tqrecords Reviews

Bo Burnham: Inside (2021 TV Special)

So good that you can't ignore it.

[9/10 · 6 November 2021]

The special jumps around and is all over the place. This is intended. What is amazing is not only the performances and skits, which I am still blown away by, but the meticulous effort that Bo Burnham went into crafting this project to feel like a studio production - an intentional, DIY production. I was drawn into every scene, often getting a glimpse into behind the scenes, behind the camera and behind who Bo Burnham actually is, or at least the glimmer of authenticity and vulnerability he was trying to portray. At times I was laughing, then feeling inspired, then feeling a bit sad, contemplating in these moments what I was actually watching or feeling. That's the intriguing thing about it. It took me unexpectedly on an emotional roller coaster ride, going up, going down and all around. By the end of it, I wanted to hop back on and go for the ride again. There is easily a bit of everything (all of the time) for everyone.

That's a reference taken from the song, "Welcome to the Internet". I discovered it on YouTube and it was the first time I've ever actually heard of Bo Burnham. It's what lead me to watch the special and I've played the song over and over. The video has been an amazing success on YouTube and in fact Bo Burnham's most watched video on the platform. I believe the main themes of the special are captured in this one song. He talks about our unlimited access to "mountains of content", our dependence on the internet, escapism through media, online dating/sexting, mass over-sharing, misinformation, data privacy, sexism, racism and every other kind of "ism" that is taking up real estate in our neocortices. I don't know if Bo Burnham has entirely given himself over to cynicism. We hear the dread come through in some of his songs. We see his crippling mental state. We feel in ourselves the same debilitating self-awareness that this world is, and already has, turned into a giant trash fire...But then he makes us laugh again.

Bo Burnham: Inside is much bigger than a comedy special. One could analyze every bit of the content and the messages portrayed in each performance. And there are many who have been doing this. No matter how many times you watch or listen to it, you may have new thoughts, opinions or ideas come to mind. If you're a creative, you might be interested in the technology, the design and the post production that went into the project. If that's not your thing, then it can just be 90 minutes of simple entertainment. If you're feeling anxious or depressed or burnt out, perhaps some of the more intimate moments of the special with resonate with you. After all of that, understand that Bo Burnham wrote and produced every song, designed every scene, and edited this project entirely on his own. It's just so good, you can't ignore it. I was so impressed with the work he put into this special that I became a little bit obsessed with watching Bo Burnham's earlier stuff and some of his interviews.

Bo Burnham at some point decided he wanted to use the language of comedy to express himself. After watching this special, I believe his comedy is just a byproduct of his genius. After all, I'm sitting here reviewing something that is both outrageously ridiculous and deeply philosophical at the same time. I came for the laughs and catchy tunes, but I stayed for the emotional and thought-provoking "content" that has been on my mind for a while after experiencing it.

Bottom of the World (2017)

Is it deep or dumb? Up to you to decide.

[5/10 · 23 January 2021]

Without trying reveal too much of the movie, which requires at least some degree of interpretation, I would say that many viewers may be on the fence about it once they understand it. After the wild but mildly frustrating run-around that the film takes you on, the truth that is ultimately revealed may either leave you with a feeling of cheapness, or a feeling of retribution. In the end I was left with the former, which is the reason I think this film is more dumb than deep.

The thing about this film is that while I was frustrated with the characters, bored with the cinematography, and unimpressed with surrealism that is was trying to achieve, still the film had enough going for it to hold my interest and I am not entirely sure why. This is the reason I can understand why some people may like it. Perhaps it was that the story took a sharp turn about a third of the way through (thankfully, because Scarlett (Jena Malone) is extremely annoying to watch). At this turn we get to see Alex (Douglas Smith) take us on a little chase. It keeps getting a bit more interesting up until it doesn't, leaving the viewer with that feeling I mentioned above. I do think Jenna Malone is great - she good at playing a dysfunctional teenager (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), Donnie Darko (2001)). She's believable in this, but the audience is supposed to hate her and that's achieved pretty early on. A lot of reviewers are noting similar themes and tropes of this film to Lynch's. For me I believe it is not done well enough, if at all, to even be compared. I have yet to read if the director took any inspiration from Lynch's films in the making of this movie. I reject this notion even more from the ending of the film, which fully explains the meaning of it and therefore cancels out anything Lynchian about it.

