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Kazu Kibuishi recommended Ikiru (1952) in Movies (curated)

 
Ikiru (1952)
Ikiru (1952)
1952 | Drama
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"I’m going to end this list with a request that you also seek out Kurosawa’s Dreams after you see this movie. Dreams is my absolute favorite film of all time, and when you bookend it with Ikiru, the experience is quite amazing. Ikiru is the story of a long-tenured public servant who discovers he only has a year to live. He makes a last-ditch effort to bring meaning to his existence by working tirelessly to build a children’s playground. It is the work of an artist feeling he has not done enough substantive work in his life—a romanticized notion that our daily routine is often meaningless save for a few charitable acts. It is our fears as a young mind. Over the years, Kurosawa would endure a tumultuous career that nearly ended in an act of attempted suicide. Now consider Dreams, a film coproduced by Steven Spielberg and featuring Martin Scorsese in a cameo as Vincent Van Gogh. These filmmakers, along with George Lucas, would rally behind Kurosawa in the ’80s and help him make a comeback with Kagemusha and Ran (both on Criterion), winning him a Palme d’Or and an Academy Award nomination while also bringing back to light his incomparable portfolio of works (Lucas would very often recount how The Hidden Fortress was the narrative inspiration for Star Wars). Dreams, to me, feels a bit like a representation of the playground that Kurosawa built through his works, and the children he inspired coming out to thank him for it. I can watch this movie again and again forever. Criterion has an amazing collection of twenty-five films by Kurosawa. I cannot recommend watching his entire body of work highly enough, as it is perhaps the best documentation of a commercial artist in the modern age."

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Erika (17789 KP) rated Shazam! (2019) in Movies

Apr 5, 2019 (Updated Apr 5, 2019)  
Shazam! (2019)
Shazam! (2019)
2019 | Action, Sci-Fi
The outfits with fake padded muscles (0 more)
Firstly, I cannot stand the strange, padded muscles on Shazam. I guess it's kind of meant to look jokey? Was it intentional? It bothered me the entire movie. I also have a problem with people playing multiple superheroes.
The story for the film was entertaining throughout, but it was a little long. It could have definitely done with a good edit. I did actually laugh in the theater, but I don't think it was really funny enough to be a comedy. It was strange, it was trying to be for both kids and adults, but was too adult for kids, and too kiddish for adults, if that makes sense.
  
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Stephen (210 KP) rated The Belko Experiment (2017) in Movies

Jun 2, 2019 (Updated Jun 3, 2019)  
The Belko Experiment (2017)
The Belko Experiment (2017)
2017 | Action, Horror, Mystery
If anybody asks me what I consider a 100% perfect movie, this is the one I would recommend. Although it’s tough to watch, with it’s shocking brutality, it’s also beautiful to watch. The use of the songs used on the soundtrack heighten the beauty of the movie’s horrifically violent scenes, which is one of the reasons that this film is so perfect.

An amazing cast creates characters that you either love or hate, which ultimately makes certain characters’ deaths heartbreaking.

Apparently there are no plans for a sequel which is a real shame; this is an absolute classic and a work of real genius. Watch this, and prepare to be blown away.
  
Force of Nature (2020)
Force of Nature (2020)
2020 | Action
5
5.3 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
You get what you expect
I was intrigued to see what Mel Gibson was up to these days. And I pretty much got what I expected. This is a pretty much by the numbers action flick. You get all the cliches: Gibson's grizzled old vet, a mature cop with secrets, and the green rookie. They also throw in the stereotypic Latin gang and Bosworth's very generic doctor. It all flows as you'd expect with an ending a blind man can see a mile away. Set the bar low and wasn't disappointed. Just got some actiony cheese to fill some time. Just really hoping the talent in this movie raises the bar in their projects heading forward.
  
The Terminator (1984)
The Terminator (1984)
1984 | Action, Sci-Fi
Amazing classic, amazing action and definitely one of the best movies Arnold Schwarzenegger has made (even though the one with the Kindergarden is my favorite one, and also the one with the twins, with Danny DeVito).

The storyline is amazing, even though it made me think a bit deeper and visit some reddit pages for fan-based theories.

After a discussion with my partner though, we concluded that men mostly enjoy this movie because of (obviously) the action, but for me as a woman, the underrated romance was something that left a big mark and something I really enjoyed.

Forget Romeo and Juliet - this is the romance tragedy you want in your life!
  
The Nightingale (2018)
The Nightingale (2018)
2018 | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Aisling francosi (0 more)
Seeking Revenge
The Nightingale- is a excellent psychological revenge thriller. the intentisity is off the roofs. It is so suspenseful, thrilling and dramatic. Not sure why more people havent heard about this film. Cause its excellent. Plus the burtality and violence is also really good.

The plot: Clare, a young Irish convict, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness and is bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence the man committed against her family. On the way, she enlists the services of Aboriginal tracker Billy, who is marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.

If you havent seen this movie, i highly recordmend watching it.
  
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)
2019 | Action, Crime, Thriller
Prepare For War
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum is a 2019 neo-noir action film directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Derek Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, and Marc Abrams. The movie is based on a story by Derek Kolstad and produced by Thunder Road Pictures, 87Eleven Productions and distributed by Summit Entertainment. It stars Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane and Marc Dacascos.


After an unsanctioned killing at the New York City Continental, John Wick is now a marked man on the run. He is declared "excommunicado" and a $14 million dollar bounty placed on his head. Meanwhile, an adjudicator with the "High Table" meets with both Winston (Ian McShane), manager of the Continental, and the King of the Bowery (Laurence Fishburne), leader of a group of vagrant assassins. The adjudicator gives an ultimatum to both, give up their offices in seven days or face the consequences for aiding John Wick.


