Alien (1979) - Directed by Ridley Scott

The Spacecraft Nostromo is on a return trip to Earth with a seven-member crew in stasis: Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt), Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver),

Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm), and the Engineers Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and Brett (Harry Dean Stanton). Detecting a mysterious transmission from a nearby planetoid, possibly a distress signal.

Following standard company policy for such situations, the ship lands on the planetoid, sustaining damage from the planetoid's dusty atmosphere in the process.

Parker and Brett begin repairing the ship, while Dallas, Kane and Lambert head out to investigate.

They discover the signal is coming from a derelict spacecraft. Inside, they find the remains of a large alien creature whose rib cage appears to have exploded from the inside.

On the Nostromo, Ripley determines that the transmission is not a distress signal!.

Ash responds by telling her that she wouldn´t be able to communicate with the others in time.

In the mysterious ship, Kane discovers a chamber containing hundreds of eggs.

As he inspects one, a creature comes out and attaches itself to his face.

Ridley Scotts direction and the editing of his sequences is so perfect, it feels like you´re on this ship with the crew, every shot is marvellous, every movement of the camera is breathtaking.

The set design is incredible, it´s still one of the coolest movie ships of all time and the ship feels so much like a real enviroment. The crew is also very well realized.

This take on the future was very believable.

One thing that is very rare in Alien is that it doesn´t have a clear protagonist, first it feels like the crew as a team is the protagonist but later Ripley steps up and to see Ripleys character grow in the movies is so much fun.

The acting is splendid and the performances builded a credible world centuries away.

Sigourney Weaver is more than a revelation, and the rest are great aswell.
On first viewing The android played by Ian Holm seems like a real person but on second viewing you see that he is analyzing the crew.

The script is a work of art, the story is so mesmerizing, well-constructed, well-developed and free of any absurd twists. It´s simplicity and effectiveness are yet, 25 yers after, to be matched.

The atmosphere is pure genius, it's gothic and claustrophobic, the use of light and dark is beyond description and the use of sound is as creepy as it gets.

The FX are so impressive especially from 1979 and it still holds up very well!
In The time of it's release some scenes was very scary and they still are effective!
Jerry Goldsmiths score matches the images so perfectly it seems to bleed for them and it´s one of my favorites soundtracks for any Sci-Fi movie!
And, of course... The Alien. H.R. Gigers design is the most innovative i´ve seen. It has spawned dozens of imitations and no one has lived up to it which is kinda of sad.
This is the real deal, not only the look, but the complete design of the Xenomorph, including biological features. Acid instead of blood.
A very good sign of a movie that has gone down in history is the amount of well remembered scenes Like - the chest burst scene which is a great scene!
But my favorite scene is when Brett is looking for the cat named Jones and  in the background the alien is seen, that scene is so amazing and suspenseful!

So what else? I urge all Young directors and Young people who wanna be filmmakers to watch this movie, take notes all along. But not in order to rip off as many others have done, but to learn and how a movie should be done!

In my opinion, Alien is one of the few perfect movies in the history of cinema, Because this is one of the few movies i can´t find the slightest flaw.
The only flaw i can find is near the end when the alien hangs out, that scene looks a little dated but except for that everything is perfect!

Alien has engaging characters, a incredible creature, scary and suspenseful.

Rating 10/10

Princess Mononoke (1997) - Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

In Muromachi Japan, an Emishi village is attacked by a demon. 
The Last Emishi prince, Ashitaka, kills it before it reaches the village, but its corruption curses his arm in the battle.
The curse gives him superhuman strength in the injured arm, but it´s fatal.
The villagers discover that the demon was once a boar god (Nago), corrupted by an iron ball lodged in his body.
The village´s wise woman tells Ashitaka that he may find a cure in the western lands where Nago came from.
Heading west, Ashitaka meets Jiko-Bō, a wandering monk who tells him that he may find help from the
Great Forest Spirit, a Kirin-like creature by day and a giant Nightwalker by night.
Nearby, men herd oxen to Irontown, led by Lady Eboshi and they are attacked by a wolf pack led by the wolf goddess Moro.
Riding one of the wolves is San, a human girl. Later, Ashitaka see injured Irontown men, and sees San and her wolf pack: he greets them, but they leave.
He carries the injured men through the forest, where he encounters many Kodamas, and glimpses the Forest Spirit.
In Irontown, Ashitaka learns that Eboshi has built the town by clear-cutting forests to claim ironsand and produce iron, leading to conflict with the forest gods.
The town is a refuge for social outcasts, including former brothel workers and lepers, whom Eboshi employs to manufacture firearms to defend against the gods (Nago was turned into a demon by one of Eboshi´s guns).
Eboshi also explains that San, self-dubbed Princess Mononoke, was raised by the wolves as one of their own and resents humankind.

