MovieMeditation’s Diary Reviews // “Come and meditate with me!”

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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
10-13-16
I've kinda faded away from bleak movies though when one done VERY well comes along I do try to check it out, so Shame may very well fit that criteria.

And you ARE welcome, MM. As always -- my pleasure



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Friendo.
10-21-16
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... viewing day count
260 .......................... 297
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October 25th

—— 1991 ——
Beauty
and the
Beast
—— animation ——
DISNEY CLASSIC no.30

REWATCH
Disney dims down the exterior without dumbing down the interior and presents
what is probably their most restrained and well-rounded release as of yet

‘Beauty and the Beast’ is a beautifully animated film that works both as a fantasy world for the eyes, a feast for the ears and a fascinating fairytale for the heart and soul. Drawing a line between the early days of Disney and the newly rendered Renaissance of the animation studio is something that is fairly easy to do, since so much looked to be going on at the time. The studio began to deliver some deeper, darker and more controlled creations, which stood out for their quality and craftsmanship. When compared to other works by Disney, this film right here feels like a completely different beast all together…

Opening with musical number that sets the tone and tells us a little about the town and the characters in it, this movie is already flying fast and far above the sky right from the start. Actually, the frame is literally flying above and around the beautifully animated city, pushing the technology of panning and constantly changing compositions in revolutionary ways. Disney definitely didn’t put a lid on the fact that they had become capable of creating pans and spins with such expressive cinematic eloquence. I seem to remember a scene in particular, out of the obvious ones like the ball room dance, which had Mrs. Potts and Chip in it and used a beautiful pan. It comes to mind because I seem to recall the fact that I dubbed it the “pots and pans” scene. And talking about pots and pans and whatnot, the musical number ‘Be Our Guest’ comes to mind, which is just so beautiful and entertaining.



The story of the beast is deep, detailed and dangerously sympathetic. How he was once a prince, brought up on his desire and surrounded by luxury, confronted by the ugliness of the realities of our world that he knew nothing of, only to be cursed for his apparent selfishness and arrogance. Alone in a castle and challenged by time, he must find someone who can love him for who he is. But is there anyone out there who can look past the predatory appearance of his outer, which is also reflected inward? Can he change fast enough and convince the world in time? Luckily, the perfect girl is out there and her name is Belle. Unfortunately, she has already caught the attention of another person, the arrogant imbecile, Gaston, who actually loves himself more than anyone else. He is the direct opposite of the beast, a man who is all muscle and no heart (or mind for that matter). Anyways, Belle has no interest in Gaston for obvious reasons and when a string of unfortunate events brings Belle and the beast together, they both realize that these unfortunate events might be fate after all.

As the song goes, this tale is truly as old as time, but Disney manages to magnify the movie by bringing their trademark magic and mindset to an otherwise worn out thought immensely wonderful tale. The telling of beauty and the beast has been told time and time again, and while it is definitely timeless, the story is not free from failing and merely fumbling with greatness won't guarantee success. Disney could have easily bowed under to elevated entertainment instead of evolved emotions or made this movie too cute for the otherwise cold and rather depressing premise. Thankfully, Disney dances with ease between both beast and man, creating a very balanced story of beauty, love and tragedy with a little bit of humor and a great deal of heart. To be honest, this might be Disney at their most daring and down to earth yet. It feels like they have finally come close to creating a real movie, with real characters and genuine emotions…

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Friendo.
11-06-16
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... viewing day count
261 .......................... 299
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October 27th

—— 2011 ——
THE RAID
—— action ——
REWATCH


One ruthless crime lord, twenty elite cops, thirty floors of hell...
(...but there is actually fourteen)

'The Raid' takes no hostages and gets straight to business with bone breaks and bad ass attitudes, in this adrenaline-fueled non-stop crime-cop Indonesian action movie, directed by Welshman, Gareth Evans. The story is straight-forward and stripped down to the most bareboned excuse for a martial arts medley, but the so-called plot does a decent enough job of elevating every action element to the uppermost level – or the uppermost floor in this case. As an audience, we get a short subjective introduction to who we are going to follow for the majority of the film, Rama, then quickly cut to him and the rest of the special tactics team, getting ready to raid the fourteen-floor building and eventually take out the towering boss of it all, Tama Riyadi, who is controlling everything from the top floor…

It is certainly a simple plot but surely a not-so-simple mission, as the tactic team plays a lethal tag game on a silence to kill basis, where they slowly but surely move their way upwards, hopefully unharmed and unnoticed. But unfortunately some very unlucky circumstances occur, leading to unfortunate judgments, which then leads to the sound of the alarm and our heroic team rapidly goes from being the capturers to the captured. A huge chunk of the team is terminated to the rain of machine gun bullets and from this point on, the point and shoot scenario is pretty much over and done with and the point of a plot goes with it. Now it is all about the martial arts ballet rather than the machine-ammo-bullets and our heroes must fight their way to the top in the most brutally beautiful way imaginable.

