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Holmes & Watson (2018)
Should have just gone to the Catalina wine mixer again
In the course of cinematic history there exist a select few grand comedy duos whose careers become inexplicably tied. I'm talking about Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, Abbot and Costello, and Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. However, perhaps none have come to influence my childhood more than Will Ferrell and John C Reilly. The two are legends now with comedies like Step Brothers and Talladega Nights, and walking into the theater I was hoping the duo had performed their hat trick of excellence. For that optimism I was rewarded with the worst movie I'd seen in a theater all year!
Holmes and Watson is a hollow corpse of a movie that lacks the charisma, charm, and raw energy of their other collaborations or even their solo ventures. Its got some jokes worth a Netflix veiwing but definitely not worth your money to see them.
As a testament to the lack of quality in this film I heard way more snores than laughs coming from my 3:45 (15:45) showtime. Not a good sign.
23/100
It (2017)
IT is What Stephen King Deserved
IT is a 2017 horror movie from director Andy Muschietti and it was actually pretty great in my opinion.
Everyone involved in this film really deserves props for even getting an adaptation of Steven King's famously lengthy 1986 novel of the same name, let alone producing something as well made as this movie turned out to be. The film makers wisely chose to forgo the segments of the book that happen during the main cast's adulthood to focus on their childhoods. This could have turned out poorly as child actors have the stigma of being bad actors and having the entire main cast be comprised of teens under 18 years old could have backfired. Thankfully the entire cast of kids gave a very well acted performance with the only real exception being the actor who played Ben who's performance was simply "good enough".
Of course I would be remiss if I failed to mention Bill Skarsgård who really brought new life the role that manages to both stay true to the character while making it distinct from Tim Curry's famous 1990 performance of the character. I feel like he made a great monster for the movie and really has some great scenes where I was genuinely impressed by what he did with his performance.
The director is also someone that I want to briefly touch on. Andy Muschietti really showed what he could do given a proper budget and it really surprised me. He was able to get a lot of really good performances out of his cast as well as making the mid 1980's town feel real and lived in. I've got to say though there were a few moments that really stuck out where I questioned his intentions, the most memorable would be the boys to men poster moment when he played a clip of the groups music that was jarring. Overall though I am more than impressed by Muschietti and I can't wait to see what he does with the sequel and with his adaptation of Shadow of the Colossus.
Overall this is a flawed movie, but so are the best horror movies. There is no doubt though that the movie is scary, thrilling, and all around a really good watch. This definitely gets added to the positive list of Steven King movies and manages to avoid joining the loser pile.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
You Can't Think About This Movie
OK, I'm going to preface this review by saying that overall I am a fan of the MCU and I think they've given the world a fair few really good movies and the remaining ones are almost always OK. That feat is something that is commendable and something that I doubt will ever be recaptured over a series that has this many movies in it.
Now that that is out of the way let's get our hands dirty.
Avengers: Age of Ultron is a dumb movie. That in of itself isn't a damning thing really, a lot of great movies are dumb and rely more on emotions to connect the audience to the plot but in this movie the emotional connection is very scarce which is pretty unforgivable for a movie nearly 2.5 hours in length. There are two emotional parts to the movie which are both short parts to the film that I found to be much more engaging and relatable than the rest of the movie as a whole and I would be much more interested in an MCU movie that simply expanded on them. These two parts being the party where the Avengers are all hanging about and interacting in a way that reminded me that these actors are actually all really talented. like seriously, who here forgot that this cast has been nominated for a combined 9 Oscars? Anyway the other scene is where the group spends a few days isolated on one of their members property. Once again I'd love to see an entire movie focused solely on these characters and how they get along but we will never get that film so oh well.
The action in the movie is good if not a little too clean for a movie in which there is a explosive highway chase, a flying city and a derailed train but this is technically a Disney flick so I'll let it slide.
The thing that I do not intend to let slide is the emotional manipulation that the movie tries to pass of to its audience. I find it pretty absurd that the same people who have accomplished so much with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and even Dr. Strange are willing to turn in such canned and phony plot beats and call it an Avengers movie. I mean the first movie even has a scene that perfectly explains exactly what this movie tries to un-ironically accomplish (the scene with the bloody trading cards if you were wondering). It is really something that stops me every time I think about re watching this movie because it irks me too much. Every single new character is treated with the same level of tragic backstory as a middle-schooler's OC in a fanfiction, its pathetic.
But at the end of the day if you are willing to simply go into a movie and be satisfied with people punching things to solve their problems then you will be fine with this movie. Just try not to think about it too much, you may accidentally put more thought into it than the writers.
Er ist wieder da (2015)
A Daring and Dark Comedy that makes Light of History's Worst Man
Look who's back is an entertaining dark Comedy that plays out the scenario of what if Hitler just came back in 2015? The answer that the film comes to is that he would simply be regarded as a comedian that is simply going for a shock value in his work, and the public just eats it up.
