Movie reviews: Godzilla II: King Of The Monsters, Always Be My Maybe
GODZILLA II: KING OF THE MONSTERS (PG 13)
Or, as I have been calling it, How I Met Your Mothra.
Making a serious Godzilla film must be a difficult task. The lumbering nuclear-powered monster works better as an icon and - ironically - in small bites.
Both this and its 2014 predecessor have astounding, artistic trailers that belie the leaden, shambling movies that spawned them.
It does not help that while you get a lot more monster action than before, the key lesson from five years ago has yet to sink in: We do not care about the human drama. We want Godzilla versus Ghidorah, not Godzilla versus Kramer versus Kramer.
Aside from poor scripting, it also doesn't help that there are too many human characters. Then there are many dangling plot threads such as Zhang Ziyi suddenly having a twin only for it to never be mentioned again.
That said, encased in everything wrong is a good movie.
And when the monsters get to fighting, it remembers to be fun.
Hopefully they will iron out the kinks for next year's Godzilla versus Kong.
RATING: 2/5
ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE (PG13)
A romcom needs charm to work and this Netflix film is wall-to-wall charm.
It is a simple premise where lifelong friends fall out after their first time, only to reunite years later when their lives are going in different directions. And yet, this feels like a fresh take on the genre.
Ali Wong and Randall Park are such perfect protagonists that it feels like madness they would consider being with anyone else.
At a certain point, this already great romcom unleashes its not-so-secret weapon. Spawning a thousand memes, Keanu arrives.
To say more would be a spoiler but Mr Reeves sends the film into the stratosphere with a cameo for the ages.
While the finale is a tad too cheese-tinged, overall this is warm, funny and hits the note every Netflix film should strive for: Why didn't this get a theatrical release?
RATING: 3/5
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