Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

USA/United Kingdom/China
written and directed by: Quentin Tarantino
starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie
seen on 31st December, 2019

I mean, I still don't really get what was Tarantino on about, but I am tremendously relieved because I was worried it was going to be so much worse than this result. His absolute artistic exhaustion is sadly a perminent state of his work at this point. Or perhaps one cannot tell if he is a total burn-out or not because he is so much in love with himself that it doesn't really matter.

Hereditary (2018)

USA
written and directed by: Ari Aster
starring: Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro
seen on 22nd December, 2019

I appreciate the many LAYERS of this film, it gives me a lot to think about. The most fascinating thing is how frickin much does Ari Aster control every aspect of what and how is being told and shown and experienced.

I have written before that I don't like when artists spread their own diseases (illnesses would perhaps be the better word?) through their art among their audience. (An example of that: von Trier and "The House That Jack Built": his own inner artistic struggle between megalomania and a feeling of total personal insignificance and inferiority grows in the film like some sort of a detestable black tumour and the final artwork does not offer any kind of resolution/absolution, it just metastasizes to everyone who watches it.)

Aster takes his own personal and very painful misery, views it, palpates it, feels it from all the angles and then makes a reconstruction of it in a film where nothing has a simple meaning. When the son stands in a dark hallway outside his parents' room illuminated by lighthing from outside, with his face in a shadows, a menacing dark silhouette, it is an element of a million other horror about terrifying kids doing terrifying stuff to make them look terrifying, but in this particular film it is also a perfectly justified shot of him hearing his mother's pain which he himself caused while also being a victim above whom the clouds are gathering.

And it still is an honest tangible drama about a family whose every member deserves/needs a big hug, a little bit more of understanding and a whole lot of therapy. But none of that is coming because their lives are being controlled by puppeteers writing necromantic invocations on their walls and monitoring and directing their every step.

And how does everything which I have just described differ from "the tumour paragraph" from the beginning? Because despite visiting the deepest, most deadly swamp, the films takes time to end most therapeuticly (while still being loyal to its horror genre). It takes you through hell, but all the way through and out and keeps on going, it leads you to catharsis, it does not let you get stuck or drown. It is a film where the villain wins and everything ends badly, but it is so beautiful, so natural and so freeing. I want all modern films to function like this, not necessarily to "mean something more", because all films should do that (no?), but to be thorough and subversive. (James Wan can go fly a kite.)

Oh, just imagine being an actor and being offered a script like this. What an absolute pleasure that must be. I do believe that both Toni Collette and Alex Wolff deserved at least an Oscar nomination. ♥

The Sound of Music (1965)

USA
directed by: Robert Wise
written by: Ernest Lehman
starring: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker
seen on 5th December, 2019

I kept saying to myself "Well, okay, but if they took away the singing numbers I would like it better". And then Mother Abbess started singing and there I went crying like a baby.

But when you think about what kind of films were being made by the mid-sixties, then this one feels really outdated.

Phantom Thread (2017)

United Kingdom/USA
written and directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville
seen on 23rd November, 2019

-"Whatever you do, do it carefully." 

Finally I can say that a film by Mr. Anderson tells a story of the kind of reserved passionate madness I personally recognize.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

USA
directed by: Frank Capra
written by: Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra
starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
seen on 22nd November, 2019

What a charming little film about suicide.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

USA
written and directed by: John Hughes
starring: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones
seen on 29th October, 2019

The visual gags were almost perfect (the pencils in the haircut, Jeffrey's run through a corridor, and a few others), the jokes made during conversations I did not like so much, and the attempt to tell a story (character development, capturing coming of age and "a desire for freedom) was a complete let down in my eyes.

