A summer story but all that is typically summer is gone and all whats left is people on the point of breaking.
Via interconnected stories, the film throws the blanket that is hiding the sinister things in a small town. By all accounts, its the anti summer flick, where the sun follows, violence isn't far behind and every moment of triumph is undercut until the end.
Its not a perfect combination of that but its performance and editing makes it worthwhile.Its cinematography, going for full shots or close ups whenever something is happening is a basic but effective way to comedically introduce every violent bone the film has. Takeshi kitano, if anything, weaponizes the feel good summer film with his growing interest in organized gangster crime to create something fascinating.
(Watch my new 7 min short film summer walk https://boxd.it/ewenRP )
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we already knew the summer blockbuster, as it was, was practically dead this decade. sure, top gun maverick revived it a little bit with its box office money but not really with its quality.
we now face the last stage of the pandemic's ripple effect. as a film, oh then its still horrible. its screenplay is horrendous, throwing exposition at you while telling you whats going on and what the characters think which sucks because every performance dit NOT care. grogu is there for merchandise all tho he has the best bits considering we get like 15 min of no dialogue scenes and he's a puppet which is neat.
i could go more in depth but simply this is what we're going too, a glorified 2 hour tv episode that features martin scorsese for 2 scenes and just looks like shit. when are we getting good blockbusters again?
(watch my new 7 min short film, summer walk: https://boxd.it/ewenRP )
Pretty decent anthology.
Obviously not every story hits but none are bad and the decision to end it with the best of the bunch is brilliant. I personally, love possessed or evil dolls. Magic is fantastic and the chucky character and films are some of my favorite films ever.Not much to say, its a good time.
(Watch my feature film kodak: https://boxd.it/dNvKo1 )
like watching a small, infant deer heading towards the home of a hundrend lions that will rip the deers limbs clean off with 1 bite.
sure, i like sucking off godard but you gotta admit, this is some of the funniest shit ever.
(watch my feature film kodak: https://boxd.it/evkSGh )
animation as an art form is something, even when i was little, caught my imagination and fascination. while im not as passionate about drawing and animation today, i have used it in some way in film making and i like to search in the deepest depths to see what gems i can find. ne zha conquers the dragon king was excellent, padak was unique and lively and lucky luke the ballad of the daltons while mediocre, was a lovely all be it racist tribute to european comics and adaptations.
the film itself is short but beautifull as its struck a balance between the old childhood books my grandmother (r.i.p) would read to me as a little wee lad and multiple painstrokes you'd see on a painting.
all this to lead to the amazing digital circus. im not dunking on the independent scene of modern animation....actually yes i am.
artists pour there hearts out but my problem lies in the fact nobody actually wants to tell a compelling, mature or just interesting story.
most of these projects are cathering to the lowest common denominator that watched avatar the last airbender and considers it the peak of western animated culture.and there lies the problem, modern animation is dominated by people who haven't grown and by extension, their work while beautifully animated by hundreds of artists, are stuck within a childlike mind that can't comprehend any kind of nuance. there is always hope, a seth rogen produced film, tangles directed by leah nelson just premiered at cannes and it looks to be an actual mature film.
maturity of whats being made is not my only dissapointment tho, its also the way we act as people with animated films and tv shows and how the culture surrounding them is all but reduced to all kinds of wars. wether it be shipping wars or just general dumb shit. its also the fact most world animated cinema is ignored by most "fans" of the medium and the still dominance of childrens entertainment being made. animation is forced inside a box but i largely think sometimes that we also have ourselves to blame in some way.im not generalizing animation fans, i know some wonderful people that care about all kinds of animated films and shows but most are stuck in detrimental comfort zones with pixar, disney and dreamworks etc.
and like, the recent animation craze with spider verse is cool and all but studio's and again, we as the audience have grown to learn if you put a bunch of 2d stuff in a 3d enviroment its good animation.
not everything needs a reason but when all you're doing is lowering the frame rate and add 2d nonsense, we're going back to the point where all animated films look the same because recent films like goat, while yes look good, they don't really do anything new artstyle wise.we don't have a ralph baksi these days anymore so the landscape of actual compelling animated commentary is dry. when are we actual getting something that carries emotional weight but also the neccesary nuance and mentality to create something that is also artistic in its writing? because thats the biggest issue at play.
