Thoughts on Films

1. The Resort - I was in the mood for a fun, cheesy horror movie and this seemed like it had the same vibe as The Rental (which I liked), but, oh man, this movie is bad. I don't think I have anything nice to say about it at all. You would think that, at the very least, I could praise the scenery considering that it takes place in Hawaii (and was actually filmed there), but it barely scratches the surface of the beauty that exists there (still on my list! Volcano tour here I come!). The dialogue, combined with that Chris Hemsworth wannabe's acting is just truly horrendous. The plot is a very typical haunted building mystery tale, but it takes a full 45 minutes before anything remotely creepy happens (which is more than half of the total runtime). Instead we are given 45 minutes of banter, that is neither interesting nor is it funny, and an overly long scene of them swimming in a lake, which is an obvious excuse to have these four show some skin. I don't usually have problems with that, but these four people are not hot and it doesn't even make sense that the girls are conveniently wearing bikinis even though the lake was not a planned stop. Once the "haunted" part kicks in, I was already really bored and I was rooting for their deaths. It all felt very amateur. 

2. A Quiet Place Part II - I really liked the first one (I believe it was in my top 3 movies of 2018). I think horror is probably the genre that I am the most skeptical of - it has to be done really well for me to enjoy it. And horror sequels are generally terrible. I didn't really want a sequel to this - it seemed unnecessary and *spoiler* since Krasinski's character dies in the first one, I thought it would just make me sad to watch more of the story without him. BUT, I'm extremely happy to say that I loved this one almost just as much as the first one. The intensity of it is still there - and that's really why it was so successful for me. And it made me happy that they found a way to still include his character (via flashback). And Cillian Murphy is a great replacement - I definitely consider him underrated. He's always good but rarely talked about. The rest of the cast is, once again, wonderful. I actually didn't realize that Noah Jupe was in the first one (he was excellent in Honey Boy. What a talented kid!). Also, it's the PERFECT length - roughly an hour and forty minutes (just like the first one), every moment is necessary and nothing is wasted. It just grabs you right from the beginning, is incredibly tense with a pitch-perfect pace. Right now, it's my favorite movie of 2021 (even though it was technically premiered in the U.S in 2020, but then quickly delayed a wide release due to the pandemic. I think most are considering it 2021). 

3. Wrath of Man - Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham...I AM ALL IN. It's a very typical Ritchie production with very fast-moving dialogue (I wish I had the subtitles on because I KNOW that I missed some of the humor), and non-linear narrative. Overall, I liked it, but I wanted to love it. I think something about it just didn't feel fresh enough. It gets very repetitive and it's quite obvious (from the very beginning - it's even in the title) as to what this guy is doing. But it's also very satisfying watching everything unfold. I wish Josh Hartnett had more to do - he seems kind of wasted in this as a clueless sidekick character. Also, *spoilers* the end "heist" is incredibly stupid - as it's talked about as being a big score because they hit the armored car depot on Black Friday as if the money would be automatically there the day of (most stores don't balance out their deposits until that night and it doesn't get picked up until the next day - so if you want to hit the Black Friday jackpot then you would hit the trucks on Saturday...DUH. But also not many people use cash anymore, anyway. Just so dumb). I would recommend it to anyone who is a Guy Ritchie fan because it feels like he's back to doing what he does best (with this and The Gentleman, I have high hopes that he is ditching doing stuff like the live-action Aladdin - what the fuck was he thinking?).

4. Beckett - *slight spoilers* Really, really slow-moving and unfortunately, it's just not worth the effort it takes to watch it. But, John David Washington redeems himself (I like him, but he really lost me with his performance in Tenet, in which he seemed like he was about to fall asleep at any moment). He's really engaging in this - and probably the only reason that I didn't end up completely hating this movie. He also does a brilliant job at getting the audience to feel how defeated he is - he's in a car accident, is shot and stabbed, and still continues - but not in a typical action-hero kind of way. Instead, you are genuinely left wondering if he's just going to collapse at any moment. I think I was expecting some sort of twist or something, especially with Alicia Vikander's character (again, another OSCAR-WINNING actress taking a bit part in an action thriller. WTF), but it ends up being a fairly straight-forward story about a normal guy just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's not a bad movie - but I can't say that there is anything memorable about it. I think if they established the characters better in the beginning then I might have cared more about them, but it just starts off instantly slow and dull. 

5. The Last Letter from Your Lover - Not a terrible romance drama. It actually held my attention and has a satisfying conclusion. I also really like 3/4 of the cast - Shailene Woodley gets better and better with every role, Felicity Jones is always a delight, and Joe Alwyn has a really intriguing presence. Honestly, if Alwyn was in the "lover" role, the movie would have been even better. Callum Turner is the worst part of the movie - he has no screen presence, no charisma at all, which definitely hurts the *most* essential part of this story - the chemistry that is necessary for the audience to fall deep for this love story. The older version of this couple had more chemistry just in their 2 minutes of screen time together. The best part of this movie, though, is the costume design. Her outfits are TO DIE FOR (wouldn't it be wonderful to just lounge all day in a white bathing suit and big white sun hat?? But honestly, just the thought of it stresses me out - I would most definitely get something on the white bathing suit, or worry that it's see-thru, and with my luck it would be a windy day and that hat would just go flying right off my head. But in movie land, it just seems like such a relaxing, peaceful experience). The film is definitely not for everyone - it's a slightly better Nicholas Sparks type story about unrequited love, but there is something very charming and lovely about it.