Booksmart (2019)

USA
directed by: Olivia Wilde
written by: Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Katie Silberman
starring: Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever, Billie Lourd
seen on 6th October, 2019

Damn, that's the last time Thirteen recommends something on Instagram and I immediately excitedly run to watch it. Setting aside the fact that I truly hate this sort of exaggerated depiction of "friendship" (is it trying to tell me that people have to argue to death at least once, manipulate each other and secretly hate and despise each other to be real friends?), my brain got a real workout trying to figure out if it's supposed to be a comedy, as in the actual genre, in which case the characters are caricatures on purpose, or if it's supposed to be a coming of age drama seasoned with humor in which case wtf?

Moreover, who is the intended target audience for this film? Is Booksmart able to entertain today's high school teens? Because it seems to me, despite the subject and all the Gen Z glamour, that it's aimed more at adults (millenials, given I started throwing these labels around). Maybe it's just some sort of forced attempt at levity from the debuting director that's confusing me and leading me to believe that no one should be able to enjoy this film, because everything that's supposed to be funny and spontaneous reeks of paper and outside manipulation. The first scene, main characters meeting each other and us viewers for the first time, doing and impromtu dance - I only see actors following directions, not two people really enjoying each other's company. 

The script could also use some refinement in the "show, don't tell" category. There is a bunch of scenes where the characters (especially Beanie Feldstein) unnecessarily say some things that were already (or should be) obvious from what happened. The first serious conversation with Jared on the ship is full of it. Maybe it's supposed to serve as a characterization of Beanie's Molly and not as a source of information for the viewer, but in that case I would like the screenplay to do a better job of it, this way it only layers the same information on top of the old ones and it feels a bit stale. 

And some positive notes to end on: The episode I enjoyed the most was the brief encounter with the pizza delivery guy, and since I can't say that any performance captured my heart, I will at least say that Jessica Williams seemed exceptionally beautiful to me. 

City of God (2002)

Cidade de Deus
Brazil/France
directed by: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund
written by: Bráulio Mantovani + Paulo Lins (book)
starring: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Matheus Nachtergaele
seen on 24th September, 2019

My oh my, without my brain, using just my heart, it seemed like a saw a film (the medium) for the first time in my life. Children are our future.

The Apartment (1960)

USA
directed by: Billy Wilder
written by: Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond
starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray
seen on 4th September, 2019

I guess my expectations were too high, but I didn't find "a good film" this boring for a long time. The film runs precisely like some kind of a machine and maybe that's why (plus some other things) I basically hate it.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

USA
directed by: Jon M. Chu
written by: Peter Chiarelli, Adele Lim + Kevin Kwan (book)
starring: Constance Wu, Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina
seen on 28. June, 2019

Gosh darn it, I let myself get confused by it being a "comedy" that I did not notice that it also said "romance" and "drama". The result was me suffering through two hours of approximately two good jokes and then an insufferable amount of romantic "drama". The film as a whole, its story, its execution, seem to me like it was made twenty or thirty years ago. It feels obsolete, I can't find anything fresh, inventive or noteworthy about it.

But at the same time I am shocked that some people criticize it only for it being "full of Chinese guys".

Deliverance (1972)

USA
directed by: John Boorman
written by: James Dickey (+ book)
starring: Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox
seen on 15th April, 2019

-"They're drowning the river, man." 

No enchantment by a film classic for me this time. I don't intent to by any means uderestimate the abilities of John Boorman (or the general time period), but the number of things that seemed unintentionally ridiculous was so high this time that it completely ruined my viewing experience.

It started right away with the dueling banjos, I think. The opening sequence is pretty well done (and quite in opposition to the rest of the film, I want to add) but given what follows I'm not sure how to understand it at all. I guess it's supposed to be some kind of a dark omen and a premonition of all things different and dangerous, but in my point of view it only sets our four protagonists as morons and that's about it. There is nothing threatening or menacing about the sound of a banjo and Voight (who sees and as the only one seems to perceive the hidden nature of things in this sequence, including seeing the boy with the banjo on the bridge as a guard of the point of no return) then still calls on to the armed demons from the woods and starts chatting with them like nothing's up. I suppose this film generally is about men running away from difficulties of civilization and still (or because of that) being admirably unable to listen to their own instincts or at least interpret signs and hints that come their way. That would, combined with the horror genre, sound like an interesting topic to explore, but there are three main things that stop me from going on this trip:

1. Extremely poor acting. Voight functions as "the good-looking guy that can't express shit" from every other horror film and Reynolds manages to overact even in scenes he's not present in. The scene of the argument over a dead body then looks so much like a graphic example of "how not to make any kind of drama" that I got embarassed just by watching it.

