1. Reminiscence - This movie had a lot of good things going for it: (1) It's written & directed by Lisa Joy. She co-created
Westworld, which isn't the most consistent show, but it certainly has its moments of sheer brilliance. (2) When people discuss "the greats" among actors, I think Hugh Jackman is often overlooked. He's one of the most versatile actors, which I think proves far more talent than most actors who "stay in their lane". He can do musicals, rom-coms, iconic superhero roles, and dark adult dramas all with a natural ease. I always look forward to anything he does because even if I don't end up liking it, I know that there will be a solid performance, at the very least. (3) It looks beautiful - the futuristic neo-noir vibe is usually something that sucks me right in. So, needless to say, I was ready for this. And, it's not bad, necessarily, but for me, it's something worse than bad - it's forgettable. Strikingly average. It's very boring, repetitive, and about 40 minutes too long. It does look pretty, but that only gets you so far. And speaking of pretty, I usually like Rebecca Ferguson but this reminded me of the one time I didn't - in another Hugh Jackman movie,
The Greatest Showman, because she was really miscast. Why is she given singing roles? Is she a singer? Because...she can't sing. Her voice is incredibly bland and average and...soulless. In this she's supposed to have this mysterious, sexy night club singer vibe (complete with a Jessica Rabbit red dress), and it just doesn't work for me at all. Plus, the whole "all endings are sad especially if the story is happy" theme is so overdone - we get it, it doesn't need to be repeated a dozen times. The story was definitely dumbed down for a wider audience, which is always disappointing.
2. Annette - Well, I didn't love this movie, but I certainly took a
lot of notes while watching it (I always write little notes while watching things because I forget stuff so easily). I am a huge fan of
Holy Motors, even thought I didn't fully understand it - it's oddly beautiful, and as previously mentioned, for someone with memory problems - it's unforgettable. I was expecting to be perplexed by
Annette, but it's actually far more cohesive than
Holy Motors. There are still moments of having that "what the fuck am I watching" feeling, for instance -
any scene that features Baby Annette, but overall I don't think it's something that will stick with me. The weirdness of it all doesn't feel as organic as it does in
Holy Motors. I've said it many times, but I'm not the biggest fan of Adam Driver, but when he's good, he's really good (
Star Wars and
The Dead Don't Die are movies that I liked him in...everything else can get thrown in the garbage. I said what I said.). And, this may be a little bit of of side rant, but also not, because this film has a main theme of celebrity culture, paparazzi, and actors as performance artists, but Driver, in real life, comes off as such an asshole to me. I *know* that he struggles with social anxiety, and as someone who also struggles with it, I have to call bullshit on that as an excuse to be rude. He gets paid (a significantly large amount of money) to represent a film. Some argue that actors are just paid to act and they don't have to cater to fans, but I completely disagree. They sign contracts that involve promoting their projects - and there is a certain level of fame that comes with projects that is
easy to avoid if you can't handle it (but signing on to do
Star Wars and then trying to opt out of the fame part is idiotic). Also, I
don't think actors have to cater to fans in their private life - like if they are out at a bar with their friends at a non-industry event they should be left the fuck alone. Anyway, that's my rant on the subject (in summary: social anxieties are not an excuse to be rude during press tours). I absolutely think that he took this role as some sort of commentary on his relationship with fame and the media, but it's incredibly eye-rolling. As is his stand-up "comedic" acts in this movie - I'm not sure what these performances are supposed to be? Funny? Insightful? Disarming? It's none of these. It reminds me of that Bo Burnham special that everyone raves about that I really, really, really don't want to watch (please don't make me). There are things that I like about the movie, for sure, like the opening musical number, the 360 tracking shot of the conducting scene is stunning, and Marion Cotillard is always spectacular. But it just gets exhausting to watch - the symbolism is so in-your-face (the half-bitten apple, the waltz during the storm, the creepy fucking puppet child...we get it!). I was not really expecting it to take such a dark turn - eerily inspired by Natalie Wood's death (and how odd that I'm currently reading a biography on her!). Oh and the only other thing that is worth mentioning, but also a very minor irk that I have with this movie, is that she's a world-famous Hollywood...opera singer? So famous that paparazzi follow her everywhere. Uh...ok? I dare you to name one famous opera singer who has been featured on TMZ.