This thing about films and film reviews is that everyone is going to have a different reaction and opinion about it. This is one film that's a good example something you could love or hate. Both strong words, and perhaps too strong to describe it. I guess you're just going to have to watch it and find out. It deserves that much.

Xenogenesis (1978)

The project that kickstarted Cameron's career

[19 January 2021]

If you're up for seeing what a former truckdriver can do with a budget of 20 grand provided by a group of Californian dentists looking for a quick tax write-off, cue up James Cameron's first film, Xenogenesis. If you can get through all 12 minutes of it on YouTube, you may be as fascinated as I was to observe how Cameron used much of the same themes from this in his later works; dystopian future, cybernetics, giant weaponized machines and strong female leads. It's the project that ultimately propelled Cameron into his film-making career. And to later to become one of the successful film directors of all time.

The film, while it showed off Cameron's designs, is hard to measure up by any of today's standards (obviously). The sound effects are wacky, acting is weak and you got a lead white male character by the name of "Raj". That said, you're not watching it for any of those things. This was in fact a test movie created by Cameron in hopes of attracting investors turn this into a full length feature film. Well, that didn't happen but instead got him noticed by Roger Corman, who hired him as art director and visual effects (miniature design and construction) for his film Battle Beyond the Stars (1980). What is also cool to note is that the giant robot cleaning machine is very similar to the large tank in the opening scene of The Terminator (1984) - you know, the one that's plowing over all those human skulls? He even adopted the same low angle shot of the tank wheels in both films. Interestingly, those tank wheels as I've just discovered are called "bogies".

If you're a fan of James Cameron, or just want to appreciate how far we've truly come in special effects, I would recommend you spare 12 minutes of your life to give Xenogenesis a watch. Then maybe ask yourself, could I make something better with $20,000?

Morgan (2016)

Lazy writing, but not a horrible waste of time

[5/10 · 17 January 2021]

Morgan is film that failed because it didn't know what it wanted to be. It doesn't have the boldness to justify as a R-rated horror thriller, nor does it have an intelligent screenplay to accompany its themes of an AI psych thriller - both of which it was trying to go for.

In the film, Lee Weathers (Kate Mara), a "risk-management specialist", is called to evaluate whether or not the company she works for, SynSect, is to terminate a humanoid being hosted at a rural site. The project refers to the humanoid as Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy). And from the trailer, we see that Morgan shows concerning behavioral traits - including an incident wherein she stabs one of her doctors in the eye - which is why "corporate" has to step in. The doctors all seem to love Morgan, referring to her violent actions as honest mistakes. However, Lee Weathers is only there to do a job and doesn't seem to have any interest in humanizing Morgan. She is just there to weigh the risk of keeping the project afloat.

This film is not intelligent, especially considering others films in the same genre such as Ex Machina and the brilliant HBO series Westworld which released around the same time. The characters who all take care of Morgan seem to have developed a love for her, but the direction of the film doesn't lead the viewer to contemplate the relationships between genetically created organisms and humans. This is really just about a kick-ass robot (they don't explain why it can kick ass either). It had a great cast, good action sequences, and a satisfying ending which may have been obvious and predictable to some. Also, Paul Giamatti shows up halfway through the film to do a straight up ask-questions shoot-later psych evaluation. He has an excellent performance, although given the circumstance, his character made some questionable decisions.

I admit one of the primary reasons I watched till the end was Kate Mara (yeah, I have a bit of celeb crush on her not gonna lie). She is great in the film throughout. And Anya Taylor-Joy is excellent in her role as well. She does a fascinating portrayal of a machine displaying human emotions and human misunderstanding of them. I'm thrilled to see her continue on to great lead roles. Kate Mara needs to be in more films. I especially liked her in American Horror Story: Murder House as the crazed ex-lover and homewrecking patient, Hayden.

