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Fehér isten (2014)
Good (?) boy
I might as well say this upfront: it is extremely likely you won't make it through White God. An early scene where the main character's father slaughters a cow, guts and all, seems to exist simply to nauseate and warn the viewer before it gets to the realistic animal abuse.
But if you can keep with it, White God will leave a mark on you.
After Lili's father forcibly throws out her dog, Hagen, the dog is forced to survive on the streets, getting thrown between abusive people until he snaps and releases a shelter's worth of dogs, leading to the film's memorable climax.
This is the kind of movie that spends a lot of time on dogs having serious moments. It's the kind of thing that sets itself up for failure, but works so well. Simple scenes like Hagen trying to cross a busy road, lying on a couch, or running down a road carry a lot of emotional power. I don't think it's fair to say that Body/Luke, the dogs playing Hagen, are good actors, but there is plenty of faith by the director that they can carry a scene, and they can, managing to keep up the movie's serious tone that feels like Homeward Bound remade for hard realism.
But then the movie's climax hits and the tone changes, becoming more like a horror movie. And with Hagen's shift played throughout the movie, he is a perfect horror monster. He's frighteningly good at killing and maiming, while also never losing the viewers' sympathy. This sets up for the final scene between Lili and her fallen dog, which will very likely resonate with any dog-lover as much as the hard violence and abuse does.
The movie does have a couple flaws. The camera-work, especially in the earlier parts, is overly shaky and made me nauseous at times. Every scene seems to have been filmed on a hand-held camera and it's hard to watch. Lili's plot line in the movie also feels like it's missing something. The young actress does a fine job, but she's left to do little but wander around aimlessly until Hagen shows up again. A good portion of her scenes could've been cut out without negatively affecting the movie.
White God is a hard sell, but for those who make it through, it will have been worth it.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015)
Better when it's wetter
Sponge Out of Water is clearly made with one main hook in mind: getting to see Spongebob and his friends come out of water, become CGI, and then become CGI superheroes. It's on the poster, it was all in the trailers...and it only happens in the last act of the movie. Worse, the movie is better before it happens.
The main plot of the movie involves another of Plankton's plans to steal the Krabby Patty formula when it suddenly disappears, and the only one who believes that he didn't steal it is Spongebob. And without Krabby Patties, Bikini Bottom is in serious trouble.
The main issue with the movie is that it tends to focus more on absurdity than characters. Not having watched Spongebob in ages, I can only compare it to the previous movie, but that movie had a lot of heart and character development in its jokes. This movie half- heartedly attempts some, but then focuses more on jokes. And the jokes are funny (besides the movie's unfortunate reliance on toilet humor), it's a lot of fun to watch, but it also means that the movie tends to drag on.
This is especially the case once they're out of water. The movie doesn't really know what to do, so there's nothing but a bunch of gags stringing together a climax that ends up meandering along. And a lot of the best jokes from this segment were, unfortunately, spoiled in the trailer. This all comes together to make what should be the funniest part of the movie more of a watch-checking moment.
It's worth watching and it's funny enough, but when the main hook turns out to be so disappointing, it's hard to give the movie a solid recommendation.
Môsô dairinin (2004)
I present to you my new favorite anime series
In Paranoia Agent, a mysterious boy starts attacking people with a baseball bat, to put it simply. To put it complexly, it's more than that. It is the greatest anime series I've seen, although I didn't know it at first.
Yes, I was very skeptical at first. The first episode was...well, weird and a bit disappointing to me. It had little point, and just didn't seem to matter that much. But I decided to give this a chance. So I watched the second episode.
Suddenly, all the questions come up. Who is Lil' Slugger? Who will he attack next? Then, the third episode. And by this point, I was hooked.
And director Satsoshi Kon knew I was hooked. With a reality-blending tale not seen since Perfect Blue, he takes you in. He takes dark themes: schizophrenia, suicide, and murder. But he presents them in such an everyday way that it's not disturbing, and, at the same time, it is.
And every episode is different. You could take each episode by itself, and they would stand alone well. But when you put them together, it's incredible. It's mind-blowing. It will have you guessing until the very last second of the very last episode, and even then, you may not know everything.
It is amazing. It is the best. It is a must-see.
10/10