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Do the Right Thing (1989)
You could do nothing, you could something, or you could...
A story of racism, of love and hate, of racial tension, all happen in one very hot summer day in a black neighborhood in Brooklyn
The world building of this film is insane, Lee did such a good job of making a living breathing community, like I am not being hyperbole when I said that every single side character here is memorable. The 3 men sitting around the red wall, the random group of dancer, the religious lady who sits on the window. They have little screentime but Lee make sure to make every second of them counts, the 3 felt like they have decades of history behind them, the sister lady relationship and dynamic with Da Mayor, like it's insane how well the side character were fleshed out. Like I could actually imagine how a casual week in the neighborhood of this film would be like. The world does not felt like they only exist during the runtime of the film, it felt like the film only show a part of the world.
The character of the film are extremely interesting and also add another layer to the film ambiguous moral and. Look at our protagonist Mookie. At first, we saw him as a hardworking man, he is known around the community and is overall very like, he is initially shown to be a functioning member of society and the heroic character of the film. But then as the film progress, we saw how flawed Mookie really is. At first we thought he is unable to have a proper relationship with his girlfriend because of his job, but then we realized that the girl he is in love with, is the girl who previously carried a baby. So you telling me Mookie is technically a father, but he isn't spent a lot of time with his girlfriend or kid? So he is very irresponsible with his duty...isn't that make him a bit of a deadbeat father? We also learnt that the job he work - pizza delivery for Sal is very unsustainbale for his future and that he live with his sister who is adamant on wanting him to move out. Another character is Sister Mother. At the beginning of the film and until the final avt, we saw Sister Mother to be a very nice and caring person who watches over the neighborhood. But when the restaurant is burn down, we see this morally upright figure very passionately screams "BURN IT DOWN" like Sal enslave her ancestor or something. This kind and caring person is suddenly so adamant on the destruction of another person livelihood. This flip on the character is not only subversive, but also play into just how no one is entirely right or wrong or good or bad.
The cinematography is also completely baller, there are so much movement, so much energy in the way it is shot and frame. The camera help us to be immerse into the world even more, the framing make it look like we are looking down or up at something, especially the scene where Raheem and Sal confront each other, the camera help to create further tension making it felt like the character are looking directly at us. It's unbelievable that this did not won Best Picture.
(This part is the analysis and contains a lot of spoilers)
"Always do the right thing" Da Mayor said to Mookie, well then what is the right thing to do? Lee doesn't tell us, in fact telling us what is 'the right thing to do' is an antithesis to this whole film, he is not a god, he's just a mortal man. I believe 'do the right thing' is not just 'to do the right thing' it is about the concept of good and evil itself. What do we deem is good and evil? A man who has to resort to stealing to feed his kids. Is he wrong to steal or is he right to support and feed his family? And inside this film, instead of give us what he think is 'the right thing' he merely let us watch and observes and come to the conclusion ourselves.
Did Sal do anything wrong for not putting up any pictures of black people on the wall of fame? I mean it IS his restaurant, he can do whatever he want with it, plus the wall explicitly said it's for Italian people, and Italian is not a race, so why is Buggin Out so mad about it? I mean it's not like Sal is racist, he known the community for 25 years, and most of his customers are black people, not everyone respect him, but most do, is Sal in the right? Well, just like I said, it's much more complicated. Let's think about Sal character for a sec, notice how he never voluntarily leave his restaurant? His restaurant that 'segregated' him from the rest of the neighborhood, and as Sal said it himself, he work here for 25 years and have grown to love the community. Is it not believable that he would grown to understand the black struggle, and understand how much Malcolm X and MLK meant for black people for the past 25 years? Also the most telling thing I notice about him is his oldest son Pito. "I detested this place" one of the first thing we hear from him, and more telling we hear him saying that Michael Jackson and other black celebrities is like a "good kind of black". Doesn't that seems...racist? Why is Sal uncaring about Vito hatred for black people? 25 years working in a black community, and somehow he couldn't taught his son to respect black people? Assuming that at worst, Pino is pushing 40 here, so he is at least 15 when he move to the neighborhood. You telling me for 25 years living so close with black people, and seeing prominent black activist live and die for their cause, and somehow, the most he can do is talking to a black person normally, and not using the hard-r when he is angry at Mookie? That's kinda concerning on Sal's part.
Now it is very important to talk about Radio Raheem when we are talking about Sal. Raheem don't often talk much, but he likes to listen to music, we can easily assume that to Raheem, music is his way of expressing himself. What kind of music does Raheem play? Public Enemy's Fight The Power. This is an extremely important part of Raheem character, firstly we need to understand 2 things: why rap is so important to black culture and 2: the message of the song and how it all ties back to Raheem and Sal character.
