Morning Reel

Ray Salazar

Reviewing films in about THREE minutes OR SO. NEW episode every Thursday morning! OFFICIAL WEBSITE Follow at: Instagram http://instagram.com/morningshotfilms YouTube http://youtube.com/morningshotfilms

  1. "When Harry Met Sally..." on a Micro-dose - 154

    JAN 9

    "When Harry Met Sally..." on a Micro-dose - 154

    "When Harry Met Sally..." is one of the best rom-coms ever made written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner. This type of film did set the standard for other filmmakers to take note and make their versions of two people falling for each other such as the works of Éric Rohmer and Richard Linklater just to name a few. It's a very quotable film from beginning to end that highlights the crazy and the dull of the people's ways of handling friendships. Can men and women be JUST friends? Especially when sex is there on the table, figuratively. The film tackles that with Billy Crystal playing Harry and Meg Ryan playing Sally, who are ambitious, filled with goals but they're stuck. They also have needs, a void to be filled by human contact and who would have know that these two would court each other for years to come. "When Harry Met Sally..." is filled with great dialog that I don't mind hearing 'till the end of time, people just talking about the anxieties of dating and self-love. Reiner's cinematographer captured these two and various scenes that doesn't make the film look boring, there's always something nice to look at. We see them, we see New York in it's '80S glories, and we see how Reiner makes us fall in love with all that. Can two people love each other let alone be friends? These two characters demonstrate the human experience. Sometimes we gotta bash our brains to realize who we want in our little lives but it seems it's never too late. I dig the film for the way it ends. It's powerful, corny, BUT powerful. The film gives us the encouragement to break boundaries on the human connection and falling in love again, and again, and again. Four out of four tokes

    23 min
  2. "One Battle After Another" is the Film of 2025 - 153

    JAN 2

    "One Battle After Another" is the Film of 2025 - 153

    Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" is a wild and wacky film. PTA wrote and directed the film and much like his other films, it's a smash hit that mixes action, neo-noir and even black comedy. It's about life or death, saving the future by saving the daughter of a famous revolutionary leader of the French 75. It's literally the military vs the main behind the underground revolutionary force but you don't even know who would it be. I love how Leo DiCaprio embodied Pat, especially as a stoner but a bad ass bomber and is very active in the French 75. What's crazy about this film is how it relates to events that happening in modern-day society. A lot of Anderson's films play on the historic side of things. Events where he develops a story towards that highlights reality. I love how realistic this film is in everything it tosses. As funny as it may sound, but there are underground elite societies that grouped based off certain doctrines that we normal people may find ridiculous. But as ridiculous as it may seem, it's very real and very scary because these certain groups really disregard human lives. And this film does play on the disregard of people's existences. I love the film for the use of its cinematography and space. The way Anderson will use a wide shot to play out a comedic scene. The driving shots are incredible, especially how it utilizes the physical environment it's in like the POV of a car driving, we are the vehicle and we are literally driving up and down trails, chasing people and expecting we are gonna get a confrontation we want but Anderson being Anderson, we get something even better. The third act is very nerve-wracking. Especially how the lack of certain technologies would put us at a deep disadvantage but it's people that leads to where we need to go. We are the best technology. I love how the actors really use space to show off the strengths of their characters. There is almost no time to stop the action in this film. It's literally one battle after another and it's all happening just to save one human being. How heartbreaking it is to go to lengths to just save ONE PERSON. The trials and tribulations that each of us face no matter what kind of lives we live in. There is a right and there is a wrong and we gotta fight for what's right and dismantle the wrongs. it's difficult but this film shows how strong unification can be. It shows that everyday person is more dangerous than an army when united. There are underground elite forces out there but best believe there are underground revolutionary groups out fighting the good fight, one battle after another. Four out of four tokes

