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TheKing87
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No Time to Die (2021)
Unfortunately this was not a Bond movie.
As a James Bond fan I was incredibly disappointed about "No time to die". If you removed all references to "James Bond" and "007" in the film and removed the gunbarrel scene, you wouldn't think that you were watching a James Bond movie. This was not a spy movie with secret missions combined with action scenes! This was just a typical Hollywood action film with the "spying" part missing. There was way too much focus on the protagonist's personal life rather than focus on secret missions, which is the very essence of a James Bond movie! It was a very messy film and way too long. For example the villain first wants revenge agsinst Spectre, which he gets, and then he suddenly wants to kill a lot of people with a virus, which is unclear why he wants to do that.
Also they are purposely pushing a woke agenda with this movie with focus on women and minority (because of the Hollywood criteria about more women and minorities in the movie if it has to be qualified for an Oscar). The movie introduces a new black female character who has taken the number "007", because "James Bond" has retired, which is uncalled for. It's like they are purposely trying to make the next James Bond a female.
There were many aspects of the film that are not in the essence of a James Bond movie. For example they gave James Bond a child and made him a family man in love with Madeline who is the daughter of mr. White, who was a part of Spectre. So way to much focus on his personal life, which is not in the essence of a James Bond movie.
Even worse is that James Bond dies at the end of the film, which is very unusual! So all in all not a James Bond movie, but just a typical Hollywood action film!
In my opinion this was unfortunately not a very good "Bond" movie.
El hoyo (2019)
Many people misunderstood the role of Miharu! My analysis of the movie.
I think this movie was very interesting and full of interesting symbolism. I definitely recommend watching this movie.
I have read a lot of different understandings of this movie, but I think that a lot of people maybe misunderstood the role of Miharu. So this is my analysis of the movie:
In general, the facility represents society. The levels represent society classes and hierarchies. The protagonist, Goreng, represents a resistance movement who is ready to use threats and violence to secure that there is enough food for everybody. The old man, Trimagasi, represents a supporter of the system. The woman from the administration, Imoguiri, represents a peaceful movement that wants change but is unable to do so. Miharu who rides down the platform actually represents the upper class (se explanation further below).
The cellmates believe that the change of levels each month is random. However, the administration does not randomly choose the levels for all prisoners each month. The administration choses if each prisoner should go up or down the levels each month based on whether they have eaten their cellmates or not. If a prisoner is willing to kill his or her cellmate and eat of them then he or she is secured a higher level the next month. This is evidenced a couple of times in the movie: At first Goreng starts on level 48 with Trimagasi and they live peacefully. Then they move down to level 171 the following month where Goreng ends up killing Trimagasi and eats of him to survive. Then Goreng moves up to level 33 the next month where he meets Imoguiri and they live peacefully. Then they move down to level 202 where Goreng is forced to eat of Imoguiri who has killed herself. Then Goreng finally moves up to level 6 where he meets Baharat.
The woman Miharu who rides down the platform actually represents the upper class of society because she knows how to exploit the system. Notice that she always rides down the platform and comes from the top floors and she is always bloodied and emotionless. That is because she always makes sure to kill and eat her cellmates every month, and that's why she always ends on the top floors. Miharu rides down the platform to make sure that there is food for the little girl (which we assume is her daughter) on the bottom floor. The girl is always on the bottom floor month after month, because she has never killed and eaten her cellmate. Miharu rides down the platform once a month so she has to make sure that there is enough food for the girl because she cannot get up again until the month is over (the platform only travels back up to level zero, which prisoners presumably are not allowed to enter). That's why she killed so many prisoners on her way down. Miharu must have a good reason to ride down the platform every month and that was to take care of the little girl. Miharu has managed to stay on top and alive for long because she knows the system. However, even she succumbs to the system when she is killed in a fight with the prisoners.
Notice that we learn from Imoguiri that she selected Miharu to enter the facility 10 months ago, that she entered alone, and that nobody under 16 years is allowed in the facility. However, we cannot trust Imoguiri's information because she also said that there are 200 levels, which turned out to be false, and the prohibition against under 16 year olds to enter the facility also turned out to be false. So the question of how the little girl ended in the facility remains unanswered. Perhaps the little girl was born in the facility or she was thrown in there with her mother.
