Movie review: Jungle Cruise

Jungle Cruise

Available now on Disney +

Release date: July 24th, 2021

Genre: adventure, fantasy, romance, historical

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Jack Whitehall, Paul Giamatti, etc…

Rating: 4/5

Review:

I’ll not post a summary of the plot, to avoid spoilers, but you will find the trailer and the end of the post.

First of all, you need to know that I have a little crush on Dwayne Johson, and Emily Blunt too.

Jungle Cruise is based on Disney’s eponymous theme park attraction, one of the first to open in 1955 in the Adventureland part of Disneyland.

It’s not a perfect movie, I admit it, but it’s really enjoyable and pays tribute to other more famous and successful adventure movies, from Indiana Jones to The Mummy (A wise and adventurous sister with a more pacific brother… Hello Eve and Jonathan!)

I’ve loved the setting of this movie, first London than Brazil and The amazon forest, and all the historical details, like the old camera and the cars.

The plot and the characters aren’t well developed, and we don’t know a lot of their past, but the strength of the movie is the great connection and feeling between the two main characters, Frank and Lily. You immediately saw that they are great friends even in the real life, and the chemistry (in friendship terms) is really strong.

Plus, I have to say, Emily Blunt with that green shirt and brown pants is stunning. That color is perfect for her.

Her brother is the comic one of the duo, and a really good one. Maybe not as good as Jonathan from The Mummy, but that’s ok. Disney tried to include a diverse cast, it’s an attempt, but it’s not elaborated on.

A good movie to relax, funny and enjoyable.

Have you watched it?

Tell me in the comments!

Movie mini Reviews: Your Name; Momo

Original Title: Momo e no Tegami / A letter to Momo

Produced by: Production I. G., Pierrot

Date of release: 2011

My rating: 4/5

Plot:

Clinging to an unfinished letter written by her recently deceased father, young Momo moves with her mother from bustling Tokyo to the remote Japanese island of Shio. Upon their arrival, she begins to explore her new habitat, meeting local children and learning their routines and customs. However, it’s not long before several bizarre occurrences crop up around the previously tranquil island. Orchards are found ransacked, prized trinkets start disappearing and, worst of all, each morning after her mother leaves for work, Momo hears strange mumblings coming from the attic of their home. Annoyed by these creepy goings-on and her mother’s refusal to believe them, Momo embarks on a strange and supernatural adventure to discover the source of the mischief, which leads her to a trio of troublesome imps: the flatulent lizard Kawa, the childlike Mame and their hulking ogre leader Iwa. Momo also learns that her visit to the island is in some way connected to her father’s mysterious letter.

 

Original title: Kimi no na wa  /  Your Name

Produced by: Comix Wave films

Date of release: 2016

My rating: 2.75/5

Plot:

From director Makoto Shinkai, the innovative mind behind Voices of a Distant Star and 5 Centimeters Per Second, comes a beautiful masterpiece about time, the thread of fate, and the hearts of two young souls. The day the stars fell, two lives changed forever. High-schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each other. Yet, somehow, it works. They build a connection and communicate by leaving notes, messages, and more importantly, an imprint. When a dazzling comet lights up the night’s sky, something shifts, and they seek each other out wanting something more – a chance to finally meet. But try as they might, something more daunting than distance prevents them. Is the string of fate between Mitsuha and Taki strong enough to bring them together, or will forces outside their control leave them forever separated?

 

Reviews:

I watched these two movies recently, so I decided to do a mash-up review. As you can see from my rating, I’ve loved A Letter to Momo, and I like it Your Name, but not so much.

But Your Name is famous, and Momo is totally underrated.

Let me explain: the great strength of A Letter to Momo is the story, the animation and visual effects are more classics. It’s a story who I can relate much more than Your Name, there is a lot of emotions going through, from the sadness of the beginning, when Momo’s father died, to the anger for the troubles due to the demons, and finally to the fun and the friendship between the three demons and Momo.

It’s a little too long however, but the ending is really emotional and satisfying.

The strength of Your Name is visual: the plot is a little too romantic and “weird” to me, even if I had appreciated the plot twist. But oh my… the scenes of the night sky, with the cometh, the classic Japanese village with their summer festival and traditions, in contrast with Taki’s life in a modern city. Every scene is a masterpiece, with the colours, the music, the particular shot. You really a big TV with a high resolution to better see this movie!

I appreciated both of this movies, and I will recommend both: A Letter to Momo if you want a “classic” movie full of human emotions and Japanese mythology; Your Name if you prefer a more romantic story with a touch of angst.

Both of the movies are available on Netflix.

Netflix Movie Review: Errementari

Title: Errementari, The Blacksmith and the Devil.

Director: Paul Urkijo Alijo

Cast: Kandido Uranga, Eneko Sagardoy, Uma Bracaglia

Release Date: 12 October 2018

Genres: fantasy, horror, retelling

Rating: 5/5

Trigger Warning: it’s a horror, so death, Satan, suicide, blood, visions of Hell and Demons.

Plot:

Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil is a re-telling of an ancient fable about a Blacksmith who finds himself battling the Devil. In this story, the Blacksmith has captured the Devil and lives a life of hermit-like seclusion away from the prying eyes of the townsfolk. All is going well until a desperate little girl, Usue, accidentally stumbles across the devil and unknowingly releases him. It is then left to the Blacksmith to reclaim his bounty, but this is easier said than done as he also finds himself at the end of a lynch mob that have come searching for the missing Usue.

Review spoiler free:

You know you have found a good horror movie when you and your dad, who sacrifices himself every time this blogger want to watch a horror movie, at the end of the movie, turn to the other and say simultaneously: that was awesome!!

Errementari is a retelling of a fable, is located in Spain and is written in Basque (but they translated it in italian!): after the artistic prologue we are introduced in a world dark and gloomy, devastated by the war. And we first meet The Blacksmith.

Then we skip 8 years, and we found Usue, a little girl living in the same village as The Blacksmith, and a mysterious stranger who is searching the Blacksmith. But nobody in the village wants to enter the property of the Blacksmith, because it seems an old, crazy and nasty man.

The scene, dark as usual for a Netflix movie, are fascinating: the old village with a forest deep and strange, with twisted trees and fog; the property and the house of The Blacksmith, completely covered with cross; the church of the village, with demons statues.

It’s the perfect setting for Halloween! I’ve loved it!

That was me during the entire movie.

 

 

The plot: I hate when for the first 20/30 minutes of a horror movie nothing happens. But Errementari doesn’t fail, and every minute of the movie is interesting, or sad, or funny. Yes, you hear me right: there are a lot of scenes so funny, and let me say it, it’s all because of Sartael, the demon.

The characters: Sartael is the best. I want a fan club for him. And I want to protect Usue and The Blacksmith, because remember if “Not all tales always have a happy ending”, you can’t judge a person by their appereance.

I want to applaud the make up artist: as a cosplayer I’m so impressed by their work.

As always with a positive review, I’m not sure if this is a “professional” or “convincing” review, but I just want to say this: this is an original movie so well done, with a lot of emotions, perfect for Halloween, and it became one of my favorite horror movie of all the time.