Thoughts on 5 Films

1. Unhinged - This is a solid little thriller. It's completely ridiculous and unrealistic, but it's tense, fast-paced and the acting is good enough that you don't really notice how dumb it is. I've never really been a big fan of Russell Crowe - he's ok, but I've never really been "wowed" by a performance. I did really like that recent miniseries The Loudest Voice, though. He's great in this - completely believable psychopath. The film is basically about road rage, although it is actually about rage in general - and specifically male rage, but there is also an odd lesson about having patience and sympathy for assholes because they might just be having a bad day (or they might be psychopathic murderers!). Road rage is a HUGE problem where I live (New Jersey). I actually think it might be the capital of road rage (NY is not nearly as bad, and Cali's traffic is worse but they are mostly nice about it). I've learned to just let it go - if someone cuts me off, runs a stop sign, or beeps at me for no reason, I just smile and wave my hand and say "oops my bad" (a la Cher from Clueless) and honestly it's so much more satisfying than getting angry because most of the time people with road rage are LOOKING for confrontation so if you're nice they get super confused and drive away. I do have to address the stupidity of the plot, though. First, the casual "I don't have a passcode for my phone" dialogue is the most obvious foreshadowing I've seen in a while. Second, she is an adult woman, so, surely, this is not the first time she's been harassed/followed by a man while driving? There's like a checklist in my head of all the things to do but I've found the best thing that works is googling the closest police or fire station and driving there. Men are so focused on their anger that they don't even realize where you've driven them to (seriously, I had a guy literally follow me into the police parking lot before realizing where he was and peeling out so fast he left tire marks - they got his license plate on their cameras though. What a fucking idiot). Also, it's still really weird that certain states, like PA (where this film takes place), don't require front license plates. I should be able to easily get a plate number from someone who is following me, but that's impossible to do in some states and that is bullshit. Third, there is NO WAY this woman would put her child in danger. Anyway, I could go on, but like I said, it's still a highly entertaining movie. And there's an absolutely epic car crash scene towards the end. Oh and a fantastic one-liner, "here's your fucking courtesy tap". Just THE BEST. 

2. Minari - I liked this movie, as I expected I would. I think it opens up a lot of dialogue around what should be considered an "American" film - because this is about as American as a film can get but because the dialogue is largely non-English, it is seen as "foreign". It's definitely part of the institutionalized racism in the film industry - I don't see how anyone can argue that. So, technically this film should be categorized as "foreign language" per awards categories, but...instead of being angry at the category itself people got mad that it's in the category. The real problem is that so many "American" films should be told in non-English for authenticity purposes, but most don't have the balls to do it (the most recent example I can cite is In the Heights - should have featured far more Spanish dialogue especially in the songs, but that would have required subtitles and that's a big No from studios). But if more films were made this way - people would be forced to just get used to it. Anyway, that's my piece on the subject. Steven Yeun is fantastic, as is the rest of the cast. I know a lot of people loved him on The Walking Dead (he was a favorite among moms, I think. Definitely my mom's favorite), but I never really paid much attention to him. I hope this film serves as a really big stepping stone for him (you would think being nominated for an Oscar would be enough but sometimes it's not). The biggest success of the movie, though, is the authenticity of it - not only the Korean dialogue, but just the relationship within this marriage felt really genuine. The family dynamic is bursting with tension and I don't see that explored a lot in such a realistic way. *slight spoilers ahead* I was not expecting the heartbreak. I guess I though it would end on a happier note, or even more open-ended, but instead it absolutely destroyed me. 

3. Luca - Not sure I get the hype for this. It's good; not great. I'm extremely bothered by the clearly gay metaphors and innuendos within the story, but...it's not gay. It's a story about "coming out", but they can just claim it's not ("it can be a metaphor for anything" seems to be Pixar's stance). It's the epitome of Queer-baiting or Queer-coding (I don't know what it's called nowadays), but I understand why the Queer community is celebrating it (it's still a win, I guess...). However, I just found it a bit dull. And to add to my previous point in Minari - it also bothers me when films take place in other countries but they speak English dominantly. So within the first few minutes of the movie, I was like "why aren't they speaking Italian instead of doing this weird cringey English with an Italian accent dialogue???" I also think The Little Mermaid comparison is hard to ignore - when he starts collecting all the human stuff I couldn't help but sing "you want thingamabobs? I've got twenty". It just becomes such a distraction. And it's not really funny, either. Aside from the cat being suspicious of them (cats are always the best parts of movies). I don't know, it's just there. Absolutely nothing memorable about it, for me. 

4. The Ice Road - I absolutely love that Liam Neeson has found his niche of "grizzly action star". The problem with that, though, is that I feel like I've seen this movie before - all of his movies are starting to blend together (aside from The Grey, which is wonderful). I was honestly surprised to see this listed as a "new release". I think I was overly excited when I saw the girl from Legion is in it because I really liked her in that, but she is sadly terrible here. And (spoiler) it's really obvious that Lawrence Fishbourne is going to die really quickly, so that Neeson can be the one to "take charge" of the mission. And the mission is basically...impossible. They have to drive 3 big-rigs over a literal ice road in order to rescue a bunch of trapped miners. Like, obviously this is a thing - I think there was even a series about it called Ice Road Truckers (?), but in this movie so many things go wrong that it just becomes so unbelievable. It's not a terrible movie, but it's also something you can zone out for 20 minute intervals and still know exactly what's going on. Just seems like a waste of everyone's talent. 

5. The Tomorrow War - Ahhhh the July 4th big summer blockbuster apocalypse movie, I've missed you. Except...wait...this wasn't even released in theaters so I think that whole idea is dead, I guess. It can't really be considered a "blockbuster", right? I probably would not have seen this in a theater, but I do think a lot of people would have, so I'm not sure why the decision was made to release it as a streamer. I also think Chris Pratt gets so much unnecessary hate for being a republican, but...he's rich, white, straight and Christian...so of course he's republican. And if you think other actors in his position aren't republicans, then you are delusional. Also, I don't necessarily agree with his politics (obviously), but I think there are other actors that seem to get a pass - like Tom Cruise, for example. Scientology is a fucking cult and yet, he's able to make big blockbuster films with fairly little backlash. I just find it weird who gets picked on - there's no consistency to it so, to me, it feels like bullying. And it's not that I don't think people shouldn't be criticized, I'm not, like, making an excuse for him, but there's a way to do it that isn't so hateful. Hate hasn't worked for us yet, so why do we keep continuing to do it? Anyway...he's great in big blockbuster movies (as seen in the Guardians movies and Jurassic World), which is so unexpected from where he started (I never watched Everwood, but I will absolutely always remember him as Che from The O.C.). This is definitely a "turn your brain off and enjoy" kind of movie, and it is very successful in that, but the second you actually start to think about the plot it just absolutely falls apart. There's some cool action sequences, some creative "time travel" images, really cool alien designs, and a buff J.K. Simmons - what more can you really ask for??? My only real criticism is that Betty Gilpin is severely under-utilized.