Thoughts on 5 Films

1. The Book of Clarence - While I liked this, for the most part, it's definitely disappointing. I was expecting it to be my favorite movie of the year (which I just realized it's not even considered a 2024 release anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter), but it's mostly mediocre. Jeymes Samuel's The Harder They Fall was my favorite film of 2021 for several reasons, but the main reason is because it felt bold and fresh, and had style. I also think it's important to tell historical black stories from non-white perspectives, in spaces other than slavery and prisons. I knew that the whole religious aspect of this was not going to be my favorite (I'm not religious, nor do I like watching religious stories, for the most part), but I was so down for this cast - LaKeith, RJ Cyler (I don't understand how RJ and Kelvin Harrison Jr. aren't at the top of everyone's list for next generation talent), plus OMAR SY, and the love of my life - James McAvoy. I mean, I would watch the four of them recite the bible, to be honest. I think my disappointment lies in the fact that it's a little slow-moving, and becomes a little repetitive so I found myself bored for a lot of it. And McAvoy doesn't show up for quite a while, so I was automatically annoyed. I almost feel like they shouldn't have advertised his role at all - a 'la Benedict Cumberbatch - I didn't even know it was him in that role until towards the end. But there are some great moments & scenes that really standout and have me convinced that Samuel is a director to watch, for sure. The dance interlude is probably my favorite scene - super cool, unexpected, and fun. There's some really funny dialogue if you pay attention - it's extremely well-written, filled with a lot of sarcasm and wit. McAvoy's dry delivery of "once you die from drowning, you'll be free to go. Proceed." had me dying. And I like the way that Samuel uses music - some of it is super obvious ("I Believe in Miracles", etc.), but it works for me in this context (he has a background in music - under the pseudonym The Bullitts, more well-known in the UK than here, I think). Some parts of the movie did irk me though - like the way LaKeith's eyeliner changes from scene to scene (where was the Script Supervisor???) and his hair and beard look so fake when he plays the twin - it's almost comical. Perhaps it's done on purpose, but it felt like high school drama club hair & makeup. 

2. The First Omen - Okay, I read a lot of good things about this, but I hardly believed the praise. However, it's very good. And SHOCKINGLY, it is currently one of my favorite films of the year! Isn't that crazy?! I have not seen many good films this year though (still hopeful that Love Lies Bleeding, The Fall Guy, and Civil War are all great!). I just recently rewatched the original The Omen, and I enjoyed it, but I think I liked this one just as much, which is pretty rare. Some of the shots are GORGEOUS - it completely pulls me in with the scene at the club and then she wakes up with her hair all spidered out on her pillow. I literally was like "oh okay, you have my attention" and I sat up straight and glued my eyes to that television. And it just continued to impress. As I said above, I couldn't care less about the religious part of the film, so stories like these are never going to connect with me, but a well-made movie like this will always capture me. Nell Tiger Free gives a terrific performance - never too showy, but still dramatic. She kind of reminds me of Alexandria Daddario (which is a very good thing for me). There's some very traumatic birthing scenes that will stay with me for a while. And there is a really strong lead-up to the end that is kind of surprising, but also I kind of figured (always assume they will set these types of movies up for sequels - obvi we already have the sequel to this, but her story would be a spin-off of that and I would very much look forward to seeing more). This is also a very nice reminder that some prequels, reboots, etc., can be very successful and even enrichen the original material if done well and with care. 

3. Godzilla Minus One - *spoilers ahead* This is also as good as everyone says. Actually, maybe that's not true - I saw a ton of 5 star reviews, and I definitely wouldn't go that far. But it's certainly a 4 star film and it's just shy of making my Top 10 of 2023. I think it's success is largely the human story of a kamikaze pilot returning to his life after the war - the treatment of him as a failure and as a symbol of Japan's failure is certainly fascinating. I could have watched that story without a monster attacking the city and still would have probably loved it. I also think that the design of Godzilla is incredible and a genuinely terrifying monster compared to previous designs. BUT, I do think it's weird that people consistently used this movie to cite how it's possible to make a low budget action movie look this good completely ignoring the fact that it's made in Japan - where this movie is considered to be an extremely high budget film and also they don't pay people as well. It's just not a realistic comparison to a typical Hollywood blockbuster. I also think it's INSANE that people cried at this ending??? Did you not expect it? It's quite clear that he's going to survive when the other guy reminds him to "remember this right before" and points to a lever in the aircraft. It's also not exactly an original idea (it's quite literally the same solution as Independence Day and I'm sure many others that I can't think of right now). AND it's also obvious that the woman isn't dead either because WE DON'T SEE HER DIE. I feel like some people have never watched a movie before. There are very clear plot devices that this movie follows to pull at your heartstrings - and films that are so obvious about it just don't pull at my emotions enough to make me cry (unless it's like a dog dying or something - I will always cry at that no matter the setup). But, it's extremely well made and has a great human drama behind it. It definitely feels more "real" too compared to the more recent Hollywood versions of Godzilla. I do like the apple+ series though, because, again, they give us humans to care about. 

