MovieMeditation’s Diary Reviews // “Come and meditate with me!”

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@Camo I have not seen My Cousin Vinny


Nah, my comedy favourites are the ones i rarely say "it's so great you have to watch it!" about, unless there's some really strong aspect other than the humour but i don't really think there is with My Cousin Vinny as much as i love it. Everyone's humour is so different and especially with people you don't know in real life it's difficult to tell whether it's something you'd like or not. All i'd say is if you are feeling lazy one day with some spare time and feel like a comedy keep My Cousin Vinny in mind.



Trouble with a capital "T"
MM, how come you didn't make these movie write ups into reviews? Your review of WALL-E easily qualifies to be an official review as it's over 250 words and has a title, year and popcorn rating, so all you would have to do is to click to submit it. It's a good review too, but I would not have seen it if you hadn't told me about it.


By my count you have around 330 movies listed here, that's impressive. If you submitted them as reviews (and it's not to late, you can still submit them) you would be on the review board with around 530. Heck! you've wrote just about as many as me.

I'd love to see you be on the review board. I don't know if that's a goal of yours or not, but there's always room for more reviewers



MM, how come you didn't make these movie write ups into reviews? Your review of WALL-E easily qualifies to be an official review as it's over 250 words and has a title, year and popcorn rating, so all you would have to do is to click to submit it. It's a good review too, but I would not have seen it if you hadn't told me about it.
All my reviews are at least near the 400 word mark; I think my shortest is around 380 or something. That's my own standard for length I guess, I think a length of 250 seems too short. But hey, if you say it qualities I should start tagging more reviews.

By my count you have around 330 movies listed here, that's impressive. If you submitted them as reviews (and it's not to late, you can still submit them) you would be on the review board with around 530. Heck! you've wrote just about as many as me.

I'd love to see you be on the review board. I don't know if that's a goal of yours or not, but there's always room for more reviewers
Of course it's a goal. Any serious reviewer should see that as a goal.

BUT, the reason why, you ask? Well, all you'd have to do is go back to that link and click it once more. You'll notice that my reviews in the past was a post containing several reviews, which would mean that if I tagged it 4 more reviews or so would go along with it and Wall-E would end up somewhere in between other titles, with their own review and their own popcorn rating. So that's no good, unfortunately.

I have thought about doing a "classic callback review thread" where I would re-do the original untagged reviews that most haven't read or forgot about anyways, and then re-work them into longer, more detailed, multi-paragraphed reviews, so that like at least 60-80% Of the review would be original and new material, while the other percentage would be familiar but still not the same as I would rewrite it all; since my old work isn't as good as my new.

So yeah, that would mean I could tag them in their own posts. And to make the thread more interesting, I thought about posting the reviews "in themes", like the next few days/weeks would be animated week (s) and then a Fast & Furious week and then possibly a western week etc etc, so that it would be more organized and interesting to follow.

But I don't know... the idea is both good and bad.



Trouble with a capital "T"
All my reviews are at least near the 400 word mark; I think my shortest is around 380 or something. That's my own standard for length I guess, I think a length of 250 seems too short. But hey, if you say it qualities I should start tagging more reviews.
Tacitus is the mod who does the review approvals and on a couple of occasions I submitted really short reviews and he told me they need to be 250 words or more. So all of your writes up would be long enough.

Of course it's a goal. Any serious reviewer should see that as a goal.
Seriously I'd love to see you up on the board and giving me a run for the money I've haven't had much time to do reviews so I'm falling behind.

all you'd have to do is go back to that link and click it once more. You'll notice that my reviews in the past was a post containing several reviews
Good point, I had forgot about that. Yeah multiple movie reviews on one post is problematic, but there's always a solution!

I have thought about doing a "classic callback review thread" where I would re-do the original untagged reviews that most haven't read or forgot about anyways, and then re-work them into longer, more detailed, multi-paragraphed reviews, so that like at least 60-80% Of the review would be original and new material, while the other percentage would be familiar but still not the same as I would rewrite it all; since my old work isn't as good as my new.
I like it see that's a good solution....maybe a project for you in your spare time? It sounds like a good idea as you did the work so why not have the credit?

