Hromino

If you have not seen it, you have not lived. This was my gateway to the world of fantasy movies.

This is a different take on Wars of the Roses, it is called The War of the Roses. The saying "pushing you until you snap." applies very well to this movie. Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner are an absolutely insane and totally convincing couple. Come to think of it – is not the entirety of The War of the Roses perfect too? Woof!

I don't believe World Trigger is as much of a disaster as some people claim. It's just incredibly forgettable, and there's hardly anything about it that's surprising. The simple storyline about alien monsters invading our world through an interdimensional gateway in a Japanese city might only excite undemanding and unsophisticated viewers. Those with a discerning eye may question: What sets it apart from other movies and TV series with similar plots? How will the production team bring something new to the table? Unfortunately, this is where the anime falls short. The production team seems to have struggled to come up with anything remotely interesting. They attempted to add depth by explaining the inner workings of Border, the organization fighting against the monsters, and the nature of the characters' supernatural abilities. Perhaps this decision was intended to give the impression of profundity and make the viewers feel like they were witnessing a highly sophisticated work that required significant effort and dedication, similar to what was seen in The Irregular at Magic High School. However, it still feels lacking and fails to make logical sense. The actions of Border members, who often behave like little children, don't align with the importance of the city's safety. Would the inhabitants of any city in any country truly be okay with menacing giant alien creatures randomly attacking them, endangering their safety and lives? I don’t think so. One would hope that the audio-visual experience would at least redeem the show, but once again, it disappoints. The soundtrack is passable, the artwork is unremarkable, the character designs are average, and the animation quality starts off quite poor (for instance, the first episode mainly consists of static shots), only reaching mediocrity later on. Since this show was produced by Toei Animation, a studio known for stretching stories with recaps and flashbacks, viewers might wonder how it would have turned out if a studio like Bones or Madhouse had taken on the project. Perhaps those studios could have at least delivered a more captivating audiovisual experience. Additionally, if the creators had taken bolder steps and approached the adaptation of the original material in the right way, World Trigger could have been more interesting in terms of the story. The only positive aspects I can mention are the absence of ecchi elements and the character of Kuga, the white-haired character who is well-voiced, has a good sense of humor, and exhibits some depth. However, the rest of the show is a repetitive and unremarkable mush that I've seen countless times before. The remaining thirty-five episodes probably won't surprise or impress me. Therefore, after fifteen episodes, I've decided to call it quits and give it a generous one-star rating, perhaps more than it deserves.

This is an excellent comedy full of dark humor, outstanding actors, and an excellent plot. This is a movie that is really close to my heart and that I have a terrible fondness for, so much so that I am able to quote certain dialogues from memory, like the one with the broccoli. :)

The characters are well-crafted and plausible, there is a nice chemistry between them, the pacing is suitable, the drawing and animation are precise, the soundtrack is good, and it is mature for its genre, while relatively avoiding the most well-worn tropes. All this was put into Sing "Yesterday" for Me, but as time went on, the scum came to the surface, with which all the good around it gradually turned bitter - and that scum was the story that remained. This is a story that got tangled up and lost in itself, as if there was not even really a story there in the end. The initial exposition was good, excellent even, but what followed it was like trying to sober up after a night of heavy drinking. Slow, tiring and full of waiting for change that in the end never comes in the end. The characters check each other out a few times, a polygon is outlined, there are some hints at the characters’ having some conflict and inner dilemma, the molecules weakly bump into each other a few times, but in the end they return to their original positions and the expectation of some more significant reaction remains unfulfilled. I can certainly recommend this anime to those who are comfortable with anime that is about nothing, and are content to check out an anime that throws around sketches of slight characters without any proper development, but to the rest I would rather recommend they invest their time more wisely. I give this a mere 3 stars.

