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Never seen, but have frequently made fun of for putting a slash in the title. Great writing.
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I did actually like this one 
great review as always though Med! I don't know how you stay so committed either, it's really admirable, watching over 200 films over several months is just 
great review as always though Med! I don't know how you stay so committed either, it's really admirable, watching over 200 films over several months is just 
I had a huge break with my reviews, but I seem to be back on track now in some kind of acceptable pace.
Thanks for checking in, CiCi!
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And then there Iro who's like, 500 movies into this year. That's insane! But yeah, I did do (at least) one movie a day for about half a year, so that did make my movie count go up.
I had a huge break with my reviews, but I seem to be back on track now in some kind of acceptable pace.
Thanks for checking in, CiCi!
I had a huge break with my reviews, but I seem to be back on track now in some kind of acceptable pace.
Thanks for checking in, CiCi!
and yup, you'll be on that top 5 reviewers leader board sooner than you know it too! And no problem! Your reviews are fun and extremely well written, especially considering English ain't your first language! So I do like checking them out
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MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
227 .......................... 245
__________________________
July 17th
—— 1997 ——
—— action ——
REWATCH
"Where are you going with my plane, Cyrus?"
"We're going to Disney Land."
Flying in over this thread is the final film in the undisputed 90s trilogy, which all star the man, the myth and the legend himself, Nicolas Cage! This may not be the best of the three films, but at least I finish this movie mash-up in grand style, with a crazy-cool con-manic concoction of a movie, ‘Con Air’. This film is pretty much the definitive definition of a fun time at the movies, with a great line-up of actors to award all the action with some character and some frighteningly good flair. Because looking inside the cockpit, this is clearly a film flying on autopilot and without enough fuel to fire up the film from beginning to end – but if it does fall to the ground it is falling with style – and a bunch of bad guys doing a ton of bad ass things on the way down, so it is totally worth the ride in my opinion…
When watching the entirety of the movie, it certainly knows how to spread its wings and embrace the filmic energy with an uncontrollable and explosive force. This summer blockbuster is certainly style over substance, but it is also the most captivating con collection you will see on the block this summer. Boosting with countless different characters, who all have their own distinctive personalities and appearances, and clocking in at a record-breaking amount of memorable one-liners, it is almost impossible not to get be captured by these prisoners on self-controlled parole. This movie might not be first class entertainment, but to me, this is definitely first class seats to one of the trashiest forms of top entertainment you can ever have. But come on, who expects award-winning movie-making from a plot, which revolves around a plane taking off with a bunch of highly treacherous prisoners, who then takes over their own aircraft to escape into self-declared freedom. Maybe in some other universe out there, this might actually be the perfect plot to a movie. In my opinion I may be, at least for its genre.
Since watching it the last time, my rating for the film has gone down a bit, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is a fun filmic vacation on a plane from hell. It has basically everything you could ask for, and unfortunately a little too much in the third act, which is where it mainly looses it for me. It seems like the studio thought it needed a big bloated action chase like every other film coming out in that decade, but ‘Con Air’ does fine without it. I would rather have it end right after the crash – and right before the movie crashes in on itself. It's still great fun though, with an awesome cast and crazy and cheesy one-liners – all packed into one hell of a high-flying concept, piloting this terror trip straight to the grounds and somehow, almost, pulls it home in the end – Vegas style! There is no doubt that I rate both ‘The Rock’ and ‘Face/Off’ above this one, but it still lands on a rock solid third place, despite of losing face towards the end. I think I will just finish off this review by saying this – all you have to do is lean back and enjoy the ride!
__________________________
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
227 .......................... 245
__________________________
July 17th
—— 1997 ——
—— action ——
REWATCH
"Where are you going with my plane, Cyrus?"
"We're going to Disney Land."
Flying in over this thread is the final film in the undisputed 90s trilogy, which all star the man, the myth and the legend himself, Nicolas Cage! This may not be the best of the three films, but at least I finish this movie mash-up in grand style, with a crazy-cool con-manic concoction of a movie, ‘Con Air’. This film is pretty much the definitive definition of a fun time at the movies, with a great line-up of actors to award all the action with some character and some frighteningly good flair. Because looking inside the cockpit, this is clearly a film flying on autopilot and without enough fuel to fire up the film from beginning to end – but if it does fall to the ground it is falling with style – and a bunch of bad guys doing a ton of bad ass things on the way down, so it is totally worth the ride in my opinion…
When watching the entirety of the movie, it certainly knows how to spread its wings and embrace the filmic energy with an uncontrollable and explosive force. This summer blockbuster is certainly style over substance, but it is also the most captivating con collection you will see on the block this summer. Boosting with countless different characters, who all have their own distinctive personalities and appearances, and clocking in at a record-breaking amount of memorable one-liners, it is almost impossible not to get be captured by these prisoners on self-controlled parole. This movie might not be first class entertainment, but to me, this is definitely first class seats to one of the trashiest forms of top entertainment you can ever have. But come on, who expects award-winning movie-making from a plot, which revolves around a plane taking off with a bunch of highly treacherous prisoners, who then takes over their own aircraft to escape into self-declared freedom. Maybe in some other universe out there, this might actually be the perfect plot to a movie. In my opinion I may be, at least for its genre.
