Brick

This has to be the funniest movie I’ve ever seen. Usually, in my reviews, I try to talk about the different elements like cinematography and dialogue and whatnot that I liked, but this was filmed like a regular movie so I don’t need to get into that, at least not the cinematography. The plot itself is pretty basic and kind of mediocre, but the comedy really saved the movie. Just the ultimatum between lifelong best friend and a lover, not the most creative or unique story in the world, and honestly if the humor was dry in this movie it’d be 2 to 2 1/2 stars. But, thankfully, the humor was definitely not dry at all in this movie. I was laughing my ass off every other scene, which is great because most movies don’t really ever get that much out of me. And I like this movie as a break from all the more intense and dramatic movies I’ve been watching. You don’t need to dissect the plot to find some deeper meaning, just watch the movie and get a good laugh. I also liked the little side plot towards the end with that crazy guy who stalked Ted, wasn’t expecting it and also was nice how it eventually tied into the main plot of the movie. I am not disappointed at all with this movie, and I definitely recommend watching it if you haven’t.

This was the weirdest movie I’ve ever seen, and it’ll probably keep that title for a long while. Honestly though, as much as I love weirder movies, this one was just kind of stupid. Before I get into what’s bad, I’ll talk about what was good about this film. The cinematography was pretty interesting, I liked some of the scenes because they felt very experimental in a good way and made this movie at least somewhat interesting to watch for some parts, however that alone won’t save a movie. Looking at the plot, it was really hard to follow and, even after figuring it out, it just wasn’t that good. I mean, the concept itself could make for a pretty good movie, but I just didn’t really like the execution. Also, while I was just talkjng about how the cinematography was done good in this movie, it wasn’t totally good. In some parts they were just throwing random animals and elements to make this feel weirder, and they were also just doing random things. I know this is about a cult and cults aren’t exactly normal, but a lot of what happened just felt useless. Another thing they resorted to when they needed to make this movie feel weird is nudity, because there is a lot in this movie. I usually don’t mind nudity in films, especially if it’s meant for more artistic purposes, but it was just all in your face and annoying at some parts. And the ending for this movie was just stupid to be honest. I feel like, if you’re going for a highly experimental cult movie, you shouldn’t cheap out with a be ending. But that’s what they did, they just figure out they’re in a movie and leave, and then the credits roll. It was such a let down, because that could’ve at least saved them even a slightly higher rating. I usually talk about symbolism at this point in the review, but I really couldn’t find anything. And believe me, I really try and look for symbolism if I know the movie is supposed to be deeper and more complex. But this one just really didn’t have any. I imagine it was supposed to be something about religious psychosis or something, given that it’s about a cult, but I didn’t see it. Honestly, I had higher hopes for this movie, but I guess it’s just not for me. I wouldn’t recommend.

I finally got around to watching this movie, and it was so worth it. This is one of the most beautifully complex films I’ve ever seen, not the most but it’s definitely up there. The cinematography in this movie is by far the best I’ve ever seen. The visuals really stand out to capture what, in theory, should be nearly impossible to even portray in a movie. And, one cannot write a review about this movie without mentioning the end scene in the black hole. The visuals are just insane, I can’t even put into words how stunning they were. And the colors match the visuals too. In theory start, when Cooper is just on his farm living a normal life, the colors are less vibrant and more natural, conveying his settled and simple lifestyle. But by the end, when he’s been across light years of space and practically a different dimension, the colors are so vibrant and beautiful. The lighting is perfect, the detailing is perfect, the color-grading is perfect, it’s all perfect. And now for the plot, which is my favorite aspect of this movie. It’s wonderful, it’s all wonderful. One team of people, set out to save humanity itself, and ends up changing the past as well as the future of humanity. There were so many twists in this movie, stuff you probably couldn’t have predicted even given time to. And the characters, i feel like they each represent some aspect of humanity. Cooper is our love for our posterity and our family, always striving to save them. Murph is the relentless urge to always follow our gut and what we believe in. She always held onto some small sliver of faith that her dad would come back, and he did. All the other characters, because I’m not going into detail for every single important character in this film, represented some sort of struggle to preserve humanity, whether it meant to save those currently alive or those who could potentially live past us. Humans going to the parts of the universe we were never meant to even know about, and using that just to get closer with our fellow man, it’s beautiful. The movie could mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and that’s what’s amazing about this film. It’s subjective while still making it an amazing experience to watch. You don’t even need to get any underlying meaning from this, it’s still a masterpiece even if it’s stripped of all its symbolism. I imagine you’ve probably already watched this movie, who hasn’t at this point, but if you haven’t, I highly recommend.

Today I was finally able to watch this movie after wanting to watch it for around 3 years now, and oh my god it was even better than I imagined. Looking at the cinematography, it’s a very blunt and cold movie, greatly matching the horrid and cold events of World War 2. Throughout most of the film, except for the very end and very beginning, it seems there’s just so much anguish and sadness in all the characters. This was a terrifying time for so many people, and this movie does a great job at capturing that. And, one thing I noticed is how, towards the end of the movie, Władysław Szpilman seems to become more desensitized to the death going on around him. He was driven to insanity by this war, and I think it’s perfect how they displayed that insanity. Looking at the plot, I like how much realism was shown in this movie. Not all the Germans were bad, some tried to help Jews. Not all the Jews had the best of intentions, some joined the police force and practically aided in the Germans’ attempts to dehumanize the Jewish people and exterminate them. This movie does what a lot of people don’t want to see in a movie: teach a lesson. It taught a lesson about how some men will let their vile and selfish tendencies take control of them and what follows as a consequence. And we cannot just forget these things, albeit the comfort forgetting tends to bring, because if we do forget what happened it may happen again, and that should be enough of a horrible thought for anyone. What this film also shows, however, is the human spirit and determination to survive. Szpilman had pretty much everything against him, a whole country out to kill him, yet he kept going. Time and time again he faces near death, yet he keeps going. This is just so powerful, it’s something I love to see represented in film. Honestly I can go into specifics about what really stood out to me in this movie, especially the piano scene towards the end, but I don’t want to make this too long so I’ll share one more thing. What makes this movie so special, like a cherry on top, and I only learned this at the end of the film so it was like a nice ribbon to wrap everything up, was that this was based on a true story. Władysław Szpilman Is a real man, a real pianist, and actually did survive the holocaust. This movie is beautiful, tragic but beautiful. If you’re interested in this period of time, or just need a really good movie to watch, I highly recommend this one.