Change Your Image
branstark
Vote: Game Of Thrones Greatest Episode Nine: http://www.imdb.1eye.us/poll/0rRMXs6GqrI
I was one of the earliest members to register an account here. I miss the forums on here.
----
Vote: TV shows from the 90s that you'd love to see rebooted: http://www.imdb.1eye.us/poll/rgtJuK1AohY
---
Vote: Who will ultimately sit on the Iron Throne?: http://www.imdb.1eye.us/poll/-AtBVOQ-Y24/
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Close (2022)
This movie absolutely broke me
The movie follows the lives of two 13 year old boys, Léo and Rémi (played by the talented Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele) who are incredibly close but their relationship is put to the test by a world hostile to male intimacy. After graduating to a new High School, their classmates begin to question their relationship which prompts Léo to slowly push his best friend away as he's desperate to fit in. Rémi, who cannot work out why Leo no longer wants to spend time with him is distraught at the gradual loss of his friend. As each day goes by, their friendship crumbles bit by bit and one day when Lèo fails to meet up with Rémi to cycle to school, Rémi confronts him in the schoolyard about his friends behaviour. This results in a scuffle and both boys in tears. The following day, Rémi killed himself and when I say this movie broke me, it absolutely destroyed me.
For the rest of the movie, Léo is forced to come to terms with the death of his friend and the feelings of regret and trauma are perfectly captured by the young Dambrine. How does a 13 year old deal with such a tragedy? A tragedy of which he is solely to blame for? Every single actor put their heart into this movie and you can tell from their incredible performances. The movie perfectly captures the innocence of childhood, the beauty of childhood friendship, the lengths children a prepared to go to be accepted by their peers and their desperation to fit in.
Billy Elliot: The Musical Live (2014)
Absolutely stunning!
For some reason, I find that this musical version (based on the Oscar nominated 2000 movie) packs a far greater emotional punch. Perhaps it's because it's live or that they're able to expand a little bit more on the story but I found every scene involving Billy and his late mother just ripped my heart apart. Ruthie Henshall is a national treasure and was fantastic playing Mrs. Wilkinson as was Deka Walmsley who played the father. Credit must go to Elliott Hanna who was an incredible Billy who was (at the time) the youngest to assume the titular role. The stamina required to be a stage performer still blows me away and seeing all these actors literally caked in sweat while performing immensely difficult dance routines while singing persistently for 3 hours makes me appreciate just how incredible these performers are.
I'm sad I was never able to watch this in the theatre before it came to an end but I'm thankful they released an edition on DVD. The acting, cinematography, the script, the clever lighting and tricks, the costumes, the music all make this one of the best musical stage productions ever to be made.
Oh and the Tom Holland cameo at the end where all the past and present Billys performed a specially choreographed routine was brilliant. People often forget that this was where he started his career and I'm thrilled he took the time to return to the role for this special occasion.
Dare mo shiranai (2004)
A heartbreaking story of abandonment and survival
"What are you eating? Spit it out....what is this?"
"Paper"
Based on a true story, four siblings are left to fend for themselves after their mother disappears. It's an utterly heartbreaking story of abandonment and survival but at the same time, it's a beautifully constructed piece of filmmaking. The performances were incredible and the cinematography was exquisite. There's not a lot of dialogue but the camera is used masterfully as it captures their slow descent into absolute poverty. Their utilities are gradually switched off and whether they eat or not depends entirely on the amount of loose change they manage find.
It's been a while since I've genuinely been blown away by a movie but it certainly makes me feel thankful I was brought up surrounded by a loving and caring family. Not every child is blessed with such a thing.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
A captivating and immersive piece of filmmaking
The movie is set in the future where artificial intelligence is evolving at such a rate that the human population are beginning to get concerned about the ethical implications of substituting humans for robots and what role humans will play (if any) in the future. Integrating robots into society started as a means for humans to avoid doing mundane jobs - a convenience. But as more sophisticated robots were invented to fill even more jobs - like nannies and butlers - with an advanced and intricate likeness to humans, this led to further controversy and people started paying to see robots rounded up and killed in gladiatorial fashion.
The story follows one such robot, David who's designed to look like a boy. He was created as an experiment - to see if a robot could feel and display absolute, unconditional love for his mother. Although the standard robots exhibited a rudimentary understanding of social awareness and could be programmed to communicate with humans at a basic level, they could not display any level of emotion: to love, to hate and to form genuine friendships with humans. The idea was for the robot to act as a surrogate child, to cater for parents who can't conceive or who have suffered the loss of their own child. He was programmed with the mind of a boy to love his mother above all else. Love can be a complicated and dangerous program if that is all the robot is designed to do. Creating a robot to exhibit emotions like love will naturally mean they could develop the ability to experience jealousy, hate and since they're not programmed to understand consequence, logic or reasoning of any kind it leads to confusion. David struggles to settle and the rivalry with his human sibling escalates. He can't understand why Monica (the person he's programmed to love) won't love him back. After a series of incidents which arose as a result of David being scared or confused, the family fear for their safety even though his intentions weren't malicious or sinister in nature. Tensions escalate and David is expelled by the family and dumped in the woods.
And so begins his journey to find the Blue Fairy - the mythical character who turns Pinocchio into a real boy - in an attempt to win his mother's love by becoming human. What's most heartbreaking is that we, the viewer, know there's no such thing as the Blue Fairy and a robot cannot become a real boy. His travails are doomed from the get-go and yet he journeys on, avoiding humans and their prejudice on a quest that spans 2000 years with such a fierce yearning you could only expect from a naive child. It's a gut wrenching story as he tries to make sense and come to terms with his existence. And with such little programming and his inability to understand basic human logic, he never fully gets to understand why he was created. Why won't his mother love him back and why does everyone despise him? Haley Joel Osment is fantastic here playing such a complicated and conflicted role which reinforces the belief that he was one of the greatest child actors of all time.
The movie was originally the creation of the late Stanley Kubrick, but he was unable to complete his vision. Steven Spielberg picked up the project and although the movie received very mixed reviews, Spielberg did well to deliver a movie with visual effects way ahead of its time, drafted in John Williams to compose one of his best scores and put together a cast full of talent including Robin Williams, Meryl Streep, Jude Law, Brendan Gleeson and Chris Rock.
A captivating and immersive piece of filmmaking which explores the unfortunate effects of human stigma and the lengths some children will go to uncover the truth about their purpose in the world. This movie will stay on your mind long after you've watched it.
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Astounding
I first watched 'Empire of the Sun' fairly recently and I'm appalled with myself for never watching such a masterpiece earlier.
Empire of the Sun is a film adaption of the popular autobiography by JG Ballard which follows the life of a young boy, Jim (played by Christian Bale) where he embarks on an unforgettable and life-changing adventure when Shanghai is invaded by Japanese troops during World War 2.
Jim is separated from his parents and is forced to fend for himself on the streets of Shanghai. He eventually befriends an American called Basie (John Malkovich) and together they survive the Japanese internment camps run by the Japs.
A spectacular performance by a young Bale and a realistic representation of the War marks this film one of the greatest of our generation.