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Reviews
Braveheart (1995)
A beautiful, tragic, sad, yet funny tale!
You would have to look very hard to find a more complete movie than this one!
1. It's romantic - and I am not only referring to the love between William and Murron. (And later the short romance between him and the princess.) I'm also referring to the romantic aspect of being passionate about something and fighting for that passion, even when you've already lost everything and have little to no chance of winning! This movie has that and I find that aspect more romantic than anything else on screen! I know that this story is not a correct adaptation of what truly happened (the real story is very different in fact), but it is a very beautiful version of it!
2. It's funny! Despite every horrible thing happening it still finds time to crack some jokes every now and then and it doesn't do it inappropriately. The comedic touches are perfectly fitting and some lines are very quotable!
3. It's about love, family, equality, but most of all friendship! The chemistry between the characters is great! You believe they share a history! You believe their pain and their stories. You feel for them and want them to reach their goals! They make fun of each other and you can see the dynamic between William and his friends and understand why they are friends to begin with. Every character makes sense and there are no caricatures!
4. Every scene is relevant to the story! The story doesn't drag out in order to fill empty spaces with unnecessary scenes or dialogues. As a fan of "A song of ice and fire" and now also the TV-series adaptation - I think that "Braveheart" is the closest thing you can get (in a currently existing movie) to the feeling you get from watching GOT, so if you're a GOT fan like me - you'll like this movie!
5. It's tragic! Some people don't like tragedy in their movies - but a tragic story is an emotional one, and to me emotions are crucial when it comes to make me care about a movie as much as I do about this one. It makes me cry, it makes me laugh, it makes feel anger and disgust all at the same time!
6. The acting is great! The dialogue's are good, the characters are realistic! Even the English king - who I despise has real human weaknesses, which makes him a very believable character despite his person!
7. It's action-filled! And the fight-scenes are well done and don't look at all tacky as they so often do in so many other movies! I don't like "modern" war movies to be honest (they're too current and chaotic for my taste), but I love medieval battles, and I've seen enough of them to know what I'm talking about!
8. The landscape! And the costumes! And the structures! And the overall beauty of the scenery! It's perfect! I developed a sense of affection for the Scottish culture thanks to this movie!
9. It's history! (Although not entirely true.) It teaches us a little bit about what happened and how life used to be around 700 years ago. It's not based on fantasy (although I love fantasy) - it's based on reality! (And I want to emphasize the word "based" I because I want to make sure that anyone who reads this knows that I realize that the real William Wallace was far different from his portrayal in this movie. But the essential parts are still true) We owe it to ourselves to remind us of that history!
10. It's medieval! It has got swords, "knights" and kings!!! It has got strategy, intrigue, boldness and wit! It even addresses the struggles of being a homosexual in a society that doesn't accept it!
So there you got it! It's an action, war, romance, drama, medieval, tragic, comedy and historic movie about love, passion, friends, family, social injustice and the struggle for freedom and equality! I can't recommend it enough!
A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017)
I was careful not to include spoilers (but beware just in case - some people are more sensitive than others)
I admit that I haven't read the books (although now I want to), but after binge-watching the series and decided to watch the 2004 movie to compare with it (and I never thought I'd say this but - Jim Carrey falls flat next to NPH's performance!) - and now I feel I am entitled to have a legit opinion! Some reviewers have written that NPH is just revisiting his role as Barney Stinson all over again. That may or may not be true (I'm not going to argue that point), but if that's true - I believe that it was probably because of his role as Barney Stinson that he was chosen to play Count Olaf in the first place, so to revisit some of Barney's personality traits make total sense! I took the liberty to read a little about Count Olaf's character description (based on the books) and it seems like he's spot on! Watching the series I kind of get a "Harry Potteresque"-feeling, which I personally like. It's partly dark (given the environment, the plot and the backstory), and yet it's surprisingly light as well, which I personally think is a perfect combination. I don't think I would've enjoyed this series so much without its light touches every now and then. It would quickly get too depressing to watch. I love the costumes and I found myself laughing at the most silly things - silly things that would not have worked if they were portrayed differently. The movie for instance, lacked so much information that it came across as rushed and abruptly interrupted (maybe that's the problem, and not Jim Carrey's performance). The series however, made a lot more sense to me. I preferred Monty in the series for instance, as I feel that I got to know him better there. I was actually sad to see him die in the series - in the movie - not so much. Series's Josephine was hilarious! I love Meryl Streep, but same thing happened here, her part in the movie was so quickly over that I didn't get to know her well enough to care about her either. I am not complaining over their performance's, just explaining why I think this story works better as a series than a movie.
I love the bittersweet tone of the world, like I said, I wouldn't have enjoyed it if it was pure darkness. I got so frustrated over the "cluelessness" and neglect of every single adult who wouldn't listen to the the children (mostly Poe who seems to suffer from bad eyesight as well as complete lack of intelligence!)!!! It was however, despite all absurdness and exaggeration, a pretty good interpretation of how most adults act around children in real life. The tragic events surrounding these children are in deed tragic and I read that some reviewers seem to think that the series doesn't do a good job delivering that feeling. I partly agree, but I think that's a positive thing. It's the irony behind it all which makes this series unique and tragic in the first place - the main tragedy is still there - but it's not the center of the story. I personally think it would've been boring if it was. I don't particularly like series (or movies) that focus only on one thing.
Now back to the acting! The kids are perfect in their roles! I hope to see a lot of them in the future as well. I also hope that they don't replace Sunny as so many series do, because that baby is adorable!!!
The story may seem repetitive to some people, but I keep getting the feeling that there's a deeper message within the story as it unravels. Some reviewers seem to be annoyed over the shows' silliness, but I read review's of the books online and it seems that the books do in fact share this trait. It makes sense since they are children's books after all. It doesn't mean that some adults - like me for instance (who are likely still in touch with their inner child) - cannot enjoy it! Because I love it! Had I watched it with my "grown-up"-eyes, I might not have liked it so much, as I wouldn't have given it a fair treatment. I rate this a 10, because I love the set, I love the acting, I love the plot and I think it's perfectly balanced.
I don't recommend it to everyone, only to those who are willing to watch this with innocent eyes.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
One of the most brilliant movies out there!
Gut-wrenching! Beautiful! Intelligent! A masterpiece! The actors are perfect in their roles, I am surprised Tim Robbins didn't rise higher in his stardom than what he actually did after making this movie. The chemistry between him and Morgan Freeman is perfect! Every single character makes sense and seems "real". The dialogues are realistic as well. It portrays the corruption going on within heavily guarded facilities (such as this one) in such a simple, yet brutal way - that despite the crime committed (with a few exceptions of course) it makes you question the justice system and its fairness. I can relate to people I would never have thought I would in real life. I won't say much more about this movie, except tell you to watch it! Even if its not your type of movie, even if you tend to get bored with dramatic tales - anyone can learn something from experiencing watching it! Just be prepared to feel real human emotions. If you don't then something is seriously wrong with you!