hannah

i haven't read the book but i have a feeling that the changes made for the screenplay didn't actually serve the format any better than the original writing would have. the plot is highly convoluted but not in a fun, keeps-you-guessing sort of way that an unreliable narrator tends to do in book form; i think that knowing anna's past clearly as a viewer from the start would have made the rest of the movie much more enjoyable, since then you can empathize more and focus on the present day mysteries. the way the movie was presented was a bit off, and i think that some of the choices in how to film some scenes could've been done in a way that wasn't so strange and off putting. to be clear, there's unsettling and off putting moments in a movie that are designed to throw you off and make you feel anxious, and that's great. but these moments missed the ball and just left me feeling a little bit like i was suffering bad side effects right along with anna.

having said that, it's still a watchable film and good if you're looking for something plot twisty on netflix. the cast does a great job acting, and amy adams and gary oldman's fight was chefs kiss tbh.

i think this was actually a pretty good ending for the series as a whole. the parties have always been a part of the vibe and honestly the minute that i saw them dancing and singing in that one scene near the end i knew it wasn't the characters but the crew celebrating. that was a group of genuinely invested actors saying goodbye to their family. there's a reason everyone got so emotional even though at the end of the day, only one character was moving onto a different career.

moreover i think maxine not making an appearance was totally fine. if she had it would have felt a bit shoehorned.

at the end of the day, criminal minds has had a really turbulent ride. it's always taken a lot of suspension of disbelief for anyone who has a background in law enforcement or the field of psychopathology, and the cast turnover has been exhausting for cast and audience alike. but it stuck around for 15 seasons despite that due to a core cast that loved their work and an audience that was passionate in an unusually positive and considerate way. a lot of times the dedicated fanbases of tv dramas can be damaging, cruel and just downright out of their minds. in the first few seasons when i was a teenager, i was in the beginnings of that fandom and it was a delightful group of people and from what i've heard over the years, they continued to be just that. i think the way this show ended was perfect. it was a little bittersweet, but the emotion was so real and god, FINALLY, ALVEZ.

bullet points because it's been four hours and no hay brain cells aqui

• it's a watchable four hours i'll give it that. i definitely got more bored at the end of rotk and all its lil transition end scenes but then i'm also a plebe
• zack snyder is a great director but this was such a director's movie. like just a giant exercise in navel-gazing. i'm pretty sure no one can come as close to directors and musicians in terms of sheer pretension. this is a superhero film, not a work of art. the one thing the whedon cut had going for it is that it wasn't taking itself nearly as seriously as this did.
• that said this cut definitely gave the story the time it deserved. all the origins were appreciated. i wish the flash wasn't the barry allen iteration, because frankly the cw series already gets the millennial man pain on point and there's really no place for it on the big screen in 2021
• kudos to the amazonian actresses who manage to look convincingly badass and like they're actually interacting with real life objects even when the cgi around them is questionable at best
• most of the good acting comes from the minor characters which makes for such a weird sensation as a viewer
• cyborg is the best character of the group but also, can we take some cues from the movie upgrade? that's how technologically enhanced humans should behave and i refuse to be told otherwise
• god henry cavill is a work of art to look at he doesn't even need to do anything and i love him

probably wouldn't watch this again but the acting was great and it has the grungey 90s thriller vibe that it was going for in spades, with the addition of sharply hd imagery. this is less a movie about the hunt for a killer and more a movie about the way law enforcement can become consumed by things in cases that don't even propel them forward. rami malek did a great job making me care about the la county sheriff, that's a tall order. both protagonists are haunted, heartbreaking characters that the actors bring to life perfectly, and jared leto is finally playing someone as unbearable as he is irl so that's a great casting choice too. editing is occasionally odd but honestly with the pandemic i go into new movies expecting to suspend a little disbelief regardless of whether they filmed during 2020 or not.

all in all an enjoyable watch but still a bit forgettable even with the solid cast. last point though: did they NEED to go through the pains of talking about serious decomp only to show the victim julia with better complexion than me on a sleep deprived monday? like. just don't make a point about how disastrous the body is gonna look if it's not going to actually pan out that way.

