returnofthewerewolves Reviews

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)

It did the franchise right, but as a single story it wouldn't be enough.

[8/10 · 21 December 2015]

I saw it a few days after it came out, when all the craziness had passed. And I have to say that I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Even though it has some points of improvement.

After reading all the bad (spoiler-free) reviews, my expectations went from very high to quite low. And after watching it I can understand both sides.

They tried to make a movie for everyone; the hardcore fans, as well as the mainstream public. But you can't please everyone. The mainstream people - as in people who've heard of star wars, but not necessarily 've seen the movies - got a cool cinematic experience; An interesting storyline, with great music, beautiful locations, good effects and good looking and likable actors. The hardcore star wars fans got a lot of references, many nostalgic moments and a new story/beginning to fan-girl/boy over.

But, to fully please the first group, there had to be less typical star wars stuff. Sometimes there were just too many music scores to fully embrace and believe the story. And at one point the typical star wars camera zooms just became too unnecessary and irritating. And to fully have pleased the second group, they should've made a more original story, with far less expected story lines. Instead of a modern remake with new characters.

The cinematic experience was amazing. The editing was amazing. The humor in it was nicely done. The characters and actors were good choices, even though the acting could've been more believable, but that's forgiven. And everything felt real (except for the fact that some 3D things just didn't work and were totally unnecessary.) It keeps you wanting more, which is what the franchise strives for of course. And it definitely deserves a watch.

Let's just hope the filmmakers didn't use the old characters just for the one-liners and that the next movie can stand on it's own a little more and doesn't rely on such cliché and let's- explain- what's- going- on- for- the- very- few- people- who- maybe- didn't- get- it dialogue.

The Dish & the Spoon (2011)

Lovely film about the small moments in life

[7/10 · 6 August 2015]

I think this was a lovely film. That's the best way to describe it. I've read a few reviews before I watched it (not to know what it was about, but just what other people thought of it and if it was worth it), but the differences in opinions made me curious and want to watch it for myself.

It's about two (quite lonely) characters who cross each others paths. Both with their own problems, thoughts and feelings they try to sort out while living their life.

I see a lot of reviews saying that the plot of the story (girl is angry cause her husband cheated on her - oh no what is she going to do) wasn't complex enough, and it made people feel like a lot of minutes were just filled up with meaningless shots. So many movies nowadays are about endings. They give you a premise and they give you an end, with a little bit of middle to support the choices that were made to come to that conclusion. I often hear about the 'plot', and can't sit through the middle of a movie without wanting to fast forward to see how it ends.

The Dish & The Spoon isn't just about the plot and how it ends. It's about the middle. It's about the characters who live their weird, kind of desperate lives while appreciating the small and lovely moments. I don't think every scene and every shot has to have an obvious meaning. Life doesn't have obvious meanings either. But there IS an opportunity to give meaning to it yourself. Just like you're able to do with moments in this movie. Was the bird-thing overused? Yes, they could've done it with one or two shots less. But that doesn't take away the freedom these characters seem to have in those moments.

Could the story have been more extensive? Yes. Could the camera- work, editing and script have been more smooth? Yes. But then it wouldn't feel as real as it does now.

The little things and details in this movie just made me feel a certain way. And the originality of not letting the two characters rush to certain plot points but letting them live on their own makes me appreciate The Dish & The Spoon, and want to just jump in that world with them for a while. Which I did, by watching this movie.

Camp Takota (2014)

Funny but just not quite 'it'.

[6/10 · 7 March 2014]

I thought it was a funny film, but that's mostly it. Yes, it's a good independent film, and it's amazing how far these youtube ladies have come in comparison to a few years ago. The setting is nice and it has a lot of 'youtube-ish' and good comedy. You can also somewhat relate to the characters, which are played really believable. But it isn't very special and doesn't contain much story-dept. Also the editing really annoyed me. With all the fades and black spaces every few minutes it felt like I was pulled back from the movie and back to the real world. It also has a few short scenes which I didn't thought were necessary. It just didn't really stand out for me.

Overall I think it was a very funny and feel-good movie, but it doesn't had very much dept. The result was that it didn't remain in my thoughts afterwards.

(I do have to add I was already known with their work before I saw this movie. This may have affected my expectations.)