Dinara Tengri

Last week, I went to see  Blade Runner 2049 , which is the sequel to the 1982 sci fi classic  Blade Runner,  and I was genuinely curious to see what the director - Denis Villeneuve could do with this fantastical and complex world. I tried my best to keep an open mind, and judge this movie on its own merit, and not just as the sequel to  Blade Runner. One of the consequences of having been writing reviews for over two years is that when I'm watching a movie I can't turn off the part of my mind that is responsible for all the nitpicking and critical thinking. I can no longer just see a movie as a fan, as I am constantly thinking about what I'm going to write once I get home. This is a minor nuisance that can sometimes make it difficult for me to enjoy a movie. Perhaps, it's this over-analyzing that kept me from liking  Blade Runner 2049 . I have tried to keep my emotions out of this review. I've tried to keep my arguments clean and sober. Ironically, it i...

Hello my fellow book lovers! I'm back. The finals are over, and last night, I went to see Wonder Woman with a bunch of girls from my class. And how can I not share my thoughts on this movie? Wonder Woman is, of course, the highly anticipated superhero movie set in the DCEU. It was written by Allan Heinberg, directed by Patty Jenkins, and stars Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Chris Pine as Captain Steve Trevor. The movie tells the origin story of Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman starting from her upbringing in the amazon kingdom of Themyscira, and her going to fight the Germans in World War I. By her side is the rogue spy and soon-to-be love interest, Steve Trevor. So, did I like it? Yes. Yes, I did. Sure, the plot is formulaic and, at times predictable; the imagery and the visuals, though stunning, look very familiar from the countless superhero movies I have seen in recent years; the third act is very CGI-heavy, and the main villain is unfortunately bland. However, between...

Who's up for some magic? Because today, I'm reviewing Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , the latest film set in the Harry Potter Universe. I went to see Fantastic Beasts last night with some friends from school, and I just had to give my two cents about it. This review is going to be completely, one hundred percent spoiler free, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, you have nothing to worry about. Fantastic Beasts is set seventy years prior to the events in the Harry Potter books/movies, but it's not a prequel . Oh, no, this movie is doing its own thing. Aside from a few hints and references, the story in this movie has no connection to Harry Potter whatsoever. I did not have to re-watch any of the Harry Potter movies in order to enjoy Fantastic Beasts , and that is the first good thing I have to say about this movie. In this movie we follow a young wizard by the name of Newt Scamander , played by the one and only Eddie Redmayne, who travels from London ...

Last night, I went to see   Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children , with my student. In the ideal world, I would have read the book before I went to see the movie, but what are you gonna do?  The best thing I can say about Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is that it got me a little curious about its source material. That, and the visuals are stunning. It's a beautiful film with very good CGI. A real treat. But in my experience, a film will not have a lasting impact on me simply because it's beautiful. And it's not that difficult to create great visuals with today's technology, so it's not that much of an achievement. Any movie, be it fantasy or drama, has to have a good story in order to have a lasting impact, and I'm already beginning to forget some parts of this movie. Like I said, I haven't read the book, so I don't know if it suffers from the same problems as the movie. I certainly hope not. The movie follows a t...

Let's talk about Suicide Squad. An unholy mess of a film with fantastic characters and a whole basket of easter eggs for the die hard Batman and DC fans. I was looking forward to seeing this movie ever since the first trailer had come out. While not a fan of the new DC movie universe, I was very excited for Suicide Squad. The trailers made it look different than any other comic book movie I had seen before. And I was very optimistic about Jared Leto's Joker. And now that I've seen it, I feel like I have a few things to say about this movie. This will not be a legitimate review, it's just me sharing some of my thoughts about this movie . Therefore I apologise in advance for the unstructured randomness of this post. First things first: Jared Leto and Margot Robbie stole the show as Joker and Harley Quinn. They had this interesting story going on throughout the movie, with Harley's origin story and their abusive relationship. I loved Leto's Joker. He was t...

Yesterday, I got to see the new Ninja Turtles movie with one of my students a nd I thought I'd share my thoughts on it. I wasn't the most die hard fan of the franchise, but I loved the original movie from 1990 (still do), and I enjoyed the animated series as a child. When the franchise was rebooted with Michael Bay at the helm, I was one of the those people who looked at the whole thing with horror and contempt. I opposed the CGI turtles, Megan Fox as April O'Neil, and the direction in which the makers were taking this franchise. But since the non-profit organisation that my student and I are a part of gave us free movie passes, and since we're both fans of Stephen Amell (who stars in this film), I thought oh, what the hell, let's go see the Turtles . In this sequel to the 2014 TMNT, Shredder has partnered up with another, more villainous villain in a grand plan of destruction and domination. So now the turtles have to stop them,...

Captain America: Civil War was a movie that I was really looking forward to seeing. It premiered in Sweden on April 27th, but I only got to see it last Thursday. Luckily, the Internet has been pretty spoiler-free so far. My brother saw this movie with his friends before me, and he really liked it. That alone was an indication that I wasn't going to be disappointed. For one, my brother and I have a very similar taste in movies. And secondly, this was the second movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that he has seen so far, with the first one being Guardians of the Galaxy, but these two movies have practically nothing in common. For me it meant, that you don't have to be acquainted with this gigantic Avengers Universe to fully enjoy and appreciate this one film. It meant that this movie could work on its own, as a film and not just as a part of a series where you have to set up other movies. In summation, I went in with pretty high expectations. A...

I'm going to keep this review short and sweet. I saw Deadpool last night, and it was great. Deadpool  has great reviews, but when I went to see it, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know much about the character, other than the most basic stuff. Ryan Reynolds I knew from the awkward romantic comedies and the early guest appearances in two of my favourite TV-shows: X-files and Scrubs . The first thing I should mention is that the atmosphere in the theatre was great and warm. There were mostly young people there (no children, though, for obvious reasons), and everybody was laughing their behinds off (especially during that IKEA-scene). I'm guessing that most people in the audience were aware of what kind of movie they were going to see and that they got exactly what they wanted. There wasn't anyone texting or talking during the movie, which I was very grateful for. I liked this movie. A lot. Can't say that it was a spectacular mind-blowing experienc...

First of all, I want to apologise for this review being late. I was in the middle of writing my review for The Handmaid's Tale when I saw this movie last Friday. I have to be honest in my reviews, and honestly, I didn't like The Force Awakens . I was very disappointed by this movie. And before I get eaten alive by the fanboys, let me say that I wanted to like The Force Awakens . I went in with a lot of hope and high expectations. And, this is a spoiler free review . Also, it's a long review. I hate writing long reviews, but I have a lot to say about this movie. My major complaint about The Force Awakens is the script. Abrams, Kasdan and Arndt basically rewrote the whole original trilogy , plot point by plot point. There is nothing original in this story. The story is so recycled that it becomes predictable. There are scenes in this movie that are supposed to be filled with tension and have you wondering what's going to happen next, but I knew exactly h...