Thoughts on 5 Films

1. News of the World - This is one of those movies that I assumed was probably really good, but I absolutely just dreaded watching it. I had a similar feeling for the previous Paul Greengrass/Tom Hanks collaboration Captain Phillips and, of course, I ended up really loving it. Unfortunately, this movie just bored me to tears. There's some beautifully intense scenes, as expected. And Hanks is great. The young girl is also good, but I don't think her performance is memorable enough to reach award-worthy (she was considered "snubbed" for the Oscar nod after gaining a Golden Globe nomination). She reminded me of Hanna (the character and the actress, and I mean the excellent tv version not the mediocre Saoirse Ronan one). But I think I'm just not really a fan of Westerns (there are exceptions, of course, but I'm currently trying to watch Deadwood which is highly considered as one of the greatest television shows ever, and I just can't get into it). There's just something about the color palette and cliche of it all that makes me want to take a nap. I did like the bond between these two, but other than that I don't really have much else to say about it. 

2. The Many Saints of Newark - Other than some stunning casting decisions, I don't really have much else to say about this movie, either. So, first let's just talk about the cast - my absolute favorite casting is Corey Stoll as Junior Soprano. It's so perfect, I could cry just thinking about it. Billy Magnussen and John Magaro as Paulie and Silvio, also perfect. And even though she barely had any lines, the girl who played a teenage Janice, again...perfect. Adding in two of the most loved NJ natives, Vera Farmiga and Ray Liotta, to the Sopranos family is...guess what...yup, you guessed it...perfect. But that's where the perfection ends. I don't think that anyone could do a young Tony Soprano justice, so casting his son is probably the best option but it just didn't work for me. And I don't really like Leslie Odom Jr, but at least he doesn't sing in this (it's really his voice that I don't like, his acting is fine, I guess). Alessandro Nivola did a fine job in the lead role, but casting someone from Boston should be illegal, in my opinion. And you can always tell when someone is trying to do a NJ accent - even if it's good, it still felt a little forced. As for the film, it's just...pointless? I love The Sopranos as much as anyone else, but living in NJ for the past 12 (ish?) years, I have more appreciation for the impact it has here. I remember when I first moved here, literally everyone I met had a Sopranos "connection" ("my aunt is friends with Gandolfini's cousin", "parts of it was filmed on my street", "my nephew was one of the background actors", etc. The best I have is that Edie Falco went to the same college as me. It was 20 years before me, but still.). I just don't really think a prequel is necessary, and if you're going to do it, it needs to be perfect. And this just isn't it. Tony Soprano stealing an ice cream truck and giving out free ice cream to the neighborhood kids is just something I never needed to see. I don't even really have anything too negative to say about it, but it's just so very blah. 

3. The Guilty - I remember when that Halle Berry movie, The Call, came out a while ago and I thought it was really interesting to do a movie about 911 operators because it seems like such a stressful and also quite unfulfilling job. That movie wasn't really that good, but for one reason it became quite memorable for me. And that one reason is: Guilt. It always stuck with me - the way she feels so guilty for something that's not really her fault. These people really have to think on their feet for such varying situations and sometimes they will inevitable make mistakes that could have deadly consequences. I thought that this movie was going to focus more on this topic, but instead The Guilty is focusing on a cop who is assigned to a call dispatch center while awaiting a trial for a previous (unknown to the audience) call of duty situation. I'm sorry, but as an audience member, if you put together the fact that it's about a demoted police officer and it's titled THE GUILTY, you can figure out how it's going to end. Also, the call that he gets that is the catalyst for the plot, is quite off from the beginning so I instantly figured out that things weren't as they seem. And yet, I saw multiple reviews calling the twist "excellent". It's honestly one of the most OBVIOUS movies I've seen in a while. And maybe because it seems so obvious, it also seems incredibly dumb (whhyyyy would her "captor" let her keep using the phone? And why would he keep answering the phone? SO DUMB *rolls eyes*). Gyllenhaal does his best with it, but this made me realize that I might not be the biggest fan of Antoine Fuqua? For such a praised director, I was surprised when I looked at his IMDB page and realized he only really has one movie that's above mediocre (Training Day, obviously). And I would probably rate this movie as 3 stars, because even with the obvious plot, it's still well-made and well-acted. But then the ending is just so neat and tidy with no real consequence for anyone - it's just such an utter disappointment. Also, I was super excited for Riley Keough and she's not actually in it - just her voice (and she oddly sounds like Judy Greer?).

