(Dir. Ryan Coogler 2018)
PG-13 It's taken me forever to finally go see this. I'm not sure why it took so long because I've been excited to see this since before it came out. I finally made the time to go see it because I knew I definitely had to before I saw Infinity War. Which I still haven't seen so consider this a spoiler free blog. Like many others I've gotten kind of tired of origin stories. This, I would say is my exception to that. Part of that is before this movie came out, I can honestly say I didn't know about Black Panther. I knew the basics of all the other heroes so at a certain point watching all of their origin movies just felt like something I had to get through before I could get to the fun movies. I went into Black Panther not knowing what to expect. Was the film a little predictable? Yeah, but honestly most Marvel films are. Heck most superhero movies are. But I didn't mind because the plot and character were pretty much entirely new to me. Plus, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that part of how cool this was was getting to see bad ass black men and women on screen. This is definitely one of the prettier Marvel movies. They still had that patented Marvel wash out of color, but the vibrancy of the character's outfits and surroundings made up for that. I loved getting to see the variations of cultural dress in Wakanda. Definitely better than the sweatshirt, hat, and sunglasses ensemble that so many of our favorite superheroes wear. I would love to see a short promo video where Thor and T'Challa get together to talk about fashion. I also noticed that this movie used camera movement to infuse scenes with meaning more than other films. They still did the typical actions movie cuts and somewhat shaky camera movements to make you feel the action, but they put a little more symbol into their shots as well. For example, the upside down rotating shot when Killmonger was crowned really captured the feeling of the world being turned upside-down. The only thing I didn't love about this movie was Shuri and her use of memes. I love Shuri, I really really do, but whenever she made a meme or vine reference I could just feel the awkward middle aged script writers forcibly cramming those in there. It just didn't feel natural at all. I love the idea of her being a meme loving teen, but they did not work it in there well.
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(Dir. Akira Kurosawa 1962)
Not Rated; some blood but it's nothing super bad This movie was a lot different than what I expected. Sanjuro features a ronin as its titular main character. After overhearing their plan, Sanjuro decides to aid nine young men who are trying to rid their clan of its corrupt officials. Their efforts are earnest, but bumbling and generally a hinderance their own cause, until Sanjuro steps in of course. Though not a typical or particularly noble samurai, he is clever and proves instrumental to the group. On paper this plot seems fairly simple, but in the film it becomes a little convoluted. Most of the film is the opposing sides attempting to out clever each other and during this process the audience can get left behind if they aren't paying enough attention. Cultural dynamics also play a large role in this film and can leave Western audiences a little confused. As long as you're paying attention though, and maybe do a quick google search or two, it's not terribly difficult to follow this film. Though quite similar to its predecessor, Yojimbo, from what I've seen Sanjuro seems to be much more self-aware. In Yojimbo, from what I've heard at least I have not yet been able to see it, Sanjuro is much more inclined to resort to violence. In this film he seems to avoid it as much as he can. The wife of a man he is trying to save points out that the best swords are kept in their sheath unless absolutely necessary and Sanjuro seems to take this to heart. At one point he even becomes angry at the nine young men after they force him into killing people when it could've been avoidable. Despite this underlying angst, Sanjuro is quite a humorous film. It is not funny in the way that many contemporary audiences have come to think about comedies however. Much of the humor in Sanjuro is either situational or physical. I love the scenes where the nine young men follow Sanjuro around like a group of ducklings. I wish that this movie could've been done in color. Not that it isn't very good without it, I just have a feeling that it would've looked amazing. Probably would've helped a lot with those red and white flowers as well. (Dir. S.S. Rajamouli 2017)
Not Rated but I'd give it a PG-13, there's violence but it's not graphic You may notice that this is a review for Bahubali 2, but there's been no review for Bahubali 1. No need to panic you didn't miss anything, I just shamelessly skipped the first movie. Before you judge me let me explain, I watched a clip of the second movie that was so insane I knew I had to watch it. One word: tree catapults. I found both of them on Netflix, but they're both almost three hours long. I know the limits of my attention span and it was one or the other. Luckily for me, the second movie is independent enough from the first that it was easy enough for me to pick up on what was happening. That being said I experienced the normal amount of confusion that any Bollywood movie gives me. Part of that is I don't know enough about the culture to understand all the references and motivations of the characters at first. When watching these, google is my friend. Anyway, the plot! In the first movie, Shivudu discovers that he is the son of Amarendra Bahubali and is the rightful heir to the throne of Mahishmati. The first movie follows his journey to save his imprisoned mother and to take back his kingdom with the help of a rebel group. The second movie starts as a sort of prequel sequel and follows the life of Amarendra Bahubali (for the rest of the review I am going to refer to him as Bahu because that's mostly what they call him in the film and it's easier), Shivudu's father. Bahu is the crown prince of Mahishmati. Until his coronation the kingdom is being ruled by his aunt, Sivagami, who is acting as a sort of regent (this isn't really covered too much but from what I gathered Bahu's parents were killed at some point). Bahu is loved by everyone. He is brave, clever, honorable, strong, and truly cares about everyone in his kingdom. Basically he's Mr. Perfect and everyone loves him. Well, almost everyone. His uncle, who was passed over for the throne due to his corrupt nature, feels that he was cheated and that his son, Bahu's cousin, should be king. **Major spoilers past this point** Together Bahu's uncle and cousin scheme to take the throne and eventually succeed. Despite having won the throne for himself, Bahu's cousin still feels threatened by Bahu. The people of the kingdom know that Bahu is the