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https://youtu.be/iLCjdAmsFWo
For anyone who has heard me talk about this movie on and on nonstop for the past 12 months…I am not apologizing for praising it or for including it on this list. Yes, this movie was released in Japan back in mid-2021, but it finally found a North American release in January 2022, so hence why I am counting it as a 2022 release. I've counted movies that had an initial release the year before it came to a wider release the next year before, I don't see why this one shouldn't count either. And I don’t see why I shouldn’t, this movie just rocked. If “Turning Red” was my favorite American animated film of the year, this was my favorite animated film of the year in general and it was certainly my favorite film of the year for a good few months before the next film bumped this down to my number two spot before getting bumped down to three. So what made “Belle” stand out and stick with me after this past year? The same thing that made Momaru Hosoda’s past films stick with me so: his ability to use empathy as a driving theme for his characters and how he ties the classic 1756 French story in with that theme. In “Belle,” teenage Suzu loses her mother at a young age and grows up to spite her mother for her perceived selfishness to risk her life for someone she didn’t know. She loves music, but because of the trauma, finds herself incapable to sing without the emotional pain affecting her. But when she is introduced to a virtual reality system called “U,” she discovers that, through her avatar Belle, she finds her voice and becomes a pop sensation. However, she soon comes across a monstrous creature of rage with bruises across his back who is loathed and hunted by the residents of U for his violent outbursts. Rather than be disgusted, Suzu becomes curious to understand where he’s coming from, eventually discovering the source of his pain…he’s an abuse victim who is just trying to scream for help but no one will listen. With the world watching her and an innocent life at risk, she has to make the same decision her mother made years ago; whether she should put herself at risk to save someone she does not know…or to turn the other way and do nothing. Hosoda-San takes many influences for “Belle,” the 1991 Disney movie “Beauty and the Beast” clearly one of them as this film serves as an animated musical as well. But where Belle differs is how Hosoda-San uses the pretense of the original story, a young girl having to learn to see past the Beast’s ugliness and love him, Hosoda-San instead uses the original story and rewrites it as a story about learning empathy for others in the era of social media, where anyone can drum up sympathy and seeking attention while others who are genuinely hurting are given little more than a passing notice before people move on. But a strong theme of empathy in the social media age is not the only reason this film stuck so well. Momaru Hosoda makes creative use of 3D computer animation for the sequences occurring inside U with all the virtual avatars and 2D hand-drawn animation for the sequences taking place in the real world. It’s remarkably ambitious but an ambition that pays off with one of the most stunning films Hosoda-San’s career. Coupled with a soundtrack of songs that was always on repeat through my headphones, this film never left my thoughts, even after 11 months of many MANY more fantastic films that came after. I’ve been a fan of Momaru Hosoda since “Wolf Children” and every movie he has made since, “The Boy and the Beast,” “Mirai," has shown he is one of the most unique voices from Japan to be making films today. If nothing else, this movie washed the bad taste of Disney’s 2017 live-action remake for good. If you’re looking for a good Beauty and the Beast remake, make it this one. “Belle” is available for streaming on HBO Max. 2. RRR (Telegu Version) Dir: S.S. Rajamoul,https://youtu.be/NgBoMJy386M?t=4
I know I run the risk of sounding like a gatekeeper, but I loved this movie BEFORE it was cool to love it here in America. Try to imagine this: you hear about this film in March, you read in the newspaper it grossed $100 million in it’s first week AND it’s playing in your local cinema. You buy a ticket and go in, absolutely shocked to find the theater is packed full of the Indian diaspora, the intended audience this movie is made fore, and you realize you are possibly the only white guy in this theater. You take your seat, sitting next to a non-white couple who look at you confused and ask if you watch Tollywood movies, I explain I don’t see Bollywood movies and this couple, very nicely, explains to you that Indian Cinema is not “just Bollywood" but it is one part of a rich cinematic tradition that ties into their regions and language. They finish explaining this to you just as the movie begins and, before you know it, you are sitting in what will be the most wild theatrical experience you will probably experience all year. More than “Top Gun Maverick,” more than “The Batman” and certainly more than “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “RRR” or “Rise, Roar, Revolt” was THE theatrical experience that made me so glad the theaters were back up and running again. Everything that you love about cinema, “RRR” did so in spades and then pushed the accelerator. Why is that? Because Indian cinema understands one core component to cinema that reaches everyone, regardless of language: Emotion. From big music numbers