Since watching it the last time, my rating for the film has gone down a bit, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is a fun filmic vacation on a plane from hell. It has basically everything you could ask for, and unfortunately a little too much in the third act, which is where it mainly looses it for me. It seems like the studio thought it needed a big bloated action chase like every other film coming out in that decade, but ‘Con Air’ does fine without it. I would rather have it end right after the crash – and right before the movie crashes in on itself. It's still great fun though, with an awesome cast and crazy and cheesy one-liners – all packed into one hell of a high-flying concept, piloting this terror trip straight to the grounds and somehow, almost, pulls it home in the end – Vegas style! There is no doubt that I rate both ‘The Rock’ and ‘Face/Off’ above this one, but it still lands on a rock solid third place, despite of losing face towards the end. I think I will just finish off this review by saying this – all you have to do is lean back and enjoy the ride!
__________________________
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/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror
/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror
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Favorite Movies
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User Lists
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
227 .......................... 245
__________________________
July 18th
—— 2014 ——
22 JUMP STREET
—— comedy ——
REWATCH
This time, the boys are
going to college!
You can’t really call the countless quantities of cop comedy sequels to be an entirely new phenomenon, but if the first one is successful, usually we will get a sequel and that is no matter the genre, really. But what every sequel has in common is how they either follow every step of the former film or dare to differ from the norm and do something entirely unique. Usually Hollywood doesn't take chances, so we end up with precisely the same package; only in different wrapping. '22 Jump Street' is one of those movies and it loves itself to death for it. Basically, this is a supercharged self-aware action sequel, which happens to be so much fun that it stands on its own way better than it had any right to – but what makes it so cool to observe, is the cleverness of the referential material and the confidence of the delivery. It is actually quite impressive just how high it scores on the self-scorn scale…
We may have seen it before; how a film spoofs the present, the past and the sort of film it is, but this film somehow success at it without becoming overly pathetic or painfully unfunny to look at. It renews itself enough to be a passable affair and recreates itself enough to be a good film. And together with the never-dying chemistry of Hill and Tatum, this is a straight up success on a bigger scale, with a bigger budget, and occasionally, even greater laughs. Because, even though this film has a slower start, it thankfully picks things up as it goes along and ends in one hell of an explosive finale! I actually used to dislike this finale, since the finale of the film had already sort of happened prior to the exotic one, but this time I knew it was coming and had a lot more fun with it. And how about that end credits scene? It basically sums up everything that is good and bad about this movie and the many movies it wants to mock; and it does so without holding anything back, whether you can take it or not. And as it is the case with the entire film: if you are willing to accept the scenario you will also adapt to the scenario – and have one hell of a good time!
With a crazy cool combination of clichés in follow-ups, and chemistry in team-ups, this action sequel satire shoots out one gut-busting reference after the other, which all collides in some great guilty pleasure entertainment! The boys may be on a simple mission – infiltrate the dealer, find the supplier – but they are without a doubt going to mess that up once more and we love watching them do it all over again. Because, as we all know, ’22 Jump Street’ plays out its fun and games in the vein of the first film – actually, a lot like the first film, doing this whole referential routine with a self-aware atmosphere, and it works surprisingly well, as mentioned earlier. Once again it is the team-up of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, who creates this creamy core that we love so much. Despite doing a lot of the same things, it never feels outdated or like we have been there and done that – although we have, but there is enough new stuff to keep the old stuff from fading into mediocracy. Overall, this movie succeeds a tiny bit better in the areas the first one did, and it does stumble over the same mistakes the first one had, but this is a solid sequel with plenty of laughs and great action entertainment. I say bring on ’23 Jump Street’!
__________________________
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
227 .......................... 245
__________________________
July 18th
—— 2014 ——
22 JUMP STREET
—— comedy ——
REWATCH
This time, the boys are
going to college!
