I actually just read a small excerpt out of the (‘Dialogues with Satan’) or something. I probably shouldn’t have put this on my AC account…but I was bored and checking to see if it decided to start working again.

The little bit I read was good.

Too cheesy to be good and Sophia Loren’s character was SO annoying.

That’s one crazy mami.

cool weapons and mech/armored suit, cheesy ass everything else

Not as great as I remember it being as a child…

Better than Kiki, but still towards the bottom for me. Still, it was really cool to see a Miyazaki film in theater.

Definitely more for younger kids. Very simple adventure story with simple themes. Totoro is similarly very much for younger children but I enjoyed it so much more.

Actually, the documentary disc on Frazetta that was like watching a mockumentary made the time nearly worth it.

A good film about a man’s reflection of a life poorly spent…

I prefer this film to another similar story ‘Ikiru’ in that Bergman directs the most serious topics with such sophisticated subtlety and reserve. Topics such as death, the absence of god, and other existential themes sadly drives some directors into the gauche realm of sentimentality and exagerrated pathos. Bergman approaches these themes intellectually, letting your mind roam free minus all the baggage that assualts ones person when you can’t get past the immediate physical realities. Although the film itself deals directly with emotion and relationships formed and lost, there is always this sense of intellectual observation. Very interesting, and hard to put your finger on. Freudians/Neo-Freudians will also enjoy the symbols throughout the film. I personally am not a Freud fan, but the use of that philosophy is used so well it is not annoying.

I realize my critique is somewhat abstract and will not be felt by all, but this is truly what Bergman brings out for me. I thoroughly appreciate this, and consider him now to be one of my favorite directors, if not my favorite.

Overall, this is my least favorite film of his so far, yet it is still a remarkable piece of work. After viewing this one we decided to just go ahead and d/l an anthology torrent of his work. I look forward to seeing his works in full over and over again.

This book was one of my favorites, focusing on easily the most complex character in the series (Snape). The movie doesn’t go into much of anything though (even with the title) and chooses to focus on adolescent romances.

It was still entertaining, but I was really sorry to see so much of the books content lost in the transition to film. I think this was the first of the movies I’ve seen of the series that left me wanting.

If you like really strange movies with absolutely zero explanation, this is the movie for you.