2. Weird time jumps and selective realistic/non-realistic physiological consequences of what the "heroes" have been through. The perfect example of this is the hunting trip on the cliff - I mean, did the other two really keep standing in cold water for a day and a night straight while our reluctant hero upstairs slept and battled his inner and outer fears? Burt Reynolds did faint and they painted him white, but the chubby guy seemed completely fine, not even a cold or something, eh? And Voight also stayed pretty active after being pierced with a hunting arrow.

3. Clumsy tricks. With this I mostly mean the during-the-day-shot-and-then-tinted-blue night complete with sun reflecting off water and sweaty skin. I mean, it kinda gives the impression that they all died and are now reliving their stupidity forever in the purgatory as ghosts, but I don't think that was the intention. The obviously fake hand in the closing dream sequence then represents a last nail to the coffin of my effort to take the film seriously. Or did I misunderstood everything and it is supposed to be a B film being enjoyed because it's so bad?

The Boat (1981)

Das Boot
West Germany
written and directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
starring: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Erwin Leder
seen on 4th April, 2019

Oh boy, what a roller-coaster of emotions, but maybe actually a spiral leading towards the only possible ending. Nice example of a film where its (extreme) length is not only justifiable but also completely necessary for all the twists in emotions to settle down meaningfully instead of it being just a pointless cluster/sequence of events. (Ehm, I'm looking accusingly at you, present-day blockbusters.)

P.S.: I already knew that Erwin Leder's face is quite unbelievable, but damn...!

Natural Born Killers (1994)

USA
directed by: Oliver Stone
written by: David Veloz, Richard Rutowski, Oliver Stone
starring: Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr.
seen on 1st April, 2019

-"Look bitch, you knew I was a snake."

The Favourite (2018)

Ireland/United Kingdom/USA
directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
written by: Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
starring: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult
seen on 30th March, 2019

After "Mad Max: Fury Road" I was convinced that Nicholas Hoult should only walk around with his head shaved and obviously I was wrong. I've always hated Emma Stone and here it's put to a wonderful use. Olivia Colman is a goddess. Curiously enough, I have no desire to comment on Rachel this time.

It's nice to see that Lanthimos does not repeat himself when it comes to his filmography, although he may repeat himself a bit when it comes to this film alone.

-"I dreamt I stabbed you in the eye."

Big (1988)

USA
directed by: Penny Marshall
written by: Gary Ross, Anne Spielberg
starring: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Mercedes Ruehl
seen on 25th March, 2019

Of all the possible stories that would offer themselves with this kind of premise they had to go with the one that did not offer itself, a romance with an adult woman. O my god. And I hear the director rejected an idea to make the main protagonist female stating she could not realistically see a relationship between a thirty-five-year-old man and a twelve-year-old girl. Well, kudos for this completely acceptable realistic alternative then. Oh my god.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

USA
directed by: Tobe Hooper
written by: Tobe Hooper, Kim Henkel
starring: Gunnar Hansen, Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal
seen on 25th March, 2019

Well, I'm never... something ever again. Most intense existential drama that made me wish I lived somewhere far away from all the people with just a hint of a bitter feeling that it wouldn't help anything.