You can’t really call the countless quantities of cop comedy sequels to be an entirely new phenomenon, but if the first one is successful, usually we will get a sequel and that is no matter the genre, really. But what every sequel has in common is how they either follow every step of the former film or dare to differ from the norm and do something entirely unique. Usually Hollywood doesn't take chances, so we end up with precisely the same package; only in different wrapping. '22 Jump Street' is one of those movies and it loves itself to death for it. Basically, this is a supercharged self-aware action sequel, which happens to be so much fun that it stands on its own way better than it had any right to – but what makes it so cool to observe, is the cleverness of the referential material and the confidence of the delivery. It is actually quite impressive just how high it scores on the self-scorn scale…
We may have seen it before; how a film spoofs the present, the past and the sort of film it is, but this film somehow success at it without becoming overly pathetic or painfully unfunny to look at. It renews itself enough to be a passable affair and recreates itself enough to be a good film. And together with the never-dying chemistry of Hill and Tatum, this is a straight up success on a bigger scale, with a bigger budget, and occasionally, even greater laughs. Because, even though this film has a slower start, it thankfully picks things up as it goes along and ends in one hell of an explosive finale! I actually used to dislike this finale, since the finale of the film had already sort of happened prior to the exotic one, but this time I knew it was coming and had a lot more fun with it. And how about that end credits scene? It basically sums up everything that is good and bad about this movie and the many movies it wants to mock; and it does so without holding anything back, whether you can take it or not. And as it is the case with the entire film: if you are willing to accept the scenario you will also adapt to the scenario – and have one hell of a good time!
With a crazy cool combination of clichés in follow-ups, and chemistry in team-ups, this action sequel satire shoots out one gut-busting reference after the other, which all collides in some great guilty pleasure entertainment! The boys may be on a simple mission – infiltrate the dealer, find the supplier – but they are without a doubt going to mess that up once more and we love watching them do it all over again. Because, as we all know, ’22 Jump Street’ plays out its fun and games in the vein of the first film – actually, a lot like the first film, doing this whole referential routine with a self-aware atmosphere, and it works surprisingly well, as mentioned earlier. Once again it is the team-up of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, who creates this creamy core that we love so much. Despite doing a lot of the same things, it never feels outdated or like we have been there and done that – although we have, but there is enough new stuff to keep the old stuff from fading into mediocracy. Overall, this movie succeeds a tiny bit better in the areas the first one did, and it does stumble over the same mistakes the first one had, but this is a solid sequel with plenty of laughs and great action entertainment. I say bring on ’23 Jump Street’!
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I honestly don't want a 23, since MilLord so obviously made 22 as the one and only sequel, from the tone to the trashing of sequels (both the in-movie tropes and studio changes), to the brilliant end credits scene. I really only needed 5 minutes of those two sons of bitches going to _____ school.
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I honestly don't want a 23, since MilLord so obviously made 22 as the one and only sequel, from the tone to the trashing of sequels (both the in-movie tropes and studio changes), to the brilliant end credits scene. I really only needed 5 minutes of those two sons of bitches going to _____ school.
I say bring on '23' because I believe they will do something new and awesome with it. They can't pull a one trick pony twice. I'm not gonna want to watch what is pretty mucu the same film three times and I think the self-awareness of the second and especially the end credits shows they know what they are doing and therefore I trust them, should they ever make a third (which I think is already in the works).
They could do a prequel?
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I haven't seen 22, but I think I should check it out now, I don't know why I haven't already actually, I loved 21
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I did just find out online that Jump Streets 23-43 are going to be canon in the sequel. Somehow. That should be interesting.
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I like Con Air way better than you. In fact, I can go as far as saying that it's my favorite cheesy action films of the entire 90s. Great dialouge and so many interesting characters occupy the screen as a lot of explosions happen everywhere - pure fun!
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I like Con Air way better than you. In fact, I can go as far as saying that it's my favorite cheesy action films of the entire 90s. Great dialouge and so many interesting characters occupy the screen as a lot of explosions happen everywhere - pure fun!
But seriously, I love the film and it is indeed one of the best cheesy 90s action films. As I said, it's the king of one-liners and crazy casting choices. It is one hell of a ride. I mean, 3.5/5 is far from a bad rating, I might think it needs a '+' too. It's definitely a whole lot of fun!
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I saw Face Off and Con Air at the movies and wasn't a fan of either, but that's about the time I stopped enjoying going to the movies. I have since seen Con Air and loved it, so I'm also going to try Face Off again. The beginning is awesome no doubt.
The Jump Street movies were alright; I prefer the first.
The Jump Street movies were alright; I prefer the first.
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MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
228 .......................... 247
__________________________
July 19th
—— 2000 ——
FINAL DESTINATION
—— horror ——
REWATCH
In death there are no accidents,
no coincidences, no mishaps, and no escapes...
