"I'm going to reach the top!" RT & 馃挋 for the rising star of the Yakuza Pfp by @rnna_7
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ALT Might be the most chuuni movie I've ever watched in my life and I'm completely eating it up. I really like how it frames the codes of honor like Ghost Dog's samurai code and that of the mobsters as means of grounding them in the midst of an ever-changing reality that's hard to keep up with. Ghost Dog is the kind of protagonist where following him feels like wading through a dream. He's a hitman who only communicates through carrier pigeons, he hijacks cars with a universal hacking remote and listens to sick R&B as he drives, he sheathes his guns like a katana. He's fascinating as a fusion of past and present, being very in-touch with his community while adhering himself to this ancient code. It's expressed best through his relationship with Raymond, where they're able to understand each other perfectly even as they speak different languages. I feel a bit all over the place writing this cause there's so many angles I want to tackle it from. But the bottom line is that it's so damn cool.
ALT With the typical themes that Kodaka loves to explore in his works (institutions using labels and easily discernible traits to reduce peoples' individuality and box in their senses of self) it's a no-brainer that his style would be a perfect fit for a high-octane cyberpunk story. It shines with its commentary on how police states make a spectacle out of punishing criminals to keep their populace under control. Along with that you get a constant energetic thrill ride that never leaves you certain where it's going to go next. The whole cast is filled with a ton of wild cards with fun personalities which take them in very interesting places when things go off the rails. Swindler is a great protagonist that evolves in so many different ways in each episode. The show also looks gorgeous, for sure the best looking Taguchi show. It makes excellent use of bright neon colors to drip Kansai in an electrifying cyberpunk atmosphere, with lots of Pierrot's best animators making for killer action.
ALT Solid meditative piece that's mostly got its priorities towards letting you marinate in the mundanity of everyday life in this village. Lots of really smart framing with the moments it repeats like the lead driving out to the cemetery every time he has to take a phone call or the people that it keeps just out of sight. It goes for a quieter take on the culture clash of his urban life and the rural village. I don't think it fully resonated with me as much as I'd like, felt a bit of a disconnect in some areas I can't place, but it was definitely a worthwhile watch.
ALT The end of a journey I've been following for 4 years wound up being less of a melancholic last walk and more of a test of patience. All of this adaptations worst instincts are here in full force, along with some new issues like embarrassingly bad editing. It was already fighting a losing battle since I don't like this stretch of the manga that much, but most decisions made for it do extremely little to actually address its core issues and instead compound on them or even introduce entirely new ones. I'll go into more detail about this in a review that I'll link in a qrt. At least hopefully now I can dedicate more of my energy towards Bleach to the parts I love about it instead.
ALT A satire movie that's maddeningly confrontational about the nature and purpose of satire itself. The depictions of Rockwell and everyone else involved in this farcical climate disaster are hammy as hell, ultimately ring hollow, and the movie wouldn't work nearly as well if it didn't. It's incredibly in our faces about why we're satisfied with laughing at bumbling caricatures of the people ruining our world and just living on in those ruins. I've seen so many responses to this film be "yeah we're fucked" and I find that such a shallow read of a movie that wants to prompt you to think about why you accept that as the way it is. It's opening the door for that train of thought, but it knows that's about all the power it has to do. The virtual smear campaign put on it makes a lot more sense after having seen it on the big screen myself. Other rapid fire thoughts: Sound design is immaculate, Tom Cruise is very nuanced in his role, really love the set design's attention to detail.
ALT A satire movie that's maddeningly confrontational about the nature and purpose of satire itself. The depictions of Rockwell and everyone else involved in this farcical climate disaster are hammy as hell, ultimately ring hollow, and the movie wouldn't work nearly as well if it didn't. It's incredibly in our faces about why we're satisfied with laughing at bumbling caricatures of the people ruining our world and just living on in those ruins. I've seen so many responses to this film be "yeah we're fucked" and I find that such a shallow read of a movie that wants to prompt you to think about why you accept that as the way it is. It's opening the door for that train of thought, but it knows that's about all the power it has to do. The virtual smear campaign put on it makes a lot more sense after having seen it on the big screen myself. Other rapid fire thoughts: Sound design is immaculate, Tom Cruise is very nuanced in his role, really love the set design's attention to detail.
ALT Was really surprised by how different this felt from either of the previous movies, going for a much more mature and emotional story. It's less wide-reaching in its commentary, but I think that allows it to be more focused in its exploration of religion on a personal level. Jud's arc of staying true to his belief in it as a vehicle for healing and forgiveness, actively rejecting how it was used as a weapon for Wicks to beat down on an opposition, shows his strength as the emotional core of the story. I really like its role of Blanc's more emotional involvement in the story as well, particularly in the final reveals. Its cinematography is easily the best out of all three of these movies, the lighting especially is incredibly evocative. This alleviated my fears of current Rian Johnson potentially being a one-trick pony and I'm way more excited to see what comes next, whether it's a new Knives Out or not.
ALT Impressive as a debut film for Tarantino. While it's more restrained visually than other works I've seen from him the editing is still very snappy and it's got a ton of great shots. Also has just as sharp and excellently flowing dialogue, even if you could tell that Tarantino was giggling and kicking his feet whenever he wrote a slur. I really like how it structurally plays around with time, with the whole movie being focused on the aftermath of a heist gone wrong and working backwards from there. What kinda brings it down for me is that the actual twist of who the rat was is really obvious and most of the third act is dedicated to unveiling that twist. Still not a movie-breaker, it's a pretty solid time all around.