So yeah, that would mean I could tag them in their own posts. And to make the thread more interesting, I thought about posting the reviews "in themes", like the next few days/weeks would be animated week (s) and then a Fast & Furious week and then possibly a western week etc etc, so that it would be more organized and interesting to follow.
I like that too You should do it.

I'm going to skim through this thread when I get the time. I did a quick look at there's some movies you've wrote up that I've seen.



Tacitus is the mod who does the review approvals and on a couple of occasions I submitted really short reviews and he told me they need to be 250 words or more. So all of your writes up would be long enough.

Seriously I'd love to see you up on the board and giving me a run for the money I've haven't had much time to do reviews so I'm falling behind.

Good point, I had forgot about that. Yeah multiple movie reviews on one post is problematic, but there's always a solution!

I like it see that's a good solution....maybe a project for you in your spare time? It sounds like a good idea as you did the work so why not have the credit?

I like that too You should do it.

I'm going to skim through this thread when I get the time. I did a quick look at there's some movies you've wrote up that I've seen.
Yaaaay! I got ONE supporter for my idea! Woop woop



I just saw Edward Scissorhands for the first time about a year ago and was surprised how much I liked it.

I didn't care for Frozen but Wreck-It Ralph made my animation list.



I just saw Edward Scissorhands for the first time about a year ago and was surprised how much I liked it.

I didn't care for Frozen but Wreck-It Ralph made my animation list.
Glad to hear you liked Edward Scissorhands, cricket!

I understand the love for Ralph, I seem to be in the minority, though I still liked it quite a bit...



I'm not a Tim Burton fan, and that's why it took me so long to watch it. I think I watched it because of a movie swap with Miss Vicky actually. Anyway, I think he's a great director, but he doesn't generally make movies that line up with my taste.



"5"
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake

total movie count ........... viewing day count
299 .......................... 358

__________________________


December 25th

—— 1989 ——
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S
CHRISTMAS
VACATION

—— comedy ——



Chevy Chase comes chiming straight into this
classic Christmas comedy!


‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’, which is the is third film in the ‘Vacation’ franchise, and one of the most successful and popular due to it becoming quite a holiday tradition in homes around the world. I think this was my first introduction to the Griswold family, though I can’t recall ever seeing it in full until now. I wrote a review for the first film a long way back, which you can check out here if you want. Anyways, for this year’s vacation, Clark and his family celebrate Christmas with caution, choosing to stay home for a traditional time of the year, with a good old fashioned and fun time with the whole family. Of course, things don’t go as planned and this Christmas eventually ends in chaos…

I enjoyed the original ‘Vacation’ quite a bit, because despite being based on loose sketches bound together in a singular chain of events moving from one to the next, it still succeeded surprisingly well in creating a straight forward comedy. It had a lot of iconic moments that is still talked about today and to some extent the ‘Christmas’ edition of the franchise isn’t without bright moments. I remember the whole deal about the Christmas tree, which is a pain to get a hold of and ends up being too big for the house. There is some nice slapstick comedy there. The Christmas light catastrophe is also a nice gag, which plays out rather nicely, especially with the annoying but amusing-to-watch neighbors.

Yet, generally, I feel like this is less of a movie than the first. The movie is sillier, it is less coherent and it is less meaningful. It just doesn’t come charging with the same impact as the original nor does it keep it all together as well. As a Christmas comedy, it is totally digestible to sit down and watch, while already digesting the Christmas dinner, but it is a little too sugary sweet and flimsy to be the best present you will get that day. Of course, Chevy Chase still has great comedic timing and the Griswold family is as crazy as ever, which his two things that keeps the current charged throughout, even if it has a few fallouts…



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"4"
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake

total movie count ........... viewing day count
300 .......................... 358

__________________________


December 25th

—— 2015 ——
KLOVN
FOREVER
—— comedy ——



Being a huge fan of the television show and the first film,
this was a major disappointment...


