American Made G
I knew nothing about Barry Seal, a TWA pilot that eventually
worked for the CIA, before this film that chronicles his life from the late
‘70’s until the mid-to-late ‘80’s. At
first, the CIA wanted him to transport guns to South America until someone down
there wanted him to smuggle drugs into America.
Everything always comes down to money and some (like Barry) will risk it
all if there’s a good buck involved. His
life was very good for a bit and he was able to provide a luxurious life for
his wife and kids. They were getting so
much cash at one point that they had to keep finding hiding places for it. Like most drug dealing and criminal
situations, someone is eventually going to find out about all this ‘money under
the table’ and ‘living large’ will come to an unhappy end for everyone. If you already know the story, you know how
Barry’s ends. I, like I said, knew
nothing and usually could care less about these types of stories, but I found a
good amount of it interesting and give it a mild recommendation. I was somewhat reminded of Blow but don’t remember being a fan, so
I thought this was better in dealing with similar subject matter. 2/23/2018
Annihilation VG
It’s hard to be original nowadays with any genre in any medium,
so execution is key and this film is a perfect example of taking what’s been
used and presenting it innovatively and interestingly. Pertaining to another topic much spoken about
lately, this is a great example of female empowerment without bringing
attention to the fact other than having female-centric characters. See, you don’t need an unnecessary remake
like Ghostbusters when you have
original empowering movies like this (based on a book by Jeff VanderMeer). Anyway, an otherworldly element crashes into
Earth creating an extraterrestrial force field dubbed ‘The Shimmer,’ causing
anything within to mutate. Anyone that’s
entered hasn’t returned except for one and he has no answers, therefore five
women (including biologists, physicists and whatnot) decide to enter and
attempt to get answers. Normally it
would suggest it’s probably not the best idea to enter somewhere with no
previous success stories, but that’s where people with “nothing to lose” (like
these women) come in. There’s a feeling
of dread from the start and the film never once falters. The creature effects weren’t bad at all and
the set design alone kept me focused. All
the ‘abandoned porn’ reminded me of places like Chernobyl (top of my bucket
list). The end gets trippy as fuck and my
conclusions might not be what was intended, but even when it goes farther down
the rabbit hole, I was still enthralled.
I loved almost every inch of this movie.
3/5/2018
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight OK/G
I haven’t seen an animated Batman movie in I don’t know how long (I don’t count The LEGO Batman Movie). I had a free Redbox code that was expiring
and didn’t want to rent anything else I hadn’t already seen, so I took a chance
with this. It takes place in Victorian
times involving Jack the Ripper. The
real Jack was never found but this film does reveal who he is, ergo it’s
partially a whodunit. The animation is
crisp and there’s some bloody violence (it is R-rated after all), but even at
roughly 75 minutes, some scenes go on longer than they should. If you’re an indiscriminate fan of the caped
crusader though, you shouldn’t be disappointed and I enjoyed this more than the
last several live-action Batman
flicks. 2/23/2018
Battlecreek EH
Even though I’m not recommending it, proceed at your own
will since I’m going to give spoilers.
Battlecreek is a small southern town no different than any other we’ve
seen on screen. Let’s see, there’s a diner
in town, there’s a woman obviously abused by her husband, and there’re two
redneck douchebags making people think all Southerners are like them. There’s a smorgasbord of clichés
altogether. There’s a girl whose car
happens to break down and has to stay in town; she’s obviously running from
something. The town “freak” who
frequents the diner (played by the new Pennywise---IT) meets cute with the girl, making her decide to stay
longer. He’s only a “freak” because he
has a visible scar on his neck and body resulting from a childhood incident and
a condition prohibiting sunlight exposure; thus townsfolk call him ‘Dracula’
since he only comes out at night. This
drifter girl inspires him to do something more with his life (blah, blah,
blah). There’s also a ‘wise’ old black
man doling out life advice as well (it always seems to be a black man). Sooner or later, someone from the girl’s past
comes looking in Battlecreek. The
freak’s mom happens to meet this ‘someone from the past’ at a bar (how ironic)
and reveals where the girl works.
Secrets are revealed, hatchets are buried, and the two ‘scarred’ lovers
leave their pasts behind as they ride out of town together. Battlecreek
is not worth visiting. I’ve already
‘visited’ enough similar towns before. 3/2/2018
Darkest Hour B
That title bears the same name as a hardcore band most
popular in the early aughts, but I doubt the band chose their name based on
similar material. This film involves the
time when Winston Churchill was elected prime minister of the U.K. in 1940
during Hitler’s reign. I remember
hearing his name in high school history but don’t recall anything about the
guy. Honestly, this film didn’t educate
me much either. All I can tell you is he
was prime minister during World War II and gave speeches about never giving up
fighting. This film was basically a
2-hour history lesson full of gibberish going right over my head, much like my
sophomore history class in high school where my teacher drained the life out of
anything she taught. Gary Oldman does
look completely unrecognizable as Winston, much like Charlize Theron in Monster and Nicole Kidman in The Hours, so I think he would rightfully deserve the best
actor prize [He did win] even if I didn’t care for the film itself. Apparently I have an unpopular opinion of the
film since it’s nominated for best picture [It didn’t win for that]. 2/27/2018
Echoes EH/OK
Yet another movie involving sleep paralysis. Here’s a good idea: let’s go to a glass house in the middle of
the desert and allow a woman taking medications and experiencing the sleep
phenomenon to stay by herself for a bit.
