Stars: 3/5 ⭐️ So… this movie was interesting… kinda. The acting in this film was stellar, and I would say that is a good reason to see the film, but the film itself… kinda boring. The film, set in 1920s Montana, follows Phil Burbank, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, the leader of these cow handlers, his brother, George, played by Jesse Plemmons, George’s wife, Rose, played by Kirsten Dunst, and Rose’s son, Peter, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee. So throughout the whole movie, Phil pretty much torments all these other characters, because the movie is supposed to be a look at masculinity, and toxic masculinity, especially seen in Phil. However, the thing is, the movie doesn’t really feel like an exploration of toxic masculinity. It feels like an exploration of different types of masculinity, and what that means to each of the three men, but it doesn’t really feel like the writer/director Jane Campion really dove into it. The thing is when I heard it was an exploration of toxic masculinity, and I heard that Benedict Cumberbatch was this mean guy, I was expecting him to physically, emotionally, and psychologically torment all these characters, but he doesn't. Also, for some reason, since there was an unspoken tiff between Benedict's character and Kirsten's character, especially since he was mad at Jesse's character for getting a wife, I thought he was going to SA her or beat her up, or something. People say that this movie is a slow burn, and I agree, but it wasn't a good slow burn, because it didn't feel like it was rising to anything. The end of the film is actually the character Peter killing Phil, by having Phil soak his hand, which had a cut on it, in a bucket of anthrax water, and people said that Peter did this because Phil was the biggest threat to Rose, but the thing is, Phil never does anything do hurt Rose. She's scared of him, sure, and we get that he's top bitch, but we don't see him to anything diabolical, and he doesn't say anything diabolical. There was also this subplot, where there was this man, Bronco Henry, Phil's dead friend, who might have been gay, and when doing a little research people are saying that Phil also might be closeted, which kinda makes sense, and that Henry and Phil might have been together, but let me break that into two parts. First point, Bronco Henry. It's first noted that Bronco Henry is into men, when Peter finds some of Bronco Henry's belongings, and amongst Henry's things are magazines of naked men. And then later, it's followed by how Henry saved Phil's life by doing a naked, presumably because it's never confirmed, body huddle thing, using their body heat to keep each other warm. So, when I realized that in the film, I thought, well, that's annoying, because why do we keep having closeted men stories, but during the film I was kinda fine with it because at least he wasn't a predator or anything like that, or be in a relationship and then die. However, let's move to the second point, Phil Burbank. While doing research, people say that Phil could have been gay, and I hate that for a multitude of reasons. First off, making him pretty much the villain of the story, where he has to overcompensate for his sexuality with his masculinity, is so tired, that it pisses me off. Also, it seems that Bronco Henry and Phil were in a relationship together, which pisses me off that it's the two gays are in a relationship, and one dies. There is also the point of if Peter might be gay himself, which I didn't pick up, but articles are saying Peter might be. I just thought that he wasn't socialized, since it seems that the only person that he interacts with is his mom. However, if that's the case, that also makes me feel a little uneasy, his character is fine by himself, cause he's kind, more emotionally delicate, and stuff like that, but it's that he is opposed to Phil, which feels weird. Like two sides of the same coin type thing, which is an old-timey version of the feminine gay in high school, who's bullied by the closeted jock character. And the cherry on top of this is a woman, presumably a cisgender woman, telling a story, but more of a stereotype of some villainous hyper-masculine sexually repressed homophobic man. Like, she could have still explored toxic masculinity through having Bronco Henry being gay, and Phil hating that, which I think would be an interesting twist to this idea, because straight men can be villainous hyper-masculine homophobic men, and it's not just solely gay men in the closet. However, this is just speculation on my part, as I couldn't find an article where the writer/director Jane Campion confirms or denies Phil's sexuality, but multiple articles are pointing out clues that might lead one to believe that Phil is gay. But besides that whole, you must be gay to deconstruct toxic masculinity, the movie was great. As I said before, the acting was great, and one of the things that I've seen recently, which I felt was exemplified in this movie is the idea of small cast movies. There are maybe like 30 total people in this whole movie, and they're all spread out. I've even seen this in TV shows as well, and I really like this small cast idea, because it can make more intertwinement of the main characters. So, I would say, only see this movie if you're a film buff, or really like Benedict Cumberbatch, because his acting is great, and this movie is probably going to be an Oscar Nominee.
