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Reviews
Lars the Emo Kid (2015)
A love letter for the decade I grew up in.
A preface I don't think is brought up in any other reviews, this movie seemingly grew out of a video series from the mid 2000s called Lars the Emo. It's only loosely based on it and it's tonally very different. But I think it's important context.
It's important because for a movie made in 2015 this movie just has that quintessential 2000s charm. It's written and shot like a webseries from that period. Big time The Guild vibes, a series I'm also a huge fan of. And for all its references and tropes it might as well be from then. Nickelback, beatboxing, George Bush is president, dumb YouTube video callbacks, even the weird rawr so randumb way some of the emo characters act is exactly how I remember them at school. I'm pretty sure I even saw a Blackberry.
It's a time capsule, meticulous in its intent and competent in execution. You could make a drinking game out of the period references. Funny thing is, when this came out, the 2000s only ended half a decade ago. Now it's nearly a decade and a half, and that nostalgia is starting to kick in big time.
This movie does have some serious subject matter. But I'm not gonna say the off kilter tone of the movie really detracts from it. If anything, it's just remaining loyal to its whole 2000s vibe. This stuff wasn't taken as serious back then. I think the 2000s was the last carefree decade before reality started to kick in.
I remember growing up in the 2000s. Terrorist attacks, the Kyoto Protocol, the looming recession. They felt like blips on the radar. Nobody took them seriously yet. Suicide, mental health stuff, it wasn't a huge deal either. Everyone was in a fugue because the bubble hadn't burst yet. Take the guidance counselor for example. That's where emo sorta came from it seems, because the bubble had burst for them, and it's why it makes sense to have one as a main character in what is a tribute to an entire decade.
All this is wrapped up in an otherwise standard high school coming of age story. On this budget, I'd say they did a damn good job.
Foundation (2021)
Exceeds expectations
At best I thought this would have been underwhelming, but it managed to step up its game to be a bona fide slap in the face to anyone who's picked up an Asimov novel. But what do you expect when one of the lead writers is on record stating he thought the galaxy was "106 light years across".
Another in an ever increasing line of stillborn adaptations from opportunistic culture vandals who can't function without a rolodex of buzzword laden writing prompts and the desecrated skeleton of a classic to fit it around.
Really looking forward to see what Amazon will do with Middle Earth next.
Shazam! (2019)
Breath of fresh air
It's rare to see a superhero movie that doesn't take itself too seriously and yet is so well written. There's a lot of synchronicity in this movie, between the beginning and ending sequences and the motivations of the hero and the villain. The humour itself is excellent, alternating between slapstick and dumb pop culture references (Big for example), which generally I dislike, but this executes it so well I cannot help but be entertained. And somehow, despite how ludicrous it can be, it manages to retain its central theme without cheapening it in the slightest. Definite breath of fresh air in an otherwise stagnant genre.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
The Superlative Godzilla Movie
If you read nothing else of this review, know this: if you are a Godzilla fan, you will love this movie.
This reimagining carefully recreates the most important elements of the original films and gives it a modern coat of paint. It has the lot - multiple kaiju battles with the monsters accurately represented, a warning on the human impact on the environment, the kaiju influence on human mythology and the necessity of coexistence with the raw force of nature they represent. The sheer fan service on offer here is jaw dropping in a media environment where the expectations of fans are so often disregarded. From the Oxygen Destroyer to Ghidorah's extra-terrestrial origin, the respect for the Godzilla franchise simply blew me away. I hope this film does well so that further adaptations look to this as an example of how to faithfully adapt a franchise without necessarily following it to the letter.
Nonetheless, critical reception was less than stellar, and I actually take offence to this. I want to set the record straight here - the negative reviews can be summarised as so: drip fed the anthropocentric iterations such as Zilla or Godzilla 2014, these critics are incapable of suspending their disbelief for just a moment; it becomes apparent that, after trying the real deal for the first time, they simply do not like Godzilla. Pay them no heed and go into it with an open mind.