The destination for this review is going to target towards the first film about those damned final fatalities, which moreover consists of five collective films, coming from the same never-dying franchise called 'Final Destination'... This film series has more or less successfully killed off people in creative ways for more than a decade, and though you may either like or dislike this franchise, you cannot deny the dominating influence or overall success it gathered within the genre – especially since it has been fairly consistent from beginning to end, with the exception of that god awful fourth entry. Looking at this franchise as a whole, it is damn impressive how it basically took the same concept and used it for five consecutive films – merely granting each of the individual stories with a tiny little twist or change of themes – as well as upping the grisly creativity of the overcomplicated coincidences used in the deathly Rube Goldberg contraptions, which of course are controlled and designed by Death himself. A conceptionally exceptional and immortal idea, with one hell of a killer concept on top of it, but is the execution merely a shadow of the exemplary set-up?
Looking at the aftermath of 'Final Destination' it did really well for itself, but obviously the film was going to make some money considering the cast and concept. Well, maybe not the cast, but more because of the fact that it looks to be a teen slasher terror type of film, which is always something that turns into a box office hit. It wasn't even a hit and run either, since it spawned countless sequels as well, though the first one was definitely dying to have more than one movie right from the start. But why is this a little out of the comfort zone of the dead cold hands of Hollywood? Well for one, the killer isn't even visible, and second, the cast was more or less stripped from big timers apart from Seann William Scott in his prime. And of course, how can one forget the legend Tony Todd in one of his best roles ever, though he unfortunately never had his entire story told. But he was a fun character in the first one, a strangely mysterious figure looking like Devil’s right hand man, and despite working death people on a daily basis he knew a little too much about plots and patterns of the underworld.
But people knew nothing about Tony Todd being in it when taking off to see this film, so what really made them head for the theatre? Well, undoubtedly, what truly had people holding their breath in the seats was to see other people lose theirs up on the screen. Those creative and nerve-wracking death scenes have basically caused the popularity of the franchise, and it is also the most interesting thing about it. The characters are passable but painfully cliché and the story is basically a death trap within itself, rolling away and crushing things from left to right without further course – except for the curse of death that drives the film and plot forward, of course. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is you don't really need further convincing; once you see that first death scene you don't have a care in the world for well-written plots or fleshed out characters - well you do want to see these characters fleshed out, but not in the typical sense of the word. Instead we are impatiently waiting to witness the next person getting impaled, burned, decapitated or whatever excellent executions Death has in his back pocket. This film is just so much fun, though we aren't cheated for slightly frightening scenarios either, even if those are never meant to be more but merely a cold chill down the spine. Because this movie is clearly about the thrills and kills and certainly it deserves the attention for delivering deathly great fun for most of its runtime!
As mentioned before, this film does have some unnerving elements to it, which works tremendously well for the atmosphere and overall experience. That said, it is clear that it wants to be more fun than fearsome, since there are many silly scenes where it plays it all for laughs or thrilling screams. It is a weird contrast though, since the opening death scene is freaking terrifying and extremely realistically executed, while seeing Alex trying to triple-safe his surroundings comes off as super silly; pretty much appearing like a spoof on itself. On the other hand, here the director has a chance to show off his skill for creating tension out of pure nothingness, making eating a can of tuna more terrifying than ever. This proves that he can create a scene with tension and has a flair for triggering fear within his audience. He can work with pretty much anything, even stuff without climax or build-up and still make it scary. So despite the lighter tone it still holds a darker core, which never fails to interfere with your mind when you think you can foreshadow Death's next step in his master plan. The fact that Death can come creeping when you are least expecting it, presented as this uncontrollable and inescapable element, which is always lurking in the shadows when the time has come - that is freaking unsettling!
Unfortunately, the film looses its tight grip on death-defying battles towards the finale of the film. Here, the movie dives into horrible heroism and laughable character decisions, which makes the movie come across as even more unbelievable than those deathly puzzles of perfection we previously saw. It seemed like the studio wanted more romance and dramatic strength, but it only ruined the set-up in my opinion. But thankfully, we are granted an epic epilogue to the film, having the story reach a surprisingly effective little send off, which shows a sign (literally) of strength from the directorial department, wanting to leave the audience with something more than the usual… This ending smashes the romantic aspect and instead finishes with something way more fitting for the franchise – a fatal finale, which comes swinging out of nowhere and makes us all hungry for more. This first ‘FD’ feature is good enough to avoid both F and D ratings in my opinion, but it is definitely cheesy and has that late nineties feel to it. But just for the concept alone, 'Final Destination' was destined to become a great success.
