That's what happened to me. First time watching I was too caught off guard by the ending to really let it sink in. Second time I spent the rest of the evening in a near breakdown.
Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched
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I watched Princess Kaguya once 10 years ago and I'm as heartbroken about it today as I was walking out of the theater.
Grave of the Fireflies is the famous one but I thought that movie was more miserable than heartbreaking, somehow.
Pom Poko is another one where the downer ending almost feels like a betrayal of the preceding silliness and exhilaration. Only Yesterday is cute but too melancholy for me.
Whatever you think of Miyazaki, I can't think of a single movie of his I wouldn't (or haven't) rewatched. My Neighbors the Yamadas is the only movie by Takahata I would rewatch.
Grave of the Fireflies is the famous one but I thought that movie was more miserable than heartbreaking, somehow.
Pom Poko is another one where the downer ending almost feels like a betrayal of the preceding silliness and exhilaration. Only Yesterday is cute but too melancholy for me.
Whatever you think of Miyazaki, I can't think of a single movie of his I wouldn't (or haven't) rewatched. My Neighbors the Yamadas is the only movie by Takahata I would rewatch.
The Wind Rises.
Apart from not finding it too interesting anyway, I couldn't bear to listen Hideaki Anno's performance again. Seriously Miyazaki, I know the guy's your friend and all, but what the fuck was that!?
Oh, yeah, that was weird. Anno was too old for the part. Apparently it's Joseph Gordon Levitt in the English dub, which sounds like the one American dub I might agree with for once.
I have rewatched it though. I like how the movie frames a lot of its shots like impressionistic paintings, the dream sequences, the meet cute and that interlude at the hotel. Also the way Miyazaki handles death at the end.
I think it's a case of "biopic about a dude whose work was far more interesting than himself, but let's not focus that much on his work anyway".
I've watched Kaguya twice, and it's so much more devastating the second time round. When you know what's coming, it feels like you're watching a video reel of a young child who you know died at 14. All the cuteness, all the exhilaration, all the growth, all of it replaced with an irrevocable emptiness. Merely thinking of the music that starts to play when then moon people arrive is getting me worked up. Kaguya tends to fly under the radar a lot, but it's in like the top 3 of every Ghibli movie ranking for a reason.
I also saw Star Wars: A New Hope for the first time in like 17 years today, and in theaters too. It's kinda hard to try to assess this movie in any kind of objective manner because it's so foundational, so I don't really have a choice but to put it at 10/10.
It holds up, and always will. It's one of the most quintessential hero's journeys in all of fiction. It's simple, but not basic. The characterization is extremely strong, as is the chemistry between the actors. You believe every word that comes out of their mouths. This time I really took notice of just how iconic and well done the visual design of everything is. Every place, character and location is extremely distinct, and the world has the perfect amount of detail and wear that it feels genuinely lived in. The pacing is about perfect. The score moves mountains. The effects are perfect sans the stupid CG additions the special edition did, which now just look distractingly bad in pristine 4k. So yeah, even with the oppressive Star Wars glut that's been going on for almost 10 years, it hasn't dimmed the original one bit, and actually makes it shine all the brighter. There's a sense of purity and sincerity to it that's been long absent from anything Star Wars (except maybe Andor, but I haven't seen that).
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A ★★★★ review of Return to Oz (1985)
"If his brain's ran down, how can he talk?" "It happens to people all the time, Jack." This film has a bit of an interesting production. It came about because during a brainstorming session at Walt Disney Pictures in 1980, Walter Murch expressed an interest in making an Oz film, not knowing that...
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A ★★★★ review of In a Violent Nature (2024)
“Some say it was a man in a mask. Some say it was Johnny’s spirit getting revenge. Some say it was both.” This film features your standard slasher plot. A group of campers consisting of Kris (Andrea Pavlovic), Colt (Cameron Love), Troy (Liam Leone), Aurora (Charlotte Creaghan), Brodie (Lea Rose...
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A ★★★★ review of Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
“How humiliating! Chased into a hole by 1/3 of a B.L.T.!” There were quite a few recastings for this movie compared to the original cast of the show, for various reasons. Casey Kasem was asked to return as Shaggy, but as a vegetarian, he was already upset at Shaggy being used in a Burger King...
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Got back from the show! Transfformers One is hands down, the best Transformers movie made! I have absolutely 0 complaints with with film. I can't find anything wrong with it.
I hear tell of a few deleted scenes showing D-16 in a gladiatorial arena getting his rage on, which I think would have helped explain the sudden shift in tone of his anger. Like D was chill for most of the times Orion wasn't dragging him into bullshit and even then that was frustration. But once he claps eyes on Sentinel selling them out to the Quintessons its like the dam breaks.
It still works gangbusters and Brain Tyree Henry sells the fucking shit out of it, but I think my only complaint was coming away wondering why it couldn't be longer.
Which is call back to his origins in the Marvel brand of Transformers comics.
You could still see subtle shifts in D's personality after seeing the betrayal of Sentinel. Notice how when gets his blue core and makes his first kill, his eyes subtly go from bright yellow to a slight mix of orange. And as things get darker and worse, goes from orange to straight up hatred blood red.
The movie felt as long as it needed to be. If they had 5 minutes of showing how D got his rage on, it would have been fine, but it can still work either way. The movie would've just been an 1 hour and 49 minutes, instead of 1 hour and 44 minutes.