filled with some of the most energized dancing you’ll ever see on a big screen, action sequences that get bigger and bigger as the plot progresses, be they an action sequence outrunning and capturing a tiger or a prison escape while carrying another man on his shoulders, and big acting performances that go big on the emotions between our two leads. Emotions like the brother-like bond they grow between one another, the heartbreak of betrayal when one learns the other is allied with his enemy and the tears that flow as they reunite and break out of a prison. Made all the more engrossing thanks to some truly inspired cinematography and stunt work that makes anything Marvel has put out seem minuscule in comparison. The best part is all of this does not need subtitles to understand the characters in order to be invested in the story. They help to know WHAT is being said, sure, but I found the character development between the two main characters is almost secondary to the incredible performances given by N.T.R Rao Jr and Ram Charan. Their chemistry carries the movie, even when nothing is happening. I could watch these two just goofing off and never feel bored because the legitimately felt like two connected souls. S.S. Rajamoul has not only created an incredible epic, but made one that unites two religious factions in India that have been feuding for half a century and whose tensions have only grown more intense in recent decades. So to bring his audience together, he gives them a very simple foe to hate against. The British Empire. And given the history of British Imperialism in India that is still felt today and the many “hot take pieces” I’ve read from white people trying to say “The British weren’t THAT evil,” they’re truly missing the point here. This is not a historically accurate movie and it does not set out to be accurate. It’s an action fantasy where if a Muslim-Indian and a Hindu-Indian can come together for the greater good, anything is possible. That positive theme of unification speaks to a pride that I, as a white American, won’t fully grasp without the context behind it. From a fight sequence featuring a character meant to illicit the visual appearance of the Hindu deity Rama to the final song of the film openly praising the regions of India and their leaders in India’s history; “RRR” is proudly Indian and invites everyone to share in that pride. While it took Western audiences months to pick up what this movie was and join in on the love, I’ll never forget that experience sitting in a packed movie theater as the minority for who this audience was intended for and being given a lesson in Indian Cinema by a couple who probably didn’t want to. But it certainly opened up my eyes to check out what the rest of the world has to offer for cinema, especially when they are offering more for big screen entertainment. Check it out, it’s a Rise, Roar and Revolting good time. , “RRR” is available for streaming on Netflix in the Hindi language. And before we hit that final spot, let’s look over some honorable mentions:-Three Thousand Years of Longing - George MillerPerhaps it was the hype left over from “Mad Max Fury Road” that we all went into this expecting the same madcap vision from George Miller. Alas, the end result was a film that had a strong premise but tripped and faltered by the third act. Real shame, but as a rental, this isn’t too bad. Visually looks great and the performances from Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba were worth seeing.-Fire of Love - Sara DosaA documentary made up of archival footage from volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft, this film was both a nature documentary with some truly stunning footage of volcanos erupting and a peak into the lives of two -See How They Run - Tom GeorgeA cheeky but fun whodunnit mystery with a top-tier cast. Sadly, it decided to be too “wink wink, nudge nudge” to it’s audience, something “Glass Onion” didn’t do and had much more to offer for rewatch value.-The Woman King - Gina Prince-BythewoodIt was painful to nudge this down to the honorable mentions because I really did enjoy this movie. Strong performances by the cast, truly solid direction and fantastic set direction made this a fantastic watch. But the predictable narrative kind of held it back for me.-Black Panther Wakanda Forever - Ryan CooglerIt was certainly a lot of fun, I’ll give it that. But with how much was lost with the passing of Chadwick Boseman, the film takes a turn to be about the five stages of grief as both us and the filmmakers are asked to let go of someone who inspired a generation. Which, to their credit, wasn’t easy to do but at least they got the movie made.-Brahmastra Part 1: Shiva - Ayan MukerjiIndia is trying to get into shared cinematic universe like Marvel huh? Credit given, they had a really original idea to use Hindu mythology to tie into the superpowers for the characters for this world.Heck, this movie even had Shah Rukh Khan! Who couldn’t say no?-Fire Island - Andrew AhnJane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice but with an all-gay cast? Yass queen!-The Bad Guys - Pierre PerifelAt long last! A 3D Lupin the 3rd combined with Oceans 11, but with animals and a clear love of anime-style 3D that shows true promise for anime style movies to still find popularity with modern audiences- wait, what do you mean this wasn’t Lupin III?