4. My Son - I'm in love with James McAvoy, obviously. And even though he is an extremely popular actor with big franchises under his belt, I still think he's really underrated? Other than the fact that he should have at least 6 Oscar nominations and has ZERO, he also takes huge risks in his career choices. From taking on something like Split and Glass where he had to play a dozen different characters within seconds of each other, to The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby which tells the same story from three different perspectives, to something like Filth where he is basically a completely unhinged person that you can't take your eyes off of.  I really feel like he truly loves acting and appreciates it as an art form, and not just a paycheck. What's been referred to as a "gimmick" for this movie, is actually incredibly brave for an actor to choose to under-take. If you don't know - McAvoy wasn't given a full script for this, so he had to improvise based on the other actors dialogue/action. I think it's a super cool idea - and honestly, I could not tell you which parts were improvised so McAvoy succeeds in every aspect. It's completely smooth, and if you watched it without knowing the "gimmick", I highly doubt anyone would have any idea that's how it was created. Claire Foy is also incredible, and I feel like they have really great, intense chemistry together. I like this movie for the acting and the experiment, but I wish the story was stronger, though. It kind of goes nowhere and it ends really flatly. I'm surprised that I found this streaming for free on Peacock - is that a legitimate streaming service for films now? I need someone to make a map of all the streaming services and when you have to pay extra (I get Peacock for free for some reason, but some things are blocked and you have to pay extra which is super annoying because I started watching Dr. Death but after 3 episodes it makes you sign up for the premium service to watch the rest. Which is annoying, but fine. However, it's weird that I can stream a brand new 2021 movie for free?). But back to me being in love with James - he looks so good in this with his slightly greyish hair and his natural accent. He's just so dreamy. 

5. Together - And speaking of being in love with James McAvoy, I had to watch this movie as soon as possible (I actually paid to rent it, which is super rare for me - I usually just wait until they are free nowadays. I'm a very patient person). I read that this was a quarantine relationship drama, and I had my reservations (Locked Down was basically the same but they added a heist, and it was also Not Good), but I also have faith that McAvoy can make anything worth watching. As I said in my post on Locked Down, I never really got the whole lockdown experience that most people had. I definitely saw a lot of people complaining about the amount of time they had to spend with their family or significant other, both online and from friends of mine. I think the immediate reaction is to be snarky (why are you with someone that you don't like being around?), but ultimately you're not really supposed to be around someone 24 hours a day. I would have gone insane too. Luckily I worked during lockdown, but my boyfriend really worked - he owns two liquor stores and they were deemed essential services so they were allowed to stay open to the public. He basically had holiday business with a tenth of the staff (I think he worked a total of 76 days in a row; 12 hour days). We had plenty of space. And even when we don't and I need to be alone - I just tell him to go away and he does. Anyway, back to the movie, it's set up right from the beginning that these two people don't like each other and now they are stuck together for an indeterminable amount of days, so basically we get to watch this couple bicker for 90 minutes? Cool, cool, cool. I think the story would be much stronger if we saw the breakdown of the relationship due to these living conditions instead of setting it up in the beginning. But I'm sure that story is down the line somewhere in film production land. What I did appreciate is that the film does not shy away from the effects of Covid and the strain it's had on people's mental health, and also the complete lack of responsibility and empathy from leadership. So many mistakes were made and nobody is acknowledging it. I'll still never understand why we didn't just keep the mask mandate in place until more were vaccinated? I think it's pretty obvious that there was going to be a backlash to the vaccine, if you were paying attention. Instead of addressing that, it seems we went into this very idealistic place of "oh we have a vaccine, everyone is going to take it, so let's ease all restrictions", which is the dumbest thing we could have done. Also, the way nursing homes (which are called care homes in the UK - learned something new! I also learned that they call eggplant "aubergine", which makes sense because we use the word "aubergine" to refer to a color that is the purplish color of eggplants!) were handled is a disgrace and people belong in jail for it. I think it's something like 30% of all Covid deaths in NJ are linked to nursing homes. Just devastating. Anyway, I appreciate this movie for what it tries to do, but just like with My Son, I wish I liked it more. I found the breaking of the fourth wall really jarring, and I thought I would get used to it, but I never did. It just felt awkward. McAvoy is really stunning in some scenes, though. And once again, he'll be ignored completely for it.