Surely staying alone in the middle of nowhere won’t cause paranoia and
hallucinations. While this film doesn’t
completely suck, there’re still echoes (!) of many other movies, good or
not. There’s also a twist I should’ve
foreseen, but it actually makes the movie worse than it already was. 3/3/2018
Flint OK/G
Water is one of the things many of us take for granted. We need it for drinking, bathing, doing
laundry, cooking, I certainly couldn’t live without it. I don’t buy bottled water because I feel I
save lots of money just by filling up and refrigerating water bottles and/or
pitchers. My tap water tastes just fine
to me. This Lifetime TV movie depicts
the relatively recent (not even 4 years ago) situation in Flint, Michigan. The residents began to develop rashes, have
diarrhea, one woman had a stroke, and another woman had a miscarriage due to
the city’s contaminated water. When it
comes to people’s health and residents show proof that their water is clearly
contaminated, there’s surely something wrong with government officials if they
refuse to act on it right away. A group
of people, particularly some “soccer moms,” refuse to give up fighting and
their perseverance shows you never should even if change doesn’t initially
occur. Proof is given of ignored
concerns, further confirming how corrupt the government can be, especially with
matters not affecting themselves. As shown
on a protester’s sign, ‘water is a human right and not a privilege.’ Logically, some might suggest moving from the
affected area, but why should someone have to due to an issue that should be
handled by the city and/or state? A
voiceover in the beginning informs us that not all the details will be included
since it gets more complex the further you go, so obviously there’s stuff
missing from this movie. I, for one,
believe they included enough for those that may not have followed the case,
didn’t know enough of the case, or were born yesterday (or yet to be) and might
watch this in the future. I think the
basics were provided and too much more might’ve been too much altogether. 2/24/2018
The Florida Project VG
I very much liked this movie involving a hotel near Disney
World containing low-income (or barely any income) families in addition to
fleeting tourists. This is realism at
its realist while still managing to be entertaining. I wasn’t bored once. The characters were detestable, trashy even
(although I hate to use that description), but everything (other than the
fantastical ending and the appearance of Willem Dafoe) felt so authentic making
me think the very good actors (the children especially) were really just ordinary
people unaware of being filmed, and that, my friends, is acting at its finest! 2/20/2018
Mute EH
Blade Runner
much? At least that’s what the
futuristic set design reminded me of. It
obviously takes place in the future, but it bypassed me if it was revealed when. Food is delivered to you in drones for
goodness’ sake! Directed by Duncan
Jones, son of the late David Bowie, and starring Alexander Skarsgard, Paul Rudd
and Justin Theroux, why wasn’t this a better movie? The mute character of the title is played by
Alexander and I don’t particularly see why his being mute had any significance. He became that way after his Amish mother
refused to allow preventable surgery (those strict religions!) after a boating
accident as a child. His “handicap” simply
only made it harder for him to communicate when searching for a girl he loves. The mystery suggested before the girl goes
missing wasn’t even worth the wait when revealed. Alexander wasn’t bad in his role, but I
didn’t care at all for Paul or Justin’s performances. I like Mr. Theroux but I strongly disliked
him looking like a blonde hippy and possibly being a pedophile. I really wanted to like this movie, but it appeared
more thought was put into the set design (which was good) than the script
(which wasn’t that good). 2/28/2018
The Neighbor B
Rear Window
much? Not quite actually. It’s much worse. I do hope you know I’m talking about the
Hitchcock version and not the TV movie remake with Christopher Reeve. I don’t recall much about the latter other
than remembering watching it when it premiered and it’s probably because I
didn’t really care. I had to research
and see if this was a TV movie but,
nope, it was actually distributed as a film.
I guess if there’s at least one recognizable face (I counted two here),
distribution isn’t a problem no matter how generic the script is. I’ve seen enough of these domestic thrillers
to prophesize several outcomes before they eventually happen. This one didn’t tack on a single twist,
making it a very bland film, as bland as films could possibly be. The neighbor should’ve just taken his wife’s
advice and stayed out of their new neighbor’s affairs or just called the police
and had them handle it. Then, like
always, this movie wouldn’t exist and perhaps that’s when the screenwriter
should consider a rewrite or throw this script out altogether so people like me
wouldn’t choose to sit through extremely lame shit like this. 2/28/2018
Rebel in the Rye OK/G
The Catcher in the Rye was one of the few books I was
forced to read in high school that I remember somewhat liking. This biopic focuses on the author, J.D.