-The Outfit - Graham Moore One of the early films I saw this year and included on my list for Best films of 2022, this was a great example of a movie filmed like a stage play with Hitchcock-like direction and a truly stellar performance by Mark Rylance.-Laal Singh Chaddha - Advait ChandanAn official Forrest Gump remake from India. What could have gone wrong?Nothing really, it’s serviceable and I liked the changes that were made in order to set the film in a time and place people form India would have more of a chance to recognize the time period being referenced.Also, Shah Rukh Khan had a cameo in this movie too. How do I know this? Because if you are the only white guy in a theater when everyone stands up and cheers when he shows up and you are not cause you don't know who this guy is, that's how you know.-Bullet Train - David LeitchFlashy action, a plot that played loose but remained tight enough to follow and some actors clearly having fun, this was certainly one of the more fun movies to watch…sitting on the comfort of your couch.-Pinocchio - Guillermo del ToroIn a year with three widely talked about Pinocchio movies, it seemed fitting the clear winner was Guillermo del Toro’s 14-year passion project that took 1,000 days and over 100 animators to bring to life.Now THAT is ambition.-Dragonball Super Superheroes - Tetsuro KodamaA new Dragonball property and it’s…good?Usually Dragonball moves tend to be hit or miss, but even for me, someone who isn’t up to date on the lore, I had a good time with this. Alas, I can’t recommend it for people not familiar with Dragonball, it might not appeal to you the same way.-The Banshees of Inisherin - Martin McDonaghMartin McDonough returned with a dark comedy that brought back Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as a pair of Irish locals on a small island whose friendship dissolves and as it falls apart, we are left to see the depravity of that relationship and come to see a masterclass of performances with an incredible director showing off what he can do when given a talented cast to work with.The other big takeaway? Don’t feed Brendan Gleeson’s fingers to anyone. Those fat sausage fingers are deadlier than they look.-The Northman - Robert EggersRobert Eggers made a fine film. Great acting, great set design and cinematography and visuals, but by the year’s end, I struggled to remember what happened in this film. Not the visuals, just the general film plot really.-The Batman - Matt ReevesBeen seeing this show up on people’s Best of the Year lists, I almost did, but months after it’s release, I think less of it. Still a pretty good Batman movie, despite it’s flaws and Robert Pattinson as Batman was not something I expected to work as well as it did.-Lightyear - Angus MacLaneIt was fun the first time around, but it’s bare bones plot just felt like a Flash Gordon story with Toy Story muscles attached.-Weird: The Al Yankovic Story - Eric AppelAre you sick of those music biopic movies that are so serious? Well Weird Al certainly must have been because he decided to pull a "Walk Hard" and make an absurdist spoof of the music biopic genre with this hilarious off the wall comedy where polka music is all the rage with kids and Weird Al killed Pablo Escobar. In the hands of anyone else, this would be fan fiction, but in the hands of Yankovic and Appel, it's comedy gold.-The Fabelmans - Steven SpielbergI REALLY liked this one, I really did. But the reasons I liked it are not the same reasons why other critics liked it and when I tried to consider my reasons for liking it, I found myself realizing that those reasons are more personal to me than what could resonate with other people. Still, props to Spielberg for making a film that feels very personal to him.-Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness - Sam RaimiA visually fun Marvel movie with a nice sentiment towards accepting that you cannot control everything, this WOULD have been on the list had it not been for one other movie about the multiverse that just sank this film by being more creative and tying into a larger theme than Marvel could have ever intended...All right, let's get to the one you've been waiting for.My number 1 movie of 2022 is...1. Everything Everywhere All At Once Dir: Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert,The past two years has been…difficult to say the least.From a pandemic that shut down film productions and theaters, a rather traumatizing expulsion from a group I once called friends who proved emotionally abusive and going through therapy that made having to confront and purge my own toxic impulses a painful experience.Even as the theaters opened up and films were able to come back, they didn’t necessarily make me feel better or make me feel a cathartic release from all I was feeling.That is…until that kooky duo going by The Daniels, having spent Covid-19 Lockdown in post-production for this follow-up movie to “Swiss Army Man,” finished their labor of love and released it to the theaters.By the time I came out of that theater, I just knew, deep down in the core of my soul…that this was my favorite movie of the year. So what made this movie, more than the animated analysis on empathy in the social media age or the grandiose historic epic about two guys lead a revolution against the British Empire, stand high above the rest?Simply put, there wasn’t anything else that was as bold, refreshing or enlightening as this film was.What other movie from 2022 could you say was a Kung Fu movie, a science-fiction film, an action comedy and an existential family drama all wrapped