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Reviews
Terminal (2018)
Saw the twist a mile away
Here's the thing about noir films you'll learn if you take even a 101 film class, never trust the woman. And I mean that in a story structure way. Noir films paved the way for the Femme Fatale character: the charming, beautiful girl who turns out to be the double crossing mastermind from the very beginning, leading the detective or otherwise traditionally male protagonist into a trap. If you know that much, then this whole movie is pointless. You can tell just by looking at the poster that Margot Robbie's character is not to be trusted, and that she is, most definitely, the smartest person in the room at any given time. Once you realize and accept this, the whole movie just becomes a means for the writer to create pretentious, cliche dialogue about life and death, facading as a smart script.
The biggest twist I found during this whole film was that there were two Margot Robbie identical twins the whole time, which turned out to be both stupid and entirely unnecessary, to the point where I found myself laughing when the second sister was eventually revealed. And by god, the incessant allegorical use of Alice and Wonderland was hokey and heavy handed to say the least.
The only thing the film has going for it is the admittedly very cool lighting and cinematography. The neon colors are a nice backdrop to at least look at while you remain bored by the generally uneventful plot.
I was wanting to give this film a fair shot given what I knew about it's poor ratings, but even I couldn't be so forgiving.
Dead to Me (2019)
Good on the surface but...
At its core, Dead to Me is a soap opera for the Netflix age, with every episode packed full of twists and turns that grips its audience (myself included) and forces them to binge harder than Garfield in a lasagna factory. This sort of appeal tactic is Netflix original series production 101. Therefore, I cannot judge the quality of this show based upon how fixated my eyes were to the screen, much like how I cannot judge a Disney Star Wars film by how much nostalgia inducing fan service is crammed into each scene.
The show is fairly formulaic: Establish episode premise, slowly stew over premise for majority of episode, have huge revelation at end of episode for characters to stew over in the next episode. The characters will constantly retread covered ground, making dialogue come off as time filler rather than a thickening of plot. To be fair this formula is nothing new. Shows like The Good Place have a similar story structure. But where The Good Place succeeds and where Dead to Me fails is having likable characters that you want to see through to the end.
I personally thought the main protagonist, Jen was portrayed as too unlikeable, to the point where I was happy whenever she would fail or get what was coming to her (all except for one particular scene involving the interior of a red mustang, you'll know it when you see it). I didn't want to see her succeed, nor did I care when she would be faced with heartbreak or disaster.
To sum up, much of my enjoyment of Dead to Me was surface level. The thrills and chills were gripping in the heat of the moment, but we're ultimately superficial once looked back upon, realizing that much of this five-hour, ten-episode journey, could have been summed up with better character progression in the length of a two hour feature film. Here's hoping the next season learns from its mistakes.
Be Kind Rewind (2008)
Fun concept, wish there was more
I was able to get a copy of this movie at a Goodwill (surprisingly good place to find movies), so I wasn't about to be too disappointed since I only spent about $4 on it. That being said, this film has a very fun premise that, unfortunately, we only get to see a glimpse of overall. The actual making of the "sweded" films (a term coined by Black's character to excuse the shoddy quality of their film remakes) is a fairly small part of the movie. In addition, the film suffers from a script that feels rushed and awkward. Lines are delivered as though they were a rough take and the editing is choppy and often hard to follow. Had there been a little more care and polish in the final product, I feel the film would have been better received.
Negatives out of the way, the "sweded" movie making portion of the movie is incredibly fun and ingenious. The zero budget techniques used to recreate iconic moments in cinema history not only is a joy to watch, but has since started a real life cult following of people trying their hand at making home movie blockbusters. Again, I simply wished there was a little more. Apparently there is (or was) a website that housed the actual "sweded" versions of the movies made by Jack Black and Mos Def, but I have not yet been able to find them.
In short, Be Kind Rewind has a lot of potential for a lot of heart and a chance to inspire aspiring filmmakers, but sometimes gets lost in its own plot and rough script. It's definitely worth a watch, just don't go into it setting the expectation bar too high.
Eighth Grade (2018)
Intended Audience is Key
As someone born in Generation Z who is not a teenage girl, but still is very present in the world of social media (both key aspects of this movie) I was split on how I was supposed to feel during my viewing. There were moments where I would say to myself, "yes, this is absolutely what kids these days are like," and other times where I would say, "that would never happen." I was constantly left to question whether the selfish actions and motivations of the main character were meant to be sympathized with, or to be critiqued and viewed as someone who knows better. Again, he/she who is watching this and their age in proximity to eighth grade will have different reactions.
The so called "cringe" factor so many other reviews like to point out was, I felt, entirely meant to be eye-roll inducing; used to point out the desperate lengths adults and teens alike will go in order to be "relatable" and "hip." Moments like these should be taken at face value.
What actually made me uncomfortable during this whole film was the painfully awkward main character. There is showing a character being shy and awkward, and then there is having a character so bashful and bumbling to the point of being unrealistic. Our protagonist is the latter. The slow pace and lingering camera angles don't help to liven up the scene either when characters are stumbling and meandering through dialogue. There is such a thing as too awkward.
All in all, it's hard to recommend this film simply because it's hard to figure out it's intended audience. Actual middle schoolers are too young to see it themselves (being rated R after all) and adult parents will be left groaning at the portrayal of the social media centered world of teens that clearly was not meant to relate to them in the first place. Those in between, like myself, were left scratching their heads wondering what it was exactly they were meant to feel at all. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. Unfortunate, considering Bo Burnham is a very funny and talented comedian in his own right. Better luck next time, Bo.