Film Reviews

First, my thoughts before seeing this movie. 

It's honestly one of my favourite short stories of all time. Escape from Spiderhead, by George Saunders. If I could sum it up in a sentence, it'd be something like 'what if big pharma figured out how to produce love?'. Our protagonist is subject to clinical trials for various new medicines that produce strange effects, such as an enhanced vocabulary, maximum horniness, placid attitudes, and more. Our story picks up as our point of view convict is asked to assist in the trials of a new compound that can cause the subject to experience true love. He goes through some shit with this trial, as the fellow administering the meds, leading the trial, has some things to tick off his list. 

It's tough to imagine Hemsworth as Abnesti, but people say that about every actor in every role. I wonder if they'll present things the way I imagined them in the book, or if they'll show Hemsworth as a malicious, callous, 'im playing god and it feels great' type of person. I'm curious if the connection between our pov character and his partners is consistent, or if they'll try to go for a romantic route. Aside from the medically induced, forced romance that the characters actually go through. I can imagine Miles Teller being a good central character, though then again, I could see almost anyone being fine in the role. I say central character because there sure aren't any heroes in this story. Even our main guy bashing his brains out at the climax, while fair enough, not necessarily heroic. Well, maybe. Is it heroic to delay the release of a chemical that could end all war, but also be used for the most unspeakably evil stuff you can imagine? He hasn't even prevented its development, just set them back perhaps a few years. Darkenfloxx seems more vile a substance than this love drug. Maybe watching this will help display some thoughts I couldn't describe. 

Movie was ok, some strange direction. A lot of it was played for laughs. Abnesti being the head of the company plus abusingthe chemicals for his own enjoyment / whatever was interesting... then he just blew up? ok? Worst movie ever, but reluctantly. 

Y'now what? Good for her. 

I knew 3 things about this film before I saw it. 

1) I saw the trailer. Interesting, brilliant casting, small, close quarters setting, general air of menace. 

2) A snippet of an interview in which Pattinson expressed his surprise at the size of the mermaid's genitals.

3) A supposedly scathing review stating that the entire movie is the two main characters furiously drinking and masturbating. 

These 3 pieces of information made me more excited for this film than perhaps any other film I've seen. I knew I had to see it, and I knew I wanted to take my mum and brother to see it with me.

Oh bouy, this movie doesn't disappoint. Thoroughly unsettling, uncomfortably hilarious, absolutely gruelling for the actors, and even better on rewatches. I highly recommend The Lighthouse to anyone over the age of 15. 

This bloody thing has a runtime of 2 hours and 43 minutes. And you feel it. Really liked the colour shift near the beginning, and rather enjoyed the non-specific evasive warnings of the characters to one another. When I first saw this, I wasn't super into it. Now, over a year later, I'm very glad I HAVE watched it. At the time, I said 'It's just 3 hours of some dudes walking round the forest then it just ends'. Now, my thoughts are basically the same, but I mean it in a good way. I feel like it's a significant movie, an interesting world that only shows so much, and much like a quiet reminiscent walk in the forest, you finish the movie feeling refreshed.

Oh my goodness maybe by favourite movie, or at least it was for months after I saw it first in 2021. I can't think of anything to say about this movie that hasn't already been said, except for one thing. 

If you asked me my favourite movie, it's probably this. my mate said i have miss torso energy and i took that very well

This should be adapted into a stage musical. I can't think of a single thing that wouldn't translate perfectly. The film set is already a perfect stage. The characters are all distinctly dressed. Every character can have their own musical motif. Some parts can have the soundtrack provided entirely by the pianist, who can synch up the score to the character's state. He walks in drunk one night - the music is worse. Just imagine the music the pianist plays reaching a crescendo as Thorwald advances on Jeff, just to suddenly stop as Lisa screams and the blissfully unaware band are suddenly shown a glimpse of the situation. I cannot stress the point enough that Rear Window would make an exceptional musical. 