So why is rap music so important to black culture? Rap music is a tool for Black people to raise awareness to their issues, It is a chance for the people to have their voice heard, rap talks about many of the problem that plague black people like police brutality, drug epidemic, white on black and black on black violence and racism and racial injustice and so more, it is so perfectly counter-culture, that's why you often hear annoying and ignorant white people trying to discredit rap by saying it's all about gang violence, sex and drugs while also failt to understand and try to dissmiss the music (Case in point) they also think Eminem is the best Rapper for some reason. Now for Public Enemy's Fight The Power, the song and the film was released in 1989, on January 16th of the same year, Miami police officer William Lozano shot and killed Clement Lloyd, an African American motorcyclist, this event subsequently causes a riot to happen in Miami. The song quickly became a massive hit, sold nearly 500K copies at the time, and it becoming an anthem for the black right movement, in similar vein to Kendrick Lamar "Alright" and how it became the unofficial anthem of the BLM movement. Both songs, dealt with theme of going up against the "power that be" a.k.a the police force that discriminate black people, the state that don't support black community enough, the, the authorities. And despite harsh lyrics, both songs are incredbly catchy and uplifting, making it a perfect to sing along.
Now with that looking back at Sal and Raheem. One thing that stuck to me when they first confronted is Sal word of choice. When he said no music in his restaurant, he *specifically* says no rap music first, then no music in general second. It always struck go me how odd that he serperate rap from the rest of music. You could say that Sal is...segregated "black people music" from "regular music", adding to my suspicion that Sal is actually a repressed racist. And then in the climax when Raheem and Buggin Out return to Sal's restaurants, what did Sal do? He destory Raheem's boombox. Once again you could say to yourself that is Raheem in the wrong for disrupting Sal at night and that he should've expected that? But looking at it at a thematic point, a man who said he respect black people and pride himself in seeing them eating his food, who just before destroying Raheem's boombox, said the n-word, knowing that there are other black people in his restaurant. He uses violence, destroying a boombox that is playing a song about standing up to the authority. This is to me how the government tries to suppress the civil rights movement, like how the FBI is responsible for the assassination of Black Panthers party's deputy chairman Fred Hampton. Sal in that moment is the authority, the police force who enact violence on protestors. And what does the protestor do? They will also exort to violence. Hate breed hate, Raheem fought back, literally and metaphorically drag Sal's out of his "segregated" area. A crowd starts to form and eventually the police came. And they well........ kill Raheem, and once again a black man is killed by the police......what did Eazy-E and Ice Cube once said again?
In response, Mookie in an act of rebellion, he throw a trash can into the restaurant, and a subsequent looting happened. Smiley light up a match and burn down the restaurant but before he exit it he put up a picture of Malcolm X and MLK in the wall of fame, the fire of the rebellion brought down the authority and the wall of segregation. Now we ask ourselves one last time. Did Mookie do the right thing? Sal wasn't the one who kill Raheem, and in someway, Raheem and Buggin Out was the one who escalate the situation, also by doing this, Mookie is showing us that he is maybe ruthless person that act on impulse, who doesn't think about how destroying Sal restaurant would effect his livelihood. But look at thematic elements again, notice how Sal or Vito or Pino never once try to stop the police from.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Plane go fast
Top Gun: Maverick is beautiful because of how unashamedly simple it was. It does notntry to tell you anything or trying to reinvent the action blockbuster formula or trying to be different and experimental. No, all its trying to do is to simply entertain you. There is no lesson to learn or imagery to dissect. It is simply: plane go fast, plane shoot thing, big boom. And for that I judge this film based on pure entertainment value alone. And of course. It was awesome. The plane flying sequrnce is easily the best part. The character drama is simple and cheesy, but this is no "Heat" and it doesn't trying to be "Heat" so I don't really mind it. It's kinda of lovely actually seeing the film so uncaring of the obvious tropes and cliche it's using imo.
So overall? Yeah it'd pretty good I'd say. Set your expectations correctly is all I will say.
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
Hahahahahahaha no
Maybe not a good idea to watch th
hroughout the day instead of my usual one viewing but I don't really care, because I do not respect this film, I do admire certain aspect of it though, the set design is absolutely incredible as well as the cinematography which is very creative, the film also look very pretty and visually interesting and the film story does captivate me. The problem is that this is fetishization. This film, directed by a white American guy, adapted from a book from get this, another white American guy. None of this is authentic at all. And then it gets funnier because the characters are Japanese but they speak in English. Of course this pretty trivial stuff, Amadeus also had character speak in English, even the actor for Mozart and Salieri -Tom Hulce and Murray Abraham are American. The problem is that the character English sucks so much (maybe hired American-Japanese actor, just an idea), combine with the laughable dialogue oh my god, it's a wonder, I think i have never cringe at the dialouge this hard ever before. Yeah bro screw this film and screw Arthur Golden. If not for the beautiful set design, cinematography and some of the performance, this would be a easy 2 star.