This is where the social commentary of the modern day comes into effect and, with the hindsight of the last couple years comfortably behind us, turned out to be pretty much dead on with its assumptions of 21st century society as a whole. The idea that a person like Hitler would not only be considered popular and funny enough for people to go along with the gag until it is too late and they realize that the monster that they have fed and helped grow is now too big to kill is really almost prophetic now looking back on it in a post-nationalist movement USA and Europe.
As a whole though, if you ignore the feeling like the point of the movie may have been rendered mute by society just 2 years after its release, you will have watched a very entertaining comedy about the worst human to ever be born.
I really have to hand it Oliver Masucci for really taking a very difficult role in the role of Hitler himself, and making him simultaneously hilarious and terrifying as well as nearly making the monster that is Hitler likable. I wouldn't have believed that sentence unless I'd seen the movie but Masucci really does that good of a job in the movie.
It's just a shame that the direction and pacing of this movie aren't worth Masucci's talent.
The direction of this movie is all over the place and it can hit a lot of really funny, saddening, and scary moments but it fails to find a solid path to lead us from one scene to the other. instead of making a road that leads from scene to scene in a way that feels natural the pacing of this film feels more like each scene is a stepping stone in the middle of a stream and the audience is forced to awkwardly hop from one scene to the next with no set goal in its delivery other than to go from start to end.
Overall the movie is worth your time, it makes a really solid point about how modern society seems more willing to accept people saying really horrible things so long as we assume them to be comical and like I said before Oliver Masucci really does some amazing stuff with his role in the movie.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
This is How You Do a Sequel
This director is one of the best working in the business today and this is his best film to date. I can't believe the man managed to top Ascension and Sicario which are two of my all time favorite films of the last decade but leave it to the genius that is Denis Villeneuve to top himself in the most incredible ways.
Denis Villeneuve's direction for this movie is impeccable and I am fully convinced that no other director could have handled the film and delivered it nearly as masterfully as he did and I would not be surprised if the Academy decided to honor him with (at the very least!) a nomination for best director.
I'd be remiss if I did not mention the incredible performances by the amazing cast of the film. All around there were so many strong performances! The fact that a lot of lesser known actors were able to go toe to toe with the likes of Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, and Jared Leto (who are all at their best in years) is something to commend! In particular Sylvia Hoeks and Ana De Armas completely surprised me with just how good they were.
Yes, this movie would be nothing without its stars, so with that I will go ahead and say that this is my favorite performance from Ryan Gosling since his role in Drive back in 2011 (which is six years ago, holy crap where has the time gone?). He does so much to display the reserved character of K. He plays the more reserved scenes with such subtlety that it genuinely caught me off guard just how much he was doing with so little, as well as capturing the more emotional scenes without it coming off as out-of-character or corny, which it very well could have been.
Harrison Ford also is incredible in this movie! Really, this might just be the best performance of his entire career. There was one scene, near the climax of the movie, where there is a shot that lasts several minutes and Ford only says one sentence in the entirety of it, but was still so gripping because of the acting that Ford accomplished! With nothing more than posture and facial expressions! I would be horrified if Ford were not nominated for best supporting actor. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he walked off with the award at the end of the night. However, despite how much I've built him up in this review don't go in expecting to see too much of Ford. This is Gosling's movie, and Ford does not show up until much later.
Jared Leto and Sylvia Hoeks both play very good antagonists in the movie, and really bring the characters to life with their great acting. It goes a long way that, even though they are a little on the "crazy bad guys" side of things, they do have a very clear goal with a clear desired outcome and a logical reason to be doing what they are doing. There isn't any being-evil-for-the-hell-of-it moments. The audience understands the stakes that both of these characters have in the outcome of the story, and you can understand the motives behind their actions. This is such a refreshing thing to say in the age of Marvel movies, where the majority of antagonists are simply World Ending Baddies.
The Mixture of practical and special effects in this movie are also worthy of applause, and that goes for both the artists that crafted them as well as to the actors in the film itself. They make every little piece of the world feel real and lived in. I will also roll the practical effects that the actors performed in the film itself, as both Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford actually physically hit one another(!!!) in their fight scene. This in itself really helped to sell the scene and demonstrates the actors dedication to the film as a whole.
The crown jewel of the film though would have to go to Roger Deakins' cinematography. If this man does not win this years best Cinematography Oscar than the whole award is a farce, because I am not sure if I have ever seen a single film (since the films of Stanley Kubrick) that were this consistently stunning in every single shot. In most films there may only be 3-4 scenes where great cinematography was used but in this film there are only 3-4 scenes that aren't jaw dropping. The way that the shots are cut, the composition of each shot, and the way that many of the shots seem to linger and play out is nothing short than an example of moving art. Really I would say that the shots are so good and convey so much information to the audience that you could watch the entire movie without sound and the film as a whole would still be comprehensible and enjoyable and that is an achievement worth applauding.
Overall I could go on for hours about every little thing I loved in this film (and in reality I have with people in my day to day life) but I absolutely do not wish to spoil this film for anyone so I will conclude by saying that this movie is a masterpiece. It is one of the best sequels ever made, it is one of the best science fiction movies ever made, this is one of the best movies of this decade and it is one that you need to go see for yourself.
