Short Sentence. Every important film blog starts with a short sentence. And then a longer followup sentence that leads into the main argument. The Lego Batman Movie was released in 2017 under director Chris McKay, known for movies such as "Renfield" and "The Tomorrow War." The film has a Monty-Python-esque comedy style built out of ridiculousness, with an even more similar joke-per-minute ratio, where all the jokes manage to land pretty successfully. I loved this movie. I saw it once when it came out, watched it again on Saturday and I was surprised at how funny it was. The story holds together, which is rare for modern children's comedies, and it's a genuinely good movie that's often overlooked because of the fact that it is aimed at a younger audience. 9/10
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Damien Chazelle's 2014 film "Whiplash" is an incredible movie about a boy trying to make his place in the world of music. In the film, Miles Teller plays a music student at the fictional New York Schaffer Conservatory named Andrew trying to play the drums to become a part of the conservatory's lead orchestra and gain the respect of his teacher, Terence Fletcher (played by J.K. Simmons). As he plays, Andrew is constantly berated by Fletcher until the final scene of the movie, where he improvises a nearly 5-minute solo playing his heart out for the audience and his fellow bandmates. This is a phenomenal movie. J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller give stellar performances playing their respective roles and I'm mad at myself for not watching this sooner. The camerawork is eye-catching, the music is fantastic, everything about this movie is the perfect example of what a student-and-mentor type movie should be. There is nothing I would change about this film, and I think it's taken its spot as my all-time favorite film. 10/10This week, I watched Alex Garland's 2018 film "Annihilation." This movie follows five scientists (a physicist, psychologist, paramedic, anthropologist, and our protagonist Lena's profession, a cell biologist) as they make their way into an anomaly known only as "The Shimmer." The Shimmer has a lot of strange properties: biological mutation, rapid cell growth, and even the formation of new species out of ones already existing. However, time dilation and hostility is also at an extreme high while inside the Shimmer, making any treks inside its borders incredibly dangerous. Anyway, the five doctors make their way inside the Shimmer to understand it, identify its source, and destroy it. But, through the movie, they are picked off one by one by the mutated nature inside until only Lena is left to find the source of the Shimmer and destroy it. I absolutely love this movie. Everything from the setting, to the characters, to the story, and especially to the general freakiness and feeling of dread that sets in as the movie progresses. One thing I will take away from the movie is the setup. I like how she meets her team and all that, but the love interest is a bit boring. I do still like it a lot, I just think there's a better way they could have pulled off the love interest in Lena's past. 9/10Lorcan Finnegan's "Vivarium" is possibly one of the most existential dread-inducing films I've seen. It opens up with Imogen Poots's character, Gemma, teaching a kindergarden class, introducing her character and connection with children. We later meet Tom, her boyfriend, played by Jesse Eisenberg outside of the classroom and learn he's into gardening work. The couple drives from the school to a realtor's office, where they are prompted to follow him into a neighborhood named Yonder, and then abandoned there. In Yonder, Tom and Gemma discover that the entire place is inescapable and just seems to repeat endlessly. They are given strange deliveries of food and supplies in boxes every day, but one of the days they are given a child in a box. The boy grows up alarmingly fast, having gone from infancy to adulthood in a little over 100 days, exhibitng strange and unnerving behavior during the time, such as mimicking his parents' mannerisms and voices, and speaking with a voice that doesn't seem to be his own. Once the boy reaches adulthood, Tom passes away due to illness/exhaustion (isn't explained very well in the movie). Gemma later passes away as well, after discovering some of the other families that also lived in the neighborhood before them. The boy, fully grown, takes the car that Tom and Gemma left there, and goes back to the realty agency to bury his predecessor who dies right after he shows up. He takes his old name badge, puts him in a body bag, throws him away, and the cycle continues with the next family. I think this one of the strangest movies I've ever seen. Not to say that it wasn't good or enjoyable, because it absolutely was. It draws you in with a feeling of comfort and family, but rips it away from you upon discovering the true nature of Yonder. It delves into the human psyche, how a couple that once loved each other becomes filled with disdain and hatred for themselves. The film also has an aspect of showing two sides of the same coin, how Tom and Gemma both resort to different forms of brutality, with Tom exhibitng neglect and Gemma exhibiting obsession. I did really like this movie, it freaked me out but kept me drawn in from that first scene in the classroom. It's not perfect, but it definitely deserved more attention than it got. 8/10 |
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April 2024
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