Best Films 2023

broderic on January 23, 2024

I guess I should post a blog post sometime this year. Considering that this year’s Academy Awards were announced this morning, my first post this year will be that list of best films from the past year. Like always, it’s a list of the films I thought were the best and achieved a rating of 4 or more stars. Unlike previous years during the pandemic, I did see a few more films this year, and it seems that I’ve seen more good ones than bad.

These are all 4 of 5 stars.

I enjoyed all these films. I did enjoy going to the theater. I want to try going to more movies this year.

The Boy and the Heron

broderic on December 27, 2023

With his return from retirement and with retirement seemingly forever suspended, Hayao Miyazaki brings about his latest film, The Boy and the Heron, ten years from his last. It is with a lot of anticipation that I went to the theater to watch. Is he still as great as story teller? Is he still one of the best anime directors, even film directors? Yes and yes. But.

The film is okay. It rehashes a lot of Miyazaki tropes. It felt like a mash up of Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Castle in the Sky. It was just fine. Glad he’s doing films, but sometimes I wonder if maybe he should retire for good. Let’s hope his next film, if there is one, may not be in another ten years.

3 of 5 stars.

We Are Marching!

broderic on December 15, 2023

In honor of the kaiju dominating the theaters, let’s go with Atarashi Gakko! and their latest, Tokyo Calling. Now you may ask yourself how does this remind you of kaiju? Well, if you clicked through and listen, you will know. Yeah, it’s got visuals on a miniature set, but also the song itself reminds me of the Godzilla theme with a sprinkling of the Mothra theme.

Anyhow…

We are marching! We are marching! We are marching!

Godzilla Minus One

broderic on December 8, 2023

It is deserving of the praise its been getting. Godzilla Minus One is a rare movie pulling off earth shattering spectacle with a dramatic, intimate story involving characters that you really feel for. It’s something that American movies can’t seem to get right — making the human element believable as the CG FX.

This Godzilla movie opens at the end of WWII in the dying embers of the Japanese empire. The main character is a kamikaze pilot who chickened out and finds himself face to face with Godzilla. He chickens out again and Godzilla ends up slaughtering his fellow soldiers. The main character is a survivor with PTSD from the war as a well as survivor’s guilt.

With a return to Japan post war, this film reminds us on the malevolent force that is Godzilla. Cribbing a few notes from the previous Godzilla film, Shin Godzilla, it makes the big one an unstoppable, dangerous monster. He just washes up on the shore and demolishes Tokyo like the first film. In the end, they have to stop Godzilla. They do via some plan, but he’ll be back.

Surprisingly, this film really hit you in the feels. I think it’s because we’re rooting for the humans and not the kaiju. You feel for them and hope they survive. It’s a good film and probably will be the best I’ve seen this year. We’ll see.

4 of 5 stars.

「感謝」Gratitude

broderic on November 23, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving 2023! Many things to be thankful for.

乃木坂46, 山下美月,黒見明香,松尾美佑,奥田いろは,しあわせの保護色,人は夢を二度見る,逃げ水,I See…。Baltimore Orioles, 101 wins, AL East Champions. Hot summers, cool autumns, red leaves, yellow leaves, wind through the trees, wind off the water, wind in your face, sunshine and rain. Hamburgers, french fries, pizza, pancit, lechon, white rice, paella, bagel, coffee, rum, beer, tinto rosa. Spain. Paris. Baltimore. Friends. Family. Mom. Dad. Brothers. Sisters. Nephews and nieces. Lolo. Lola. Love, loss, pain, sorrow, and happiness.

I can be thankful for what has been in life.

I wish you all happiness and gratitude for this year as well!

『独占」is “Monopoly”

broderic on November 22, 2023

Well here we go. Nogizaka46’s 34th single, Monopoly. They, the members, will bankrupt you with their gourgeousness. Let’s all get ready. It will be released on December 6th. Consider that the dollar is crushing the yen at the moment pick up all five versions. You know I will.

Stop Making Sense

broderic on October 5, 2023

It makes no sense that it’s the 40th Anniversary of the Talking Head’s concert movie, Stop Making Sense. Where has the time gone?

I used to have the cassette tape of the album. It was much shorter than the 90 minutes of the film missing several cuts. I have never really seen the entire film so imagine my surprise they even had the Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love!” Did not know that was in the film. Now I know. Genius.

If you haven’t listened, then listen or watch this film. I wanted to dance. The audience was older than I was when I watched it. I would have to say they were maybe college students when this movie came out and Talking Heads were their jam. I can say it was also my jam. I played the cassette all the time in my VW Golf while going to school. Psycho Killer. Naive Melody. This must me the place.

I guess I did enjoy it.

4 of 5 stars.

“Why does a radio station have a sheriff?”

broderic on September 30, 2023

A Haunting in Venice is an Agatha Christie mystery story as filmed by Kenneth Branagh as part of his Poirot Cinematic Universe. It is a Scooby Doo film. Yes, you heard that right. It had a supernatural twist behind it but the motivations was really human. I was expecting the culprit to have said that they would’ve gotten away with it except for those damn, meddling kids.

The story is about the death of girl in Venice. She threw herself into the canals. It was rumored that her death was caused mainly by the curse surrounding the family’s history and the ghosts in their villa. Now, that is a good setup for a mystery.

Except, it was all quite easy to see where it was going. If you’ve watched enough movies, you know really quickly who was the culprit. I don’t think I am spoiling it if I say that it wasn’t ghosts that did it. The ghosts weren’t spooky enough, and typically the scariest thing in this were the humans. So, if you read the books or know your films, there wasn’t quite a mystery there. And since it was really humans, the fright wasn’t there either.

3 of 5 stars.