Reviews

This is wierd one to talk about. I like this movie and find it funny but at the same time it seems a bit amateurish and the second half feels rushed. Stay for the jokes and forget your watching a by the books story.

A man with a high end job gets into a drunk driving accident and ends up doing community service at a recycle station. Here he finds real friends and learns about himself.

The actors are what carries this movie. They sell thier charecters and jokes and without them the movie would be downright bad. The commitment for every part envolved is what works.

The story is incredibly cookie cutter and predictable. The moral is predictable as well but works for the movie. The movie is a bit too busy creating needless conflict sutch as the classical "someone hears something they shouldn't" or "annoying the boss", it's over done tropes and forced. The romance is also incredibly forced and adds nothing to the plot.

The first half works fine as a movie but the second half is rushed the movie all of a sudden just resolves just because and your left shrugging at the rushed conclusion.

Some jokes really work here because the actors understand how to deliver them. We have the high-end ritch kid who talk over the head of everyone. The girl with a lively Imagenation, the idiot and one with anger issues. Everyone has thier time to shine and thier kind of humour. Some jokes really don't land because it's vulgar jokes for vulgar sake. Those parts never really land.

The edeting is a bit off sometimes with wierd jump cuts but overall fine.

This is in no way a masterpiece but a "it is what it is" movie. It works for what it sets out to do with funny and great preformances but never becomes more than that.

I wished this was worse so I could laugh a bit more but this is just a poorly done movie in nearly every aspects

Arena is one of those concept movies that never really leaves the realm of a concept. It sounds like a draft idea that then sadly turned into a movie. Top that of with a director that has primally only done special effects and you are left with a movie that is properly nothing more than a tech demo for this person more than it was a movie. The idea of a fighting tournament is fun and all, but you really need a story to make it makes sense and the movie is lacking that on all aspects. That and a poor technical side and you have a really bad movie overall.

David Lord is kidnapped after the dearth of his partner and unborn child and is forced to fight in a death game broadcasted online.

This movie has so many technical aspects that are just plain bad and makes the viewing experience so much worse. Generic soundtrack is one of them, followed by a horrible use of sound effects that sound so stuck it hurts. Someone really got to use the full scale of a stuck sound library with no filters or editing over them. The editing is absolutely horrible. It gets better later in the movie, but the movie cuts constantly and disorient the viewer so much in the beginning, it´s ugly and obnoxious. The fighting choreography is terrible also in terms of the editing, we can simply not read what is going on in a fight. Cutting with nearly every hit, and cutting to reactions from viewers instead of actually showing any action. Top this off with horrible choreography where so many hits look fake and you understand why they cut away. Even the effects the aspects I imagined would look the best because of the director look pretty tame today, since it´s just a green screen set. Sure some of the backgrounds look aright, but it´s none the less fake and pointing it out doesn't really help. Overall this is a technical disaster on nearly every level.

The acting here is pretty bad, even for actors that I know can do a good performance. I think the directing is the key since some actors do a fine job in some scenes and then absolutely abysmal in others.

Ehen you have a concept for your movie, you have to make a plot for that concept. You can´t just write "fighting tournament" on a whiteboard and then call it a day. What is supposed to happen in the tournament? Who are the characters? How do they grow? What are their different motivations and flaws? How do we get from start to finish? What are the movie supposed to teel the viewer? None of these aspects are focused on with only one character really going through an ark and they do it so fast it´s embarrassing. Even the fighting isn´t really focused on, we are supposed to see 10 fights, but the movie glances over 7 of them and that leaves you with an actual plotless movie. Nothing happens in this movie.

The twist at the end is hilariously bad. I laughed when it was revealed how they were going to end this. The writers clearly wrote themselves into a corner, how do we end this in a natural way? And then wrote the most unnatural ending in the world. This movie just really needed to end in some way and I must say, it did in the unintentionally funniest way imaginable. Also why are all the cars dirty at the end? That really needs an explanation like the rest of this movie.

Let a movie like this be a lesson for any future screenwriter. You might think you have a great and funny concept for a movie, but without characters, without motivations, without a plot, you will never engage a viewer to their core. The only other thing you can do then is wow in different ways. And when you even fail at that, even entertain with simple action or effects, you have a just absolutely soulless movie that has no point at the end of it all and then, what was the point of making it to begin with?

I think this is the second modern western in a row I watch with some homoerotic undertones. I guess I know how to pick them.

Appaloosa is one of the most generic westerns I have ever watched. After a while it turns into a checklist of western clichés it has to tick off and that becomes very distracting. Other than a great duo in the main characters, it doesn't really offer anything worth watching in my opinion other than watching great actors being great.

After a sheriff and his deputies are killed. The small town of Appaloosa hires gunmen Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch to take care of the city. They are a strict duo and everything falls into jeopardy when a young woman arrives to the town.

The main selling point for this movie is the relationship between the main characters. Other than giving some great performances by Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen, they really create this believable dynamic of friends and partners that has been that for many years. Another great performance is made by Jeremy Irons, but no surprise there, he gives a great villain performance. The way Cole and Hitch speak together, how they trust each other no matter what and how one is a bit slower where the other helps out. This is a great relationship and both characters oozes charm. I love how Hitch walks around with his huge shotgun everywhere, how Cole keeps is cool no matter what, such a cool duo. Some of the minor characters acting isn´t the best though.

There is a lot of technical issues I did not like about the movie. Some of the shots are really ugly, showing people half in frames, forgetting to show what I would see as important in others. The lighting isn´t the best at times with a lot of over exposure. The editing is at times to abrupt, throwing us into the next scene that don´t feel connected to the last. It is not a technically well done film.

I really liked the classic western score to begin with. It´s nothing original, but I just love that style. It fell a bit into the background towards the end, but it´s a good score overall.

While you could say the technical aspects are the worst part about this movie I would say it´s how generic it is. It feels like a movie where things just happen, or else we have no movie. The movie starts by moving at breakneck speed, really disorienting me and then slowing down to a painful level. It ends up being a western trope movie, where all of a sudden it feels like the creators just went through a checklist to make sure they hit as many clichés as possible. This makes the movie feel so disconnected from itself, as events just kind of happen. The romance feels forced, the trips feel pointless, everything leading up to the finale feels pointless, because it feels like you are not telling your story but a western story that need to have all the western things in it. Robbers, good guys, bad guys, betrayals, romance, natives, trains, horses, shootouts, it just becomes this generic mass that is not worth watching.

The problem is I see the potential in here, but it all demands making elements they included more or less ambiguous. By literally spoiling that the villain is the villain in the beginning of the movie, you end up doing a disservice to a later plot point. If this was ambiguous, it would make it so much more interesting about Coles moral code and if he is really right or wrong. There is this anger outburst by Cole all of a sudden in the movie that is never brought up again, focus on that, make the character more complex and the story more interesting. Then there is the twist later that needed more explanation too as the ending leaves so much more to be desired. The ending is so abrupt and once again a focus on skewed moral codes could have been a great focus of the movie but it sadly never takes this great opportunity.

I also needed some of the scenes to have more weight to them. All the things that happens more or less has no consequences for anyone, even elements that should have. There is a shootout where people get shot, cut to next scene where everyone is okay. Good guys do a bad thing, after one conversation everything is okay. The movie feels like nothing really matter here.

Overall I enjoyed some aspects of Appaloosa and I wish it´s better elements where used more. Remove the romance, focus on the duo. Make it a story about lawmen maybe abusing their power a bit too much. Make some elements more ambiguous, makes us question the story a bit more. There you have a movie with more weight and consistency than this way too generic movie.

It´s fun to see that a director like Tim Burton started out like this. While this isn´t his first thing ever, this feels like his most personal work I have seen. It makes sense, since Vince is no doubt a stand in for Burton self, and it tells you a lot about his way of life, his childhood and how he is as a creator. This is a well-made short from an animation standpoint but it´s also well read. I feel like I forgot many of the elements really quickly after watching. But overall this is a good short.

A young kid named Vincent with a vivid imagination wishes he was Vincent Price.

I really loved the stop-motion animation here. I think it looks so great and I forgot it was stop-motion half the time. It looks so fluent and amazing. I like the look and the different angels shown. The different rooms and puppets. It´s a project full of soul and creativity no doubt.

