Week of Dec 4th – The Century Mark

Before this year, my previous high for movies I watched in the year was 61 in 2022. When I got to #50 in June, I set my goal for the year at 100 movies for this year. This week, I hit that goal with three weeks to spare. Two movies on the docket, and they couldn’t be more different if they tried.

#100 – The Boy and the Heron

This year has been an ok year for animated movies. We have had great ones (Across the Spider-Verse), good ones (Elemental), and average ones (Wish). However, all year there has been one lurking in the distance from the great Miyazaki that I was looking forward to. After he came out of retirement, everyone was waiting for his next film to arrive. It has now, and while it is currently at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, this appears another case where I seem to have missed the point on. It is impossible to say that the film is not beautifully animated because it is. Every seen is detailed in such a way that it was just so great to watch the background of a scene and pick up so many more layers to the story being told. My issue I had with the film was the story itself though. I won’t get into spoilers, but when we reached the climax, I thought back to how we got there and just didn’t get what the point was. I’m not saying each sequence wasn’t good. I’m just saying the overall story seemed lacking a bit for me. One other quibble I had with the film was the pacing was just so slow. I do think you could have trimmed 15 minutes here or there and it wouldn’t have hurt it. Again though, I seem to be in the minority of my opinions on this. Still a solid entry from Studio Ghibli. 3.5 out of 5 Grey Herons

#101 – Leave the World Behind

This was an abrupt tone shift after getting back from Boy and the Heron. This was an interesting thriller of sorts, and I use thriller in the loosest of terms. Just like the characters in the movie, you have no idea what is going on throughout the movie. You just see one crazy thing happen after another, and watch Ali and Roberts slowly lose their composure. After watching it, it might be better though to into this cold without the trailer. Commercials show the oil tanker crashing into the beach, and ten minutes into the movie, the go to the beach, and the first thing I looked for was the ship in the distance. I thought maybe it wouldn’t be this early in the movie, but two minutes later, the daughter asked if that ship was getting bigger. The ending also didn’t really land for me. The ending in the novel didn’t really explain why things are happening. Esmail apparently didn’t like that, so for the film adaptation, he created an explanation, or what the characters believe is one. The score did work for me in the film. From the beginning, the score presents a feeling of paranoia, which is exactly what I would say the theme of the film is. 3 out of 5 Angry Deer Herds

Next week will be a full one. Screen Unseen #3 on Monday, Wonka on Friday, and 2 streaming ones during the weekend. There might be another theater movie if AMC ever updates the showtimes for next week…..