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starlee02
www.astarlifilm.com
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Too Old to Die Young (2019)
2 times the speed... Still slow
Yes I appreciate the creative lighting and color, and camera movement and composition. But films and shows are for people to watch.
I had to watch the show on 2X speed to be able to finish it, the movements are too slow, people stay still for too long, and the awkward gaps between lines. I'm sorry but they are completely unnecessary, most of the times when I'm watching this show, I find myself staring at the screen, waiting for the actor waiting to speak the next word. It was clearly the director's decision to make them slow, but you can tell even the actors felt awkward having to pause that long between lines.
I understand that is an artistic choice, but you have gone too far. Your show could finish in half the time it has now WITHOUT LOSING ANYTHING!! You don't even need to cut any shots, just please speed it up.
I feel like my life is flying by while watching this show.
Bumblebee (2018)
I'm sorry but the writer is not even trying
This story is so old, even a three year-old would say, "god I have seen this so many times." Sorry but copying the most basic story only deserves 4/10.
The Upside (2017)
I don't understand why people do this
Now why in the world would you remake a perfectly great movie? Especially when the original is not even old yet.
Why? Just to prove how bad you can make it?
A Monster Calls (2016)
A Director's Monster(Heavy Spoiler)
Once upon a time, there was a story. The story tells a tale about a young boy and a tree. Surely most people have noticed that the story is not really about that, when a "monster" calls, it is not the tree that calls the boy, it is not the boy who calls the tree. It's the monster within the boy, the boy, is the "monster". Because of his mother's illness, the boy constantly lives in fear, the fear of losing his mother, of being alone, of getting ignored, just because people only feel sorry for him. I'm sure most of you got the part of the tree being a metaphor and all, so I'll spend less time on that. The tree forces him to face his truth, and the truth is that he just want it to all be over, and because the truth is so "evil" it tortures him, every night, in his dreams, he could never hold on to his mother. Blah, blah, blahÂ…
OK, now that we got that out of the way. Let's talk about some things that maybe not everyone have noticed, also why this movie impressed me so much: First thing, structure. The structure of the movie was pieced together just perfect enough for us to understand things as we go, not too much, not too little. The film begins with his dream, his nightmare. Might be just a little cheesy. But it is perfect for us to understand his fear, also when the tree makes his first appearance, we can refer to that as the "nightmare" that he mentions. The morning after he smashes the house, his father making noise down stairs is perfect for dragging the audiences' nerve with him, because we are with him on thinking its grandma he has to face. We have all been there, being a kid who did something wrong, waiting for the punishment. The room upstairs was always locked, and every time he looks through the keyhole, we never actually see what's in that room until the end.
Second thing, details. Some of the things I mentioned in the first part are also considered details, but there's more. I watched the first half twice, because I watched it half way and realized what a great movie it is so I paused it and downloaded a subtitle to watch it with my mum(She doesn't speak English). There's a reason I mention this, because the second time watching it, I noticed a lot more things. First time we see the classroom he sits in, in the background, on the blackboard, out of focus, drawn with chock is a mother's womb with a baby in there (I'm sure you know why). The second time we are in the classroom, right after the first tale about good and evil, in the background the teacher says, "Now there are always two sides to a storyÂ…" This, thanks to having downloaded the subtitle for my mum, I noticed, because the voice was so low that I wouldn't have heard what exactly she was saying if wasn't for the thoughtful subtitle. Third time in the classroom, time for the exam, its also time for the third tale, time to test "what you have learned from the last two weeks"(last two tales). Fourth time in the classroom, right after he released himself, the teacher is talking about emotional well being, "how good it feels when you finally find the courage to say it." this is also when he has to face his fear, and say his truth. Honestly the production design is also brilliant, I can't list out all the things for you, but if you watch it again, you might notice, especially in the classroom, everything on the wall helps telling the story. There are a lot more than what I have mentioned here. Third thing, animation. I loved the animation style used in the movie, they chose to use watercolor, like us humans, we were born in water, made of water. The soft touch of the paintings is like the boy's tears dripping inside, just like the tree he drew. The transitions in the animation is what impressed me the most, spider becomes witch's hand, tree's arm becomes a bridge, the priest smashes the book down and turn into riding a horse cart. That's just beautiful for me. Also when he comes home, from behind the glass door, he looks just like the characters in the watercolor. Finally, the best part. Yes of course I left the best part to the end, and yes of course there is a best part - Liam Neeson! At the beginning title, I did notice his name appearing in the credit, but half way through the movie, I almost forgot about it. Until I saw the pictures on the table in grandma's house. Wait, that's Liam Neeson in the picture holding a little girl(the boy's mum). Then I started wondering. OK if he only plays a few pictures in the background in the movie, how come he is in the beginning credit, when they only list main casts. UnlessÂ… I went to the film's IMDb page, and just as a suspected. He plays the tree in the film. This might be a joke to some people because I'm sure many of you were able to recognize his voice right when you heard it, but unfortunately I am not familiar with it enough to be sure about it until I checked the credit. Anyway, basically what I'm saying is that the tree and the grandpa who was never shown in the film are played by the same person. And if you had any question about how does his mother see the same tree monster as he does, and why she drew the tree too in her drawing pad. That is your answer, because the tree is her father.