I really loved the script even though I didn't find all the rimes equally good. Vincent Price is always a win of course and really elevates the short.

This is clearly a very personal short by Tim Burton. It´s fun to examen how he most have been and felt like a kid and how he might still express himself. The idea of having this kid looked in his dark room imagining dark twisted thing but told by parents that that´s not normal. The scrutiny and outsider kid most feel like. This is also a bit of an eye opener about Burton if he imagined his family in twisted ways, but of course this could just be a bit of a dark joke by him. I really loved how Vincent is left going mad when he can´t express himself right. Burton clearly need a creative outlet to function and this short tells you everything about him.

A deeply personal and well-made short that is also well told. I think it´s just fine, but I must say it´s fun to have a personal look into the head of a young Tim Burton and see his creativity being this strong already in his carrier.

I watched the Redux version

Apocalypse now is a movie that has been on my list for so long and finally watching it, it´s amazing. Now I can understand I have watched the subpar version to some, but if this is the worst it gets it can only get absolutely amazing. Apocalypse Now is an absolutely incredible journey from start to finish and no doubt one of the grandest watches I have had in a while. Taking it all in is a lot and the mere scope is absolutely breathtaking. But even when you set aside the absolutely astounding production and cinematography, this is a gruelling story about people. About people in war who succumb to the darkness and as they travel further into Vietnam, they travel further down their own psyche and believes. This is an absolutely heartbreaking movie when you think of it in many ways, turning itself into one of the most anti-war movies I have ever seen with it´s dark comedy and inhuman dialogue. This, this is cinema, this is art at its finest.

Captain Willard is pulled back into war, the Vietnam war and is tasked to kill colonel Kurtz, an American that has gone rough and joined his own war. Willard is torn with killing an American and sets out to find him with a small crew on a boat.

Let´s start with some negatives. I don´t think all line delivery is perfect here. I think it can become a bit too American at times in its delivery, too cliché and read sounding. There is a particular scene in the French estate that really didn't 'work for me with inside of you there are two wolves vibes. But this is not all the time and mostly I think the acting is pretty good here. The voice over is also a bit too much, but I think it works as to hear Willard's thoughts without making it too forced. Some lines also seem a bit redundant, but again this is only some times. In general I think the performances are pretty great. I love Martin Sheens understated performance, his more of a reactor and has gone numb after he has been in so much war and it´s more about seeing him reacting in subtle ways that work for the character. I love the many POV camera shots for Willard, it seems like he kind of trials of sometimes and can´t focus on what´s being said, and we are shown this in a great way. There are so many great performers here that all do amazing. Sheen as said, Frederic Forrest, Marlon Brando, Robert Duval, all giving powerhouse performances.

My biggest praise for this movie is the scope of the production and the cinematography. The helicopter scene towards the start of the movie took my breath away as to how well it was made. To know all this is practical is insane and every single shoot just ends up working on another level. So many frames are perfectly made with so much great chorography in the background. Add movement, characters, machines, smoke, colour and bam, you have absolutely stunning moving frames. It´s been a while since the scope of a movie really wowed me, but this movie did it! I cannot really describe how incredible the cinematography is or how absolutely insane the production is, I can´t give it justice. But know I was impressed and I´m a bit of a sceptic. The use of coloured smoke and colour grading is also so well done and once again, create absolutely stunning frames. This is movie is a visual feast from start to finish. The iconic helicopter scenes, the head out of the water, the purple smoke, all of these moments stand out to me and impress me. Seriously the helicopter scenes and aftermath might go over in history for me as one of my favourite sequences of all time.

In the end this is a road movie. A movie about characters that change throughout their experiences and journey. I love how the movie starts with this young crew that don´t know what they are getting into. Starting in American territory, but the more they delve into the Vietnam territory, the more they see and do, the more their psyche breaks, loosing cloth and their regards for human life. They start out as just cool soldiers that thinks this is going to be fun, but slowly become like Willard an utter broken man. This sounds familiar to many other movies. War bad we get it, but the scope of the movie is what makes it.

This is a greet anti-war dark comedy at times. A character like Kilgore that starts to want to surf in the middle of an active warzone. The propaganda, the girl shows that dehumanize women and later does to an even sadder degree, the French telling truths people aren´t ready for. This movie takes it a step back and analyses all the aspects of the Vietnam war in the most direct, uncuttable but also darkly cruel way that really worked for me. It tells you everything from as many perspectives as possible, making you question everything.

I must say I felt a bit underwhelmed by the ending, but that´s the point. The movie leads you through it slowly, takes it´s time, makes you question everything you have heard and then delivers an anticlimax in the best way possible. While I see it as the point, it can feel a bit flat too.

I love the later morbid disregard for human life everyone develops. The idea of a soldier dying but another person being worried about a dog is insane and it hits you right in the emotions because all of these people are utter broken, they can never come back from this. Life has become absolutely nothing to them and all the terror they have seen has broken them to a point where nothing really matters anymore.

Since this is a road movie it´s different elements and scenes can feel a bit disjointed, I think they all serve the narrative, but I get why this movie was cut down. I liked all the aspects individually, but it can make the movie feel a bit bloated. But this is important to understand the decent. This is a road movie to hell. People starting happy and safe and slowly becoming more and more broken. The more they delve into the deeps of the jungle, the more they start to question themselves, their mission, who or what they are, what a life is and by the end even what taking a life has become. This is a great road movie, slowly peeling back the characters, slowly destroying them, and slowly showing us how far down humanity can go and what a person with nothing to live for looks and feels like.

Apocalypse Now is a masterpiece on so many levels. Technically, production wise, cinematography, the concept itself all coming together to make a grand and epic movie that truly lives up to those descriptions, delivering cinema on a level I haven´t felt in a long time. This doesn't mean there aren´t some problems with it, and maybe after watching the theatrical cut it will change everything, but this movie is a masterclass in conceptual and visual storytelling and I can´t wait to watch it again already.

I will always have a weird relationship to Lars Von Trier. Having a provocateur like him in a way too safe industry is interning but man does he make weird movies, too weird movies that sometimes don´t land. I had looked forward to watch Antichrist, I had heard it would be one of Triers best but sadly it never got to me, it lost me halfway through and I never really u understood what it was about. Was I supposed to read anything from this movie? If so, it needed to makes its message more clear.

After the loss of a child, a couple goes to source of their problems to fix their psyche

The movie starts out strong and actually hooked me in. The movie is unconfutable and handles it´s topics of mental problems in a real and frustrating way. But after I sat my first question mark as to why it would be the woods the woman was afraid of, I patiently waited to see how the movie would evolve. Turns out it goes in an opposite direction as to where I would think it was going, so the context clues didn't really matter I guess. I thought it would be a story about a woman's trauma and a man's attempt at fixing that trauma while not working on his own, but the movie escalates in another direction and, to me, becomes a bit directionless. It even turns to a Trier trope about his clear view on woman that just didn't fit this movie in any way. The movie had me at first but just drove itself in such a weird direction that it was hard for me to really enjoy it.

Another problem for me in general with this man's movies is when I see potential for great filmmaking immediately being butchered. There is some beautiful cinematography to begin with and I thought it looked gorgeous, the framing and execution is so well done, if not for a little bad with the child acting and some way to explicit foreshadowing. But I knew it was coming, I know the drill by now. Ugly camera handling, ugly zooms, shaky cam, and bad editing. It´s the point I know I would be yelled at, but you can call it stylish, I call it ugly and careless.

I think the overall problem for me is the movie sets up a bit of a mystery but never really gets to solving it in a satisfying way. Why is the woman afraid of these things, what is she actually afraid of? Why is the man trying to save her in one direction, when we are later told he knows a bit more than we thought? It also becomes a movie I don´t really get what it´s trying to tell me. Is it about grief? Motherhood? Frustration? I´m still not sure and the changing narrative doesn't really seemed interested in it either. It just evolves into something that bored and frustrated me more than keeping up the unconfutable and questionable feeling and tone the movie had set up. If it had kept that, this movie would have been a great understated horror movie, but it ends up becoming nothing really and in my opinion, too graduates at the end.

