save the day & stop the bad guys. 

Quality-wise, it has to be said that even though there are a lot of good things that can be said about the film, it didn't turn out to be as good as I had hoped for. It's not good enough, even though it has high production values and the acting is really good.

Story-wise, the biggest problem with the film is that it doesn't have a proper finale or a climax. The arc about Enola trying to find her mom (it's hinted that she's on dangerous mission) goes absolutely nowhere and turns out to be a huge dud (she just shows up at the end).

In that sense, even though 'Enola Holmes' has its moments and is fairly entertaining in many places, I can recommend it that much. I can't give it a high score, because even though it looks good and is well acted, the ending for the film really is that big of a disappointment.

The third and the last movie that I managed to see this month is 'Borat 2' that stars comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. This is a sequel to the comedy film that was made in 2006 about a Kazakhstani man Borat's documentary adventures in the United States.

So when it comes to the first 'Borat', the reason that the film was so popular and highly rated is that Borat's awkward character ran into all kinds of hilarious situations. Especially when it came to those interviews with various famous racist republicans, the movie was a laugh riot.

Sequel-wise, once 'Borat' became a household name in the U.S, it wasn't that easy to trick people anymore. Since almost everyone now knew the guy - with the exception of some hillbillies - he had to come up with something new this time.

Indeed, this time that 'Borat' is on mission (to bring a gift to the Trump administration), he not only has to wear disguises to fool of his targets but he also has a partner. He's this time accompanied by a young Kazakhstani woman who serves as a crucial sidekick.

Not surprisingly, like in the first movie, together these two run into all kinds of wild & ridiculous situations. We have the usual republican targets that include pro-life 'doctors', stepford wives, hillbillies, fundamentalists and 'America's mayor' Rudy Giuliani.

Quality-wise, it has to be said that me and my friends found the movie to be a laugh fest. As we watched the film during our pizza evening, I was totally laughing during most of the scenes in the film (warning: some of the bits were a bit too crass). 

Story-wise, it has to be said that the plot was okayish but could have been better too. There were some moments that weren't really that strong (especially the break-up with his sidekick) and you kinda felt that that movie lacked a direction in certain places.

Still, when you think about film as a whole, 'Borat 2' in my opinion managed to be a film worth watching. It's a film that has lots of laughs in it, so if you're a fan of political cringe comedy like this, I think it's a safe bet that you should give it a chance and watch it.