watched on a whim because amazon prime recommended it to me, and i was pleasantly surprised. i usually go into thrillers with no expectations so i can enjoy them no matter the overall quality, and that probably benefited this one. the acting is solid, and the dynamic between the two leads is believable. it takes a plot that's been done before and gives very little backstory to either the protagonist or the antagonist aside from a dream sequence of the player's daughter and the implication that the game master does, in fact, have a son too.

a lot of movies would fail with this setup because of very little investment in either character and a sensation of having seen this sort of thing play out again, but the fact is the movie plainly tells you in the plot summary that the game master has ulterior motives to the whole "play this game and win cash from nameless faceless wealthy people" trope. you know going in the only detail that's ever been a twist in the other movies of this particular storyline which makes it more enjoyable.

i also liked that the player wises up quickly; a big pet peeve of mine in similar movies and escape room tropes is the persistent ignorance on the part of the participants that there's no possible way they've signed up for something falsely advertised. this woman was suspicious from the start and that was not only relatable but also made her easier to root for even with very little backstory to round her out as a character. this felt a little less like a full blown movie and more like an episode of a solid horror anthology, which there have been a few of lately. not necessarily a movie that gets a rewatch but definitely worth the first viewing.

i rewatched this on a whim tonight; i'm not usually someone who rewatches movies that aren't franchises or animated classics, but i'm an enneagram six and my friends validated my thoughts of rewatching and here i am, best decision ever. i could've watched a b rate thriller or horror instead; i probably will next. but i'm glad i took the time to rewatch this. considering the plot, it's easy to think it wouldn't have the same effect knowing how it all wraps up in the ending (this review exposes me as someone who often does NOT read the book first, i'm sorry for who i am as a person) but it honestly was even more enjoyable this time around. something about knowing where the characters actually end up put me on the edge of my seat in anticipation.

that last bit about not reading the book first reminds me though—gillian flynn is an incredible writer. considering how well gone girl and sharp objects turned out, i have a feeling that not having her do the screenplay is what left dark places lacking. widows and utopia were already on my to watch list but they've moved up in priority after this revisit with gone girl for sure.

i've got this unavoidable compulsion to watch all movies in a shared universe when i want to rewatch a single one, or see ones i missed. while my marvel rewatch is on pause i decided to catch up on all the dceu movies since the wonder woman sequel will be streaming on hbo max. prior to this proper rewatch i'd only seen suicide squad (the movie chosen by one of my old english school's winning class for a christmas tree competition iirc) and recently birds of prey. i wasn't exactly disappointed by suicide squad since i'm not a big dc comics fan in general but i definitely thought it was overhyped at the time and didn't come close to what it could've been. knowing the director's original vision this time around makes me think that this movie is substantially better than it gets credit for in terms of critical reception. i think ayer's vision is easy to imagine if you watch the movie knowing it was never meant to have comedic effect so much as just some darkly comedic lines here and there. the joker and harley would have benefited from the same background treatment that deadshot was given, which i hear the extended cut gave them. my first watch of suicide squad left me wanting none of the joker but the second watch with context and less of the immediate hype surrounding it back when it came out makes jared leto's interpretation a lot more palatable.

let's be real though viola davis is the greatest villain of all time OF ALL TIME. and i was glad to read that idris elba's being given the role of bloodsport in the upcoming soft reboot, as will smith's deadshot is absolutely my favorite of the bunch in this rewatch and i would watch a reprisal of his any day.

i wrote a very long comment about how i feel about this movie that was about as garbage as the movie itself so i've decided to summarize that comment instead. here's what you need to know about this movie:

• it is unbelievably awful. not mediocre, just horrendous.
• yes, the actors of the crumb family are code switching between american and vague, inconsistent british accents. notice they mostly use the american accent around guests.
• this family is horrifying on many levels, but the whole killing people thing is the tamest part, which is probably why they let you know that part right out the gate with the synopsis.
• turn on closed captions to play a drinking game. every time the subtitles say [liquids gurgling] in the father's lab, take a shot. or take a very small sip of a shot, depending on your tolerance, i can't be responsible for alcohol poisoning.
• a character refers to sex as the horizontal mambo as if it's cool college slang
• imdb reviews suggest the cinematography and opening credits are excellent in this film. they are lying to you. the cinematography is painful and only camp-adjacent at best. the opening credits are what i believe is a halfhearted homage to 70s cult horror films.
• yes, the director of the film is one of the actors. no, it's not one of the college age kids. it's the older gentleman portraying a private investigator.