__________________________
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
228 .......................... 247
__________________________
July 19th
—— 2000 ——
FINAL DESTINATION
—— horror ——
REWATCH
In death there are no accidents,
no coincidences, no mishaps, and no escapes...
The destination for this review is going to target towards the first film about those damned final fatalities, which moreover consists of five collective films, coming from the same never-dying franchise called 'Final Destination'... This film series has more or less successfully killed off people in creative ways for more than a decade, and though you may either like or dislike this franchise, you cannot deny the dominating influence or overall success it gathered within the genre – especially since it has been fairly consistent from beginning to end, with the exception of that god awful fourth entry. Looking at this franchise as a whole, it is damn impressive how it basically took the same concept and used it for five consecutive films – merely granting each of the individual stories with a tiny little twist or change of themes – as well as upping the grisly creativity of the overcomplicated coincidences used in the deathly Rube Goldberg contraptions, which of course are controlled and designed by Death himself. A conceptionally exceptional and immortal idea, with one hell of a killer concept on top of it, but is the execution merely a shadow of the exemplary set-up?
Looking at the aftermath of 'Final Destination' it did really well for itself, but obviously the film was going to make some money considering the cast and concept. Well, maybe not the cast, but more because of the fact that it looks to be a teen slasher terror type of film, which is always something that turns into a box office hit. It wasn't even a hit and run either, since it spawned countless sequels as well, though the first one was definitely dying to have more than one movie right from the start. But why is this a little out of the comfort zone of the dead cold hands of Hollywood? Well for one, the killer isn't even visible, and second, the cast was more or less stripped from big timers apart from Seann William Scott in his prime. And of course, how can one forget the legend Tony Todd in one of his best roles ever, though he unfortunately never had his entire story told. But he was a fun character in the first one, a strangely mysterious figure looking like Devil’s right hand man, and despite working death people on a daily basis he knew a little too much about plots and patterns of the underworld.
But people knew nothing about Tony Todd being in it when taking off to see this film, so what really made them head for the theatre? Well, undoubtedly, what truly had people holding their breath in the seats was to see other people lose theirs up on the screen. Those creative and nerve-wracking death scenes have basically caused the popularity of the franchise, and it is also the most interesting thing about it. The characters are passable but painfully cliché and the story is basically a death trap within itself, rolling away and crushing things from left to right without further course – except for the curse of death that drives the film and plot forward, of course. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is you don't really need further convincing; once you see that first death scene you don't have a care in the world for well-written plots or fleshed out characters - well you do want to see these characters fleshed out, but not in the typical sense of the word. Instead we are impatiently waiting to witness the next person getting impaled, burned, decapitated or whatever excellent executions Death has in his back pocket. This film is just so much fun, though we aren't cheated for slightly frightening scenarios either, even if those are never meant to be more but merely a cold chill down the spine. Because this movie is clearly about the thrills and kills and certainly it deserves the attention for delivering deathly great fun for most of its runtime!
As mentioned before, this film does have some unnerving elements to it, which works tremendously well for the atmosphere and overall experience. That said, it is clear that it wants to be more fun than fearsome, since there are many silly scenes where it plays it all for laughs or thrilling screams. It is a weird contrast though, since the opening death scene is freaking terrifying and extremely realistically executed, while seeing Alex trying to triple-safe his surroundings comes off as super silly; pretty much appearing like a spoof on itself. On the other hand, here the director has a chance to show off his skill for creating tension out of pure nothingness, making eating a can of tuna more terrifying than ever. This proves that he can create a scene with tension and has a flair for triggering fear within his audience. He can work with pretty much anything, even stuff without climax or build-up and still make it scary. So despite the lighter tone it still holds a darker core, which never fails to interfere with your mind when you think you can foreshadow Death's next step in his master plan. The fact that Death can come creeping when you are least expecting it, presented as this uncontrollable and inescapable element, which is always lurking in the shadows when the time has come - that is freaking unsettling!
Unfortunately, the film looses its tight grip on death-defying battles towards the finale of the film. Here, the movie dives into horrible heroism and laughable character decisions, which makes the movie come across as even more unbelievable than those deathly puzzles of perfection we previously saw. It seemed like the studio wanted more romance and dramatic strength, but it only ruined the set-up in my opinion. But thankfully, we are granted an epic epilogue to the film, having the story reach a surprisingly effective little send off, which shows a sign (literally) of strength from the directorial department, wanting to leave the audience with something more than the usual… This ending smashes the romantic aspect and instead finishes with something way more fitting for the franchise – a fatal finale, which comes swinging out of nowhere and makes us all hungry for more. This first ‘FD’ feature is good enough to avoid both F and D ratings in my opinion, but it is definitely cheesy and has that late nineties feel to it. But just for the concept alone, 'Final Destination' was destined to become a great success.