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Stars: 3.5/5 ⭐️ When this movie got dropped on Disney+ I was so excited because I was not able to catch this in theaters like I originally wanted, but I would say it is worth the wait. Being different than the other Marvel movies I don't think is necessarily a good or a bad thing, but in this, I think it was a good thing, because the movie ran in a very unique way, compared to previous Marvel movies, where it deals with eternal beings, and this whole intergalactic nature of it all. I would even expect that Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness will have these visually pleasing shots, but obviously in brighter and darker tones than Eternals. One thing that I want to get out of the way is the gay character: Phastos, played by Brian Tyree Henry. I was so happy that people said that he was gay, and it wasn't a quick thing. Like he was the only one to have a partner, and for it to be a husband, and him having a kid was great! I thought it was great representation because the movie doesn't try to give us a smidge, and then lead us away, it's very open about that. However, there is a little counterpoint to that, and it's more of all the romance that was in this movie. With Sersi, played by Gemma Chan, and Ikaris, played by Richard Madden, in love, and even having sex, which I didn't think I would ever see in a Marvel movie. And the addition of a love triangle type thing with Sprite, played by Lia McHugh, was a little weird, one because it's a Marvel movie, and I wouldn't expect to see that, as well as the fact that Mia is 17, while Richard is 35, it's weird to see a kid (even though Sprite isn't a kid) pine after an adult. There is also the relationship between Druig, played by Barry Keoghan, and Makkari, played by Lauren Ridloff, which also felt that it didn't really need to be there, but I think all of these relationships were a part of the movie to show that the Eternals have become more human than they have realized. But getting to the movie itself, it's okay. There felt like there were lines in there that just didn't really make any sense, but there were only a few, mostly from Kingo, played by Kumail Nanjiani, which I will say, when his character got lines, they were funny, and he was probably my favorite character besides Thena, played by Angelina Jolie, who I thought killed it in this role. Thought the movie, as the Eternals watch civilians evolve, Thena deals with this thing called Mahd Wy'ry, which seems like a psychotic break from having so many memories, and her journey to learning how to deal with that was a great aspect of the movie. Also, the reveal that their leader Ajak, played by Salma Hayek, was kinda lying to the Eternals, which led to her demise was a great plot point. Visually this movie was stunning, I don't think there was a single scene that wasn't visually enjoyable, however, the thing is, there are parts of the movie that lul, which is okay, but when it's over two hours, we gotta start cutting. Also, the jumps from all over time were a little annoying, because they felt a little disjointed. I understood why they were there, but they always felt that they were at the wrong time. Also, a big thing that I didn't understand was the end, where Kingo leaves Phastos, Thena, Makkari, Druig, and Sersi to fight Ikaris and Sprite, and then he had the audacity to talk to Sersi after the fight. Like, where did you go? You just left everyone to die. However, I do like how the final fight went down, with Ikaris fighting Makkari, Thena, and Phastos, and then having Sersi save them all. I kinda knew that it was going to be Sersi about 30 minutes into the movie because she was the timid one of all the Eternals, so it would be obvious that she would be the one to step up and save the world. So overall, the movie was a little slow at times, but the cinematography made up for that for sure, and I'm excited to see where Cholé Zhao goes in the future, cause her vision form of filming is a wonder. Also, with the end credit scene with Harry Styles, I'm kinda excited to see him join the MCU, I really hope though that he is a good actor, cause he hasn't really been in anything, but hopefully, Don't Worry Darling, and My Policeman will show us his acting ability that we'll get to see in the future. Also