Movie Review
Spirited Away
Nov. 10
I watch the movie Spirited Away, the movie is classified as an Anime but is very much more than your usual anime. The film came out in 2001 and is graphically incredible. The basic plot is this girl and her family are moving to a new house and stumble upon what looks like an old amusement park which the dad thinks ran out of business because amusement parks were not making money at the time. The family walks further into the run down park where all the sudden in this alley way of asian shops there's a place cooking food, the parents start eating because they don’t see anyone there. Their daughter isn’t hungry and decides to explore this place out of boredom and out of suspicion of her getting a weird vibe from this place, where at the end of a bridge she is confronted by a character who tells her to run and get put before night falls. As the little girl rushes to go grab her parents from the place where they were eating food night falls upon her quickly and when she gets back to the place her parents have turned into pigs, and now this girl is seemed to be stuck in this spirit world in which she has not the slightest clue about.
Now this movie is absolutely incredible. The way it is directed and filmed is beyond words to describe the beauty that is created. Because this movie is animated it is purely voice actors and no real acting in terms of in real life scenes. But despite this fact it is still a jaw dropping artistic film, the director and the graphic designs are beautifully implemented into the movie visually you will be blown away by what this movie brings to the table. Also since the movie is based in a spirit world it allows the writers and directors a lot of freedom for their characters and how it is shot. Along the way you meet a lot of cool and interesting characters that make you fall in love with the film, it's not just one dimensional it has multiple elements and layers of ingenuity. Although the plot seems so basic because of the nature of how you have to explain the plot it is more than just basic, you are introduced to an addictive world of anime that frees up your mind for a refreshing viewing experience. Also you get layers upon layers of conflict during this film, yes the main conflict is to escape this spirit world and find her parents, but their is multiple layers of conflicts within having to escape and this leaves you with falling in love with the different type of characters shown in the movie.
Would I recommend this to any viewer? Yes. The answer is straight up yes, this is for any audience and will brighten the day of any viewer. The film isn’t meant for just any one specific audience it’s meant for everyone to enjoy and that's what makes this film such a masterpiece and such a well done film. The visuals are incredible and you will be sad when the movies over and if you’re watching with a buddy you’ll want to talk about it for some time.
Movie Review 2, The Shawshank Redemption
I did The Shawshank Redemption because I've heard Muench talk about it 59 times and still haven't seen it, so here we go. The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont, is a story about Andy Dufrene. Dufrene, a very successful banker, was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. He is then sentenced to two life sentences in Shawshank prison. During his time at Shawshank, Andy goes through many different phases: the quiet phase, the getting beat up constantly phase, and finally his phase of fame. Because of his successes as a banker, he becomes a very valuable member of the prison to the guards and most importantly, to the warden. Andy was very well liked and respected throughout the prison which made him valuable to everyone. He made the most of his time at Shawshank until a chance of freedom was ruined by the corrupt warden and a corrupt system. Could Andy just accept his fate of spending his whole life in prison?
This movie is probably now one of my favorite movies of all time. There is a very good reason that it is on the top 100 list. Darabont made very smart choices when casting this movie. One of the most interesting things to me was the casting of Morgan Freeman as Red. Because the movie starts in 1949 which was a time of major racial segregation, it was odd to me to see Red as such a respected character. However, I also think that this could have been one of his best casting choices just because Morgan Freeman has a way of making you believe everything he says. Tim Robbins was also a very smart casting choice. I thought that he did a very good job portraying Andy Dufrene.
One of the most difficult things must have been lighting in the actual prison cells. Those cells only have one very small window which allows for very little light to come in. Also, at the end of the movie when Andy is in the sewer pipe, that must have been very difficult to get a good shot and have good lighting. One of my favorite scenes is at the end after he is out of the sewer. It is a very iconic scene that must have been very hard to get. Partially because they had to wait for a thunderstorm and a lot of rain to come.
I would definitely recommend this movie to just about anyone. Darabont attacks some major topics during this movie like institutionalization, violence in prison, friendship, loyalty,