Thoughts on 5 Films

1. Am I Ok? - YOU GUYS! I wrote this entire blog post, literally writing the last sentence, and then I accidentally hit something that deleted the whole post. I was confused so I EXITED out of the page instead of hitting the undo button. So, the answer to the movie title's question is NO, I'M NOT OK mother fucker. *CRIES FOREVER* So frustrating. I feel like I don't even want to bother typing it all out again, but I'll do my best. This will probably be pretty short & snappy though because now I'm in a bad mood. I'm counting this movie as a 2024 release even though it premiered at Sundance way back in 2022. It took a full two years for it to be released to the public, and I've heard very little about it. It's cute! I like Dakota Johnson, though, I don't care what anyone says. Sure, she started out rough with the 50 Shades movies, but she's been so charming in everything since. And she has this knack for feeling like a real person to me - someone that I can easily relate to and understand. I also LOVE Kiersey Clemons, and Molly Gordon steals every scene that she's in (she would definitely annoy the shit out of me in real life, but I was entertained by her here). I'm not a big fan of the other lead of the movie, though. I recognize her from a lot of Alex Garland stuff, but specifically Devs and I fucking hated her in that (I think she's in House of the Dragon, too? I may be confusing her with someone else). She's the weakest link here, too. But overall, I like this story of this woman realizing that she's gay a bit later in life. Dakota really plays this character with understanding and empathy. There are a lot of little things that bother me, though (as per...). Like, if my best friend clearly had no interest in having sex with men (or women), I would probably assume that she's asexual and move on (not my business unless she wants it to be). I find it weird that instead her best friend pressures her into being sexually active. It's also weird to look up stuff about your personal life on your work computer (are people stupid? Don't answer that) and when the friend says "I'm drowning in work" even though she spends 90% of her day texting her bff - it made me want to punch her in the nose. And the try-on party??? Whose clothes are those? Those women are not the same size! It's always dumb stuff like this that turns a good story into an average movie. 

2. Memory (2023) - This definitely seems like my kind of movie, but unfortunately it doesn't really live up to my expectations. Jessica Chastain gives an incredible performance though. It's a bit surprising that this was ignored by awards (but that's because release date is more important than the actual performances). But Peter Sarsgaard holds his own, too. I think my biggest problem is that none of it feels like it's grounded in reality. There is just no way that this woman would just let this man follow her home especially since she has a teenage daughter, AND *spoiler* she believes this man sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager. There is just NO WAY, so the whole story just feels inauthentic. While I like the relationship that forms between these two people, both of whom are suffering from trauma (hers from PTSD, his from early onset dementia), the character motivations simply don't exist. None of it makes any sense within a real world. Some scenes are so weird, too - like the confrontation scene towards the end. It's just so heavy-handed, but I do think that the basic elements of the story and the relationship will stick with me. There's a great supporting cast - Merritt Wever (I LOVE HER!), Josh Charles, and Elsie Fisher (who needs to seriously fire whoever did that to her hair!). I definitely had more to say about this movie the first time I wrote this, but I'm too lazy to repeat it all. 

3. Kung Fu Panda 4 - This is definitely the worst one of these movies, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. It's just that the Kung Fu Panda franchise is incredibly strong. It's a big mistake to not get the full original cast back (I get that Angelina Jolie and co. are expensive, but it needed them desperately). It's also a big mistake to cast Awkwafina IN A VOICE ROLE! Why does this keep happening??? This is like the 4th animated movie I had to suffer through, in which a main character sounded like NAILS ON A FUCKING CHALK BOARD. I will forgive them for absolutely nailing Viola Davis as The Chameleon. The way they animated the lizard to have her facial features is really stunning. I don't have much to say about this, though. It feels like a story they've already told. But the absolute best part is the Britney Spears cover at the end (of "Baby One More Time") by Tenacious D. It's seriously sad to see they ended their partnership over Donald Fucking Trump. I have to say, though, once again, I have to disagree with the internet and side with Jack Black on this one. When I heard of the attempted assassination of Trump, I was at work and a customer informed me as I was ringing her up. All she said was "someone just shot Donald Trump at his rally", and my initial reaction was to gasp out of horror. I get the sentiment to want someone as awful as Trump dead, but the reality of it - and the fact that it was televised, and that someone else died, is so horrifying. Do you really want your children to see a former president of the united states shot in the head and murdered on live television? The "don't miss next time" was completely inappropriate and disrespectful. And the thing is, he knew it and he still said it - putting his bandmates careers in jeopardy. I would be pissed if I were Black, and I would have distanced myself just as he did. People really need to reel themselves in - they are becoming the people we are trying to fight against, and it's really disheartening. 