rightful king and more than that they prefer him. So Bahu's cousin has him killed. However, Bahu's wife and aunt manage to sneak Bahu's newborn son (Shivudu!!!!) out of the kingdom and into safety in a poor village. **Spoilers are over** Shivudu's background now fully explained, he and the rebel forces attack the corrupt forces of Mahishmati to retake the kingdom! Bahubali imitates the classic Indian epics and let me tell you this is the first movie I've seen where it feels like I'm watching an epic. Generally movies based off of epics just take the general plot and characters and turn it into a sort of block buster action film (looking at you every single modern version of the Homeric epics). What really set this one apart is that it wasn't based off of an epic (that I know of please let me know if I am wrong) and was made as an original plot with the intent of putting the epic style into film form. Another part of what makes this work so well is the fact that the Bollywood style lends itself to epics. They're both so over the top in the best way possible. One thing I noticed that music played a huge role in this film. There was just enough dialogue to say what needed to be said and pretty much everything else deeper than that was covered in the songs. When characters were scared, tense music would play and the actors would put on their best "I'm scared" face. When characters were sad, sad music would play and actors would put on their best "I'm sad" face. When characters were in love they'd play a love song and actors put on their best "Come hither" face etc. If you have time on your hands and want to watch something fun, Bahubali is a good pick. Everything is so over the top in the best way possible. And, despite most of it being entirely ridiculous, I still got really invested in the plot. I seriously almost cried watching this movie. That's something that I think is true of a lot of Bollywood films. Are they kind of ridiculous and over the top? Yes. Are you still going to love every minute that you are watching them? Yes. Am I going to watch the first Bahubali now despite it being almost three hours long? Absolutely. (Dir. Wes Anderson 2018)
PG-13, Anderson typical violence. If you've seen Fantastic Mr. Fox you know what content to expect from this. I finally got to watch a Wes Anderson movie in theaters and, in case you couldn't tell from the theme of my blog, I really love Wes Anderson. Before I say anything else, I do think that this was a very good movie, but when compared to his other works I can't say that it's my favorite. It's possible that I over-hyped myself before I went to see it because the other two people I went with loved it and they did not have great expectations. I think I was mostly caught off guard because this felt different than a lot of his other films, for one it was much more plot driven than his movies usually. Generally in Wes Anderson's films the plot tends to take a back seat to the characters and their relationships with each other, but in this it almost felt the opposite. The characters had a clear goal driving the plot and, unlike many of his other films, a clear antagonist that they were working against. My main issue is that I think that this movie spread itself too thin. The cast of characters was much larger than is typically found in an Anderson movie and in addition to that a lot of time was spent on world building and presenting excuses to translate everything into english. Because of all this it felt to me like Isle of Dogs was missing I've come to love about Wes Anderson's movies, how much they focus on and explore the identities of their characters. That being said it was a beautiful story and the plot was original, even for Wes. A dystopian Japan, set in the distant future, has exiled all their dogs to Trash Island due to an over saturation of pups and the pervasive dog flu. Or at least, that's what the corrupt government wants you to think. It turns out that a cure for dog flu is available, but is being suppressed by a cat loving government that seeks to eradicate all dogs. The movie follows a young boy, hellbent on finding his dog, the pack of dogs guiding him through trash island, and a young girl fighting governmental corruption on the mainland. I gotta say I wish that Wes Anderson would've just dropped the romantic sub-plots in this one. It seemed like while writing this they kept going back in forth on how PG to keep this movie, struggling with Wes' natural inclination towards R-rated material and wanting to make this movie as marketable as possible. As a result the romances felt awkward, clumsy, and forced. Despite how much I've complained about things in this post I really did like this movie. The characters were amazing, which is kind of why I was so upset we didn't get to learn more about them, and it was a well thought out plot. I can't even really say I'm upset about the differences from his past films because he's obviously trying to branch out and try something different from his usual film in Isle of Dogs and I look forward to seeing what else comes from this experimentation. All in all my main take from this movie is that Wes Anderson is definitely not a cat person. (Dir. Sergio Leone 1966)
I have had a real hankerin' to watch a Western movie and luckily this was on amazon prime! Even better this was the first movie I've seen with Clint Eastwood. Despite this, I have to say that Tuco was the best part of the movie. Generally, if a movie is longer than an hour and a half I start to lose interest. This film keeps you constantly interested through constant build-ups of suspense with great pay offs. This film follows Tuco, the Ugly, Blondie, the Good, and Angel Eyes, the Bad. Tuco and Blondie, sometimes partners sometimes enemies, stumble upon a the location of a buried treasure. Only issue, they each only know half of the location. Angel Eyes also learns half of the location and is hot non their heels. The events of the film are set with the Civil War as a backdrop. I loved how this was Civil War film, without it being a film about the Civil War, because, let's be honest, Civil War movies are boring. I love how the chaos of the war adds to the feeling of lawlessness in the West. Another dynamic that worked well was the relationship between Tuco and Blondie. Tuco acted as the perfect comedian to Clint Eastwood's straight man act. A movie that consisted entirely of Clint Eastwood's brooding face would get stale fast. However when done with Tuco to add some levity it worked perfectly. I really enjoyed when Tuco finally got the drop on Blondie and showed that he wasn't always two steps ahead. All in all if you want to watch a Western this is a must watch, but make sure you have a lot of time on your hands. |
Aubrey KirchhoffI'm just screaming into the void and somehow getting graded on it. Archives
April 2018
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