The Creative Film House Organization

An Informal Film organization that centralizes in motion pictures reviews | 17b8113 | AX - 3305 | Digital Publishing |

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Valkyrie (2008)

Valkyrie (2008) By Bryan Singer

IMDb Rating - 7.1/10

Valkyrie is about the historic 20th July plot in 1944 by a group of German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and to use national emergency plan known as ‘Operation Valkyrie’ to gain control of the country. 

The Review

Conceptually, this particular movie is also regarded as one of the best visual narrative example as it involves an intriguing yet daring plot of political event that happened during the Second World War as well and part of the major plot is about the conspiracy to assassinate the current Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler in order to save their country. It was really brilliant the way the story narrative unfolds from the start of the film until the climax of it. The plot was well structured and in the end of the film, it gives the audience some time to ponder about what’s going to happen should the conspirators decided not to do it and in the end, to feel and wonder which side is wrong, which side is right, which one is just, which one is not. 

The only thing that needed to be pointed out here is that, although the plot and storyline is brilliantly told, there are some confusions that caused by the complexity of the timeline as some events in the movie are happening at the same time as the other characters are doing, so it is much needed for the audience to have a moment to figure and arrange and understand the timeline as they watch the movie itself.

Overall, Valkyrie is one of the movie that is worth looking for especially to people who enjoy watching some based on true events kind of historical drama set in the World War II period.

Image sources from Google Images.

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The Imitation Game (2014)

The Imitation Game (2014) By Morten Tyldum

IMDb Rating - 8/10

Let’s roll back from revenge and look back to the 20th century, specifically The World War II. Now, we look into one of the movie that was originally adapted based on true story.

This historical drama film tells a story about Alan Turing, the British cryptanalyst, working for the British Government who managed to decrypt German intelligence codes during the Second World War. It was inspired and taken from the biography Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges.

The Review

This is probably one of the best historical visual narrative example as this film is set based on the Second World War in which majority of the people nowadays know of it and some had experienced it themselves making it the best and closely relatable to the people living these days. Not only was it based on real historical event, what made the narrative even more interesting is that, the creators of the film actually picked out one of the most interesting event that happened during the Second World War which was the decryption of German intel codes (known as the Enigma codes) that eventually gave a huge effect to the outcome of the war itself. The narrative was brilliantly arranged and built as it starts from a flashback of Alan Turing and it leads the audience from his early life up until the crucial point or event that happened in his life, which was successfully decrypting the enigma codes.

In Overall, the movie is among one of the best historical drama that successfully capture the emotion of the audience while watching. It is one of the movie that is worth noting and studying for especially its narrative styles.

Image sources from Google Images.

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The Comparisons

John Wick (2014) Vs Faster (2010)

VS

A great showdown is about to unfold between 2 men who have nothing to lose. One is a retired hitman and another is a fast getaway driver. Both have immeasurable revenge within them. Time to evaluate which revenge is worth seeking for.

Conceptual Wise

John Wick (2014) - It has an interesting story that point him as a loving husband and a perfect citizen after he left his past life but is soon dragged back into it in an unexpected of encounter with Russian Mafia. This just shows how far a man can go when their happiness is stolen by someone. Narrative is very exciting but only when the build up starts to rise.

Faster (2010) - Story flow is also not bad, as some flashback moments were briefly shown, indicating the pasts that the protagonist had in relation to the progression of the story. The plot twist in the end that connects 3 different characters together are brilliantly thought and it makes the movie worth watching for.

Technical Wise

John Wick (2014) - Amazing technical with brilliant visual effects were applied all the way with fantastic fighting choreography in every of its action scenes. The color mood as well as the atmosphere make the movie more stylish and filled with revengeful mood, suitable for its 1 man army revenge plot.

Faster (2010) - Fast cars chase filled with intense gun fights as well are two major technical elements that can win the movie, thanks to its cinematographer, stuntmen and also the screenwriter who made the scene of car chasing more beautiful and well crafted.

Overall Result

Based on the strength and each of the movies’ storylines, I have to say that it is a draw between the two. Both movies have strong endings and twists and I can’t exactly decide which twists are the best but if there’s a slight difference between the two movies, it would be John Wick, all because of its addition of great action scenes as well as the realistic visual effects that was perfected into the movie itself and not to mention they have a set of interesting and mysterious supporting characters that act as potential additional scenes or events that lead to the next sequel or so.

Image sources from Google Images.

