JayWolfgramm

There is a massive flood. In order to survive all the animals must make it to higher ground. We follow the adventure of a cat who teams up with 4 different animals on a boat to get to safety. What follows is a beautifully animated testament to visual story telling.

In early drafts of "Land Before Time" the story was imagined to be done without any dialogue. This movie seems to take that idea and run with it. Much like "Land Before Time", 5 species of animals that wouldn't naturally spend time together, must team up to make it to a better place. The difference this time around is that instead of looking for a valley low enough, they are looking for a mountain high enough.

"Flow" is beautiful. It is deep in a way that isn't pretentious. It works on many levels. Despite it being 85 minutes of no speaking, it was gripping from beginning to end. Through the animation you get a great sense of each of the animals' individual personalities.

Go see Flow.

"Memoir of a Snail" is a stop motion animated film by Adam Elliot, the creator of "Mary and Max". If you haven't seen a film by Adam Elliot, this movie is a great example of his filmmaking style. His animation embraces imperfections. His characters are emotionally broken. His humor is dark. And his stories feel real.

This one follows Grace Pudel as she goes through various hardships in life. She is a huge fan of snails; they are her spirit animal.

This movie is very sweet. I'm not saying that it is all sunshine and rainbows, there are some very sad moments in this film. But it is the fact that the characters and story feel so real. When they succeed, it doesn't feel forced. It maintains an optimism with that realism.

This snail does not fail.

I didn't know what to make of "Ikiru" as I began watching it. I had not heard anything about the film. I watched it because it was a Kurosawa film, and even if they don't feature samurai, Kurosawa makes great films. Our main character, Kanji, is told that he does not have long to live. Kanji has spent his life working for the government. There is an amusing montage showing how the red tape of government work prevents anything from being done. Given this ultimatum of life, Kanji begins to reevaluate things. He tries to find happiness.

At first, I thought I had this movie figured out, and I thought it was fine. But then it takes a turn. After this turn happens, this movie upgrades from fine to spectacular. I won't say what that turn is, but when it happens, I was blown away.

Life is short, but this film is still worth your time.