The acting is actually pretty good. Willem Dafoe plays his role great and the female lead is oaky, but they are butchered by the directing and storytelling. The woman is this manic and emotionally changing character while the man is a more of an understated calm character. These two don´t match, it´s great, but the movie doesn't do anything with this and the set up context clues, turns out to lead to absolutely nothing. The problem is I can see an amazing story in here! I can see a so deeply impactful story about grief and relation, but the nature of the movie just changes and the twist and sexual nature just don´t mix with what we are given here from the start of the movie and the actors.

This is a real none-genre movie for better and worse. The best I can come up with is something like horror or thriller but that only goes so far for me. I wish it was wearing a genre a bit more on its sleeves, it would make everything makes a bit more sense in its context.

Antichrist is frustrating to talk about, like most of this man's movies, because I actually want to like them! It sounds absurd when you see most of my ratings and reviews of Trier movies, but I genuinely see so much potential every time he makes anything. There is great concepts, ideas, executions and they feel so out of the norm, you get something that feels a bit more original and somehow more authentic. But the quest to frustrate me continues. It´s just poorly made on so many levels with such a disregard for storytelling that does nothing to me than frustrating me. I wish it would be something more than just the same 5 things he always says with his movies, it makes him predictable when his not supposed to be. I like aspects of this movie, but it ended up just frustrating me too much to actually liking it.

Another round of should this stay in the collection? The answer is no.

I must admit that I don´t have a lot of relation to this franchise, I haven´t watch a lot of the previous movies and to learn how many of them there are scares me since they are really mediocre to bad. This movie really tires too many things for no reason and thinks it´s a really clever movie trying to make everything come together at the end but really it´s just a huge mess and fells like a first draft, top that off with some questionable morals and ideas and you have an absurd comedy that isn't absurd enough but warbles between begin a million different things and having 3 different tones

After becoming a firefighter, Viktor is happy with his life, but he is becoming a father together with Anja and in order to pursue her carrier, Victor has to give up his dream and become a stay at home dad.

So I have more or less only seen the first movie in this franchise and if I have seen any of the others I don´t remember a single thing other than the next in the franchise I think. I don´t know if this movie would make more sense if I watched any of the previous movies but I just assume it won´t add much, but what do I know maybe I´m wrong.

This movie can feel like such a fever dream, tackling some real problems and feelings and having some grounded in reality moments, but then it´s comedy comes in and makes everything so absurd and bizarre to a point, where I was not sure if this movie was meta or not. So many jokes are delivered and so many absurd things are happening that makes no sense in the context of this movie, for more than one reason to be fair, but the tone of this movie is probably the part that disconnects me the most from it, since it doesn't really know what it wants to be at any time.

From a grounded talk about fatherhood and responsibility, to naked guys firing AK-47´s and being shoot out of a canon, these two things happen and they don´t mix.

The humour is swinging in quality and the beforementioned absurd nature of the movie makes it unintentionally more funny. Once again I´m not sure if they were going for that but the fact that I´m not sure says everything. The humour works for me for the most part but other parts not. The more clean jokes work better for me than the womanizing and boomer humour but that´s a personal preference.

The other big problem with this movie is that it drags. It starts out completely fine and after maybe 20 minutes I thought the movie was already coming to a close since it´s central conflict were more or less ending, but then it kept going, and going adding more plotlines and unnecessary characters, only to actually getting a pretty boring plot towards the end even "trying" to connect all the plotlines at the end to make them feel like they mattered. It feels more like they had 5 concepts for this movie and ended up frankensteinning them together in order to make an absolute plotless movie.

The movie has some interesting problems it wants to tackle, but to me, has some questionable morals as answers. The big point is having a man giving up his life in other to take care for a baby instead of the woman and how that affects stereotypical gender roles, at least in Denmark. So what is the moral? Well that the man feels overlooked and want things to be more stereotypical, or is it? The morals are so fluffy and it doesn't really want to tackle the morals it brought up itself.

If you are not sure what you want to say in a movie, just don´t mention it. It makes you look more competent than you actually trying to make a statement

The score is also the most generic, awful, stucksounding mess I´ve heard in a while.

This movie is not completely awful in my opinion, it has some good heart and some good humour at times, being entertaining at best, but trying to make a point or story it´s awful at and that made me just not care about anything at the end. It´s a huge mess that should have been so much simpler.

The comedy is a stable of the Danish film industry it´s a cornerstone that always has it´s place, but knowing how many of these there are and how poor the quality can be, it´s here where selection should have made it so that this franchise died long ago.

I've been watching the different episodes over multiple days so some aspects might be a little hazy, but this is an overall impression and what I liked and didn´t about the Animatrix as a whole. I have also reviewed every episode individually so in-depth thoughts can be read there.

The Animatrix is such a good idea! Whoever came up with doing a short movie collection set in the Matrix universe is a genius, since it´s a universe you just don´t get tired of and want to see and explore more of. The problem here is that the team clearly have found a lot of talented storytellers and animators, but haven´t given them the time to tell their story to their fullest. Most of these shorts are great but some are painfully done to a subpar level since the idea is good, but the short doesn't do the concept justice. I have sit multiple times and given the one short after another mediocre ratings, since I see the short being so much better on paper than execution. But you still get a really entertaining watch no matter what.

A collection of animated shorts set in the Matrix universe.

An aspect I really loved was the verity in stories and animation styles. It feels like a lot of different creative heads was given freedom to tell their story through their style. Not all styles speaks to me like "A detective story" and "World Record" but I see them speaking to someone else. Some other animation styles are now really dated, especially anything trying to go for a realistic style. But I appreciate everything here and the effort.

Most stories are fine and only a few really exceed to a higher level. As mentioned, most shorts just dot live up to their idea and concept, leaving me wanting so much more than what you get. But the concepts are phenomenal here. Hearing about the robot uprising, reverse Matrixing. Tracing down the residence, finding glitches, braking the Matrix, betrayals among humans. All these concepts are so great and lend themselves perfectly to the Matrix universe. You are getting great ideas not realized well half the time, but never anything inherently bad to watch.

Here is my ranking of the short films: The second renaissance part I Program The second renaissance part II Kid´s story A Detective story Matrixulated World Record Final Flight The Osiris Beyond

Animatrix is always fun to revisit and this time around I got a lot of interesting new interpretations and morals this time around. For me they could easily make a modern interpretation once again and make Animatrix 2. I enjoyed myself even though there were a lot of frustrating aspects along the way but overall this is a great concept I will always support, having new voices try their ideas out in an established universe.

Once again, a concept that needed more emphasis on it.

Matriculated might be one of the most interesting shorts in terms of its concept, the idea and ethics of Matrixing the machines back. Sadly, it is swallowed up by an emphasis on making trippy animation and to me that is such a shame! Having an allegorical dive into a machines head and thoughts is such a good idea and the entire ethical debate the short sets up are so interesting but just don´t have the time to explore it. This could have been the greatest short but sadly feel so short. Still enjoyable though and the potential itself raises the short above so many others.

A team of human's trap robots and try to convert them to be on the human side, by making a Matrix experience for them.

The entire idea and concept it what make this short so great. The ethical question of the Matrix is questioned so well here. The humans are split in terms of taking over the machines, should they just be hacked? Do they have feelings and free will? Should we let them choose to join the humans or just take them over? The entire "we are not them" debate is incredible here, especially with the ending in mind. The entire idea of going into the mind of a machine to make them more human is very abstract and I like that. The human experience is different from the machine and making it more focused on emotional experience really elevates the concept.

Sadly, there is not enough emphasis on the concept. It is drowned by trying to make abstract animation and even that aspect is not looking too great here in my opinion. I don´t know if I liked the blend of 2 and 3D animation and it´s sad to have such a great concept being overshadowed by a team, clearly emphasizing their focus on the animation.

I liked the underlying theme of trauma, even after learning to bond, sometimes trauma affects us in situation they shouldn't, and this make aspects like the ending work so incredibly well.

This short could have been the greatest but ends up having it´s priorities mixed up. It has so many philosophical and great concepts that are just put to the side for mediocre animation and trippy ideas. I need a remake of this.