Or else this film may be lost to time, like tears in the rain.
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
Full of Story, Light on Style
Hacksaw Ridge is a good movie. If you're only curios if I recommended this movie then yes I do. But I will not say that this movie is as good as many people are saying.
The movie is really cut into three sections (which nicely break this movie into the traditional three act structure quite well) which are the scenes before joining the military, the scenes of the main character at fort Jackson, and the titular battle of Hacksaw Ridge. To Be quite blunt the first two portions are really well done if a bit melodramatic in a lot of sections. The acting all around is really good, especially from Vince Vaugnh and Guy Pierce who kind of steal the scenes that they are in. However the story takes a strange turn once it gets to the battle the film was named for for chopping it up so much that a lot of the vital information is lost and has to be indirectly told to the audience such as: 1. How many people has he saved? 2. How long has he been up there? 3. How is he feeling during this time?
Truthfully, what should have been its greatest moment turned into a confusing and totally bland montage that does little to enlighten the audience on the mental toll being taken on the character, the test of his morals under fire, and if his relationship with his God/religion ever waver during the hell of war. The worst bit is when Garfield's Character sneaks into one of the Japanese tunnels to help wounded men and then leaves. no real extended tension on if is caught, no mental dilemma about literally walking into enemy hands, it just happens.
And that's the real on the movie, it fails to really add tension to what could have been an edge of the seat, heart-pounding, nail- biting, third act. Its more interested in showing what happened rather than to entertain which is not a bad thing but it is a facet that is better handled by documentaries than it is for a blackbuster with the goal to entertain.
Slow West (2015)
Old West, New Perspective
Old West is a movie that is very much a love letter to the western genre of film. Although the film takes on the look and feel of an old school it does take a several diversions from the classic formula in part by completely discarding any romanticized conventions of the genre and instead tells its story with almost a nihilistic realism towards the morality of the characters and there motives.
I will criticize the acting of Kodi Smit-Mcphee is really a mixed bag. Overall it really is pretty good overall but his accent really decides when and when not it actually exists. It can be really annoying and actually quite baffling. It really is a shame really considering just how good Smit-Mcphee has been in prior roles.
All the other actors in this movie do a great job, in particular Michael Fassbender does a really great job in his support role. And the cinematography and settings of Slow west are some of the most appealing memories of the movie even a week after my initial viewing of the movie. A lot of Westerns really bask in the glory that is the wide open and seemingly unending beauty of the American West but Slow West really steps up its game. I have to think this probably has more to do with the fact that they filmed in New Zealand and not in America or Mexico but it captures the amazing feeling non-the- less.
In the end I do really recommend this film to any fans of the Western genre, I just wish I could give it a better score than I did but Kodi Scot-Mcphee just didn't bring his A-game to the main role.
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Not the Great Ape's finest hour but not his worst
Kong: Skull Island is a decent movie, not a great one but is enjoyable enough to enjoy. Tom Hiddleston plays the main character who is pretty bland unfortunately as is John Goodman's role in the flick. really if you have seen a modern American monster movie then you have seen these two characters over and over again to the point that it really isn't the enjoyable portion of the movie. Really I can say the same for Sam Jackson's role in the movie but since it is Sam Jackson in the role he automatically makes the role more enjoyable than it has much of a right to be. Really the only really interesting character is that of John C. Rielly who is the focus of the easily best scenes of the movie which makes the movie much more enjoyable to watch.
But you didn't come to this movie for characters did you? You came for a monster and for a monster fight didn't you? Well lucky for you the special effects are actually really good. better than I thought a movie like this would actually have. The fights themselves are decent enough but they feel like they kind of come out of nowhere with very little build up from the film.
Really I'm not convinced that I want to recommend because if you want to watch a good modern monster fight then there's Pacific Rim, if you wanted a monster flick with better character there's Monster, and really if you want a better King Kong movie there's the original so I really couldn't recommend this as freely as I feel I should be able to.
Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no tobira (2001)
See You Space Cowboy
Cowboy Bebop is without a doubt one of the greatest television shows of its time. It was smart and thought provoking and was more than willing to dive headlong into some pretty heavy philosophic themes in its episodes (especially in the later episodes of the series). But despite its brilliance, or perhaps because of it, the show never lost focus on the importance of emotion to the characters of the show and through them it helped to shed a light on the motivation behind their actions and helped allow the audience to connect with these characters which has helped them to remain iconic and loved nearly 20 years later.
The best thing that I can say about this movie is that it continues these feats from its run on television to the big screen. The characters are the main focus of this film which ends up being both the movie's greatest strength and its ultimate failure. The people that watch this movie are more than likely to be fans of the original series and have thus have already become very attached to each of the four main crew members of the bebop and their own mentality over the course of the show's 26 episode run. The point to that is that the focus on the characters of this movie is simply the cherry on top of the already great franchise. We didn't really need it unless it helped further flesh out these 4 and provide new context to their decisions in the final episodes of the series.