The camera work in this film is wonderful and extremely elegant for such an elevated level of lunacy and everlasting action. Pretty much every action beat and every heartbeat of our main characters is captured correctly and carefully, so that we feel the action instead of having our reaction time fumble with the fact that quick cuts and shaky cam just can't cut it quite the same. Gareth Evans knows how to slice and dice and spice things up just the right amount and despite of the one-way whirlwind of action it is the most diverse “monotone action movie” I have seen. The story and characters could use more angles, but the camera almost makes up for it with all the angles that it captures in place of the story. 'The Raid' is an extremely violent film, but the martial arts elegancy brings beauty to the brutality and adds lightness and ease to the tough-to-watch weight of the violence. The film goes full throttle for most of its runtime and comes perfectly to a climax of carefully choreographed hand-to-hand-to-head-to-knee-to-foot combat with the choreographer himself, who is playing the role of Mad Dog.

I must admit that when I'm done being absolutely astonished by the amazing fight sequences, I do find myself wishing for more weight to the plot, especially in terms of emotional involvement. But even with that said, the relationship of the brothers as well as the brilliantly tense apartment break-in slash hiding slash slight slashing of the face does confirm the fact that this director knows how to film tension without the tempo, tentatively, and tell a story without the plot, per say. I actually did care for the brothers and their relationship and especially the main character, Rama, had great "chemistry with the camera" and great balance between the amazing but atypical action hero and the everyday unlucky individual. ‘The Raid’ is a ride any action-freak out there should watch, especially if you are a fan of the martial arts approach. It is very entertaining and might not floor you with sentimental sugarcoating like your typical drama, but with the fourteen floors this film has to work with, you are in for a wild rollercoaster ride that will make your body feel sore despite of sitting down through the entire movie…



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11-06-16
Nice review, thoroughly enjoyed The Raid when I watched it. Reminds me I really ought to get round to the sequel (which I have but am still yet to watch) once the sci-fi countdown gets underway.



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Friendo.
11-06-16
Originally Posted by Chypmunk
Nice review, thoroughly enjoyed The Raid when I watched it. Reminds me I really ought to get round to the sequel (which I have but am still yet to watch) once the sci-fi countdown gets underway.
Sequel review coming tonight or tomorrow.

There will be slight spoilers, but I'll warn where and when.

Thanks for checking in, Chyp!



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11-06-16
Originally Posted by MovieMeditation
Sequel review coming tonight or tomorrow.

There will be slight spoilers, but I'll warn where and when.
Look forward to it



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11-07-16
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... viewing day count
262 .......................... 300
__________________________


October 28th

—— 2014 ——
THE RAID 2
B E R A N D A L
—— action ——
REWATCH


The underdog martial arts
action flick gets a long awaited sequel...

'The Raid' was a mesmerizing martial arts ballet, but had it been a modern art musical ballet instead, it had been a raw, deep bassline brought forward with tempo and skill, while also being surprisingly light on its toes and elegant with its efficiency (shout out IndieWire). ‘The Raid 2’, however, metaphorically feels like the whole entire symphony setting in, going from the light blows of trumpets to the trumpeting tense aura of the familiar bass of the first film – though double the bass and double the trouble that our hero has to face. Even aggressive violins could channel the violence in the movie and one could even say there is a distant hint of organ-like ambiance present, since the movie reaches almost heavenly heights in this hasty hell ride of actual organs being slashed, bashed and broken throughout its 150 minutes of martial arts madness. 'The Raid 2' is honestly beyond bad-ass, while being bigger, bolder and bloodier than the first film… but is it better as well?

