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CD Smiles added Paddle to the Sea to wanted list

 Paddle to the Sea 

4 years ago

CD Smiles rated The Mourning Forest

 The Mourning Forest  6/10

4 years ago

CD Smiles posted 10 images [View All]

4 years ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2021 list

January 19th Directed by: Naomi Kawase Compelling from the first second, for the first six minutes, ending with the title screen it was like a Manhattan-esque world establishing short film. After that, I didn't really know what I was getting into, I've only seen one other of Kawase's films, Still the Water, and I don't know why I wasn't expecting the same vibe. This movie is very, very slow with not many actual major events taking place, and that results in everything that did happen being very memorable. Downloaded.

4 years ago

CD Smiles added 2 items to their collection

4 years ago

CD Smiles posted 16 images [View All]

4 years ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2021 list

January 19th Directed by: Naoko Ogigami Kamome Diner does things that in other movies, you could call boring, but here it's relaxing. It's very rare that a movie feels longer than it's runtime and it's a good thing. It felt like I spent the whole day in this world, and it was like therapy. The movie's presented in a very fun Hana and Alice-reminiscent vignette style, with delightful characters all growing and learning, but not necessarily completing a traditional character arc, because after all this is just a slice of their lives. If you know me, you know I love that, plus this is a food movie which is practically a free pass to my heart. Something needs to be said of the general ambiance and look of the film, I don't know what it is, just something must be said because it is special. It cannot be explained, you must experience this. Downloaded.

4 years ago

CD Smiles posted a image

4 years ago

CD Smiles posted 6 images [View All]

4 years ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2021 list

January 18th Directed by: Takeshi Kitano The movie closest to Kitano's Famicom game where nothing really makes sense, and then it sort of starts to, and then stops again. It's so funny how one can be so self-absorbed and so self-deprecating, but I don't know if that's exactly what's intended to be the comedy. It's not super obvious to an outsider that this film has a message, if you know nothing of the man this total sporadically chuckle-worthy nonsense. Even myself, not exactly an expert on the personal life of Kitano Takeshi, I at least could understand SOMETHING was being said, but I had no real idea what. This is the perfect kind of movie to watch, read about while it's fresh in your mind, and then not watch again. It's interesting, I'm glad he was able to put out such a personal work but it's simply not interesting for anyone who isn't a big fan. Luckily, I am. Happy Birthday Kitano-san. Downloaded.

4 years ago

CD Smiles rated Extinct Cults

 Extinct Cults 6/10

4 years ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Albums Heard in 2021 list

January 18th Year: 2020 Genre: Doom Metal / Psychedelic Rock Back from the Grave

4 years ago

CD Smiles posted a image

4 years ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Top 10 Albums Per Year list

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles added 2 items to their collection

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles added 2 items to Albums Heard in 2021 list

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles posted 11 images [View All]

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2021 list

January 17th Directed by: Masahiro Shinoda On the surface, another impenetrable samurai protagonist who is always just, honorable and chaste. Now it's not that any of that is untrue, but there are also many unexpectedly poetic moments underneath it all. Yet at the end I felt like a child, giddy to watch the good guy take on the mysterious entity built up through the whole movie. I can't think of another samurai movie to genuinely make me feel like I was watching Saturday morning cartoons or something, this movie really took me to a lot of places. Downloaded.

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles rated Ozzmosis

 Ozzmosis 6/10

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Albums Heard in 2021 list

January 17th Year: 1995 Genre: Heavy Metal I Just Want You

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2021 list

January 16th Directed by: Eric Rohmer This is a New Wave hidden gem, far more radical than The 400 Blows, again, shockingly so if you're used to Rohmer's 80s and 90s works. I thought this was gonna be a chore to get through at first, honestly the first 40 minutes are pretty hard to give a shit about, but then it morphs into an entirely different movie. I really enjoyed the disgraced American big-shot lost in Paris, some people seem to find this to be the boring part but for me it was by far the most exciting bit of this film, and also makes up for most of the run time! This is intriguing just as kind of a secret Nouvelle Vague entry, it's not one of my favorite Rohmer films. MUBI.

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Albums Heard in 2021 list

January 16th Year: 1991 Genre: Heavy Metal Hellraiser

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles rated The Kreutzer Sonata

 The Kreutzer Sonata 8/10

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2021 list

January 16th Directed by: Chloé Zhao I feel like it happens to me all the time that I watch a new movie and it just makes me completely lose hope in new movies and give up on them for a while again. This is a very utilitarian movie a visual point of view, very point-the-camera-at-the-thing filmmaking. When they did attempt to do a nice establishing shot or something it still felt entirely uninspired. There's a scene in the movie where Fern watches a video on her phone and it zooms in to take up the entire screen, you can tell this sequence was shot on a phone but it really doesn't look all that different to the rest of the film. Actually it would have been clever if this entire movie was shot on phones, y'know, mobile and all. The only creative aspect I can really praise might not even be creative; a lot of this movie is hearing from random drifters that Fern meets, and they feel like entirely real people. If they are, then that's great, I love that, but I can't really give much credit to the filmmakers for just pointing a camera at an interesting person. As good as those scenes are, they only make up a fraction of the film. There were a few times the writing made me groan, like how about we make the main character, who is a roaming nomad without a home may I remind you, how about we make her family real estate agents? Isn't that so IRONIC? Or how about when the one drifter Dave seems to be settling down with his family, we have Fern point out that he has a flat on his van and he HADN'T EVEN NOTICED? Because he would just completely stop caring or paying attention to his primary vehicle once he stopped drifting. These are sort of nitpicks but it's indicative of the amount of thought that went into this movie I feel. Some of it is really nice, I got a feeling that this movie could help certain people through some hard stuff. The ending is really nice, I kind of felt like the entire movie existed just for that ending, also one of the few things expressed through filmmaking and not just having people talk at the audience. This movie is an okay story executed not particularly creatively. I'm not mad at it, but I don't suppose I really feel anything about it. Downloaded.

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles rated Last Letter

 Last Letter 6/10

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2021 list

January 15th Directed by: Eric Rohmer Man I really did not expect the content of these early films from Rohmer, he had an interest in some dark fiction in his youth. This is absolutely fascinating for French cinema fans, there's a shot from this film that I saw a long time ago of Rohmer and Godard, I assumed it was just a photograph but here it is, in this fiction film starring the two as actors. Despite being shot on 16mm, this looks incredible, much better than Bérénice, the difference is wild for only two years. This is a very good story, with very good dialogue, it's exciting visually, especially in it's final moments. Again, surprising if you're a fan of Rohmer's later works, but I'm putting this right up there with some of his best. MUBI.

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Albums Listened to in 2014 list

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles posted 35 images [View All]

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2021 list

January 15th Directed by: Shunji Iwai Very pleasant vibe that this story lumbers along through, many scenes feel several minutes too long, the music is sometimes distracting, other times overbearing making every moment feel like it's supposed to be the emotional climax, making the experience feel even longer. I'm making it sound way worse than how I actually feel about it, there are parts in the middle I found myself tuning out for but I really loved our time with Yuri in the first half of the movie or so, I loved seeing Takako Matsu from April Story, and the third act is full-on beautiful. Ends on a high note so it makes me feel like I loved it, and it's not like I was bored or anything, but overall I don't know if this does anything to make it above average. Good movie, no real reason to recommend it though. Downloaded.

4 years, 1 month ago

CD Smiles posted a image

4 years, 1 month ago