the other end credit with Kit Harrington, I'm excited, but confused a little, since I didn't fully understand what was going on, but I trust that it will be awesome. Stars: 4.5/5 ⭐️ Nobody is a good movie. It's slow in the beginning, but it's a good movie. Nobody is about Hutch, played by Bob Odenkirk, an ex-auditor from the government, and as he puts it, the last person anyone wants to see at their door. Why? Cause, they kill people. That's their job, and there is a lot of killing in this movie. And the fight scenes that lead to the killing in this movie are quite well done. There are a good amount of semi-long takes, so you actually know what is happening with the characters, which makes it fun to watch. And since it's rated R, there is a lot of blood and gore, and I will say, be forewarned, cause there are some pretty gruesome scenes. You see faces after a bomb has gone off in front of them, there is a character who gets stabbed by a hunk of metal, and all this crazy stuff, all for a kitty cat bracelet. Which I think was a great plot devise in this movie. The kitty cat bracelet is Hutch's daughter's, and at the beginning of the movie, where I will say, they do a great job to show the monotony of his life in like 3 minutes, there is a break-in, and people steal money from a bowl, where the kitty cat bracelet is. Then from there, Hutch goes on a violent rampage to get it back, even though he realizes halfway through the movie that it was never stolen, and it had just fallen to the ground, which gets the attention of this mob boss because Hutch kills their relative. What is great about this movie is it does a great job balancing comedy, and gore action, while also the family dynamic between Hutch, his wife, his teenage son, and his young daughter. What's also great about this movie is the car scenes, because every time there is a car, action is happening, like people are continuously moving, shooting, and dodging. The character Hutch is written great as well, because he's written as this smart, violent person, and what's great is that they show Hutch being smart, and being violent. For being smart, he fills a water pipe with gasoline, so when the sprinklers go off inside a warehouse, he can easily light everything on fire, which I thought was some great out-of-the-box thinking. Also, all the traps that he sets are pretty smart, and pretty violent, because not only does Hutch go for the kill, he goes for the most painful kill that he can think of. As I said before, there is a person who has a bomb go off right in front of their face. And although I am giving this movie great praise, some parts aren't the best or were a little confusing. Hutch has a snotty rich neighbor, and it seemed like he was set up to be an antagonist or something of the sort, but he's not. There is also a part where Hutch runs at someone, protecting most of his body with bulletproof glass, except for his legs, which made me question why the person shooting at him didn't go for the legs. There were other small things with this movie as well, but overall this movie surprised me, and I'm excited about the sequel. It hasn't been green-lit by the studio yet, however, it is being written currently, so I am crossing my fingers to see it in the future sometime. Stars: 1/5 ⭐️ Honestly, the whole premise of this movie is crazy and crazy stupid. Like the main character, Nico, played by KJ Apa, is trying to get an immunity band for his girlfriend, Sara, played by Sofia Carson, even though she could still get covid and die. The immunity bands are given to people who are immune if that wasn't clear, and they can go outside because they won't catch covid, but if you weren't immune, and got a wrist band, that doesn't negate the fact that you could still catch covid. Like, as the movie states, he is an immune, and they live by themselves away from others, since they're physically drenched in covid because it can get into you in all ways, and stick to you, so he would just pass it to his girlfriend. However, we do learn that she is also immune, but that raises the question if she is, how do other people get tested to see if they are immune or not? Also, for the character Nico, the fact that he was going to get his girlfriend a fake immunity wristband doesn't make any sense, because that's stupid, and he's a paralegal, going to law school, so he should be a smart person. However, let's get some backstory on the movie. It's 4 years after the lockdown, and Covid-19 is now Covid-23 and affects brain tissue. Okay that's it. Now let's shift over to the other main part of the movie since this is like an apocalyptic Covid-19 version of Love, Actually, which is about May, played by Alexandra Daddario, a singer who moved to LA, right before it shut down, and is now like a futuristic stripper. There is also her love interest, Michael, played by Paul Walter Hauser, a