Reviews

This is a meta-ode for stunts, stunt people and the history of stunts. I liked it because it is about movies and about what makes movies (action movies mostly) memorable or stand-out, stunts. It's all about stuns, and when it's not about stunts we get a little love story which makes you want more stunts. That's what the end-credits were all about. And it broke some records too, as I hear.

Should they have an Oscar category though? The ever present discussion. I dunno, it's all diluted by CGI, too much editing. Should we just give Tom Cruise one for stunts and call it a day?

I would gladly watch this movie again but not in the near future.

For an atheist, Pasolini treated Jesus in a higher esteem than I would have, another atheist.

I felt, however, a certain flaw in the character of Jesus, a little more pronounced than in other portrails. The anger and vengeance in his words and direction of thought - you are either with me or against me, there is no in between. There is even the story about the fig, a story forgotten or omitted, a story that shows how little of a man was Jesus, and how his temper is short and vengeance, swift.

But with this in mind, a believer will watch this and say this is a correct portrail of Jesus and this is a movie that shows the power of God and of belief.

I say, cool story bro.

Extremely derivative work but in a good way. It reminded me of The Matrix, Terminator, I, Robot, Fifth Element, Blade Runner, Scavengers Reign, Minority Report, Chinatown, Ghost in the Shell and other cyberpunk animes. And these are just a few I didn't even write down.

But the fact that it is derivative it doesn't matter that much. It's just a very interesting and kinetic animation about robots and robot A. I., all part of a big conspiracy conducted by a cool duo formed of a woman and her partner, Carlos, a human in the body of a robot. I can say I was just absorbed by the story and animation. It's not something new but it's just something I enjoy.

Perfect use of natural light but the English title is not correct...I couldn't taste a thing.

And it's a bit elitist, under all the food shots and recipies. That's not a bad thing because these people, especially Dodin, respect themselves. They surround themselves with the simpler things in life, food, wine and good people. But even so, the food, or rather the ingredients, are not cheap and not easy to find and some of the wines are really expensive, ergo the elitism part.

The camera work is something to watch as well, being the most dynamic thing from the scenes, the cooks being rather tame, compared. Interesting to see how it slowed way down after the tragic part of the film.

Anyway, it was therapy on film, and I would recommend it anytime.

I remember a day when a romantic film was for everyone, and everyone enjoyed it. Now...it's too straight or not diverse enough. You know it works the other way around, right? Should be divided here as well? Jeez, just enjoy it for what it is and judge it as a stand alone thing...not everything has to.be political!!!

This should be a quick and easy review. It's with DoriAnne HathaGrey so of course I'm gonna watch it. I can watch her watch paint dry. But man, they get together, then break up because of her insecurity, then get back together, then break up again because of her daughter, then...I am not gonna spoil it haha. It's a story that stands out because of the gender swap and age difference. But not much beside this. I didn't like the guy...mainly because I'm not him.

I've seen worse.

I was in a middle school basketball class - meaning we had 4 hours of basketball every week and played against other schools on occasion. I always found it a cool sport, even if I don't practice it anymore and don't watch it.

This anime encapstules life itself in a high-school game with its ups and downs, with the tricks, with the team-work, with illness or health, with struggles and with victories. It was a very fun and accurate ride, from what I've seen. Might just be one of the best basketball movies out there. It has all the right body language and all the small inflections just at the right points. This 2D-3D looks like rotoscoping at points - I haven't seen the series to compare anything with anything. I am just judging the film alone. And it was great. It had it all.

To say I was not impressed by the imagery would be a complete understatement. The imagery is impressive and awe-inspiring. It's powerful and poetic and memorable.

But Angelopoulos really made me struggle with the human connections. I tried so very much to connect with the inner story of love that is between the step-siblings, Eleni and Alexis. I was always drawn when a huge, impressive landscape was developing in front of my eyes, like the floating houses reflected in the water, the theater shots or the shots from the slums.

Also, the connection is too greek and not universal enough. It speaks to the struggles the greek people had from the First World War and they don't translate for the rest that well. I didn't feel so.

And of course, another reason I watched it, besides it was directed by Angelopoulos, is because of its position in top 250 on LB.

Firstly, I am against anything the Kim-Jong bloodline stands for but at the same time they did such an incredible job keeping their people blind regarding the rest of the world I cannot also blame the people for this.

In Romania we had like 40 years of communism. We were kept in the dark but even with the "Securitatea" breathing down on our backs regarding what we say about our fearless leader and what we do but at the same time, we were listening to "Radio Free Europe" and contrabanding American movies, music, jeans, etc. We gave signs that we were fighting the system. I don't see anything like that from the North Koreans, except, of course, from the ones that try to flee the country.

For me, North Korea is an experimental country where extreme communism is allowed to exist because the external factors that exist don't put enough pressure one - they could, like they did with many European ex-communist countries.

So anyone who wants communism or flirts with the idea, North Korea is your ideal place to live. Take advantage as soon as possible because it will not last long.

OMG, he's just like me.

