Zíza

I didn't find it much of a comedy, since there really wasn't a moment where I laughed or where I found something really funny. Still, it wasn't a movie I was necessarily bored with. I let Depardieu and MacDowell take me through the process of getting my Green Card. And I give it an extra star for how it turned out, otherwise I would have "only" given a better three :-) because it had a really intelligent script.

In the end, it turned out exactly as I expected (and man how those glasses suited him at the end!). But that's fine with me, sometimes movies just turn out the way you think they will. The worst was the lame dialogue. Having the most perfect heroine (Jolie didn't show anything new, it was all old, hackneyed, and bad; all she showed were her tits...) didn't add to the beauty of it either, she was the one who pissed me off the most. All in all, I was thinking this was a movie for the garbage rating. I only gave it a single star for the few moments when I didn't roll my eyes and tell myself the heroine needed to die (after all, she wasn't in the scene most of the time...).

Those who have read the book will be happy, they will get everything, they will say: "Yay", they'll love the characters right away. But those who haven't? Oh, it will be very hard to digest – I suppose. I was debating whether to give it 3 or 4 stars, but in the end it was 3. Why? It might sound a bit presumptuous, but it could have been made into a better movie, I could have done it... Yikes, a bit pretentious, I get it :-D But seriously, it just didn't leave anything in me, I was even bored in some parts and there was so much that could have been said! I just found it unfinished... At least I started listening to Linkin Park again, that's good :-)

I felt like I was in High School Musical at the beginning, then ended up just in high school. It wasn't bad. Not that I cracked the screen with laughter, no, but I wasn't bored. One good scene is when the "best friend" has a date. That one kind of amused me. Otherwise, as always Matthew was awesome, I still see Chandler in him, but it was quite fitting here. And then, after the movie, it's interesting to watch the credits for a while, enhanced by the visual aids ;-)

It all looks awfully cool. Bullies with tough talk, but they've got pain, grief, sensitivity hidden inside. Wow, girls' knees buckle, guys pat them on the back, "Hi five, Low five", cool, let's keep going, let's go kill zombies to pay off the debt, yeah, yeah, even cooler. Well, we need to add someone to the party, two guys smacks of shōnen-ai, so the third to the party will be a girl (who ends up, poor thing – probably fanservice? – showered with a little shōjo-ai). Yeah, yeah. But it's gotta be that naive Pollyanna who awakens the core of each of them, you know, so that they have someone to sort of protect and yell at sometimes. It's not bad to watch, it's perfectly watchable, except that you might – maybe – occasionally grimace at the would-be terribly moving and crucial scenes or speeches. To kill or not kill a friend? I'd say kill, rake in the cash and have tea, but I guess I’m just a bit too fond of living. It's just such a bland, dull animation with everyone looking horribly pointy and freshly released from Buchenwald. The music didn't stand out to me, neither the opening theme nor the ending, nothing, which means it wasn't anything special. Maybe it has a nice facade, maybe the story sounds interesting, but it's not that well crafted. Such a pity. The manga might be better, but I'm not going to try it. Bottom line, I’m giving it a better 2 stars for the fact that I wasn't even that bored with it. P.S.: Watch 11 episodes and you have, let's say, a complete story, watch 13 and you might as well continue with reading it...

I really like the idea of two strangers getting together, slowly getting to know each other, and slowly feeling something for each other until it grows into love. An awesome, beautiful fairy tale. So I was looking forward to it; unfortunately, this series has been a terrible disappointment. It's basically a show about bickering and unnatural twists and screenwriting crutches that don't fit the plot, but are there to stretch it and make it dramatic. Unfortunately, I'm not buying it. Plus, I didn't even feel like there was any proper chemistry between the leads that would have pulled the weak script into something better and watchable. I kind of don't understand the point of this piece's existence, in my opinion we could have lived without it, the Earth would keep turning and I would have saved myself a few hours of clicking and searching for interesting scenes that unfortunately didn't come. It's hokey, but not in a nice way that you can watch and smile at. I didn't like it; if it were food, it would stink, look disgusting, and even the taste would be pretty unappealing. I don't think they'd even sell it in McDonald’s. Sadly, a total disappointment, one of the worst Taiwanese series I've ever seen.

Sure, it's not original, there are clichés, but you know what? It all works as it should. An unpretentious romantic comedy that hopefully won't offend anyone's sensibilities, it's enjoyable and entertaining. A great thing to relax to. Finally, after a long time, a comedy where I didn't have to feel embarrassed at what the actors were doing. Plus, Sandler and Aniston looked good together, so there was nothing to be upset about. I enjoyed it within the genre.

I liked that the series is an accurate reflection of how religion works in Japan – the complicated intertwining of everything, the fact that just because one works doesn't automatically mean the other doesn't work or have substance. That's why I liked this syncresis. Another plus was the heroine, because she was exactly like a sixteen-year-old girl – she wasn't just relegated to the "he's handsome so I must automatically like him" box, but she wasn't a bitch either. She was just a real human being, and that's something I rarely see in a sixteen-year-old girl in anime. Otherwise, it's a perfectly ordinary ghost story, episodic, with the house in the mountains story sticking in my mind the most because of its atmosphere. If you're in the mood for exorcisms and a pretty decent group of people, don't skip this one. A weaker 4 stars.

I haven't seen such a severely underrated series in a long time, I tend to see overrated ones more often than not. This just isn't Shōnen or seinen, this is a beautiful example of sentai. Or the Power Rangers in the animated version. Nothing more, nothing less. And within the genre, it's really well done. Not only does it poke fun at itself, but at the same time we go through all the stages of superheroes with the hero, which basically replicate the clichés of the genre, but are presented in a quite endearing way that you simply enjoy watching it. If you haven't spent at least some enjoyable time with Kamen Rider, it's clear that you won't be digesting this anime either. Masayoshi starts us off from scratch, overcoming obstacles, amassing followers, and fighting all sorts of odds to ultimately triumph, albeit bare-bottomed. Everything makes sense. The characters have their (sentai-esque) depth. Plus, it's just a comedy about a universe that decided to make one fool's dream come true. Pleasantly goofy.

What I loved incredibly about Hibiki was that the girl never fell out of her role, even though her surroundings may have pushed her into a mode of behavior she thought was right, she didn't let herself get used to it and continued to keep her role because it suited her best and she felt comfortable in it. The relationships between the characters in the film are very well portrayed within their quiet complexity and loud simplicity. Hibiki is straightforward, and in the end, when one gets to know her a bit, it's clear what she wants, though she may not say it out loud. In her differences, Hibiki is simply beautiful and as a character, it's easy to succumb to her. Plus, she's good at what she does and knows what she wants. I wouldn't be at all surprised if everyone said after watching this that they wanted to be at least a little like her in some ways. While the lead role is a high school girl, you couldn't say that this is a movie about a purely high school setting. It intertwines with the adult world and forces all the characters to grow up. However, I felt that in the end it was Hibiki who was the most mature of them all. I definitely recommend watching it. The movie has a lot to say and will definitely get you reading, maybe even writing. Not to mention that your heart will sing for Oguri Shun's character.