one thing makes this movie watchable and that's the issue of mediocrity in horror films. the genre is saturated with b rate stories and acting, and that gets boring, fast. the crumbs is legitimately awful at every turn, and somehow managed to bewilder me right up until the last moment with choices made in terms of every aspect of filmmaking. it's bad. but boy, it's really fucking bad, and i'm still marveling at how bad it is a week later.

the '94 animated classic was the first movie i ever saw in theaters, so i went in with an open mind and open heart; nostalgia was on my side but i knew nothing would replace the lion king that i grew up with. i was so excited for this movie, but not nearly as much for the fact that it's the lion king as the fact that it's a complete masterpiece that showcases how far we've come with digital effects and animation. i spent the entire movie constantly amazed by how real everything felt; i mean there were talking animals and the movement of the mouths felt as convincing as the rendering of waterfalls and the sand dunes under simba's feet.

did i miss the full be prepared song? sure. was i disappointed that the hyenas didn't giggle and stage whisper 'mufasa' to each other before the song hit? duh. but there were things in this movie that the original didn't have, and they worked. donald glover and beyonce duetting together was as bizarrely perfect as you could imagine it to be. seeing the aftermath of simba running away after the stampede is heartbreaking on a whole different level when you're an adult, and not a little kid. this scar is genuinely upsetting on a level that the original never quite was, most likely because he was less stylized and more gritty. the hyenas weren't quite as much a source of comedic relief but i definitely lost it when azizi called the cubs "a midnight snack". also, keegan michael key as a neurotic hyena who just wants his personal space? nothing has ever been more perfectly cast in the history of disney.

everyone cast in this version did the characters justice, and then some. but i think the accolades for this movie should absolutely go to the animators and effects artists; they brought real, genuine emotion and life to the eyes of completely digital animals, ones who weren't meant to be seen as cartoons or parodies of the real things. they made this movie feel so natural and authentic that you could start to believe you were watching a nature documentary - at least until zazu or timon come screaming across the screen anyway.

watch this first and foremost for the incredible graphics, and then for the cast that stayed faithful to the original while bringing new and memorable moments all the same. it does the remake thing the right way.

long story short - this movie isn't technically about ted bundy, so much as the woman in love with him before his crimes came to light. and as long as you know that, it's a great film with great acting. in particular, lily collins shows suffering that's impossible not to empathize with, and zac efron has that look in his eye that you've probably seen at least once or twice in your lifetime that leaves you feeling a little cold and naked.

things i think are important going into this movie:
• know about ted bundy's crimes and the overall timeline of his trials and incarceration
• remember that this is based on a memoir of the ex-girlfriend that the movie follows, not simply based on ted bundy's crimes
• know that the title is not a tagline for the plot but a specific part of a quote from the judge who convicted bundy in florida

if you go in knowing these things, the movie is enjoyable. if i went in with only a vague knowledge of the cases involved and the man himself, and didn't know about the actual circumstances of this film, i'd probably be confused and kind of annoyed.

if you're angry about this movie romanticizing ted bundy: it doesn't. if you watch the movie and feel like that, then you missed the entire point. he was an everyday guy next door and this movie is about the damage that knowing someone and caring about someone like ted bundy can do to a person who was truly innocent at the end of the day. it's not about ted bundy being a rockstar or unfairly targeted; the entire movie is about liz and the parts of ted bundy that ted bundy showed her. this glosses over the gory details of his case because of the perspective of the film, not because of any disrespect toward the people who suffered at the hands of ted bundy. if anything, this is the least exploitative piece of media to come out of the ted bundy case.

if you're interested in hearing it from the horses mouth himself: watch the ted bundy tapes. i personally got bored an hour in because i don't like listening to ted bundy or any other narcissist talk about themselves for a prolonged period of time, but it is certainly interesting in the way that the staircase and similar shows are.

if you're interested in the gory details of the crime: it's not here, at all. look for the true crime specials on ted bundy, and check out resources like podcasts and websites like murderpedia. you're not going to get your "gore fix" from a piece of mainstream media. like the hannibal tv series rarely showed lecter committing acts of violence, this movie does not show bundy's crimes save for a scene at the end which was shown in the trailer, anyway.

and that scene is honestly the greatest - not the flashback itself, but the visit between liz and ted before his execution.