Raging Bull (1980)

USA
directed by: Martin Scorsese
written by: Paul Schrader, Peter Savage, Martin Mardik + Jake LaMotta (book)
starring: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci
seen on 24th March, 2019

Well, that's two hours of my life I'm never getting back. They can try to beautify it all they want but it still is a garbage film about garbage people. I don't even care about what happens in the foreground, because the background is them treating women like some inferior entity and that, for me, is the real tragedy of this story. And besides not knowing why would anyone think that everybody needs to hear the voice of this "man" I got a migraine from listening to all those never-ending dialogues without absolutely any meaning. Nothing. Nada.

Laura (1944)

USA
directed by: Otto Preminger
written by: Jay Dratler
starring: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, Judith Anderson
seen on 15th March, 2019

Damn, I didn't know that Vincent Price used to play tall thick manly yet wimpish Adonises when he was younger. And who would have thought he would be so gosh darn good at it. This was a very pleasant film, it was incredibly easy to listen to charismatic and accurate actors and go with them wherever they went without even realising how much film time has already passed.

The biggest plus for me is how grounded everybody was, nobody was overacting or trying to create "drama". This results in the film feeling really modern and timeless. I mean, look at Clifton Webb for example, the way his performance morphs ever so slightly, almost inconspicuously and internally into a masterpiece gorgeous to behold is simply stunnig, and that could be said about all five of the main actors, more or less. Judith Anderson, for example, appears only for a couple of scenes, but she manages to leave a great impression indeed.

I would have liked it, for me to be perfectly satisfied, for Mark McPherson to return to the apartment one minute too late, but that's almost a spoiled demand. But wouldn't that be something, huh.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

USA
directed by: Lewis Milestone
written by: George Abbott, Maxwell Anderson + Erich Maria Remarque (book)
starring: Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres, Ben Alexander
seen on 13th March, 2019

Okay, I'm going to say it: All this film's missing to basically be Full Metal Jacket (my personal war favourite) is Surfin' Bird and Vincent D'Onofrio. (And fifty seven years of film-making advancement, but I consider that a minor detail.)

The trench war portrayed here is so real and palpable it makes my skin crawl. Sometimes I have a problem with the way screenwriters adapt a literary story arc into a film one, but this film is not the case. This uncertain constant move forward with the possibility of it being a circle with a lot of dead ends and the characters being in focus and bearing the message on their shoulders works perfectly and does the silver screen super justice. "The boots" is one great example for all, but I am a hundred percent fan nonetheless.

A Star Is Born (2018)

USA
directed by: Bradley Cooper
written by: Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters +Moss Hart (original screenplay), John Gregory Dunne (original screenplay), Joan Didion (original screenplay), Frank Pierson (original screenplay)
starring: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott
seen on 6th March, 2019

People like Bradley Cooper, if I may judge him based on this debut, should be mandated by law to not make films longer than 100 minutes. That would make him to really think about what is important to see and what is just unbearable baggage that drags the story down. Perhaps then some subject matter would make an appearance, because we know there is something deeper in this story, it's just impossible to see it in this iteration.

Secondly, people like Bradley Cooper could, from time to time, admit to themselves that their acting abilities are not up to par to play a character with this kind of complexity. It's nice that he spent a year lerning how to play a guitar in a basement with the son of Willie Nelson, but who cares how he plays the guitar if his acting performance does not show any kind of progress during the frickin 136 minutes and his character stays the same the entire time.

Also, my ears and eyes started bleeding from those music and dance numbers. The reason for this might be that I usually do not come in contact with this kind of music, or perhapse because they really made sure to made Ally's music as shallow and superficial as possible. One of the songs starts with the words "Why do you look so good in those jeans?" Wtf, is that character supposed to be nineteen years old or what? If they even made that the source of friction in between them, that she makes shittier and shittier music to stay famous, but oh no, during the argument he rather barks at her that she's ugly.

Top Gun (1986)

USA
directed by: Tony Scott 
written by: Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr.
starring: Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer
seen on 28th February, 2019

Why would anyone mark this as an important piece of work? I am scratching my head. Is it just so people can know what "Hot Shots!" is mocking?

