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dwjgardiner
Reviews
Carol & The End of the World (2023)
A shockingly poignant show
Easily one of my favourite animated shows of 2023, Carol and The End of the World is a very pensive and surprisingly mature show compared to the usual adult comedy cartoon schlock.
If you are looking for the next Family Guy, or Big Mouth, best let this show be and go check out other things because this show isn't got you, but if you are looking for a relaxed and pleasantly animated experience with a dash of humour and a lot of heart, this is the show.
Not every episode is perfect, and it does occasionally dive a little deeper into cringe comedy territory than I would usually recommend, but the show is at it's best when it lets the characters simply interact with each other in emotional and genuine ways--sometimes with complete sincerity and sometimes with a bit of comedy.
The show also looks very nice. It manages to take the usual adult animated comedy style and inject it with a whole lot of visual flair through unique character design, impeccable colour/lighting, and some beautiful animation.
Overall, it's a moody, pensive viewing experience that experiments a lot with the the structure of storytelling and uses the animated medium to it's advantage. It won't be for everyone, and it makes no attempt to appeal to a general audience, but unlike so many adult animated comedies that are driven by derision and hate, this one is driven by love and compassion. And in the face of a world ending apocalypse, that's what is truly important.
The Hopewell Haunting (2023)
I can't call it a perfect film... but I really want to!
If you like slow paced horror, dripping with atmosphere, tension and layers of story told only through visuals, implications, and audio cues, this is it. This is the movie you need to watch, now.
This film won't appeal to everyone, as the reviews unfortunately reveal, but there is a ticking heart to this film that casual horror viewers won't be able to appreciate.
Subtlety.
The story never gets bombastic. It never becomes too grand or overly ambitious. It stays grounded in a cold harsh 1930s reality. Delivering on that reality with drawn out tension crafted to a nearly perfect degree through great, but subtle, cinematography, excellent sound design and truly moody music.
Unfortunately there are a couple moments where the budget of the film shows through, one of which being a glaring error where an entire crew member can be seen on set for a single brief shot, but overall they do a good job of disguising a lot of the more low budget elements.
Unfortunately, the moments where the budget does show through, mainly in a particular sequence where they show a bit too much of the "creature", knock a couple stars off this films rating.
With slightly better effects--or a little more clever disguising of those less convincing elements--this could be a masterpiece of horror.
The story itself is simple, and leaves you with a lot of lingering questions, but the ambiguity is deeply intriguing, and there are enough subtle story elements sprinkled throughout the film to hint toward a possible answer to the mystery.
This is a film that wants you to think and figure things out on your own. It rarely holds your hand and leaves you both figuratively and literally in the dark, allowing for only murky and speculative answers to the questions it asks.
This is by design, and if that is not the type of movie you enjoy, then don't watch it, but if you like a bit of ambiguity to your horror, if you like to be left with lingering questions just as unsettling as the events that took place, you won't be disappointed here.