The director payed attention to every detail, keeping the viewer always on the verge, but not needlessly scared. Simplistic enough for it to not be absurd, it begins with a simple plot, as a detective story, but as the story progresses, the plot gets more and more complex. The pacing is really good, so it is not difficult to watch and enjoy the movie. 

The movie is from the perspective of the lead character, Teddy Daniels, portrayed by Dicaprio, who is an US Marshall and is going trough a journey by being assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from the Boston’s Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. We can notice a lot of details that, at the beginning may not seem relevant, but as the story progresses and the movie approaches its end, they become more and more clear. 

There are a lot of “illusions” in the movie, that seem pretty real, but by the end, we see that they were not real. One conversation with an incarcerated character get us a very different interpretation of the story after it’s all set and done. 

It is such a complex story, with no giant inconsistencies at all. Written, acted and directed great, the whole team gave us a masterpiece. We get in the lead character’s head, going trough the whole movie with his perspective, and at the end when get out of it, it is just mind-blowing. We can see that, in fact, everything just made sense. 

  Ralph Fiennes playes the role of Gustave H. who is running the Grand Budapest Hotel, a popular European ski resort. Zero, characterized by Tony Revolori, becomes his protégé and friend. One Gustave H. lover mysteriously dies, so the plot begins. It is revolving around one painting, “Boy with Apple”, the theft and recovery of it and the battle for the family fortune. 

  As everyone has seen at least once the iconic pink wall, not everyone would enjoy the wonderfully weird perspective of Wes Anderson. This movie is not only visually stunning, but also it has a fluidity in editing, with a clever technique. The whole aesthetic of this movie is very colorful, pastel, a very dreamy, fairy-tale feel. 

  It is a comedic drama, but it also balances perfectly the quirkiness and the darkness, the story being not to simplistic either, having a balance to it, which can be observed in the dialogues, the performances and the visuals. 

 An odd story, where a story is told within a story, where a lot of famous actors are playing odd characters, in a weird manner, which are, oddly, making the movie enjoyable. 

It is not a movie with great visuals, or with great editing, but with an incredible, moving story. The lead’s journey and character development is what makes this movie so special. Matt Damon is great at bringing this character to life, from the abandoned, hopeless child to the man he became. An important role is played by the one and only Robin Williams, who is the only psychologist that touched the lead’s soul and led him to the happiness he finally deserved. 

As someone has said, only the ones who deny their own vulnerability will remain unaffected by this film. This movie portrays realistically what it feels like to be scared, what it is like to experience loss, and how truly difficult it is to be honest with yourself. 

 This movie, in my humble opinion, is not about the genius, a movie about the “white trash” life, as some people think, but is a movie with soul, about life, love, courage to take risks and try again, no matter of someone’s past or how many times life brings you down.  

The movie has a theme that is meant to be comedic, but the main message of this film is, that we, as mankind, accept our own mundane realities, no matter how easy it would be to break free, giving it a sad undertone. 

It is a satire about the real-life reality shows. The idea of a reality show is that it present a slice of reality, about real people with real emotions, but the flaw in this is that nothing is more unreal than a reality show. Well, the Truman Show has taken a step forward, and decided that they would make a reality show about someone’s life without them knowing that they are in a reality show. 

The only real thing that Truman experienced in his life was love, as a metaphor that in real life also, love is the only thing real. As in the movie, is it seen that media controls his life, especially when Truman gets ushered from product to product, as a subtle advertising, which is present in real life too, where media tries to groom our decisions. 

The music and the visuals are top notch. It has a reality-TV feeling to it, being clever, but not intrusive. The two elements combine perfectly in the final scene, where Truman breaks the fourth wall and says his iconic line “Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!”. This line gives the film a symmetry, being at the beginning too, and giving the film a perfect ending. 

It is meant to be resembling the Plato story “Allegory of the cave”, where Plato describes a group of people chained to a wall in a cave are facing a blank wall. They are watching shadows of people passing by the fire behind them and naming that their “reality”, as a comparation between our education and the lack of it in our nature. 

 

 

Everybody hears that life is short,

And you should intensively live it…

So why are you afraid?

What holds back you from doing it?

 

Go on smiling and never lose hope!

Life is too short to be upset.

Never lose faith, never waste love

And don’t give up yet.

 

It’s a cruel world we live in,

But you can be your own light,

Always grateful for what you’ve got 

And let peace be in your mind.

 

Show the world how strong you are,

Don’t let fear drag you down,

People judge you and never care,

They don’t know you are the light.

 

You, fragile soul, don’t tear up!

Let them say what they might,

As long as you know who you are,

Live your life how you really like.

 

   It is nothing like the nowadays TV Shows, which are working with likable characters, it is straight-up dark, twisted, psychological-horror. Every episode leaves you with a feeling that there is nothing worse than this, but it keeps on surprising you. I don’t think that the concept of time-travel has been explained and executed in such an original and spectacular way. 

  Such a complex story, which needs to be viewed at least two times, to understand what is actually happening. I think that any discerning watcher, of any age, will get a lot out of this mystery. Set in a small German town where weird things are happening, it's a mind bending, time shifting saga with each character given weight and importance. The acting is first rate, especially the young actors portraying the kids. Even if you think that a character has little importance in this universe, you are terribly wrong. Everything is so intelligent and eerie, it is inevitable that you will be left with a strange, empty feeling after finishing it. 

  Let’s break the rules and talk about Fight Club. I believe that misogyny had a strong presence in this project. While consumerism is said to harm masculinity, it being so fragile, causing men to feel soft, they sought out their own type of support group in the creation of fight club, where instead of sharing their emotions, they beat each other to a pulp. 

  The cinematography is pretty great overall, it has an elaborate production design and great editing. The storyline is not so bad either, suspenseful, ignoring the misogyny problem. The twists are unpredictable, I think that the mental illness is realistically shown, and it was shown from the perspective of a young men from the 1990’s. So maybe the misogyny had it’s place somehow. 

  It transcends a lot of graphic violence, and even though it is brutal, it takes things to another ledge. The search for self and the growing cult around this Fight Club might make things a little suspicious. But the mental byplay between the two main characters increases the tension to explosiveness. 

 

  It is sad to see, that this movie is like a slow, disjointed, almost episodic, way of telling how her life panned out. Anna de Armas, the actress who portrayed Marilyn Monroe, is doing a great job, along with the cinematography crew, making it feel like she wasn’t a real woman, dreamy, but the plot is getting worse with every minute. The episodes are striped down to repetitive plot-points, such as the absent father, the failed marriages, but most importantly, the male gaze. 

 I think that I should have said earlier that this movie is based on a book, all fictional, and is not a true biography, but I still believe that they treated her unfairly with this movie, bringing up all the negativity in her past life, instead of showing all the good things she did and the kindness of her heart. 

 

It is a movie about five childhood friends who reunite at the funeral of their basketball coach, along with their families, and spending their summer at a cabin. It is not even the plot that is makes this movie so good, but the chemistry that Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, Kevin James and Rob Schneider have. They put all those childish jokes and actions on another level. I know that not a lot of people enjoy the Adam Sandler movies, for the lack of plot, or maybe the shallowness of the jokes, but these pictures, in my opinion, are just feel-good, no brainer films, that will make you forget about your day and just feel good about your life. 

It is very entertaining, every actor bringing their different humor to show, but also the family dynamics are laughable. I feel pretty nostalgic, amused while watching this, longing for the summer nights along my friends.