meditationsbymosby - Tumblr blog

[meditationsbymosby]

Watching Those About To Die rn, and it's an amazing show so far. Ramsey being the anti-hero is such a cool casting. I love hmthe writing of the show. The world building is on fire. And I can feel ancient Rome so much in this show. The representation of Roman citizens from every part of the empire is so cool too. North Africans, Judeans, Upstart Syrians, Spaniards, Patricians, and Vestal virgins. Gladiators and chariot racers. This show is so badass and deserves more attention.

[meditationsbymosby]

Training Day Film Review

I watched Training Day again today and I am glad that I did. There is just something beautiful about rewatching movies that had a huge impact on you in the past and reminiscing the effect while seeing the movie in a new light. There is a huge difference in how I watched movies when I was a child and how I watch movies today. And when I watched training day right now, I had major realizations about the movie that I did not before. As a child, I had thought that Alonzo's character was normal. I thought that this was just how some cops acted and it was as he said which is necessary. But rewatching the movie, I had begun to accept Hoyt's perspective to be the same as my own which is the pure goodness that one could expect from a police officer. It reminded me of Dostoevsky's book The Idiot where this man was living his life the true Christian way one would expect of a person living his day-to-day life by how Jesus would have wanted us to live but society would see this character as an idiot. They saw this man as someone without common sense and not really doing the right thing because it was obvious that being the good that he was being allowed people to abuse him, hurt him, trick him, and more which if one was smarter in a society they would do the necessary evils to survive. This was how the movie portrayed Hoyt. The movie showed through Alonzo that to survive out in the streets in the real world, one has to be a wolf to catch other wolves. The conclusion of the movie was not very clear but in the end, Hoyt realized something that allowed him to overcome Alonzo's influence on him. All throughout the movie, he would follow what Alonzo would tell him to do: dip his fingers in minor evils until all of his body is wet and he becomes truly corrupted and eventually be trapped. This reminds me of a fable by Aesop of the Wolf, the little lamb, and the watering hole. The little lamb was alone and drank from a watering hole and a wolf that seemed incapable of running saw the lamb and wanted to talk his way into allowing the little lamb to eat him up. The wolf came to the little lamb and said that the watering hole belonged to him, that his mother had a debt to pay to the wolf, and many other lies. The wolf's attempt was to shame, guilt, and lower the lamb's guard to demoralize him into submission and make himself easy picking for the wolf but the little lamb stayed strong on what he believed to be true and stayed away from the wolf and eventually got home. I see the same conflict in the narrative in Training Day where Hoyt had realized in the end that he should follow his own view of what was right and wrong and he finally realized that Alonzo was spouting nothing but lies. I would have loved to a Training Day 2 where Hoyt became a detective but this is something that will never happen. This movie displays the potential corruption in any institution and that it takes someone who believes in that pure good and is willing to face the consequences for all of these.

[meditationsbymosby]