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Faster (2010)

Faster (2010) By George Tillman Jr

IMDb Rating - 6.4/10

Next revenge and justice themed movie is Faster by George Tillman Jr that was released in 2010. It stars the former WWE Superstar Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock as a man full with undescribed revenge towards his past enemies.

The story is all about a man who has nothing to lose, trying to seek revenge for his brother’s killers while wanted by a police man and a hired assassin.

The Hired Assassin

The Review

The movie itself is not bad, as it opens with a man who has a flashback moment of him being ambushed and robbed by a group of gang. Soon after, he is released from his 10 years of sentences and once again a free man, but this time, full with boiling revenge. The story was once again, common as it only shows one man vendetta against many. What makes this movie actually interesting is the plot twist that is slowly but carefully revealed towards the quarter end and how all three individuals are connected with one another. It’s quite a simple concept to grasp but the character development and revelations make it more interesting and inspirational.

The only thing that makes this movie a bit too lousy is actually the lack of revision on its supporting characters and how they are connected with the main characters. It was too short and too simple for a supporting character’s writing. Overall, the movie is worth to watch as it has plenty of cool shots and near impossible action scenes included.

Image sources from Google Images.

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John Wick (2014)

John Wick (2014) By Chad Stahelski

IMDb Rating - 7.4/10

Now we have moved on from Spy movies to movies that focus on revenge and getting payback. One particular movie that is so famous for this focus is none other than Keanu Reeves’ John Wick.

John Wick revolves around the story of a retired hitman who is forced back into business after he is striked by a group of naive Russian mafia.

The Naive Russian Mafia

The Review

Alright, first things first, I’d like to say that this movie is quite confusing and slow in its first 30 minutes as it is made for building up the tension to the retired John Wick and his life soon changes back when he meets with Iosef, the son of the Head of Russian Mafia. After that, the movie plot line is starting to get real interesting the moment John Wick is returning to his old, brutal and cold blooded self as the most feared hitman in the underworld. The fight starts to get intense, a game of cat and mouse begins as Viggo, The Head of Russian Mafia hired a hitman with John’s own calibre, Marcus (played by Willem Dafoe) as he seeks to protect his son from John Wick’s wrath.

Viggo Tarasov, The Head of Russian Mafia

The Hitman Marcus

Wick’s Beloved Chevy 1930s Release

Overall, this movie has a lot of gory scenes as well as impressive action scenes displayed. It’s all about Keanu Reeves chasing having to clear the stages of gangsters in order to get to his aimed one.

Image sources from Google Images.

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The Comparisons

Atomic Blonde (2017) VS Anna (2019)

VS

It is a final showdown between Spy and Spy in this hotly contested and debatable movies. Do take note that these movies are Hollywood made and it is a matter of storyline and concept that could actually be the winner as technical, resources and acting wise, Hollywood movies are grand at it, so we are not going to touch on those aspects in order to make this comparison and final decision fair from all bias-ness.

Conceptual wise

Atomic Blonde - Story was narrated in an interrogation style with the main lead recalling her pasts while she was assigned overseas. In her narration, the real antagonist wasn’t even shown at all only when the revealing scene where everything was connected. It can somehow be predicted and the final confrontation wasn’t that thrilling as you can already see the pattern based on the pasts given. So it wasn’t as interesting. The only cool part was when they tried to show how badass the lead is and how amazing she is.

Anna - The story was told in real-time. The concept of storytelling here is common but what makes it very interesting is that the story starts with showing Anna’s pasts with her lowlife partner and how she always ended up in the mess but at the same time, the KGB and CIA POV are also told and that they were in an espionage fight with CIA losing most of their field agents. The story was well written especially the revealing part in the end and towards the climax of the story with some characters did change the ultimate outcome of the war between the KGB Old management and the CIA.

Overall Result

Based on the story telling of both stories, I have to say that Anna won overall for its storytelling sense. The twist in the end is one of the leading factor to its narratives

Image sources from Google Images.

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Anna (2019)

Anna (2019) By Luc Besson

IMDb Rating - 6.6/10

Today we featured yet another spy movie and this time it is Anna that was previously released last June on cinema. Basically, Anna tells the story of a young but full with painful backstory who were recruited by the KGB, Russian Intelligence Agency to be a part of their organization and a whole new life experience.

