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Reviews
Batoru rowaiaru (2000)
Intense movie
This movie was really intense. At first when I heard about it, I thought it'd be violent and stuff, but certainly not to the extent it was. For some reason its a lot more disturbing to see high school students my own age getting killed/killing each other in brutal ways in this Japanese film than it is to see the same (or worse) brutality in the action films the US puts out today.
This movie takes place in future Japan where the chaotic condition of Japans population leads the govt to institute an act called Battle Royale, where a random class of high school students has to kill each other off. Obviously this background story is a very bad excuse just so they could have a reason to focus the movie about teens killing each other off.
From the beginning, the movie is intense. You see a man who has hung himself, a student knife his teacher. Once the students are taken to the island, their teacher makes it clear how real it is. It was extremely intense seeing how the kids reacted to their situation. You find yourself studying them to see whether they will be the ones who try to win, or who try to save their friends.
Every time someone got killed, you feel extremely bad for them, because they are just a kid. Every time someone kills another kid you think "Why did you kill them, it was your classmate!". The film develops almost every students character at least a little, telling you their pure, honest, deepest thought/desire/motive, making you love the character for who he/she is right before they are brutally killed. And even for the students who kill others, you end up feeling bad for them.
Interestingly, most of the students do not try to save themselves. Three boys set up a way to beat the system, hack into the 'school' and escape. Two girls earnestly call for everyone to stop fighting and help each other, right before they are killed by the 'transfer' student. A bunch of girls hide out in a lighthouse. Some kids commit suicide. Some wander looking for their secret crushes and best friends. Trust, friendship, and betrayal are all intensely packed into each second. The transfer students are very interesting too.
Almost every character has a 'crush' on another character, or is best friends with another character. Its strategically childish and innocent, making you feel all the worse when they innocently and desperately declare their love for another student in their last dying words.
Greedy Humpty Dumpty (1936)
really old but classic
I'm only 16 years old but for some strange reason when I was really young we had a collection of cartoons from earlier decades, including this movie.
I have no idea why we had them, but anyway my brother and I used to watch this short, along with numerous others (I don't know their names I just remember the plots) almost every single day. For some reason it didn't scare me.
It was great, even though I vaguely remember it. Kind of twisted, probably not great for little kids. It teaches a good lesson though! You're never going to find me building weak infrastructure..