paralyzed vet, who hasn't seen the light of day in quite some time. Their relationship doesn't get that much time, and it's kinda dark since Michael literally kills someone to protect May, which is valiant, but also scary. They are likable as people I guess like they follow the rules throughout the movie, and they're the only main characters who do, so I like that about them. The other main characters that are in this movie are William and Piper Griffin, played by Bradley Whitford, and Demi Moore, who are the dumbest people alive. They're rich people who break the rules and make illegal immunity passes for people, but the thing is that their daughter, Emma, played by Lia McHugh, who has Asthma or something. She has an oxygen tube with her, and the little tube things that go into her nose. But the big picture is, her parents talk a lot about how she could easily catch it and then die, and in the movie, the fatality rate is 56% and that it's now super easy to transfer to other people. But the thing is, I think this was written to humanize the parents since they're the villains of the movie, but it just made them worse because the idea that they would even ever think about putting their daughter's safety at risk is evil. Piper is honestly worse because she allows William to go out and interact with people, and still lets him back into the house, but will rant about how their daughter's safety is the top priority. Honestly, this whole movie is a mess, and I hate that it was written and made when it was because it was back in 2020 when people didn't understand what was happening in the world, and we didn't even have any vaccines or anything of the sort. Nobody will like a movie that will continuously strike fear into people about a disease that nobody really knew about back then, and it's sad that people decided to make this anyways. I get that a check is a check, but I also kinda blame the actors for partaking in this movie, like what were they thinking? I don't know, but I really hope that people now understand why they shouldn't have made this movie. Stars: 4/5 ⭐️ Even though Ryan Reynolds is playing himself, and Samuel L. Jackson is playing himself, this movie is really enjoyable. Following Michael Bryce, played by Ryan, he helps Sonia Kincaid, Played by Salma Hayek, to free Darius Kincaid, played Samuel, only for them to all be kidnapped by Interpol, and have to kill like the president of Greece, cause he's trying to topple Europe's infrastructure to save Greece. Now, the movie is bloody, crazy, funny, and it's an overall good time. The acting is great, and the jokes really work with Samuel and Ryan's comedic talent. The movie is fast-paced as well, and it always feels like it keeps going, but in a good way, where you want to see more, and more is given to you. The action sequences were done well in the movie, keeping them entertaining, funny, and just bloody enough to where it's kinda gory humor, but not too much to the point where you have to look away. What is also great about this movie is that there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you entertained, some that you can predict immediately, but some that you don't see coming. There are also car chase scenes in this movie, and for me, car chase scenes are never interesting, but the way that this movie handled them was well done, leaning more into the comedy with these scenes, instead of the thriller/action aspect, which I think was a great move on their part. However, though, one of the big actors in this film is Morgan Freeman, and I felt that they underutilized his character. He's supposed to be Michael's stepdad, and Michael doesn't want to see him because he got his license revoked because someone died on his watch, but they use Morgan Freeman for like 5 or 6 scenes max. The thing is, they majorly advertise that Morgan is a main character in the movie, but honestly, they should have not really promoted him, because they already had the star power of Ryan, Samuel, and Salma, so they didn't need to do Morgan as well, and he could. have been a fun sweet cameo. Also, it's a little dark that Michael just blows up a boat with his dad on it, even though yes, his father was a major dick to him, just having Michael kill him, or not even give Morgan's character a redemption arc, was a little strange, but it's fine because I do like how the movie seemed to have the idea of family is what we choose with Sonia and Darius deciding to adopt since they can't conceive, and then having them adopt Michael was a funny ending plot twist. Overall, this movie is great, and what I think was makes it such a great movie as well is that I haven't seen the first movie, but the movie did such a good job with filling me in on the information that I needed to know, while also making it obvious what Michael's and Darius' relationship is. Stars: 5/5 ⭐️ This movie is so good. It's