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Men (2022)
Another Excellent Garland Movie/Surprised About These Negative Reviews
I was surprised to find all these reviews panning the movie, and Garland fans especially disliking it. It seems like many of you are thinking that it's preachy or maybe "Woke", but I didn't think so.
I could be wrong, but here's what I thought about the movie and why I don't think that it was preachy. (Spoilers Below)
I thought that that Harper seeing the same man (Rory Kinnear's Geoffrey) everywhere, as she tries to get over, not the loss of her husband exactly, but the relationship itself, in particular his toxicity and gaslighting, was mostly, if not completely, psychological. She is seeing all men as toxic and manifesting the same toxic traits as her dead ex-husband. All different facets of toxic masculinity (disgusted, as I am, to write those two words together) : the caretaker (Geoffrey) is chauvinistic; the boy is kind of youthfully, spitefully misogynistic; the preacher guilts her about her role in her ex-husbands death; the cop doesn't seem to take the threat of the nude/Adam one seriously.
Something else I noticed before seeing the movie is that, the two main characters Harper and Geoffrey/Men, have very similar faces/facial structure. And I was actually semi-worried that this movie would be something preachy about the Trans movement because of it. But I think that because the men, look like they could be (albeit usually older) male versions of Harper is evidence that that she is superimposing projections onto all the males she encounters on her getaway/vacation. And the climax of the movie is her is all the toxic traits of the men birthing each other, ending with her ex-husband who, when Harper asks, tells her the core/heart of his toxicity, the need to be loved and terrible things such a understandable vulnerability can lead you to do in a relationship, especially a doomed one. A trait which in my mind isn't inherently masculine, and can be found equally in "Toxic Masculinity" and "Toxic Femininity"
In my mind, this movie could have been just functional, called "WOMEN" and had the roles completely gender swapped, and still told a similar story, even if some of the inherent danger and terror could be lost.
Anyway... I don't claim to understand everything about this movie, or that any one person, save Alex himself, has the "correct" or complete interpretation of the movie, as Garland himself says he wants people to read into the movie, and put some of themselves into their interpretation.
But I felt the need to stick up for this movie, because I think it's being misunderstood in the light of the zeitgeist of "wokeness" that taints our current view of nearly all movies. Alex has said that the script for this movie has been in his drawer for about 15 years, being dusted off and revised every now and again until he got the chance to make it. So I would be careful to judge it be the standards of today. I don't think that it is demonizing of Men or masculinity, I think that it is a psychological journey for a woman to overcome the extreme toxicity and gaslighting guilt of her dead significant other. It's worth the price of the ticket, and worth a rewatch, just like all of Garland's work. 8/10 for my first viewing. Willing to revise, probably upward with further viewings, again like all of Garland's work so far.
Tha God's Honest Truth with Charlamagne Tha God (2021)
Utter garbage.
Racist and completely biased. All arguments from the other, at least, half the country, are either not told or demonized without logic, to the point of to the point of absurdity, and disgust on my part. Not stop racism, and race baiting. Continuous demonization of rightwingers, and people who believe in liberty of any form, and even simply all white people. Identity politics without shame, or repremand, or even any form of exposure to differing opinions. Even Trevor Noah is a God send compared to this. I hope that whoever greenlit this show, and continues to support it, eventually get their cermupence for giving a voice to this harmful, racist, extremist show. I don't see any hope of coming back to logic and tolerance, for anyone who watches and agrees with what lies are spewed in this trash. God save us all if this the direction we are going.
Dead End (2003)
Descent.
Pretty good horror movie. Good and creepy sometimes. However, for an R rated horror movie I feel like the reason they only alluded to the gore, showing character's reactions instead of showing it, multiple times... was to save money. Felt slightly cheated. Also the ending/bug reveal at the end is pretty damn predictable. Other than that tho, pretty damn good. I'd recommend to horror fans, if they don't have anything better to watch.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Weak
Not the worst movie I've ever seen, but not great or even particularly good. Pretty confused and forgettable. Like a kid who tries to grab up all the candy from the pinata, and ends up only getting a few peices. You can tell its shooting for greatness, and ends up feeling... befuddled.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Dissappointing, not terrible
(I know that I will most likely be hated just because I didnt hate this movie and am not giving it 1 out of 10 stars. But that wont stop me from sharing what I thought. Screw off and grow up if you dont like it. Apologies for the lack of apostrophes and quotation)
What I thought of it as a movie: 7.5/10
How this lived up to my expectations as an episode in the Star Wars saga: 3/10
Intro:
After I saw Force Awakens the first time I only had two things that really didnt like about it: 1. The main villian (Kylo Ren) seemed very weak, after all the marketing, anticipation, and his first 10 minutes on screen making him out to be a total badass. 2. They made a film thats plot was (albeit deliberately) the exact same basic structure as the movies in the Original Trilogy. Something which George Lucas, who hasnt always been the best thing for Star Wars movies, was against, saying that each Star Wars movie should be different and original. However, they didnt need Lucas permission and moved forward with the retro plot. Some people liked how it reflected the old movies, some didnt, but either way the movie was very successful. I did really enjoy the movie, and appreciated a new updated addition to the Star Wars saga. But I was really looking forward to the next movie, because at least the story would be more original.