I think this is Miyazaki´s most personal work, clearly a serious design.
It is set in an imaginary time which blends the time of the anicent gods (Shinto style, gods of place and nature) with the settlement of humans and the coming of metalworking and war.
The world is not in balance, and a distant conflict between industry and nature has wounded one of the gods of the forest, which is then killed by a sentry boy as it rampages into farmland he guards.
The evil is controlling, it transfers to him, beginning a slow takeover, and he must journey to the origin of the conflict to find a way to cure himself and incidentally, as he will learn, try to restore balance.
But this is not a simplistic tale, he finds there are other characters in play, and there is good and evil in everyone, and no easy balance.
The Princess (Hime) of the story is a mysterious human who has been raised by wolves (which are themselves powerful forest gods, a little reminiscent of the amerindian coyote myth), who becomes both his ally and his enemy.
The story has many Japanese mythic elements but even then, it is a work of unique imagination, and is not intended to be simple or to have a clean resolution.
The animation is spectacular, and unusual, with new elements even for Miyazaki and marks a new departure for style which you can see continued in his next film, (Spirited Away) - more nature, more wild and more jamming on elements from japanese myth and folklore.
And, continuing the trend to be more personal, concerned with ethics and character and less sci-fi.
There are at least half a dozen well developed characters threaded through the story and their animation is wonderful in displaying subtle character.
The Movie has some problems but they are very minor!
The original japanese soundtrack has some amazing singing and draws upon some of the best talent availaible for voices - in Japan, this was a masterpiece carefully crafted.
This is truly an adult work: children might like some of the visuals, but i doubt that many kids below teen age will have any idea what it´s all about!

Rating 9/10

Flickan, Mamman och Demonerna (2016) - Directed by Suzanne Osten

This movie is about Ti, her psychotic and schizophrenic Mother Siri who hides from the surrounding world in a very stylish retro apartment in stockholm. The mom has cut all connections with her close ones so nobody knows where they are and the apartment is filled quickly with art-full stinking piles of trash.Siri is also possessed with lots of demons who walks all over the apartment, take control over her

but it's only her that can see and talk to the demons.They forbid bathroom visits so Ti have to pee in a jars who is everywhere in their home. They eat direct right from tin cans. Ti´s dress is very filthy but the mom still looks like she is from a hollywood movie from the 40s. While the mother hallucinates and intrigues in a psychotic intoxication the little girl goes to school filthy without breakfast and wears her filthy karate clothes, When the classmates picks up on that she smells so bad Ti is getting in fights.

Ti has learned that anyone can be a demon and that her mum can anytime explode in a blow-up.

Although Ti is very loyal, never afraid of her, try to encourage her mother without having another one to talk to and it's heart wrenching. They're relationship is very softhearted, the play card and Siri tells fairy tales to her daughter while she is painting on the walls. But Ti is ashamed of her when she goes to school and behave strange there.

The Demons themself represents as white painted, grimaced actors who manipulates, threatens, plagues and plays with Siri as a living puppet. Some of the scenes with the demons works good, while some was ok. Some actors is very wooden But Maria Sundboms and Esther Quigley who plays the Mother and Daughter in the movie (in real life too) was both brilliant.

The movie is very theatrical rather than cinematic especially in the apartment scenes and i quite liked how it was theatrical but for some people that can be a negative. That makes that you get a little distance to the scary reality who is depicted, but also that the course of events feels simplified.

Suzanne Ostens nightmare depiction is quite unique in the child-youth genre because it

doesn´t compromise with it´s hard subject and there is one scene when something horrifying happens and i forgot i watched a movie!

Its really great too see a female director who is over 50 that maked a quality movie (plus she is swedish!) and the directing was great from her!