Finally, an Animatrix short that pays off the concept!

A Detective Story is a really fun and cool concepts that pays off on so many levels, but also falls short on others. Overall, you are given a fun detective noir inspired story that is really fun, but at the same time you have some issues with setting and humor. You are definitely getting an above average story, but nothing mind bending.

We follow a detective tasked with tracking down the hacker with the name of Trinity.

I really loved the idea here, having someone brute force the meeting with the outside world crew is so fun and goes against so many ideas and concepts we know about the Matrix universe in the best way possible. The idea that you can end up meeting a person like Trinity by following a few simple steps is fun and the main character is a fun one.

The problem for me is the setting. I have a theory about the Matrix personalizing the Matrix a bit for everyone but that doesn't make a lot of sense when you really think about it. This is set in the olden days, but we know the Matrix is created in a modern city image, so having someone in an older setting doesn't really fit the Matrix universe.

The story is rather simple but affective and it falls a bit short in terms of some corny moments. Overall, I´d say it works.

I don´t know if I like the art style that much. While it looks and feels unique, it at the same ties looks a bit too primitive and I don´t think it spoke to me that much.

As said, you are getting a decent story here and an overall entertaining short, but you are not getting anything out of this world.

Once again, a great concept not done fully justice. Beyond is a fun short with a great concept that sadly does not live up to it´s full potential. The idea of seeing a glitched Matrix is fun and could have gone in a lot of different ways. Sadly it´s not used for much here and I would have loved to see the short go in a horror or drama route but ends up not doing too much. It´s a still a gorgeous short with a fun concept, something that is common most of the shorts in the Animatrix.

Looking for her cat, a young woman wonders into a glitched pat of the Matrix.

From a story perspective this is a great idea of seeing people explore a part of the Matrix they are not supposed to and trying to find sense in it all, although why would the Matrix and its creators allow something like this to exist this long? It seems it would go against how the Matrix operates but who am I to say. I read a great analysis about this being a short about childhood wonder being stolen by grown ups and I liked that interpretation. Because other than begin a nice and gorgeous short, it doesn't really do much in terms of storytelling. It seems to be a trend with the Animatrix shorts that they have great ideas and concepts, but don´t really deliver on them.

The animation here is absolutely stunning, blending 2D and 3D animation in such a wonderful way. The animation is also stunning in its execution, looking like a painting most of the time and capturing the fun innocence in the best way possible.

Beyond is a great concept and gorgeous short but doesn't really deliver more than it does. It´s hard to talk about since nothing really happens in it, and it´s more of a fun concept than an actual story.

You have to crawl before you can walk, or so I´ve heard of the franchise. I have only seen the first John Wick movie and I´ve heard it only gets better from here or so you would hope so. I think John Wick is an influential action movie in the modern era. It started to challenge the terrible action in the 00´s and demanded more from what we expected a good action flick to do. It dared to stay in the action, dared to not cut all the time, dared to actually have a choreography and for that you have to be grateful of this movie. Is it perfect? Not at all, it´s a pretty cookie cutter movie, but what it set in the sea for the future of action is great and overall, you have a fun concept movie that no doubt will entertain you.

After being attacked in his own home and having his life taken from him the hitman John Wick comes out of retirement to seek revenge.

What this movie does best is it´s action. The different set pieces and execution is so thrilling and brutal. It reminds me of the old Hong Kong cinema with guns now. The idea of "gun-fu" comes to mind here. The primarily way of killing is these one-shot, one kill mentality that is so satisfying to see. Top that with an incredible choreography and you have a just stunning action movie. This movie doesn't cut all the time or has a lot of shaking camera, to hide the troubles' of shooting action, but dares to stay with the characters and not move. I think you can cut in an action scene; I think you can use a less stable camera to have effective action sequences, but this movie showed us in a modern setting the satisfaction of having these still cameras and long takes to have the most satisfying action sequences. Having a movie challenge a new norm is always incredible. Coming of just watching Kick-Ass (2010) that did not have the greatest action but from a director that also is going to produce incredible action later in his carrier, really makes you appreciate a just good action sequence.

I have heard some critique about John Wick in terms of the movie going on longer than it needed to. Not really the runtime, but that John Wick the character is hyped so much up to be this unstoppable killing machine that it´s insane he gets' some stormtrooper aim and get´s overpowered a lot. The movie explains it away with him being rusty, but I also like the explanation that not all hitmen are specialized in everything. I see Wick as a close combat fighter and whenever he misses his target in the middle of the movie, they are always moving and further away, we see his more up close and personal with knifes and guns and having a character showing a different skill, Marcus, makes me think there is some merit to it, this theory is a bit botched later in the movie though but I still like to think there is some truth to it, maybe later movies are going to prove me wrong.

The other aspect this movie does great is establishing lore without over explaining it. The continental and the hitman order is not overexplained and have a million lines dedicated to it, you just have to pick up context clues and build the rest of the world up yourself. The relationships and characters are all so well written because they have so much story to them without actually showing any, you can easily imagen how these people see John Wick, the hitman order, how the villain is, what happened in the past. It´s all greatly set up subtext that isn´t affecting the story in the best way possible, not wasting your time with too much chit chat and just going for a pure action experience.

Sadly, the acting isn´t the best here, it can sometimes feel like too much of a cliché action movie in the best and worst way possible. The dialogue is cringe at times and there is not really any actor pulling off their characters a 100% This really hurts the overall experience in my opinion. Top that with some really over the top scenes and effects and you have a movie trying too hard at times. Keep it low key and you got it, trying to overdramatize and you have a bit of a weaker movie.

I actually liked the score and soundtrack, even though it could be a bit on the nose and cliché at times. Overall, it works for the movie but just fades into some background noise and generic action flick music.

This story is very cookie cutter and that helps it and hurts it. The movie can feel like it´s a bit too many empty calories since it´s nothing more than a simple revenge plot, a few fun interactions in between the next action set piece. The story and characters aren´t really that important, same with the overall relationships and characteristics of the characters, which weakens the impact of the movie to me. I just needed a bit more to really make it hit home.

But overall, the impact this movie had on the action genre is great since it challenged the generic weak action slock that was dominating the 00´s. An era where you didn't have to try in terms of action, since no one really seemed to care too much. Now people expected a bit more from their action movies, they expected to go back to an era of stunts and practical care, where some sense of reality is actually a part of the movie. Sets have to be built, choreographies have to be learned and cameras have to be stable and dare to stay with the action. This is only a great thing this movie did!

John Wick is a movie I really like but will never find amazing. I think it´s impact, action and overall concept is phenomenal, but everything else lessens the impact and make the movie a bit too generic. While it´s special in so many other ways, it falls into some classic action movie traps, that lessens the impact it was supposed to have.

I think it´s so interesting to go back to an earlier move by Matthew Vaughn and really see that all of his concepts and strengths are here, but that they still need to be perfected for later movies. While I like Kick-Ass a little less every time I watch it, it still has a great premise and the deconstruction of a genre that Vaughn will only get better at. The dialogue is a bit cringe, the execution isn´t the best but there is still a strong core idea here that you just most love. It captures so many childhood fantasies and ideas, but never elevates them above just that, a kids idea of what is cool.

Dave Lizewski is a young boy that has seen too much unfairness in his life, so he finally takes the lunge and becomes a superhero. Sadly, he learns very fast, that the superhero life has a lot of consequences.

The strongest aspect of this movie is capturing your own childhood fantasy of being a superhero. Of living the crime fighting life and helping people and face injustice, what it also odes great is subverting that dream, showing you how dangerous and just not easy it would be to be a crimefighter. Waiting around for things to happened, actually getting shot or stabbed, how actually insane superheroes would be in real life, how they would talk and act. This is the strong premise that still works for the movie throughout and binds it together. The problem is that it drives in both lanes at times, becoming the actual power fantasy at the end goes against it´s core idea and identities in my opinion, but as said, I think it still works as a movie no doubt.

The acting here is not the best, very few actors do an actual good job in my opinion, Kick-Ass, Big Daddy, Hit-Girl, none of our core trio really hits it home to me and that is a bit of a problem when that is the characters that are supposed to lead the movie. The villains are selling it a bit more to me. Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Mark Strong both serve the camp in the right way.

