{"id":14958,"date":"2016-02-02T16:00:45","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T08:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/?p=9480"},"modified":"2016-02-02T16:00:45","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T08:00:45","slug":"movies-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/2016\/02\/02\/movies-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Movies I really loved and would rewatch<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Lord of War<\/a> \u2013 depiction of bleakness of arms industry<\/li>\n
  2. Moneyball \u2013 I really appreciate how they captured the reality of trying to do\u00a0what’s best, struggling, being misrepresented, unfairly treated, and still ultimately not quite getting the hero’s ending<\/li>\n
  3. Thank You For Smoking \u2013 a very smart film about\u00a0PR, persuasion, argument, etc.<\/li>\n
  4. Contact \u2013 great film about the many issues surrounding extraterrestrial life, and also a great human story about a woman\u00a0and her life as a scientist<\/li>\n
  5. Rocky Series<\/a> \u2013 about a hero who isn’t that smart but has a lot of heart. Also just seeing Rocky age over the years is really powerful.<\/li>\n
  6. Before Sunrise Trilogy \u2013 first fim by itself is a little saccharine, third is a little bleak, but just a nice depiction of a couple overall. Here’s my review of the third movie, Before Midnight<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Mean Girls<\/a> \u2013 captures some very interesting nuance about interpersonal relations. I wrote an essay on this that got tens of thousands of views: An Analysis of Power in Mean Girls<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. Wall-E \u2013 great story of connection and sacrifice, and snuck in a warning about a dystopian future<\/li>\n
  9. A Few Good Men \u2013 great courtroom drama, would’ve liked to have sympathized with the villain\/antagonist more<\/li>\n
  10. Good Will Hunting \u2013 frustration of a gifted kid<\/li>\n
  11. How To Train Your Dragon \u2013 simple ‘children’s movie’ that delivers a great story about friendship and overcoming bias<\/li>\n
  12. Office Space \u2013 Lol bureaucracy. Great soundtrack. Great thought experiment.<\/li>\n
  13. Zootopia \u2013 great ‘children’s movie’ \u2013 uses anthropomorphized animals to deliver a lot of subtle commentary about race, gender, stereotypes, biases, expectations, etc<\/li>\n
  14. The Prestige \u2013well executed portrait of rivals consumed by their work and outdoing each other<\/li>\n
  15. V for Vendetta \u2013 poetic bit against authoritarian \/ facist regimes. Been meaning to read the graphic novel which is supposed to be a bit more subtle.<\/li>\n
  16. Trainspotting \u2013 great bit about the bleak\/hopelessness of drugs<\/li>\n
  17. Men In Black Trilogy [2018]<\/li>\n
  18. Black Panther [2018]<\/li>\n
  19. Deadpool \u2013 enjoyably irreverent<\/li>\n
  20. The Martian \u2013 fuck yeah, science!<\/li>\n
  21. Monty Python and the Holy Grail \u2013 just a lot of fun and silliness with lots of quotable moments<\/li>\n
  22. Gattaca \u2013 well executed bit on genetic modification and how it would stratify humans, also a touching story about brothers and friendship<\/li>\n
  23. Gladiator \u2013 a model of manhood<\/li>\n
  24. MCU’s Iron Man, Avengers, Winter Soldier, Civil War \u2013 good dialogue, well-executed, sufficiently dark, sometimes funny<\/li>\n
  25. Boyhood \u2013 just really liked the narrative device of telling a story over many years<\/li>\n
  26. The Matrix \u2013 easy to overlook now but it was so seminal when it came out<\/li>\n
  27. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (YOLO) \u2013 nice road trip film about friends coming of age, leaving comfort zones<\/li>\n
  28. Grand Budapest Hotel \u2013 visually gorgeous<\/li>\n
  29. Amelie \u2013 visually gorgeous, very cute and quirky narration. Amelie’s observations are gr8<\/li>\n
  30. Chocolat \u2013 uses chocolate and a community\u00a0to explore interesting ideas about social norms and taboos, and how people relate to one another, and pleasure<\/li>\n
  31. The Breakfast Club \u2013 the canonical teenager movie \u2013 kids finding out who they are by being juxtaposed against one another. Makes me realize that I’m a sucker for conversations in general.<\/li>\n
  32. Jiro Dreams of Sushi \u2013 a great meditation on the life of a chef who’s spent his entire life perfecting his craft<\/li>\n
  33. Limitless \u2013 for some reason I really like this one. I think particularly just portraying that an individual can have extremely different mental states.<\/li>\n
  34. American Sniper \u2013 model of manhood<\/li>\n
  35. Kung Fu Hustle \u2013 lots of fun, and heartwarming too. You can feel the love that was put into it.<\/li>\n
  36. Up \u2013 heartbreak, sacrifice, learning to live and love again<\/li>\n
  37. X-Men: First Class \u2013 the relationship between Charles and Erik was great, Erik’s backstory was great. The villain was kind of not really important and not all that scary, but eh. Overall I liked it. Love the soundtrack too.<\/li>\n
  38. Wreck It Ralph \u2013 I really enjoyed seeing all the video game bits and references, and the underlying story was really moving.<\/li>\n
  39. 12 Angry Men. A fairly short film, punchy. Doesn’t need flashy visuals or changes of scenery, but there’s a subtle progression to the cinematography that I didn’t notice the first time I watched it.<\/li>\n
  40. Shawshank Redemption \u2013 just a really good bit on friendship, dealing with unfairness\/injustice. Should probably rewatch to clarify what I like about it.<\/li>\n
  41. The Incredibles \u2013 really well executed, you root for the characters, the conflicts and frustrations are believable, even the villain is likeable and relatable.<\/li>\n
