It's fairly rare to get the opportunity to get to watch a Japanese animated movie in theaters in the US, and earlier today I watched Belle in IMAX.

It's honestly really hard to talk about the film in it's entirety. It's a really deeply layered film, and even with how extensive the previews for this film have been they don't really do a very good job of describing what the film is about. Even after saying that I don't really want to explain it because I think that it's best to just jump in and enjoy it - and frankly I'm not sure I could explain it very well without spoiling it. That being said, because it's so layered and there's so much content it talks about it can be hard to grasp the deeper meanings. I saw this movie with my husband and I can tell you that he definitely didn't get it. After reading a handful of reviews it looks like a number of critics didn't get it either. The good news is that you don't have to be a film major to enjoy it; it's still going to be plenty enjoyable even if you miss those meanings. It helps that the production on this film is utterly fantastic, and the sound design and music are particularly fantastic.

From an academic perspective this film literally pulls off every trick in the animation and filmmaking books. It uses traditional style 2D animation, it's got 3D animation, some scenes use a mixture of the two. It has computer-generated tweening at times, and in other times the 2D drawings are morphed to animate them and create the illusion of life. The director Mamoru Hosoda has a pretty long track record at this point and this film has aspects that show off his signature aesthetics and unique techniques that he has developed over the years. And he does so to a great effect; I found myself being strongly emotionally affected by several of it's scenes. Of those highly affecting scenes, not all of them evoked tears; there were also plenty of times where I found myself almost laughing because the scenes were full of positivity.

While it's tempting to consider this a retelling of Beauty and Beast from the previews, the film is so much more than that. Even the most basic understanding you could take from this film would not support that position. In fact the "beast" of this story is not even a romantic interest.

The thing that endears me personally to this movie so much is that there are two dramatic scenes that are handled so realistically and naturally it felt like I was reliving portions of my own life. There is a scene early on where the main character tries to sing quietly to herself when she's all by her lonesome but is so overcome with emotions that she not only can't hold a single note, the act makes her throw up. And in the last act there is a scene where a boy is suffering from emotional abuse from his father and is completely unable to trust people who are trying to help him. He's been too hurt by people who promised to help but eventually left him in the same situation, allowing more abuse to happen.

There are many reasons that I would recommend watching this movie, but I wanted to recommend this movie to this community in particular because I think that some of the messages this movie was made to tell will resonate with the people here. The film is a struggle to answer the question "why should we help other people?" The film also has a lot to say about how we treat each other over the internet, as you may have already surmised.

Just finished watching it, and while I’m sure I need to process and reflect a little more on it, I can at least give my initial impression: meh.

I came in not expecting much because, to be honest, the trilogy didn’t end as good as it started. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t end up a kaleidoscope of colors either, since the promotional material seemed to insinuate it might take after some of the other Wachowski’s works.

The first hour felt like a rehash of the first Matrix. While the callbacks were good fan service, it felt uninspired and something I would expect from a Disney franchise. The second half seemed to lose the thread and the plot got rambled through to the point that you forget what the whole point of the movie was supposed to be. It basically ends as a…love story? The deeper philosophical elements of the trilogy were eschewed for predictable tropes and artificial suspense.

The characters lacked depth, and I was particularly disappointed in the new incarnations of Agent Smith and Morpheus. The younger actors lacked the gravitas that the original duo brought to the screen. The bated, deliberate delivery that provided weight to the characters was replaced by trite, pithy lines that don’t do the original characters any justice. Neil Patrick Harris is also better suited for a comedic role rather than a dramatic one, and his character failed at both in this movie.

The movie had a decent environment and art direction, but it got ruined by overuse of CGI and green screen. The action scenes either had stilted fights with aging actors, or had so much action that they lacked any real sense of danger (there were scenes with throngs of people attacking the main characters with bullets never seeming to hit anyone important).

I had hoped that after 20 years there would be some real contribution to the canon, but this movie answered enough questions to explain why Neo is alive, without contributing any further philosophy into the series. It ends with a clear open ending for future installments, which would only serve as cash grabs.

The movie started off with many meta-references to itself, making a joke about sequels being unoriginal. I had hoped this self-awareness would have translated to either a new level of meta-discussion or at least an attempt to not fall into the folly of most half-assed sequels. Apparently that line was solely a joke, and it cheapens the movie because of it.

Was it a good movie? Not really. Was it a bad movie? Not necessarily. It was entertaining in the same way a Michael Bay explosion is entertaining, but those looking for intellectual stimulation will be left empty-handed.

We had a wonderful thread where people commented their favorite movies that they watched this year, but they didn’t have to be 2021 movies. I listed a bunch of classics that I watched. But now I wanna know your end of the year top lists. It could be as many movies as you want, 5, 7, 10, etc.

I’ll start:

1. In The Heights

2. Belfast

3. West Side Story

4. Licorice Pizza

5. Don’t Look Up

6. Last Night in Soho

7. tick, tick... BOOM!

8. The Last Duel

9. Spider-Man: No Way Home

10. Candyman

I recently made a post saying what movies I currently am predicting to get Oscar nominations and someone commented that they use awards as a way to watch more interesting movies. So I thought I would make a list for you guys of all the movies that currently have (or had) buzz. Maybe you’ll want to check some of these out, maybe you’ll be introduced to some movies you haven’t even heard of from the past year.