It´s fun to see a director really evolve from a stage where they weren´t the best. Vaughn is probably known best for his deconstruction of genre, which is still present here, but also his great action directing and coordination. This movie is not quite there, cutting a lot instead of letting the scenes sink in. The closest is the hallway scene and the Big Daddy warehouse fight, but they just have the elements to be great, none of them are perfect, but all the elements to make them perfect are present. It´s a testament to you must crawl before you can walk.

While I praise the idea and concept, the movie can feel a bit aimless at times. The sums of it´s parts all come together at some point, but there are some problems in the middle that just make the movie feel like it´s not really moving, and other aspects that should have had more time, like Mists relationship to Kick-Ass. You could easily salvage this aimless feeling.

The humor works sometimes, but it´s just too kiddish for me. Sex, drugs dudebro jokes just don't land with me, if it´s something that works for you, cool, but I just find the movie so no for me at times, when it goes "lol masturbation" at times.

While the score and soundtrack are an iconic part of the movie, it´s also a bit distracting, the songs during Hit-Girl scenes are awesome, but having the score from 28 Days Later (2002) play during a scene can feel so distracting and some of the other scores just sound a bit tempish.

Kick-Ass is a movie I will always cherish a bit. I loved it when I was younger and the core concept and idea is something I really works even to this day and maybe even more in a superhero dominant movie landscape as of writing, where every other show or movie is trying to deconstruction the superhero genre. Well, this movie made an attempt in 2010, at it´s beginning and starting height. While it stumbles in a lot of ways, it´s still a fun and good watch.

Road to the Oscars, 2024. This movie is nominated for 1 award, and it's documentary short.

The Last Repair shop is of course gripping and heartwarming. A little slice of life documentary about human connection and life, or alt least that's what it wants to be. A seemingly normal backdrop that would make sense for the documentary kind of falls apart when half the stories don't really make much sense in the same doc, and trying to make a red thread where there is barely one. This is still a good enough watch, but more than a collection of stories it's not.

We hear about a repair shop for instruments. The people that use it and the people behind making instruments.

This is a documentary about human connections and how we as people can feel connected through something even if we don't think about it. How repair people think of us and thinks about our beloved possessions. Sadly the documentary don't really but much focus into this, rather than telling the stories of the repair shops members, that barely have something to do with must or connection half the time, and it just turns into 4 interviews with some kids cut in between to try to make a loosely red thread you really are forcing into the doc.

The stories told are interesting and enjoyable, but in the end it ends up being nothing but 4 people highlighting their lives and nothing more. They are all nice people and doing great work, but the documentary really needed to focus more on maybe the repairing, or the people that get their instruments repaired to make the doc make fully sense, since it ends up meaning not much by the end.

The score was pretty good, which is to be expected from a doc about instruments. The music also works great with the stories told.

I ended up liking what I saw, but never really connected or found it profoundly important to tell. It's interesting enough and fun to hear about people and a place like this, but in the end it's something I quickly shrug off as nothing more than a short doc in a sea of them.

Oscar Predictions: I have seen 3 of the 4 nominated short documentaries and I can say now that this might have a chance, purely for being a Disney produced one. I would rather have the others I saw win, Island In Between (2023) and The Barber of Little Rock (2023) as their subject matter feels more important to tell than this. While this isn't bad, it's just not a movie you sit back and really think about.

Road to the Oscars, 2024. This is nominated in 1 category, and it's best documentary.

This is one of the toughest watches I have had to do in a while. As is said in the doc, it's not nice to watch, but it's not supposed to be. Having this documented and shown is so important and having people like these, risking their actual lives to show you what happens in a war zone, is only commendable. This is not a documentary for the faint of heart, showing actual haunting imagery that will affect you to your core. Having all the death and names shown are what hits you, and to know this war is still going is beyond insane.

We follow a press team in the Ukraine city of Mariupol, from the war breaking out to them escaping.

Firstly, this documentary team needs all the respect in the world I can give. Seeing them standing in the middle of a war zone, trying to get a signal to send the footage is absolute commandable and therefore really deserves your time! These people risked everything when they didn't have too, and saw so many things that will no doubt affect them for the rest of their lives. Upmost respect for you! It's so important to show this and shooting everything, even when it's so hard to watch. Death of grown-ups and kids, destruction of everything, this movie gets it all, and it's gut-wrenching to watch. Seeing the team break one time also really got to me, reminding me this is no longer theater blood and actors, but actual lives lost and people behind cameras risking their own sanity to deliver an incredible piece of documentation.

This is one of the hardest watches I have done in a while, not shying away to show death, blood, operations, corpses of grown-ups and kids even near infants aren't safe here, calling out their names and ages just to prove the travesties happening before your eyes. I felt so bad while watching this, feeling so much emotion and compassion, you just wished this wasn't happening to the people, but it is and seeing people lose their loved once, break down, and then see a film crew break down really affects you too. Again I think this is so important to watch and show, but this is not for faint of hearts, you are going to see some terrible stuff here.

There were aspects of the documentary I didn't like, and it's more in terms of the emotional manipulation the movie does. This is of course not new to filmmaking, but this felt too real and already so affective, that I don't need music to enhance what I'm thinking. The footage speaks for itself, let it. The philosophical voice-over didn't do much for me either. Trying to put a face on the man behind the camera is once again not needed here and used more sparingly could have been hauntingly affective, like only explaining what's going on and naming people and their age. Using constant footage of kids are also a bit too pathos for me. Showing what's at stake is perfectly fine, but doing it whenever you can, can feel a bit manipulative. I also didn't like the interviewer questions, they were either too dumb or too provocative for me to gain full sympathy for the creator.

This is incredible footage trying to show everything that goes on, from hospitals, to civilian reactions, to military actions, the doc shows everything that happens in a war zone. All the sadness, frustration, death, and even drawing out the worst of humanity not only from the Russian side but also from clearly desperate Ukrainian people. The way footage is captured is incredible, and this is such an important documentary today.

I really needed to watch this, to be reminded what's going on in a conflict that has gone on for way too long. To see the tragedy happening actually not that far from once self, and to show the humanity in the absolute chaos that is war. This is one of the toughest watches I have ever done, but I am so glad I did it.

Oscar predictions: While I haven't really seen any of the other contenders or researched them too much, I can only image this winning! This is such a daring documentary, and seeing people risk everything to do a documentary needs some sort of higher honer than a nomination. The other contenders might be as daring, but if this won I would not get mad.

Road to the Oscars, 2024. This movie is nominated in 2 categories, being Sound and visual effects.

What a waste of a movie in the worst way possible. The Creator has so much going for it, being one of the most distinct Sci-fi movies I've seen in a while, feeling and looking highly original. This is sadly moshed by clichés, tropes, poorly developed characters and problems with tone. I actually think there is an incredible movie in here and I want that to be the reality, but I had too many issues with the movie to really fall in love of it. Know that the elements it is praised for are legit, the visual and world building aspects are the best part, but other than that it's a huge disappointment.

After losing his wife while being undercover. Joshua retires from being a soldier in the war against AI. He is drawn back after learning his wife is alive and is tasked to eliminate a new weapon developed in new Asia by humans and AI. Joshua hesitates to destroy the new weapon, though, as it is a small AI girl.

The acting here is not the best. I found most of the performances too Stoic or too over the top. This is not helped by the way too stale dialogue that the actors are given. I think the best performance was by Madeleine Voyles as Alphie. They delivered the best and most emotional performance of the entire movie.

They made me feel like there was some character to the relationship this movie is trying to develop, but sadly that is the biggest problems of the movie. It's tempo and focus. The movie goes way too fast and has way too many side quests and things it wants to show that it forgets to tell a story. The characters are barely characters here and one of the most important aspects, what the movie is entirely reliant on, is the relationship between Joshua and Alphie and the movie really doesn't give them enough time as a duo to make me feel anything when it's time for the big emotions. The movie wants to do too many things at the same time, having a million potline's having a million characters, having a million things it wants to put into the lore, show as many locations as possible, it's simply too much, and it takes away from actually telling a good story and having any attachments to the characters. I barely felt anything when characters died, when twists were revealed, it's a whole lot of flashy empty calories.