Out of Africa (1985)

USA
directed by: Sydney Pollack
written by: Kurt Luedtke + Karen Blixen (book), Judith Thurman (book), Errol Trzebinski (book)
starring: Meryl Streep, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Malick Bowens
seen on 21st February, 2019

-"This Chief says: British can read and what good has it done them?"

(Malick Bowens!) But otherwise I don't get the point of making films like this, I'm not sure what to think of them and whetner the makers were even trying to make a point of some sort.

Les Misérables (2012)

United Kingdom
directed by: Tom Hooper
written by: William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg + Victor Hugo (book)
starring: Hugh Jackman, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne
seen on 1st February, 2019

Lately, I started to say that it's not fair to say that I hate musicals straight away without giving it a try first, and, well, maybe it's time for me to start saying that I hate musicals straight away again. It is a rare feat for one film to make me want to hit everybody involved, including some of my very favourite actors, with a brick.

Amores perros (2000)

Mexico
directed by: Alejandro González Iñárritu
written by: Guillermo Arriaga
starring: Emilio Echevarría, Gael García Bernal, Goya Toledo
commented on 30th January, 2019

I don't understand it. These aren't three intertwined parts of one story, this is more of a composition of three separate stories. And I don't get what's it supposed to mean either way. And to write more than three sentences I will add a sinking thought as to why I don't even care to get the hang of it: None of the characters are good people. (I mean, Gael is on the best way to be one, but even his actions are problematic from the very beginning.) Why should I even watch a film about exclusively evil and bad people.

Schindler's List (1993)

USA
directed by: Steven Spielberg
written by: Steven Zaillian + Thomas Keneally (book)
starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
seen on 27th January, 2019

Well, I don't know... In a world where films like "Son of Saul", "The Shop on Main Street" and "The Long Journey" exist I do have a serious problem to see "Schindler's List" like a pivotal work of world cinema. I have to "manually" remind myself that there is more than just one artistic approach but I also can't help myself but think less of some of them. I am screaming "Oh the humanity!" about three times a minute while watching this, but still... Just picture the often quoted scene of a little girl in a red coat. It would be so much powerful if it wasn't interrupted so much by editing. If it was just a long shot from a single perspective followed by a reaction shot of Oscar Schindler's face who "sees it all"... oh my. And the last twenty minutes... well, that was Steven's choice as well.

Dances With Wolves (1990)

USA
directed by: Kevin Costner
written by: Michael Blake (+ book)
starring: Kevin Costner, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant a Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse
seen on 26th January, 2019

If the film didn't abuse the cliché of "the noble wild west", it could have been really something. Because it has everything in it. But it sure is all blockbustery, kitschy, and white-savior-like numb and dulled. Nevertheless, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant and Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse for presidents.

2023: Ok, I retract Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse's nomination.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

USA
directed by: Steven Spielberg
written by: Melissa Mathison
starring: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Pat Welsh
seen on 24th January, 2019

I like a lot of the imagery, the fascination with night and woods in the night, and with the starry sky and the mysteries of the universe. I like how the three siblings cooperate and show affection for one another (instead of the usual movie siblings rivalry). I love the bizarre bordering on surreal scene of freeing the frogs at school. I generally like the idea of an extra-terrestial trapped on Earth but I'm not sure if the film ever moves past this idea into some kind of a functional story. 

And the rest of the film also raises a lot of eyebrows. Firstly, Henry Thomas. I'm not sure if I'd call him a talented child actor, but I'm also not sure whether he only seems to be so annoying because of the screenplay being so weird and the story completely stopping midway without making any effort to move forward. (Why are the "agents" presented as villains and why they are accused of "hurting and killing him" when the film never shows their intent to hurt him or any connection between E.T.s failing health and their arrival?) There is also a ton of mentions of the absent father for it to be just a "coincidence" but the film never develops this theme and it plays no part in the finale, just as the relationship between Elliot and the agent also simply fades away despite tha fact the the first half was about them seeking/avoiding each other and the agent implying he know something more than everybody else. The character of Elliot's mom also bothers me. The film-makers make an effort to show that she has no personal life apart from taking care of her children, but she still fails to notice that something shady happens right in front of her nose. John Williams made the music too cheerful even in the scary and dangerous parts. My childhood alien visitations looked absolutely different, that's what I'm trying to say.