The Review

This movie, by far, is one of the movie that has a perfect lineup of great actors with the likes of Cillian Murphy, Luke Evans and also the veteran Helen Mirren along with the supermodel and newcomer Sasha Lush who played the lead. Despite all of these awesome actors lineup, the rating of the movie is somewhat just slightly on average.

What I love about this movie is that, okay, let’s be bias for a while, it’s because of the actor Cillian Murphy and Helen Mirren who played both as the agents of CIA and KGB respectively. Both of the actors were great in the character that they brought and most of the act was natural and in character. Next, the actual portrayal of Sasha Lush who played Anna in regards to her painful pasts were actually spot on with all the living conditions and daily activities that she had before the KGB recruited her.

Agent Alex who tried to recruit Anna into the KGB

Agent Lenny Miller of the CIA

Agent Olga who is the second in-command coordinator of the KGB

There is only 1 thing that I found a bit disturbing is that, the exaggeration of violence were a bit too much in this movie. It stereotypes that KGB are quite in the negative and bad side because most of the assignments are about eliminating targets. But overall, the movie has a good balance of conceptual as well as technical applied to it and I do believe that their overall rating should be given a bit higher instead of just a total of 6.6 out of 10.

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Atomic Blonde (2017)

Atomic Blonde (2017) By David Leitch.

IMDb Rating - 6.7/10

From Gangsters and mafias movies, now we move on to another side of the side which is the law enforcement, but this time, a more specialized division of law enforcement - The world of espionage, a.k.a spies. Everyone loves spies and all the top secret mission where they are given aliases and have to infiltrate to enemy’s den to steal, destroy or assassinate just to get trapped in the end by both sides. This particular movie is no different either,only that it makes a female top agent as the movie’s protagonist.

Played by the sexy and stylish Charlize Theron paired alongside the talented and charismatic James McAvoy, Atomic Blonde has been nothing but a movie full with actions throughout its runtime duration. The story tells an under interrogation female spy working for the MI6 who was tasked to find a double agent in one of the assigned country. The story was narrated based on her information given during her interrogation.

The Review

Violence and charisma are the main attractions in this movie. Charlize Theron is giving her 1000% charisma in her portrayal of Agent Lorraine Broughton of the MI6 while James McAvoy who played Agent David Percival is more focused on violence. The action and violence elements were spot on as expected from the director David Leitch who directed Keanu Reeves’ John Wick. The setting of the story was set to be Berlin during the Cold War period and it showed most of the aesthetic within that particular period. The only part that I feel lacking is that there were several unnecessary scenes included within the movie. It would be more smooth of a movie in terms of its storytelling if they actually cut those unnecessary scenes and straightaway jump to the next part of the narrative.

Overall, the movie is well made, mostly due to its action scenes as well as some brilliant acting and portrayal by 2 great actors of the Hollywood.

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The Comparisons

Goodfellas (1990) VS Legend (2015)

VS

It’s time for the final showdown between the Italian-American Mafias and the British Gangsters to conclude. Don’t get me wrong, both are just as versatile and charismatic in their own way but whenever there’s 2 warring sides happen, there must always be a winner in the end. So let’s evaluate them!   

Believe me when I said this that both movies are fantastic and it is from the similar genre and story type which was set in the Mafias, Gangsters and underworld period. There can only be 1 winner and before we decide, let us compare the two movies both in conceptual and technical wise.

Conceptual Wise:

Goodfellas - It has a very interesting storyline from the time when Henry Hill was a teenager, slowly climbing up his rank in the mafia hierarchy with Jim and Tommy while overcoming the various obstacles that get in their way.The movie was able to bring the audience’s attention from the first and a half hour with all the balanced narration and only got draggy during the last 30-40 minutes.

Legend - The opening and prologue scenes, introducing the stories were the winner of this movie with the brief yet stylish introduction of each of the Kray’s brothers. The only thing that somehow considered as lacking in this movie was the unnecessary scenes shown, especially during the last 30 minutes of the movie as it gets more draggy as well.

Technical Wise:

Goodfellas - In terms of technical, it was very well placed and applied. The winner of the technical side of this movie was of course, the one (continuous) shot that it showed and managed to do the scene in such a long minutes run.

Legend - As for this movie, the technical concept of actually using just 1 actor to portray 2 characters was actually fantastic due to the amount of time and skill needed to achieve the result. The combination of using the same actor and sometimes stunt doubles were brilliantly executed and this what made this movie to win it technically.

