Saturday, September 24, 2022
Screening: Check Out Amsterdam With Special Q&A Early And Free!
Screening: Check Out The Greatest Beer Run Ever Early And Free!
Screening: Check Out My Best Friend's Exorcism Early And Free!
Friday, September 16, 2022
Goodbye, Don Glees! Review: An Anime Coming of Age Adventure
Release Date: September 14, 2021
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Director/Writer: Atsuko Ishizuka
OLV Cast: Ayumu Murase, Natsuki Hanae, Yuuki Kaji, Kana Hanazawa
English Dub Cast: Adam McArthur, Nick Wolfhard, Jonathan Leon, Victoria Grace
Teen misfits Roma, Toto, and Drop call themselves the “Don Glees,” an informal name for their backyard adventures. One day, when the trio gets blamed for a nearby forest fire, they set off into the woods to prove their innocence. As disaster strikes their expedition, tensions flare between the friends as they realize that growing up has taken them on wildly different paths in life.
Goodbye Don, Glees! has a Stand By Me feel, with a group of friends adventuring off into the woods to both accomplish a task and grow as friends and individuals. The first thing you will notice is the beautiful animation. This anime has a clean, but wholly anime style that is impressive to see. The film is a set in a small town in the woods, and the animation highlights this perfectly. From deep forests, to beautiful vistas, to just the overall highlights of their journey, this is a movie that will make you stop and take notice. And it's not just the inherent beauty of the setting that will make you take notice, the film is set in a town that is too small for any of these personalities, and the animation helps to set that stage. The town looks old and run down, which is a nice contrast to the beauty and wonder of the world around the Don Glees.
But the film isn't all about the visuals. The ambient music that accompanies these visuals is equally beautiful. It really gives you a sense of wonder and excitement as the journey progresses. And as with many coming of age films, this movie has a ton of heart throughout. Despite the turmoil, the bond that these friends share is energetic and infectious. And the ending of the film keeps this trend going, with a fulfilling climax that really brings it all home.
However, Goodbye, Don Glees! is not without its faults. For a film that focuses so much on maturing and growing into your own, there are some surprisingly juvenile moments that set a very different tone than the rest of the film. And the movie does jump around in the timeline, which makes for a confusing overall story. I liked it eventually, but it left me scratching my head at the start. Because of this, it is one of those movies that I will probably have to watch again just to fully understand, but it is also one that I am looking forward to experiencing again.
Watch it.
See How They Run Review: A Great Cast Fuels This Whodunit Mystery
Release Date: September 16, 2021
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Director/Writer: Atsuko Ishizuka
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan,Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson, Reece Shearsmith, Harris Dickinson, Charlie Cooper, Shirley Henderson, Lucian Msamati, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Pearl Chanda, Paul Chahidi, Sian Clifford, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Ania Marson, Tim Key, David Oyelowo
In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after the film’s Hollywood director is murdered. When world weary Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and eager rookie Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) take on the case, the two find themselves thrown into a puzzling whodunit within the glamorously sordid theater underground, investigating the mysterious homicide at their own peril.
I had high hopes for See How They Run due to the stellar cast and wonderful concept. And for the most part they delivered with a series of quirky characters and a stylish look. The film starts off slowly but builds consistently as the mystery grows and the questions intensify. And contributing to this tempo is a wonderful soundtrack that captures the style and whimsy of this film. Strangely, the soundtrack seems to contribute more to the overall mood and energy than some of the plot devices. Additionally, the movie does have a nice, dry sense of humor that comes through often. And the film builds to an ultimately satisfying, very whodunit ending.
However, despite me having very high hopes for this film, ultimately it did not grab me as much as I would have expected. The film has a very slow start, one that had me wondering when more would happen. Although See How They Run does eventually build in the final third, it just never reached what I was hoping it would become. At the end of the day, I was left wondering if the journey had been worth it. And the dry humor has plenty of moments but those moments were far more scattered than I was anticipating.
And despite the movie's bold style, I did not get the same boldness from the characters. It was a strange disconnect to have a film that had such a sense of identity that was not communicated through the main conduits. I felt like some of the talent was not utilized well. Sam Rockwell is one of my favorite actors but it often felt like his talent was wasted in this film. His character is weary and downtrodden for most of the movie, muting his natural humor and charisma. Ultimately, given the style and list of quirky characters, I was expecting something similar to Knives Out, but where Knives Out was sharp and stylish, see how they run was dull and muted.
Rent it.
Thursday, September 8, 2022
Screening: Check out Goodnight Mommy Early and Free
Screening: See The Silent Twins Early And Free
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Giveaway: Win a Digital Copy of Minions - The Rise of Gru
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