__________________________
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Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
228 .......................... 248
__________________________
July 20th
—— 2013 ——
THE TALE OF
THE PRINCESS KAGUYA
—— anime ——
I have always been interested in experiencing this acclaimed anime, almost ever since I learned it could very well be Studio Ghibli’s last film. If that was to happen, I hoped this would at least be a beautiful swan song to the studio and their success. Back when I looked the movie up online, I was blown backwards by the beautiful traditional use of watercolors, meshing perfectly with a traditional folk tale approach, told in respectful manner, about a princess born in a bamboo out in the bushes of Japan. I love myths, legends and old tales from old times, and I have always been very fond of Japanese culture and art. This seemed to be a film that could hit the spot for me and I very much looked forward to it...
Unfortunately, the story was mostly a major bore and the beautiful backgrounds and impressive animation couldn’t keep me in good enough company throughout the entire runtime. Maybe this is a harsh way of starting out here, but though the magic was present the pace kept me from getting truly captured by it. I thought the ideas and tone was quite good, but everything was dragged beyond the barriers of an average individual's attention span. First off, it takes forever to get going and it actually took me two times to get through the first thirty minutes of this movie. I can clearly see the point in portraying the princess' character and the environment she grows up in; how she learns about life and nature's many wonders and how and why the movie needs to properly present her eternal love for this place – both in time and space. Many of these things become important later on and is referenced throughout the film, but the pace is painfully slow and I don't even think the time is spent properly. Things could definitely have been cut shorter, made tighter and appeared all the more impactful for it.
Thankfully the film picks up once the story does, which is when the tale is finally about the princess Kaguya, and not the peculiar child named Kaguya. The film gave me something to care for and think about at last, which was what I was missing earlier on. Finally, the story about a princess born in a bamboo began to bring fruition and the faded appearance of the film suddenly appeared colorful with concepts and discussions. There was plenty of pondering talk about Japanese culture and the ways of being a proper princess, which all worked really well for the movie and awarded the 2D-animated characters with some three-dimensional personalities. There was one character I enjoyed in particular and that was the father, or rather finder, of Kaguya. I really enjoyed to follow the father and the changes to his character; how greedy he became over time, when awarded with fame and fortune and how he didn't do much for his daughter, but more for his princess, and most for himself. It was interesting to see him evolve and lose track of time and place, which made him regret certain things and carry out traditions he didn't even understand much. The mother was obviously the counterpart, who understood Kaguya a whole lot better and wanted what was best for her.
I also really loved the scene where all the potential future husbands came along, where we would be watching each and every one of them trying to win her heart by comparing her beauty to all sorts of supernatural and non-existing stuff. This made the princess suggest that they should all travel out into the open world, and bring home these particular items, which they had never even seen, to a girl they had never even met. Of course, nobody was able to fetch the actual things for her, though they all tried to be creative in various ways. In the end though, she had no intention of marrying after the traditions anyways, since they contradicted with her personality and perception of life. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't follow through with this part of the story, and well, it hardly even began with it after all, so obviously this results in a confused kind of film. It isn't exactly muddled, but it feels like the movie wants to go down three different roads and ends up trying them all throughout, while never walking either of them to the end. Instead it ends up feeling unconnected and unfocused, first walking from a very spiritual and innocent opening, then to a cultural and personal middle, all the way to a magical and mystical fairytale finale.
A fairytale ending might sound like the perfect ending to a magical folk tale, but it felt so rushed, unfinished and out of place. It may be part of the traditional tale, I wouldn't know, but to those experiencing it for the first time, it felt jammed in there and appearing out of nowhere. Suddenly it was all about these moon people coming to take the princess away and every aspect of their origin story felt clipped loosely together like a last minute addition. That might be the only thing feeling rushed about this film though, since the rest dragged much further than the story could handle. Basically, this could have been a very interesting short film, if they hadn't set out to make a feature length film out of what feels like three separate short stories.
With all the above said about the story aspects of the film, it generally presented it all in a tone that felt very true to the traditions of telling a classic legend. There are a lot of themes being repeated throughout – like they should in these kind of stories – and the magical elements are largely shown in just the right way as well. It felt like the director respected the source material and tried to tell it all in a poetic way, which went hand in hand with the mesmerizing images, and this did save it from becoming a total tedious tale of boredom. It may sound like the negativity is very strong compared to the positive notes, but fact is that I’m mostly mad that this film wasn’t as good as it clearly could have been. It had so much potential, but everything seemed to be left in the animation and not the animated film itself. This is a beautiful living painting without much message or meaning, it brushes most of its themes off way too quickly; ultimately appearing as a confused work of art by a talented artist.