Here's another one of those diary entries you really don't have to pay much attention to... It's a Danish comedy - and a failed one at that - which tries to be international and more accessible, but ends up loosing the huge fanbase it already had. I already reviewed the first film, which is an amazing comedy (just ask cricket, well, he liked it quite a bit at least) and it is the most perfect picture of Danish comedy and humour at its finest - a little less of the darker stuff, but a lot of the over-the-top extreme stuff. This movie went far out, so if you like that, go check it out...

But as for the sequel, they tried to make something different out of the core of the universe, but forgot the universe around it. Casper and Frank wanted to make a movie that tested their life long friendship, but ended up making a commercial, unfunny, absurd comedy-drama, which was unbelievable, incoherent and just didn't fit in with the 'Klovn' universe. Such a shame indeed.





The poster campaign is GOLDEN though...

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"3"
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake

total movie count ........... viewing day count
301 .......................... 359

__________________________


December 26th

—— 2015 ——
STAR WARS
T H E__F O R C E__A W A K E N S
—— sci-fi ——
REWATCH


Still pretty fun, still kinda flawed,
still 'Star Wars' the light version...


Yes, I rewatched this already, but that's because, when it came out, I couldn't get tickets for four people around the premiere date - which I needed because it was a Christmas present - so I decided to go see it alone as early as possible first...

Anyways, this is my second trip to the stars and the wars within, and as expected I found more joy to be had, because the expectations were lower, but the flaws were still there. I'm not gonna review it again, because my first review said everything that needed to be said,
but I just wanted to say that I did enjoy it more and it was a better experience, though it's still not that great of a movie. Fun, but hollow. Beautiful, but bare-boned. I could see myself watching it again just for the audio and visuals and a bit of nostalgia, but that's it... I'm not a die hard fan, so I could live without this one if it hadn't existed.


-

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Christmas Vacation seems so popular but I think it pretty much sucks. The first is one of my favorite comedies; after that, garbage.
Glad I'm not the only one.

Well I don't think it sucks, but it's not that good. I have no interest in the other Vacation movies either. The new one sucked balls too.



"5"
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake

total movie count ........... viewing day count
299 .......................... 358

__________________________


December 25th

—— 1989 ——
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S
CHRISTMAS
VACATION

—— comedy ——



Chevy Chase comes chiming straight into this
classic Christmas comedy!


‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’, which is the is third film in the ‘Vacation’ franchise, and one of the most successful and popular due to it becoming quite a holiday tradition in homes around the world. I think this was my first introduction to the Griswold family, though I can’t recall ever seeing it in full until now. I wrote a review for the first film a long way back, which you can check out here if you want. Anyways, for this year’s vacation, Clark and his family celebrate Christmas with caution, choosing to stay home for a traditional time of the year, with a good old fashioned and fun time with the whole family. Of course, things don’t go as planned and this Christmas eventually ends in chaos…

I enjoyed the original ‘Vacation’ quite a bit, because despite being based on loose sketches bound together in a singular chain of events moving from one to the next, it still succeeded surprisingly well in creating a straight forward comedy. It had a lot of iconic moments that is still talked about today and to some extent the ‘Christmas’ edition of the franchise isn’t without bright moments. I remember the whole deal about the Christmas tree, which is a pain to get a hold of and ends up being too big for the house. There is some nice slapstick comedy there. The Christmas light catastrophe is also a nice gag, which plays out rather nicely, especially with the annoying but amusing-to-watch neighbors.

Yet, generally, I feel like this is less of a movie than the first. The movie is sillier, it is less coherent and it is less meaningful. It just doesn’t come charging with the same impact as the original nor does it keep it all together as well. As a Christmas comedy, it is totally digestible to sit down and watch, while already digesting the Christmas dinner, but it is a little too sugary sweet and flimsy to be the best present you will get that day. Of course, Chevy Chase still has great comedic timing and the Griswold family is as crazy as ever, which his two things that keeps the current charged throughout, even if it has a few fallouts…



+

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I liked this movie a little more than you did, but enjoyed reading your review. Other than the first film, this is the only other one I can watch.



