Thursday, September 22, 2022
Don't Worry Darling
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Booksmart
Man I wish I saw this in theaters!
This was a great fun movie, I pretty much loved it from beginning to end. So this is Olivia Wilde's directorial debut centered around two teenage girls, Amy and Molly who decide to let loose the night before graduation and move onto college, and I have to say I flippin' love these girls. They're funny, they're intelligent, but they're not sticks in the mud or uptight, they act like teenagers, they can be weird and silly but still have real conversations with their friends. I thought the writing for the characters was incredibly well done, and the jokes and humor made me laugh so hard I sounded like a combination of a bull frog and Muttley from Wacky Races. That hard. No movie has made me laugh that hard ever, but not only did I laugh I got emotionally involved quick. Beanie Feldstein who I already loved in Lady Bird had so much time to shine in this movie, and I enjoyed Kaitlyn Dever from shows like Justified and Last Man Standing so I knew she was going to be a lot of fun in this. They have superb chemistry together and their friendship is one that I've experienced before so I grew attached to them and really enjoyed the ride with them. They mainly are trying to get to one big party but of course it quickly gets derailed and they encounter all sorts of weird people and situations, including one person who might be the best part of the entire movie, I'm not exactly sure who she is but she's played by Billie Lourd and is actually the best running gag I've seen in awhile. She just ends up at all these places way before Amy and Molly do, and she is completely off her rocker and I love everything about it. I will say however I had some massive issues with the movie. Now I'll be perfectly clear, I actually liked the fact that Amy was a lesbian, they don't overplay it and it's just a part of her character and I like that. However! The relationship the movie tries to project is just...wrong. So let me lay this situation out, Amy meets up with that bitchy character in every high school and then they argue about not really knowing each other before Amy kisses her on the lips. Hwhat? Granted she was in a bad place at the time emotionally so I can forgive a stupid decision but then they are about to have sex, and then my contempt grows. The situation ends badly and yet they both kinda want to be in a relationship together and I'm just wondering who thought that was needed in the script. Okay fine, it's a relatively new move I've never seen in a teen movie before, hell the closest we got to innovation was the weird quiet girl hook up with the jock in The Breakfast Club, but it just screams wrong to me. You don't try to screw some **** that you hate in high school, it's a stupid decision and I'd give them about 3 months before they break up. Second and most importantly, the ending. The bombshell drops that Amy will be leaving for Botswana for an entire year before she starts attending college and Molly has to say goodbye to her friend. I was having an emotional meltdown suffering friggin' PTSD from Lost In Translation and Her, to the point where I got so angry it almost ruined the movie for me. I mean, they totally don't just go their seperate ways and never see each other again for a whole year, but it dragged it out long enough to the point where I was legitimately concerned they were gonna pull that emotional card on me. That's how much I loved seeing this friendship between these two girls, I was gonna just flip out over a depressing ending to a fun movie, but the other side to that coin was well they just toyed with my emotions and now they can go to hell. I was seriously that upset, very few movies can make me that emotional but this one did. But I stepped away for a few days and gathered my thoughts, and yes you should see this movie. It is great fun, hilarious, and endearing despite the issues I took with it. Yes the ending made me have a breakdown and the relationship angle was just...are you serious, but it's a good movie perfect for a night in with friends. 3 stars, 7.5/10, go rent it and enjoy yourself.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Tron Legacy
Yeah, yeah I know. It took me 3 years to talk about Tron Legacy. But come on, it took them almost 30 years to make a sequel!
How did I get into Tron? I have no idea. I remember so much from around 2010 and yet shockingly nothing to do with the movie. I think it all started with the video game Tron Evolution, then I was kinda hooked man. I bought the soundtrack to this movie, bought the Identity Discs, the Light Cycles, I was a Tron fan before I even saw 10 seconds of film footage from either of the movies! I am one of the biggest fans of Tron you will ever know, so it should come as no shock that I love this movie. Tron Legacy is a very, very, very good movie. Where do I start with this movie? Well story is a great place to begin always, so we set the wayback machine to 1989, Kevin Flynn has been working in The Grid for 7 years, he has a son named Sam and life is going pretty good. Then he disappears for about 20 years. Good catch and intrigue already! We catch up with Sam, and he gets contacted by Alan and he tells Sam that he got a message from his dad's arcade so Sam investigates and gets sent to The Grid! After that, tons happens. We learn Flynn made a program Clu that went rogue and took over the system, a new lifeform is discovered in The Grid, and it's a mad rush for our heroes to get back to reality before Clu does. There's almost too much good in this movie. The effects are outstanding, we see such evolution in The Grid and all it's aspects, and there is such little details in every scene that is incredible to see! Characters have deep emotional connections to one another, relationships are explored, and it's interesting to delve into the character of Flynn. I could write an essay on it, but let's just say he's a damn fine character. But character is nothing without actors, and the cast is done really well! Jeff Bridges is full in The Dude mode and ugh I love it! Olivia Wilde really kinda steals the show for me, she is such an interesting character and her acting is amazing (plus I love the fact that her eyes are so ridiculously beautiful they didn't need to add contacts). Garrett Hedlund is a fine lead and and despite me not seeing him in much afterward, he should have more roles. The only "bad"? role is Michael Sheen as the owner of this bar. Oh my dear sweet brother Numsie! He is doing the exact same damn role as he did in the Twilight movies. Mugging, ridiculous, faye as hell. I just, I can't. You know who they should have got instead? David Bowie. It would have been perfect. But Bruce Boxleitner makes up for that and then some. Like, lightyears some mmkay? Ohh, and the music! Damn it Daft Punk! I am so geeking over this movie! When a movie can get goosebumps out of me in literally the first minute of film, and continually do so throughout is something special. This is one of the most, if not the most gorgeous film I have ever seen. Almost every frame is art, the designs and color are incredible, it just looks so impressive. And you know what the odd thing was? Well, not just the fact they had real sets and costumes along with the computer graphics but the real world segments kinda looked like it was a very high quality fan film. And I love that! It reminds me of this fan made trailer some person made, I believe it was called Tron The Next Day. Kinda this pseudo-prequel to the third film, and it was done so damn well! Just, oh God....I've never seen such a gorgeous film in my life. Yeah I'm biased, the guy who is a big enough nerd to have not one but two Tron stickers on his laptop may be a tiny little bit partial to the Tron movies. I just have such fond memories of all the stuff surrounding the movie. The Flynn Lives website, that badass video game identifier they had, getting all this rad stuff, playing Space Paranoids! I went to a Wal-Mart the day Tron Legacy hit video, midnight launch, it was a school day afterward but I did not care. I needed that movie. And I got it. The only ever so slightly bad thing I can say about this movie is the last shot is not as impressive and beautiful as the last movie. That is nitpicking, at best people. I'm probably the only critic who legitimately loves this movie, but I do not care. Tron Legacy is a sure fire 4 stars! Check it out! And please Disney make Tron 3 before I hit 40!!