10s Movie Review - Detective Pikachu

Director: Rob Letterman
Genre: Adventure/ Comedy/ Science Fiction/ Action
Runtime: 104 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Bill Nighy, Ken Watanabe, Chris Geere, Suki Waterhouse, Rita Ora
Description: In a world where people collet Pokémon to do battle, Tim (Justice Smith) comes across an intelligent talking Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) who seeks to be a detective.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2025 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 27: A FILM WITH RYAN REYNOLDS
 
Review: Many generations have grown up with Pokémon. Millions of people around the world watched the popular anime series, played the games, collected the cards and enjoyed the movies. The brand grew into one of the biggest entertainment products in the world. I was never a Pokémon girlie. So, when “Detective Pikachu” was released, I was not really interested. I decided to watch it anyway, and I was pleasantly surprised. Because it’s such a fun film.

In this film, Ryan Reynolds voices the Pokémon Pikachu, who teams up with Tim Goodman (played by Justice Smith), to investigate the disappearance of Tim’s father. Tim can actually communicate with Pikachu, much to the surprise of the both of them. The unlikely duo embarks on an adventure in a colorful world where Pokémon live alongside humans, leading to the most absurd situations.

Reynolds is entertaining as the voice of Pikachu. Where the idea of Pikachu having the voice of Reynolds sounds silly, it works really well. And the world director Rob Letterman builds looks really good too. Everywhere you look, you see details from the Pokémon universe. For the target audience, the Pokémon fans, that must be enough for them to enjoy this film.

Me, not a Pokémon enthusiast, really loved this film. It was funny, action-packed, adventurous and I really liked seeing all these Pokémon coming to live in this live-action movie. So for the fans, this would probably have an ever better effect.

Rating: 4 / 5

10s Movie Review - Fifty Shades Freed

WARNING: IF YOU'RE A FAN, YOU MIGHT GET HURT!

Director: James Foley
Genre: Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 105 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Rita Ora, Marcia Gay Harden, Luke Grimes, Jennifer Ehle, Eric Johnson

Description: Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) and Christian (Jamie Dornan) get married, but Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson) continues to threaten their relationship.

Review: The opening scene of “Fifty Shades Freed”, the third film based on the bestselling trilogy by author E.L. James, sets the tone for the film. Anastasia and Christian get married and fly to Paris together for their honeymoon. It’s not your erotic thriller, it’s a sugar sweet romance film with absolutely no plot. Because the sex is pretty standard, they do things many couples in love do and IT SUCKS!!!!
Anastasia has to get used to her new life. And the possessive, controlling and jealous Christian has to get used to the married life. And I seriously don’t understand why anyone wants to be with Christian Grey, because he is POSSESSIVE, CONTROLLING AND JEALOUS! When Anastasia does so much as just talk to a semi-attractive man, he is raged with jealousy. And if she doesn’t go home straight from work, she gets punished. And it’s weird that Anastasia still gets shocked about the fact that Christian has handcuffs or that she doesn’t know he has an airplane is beyond me. Plus the fact that they never talked about having children before they got married. WHY ARE THEY TOGETHER (a lot of frustration as you can read).
To spice up the non-existent plot, they bring back Jack Hyde, for some thriller elements. Which brings no tension whatsoever. Oh, and did I mention those horrible scenes that are practically commercials for Audi. Or that every word spoken is cringeworthy. And they are straight from the ‘best-selling’ novels. The fact that they are best-selling kind of worries me. Or to be more specific, people actually like this. How?
The acting is awful. Even Dakota Johnson isn’t even trying anymore. And Jamie Dornan has the charisma of a doorknob (because that’s what his last name sounds like).
These films are all atrocious and I never want to see them ever again!

Rating: 0,5 / 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 28: Fifty Shades of Grey

Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson

Genre: Drama/ Romance

Runtime: 125 minutes

Year: 2015

Starring: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Rita Ora, Luke Grimes, Jennifer Ehle, Marcia Gay Harden, Eloise Mumford, Max Martini, Rachel Skarsten, Victor Rasuk, Callum Keith Rennie, Emily Fonda, Dylan Neal, Anne Marie DeLuise, Anthony Konechny

Description: Literature student Anastasia Steele's (Dakota Johnson) life changes forever when she meets handsome, yet tormented, billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan).

Review: Anastasia Steele meets handsome and rich business man Christian Grey, during an interview. The two feel attraction, but the intimidating Christian has a sexual preference that scares Anastasia at first. The two keep seeing each other and Anastasia discovers a side of herself she didn’t know and it will change her life forever.

The “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy was a worldwide phenomenon. Over 90 million copies were sold. Off course there had to be a movie. And the big question was: who will play Mr. Grey? It was announced that Charlie Hunnam would take on the role, but due to his show “Sons of Anarchy” the role eventually went to Jamie Dornan. For Anastasia they choose unknown actress Dakota Johnson, who is the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith. That people were looking forward to the movie was obvious. The trailer alone was viewed over 100 million times.

The book isn’t very subtle and neither is the movie. Where the book deals with the clichés seriously, in the movie they add a bit more (cheesy) humor. Anastasia’s character is very naïve and she doesn’t seem to have a spine, but in the movie Dakota Johnson made her more human. Jamie Dornan has bigger shoes to fill. He has the looks, I’ll give him that, but Christian Grey is such an underdeveloped character, that there’s hardly anything he can do with it. No more than giving Anastasia some sultry looks. The emotional moments between the two don’t go anywhere either. Every time Anastasia asks Christian why he can’t show more of himself, he sits melodramatically behind a piano. The lighter scenes work better between them, but they don’t fit the movie.

The most important thing about the book is the sex. BDSM (bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadism and masochism – yes, I looked it up) for a mainstream audience. The question was: how will they put this in the movie? First off, the movie is brought to us by a big American studio, so we don’t have to expect anything shocking. To be quite frank, the sex scenes are not that kinky. Christian keeps his pants on way to many times and we get a lot of close ups of Anatasia’s face. With that “Fifty Shades of Grey” has bad dialogues and is very unsexy for a movie that is supposed to be sexy.

The book is bad, but the movie isn’t any better. And there are two more of them. Dakota Johnson made it a bit more bearable and I don’t mind looking at Jamie Dornan, but trust me people, you can better skip “Fifty Shades of grey” and watch “Basic Instinct” instead.

Rating: 1,5/ 5