(watch my feature film, kodak: https://boxd.it/dNvKo1 )
goodbye, dragon inn is a fantastic, quiet film about the connection between humans and film but it also is worried about the future of theaters which are largely the home of those connections but its never so nihilistic. its both a love letter and warning.
its a warning to the connection we lose when movie theaters shut down and an obvious love letter to those connections. definitely up my alley as someone who loves slow, quiet and plot-less films like it. definitely a more simplistic alternative to bi gan's resurrection and also definitely less cold and mechanical which isn't really a dig at resurrection, so much of film and the way it works is mechanical(which isn't always bad) but its also nice to have a film about cinema that grants a lot more quieter and humanistic aproach.
(Watch my feature film, kodak: https://boxd.it/dNvKo1 )
really ironic that brigitte bardot was in a godard film, like im not saying godard was on purpose at least, a master of feminist themes even when some of his films do genuinely explore woman related issues.
contempt is about the slow transformation of love and passion but also the relationship godard has for film itself as it begins and ends with a film crew. godard generally has an understanding on how to write a compelling romance and it slowly builds from the first bedroom scene full of words of passion and love for both mind and body to landscapes filled with hatred and annoyance.
rest in piss bardot.
(watch my film, kodak: https://boxd.it/dNvKo1 )
a gothic depiction of the transition from childlike innocence to being adult and the always growing problems woman have to face.
generally its very gothic and very quiet but it does reserve empathy for the woman the story, its shot which high and low angles and the performances are top notch.
really short which sucks but it does well with the time it has.(watch my feature film kodak: https://boxd.it/dNvKo1 )
Nicolas cage would still beat this shark in 5 minutes.
A masterclass in direction, framing and visual storytelling, its awesome what spielberg was able to do with the limitation presented at a young age but also on set during filming. Everybody basically gives a great performance the film looks breezy.
But its ultimate downfall is its lackluster script. In the first half its pretty good, not anything wow but like, it was interesting but it dropped all of that for such a long and meandering 3rd act.Its 3rd is the make it or break it moment for many and for me its its latter sadly. The animatronic shark is the highlight but you're left with 3 characters, 2 of them are carried by the performances of the actors and 1 that while we got to know, there is a lack of internal struggling that is emphasized on. Bits and pieces sure and thats better then just saying stuff but it also creates tiny holes of problems that the film ultimately doesn't fix and im left wondering if maybe new Hollywood's demise is one of the most tragic things. No hate to spielberg because he definitely is one of the better blockbuster film makers but we're here indirectly because of jaws to a degree.
(Watch my feature film kodak: https://boxd.it/dNvKo1 )
good luck making this a trilogy.
pretty worthless in the grand scheme of shakespear adaptation where the dialogue nor the characters get any depth or elegancy you would think a shakespear adaptation would have. there is not a fraction of chemistry present and generally i thought the performances were fine.
i like heath ledger but i do qeustion if this movie would be as remembered if he wasn't in it. maybe thats gullible to say but it is a qeustion i think is fair to ask.its shot decentely but what it lacks is a visual style and actual good direction to move in an interesting direction. like the fact its directed by a studio hack that doesn't really have anything special about it. sure, movie making is hard no matter what but shouldn't you do your best then instead of hap hazardly put something out?
looking at who the writers are, its no suprise at how the script turned out, generally these kind of films from the 90s and 2000s are just dull and unimaginative to me. copy pasted from one another and to me, this movie is much more of an indicator at how the idea that mean girls brought anything new to the mean girl archetype is not really true at all. while i would call it a "white people" movie, that doesn't mean that romance films featuring mostly or just white people are void of chemistry. most silent comedy films are part romance and those are very romantic. the freshman and safety last have romantic parts that flourish. shrek 2 is one of my favorite films ever. generally i think these generic and standard romance films are just VERY white.(watch my feature film kodak: https://boxd.it/dNvKo1 )
european comics obviously are a part of childhood as im from the netherlands. but this film is fine but its more so a showcase of the entitlement of europe and the way we see ourselves higher then others despite being very dumb and stupid. this is not due to the story or themes but rather that, the film features almost every racist caricature you can think off.
(watch my feature film kodak: https://boxd.it/dNvKo1 )
A crime thriller that can be both quiet and melodramatic which isn't new for the genre but I like it here a lot even when not all of the character pieces fit perfectly. Its a solid little action flick that if done right could be improved.
There is a lot of qeustion that could be asked within its framework on the genre of hitman films but for now, this is doing it. The camera isn't always enticing but its flashy when it needs to be.(Watch my feature film kodak: https://boxd.it/dNvKo1 )