Rating 9/10

The Pagemaster (1994) - Directed by Pixote Hunt, Joe Johnston

This movie "stars" Macaulay Culkin as Richard Tyler who is a fearful little boy that hardly dares venture from his bedroom, and knows all the statistics for how dangerous everything is. One day, he´s riding his bicycle to the store when a sudden storm blows up and he loses his way and stumbles across a mysterious library where the books seem to reach endlessly in all directions.
The library has a mural depicting famous characters from literature: Captain Ahab with Moby Dick, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Long John Silver. Richard slips on a wet patch on the floor, knocks himself unconscious and finds himself inside an animated cartoon where the figures on the ceiling have come to life.

The cartoon version of Richard, with his round glasses and mop of blond hair, goes along for the ride.
His guides include some friendly talking books, including Adventure (Patrick Stewart), Fantasy (Whoopi Goldberg) and Horror (a greenish blobby volume voiced by Frank Welker).
The adventures includes confrontations with Moby Dick, Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, Long John Silver and my favorite one that i won´t reveal. The Ride is entertaining but they felt too short for me but the moral of these stories is that Richard will find courage to stand up for himself - with help, of course, from his pals Adventure, Fantasy, Horror.

The movie is not really interested in why Ahab was driven to hunt the great Moby Dick or why a nice doctor would want to transform himself into a monster!
Motivation - which is what Moby Dick, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are about but that didn´t surprised me because this movie isn´t about the main character gaining a new appreciation of Moby Dick.

The Animation directed by Maurice Hunt is for the most part very good for 94 and not being a disney movie but it looks dated for example, there is not much color and sharpness. the Performances are good but nothing great and the content feels more like a rollercoaster ride than a story, but it is very entertaining.
So what do i like most about the movie?, the concept is great and the payoff is for the most part good, animation, book characters, the ride i like but it is more enjoyable if  you don´t critique things.

A good disposable enjoyable movie, i recommend it for people who like animation!

6/10

The Red Turtle (2016) - Directed by Michael Dudok De Wit

A man who is lost at sea, wakes up in a small island. It is a life supporting land mass with fresh water and fruits, but he also has to put some effort for fishing. His notion is to leave the island as soon as possible to go back to where he had come from, the civilised world. In his every attempt to sail with a raft he had made using bamboos, fails to cross after a certain stretch of the island coast. He later comes to know what stopped him and with an anger reaction he commits a mistake. So now he has to come out of the guilt and to do that he chooses what seems the right.

The film is short like 80 minutes without a single word spoken in its entire narration.
There is even no sign language used, everything is action and reactions.
So you would find empty in the film´s cast section which is kind of weird. I mean there are characters in the film, but all were imaginations without names and what year it takes place, where with so many questions like that. Basically to say, a film without the cast, but the crew members managed to give the best to the viewers to get it without any struggle.
One thing is for sure, that the film is very enjoyable. It is a fantasy film, so whatever you see, you have to accept it. Because that is how things happen in a theme like this, all fictional. Though, the first thing you have to keep in your mind is not the entire film was an hallucination event. There are some dreamy events and that is fine since the film´s character is coping with loneliness.

It was like a simple story without any meaning about everything that is shown in it. So in my entire watch i thought the same and said it was an okay film with great animation, but the ending changed my stance. That twist, I don´t think everybody would understand. But one thing i want to make sure if you yet to see it, that it was about the purpose. The man always looks for a reason to do things and even to live or die. That´s where the red turtle comes in.

This is the director´s first feature animation film, but he was known for his awesome short animations which one of them won him an Oscar. It was jointly produced by three countries, including Japan´s Studio Ghibli. It is their first non-Japanese production and a great beginning and timing to expand the production in other continents.

I really hope this film will win the Oscar for animated film. Not because it is my favorite Animated film that got nominated but because how unique it is. But i also don´t think it will win because 3D animation has dominated the world particularly Zootopia and Moana this year and don´t get me wrong i love Zootopia, havent seen Moana yet but it would be nice too see a movie like The Red Turtle, Kubo and the Two Strings or My Life as a Zucchini get the award. Except the technical differences, only the grown ups can say this one has a better and meaningful story.

I have praised it, but it has problems for example the first 20 minutes was very slow for me, it is a very slow-paced movie and some things that happen in the movie that i don´t get why they happened. 