Salinger, played by Nicholas Hoult. I’d think
a biopic would entail the majority of a person’s life from a really young age to
their death (if they died), but sometimes too much info could be unnecessary
filler. Some of this does feel like
filler despite focusing on a certain segment of his life, but I found much of
it intriguing considering I knew very little about him before. The film begins with Jerome (it’s what the J
stands for) about to begin college for writing and moves through to his
choosing a life of seclusion while writing without being published (until his
death). That’s a true writer, writing
without getting paid for it and/or not having it read. (That’s kind of what these reviews of mine
are---I’m not getting paid although I wish I did). Naturally, the film isn’t without its
clichés. People like his father try crushing
his dreams by informing him he won’t make an honest living as a writer. J.D. gets innumerous rejection letters before
his first story is published. I know it
depicts how hard it is in the real world and artists should be prepared for and
expect rejection, but it’s a story I’ve already heard many times about
beginning authors. It’s still not a bad
biopic about an author with a writing mentality that might’ve been ahead of his
time. 2/24/2018
Rememory G
Memory can be very tricky sometimes. It can be dangerous too. It’s also what defines us and generally all we
have. This movie does mention things
along those lines. A device was created
here that captures some of your memories and stores them so you yourself can watch
as an observer. There would be pros and
cons if such a device were to exist. On
one hand, you could analyze certain situations from a different viewpoint and
possibly alter the way you process them since many people tend to overanalyze
memories. On the other hand, it may open
up old wounds or cause you to see things you wish you hadn’t and that refers
back to the notion of memory being dangerous.
As mentioned in the film and I’m paraphrasing like usual, good memories
are what keep us going but often they’re buried in a sea of bad ones. That couldn’t be a truer statement, at least
according to me, so it begs the question of whether we should just move on even
from good memories. While the ending
isn’t so fresh and the film isn’t as detailed or brilliant as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I
thought it was a decent sci-fi drama that brought up some good points
pertaining to memory (as mentioned above).
2/23/2018
Ryde EH
The title refers to a driving service similar to Uber or
Lyft. You can never be too careful in
any situation, but I always thought Uber/Lyft were very shady. You don’t know if the driver is crazy and
plans to do something (which happens here) and the driver doesn’t know if the
passengers are crazy (which also happens here).
This movie starts off mildly promising by focusing on more than
character but quickly veers into bland slasher territory, combining traces of Taxi Driver, Maniac, and one scene reminding me of The Stepfather. After being
reminded of those better movies (I hope you know I’m referring to the original
latter two titles since I rarely ever refer to remakes when mentioning good
movies), all this film made me want to do was watch them instead. Skip this ryde! 2/27/2018
Tragedy Girls OK/G
This is basically Heathers
for the social media era (Ironically a new series based on that film is
starting). Kind of. While Heathers
was a black comedy, this was a straight satire with its tongue firmly embedded
in-cheek. This film was much more
violent though. In fact, the impressive
violence makes it the best thing going for it.
Two high school girls commit town murders and cover it up with an online
site making it look they’re interested in solving them. Anyone can be a journalist these days with
all the social media avenues! The
balance of comedy and horror has worked in the past, but even when this film
goes to dark places, the farcical tone gets the better of it. I give the violence a G rating and the script
a conditional OK. There’s much to admire
here, but I just didn’t think it fully succeeded in merging the whimsical with
the tragic. 3/3/2018
The Untamed G
This Mexican film is part family drama, part sci-fi
mystery. You never truly know what
happens behind closed doors. The “homophobic”
husband is gay like usual but we see that before he acts homophobic. Considering the carnal pleasure some of the
women receive from an otherworldly squid-like creature, I’m baffled as to why
some (like the husband) still have to conceal their sexuality in this day and
age. The film is fairly straightforward
with bizarre and dark undertones and there’s nothing I’ve seen quite like it
lately. 2/23/2018
Z-O-M-B-I-E-S G
This Disney Channel ‘Original Movie’ is simply titled Zombies; I just spelled it out in
“cheer-speak” because that’s how it’s advertised. It does contain zombies (if you count green
hair and slightly pale skin) but it’s a musical/teen movie about differences
and acceptance. The differences here don’t
involve race, gender, or sexuality; only if you’re living or zombie. They’re technically not zombies since they didn’t
die and return, just changed after an accident. This accident caused the living to separate
them with a wall, but eventually the zombies are allowed to attend high school
on the living side after given devices called Z-bands preventing them from going
rogue. You can probably guess many will
look past their differences by films end right?
There’s even a Romeo and Juliet
subplot with a human and zombie falling in love, but I actually tolerated this
film much more than I thought I would. It’s
aware of many clichés despite still utilizing them. I think it would’ve been better strictly as a
teen movie, but none of the musical numbers were too distracting regardless of
being corny (it’s a Disney channel movie after all). What the hell, I’m recommending it because I
found no fault with it and liked the message saying those that are intolerant
are the ones that have to change instead of those deemed “different” changing themselves.
That’s definitely uplifting for those (both young and old) struggling to
feel good about themselves in the modern world.
2/20/2018
---Sean O.
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