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN FILM REVIEW

A classic Leonardo De Caprio Movie that I totally loved. I was in middle school when I had watched this movie and it had planted a seed in me where I would believe that I had unlimited potential waiting to grow and thrive in the brave new world that I would be born in. I wasn't born in a rich or privileged family, but it was enough for me to be able to realize that I can do things that can bring me to greatness and no one in the world can stop me from doing them except myself. "Catch me if you can" taught me so many things about life and what I needed to do in order to live my life the best way I can. Childish thoughts made me dwell on how I could gain the skillset the protagonist in the movie had. And the biggest lesson I had from that movie was that I exuding confidence was enough for people to believe in me and confidence was for free. Anyone could have confidence but not everyone has confidence. The movie was perfect and so well directed, there was nothing about it that I would change. The actors were cast perfectly and the world that they created was so believable. And this was all possible with the great acting brought not just by the main characters but by the side-characters as well. The cinematography was amazing, being able to emphasize and allow the angles and timings to mirror the main characters psyche allowed me to connect with the protagonist even more. I would rate the movie 10/10 because it had fulfilled the expectation that was set for what the movie wanted to be and it had that impact in my life where I can say, Catch me if you can changed my life. Just to go deeper on this film though I want to have my personal takeaways on the lessons that one can have from this story and it is that life is dark and full of terrors, with events that are out of our control. Most of the time we allow them to change who we are thus we act like blind men in a place of darkness, raging in madness because we cannot see. We react and are enslaved to being water flowing to where the current is taking us. But if there was a real moral to a story like this one and I could I could apply it to my own life, it would be where I and billions of other people are living in an imperfect world and most of us are striving to live better lives. You can be two things, content with what you have and be happy or strive for a better tomorrow but sacrifice today and risk never getting the happiness that you want and never getting the happiness that you could have today. I am here taking a risk with my life and hoping that things could be better while I do the things that I want to do. Circumstances tell me to stop and give up, but I want to keep going, and I need to do this. But this movie has taught me one thing, in the end, we have one life, and we are who we are. We are ourselves living our one and only life. You can spend it continually seeking better days and being dissatisfied with today or be happy with what you have right now, doing what you love right now and allowing a life of love to bring you to wherever exotic place that it can take you.

[meditationsbymosby]

Pulp Fiction Film Review

I watched Pulp Fiction and I loved it! Quentin Tarantino is one of my favorite Hollywood directors and I decided to watch his 90s masterpieces. And Pulp Fiction was on the top of the list. I particularly believe that Tarantino sees a thin line of aesthetics in his work that most of us can't see with our mediocre eyes. His works involve different eras in human history and he manages to find that perfect balance of respect for the culture and contemporary events in the days and a magnification of the immense and realistic drama that did in fact happen in those times. And Pulp fiction has captured this balance perfectly and I can't imagine how much passionate thinking and conceptualization he put in his work to achieve this. His particular style of storytelling is one that I find innovative and I never know what to expect. I am sure though in how he directs his movies because the amount of blood in every Tarantino film is never truly enough and I love it. The true art that Tarantino has in his directing lies in how he writes his characters. It is subtle and realistic yet. And every character completes the whole puzzle of establishing the beauty of that time.

And they are absolutely real characters and you won't doubt that they would in fact exist in a possible existing world. And this is what I love about every Tarantino film is the beautiful direction that he takes his films every time. And this movie is now added to my list of the best movies about it's specific time.

[meditationsbymosby]

Netflix’s Messiah Review

This Netflix show is one of a kind. An amazing thriller piece. I watched it and I was skeptical of how it was going to turn out but I turned out loving it. I just find it sad that Season 2 is cancelled due to a Libel case against Netflix. But I am sure that it will come back someday.

The cast on this show was perfect and I have no complaints whatsoever. When the said Messiah was first introduced I was skeptical but I started to realize how amazing his acting was. His dialogue was few compared to other characters even though he is said to be the main character as the title suggests but we never really know from the start and that is what is amazing this show. It lets you go on the same journey of faith and seeking the truth as any other in the show. You simply have to judge for yourself whether this person is who you think he is. 

I can say that director and writers have mastered the art of mystery and this is why we love stories. We the audience are fed one bread crumb at a time and it becomes our role to determine the truth that the writer has created. And with this we know for ourselves whether the writer is just making stuff up as he goes or actually has a masterplan that we must discover for ourselves. 

I would say that we don’t really care in the end if he is the Messiah or not in the end. We as an audience might simply be enjoying it for the road that it is taking us. And on this road we can realize how we as passengers of this vessel of investigation see our on reflections as we understand how we ourselves would react or might I say believe if we were to determine for ourselves what the truth is. 

I guess that you just have to watch the show for yourself to understand what I mean. I am so impressed with how delicate the directors have handled the sensitive parts of the story because it is mainly showing genuine stories of humans that have their own reasons for doing and acting on things. 

