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Glass Onion (2022)
A Wild Ride That Might Not Be For Everyone
I freaking loved this movie. The acting was stellar and added so much to the characters. They each added layers with their ability to emote and it worked superbly with the solid writing. Rian Johnson productions have great set designs and cinematography and this movie does not disappoint in that regard. The story itself was also incredibly well done but it is the one place that I could see typical murder mystery fans being turned off if you were already turned off by how Knives Out did its mysteries. Johnson turns it up to 11 with this movie and if you had problems with how Knives Out handled its mysteries, you'll probably have similar issues with this one. But as for me, I really liked Knives out and I loved this movie. I wasn't sure about the ending as it was going but it all came together in its final few minutes and wrapped up the movie incredibly well. Strongly recommend if you loved Knives out.
Gekijouban Violet Evergarden (2020)
A disappointing end
This move is incredibly beautiful and the moments that work are as good as the main series. Unfortunately, it is also overly dramatic (in a bad way and honestly funny way) and long. It makes it really hard to take many of it's emotional highpoints seriously no matter now badly I wanted to. Again, some moments really work but a lot don't. And then there is the ending. Oh god, the ending. It ruins the core relationship that shaped Violet's character and takes a wonderful parent-child relationship and turns it into a romantic one. They Usagi Drop Violet Evergarden and it left a terrible taste in my mouth. Violet also doesn't get to say much in the ending of her own movie and just gets to stand there while the pedophile talks about how he's always loved her that way. But hey it's pretty and it makes you cry a little, so at least there's that, I guess.
Black Widow (2021)
A good character drama held back by the marvel formula
This movie honestly has some of the best character work I've seen recently in a marvel movie. The interpersonal relationships are some of the most compelling and raw that Marvel has produced and had me drawn to the screen for the first two acts. Black Widow and her extremely dysfunctional family are incredibly engaging and the actors do a good job bouncing off of each other. Unfortunately, a movie that would have benefited from a smaller scale is hurt by the studios need to have big stakes and thus the third act turns into a real mess as all the well done character work takes a back seat to action that is at times hard to follow and mess. It can also be riveting, as one fight scene showed. As well, a few good character moments are undercut by Marvel's continuous need to add in humor because they think the same joke told 50 times is still funny. As well, the main villain isn't too captivating and his main minion suffers from the same lack of personality that the Winter Soldier had. The CGI at the end also looks really dodge and hurts the movie. And finally, this movie should have come out years ago, not after this character was already gone. Now, all that being said, this is still fun and humorous movie that is brimming with good character work it's first two acts and the last act is merely mediocre. It's a good movie that could have been more.
Diary of the Dead (2007)
The Commentary has aged well, the movie...not so much
This movie has a lot of political and cultural commentary about internet celebrities, fame seekers, our need to record everything, and how the government would handle an outbreak. That commentary has aged incredibly. I commend Romero for his forward thinking on that. I will also commend him for some solid kills and a second act that belonged in a better movie. And that's where the commendations end as the rest of this movie is garbage. It's main characters are either one dimensional archetypes or cardboard cutouts that Romero uses to poorly vomit out all of his well aged commentary in incredibly poor execution. Ok, maybe that's a little unfair, as one of the characters goes through a little bit of a nice arc and the archetypes have a little more to them, so I'll call them 1.3 dimensional characters. It's combines the worst tropes of the found footage genre (though I'll give credit that this is one of the movies to develop those tropes) with a mediocre zombie movie that is just an otherwise crappy affair. The main character is an infuriating dick head that constantly records everything like every other infuriating dick head that continues to record things (again, credit for being one of the first to do that trope). His girlfriend has two conversation rails, criticizing him for recording and arguing him about the philosophy of it or wanting to get home to her family. Most of the rest of the cast is just bland as molasses. The only likeable characters are the archetypes and chances are they aren't going to last long. The story is also nothing you haven't seen before, only this time it's in a found footage format that was a lot more novel for it's time but is incredibly tired today. Government and media can't be trusted, people are also the monsters, blah, blah, blah. The acting is also not that great and I feel bad for the actors for the forced and clunky dialogue they were given, as they tried their best and sometimes make it work. The movie also has a few humorous moments but they are so far and few between that they do little to lift up the crap around it. Aside from the movie's second act, anyway, as that was actually decent. It has some nice humor, awesome kills, and good tense moments. If the rest of the movie had been like that 30 minutes, this would have been a 6 or a 7. Instead, the second act is weighed down by it's predecessor and successor and can't save the film. So in closing, this is not a good movie and I'd only recommend watching it if you have literally nothing better to do, want to watch an early found footage movie, or if you want to watch all of Romero's work. Otherwise, save your time. I wish I could have saved mine.
Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
Disappointing lack of creativity
The movie was rather boring during most of it's runtime, relying on setups that have been done to death and barely uses any of the interesting relics found in the world's most poorly guarded demon room. Sparks of creativity pop up every once in a while but are far and few between. Would be a lower score if not for likable, if mostly bland characters and a decent enough story.
Rizu to aoi tori (2018)
Kyoto Animation's Masterpiece
If you want a film that gives you tons of action, an incredibly complex story, or a dark tale, this isn't the movie for you. However, if you're in the mood for a stunning character piece that tells a simple but superb story than this is a movie for you. It tells it's story partially through the stunning body language displayed by the characters as while you might not hear what the characters are thinking all of the time, you can certainly gauge it from how they have their arms and legs positioned, expressions that briefly flash across their face, or how they are postured. Liz and The Blue Bird requires you to pay attention and it rewards you for doing so. It also uses music (It is a music anime) to give the most emotional moment of the movie that is soon followed by it's most enthralling part. The voice acting also carries the move to the next level as each actress gives an outstanding performance that gives further depth to their characters. You also don't really need to watch the series to get the characters as they were only side companions to the main story. But here, they take center stage and honestly surpass their predecessor in every regard. So yeah...go watch this movie.
Rinne (2005)
Solid if unspectacular
This movie has several things going for it. The acting in it is good. It's genuinely unnerving. And it also has one of the freakiest dolls I have ever seen. On the down side, the story is a little clunky and the pacing can be a tad slow. There is a side story that kinda drags until you get to the final point of it, which is a great reveal. Still though, the payoff is great even if not everyone is going to like it. This film is worth your time if you enjoy j-horror.