'The Raid 2' starts way out in left field, though literally so, since the film opens in an open field with the brother of Rama – the latter who was the main character of the first film. The film follows the footsteps of the plot of the first film and Rama is quickly tracked down and dragged deep into the criminal underworld in order to take down corrupt police officials, gangs and crime lords. This time around, director Gareth Evans has made an attempt to magnify his martial arts extravaganza to even greater heights, by adding elaborate story to the action elements, while structuring everything around a grander scale with a “wannabe godfather-esque” glimpse in the eye. Some people have complained about cutting patterns and adding palettes in a "pointless" straight-lined black-and-white action concept, but personally – simple as it might be – I think the story structure adds different beats and distinctive tempo to the action set pieces and it actually feels like a movie and not an action montage.



The first raid had “fourteen stories” and “fourteen layers” to work with, figuratively speaking, yet it was missing depth and an elaborate evolution of the characters and story. I enjoy and admire the hit and run concept of the first film, but I love how the sequel takes time to get up to speed, shift the gears just right and then hit a top speed the first film never came close to; that 30-minute action-filled finale is the most manic mash-up of crash, bash and splash (in that order) martial art insanity I have ever been a witness to. I never knew I could hold my breath for 30 minutes until I watched this movie… my God, what a (shotgun) blast it was! So apart from its ultra-violent nature, leaning on an outrageous and almost comical angle, as well as its extended story fundament, working well but withholding the action for some, this motion picture is a prime example of what a good action film should be. ‘The Raid 2’ is based on action, driven by action and lifted by action, thereby making it an action movie of the truest kind in my opinion. I understand the complains, but that said, every complaint should come with at least one compliment to the action itself and the actors making it all possible. That, ladies and gentlemen, is martian arts and skills not of this world.

Since the backbone of the movie is the action, the backstory of Rama is still narrow and build on the bare necessities of emotional involvement. But nevertheless, I thought it worked well as a subtle glimpse into the personal life of our protagonist, coming off as an anti-close up investment from our side, almost like we are the fly on the wall in the midst of wonder, love, sadness and tragedy… It is slight but sufficient and I thought it gave just enough estimated emotion to energize the character and create a spark in our minds as well. The overall plot progression contains a decent dose of family troubles – both blood and gang related – as well as revenge, backstabbing and actual stabbing as well, obviously. There is especially two people who stand out for their obvious though intended outrageousness (just look at their credited character name), who you definitely don’t want to run into at night. One gives the term “hammer time” a bad rep and the other is someone you definitely don’t want to go to first base with… well, even for his reputation you kind of didn’t want to in the first place either, but whatever…

start of spoilers // There is also a middle piece with the actor who played Mad Dog in the first film, now playing a different character, which seemed to confuse some people – both in terms of who he was and what his purpose was in the story. Personally, I see him almost as an inhuman force of nature – a folktale, a martial arts ancient God of sorts or a grim reaper walking the earth – and a plot device as he might be in the end of it all, we are showed his unmatched skills as a martial artist, kicking and killing every obstacle in his way, right up until he meets his match, who leaves him mangled in the blood-soaked snow, showing the audience just how astronomically skillful the murderer is. Because the man who managed to beat the unbeatable, is the same man who shall evidently end up in a fight with our hero, which gives the audience both perspective and anticipation. // end of spoilers And from here on out everything builds nicely, with each action scene being better than the last one, up until the grisly grand finale. 'The Raid 2' is much longer than its predecessor, but it seems more persistent and powerfully executed as well – and with way more executions than the first one had – which also makes it feel more epic as a whole and with an explosive finale that should silence every critic out there…



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BONUS - click for my short write-up in the RTLMYS thread
Last edited by MovieMeditation; 11-07-16 at 06:41 PM.



Chypmunk's Avatar
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11-07-16
Nice to see a high rating for it - I'll actually read what you've said tomorrow MM after I've watched the film (I nearly watched it this afternoon but had too much stuff to do and could only fit a shorter film in) 'cos I'm really not keen on reading about things before I watch 'em



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11-07-16
Who knows - I might even put both on as a double feature I'll deffo pop back in here afterwards either way



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Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave
11-07-16
I loved the first Raid film, it's a real favourite of mine. However I found the sequel rather underwhelming. One of the things I liked about the first film was just how sparse and direct it was; it was just a pure action film and nothing else. By contrast I felt that the sequel was somewhat bloated and during stretches focused on the story I just wanted them to get back to the kicking and punching!

