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Edzovski
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Reviews
The Cat in the Hat (2003)
Actually for immature 19-year-olds
I'm not here to argue with all the negative ratings - they're absolutely correct and warranted.
I watched this film many times when I was a kid and it never really meant much to me. It was colorful, sure, but it was never a memorable experience. Also the gaint cat apparently has traumatized one of my friends. He hates how he just apears next to the kids when they're hiding under the bed.
However, I just watched it on my 19th birthday while getting buzzed on cheap wine and Cheetos and... it works. It's fun as hell. I don't know how proud Mike Myers is about this one, but he carries the film to the end. It's enjoyable albeit mostly ironically.
But I must add that it's not great - acting is quite bad, effects haven't aged well, some weird cuts here and there and fans of Dr. Seuss will most likely be disappointed. Should you let your kids watch it? Probably no. There are more valuable films for them. Instead watch it yourself. Maybe you'll have a blast.
At the end of the day, it's a silly film, the sets looked nice, everything was absurd and Alec Baldwin takes out his dentures, gets his TV repossessed and turns purple just to become an Academy award nominee the next year. 7/10 appreciating it's existence.
Midsommar (2019)
Gorgeous yet boring
Since I enjoyed "Hereditary" a lot, I was excited about Ari Aster's new film "Midsommar". Gotta say... kinda disappointed. I remember hearing from someone that the ending is insane and s**t really hits the fan. Maybe that's where I set my expectations wrong, because it never really does. The film is somewhat disturbing, but it never got to me in the way that the events of "Hereditary" did. I really think it comes down to two things:
1. The films lenght. Not even the running time per se, just how long and dull most of it is. I'm not very scared of traditions, let alone Swedish ones, so it feels more like a trip through an ethnographic museum than a horror film.
2. The characters make some choices and react in ways that just took me out of the experience. Also dialogue in some crucial points of the film (very rarely) to me seemed stupid and unbelievable.
Biggest advantage to this film is the cinematography and set design. Both were truly beautiful and kept me interested through some boring parts. Performances are mostly fine, but Florence Pugh is top notch. Gotta love those screaming, crying faces amirite, Ari?
This was not a bad film, and I don't regret watching it, I was just a bit let down, but probably will see the next thing this director does. 6/10
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
If the rating was based just on historical accuracy, it would be a 10
We start out with a 10 - The historical accuracy of the events. The battle scenes. The captivating portrayal of General Kuribayashi by Ken Watanabe. Seeing this battle from the japanese perspective felt very fresh and actually made me research a bit more about the Japanese during WW2 (for example - I heard for the first time about the thousand-stich belts or senninbari) Not to mention sets, costumes and the poetic flow of the script, handled gracefully by Clint Eastwood - truly this film has a lot going for it, and I recommend it, but...
We go down to a 9 - The budget of this film was only 19 million dollars. Some commercials have cost more. I have to say - the team did an excellent job making a two and a half hour long war film on such a tight budget, but there is an aspect which has suffered because of that - the CGI. It has not aged well at all. Some scenes get away with it, but when the American fleet shows up and when Marines land on the beach... it's bad. Maby with a bigger budget they could've done it practically instead of relying on CGI.
Even still - down to an 8 - There's a lot of cheesy moments. Maby that's subjective, but I really felt like some scenes lost their purpose in emotions. Maby it just me, but there are 4 motivational speeches to the troops, and 2 are from the same guy. It just got a little repetitive, and "banzai" didn't have the same impact second time around.
We hit a 7 - the whole letter thing feels forced. There's actually a sizable portion of the film, where I forgot that there even are letters. At times the flashbacks also seemed a bit too cliche or cheesy, or just uninspiring. Towards the end of the film they get a lot more emotional which I liked, because they seemed to match the overall poetic doom of the script.
At the end - it's a 7 for me - Historically accurate, beautiful language throughout, production is excellent despite limitations. Disregarding minor flaws and dated CGI, it's a good film, but at times I got the feeling it could be better. I recommend you to see it for yourself.