biggerheart Reviews

I Am Here (I) (2021)

tea is not cold

[8/10 · 13 March 2022]

Some stories have the magic of never aging and can be told again and again and still feel fresh. Romance is an example. Even an educated audience in the 21st century should already know a good amount of Holocaust, it still draws all attention when told by those who have experienced it first hand. The magic behind is, I guess, being genuine and humans respond to it.

There is also another side to human nature. At the time of writing, violence, albeit different, is still ongoing. As a pacifist and a pragmatist, my thought is a) violence is wrongdoing based on ration and empathy, and b) with no current evidence that there is or will be means (nuclear, sanction, etc) to terminate the means of violence, all frictions against violence great and small are increasingly needed. While division lubricates violence, education and communication build up frictions all over against violence.

The Worst Person in the World (2021)

who isn't

[8/10 · 13 February 2022]

It's always nice to watch an independent movie. Nordic people and culture are bonus for audience from the rest of the world.

With longer life expectancy and without the expectation of parenthood in developed countries, the youth from university to their thirties begin to lead their own adult lives rather than following the same steps their ancestors did.

Good luck have fun!

Water Gate Bridge (2022)

action, emotion, more action, more emotion, and repeat

[6/10 · 12 February 2022]

This war movie bounces between action scenes and emotional scenes. Much like other movies in the ww2 era, guns, grenades, bloods, and tears.

It might sound dull for an artwork. However, for front line soldiers in a war, the battleground might not be much different. Fight, mourn, fight more, mourn more, ... If this movie manages to show that two hours of that is already kind of boring, how about two weeks, two months, two years, or two decades in real life and in fear?

Disclosure: I am a pacifist who has spent an equal amount of adult life in both of the throat-cutting states in this movie.

Jackass Forever (2022)

heroic suffering

[7/10 · 7 February 2022]

It is entertaining to watch the crew doing silly things together in original ways. Everything they do has no other purposes other than bringing tremendous pains. Yet, the crew endure heroically and unselfishly - to remind what a laughter is in the third year of the covid19 pandemic.

On further thought, one thing evolution has put in human nature is to feel great when seeing others suffer from mistakes. That probably has more to do with the mindset of scarcity than actual scarcity. Thankfully, evolution has also put another thing in human nature - empathy, and of course, there is always education.

Moonfall (2022)

plain

[6/10 · 6 February 2022]

The movie is as bland as tap water. There is little impressive or remarkable about this unrefined work. It does remind one of movies made twenty five, twenty years back. Good old times!

Flee (2021)

swim

[8/10 · 30 January 2022]

To me, who is by luck not one of the over 80 million refugees by a current estimate, the life experience of refugees is unique, engaging, and thought-provoking.

The King's Daughter (2022)

wealth, immortal, great country, pseudoscience, thou shall be forgiven, and forgotten

[6/10 · 23 January 2022]

This is a full-length movie with uneven efforts and no misguiding. I did not need to struggle to finish watching. Thus, rated 6.

As a movie watcher, I suggest any serious movie maker who wants to achieve any success, commercially or culturally, generally avoid movies based on any of the words in the headline of this review. They might be interesting to little kids. But the majority of ordinary adults growing up watching movies know them all too well and could do with fewer of those.

Redeeming Love (2022)

time is up

[7/10 · 22 January 2022]

The romance is good and easy to enjoy. It seems since the COVID pandemic over two years ago, there have been few romantic movies while there should have been more. After all, not everyone is a superhero to save the world but almost anyone can use more warmth from love.

I also appreciate the realistic backdrop of justice, moral, and even empowerment of education.

Characters, dresses, scenes, and musics range from nice to impressive to gorgeous.

The rating is not 8 for the love story is not remarkably new or deep, which I admit is rather tricky since new or deep does not necessarily make a good romance.

Scream (I) (2022)

among us

[7/10 · 18 January 2022]

This movie has the freshness that the characters show experience from having watched horror movies, unlike many other movies of this genre where the characters just seem to have never watched one horror movie and are therefore less convincing. It feels like a round of among us, an interesting game.

Making characters more experienced and more difficult to be victims is a good direction for this genre for there is more room to grow. I look forward to seeing more.

Here is the reasons it is not rated 10.

First, it is, after all, yet another horror movie within the limits of, or for the sake of, killing and being killed.

Second, it is a miss that the characters are not using the experience well, which would make the game more challenging and entertaining. I guess it is like for a sports game to be appealing, the players on both teams should be strong.

Last, I will just suggest that randomization in roles (killer, killed) makes most unpredictable results.

Belle (2021)

the whale

[7/10 · 16 January 2022]

This animation is a sincerely and nicely made reminder of the forgotten beauty, amongst a variety of matters in the current age, to name a few, technology, mental well-being of teenage, family member relationship, and even environment (whales are a beautiful animal, aren't they?). Plus the timeless elements of friendship, bravery, and growth, fun characters, imaginative visual wonders, and equally fabulous music songs, it is easy to find this movie interesting and warm.

This rating is not 10 because the good number pf elements that make this movie full also seem to stretch it a little that some of them might have more space to develop in more depth.

Arigato!

Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America (2021)

over that point

[8/10 · 16 January 2022]

What is it like to pick billions of pounds of cotton?

What is it like to lose life for being "too successful"?

Does luck look good?

This documentary relies on many relevant and clear facts along the history without needing to be opinionated or emotionally tiring. Because it is new, educational/informational, and thereby engaging, watching is quite easy and strongly recommended.

The reasons why this rating is not 10:

First, while this movie is impressive, I am not sure this artwork can reach beyond the audience who are already willing to be open. To reach the "unreachable" might take some more work, admittedly much more work sometimes.

Second, in addition to justice and empathy, adding a bit more hope, inspiration, or vision in appropriate amount should increase balance and encouragement, i.e., given the history, why is over the point plausible or not already lost now?

PS: There are many 1 ratings now, which shows there is still a lot more work to do.

Thanks!