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Reviews
Dune (2021)
Not as Confusing as Everybody Made it Seem
Dune has already received large acclaim for its beautiful cinematography and incredible detail, and it does deserve it. I haven't read the books but i know that this is only the beginning of the story, and though I don't know what's to come, it seems to have been set up very well. Before I watched it I had heard that it was very confusing, but if you pay attention, it isn't hard to understand what happened. However, I did not know some of the terms and I still don't know what the significance of some of the less important characters, i do think the film was mostly clear and I recommend it.
Hereditary (2018)
The Best Horror Movie of All Time
Hereditary is easily the most disturbing film I've ever seen. Ari Aster deserved and Oscar for his direction of this film, and I'm shocked he wasn't even nominated; because the attention to detail he had to have to make this film is astonishing. Part of what makes this film so effective is Toni Collette's incredible performance. The problem with most horror movies is that they don't create characters relatable enough or likable enough for us to root for them. Ari Aster and Toni Collette, however, created a character that was so real that we felt was she was feeling and proved that what happened to her would happen to us if we were in her position.
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
An Under Appreciated Masterpiece
Francis Ford Coppola made Dracula into a film that I want to watch over and over again. The very distinct dramatic style created such an uncommon atmosphere that I found unmatched in any other film I've seen. I liked the addition of a prologue where Dracula loses Elizabeta, it makes it more reasonable that Count Dracula would fall in love with Mina just by seeing her face. It also strengthened the theme that love never dies, since Dracula had been waiting for her to return for hundreds of years. The fantastic cast was originally what drew me into watching it in the first place, and I'm glad I did because after watching it a second time it's become one of my favorite movies.
My only criticism of the movie is that I found it confusing the first time I watched it, it wasn't entirely clear to me what was going on and who was who since Dracula can change appearances. It wasn't clear that the man who Mina ran into on the streets of London was the same person who was at the castle with Johnathan. Overall I really enjoyed this version of Dracula.
Titus (1999)
A Fantastic Adaptation of an early Shakespeare play
Overall I think that Julie Taymor's version of Titus Andronicus was both enjoyable to watch and brilliant and often that's very rare for movies to have both. The use of Titus' grandson as the center point of the movie was an excellent way of leaving a survivor to learn from the conflict between Titus and Tamora. His presence helps us learn and grow based on what he witnesses. Another aspect that I liked is that as Titus grew more and more crazy the way that the characters were framed was confusing and surreal which made it obvious that Titus was going insane. It is often debated whether or not Shakespeare adaptations should have modern technology or be completely set in the time period that it was originally based in. In my opinion, it is used as a way to make the movie more understandable without making the themes less impactful, however, I do understand why many people don't like having modern technology in a completely different time period. In the end after the fight between Saturninus and Titus the dinning room transitions into a colosseum was the perfect choice. The colosseum was where the film began with the child watching Titus bring the Goths to the tomb of his sons, which is how Tamora's quest for vengeance began. Ending it here with the child was a good choice because during the Roman Empire in the colosseum, a lot of people died. This makes the theme clear that when seeking vengeance everybody loses. Since the boy is the survivor that learned from it all it makes sense that it starts and ends with him in the colosseum because people in Rome would go to watch a violent show, just like this movie, and he is watching and taking part in the story which helps the audience take something away from watching it.
The acting in this film was also very good. A likely unpopular opinion of mine is that it is Anthony Hopkin's best performance that I've seen. Jessica Lange was absolutely the right choice for the roll of Tamora. These two playing opposing characters made me feel bad for both of them despite them committing horrific actions. Which made the theme that vengeance causes both parties to feel pain.
Overall I think that artistically it was very good and it was enjoyable to watch and both are important for it to be a good movie.
Frances (1982)
Fantastic Portrayal of a True Story
Jessica Lange's performance as Frances Farmer is in my opinion her best work as an actress. The movie is heartbreaking and says so much about the industry at the time. The film showed the audience how crushing Hollywood could be to a young actress through the story of somebody who really lived and for that reason I think this film is true art
King Kong (1976)
Surprisingly Good for such Bad Reviews
Although I will never forgive them for making Kong climb the World Trade Center instead of the Empire State Building, I didn't hate this movie as much as I thought I would. Unlike the original, the reason they went to the island was to drill for oil instead of making a movie, and I think that that distracted from my interpretation of the original's theme that greed has a huge effect on others. Lorenzo Semple Jr's interpretation was clearly that wildlife shouldn't be interfered with, this theme was very surface level because the characters often stated that they though it was wrong how they were taking Kong captive.
Jessica Lange's performance was at times unconvincing, but I think the critics were being over dramatic when they said it was one of the worst performances by a future Oscar winner. Now I don't know why she played Dean as if she was in love with Kong, but it was distracting, and I think that had to do more with the writing than her acting.
Overall it was enjoyable and entertaining and despite the surface level themes and mediocre acting, it was enjoyable and worth watching.