The Boy and the Beast (2015)

The Boy and the Beast (2015)

 

6/10

Starring the voices of

Eric Vale

John Swasey

Bryn Apprill

 

Directed by Mamoru Hosoda

 

The anime The Boy and the Beast is predictable, and it is still an easy-going anime anyone can sit down and enjoy. I liked the voice casting, and I enjoyed the dub more than the sub, and the animation is not setting any groundbreaking thing.

It follows a runaway young boy named Ren who gets pulled into a world of beasts and lands as the reluctant student of Kumatetsu, a lonely, undisciplined warrior nobody else wants to follow.

In the Beast Kingdom, the grandmaster has decided he will retire in order to reincarnate as a deity and names two potential successors, Lōzen who is popular with many disciples and Kumatetsu, who is lonely, brash and has nobody wanting to study under him. The Grandmaster suggests that Kumatetsu find a disciple, believing that this will bring out a side of Kumatetsu that will make it easy for him to succeed.

So one day, while wandering the streets of Tokyo with his friend he meets Ren and suggests that the boy becomes his disciple.

Kumatetsu asked for his name, but head strong Ren refused to share his name and so he called him Kyuta. Now, neither of them can teach or be taught and that's the whole film.

A master who can't explain what he does and a kid who won't listen, and as you would expect in films like this, they both find a way to make it work. The training, the fights, the two of them screaming at each other in the street. It all followed a familiar beat but that ending, it was like a stab in the back for all that was building towards it.

Ichirohiko is the film's real tragedy, a human raised his whole life believing he's a beast, then there is this darkness in humans which then takes over him.

But where was this darkness brewing from?

Well the movie gave glimpse, but none of the glimpse made his character transformation sink in.

His character needed more screen time instead of being pushed to the side. Now we know the focus is Kyuta and Kumatetsu, but then why resolve their arc in Ichirohiko's.

And then there's Moby Dick reference, as in it just did not fit.

You see, Kyuta reads the book on screen, and when Ichirohiko turns we see a whale like darkness.

The film hands you the metaphor of something, does not explain it, then it just leaves it there. A giant whale explodes out of the pavement in the final act, and it looks incredible, and I still don't know why it mattered.

And it is not because the film trusted me to work it out. Because it never finished the thought it started.
Look, it is an ok watch, but it is no must see.

Resident Evil (2026)

Resident Evil (2026)

 

7/10

 

Starring

Austin Abrams

 

Directed by Zach Cregger

 

Resident Evil is one of the most memorable times I've had at the cinema this year, and I loved it. Zach Cregger built his name on Barbarian and Weapons, pure horror, no jokes getting in the way. Then he takes on Resident Evil and brings the comedy back in, and arguably this could can be the best video game movie ever made.

The acting by Austin Abrams is just next level, he was able to capture the feel of what a POV Raccon City will be. Everybody else around him pales in comparison to the way he carried this movie that there were times it looked like I was watching a gameplay. That credit also goes to Zach Cregger for being able to create that mood.

The story is about a medical courier Bryan agrees to take a last-minute package to Raccoon General Hospital in Raccoon City, in the snowy mountains. Well if you have played the Resident Evil games you know that is one journey nobody should ever make, he got to Raccoon city in the middle of the outbreak and he had to survive.

Now Bryan was not spectacular, he was selfish and a bit greedy because he only got himself in this position because of the money.

Now, I missed horror like this, gore mild, jump scare not scattered everywhere and comedy from a POV average joe in Raccon City. The movie tone touched a lot of genre. We see Bryan, cursing about a ladder he threw away, furious that an acid monster melted his Jordans. That's not a tonal mistake, that's the whole point. A normal person thrown into a zombie outbreak does not suddenly become an action hero with one liners.

He panics, he complains, he makes bad jokes because that's what fear sounds like when it isn't scripted for cool.

This movie made its whole Ninety-three minutes’ worth it. Cregger doesn't waste time setting up jump scares you can see coming a mile away, he made a movie that worked, kept you on your toes and had a release valve.

Horror without any relief is exhausting and comedy without dread is empty.

Cregger clearly understood that a film this short, this violent, needed pressure valves or the whole thing collapses into noise.

Now this movie was not perfect, the ending was a bit of a nose dive to the wonderful setup, I just stood there wondering what is keeping these scientists from stabbing this guy with the cure.

Anyways, the movie is still live at the cinema’s, so everyone needs to go see this it is worth the time.