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HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
228 .......................... 248
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July 20th
—— 2013 ——
THE TALE OF
THE PRINCESS KAGUYA
—— anime ——
I have always been interested in experiencing this acclaimed anime, almost ever since I learned it could very well be Studio Ghibli’s last film. If that was to happen, I hoped this would at least be a beautiful swan song to the studio and their success. Back when I looked the movie up online, I was blown backwards by the beautiful traditional use of watercolors, meshing perfectly with a traditional folk tale approach, told in respectful manner, about a princess born in a bamboo out in the bushes of Japan. I love myths, legends and old tales from old times, and I have always been very fond of Japanese culture and art. This seemed to be a film that could hit the spot for me and I very much looked forward to it...
Unfortunately, the story was mostly a major bore and the beautiful backgrounds and impressive animation couldn’t keep me in good enough company throughout the entire runtime. Maybe this is a harsh way of starting out here, but though the magic was present the pace kept me from getting truly captured by it. I thought the ideas and tone was quite good, but everything was dragged beyond the barriers of an average individual's attention span. First off, it takes forever to get going and it actually took me two times to get through the first thirty minutes of this movie. I can clearly see the point in portraying the princess' character and the environment she grows up in; how she learns about life and nature's many wonders and how and why the movie needs to properly present her eternal love for this place – both in time and space. Many of these things become important later on and is referenced throughout the film, but the pace is painfully slow and I don't even think the time is spent properly. Things could definitely have been cut shorter, made tighter and appeared all the more impactful for it.
Thankfully the film picks up once the story does, which is when the tale is finally about the princess Kaguya, and not the peculiar child named Kaguya. The film gave me something to care for and think about at last, which was what I was missing earlier on. Finally, the story about a princess born in a bamboo began to bring fruition and the faded appearance of the film suddenly appeared colorful with concepts and discussions. There was plenty of pondering talk about Japanese culture and the ways of being a proper princess, which all worked really well for the movie and awarded the 2D-animated characters with some three-dimensional personalities. There was one character I enjoyed in particular and that was the father, or rather finder, of Kaguya. I really enjoyed to follow the father and the changes to his character; how greedy he became over time, when awarded with fame and fortune and how he didn't do much for his daughter, but more for his princess, and most for himself. It was interesting to see him evolve and lose track of time and place, which made him regret certain things and carry out traditions he didn't even understand much. The mother was obviously the counterpart, who understood Kaguya a whole lot better and wanted what was best for her.
I also really loved the scene where all the potential future husbands came along, where we would be watching each and every one of them trying to win her heart by comparing her beauty to all sorts of supernatural and non-existing stuff. This made the princess suggest that they should all travel out into the open world, and bring home these particular items, which they had never even seen, to a girl they had never even met. Of course, nobody was able to fetch the actual things for her, though they all tried to be creative in various ways. In the end though, she had no intention of marrying after the traditions anyways, since they contradicted with her personality and perception of life. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't follow through with this part of the story, and well, it hardly even began with it after all, so obviously this results in a confused kind of film. It isn't exactly muddled, but it feels like the movie wants to go down three different roads and ends up trying them all throughout, while never walking either of them to the end. Instead it ends up feeling unconnected and unfocused, first walking from a very spiritual and innocent opening, then to a cultural and personal middle, all the way to a magical and mystical fairytale finale.
A fairytale ending might sound like the perfect ending to a magical folk tale, but it felt so rushed, unfinished and out of place. It may be part of the traditional tale, I wouldn't know, but to those experiencing it for the first time, it felt jammed in there and appearing out of nowhere. Suddenly it was all about these moon people coming to take the princess away and every aspect of their origin story felt clipped loosely together like a last minute addition. That might be the only thing feeling rushed about this film though, since the rest dragged much further than the story could handle. Basically, this could have been a very interesting short film, if they hadn't set out to make a feature length film out of what feels like three separate short stories.
With all the above said about the story aspects of the film, it generally presented it all in a tone that felt very true to the traditions of telling a classic legend. There are a lot of themes being repeated throughout – like they should in these kind of stories – and the magical elements are largely shown in just the right way as well. It felt like the director respected the source material and tried to tell it all in a poetic way, which went hand in hand with the mesmerizing images, and this did save it from becoming a total tedious tale of boredom. It may sound like the negativity is very strong compared to the positive notes, but fact is that I’m mostly mad that this film wasn’t as good as it clearly could have been. It had so much potential, but everything seemed to be left in the animation and not the animated film itself. This is a beautiful living painting without much message or meaning, it brushes most of its themes off way too quickly; ultimately appearing as a confused work of art by a talented artist.
