The Fall Guy

Thumbs up indeed.

Full upfront disclosure I was not even aware that this is based on a television show until a few days before seeing it, and I'm an old bastard I tune into MeTV regularly and for the most part is educated in television programmes of days gone by. So I can't speak on terms of adaptation or what have you, so let's just discuss the film. Set in a quite meta world from a filmmaking perspective we follow lovesick stunt guy Colt who after a terrible accident on set, has given up the profession but takes on one more job for the director Jody who he had previous ties to. Amidst all the car crashes, falls, and being set ablaze Colt gets wrapped up in trying to find the missing star when stuff starts getting very very real. It is by no means perfect, it's a tiny bit obvious who the baddie is, some meta elements didn't do it for me, and the metaphors are beat into your head...with a sledgehammer. But it has so much good stuff going for it, simultaneously crafting a love letter to stunt teams regardless of geography or time and making just a fun movie. Ryan and Emily are convincing and have solid chemistry together, they're such little shits but it's endearing and you get invested. The action clearly wears it's production on it's sleeve, very little is CGI and while not a technical marvel in choreography I'll be damned if I wasn't still impressed with those hits and falls. The comedy doesn't go non-stop but when a joke hits it hits like a brass knuckle, I was having a good time in that theater! The soundtrack I was a bit of a sucker for no lie. It certainly has no issue prodding the studio system on how movies are made and can be a eye opener for those not versed in how actual film productions go about their day. There was a clear vision to make this a popcorn movie with a good rind twist of substance, to which I feel they did very well. I can recommend it for a weekend watch at the cinemas or getting on video. I give it 3 stars, 7.5/10! And if all goes well tomorrow, new Star Wars show means new Star Wars review.

Us

Well shit, that was an ending.

Man! Jordan does it again for me, this movie takes more inspiration from other movies than being a purely original idea but that sure doesn't mean it isn't a fine film. I sorta knew the premise, kind of a Invasion Of The Body Snatchers type plot where duplicates of a family try to kill said family but boooy does it go off in it's own world and become something better. Immediately I was thrown off track when the film starts stating there are thousands of miles of underground passageways, and I was fully expecting this to be some parallel dimension crossing setup but the rug was pulled out from under me and my interest grew even more, it still creeped me out though. I will say the movie does, if you pay good attention, very simple yet effective set up and pay off and does a real good job getting you settled with this family. I mean do I need to say a friggin' word about Lupita Nyong'o? Do I really? No I don't think I do, my standing with her has never dwindled or changed for the worst. Winston Duke, my guy in this movie, could not catch a break and I almost dare say he was my favorite part of the movie, a total nerd but infinitely enjoyable to watch, he was class! Shahadi and Evan as the kids did good enough work, capturing that sibling friction and commited well to the acting. But the greatest part is, they play the opposite personas and seem to have way more fun with it, I mean it is utterly and completely fascinating to see these actors as this bizzaro/dark side mirror image/otherwordly cast cause it raises enough questions in your mind that you want to dig deeper into. Where do they come from? How were they created? What's the master plan? And while you don't get definitive answers to all those questions, you get enough to walk away still interested and satisfied but not like you got robbed due to lazy writing. A concept such as this and the way it plays out would be very easy to screw up, very easy to perplex the audience and lose them, very easy to do slap dash writing. But it doesn't, it walks that tight rope just right, and even while I admit I was throwing out ideas and I was right at the end I by no means called this movie. No way in hell. Cause I was thinking, alright we're gonna get build up, halfway through the doppel family shows up, and the rest of the movie is fight for survival, kill em' all or be killed. Naw. No, no, no, the doppels show up about 35 minutes into this almost 2 hour film and it goes bigger than you expect. Will not say a syllable more on that. Directing wise you can tell this is Jordan Peele really able to stretch those wings, giving a lot more unique visuals, interesting camera work, and good editing, it even gets a bit artsy at one or two points and I friggin' loved it. I do however fear for his career because I don't just want him to direct horror movies forever, I know he can do other stuff so I hope he doesn't burn himself out on these projects cause I know a lot of people love his horror stuff. I sure do, and it's unfair to compare his projects so I can't say oh Get Out was better, it's two seperate movies with different styles, so I'll just say it was great. 4 stars, 8.5/10, and I have no clue what Nope will have in store but I'm there for it either way.