RoboCop (1987)

USA
directed by: Paul Verhoeven
written by: Edward Neumeier
starring: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Miguel Ferrer
seen on 22nd January, 2019

-"Good night, sweet prince."

Is it just me dreaming or is this film splendid, marvellous, brilliant in every possible way? And I'm totally in love with how Peter Weller moves in the costume.

The Usual Suspects (1995)

USA/Germany
directed by: Bryan Singer
written by: Christopher McQuarrie
starring: Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri
seen on 20th January, 2019

-"The man with the plan."

It's about as cool as a fireside story. Just after it finishes you might think "oh wow!", but if you start thinking about it for just a moment all the shapes start fading, the smoke and mirrors become apparent and the world within the story stops making any sense. 

I'd say the trouble is that Bryan Singer is probably the most overrated bastard, I mean director, I can think of, that is until I start saying it about somebody else. The story is very simple and has no other atributes than being cool and Singer still fails to 1) ground it in reality 2) populate it with characters with believable connections 3) make it self-aware. 

The film seems so outdated by concentrating so hard on this one gimmick up its sleeve. It forgets that we have to watch it even before the ending and that our attention should be misdirected and manipulated to look for something starkly different than the point it eventually makes. 

P.S.: Similarly mainstream films that do this misdirection the right way are for example The Prestige or even American Beauty to stay relevant. Try comparing these films and it won't be hard to see that The Usual Suspects are about "nothing". 

Goodfellas (1990)

USA
directed by: Martin Scorsese
written by: Nicholas Pileggi (+ book), Martin Scorsese
starring: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci
seen on 18th January, 2019

The older I get the more sure I am that these kind of films are morally undefendable.

Dirty Harry (1971)

USA
directed by: Don Siegel
written by: Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink, Dean Riesner, Terrence Malick, John Milius
starring: Clint Eastwood, Reni Santoni, Andrew Robinson
seen on 17th January, 2019

I can't remember if I ever saw any of the sequels so I can't write any fancy comparisons, but I can write this: I very much appreciate that Dirty Harry is such a clean (he-he-he), direct and straightforward film without any diversions, without dissecting the personal lifes of neither the inspector nor the villain and without explaining any political inclinations or interpretations. Even when the characters discuss some laws being or not being completely useless their dialogue remains businesslike and does not suggest anything to sway the viewer one way or the other. The viewer can independently decide whether to agree with the characters or if the message offends him, but the film itself does not want to preach. But there is a lot of crosses and Jesuses around so I hope I'm not talking nonsense. Another thing that pleasantly surprised me was the fact that the film is not sexist or misogynist, because I always somehow expect films to be that way when Clint Eastwood is involved. 

Rain Man (1988)

USA
directed by: Barry Levinson
written by: Ronald Bass, Barry Morrow
starring: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino
commented on 12th January, 2019

I guess it's a good thing they reserved enough time to develop all situations... and that it's a less usual type of story... and that they moved Michael Caine to tears (who also discovered that he had a brother in an institution in his adult years)... But I'm not Michael Caine.

The Lion King (1994)

USA
directed by: Rob Minkoff, Roger Allers
written by: Irene Mecchi, Linda Woolverton, Michael Baier
starring: Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons
seen on 6th January, 2019

The beginning is all pretty and impressionistic, but then of course it stops being that way and the animation becomes truly boring. The best song is naturally sung by the villain in a shroud of green smoke but I still cannot remember it after a few days, nor any other song from the film. I also don't think I'll ever have a need to hear any of them again. And what in the name of Shakespeare is with all those fart and burp jokes? The gothic child in me is greatly dissatisfied.