Directing: 8/10
I was very excited when it was announced that Rian Johnson would be directing Last Jedi, because I am a huge fan of his movie Looper. I was a little bit concerned because he hadnt handled anything quite as big as JJ Abrams had when he did Force Awakens. But Disney has already had LOADS of successes in the MCU with small time directors who only really need to have one solid film under their belts for their potential to be spotted. As a general rule, this is something Disney does very well. Rian Johnson is no exception to that. He handled this massive movie with finesse. Everything looked really good and worked together very well, except for maybe a little too much reliance on CGI, but that was mostly just the weird horse-thing chase scene. The movie looked beautiful. Action scenes and combat were awesome and exciting, even if they didnt feel as fleshy as Abrams previous film. Abrams brought viewers right into the combat of Star Wars, from Kylo Rens lightsaber, to the uses of the force, the blaster shootouts, to the space combat and explosions. Johnsons new Star Wars felt like a small step back from that, but that was significantly because of the story and writing...
Writing: 5/10
Many people say that this movie was far too slowly paced and longer than it should be which is partially true. However, take a look at a movie like Quentin Tarentinos Hateful Eight, which also relatively slow and long. The difference is that even while there is not much going on in majority of Hateful Eight, it is still a joy to watch all the way through because the direction and camera angles are epic and they make watching what would be a boring scene unique and fun, characters are bold and interesting, and they interact with each other in fun and interesting ways even when there is no action, and the rising threat of the final conflict is enough to keep people interested until it does happen. All these things that Tarentinos film have going for it, the Last Jedi does not really have. Only the characters of Rey, Kylo, Luke, sometimes Poe and of course Chewy, have the real ability to carry my interest through would-be boring scenes. Finn is a great character but in this movie, 80% of his whole part of the story is wasted on a pretty boring sub plot. A part which, unlike a lot of people, I dont believe should have been cut out. Finn and Roses mostly-dull sub-plot should have been shortened and/or spiced up, but it served a point completely because it was a failure and it ended up getting a lot of people killed. The biggest recurring theme of Last Jedi is that failures serve as much of purpose and can be learned from just as much as successes. Yoda, in all of his wisdom talks to Luke about this and it was one of the best parts of the film. Speaking of Luke, lots of people are complaining about his role and actions in this film, which I guess I understand a little, but just because his character and role in the are very different. But do NOT get me wrong, I dont agree with these opinions. Lukes evolution before the events of, and during this film made perfect sense, and this movie did a brilliant job at bringing Lukes journey as a Jedi in a full and complete circle and tied it off with a beautiful (two-sun-set) knot. Lukes arch, in Last Jedi, basically his swan song, was probably my favorite part of this movie, and the only thing I thought really couldnt have been done better. And yes, I truly believe Luke would have considered killing Ben Solo if he had premonitions that he was going to be the downfall of the galaxy. And I personally enjoy the paradox that it was these premonitions that caused that series of events to fall into place. My only other complaint with the writing (besides obviously too many space battles, too few lightsabers), is that theres a bunch of jokes and most dont really hit the mark. They feel like they are put there to keep the atmosphere light because of all the kids watching. Chris Nolans Dark Knight trilogy, and the Russo brothers Marvel movies have done a great job at proving you can make movies that both adults and kids can love without forcing a bunch of out of place jokes for children. All-in-all, I think Rian Johnson did a decent job, considering he wrote he wrote it all his own, while Abrams had a sort of team at helped him write Force Awakens. However, while I respect one person taking charge of a project and bringing his or her solitary vision to the big screen, I think that if we get a better product from multiple writers or more consultation, thats what we should have.
Acting: 8/10
The acting in this movie is pretty solid. Some characters seem like they arent acted well but its really hard to tell if it is the actors at fault or the fault of the screenwriting. Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, and Domhnall Gleeson are all very good. Andy Serkis motion capture for Snoke looks and sounds spectacular. Were still not at the point where you cant tell if a person or character is CG or real, but everything was pretty convincing and life like nonetheless.