This is even better than The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope. The Fall of the House of Usher exceeded my expectations, although I could not really get on very well with Petr Cepek's performance. Not that he was absolutely terrible, but sometimes he spoke too slowly and sometimes too quickly, to the point where he was almost unintelligible – although it did not adversely affect the action of the scenes. Cepek was better at the end, so that is the only such average thing about this beautiful short film. Svankmajer once again demonstrates how he can successfully combine Edgar Allan Poe's short story with other, historical short stories, as he did with the aforementioned The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope. In this movie, Svankmajer’s ideas are voiced by Cepek, as he recounts the miserable mental anguish suffered by both Usher and his sister, whom Usher buried alive. Cepek portrays the narrator who visits Usher in person, and who faithfully describes his feelings about the house, its surroundings, and Usher and his sister. When you hear that Usher was sitting on his chair, his back to the door, the whole time and swaying erratically, you know something suspenseful is about to happen. Only the climax will give you the answer to what is really behind the veil of truth. Then you shall finally find out what it means to be consumed by the notion of retribution for what you have done every day.

This is a kitsch tear-jerker that relentlessly and mercilessly tortures the audience for over three hours with its relentless pursuit of maximum pathos. It uses New Testament parables, miracles, the supernatural, compassionate glances, and spares no expense with the large number and intensity of its clichéd characters. A miracle happened to me, too, and it was that I somehow endured the three hour running time, but only just. In retrospect, I can not help but marvel at how anyone could be moved by such a matchless piece of trash, let alone how it could be so massively popular... I understand that lovers of severely kitsch tear-jerkers may find something to like here, but for me, it rather reaffirms, again and again, that the adaptations of King's books, with the exception of The Shawshank Redemption, do nothing for me. For the performances of Hanks and Duncan I give 1 star, a higher rating is out of the question as I can not think of anything constructive.

I know that objectively speaking this movie probably does not deserve that one star, but since I am so disgusted by this movie, l am going to take the liberty of rating it subjectively for once and award it the one star rating for Dakota Blue Richards, who was the only asset to this movie and managed to portray the character of Lyra mostly successfully. I have never been particularly opposed to changes in adapting books to the screen, so long as they make sense, are not arbitrary, and are beneficial to the movie. However, what the screenwriter and probably the producers have done here is downright worth a few hard slaps. To turn such a promising book series, which becomes more sophisticated and more thought-provoking with each installment, into an utterly pointless mishmash, which is clearly aimed at children and where a bunch of interesting ideas are buried or desperately underdeveloped – it is not worth anything but a good smack in the face. Especially the idea of the soul dwelling outside the body in the form of an animal – a daemon – is presented in a completely tragic way, the pace of the movie is downright deathly slow, most of the actors just recite their lines idly, the nonsensical changes compared to the original (why did they cut it off so awkwardly at the end?) and the already rather truncated plot is just tedious. No, I had better not go on listing everything that was wrong here, because it would go on for days.

I went to see Twilight  for one simple reason: I wanted to see what was so breathtaking and captivating about it. Twilight is neither of those things, of course, however, it is an interesting movie either way, and everyone should go see it to make up their mind about whether it is just a load of kitschy teenage crap or a romantic adult movie. Now for the review: as far as the actors go – the movie has a mostly average cast. Even if there are some excellent actors, they are accompanied by clumsy and wooden actors. An example of this would be Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, the co-stars in the lead roles. Kristen is relaxed throughout the movie, playing Bella as if she is just being herself in certain situations, while until halfway through the movie Pattinson is just smirking at Kristen, scowling, frowning, and comes off rather constrained. Of the better ones, we should also mention Rachelle Lefevre and Cam Gigandet, who as the villains of the movie, manage to create the right atmosphere. The bedraggled Gigandet thus gives the repulsive impression he is obviously supposed to give, and Lefevre, on the other hand, looks like a temptress, and an unbearable bitch who is constantly secretly plotting evil things. That would be the actors, and now onto the screenplay: to sum up, this is a slightly above average movie. In the end, Hardwicke relies heavily on some poignant scenes, and also fast-paced action scenes, however, the transitioning between these two things is almost tedious in places. The coquettish, flirtatious interactions and other stuff that goes on at school will fill your nostrils like a stench that no amount of air freshener can eliminate. The soundtrack is also above average – admittedly, Danny Elfman and Harry Gregson-Williams might have very well laughed their heads off at this gig and turned it down, however, it is pleasing that the OST does not feel monotonous and covers a variety of genres.

This was such a shitty movie that did not impress me at all. Maybe there was just a slightly above average Nicole Kidman, however, that is really, really not enough to be awarding the movie more than one star.