Thoughts on 5 Films

1. Speak No Evil - First of all, no, I have not seen the original. I tried to watch it before watching this but I couldn't find it streaming anywhere, but I will keep it on my list and hopefully it will appear somewhere soon. Second, James McAvoy is the fucking greatest. I guarantee you that he gives a stronger performance here than any of the potential Oscar nominees for this year (I haven't seen a lot of the likely nominated performances but the thought of Adrien Brody, Timothee Chamalet (Chalamet), and Sebastian Stan in the category makes me cringe so hard). Third, I somehow successfully avoided the trailer that everyone kept complaining about - apparently it was shown A LOT, and it gives too much away, which seems to be the case with every trailer, which is why I try my best to avoid them. But it was definitely hard with this because it's my LOVE James McAvoy and I wanted to watch it so fucking badly! But I didn't! So, I thought I was going to be really surprised by some big twist or something??? But unfortunately, it's very easy to figure out from the first few minutes of these people meeting each other what is going on. I kept waiting for a shock or a twist, and NOTHING! I was actually very bored, which I definitely was not expecting. I love Mackenzie Davis, though, and I screamed when I realized that Scoot McNairy is in this too!!! I love a Halt & Catch Fire reunion! I think overall, the plot is very stupid, but it is elevated by an excellent cast. McAvoy is very convincing as someone who would be very charming but very sinister in one breath (him singing "Eternal Flame" is glorious!). Davis has THE BEST facial reactions to some of the events that occur. And McNairy excels at being this dopey husband who is kind of useless but endearing. I love that when shit starts going down, she's the one that takes charge and he kind of fumbles around. I've always found that women are much better in emergency situations - mostly because it involves multi-tasking and men are generally bad at that. It's why men are better drivers - women are in constant multi-task mode and driving is something that should be a solo focus. Men can do that better. I don't know why people get so offended by basic biological facts (and I'm talking general, because I am actually a very good driver. I was taught by a retired police officer and I feel like he was a better teacher than most driving instructors because he taught me more "real world" driving and my husband is a very bad driver because he was born and raised in NJ and NJ has the worst drivers in the world. They are all so fucking aggressive). But, like I said, the plot is just stupid. I would never in a MILLION YEARS let my child on a bike with a stranger in a foreign country, and I don't think any parent would either. And then, they go back for the stupid bunny, not once, BUT TWICE?! Fuck off with that nonsense. It's also stupid that the little boy knows what's under the shed? How would he know all that stuff is down there if it's all locked up? It's still very gripping and intense at the end, but when I actually think about the movie I'm very disappointed. McAvoy's presence increases the rating by a whole star, though. 

2. It Ends with Us - *major spoilers* I've tried really hard to not think about this movie since I watched it last week because the more I think about it the angrier I get. I had not read the book, but from all the media attention, I knew that it was about domestic abuse. I will admit that I did not see the *twist* of the unreliable narrator, even though she literally calls herself that in the beginning. It got me. But that doesn't mean it's good. The idea is actually BRILLIANT - to show the audience her version of the events as the truth. Events that led to her being injured (she fell down the stairs, there was a fire incident and he accidentally hit me, etc), are shown to the audience so that we go - "oh, yeah, that seems like an accident". I started to question when the abuse was going to start. I think it forces the audience into an uncomfortable reality about abuse and encourages us to ask further questions/offer more support to women who may seem like they are in a perfect relationship and make excuses when the cracks start to show. I really wish the movie was good so that we could focus on this and begin to have a different conversation around domestic abuse. But the movie is FAR from good. The dialogue is rough, there is a lack of chemistry between the leads (and she often looks at him with disgust, which is weird), and it has one of the worst endings of all-time. All the light that it shines on domestic abuse is instantly dimmed with this bullshit ending. She just...leaves? She calmly asks for a divorce after giving birth to his child and he goes "yeah, you're right you should ask for a divorce". Because abusive men are apparently that self-aware??? If women could leave that easily THEY WOULD!! The issue is that most women CAN'T leave - most will fear for their lives or life of their child, but others can not leave for financial reasons! Especially if a child is involved. If the choice is staying in a warm home with food & clothing but suffer abuse, or live on the street or in a half-way house type situation where there is no guarantees and is often unsafe also, most will choose the former. And most abused women, will have their financial independence slowly drained without them realizing it because abusive men are manipulative. It's such a disservice to abused women for this film to show her *deciding* to leave as if she's deciding what to make for dinner. ANYWAY, I like Blake Lively (as an actress - some of the stuff that has come out about her has been rough, though), and I think if the director didn't cast himself in the movie, it would have been far better. But nothing could save that ending. I also think the costume designer might have been on drugs because what the fuck was she wearing for most of the film? That outfit she wears to the party?? I made the biggest "ew" face I could make. And why is Jenny Slate dressed like she's a housewife from the 60s for the majority of it? Make it make sense?! They did do a really good job of casting a younger Lively, but the casting of the younger/older Atlas is really off - they have completely different bone structure. Also, do these people realize that they are in their 40s??? They way they talk about their lives and having kids, you would think they are 28. It's all really stupid. Worse than a Lifetime movie. 