These complaints obviously don't apply to any of the new characters who I found very enjoyable except for the fact that I knew none of them would have any impact on the rest of the series. I wish that they had as it would have added to the importance of this movie on the franchise as a whole instead of the one-off adventure that this turns out being.
Overall I don't think that this is a bad film at all. In fact I really enjoy this movie and think it would be great as a stand alone film, however as part of a series I just do not feel it to be a necessary addition to Bebop's legacy. That's not a knock on the movie really at all though because the music, animation, shot composition, and story are all really rather amazing. I just think that the movie would have benefited from being either more important to the main series or completely separated from it instead of being a tacked on extra long bonus filler episode that it ends up being.
FLCL (2000)
The Bottle of Animation that Contains the feelings of Unsure Adolescence
FLCL is a Japanese animated show that has no real plot to truly speak of. I mean there is of course a plot but that is no the real draw of FLCL, really that honor belongs to the animation and the characters of FLCL.
The animation to this show is absurdly good. Like much better than an anime television show usually is. To put that more into context; anime is well known for using pretty much every trick in the book to use as little actual animation as possible to work on a bare bones budget and incredibly constrained time-hacks. FLCL does not do that. It is animated like a strange dream, fluid and beautiful in a way that just doesn't happen normally. Its a joy to watch.
The characters are all interesting and act much differently than most other characters in traditional entertainment as they really don't seem to act on a certain drive to achieve some goal, instead they all just act upon feeling. Excitement, Loneliness, lust, anger, they just live how they feel and with animation backing them up their emotion can be sowed into their very reality with art style change or visual gags impossible to achieve in live-action.
I would recommend this with a warning that since the show is about following emotion instead of logic I would like to acknowledge that this will turn a lot of people off the show, but I loved my time with it.
Bee and PuppyCat (2013)
The single most underrated piece of animation I've ever seen
Bee and Puppycat is an utterly fantastic independent animated show that, simply put, does not have the audience that its quality deserves.
The plot of the show follows a small cast of characters in various small adventures on temp jobs to get the cash they need to pay rent, buy food, and generally just survive another day of adulthood, but where the stories may make you think that the show is a simple 'plot of the day' type cartoon the characters, symbolism, and animation along with the voice acting and direction are all top notch for a cartoon, independent or big budget.
The animation of the show goes through some artistic changes as the episodes progress, showing the time difference that would happen between episodes (the first season lasted three years) but remained beautiful in a way that only hand drawn animation can. You can tell in each frame of animation that love and care was put into them, there are no shots that are done by cutting corners and that is something to hold in very high regard.
The characters are also a joy to watch. Bee is someone that any young viewer can relate to. She is naturally caring but lazy, goofy but determined, a fun person while holding onto her problems just under the surface of her character. Puppycat is a great foil to this as he slowly becomes more open to Bee and caring of her but is much different to her. Puppycat is brash and rude and wears his emotions on his shoulder. This makes for some great banter between the two (despite puppycat never speaking a word of English in the entire series)
I really cannot recommend this series enough. If you enjoyed cartoons like Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, and Adventure Time then this may just be the show to steal your heart. It's currently free to stream on VRV on Iphones so please, go support it.
Moana (2016)
Another Strong Contender for Best Animated Film of 2016
Moana is a story about learning. Not Romance, not Adventure, not stopping evil people from doing evil things because they are evil. Just Learning. And that in a lot of ways is a fantastic message to put in a film aimed at children because children are always learning and often times they really don't like doing so, but Moana makes the concept of learning seem fun and important.
For example Moana in the beginning of the film learns a secret of her people that gives her confidence to go forth with her plans to save her people from the main problem she faces in the story (which I will not be spoiling). But that discovery makes her eager to sail but she doesn't know how to sail, so she learns the basics on her own and later has no problem asking for help when needed to get even better at the sailing. This desire to learn and impliment that learned knowledge in the world and situations Moana finds herself in is a great message for the youth and adults in the audience.
Another fantastic thing that Moana has to boast about is the voice acting that it boasts. Really there are not as many characters in this movie as there have been in other Disney movies so the voice acting that Moana does have had to be good to carry the weight of the film and boy do they. Each voice is distinct and fantastic, there is so much charisma and charm to these characters that you don't even think of them as actors in a studio somewhere.And when they sing. Oh My God!
Lastly the visuals, of course they are beautiful, its a Disney flick after all. But the water is absolutely incredible, it may be something strange to say but it absolutely made my jaw drop seeing a 3D film with this kind of environment.
Overall I do not think this will be the best animated movies of the year, not even the best Disney animated movie of the year, but that is not a knock to Moana its just the year that we have had. Moana is a great movie and can stand with the best of them. It's great, go watch it, everyone, everywhere, any age. It's worth it.
Left Behind (2014)
Easily One of the Worst Movies ever made
Left Behind is bad. Not bad but with a heart of gold, not bad but with one scene or one good performance, it is simply a horrible piece of trash. A stain on the entire art of cinema.