4. Hit Man - UMMMMM what the fuck - this movie fucking sucks. I felt like I was being punk'd while watching it. Like, this can't actually be the movie that critics have been talking about for the last 9 months - raving about, listing it in Oscar snubs, demanding a theater release, etc.???? It's so fucking boring that I actually had to turn it off an hour in because I couldn't bear it anymore (not even because I was tired - I was wide awake! But this was putting me to sleep!). I watched the rest, begrudgingly, a few days later. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, because you know what I also hated?? Boyhood. That's right. Fucking awful. There's a giant rant about why I hated it so much somewhere on this blog, but I also thought it was fucking boring. I do like Richard Linklater, though, and he's made some of my favorite movies (the Before trilogy, A Scanner Darkly), but there are some seriously questionable films in his filmography that make me scratch my head as to why people rave about them. I think the biggest issue I have with this is that it's listed as a "comedy" and it's not funny. Like, not even in a "dark comedy" kind of way. I like Glen Powell a lot - and I've been singing his praises since Scream Queens, but now he's become a bit overpraised. He's charming and has screen presence, but he's not the talent that some are claiming. And this is definitely proof. Those different personas he does while pretending to be a hit man are...rough. It's not realistic in any way - there is just no way that someone wouldn't clearly see that this man is pretending to be these weird characters; they would instantly know it's a setup. It's so dumb and, quite simply, bad acting. But I think people get swept up in the "charming" aspect and confuse that with "good acting" (they do the same with Tom Cruise. That man has ONE good acting performance on his resume. But he's charming, so he must be a good actor. He's also a sociopath cultist, but, again, he's charming, so all is forgiven). I think Powell is set to have a great career, and I'm not mad at it, but I hope he realizes his strengths (rom-coms, silly coming of age stories, etc), and sticks to those. The highlight of the movie is Adria Arjona - I hope the hype for this movie launches her into superstardom. She's insanely hot, and this movie takes full advantage of that. And I do see a bit of natural chemistry between them (waaay more than he had with the more hyped Sydney Sweeney), but I also don't root for this relationship at all right from the beginning. She's an abuse victim suffering from PTSD and other emotional issues - clearly at the tipping point of being a straight up psychopath, and he's fully aware of this and decides to date her anyway disguised as someone else. It's not romantic or sweet or whatever, it's taking advantage of someone at their lowest moment. I just fully hated the whole thing. There is ONE good scene (you'll know it exactly when you see it), but that doesn't make a good movie, guys. 

5. Origin - This could have been a documentary *said in the same frustrating tone as "this could have been an email"*! I like what DuVernay is trying to do, and I always appreciate art being used to initiate difficult conversations, but there a few big reasons why this is a big miss for me. First of all, this whole concept being "taught to the audience" in 2023 is WILD. I felt like the film has this very condescending tone that's teaching us something we don't know. But....but....we learn about caste in 8th grade in America. She literally says something like "I bet you guys don't know about the Dalits" (the "untouchables") in India and everyone in the movie (actual adults) are, like, SHOCKED. The movie clearly serves as advertisement for this book ("Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents" by Isabel Wilkerson), but it fails to convince me that I'll learn something. It's basically telling me that if we all just paid attention in middle school then maybe racism wouldn't exist? And I just don't believe that. We already know why racism exists. Second, the "past" scenes feel very History Channel reenactments and disrupt the flow of the movie. And third, watching someone do research is not very interesting. I get the idea is more about this woman trying to overcome her personal tragedies to work through her theories and write this book, that is about a very difficult subject, but it's just not enough to watch for over 2 hours. It's extremely boring. There are some things that I do like about it - showing her relationship with her husband (who is white) is an important aspect to her life (although the scene when they meet is so cringe - it's a "white savior" moment that made my eyes roll so hard into the back of my head). The beginning scene that portrays Trayvon Martin's death is very strong, and the ending scene with the black boy in the pool is incredibly powerful. I thing telling this boy's story from a white perspective is also interesting because it's important to keep white people in the conversation of racism - people are not born racist it is taught to us and watching these moments as children effects everyone. I think a lot of white people can point out a specific moment in their childhood when they witnessed racism, and they had to choose, in that moment, whether what they were witnessing was right or wrong (and we are also taught that adults are "right", so I don't blame children who grow up racist, but I do blame adults who don't challenge their own ideas and aim to be better). I'm kind of on a tangent, which I do think is a good thing - this movie definitely got me thinking, but it just didn't tell me anything new. I feel like maybe we need to stop focusing on the "why" and "how" and start focusing on "what's next". History is obviously important, and there has been a very apparent attempt at erasing a lot of this history, but I just wish the film felt more challenging instead of like an 8th grade History lesson.