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CD Smiles added 2 items to their collection

have watched

4/10

7/10

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Games I Beat (2020 - 2023) list

May 24th, 2020

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles posted a image

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2020 list

May 24th Directed by: Takahiro Miki This is pretty much what I expected getting into generic looking recent Japanese movies. It is quite generic. Despite this, I acknowledge that this is actually a really well written movie, even though it's painfully overdramatic and very archetypical. The only thing to really stand out here is the characterization, the three leads are actually pretty interesting on a surface level, the movie takes you through the lows of each with varying degrees of success, with little good to balance it out, actually. The movie does nothing to really make me believe these kids are more passionate about their school's choir club than they would be about any other extracurricular activity they chose, and once you kind of zoom out that we are indeed talking about a choir club, it makes the extreme dramatics feel very silly. There is a clear attempt at making this a feel-good movie but it never gets there, it's done a lot in my mind to prop up better examples like The Woodsman and the Rain. It feels unfocused and uninspired, but it's not a terrible movie. I could see this being very popular amongst choir kids, but this isn't worth a watch for anyone else. Downloaded.

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2020 list

May 24th Directed by: Yûki Yamato I wouldn't believe you if you told me this wasn't based on a shojo manga, this has all the markings of a bad adaptation, complete with socially unaware, pseudo-anime actions that you'd catch those kids (you know the ones) in your middle school doing. They thought they looked cool, and this film is no less embarrassing than those kids, just because you're actually Japanese doesn't mean you can get away with it. Unfortunately I have to accept that I walked into something meant for 14 year old girls, but that doesn't stop me from being baffled by how inept this entire production is. The music is constantly wrong for the mood or just playing at strange times, the camerawork is inconsistent and puzzling, the story is shameful and wraps up so quickly and bizarrely at the end that it's actually funny. Five minutes into this movie I could tell I was in for a time, but I was actually excited because it seemed like it'd be funny-bad, well it was mostly exasperating but in the end I think you could watch this for a laugh. This is kind of what I thought I'd be getting into picking random modern Japanese movies to watch, but this is truly the worst of it, and honestly one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I genuinely can't think of one redeeming aspect. Downloaded.

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles posted a image

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles added 2 items to their collection

have watched

1/10

7/10

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Albums Heard in 2020 list

May 23rd

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles posted a image

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles added 7 items to My Favorite Movies list

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Re-Watched in 2020 list

May 23rd Directed by: Federico Fellini 2nd Viewing Previous Rating: 4 After: 4.5

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles posted 13 images [View All]

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Re-Watched in 2020 list

May 22nd Directed by: Yasujiro Ozu 2nd Viewing Previous Rating: 4 After: 4

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles posted 27 images [View All]

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2020 list

May 22nd Directed by: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi Makes you question the average runtime of a movie being 2 hours when a 5 and a half hour movie comes along and says more while doing less than most films. I was really excited to get into this when I popped it on and noticed the runtime, this film is no exception to what I've found to be true with most inordinately long films being that they're also much slower paced. In the first half, about an hour of runtime is spent on a single day and that sequence felt so new to me, so unlike anything else, but the movie in it's entirety isn't particularly unique in approach or visual flair. It looks and feels like a modern Japanese movie, which isn't a negative since that's all I was expecting when I downloaded it, but what I got was a lot more, extremely fleshed out characters, as you'd hope, complicated emotions and situations, but nothing overwhelming the looming presence of Japanese politeness. There are many bitter, painful situations and topics in the conversations of the film and not one voice raised. It's something someone smart could make a video essay about. Downloaded.

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Top Ten Movies of 2011 list

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2020 list

May 21st Directed by: Shûichi Okita It's a really pleasant movie with a lot more depth than I expected. It really boils down to an unexpected bromance between a young filmmaker and a widower lumberjack. Putting it like that kind of blows my mind that someone wrote this movie, but it works really well, it checks all the boxes in making a feel-good experience plus small town Japanese vibes. Can't say much else without just telling you the story. It's very simple and kind of fluff, but it's nice. Downloaded.

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles posted 20 images [View All]

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles posted 13 images [View All]

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles posted 13 images [View All]

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles posted 59 images [View All]

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles added 1 item to Movies Watched in 2020 list

May 19th Directed by: Céline Sciamma I feel like modern French cinema has this strange feel of false extravagance. This movie feels like it's trying to say a lot and... isn't? It looks somewhat pretty, it's not boring per se, but that's the problem. There's nothing to speak of about this movie except for the actual plot and events that transpire. (that, and the horrible acting) So it all just feels very empty when it's something that I feel like I could have gotten just as much out of, if not more if I had just read the script. The more I think about it, the less I like it. Downloaded.

4 years, 6 months ago

CD Smiles posted a image