Thoughts on 5 Films

1. No One Will Save You - This is a really cool little horror movie! I really liked it. Superbly creepy and has a good story. Plus, as I've said a few times before, Kaitlyn Dever is a STAR. There are very few young actresses that I think will be lasting actresses like Meryl Streep, but Dever is definitely one of them. She is so engaging in this and it has ZERO dialogue! Do you know how hard it is to capture an audience without any words?? (although, I would totally talk to myself in this situation..."what the FUCK was that?" etc.). I think the thing that I like most about this movie, though, is that it's never really clear what is happening with her actual life. Her home is invaded by aliens (really cool looking aliens. I love the design - it's like a classic alien design but still feels original and also terrifying the way they extend their limbs. It gives a weird stop-motion effect that I dig), but the more interesting part is that she's living all by herself in this gigantic house that is decorated as if it's from the 1950s. There's an entire retro vibe - she doesn't use any technology, is styled as if she's living in the past, is obsessed with getting mail from the post office that is collectible miniature houses. But then she goes into town and the cars are all present day cars and the people in the background are using cellphones and laptops, plus the grave that she visits has 2022 dated on it. It creates this whole other mystery of what in the fuck is going on? I actually thought at one point that she was the invader? Or something to that effect because the tagline is "an invasion you'll never see coming", so I thought there was going to be a crazy twist. They never really give clear answers as to why she lives like this, although they do answer why she is shunned from the town and its people. I guess she's like a shut-in, but it's odd to be a shut-in and regress to a past decade from before you were born. Anyway, this is a really solid film - written really well and fully thought-out. It makes sense that it's from the writer of Love & Monsters, The Babysitter, and Kong: Skull Island - because all of those movies are solid as well. 

2. Flora and Son - This is a cute movie, similar to Apple TV+'s other cute movie, CODA, and that movie went on to win Oscars!! Still so unbelievable and ridiculous...but anyway. I really like Eve Hewson and she is perfectly cast here with her musical roots (she's Bono's daughter). She was great in Behind Her Eyes, and she played Marian in the Robin Hood movie with Taron Egerton. They had zero chemistry, but I don't think that was either of their faults. Although, I don't really think she has much chemistry with JGL, here either. But the reason the movie still works for me, is because it's not really about the romance. It's about her connecting with her son, and finding something to be passionate about. I think that's definitely something I connect with because I just don't really care that much about anything. I do love movies and tv, and I enjoy writing my thoughts down, but I don't really think it's something I'm extremely passionate about (and I think the current state of film nerds has lessoned my interest even more). I like doing a lot of different things, though, so I try my best to force myself to do things like painting, hiking, reading, etc., because otherwise I would be a big lump sitting on the couch binging garbage tv. I've been up and down with John Carney's films (loved Once, enjoyed Begin Again, but hated Sing Street - I know that's an unpopular opinion, but it's a stupid, cliched movie), but I do appreciate that he sticks to a musical drama genre. However, the songs featured in this movie are AWFUL. The "meet in the middle" song (I don't know what it's called and I refuse to look it up because I don't want to be reminded of it - that's how bad it is), is repeated way too many times and every version of it sucks. And the son's rap is hilarious, but I'm not sure that it's supposed to be? The way she's like "my son is so talented" and invites all of her friends to hear it makes me think that the song is not intentionally supposed to be bad? I'm so confused. The song at the end is kind of cute, but that's about the only nice thing I'll say about the music featured here. And I do think that JGL feels out of place in this, because he's too big of a star for this mediocre role. Jack Reynor is good, though. He gets miscast a lot, but he's actually a good actor (and when he's in something that he's right for he suddenly becomes very hot to me. That bland Transformers movie? Not hot. This? Very hot.). I was a little nervous by the fake out at the end, when they make it seem like she is going to get her "freedom" when her son goes to juvie, and I was going to be irate at how shitty of a person she is, but that doesn't happen, so *phew*. So, it's a cute movie. Nothing more, nothing less. 

3. Meg 2: The Trench - I don't really understand the love that The Meg received - it wasn't nearly as fun as it should have been. It was actually kind of boring. I obviously wasn't expecting much from this and I was right. It's pretty on par with the first one, except the acting is better (Ruby Rose in the first one was painful!). It's obvious who the "bad guy" is from the beginning, but the little twist of the other traitor is actually funny (we know she's turned evil because...she takes her glasses off! It literally makes no sense), but it is FAR stupider. AND I just can't believe that Ben Wheatley directed this. THE Ben Wheatley - the director of such original and fascinating films like Sightseers, Kill List, etc. With this and his Rebecca remake, I'm just really disappointed that this is where his career is right now. Aside from the fact that this movie is just plain dumb, it also looks terrible. The scuba suits that they wear literally look CGI?! There is no way the actors are actually wearing those. It's so fake looking. Also, going back to the stupid part - the scene that Jason Statham survives swimming in the deepest part of the ocean by blowing the pressure through his ears (or whatever the fuck he does) is the fucking funniest thing I've seen in a while. It doesn't start to get fun until towards the end when the meg attacks a resort island with a bunch of vacationers, but by then I was already over the whole movie. Also it should be called *The* Meg 2: The Trench.

4. Cassandro - Gael Garcia Bernal is one of my favorite actors (probably top 10) and has been since Amores Perros (which is still one of my favorite films of all time - and why I will always be a fan of Inarritu), which was released 23 years ago. He's incredible in this, and probably will land in my favorite performances of the year by the end of 2023. I do think he's a little too...old...for this role. They don't really say how old he's supposed to be, but the sense is that he's on the younger side for most of the film, like in his late 20s. But Gael is clearly a man in his 40s (a very sexy man in his 40s, but still in his 40s nonetheless). The rest of the film, is just ok. I'm not a fan of wrestling, MMA, boxing etc., I just find it all so ridiculous. And wrestling is probably the worst one because it's all so fake and pre-written. How do people get so excited for something that is fixed? It never will make sense to me (although there are also a lot of conspiracy theories going around, especially in NJ, about football being the same - although not exactly pre-written, it's all fixed for which teams are going to win). It's a good story, though, about this "exotica" wrestler who defies expectations and gains an audience rooting for him, rewriting the results of the matches. It's definitely interesting, and groundbreaking in terms of wrestling (although, to me, wrestling is, like, a super gay sport...). It's just not that interesting to me. The story drags a little. And I don't really like the actress that plays his, like agent of sorts. She's from the A League of their Own t.v. show, which I didn't really like (I know a lot of queer people connected with it, so I'm sad that it got cancelled so quickly, but...it...was...not a good show!). I also think they focus a lot on the beginnings of this "character", and then they rush through his rise to fame. It just feels a little jumbled to me. 

5. Strays - This is obviously a dumb movie, but it's also mostly funny and entertaining. It's like an R-rated version of The Incredible Journey. I think they did a good job with the voices - Will Ferrell and Jame Foxx have good comedic chemistry together, and Ferrell is really good at being that like earnest innocent character (ala Elf). I also really miss Isla Fisher?! Where has she been? She's so funny, and should be in more stuff! The beginning is really sad with his human being such an asshole, but it is very true that a dog will love you no matter what - you could be the most asshole garbage deadbeat loser and a dog will be like "you're the best human ever!!!". There are some very funny parts to this, that I laughed out loud to - like when they are like "drop the pizza, bitch" and then they run towards it in slow motion, when they are making fun of the other dog about the invisible fence and then realize that it's real, "the devil in the sky" is an ad for the post office, and of course, at the end when they are cursing at the post man. It's a little repetitive, and like I said, really dumb, but overall, I was never bored and I laughed. Mission accomplished.