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Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966)
A great movie, with awesome characters.
I went into this movie thinking the pacing would ruin the cinematic moments, but it makes the movie incredibly suspenseful.
We journey in the Civil War, with our 3 main protagonists that are shown near the beginning, and cross paths again at the end. The three separate stories really are well written with each others character getting their own spotlight without it seeming difficult to understand. The shots were very suspenseful usually have long shots or close-ups with a cool soundtrack. They give everyone such a charming and unique personality that builds off perfectly with the story.
This was my first Western movie, but I'm tempted to watch more because of how great everything was in this one.
Whiplash (2014)
Whiplash succeeded in having a great simple story, unique cinematography, and open-ended characters with their conflicts.
The main characters consist of Andrew Neiman, Terrence Fletcher, and Jim Neiman who are all used to moving the story along. Andrew Neiman is a 19-year-old drummer who is incredibly determined to be the best drummer to get the recognition he wants from his family. Terrence Fletcher is the abusive antagonist, harassing, and threatening all the band members that he played with before he was fired from the School. He wants the best for all of his students but uses the wrong methods to get what he wants, but you can tell that he is passionate and cares about what he does. Jim Neiman is Andrew's father who is very caring to him and always lends Andrew a helping hand in every situation in the story.
The story of Whiplash is about a young drummer, named Andrew Neiman who is learning how to improve his skills at a world-renowned musician university. The main professor/conductor is named Terrence Fletcher, who teaches the best of the best and can tell that Andrew has great potential, but he needs to push himself harder to bring it out. Terrence teaches how to persevere, by assaulting and threatening Andrew since Andrew is willing to try everything to get the main part of the concerts. We learn that the reason why he wants to get the main part is to impress his family since they don't believe that he can make a living off of being a musician like his other family who are a teacher, athlete, etc. Andrew is ready for the big concert, but on the way to the show hall, a bus he was riding gets a flat tire. Andrew then rents out a car and visits the hall before the show begins where he meets Terrence who tells him that Andrew has been replaced for the main part in the concert because he didn't bring his drumsticks. This enrages Andrew so he goes back to get his drumsticks from his car, and realizes he locked himself out he goes back to the rental shop, gets another car, and in his rush runs past a red light and gets t-boned by a truck. All that Andrew is focused on is that concert, so he gets up takes his drumsticks, and sprints to the concert injured and in distress. Once Andrew blows at the concert due to his injuries, he gets mad at Terrence for not caring about what state he is in but rather just caring about the audience and his rep. Andrew charges Terrence which leads to his removal from the school. Andrew sues Terrence for abuse both mental and physical harassment and was the main factor of a pupil of his to commit suicide which leads Terrence to get fired from his previous job. Andrew was walking down the strip and notices a sign for a jazz club that was featuring Terrence Fletcher. Andrew enters that club and near the end of the song Terrence notices Andrew in the crowd, so they chat about what they are both doing now Terrence gives his reason why he is so harsh on all of the band members because he is waiting for the day he finds a musician that never gets discouraged or leaves the stage. Terrence then asks Andrew if he wants to play a gig that the jazz club got in a concert hall, and Andrew accepts. Andrew gets on stage thinking that they were going to play 2 songs that he was familiar with, but ends up playing a song that he is not familiar with at all and discloses to Andrew that it was all just a trap. Terrence was aware of what Andrew had done to get him fired from his old job and tries to humiliate him in front of the crowd since he doesn't know the notes. Andrew walks off stage and hugs his dearest relative who went to the concert, Jim Neiman, Andrew's father who is the only family member who is supportive of his life choices. Andrew remembers what Terrence told him which was to never get discouraged no matter how many times you are humiliated so he gets back on stage and starts playing a song on the drums. This infuriates Terrence, but since he doesn't want to cause a scene he tries to play along with Andrew. The final scene is a scene with both of them planning together because Terrence got what he wanted, someone who disobeys and takes initiative.
The cinematography is plain and simple with continuous shots that show the struggle of playing drums during concerts. The scenes lack different settings with most of the shots being taken in the university dorms and rooms. The lack of different settings makes different shots stand out. The Cinematography is not too much, but the continuous shots are done in such good situations while the settings can get boring to look at after a while.
This movie lacks settings, but the story of never being discouraged no matter what happens and always push forward is very influential throughout the film.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
This movie was good at conveying a simple story, with mind-altering visuals, but lack in good characterization.
First let me talk about the best part of the movie, the incredible visuals presented. They presented a couple different settings, with them portraying all the wildlife, characters, and scenery with great artistically wonder. You feel like you can jump right into the world and explore for decades without loss of thrill.
