Thoughts on 5 Films

1. RRR - Well, this is mostly wonderful. I would say that it's superb if it were edited down by an entire hour. But unfortunately, it is a full 3 hours long. However, I will allow it, in this case, because it is genuinely an epic story (while a lot of 2+ hour long films stretch out a story to make it feel like an epic, but it's not), so at least most of it feels necessary (I do feel like it still could have been edited down by about 40 minutes - there are a few scenes that are repetitive and do nothing to advance the story). Other than the length, though, it is hard to find any faults. There is something for everyone, too - a love story, a story of brotherhood, a Shakespearian-like plot of confused identities (although based on Hindu mythology that I'm not going to pretend I know anything about), an epic Bollywood dance-off, and some truly spectacular choreographed fight and action sequences. All with the themes of revenge, forgiveness, heroism and loyalty among a political backdrop of race and class struggles in India. I enjoyed it all, but was particularly taken with the action scenes - they felt fresh & modern somehow, but most importantly, these sequences are so detailed and fully realized. I can tell that a lot of hard work and passion went into creating these scenes, and I feel like that's becoming very rare nowadays. This isn't a film that I would recommend to a lot of people (the length and the subtitles will put off pretty much everyone I know, unfortunately), but if you have a passion for filmmaking, then this is a must. 

2. Halloween Ends - *some spoilers ahead* It's not amazing or anything, but it's certainly better than Halloween Kills, and more interesting than Halloween (2018). And it's one of those films that I thought about for a little while after, and the more I think about it, the more I like it (originally rated it 2.5 stars, but now I'm thinking it might be a solid 3 star film). I like that the beginning sets up a new storyline within the Halloween universe instead of just rehashing the same thing. I really like that they focus on the cycle of violence route - how evil can be born through trauma and also how trauma can affect your brain in wild ways (as Laurie refers to it as "an infection"). *personal story ahead* My mom often talks about how nice my dad was when they first met; she described him as peaceful, quiet, nurturing even. But then his best friend died in a car accident and he just shut down completely and started doing hard drugs. She says that it changed his whole personality and he started to blame her for everything that went wrong in his life (and then the violence started). I used to think that she told me this to make me feel better about sharing DNA with him and also as an excuse for herself as to why she stayed with him for so long, but I always assumed that my mom just didn't see the early signs. But, who knows? Maybe both of those things are true (it also was a great way of keeping me away from drugs LOL. I was terrified of them - to the point that I wouldn't even take pain killers). Anyway, I think that exploring this idea and sticking to the psychology behind Michael Meyers and "evilness" (which has been explored a lot in the earlier films) is a good way to "end" the story. However, the actual movie isn't that good. There's some terrible acting on display (the three bullies, in particular, are off the charts awful). It's very poorly edited (Laurie's granddaughter is at work in one scene and then suddenly walking out of her house - is it the same day? who knows?). The last 30 minutes focusing on Laurie and Michael is actually kind of boring and predictable (did anyone believe that Laurie Strode would even *think* about suicide?? Be real.). The whole "evil dies tonight" from Kills is the worst mantra ever, but I like that they end it with "evil doesn't die, it changes shape". Also, the main guy does a really great job - he's about the only one that can actually act, so he stuck out like a sore thumb, but he definitely carries the whole movie. 

3. Resurrection - This movie hit me pretty hard. I don't like to watch trailers or read plot summaries before watching a movie, so I usually just hear about them from quick snippet reviews and film twitter. But sometimes that's a mistake because I end up watching something that really fucks me up (or is "triggering" as they say nowadays). If you just read the above paragraph on Halloween Ends, then you can quickly decipher why this might be hard for me to watch. So, in relation to this movie and to the personal story told above, I'll continue it: my mom eventually escaped my father (like literally escaped) and I was/am always terrified of him showing up. Luckily, I did have the advantage of him being in prison for most of my life (drug & weapons charges - smuggling, selling etc.) and when he would get released (a ridiculous amount of times - the prison system in America fucking sucks), he would just go right back in for violating parole. I was forced to see him for my grandmother's funeral (they let him attend with an entire police squad surrounding the cemetery) and it was actually really relieving because he was not the man I imagined. He was old and frail - the drugs had definitely taken a toll; he was no longer this towering aggressive presence. I haven't let my guard down yet (and I won't until he's dead), but it helped a lot. Anyway, back to the movie - I can definitely relate to that feeling of constantly having to look over your shoulder, but I can't even imagine how it was for my mom. To constantly live in fear that someone wants to hurt you and/or your daughter is terrifying. Rebecca Hall is stunning at nailing this fear. There is a scene in which she tells her intern what is happening and from an acting perspective, it's the stuff of dreams (from a storytelling perspective, though, it's dumb - she wouldn't hold it all in for years only to tell essentially a stranger). She delivers an absolutely perfect monologue - just a masterclass in acting that will likely go unnoticed. I like that the story makes you question if we are dealing with an unreliable narrator (is she crazy? hallucinating? paranoid?), but it also feels very grounded in reality. Tim Roth is also perfectly creepy. The ending really goes for it - it's quite surprising, gory and disturbing. Overall, I loved this. 

4. Last Seen Alive - The beginning of this is basically that 90s movie with Kiefer Sutherland called The Vanishing (which I think was a remake??). It's literally identical - he stops at a gas station with his girlfriend and she disappears. FYI, his girlfriend is played by none other than Miss Sandra Bullock (pre-Speed). It's a great catalyst for a thriller, but it's funny that most Letterboxd reviews call this movie a "Liam Neeson movie minus Liam Neeson", which is definitely true. Although, Gerard Butler often makes these types of movies too. And I LOVE Gerard Butler, which is weird because he's not generally my type so I'm convinced it's just the accent. And I genuinely think that he's a good, solid actor. I kind of like that he keeps his accent in this, but it's sort of Americanized and never really addressed. I also love Jaimie Alexander - she is stunning and she deserves to be a much bigger star. I thought her career would take off after the Thor movies, but I am disappointed that she's relegated to the kidnapped wife role (and therefore barely in the movie at all). *spoilers ahead* It's obvious from the first minute of the kidnapping that there is a twist because no woman would walk over to a stranger calling to her. Ever. But it doesn't make sense as to why the cop is such a terrible cop, and that Butler's character is questioned as possibly being in on it, when there is no proof of that at all - and that would be the worst way ever to get rid of your wife (so many things could have gone wrong in that scenario). So I assumed the cop was part of the twist, but he's not...I guess he's just a terrible cop, then? It's pretty stupid when you think about it. The plot actually goes a little crazy - and also becomes terribly uninteresting. I think I started scrolling through twitter about 45 minutes in because it was just all so bland. 

5. Athena - I think my expectations were too high for this. I saw a few people really hype it up, especially the opening scene. I agree that the opening scene is fantastic (more on that in a second), but the rest of the film is just one big ball of clutter - there is no emotion, no real plot - just a catalyst for chaos, and no character development. Sometimes this can work brilliantly, like with The Raid, but this is too important of a story to not tell it. Instead of something powerful and meaningful, it becomes spectacle. But back to that opening scene, because it is really brilliant and quite a technical masterpiece. It's a long tracking shot sequence that's a single take (it's quite long too - not sure of how many minutes), but it is filled to the brim with action that seemingly sweeps through an entire city - crowds move through open spaces, our focused characters moving among them through buildings and on rooftops, there's chaos filling every single space. You get an instant sense of the passion and anger among the crowd, rooting for them to cause the aforementioned chaos. But then, it just never lives up to its own hype. Certainly not a bad film, but definitely a let down. It's well-made but meaningless.