The movie hints that there is actually enough food for everybody on all floors because the administration puts every prisoner's requested food on the table. This is evidenced when the protagonist is interviewed by the administration official about his favorite food (snails) and that it will be served while he is imprisoned. We also see that the protagonist sees his requested food for the first time when he is on floor no. 6 because none from the upper floors has touched it yet (but he doesn't eat it). He did not get to see his requested food before because those on the upper floors always ate it before it arrived to him. If every prisoner in the facility kept his or her requested food when it arrived at his or her floor, the floor will not turn hot or cold. This is evidenced by one of the last scenes when the protagonist keeps the Panna Cotta when he is at the girl's floor, which must be the favorite food of the girl. All the prisoners had to do was to take their requested food, and not eat the others' food, so the food would be equally distributed all the way to floor no. 333. However, the prisoners from the upper floors greedily ate more than their favorite food leaving less to the ones on the lower levels. So the main message of the movie is that people are very greedy and are ready to take more than they need, and not so much that the system is flawed. We see that the alternative system that the protagonist tries to enforce by distributing little food to everybody also leads to violence and deaths and is not much better.
The end of the movie is quite vague, but it does have a meaning. At the end, we don't see what happens to the protagonist, but it is hinted that the protagonist probably dies. Notice that he was heavily injured and barely got on the platform with the girl, when they reached the bottom, then he suddenly he gets off and walks normally when he sees the ghost of Trimagasi. The girl transports upwards to the top floor at the end of the movie. The protagonist is trying to send a message to the administration by transporting the girl to the top. Perhaps the message is to show that despite that most people are greedy, there are also some people who are willing to show benevolence and generosity to save others.
I think this movie was very interesting. The movie is open to interpretation, and this is of course my point of view and I hope you found this helpful.
The Shape of Water (2017)
Many people misunderstood this movie! There is a twist in the story!
I was very skeptical about this movie from the very beginning, because I thought that this would probably be a dumb monster movie with a similar theme like "Beauty and the Beast". However, I was very surprised when I saw the movie and think that it was brilliant!
After reading the reviews on this site, it is my understanding that many people that saw this move completely misunderstood it, both the people that loved it and the ones who hated it.
The theme of the movie is not something similar to Beauty and the Beast for those who might think that!
There are several themes in this movie, but the overall theme is about minorities and how privileged people view those who are different. However to make this message more clear the movie is set in the 1960's, where minorities were generally marginalized.
The lead character Elisa Esposito is a mute woman, who was an orphaned child that was found in a river with wounds on her neck and communicates through sign language. She works in a government laboratory as a cleaning lady. Her friends are her co-worker Zelda, a black woman who serves as an interpreter for Elisa, and her next-door neighbor Giles, a closeted gay man. Elisa discovers a mysterious creature in the facility and begins to bond with it. The creature is a mute humanoid amphibian that was captured in a river in South America by Strickland, who is in charge of the project to study it.
Elisa is the main protagonist in this story, and together with Zelda and Giles, they represent a social minority. Women, handicapped people, black people and gay people are all amongst those that were outcast by society at the time. On the other hand, there is Strickland who is the main antagonist in the story and he represents the privileged people at the time. He is a white man in a privileged position, married with children, religious, and is hostile to those who are not like him. He treats the creature hostilely, beats and abuses it, and calls it a monster.
When Elisa learns that Strickland plans to vivisect the creature, she hatches a plan with the help of her friends to free the creature and keeping it in a bathtub at her apartment and planning to set it free in the ocean. Elisa and the creature bond romantically and it is revealed that the creature has healing powers.
When the day arrives to set the creature free, Strickland arrives and shoots Elisa and the creature. The creature heals itself and kills Strickland. The creature takes Elisa and jumps into the ocean where it heals her. When the creature applies his healing touch to the scars on her neck, she starts to breathe through gills.
Here is the TWIST: This scene reveals that Elisa was of the same kind as the creature all along. She just had a more human like form than the creature. There are different clues throughout the film. She was found as child next to a river like the creature. She was found with the "scars" on her neck and they turned out to be dormant gills as the creature healed her. She was mute like the creature. She loved being in water as shown in her morning habits. She was initially attracted to the creature whereas most people would fear it. She comes from a Spanish speaking country, as her last name is Spanish whereas the creature was found in a river in South America.
The creature itself and Elisa represent a minority, as they are alike. The fact that the creature is different yet human like, symbolizes how privileged people viewed minorities at the time. The point of the monster is simply to symbolize how we sometimes view other people that are different from us.
The message of the story is this: You view other people that are different from yourself as "monsters" if you don't try to understand them. However, if you try to understand people who are different from yourself, then you will see that we are basically all alike even though we look different.
I think this movie was brilliant and very clever. Guillermo Del Toro did a great job. It is definitely a movie worth watching.
This is my point of view and I hope that you found this helpful.