Rewatching My 100 Favorite Movies - Update 1

Rewatching My 100 Favorite Movie – Update 1
 
I decided to rewatch my 100 favorite movies of all-time. What those are, you can check HERE. I watch them in random order, there is no rhyme of reason there, just watching those movies I love so much.
 

1/ 100: The Shape of Water
Wonderful but vicious fairytale by Mexican horror master Guillermo Del Toro. It’s set in the 1950s in a secret army compound. There, the FBI captures a South American water creature and subjects it to cruel tests. The mute Elisa, who cleans the compounds with her friend Zelda, finds interest in the creature when she discovers him and something beautiful blooms between the two. Check out my review HERE .
 

2/ 100: High Fidelity (2000)
This film adaptation of Nick Hornby’s bestseller of the same name is set not in London but in Chicago. There Rob runs a snobbish record store, which is only visited by the true purists. The wandering thirty-something has an almost pathological record collecting frenzy and consistently categorizes everything by a top five, whether it’s music or women. When girlfriend Laura trades him for another, Rob finds out that there’s more to collecting than vinyl. Check out my review HERE .

 
Still to watch: 98

Movie Reviews - The Shape of Water

Director: Guillermo del Toro
Genre: Drama/ Fantasy
Runtime: 119 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones, Lauren Lee Smith

Description: At a top secret research facility in the 1960s, a lonely janitor (Sally Hawkins) forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature that is being held in captivity.

Review: “The Shape of Water” is a fairytale, a version of “Beauty and the Beast” and a reverse version of “The Little Mermaid”. Nothing wrong with that, because there is more to it then just that. Guillermo del Toro’s story of the special band between a vulnerable woman and a amphibious creature has so much depth and substance. And the real question here is, who is the actual monster? The mysterious creature we know nothing about, the scientists, the government?
A central theme here is, when you’re different, you just don’t belong. And that’s why the aquatic creature and cleaner Elisa, who can’t speak, feel so connected. They don’t belong, they are the odd ones out in a crowd. They are different.
But Guillermo del Toro goes much deeper. “The Shape of Water” is set in the early 60s. a period where the Russians were the enemies, people look down on the black community and homosexuality is still not fully accepted. And when these elements pass in the film, it strengthens the bond between Elisa and the creature.
Because society is so hard on them, Elisa and her gay friend Giles have to fight even harder. But there is still room to dream. Like Giles, who buys the most disgusting pie over and over again, just to have a chat with that handsome bartender.
Elisa’s friend and co-worker Zelda is her voice. She is sassy and doesn’t leave anything unspoken. But at home she has a man who doesn’t do a thing and she also suffers under the white doctrine.
“The Shape of Water” is at its best when Elisa seeks contact with the creature. It starts with a look in its eyes, then feeding him a hard boiled egg and followed by light touching and learning him sign language.
Del Toro also pays a homage to the golden years of Hollywood. Giles watches and listens to the stars and composer Alexander Desplat composed a beautiful score.
Doug Jones was the man who had to sit in make-up for hours to become the creature in the water. Del Toro was inspired by “Creature from the Black Lagoon”.
“The Shape of Water” is nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, for me not the typical Oscar movie. Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy drama, a fairytale. This is why I love movies.

Rating: 5 / 5

Movies to Look Forward to - February 2018

What movies should you look out for in February? I'm just making sure you're not going to see "Fifty Shades Freed", please, it's for your own good. Here are movies I think will actually be good.

February 1st – The Post
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Alison Brie, Jesse Plemmons
Description: A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between the press and the government.

February 7th – Early Man
Director: Nick Park
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Timothy Spall, Richard Ayoade
Description: Set at the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth, Early Man tells the story of Dug, along with sidekick Hognob as they unite his tribe against a mighty enemy Lord Nooth and his Bronze Age City to save their home.

February 8th – Winchester
Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
Starring: Helen Mirren, Sarah Snook, Jason Clarke
Description: Eccentric firearm heiress believes she is haunted by the souls of people killed by the Winchester repeating rifle.

February 14th – Black Panther
Director: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita N’yongo, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Sterling K. Brown
Description: T'Challa, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king.

February 14th – The Glass Castle
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Starring: Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts, Max Greenfield, Sarah Snook
Description: A young girl comes of age in a dysfunctional family of nonconformist nomads with a mother who's an eccentric artist and an alcoholic father who would stir the children's imagination with hope as a distraction to their poverty.

February 15th – The Shape of Water
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones
Description: At a top secret research facility in the 1950s, a lonely janitor forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature that is being held in captivity.

February 22nd – Game Night
Director: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Starring: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, Jesse Plemmons
Description: A group of friends who meet regularly for game nights find themselves trying to solve a murder mystery.