I liked this movie a little more than you did, but enjoyed reading your review. Other than the first film, this is the only other one I can watch.
Good. Sounds like I'm not missing anything by not watching any further in this franchise.

And thanks for checking in and reading my review, Gideon!!!



[center]"8"
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake

total movie count ........... viewing day count
296 .......................... 354

__________________________
Again, I think I liked this one a little more than you, but agree with a lot of what you say here, especially regarding the story...there is SO much going on here that's almost headache-inducing trying to keep track of everything that's going on. Of course, overly complex plotting is a staple of Disney Pixar so I shouldn't be surprised.



Trouble with a capital "T"

‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

+


I bought Christmas Vacation years ago for my wife as a little Christmas gift as we were shopping and I wanted something else to watch at Christmas time other than It's A Wonderful Life. I love Christmas Vacation, more so than the first one. Then again I've enjoyed all the Vacation sequels, except for the toilet humor reboot with Christina Applegate. I dare ya to watch Vacation (2105)

STAR WARS
T H E__F O R C E__A W A K E N S


That was the last of the new Star Wars film I've seen, AND, I will never watch another! The Force Awakens blew, I should have reviewed it as my rating would have been a 2.5

I firmly believe if they had been no other Star Wars films and the Force Awakens was released as a stand alone film, it would have flopped miserably.



@Citizen Rules you thought the new Star Wars blew and that the original Vacation is a lesser movie than Christmas Vacation... your opinion is officially invalid.

But yeah, I have watched the new Vacation movie. That one BLEW for sure. Trailer was awesome imo, too bad the movie was so poor.

About Star Wars... funny that you think it blew yet award it with 2.5 popcorns. Anyways, That was also my original rating for it, but a rewatch changed it a tiny bit for me, into a very light 3 popcorns. And if Force Awakens was released as a stand alone film without any Star Wars movie before it, then YES, it actually would be as popular if not more - because the universe would actually feel fresh.



"2"
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake

total movie count ........... viewing day count
302 .......................... 360

__________________________


December 27th

—— 2007 ——
SiCKO
—— documentary ——



A documentary is a difficult movie to dissect,
especially the kind you watched almost two years ago...


I will try my best here, because though my memory is sharp, it works best with emotional beats rather than factual. Anyways, what I remember to like about this one, was the absurdity of the reality of it all, as well as Michael Moore’s sharp and satirical approach, where he met both proofs and people with a slightly sarcastic unawareness, which helped spin the movie into an upsetting actuality that was both fun and frightening to witness.

The style of the documentary was equally a factual presentation as well as a journey into the lives beyond the diagrams, documents and the “finger-pointing” kind of wrongdoing. I like how Michael Moore is always upfront and direct with his documentaries. It isn’t about sitting down quietly, planning interviews, setting the scene, and talking things through – it is about confronting the problem, the people behind the problem, and the people affected by the problem…

I have seen other Michael Moore documentaries, like ‘Bowling for Columbine’, but I feel like ‘Sicko’ is his most sharp, laidback and leeching piece of social importance yet. I was honestly surprised by all the differences across states, countries and regions, especially the fact that you could travel Havana, Cuba, and receive free medical help and surgery from the best doctors and educated staff around. How a high-class hospital can be placed in the middle of poverty and crumbling apartments is a mystery – and that the US is so behind on their medical services is insane.

The most frightening image that still haunts me today, is that of a woman, who was hurt and mentally ill or disorientated, who was driven to a random curve far away from the hospital and dropped off by the staff, because she couldn’t be treated or that there wasn’t room. Hold the hell up. They hospital staff dropped off a human being in the need of desperate help, like she was a sack of garbage? How can this even go on is beyond me.

And the procedures you must go through to even be considered for help or guidance is mind boggling. A man in desperate need of help ended up dying, because he wasn’t fit or that it took too long to look through his case. Michael Moore presents these shocking problems in a stimulating and thought provoking manner, which he really doesn’t even need to amplify further. Sometimes he takes an extra step where none is needed, because the harsh and haunting reality is so living and breathing character on its own, driving this documentary perfectly, all by itself…




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