    15 min
  3. "Casino" - 152 ft. E-Zone, XG, and Chiclets

    10/25/2025

    "Casino" - 152 ft. E-Zone, XG, and Chiclets

    I am joined by E-Zone, XG, and Chiclets on this review of "Casino" directed by Martin Scorsese. This film is great and will stand the test of time. I like that the film sheds light on how casinos operate and get its' fill. We put man there and see what can come of it. I describe that Las Vegas itself is a character and it's inherently evil, I'd say. The major characters, besides the mobsters, CAN be decent people. It's just the environment that they get molded into. Sam Rothstein and Nicky Santoro ended up being different people as to how they first appeared from the beginning of the film. It's carefully strategic to write a film where a stand up business man is given the keys to a Las Vegas casino and decides to gamble his life's journey with a woman named Ginger. Sam Rothstein is that man and also gambled his life with allowing a well-known & erratic gangster named Nicky Santoro have freedom and pull to do whatever he wants and he gets away with it. It's a recipe for disaster. Like any other famous civilization, good things come to an end and it can end sooner than you know it with a toxic combination. This film about handling what you can possibly handle, knowing very well who you're dealing with, to play the game strategically but also playing it safe, especially when you're dealing corruption, vices, and your own identity. It's harder than it's said, right? To make it, is to sort of gamble yourself. Some bets are good and some bets you know are not worth taking. But sometimes, what seems to be impossible, isn't so. We talk about all kinds of scenes and breaking them down to where we find what we learn from this film. I dig the film personally for its cinematography, the acting from the major characters Lester played by James Woods, the energy of the editing as well as the sound design that goes along with it. Scorsese made sure we are constantly pulling the lever to see if we score and we won at every pull. He won at every pull. It's almost that same effect when one is gambling. This film isn't perfect but it's really up there. Most of the aspects of the film push the notion of the perfect film and it relates to the common man. It's very hard to do that and Scorsese did a great job doing that. He gave us a different perspective of the same stuff he's been visually preaching since "Mean Streets" (which I have yet to review at the date of this description). Four out of four tokes. E-Zone http://flavorsbyezone.com XG http://instagram.com/xgmarksthespot Chiclets https://www.instagram.com/chiclets_los.angeles/

    51 min
  4. "Flow" - 147

    04/27/2025

    "Flow" - 147

    "Flow" is an Academy Award-winning animated film directed by Gints Zilbalodis. He earned it, plain and simple. Shout out to him and the country of Latvia. It's Latvia's first Academy Award, respectfully. This is a film created with the application called Blender. Imagine that? A film created by Blender, beat Disney AND DreamWorks at their own game. Millions upon millions of dollars, and "Flow" took the cake. Bravo. This is a film about a cat who joins other exotic animals as they journey to find a better place for their lives as it was disrupted by a crazy environmental event. There is no dialog, only sound. IMAGINE THAT? Only sound effects of the animals and the environments they go through and music definitely plays along with it, definitely adds to feel of the film. You care for these animals, you want to know what happens next. That's their dialog and how the journey flows from one place to another, and as we learn about these animals who are the characters themselves, dissecting different personalities and how they with one another. It's crazy how universal it is to be that self-aware about yourself when you look at the mirror. When you do that type of action, you gain a great level of consciousness and these animals did that. Not an easy thing to pull off but Zilbalodis did that. I talk about how animal actions drive the plot forward. I talk about the characters of the film, how they act on a very animal-like level but all that is so relatable as how we humans interact with each other. Its as if we are all one, but in bits and pieces. At some point, they become the humans and we wish we can be there to witness half of it. Finally, a film where all audiences that enjoy but it also challenges the viewers - to look ourselves and at each other and be aware of what we have and how we can make it slightly better. Four out of four tokes.

    14 min
5
out of 5
37 Ratings

About

Reviewing films in about THREE minutes OR SO. NEW episode every Thursday morning! OFFICIAL WEBSITE Follow at: Instagram http://instagram.com/morningshotfilms YouTube http://youtube.com/morningshotfilms