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Would've been a lot better if it weren't so ugly
Digital filmmaking and it's consequences. You know while watching this I think a lot about Damien Chazelle and his works, mainly La La Land in particular. Because it's so...alive! Every scene is visually interesting and creative, each colors has a meaning and represent something. It's so expressive and meticulously arranged. It's beautiful but never overwhelming to your eyes.
Why do I talk about La La Land in the first paragraph? Because I felt Marvel film is the absolute oppesite it. The frame always look so gray and dull, one could argue they are trying to be 'realistic' but why should it be? The world Whiplash (again, Damien Chazelle) basically mirrors ours, but the entire film is in this yellow tint filler, and it works! Every scene is elevated by the colors, it's more intense and stressful. Here in the MCU, we have literally God's and monster and magic and parellel universe, why shouldn't the coloring be wacky and exaggerated? I mean just look at the first few MCU film, Avenger 1 in particular, I mean sure the lighting is terrible, but its so vibrant and really captures that whimsical comic book vibe.
But enough yapping about colors, is this film good beside its technical qualities? Yes, this I'd Marvel at their most morally ambiguous. Here Steve and Tony is divided between letting superheroes be controlled by the government or let them continue working above the law. Neither Tony or Steve is wrong or right. Also it's one of the few MCU film to talk the aftermath of the battle, the battle in New York (though I will say the fact that it has less death then 9/11 is kinda funny), the S. H. I. E. L. D headquarter crashing down in Washington. It shows consequences of superheroes.
Basically Civil excels in its storytelling and characterization, but its lighting and color is just so soulless and drab. I should not be thinking about All Quiet At The Western Front when watching Ant Man 3.
Tenet (2020)
Nolan's deranged masterpiece
Let's be real here. This film has MANY MANY FLAWS. The dialogue is bad, the sound mixing is weird and bizarre, it is too complicated for its own good, and doesn't even try to explain anything to the viewer and characterization...What is that? Know with all these massive obvious flaws that I named, why did I think this film was so great to give it a 9?
Look at all the flaws I mention, don't you think it's a bit similar? Dunkirk - lack of characterization, Inception and Memento - complicated, Interstellar- weird sound mixing. All of these flaws I mention are often the criticisms people have for his movies. So in my eyes, what Nolan did, was that he combined what people like him for the most with what people find problem with his filmmaking. So what do you do with this? Welp, as the film said it itself:
"Don't try to understand it, feel it" so what I did was that instead of trying to make sense of the movie, I just simply vibe with it, which results in a bizarre and fascinating watching experience. Of course, I don't expect many people to think about this movie the same way I did, but what I just want to say is that some movies, you have to watch a different way to understand it.
The Dark, Sad Life of Boogie2988 (2023)
Pretty good documentary with one little pet peeves I have
Terrific, I never realized how much of a scumbag Boogie is, really open my eyes to the kind of guy he is. To say he is narcissistic is an understatement.
The job interview section of the documentare in particular made me mad unbelievably. From his demeanor and attitude, to him constantly naming bad traits about him to waste both the job interviewer and his time. The part where he talks about woman as well, just really make him look like a misogynistic a-hole.
It was really well made and informative overall, however there's this one pet peeves I have. In the girl section where he talks about how he treats and think of woman, there's this one small shot of a girl in her underwear on top of Boogie. I'm sure they gotten her consent to show that but it just doesn't feel right for me.
Beside that it's a pretty great watch.
The Flash: Heart of the Matter, Part 2 (2021)
Kino
I give up. This entire season has been mid with no really standout episode. But this...this is special.
Firstly, they bring back Reverse Flash, like for the 486th times now, a tradition here in the show. And he works with Barry to fight godspeed. Another finale where speedster run and the faster one win. That is what I thought and expected.
What I didn't expected is them pulling out LIGHTNING LIGHTSABER. Yes, LIGHTNING LIGHTSABER. Speedster could do that apparently. Now I am in awe, I could not believe this. This show is already dumb enough, now they not even double or triple, they're quadruple down now in the last few season
Do I like this? Do I hate this? I don't know. What I do know is that I just witnesss something truly beautiful
The real score is like a 4.