If it should work better it should have been longer and that says a lot since the movie is long enough as it is, but I was entertained, I liked the world, the characters have potential, the action is fun, the locations and effects are incredible. It has everything ready and set up to be a great movie, but doesn't really utilize it.

It's fun to have a movie where the Americans are the bad guys. They are the war hungry people in the wrong, and I don't know, it's rarely I see that depicted in a what, I assume, is American produced.

The visual effects here are absolutely amazing. I still don't know how they did the head hole thing, and the robot's and background looks absolutely amazing. Hearing more and seeing some behind the scenes makes the movie look even more impressive and while there are a few scenes where it's obvious the actors are on a green screen set, the movie really immersed me into it's world, locations, vehicles and robots and absolutely stunning achievement in visual effects.

This also leads into the great world building there is. The war, the definition of AI, the war machine by the US, the different cities and robots and jobs, lore and technology. The movie feels like its own, and that means a lot in a world where sci-fi can feel overdone at times.

Another problem the movie had, was it's tonal issues. It felt like it was written by 3 different people with 3 different visions. It was only written by 2 people, but alas. The movie was either dead serious, comedy action or pure action and these 3 tones never really mixed well at any point. While I understand why the creators went for the different tones at different times. It made the movie feel like it wasn't even the same movie by the end.

The movie is full of tropes and clichés, and that is actually really sad, since it has such an original feeling to its setting. Seeing a movie relying on so much cliché and tropey storytelling also hurts the movie and makes it feel like any other instead of its own.

I really wanted to like The Creator, it had so much good going for it, and in another world I could imagen it so much better than it is. It really has the potential to be the next big Sci-fi, but turns into a cliché rushed mess with too many storytelling problems going against it, to the point where the movie loses all interest from a viewer like me. I need a remake down the line.

Oscar predictions: I feel the 2 awards it has been nominated for, it deserves. It is a masterful movie in terms of its visual effects and the many different sound effects makes it sound like its own. I think it has tough competition in the sound category, and don't see it winning over movies like The Zone of Interest (2023) or maybe even Oppenheimer (2023). In terms of visual effects, I actually think this has a chance to win, and it would be a well deserved one. It has some good competition, but I think it is stand.

And that's a shame. While I don't find Princess and the Frog to be nowhere near my favorite Disney movie, it still captures that 2D charm that screams old Disney to me. I miss this era of animation, and the terrible samey feeling and looking vibes from 3D animation and Disney is so sad to me. Gone is all the style and character from the animation, replaced with flavorless backgrounds and template characters. Princess and the Frog is worth celebrating for what it stands for, and furthermore it's an entertaining and well done movie that could have used a bit more time to really land everything it wanted to do.

Tiana is a hardworking colored woman in New Orleans. After her dreams are set into question, her day could not have gone worse as she walks into a prince turned into a frog.

What I think could have lifted this movie a bit would be to flesh out the characters and story more. I feel like characters like the villain and the prince needed more time to have their endings be far more impactful, especially compared to Tianas character. The problem is more in the vain that both the prince and the villain are great characters on their own, being charismatic and colorful, but they really needed that little more time to make the story seem even stronger.

Where this movie shines is its animation and soundtrack. The backgrounds all look gorgeous and the overall animation is so expressive and full of life. I must say, it's been a while since I felt the animated Disney magic, but this movie always brings me back. From well-made background and characters to a singing number done in a complete different style, this movie just screams style and its own thing. The songs are all absolutely incredible together with the score, brining in jazz and New Orleans vibes throughout. Every single song is well-made and preformed and even memorable. From my favorite "Almost there" to "Ma belle Evangeline" and "Friends on the other side" they all scream old Disney in the best way possible with "want songs" and villain songs.

I really liked the subversion of expectations and the overall premise of the movie. While I criticize it's too short runtime and needing more time to flesh it out, it's because there is a good story and premise here that could have been even better. Top that with lovable characters, and you have all the dominoes to make a perfect track.

I think this movie has a few issues when it comes to some handling of its subject matter in the beginning. It briefly addresses ethnic problems in the first half and while they are important, they are handled in this surface leveled way that makes me just want it gone. Either do it or don't this is not the place for in between. It feels like some writers or the company was afraid to tackle this and with white writers on this movie, it makes sense.

While this movie looks wonderful, its best parts are the beginning and. Too much time is spent in the bayou, where the movie just kind of happens. A change of scenery and feeling like the movie is moving would have made the movie flow better, and it would have given more time to make the movie land better with its characters.

The voice acting and singing is great here! Anika Rose and Kieth David are no doubt the standouts, showing great talent in both their voice acting and vocal performances.

As mentioned, this movie is a testament to Disney's fall from grace in my opinion. Gone is the passion and glee in the modern era, replaced with templates and shallowness. This movie stands on its own, especially well, in that regard. Showing me that this is still disable to some, or at least me.

While this movie has so many great elements going for it, a tighter and more character focused story would really have elevated it more than where it is right now. You still get a good piece of entertainment, but the movie leaves more to be desired.

Megamind together with The Incredible (2004) are movies that would fit in today with the superhero deconstruction that is very much in now. It's interesting to see a movie like this being so ahead of the curve and serving a delightful comedy at the same time. It sadly falls into some DreamWorks tropes that make it stagger a bit at times, but overall it's a solid and very impressive movie that really wants to take the superhero mythos and ask questions about it in the most mature yet simple way possible. Throw in some great voice acting and okay animation, and you have an overall strong animated movie that definitely deserved more praise than it got.

After the super villain Megamind finally accomplishes his goals, he is left without purpose. He determines a superhero adversary is the only way to regain it.

What this movie does best is analyzing and deconstructing the superhero and villain mythos in the best way possible. It does it in such a simple and unproblematic way, compared to all the over the top and edgy deconstruction we have now. The modern trope is that it's funny the superheroes are doing all the things they are not supposed to do, and that's more or less all they end up doing. This can still work and be entertaining, of course, but having an animated movie more or less do it better than they ever could it, and that's somehow hilarious to think about. The movie tackles the superhero myth in the best way people, asking about the choice of the hero and the villain and what it really means to be both. The 3 characters Metroman, Megamind and Titian are all great analysis on what great power can be used for and who wields it matters a lot. Furthermore, it raises questions about classic roles and comes together to make a great superhero movie.

The movie is sadly hit by a lot of studio vs creatives. From the opening, to the pop songs, to the at times cringe dialogue to the end dance party, this movie could have been a classic if it didn't have these pandering elements to them. A more mature yet fun story would really have elevated the movie.

While the soundtrack is fun, it can feel out of place and awkward at times. In general the songs feel like a part of the movie, but at the same time it seems added to add the "Shrek effect" which all DreamWorks movies tried to replicate when they found a successful formula and that also is in terms of the elements mentioned before. What I'm trying to say is that I see so much wasted potential here to make a truly incredible movie instead of just a great one.

The voice acting is pretty good all around, being both fun and energetic. The humor and emotions are voiced well, and the actors really blend into their roles. Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill and especially David Cross delivers some really great performances. Sadly not everyone do, I felt that the character Tina Fey sounded more read, but that might also be the lines at times. The lines are overall okay and the humor lands for the most part, but sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes the dialogue can sound a bit out there.

But you are getting a fun and simple story here. Not overstaying its welcome and having the fun twist and turns it needs to have an enjoyable movie. It could have had more runtime, in my opinion, but it's really not necessary for what it tries to do.

Megamind was as said ahead of its time, and it's sad to see that the DreamWorks producers might have tried to make it more marketable, since I really think it could have been a perfect animated movie otherwise. With such a great take on the superhero myth, with great voice acting, humor and story, you get a really solid movie all around.

Road to the Oscars, 2024. This movie is nominated for one award, and it's documentary short.

Island In between is an interesting look at a conflict that still to this day need some more attention. The problem with this documentary is that it doesn't dig deep enough or tell the necessary story to really impact me. It is more a calm before the storm documentary, but understanding the storm to begin with is to me very important, and the doc doesn't go into detail about the conflict but just tells a small story about how life is on the other side.