I would like to end with saying that the acting was amazing and I would say that there was no lacking on the side of the actors. The cinematography was great and it helped to portray this kind of story as the viewer must remain in mystery but still be a limited observer. The production value was amazing and I just hope that the world would collide and bring us a Season 2.

OVERALL, Great show!!! I loved watching it. Even though unfinished I would say it served a purpose for me which was to entertain me and to educate me. 

(Spoiler Alert)

There was a certain issue with how Islamic Extremists were portrayed and I have to say I agree with some of the criticisms that it was only shown that one verse of the Quran was repeated and then they were simply isolated and walked around a tree while reading this and then some social manipulation from terrorists. I am not going to say that this is enough to fully portray terrorist brainwashing but I would also say that if the verses of the Quran were taken by terrorists out of context and without proper studying from respectable Islamic Scholars and if a verse were to be used out of context to manipulate someone into terrorism, it could be enough the same way as verses in the bible when used in exactly the same way or any religious scripture for that matter could lead someone astray.

It is even shown in the gospels, how the devil quotes verses from the bible itself to manipulate and deceive. 

This is all I can say about that issue.

[meditationsbymosby]

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Review

This film was an amazing experience for me. As I watched it alone in my room and the second viewing was with family and I gave the controls to my mother. Of course, she found the black mirror themes disturbing but it worked as a pretty good inducer of fun family movies watching experience though maybe not for everyone.

I expected nothing much from the plot and simply there for the new interactive style of movie experience. The movie plot was a little jarring because of the fourth wall breaks and the seemingly uneventful endings that forces you to keep exploring other alternate endings, but it I guess that's how they planned to structure it. In a way that the plot allowed the viewer to keep on exploring other options and even go back because they knew that the viewers we're already going to redo the story and explore anyway.

I liked the fun stuff that happened and it was beautiful. The idea of me shouting at a main character and feeling an actual connection that traverses my reality and the movies universe was phenomenal and the first time that happened was priceless. And I have Bandersnatch to thank for not wasting that opportunity for me.

Some people don't like Choose Your Own Adventure games, but this surely was a new kind of experience because of the immense details put to it in the form of a movie. I would say it was seamless and almost a perfect movie when it came to the technicals and the building up of different endings was so impressive. I can imagine the endless creative decisions and brainstorming this took and it was all worth it.

It's awesome. And the various endings of Bandersnatch that contained a different outcome of the main character's game review was interesting to think about and even gave me a slight insight into the attitude the creators of Bandersnatch had in mind in releasing the film and what they expected from the audience's feedback.

And they probably thought, in some alternate dimension, we would make this boring, sad excuse of a movie just to satisfy corporate decisions. But nope. In this specific reality, the producers said to themselves, "F... the critics. We are going to make a F....ing fun, dark and mind bending adventure game movie!".

And they did. And I'm happy I have my Netflix Subscription.

[meditationsbymosby]

Watched the first two episodes of this series and I was just disappointed at the acting. I don't know why but this was just bad. Real bad acting. I've seen children's show hosts have better acting skills than this. Especially the main characters of this useless piece of wasted potential. If they recast the main characters the next season, I wouldn't mind. They could say they got burned in a single car and they had to do major plastic surgery or something. I don't care. It's such a drag listening to the third rate performances. There were those good actors that did their job well, but the rest were an exhausting excuse for such a good script.

The production passed the standard but nothing impressive enough to topple the good value this series deserves. Its not too late to restart as long as it could be better.

Its not really because I've watched the movie that I was expecting more from this. I generally don't compare. I judged the series by its own merit and all the plot holes and the dumb concepts like how do they travel from the first car to the tail that fast.

Are we just going to ignore this stupidity until the end of the series? Well, I myself can't ignore these obvious facts and it just breaks the fourth wall for me.

The series could have great. But it seems to have fallen into the pit hole of boring investigation stories and lazy plot writing.

Sorry. I'm not going to watch this trash.

