Tag: Movies

REVIEW: The Boy and the Heron

Sappy Leave a comment

Studio Ghibli has released multiple iconic works such as Princess Momonoke and Kiki’s Delivery Service, and they just dropped their newest film, The Boy and the Heron. Like Totoro, The Boy and the Heron is a semi-autobiographical fantasy story written by Hayao Miyazaki, one of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli. The main character’s name is Mahito, whose mother died in a fire. After a couple of years and still mourning her passing, he and his father move from Tokyo to the countryside. There, he meets a suspicious heron, and as suggested by the title, the plot thickens.

In my opinion, quite a few of Studio Ghibli’s works are rather abstract and The Boy and the Heron is no exception. However, I do think this movie was easier to understand and had more reasons for all the fantasy involved than some other films like Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away (both are still my favorite Studio Ghibli movies though). When I watched the films as a child, I was fascinated by the world-building and unexpectedness of it all, but once I grew older and re-watched the films, I wanted more background information and explanation. I think this movie includes both elements well and thus reaches a large demographic. Furthermore, there are themes of life, death, family, and friendship that anyone can learn from. 

I was surprised that Studio Ghibli released a new movie. Honestly, I thought the last animation they ever made was Ponyo in 2008, but they’ve been releasing works until 2014 with When Marnie Was There, which I’ve never seen or heard about. I would watch this film multiple times, and it’s showing at the State Theatre until December 14th with screenings in both Japanese and English. I watched the Japanese Dub with English subtitles version, and I noticed that the Japanese title is very different from the English one. In Japanese, the title is 君たちはどう生きるか (Kimitachi wa Dō Ikiru ka) and translates to ‘how do you live?’. I wish they hadn’t changed it, because I feel like the Japanese title has more meaning and inquisition to it. But now you guys know, so when you watch the film, keep in mind that the story is about more than just a boy and a heron.

REVIEW: Life on Planet Pops

Sappy Leave a comment

On December 6, 2023, at the Michigan Theater, the Michigan Pops Orchestra presented “Life on Planet Pops.” I’ve been to every Pops concert since my freshman year, and I was especially excited for this one after seeing this semester’s poster that teased The Lion King, Star Wars (which they somehow manage to play every year), Princess and the Frog, and more. As the theme and poster suggest, all of the music they chose was related to animals, though there surprisingly wasn’t much classical repertoire. However, it was my favorite program out of all of the Pops concerts I’ve seen.

They opened with a medley of Beauty and the Beast and they sounded exactly like the soundtrack of it on Spotify. I loved the concertmaster’s solo so much it gave me goosebumps, and once the melody of Tale as Old as Time played, the strings all together really shined. The song they chose from Princess and the Frog was “Almost There” with a guest student singer from SMTD, and she was very talented. I loved how she opened with dialogue that transitioned into song and that she maintained her character’s cheerful flare throughout the performance.

After a brief intermission, they returned with Hoe Down, a piece with a fun syncopated tune. I’ve heard other orchestras play it before, but I loved that Pops included a good “Yeehaw” in the middle. To end the night, they played the William Tell Overture. I feel like it’s a piece everyone knows. Though I didn’t recognize the title, I immediately recognized the tunes, especially the latter half. 

As always, Pops includes movies to play alongside their music. This semester, they chose to film Pokémon and Jaws, and the way the actors portrayed the animals was hilarious. Pikachu was taller than Ash, his trainer, and the shark in Jaws crawled out of the fountain by the Michigan League. 

I highly recommend going to the Michigan Pops Orchestra concerts. They’re always amazing and enjoyable for people who aren’t well-versed in classical music and I always have a lot of fun at their events!

REVIEW: The Polar Express

Sappy Leave a comment

On Sunday, December 3rd, as part of their free holiday classics series, the Michigan Theater had a showing of The Polar Express. It was my first time watching The Polar Express, and it was very different from what I expected. Since it’s based off of a children’s book, I was picturing something along the lines of Elf, a goofy and silly movie. Instead, the film features animated human characters that reminded me of the video game Detroit: Become Human. Furthermore, the colors were very muted and the background lacked vibrancy. Overall, it had a somber atmosphere unfitting for a children’s movie, especially a Christmas movie. However, it’s possible that the directors created it like that intentionally, because the movie is about a little boy who doesn’t believe in Santa.

Spoiler alert (but also not really): the main character comes to believe in Santa after riding The Polar Express to the North Pole. I thought they designed the North Pole beautifully; I really liked the layout of the city and although the colors were still muted, it was the brightest setting in the whole movie. It was also the most cheerful with what appeared to be hundreds of elves doing tricks like black flips and working hard to make Christmas a joyful holiday. My favorite part was the ending. I found it very bittersweet because it addresses how people eventually grow up to lose that childhood innocence. On the other hand, as the people around him grow older and stop believing, the main character never stops.

I didn’t find myself particularly enjoying the movie; there were a few moments where I was very frustrated. I’m curious how children like it, though, since I’m obviously not the target audience. Perhaps it’s the perfect tale to convince non-believers to continue believing.

PREVIEW: Michigan Pops Orchestra Concert “A Night at the Popscars”

Sappy Leave a comment

As we approach the end of the semester, the time for the Michigan Pops Orchestra’s concert approaches too! This semester’s theme is “A Night at the Popscars,” meaning they’ve selected a variety of music that’s related to Oscar and other award-winning films.

Many pieces they have selected are teased on their poster (the featured image above) which can be found around campus and on their Instagram @michiganpops. It looks like Howl’s Moving Castle, Star Wars, and West Side Story will be featured, with Howl’s being my most anticipated one!

