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Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka (2023)
More Contemplative Than Others But Still Masterful
The best way to describe this movie is to say the entire film feels like the scene in Spirited Away where Chihiro is on the train going to Yubaba's sister's house. It feels nostalgic, contemplative, and yearning for a time when the world appeared to be easier (ie through the eyes of a young boy).
But, like all of Miyazaki's works, the film is filled with gorgeous animation and incredibly fantastical set pieces. It's a rare end of career film that feels like a filmmaker at the height of their powers. Don't go in expecting Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle or Ponyo - it's very different from all of those films even though it shares a lot of the same themes. Just know you're putting your trust in one of the best living filmmakers whose fire for telling stories is far from dimming.
Resident Evil (2022)
Ignore the bad reviews all of them are wrong
A lot of people are review bombing this for reasons I can't comprehend. I've been a Resident Evil fan since the OG game back in 1996 and the entire series has taken us through ups and downs storyline wise. From the contained survival horror of the Spencer Mansion to whatever the hell they tried to do in the globe trotting action game in Resident Evil 6, if Resident Evil has been anything it's over the top and utterly ridiculous (boulder punching, tall vampire-like woman, and a thousand off shoots of the original T-Virus to make new and weirder monsters that all exist at the behest of Umbrella, more or less, spanning decades).
The show takes the over the top antics and brings it to a more personal level. The dual stories of when the new outbreak begins in New Raccoon City and 14 years later in the world existing with the global spread of the T-Virus mostly works, especially for people who follow the lore of the entire series. It tries to cater to non Resident Evil fans but your suspension of disbelief may go out the window with some of the events that happen in the show. And if you enjoy family/teen style dramas and zombie action then I recommend you stick with it.
Critiques of it not having enough action are weird. There is a very solid and balanced amount of action throughout the show. It's pretty much on balance with the violence load of early RE games. The tension and stakes are all there to keep you thoroughly engaged. There's also a diverse amount of T-Virus infected creatures, including lickers and some very RE like monsters. As an off shoot of the T-Virus in creating "Zeros", especially with this taking place after RE8 and taking the Las Plabas into account, it makes sense for them to be the way they are. Also, whoever typed "Resident Evil Zombies don't run" has never played a Resident Evil game in their life. It was a major point in Resident Evil 5 that they were able to sprint at you.
The weakest elements in the show are some of the writing and performance decisions, especially in the New Raccoon City parts with young Jade and Billie. Their dialogue announces subtext of the scene and it's a tad cringey. But this is all forgiven by the absolute powerhouse performance of Lance Reddick and his commitment to the role of Wesker, even when it goes heavily into absurd Resident Evil territory (and you'll see in Episode 7 and beyond what I'm talking about.)
As I mentioned before, if you're not a fan of Resident Evil the game series you may or may not like the show because of the whacky things that happen, especially towards the end. As a long time RE fan, I was onboard with it and was accepting of it all. But let it be known that it is nowhere near as bad as everyone else is making it out to be. Out of all the live action RE projects, this is the best and most faithful. Is it perfect? Nope. But it's still a good watch. And since it's cannon, it'll be really interesting to see the intersection of the newer Resident Evil games with this show and how the events of this show will influence Resident Evil 9. Time will only tell if this show will age well. But for now, it's perfectly fine and very on brand for Resident Evil.