I have however only seen it once and have been hoping that whenever I get round to rewatching it I enjoy it a lot more. Perhaps my expectations were just too high on that initial viewing



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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
11-08-16
Love the audacious flip from Beauty and the Beast To the two Raid movies!! Going from one end of the scope to the other while still retaining the musical verse of conveying your thoughts on all of them. Bravo!

Been ages since I saw B&B though I did thoroughly enjoy it. Remember chuckling at Gaston's song as well as being caught up in the story itself and how Disney seemed to bring the camera work to a wondrous serpentine life.

Both Raid movies are jaw-dropping in both action and how that action is captured. I did go into Raid 2 very biased and need to see it again just to give it it's proper due. Til then I remain a bigger fan of the first; it was my #1 for the action list. Though both are truly incredible, adrenaline overdoses.



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11-08-16
Ok, said I'd be back after watching both and here I am
Sadly whilst I respect your write-up and opinion MM I'm not on the same page as you with regards the sequel - I have to admit to being quite disappointed on initial viewing and my overriding feeling is that it was a little too ambitious an attempt The action is for the most part still well executed and presented though



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Friendo.
11-08-16
Originally Posted by Chypmunk
Ok, said I'd be back after watching both and here I am
Sadly whilst I respect your write-up and opinion MM I'm not on the same page as you with regards the sequel - I have to admit to being quite disappointed on initial viewing and my overriding feeling is that it was a little too ambitious an attempt The action is for the most part still well executed and presented though
Awesome you kept your promise!

Sad to see you less impressed by it. I understand though and your comments is a criticism I can't exactly argue with. But personally I love it all the same.



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11-08-16
I'll re-watch it on it's own at some point - see if that elevates it any. Also it won't suffer from trying to meet expectations next time I give it a spin so may get a little more out of it.



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11-14-16
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... viewing day count
263 .......................... 303
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October 31st

—— 1985 ——
FRIGHT
NIGHT
—— horror ——



If you love being scared...
it'll be the night of your life!

This was my Halloween midnight movie of past year and it was a long overdue film I was determined to watch and what better way or time than Halloween Night? Because in many ways, this vampire creature feature film is the perfect one to find a path onto a personal and peculiar filmic fright fest in the spirit of spirits, on All Hallows’ Eve itself. I mean, with a title like 'Fright Night', it already seems to succumb itself into a truly terrifyingly good time and surrender to something that may be both humorous and horrific at the same time!

And thankfully so, it absolutely is the exact above! This is a movie that isn't straight up horror comedy, but oh my evil spirits does it entertain the hell out of you and with a tone that is like a match made in horror heaven! It makes you laugh, smile and feel scared and often all at the same time and it is a blast from the past of the popular 80s era, pouring out with the distinct campy, cheesy and bloody good fun! I can certainly relate and reside with the cult following this film has earned and all the love it has been given by film freaks and fright fanatics all over the world. And maybe surprisingly, this was indeed the first time I watched this vampire vanity of ever evolving entertainment.

I loved the satirical and ironic inside jokes and jabs the film had and the glimpse in the eye that was present throughout many parts of the scenes. The whole deal with the television actor playing priest turned real life priest and the towering performance by Chris Sarandon as the main manly next-door neighbor turned next-door demon are all things adding to the experience. The special effects are awesome and whatever they lack in modern standards they make up for in masterful mood setting and serious fun! The entire atmosphere in the movie is simply to die for and as stated earlier it is especially the ever changing tone that works wonders for the film as a whole. I'm constantly surprised by how fast and fluent this film can change its "filmic faces" and go from drama, to thriller to comedy and back again... “there and back again”, a vampire’s tale by Tom Holland.

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11-14-16
I saw Fright Night at the movies when it came out, and I've watched it many times since. I don't think it has aged particularly well, but I will always love it. I thought the remake was mediocre at best.



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Friendo.
11-15-16
Originally Posted by cricket
I saw Fright Night at the movies when it came out, and I've watched it many times since. I don't think it has aged particularly well, but I will always love it. I thought the remake was mediocre at best.
I liked the remake when I saw it (that was before I saw the original). A lot of people seemed to like it.

But awesome you like this one too, cricket! You seen the sequel?



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11-15-16
Pretty sure I dvr'd Fright Night during Hallowe'en but not yet got around to watching it .... been an awful lot of full moons since I last saw it so not sure at all how it will hold up but I used to enjoy it. I'll have to try and squeeze it in amongst all the SF at some point.

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