Welcome to 2022! Hard to believe it's nearly the middle of February already. Since the beginning of the year I have managed to cross another 4 movies off of the bucket list. 2 movies were foreign language films with subtitles (a horrific feature for some people, but I actually don't mind them), 1 was an animated movie, and finally the last of the group was the lone anime film on the list. Away we go!
Amelie: I was actually looking forward to seeing this one as I have heard good things about it. I found it somewhat odd, but there were parts that I found quite entertaining. I also improved a bit of my French vocabulary (bonus). I speak French at an intermediate level but I still need the subtitles to truly be able to follow the dialog. My television screen isn't the greatest for seeing the subtitles, but with my basic comprehension I kept up pretty well. Overall I'd rank it somewhere in the middle. Not an obvious classic but also not among the worst movies I have been subjected to.
The Intouchables: Not to be confused with The Untouchables, this is another French language film. The subject matter was more serious than Amelie and the overall story is pretty good. If you like the rom-com genre, in some ways this movie reminds me of the more recent English language film Me Before You (based on a book). The Intouchables is based on a real-life story. I'd probably give this a solid B rating. For the most part I could keep up with the plot of the movie while managing the subtitles. Despite my fairly high grade, I'm not quite sure why this movie would make a 100 Movies to See before You Die type of list. Perhaps it's just that I expect movies on this type of list to be cinematic masterpieces with stories so captivating that you instantly know you've seen a classic.
Toy Story: After this one, I think I only have one more animated film to subject myself to. I've already discussed my general dislike of the modern animated films (with relatively few exceptions). I get that Disney/Pixar is a powerhouse when it comes to animated movies. Given all the hype (and seemingly infinite sequels) for Toy Story I expected to be dazzled. Again I was disappointed. The overall storyline was just okay for me. I won't deny that for younger viewers (the target audience of Disney/Pixar) the story is relatable and probably entertaining. But 4 sequels? No, I don't get it.
Spirited Away: If there was something I was looking forward to less than the animated movies on the list, it was the lone anime selection. To date I have never really been able to get into anime. It could be that the very first one I watched (back in my high school days) was probably one of the heaviest of the anime films: Akira. I've also seen Princess Mononoke (spelling?). The only anime I ever really enjoyed was the series Cowboy Bebop (and that was mainly because one of the characters was a Pembroke Welsh Corgi). Given all of my prior history with anime, I actually found myself kind of enjoying this one more than I thought I would. I still don't fully understand the genre and can have a hard time keeping up with the unusual storylines. But with Spirited Away I found myself wanting the main character to be successful in her quest to save her parents.
That's all for tonight. Not sure what my next selections will be or when I'll make some time to cross a few more off of the list. Until next time!
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