The problems with this film stem from a mix of laziness and creepy ideas that don't make any sort of sense if they are given even the slightest bit of thought. This, rounded out by terrible performances from the entire cast that are just so boring that you'll catch yourself looking down at your phone or even just the ground around you to try and find some sort of entertainment during the runtime of this movie.
I sat through this movie despite its terrible reviews for the sole reason of seeing an entertainingly bad performance from the lead of Nick Cage for which he has become something of a meme for, but for some reason the director either didn't give him any other direction other than to read from title-cards off screen in the dullest and most monotoned voice he could manage or simply filmed the entire movie with Cage half asleep. Either way there is no joy to be taken from this movie. avoid it like the plague!
Love (2011)
Poetry in Film Form
Love is a strange film in nearly every regard. Its a movie that was made from an album from a alt-rock group that isn't exactly known for its great use of storytelling in their songs. It's also a movie that went basically without much of a substantial budget which shocks me as a film lover. I'm not saying that I think it deserves the budget of a Marvel movie or anything along those lines but for how well this movie's effects look it is a marvel that it could have been accomplished with a budget of a half-million dollars.
The movie itself is a very disjointed and following a main narrative is nearly impossible, instead the film relies on emotional storytelling. it drops scenes in and out of the movie to produce certain feelings that are in most good movies. The way a movie works is that it follows a 3 act structure that builds with story threads all leading up to a conclusion. Love does the same thing but with emotion in place of plot. This might sound completely pretentious and stupid but I found myself completely engaged in the moment to moment actions on screen and the emotions that they made me feel. The film plays out like poetry, with scenes flowing like lines of ideas that are disjointed and yet share a shared emotion.
Gunner Wright also deserves a lot of praise for his role of Lee Miller as the only real character of note in the entire film. The performance that Wright gives can only be called the performance of a life time. He portrays the loneliness and struggle with sanity that comes with prolonged isolation beautifully and I feel makes the film very approachable since you are not distracted by his inclusion like a big name actor would. You only ever see Lee Miller and never Gunner Wright in this movie and that is a joy to watch.
In conclusion I loved Love. It was something that tried to be so much more than most dare to and what follows may not be for everyone but it certainly was something that I loved. The major flaws that people note when discussing the film is its slow pace, which is a definite flaw in the movie. Its good to take your time but there comes a point when things just have to start picking up, which does happen but not till too late for the damage to be negligible. The other flaw is that the story begins to become incoherent and impossible to follow after a while, but as I said earlier the emotion is all still there.
I recommend giving Love a shot and tracking it down, just don't go into the movie expecting something on par with 2001: a Space Odyssey and you will have an interesting experience with Love.
Kôkaku kidôtai (1995)
All soul and no heart makes Ghost in the Shell an interesting discussion on what it is to be human
Ghost in the Shell is a movie that is practically drowning in its own philosophy and style. the latter of which has been taken to other films in the West such as the Matrix which lift certain looks like the green falling text and the green overtone. Style can be lifted and stolen from film to film with varying degrees of success but it is important to note that style does not make a movie great. While some movies can pull this off like how studios are making more and more 3D animated films in the style of classic Pixar other times it can feel like a cheap imitation or knock off.
the philosophy of a movie on the other hand is something that can not be stolen with little thought like a superficial styling and that is where you can start to separate the great movies from the cheap imitators. And if there were one area that Ghost in the Shell excels it is in its presentation of its many philosophies.
In a lot of ways this movie is entirely made to express certain philosophies with each of the main cast of characters. (Note: if you are reading this and haven't seen the movie I am going to be going into some spoiler territory on the film so be warned)
The Major is a cyborg that works for the police crew known as section 9 that spends the movie wondering what, if any difference there is between cyborgs like her and normal human people. Her ideas that there is an intrinsic difference between a person who faces mortality and those that don't in how they view the world around them.
Bato is another cyborg working at section 9 that holds the opposite philosophy. He claims that everything is the same and has equal effects on people regardless of his cyborg parts. Really he very rarely refers to himself as a cyborg and thinks of himself in the human population. where the major has lost touch with a lot of her emotions and indeed the notion of sexuality where she has no problem being nude around people where Bato constantly covers her with his own jacket or shirt. He also makes a point that artificial memories are just as valid as real ones which once again shows his ideals towards retaining his humanity.
The last character I'll talk about is the main antagonist of the movie known as the Puppet Master. The Puppet Master (which I'll call PM from now on) is a fully functioning AI with no trace of a human soul or 'ghost' in it, yet he/she feels that they can attain a form of humanity through the act of combining with the major to form a new being which is thought of in the movie as almost the same as creating a child through the lose of the parents. where as the major sees herself drifting away from humanity and Bato firmly standing by his humanity the PM is as far away from it as you can get but believes he/she can attain it through their own actions.
These characters and their opposing ideologies are what makes the film stand out as more than a pretty looking piece of animation. It's what makes the slow and methodical action feel tense instead of boring and makes our investment in the characters more concrete.
