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Reviews
Dodesukaden (1970)
Wow! I didn't expect that!
I had no idea what to expect. The beginning seemed interesting enough, from there it just kept pulling me in. Before I knew it I was fully invested. Then it was over and I already missed the characters. Suddenly that feeling I haven't had in a long time... "What a great movie!"
Why? Great writing I guess. So much empathy and reality in a time when reality tv didn't exist. It hits the whole spectrum of emotions. Funny, light hearted, sad, dramatic, horrific, odd, messy.
To describe it, it's like being a fly on the wall in all these people's lives.
Funny thing is, a friend of mine (who I wouldn't think would watch or be interested this kind of movie - a syfy dude) watched it without me knowing and we both wanted to tell each other about this great movie we'd seen. Apparently he was drawn in by the curious beginning too!
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace (2023)
Seems incomplete and definitely misleading
Read all the 1 & 2 star reviews. I totally agree. I only give it a 2 because the first three episodes sucked me in.
Misleading: The first few episodes and all the trailers made it seem this was a creepy Orphan-movie-like show, but in reality. Was she an adult or not? Was she demonic or psychotic? Was she going to do violence to these people? When they moved her to her own place she even creeped the neighbors out. Turning up in their houses. Telling them she had thoughts of killing her parents. Everyone is uneasy about this freaky girl.
Then smack dab in the middle of the series it switches and stays on the parents and never really goes back to the girl! What happened to the girl? We see her being interviewed but it's very minimal. Instead it's all the overacting Michael.
And when were these interviews taken? He goes from business man with bushy hair and a beard, to casual but cocky dad with normalize hair and beard, then to close cut hair and scruffy effeminate drama queen!
Incomplete: I seriously thought there were more episodes to come. I honestly came to IMDB to see how many more episodes there were. It was THAT incomplete. Like everyone is saying, so many things they brought up just to lure you in, go unanswered or leave no explanation. We don't know what happened to the TITLE CHARACTER! It seems like the last time we see her "young", she is living with people who picked her up off the street and took her welfare money.
This so is so frustrating and annoying!
Side note: Am I the only one who noticed at one point the birth mother says people have been asking her about the girl's age for more years than is on the birth certificate she provides several years later. How can they not question that?
The First Time (1969)
Seemed more like an "Afterschool Special"
This seemed like an After School Special that was trying too hard to have the feel and pacing of The Graduate. (Even the main character is a stoic Dustin Hoffman look-a-like)
The movie probably would have been better as the tv show since it would have cut out 30+ minutes and commercials would have broken up the monotony.
I must say, I did like the sightseeing in Niagara Falls, (only because I have memories there), but even that went on too long.
Klaus (2019)
Dark and edgy with Burtonesque humor
I was watching an animation festival interview with Bill Plympton, creator of the famous "Plymptoons" hand-drawn animations, and when asked, he said Klaus was one of his favorites. So I watched it and instantly fell in love.
As an adult with no children, all the Rankin and Bass animations, the Grinch Who Stole Christmas (Chuck Jones version), and The Nightmare Before Christmas, make up my Christmas season. This will definitely fit in.
I tend to lean heavy towards the darker side of humor and this has it. The towns people seem a tribute to Tim Burton, the overblown violence a tribute to Chuck Jones, the squabbling banter as funny as Heat Miser and his brother Snow. And of course, as with all Christmastime stories, it has a lot of heart too. The voices are perfectly cast. The animation is quite beautiful.
I do think that it's a little adult, for some kids. Not meaning PG-13 rating or anything, I just mean the pacing is a bit slower in parts to build up atmosphere and suspense. Not the kind of in your face action all the time like some cartoons. But then again, I don't have kids, so take or leave this opinion as you will.