Death Note: Desu nôto (2006)
Should've end with L defeat
This show was so unbelievably peak. Light and L has an awesome dynamic and rivalry. My favorite part was the cat and mouse aspect of the show, how Light tries to make up distraction through the way his victim was killed, the way he kept overthink has action the same way L also overthink has action (the tennis scene was literally peak) and the tension from the fact that Light father is trying to find him (but he doesn't know it's Light). The characters is also awesome as well. Light is a genius but he has a massive god complex. He could've spread out his murder to make them less suspicious but it was his giant ego and God complex that give it away. L is also great, he an odd fella basically. The show was great
And then L was defeated
This show fumble in its second part. I don't like it as much as the first part. Honestly for the optimal viewing experience, you should just skip it. Bold I know
Part1: 97/100
Part 2: 66/100
Enjoyment: 95/100.
Seishun buta yaro wa Bunny Girl-senpai no yume wo minai (2018)
Sakuta is literally me
Shocker. Yall know, originally I watches this as joke because...BUNNY GIRLS SENPAI. And then after the 3rd episode, I was fully invested in story and decided to watch the entire show. And you can thank all of that to Sakuta
Sakuta is my favorite characters from this show. The girls is cool and all with their sturggles and stuff but Sakuta is truly something special: an interesting main character in this types of genre.
Typically when I watches similar anime, I don't care about the main male character who has the most uninteresting personality traits ever and just exist as a way for us to see one hot girls to the next. But Sakuta is actually interesting. He is unbelievably, painfully honest. To put it simply, he will say out things in his head, with no shame. Yes, talk about how much you want your girlfriend to sit on you on front of her younger sister. Honestly that and his personality was the main the reason I continued the show.
The show does kinda have a formula for it. Girl character have a magical stuff (relates to teenage struggles) and then the main character solve it and they like him. But again, Sakuta ensure us he is only loyal to one person, and that is Mai.
Futaba is best Girl btw.
Nanatsu no taizai (2014)
I too grope woman when they're unconscious
You see, assault it's funny because the character act very cute and dumb, like Meliodas be like: "Oopsie" after he touched Elizabeth's breast.
Honestly I don't know what to say, it's a pretty good Shonen I guess, the first few season is pretty good, even with all the 'stuff'I mention it has cool fight scene and hot girls, which is the only thing that matter in Shonen it seems.
And then it got weird once the loli stuff got involved. Argue me about whether this is weird or not, you can't deny that 1) Dint say that a baby is your wife and 2) this show fell of hard after season 3 with the infamous fight scene.
Yeah guys groping women is good 👍
53/100.
Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (2019)
Slavery is a good thing
In this anime, the main girl - Raphtalia, is a bought slave, and our main character - Naofumi aims to take care of her, give her food and clothes and train her and stuff.
Some people think it's okay because he does nice thing to her, but I'll say that giving a slave a luxurious item still makes you a slave owner, you just gave the slave a nice thing.
Now let me ask you this: This is a world filled with magic and mystic art, and many people like mages learnt to create things using said magical elements. Why do slave exist? Just create some magical thing that do things for you.
Yeah the show is pretty okay, second season is actual trash
S1: 6/10
S2: 4/10.
Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019)
Zenitsu is the worst thing that has ever created in this anime
I hate Zenitsu, I HATE HIM, he is not funny, acting like a crybaby is not funny at all, how could Japanese fan of this show like him?????
Not to mention he is such a static characters. Maybe it's not a good idea to make one if the trio main characters doesn't development much over the course of the story. Does Zenitsu learnt a new skill? Does he learnt to be more brave? Does his personality subtly change? No, none at all, he is a badly written character oh my God
Also can anyone explain his sleeping mechanics? When he asleep, he can still talk, he is able to be aware of his surroundings while being you know, SLEEPING like Jesus christ.
Show is cool, fight scene and animation is cool, Zenitsu is not.
7/10.
DARLING in the FRANXX (2018)
Zero Two so cute. I like Zero Two so much. I wanna marry Zero Two
Neon Genesis Evangelion is an anime that definitely marked a before and after in Japanese animation. Without a doubt, despite being released in the 90s, it is one of the biggest references in anime to date.
The virtues of Evangelion can be evaluated in various areas, from animation, narrative, symbolism, and references
When talking about animation, during its 26 episodes it maintains its quality by giving first-rate animation both in the epic showing girls' breast and when presenting the daily routine, even though they had a reduced budget in some chapters they were able to turn that limitation into a virtue, something which is mainly mentioned in the final 2 episodes
On the other hand, the narrative is just perfect. On the one hand, it maintains a simple and even slow start so that the user can relate to the story and combine it with the action in a perfect way. However, as the plot progresses with each episode we can see that it is not only a typical robot anime, but that the psychology and stories of each character combine to present a story full of intrigue and surprises.
Finally, the symbolisms and references to culture and religion (Anno said he just put it in becasue he think its cool btw) are present from the first second, which is why it is a good idea to watch the anime more than once. In short, it is an anime that leaves nothing to chance, every little detail and dialogue are essential to understand and appreciate this work of animation.