chandean-69762

"People take one look at me and go "Ah! Help! Run! A big stupid ugly Ogre." They judge me before they even know me ... that's why i'm better off alone." 20 years ago today Shrek was released in theatres so I had to rewatch this childhood classic.

Unironically an animated masterpiece.

I haven't seen this for over a decade but damn this is an amazing film.

It's humor is amazing, it's score is iconic and memorable, the characters are all wonderful, the references to fairy tales (and even The Matrix) are great, it's birthed hundreds of memes, it's stood the test of time, and it's just a classic film that never gets old.

I enjoyed every second discovering new jokes that went over my head whenever I was little, while also filling up my nostalgia tank watching scenes like when Shrek and Fionna blew up animal animal-balloons which I vividly remember seeing as a kid.

From its extensive fairy tale references to its iconic score Shrek really is Dreamworks best work, and honestly one of the best animated movies out there.

Happy 20th Anniversary!

"... And in the morning, i'm making waffles!"

"Well, whatever happens at least we'll be together ... For infinity and beyond." The final 30 minutes of this film are picture perfect, extremely emotional, and pretty mature. It's hands down the best part of the film, and even if you haven't seen the previous Toy Story films, the final act is bound to make you cry no matter what.

Now, that being said I didn't really find the rest of this super engaging.

The new toys are cool and all, Lotso in particular was a really good character and antagonist, but I never felt the same charm I felt with Toy Story 1 and 2 whenever watching this.

I feel like the plot can be pretty forgettable and plain, and nothing super notable happens until those last 30 minutes.

(I honestly really didn't like Spanish Buzz, I thought it was a really overdone gag and overstayed it's welcome.)

All in all this isn't a bad film, I think it's definitely my least favorite Toy Story though, it just feels alittle lackluster until that final act. And boy does that final act hit hard.

This would've been a very well done finale to the Toy Story trilogy, but then we got Toy Story 4, and from what I can remember I actually liked it more than this film weirdly enough.

"So long ... partner."

"I ain't see Gump 2?!" Personal Ancedote: My first SAW film in theatres!

I'm a huge SAW nerd. The original SAW is one of my favorite films ever. All of the films (the original through 7) I adore even though I can recognize that they're not the greatest, while Jigsaw was very meh and didn't really impress me or grip me like the first 7 did.

So I think it's safe to say I went into this with low expectations especially after the lackluster Jigsaw. I was pretty skeptical all around, and i'm kind of sad to say I left this feeling pretty disappointed.

Review: Like I said, I went in with pretty low expectations and sadly left disappointed still.

Spiral tends to feel like it's trying too hard to be culturally relevant with some of the current situations going on in the world - the main culprit being police brutality and police reform.

There's even a quote "John Kramer doesn't target cops.", which he does in BOTH Saw II and IV ... sooo .... Now if this film came out 5 years ago I probably wouldn't have batted an eye about it to be completely honest. Just the way they implemented it into the story made it feel very very forced and I couldn't help but feel like "okay we get it" about it. Spiral felt like a film more about police brutality / reform with a touch of SAW in it, more than an actual SAW movie.

I digress...

Chris Rock did surprise me though, his acting definitely isn't Oscars level worthy, but he was a lot better than I was expecting.

Some of the new traps were pretty interesting and wild (like the glass trap) but nothing as wild as Jill's dream trap in Saw: The Final Chapter.

I think where this movie lacks the hardest is it's dialogue. Now the SAW franchise definitely isn't known for its great dialogue or anything, but I couldn't help but notice how awful the dialogue was, it's not even cheesy bad, it's just bad bad.

There's even some odd editing choices like cutting away from trap scenes which I feel like the previous films never really did - or at least to this extent, it felt like it ruined the shock value of those scenes. Even stuff like a random shot of some kids playing in a leaking fire hydrant in the beginning of the film or a shot towards the end of the film that's just a staring at the ground all blurry?

It's sad when the best part of the film is 21 Savage during the end credits. (thank you I definitely did download the song because it's a banger.)

All in all Spiral definitely has its flaws, but it isn't the worst SAW movie out there.

If you're trying to get your SAW fix it's worth seeing for sure, but i'd much rather watch any of the first 7 SAW movies over this one.