It's only the end of the world

There is nothing much I can say about it except that this one managed to hit me hard emotionally.

Juste la fin du monde (original title of the movie. Oh, it's in French! Not only the title, the movie too) tells a  story of a guy who returns home to his mother and siblings after not being there for 12 years. Everything that happens happens over one days time. Movie is filled with dialogues, some of them are delightful even through incomprehension, biterness and not so well hidden grudges. 

I was amazed by the cast. AMAZED. They all did a wonderful job. As I watched the characters I could understand and see where they were coming from mentally and why could they be acting the way they did. I believed everyone and pretty much felt for every one of them despite them being different from one another.
To me everything felt real and realistic at some points bits and pieces hit close to home. That family that was created was just the right amount of  dysfunction and weird and the mother reminded me a bit of my own which is always a good thing to watch, if some character resembles either yourself or someone you know. 

So yeah, that's about it. The story really got to me and that is all. It was nicely shot, some bits were needless, sounds were good. It wasn't like I loved everything about it but I was very happy that finally I cared for the story and characters. 

Rating: ★★★★

Manchester By The Sea

What Manchester By The Sea gives us is a slow-paced, deep family drama where Casey Afflecks' character named Lee has to look after his teenage nephew after his brother (not the nephews brother, Lees' brother) dies. The dying part is not a spoiler as it happens at the beginning of the movie and the movie is not about the guy dying rather it is about how it influences main people that were close to him (the dead brother). 
This is one of those time-jumping pieces where real time meets past several times and it is done tastefully. We get to see how Lee is where he is and why he is the way he is. We also get to see somewhat normal, reasonable nephew in his teenage years. And there are other important people in Lees life that maybe camera doesn't fixate on but they're there in spirit big time.
What drew me in were these more or less unexpected scenes which just cut right into the feeling department of mine. Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams did such a great, believable job with their roles. Lucas Hedges was a very lovely teenage boy. Actually everyone had good chemistry which made this story realistic. So - can't complain about actor choices.
What somewhat let me down - as this movie has had a bit of success already and many people around are saying it most surely will be nominated for one or more next years' Oscars, I didn't "see it". It was a good drama, but I was hoping it would be even more emotional. Maybe my expectations were too high, that could be possible, but yeah - it's always a letdown when you wait for something amazing and it never arrives. I don't mind if this film gets nominated but, pardon me, I hope it doesn't get any of those shiny gold figures. I wasn't also impressed (not that anything was bad, it wasn't. Just when "Oscars" are mentioned, the bar lifts in my head) with color themes, sounds, music, camera views, anything really that usually gets my attention.
I really hope there will be movies that will satisfy me and everyone else this year. I still haven't seen any "WOOOW" movie from this year. BUT! Many have with THIS ONE.

I will say this again - it is a good, realistic family drama to see, just..if you have expectations maybe lower them so there will be a bigger chance for you to come out crying.

Rating: ★★★½

Arrival

Oh, what a surprise for me - not only Denis Villeneuve (director of the movie) has made Sicario (knew that - awesome movie by the way) he also made Prisoners AND Enemy (both dark and also very good movies to watch) which I had somehow not noticed. So to find this out is a pleasant experience and I can pretty much add him as one of the directors whos work I should follow up.

I watched Arrival WITHOUT seeing any of the trailers (as it was suggested and it was the right call) and...it was this big, beautifully made piece with an interesting turning point which I was not expecting (which is always nice, when it comes to movies).

Arrival shows us how a linguist (played by adorable Amy Adams) is recruited by some sort of government authorities to translate alien language because aliens have just arrived in different places all over the world and "staying in" in their transportation and people of course want to know "what the f*ck?"

While watching I was also wondering if we ever are going to see those aliens and if we do - how they are going to look like in this film. And we did get to see them. All I can say - I liked what I saw.

What I really liked about it (besides how visually appealing it looked and how interesting enough the plot was) was how big and wide this movie felt. At times it was like the space had no boundaries. I don't even know if I can explain it better, go see the movie, you'll see.

Soundtrack was made by the same guy (Jóhann Jóhannsson) who also did it for Sicario (and other movies) which was noticeable. I liked the soundtrack - this guy can make some haunting sounds. And when talking about music and sounds - a moment of silence is a powerful thing when used correctly.

For me this movie lacked on emotional level. Although Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and others were doing a good job I just didn't feel for them. Also it could have been like 10-15 minutes shorter. I think they could've cut some bits and pieces out more or just used the time to reveal something more about characters so I could "cheer" for them. And that's it - that's all I didn't quite like.

I should also say that if you think (or know) you're not an "alien film" fan you should still go and see Arrival because it's not really about aliens. It's about Dr. Louise Banks (the linguist) and we mainly follow her journey through this particular madness.. And aliens are there.

DON'T watch the trailer (you can open IMDb and read the plot if mine was no good for you) and GO see the movie - that's my suggestion.

Rating: ★★★★