Till We Meet Again (2016) US, Thailand

A relationship and its ultimate fate!

Genre:

Drama, Romance.

Length:

Approximately 5-minute read.


Review:
     This is a US-Thai collaboration. Ninety-five per cent of the film was shot in Thailand, but full of American cast. They are not well recognisable cast. Precisely to say, a B movie. And we all know the first rule watching such film, that never expect anything. But if it serves, even least would be a good achievement. Sometimes they do surprise us too. In this case, it was not. It was average, though not bad as you might have heard.

     Yep, it was very slow. Especially in the opening segment. A bit confusing as well. Within 10-15 minutes, that problem was solved. Yet the pace of the story posed a great annoyance. So if you get over with that, then you might find it an okay film. As I said, for a such small film, the effort was not bad. That includes the actors. Except the story. Very familiar theme, characters and the whole scenario. You could predict most of the parts, but you know when there's a diversion, you can't say which way particularly it Would head. That's I'm saying because of the ending.

     Erik, Joanna, David and Miranda are the central characters. But primarily it focused on the relationship between Erik and Joanna. They are an average young American couple. It all starts when Joanna concerned about her work project. She needs to go to Thailand, and as per the plan, Erik meets her later as what the title meant. So there will be a few weeks gap between them. That's where the tale takes a twist. Being parted, their relationship put to a test. So when finally they meet up again, what will be their position regarding their relationship, is what discloses to us.

 You were just accidentally funny. 

     Very challenging first quarter to watch, and so the following one. But once you passed that, its a watchable film. Worth a watch too, though not a must see or for everyone. As I always say, if you had seen plenty of films themed romance and relationship, then this will be in some way another boring repetition. But if you watch films rarely, then you need to be patience, in order to enjoy or like it. In the end, I'm saying it again that is not a bad film, they just did not make it in a right way. Trimming a few scenes to make it a quick and shorter film would have made a trick.

     As for the story, I feel sorry for Joanna. Of course she did not handle the given situation. But she had a professional pressure. And while fully engaged in that, the people took advantage of it. Then, if you think of Erik, it was mostly a case of misunderstanding and self-discovery. So any tale, especially in romance and relationship, these things are the basic ingredient to lay a platform. The writers should have seen beyond that and tried to add a little fresh perspective.

     I hope the director had learnt a lesson. This is his first feature film and I felt he was good, except he did not get best screenplay. I mean the basic story was good, but the screenplay lacks for the production level. What it needed was a bit cheerful. Because the entire stretch was so serious. All it talks about the relations, tried to develop even in a small gap. What I meant was, the narration has a flashback. Not a single flashback, but pieces that attached throughout the film. Those flashback pieces come into play only when the story was going other direction, to remind us with the previous account, how it was before to this point.

     A big disadvantage watching it was the intentional scenes and its dialogues. You predict them or not, but surely they have deliberately done them in that way. Particularly in the scenes of jealous, misunderstanding, taking advantages. After watching the whole story, at that point when it reached the final stage, minutes away to conclude, you could still anticipate or curious to know how it's going to end. But that's not a twist or even close to one. For a poor start and average middle part, the final act was fine. Just fine. I would say a fitting end. I always happy to give a try the B movies, and so I did the same for this. But blaming things around it is unnecessary, if you knew the risk you're taking, otherwise don't watch it.



Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


Similar movies:
Celeste & Jesse Forever, Going the Distance, The Life in the Universe, 500 Days of Summer.


External link(s):

WCA geolocation:
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24 Weeks (2016) Germany

It's a matter of birth and death.

Original title:

24 Wochen (German)

Genre:

Drama.

Length:

Approximately 6-minute read.


Review:
     A simple film and its sensitive theme. German films usually impresses me and this is another under-noticed film, needs some uplift. Not like a must see, but totally worth it. While I was watching it, I thought the film's characters turned a simple thing as a too complicate event. But yes, it's not that simple when it's related to pregnancy. Of course, it's different from faith to faith, between believers and non-believers. Then my mind went to the very ancient age. How all the animals shared the earth equally. But humans, a very unique from all, not the same as of now.

     Today, every day the technologies upgraded to an even better level. So why do we obsessed with that! To make life easier? Yes. Then there's always something that stops us benefiting from them. It lies within us, none other than 'emotions'! Why I'm saying all this! There's a reason that this film's main purpose to highlight how humans act while there's a technology to thwart errors in its initial stage itself. But we're mentally struggling, since life and death or the purpose of the living being was not yet explained by the science.