OVERALL RESULT

Based on the analysis and comparisons of both movies, I have to say that Goodfellas won in general. This is mostly due to its concentrated storyline and flow throughout the entire hours, thanks to its strong characters development as well as the supporting events that led from one conflict to another. Additionally the movie was accurate in terms of period and the surrounding vibes that it gives, not to mention how the mafias communicate with one another through violence and compromised conversations. In conclusion, the movie won in terms of story content and concept as “Story is King” as one saying goes.

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Feature Film review of the week - Legend (2015) By Brian Helgeland

IMDb Rating - 6.9/10

Synopsis:

Legend tells the true story of the Kray twins, Ronnie & Reggie who ruled East London’s underworld in the 60′s with blood & iron fists.

The Review:

This movie is an adaptation of a true event that happened in the 1960 London where The Kray brothers raised to power. Both played by Tom Hardy, Reggie, the younger brother is cool, suave and charming one while Ronnie is the total opposite in nature but both are eyeing for one common thing - to control the streets of London. From what I can share, this movie deserves a little bit of an increase in rating (I would go for 7.2/10) because storyline wise, it was clearly delivered and all the actions were packed and realistically done, not to mention the portrayal of both twins were perfect by Tom Hardy.

I always am a fan of gangster world depiction movie and when the content is clearly narrated, I would get even more excited to watch. One particular feature and concept that is exciting and great for this movie was the use of 1 actor playing 2 characters at the same time. Technically it wasn’t easy to pull off the technique of placing 1 actor as 2 different characters in 1 frame. Ideally you would have to carefully frame the subject and divide it into half and then layering it over in order to make it look like both were in 1 shot while actually it was 2 shots merged into 1. This, in general, helped the movie’s to become much more interesting both to enjoy and simply analyze.

Picture above shows just how the frame is carefully divided to give it look like it was played by two different actors.

The only problem that I find it to be a bit hasty is the length of the story. The beginning and main content is pretty great, no comment whatsoever, but when it reaches the second hour, it starts to get pretty draggy and lengthy because there were some unnecessary dialogues and actions that weren’t supposed to be shown as audience already got the idea of the story.

Despite it being draggy and a little bit lengthy, overall, Legend is a great British classic gangster film as it implements a unique technical approach by portraying 2 characters in just 1 actor and accurate depiction of the period of that time. It is a movie worth seeing with your parents and loved ones mainly due to its positive values inserted.

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Feature Film review of the week - Goodfellas (1990) By Martin Scorsese.

IMDb Rating - 8.7/10

Synopsis:

Set in 1950′s - 80′s NYC, Goodfellas tells a true story of a one Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta), a member of one Mafia Family along with his adventures of rise and fall with close associates James Conway (played by Robert De Niro) and Tommy DeVito (played by Joe Pesci).

What I love the most from this particular movie is the narrative structure of it from start to finish. It was narrated by Henry Hill starting from his life back when he was a teenager, working as an errand boy to Paulie Cicero, one of the mafia family during that time and helped with the clear visuals portraying each of the action and situation based on what was described in the narration accurately. I always loved a mafia based story, especially if it was set in New York and Los Angeles between 1940′s till 1980′s as those periods are so called the Mafia period as a lot of Mafia Families scattered throughout the cities, each with their own controlled territories. In terms of technical implementation, there was one particular scene that I find very impressive is the one shot technique where a camera is pretty much following the characters and their actions, jumping from one character to the other in 1 continuous motion. The continuous shot went on for approximately 5 minutes straight.      

The only problem that I felt like pointing is that, the story told seemed incomplete and holed despite its 2 hours and 25 minutes run time, probably due to shortage of actions and explanations in some of the scenes.  

I also noticed that this movie was heavily adapted by 2K Games Czech Developers in their Mafia II game which was released in 2010. The game was also set in 1950′s New York, the same time period Goodfellas was set.

Overall, the movie Goodfellas is one of the movie that I enjoyed watching from the beginning till the end. It was truly one of Scorsese’s 90′s masterpiece.

Image sources from Google Images.

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The long awaited CFH Film Festival

It’s that time of the year again! The CFH would like to organize an online Film Fest where a dozen of Feature Films will be featured and reviewed. For the next upcoming future posts, 1 feature film selected from around the world will be highlighted and given reviews and finally, by the final week of November, the feature films highlighted will be competed and voted through a poll system by YOU, yes YOU, the public and be made the winner of best overall feature film award. 

Disclaimer:

This is an unofficial online film festival made for the module project to make it more interesting and entertaining.