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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/4326326 *** This is a pretty cool movie.

The plot is very interesting, and there's tons of tension! Definitely keeps you on your toes as the pressure mounts for the main characters, especially in the undercover scenes. There wasn't really a point where I thought anything in the main storyline didn't make sense; the motivations of the characters are as clear as they should be, and the emotional weight of the story is perfectly translated every time. The immense stress that they're under is very compelling, and the inner struggle of the characters is fantastically depicted.

That being said, I thought some of the side characters and side plots were superfluous, not developed enough, or just straight up didn't make sense. Inspector Lau's fiancé's novel is a bit on the nose, and Yan's relationship with his psychiatrist came out of nowhere.

The acting was pretty good, especially for the two main characters and their respective handles. Some side characters were also pretty cool, I really loved Chapman To in particular.

The cinematography had some highs for sure, but also some lows. There were some shot transitions that looked like someone just pulled up WMM.

Overall, it's a cool film. I decided to watch it because it's highly rated and from Hong Kong. I'd previously watched Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love and absolutely loved them, but Infernal Affairs simply doesn't compare. It's OK, and definitely worth a watch, but it didn't blow me away.

What do you think? *** Rating: 3/5

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1994067 *** Visually stunning and a brilliant cast!

The visuals are by far the most striking aspect of this movie. They're absolutely brilliant! I'm sure the black and white color-scheme and the odd aspect ratio play into this, but it's more than that; it's incredible cinematography, and it really helps tell the story and explore the intense emotions of the characters.

More than that, the acting is incredible, especially Frances McDormand, she really blew me away, though Denzel Washington was also fantastic. And Kathryn Hunter as the three witches was absolutely ridiculous, especially that scene where she continuously contorts her body... It really freaked me out, I loved it!

I thought the plot was great, but the pacing was a bit odd. The series of events, and the escalation of the situation felt somewhat rushed and disconnected. I've never read the original play, so I can't say if this is just how Macbeth is or if it's the movie.

What do you think? *** Rating: 4/5

Arr 🏴‍☠️!!!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1738775 *** Hilarious and action-filled!

Finally managed to watch this movie, and the wait was worth it!

The music is impeccable (as usual), and the comedy is on point. The action is great as well, with tons of thrilling sequences with interesting character designs and well choreographed fights. The environments were also fantastic, with disgusting, slimy scenes everywhere, which really drove home the whole idea of "perfecting" the world being a complete sham.

The plot doesn't leave anything to be desired either. It's interesting and thrilling. The main villain does a fantastic job of being hateable! I thought it was great acting by Chukwudi Iwuji, really outstanding job.

The only thing I didn't like too much was the very notable lack of stakes. Well, obviously there were stakes, but I never got the feeling they could actually fail to get the job done. I never thought that they might actually lose, for once. On one hand, that kinda sucks, on the other hand, it's a comedy-action movie that has great comedy and action. I don't think the lack of tension is a big deal.

What do you think? *** Rating: 4/5

Arr 🏴‍☠️!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1541244 *** Beautiful and emotional!

Such an endearing story, told in such a marvelous way. This is what animation is for, I mean, everything is so beautiful and fluid and whimsical. I particularly liked the mice, but the bears are cool too.

The music is also stupendous, gorgeous strings and piano throughout the film. The little sections when Ernest plays piano and violin for Célestine are so adorable, and it actually sounds great. The voice acting is incredible as well, so much emotion in every word!

I'm a big character guy, and the varied cast really sells this movie. I suppose one could argue that characters outside of Ernest and Célestine are a bit one-dimensional, in that they're stuck in their ways and consumed by prejudice, blind to the world and obsessed with the otherness of the other species. Still, I feel that they serve their purpose perfectly, and they're all HILARIOUS! Once again, the animation shines here, granting these characters a certain absurdity of movement to match the absurdity of their ideologies. It also lets Célestine show how persistent and determined to change Ernest she is with more than just her words, namely with her ability to appear from anywhere after being tossed out, which also makes for some absolutely hilarious scenes.

