Movies
Playbomb Reviews: Joker (Spoiler Free).
Director: Todd Philips
Main Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conrow, Brett Cullen.
Producers: Todd Philips, Bradley Cooper, Emma Tillinger Koskoff.
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Movie Run Time: 2hrs 2mins
Review Read: ~ 10 mins
Much has been said about the new Joker movie: Its critical acclaim has, once again, flung Joaquin Phoenix into the limelight, almost unanimously taking over the late Heath Ledger’s mantle as the peoples’ favourite for the iconic villain. Todd Phillips is a name praised today in setting very powerful tonalities for the entirety of the movie and writing a really strong script. Of course, the movie has been highly praised for its stellar cinematography, but really, praising the movie for great cinematography is an understatement. The movie does not just hold great cinematography and a strong script, it does more than that, more than what most movies would do for their audiences: it engages them in more than a third-person observer perspective but engages them as the first-person protagonist. Joker is one of those movies that is a deep dive character study on the pains and nuances of insanity, much to the point of folie à deux – It gives an avenue for the audience to share in the character’s psychosis, creating one of the most profound cinematic experiences I have ever encountered in my entire life.
[Read More]
Playbomb Reviews: Shazam! (Spoiler-Free)
Director: David F. Sandberg
Main Cast: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer
Genre: Action, Comedy
Movie Run Time: 2hrs 12 mins
Review Read: ~ 10 mins
The creative writing and direction for Shazam! is like a captain who has snatched control of a ship and moved the rudder towards a better course; away from the sea’s craggy rocks. It’s a movie that, since Gal Gadot’s debut as Wonder Woman, does the DC Extended Universe justice with a warm story and light-hearted scenes. A little bit of that charm may have been taken away due to its little-too-long movie runtime, but it’s a small issue in perspective to what’s to (hopefully) come in DCEU’s future.
[Read More]
Review: Alita: Battle Angel (Spoiler-free)
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Main Cast: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jakey Earle Haley, Keean Johnson
Genre: Action, Romance, Science-Fiction
Movie Run Time: 2hrs 2 min
Review Read: ~ 5 mins
I walked into the cinema with no knowledge of Alita: Battle Angel’s story (or Gunnm) – All I knew was that there was a manga about her and that the visuals look interesting enough to buy me a movie ticket. What I experienced was something quite unique. If you’re looking at a TLDR of what I’m about to review, I will just say that I liked it and it’s worth the watch – Not because of what the dystopian Sci-Fi genre would usually bring with an intellectual discussion on technology and artificial intelligence in general, but just because it was an interesting tale of how cyborgs can fall in love coupled with fun fight scenes.
[Read More]
10 Movies Playbomb Reviews is looking forward to in 2019
Op-Bomb Read: ~15 mins
Last week, we shared about some of the video games Playbomb Reviews’ looking forward to get our hands on and play. This week, we’ll be talking about the movies we’re all excited for. Now, we know that the grand majority of us will be stoked for Captain Marvel in March, Avengers: Endgame come April, and Spiderman: Far From Home in July; so let’s just get those out of the way and focus on the other movies that we think might be worth talking about. Here are 10 movies PBRV would be reviewing and talking about in 2019 (In order of stipulated release date in Singapore).
[Read More]
7 Movies to Watch This Halloween Season (2018)
Opbomb Read: ~15 mins
It’s Halloween week and some of us may not be heading out trick-or-treating (Seriously, who goes out to Trick-or-Treat in Singapore?). But for the most of us who do not have the mental capacity, energy, or time to brace the scares in Universal Studios Singapore, we might want to consider sitting at home on our couches cowering behind our blankets while watching a horror flick instead. If you have that agenda in mind for the week, we’ve got you covered.
The Art of Gestalt: Movies
Opbomb Read: ~10mins
Gestalt is a term found in the study of psychology that refers to the perception of a wholesome picture more than the smaller parts that make that picture. There are many laws that make the field of gestalt and these laws are used to create beautiful art. It is more of an “Outside-in” kind of idea. In order to talk about how gestalt psychology plays into film, we will need to draw upon the idea of how gestalt psychology plays into paintings.