Friday, November 6, 2020

Antebellum/The Rental

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In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated 1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going to review every single movie I see.  I’m going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future).  You can always ask me why I gave the ratings for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses under the ‘About Me’ section).
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Antebellum                                                                  G
Ads I saw for this film upon its initial release indicated there was a twist.  Now, sometimes I like knowing that beforehand since it gives me something to look forward to, but other times I wish it wouldn’t be disclosed (as much as humanly possible) so I wouldn’t try figuring it out (and many times I end up being right, like I sort of was here).  There’s a twist in the beginning, but the bigger twist comes at the end and I think I might’ve been more surprised had I not known there was going to be one.  The final twist arguably made it a darker film than it initially appeared.  Why am I mentioning the twist if I myself wish it wouldn’t have been disclosed?  Well, if you’ve seen ads like me, you’ve likely heard there was a twist, and the film actually managed to still be adequately entertaining.  It only received 2 out of 5 stars on All Movie and only 28% out of 162 critics on Rotten Tomatoes, so apparently it didn’t do too well.  All I can say is to go in without any knowledge that a twist is coming (if you possibly can), but, then again, I knew there was a twist coming, kind of figured it out, and still kind of enjoyed it, so check it out and decide for yourself.  11/6/2020

The Rental                                                                   EH/OK
It always sounds sketchy when letting strangers rent one’s house and the same goes for those staying in a stranger’s house.  Two straight couples rent a nice place overlooking the beach here and first impressions aren’t the best when meeting the owner’s brother who comes off as a bit standoffish and possibly racist (a Middle Eastern girl couldn’t book the house while a Caucasian guy could an hour later).  A locked door with a keypad is discovered underneath the house and while that may appear sketchy (at least in entertainment), isn’t actually too much considering there’s always locked doors on properties.  Eventually someone discovers what appears to be a camera in the showerhead and things just escalate from there.  Now, the characterizations may be intricate and we do get some idea of who these people are (infidelity seems to be a commonality), but the concept is nothing I haven’t seen before (a movie set in Italy is just one that comes to mind), making it feel not at all distinctive.  I was going to give this a strictly OK rating, because I didn’t hate it despite being nothing special, but I felt that would’ve been too nice.  11/5/2020

Bonus review:

Swallow                                                                       OK
Talk about an unhealthy obsession!  The female protagonist here, a housewife that recently became pregnant, develops a habit of swallowing items not meant for consumption; first, it’s a marble, then, it’s a thumbtack, then it becomes a battery and other potentially harmful items.  If these items manage to come out the other end, she retrieves them, washes them, and groups them together as if they were souvenirs.  The people in her life do find out about this obsession and naturally no one is okay with it, and we eventually learn of a possible reason why she developed this habit, but it’s still baffling how one could still develop such a particular proclivity.  It does make for a compelling character study, a rather idiosyncratic one we’re not used to seeing, being more of a psychological drama despite being categorized as a psychological thriller, but it really doesn’t amount to much when all is said and done.  11/6/2020

Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

At the End of Eight  >>>OK

Holidate  >>>OK
   (Netflix)

---Sean O.
11/6/2020

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