Thoughts on 5 Films

1. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw - While I enjoy all of the Fast & Furious movies, I fully admit that they are all starting to blend together. I could never even do a ranking of them because I have no idea which one is which. However, I would surely rank this one towards the top. Mostly because I just love Jason Statham, but also because of Vanessa Kirby. I love that she went from being in The Crown to big action franchise movies (this and Mission Impossible). She's so hot and her hair looks fucking fabulous through the entire movie - even during the most intense action sequences, she's just flawless. The same can be said for Eiza Gonzalez (just watch the From Dusk Till Dawn tv series and try not to drool). This is the type of movie that I will always have fun watching, but obviously I can see the flaws. First, I love the banter between Statham and The Rock, but some of it felt a little bit forced. Second, I know these films aren't obviously supposed to be realistic in any way, but there is no way Vanessa Kirby would ever have a shot in a fight with The Rock. I don't care how skilled she is, he could break her with his pinky. And third, I'm also a little desensitized by the action scenes - after, what, seven or eight films (I've lost count), what else can they do that they haven't done? It all gets a little repetitive, and by the time they get to Hawaii, I was over it. It's unnecessarily long and there's way too much filler.

2. Jojo Rabbit - I liked this movie a lot. For some reason, I wasn't really expecting to. The plot is obviously a bit off-putting. And I've seen a few articles here and there that describe the film as "problematic", which usually makes me laugh, but seeing as it's a satire about Nazis, I can definitely see the extremely thin line that may have been crossed. However, for me, it works. I can completely see how it might not work for others. Humanizing Nazis is never going to sit well with most people, but sometimes stories like this need to be told so we, as a society, can understand how this type of evil starts and spreads (and hopefully can be stopped...). I do wish it wasn't pushed as a "comedy" because it's definitely not - it's clearly a drama with comedic moments, but I think because it's "satire" it, for some reason, has to be also labeled as a comedy. There is no way that any movie with a scene like *that* should ever be labeled as a comedy. It's soul-crushing. And definitely problematic. Anyway, there is wonderful commentary and dialogue about the cycle of violence, which I think can be related to many scenarios, not just Nazis. I also think it displays an amazing mother/son relationship about a mother who has not only lost her son to pure evil in which she has no control over, but also she still sees the best in him, and has hope in saving him. We often place blame on the parents when someone grows up to be evil - and I know first-hand that it's not always their fault. Roman Griffin Davis is adorable and is absolutely wonderful in this role. On a side-note, I am completely expecting this kid to show up in the next Kingsman movie (not the prequel one that's coming out, but possibly the one after that). He made many references to it during awards season - wearing the orange suit, and Kingsman cufflinks. I thought it was so weird, so I looked into it and it turns out that his dad is a DP on many of Matthew Vaughn movies (and also one of my favorite movies - Seven Psychopaths). So, yeah, I would say that's a lock to happen in the near future. Scar-jo deserved the Oscar nomination (not for Marriage Story though - although she was better than the actual winner). And I'm really surprised that Taika didn't get more credit for his acting role in this - definitely brilliant. And of course, Sam Rockwell is perfect as always.

3. Anna - This seemed like my kind of movie - very Alias-like. Plus it's Luc Besson, and I will always be a fan, even though he's done some terrible movies. Overall, I was entertained. It's a little bit like recent films Red Sparrow and Atomic Blonde, and it doesn't add anything else to what's already been done. The twists are pretty good, though. It was obvious that something was going down, but I wasn't expecting what happened, so that's always a good sign. The cast is strong - I'm not sure I've ever seen the main girl in anything before, but she does a really good job of being a believable model/spy. Helen Mirren is unrecognizable (and also, a little bit cliched now for the role. We get it Helen, you're a bad-ass). Luke Evans does a surprisingly great Russian accent (I'm not sure what his original accent is - I think British or Welsh maybe, definitely not Russian, though). I love Cillian Murphy. I feel like he's not in as much stuff as he should be, or even when he is in stuff, he's not really rated as highly as he should be. He's always a solid actor - and he tends to pick interesting projects.

4. Lost Girls - Amy Ryan is definitely a great under-rated actress. I started watching this without realizing that it was based on a true story, but then I stopped it about 30 minutes in to look up the real story. It's weird that it happened in Long Island in 2010 and there was a whole serial killer situation, and yet, I heard nothing about it? Which is kind of the point - since the women were all assumed to be sex-workers, so it wasn't made a big deal (although the movie does show it getting press). This movie isn't that great - it's well acted, but overall it has no impact. Also, the girl from Jojo Rabbit is in it. It's weird when that happens - randomly watching 2 movies in a row that star the same actor/actress. I didn't mention her in my Jojo Rabbit thoughts because I didn't really like her performance, but decided to focus on the great performances instead. Unfortunately, I didn't like her in this either. There is something weird about the way she speaks. I think it might be because she is trying to hide her real accent, in which she is successful because I had to look up where she is from. There's just something off, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Anyway, the real question is why they put the fact that Mari (the main character in the movie - the mother of one of the missing girls) was murdered by her other daughter, in the footnotes at the end of the movie. That's an incredibly interesting part of this woman's story that maybe should have been focused on a bit more.

5. Dolemite is My Name - Another casualty of this year's disastrous Oscar nominations for both Lead Actor and Costume Design. Eddie Murphy is phenomenal, and that 'Eddie Murphy smile' was definitely missed. I've never seen a Dolemite movie - and honestly, I probably never will, it's just definitely not my type of humor. However, this movie was very entertaining and had some really memorable scenes. Like the scene where they all go to the movies to see the "comedy" - man, the look on all of their faces is perfection. The story is a really interesting look at what makes something a "cult classic". Sometimes the public couldn't give a shit about what critics think or if something is technically "well-made", instead they just want to watch something that they can connect to, or laugh with, or laugh at, or sometimes all three. The biggest revelation, though, is that holy fuck that's Kodi Smit-McPhee all grown up?!? I didn't even recognize him, which is weird because he's in the X-Men movies, but I guess he doesn't make a big impression in those movies.