  42. Chocolat \u2013 a chocolatier comes to a frigid small town and transforms it completely<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Movies I liked:<\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. La La Land [2017] \u2013 I appreciate what it tried to do, and it was a pleasant experience with some nice moments. Loved the subject matter. I was slightly hoping that they\u00a0wouldn’t<\/em> get what they were wishing for, because most people don’t. I’m glad at least that they didn’t end up together, because that would’ve been cheesy.<\/li>\n
    2. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy \u2013 just really well-executed, one for the ages. Although, on third viewing, I found it a little flat in parts. It’s a little too polished and clean. Gollum is actually the best character.<\/li>\n
    3. Guardians of the Galaxy \u2013 the soundtrack was so great. Just fun and lighthearted, fun universe.<\/li>\n
    4. Divergent \u2013 Watched the 2nd movie first, and got invested enough to want to watch the first and third. I think the 2nd is still my favorite. It’s predictable YA stuff, but I thought the message of forgiving yourself was really well executed.<\/li>\n
    5. The Godfather \u2013 Yeah, masterpiece and all. Opening scene and closing scene were fantastic. But somehow it doesn’t grip me the way it does some people. I can see the amazing craftsmanship that went into it though.<\/li>\n
    6. Forrest Gump \u2013 killer soundtrack, and very moving.<\/li>\n
    7. Everything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, particularly Iron Man 1, The Avengers, Winter Soldier and Civil War. Ant Man was fun.<\/li>\n
    8. Most movies by Pixar \u2013 there’s a good formula about personal relationships and overcoming obstacles. (Up, Ratatouille, Toy Story trilogy, Wall-E)<\/li>\n
    9. The Social Network \u2013 it was nice but I don’t get what’s so great about it<\/li>\n
    10. Sex Drive\u00a0\u2013 road trip movie \u2013 watched in the cinema on a random whim, actually found it really fun and entertaining<\/li>\n
    11. The Dark Knight \u2013 Heath Ledger’s joker was great. Batman himself, not so much. But how do you really make Batman interesting, anyway? Seems like DC’s villains are more interesting than their protagonists, and vice versa for Marvel.<\/li>\n
    12. Tangled \u2013 the Rapunzel movie, I thought did a really interesting job with the mother being a manipulative narcissist.<\/li>\n
    13. The Great Gatsby \u2013 I appreciate the interesting stylistic choices, use of rap music, hyperreal aspects. But I suppose ultimately I just get a bit tired of the “Tortured DiCaprio” trope.<\/li>\n
    14. Butter \u2013 A fun, weird film about butter. I appreciate that they tried to do something different. Also Olivia Wilde is hot in this one.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Movies I appreciated but probably wouldn’t watch again:<\/h3>\n
        \n
      1. Buried \u2013 a film about a man in a box. It was executed well.<\/li>\n
      2. Gravity \u2013 epic premise, done well enough, but hardly any replay value IMO<\/li>\n
      3. Ghost In The Shell \u2013 It was amazing to see how much this movie influenced everything else \u2013 the Matrix, cyberspace, Final Fantasy… wish I caught it when it was new.<\/li>\n
      4. Snowpiercer \u2013 I really appreciate the premise and what they were trying to do, but I didn’t like how it was executed, didn’t like the ending, thought it wasted some opportunities to be very powerful and compelling<\/li>\n
      5. Princess Mononoke \u2013 They did some really good things by avoiding clean\/obvious good and bad divisions\u2013 nobody is obviously right or wrong, good or bad. But beyond that it was kinda weird in an unsettling and unhelpful way.<\/li>\n
      6. Taxi Driver \u2013 unsettling, tedious \u2013 which I suppose was the point. Well done.<\/li>\n
      7. The Aviator – good portrayal of a troubled genius, but also gets kinda repetitive and predictable. Dicaprio seems to love these “woe is me” roles.<\/li>\n
      8. Toy Story Trilogy \u2013 well done, but maybe I watched it too late to fully appreciate it. Might be great watching it as a kid growing up.<\/li>\n
      9. Inside Out \u2013 I REALLY enjoyed the premise and thought it was an incredibly challenge that was well pulled off, but if you remove that layer, the underlying story wasn’t particularly compelling to me<\/li>\n
      10. Dead Poet’s Society \u2013 I liked Robin Williams’ character, and the interplay between him and the more cynical teachers. But the rest of it hasn’t aged very well.<\/li>\n
      11. Black Swan \u2013 I suppose it was well done but I guess it kinda creeped me out.<\/li>\n
      12. Inside Job \u2013 I don’t know enough economics to have an informed opinion on this, but I thought it was well put together. Very compelling, very well made.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Movies that disappointed me:<\/h3>\n
          \n
        1. Elysium \u2013 nice premise, poorly executed, stupid ending<\/li>\n
        2. Her \u2013 It was visually a treat, but feel they glossed over the parts about the AI (contrast with Contact)<\/li>\n
        3. Frozen \u2013 how does a movie about two sisters still have more male dialogue than female?<\/li>\n
        4. Interstellar \u2013 same reason as Her, also contrast with Contact. Dragged on too long. Tried too hard.<\/li>\n
        5. Lost in Translation \u2013 lots of people say good things about it but I found it hard to care about the characters. I thought they were emotionally lazy. Contrast with Ender’s Game books,\u00a0or The Fosters, or The West Wing, where the characters really try their best. “White people staring wistfully when lost in an exotic land” \u2013 meh.\n