so quick, but so enjoyable, every single second of it. Following Danielle, played by Rachel Sennott, Shiva Baby is about how she goes to a Shiva, after having had a meeting with her sugar daddy... except things take a turn when the sugar daddy, Max, played by Danny Deferrari, shows up... with his wife, played by Dianna Agron, and... their kid. Also, Danielle's ex, Maya, played by Molly Gordon, is there, trying to cause trouble for Danielle, even though Maya is like 21-22 since it's stated she's going to Columbia Law school in the fall. What's good about this movie though is that it works as a movie, but also it could work as an episode of a show since it's only an hour and 17 minutes long, which is super short for a movie since the minimum time is an hour and a half usually for films. Nevertheless, Shiva Baby is such an intense movie. Immediately when she runs into her sugar daddy, secrets are revealed, such as Danielle is not going to law school, and the money Max is giving her must be going to something else, so she's been tricking him this whole time, and the other big bombshell of that is Max has a wife, and a kid, which Danielle obviously didn't know about. And this movie doesn't stop being intense, because even in the last scene, it's still awkward, and funny, and second hand embarrassing, and continuously well written. The movie all takes place in one setting, and pretty much 8 locations. Kitchen, common area, upstairs bathroom, downstairs bathroom, the side of the house, the front yard, and the living area. And there's not really any physical action that happens, just lots of talking, but I think this shows the writer, Emma Seligman, has an extreme talent for creating such an intense hilarious story in a contained space, without that much physicality to the movie. One thing I enjoyed about the movie is sugar babies is portrayed. It's not portrayed as salacious, or inappropriate, or scandalous. It's treated with respect and treated as a normal thing, which it kinda is with all the different types of unique jobs that Gen Z takes. Also, a great thing about the movie is the same-sex relationship between Danielle and Maya. First off, it ends happily, where they hold hands in a car, smiling, and resting their heads on each other. And their relationship is treated with the same complexity and care that any straight couple gets in a movie. And I would say that their relationship is extremely well written, and in a short amount of time, you're invested in the relationship. This is because, and it goes for all aspects of the movie, the writing and dialogue are quick, and everything we learn is necessary, with pretty much no fat to the movie. The characters themselves have amazing depth as well, where you're rooting for one character one minute, hate them the next, have their actions justified and love them again. I think one of my favorite characters is the mother because at the beginning she's nagging Danielle about everything, but by the end of the movie, she's vulnerable and sweet to Danielle. Also, the character, Kim, the sugar daddy's wife is really enjoyable. From her first interaction with Danielle, you can tell she knows that something is up with her husband, and him sleeping around, and by the end when she learns that it's Danielle who's doing it, you feel extremely bad for her since she is already a fish out of water. Stars: 4.5/5 ⭐️ I'm surprised this movie isn't talked about more. Yes, I haven't seen a trailer of it, and the reason I watched this movie was because of a fan edit, but I would expect people to watch this. It was on HBOMax's 2021 release collection, and I expect at least a few people to watch all of them. So, Women is Losers follows Celina, played by Lorenza Izzo, as she struggles through the late 60s early 70s San Francisco. After getting pregnant as a teenager, it followers her as she pulls herself up by her bootstraps helping herself get out of her horrible situation, since her father is abusive to her and her mother, and the father of her kid is an inconsistent piece of work. And although there is a lot of drama in the movie, there is a lot of heart, and a good deal of comedy and a good amount of comes from the way it's shot. Characters will break the fourth wall, and explain to the audience kinda what's happening, there's a part where the shooting style changes to a boxy black and white, when a character is explaining how America got a lot of men from China to do jobs for them, to only kick them out with the Chinese Exclusion Act at the height of the gold rush, and Chinese Americans had to find another way to make money in America since they couldn't participate in the gold rush. And even though the movie is short, 84 minutes to be exact, we do learn a lot about these characters, and for most of them we see that nobody is all good or all bad, and they're all just trying to survive. Although