I pray but I am lost. Am I just praying to silence?

Silence (2016)

7.5/10 on IMDb
84% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Please, for the love of all things good and true, do not watch this;
Proceed at your own risk
Watch it if you: Want to see a really deep film about religion and spirituality;
Want to be bored halfway into the movie
The environment of 17th century Japan is one of hostility, as Christianity has been outlawed and Japanese officials terrorise small villages as they attempt to torture and execute the Christians out of them. Due to this, two Jesuit missionaries hear word that their mentor has renounced his faith after being tortured, and they decide to travel to Nagasaki in the hopes of finding out the truth about him.

I chose to watch this over Fences because the trailer looked fantastic in terms of cinematography, score, and storyline. It has also been getting some solid reviews from critics, so I thought it would be great.

Unfortunately, I didn't realise how long the movie was until I bought a ticket for it. 2 hours and 41 minutes! Nevermind, I thought. I've seen longer.

Turns out, I have also seen much, much, better.

The premise itself is pretty interesting. The film is a complex philosophical discussion about spirituality, faith, and human nature. Some of the themes that the film looks at are really interesting to delve into, such as "How far would you be tortured for your what you believe in?", "Are all religions the same?", "Can you keep your faith even if you publicly renounce it?"

But, as I said, the major downside of this film is the terribly long runtime.

I really liked the first half of the film, because of the fantastic cinematography, the opening and introduction into this anti-Christian Japan, and the solid acting by Andrew Garfield.

Then, I checked my watch.

And from then on I kept checking my watch every 15 minutes and internally sighing.

"Hang in there, just another 1 hour and 40 minutes to go."
So yeah, this is a short review, but basically, I wouldn't recommend this film. It is a pretty boring film, and the interesting premise does not make up for it. The cinematography and score are great, and Andrew Garfield does a great job here, but the film has too long of a run time for me to recommend it to anyone. All the interesting parts of the trailer are mainly from the first half of the film, and if you manage to bear through it all, it does become a nice philosophical discussion and religion and faith.

Also, Adam Driver's face is just so weird to look at on the big screen.

Movie Reviews in Five Dotpoints or Less - Part VI

Spy (2015)

7.1/10 on IMDb
93% on Rotten Tomatoes

This movie was actually quite funny; it looked stupider in the trailer but it turned out to be really enjoyable

Loads of witty banter and some ridiculous humour

A great cast, and I especially loved Jason Statham

Melissa McCarthey did great in this; she really stepped up to the physical challenge of the film, and is pure hilarity


Good Will Hunting (1997)

8.3/10 on IMDb
97% on Rotten Tomatoes

For some reason I thought this film was called Goodwill Hunting, like looking for goodwill, but I guess that sort of is actually a description of the movie

This film had some great great acting; Robin Williams was amazing in it (my heart broke seeing him) and Minnie Driver as well

Fantastic writing and acting from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, both looking super handsome as well

But yeh the dialogue in this was so great! There were also some fantastic monologues that were done in single takes and they were so mesmerising to watch (coming from someone who has a slight stutter and messes up her words every second sentence)

There were a few moments where things got way too real and I got reallllly teary :'( Would definitely recommend this film be watched


In the Heart of the Sea (2015)

7.0/10 on IMDb
43% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's Thoughts: Please - for the love of all things good and true - do not watch this
Watch it if you: Are too happy in life and want to be bored; Have problems sleeping
(Note: I'm only doing the new rating system for this movie because I want this label to appear on my blog)

Yeh definitely would not recommend seeing this film about a giant whale who absolutely wrecks this ship crew (it's based on the true story that inspired Moby Dick)

It's two hours long but it feels like 50; the first half is so incredibly slow with not a whale in sight; the main plot only comes in in the second half of the film, but then all the interesting stuff is sort of glossed over and happens way too quickly

The music was just terrible; none of it matched. For example they would have really triumphant music when everything was going wrong, and they would have that epic bass-beating music when it was just mundane everyday sailing occurring

Also I couldn't understand anything that was being said. Chris Hemsworth also kept switching from an American to a British accent every other word.

Speaking of Chris Hemsworth, his weight loss was so not worth it. There was like a 20 second scene with him being that skinny, and his shirt wasn't even off.


Serena (2014)

5.4/10 on IMDb
18% on Rotten Tomatoes

We follow the rise of the Pemberton timber empire in North Carolina in the early 1900s

Jennifer Lawrence is great (and the only reason I watched this film let's be real), but the film wasn't that great

It has really weird directing; it's got a slow pace but at the same time it's kind of fast paced? For example there are a lot of slow, drawn out takes but then on the other hand, for some plot-moving scenes, the director does not spend any more than 1 or 2 minutes on the scene, so it feels a bit odd

Bradley Cooper sounded like he had a cold and a blocked nose for half of the movie, and sounded fine for the other half; and I don't think it was shot sequentially because this blocked nose would come and go in between scenes

The ending was quite weird, and I wouldn't really recommend this film unless you are super bored (but even then, surely there is something else to do or some other movie to watch) or just love Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper