Thoughts on 5 Films

1. Till Death - *some slight spoilers* Ok, I actually really liked this. It reminded me a little bit of Ready or Not (which I LOVED) - just the vibe of it is the same and I totally dig it. I've always loved Megan Fox. She's obviously hot, but I also just think that she's a lot of fun. She doesn't take herself too seriously, and she chooses roles that she can handle. I do question her life choices a bit when she dates someone who calls himself "Machine Gun Kelly" (don't get me started), and she's oddly thrusting her relationship in very public ways a' la the Kardashians, but I'm pretending like it's not happening. There are a few reasons that I like this movie, but I think the biggest is that I had no idea what was going to happen. The first 25 minutes are pretty straightforward, but still super creepy and I thought it was going to be a pretty obvious domestic abuse type thriller. But the plot turns into something super interesting (and actually original? I think? The closest I can compare it to is Saw, but just in the way that it's about being trapped and trying to figure out how to escape). I also like that she's not complacent - she continuously is thinking of ways to escape. My brain did exactly the same thing that hers did - grab the phone first even though it's likely to be dead given the circumstances and then try to shoot the handcuffs off. They did a really good job of making her feel truly trapped (the only other thing that I could think of is that there are pictures on the wall which means there are nails that she could have used to pick the lock on the handcuffs. Also, one can still drive on a flat tire - it will fuck up the car, but if there is an emergency it can be done). It is pretty dumb how stunning she looks through the entire movie - when she has blood splattered all over her face - it's nicely lined up with her hairline so it doesn't mess up her perfect hair, and then she washes the blood off her face and magically still has makeup on! And it's obvious that the weird steel necklace is an important link to the story, but overall I found it super suspenseful and a lot of fun. The credits are stunning, too. 

2. Black Widow - I have to say, I was definitely not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. Aside from not really liking any recent Marvel stuff (I think the last thing I really enjoyed was Spider-Man: Far From Home), actually really not liking Captain Marvel (just so pandering), and continually thinking that Black Widow is the weakest link of The Avengers (what does she...do, exactly?), I also don't really like Scarlett Johansson in this role. So, I obviously went into this with super low expectations, which might have actually helped my enjoyment of it (?). I will still assert that Black Widow seems pointless in relation to the rest of The Avengers, and I still don't really like the character or Scarlett in the role. But I do love me some Russian spy adventures, and this felt way more in that genre than a comic book movie. I remember when this was released, everyone praising Florence Pugh's performance as Yelena, and even though I like Florence, I was skeptical of all the praise (again, I like her a lot - she was great in Midsommar and Fighting with My Family, but then she got NOMINATED FOR AN OSCAR for a wildly mediocre performance in Little Women so it's hard to trust the praise sometimes), but she absolutely killed it. She's smart, funny, witty, charming, while also being brutal and cold - pretty much everything that Black Widow should be. My eyes were glued to her in every scene. I also love Rachel Weisz and David Harbour. They all had great chemistry together and made the movie a lot of fun to watch. I still have a few problems with it - I'm not sure why the child version of Scarlett looks absolutely nothing like her (that's just such a weird choice?), and that Nirvana cover in the beginning is horrendous and made me want to die (and there is NO WAY Kurt Cobain would want his song in a fucking Marvel movie for fuck sake, have some respect). The family dinner scene is also waaaaaaay too drawn out - I was having a lot of fun with it and then this scene happened and it just drags the whole movie down before it picks back up again. The good definitely outweighs the bad, though, and I think that says a lot coming from someone who has been consistently critical of Black Widow. 

3. The Courier - As I said above, super into Russian spy adventures - but definitely Cold War stuff if it's done well (like The Americans not like Tinker, Tailor, Snooze-fest). I do not, however, like Benedict Cumberbatch. Actually, that's not completely true - I've liked him before, but I just feel like he plays the same character in everything so he gets over-praised. He's in pretty much everything so he's hard to ignore, unfortunately. Plus, this has Rachel Brosnahan (I'm a big fan after watching I'm Your Woman, but definitely after watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - she's incredible) and Jessie Buckley (I was a big fan after Wild Rose, but I actually haven't liked her in anything else since). They are both under-used (which is expected, I think). This is an incredible true story, though. Just absolutely fascinating to watch this "normal" business-man turn into a spy who helped diffuse the Cuban Missile Crisis. I think sometimes it's hard to make things like this intense because it's just a lot of information being secretly passed back and forth - just over and over again, but they did a good job keeping me invested and then it actually gets really, really intense (I'm glad I didn't know the full story before watching it because I definitely wasn't expecting the last 30 minutes). If you're a fan of the genre, then you'll definitely like this. 

4. Voyagers - Well I didn't think there would be a worse sci-fi than Chaos Walking this year, but this one somehow is. It's pretty much "Lord of the Flies", but in space (which if you say out loud, it sounds awesome, but it's not). It's embarrassingly unoriginal and incredibly predictable. I watched this for Colin Farrell (obviously), but he's not in it very much, so it relies heavily on Tye Sheridan and unfortunately he just doesn't have "it". I thought he did - he was great in Mud and Ready Player One, but he's been given ample opportunities to prove himself and he just keeps falling short. But even worse, I can't believe that THAT'S Fionn Whitehead, because I was stunned by how terrible this performance is and *knew* that he seemed familiar, only to realize that he's the kid from Dunkirk - what in the actual fuck??? He was so good in Dunkirk! And then to top it off, Lily-Rose Depp is as dull as a rock. It's a shame, because it does have potential. The concept for sci-fi stories don't necessarily need to be original, there is still a lot to say with this whole idea of "mob mentality" and how humans react during lawlessness instances, but I'm not sure this movie says anything interesting (although, I think they are convinced they are being edgy by pretty much saying that young men are instinctively rapists). And I think the "good" versus "bad" is over-emphasized by having the "bad guy" be super creepy right from the very beginning. Side note: That's a gorgeous poster, and very misleading as to what the movie is actually about. 

5. There's Someone Inside Your House - I like a few things about this movie - first, it feels very late 90s horror with the beginning taking a nod from Scream and then the local teenagers being hunted one by one with their "secrets" being revealed with a similar vibe to I Know What You Did Last Summer. And there are some really good kills (slicing the achilles tendon, the knife through the mouth - all super cringe-worthy and gory). The concept of the killer wearing a mask of the victim's face is also a super creepy idea, but it is not executed well at all because the masks look absolutely nothing like the person - so it's kind of awkward (they obviously knew they failed, so they had to explain who it was supposed to be in each sequence LOL). The cast is tolerable, but they all sort of look like a more famous actor (I've mistaken Theodore Pellerin for Keir Gilchrist before, but they also have the main girl who looks like Shay Mitchell, along with a Ryan Gosling doppelganger). I think the downfall is that it just falls into certain horror clichés that have all been done (better) by other movies. It's also just dumb that they would still have a "big game" when teenagers are being hunted by a serial killer. And it tries to be profound by proclaiming that the whole "mask" concept is referencing how everyone "wears a mask" to hide from their true selves (via social media, etc.), but it's kind of laughable at how direct it is (I think the audience...you know...gets it? It's not that complicated of a concept). The title doesn't really make sense, either, does it? Other than the first scene, none of it takes place in someone's home. It should really be titled "There's Someone Inside Your Face" - that's much more intriguing, right??? (yes, I do realize why they couldn't call it that).