This one hits differently at different ages. When you are young you look at this guys like he's a psycho, unhinged. When you grow a little older you tend to agree with some points. After a while you are him, you just are not in a movie and can't act upon it. Plus...you might find yourself in one of the situations but never all in one day. It just speaks volumes about how we tend to grow old the same way, with the same views, one by one, slowly.

"Now you're gonna die wearing that stupid little hat. How does that feel?" Gold.

This would have been our Fight Club if we didn't have Fight Club.

The length of this one had me questioning things. I watched it in about 6-7 hours because of other distractions. Don't ask.

Just as Ceylan got us used to, he gets really deep inside some characters. And we follow this art teacher that hopes for bigger things in a bigger city. He hopes but he is put back in his place, not realising that he doesn't belong there. Or just as Ceylan showes us with those wonderful portraits, it's the people that does that to itself.

This art teacher is very unlikeable...or he's very human. He's not something we should strive to, he's a mirror. He's one of us. He is gelous and schrewd of that little girl and that other friend of his. We get 200 minutes to know the guy, and we do.

The images are also tipic Ceylan, beautiful and simple. But with all the revelation and rewards at the end, I couldn't click emotionally all the way with this one but this director is one I will always follow.

Okey, so if Oppenheimer didn't come out this year, Lanthimos's thing would have won everything. Fortunately, for us cinephiles, there is always room in a year for any kind of quality cinema.

This is an incredible production, from all the technical and beautiful aspects. Awesome costumes, make-up, production design, score, cinematography all under the flashy yet precise direction of Lanthimos. The cast was also out of this world, Emma Stone leading the pack. Also, I would like for her to win the Oscar. But I would not be upset of it went to Gladstone.

The story and its layers are another aspect that offer bravery and controversy about the sexes and their role in society, with women clearly in the spotlight. I will leave other to get in depth. Safe to say is I agree to the vision this movie offers.

At the moment this doesn't jump over Oppenheimer and with this one done, I don't think my top 5 of 2023 would change in any way from this point. By the way:

Ranked in my Top 25 of 2023.

Many complain this would stand if not compared to Peter Jackson's version. No, it would not. Any comparison is useless because of the maturity of Jackson's version alone.

The task was just too epic for Bakshi's budget and scope. This haste only diminished any emotional impact. And I get Bakshi has a thing for rotoscoping but it should not have been used with this material, it feels wrong. And there are so many weird and wrong choices, like leaving some scenes without rotoscoping them but just applying some filters...and Sam's design.

I would give some points for the score though, it is impactful when it wants to be. And it is entertaining even if just to see how it stands against the trilogy.

When I saw the cast I just had to see this. And after I saw it was directed by Todd Solondz and it was another reason to add this to the watchlist.

This is filled with "what ifs" and "then whats" and this is a very relevant tool for scriptwriting because it applies perfectly to life as well. What if choose to stay in today? Then I will watch movies the rest of the day. Every action has a reaction. Even if some are too young and stubborn to see it. We were all rebels when we were young, never forget it.

It is an acquired taste this one, for sure. It's because these vignettes go by too fast and you are not allowed to connect with the characters but just to connect with the moments they live while this wiener-dog is in their life.

But I gotta say, I don't want to kill myself after watching what this dog watched.

It's all about shock value. Haneke's intro for this one is to desensitize you for the rest. What happened with the teenagers is nothing compared to what we see first because the first one is real (and we know it's real), what happened with the teenagers is fake and off-camera.

The discussion happens from this point. Why aren't we more shocked? Why is Benny so insensitive to what he did? It's because of his hobby. He doesn't see it as real, it's all from his camera point of view, like everything he saw before. It's just digital or analog information put on screen. He sees himself as a viewer and a camera at the same time. He is dehumanized, he is a machine, that gun was part of him as well. And like all Haneke, it's shocking.

Part 1: Scale and grandiosity aside, I kinda hate the russians. I would have viewed this with other eyes in the early 2000s (just maybe). I embarked on this adventure now, I will finish it but I don't have to like it.

I, for now, appreciate the technical aspects and grandiosity.

Part 2: Focused on a love story it is more subdued on all fronts compared to the first part but still with some gratuitous and crazy camera work like in the first one. As runtime goes, it passed by. Interesting lighting choices in these movies.

Part 3: See, I find it absolutely disgusting how a film from 1967 can be more dynamic, more interesting, much more epic than a film made today about basically the same thing (talking about Nap-oleon). It's inexcusable.

Part 4: The burning and pillaging of Moscow were, again, something to behold. The rest was definitely meh. Still, it's an incredible production. Even if overtly nationalistic.

Conclusion: Peace is boring.

We live in a society. We live in a society where everyone has to tango around the truth or around a lie. We do this balancing act every day, either in our social life, or at work. We are just trying to get by with our truth, telling lies...like these kids. Like the principal, like the school teacher, like the mother.

But these kids will always have it hard, they will always go through this, now, and in the future. It's just a hard truth. It does not matter how much conditioning it is done prior. It's the drama of their own truth. Kore-eda manages beautifully to go around this subject, to study it from all sides and angles, really Rashomon style. Ultimately he is trying to show that life will be happier for all if we stick to the truth, from the start...which is not such a new concept in cinema.