The messaging is on point, of course. This movie is from 2012, which is more than a decade ago, but things really haven't changed. The characterization of society as divided yet equal, and of how, fundamentally, the great divider is class rather than anything else (for which species is a catch-all stand-in), strikes hard. The pervasiveness of hatred rooted in fear, and the initial scenes showing how this fear is nurture rather than nature really struck a chord with me. Ernest and Célestine both struggling with authority figures and their expectations of them, of the role they were meant to take in their respective societies, really pushes this idea that the system is flawed and broken.

The ending was a bit underwhelming, perhaps. That's really the only negative thing I can point out. It felt like things were resolved very easily. It's a metaphor, and really it's a bit on the nose, but I guess I just wanted another chase scene...

What do you think? *** Rating: 5/5

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1402187 *** Great concept, poor execution.

Everything that relates to the production value of this movie is subpar: the voice acting, the sound design, the animation... There's nothing excellent here, there's really nothing good here.

The voice acting sounds awkward at times. Japanese voice acting is known for being great, but here nearly every line feels emotionless, and the main characters sound like they're whispering very loudly instead of just talking. Which is something I can only assume is an artistic choice? I suppose it fits the theme of the movie but it sounds bad. Notably, Anzai Chika's performance as Kobayashi was actually pretty great.

The music and sound design on this thing is also not great. It sounds so quiet, so empty. Once again, this must have been by design, as it fits the theme, but it sucks! It makes the whole movie feel bland and faceless. Just because it's about a secret and escaping others doesn't mean the movie should be empty.

The animation is somewhat decent. It's not a very distinct style, and some frames look horrible. There's also some scenes with 3D animation that are very not good. Still, for the most part it's OK.

Still, this is definitely not a bad movie. It's a very interesting concept. Personally, I love time-related movies (like Tenet and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), and the idea of being able to stop time for a short duration is cool.

The relationship between the two main characters is also great, and very engaging. Murakami's whole personality, or lack thereof, really made me think... I wonder if there really are people that act this way. Personally, I related to Moritani WAY more, feeling overwhelmed and just wanting to run away. Murakami's whole ordeal felt very odd to me, but it was still very emotionally compelling. I think it was conveyed in a very nice way.

The conclusion was a bit underwhelming though, probably as a consequence of this running for only 1 hour. Still, it didn't leave a sour taste in my mouth or anything, I just wish there was more to the story. I suppose that's actually a compliment to the plot, in a way.

^{I related to Moritani's perverted tendencies too.}

What do you think? *** Rating: 3/5

Watch on Crunchyroll! Arr 🏴‍☠️!!!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1109255 *** One of the wittiest movies I've ever watched! It's hilarious!!

The animation is gorgeous, and the soundtrack is also incredible. The voice acting by Chloë Grace Moretz and Riz Ahmed is also spectacular, and even Eugene Lee Yang (of The Try Guys fame) does a very decent job.

The story doesn't leave much to be desired either. It tackles themes of isolation, not finding your place in the world, and discrimination, both on an individual and systemic level.

Though it doesn't actually address the problem of systemic oppression, preferring instead to scapegoat a single character.

Actually, that single element of the story really stung. It's clear that they went to great lengths to have a very diverse cast of characters, and it's obvious they're trying to be progressive, and this is meant to be a progressive story. However, I can't help but think that it's all posturing, if in the end all the systems that allowed such horrible mentalities to fester still remain intact, with only the "top dog" being taken down. You can't fix a system by removing an individual.

There's so much more I'd like to say about this, but I feel this isn't the place. Plus, this is clearly a kid's movie, a very good one with a deep message and complex characters, but still. I suppose the message is still a net positive despite such a massive blunder.

Additionally, there's a dance sequence in the middle that feels so painfully out of place I almost cringed myself to death. Thankfully it was very short.