3. Carry-On - I think my love of Taron Egerton might be clouding my judgement with this one, but I think it's a lot of dumb fun and it's entertaining as Hell!! I loved it. It's definitely a throwback to 90s action thrillers combined with director Jaume Collet-Serra's talent for anxiety-induced tension. Of course, I can see the flaws, but I choose to ignore them - at least while watching - because it's very easy to just "go with it". The cast is great - and they all really sell the plot. Bateman as the bad guy is an unexpected but lovely choice - he is someone who would just blend in at an airport, but he does cold and sinister evil, really well. I don't know much about Sofia Carson, but she has a very large online fan-base (I think she's a singer??? Definitely missed a trick by not having her and Egerton sing a holiday song together!). She's great in this - holds her own and has great chemistry with Taron. I'm used to seeing Danielle Deadwyler in more prestigious type films, but she's really fun in this. There's also lots of familiar faces among the supporting characters (Theo Rossi! Dean Norris! Trey Atwood!! - although the twist of his character is obvious from the second he appears). And as for, my love, Taron Egerton - this is a great role for him. He's great at being an "everyman" hero type character (which is what he does in Kingsman even though he's a bit more chav-like). He's also great at action scenes - definitely perfected the Tom Cruise run. When this project was announced with his name attached, I *knew* it was a good step for his career. I miss seeing his face on the big screen, but as much as people want to complain about Netflix, it is how a huge amount of the population watch movies nowadays. Having the #1 spot on Netflix WORLD WIDE is a huge accomplishment and pushes his popularity into new territory. However, I can not handle his American accent. I feel like it somehow got worse??? There are several nods to NJ (he's supposed to be from there, transplanted to LA), but with that accent??? I don't think so, buddy. As for my other nit-picking things - why would anyone put a random earpiece in their ear without sanitizing it first??? EWWWW that's so GROSS. And how can he keep walking away from his post? Do they keep just shutting down the line every time he gets up?? The whole sniper from the parking lot is supremely dumb, too. Why would a pregnant woman encourage her baby-daddy to be a COP? Also, why are her eyebrows brushed straight up and down???? Is that how young people are styling their eyebrows now? It looks so stupid. 

4. Subservience - I expected bad, but I didn't expect this bad. I'll always stick up for Megan Fox (not for her dating life though - she makes very bad choices there) - I think she's someone who knows exactly what kind of projects are made for her and she doesn't take herself too seriously. She's also gorgeous (I'm sad that she's chosen the plastic surgery life, but to each their own!). She's definitely the best part of this movie - every single step, bad dialogue and all, she is a robot. Never faulters once! Everyone else in the movie is woeful. I couldn't figure out how I recognized the wife, so I looked her up and was like "oh, yeah, from Californication", but then I realized that she's also the little girl from The Nanny!!! How did I not make that connection before! Mind. Blown. She's bad in this, but she has one good moment when she sees the robot, that is Megan Fox, for the first time. I laughed. But otherwise, this movie plays out exactly as expected - it's like M3GAN and the tv show Humans combined, but bad. Really, really bad. And dumb. There's just no substance or point, and it's not even entertaining other than seeing Megan Fox in her underwear (but there are several other movies for that, so this is unnecessary). "Why does a robot even need undergarments"? is a question I asked myself more than a few times, mostly because I was bored. 

5. Kneecap - I don't think I was in the best mental state to watch this - I couldn't even pay attention to the first half hour. I saw this movie gaining awards traction in the foreign film category and it showed up on Netflix, so I pressed play, but I had no idea what it was about. After about a half hour, I decided to google what the fuck I was watching and it made way more sense. As an American, I have no idea who this group is - but watching them act out their own origin story is definitely an interesting concept. But also, as a (maybe dumb?) American, I do not understand why Irish is not an official language in Northern Ireland???? WHAT? Someone explain it to me like I'm 5 because I started looking into it and it made me even more confused. Apparently it is as of 2022, but why wasn't it originally that way - like from the beginning? I don't get it, but I guess it was super controversial for these guys to rap (??) in Irish. I'm putting the question marks there because it just sounds like noise to my ears (and I love rap - but if I can't understand the words then it's hard for me to listen to - not a knock on them, more of a knock on my own understanding of the language). Their whole sound gives off more of an EDM vibe to me instead of hip-hop, but I guess in Northern Ireland this is hip-hop. Once I understood the story, it definitely started to grow on me - and even though I don't know who they are, they create very engaging characters and a very inspiring story. I think maybe the shouldn't have really advertised Fassbender in it, because he's not really - it's more of a glorified cameo which should be that - not an advertised role in the film. But otherwise, it's good!