I’m wondering how the Pops members will have done justice to the Oscar-winning films with their own directing and acting. I’m sure they won’t disappoint though, and I’m looking forward to which movies they’ve chosen to recreate (Star Wars probably being the most likely one).

The concert is at 7:00 PM at the Michigan Theater on Saturday, April 8th. Tickets can be bought online, at the ticket office, and sometimes at Mason Hall, or you can even get a free ticket with a passport of the arts!

REVIEW: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Sappy Leave a comment

*There won’t be any spoilers… at least not intentionally*

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever definitely did not unfold as I expected it to. I didn’t think it’d be as good as the first Black Panther, but I’m pretty disappointed in the quality. Letitia Wright (Shuri) truly got to shine in this film and her performance was phenomenal. In my opinion, though, the plot still held back what she is capable of. I look forward to seeing her acting in other films for sure.

I mentioned in my preview that I was curious if the directors might use Wakanda Forever to start building toward a driving plot for the new generation of Marvel, but that didn’t happen at all. None of the other recent Marvel films I’ve seen so far have done that either, though, besides the latest Spider-Man, so I’m not upset with Wakanda Forever in that regard.

What upset me is the storytelling, pacing, and characterization.

I wanted to see how the creators would effectively work around the hole left behind by Chadwick Boseman’s death but the resolution they came up with was very flat. The opening scene was definitely exhilarating and emotional but the transition to the next scene was rather anticlimactic and there wasn’t much explanation provided. Whenever the topic came back up, there weren’t any additional details either as I hoped there would be.

This relates to the problem of pacing I mentioned before: after the initial drama, the rising action was very slow and tedious. I didn’t feel like there was a steady buildup and so once the climax hit we were bombarded with a lot of rushed action and character development, leading to an unsatisfactory falling action as well. Not only that, though; the initial premise for the conflict was pretty promising, but then the conflict itself was rather… interesting. A new character that I thought would be vital didn’t play as impactful as a role that the premise hyped her up for, either, which I found surprising. The ending scenes did somewhat tie back to the opening, but there were a lot of holes left in the plot, especially in regards to the passage of time, and ambiguity for what comes after.

Something I did really like about the plot though is the dynamic difference between Shuri and the elders. We already saw some tension between them in the first film, but it played a bigger role this time as a recurring theme. I think lots of young adults would be able to relate to generational differences, such as scientific vs. spiritual beliefs and progression vs. tradition. I wish they showed more scenes of them interacting.

Overall, it’s not a film I’d recommend for its quality. I also don’t think it’s essential to the Marvel Universe, and perhaps watching it might even take away from the impact that the first Black Panther had. I do think my review sounds rather harsh: I don’t actually hate the film, but it’s just disappointing and not something I’d watch again or recommend to others.

 

REVIEW: Belle

Himaja Leave a comment

I REALLY wanted to like Belle.

I’ve loved many of Mamoru Hosoda’s other movies: Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and of course the O.G.: Digimon Adventure 1999 (my childhood). My gut reaction after watching Belle was to go back and rewatch all of those instead.

Belle is an animated film adaptation of Beauty and the Beast that follows a high school student named Suzu who escapes the insecurity and loneliness of her real life through ‘U’, a dazzling virtual alternate universe where she can be someone completely different. Her virtual persona quickly rises to extreme popularity and she has to navigate these dual versions of herself while going through the trials and triumphs of high school, love, friendship, and grief.

Let’s start with the Good:
[1] The animation was BEAUTIFUL. I mean OH MY GOODNESS can we sit and appreciate how far animation has come in the last decade? The depictions of the alternate Digiverse ‘U’ were so effective at showing how vast it was, how many detailed moving parts there were within it. The characters truly came alive on screen as people with blood, sweat, and tears.
[2] The sound design was also incredible. Suzu’s singing features prominently throughout as a metaphor for her confidence in herself and her love for her mother. The songs were all super catchy and well written and lingered in my mind long after the movie ended.

Alas, now we must go onto the reasons this movie was not my cup of tea, despite the great art and sound:
[1] The story was a big bowl of confusion soup. In a sci-fi movie about the metaverse, I expect the plot to be a little out there, but some things in this movie just go beyond logical human behavior. After the umpteenth weird sideball I could no longer suspend my disbelief. The story felt weak and underdeveloped.

[2] This movie wanted so bad to be a character-driven film, and it almost got there! At the beginning, the writing was strong – the main character Suzu had a powerful backstory that set the audience up to understand her struggles and root for her. And listen, I admire an aspirational storyteller. But if stories are onions, this one had about 10 too many layers. There’s a random scene that’s supposed to nod at Beauty and the Beast but it doesn’t make sense given the characters and doesn’t mesh with the rest of the story. Near the end of the movie the tone suddenly goes from adventurous to extremely serious and then back to playful so quickly I got whiplash. Not even the most masterful chef could fold that many plotlines into one and tie them up with a neat little bow. But that is what this movie tried to do and the result was a cliche ending that didn’t seem resonant with the important questions posed at the beginning of the movie: How do we continue living with joy when we’ve lost the irreplaceable? How do we learn to love ourselves? How do we rediscover our love for the things we loved as children? I’ve heard Hosoda described as a “maximalist” storyteller and here I’d have to agree — there was too much, and as a result there wasn’t enough.

All in all, if you’re an anime connoisseur then I would say give this a watch for the dazzling animation. But life is short, and in my humble opinion Hosoda’s Summer Wars is much, much better — spend your two hours in that world instead.