Conclusion: 7.5/10
Johnson did a good enough job with this movie that Im very interested in his non-Skywalker trilogy that hes working on now, but I am glad that Episode IX is back in the hands of Abrams. I dont believe that Star Wars movies, or movies in general, have to have non-stop action and violence all the time, but Abrams Force Awakens had a seemingly perfect balance between slow, character building moments, and action, adventure, and war. Despite my two primary complaints with Force Awakens, mentioned above, Abrams movie never bored me once and had loads of interesting prose that asked questions which made people excited to see the next entry. However, Johnsons Last Jedi did less than reciprocate this. It didnt ask new, exciting questions and even sort of belittled the questions Abrams left to be answered in later movies. I truly think that that is the heart of all the hate for this movie. Force Awakens two biggest questions to be answered were: Who is Snoke? Who are Reys parents? Johnsons answer to both was: Nobody. Even if Snoke did have an interesting backstory, it really doesnt matter anymore. While I respect that nobody is a perfectly reasonable answer to both those questions, and I even kinda liked what was done with both those answers, it just feels lazy story writing to answer two questions with the same answer. If it was just one of those questions answered with nobody, it would have been different. My final thought is that, I am sort of glad the movie didnt end with a super cliffhanger would leave us stir crazy until Ep. IX, and it did answer some of the questions from the previous movie, even if those answers didnt contribute anything to the epicness of this trilogy. But this movie, while being complete, which is a fresh break from movies that end abruptly leave audiences completely unsatisfied for a year plus, it leaves zero setup for the next movie. And most disappointingly, it slays the bad guy who was pure evil and shrouded in mystery and leaves the new big-bad as Kylo Ren, who is albeit much improved from the last entry, but is conflicted as to whether he even is a complete bad guy and does NOT have the bad guy chops carry an entire movie, let alone the conclusion of this trilogy. I have more faith in Abrams vision of epicness, and for Star Wars as a whole, than Johnsons at this point. I am very excited but also very anxious for the final film of this trilogy. I pray they realize how lackluster the villian roster is currently and add some new, or old, evil faces, or masks, for the final chapter. Finally, I like this movie a lot but there is a lot of room for improvement and it does very little for the fans who spent time to ponder and eagerly await the answers to the mysteries that were hungrily, highchair-strapped, spoon-fed to them in the previous movie.
(PS: Leias force/space walk was a good idea and something that she should definitely be able to do, but when it happened on screen it looked extraordinarily stupid.)
American Satan (2017)
Not what I hoped for...
I have been looking forward to this movie since I saw the IMDb page and watched the trailer. I was hoping that it would be THE movie for fans of metalcore. But it wasn't just my overly high hopes for this movie that made me incredibly disappointed. I am usually very good at seeing the good parts of bad movies, as in, "Well, the acting wasn't very good, but the story was great!" While parts of this movie were alright, maybe even good at parts, not one aspect of this film was good all the way through.
Writing: 3/10 The basic story of American Satan might have been good if it was handled better. However, the script, if indeed there was a script, was awful, and many, many times it was hard to tell if the bad product on screen was because of bad writing or bad acting. The production quality didn't turn out to be good enough to convincingly carry the scope of the film, which could have been better handled if the writer/director knew his own limitations.
Directing: 4/10 When I saw the movie, I didn't know that the writer/director, Ash Avildsen, is the CEO and founder of Sumerian Record, the label that produces Asking Alexandria, (a great band, for the record). If I had known this I might have had a slight inclination that this movie was made with no better prospects than to reel in Andy Biersack fangirls, and metalcore fans, myself included, and not delivered with passion for or love for the music, or even quality movies. What was caught on camera and put on screen, at times, was so chaotic and incoherent, as my friend and I were watching the movie, at a pivotal part of the film, my friend looked over at me and asked, "Wait, what happened?" and I had to explain what I was pretty sure had happened but was not clearly shown. Also, what the trailers showed of the band playing in the movie looked great and I was really looking forward to it, however what was shown in the movie looked like it was ripped straight from a concert tape of your average rock band. I couldn't get into it, even as a huge fan of the kind of music they play. All in all, it just wasn't good, and I believe the person most at fault for this entire catastrophe is the writer and director himself.
Acting: 5/10 The acting in this movie is very spotty. Sometimes it seems like the newcomers to acting and stars of the movie, Andy Biersack and Ben Bruce are doing very well with their acting debut, and other times its painful to watch. This goes for the experienced actors of the film to, finger pointed straight at Malcolm McDowell. But, as said before, it's often hard to tell if the poor product on screen is the fault of an actor doing their job poorly, or if the script they were given was just god-awful.
Overall: 4.5/10 There's not a lot to like here unless you're a die-hard Andy Biersack, Black Veil Brides fangirl, or boy, and consider everything he touches to be descended straight from heaven. Anyone who considers himself a fan of quality films, or at least have one thing, one good aspect of a movie to praise after devoting almost two hours to it, should probably go look somewhere else.