Thoughts on 5 Films

1. The Fall Guy - YAY I loved this!!! I had high hopes for it, but ultimately I thought I was going to be disappointed. It's so much fun, though, and Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are such a perfect pairing - I could watch them in a thousand more movies together. Although, I think Gosling has a knack for finding that chemistry with all of his co-stars (Emma Stone, Ana de Armas, Margot Robbie, Rachel McAdams, Carey Mulligan, Michelle Williams - the list goes on!!). He just excels so much in these types of roles because he's not afraid to make a fool out of himself and have fun. You can tell that he doesn't take himself too seriously, but he is also very committed and puts his all into his work. I truly hope he never gets to the point where he just "phones it in" like a lot of other actors of his stature. This film felt like not only a love letter to the stunt community, but to the filmmaking community as a whole - and to the people who often get overlooked, even though they are the backbone of the production. It doesn't invent the wheel as far as plot and structure, but it still feels fresh and new and just plain fun. However, I do understand why it didn't do as well at the box office as many had hoped. First, the trailer is a little cheesy. Second, the average movie-goer does not care about how movies are made. Any film that is described as a love letter to Hollywood is not going to win the attention of a general audience. A production budge of +100 million is expected with the caliber of stunt work, action sequences, and movie stars, but they wasted their money in marketing. They should have leaned into the action and the romance (like The Lost City) and let people discover the rest on their own - and I think they would have enjoyed it (the general audience RT score is actually slightly higher than the critic score). Anyway, it's my favorite movie of the year. It has everything I want - Ryan Gosling at his hottest and most charming, dialogue that is rich in humor, emotion, and sarcasm, a love story that you root for, and just an overall good time at the movies. The only real criticism I have is that Stephanie Hsu is severely underused and I find Aaron Taylor-Johnson very annoying in 90% of things. 

2. IF - This movie is kind of rough to sit through, BUT I have to give it some props for being an original family friendly movie. It has some great ideas and reminds me of movies that I grew up with - that have harsh realities but are still appropriate for kids to watch (The Secret Garden, My Girl, etc). And yet, I think it's a little too boring for younger kids and older kids would deem themselves "too cool" for it, so I'm not really sure its intended audience. There's obviously an amazing cast of actors (mostly used in voice roles). And then there's Awkwafina (I feel like someone is pranking me? How is she getting all these voice roles?). The best gag of the whole thing is the "introducing Brad Pitt" bit. The main girl is a very good actress - it took me about an hour before I realized that she's little Judith Grimes from The Walking Dead! She's all grown up! I've never been a big fan of Ryan Reynolds outside of Deadpool, and this film reminded me why. He's a terrible actor and I will never understand how anyone thinks he's hot?! I...just...don't see it. There are plenty of Hollywood men that are highly praised as hot that I simply don't get - Chris Evans, for example - but I would never say he's not hot. I just don't think he's a good actor or has any charisma. But Reynolds baffles me. Anyway, clearly his hotness is not a factor for a movie like this, but my point still stands. I don't understand his entire career? Like, how did he get to this A-list level? But, I digress. Back to this movie. I think it was a mistake to have a twist - again, young kids aren't going to get it and older kids won't care. It's also very obvious, at least, to me (but my husband was like "what the fuck is going on?" and I said what I thought the twist was and he was like "ohhhhh yeah, that makes sense. Why didn't they just say that from the beginning?" I guess in a kids movie you don't really expect it to have a big twist.). Also, the scenes with her dad in the hospital feel very off. I guess they didn't want to make it too depressing (for the kids!), but heart surgery is, like, a very big deal and he would not have this much energy if he was going through something like that. 

3. The Bikeriders - Well, there's a first for everything. And this movie is, unfortunately, the first Jeff Nichols film that I did not like (I've actually LOVED almost all of them - Loving being the weak link, but still good). I like the way Nichols tells a story - they always feel deeply personal and told with a great deal of detail and depth, and they are often more slice-of-life than the traditional arcs of storytelling. It's hard to pinpoint why I didn't like this - but a large portion of my dislike is that I think Hardy and Butler are awful in this. Hardy isn't as bad, but I think he's done this whole quiet but tough mumbly character a few too many times. But Butler CLEARLY took this role to do his best James Dean impression and it actually made me laugh out loud several times. It's just so ridiculous. However, Jodie Comer is acting circles around these two and then some. I know some thought the accent was overdone, but sometimes the Chicago accent does sound that dramatic - and I thought it really suited her. I would have honestly thought she was from Chicago if I didn't already know that she's not. But the film being mostly from her perspective does give a slightly interesting story. I do think you could just watch any episode of Sons of Anarchy and you'd get the same thing. There's a great supporting cast - a Nichols' favorite Michael Shannon, Karl Glusman, Boyd Holbrook - but I think they made a mistake by having too many side characters. It was hard to keep track of who was who and why I should care about them (in short, I did not care about any of them). And also Emory Cohen, who I do not like. I really laughed through most of it - especially the crying at the end. And when Hardy seems to not know personal space boundaries and he gets sooo close to his co-stars that they almost seem uncomfortable - there is literally a scene where I thought Hardy and Butler might kiss because they are just *that* uncomfortably close. 

4. Ricky Stanicky - Okay so this movie is very stupid and ridiculous. The beginning is really rough, and these characters are extremely awful people. But then somewhere in the middle it actually becomes mostly funny and I found myself rooting for everything to work out. I really like John Cena - he's another actor who is not afraid to make fun of himself and be ridiculous all in the name of entertaining an audience. He's the highlight in this, and I really, really, really wish we got to see him perform Britney in *that* outfit - even if it was an after credits scene. They truly messed up by not giving the audience that. Zac Efron has a natural talent for comedy and more lighthearted stuff - I think he should stick to these types of roles. There's a lot of funny lines that are mostly throwaway lines, while the lines that they give the laugh beat to, drop with a loud *thud* noise (like I laughed really hard at "I feel like Jason Bateman in every episode of Ozark"). I think it just tries a little too hard to be outrageous like The Hangover, but it doesn't reach those levels. But like I said, by the end, I found myself laughing and being entertained. It's very "boys club" humor, and if that's not your thing then definitely skip this. 

5. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - I've liked all the Mad Max movies (although, I haven't actually seen the 3rd movie from the original trilogy yet). I was looking forward to this entry because Furiosa is a great character, and I love Anya. My expectations were sort of leveled because one of my favorite movie people gave it 2.5 stars and another of my favorite movie people gave it 5 stars - so it could have gone either way for me. I ended up rating it 3.5 stars. It easily could have been 4 stars had they not cast Chris Hemsworth. He was almost unwatchable, honestly. His higher than normal octave voice mixed with the Australian accent and the horrible prosthetics on his face is just a big miss for me. I've definitely softened on Hemsworth - and have fully admitted that he's been good in smaller doses, and largely comedic roles, but he is by NO MEANS a good actor. It seems George Miller disagrees with me (that's fine, a lot of people disagree with me on an array of things). Anya is great though, and the film really comes alive when she FINALLY appears on screen. Sorry, but it's INSANE that the STAR of your movie doesn't appear until an HOUR into your movie!!! I was getting so annoyed. I know there were a lot of complaints about it not looking very good in comparison to Fury Road, but I think it looks great. It's still a visually compelling, well made film. The action sequences and set design are superb. I just think the casting of Hemsworth ruins the whole film. But what do I know? Also, the fact that they refer to this as a "Mad Max saga" implies that they might do more movies with other characters? That could be interesting.