Month: January 2022

Belle review

Posted on by jacobsonbblog

It’s funny how Mamoru Hosaoda uses Disney movies as inspiration for his movies. The Boy and the Beast is similar to The Jungle Book and Belle is very similar to Beauty and the Beast with a dash of Ready Player One. Belle is about a struggling teenage girl named Suzu Naito who’s avatar in the virtual world called U is a popular singer named Belle. She comes across a mysterious avatar named Dragon and tries to figure who he is.

Suzu Naito is one of my favorite fictional characters in recent history. She’s very shy, quiet and distant due to her mother’s death. It really makes her feel relatable and you really do feel for her when she’s embarrassed or sad. I also really enjoyed her best friend, Hiroka Betsuyaku. Jessica DiCicco gives such a crazy, funny, but also supportive performance. Most anime movies have amazing animation and Belle is no exception. Everything from the character designs, backgrounds, facial expressions are great. I will admit my one gripe with the movie and it’s very little is the cgi animation. I not really a fan of CGI in anime and I think Earwig might have been the cause of that. That’s only a small nitpick and if that’s my only gripe than that’s a good thing.

Spoiler Warning: This movie actually made me cry. Dragon turns out to be a boy who is abused along with his brother by his father (I wanted to punch him in the face). In order to prove to Dragon and his brother she’s Belle so she can save them from their father, Suzu unveils herself to the entire world of U and sings “A Million Miles Away”. Not only is the song so beautiful thanks to Kylie McNeill’s amazing singing and the incredible music, the scene in general is incredibly emotional that I had tears fill my eyes in the movie theater. It’s my favorite scene in the entire movie and I’ll just say it, this is honestly one of my favorite scenes in all of cinema.

Like Paddington 2 this is one of those movies where I can’t tell if this is either a 2021 or 2022 but either way it would still be one of the best movies of that year. Belle is Mamoru Hosoda’s best movie he’s done, one of the best anime movies I’ve ever seen, and maybe one of my favorite movies of all time. I was very lucky to find a local theater playing this because this was such a beautiful and emotional experience and a perfect way to begin the new year.

Verdict:

+A Million Miles Away

+ Emotional

+ Hiroka Betsuyaku

+ Suzu Naito

+The animation

-CGI

Score: A+

My Top 10 Favorite Movies of 2021

Posted on by jacobsonbblog

Another year has come and gone but fortunately I think this year was an improvement from last year because I got to see a lot more movies in theaters. It is now time to share my top 10 favorite movies of 2021. To be honest 10-6 were easy to rank but 5-1 are more like a five-way tie for me. All five are kind of the best movie of the year and each movie can go in any order. I also want to say that this is based on my personal opinion so now lets begin.

Honorable Mentions:

West Side Story: Great directing by Steven Spielberg, terrific choreography in both the dancing and fighting, and a outstanding performance from Mike Faist as Riff.

The King’s Man: A fun prequel with good action, excellent performances, and an interesting villain concept with the shepherd.

10. Raya and the Last Dragon:

This is the closest we’ll ever get to a Disney version of Avatar the Last Airbender. It’s refreshing to have a Disney princess movie with action scenes and no songs. I also really enjoyed the world building with each nation being based on a dragon body part.

9. Nobody:

This is probably the most underrated movie of the year. It’s sort of like John Wick with a more violent and badass Home Alone climax. Bob Odenkirk is terrific as mild-mannered turned badass Hutch Mansell and it was enjoyable to see Cristopher Lloyd who plays Hutch’s father kick ass.

8. Encanto:

Mirabel is a very likable Disney protagonist and I like that ever though she doesn’t have a power she still cares and want to help her family and home. The more grounded story perfectly balances out with the superpowered family who while flawed are still very likeable.

7. Ghostbusters Afterlife:

Sure, it’s a repeat of the first movie but that emotional ending is what really put this on my list. There are only two other endings in film that have made me cry (Pocahontas and Schindler’s List). If this list were ranked in terms of endings this would be number 1.