into one package? Oh sure, you could point to many films that were action comedies, science-fiction or existential family dramas, you could even point to “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness," but they weren’t as wildly creative nor as heart-filling affirmative and thoughtful as this movie was, with everyone in the cast giving a career best performance. Michelle Yeoh truly shines in not only playing a woman on the brink of despair while trying to wrap her head around all the countless possibilities of what she could have been, be it a kung fu movie star, a blind opera singer, a hibachi chef or a version of herself with hot dogs for fingers. Yeoh absolutely delivers in not only playing the main Evelyn but for each version of herself that appears on screen. The same can be said for Ke Huy Quan, making his return to acting after 20 years and giving an incredible performance that showcases not only his stunt choreography but his remarkable emotional depth. Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis all shone as bright as any star with such exceptional performances that allowed them both to rise above their supporting role status.It’s repetitive to just say “all the actors were incredible” but for a film like this to work, you need a strong cast to help ground the film for an audience to comprehend and follow it and, rest assured, this cast of actors were up to the task. But what truly made this film rise head and shoulders, outside of the absurdist visuals, the layered acting performances and the truly solid editing, was its emotional pull. Themes of nihilism and existentialism really hit close to home for me, having engaged in that mode of thought for years and the two years of therapy to change that mindset, watching how Joy and Evelyn feel the pressure of an ever-shifting universe where there may be a version of yourself that is better off than where you are now, it hit very close to home for me. The feelings of shame, sadness and self-reflection that I had felt was on screen, visually putting into words how I felt.Which was both heart-breaking…and very self-affirming to know what that visually looks like in cinematic language. More than anything that this year provided, this movie taught me the lesson, “even if we are nothing but specks of shit in a constantly growing universe, there is nowhere I would rather be than here with the people who matter.”No other film made me that grateful to recognize that than this movie did and for that, I will appreciate this movie for encapsulating two years of negative emotions and giving it the badly needed release it deserved. If that isn’t Best Movie of the Year, I strain to think what else offered the same catharsis as this did.And to think all this from a movie where Randy Newman voices a raccoon that helps you cook and shoving an IRS butt plug award gives you kung fu powers. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is available for streaming on Hulu with a subscription to Showtime. But what do you all think? Anything on this list that you agreed or disagreed with? What were your favorite movies of 2022?Comment below to let me know and, as always, I’ll see you all at the cinemas for the new year.,
Group Founded 14 Years ago Dec 17, 2009 Location Global Group Focus Common Interest 171 Members 138 Watchers 13,548 Pageviews |
Beauty and the Beast International Poster!
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Read more: www.bubblews.com/news/1228373-…
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Disney's Star Wars: Episode VII May Be Partially Shot in IMAX!
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A 3rd Bill & Ted Not Dead!
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J.J. Abrams Hints Benedict Cumberbatch Might Be In Star Wars: Episode VII? Can't Miss!
We're quickly coming upon the one-year anniversary of the announcement that Disney purchased LucasFilm, with the intent to have "Star Wars: Episode VII" in theaters by 2015. In that year, we've heard nothing but rumors about the cast and story, with the studio remaining silent for twelve long months. The one big rumor that keeps floating to the surface only, to get knocked down again and again, is "Benedict Cumberbatch" as a rumored "Sith Lord". Latino Review has said that the famed actor was all but in, only too have his Reps and the Studio denied it, saying he was out, and then later it was confirmed again, only to have Benedict Cumberbatch himself sort of deny it . . .
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Dario Argeno's Dracula 3D Gets An Official Poster And A Release Date!
Prepare to be bit in 3D . . . . by Horror master Dario Argento! On behalf of IFC Midnight Films, CinemaZone Movies is pleased to share the official assets for Dario Argento's "Dracula 3D", opening in select theaters beginning October 4th. The classic vampire tale has been reimagined through the eyes of the master director and is sure to be one heck of a bloody good "B" Movie time for fans of the genre. The film was an official selection at the . . .
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More Thor: The Dark World Photos!
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Terminator 5 Gets New Release Date!
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Friday: The 13th Sequel Planned For 2015?
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Read more: www.bubblews.com/news/1131026-…
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