     I'm not a person of god. I don't believe in souls. I do believe only in consciousness. In my world, it replaces the word soul. But from all, there's a big difference between pain with conscious and pain without consciousness. A baby born with an empty hard disk. Then it adds all the memories to it when he experiences the things using his five senses. That's the complicated one. The opposite to it is the abortion. That's what this film is about.

     I might have went a too far from the film, but happy to add some details. If you watch this film, definitely you would choose a side and back it till the climax. So one of the sections of people would get disappointed with the result of the story. In that case, I was neither. The film was not a thriller, though I felt edgy during the last few minutes. I did not know which way it's heading. Prepared for any unexpected twist. Then it came to an end, and I did not think whether it was any good or bad, except satisfied with the truth, the reality, a slice of life as I've seen through this flick.

 Great. One child's disabled, the other's a fascist. 

     A well designed story and the characters. It revolved around a celebrity. That was a perfect start. Adding a big star, who goes through a difficult time. She's at 24 weeks pregnant with her supportive husband and a young daughter. The life is so smooth, until one day when the couple discovers the baby could be born with a disability. They decide to have it by preparing for it in advance. Then another blow brings a fresh challenge for them as a couple, as a family and with a strong emotions. Now the life's upside down. From there where it all heads are the rest of the story to tell its viewers.

     Definitely a powerful theme. As I already mentioned, the people split over what the film characters fighting over. Hence it won't receive well in all the quarters. But there's a fact to consider, which this film mostly borrowed from for its ending. I would say a well done film. Filmmakers make films to make money, to make people laugh, to make see the truth and various other reasons. I'm not saying it was an awareness, a message film, but totally a fact based. Like how in the modern world, even compared to a couple of decades ago, they determine things accordingly. But remember this is not the first film to deal with such theme. We've seen similar films, and most of them were a sub-plots.

     One of the highlights of the story was, it was not about a single person. It is about a small family, and how each one reacted to what they have found was very accurately portrayed. Since it was a present era based, where thing are different from before generation, the story had some flaws. I mean not a bad writings or something, but the relationship between each others. Once again, what I meant was the woman empowerment. Directed by a woman filmmaker, told the story from a woman's perspective, I felt this was what lack in the real society as well, particularly in the developing countries and/or religiously obsessed ones.

     I liked everyone in the film. The pace was good. Overall an engaging storyline with a fine runtime. You could watch it for many reasons, or maybe none, but not a bad film to ignore. I don't think so they should have improved it a little more. In my eyes, it was a perfect little flick. One of the rare for sure. That does not mean I've rated it out of out. But who knows, what I'm saying could be overwhelming personal opinion, that once watched it you might realise that.



Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


Similar movies:
October Baby, Juno, Grandma, Obvious Child, What to Expect When You're Expecting.


External link(s):

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Born in China (2016) US, China

Raising up a child in the wild, ain't an easy task.

Genre:

Documentary.

Length:

Approximately 4-minute read.


Review:
     The common tern we all have heard is 'made in china'. Thankfully, it is not about that cheap thing. It's about those beautiful, magnificent creatures born in those regions. Well, I've not seen many documentaries set in that place. So I was happy to watch it, but wasn't that excited as I do for any Disney films. It was the next destination for DisneyNature after venturing in Sri Lanka for 'Monkey Kingdom'. The tenth film. If you are a DisneyNature fan, brace yourself for the wild adventure.

     From the director of one of the most uneasy war films I've ever watched, 'The City of Life and Death'. That's the best, as well as the worst decision the DisneyNature had made. He's the best choice since the documentary is about china's wildlife. He knows his nation well than any western filmmakers. The production quality was top notch. But he did not understand the DisneyNature's way of filmmaking, if this film is not only made for chinese audience.

     Apart from those, it was quite an enjoyable flick. Little fun in the parts, as well as gets emotional towards the ending. From cranes to giant panda, monkeys, snow leopard and Tibetan antelope, the narration divides four ways. For every few minutes focusing on these creatures' families, the film reveals the story of their young ones from birth to growing to adult. Like how their mother dedicates to raise them, and the lessons they learn from their clan, as well as their own from their instinct. Then final the storytelling comes to halt when those youngsters set to begin their next stage of life.

 The joy a mother receives from raising a cub from birth, however... is worth a thousand farewells. 

