1. Shotgun Wedding - The trailer for this was hilarious because it's not really what you expect from a JLo rom-com. It's just a really weird premise for a comedy. It's more of an action/adventure similar to
The Lost City, but it works better for that movie because it's an action/adventure that
turns into a romance instead of a romance that gets ruined by....pirates. An actual line in the movie is "everyone we love could die!" HAHAHA get it? It's hilarious! Anyway, it's also another JLo rom-com in which she falls in love with a white guy (I didn't notice the trend until someone pointed it out with her last one, but it's definitely weird). I sometimes enjoy a good rom-com, but this one is
not good. The biggest problem is that I don't root for this couple to stay together
at all. They are awful together - they seem to want completely different things and he doesn't listen to her at all, and she continues to agree to things she doesn't want to do. Then they bicker for a solid hour. Just absolutely bizarre that this is the dynamic that they're going for. On a related note - I am someone who never, ever wanted to get married and I definitely never, ever wanted a wedding. I've obviously changed my mind on the marriage thing (I still think it's kind of dumb, but it makes sense financially and for life-event reasons. Does that make sense? I just mean like in an emergency situation I would want my partner to legally be able to make decisions for me if I can't). But when I agreed to the marriage thing, I said there is no way I'm walking down an aisle in a big froufrou dress, etc. and my husband responded the say way Josh Duhamel does in this, saying "it would kill my mother". But the difference is that my husband continued with "but we'll do whatever you feel comfortable with", which ended up being eloping on the beach - just the two of us. The fact that this guy is just like no we're going to do a big wedding and his mom is like you're going to wear my dress and she's just like okay even though she's miserable is THE WORST and NOT what a marriage should be about. Anyway, there are a few cute moments - like the ceremony scene when they all start singing "I'll Be". Jennifer Coolidge is the obvious scene-stealer. I feel like I've been a little negative about all her wins for
The White Lotus, and it may seem like I don't like her, but that's not true. I adore her - she's hilarious. I just don't think people should win awards for playing themselves. I also love D'Arcy Carden - when she is introduced and she rolls her "R" pronouncing Renata, I laughed
hard. Other than that, though, this movie is pretty terrible. It also feels very long even at only 100 minutes.
2. Breaking - I had never heard of this movie, which I find surprising as it stars John Boyega and Nicole Beharie. If you've read this blog (the 5 of you), then you know my love for Nicole already (I even talked about her in my previous post!). I'm not the biggest fan of Boyega's acting, though. He's fine in the
Star Wars movies and I loved him in
Attack the Block, but I haven't liked him in literally anything else. I do like him though, so I'm willing to keep giving him chances and hopefully one day he'll surprise me. Unfortunately, this movie is NOT it. He is clearly trying to do a Denzel Washington impression - it's like he watched
John Q and decided to do exactly that. It just doesn't work at all. The movie is also a little dull - nothing really happens for most of it, just a back and forth between the cops, the press, and him. It feels like they just have the same conversation over and over again. It's a classic tale of demanding justice (similar to
John Q), but the fact that he holds innocent people hostage for a $900 injustice is not going to make me root for you. Do you not realize the psychological trauma that you are inducing on someone else that had nothing to do with you? A strong lead performance is essential with a story like this, so without that it's just really boring. Beharie is the highlight, obvi. I also loved seeing Michael K Williams (I'm assuming this was his last performance? What a huge loss) and Selenis Leyva (Gloria from
Orange is the New Black). I don't think I've ever seen her in anything else before but she's a great actress.
3. Emancipation - This is a well-made movie, but I didn't like it. I hate the black & white cinematography, and it just doesn't capture my attention at all. He's just running through a forest and/or swamp through the first 2/3rds of the movie. There are some absolutely beautiful shots, but ultimately it fails at telling this story in an interesting way. It's a shame because it's probably Will Smith's best dramatic performance, but the Academy is not going to touch a Will Smith performance for years to come. I'm not usually a fan of his dramatic roles (and I thought the performance that he won his Oscar for was actually downright awful), and someone needs to tell him that he can't do accents. But even with the bad accent here, his performance is mostly internal and far more interesting than what he's done in the past. I think a much bigger deal should have been made about the interview in which he discusses how he was treated by Ben Foster on this set. It's wild that some things are just...ignored? It's all being swept under the rug as some sort of excuse for method acting? That's just bullshit. Sorry, you don't get to treat your co-worker like shit because your character would. ESPECIALLY with this subject matter and power dynamic between the characters. It's so disturbing and Fuqua should have cut that shit down. But you know what's even
more disturbing??? That one of the producers of this movie (a white guy) collects slavery photography. He has his own personal collection of pictures of slaves and claims he's "preserving them". UHHHH WHAT? Anyway, I will say that the last third of the movie - when it gets to the battle scenes, is really strong. These scenes are filmed perfectly and hit really strong. I just wish the rest of the movie created a stronger emotion. The true story is really inspirational - about hope and survival, but it just doesn't come through on the screen.
4. She Said - Similar to
Emancipation - it's a great story, but that doesn't mean that it's a great movie. And also like
Emancipation - there is a problematic producer. The fact that this movie is about the system that protects abusers and then BRAD PITT is a fucking producer just
has to be a joke, right? And I'm not even taking into account the newer Jolie stuff; I'm talking about the fact that Pitt knew of Weinstein's abuse (of his OWN WIFE EVEN) and did absolutely nothing - just continued to work with him (you know, SUPPORTING A SYSTEM THAT PROTECTS ABUSERS) and is now making money off of the story just goes to show how performative Hollywood is. They have no interest in
actually changing things. ANYWAY, this movie is fairly dull for the most part and extremely repetitive - just these two reporters confronting people asking them to tell their stories, they get denied, make a convincing gesture, then eventually get their story. OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I also think Hollywood is churning these movies out too quickly - this
just happened and we haven't seen the full outcome yet nor have we had the time to reflect on different nuances of each situation. It's all getting swept up into a particular
movement (i.e the "me too" movement) instead of explored individually. There's an attempt to showcase other struggles of womanhood (aside from sexual harassment and assault) within this film - such as PPD, breast cancer, balancing careers with motherhood, etc,, but it all feels like a passing concern and a bit manipulative, in my opinion. I don't think either of the leads have particularly difficult roles to play but both Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan give satisfying performances. The most successful part is hearing the testimony from the real people like Ashley Judd. It's not a bad movie, but most of it just plays a little too melodramatic - like the ending when they all look at each other before they dramatically hit the publish button. I rolled my eyes so hard.
5. Violent Night - This is a fun Christmas action movie. I hadn't seen the trailer so I didn't know the story was about an *actual* Santa Claus. I like the concept, but the obvious plot hole is that
if there were a real Santa wouldn't parents notice that there were presents under their tree that they didn't purchase?
If Santa were real then it wouldn't be a shock, right? We would have some inkling already...right?? Anyway, David Harbour is the perfect disgruntled Santa. But my heart stopped when I spotted CAM GIGANDET! AKA the guy who killed Marissa Cooper! I haven't seen him in a while so I may or may not have screamed out loud. He's actually pretty funny in this. Also I really like Alexis Louder - she's the one who stole the show away from Gerard Butler and Frank Grillo in
Copshop. There's some fun action, great kills, and a likeable lead performance. The twists are kind of expected, but it doesn't ruin the fun. The only big problem (other than the obvious plot hole...) is that this should be 90 minute tops. There's way too much filler to stretch it to almost 2 hours. Totally unnecessary.
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