man, i knew the general plot going in and the ending still hit me like a bag of bricks. i'm not crying there's just a tree branch in my eye. first this movie threw killer quotes at me like "if all i ever gave you was a hammer" "everything would be a nail", then it made me emotional about my own damn name.

the pacing and the atmosphere of the movie are something people are either going to love or hate. it's very much a movie about communication and thinking before acting, and the themes ring painfully true in today's global culture and political climate. so i think where you fall on the spectrum of opinions on national security, how countries ally themselves and what your own personal mentality is when it comes to fight-or-flight with the unknown will REALLY affect your perspective when you watch this film. the main stars were good—i love anything involving amy adams, to be fair—and i liked the stark contrast between the clinical approaches louise and ian took and their impulsive reactions and gut decisions. the supporting cast was believable to me; the impatience, ignorance and paranoia on the parts of the government and military. plus ian's skepticism that eventually bled into openness once he had what any cynical scientist wants—to see it to believe it. forrest played a convincing colonel who just wanted to deal with the threat like any other threat; i can't blame the man for not having the desire to sit through language acquisition with aliens time, language acquisition can be exhausting! but these were all things that felt real, and made it easy for me to connect with the characters. it lacks the action and thrilling suspense of some sci-fi movies, i'll admit, but from the very beginning it was clear that the movie wasn't trying for any of that. instead, it was poignant and surprisingly relatable for its genre. also there's nothing cooler in the universe than linguistics.

another day, another movie by tom ford with abel korzeniowski composing that leaves me wondering what the fuck i just watched and how the hell to classify the way it made me feel. i mean, obviously it's an amazing movie. just not necessarily a ride my emotional processing skills were prepared for. jake was definitely my favorite of the cast but aaron taylor johnson did a great job and gave a performance light years beyond the roles he usually executes. amy was also amazing, playing a woman at times impossible to empathize with and at other times truly heartbreaking. the cinematography and score were perfect, duh. there were a couple of jump scares that worked surprisingly well and set the tone for the high intensity emotions involved in each situation, so they didn't feel out of place at all. most importantly, though, armie hammer was disgustingly beautiful during every single moment he spent on screen. an actual movie critic could probably say something to the way everything was filmed and how it made for a stark contrast between grit and polish, youth and age, and so on -- but i definitely have no leg to stand on there, so i stick to what i know and that's 'damn, armie hammer is a work of art'

awesome movie. like others say, the alien is incredibly advanced and the science and biology that was used to make it believable were what made this movie terrifying. sure, i was a little horrified any time calvin darted around, sort of how i feel when a spider darts around, but it was the implication throughout the movie that was truly terrifying. as humans we've survived and thrived despite our weaknesses and handicaps because we've used our intellect to advance far beyond any other animal on earth. this little martian was outsmarting them at a frightening pace and it wasn't even evil; just witnessing how desperate it was to survive was simultaneously horrific and heartbreaking. as bummed as i am by the one direct death calvin caused, i mean -- the guy WAS trying to kill calvin with fire and all, so i can't blame the alien. humankind has done way worse in its time trying to survive.

the twist at the end was easy to predict but no less enjoyable than if it came as a shock. more than anything, i hope there's a sequel in which we learn more about how calvin's biology works and in which jake's character lives to struggle through adjusting to earth's atmosphere after well over a year. fingers crossed calvin plays nice with him.

i watched this episode first, out of the entire series, and wow what an impact. i was actually told about this show and particular episode in passing by a friend who thought i'd appreciate the punishment and it took me part of the episode to recognize that this was what she'd been talking about. i love this actress to begin with, but when it dawned on me what was truly going on with her character i was even more impressed. i felt for her so strongly at first and when the truth of her situation was laid out for her i felt so conflicted - because as my friend had guessed, i wholeheartedly supported the eye for an eye angle that these people had taken, and only wish that the man had been put through it too. still, the actress created such a bond with me during her character's desperation to survive that i couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her at the end. but boy, what an intense way to handle sentencing someone for their crimes - it felt very much like a modernized gladiator fight, in that the woman is being punished but it's still a form of entertainment for everyone else involved. modern society dictates that the moment we start "playing god" or taking pleasure in the suffering of others, that we've gone too far, and i think like the rest of the series, this episode of black mirror makes you seriously consider what modern society has done both right and wrong.