So, this is actually kind of good! I was (and still am) skeptical of how they can create a story that basically asks the audience to sympathize with a dog killer, but they do a good job of avoiding the issue altogether really (the whole "Dalmatians killed my mother" plot that was heavily criticized by film twitter, isn't actually a plot - she actually blames herself for her mother's death). Instead, it's an origin story of how Cruella became the voice of a fashion empire. I think it works so well because we
do see her be a little bit of a trouble-maker right from childhood. And I also like that she's not turned evil because of a man (like in
Maleficent and
Oz the Great and Powerful). Obviously, I enjoyed the fashion bits - especially that it's an unexpected ode to the early punk fashion that emerged in London in the mid 70s. The costume design is just glorious - from the metal tie to the garbage dress. I am thoroughly stunned by the creativity and showmanship of some of the designs. Other things I liked about this: Paul Walter Hauser's comedic timing, watching the two Emmas out act each other in every scene, the use of one of my all-time favorite songs "Hush", and, of course, the cutest dog ever that I would give my life for - Winky. I have some criticisms (Stone's accent, the obvious plot twists, the length), but overall, it held my attention, made me smile, and has quite a few gasp worthy moments. I look forward to the sequel.
4. CODA - As I've previously said in some posts, learning ASL is one of my goals this year - and, unfortunately, it's not going great. I haven't quite figured out a technique that solves my memory problems (I'll remember how to sign words and phrases for a few weeks but then my mind goes completely blank). I tried really hard to follow the signing used here, but it was way too hard. I heard mixed things about this movie, and that it's specifically criticized for its depiction of deaf people as a "burden", but I do think that being the only hearing person in a family would be...a burden, especially for a teenage girl who is trying to find herself and her own passions independent of her family. And I trust that if Marlee Matlin is involved, someone who has been changing the industry from the inside for the past 30 years, then it's a relevant story for the deaf community and it's done with respect (but everyone is offended by something nowadays, which is fine, but that doesn't mean that your experience is everyone's experience). Overall, I like this movie - it's cute, well-acted, and tells an interesting story. It's also very average for this type of story (just as I saw criticism, I also saw some claiming this their favorite of the year, which is crazy to me. But people also rate an enormous amount of films 4-5 stars, which is also absurd. Most films are 3 stars. I don't think there's been a 5 star film since 2011). There are a few really funny moments - like how the father listens to rap music really loudly (which is also a coincidence because just the day before I watched this, I was showing someone that hilarious video of the interpreter during a live performance of "WAP", and they questioned why there are interpreters at concerts so I explained that deaf people can feel the beat so this way they can also know what the lyrics are and THEY DIDN'T BELIEVE ME and said that it's just a way for musicians to seem "woke". *stares blankly into the void*). I also think it's funny that the father hates Boston ("that city is full of assholes". True story.). And even though it is completely expected, the ending is full of emotions - the scene leading up to it with the parents watching her sing in the choir is so well done. It got me.
I had never heard of this movie, but it stars two favorite men of mine - Charlie Hunnam and Jack O'Connell, AS BROTHERS (not quite as good as the Hunnam and Garrett Hedlund as brothers casting, but still somehow also perfect). I've gushed about Charlie Hunnam before (super hot), but I rarely get to talk about O'Connell because he's not in enough!! He needs to be in everything! Far better actor than 90% of actors his age (also, he's super hot). I didn't really think much could really be added to the genre of "boxing" films, but I appreciate that this focuses more on the relationship between these two brothers and that they are just trying to make ends meet. They get caught up with a crime family and are tasked to transport a kidnapped young woman, and you can kind of guess the rest of the story from there. It's a quiet little character driven film that has potential, but it just never quite gets there. It also becomes a little unbelievable and ridiculous (if you knew that your daughter was hanging out with "a bad crowd" and she just showed up at your door with two strange men with her, would you let them in...and...then make dinner for them?? Just absolutely stupid). Proper solid ending, though.
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