Thoughts on 5 Films

1. The Black Phone - I quite liked this. The 70s aesthetic is done really well, Ethan Hawke is superbly creepy, and it has a fairly original horror concept (I'm not usually a fan of supernatural horror, but the mix of this with the real world fear of a child murderer works for me - plus the supernatural part is executed very well). It also absolutely nails the ending, which is rare for horror movies. The main kid, Mason Thames, is a really strong young actor - he reminds me a lot of the late Brad Renfro (and I LOVED Brad Renfro - one of those deaths that absolutely devastated me. The Client and Sleepers are two of my favorite movies from the 90s). And Jeremy Davies is a very under-rated actor - he excels everything he's in. There are parts that are a little stupid (like how he wastes time with the bike lock on the door instead of just going out a window??), but that goes with every horror film. I'm still confused as to how Scott Derrickson (the director) got the gig to direct Doctor Strange with a failed remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still and three moderately successful indie horror movies. But it's even more confusing that he didn't direct the sequel which was horror inspired! Hollywood makes no sense sometimes. 

2. Day Shift - This is very dumb, but in a mostly fun way. It's definitely going for a Michael Bay Bad Boys vibe in the beginning - the overly yellow saturated shots of Los Angeles, the 90s rap song, etc. But, it goes in an entirely different direction than what I was expecting. I did not know what it was about at all - I saw a new Netflix release with Jamie Foxx and, my love, Dave Franco and I just pressed play. So, needless to say, it very quickly caught me off guard. It's actually a bit like Men in Black but for vampire hunters - as if vampire hunting was a legit job that could be unionized. Fairly original concept for a vampire flick, and like I said, I mostly had fun with it. Foxx and Franco work off of each other really well, there's some fantastic vampire kills, a fast-paced story, and some funny dialogue. Plus, Snoop Dogg is ridiculous in this (in a good way), plus the cast also includes the girl from How to Get Away with Murder (I don't think I've ever seen her in anything else before?), Kevin from Shameless (Lip was my favorite character, but Kevin made me laugh the most. Such a perfect himbo), and Meagan Good (and she fixed her eyebrows from the last time I've seen her - that tv show Deception, which was like 10 years ago...has she been in anything since then???). It's entertainment on the most basic level, and sometimes that's ok. 

3. Not Okay - I'm really surprised by how much I liked this - I thought it was more of a vapid, but maybe funny, story of an influencer learning some big life lesson. But it is very reminiscent of God Bless America and World's Greatest Dad (speaking of these movies, what the heck happened to Bobcat Goldthwait??? He made two incredible movies over a decade ago and then peaced out? What's he been doing lately?). It's not quite the satire that those movies are, but it tackles the same topics of celebrity culture and obsessions, while updating it with influencers, performative activism, and trauma porn. Zoey Deutch is perfect in this role - she somehow still remains likeable even at her most vapid. And a completely unexpected and hilarious performance from Dylan O'Brien as...um...Pete Davidson? There are some shocking moments, like right off the bat, when Zoey's character declares herself as having "missed out" on the tragedy of 9/11 - which is foreshadowing for just how dark this story is willing to go to stress its point. It's also really funny (the line "can tone deaf be a brand? Isn't that what Lena Dunham does?" killed me). It's not necessarily something that I can relate to, as she asks in the beginning "have you ever wanted to be noticed so badly that you didn't even care what it was for?", uh...no, never in my whole life. I'm perfectly fine going unnoticed. I also have zero sympathy for her and the ending is a little disappointing - she supposedly "loses" everything but she moves back in with her parents, who are most definitely millionaires (that space in NYC? Millionaire.). So she really only loses her "clout", which...um...who cares? Overall, though, I really liked this. It's highly entertaining and I think it speaks to the dangers of living your life online. 

4. Luck - This is...not good. The third animated movie this year that I rated below 3 stars (Lightyear and Sonic 2 are the other two - this is not quite as bad as those two, but still...). I've been really impressed with Apple TV+ content, but mostly television and miniseries. Their movies have been...okay (I still can't believe CODA won a freakin' Oscar!), although this years Cha Cha Real Smooth might end up on my Best of 2022 list? It's #6 right now, and it's still early so probably not but I definitely liked it. This, though, is almost painful to sit through. I would have been bored out of my mind if I were a child. And incredibly confused - the plot is way overdone and I lost track of it about 1/2 way through. The animation looks like every other animated movie nowadays (aka nothing special or interesting in any way). I don't really have too much to say about it, but I did learn something new! Apparently black cats are good luck in Scotland! That's super cool. In America, there are always an overflow of black cats in shelters because people are so superstitious (and dumb). It's also hilarious to me that I knew that the person voicing the Scottish cat is not, in fact, Scottish before even looking it up (*spoiler* it becomes part of the plot that he's not Scottish, so it makes sense as to why this person was chosen for the voice but at first I was super confused). Also, the flamboyant rainbow unicorn is...uh...straight? Uh...yeah sure okay. 

5. Prey - I'm enjoying writing this post because there are THREE WHOLE MOVIES here that are above 3 stars (this, The Black Phone and Not Okay are all 3.5 - very close to 4 star movies. I feel like this never happens to me nowadays...)!!! When this was released, I had my doubts - it's just so hard to make prequels work, but then I kept reading more and more great reviews so my expectations were pretty high by the time I got around to watching it. They were mostly met. I definitely think it's a little too slow in the beginning for a Predator movie, at least. There's a really distracting lens flare that is super annoying, and I really don't need to see all the dead animals. But, other than that...it's super fun! There are some really great intense scenes (the scene with the bear is SUPERB!!). Amber Midthunder is a star in the making, which is really exciting. She was wonderful in Legion, but then really awful in that Liam Neeson movie, so I really wasn't sure how her career was going to go. I think she does a really great job here. I know a lot of people were upset that a girl beats the predator, and honestly, sometimes I have "suspension of disbelief" problems when it comes to movies with tiny women being physically stronger than they actually are. But she doesn't beat him on physical strength, and she has a lot of help along the way, which makes the whole thing totally believable (as believable as a movie like this can be). So those critiques are pure misogyny and nonsense. She's a badass. Deal with it. This movie makes for a perfect cap to The Predator trilogy (I have not seen Predators and from what I understand it is for the best).