Go see this movie if you want to learn how to incorporate philosophy into characters or if you want to see an anime with more grounded action than what we are often given. I will say if you do not like blood or nudity then this movie will make you uncomfortable but is still a movie worth checking out for the reasons stated before.
Akira (1988)
The Silence Between the Screams
Akira is a violent movie, nearly to a fault. While violence has existed in film nearly since its very inception it really isn't used to this extreme except in the case where a film relies on it for a central elemant of the plot or enjoyment of the film (such as in horror or war films). But Akira isn't into about those things, despite the elements of both genres that it wears throughout its 2 hour run-time. The violence and gore in Akira is simply meant to convey the feeling of basic feeling of pain and the crushing feeling of anxiety that the story's characters suffer through.
But there are moments between the gore and blood where there is just beautiful silence or near silence that come out of nowhere and just leave you with scenes told entirely through animation and expression rather than from exposition or any dialogue. these moments are some of my favorite in the entire movie with two scenes in particular that are sticking in my mind. I won't spoil the one that comes towards the end but during the first act of the story one of the two main characters Tetsuo begins to see terrifying visions and insinuation that show some really scary stuff in dead silence. It's almost suffocating to watch this scene without sound and it adds considerably to the panic of the scene.
Animation wise this may be one of the greatest hand drawn animated movies of all time. the skill and detail in each frame of this film is staggering even 20+ years later. Honestly there is only so many ways that I could describe the visuals with words other than beautiful or impressive.
The film is also a pinnacle in the cyber-punk genre of film, standing tall among other important films like Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner as some of the finest examples of this sub-genre in film form as the buildings and neon of the city are as imposing as a wall in a small room, almost making being outside as claustrophobic as being indoors.
I'd recommend this movie if you were 16 or older and had a stomach for disturbing imagery, otherwise I don't know if you'd get the fullest out of this movie as you would otherwise.
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
What the Hell was all that?
This movie is a complete and total mystery to me. Things just happen in this film and Jack, the main character, is in the same complete confusion that the audience is. Normally this would be a big negative for the film as a whole but for this movie it just adds to its strange enduring quality.
And when I say things just happen in this movie I am not over exaggerating. This movie goes from a pulpy trucker flick to a gang movie to a supernatural action film in the first 20 or so minutes of screen time and it is just too good to miss.
In a world so far removed from the 1980's in ways that have changed how movies are made (which is neither inherently good or bad) its just so exciting that I as a 20 year old millennial got to see this for the first time without any kind of information on it at all. To put that in comparison I know the how the entire next few years of Marvel's movie empire are going to go with what characters I should expect to enter the universe and what story lines are going to be used. But for this flick I honestly couldn't have told you more than I've seen some of the directors other movies. That's it. There's magic in not knowing and as a person who grew up in the years of CGI being in damn near every major movie in my lifetime it was a strange feeling to see the monsters and effects in this movie and go "wow, now how the hell did they manage to do that?" I know its not real but at the same time there is this piece of my brain that is trained to pick up on CGI that was just screaming that the effect was genuine.
It may be a silly and at times stupid movie but its one that everyone going into film should see at least once to just get a feel of what things can be done with practical effects better than CGI and what things should be left to a computer.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015)
Art made Fun
There are times in the history of video games where we as gamers come to question which is the greater mission of video games as a media, to simply be the fun electronic toys that many grew up with or to attempt to grow further as an artistic medium. This isn't such an easy question to answer, no matter how much I would like it to be.
I want the medium to evolve and grow as long as I do myself, every day I get older and I want a little bit more to see something special in the medium and at this point I believe that saying that technology is holding back the artists from doing exactly what they want to do is a falsity.
But all at the same time video games, in the same vain as film, started off as short and simple things that were simply made to be momentarily fun for their audiences. Mario 1-1 will always be held up higher compared to nearly every other game level ever because it is so good at being fun, there is no story to be found here and there shouldn't be but it is perfect.
Now this ramble isn't too removed from the game of The Phantom Pain because this game really pulls in both directions and in a large way these too things, being fun and being an artistic expression of the form are at war with each other in this game.
On the surface the two seem to work together because the gameplay is very well tuned and enjoyable to play around with and by using that gameplay to your advantage you can create or move yourself towards a plot related moment and move the plot along. But thats where the contradiction lies. The game makes you out to be this man (or woman if you switch up the character at the select) that is all there and competent as a soldier under fire. In the narrative however you are meant to be feeling a disconnect, that the character of Big Boss is beginning to switch from the protagonist to the antagonist of the series and in cut scenes you see the moral and mental desegregation of the character in what he is willing to do. But after all of that he'll get back on the chopper and go out to complete another batch of missions without any hang ups in the gameplay.
Along with that there are these moments where something very not Metal Gear will happen or be introduced like the online functionality and the abrupt ending without wrapping up the plot lines properly. These are areas that Konomi's corporate fingerprints are all over, and I wouldn't be so harsh on it if it were not for the fact that the game was almost guaranteed a profit by name recognition alone and milking the fans for money and cutting content from this game before launch feels entirely disrespectful for a fanbase intent on finding connections and building theories for over two decades and ever more of a disrespect to the people making the games who have put years of their lives into creating them for that reason.
