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Frailty (2001)
The ending ruined the whole movie for me
The first hour and ten minutes or so are great as you watch this son deal with his insane father and their family dynamic and the film explores children beginning to see their parents faults and realize they aren't "superhero's" (although in this film it is much more extreme) and then the end just feels like they add a twist for the sake of adding a twist and it's really messy and really dumb and all of a sudden the writing just gets horrible and by the end you you felt you just got done watching some straight to VHS poorly made Stephen king adaptation rather than the smart thought provoking drama it started as. It's really just a shame because there is definitely a great movie in here somewhere
Shogun Assassin (1980)
A very entertaining movie but is missing something
I haven't watched the lone wolf and cub movies yet but this movie has inspired me to watch them. This movie is great and entertaining but I feel like it won't be near as good as the film series as the series is in the original Japanese instead of the horrible dub (but who doesn't love horrible dubs in these types of movies) and the story will feel more complete. This film doesn't deliver a complete story and is more entertaining in the action scenes and great atmosphere and music. It's a difficult movie to rate but definitely check it out. I'm now very excited to delve into the original films series
The Vast of Night (2019)
One of the best most realistic UFO films I've seen
I'd put this right up with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It's not quite as good but it's definitely close. The story is very subtle and grounded and the characters all feel very real and the film really feels like it's taking place in 1958 and it also looks the part to as the cinematography is fantastic. The film takes its time and builds on things and small moments end up giving you goosebumps and feel more epic than anything some dumb schlocky action movie like "Bad Boys Bad for Life" is going to give you lol. If you are interested in UFO's and love sci fi this is a must watch and you will definitely like it but this is also a must watch if you love good filmmaking. 2020 hasn't brought us many great films as everything is getting cancelled due to Covid but this is definitely one. Absolutely worth a watch
Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)
A difficult movie to rate
The real life story is heartwarming and is something I will always remember. This movie uses that real life story which makes the film entertaining enough and you'll probably get emotional at some point. But just as a movie this movie has TONS of problems. Richard Gere is good and so is the dog and as I said the true story is great but almost everything that is needed to make a great movie fall short in this movie and that's why it's hard to rate because when I judge this as a movie I can't help but give it a low rating. The cinematography is horrible. It looks like a hallmark film and the score is overbearing and saccharine. The whole tone is quite saccharine and this story in the hands of better writers and a better director didn't need to be so saccharine. I've never seen the original film but I'm interested in checking it out because it's Japanese and the original story took place in Japan and I see now reason why this version didn't. Honestly there probably is no point in this movie even existing if the original is as good as I hear but they were going to make it anyway but I see no reason why this version didn't also take place in Japan and had all Japanese actors. If you want the characters to speak English for North American audiences fine whatever, the people in Schindlers list spoke English not German that does t matter, but when you are telling a true story be as faithful as possible. The guy who played Richard Gere's friend should have played Richard Gere instead of being a forced Japanese connection. Shoot it in the real station where the true event took place. Lots of missed opportunity's and weird desicons. Also the movie drags a lot and repeats scenes over and over and has scenes that serve no purpose. This story is more designed for a 45 min short film rather than a feature. Anyway that's my take. One of these days I'll check out the original
Hereditary (2018)
A modern classic
This movie is actually scary. There are no jump scares or anything cheap like that it's just scary because of what is says about family and the effects other the members in a family had on each other and what's passed down from generation to generation, what "Hereditary" so to speak. It's a haunting film with astonishing cinematography and a fantastic score. Toni Collettes performance is Oscar worthy and everyone else does a great job too. It's a film made by a filmmaker who wants to tell a story and make the audience actually feel genuine emotions and in this day in age, it's really refreshing. Watch this movie if you want to watch an actual movie and not a product but out by Disney.
Mother! (2017)
Great imagery, but subtext doesn't work
This movie has lots of great imagery and has some beautiful cinematography. And the big end set piece is interesting and well done and clearly has lots of effort put into it. And this movie is not afraid to "go there" and doesn't censor itself which I really respect. And Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardiem give great performances as well has all of the supporting cast. The real MAJOR flaw with this movie is the subtext. It's basically just a re telling of the bible and it's very on the noise. Yeah it's got a on the nose message about how humans ruin the earth but it's all on the nose and obvious and comes off as very pretentious. I hate to use that word "pretentious" as most of the times it's used by idiots who don't understand the film they just watched but It really does come off as pretentious especially if you watch interviews with the director where he is trying to sound smarter than he really is. Watch this movie if you want to see some great acting and cinematography but just don't expect anything deeper than that