Anyway, it is a must see film, especially the adults and in particular those who always think animation is for children. If they see it, they might change their mind. Highly Recommended!
8/10

My Neighbor Totoro (1988) - Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Satsuki, Mei and their father drive to their new home on the country and on the drive they see a very strange and shy little boy.

When they arrive at their new home Satsuki and Mei are very excited too see the house, but dad says they must take their shoes off.

Instead of taking them off they walk on their knees and finds acorns everywhere, later they go in the bathhouse which is full of these little black puffballs who scatter in the room.

They are very scared of them so they tell dad about them.

Dad tells them to go to the old attic there they find more of these little creasures and Mei catch one of them but when she shows Satsuki her hands it´s all black and filthy.

Granny who helps them out in the house explains why those creatures are in their house.

The boy who was very shy before arrive at their home with a basket.

On the night the family takes a warm bath together, meanwhile a storm breaks out who makes the house shake and they are very scared but dad calm them down saying that they must laugh to make things that scares you dissapear!

The next day they all go to visit mom, she is sick but is soon coming home and the following day is school day for Satsuki but Mei is too young to go to school so she is exploring the area around the house.

When Mei is exploring the area she finds many acorns and take them but she also see two little creatures walking in the area. 

She tries to catch them and follow them into a forest which leeds her to a huge rabbit hole where she finds a big monster!

This movie is so delightful, joyful, in the end i had that pleasure of happiness that i almost cried and that doesn´t happen a lot to me.

I think this is Miyazaki´s most accessible movies for example Howls Moving Castle and Spirited Away is way more strange and weird than this one.

This is a fairly simple story of the personification of the wonder, imigination of childhood and how childhood imigination mixes in with nature.

Totoro is our neighbour so we have to be good to our neighbour, everything he represents and he be a good neighbour to us!

Miyazaki has ways of capturing little moments to make them more natural like when the father looks out of the window while driving and his hat almost fall off and thats a very natural moment and when Mei put on her sandals you see the little strap like it doesn´t go around her heel it goes under it.

What is so great about this movie is that there is no main conflict, no moral lessons, no standard blue print story or villian and it reminds you of being a young kid.

The only nick picks was that i felt that the dad seems most of the time not to care much and the mum doesn´t look that sick.

Miyazaki did a masterpiece again, the music, story, animation, voice work was amazing,, the characters of Satsuki, Mei and Totoro i loved!

Rating 10/10

Arrival (2016) - Directed by Denis Villeneuve

When mysterious spacecraft appear around the world, linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is tasked with interpreting the language of the alien visitors.
Villeneuve does a really good job of setting up tension in the first act, you learn about her tortured past, when these spacecraft land on earth you see these news reports and there is that sense of panic.
You wonder are they peaceful?

The First act doesnt only sets up a good tension it also sets up a great character in Louise played by Amy Adams, i have always thought she was a good actress but this is propably the best performance i have seen from her.
The entire film rests on her shoulder and her character progression.
It has a very different way of telling a story once you understand certain things going into the background and if you keep your eyes open from scene one things are gonna make sense to you.

Arrival have great visuals, direction, cinematography, intriguing aliens, a third act that have a very cool twist that really made me think differently about the whole film, a great performance by Amy Adams and i loved her interaction with these visitors.
The movie has a very clever way too communating with aliens and using languages to solve problems instead of causing problems.
It is also a story of international corporation and how sometimes everyone has to work at one goal.
But this is not a Independence Day or War of the Worlds it is more of a suspenseful drama than a Sci-fi Action movie.
You will not see Aliens vs Humans with a big fight, it is more centered around characters.
It is slow paced deliberately and to some viewers that can be a problem but i liked the slow paced way.

I found Jeremy Renners character very useless, he even acknowledging it, his performance is okay but it is his character that was very bland.
Some things in the third act feels a little bit rushed and there is some characters that makes a dumb choice after have watch too much tv.
It felt like they wanted to build a little bit more suspense but didnt really build to anything.

Once you learn why they are here it isn´t explored that much and can dissapoint but it is more about Adams character rather than about why they are here.

Rating: 9/10
I was gonna review it on sunday but i felt i had to thinking about it more so i could give a proper review.

It is great too see a hollywood movie with a female lead that is great!