     First of all, you must understand the DisneyNature production type. If you know, well, that's good. But if you don't, then know that its products are targeted for little kids. Not like BBC, Nat Geo or any other nature documentaries that expose only reality. Here they identify the character and give a name, then create a story around it in the post production, that's similar to the human's for the kids to understand it better. Especially the harsh parts are trimmed out. Like Disney's fairy-tale, only you are going to witness them in the nature version without magics.

     I'm an adult, and I think it was an okay film. Not because what I stated in the previous paragraph, but I've been following DisneyNature films since its inception and this could be the least best one. I said the least best, not the worst. Tell me who would hate Disney films for being soft and touchy! Yep, only the grown ups do.

     Visually extraordinary, but not the story they have added to it. Narrated by John Krasinki. He did a good job as what they have told him to do. Though my issue is they were lying about everything. I don't think that's what the children should be learning. So on that perspective, this film is not for anyone above 9 years of age, otherwise it will be mislead. I prefer to show them BBC nature documentaries instead. Nonetheless, it is worth a watch once.



Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


Similar movies:
Monkey Kingdom, African Cats, Chimpanzee, Bears.


External link(s):

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Mosquito (2017) USA

They're tiny, but pose a huge threat.

Genre:

TV Movie, Documentary.

Length:

Approximately 6-minute read.


Review:
     This is a Discovery channel documentary. It is a science, general knowledge, awareness programme, as well as your life. The title has not meant to refer to one event or one topic, but several. The time of it coming out clearly suggests that the humans has just went through one of the biggest health crisis in the recent time known as zika. What was our role in that? How we had tackled it and how we could have tackled it? All the questions and answers this documentary film brought in front of us.

     For the centuries, mosquitoes have lived among us, balancing the eco-system, as well as troubling us for time to time. The deadliest animal just got deadlier! That's the puncline for this show. All the history behind mosquitoes was briefed, including their varieties, geographical locations and most importantly their borne diseases. The show takes us to different continents and their struggle against diseases this tiny animal transmits. From Africa to the Americas, from zika to dengue, malaria, chikungunya, we're still fighting them. Despite it is a serious concern, how they are doing it was a simple accomplishment. Their spit does all the harms.

     As the science grows, as we get closer to eliminate any sickness, we get multiple choices, but are we choosing the right tool to fight them! Well, that's where the troubles are. As Bill Gates mentioned, we don't have a global leader. To eliminate the one who is troubling us, we're harming hundreds of others associated with them very closely, causing a serious eco-system breakdown. I loved how nicely this video highlighted those issues from different parts of the world. Particularly, as usual the US ignoring the pre-threat and then footing in a wrong direction to tackle them, then realising it only after it became too late.

 Wars are nothing compared to mosquitoes. 

     It interviewed scientists, experts and the people, generally the victims. As much as what these professionals say, the voice of victims is equally required to highlight what's happening from the other side. In African, the kids affected by mainly malaria, how they are preparing to fight back with the assistance of the knowledge people was documented. Then in South America, as well in some southern parts of the US, the measures taken to fight the latest symptomless zika fever was revealed. Especially how humans are helping these mosquitoes to flourish, despite the weather is not in their favour, shockingly discloses.

     Something I learnt was, how everything is interconnected, like every human action is the cause for such threat, but pointing out finger on a different direction. We had also failed at the precautionary measure, after knowing threat is a threat, even it is thousands of kilometers away. The climate change too has a role in that. In this documentary, different expert gives out different reasons, but they all true one way or the other. Particularly, zika virus was first discovered 70 years ago, though only now it's taking a toll. For that, none other than we're to blame.

     One of the methods scientists used to fight zika was stunning. You should see that in this video. Why we have to fight after getting infected, there's a solution to eliminate in its initial stage. That's where the genetically modified host letting mingles with its counterpart in the wild. For that, remember the brain behind it, Oxitec.

     It was only an hour long documentary, but covered lots of topics about mosquitoes. Narrated by Jeremy Renner, its a well made documentary, but I felt it should have been a theatrical product. Or, I would have loved it if it was a mini series. But I think they had let us know all the important, basic thing behind their main focus topic, mosquito. Short and sweet is much better, very quick to reach people. So highly recommend it to all to watch it. As the new-new troubles the humans face every day, we must keep learning the truths, and so keep spreading the awareness to other from what we'd seen. This kind of films is never a waste of time!



Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


Similar movies:
Before the Flood, Earth 2100, Racing Extinction, That Sugar Film.


External link(s):

WCA geolocation:
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