4. Back to Black - UGH I wrote so much about this movie in my original post, and I truly can't be bothered to remember it all. The film wasn't as bad as I was expecting - in fact, there's a few things I actually liked about it, but a lot of mistakes were made. I think Marisa Abela was set up to fail. Her performance, acting-wise, is actually fairly decent. I don't think she looks like Amy at all (more like Jenny Slate), but that's not always necessary. But it's a similar situation to Naomi Ackie's casting as Whitney Houston - getting the essence of this person is absolutely necessary and they both did not succeed. In Abela's case, they had her actually sing Amy's songs, which as seen in the viral clip that every single person on the internet called an embarrassment. I think she tried too hard to sound *exactly* like her, instead of putting her own spin on it (ala Rocketman). I appreciate the commitment that Abela put into this role, and again, I don't think it's her fault that this is a miss. When she performs the Grammys scene, I couldn't quite pin down *why* it's so bad, because there's no glaringly obvious reason, until you watch the *actual* performance directly after (which I did, because I was curious). And again, it's an "essence" thing - Amy sings with a level of freedom that the audience could just feel in their bones. She didn't give a fuck, just got up there and sang her heart out. Didn't care if she hit a note just right, didn't care if her makeup was smeared, didn't care if she stumbled out of her shoes (partly because drunks develop less awareness the more they drink). She's also just a natural talent - it seemed effortless and cool. Abela is stiff, polished, clearly performing for a camera - and we can absolutely feel that she cares about how this performance is perceived. But I blame the director for this - had she told Abela to fuck up a little and be a little more free - she might have given a better performance. I also read a lot of criticism about this movie "blaming" Amy's death on being depressed about being childless, instead of the people in her life who could have saved her, and I did not get that at all from this movie. They clearly show her father saying the line "she's fine" when her management wanted to put her in rehab (which is featured in the song "Rehab" - "if my daddy says I'm fine...") because putting her in rehab would have a negative impact on her career. They also clearly show this almost near obsession she had for her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, and having that relationship crumble is what destroyed her. I didn't really realize that they met so early on in his career - I do know that he was always portrayed as a villain in her life. I never connected that a large portion of her songs are about him and their relationship (and on a sidenote - you know those lines in a song that just stick with you? Well "We only said goodbye with words, I died a hundred times..." is one of my favorite lines in a song. period. I get it stuck in my head all the time, and the way she sings it is just gut-wrenching. But now it's even more heartbreaking knowing the story behind it). What this movie does really, really well is cast someone as charming as Jack O'Connell in this role. I always thought of Blake as sort of slimy, so this was a new twist to this person - and allowed us insight into Amy's adoring eyes for him. It's so easy to look at toxic relationships and point it out and claim "ew, how does she not see through his shit?", but this is how she sees him and this girl fell hard. As did I, the second O'Connell started singing and dancing to "Leader of the Pack". I like that they didn't take the easy route with this character - and shows how toxic she was also to him. I can't blame someone for recognizing this toxicity and leaving it behind in favor of a more "normal" life. Ending the movie on this heartbreak isn't offensive or disrespectful towards Amy, it's reality. I do think they should have shown her actually trying to get help several times (she did, in fact, go to rehab multiple times), but other than that, I don't have a problem with how her life is portrayed here (and as a sidenote - some women who are childless are also super depressed about it. That's a completely legitimate reason for a woman to be depressed. The problem is that she had nobody in her life that she could lean on and that could convince her how young she was and how much life changes as you grow older, so she just drank herself to death). I also really liked learning about Amy's musical and style influences - mostly from her grandmother. I like that she didn't look like every other pop star. I was often told I looked like Amy Winehouse during the height of her fame (and she became famous in America long after she gained fame in the U.K). I was always super offended by it because, to me, she looked sick. But, I was always super thin and petite, pale skin, and have a whole lot of hair. I would never wear winged eyeliner because I felt like the comparisons would increase. 

5. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - I did not like this at all, which is surprising to me because I did really like Godzilla vs. Kong. I wasn't even sure if this was related to that or if they were rebooting etc. It's hard to keep track anymore, but as soon as I saw Rebecca Hall I realized it was connected. I'm glad to see her back (not with that haircut though! Do you think she had the same hairstylist as Elsie Fisher??? Pixie styles can be cute if they are done well! And Hall rocks a pixie well, so I don't know why it looks so bad here. The highlights certainly don't help). I also really like the girl who plays her daughter - she's a really strong little actress. The highlight, though, if there is one, is Brian Tyree Henry and his banter with Dan Stevens. I think the majority of the film taking place in Hollow Earth is part of the reason I found it so boring. I think the scale of the monsters becomes hard to distinguish when they aren't shown on our own terms. And Godzilla is barely in it until the end, so it feels a little bit like false advertising. Also, the effects for all the other monsters, Godzilla and Kong aside, are really bad?? Why do they look so bad? It's like the had the b-team design those ones. It's interesting to compare this to other Godzilla projects that came out this year, because maybe if those didn't exist, I might have been more forgiving of this. But Godzilla Minus One and the Apple tv series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters are both very good. This is bad.