In the end though it is a Metal Gear game, the story is more grounded and less flamboyant and it works to make the less heavy narrative still feel important to the universe and the gameplay is superb and is a revolution to the stealth game genre. Its a great game, but what makes this game feel a little disappointing is that you can see a perfect game being cut down to greatness by an unfeeling company.
To the Moon (2011)
As Sweet and Saddening an Experience you will have with a Video Game
To the Moon really stretches the definition of what is and is not a video game. That might be a strange sentence for someone who does not play video games as religiously as so many do now of days but it is a question that has been floating about the gaming community for some time now. For many a game needs to present some sort of challenge, whether that challenge is a test of reflexes, intelligence, puzzle-solving, memory, or a mixture of one or more of these examples and possibly even more tests that I might have forgotten. Other people are content with saying that an interactive experience in which you interact with the game world. To the Moon falls into this second camp of 'games'.
To the Moon's only real gameplay are the occasional puzzle sections and moving the controllable characters around the map.
Speaking of these main characters the ones that you will have the pleasure of controlling are Dr. Eva and Dr. Neil. Eva and Neil are both doctors who work for a company in the near future that sells the ability to alter the memories of those on their deathbeds so that they can think they fulfilled their greatest wish.
These two will be your ever present companions as you explore deeper and deeper into the mind of their newest client, an old man named Johnny who, as the title references, wishes to go the moon before he dies (or at least to think he's gone to the moon). To accomplish this feat the doctors must find items that exist in a more recent memory that also were around in a prior one as well, using them to travel backwards through Johnny's memories so they can implant the false memories at the youngest age possible.
This story idea of telling a story effectively in reverse is something that has been done before but I don't think many of them can really compare to this game because where a film like 'Memento' tries to hide its big moment until the end to set up for a big reveal To the Moon shows you the them outright and forces you to continue despite it. You will see sad things in the first hour or two of gameplay that only truly become heart wrenching as you go from seeing the effect an event has on people, to the event, to people happily oblivious to the knowledge of the pain to come.
The characters in this game are all amazing and will grow on you as they grow as characters, which I feel happens too rarely in games. No character ends where they began emotionally and it adds weight to every new twist to the tale as characters are forced to cope with it either as participants or passive observers.
I won't go into spoilers here so I think I'll leave it as is and let you go pick it up for yourselves. It only really takes 4-6 hours to complete which is graciously shorter than your average Netflix binge and since the game isn't reliant on your skill as a gamer I feel like I can fully recommend this game to play.
Papers, Please (2013)
Working within Limitations to make something Haunting that Lingers
Papers, Please is an indie game that plays in a way that you as the player don't do much at all in comparison to other games. You get not action set pieces, no big shoot-outs with the bad guys. Instead you are faced with certain small choices. Do you let the one guy in who's passport is just a bit past its expiration or do you reject him? Do you come over every applicant's forms like a hawk like a good worker and make zero mistakes, mistakes that will go on to bring you punishments from the higher ups, or do you just glance over the important info so that you can get through as many people as you can in the short days to boost your pay and help keep your family healthy?
These are the small choices that go to make this game a memorable experience after so much time away from it. The little moments where a clump of pixels that barely looks like a human's outline is shot down by guards only for you to return the next day with new rules and regulations on who to let in and who to not is what adds to the uneasy dread of the nation of Arstotzka.
This game revels in the hopeless feeling of the cold and oppressing Soviet states in Eastern Europe had. It even looks like a game from the time with the 8-bit look of the game that looks like it could be a commodore game from the mid 80's. Its a game from another time, a time that is gone and that some would like to forget about but is important. It's important to learn from the period but at the same time it is important to add something more to bring it forward to our time.
Go play this, play it for a night and see what a video game can be.
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
The Horror of War from the Other Side of the Commonly Shown
War is something that we've all grown up knowing about. It's a subject that movies, television, books, comics, video games, and every other form of entertainment has used, and that's for those of us who are lucky enough not to know war first hand. But so rarely do we ever think of the opposing side of a war as something that bleeds like we do and has the fear that our soldiers have in the heat of battle. That is something that makes this film so impactful.
Letters from Iwo Jima follows Japanese troops during the naval invasion by the United States on the titular island. It is shot, acted, and directed in the professional and uncompromising style that Clint Eastwood is well known for. Eastwood doesn't take the camera away from the moments that other directors would flinch away from, the horrible ways that men in uniform on both sides died during the famous battle. Those moments have stuck with me for years after first seeing this film.
I'd recommend this movie, but I would like to warn that this movie is not for the young and its not for the faint-of-heart. It's an important film non the less though, its important to think of people as people, no matter who they are.