We hear about the small island of Taiwan, close to the Chinese border. About life and problems and the constant fear.

I think the biggest problem with the documentary is the lack of understanding of everything I had. While I know about the conflict, it would have been interesting to have been introduced more to the total story. This is just a small glimpse into the life and fear of being in Taiwan, never really knowing when things are going to escalate and.

That's why I loved the idea and tone of the doc. It's almost relaxing and calm with some really well shot footage. It's about showing how quiet it is for better and worse. Nothing is going on, but they are at the same time cut off from China and never know when it's all over, it's so scary but the doc presents it in a really relaxed way. It's interesting to hear about, I just wanted more.

I wish it had a bit more focus, telling either more about the Taiwanese experience, or the covid restrictions or the story. It just lacked a bit of a red thread in my opinion.

But overall, it's nice to have a documentary addressing an ongoing conflict that is often forgotten and overlooked. It's interesting to hear, but never really got me too invested in it. The digestible runtime also makes it easy to watch, but also a surfaced, leveled one.

Oscar predictions: I don't really know if this has a chance to win, but it has a topic that would speak to the academy and the world at the moment, so I also see it having a chance. I have heard others of the documentary shorts have a better chance, but I have only seen one, and I thought The Barber of Little Rock was a better documentary short.

Road to the Oscars 2024 with a movie I have been waiting for, for so long, but I most admit it left me a bit disappointed. It is nominated in one category, that being animated feature.

Sure, this is still a good movie and a great original felling fantasy movie from Miyazaki, but it's more the form of the movie that feels like his most pretentious one for better and worse. The way it addresses its own topics can feel a bit much, and addressing inner conflicts in your life so directly can feel nearly too intimate for a movie like that, where some of its parts don't really seem to connect to that part. But you will still enjoy a masterfully done fantasy movie, and there are so many things to love here. Overall a fun time but I just need to see it one more time to make some piece with it. It has had me thinking about it constantly for better and worse.

A young boy named Mahito loses her mother and moves to a new home with his father and new mom. He is drawn to a tower by a heron and after his new mother is kidnapped he goes on a rescue mission.

The animation is as always gorgeous and has a bit of a different look to what I'm used to with Miyazaki. Normally it's these clean and detailed backgrounds, and while they are still here and their it's more of a watercolor looking movie and some of the total frames look amazing like this. But this made me think the movie looked a bit unclean as to what I'm used to. The movie just doesn't look as sharp as I expected, and I was left a bit disappointing by the detaining at times. I still see the animation as gorgeous, just not up to the same standards I'm used to from this company and director.

I really liked the fantasy adventure vibes and the world created here. It feels like the most out there world I have seen Miyazaki do, and I don't think I quite understand it fully, but I also think that was one of the overall points. The plot is simple but affective and presents so many interesting and funny characters and settings. This is a movie you can really get lost in and want to see so much more of its world. It feels unique and like itself, it fells like something familiar yet nothing you have seen before, and that is impressive.

This mixed with so many amazing creatures makes the movie feel so unique. The small white things, all the bird creatures, all feel like their very own thing together with the magic of the world and its rules.

This is though disturbed a bit into the movie when the metaphors take an even more meta approach. I won't spoil anything, but the way the movie shifts tone and what it wants to tell, feels nearly surreal in the context of the movie I was just watching. You can read it in many ways but the way it addresses Miyazaki himself, his son, the future of Ghibli, it becomes a lot and while it's interesting to listen too, it can feel a bit out of place in a movie like this.

The score is very beautiful and well done. It elevates all the animations and going on's in the world with this beautiful piano.

Oscar predictions: I am actually surprised this isn't nominated in more categories, but the academy has never been the best at appreciating animated movies in other categories, so I'll just talk about the one category it's in. And it's a stacked category this time. I think this has a fair chance of winning, maybe being Miyazaki last movie and to really appreciate a master one last time, but I think this movie and Spiderverse are the once really leading the competition. My money and my heart are still with Spiderverse, but I wouldn't be mad or surprised if this won.

No matter what, the Animatrix delivers some really cool ideas and concepts, even though you might not always like the other elements it presents. World Record is interesting in its idea of breaking the Matrix, but it has a lot of elements going against it that raise it over other shorts. The animation style wasn't for me, some subpar voice acting and not really feeling the weight of the introduction all affected my overall reaction, but the premise alone makes me like it.

An athlete competing in running is about to experience what can happen in the Matrix.

I was not a big fan of the animation style. It was either too stiff or too moving. I found it not that pretty to look at, but it's probably more of a style thing. It just didn't speak to me.

Some of the voice acting isn't the best here either, with some very read performances.

I think the biggest letdown was my disinterest in the main character and his conflicts. They try to set up our main character a bit, but it never really got to me. Neither for having later sympathy nor the explanation to the twist.

But the concept is still amazing. Any idea that showcases the Matrix in a different light or with different aspects is amazing, and this is one of those shorts that really does that greatly.

World Record is such a mixed bag, but I need to still give my praise. The overall idea is so great, but the surrounding execution is what takes it down a peg or two, sadly.

A cozy show I have been waiting to watch for way too long. This was watched over multiple days, but all watched in January.

Over the Garden Wall is a masterclass in vibes. It's one of those once in a blue moon shows that we just don't see that often anymore, back then when Cartoon Network dared a little, experimented and produced this gem that I have been waiting to watch for no reason. I feel in love with the world, atmosphere, characters and just the folklore vibe. It is a show that can feel a bit too allover the place at times, but the overall themes, especially when you get to later episodes, really are amazing!

We follow two brothers, Wirt and Gregory, as they traverse a dark forest full of creatures in order to return home.

What this show does the best is having a modern feeling of folklore. The world we travel through feels random and not making much sense, yet every story feels like a small, contained folk tail that could be handed down. From the first beat episode, to animals in school, to the frog boat, to the entire premise of the beast. It all creates this incredible universe you just want to watch so much more of to see what else is happening in this world. Sure, some of the stories aren't as strong as others and the show has some filler feeling episodes, but they are all still entertaining at least with a very digestible runtime around 10 minutes per episode.

The animation is absolutely breathtaking. It reminds me of old fairy tale books, and some of the backgrounds have so much incredible detailing you had to just say something, like "wow". It's only on-screen for a few seconds sometime but has this impactful look to it. While the characters aren't as detailed, they become iconic in their own right, with new and exiting people turning up every episode. Our main characters are incredible. The serious but nervous nature of Wirt and the carefree nature of Gregory really work well together to make great comedy and just a friendship and brotherhood you just really believe if you have any siblings.

Having these contained episodes really helps the show in my opinion. It feels like reading the next chapter in a book of folklore. Sure, some are better than other, but together with the last couple of episodes, I think it makes the whole journey worth it.

The soundtrack is so pleasant and also so vibey and mood feeling. It sounds incredible, and especially the opening to all the episodes and the ending is now ingrained into my mind. The songs get more and more space along the way, and there are some wonderful songs here. I found it a bit distracting to begin with, but later feel in love with the songs. This is a bit of a musical, and the music fits whatever is going on pretty well.

There are so many characters I remember from this show. They are all so memorable because of the impact they do for their own story. The main boys, Beatrice the bird, the woodsman, the beast, the pumpkin man, the school teacher, the frog with many names, they are all so memorable and fits their own small contained universe so well. This is also helped by the incredible voice acting, kids and adults alike. Elijah Wood as Wirt and Collin Dean as the main characters are absolutely incredible. I was surprised by the all star cast, Christopher Lloyd, John Cleese, Tim Curry and many, many more really lift their performances to the next level.

Now this is a fun little adventure until the last two episodes hit. They recontextualize the show a bit in the best way possible. I would say it can take a bit away from the forementioned thing I liked about the show the most, but I think works to really create a strong sense of urgency to a slow and steady adventure.

Over the Garden Wall blew my expectations away! I knew it would be good, but I expected to like it and not love it as I did. It will only grow in rating over time no doubt as I just thought about my immediate thoughts after finishing the show, but this will be rewatched, this will be remembered, and I will go through all the frog names again got dammit!