6. No Time to Die:

A great swan song from Daniel Craig who will always be my favorite James Bond. It has everything the makes James Bond great like the action, the villain and song. Much like Ghostbusters Afterlife if this were the final film in the whole series than this was an excellent way to end it on.

5. Hilda and the Mountain King:

My list my rules. Everything that I love about the show is all right here, while also being faithful to the graphic novel. The animation is still beautiful. Bella Ramsey and Daisy Haggard are still perfect roles for Hilda and Johanna and the scene where they reunite is touching.

4. Spider Man: No Way Home:

This movie is both the funniest and darkest Spider Man ever. Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spider Men were amazing and the banter between them and Tom Holland was great. The old villains and their interactions were also fun to watch. This is one of those movies that’s great to watch with a packed theater.

3. The Suicide Squad:

This movie proves that James Gunn is great with both Marvel and DC. The action scenes are violent but fun, the humor is enjoyably dark, and the characters are very likable. An improvement from the 2016 film in every way and the best DC movie since Tim Burton’s Batman (sorry Dark Knight fans).

2. Luca:

This has the slice of life feeling of a Studio Ghibli film with character designs similar of Aardman Studios I love the friendship between Luca, Alberto and Giulia and thank God there’s no love triangle. I love the unique character designs, the beautiful animation and the more grounded story compared to other Pixar movies.

1. The Mitchells vs the Machines:

It’s weird to think that this this and Spider-Verse came from the same studio that made the Emoji Movie. The animation and character designs are very unique compared to the other Sony animated movies. The comedy is hilarious and the heartwarming moments are very touching. The Mitchell family have such great dynamics that are both hilarious and touching.

Here’s hoping that 2022 will a great year for movies.

2021 recap part 3

Posted on by jacobsonbblog

Just so everyone knows I now have a Letterboxd account. I’ll still do posts here for movies and tv shows.

Here is a link if you want to see it: https://letterboxd.com/JacobsonCinema/

Movies:

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: Didn’t expect this to be better than I thought. B+

My Little Pony: A New Generation: A standard My Little Pony movie with prejudice themes. C

No Time to Die: A fond farewell for my favorite James Bond. A

Dune: Great cinematography but I just couldn’t get into the characters or story. B-

Ron’s Gone Wrong: Sure, the third half goes on longer than it should but the social media premise done very well. B

Eternals: Bland characters and bland story makes this one of the worst MCU movies in recent years. C

Home Sweet Home Alone: Trash! The main character has a punchable face and the thieves are too sympathetic. D-

8-Bit Christmas: Sort of a mix between a Christmas Story and Jingle All the Way with a touching ending. B

Encanto: Weak songs but great characters and down to earth story. A

Ghostbusters Afterlife: A fun retread with an emotional ending. A-

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: How does 58 minutes count as a movie?! The animation is terrible and Greg is still an unlikable protagonist. D-

Spider-Man: No Way Home: A love letter to the Spider Man films. A

West Side Story: Great directing, cinematography and choreography. B+

Hilda and the Mountain King: Pretty much everything I love about Hilda is here. A

The King’s Man: I liked the action and the premise with the Shepard. B+

TV:

Kid Cosmic season 2: Fantos the Amassor was an entertaining villain and I liked seeing all the powers being used in very unique ways.

Amphibia season 3: Having this season take places on Earth is a great change to the status quo. I’m really excited to see what happens next year.

The Ghost and Molly McGee: Absolutely charming, cute, and fun. The characters are so likable and this is one of those shows where all the main characters are the best character.

Inside Job: The love child of Gravity Falls and Rick and Morty that’s very creative and funny. Rand Ridley is a more unlikable Rick Sanchez. I’ve never hated a character so much since Dolores Umbridge.

Animaniacs season 2: Not as strong as the first season but it had good segments.

Here’s to hopefully a better year.