Thanks for reading, I'll see you next time. Star Li www.astarlifilm.com
La tortue rouge (2016)
One is an island, two is home, three is future, more is destruction
One is an island, two is home, three is future, more is destruction. -----another one of my nonsense speech from random thoughts on a lazy morning. (!!Heavy spoiler alert!!)
I. Himself. He is the lonely island, floating in the middle of an ocean, society taught him that he us suppose to fit in. But he tried and tried, yet his own nature keeps pulling him back onto that lonely island. When the huge wave almost kills him, the decisions he made to stay on the island showed him that he was right to stay, his own son(the raft he pushed out into the ocean, and his swimming son) saves his life. The key is finding himself, once he gives up on trying to please other people, trying to fit in, once he accepts that he belong on that island, that his true self is the best self he can be, then everything works out, he live a happy life, and die in peace. II. Her(the red turtle). She was the force of nature, the part of him that he did not see, he part that keeps pulling him back. She is the voice that guides him, to finding himself. Stubborn as him, wouldn't listen to the calling of his nature, keeps sailing away into the wrong path, so she had to die, and come back in physical form, as a human girl, to show him that being true to himself and let go of the outside world is the only way he could survive this world. III. The child. A child is born, he resembles everything about the father, and a good swimmer like the mother. He grows up to become a dreamer, dream of the outside world. The father's taught him everything he knows, but after all, his little island is too small for an ambitious young man. So he swims away, in hope of finding a society that he can fit in, or his own island, he needs his own red turtle. IIII. The mother earth.(This part has not much to do with the film) Born on earth, we are made from earth, we grow up too big, then we die and go back to earth. But along the way, we keep forgetting that we are only a small part of earth, we born and we die, earth goes on. More and more people born everyday, we get very comfortable in our place, so we claim it to be our own. We take and take, use and break, we kill the earth's other children to feed our greed. Until one day, it breaks, huge wave howling towards our home, we blame the earth for not loving us, but never thought that the earth has given us everything she has. Finally we live our chapter, we die and we go back to earth, yet earth goes on, to welcoming her new children. With time, all the broken bamboos will grow, grass will flourish, fishes and birds will come back. Eventually, there will be no mark of us ever existing here. We become a part of the earth, a part of the cycle that feeds the new, and the newer. The most brilliant part about the film is that it dose not use any language, racial features, or statement of time period. Only the raw humanity vs nature, it breaks the barer of communication, anybody from anywhere on the planet in any time can relate to. After all, film is an art form, and art is suppose to connect us regardless of time, race, and language. But hey, its 10am on a Wednesday morning, who has the time to read my full page long nonsense. Good day :)
Silence (2016)
To Believe or Not to Believe?
To Believe or Not to Believe? (light spoil alert) --- For my lovely people who are curious enough about my humbly arrogant opinion, and thoughts of nonsense.
Like any good film, there should be many thoughts and opinions that come with it, I can not say what I saw was what intended, but a good movie does the job of forcing it's audiences to question, which brings to my topic. An idea only became the "truth" because enough people speak of it, then we use the "truth" to our own selfish reasons. No one genuinely like to be wrong; although, I could be wrong on that. "It can't be true" Belief is something that was constantly questioned throughout the film, however it is not what created all the problems. When we are arrogant enough to believe that our idea is the "truth" and it would apply to anyone anywhere, then try and push our immature idea onto other people, while confirming to ourselves even further as reward, what have we done to other people? Did he bring peace and comfort to his people, or push them to their deaths. Not everyone who died have died for meaningful reasons. It just makes us feel better to think that they did, therefore reinforces the "heroic" belief. We all have the natural resistance for anything forced upon us, so when something is forbidden, we'd all like to try that fruit, even if it causes our death. Like Liam Neeson's character said in the film, the people didn't even have same understanding on what god was as they did because of the language and cultural barrier. So what were they really praying to? Did they want to die for honor, or just to escape a harsh reality? Was it really worth risking his and their lives for? But again, what is? I believe that nothing can be believed as the absolute "truth". And if you judge it as carefully as Martin Scorsese did in making the film, you would notice that its not about who is right or wrong. The mere idea is laughable. "Its just formality" Words spoken out loud is always misleading, so he finally chooses silence in the end, like a wise Buddhist monk, you see, understanding reality and belief leads people to the same place no matter what you believe. And my opinion stays that going into war and torturing people because they believe in a different fantasy than you are is just as stupid and meaningless as however meaningless and stupid you think the other side is. The film also mostly abandoned music brilliantly, as music is the most easy and obvious way to force emotion. I sat through the entire credit as usual, the only music it had was the music of nature. (On a side note, I don't understand what kind of mistake they could have made to have to bring ADR into this kind of high budget film with a director of perfection.) I'm sorry if you haven't seen the film, although the film is about the journey, not the end, so I haven't spoiled much. After all that, as I always say, I wouldn't want to force my ideas on anybody, but if you agree, you should do so as your own idea. ;) Also nobody is gonna read all the way down here 😌