A ★★★½ review of Mad Max (1979)
“Look. Any longer out on that road and I'm one of them, you know? A terminal crazy... only I got a bronze badge to say I'm one of the good guys.” This film follows a cop named Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) in a near-future wasteland (that looks a lot like most of rural US, but I can understand...
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Drive-Away Dykes
Ethan Coen's solo directorial debut, the lesbian road trip comedy that I'm assuming Joel never wanted to make. Apparently Ethan co-wrote and co-directed with his lesbian wife (open marriage).
The plot: in 1999 two lesbian friends go on a road trip from Philly to Florida to deliver a car, unknowingly taking a suitcase MacGuffin in the trunk. They stop by lesbian bars and have lesbian sex along the way, unaware they're being followed by some dangerous dudes. The plot is Burn After Reading level of sound and fury, but if you must know, the suitcase contains a collection of dildos modelled from the penises of powerful men, such as the senator who's hunting them down.
I thought this was both very silly and very funny. Me and a friend are always pitching to each other movies like this as a joke and I'm always pleased whenever I see something of that caliber actually get made. The two actresses are very good, have great chemistry and the lofty Coen vernacular makes for great witty punchlines in the absolutely stupidest of contexts.
I had a hard time getting over the comedy wipes and cartoon sound effects they used for scene transitions is all. I'm assuming this was somehow supposed to hark back to 90s kitsch.
Ethan Coen's solo directorial debut, the lesbian road trip comedy that I'm assuming Joel never wanted to make. Apparently Ethan co-wrote and co-directed with his lesbian wife (open marriage).
The plot: in 1999 two lesbian friends go on a road trip from Philly to Florida to deliver a car, unknowingly taking a suitcase MacGuffin in the trunk. They stop by lesbian bars and have lesbian sex along the way, unaware they're being followed by some dangerous dudes. The plot is Burn After Reading level of sound and fury, but if you must know, the suitcase contains a collection of dildos modelled from the penises of powerful men, such as the senator who's hunting them down.
I thought this was both very silly and very funny. Me and a friend are always pitching to each other movies like this as a joke and I'm always pleased whenever I see something of that caliber actually get made. The two actresses are very good, have great chemistry and the lofty Coen vernacular makes for great witty punchlines in the absolutely stupidest of contexts.
I had a hard time getting over the comedy wipes and cartoon sound effects they used for scene transitions is all. I'm assuming this was somehow supposed to hark back to 90s kitsch.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
I made a quick graph to show what though of its trajectory -
Basically reaches higher high’s than the original IMO but also a bit more inconsistent, with a humdrum middle barring a small twist. It starts strong and finishes nearly as strong, but generally tries to pack a bit too much into it and doesn’t have quite enough meat for the mostly commendable supporting cast to chew into. Keaton also doesn’t miss a beat in his titular role after what, thirty six years. It was fun seeing them do what they can with it though, and overall can’t say I was disappointed by anything. It moves along at a nice clip and doesn’t drag anything out to annoyance territory. Apparently there’s a lot of Easter eggs for hardcore fans too. Highlight for me was…well, let’s just say I never thought I’d get to see Monica Bellucci suck Danny DeVito dry.
I made a quick graph to show what though of its trajectory -
Basically reaches higher high’s than the original IMO but also a bit more inconsistent, with a humdrum middle barring a small twist. It starts strong and finishes nearly as strong, but generally tries to pack a bit too much into it and doesn’t have quite enough meat for the mostly commendable supporting cast to chew into. Keaton also doesn’t miss a beat in his titular role after what, thirty six years. It was fun seeing them do what they can with it though, and overall can’t say I was disappointed by anything. It moves along at a nice clip and doesn’t drag anything out to annoyance territory. Apparently there’s a lot of Easter eggs for hardcore fans too. Highlight for me was…well, let’s just say I never thought I’d get to see Monica Bellucci suck Danny DeVito dry.
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Mannequin
One of the most aggressively unfunny comedies I've ever seen.
Kim Cattrall plays an Egyptian princess around 4,500 BC who prays to the gods to save her from a forced marriage. She's reincarnated as a Philadelphia department store dummy who comes to life whenever Andrew McCarthy is around. Together they put up the most amazing window displays, boosting sales overnight. The evil department store across the street, which was about to buy them out, is furious.
That's it. That's the plot.
One of the most aggressively unfunny comedies I've ever seen.
Kim Cattrall plays an Egyptian princess around 4,500 BC who prays to the gods to save her from a forced marriage. She's reincarnated as a Philadelphia department store dummy who comes to life whenever Andrew McCarthy is around. Together they put up the most amazing window displays, boosting sales overnight. The evil department store across the street, which was about to buy them out, is furious.
That's it. That's the plot.
A ★½ review of Batman & Robin (1997)
“I can’t believe we were fighting over a bad guy.” “Bad, yes. Guy, no.” This is one of those films where pretty much everyone who worked on it regrets it to some degree, and also is responsible for a couple of career stalls. It also killed the series for almost a decade before it was rebooted...
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I actually watched this yesterday because you brought it up. I was kind in the mood for something super light and some Scooby hijinx and it was exactly what you'd expect from a Scooby movie / long episode. I think that's the 1st Scooby thing I've seen that actually didn't go a certain way at the end.A ★★★★ review of Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
“How humiliating! Chased into a hole by 1/3 of a B.L.T.!” There were quite a few recastings for this movie compared to the original cast of the show, for various reasons. Casey Kasem was asked to return as Shaggy, but as a vegetarian, he was already upset at Shaggy being used in a Burger King...
That is an unusual premise for people to spend money to make a film about.