There aren't many movies I can think of in which the main characters make decisions that are simultaneously incredibly smart, and incredibly stupid. Nick's reactions and methods are comical in their own way, but the real joy I find in Good Time is the complete absurdity of the situations that the characters find themselves in, often by their own fault. Nick, to his credit, is shown to be masterfully adaptable to complications in his plan. I hesitate to call him smart, because for every impressively flexible move he makes, he makes another to be its antithesis. The entire night and following morning the characters endure is farcical, and keeps the audience wondering what on earth will go wrong for these people next? 

Should have called it great time

should have called it good movie

should have uhhhh

I don't want to put spoilers here beyond what I already have, but I'd highly recommend seeing this for yourself. 

Apollo 10 1/2 is another visually stunning and nostalgic Linklater film, essentially a lengthy visual love letter to late 60's suburban Huston, focusing on the protagonist's charming family as they save money and keep each other entertained. This slice of life (or more like an entire extra large pepperoni pizza with enough slices to feed the main character's 8 person family for a week) is bookended by the titular Apollo 10 1/2 mission. It's unclear is this is presented as a real mission within the world of the movie, or if it's the main character's fantasy. The exact moment that the film grabbed me was this conversation: 

Bostick: We accidentally built the lunar module a little too small. But we're not gonna let that set us back.

Stan: How'd that happen?

Bostick: Are you good at math?

Stan: Yeah.

Bostick: Do you get a perfect 100 on every test?

Stan: No.

Bostick: Okay.

Mixed feelings. I think that the show is good, though I didn't particularly enjoy it. I think it conveys its message effectively, but not efficiently. I feel like there's a lot of filler. At times the budgetary restrictions are very apparent. Some of the more engaging aspects of the story are either glossed over quickly, or never explained in a way that I feel is substantial. I mean that there are many things that I wish I could have seen more of. Conversely, there are many things that I think could have been entirely left out of the story for the better. I found most of the characters unlikable, or unrelatable. Not that being likeable means they're good characters. I found most characters to be quite one-note. The only notable development that these people go through is right at the end, and it feels rushed and unearned. At times the show is absolutely beautiful. I think the world design is seriously engaging, and they do a really good job of showing this. Maybe I'm just not the target audience. 

A fair while after watching EVA, I have decided the memes are great. There's a lot of potential there. I still didn't really like the show. 

[writing this about a year later - why the fuck would you write a scene where he whacks it? Did we need that character development? was it so that people would realise that he's just like them, whacking it to asuka? Cause after, shinji says hes disgusting, and I think whackin it over asuka is not the vibe. Get this series and these characters in the bin]

My favourite part was when he said 'it's jonesin time' and indiannad all over those guys 

hello phoebe waller bridge what is the phone number for destiny because i need to dial it

indianna jones and the dial it in a bit haha am i right

Phoebe Waller Bridge is a brilliant addition to the franchise! Helena was a snarky sneaky conperson with good motives and a nice, distant but close connection to Jones. The car chase went on too long. The character of Dr Jones is clearly tired and worn out and not really vibing with it all. Then he gets roped into this thing and has a chance to truly be a part of history. Nice to keep that part of him front and center. Can't believe they drowned that guy, god damn. Also, Boyd Holbrook is in it? He was in Logan. Always nice seeing nazis getting murked

In a word? Charming. Literally just make both characters 18 or over and all weirdness is gone. A nice hanging out movie, a lovely series of snapshots of a time, place, situation, world. 

Aside from obviously wanting to be Dean... The story is fairly straightforward: A boy and his robot. He teaches the robot to be good. I think the nuance is in the characters - Hogarth, Mansley, Dean, the General, and of course the giant, all have nuance that goes beyond the usual tropes you might be able to assume from a movie like this. Mansley is basically Fox Mulder but a total asshole. He goes through great lengths for ostensibly national security, but really he's just in it for himself. The General actually listens to advice. The main shame of this movie is it miserably fails the Bechdel test. Movie could use a sequel, maybe like 20 years after the first one is set? 70's, hogarth is like 30, maybe has a sibling? Giant finally rebuilds himself, powers of the world try to weaponise him / study him, etc. I like this movie