that doesn't mean that some of the horrible stuff people do, like fire their employees because they can't marry them, isn't horrible, or justifiable, but through dialogue exchanges and settings, we understand the context of the situation. One of them is that Gilbert Li, played by Simu Liu, takes an interest in Celina, promoting her to a bank teller, so that she can make more money, and helping understand money, and stocks, and savings, and such, but then we learn that it's just because he wants to date her. And when she gets back together with her son's father, he drops her, citing technically legitimate reasons, but also, he disregarded those reasons in the first place when giving her a job. And the end of the movie as well was amazing, because I wasn't sure about how the movie was going to end, but it felt right. The whole time, Celina is just searching for a home, so it's fitting at the end that she buys a plot of land to make her dream home for her, her son, and her mom. The only reason I give this .5 off is that there was a few bits of dialogue that felt kinda clunky and weird to hear, but other than that, it was excellent. And I kinda wish we got a little more incite on Celina's kid's father, Mateo, played by Bryan Craig, as he's an army vet, who's come home, and seemingly addicted to pain killers possibly, who has all these lacerations on his back, and I kinda wish we saw more than deadbeat husband, and kinda failing father. Stars: 3.5/5 ⭐️ I'm divided on this movie. On one hand, the movie is kinda slow, there's a lot that could have been cut because I don't understand the reasoning it was there. The characters, especially Jonah Hill's and Mark Rylance's characters, the son of Madam President, and the Tech Billionaire, pissed me off, and were not funny. Especially Mark's voice, no offense to him, but it got on my nerves for some reason, maybe because he acted timidly, but really he was a fiercely evil person. Timothée Chalamet and Jennifer Lawrence's characters getting together didn't make really any sense. Also, the whole subplot with Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett's character really had no point to exist except to drive a wedge between Doctor Mindy, and his wife. But on the other hand, the dinner scene right before everyone dies was really emotional, and it really pulled me into the movie. But I'm going to lean towards it not being good because I think the issue is that the movie tried to cover too much in one movie. There was the media aspect of how it downplays globally catastrophic events. The aspect of how there are non-believers of scary events when there is evidence right in front of their face. Presidential incompetency. Meme culture. The 1% putting everyone else in danger for their fortune. Celebrity culture, and how people are engrossed in it. Like did we really need a 5 ish minute song from Ariana Grande? No. I don't think we did. As for me, if anything, Ariana Grande's character should have been a cut-away character like Chris Evan's, because why did we spend time on that? Or just have her for when she sings her song because people could understand why Ariana Grande's character is a famous pop star. The movie should have stuck to the whole comet plot of the movie because already a lot was going on, where there didn't need to be. Half the scenes where characters were in the White House just felt like it was for laughs, and nothing was pushing the plot forward. And this movie isn't a slow burn either, because you're only rooting for the characters because they're the only sensible ones, while everyone else is disregarding what's at hand. Also, just half the characters feel half-baked, and they're only enjoyable because of who's playing them. Like Madam President, for example, her jokes didn't hit at all, but it's always fun to see Meryl Streep. Timothée Chalamet's character is kinda weird, and annoying, but it's Timothée Chalamet so people like him. (I'm indifferent to him, besides Don't Look Up, I haven't even seen him in anything, but he seems like a nice guy) Ariana Grande's character is annoying and mean where it's not even funny about how fake she is, but it's Ariana Grande. Like one of the only characters who were horrible but funny was Chris Evan's character, and yes, it might have helped that it was Chris Evans, but his whole talk about keeping politics out of movies I found genuinely funny. And that's not to say that the characters that got on my nerves didn't have some good lines, but it's that they were drowned out by multiple other lines that I didn't like. So, Don't Look Up was a very in-your-face satire, trying to cover a myriad of topics, done okay to some degree, but definitely not the best. |
AuthorRyan Jones is an aspiring screenwriting, and an environmental enthusiast and activist. Archives
February 2022
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