I will be giving two lists. The first is for movies that still do have buzz, and the second is for movies who’s buzz died off at some point in the year. In the first list I put parentheticals for films who have more specific buzz, and left solely the titles for films that have buzz for a lot of categories. I’ve also linked the trailer to each film.

Just a little fyi, this list is from movies that released March 2021 - December 2021. This past Oscar season had the deadline extend to February 2021.

Movies that still have buzz:
Being the Ricardos
Belfast
Belle (animated feature)
CODA (Picture, Adapted Screenplay)
Cruella (Costumes, Hair & Makeup, and Original Song)
Cyrano
C’mon C’mon (Picture, Original Screenplay, Lead Actor, Cinematography)
Don’t Look Up
Dune
Encanto (animated feature)
Flee (documentary, animated feature, international film)
House of Gucci
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Luca (animated feature)
Mass (supporting actress)
Nightmare Alley
No Time To Die (original song, sound, VFX, cinematography)
Parallel Mothers (Lead Actress, International Feature)
Passing (supporting actress)
Raya and the Last Dragon (animated feature)
Red Rocket (Lead Actor)
Respect (Lead Actress)
Spencer (Picture, Lead Actress, Original Score, Costumes)
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Lead Actress, Hair & Makeup).
The French Dispatch (original score, cinematography, hair & makeup)
The Hand of God (international feature, Director, Original Screenplay)
The Harder They Fall (original song)
The Last Duel
The Lost Daughter (Picture, Lead Actress, Adapted Screenplay)
The Mitchell’s vs the Machines (animated feature)
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Tick... Tick... Boom!
West Side Story

Movies that used to have buzz:

A Journal for Jordan
Blue Bayou
Bruised
Cry Macho
Dear Evan Hansen
Eternals
In The Heights
Last Night in Soho
Stillwater
Swan Song
The Card Counter
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
The Green Knight
The Humans
The Many Saints of Newark
The Tender Bar
Zola

I know that there aren’t a lot of film buffs here, and that a lot of you don’t care about awards. I love awards. The oscars are actually a really important thing that got me watching more interesting movies. And I make it a point to watch all the Best Picture nominees every year.

I spend a lot of time on trying to predict what will get nominated and will win at the Oscars. I’m pretty okay at it. I average about a 76% correctly predicting what gets nominated and an 80% what wins. Things change as more award shows happen. And the closer we get to the Oscars.

But, I wanted to share with y’all what I thought would get nominated at the Oscars this coming year.

In no specific order:

Best Picture:

Don’t Look Up

King Richard

The Last Duel

Licorice Pizza

The Power of the Dog

Belfast

West Side Story

Dune

Being the Ricardos

House of Gucci

Best Director:

Adam McKay - Don’t Look Up

Paul Thomas Anderson - Licorice Pizza

Kenneth Branagh - Belfast

Ridley Scott - The Last Duel

Denis Villeneuve - Dune

Best Lead Actress:

Jodie Comer - The Last Duel

Jennifer Lawrence - Don’t Look Up

Penelope Cruz - Parallel Mothers

Nicole Kidman - Being the Ricardos

Lady Gaga - House of Gucci

Best Lead Actor:

Will Smith - King Richard

Benedict Cumberbatch - The Power of the Dog

Leonardo DiCaprio - Don’t Look Up

Javier Bardem - Being the Ricardos

Adam Driver - The Last Duel

Best Supporting Actress:

Kirsten Dunst - The Power of the Dog

Ariana DeBose - West Side Story

Meryl Streep - Don’t Look Up

Aunjaune Ellis - King Richard

Caitriona Balfe - Belfast

Best Supporting Actor:

Jamie Dornan - Belfast

Bradley Cooper - Licorice Pizza

Mark Rylance - Don’t Look Up

Jared Leto - House of Gucci

Jon Bernthal - King Richard

Best Adapted Screenplay:

The Power of the Dog

The Last Duel

House of Gucci

Dune

West Side Story

Best Original Screenplay:

Belfast

Don’t Look Up

King Richard

Licorice Pizza

Being the Ricardos

Best Cinematography:

Dune

West Side Story

Licorice Pizza

The Last Duel

The Power of the Dog

Best Costume Design:

House of Gucci

The Last Duel

West Side Story

Dune

Being the Ricardos

Hair and Makeup:

House of Gucci

Being the Ricardos

King Richard

Dune

West Side Story

Best Production Design:

Licorice Pizza

The Last Duel

Dune

West Side Story

Belfast

Best Sound:

Don’t Look Up

West Side Story

Dune

No Time To Die

The Last Duel

Best Original Score:

Dune

The Power of the Dog

The Last Duel

Don’t Look Up

King Richard

Best Original Song:

No Time To Die from No Time To Die

Be Alive from King Richard

Down to Joy from Belfast

Dos Oruguitas from Encanto

Just Look Up from Don’t Look Up

Best Film Editing:

Don’t Look Up

King Richard

The Last Duel

Dune

Belfast

Best Visual Effects:

Black Widow

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Dune

No Time To Die

Don’t Look Up

That’s what I have for now.

If this list is worth anything, it’s to let you guys know what films have a lot of buzz. The only films I think are certain of getting a Best Picture nomination are Belfast, King Richard, The Power of the Dog, and Don’t Look Up.

If you haven’t watch Belfast or King Richard as of yet, I highly recommend checking them out.