Tag / jada pinkett smith

by Jaime Rebanal

‘Princess Mononoke’ Review: Hayao Miyazaki’s Bloodiest is Among His Most Breathtaking and Humanistic

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Princess Mononoke is arguably Hayao Miyazaki’s largest film by scale since 1984’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and it is also his second greatest achievement as a director. There aren’t many animators who bring so much life to their worlds quite like how Hayao Miyazaki does it, but for every bit as imaginative as these movies can get, the impressiveness of how immersive these films are is reflected beautifully through their real-world parallels. In Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki finds himself taking upon a very complex moral standing through a war being waged between nature and humanity – and every moment of it is as beautiful as one could ever hope for it to be.

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by Jaime Rebanal

‘Bamboozled’ Review: A Brilliant Satire That Hits You Like a Sledgehammer

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Spike Lee’s Bamboozled left many audiences feeling befuddled when it came out, but in the years that have passed it also remains so heavily relevant, which is a sentiment that still rings true even today. Being his own riff on Sidney Lumet’s Network, an already timeless satire as is, Bamboozled exemplifies Spike at arguably his most confrontational since Do the Right Thing. Yet with that having been said, for the film’s initial release in 2000, it seemed as if audiences were not ready for what Spike Lee had opened up moviegoers to; although now seems like a perfect time to look back at what may also be Spike Lee’s most underrated film. Misunderstood upon its initial release, this is also not the first time a joint by Spike Lee has been the subject of such scrutiny, but to be able to see Bamboozled receiving the re-evaluation it deserves only feels incredibly reassuring.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Bad Moms – Review

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Writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore return behind the camera for a second time, now with a much more female-centric work contrasting their usual. I was expecting myself to end up disliking this, because I find their brand of comedy to be rather obnoxious and irritating (essentially how I feel about the whole Hangover series), but to my surprise Bad Moms actually turned out to be rather pleasantly enjoyable. My expectations were never set high up mainly because I was put off by the advertising but sooner I remembered having found some merit out of How to Be Single which already received its own share of maligning. I’m not so sure how exactly it happened but it did – I had a fun time watching Bad Moms doing exactly what it wanted. Continue reading →