I like to see that Ridley Scott's kids are doing their thing. I suggest they keep experimenting with the artform. That said, Morgan is an experiment that could have succeeded, but underwhelmingly failed.

The Witch: Part 1 - The Subversion (2018)

Frustratingly bad, don't expect to take away anything memorable

[1/10 · 29 December 2020]

If you're a fan of South Korean films, this is sure one to skip. Trust me when I say the thing begins slow and drags on and on until we finally get a cool action sequence somewhere between two thirds of the way in. At this point you're hoping that things really pick up from there, but no. You can expect to wait for what seems like ages for another one like it - the pacing and timing seems completely off and only gets worse all the way through.

The characters are extremely boring and uninteresting with the minor exception of the "protagonist's cool but annoying friend" and the "charismatic evil dude". After a very slow build up of what turns out to be a predictable plot twist, we have what most reviewers of this film refer to as a barrage of incredible action scenes and hardcore violence. These scenes are effectively cool, but tragically cut too short...like every time. That time is taken up with more dialogue which we are presented with for the first two thirds of the film and have already been bored to tears with.

I watched this film not knowing what to expect after skimming a few decent reviews, otherwise I might not have heard of it. I am a huge fan of South Korean films for their original stories, deep character arcs, and aestheticization of violence. This film delivered none of those and I was deeply disappointed. I'm seriously scratching my head at some of the other reviews on here. Perhaps more "legit" ratings need to come in to present a more accurate representation. But that will mean a lot more people need to see the film and for that; I am truly sorry.

How It Ends (2018)

How It Ends? Answer: It doesn't

[5/10 · 21 September 2018]

This film starts off great. Amazing character build up and suspenseful scenes. We get drawn into the story and we are kept on edge, patiently waiting for the next conflict to occur. Naturally, we try to make sense of the plot, filling all the missing pieces in our heads as more and more subtleties are revealed. And then, just when things start to get really interesting, it's as if someone barged into the set and told everyone they were out of money and no one else can get paid. So as you can expect, everyone just left. The writers, the film crew, the director...everybody.

That's the only way I can fathom the film's horrible lack of an ending.

The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)

Painful to watch

[4/10 · 5 November 2012]

"I always take a gun to a knife fight..."

I provided this rating based on the fact that I would not see this movie a second time, would not recommend it to a friend, and did not take anything away from it other than the thought that Quentin Tarantino must have been high when he agreed to lend his name out for it.

I saw this movie because of my love for martial arts flicks, and I usually give all of them a chance. Also because I am a huge Wu-Tang Clan fan. What I expected to see was some decent fight choreography back-dropped with a grimy, old-school soundtrack. Now from what I recall on the soundtrack part, it did not deliver. And I know that RZA could have incorporated a couple tracks that would have lined this film up nice. Some that could have been included were; Da Mystery of Chessboxin', Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuttin ta F*** Wit, and pretty much anything from the 36 Chambers album. The fight scenes were mediocre until near the end to which I decided I would suck it up and just watch the rest of the movie. The first scene of the film actually made me angry because the fight scene was chopped up (which I hate), and the track they used in the background (actually from the 36 Chambers album) just didn't fit right!

Other things that were disappointing, other than Bautista from WWE showing up, was the weak script and amateurish plot. The dialogue was horrible (see quote from above) and the plot was...well there wasn't really a plot at all. I walked out of the movie asking myself/trying to remember what the story was really about. I'm not sure if it was because I was blown away by RZA's acting or because I was too busy trying to figure out why Russell Crowe was in the movie at all.

The set and costume design were the only things I thought were good about the movie. And the effort to create something visually appealing did not go unnoticed. But its all about the story and characters, which were both lacking aside from Lucy Liu's bit. Wait I think I just remembered what the movie was about...yeah it's pretty weak.

If Quentin Tarantino had more involvement/any involvement at all in this movie it might have been quite possibly something spectacular. But then RZA would have probably not been in it. Hey when is Kill Bill Vol 3 coming out?