Jumanji (1995) - directed by Joe Johnston

The plot of the story involves a young boy named Alan Parrish who in the 60s finds a supernatural board game that was buried underground in the 1800´s. Alan is instantly drawn into playing and a girl named Sarah who he is friends with also joins the game. After the powers of the game transport young Alan into the jungles of the board game, no one believes sarah´s story of what happened and everyone suspects foul play.                                                                             

                                                                     
Now in 1995, a girl named Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and her younger brother Peter lives with their aunt in the Parrish house. Judy and Peter gets drawn into the game after finding it in the attic. When the play however, Alan (Robin Williams) is released from the jungle accidentally when one of the kids rolls a certain number on the dice. Now, with the powers and creatures of Jumanji released, they must finish the game. But to do so, they must find Sarah (Bonnie Hunt), because now it is her turn to roll the dice. After finding her, they must hurry before the town they live in is destroyed and before they all die!

Jumanji is a great family film, packed with - at the time - great graphics (most of the time it´s great). I think any child over 5 years old can enjoy this movie, it has no gore or attacks really. Sure, there are some mildly scary scenes, I liked the look of the creatures but I wont reveal any of them. But I consider Harry Potter to be scarier especially Chamber of Secrets, if you have seen that movie I think you know which scene I mean. Another great thing about Jumanji is that adults can enjoy it as much as kids.
The acting was great, Robin Williams is perfect for the role of Alan Parrish, Bonnie Hunt and him have pretty good chemistry, Kirsten Dunst was also great and the one who played Peter was just okay but fitted for the role.

Now to the negatives because jumanji is not a perfect film although I love it. Only kids can hear the drums of the game because it has drums it may sound silly that it has drums but in the movie it doesnt feel silly but that only the kids can hear it is a little silly. The actress who played Judys and Peters aunt was really bad, but her character was also written that way. Some graphics have aged and one scene involving a creature really showed that. The kids only read half of the games rules and near the end of the movie there is a scene which is too happy-ending, but the very last scene is fantastic.

I Love this movie, I grew up with watching the VHS of it and I havent seen it for years until I saw it recently and was pleasantly surprised. If you want some good, family fun seeing a movie, Jumanji won´t do anything wrong but remember it has some mildly scary scenes.

Rating: 8/10

Your Name (2016) - directed by Makoto Shinkai

Mitsuha is the daughter of the mayor of a small mountain town. She's a straightforward high school girl who lives with her sister and her grandmother and has no qualms about letting it be known that she's uninterested in Shinto rituals or helping her father's electoral campaign. Instead she dreams of leaving the boring town and trying her luck in Tokyo.                                          
Taki is a high school boy in Tokyo who works part-time in an Italian restaurant and aspires to become an architect or an artist. Every night he has a strange dream where he becomes...a high school girl in a small mountain town.

Your Name has amazing characters, scenery, city life and town life, story. Everything is just wow. So fine! The suspension, the empathy, the scenes. The thoughts. It's playful and pleasant, but serious and funny at the same time. It makes you want to feel it and live it, while you just keep cheering for everything.

Every minute is a time well-spent. I was afraid when it was going to end. I literally just realized that this would be the end of an anime. Than this would be the end of an hour long movie.

I was so afraid when it was going to end. It brought such a beautiful and marvelous utopia before my eyes, with all it's mistakes, conflicts. That I actually wanted to live there.

However it is very close to reality. Every time something out of order happens, you remember. This is a certain reality. People can die, be ashamed, punished. Everything can end in a tragedy. But when something wrong happens, nobody really cares.. and I was like: "Why? Why aren't you moving? Are you not afraid of your lives?" Then I remembered.. this is a certain utopia. Even for the people who live in it. Nothing bad happen to them, nothing really could. They are peaceful, good people, in a modern world. Nothing bad happened in the last 3 generations, why would anything happen now?

This movie gave me a new set of feelings, viewpoints, happiness, thoughts and desires that i might have lacked or just not realized before. I'm really glad I watched it. It was a piece from my dreams.

But my highest praise is that this movie has hand-drawn cell tradional animations and that is very rare nowadays!
I have barely any flaws with it.

Rating: 9/10

So far my favorite of 2016! And the best animated movie of 2016, I Loved Kubo but this was slightly better!

Highly recommend it even to people who don´t like animation/anime!
And for anyone who wonder I watch the original not the dub versions of animes.