Secondly, I will talk about the basic and people pleasing story designed to surround the audience in the world's visual flare as much as possible. I never watched the first avatar movie so I cant really speak about what happened beforehand, the story in avatar 2 starts with the main character, playing with his 4 children. The children are one boy, two girls, and one human. It starts by humans going to the island that the people have been living at with a grandiose entrance, destroying all the wildlife, trees, and plants around the forest in a devastating scene. You quickly learn in the story that humans bad while the aliens good and is a wild goose chase between the two major characters which are Jake Sully and the Colonel, which I assume are the previous film's protagonists. The ending of the film leaves it at a cliffhanger in which the Colonel's previous son before he became an Avatar, saves his life with absolutely no gain for himself even after he killed the eldest son of Jake's family. The story overall felt very empty and didn't feel that the movie need to be 3 hours long especially in scenes that include the main characters just walking around pointlessly to show off the great visuals, but do nothing for the story. The ending was very irritating looking at the Colonel's son (who he abandoned) saves him from a drowning ship for no benefit for himself after the fact that the colonel killed the eldest son from Jake's family.
Lastly, I want to talk about the characters in the story and how they all seem emotionless. None of the alien characters are actually likable in the story because all they do is killing, make yelling noises, or bully the opposite race. The people in the story that have emotions are the three main characters which are Jake, Jakes wife, and the Colonel. Jake wants to enjoy a peaceful life with his family, but he cant with humans coming in to invaded and pillage the alien race which deepens the conflict. Jakes wife just shows two emotions through the film, sadness and anger which gets kind of annoying, but I have no idea how she acted in the first film so I cant really judge too harshly. The Colonel feels the most emotions that all the characters which shouldn't be a good thing for the audience to enjoy watching a man's struggles in killing an peaceful alien race. My favorite character in the story is the colonel, they go into his life, goals, and occupation in depth which really do make you sympathetic for the antagonist in the story.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
This movie has a great story, amazing stop-motion visuals, and charming characters.
The story of this Pinocchio adaptation is a unique twist to the other Pinocchio movies that came out this year. The story takes place in the 1900s rather than the original story which took place in the 1800s. This changes the tone of the story with the village that Geppetto and Pinocchio live in are being invaded by fighter planes and are currently in World War 1 conflicts. The story is told by a Cricket who writes the story of his life and how it changes throughout the movie. The main story starts by Geppetto creating Pinocchio in a drunken and depressed state after the passing of his son, who was killed due to the war that is occurring during the movie. Pinocchio is the main character who travels through Italy with a sleazy carnival manager who made Pinocchio sign a binding contract that gave the manager rights to own him or give him 10 million lire. Pinocchio doesn't want to work for the circus, but all he requests to the manager is to use his profits to help his papa. Pinocchio is set in military camp, inside a whale, and in limbo with the guardian of the world who is a blue fairy which was the one who gave Pinocchio life. Since Pinocchio isn't a real boy, he doesn't die which means that all of his friends die, and teaches the importance of mortality in the real world.
The visuals in this movie are stop-motion wooden carvings of characters which is really fitting for a movie about a talking puppet. The puppets are really beautiful and unique with the movie taking a total of 3 years to record and shoot along with the 12 years it has been in development hell due to Del Toro not finding a production company to fund this project. The lighting in the movie changes constantly and you can tell how much time they worked on the models, backgrounds, and lighting.
The characters are very charming in their own different ways with prevalent character development throughout the movie. Geppetto is presented as a sad and lonely made after his son died in the incident earlier in the movie. In his desperation, he creates Pinocchio in hopes that he can characterize him to be like the younger child that passed. Pinocchio was awoken by the blue fairy which leaves Geppetto in a state of absolute worry and fear. Geppetto wasn't very kind to Pinocchio, but shows later in the film how much he cares about Pinocchio and cares about him rather than the image Geppetto wants him to be. Pinocchio is a very curious and oblivious puppet who trusts everyone and laughs in the face of danger due to his immortality. Pinocchio is restricted to how much time it takes to come back after each and every death throughout the film to learn how precious life is. He is timed by the blue fairy who used hourglasses which increase in size after each death, Pinocchio then goes into a near-death situation for Geppetto in the whale, which leads him to break the hourglass preventing him to come back to life normally which leads to The Talking Cricket and what his motives are. The Talking Cricket is a cocky and well mannered guide for Pinocchio to follow. Cricket helps Pinocchio because the blue fairy plans to give him any wish he desires if he guides him well and raises a good boy. The Talking Cricket helps Pinocchio after he loses his immortality and drowns after escaping the whale, his wish was to bring Pinocchio back from the dead to learn and appreciate life as a real boy. Their are a lot of characters with their own different opinions, ideals, and personalities throughout the film, but it would be too exhausting for me to list them all.
The movie is great with its interesting visuals, charming characters, and its bizarre twist on the classic. My only complaints are that some parts of the film seem too long and really doesn't seem too important in the main plot. The ending really gives an important lesson to the audience amount mortality and how we as humans need not take it for granted.