Le petit prince (2015)
Smart and Sweet, not perfect but close enough
The Little Prince is one of those films you love to watch just for the sake of seeing what so many people poured themselves into. The movie plays out in three parts, the real world that is portrayed by CGI animation that, while beautiful, doesn't hold a candle to the incredible stop motion of the story world. The third part of the story is where the two eventually overlap, which offers some amazing moments of visual poetry.
The stop motion portion of the movie is by far my favorite part of the film. The way it is animated makes me think much less of more modern masterpieces of the genre like Caroline and ParaNorman and more like paper mache works of short movies from a long time ago. It has so much heart and charm that these sections give of would make a fantastic masterpiece in of itself.
Now that we've covered the animation it would remiss of me not to mention the voice performances in the film. To be exact I would like to talk about the real stand out of the movie is Jeff Bridges performance as the old man neighbor, this is one of my favorite from the actor, even with the inclusion of his past roles in the Big Lebowski and True Grit.
I fully recommend this film to anyone with a Netflix subscription to watch it as it is short and sweet. The only real thing that works against the film is that you can only get it if you have a Netflix streaming subscription.
Inception (2010)
Intelligent and Brilliant in Every Moment
Christopher Nolan is one of the best directors of the early 21st century. I don't think there would be many to dispute that fact. Inception is one of the best movies of the early 21st century. I doubt that causes much of a stir either. However when I say that Inception is probably Nolan's best movie to date I'm sure I would get a lot of complaints.
So why is Inception such a masterpiece to even surpass the other works of the 2000's is the skill seen in every aspect of the films creation. From the sound design and musical score that is provided by the master composer Hans Zimmer to the more than praiseworthy cinematography of Wally Pfister who is at his best here in providing some of the most gorgeous shots I have ever seen in a blockbuster film like this one.
I haven't even had time to mention the visuals. There are times in modern day cinema where I feel fatigued of the constant barrage of bad CGI implementation in the movies that are touted as the 'best action movie of the year' that I forget just how much of a beneficial tool it can be when used correctly. This is truly Inception's greatest asset. The many great moments of this film are a mix between the real and practical effects and the computer generated special effects that blur together in such a way that you can barely make the two apart and scenes you'll swear must have been made on a PC are made the way that film makers have been doing for nearly a century. This great uncertainty in what is real and what is not adds magic to this film that has long been becoming a rarity in this age where we truly must marvel in how a scene was done.
The acting is of course as good as one can expect from a cast of this caliber and hold their own among the other heavy hitters.
I beg you to watch this movie if you have not yet. It will remembered in the same class of those that came before from the hands and minds of those like Spielberg, Lucas, and Scorsese.
Gears of War (2006)
Big Guys, Big Guns, and the Start of the 7th Generation
Gears of War, as of 2016, has had 4 main entry games and a spin-off game to boot and it all stems from the success of the first game in the series. the game that would go on to become the trend setter for the entire generation of gaming to follow.
The game forgoes a good chunk of the explanation and dialogue that games use to try and quickly fill players up on the plot and instead unceremoniously toss them into the boots of Marcus Fenix and sends them off to fight. With so little to go off of it took me quite a bit of time and extra searching to discover that when the characters referred to something called Sera they were not referring to a person or a future nation but of their planet, which is not earth. While this could have been done poorly by a lesser game it works wonders for setting the bleak tone of the gears universe.
While it can often feel like you are being left in the dark about the goings on of Gear's plot it is not an indicator that it is lacking in any sense. The story to Gears and its universe is actually much sadder and thought out than one might think upon first glance. The game will more often than not refuse to explain what the characters are talking about when discussing important events in the lore but they do so to make the character's interactions be more natural. after all how strange would it be in the real world if a US soldier were to walk up to his platoon and ask what 9/11 was? Same thing for why they do not explain to each other what their tragedy was.
The art style of the game has held up surprisingly well despite the game's age. characters and locations still look unique and visually interesting even without the graphical fidelity of newer games and really go the extra mile to set up a cool world to play through.
finally the gameplay. the gameplay of Gears is often referred to the father of cover based shooters. Despite Gears of War not being the first game to use the mechanic they were the first to popularize it and make it the stable of shooters that are grounded a bit more in the bounds of reality.
Overall if you have an Xbox 360 you can pick up the game for cheap and enjoy a great game and for the Xbox 1 you can pick up the remastered version. The game is well worth playing and will deliver in giving you something you haven't seen before but it will most likely hook you and make you curse the horde like so many other gamers before have.
Red Planet (2000)
The Red Planet is About as Boring as the Real Red Planet
I honestly haven't got a lot of good things to say about Red Planet other than it tried. It really tried. This wasn't meant to be a movie that makes you fall asleep instead of afraid and thrilled and to that end I feel like I must go easier on it. The people behind the effects deserve praise and really push this movie up in quality. it's just a shame that it is undercut by lazy directing and bland as unbuttered white bread acting with Val Kilmer putting in a lazy performance to rival his batman performance a few years earlier.
At the end of the day I can't recommend this movie. The only time I would say go ahead is if your internet is down at 3 in the morning and this is on TV, and even then I would check what was one Adult Swim first.