This should have been epic. And even if the battles try to be there is always something after that kills the momentum and makes this less enjoyable. It is kinda disappointing, in a way. It looks like Scott tried to reproduce some great battles from his past films but these ones kinda show his age.

And Phoenix is forgettable (even though there are moments when he comes out of the character), like all his coworkers on this production. None is standing out and I feel there might have been a place for this. I kinda wished to like it more but then again, if this character doesn't have a great story, there is nothing there to work with.

Tokyo Drifter is not only about this smooth assassin but also a japanese film that drifts from genre to genre just like its industry has been influenced.

We got smooth assassin stuff (of course) but also a bar room brawl like in the westerns, sword fighting like in the samurai movies, a little bit of romance, some of that 50s Hollywood glam, a noir story and feel, a musical with the sensational singing of our protagonist...all covered in this thick layer of style that oozes from every corner of the frame with the help of the cinematography, blocking and production design.

Just wished it made me care more about the story.

Costa-Gavras shows us that being an American is not the end all be all. Neither if you are looking for your missing son in a foreign country, and especially if you are a nosey American tourist with some political affiliations that don't align to the political establishment. American freedom is never free. You really have to place a blind eye in some cases, in those sensitive cases. Your country wants you ignorant and dumb. This last one is available in many free countries, not only in America.

Costa-Gavras really captures that going in circle stuff and the futility of it all. Also, he captures that sinking feeling when you know you are on to something that you shouldn't probably know, and that something probably killed that someone you care about.

You know what I find kinda weird about this tight-tight and highly elevated short boxing movie? It is not referenced enough. Not in the movies it clearly influenced (most boxing movies made after 1949, I am sure now) but with the lack of visual references when great movies are talked about. This one deserves to be up there more.

Not only the story is short and sweet but I liked that the world of boxing is not glamourised in any way and the scene before the fight showed me exactly that, with all the fighter waiting to get in the ring and then one by one, defetead or not, get back in that sad, crowded room filled with people with dreams or dreams that have been destroyed. All equal, no matter if they are winners or losers.

Then the fight itself, even knowing what he had to do (finding out towards the end of the fight) and potentially what will happen if he doesn't do it, he still goes for it. Just for that last line...just to say he won. Great stuff.

Everybody, at one point, wanted to be a star, to be someone.

This interesting addition to the A24 roster talks about that star culture we unwillingly pursue sometimes - like the whole thing with the Kardashians. Also, the inevitability of the influencer, they are everywhere we look. In the YouTubers we watch, in the movie star we like, everywhere. It is like a price they have to pay to be watched/to be a star going forward.

Nichols Cage was a perfect choice as Paul. He not only acts his ass off but he is also a guy the whole planet knows from his 30+ year old career but also some of his roles are not what we like. In that regards it's also about cancel culture and how thin the line is from reality and imagination.

"Everything is trauma today" says a lot about where we are today. Wished it was a longer one. Great editing as well.

The girl was still covered in deadly snakes but she won somehow? Nobody cares, eh? I blame Tik-Tok.

Nobody cares about a lot of details if they think this movie works. I feel kinda sad that they think this is enough. It brings down a whole lot of headway storytelling in film made along the years. It is like going back 30-40 years when plot holes were common in film and often overlooked. But this is not kind of movie, is it? It wants to be more elevated than that.

Oh, and the acting sucked. And from the good actors, the acting was camp a.f.. and what is with all the singing?? Seems justified only because Zegler was doing it. That's it.

This movie is not real. It exists only as a selfish desire to be award bait from all involved. It's not the first one and not the last one. But it feels so devoid of realness that it hurts. It is also a contradiction because the actors are very capable of bringing a kind of realness that is necessary for bringing the characters to life but the realness is so painfully manufactured and not natural...it doesn't have that cinema magic, it's all in the eyes. They were patting themselves on the back after every scene: "My, my, this is so "insert generic award here" worthy." I'm talking here about the technical aspects as well. The black and white left me cold.

It's not a bad movie in any sense. I just wanted to be fooled more and not be so paperthin and melodramatic.

Must have been drunk when I gave this 4 stars the first time I saw it. But at the same time it's not perfect but it's still a phenomenal movie. Alfonso Cuaron is a great director taking care of every little detail in the scene and those long shots are just cinematic a.f.

I also find it strange how prescient it is given the current political climate. We are missing the infertility and we're right there haha.

The first time I thought the script was a little too extra in some scenes but now I see the purpose of every line of dialogue. It's exactly how it should be. Really powerful stuff which I will revisit.

For a student film this is above and beyond a lot of feature films of today. The use of colour, the camera work, the directing, you can see this is no ordinary student. But there are clearly communist views in this that are displayed metaphorically.

The dichotomy between the worker and the artist is clearly on display. The balance between the two, the relationship, the struggle between the betterment of the country and citizens and his desire to feed the soul is indeed not just a communist value but in this setting is something very political that Tarkovsky wanted to show.

Even so, his cinematic language is undeniable and his potential on full display.