6 More Movies I Watched (And Tell You About)

Blade Runner 2049
This is the sequel of the original 1982 Blade Runner (which I have not watched). Gave this a go as Blade Runner was listed as one of the sci-fi greats. Turns out that the movie is terribly slow paced and is almost 3 hours long! I watched it at 1.5x speed and am glad that I decided so. Don't feel any particular connection to any of the characters nor care much for the story, so I would not recommend it.  /shrugs  I will group this movie with Tron, Arrival and Ad Astra, in my pile of disappointing sci-fi movies. It also does not help that I cannot understand Ryan Gosling's appeal.  4/10



Next, I will talk about two French animations that looked intéressant, but oh god they ended up so much darker than I thought. The one other story that springs to mind when I think of French stories would be The Necklace, which is yet another tragic story.

I Lost My Body (Netflix)
You follow the journey of a severed hand, and finds out how it gets severed. I dislike the film for its stalker and suicide themes. Maybe the movie is about walking out of depression and finding hope but it mostly left me upset and wondering what the point was. It's not easy to feel uplifted by the film, and I could not empathise with the character as well, maybe because he was quite realistic (and depressed).  Proceed with caution. 4/10


My Life as a Zucchini (Ma vie de Courgette) (French/Swiss)


I was drawn to the cute looking stop motion and did not watch the trailer. Turns out the little kid in the film was about to be orphaned, and the story touches on some dark topics. The kids in the orphans have haunted pasts, including druggie parents, murders, alcoholism and abuse. The film captured the little joys of children very well, such as the silly jokes and things that make they laugh. Innocence
and friendship is explored under the heavy blanket of real life obstacles (abusive family members that take orphaned kids in because of money, how voiceless children can be before law) etc. I found this film much more meaningful than the former. 6.5/10

Went to Google a little and this website says that there are about 17,000 orphans in Singapore. Foster parents and adoptive parents (the genuine ones, not the abusive ones) really have a big heart. Many times we get on with our lives but I hope to remind myself that there are always opportunities to help others. You just have to open your heart really wide, which is not an easy thing to do. But as I've read somewhere, kindness is a muscle. The more you practise it, the more it comes easily.

On a lighter note:

This young child reading Kafka!

Do the French really just eat fries for meals?

When Marnie Was There
Anna, a troubled asthmatic girl is sent to the Japanese countryside to better her health. She encounters a beautiful, blonde girl called Marnie in a mysterious marsh house.

This is one of the Ghibli plots I rather disliked. However, full marks for the graphics always. Therefore, 10/10 for the animation, 6/10 for plot.

The scallops even realistically slide down from its pile! Beautiful animation.

The Borrowers (1997)
After watching Ghibli's Arrietty, I discovered that it was inspired by a British book called The Borrowers. The Borrowers are little people who 'borrow' things from their humans and live with them in tiny houses usually under the house of their human counterparts.

I was just browsing YouTube on snippets of Ghibli's Arrietty (Did you know Tom Holland voiced Sho and Saoirse Ronan voiced Arrietty?) when I discovered two live action versions. The earlier film was released in 1997 and featured... a young Tom Felton and a younger Professor Slughorn. We just finished rewatching some Harry Potter movies so this was perfect.


Now the Brit version and the Japanese version is markedly different! The attitudes, personality, pace of the movie are completely different. They both have their charms but I will always be partial to Ghibli's version because the misc en scene is just too lush and unforgettable for me. (I think the main character, Sho, who is a little sick boy, is pretty meh though.)

Anyway, this movie is truly family friendly and light-hearted. Really reminded me of other fun movies I watched in my childhood. 8/10

That's all folks!

I hope you enjoyed these little movie reviews and hopefully find something nice to watch too.

Till next time!

Love,
Skye