Overall, I think this movie was good. It's not really gonna blow anyone's socks off, but it might make some people think, and it's very easy on the eyes and ears.

What do you think? *** Rating: 4/5

Watch on Netflix! Arr 🏴‍☠️!!!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/922307

> This is a spoiler-free review > *** > Let's start with the obvious: the animation is brilliant. It's MAPPA after all. The production quality on this show is very good, and leaves very little to be desired. Sure, it's not the pinnacle of modern animation, but it's more than serviceable, and it posed no issue whatsoever. > > Regardless, this show is very interesting, visually. The characters too, but mostly the environment is totally CRAZY! It's weird, and beautiful, and creepy. The flowers are just stunning, and knowing what they mean in the story just adds a special layer to such stunning visuals. > > The voice acting (sub) is great as well, but the general sound design was subpar. I felt like a lot of scenes were very silent, and not in a cool or creepy kinda way, just in a "they didn't know what to put in the background" kinda way... The OP is a TOTAL BANGER though, and it was hard to skip, honestly. > > Still, all of this isn't that big of a deal if the plot and the characters make up for it. > > But they didn't really. > > There's a varied cast with their quirky personalities and origin stories, but they're so poorly explored that that barely matters. The only characters that have any emotional weight are Gabimaru (MC) and Sagiri (MC). To be fair, these two do have very compelling backstories and cool chemistry. The rest of the cast either didn't have enough screen-time for us to truly engage with their stories, or had basically NO backstory at all. > > Gabimaru specifically is a very emotional character. His struggle with his up-bringing, with love, family, and freedom is really compelling, and so is Sagiri's struggle with human nature, sexism, and her place in the world. > > The plot is just OK. The setup is awesome, and promises a lot of action and adventure with lots of tension and high stakes, but that just ends up not being the case. We spend most of the time watching cool fight scenes. The fight scenes are very cool, sure, but where's the substance? I think a big problem is that Gabimaru is way too strong. His plot armour is just too much... > > And the ending... I mean, come on. IT'S A FUCKING JOKE! If they were gonna end the show like this, it should've just been a 24/25 episode release. I know S2 is already in the works, but this season simply felt incomplete. > > Well, the show does a lot of things right, and a few things wrong. If more time was spent developing the characters and advancing the plot this would've been way more satisfying. For that reason, I'm still looking forward to the second season. > *** > Rating: 3/5 > > Watch on Crunchyroll! > Arr 🏴‍☠️!!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/543614

> This is a SPOILER FREE review. > *** > Horror done PERFECTLY. > > "FROM" is creepy, desperate, and hopeful. Every second is crawling with this sense of imminent dread. Time is ticking, and ticking, and _ticking... And they can't escape. But they still hope that that might change. > > The characters are brilliant. From father Khatri to Boyd to Jim to Jade, they all serve their purpose perfectly, and the more secondary characters also manage to flawlessly push the plot forward, as well as provide some much needed reprieve from the main storyline of the show. Because the main storyline is INTENSE! > > The way the different personalities clash and slow things down, beautiful chaos. Even just the dynamic between the town and the colony house! The best part, really, is how much power is in the hands of the people, how much THEY control their life in the town. And how much one person can doom so many others. > > Still, my favourite thing about the show is the very clear theme of family. That's what moves everything, they all lost family, and they all found family in that accursed town. I love that. > > The audio and the visual are both great. Everything is set up magnificently to give the viewer that rising terror. > > The only real criticism I have is the acting. It's not bad, but it's not that great either. I wasn't familiar with any of the actors before watching this show, but I'm not exactly looking forward to what they might do next. Still, it doesn't really take away that much from the show, since they do a good enough job of conveying everything that needs conveying; occasionally they knock it out of the park too. > > This season left a lot of mystery to solve; more loose threads than I can count. > *** > Watch on MGM+! > Arr 🏴‍☠️!!!