This movie does not disappoint. I cannot stress that enough. It's an adrenaline ride from beginning to end. The action scenes are just masterfully choreographed and the special effects make each kill more brutal than the last. It feels like they raised the bar with the violence and gore in this one. The introduction of Halle Berry's character and her dogs were a welcome addition and made this film unique when compared to the previous two. Also the adjudicator was a really good character and i liked the way she played into the plot throughout the whole movie. Marc Dacascos was probably my favorite character in this movie. I liked his character's personality a lot and how his faction had a big part in the film. He was actually pretty funny in certain scenes and i liked it, but I can see how some people would be critical of the lightheartedness in such a grim movie. If it wasn't for some villains giving John a chance when they shouldn't, and the fact that the 3rd act couldn't hold up with the first two, I couldn't find a lot to complain about in this film. It was freaking awesome. I give it a 8/10 and I give it my "must see seal of approval".
  
The Upside of Unrequited
The Upside of Unrequited
Becky Albertalli | 2017 | Young Adult (YA)
8
8.2 (25 Ratings)
Book Rating
After absolutely loving the audiobook version of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, I knew I wanted to listen to Becky Albertalli's next book, The Upside of Unrequited, rather than just read it. Not sure what she has done to get such a great cast of narrators for her books, but I loved this one as well! Sometimes audiobook narrators can be terrible and completely ruin what would have otherwise been a great story, but once again this audiobook knocked it out of the park.

The Upside of Unrequited follows Molly and her twin sister Cassie, two girls raised by lesbian moms, who also happen to be a mixed-race couple. Cassie is also a lesbian. Molly considers herself to be the more unattractive twin, being uncomfortable with her weight and never having kissed a boy, while Cassie is gorgeous and can have almost any girl she wants. Throughout the story, Molly struggles with Cassie getting her first serious girlfriend and losing that closeness with her sister, while trying to find herself and work on romantic relationships of her own. Oh, and plan a wedding for her moms.

I loved everything about this story. I really identified with Molly and her struggles with self image, and having family members beat her up over a "weight problem" since that has also happened to me. I loved the amount of diversity in this book, and that it was a big focus but not so much that it distracted from other elements of the story. There was a point however where I almost stopped reading because I felt SO BAD for Molly. I just couldn't bear to keep reading about the terrible way that others treated her and what I thought was going to happen next in the story, but I pushed myself through and I'm glad I did! I am so happy with the way this story ended!

I also kind of hate myself for taking so long to realize that Molly and Cassie's cousin Abby is the same Abby from Simon! I know they're making a movie from Simon, but I really hope they make a movie about this one too! I also can't wait to get my hands on Becky Albertalli's newest book, Leah on the Offbeat!

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
  
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Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated 1922 (2017) in Movies

Oct 24, 2017 (Updated Oct 24, 2017)  
1922 (2017)
1922 (2017)
2017 | Crime, Horror
Solid Performances (1 more)
Believable Set Design
Not Enough Scares (0 more)
Sometimes Your Own Demons Are The Hardest To Escape
1922 is the second Stephen King story adapted for Netflix in the last two months and it is very different to the adaption of Gerald's Game we saw back in September. The movie is set up nicely, showing an older, shaken man writing out his confession in hopes of appeasing the guilt that has plagued him since he murdered his wife Arlette. We then see a younger version of the man, Wilfred and we learn that he is very protective of the three things that he feels, 'belong,' to him; his son, his wife and his land.

Arlette professes a desire to sell the farm and move to the city, an idea that he outright refuses to go along with. The land that the farm is on belonged to Arlette's father and so it is now in her name, meaning she has the final say officially on selling the land. Wlifred tries to bargain with her, saying that he will buy the land off of her in installments, but Arlette knows that she can get a better price elsewhere and won’t have to wait years to receive the payment. This leads Wilfred to start planning his wife’s murder. Wilfred knows that his son wants to stay on the farm as well and so he manipulates him into helping him carry out and cover up the murder.

From this point on we have our ghost story. I’m actually rather hesitant to call it a ghost story, even though strictly speaking, it is one. This is more a tale of how guilt haunts a man beyond carrying out the heinous deed and how no bad deed goes unpunished. I don’t want to spoil too much here for those who haven’t yet seen the film, but what follows is a relentless and depressing tale of regret and loss.

The cast in this film are great, Thomas Jane does a great job in the lead role of a man willing to go to any morbid lengths, in order to retain what he believes belongs to him. Molly Parker and Dylan Schmid also do well in their roles as Arlette and Henry, respectively. The supporting cast is also solid. The other stand out thing in the movie for me was the set design. I found the farmhouses and barns to be extremely believable and the sets really added to the overall tone that the movie was going for and sold the era effectively as well.

My main complaint of the movie is the lack of any significant scares. The movie sets up a fairly creepy atmosphere at times, but never capitalizes on it. A Stephen King ghost story released the week before Halloween should be way scarier than this. I thought I was getting a truly chilling movie to sink my teeth into and instead I got a movie showing a desperate man’s fractured psyche and the guilt he has to deal with in the aftermath of a despicable deed, which is an interesting idea, it’s just not what I wanted out of this movie.

Overall this is a well made movie and for what it is it’s great, it just didn’t meet the expectations that I had for it and maybe that’s my own fault more than the movie’s. As with any Stephen King story, it makes for an interesting adaption and takes you on a dark journey and leaves you wondering about you own moral decisions in life. The film is no doubt successful in what it sets out to do; I just wish that it had scared me a bit more.