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Batoru rowaiaru (2000)
Could be a great movie if it had a story
First, I have to debunk the claim that the movie is gore or excessively violent. This is clearly satire and has been purposefully directed in a way that the images do not represent real violence. That's not to say you can watch it with your kids. But it won't deprive you from sleep either.
My beef with the movie is that it has no story line, and although it pretends to have some sort of meaning or a subliminal message about love or trust, it simply doesn't say enough to be worth two hours and two minutes of your time. So, major disappointment in that regard.
But I mainly watched the movie to see what has inspired hunger games and squid game, given how popular those series are, and given that I don't want to spend a whole lot of time watching the series. For that purpose the movie didn't disappoint. It is a well-directed movie and somehow entertaining, although pretty cheesy as well. I can understand why and how people get drawn into this kind of thriller. It can be mesmerizing, specially if the characters are well-developed (what Battle Royale pretty much fails to do). But again, the genre originally comes from here. So, worth a watch if you want to understand it.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Complete waste of time
This is a two-hour action shot with no plot or dialog, but with substantial fanfare and special effects. Plenty of unrealistic scenes of pointless wars between deformed people using ridiculous steampunk gear. This is supposed to be a fantasy movie, but it does such a poor job that the story is not believable nor interesting even within the confines of the so-called internal logic of the story. The best part of the movie is the fact that even in that crazy dystopia the alien terrorists speak Russian. Don't waste your time if you really like movies. I gave it two stars for the phenomenal edit, but that technical aptitude is not matched by a worthwhile story telling.
Citizenfour (2014)
The best way to spend 114 minutes
Citizenfour is easily the best documentary I have ever watched. Admittedly, I haven't watched Poitras' earlier works and there I may be missing a point. But even if her other films are stronger than this one, it only proves the point that she is a great documentary- maker with an authoritative voice combined with an exceptional dramatic talent.
Poitras develops such a suspense throughout the movie at such a solid pace that the documentary draws you in like a thriller and has you hold your breath until the moment that the final titles appear on the screen. And she achieves this while telling a story that we all know about and we have all heard or read all its minute details. The brilliantly executed opening of the film sets the heavy mood that is then sustained until the end with carefully selected music and misfocusing/hand-held amateur-looking shots.
Just excellent work.