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Looks like swan songs are just not Ghibli's strong point
But Studio Ghibli have created an array of masterpieces over the years, that are amongst the greatest films of all time, animated or not, and they'll always remain the ones to beat in terms of quality within animated features, and (in my opinion) Disney, Dreamworks, Pixar and Laika have never really came close to matching even an average Ghibli film, and they probably never will.
I hope both Takahata and Miyazaki enjoy their retirements, they thoroughly deserve to. I'm glad Takahata received an Oscar nom too, even if this film wasn't great, although it's a shame he didn't collect one like Miyazaki did.
Great review though MM, loved it!
But Studio Ghibli have created an array of masterpieces over the years, that are amongst the greatest films of all time, animated or not, and they'll always remain the ones to beat in terms of quality within animated features, and (in my opinion) Disney, Dreamworks, Pixar and Laika have never really came close to matching even an average Ghibli film, and they probably never will.
I hope both Takahata and Miyazaki enjoy their retirements, they thoroughly deserve to. I'm glad Takahata received an Oscar nom too, even if this film wasn't great, although it's a shame he didn't collect one like Miyazaki did.
Great review though MM, loved it!
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Looks like swan songs are just not Ghibli's strong point
But Studio Ghibli have created an array of masterpieces over the years, that are amongst the greatest films of all time, animated or not, and they'll always remain the ones to beat in terms of quality within animated features, and (in my opinion) Disney, Dreamworks, Pixar and Laika have never really came close to matching even an average Ghibli film, and they probably never will.
I hope both Takahata and Miyazaki enjoy their retirements, they thoroughly deserve to. I'm glad Takahata received an Oscar nom too, even if this film wasn't great, although it's a shame he didn't collect one like Miyazaki did.
Great review though MM, loved it!
But Studio Ghibli have created an array of masterpieces over the years, that are amongst the greatest films of all time, animated or not, and they'll always remain the ones to beat in terms of quality within animated features, and (in my opinion) Disney, Dreamworks, Pixar and Laika have never really came close to matching even an average Ghibli film, and they probably never will.
I hope both Takahata and Miyazaki enjoy their retirements, they thoroughly deserve to. I'm glad Takahata received an Oscar nom too, even if this film wasn't great, although it's a shame he didn't collect one like Miyazaki did.
Great review though MM, loved it!
I'm disappointed I didn't like it more, but it was fairly good, at least the animation was stunning and different from the usual stuff.
What's your top 5 Ghibli?
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Thank you for checking it out and leaving a comment, appreciate it as always, CiCi!
I'm disappointed I didn't like it more, but it was fairly good, at least the animation was stunning and different from the usual stuff.
What's your top 5 Ghibli?
I'm disappointed I didn't like it more, but it was fairly good, at least the animation was stunning and different from the usual stuff.
What's your top 5 Ghibli?
Okay, this a big ask, so here goes
1. Spirited Away
2. Howl's Moving Castle
3. Grave of the Fireflies
4. From Up on Poppy Hill (hugely underrated imo)
5. Princess Mononoke (I really liked this film, but not as much as some other people)
I'd say these are my top 5 animated films too, what about you though?
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No problem MM! I love this thread and your reviews!
Okay, this a big ask, so here goes
1. Spirited Away
2. Howl's Moving Castle
3. Grave of the Fireflies
4. From Up on Poppy Hill (hugely underrated imo)
5. Princess Mononoke (I really liked this film, but not as much as some other people)
I'd say these are my top 5 animated films too, what about you though?
Okay, this a big ask, so here goes
1. Spirited Away
2. Howl's Moving Castle
3. Grave of the Fireflies
4. From Up on Poppy Hill (hugely underrated imo)
5. Princess Mononoke (I really liked this film, but not as much as some other people)
I'd say these are my top 5 animated films too, what about you though?
1. Castle in the Sky
2. Princess Mononoke
3. Spirited Away
4. Grave of the Fireflies
5. My Neighbor Totoro
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I haven't seen nearly enough from Ghibli, but I guess it looks something like this,
1. Castle in the Sky
2. Princess Mononoke
3. Spirited Away
4. Grave of the Fireflies
5. My Neighbor Totoro
1. Castle in the Sky
2. Princess Mononoke
3. Spirited Away
4. Grave of the Fireflies
5. My Neighbor Totoro
I haven't seen Castle in the Sky yet, I think I'm going to have to now
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