Road to the Oscars, 2024. As 1 of the 2 people still watching the Oscars, I try to watch as many movies before the show to have an opinion. I tried to get ahead with some of the short lists, and that actually paid off. I have watched a fair few of the nominated movies, surprisingly, lots of them in the cinema, which I'm happy about. But here we go, the actually nominations are out and Maestro is nominated for 7 awards.

I must say I found Maestro to fall into the classic biopic tropes. It's a tough genre to make as it can feel rather plotless, and the same could be said about this movie. The central conflict is first introduced 40 minutes into the movie, and it's really not that interesting. The life of a great composer Leonard Berstien is not really taken into account, and while his achievements speak for themselves, I only learned I knew about this person though the background music. I never felt like I learned who Berstien was, and the movie has a hard time focusing on what to tell about him and his life other than is turbulent romance, which is a story I feel like I have seen a million times already. I just never really got into this movie, its story or its characters, and while there are a lot of positives here, a good story should always be the core to me and this movie really didn't have that for me.

We follow the turbulent romance life of famous composer Leonard Bernstein.

As Iv´e already talked about. This movie can feel rather plotless. The movie feels aimless and without any direction. Shifting between different stories and points in Bernstein life that feels picked because they could, and not because it really serves a greater narrative. There is a strong enough point later on that I liked, how Bernstein has to learn that there is more to life than having a great carrier and being famous, but this ideal comes up in a rushed manner. The first half of this movie was sleep inducing to me, I just never really got invested in a story with no plot, but I most admit, the later half got me a bit more, with a central conflict and solution established. But the movie ends up not really being about anything. Is it about Bernstein's carrier? Not really. Is it him coming to terms with his romance? Kind of. Is it a biopic? More or less. There is just nothing the movie does in terms of plot that it does full-heartedly. I never learned anything about these people, and the movie assumed I knew more about Bernstiens than I actually did. I never really got under his skin, or anyone's for that matter, and the lack of character really ruins the movie.

The acting in this movie is a highlight. Bradley Cooper as Bernstein really slips into the role and can at times be unrecognizable, especially in the later half. His normal voice shines a bit through in the younger years. But the stand-out to me is Carey Mulligan as Felicia. She delivers so many emotions and her face acting is superb. Sure, her dialogue can be a bit clunky at times, but overall she sells every scene she's in and gives a powerhouse performance.

While the controversial nose make-up is just that, it's still some impressive prosthetics. The make-up team really delivered, and it's sometimes hard to tell when someone is wearing prosthetics or not.

The soundtrack is amazing, but that is no surprise, as it's all Bernstein's music. While it isn't always fitting, it's incredible to hear the absolute talent that was Bernstein throughout the movie.

The movie ends up falling into the classic biopic tropes that makes for a less interesting movie. Biopics really need to tell something about the person it's about or some events that makes them more interesting or significant that tells something about humanity. If it just ends up being a slideshow going way too fast without saying anything or setting focus on something.

The cinematography is good, but nothing special to me. Sure, there is a lot of depth and decently shots and camera work I liked, but I really didn't find the movie to look impressive. Maybe it's watching too many movies that make you go a bit numb.

The sound design is also pretty good, but overall nothing I really noticed.

Maestro is a movie that could have been amazing to me, with some incredible elements that it has going for it being crushed by a slow pace and an uninteresting slideshow story. Sure, it made me feel here and there, but the movie really disappoints me in the most important way. You can be the most technically good film of all time, but if you don't give me a reason to care, I can just watch a highlight reel of your work, this movie did not engage me the way it wanted me too.

Oscar predictios: The movie is nominated in 7 categories, so let's get through them. If this is movie takes best picture, I think it would be a big upset. There are many more movies that have a way better chance to win, and for the 2 movies I have watched in this category, Oppenheimer and Barbie, I would rather see them win than this. Bradley Cooper has a chance to win best actor, I think. I see his performance as very good, but there is another favorite in this category, and it's a pretty tough competition this year. I also think best actress is more or less predetermined to Gladstone, but I most say Mulligan gives a great performance in this movie. The fact that this movie is nominated in best original screenplay is a bit of a joke to me, and I really don't want it to win. I don't see a sort of biopic should even be nominated in this category. I see it having a chance of winning make-up and hairstyling, as this is a strong part of the movie! Furthermore, I haven't seen much of the competition in that category, but for what I've seen, I think this is the best. I don't quite know why it's nominated for sound, it's not really doing anything significant for me, and there are movies I have seen in this category with better sound design. I really don't want this to win cinematography. Sure, it's good enough, but to me, it feels too staged for what it is.

So I tried to get ahead of the Oscars and I saw this on the documentary short list, so I gave it a try. This is a documentary highlighting an important problem in America, and it's interesting to see it being highlighted practical and also factual. It's a rather basic documentary, but I liked the person being highlighted, and it's overall pretty well done.

Arlo Washington is a barber and a bank owner that highlights the problem with banking, jobs and being a person of color.

I really liked the course this documentary highlights, and I love the way it's presented. It's interring to hear about the colored banking and wealth experience, and it's gut-wrenching to know this is till a problem to this day. It's interesting to see people of color having problem with the system, even after showing the facts that they are just as well paying as any other costumer. Knowing this is still a problem is absolutely insane!

I feel like there could have been more focus on highlighting the problem instead of just the solution. I believe the ending statement, that if this becomes more widespread, this will affect the American system in one way or another. But not a lot of the actual problem is highlighted here, I really wished it showed way more of the discrimination and hear it from the white banks and shop owners too. This leaves the documentary rather safe, but good.

Arlo Washington is a very interesting and nice person. It's interesting to see a person like him really give back to a community that needs it and proving it's a thing that is possible.

Once again this is a pretty good documentary but nothing too exiting. It's pretty well done but needs to go a bit deeper than it does.

Oscar predictions! This might be nominated in the end. It's a pretty safe bet with a subject that will speak to the academy. It might even have a chance to win. But I need to see more to really determine it. But it has a chance, just because of the subject.

What the hell happened here? From a decent enough movie to this absolute nightmare, the half blood prince is not only a hideous movie but also an extremely plotless one. The acting has taken a dive and overall this movie delivers a huge incoherent mess. Not only is it just bad, it's also boring.

Harry returns to Hogwarts and is tasked by Dumbledore to get close to his new defense against the dark arts teacher Slughorn. Meanwhile, his friends hand him must navigate romance.

First off, what is the half blood prince bloodline? Once again, the movie is named after something that isn't important nor really explained. That potline was one of the most filler revealed I have ever seen, and I didn't react to it.

This movie is painfully slow and unfocused. It is primarily a romance movie before a fantasy one, and I'm just not invested in this at all. On top of that is a plot about Draco Malfoy and Harry and Dumbledore learning about Voldemort that somehow feels like a big side quest. The fun and whimsical fantasy adventure is nearly gone here, except for a few glimpses. The movie can feel extremely plotless for the most part, except for the last 15 minutes.

The acting has really taken a huge quality dive somehow. This is the same director and writer, so I have no idea how they direct and write such a bad dialogue and get the actors to deliver this poorly. Harry's delivery is way worse, Dumbledore is better written than in the 4th movie, but now just sounds uncaring for everything and Slughorns delivery is not good either. This is even from decent actors, so I have no idea what happened from the prior movies to this. The flirting and romance dialogue is the worst. I have never cringed this much in a while!

But what really gets to me is the look of this movie. This movie is color grated horribly with either blue, black, gray or yellow undertones that just codes the movie throughout. Some shots are so dark it's hard to see what's going on, some of the scenes have so much grading it looks unnatural, and the gloss on everything looks terrible. The effects also looks worse here. It's been a while since I saw a movie this ugly.

While the score is good, it can seem a bit unfitting in some scenes. It's a very beautiful score, but the usage is what throws me off.

There just isn't much to say about this movie, as the plot is not really a factor here. There is so much to criticize, and the only reason I stick around is because it's characters I know and like from prior movies. Had this been the first movie in the franchise or had the first movie looked and felt like this, I would have called Harry Potter a doomed franchise. This to me is a huge low point and just a bad experience.