[meditationsbymosby]

Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) Review

The movie was astounding. A sight with the refreshing joy that any human being can have while watching anime. And this is an award winning masterpiece. Surpassed all expectations and allowed the mind to soar through Japan and live the lives of eastern beliefs.

The cynicism of our world has allowed us to forget our past. The traditions we humans have had before where we saw spirits and mysticism in all parts of life.

Nothing can take away, the profound life lesson that one receives from this loving gift from all those who had their sweat and tears spent while making this piece of history.

We can never forget that excitement and thrill while watching this and we all want to stop and pause at the best moments of the story. Forever longing that we can stay as happy as we are in that special moment of happiness in life.

Yet it always allows us to stay and realize that life takes it beauty from death and light it's shine from the darkness.

I highly recommend those who wish their hearts to fold and turn at every scene and hope you can enjoy this wonderful movie.

[meditationsbymosby]

Black Mirror S2: Ep1

The first episode of this installment had great acting, good story written and just a general good production.

I was a little bored this episode because it didn't really strike a cord for me since I haven't had any of those experiences even in similarity but i guess it did help me understand the trauma people can go through.

I would say it's a little too fast but it's that speed in the show that makes iy different from a normal movie. Since it's limited by time and resources it has to focus on the little details and everything else that huge budget production can't offer.

All I can say about the episode is that it had an ending I think anyone watching would love. It was realistic and something that everyone needs now and then.

[meditationsbymosby]

Black Mirror S1: Ep3

That was a good performance for the actors and very well written. I have to say that all the smallest details counted and that's what a good writer and a good production is supposed to portray.

The story was incredible and actually manifested what could be in reality. This is something that I love to watch and Black Mirror is a show that allows us to mentally face these fictional challenges of morality, and ethics.

I'm happy I watched this and it's good to think about these things. Truly, an essential message to get out there in this modern age of growing technology.

[meditationsbymosby]

Black Mirror S1:Ep2

I was recommended by this by a friend and I looked forward to it. I had no expectations when I watched it. And immediately the show drags you to the story. And everything is explained as it goes. I was left gasping at the dark humor but satirical truth presented.

It's a bit of artsy but nothing you would complain about. There was nothing else one could ask for. And if I wanted to write a reflection of its that life isn't a bitch. We are.

This second episode is my favorite. Shows us the grim reality we all live in. And I wouldn't go as to say that's doesn't fall into pure symbolism but an actual reality we already have.

This system that we cannot escape and the question of where our humanity should reside and should remain to stay. I'll leave it to you to realize when you watch this episode that we are really no different.

[meditationsbymosby]

Black Mirror S1:Ep1 Review

A friend recommended the show to me and I had no expectations. Only some good fun but I got more than what I asked for. The show dragged me immediately to the story, confused while my short attention span kept interested in what I was watching. Something that I don't get a lot these days which is amazing.

This first episode left me wandering what this ambiguous show was about and it was nothing from what I expected. Yet, I loved it.

The show was a satire blended with real ironic truths. A black mirror showing us the parts of life that we normally wouldn't see.

I loved watching it and had expected a good next episode. Well, if you watch the next episode, you know what I got.

[meditationsbymosby]

Blood Of Zeus Season 1 Review

Watched the whole Season of Blood of Zeus and I am very satisfied with what I got.

The plot wqs good and the character development was nice. And the show paid respects to the classical mythology and it's just what it presents to be. An original anime series about the Greek mythology.

It's not as bloody as the trailer presented it to be and it's not as dark as japanese dark fantasies but it had enough gore to make one react in fear or horror.

Overall, great work. It's the start of something new. And I like new. Novelty in terms of style and not some bad prequel.

[meditationsbymosby]

Attack on Titans: Ep1 Review

Just watched the first episode of Attack on Titans and it is beautiful.

The story plot has begun and the future of Eren and Mikasa is already set. I love how they wasted none of my time and every single scene and dialogue was there with eternal purpose to set the scene.

I can't wait for the next episode.