Denis Villenueve. A solid lineup. A different take on first contact. I loved Sicario but went in expecting a cerebral epic sci-fi.
That was a mistake.
Good things:
- Some really nice visual scenes
- Interesting aliens Calligraphy aliens!
- Clear theme of communication is omnipresent
- A neat score that might be awesome in a different movieBad things:
- The acting
- The lack of emotional reaction to ALIENS! The students asking to turn on the TV, all of the main characters
- Lack of useful characters Only the aliens and Louise actually did anything the entire movie.
- Supporting characters are very stupid in an attempt to foil the main character slightly
- Very clumsy exposition. Genre-typical news reports, voice-overs, dumb characters asking stupid questions.
- Very slow pacing. This worked in parts of Sicario, but didn't work in this movie because there was no tension. The main characters never seemed remotely threatened.
- Lousie showing up at school thinking everyone will be there after aliens arrive and there's a state of emergency
- Why can't you translate alien language like you can translate Farsi. This is a paraphrase but in the spirit of what Colonel Weber was saying.
- Useless love interest when the costars have no chemistry.
- Ultrasecure military base lets someone steal a ton of explosives and put it in an ALIEN SPACECRAFT without anyone noticing.
- Many unbelievable plot points
- Poor dialogue Let's make a baby - real quote
- Poor handling of the major plot points Looking through time seems to undermine the fact that the aliens need help. Why did one have to die if they could see the future? Why did only one die when they were right next to each other?
- Very heavy handed moral messaging that didn't align with the rest of the movie.
- Why couldn't Ian also see into the future as he studied the language, or any of the others?Overall extremely disappointing. I'm honestly surprised critics or general moviegoers like this. The premise was very good. It's a real shame the execution failed so miserably.
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@jared Nice grocery list you got there. When is the review?
Brie Larson and Netflix have both been responsible for mild disappointment this year, so I guess Unicorn Store’s quality makes sense.
I have been a fan of Brie Larson as an actress for quite some time now so seeing her overly stoic performance in Captain Marvel and especially her inconsistently overly the top character in this film was quite a shock. The problem seems to come from Larson’s direction, the film lacks focus and all of the performances feel unmanaged and all over the place. The film lacks the unique visual style that an indie film like this really needs to win over its audience and as a result it never manages to fully work for me.
The story itself should take some of the blame for this film just not working however as it is just not clear who the demographic for this is and what message the writer (Samantha McIntyre) wanted to give to them. On the outset this is children’s film or at least a family film but the countless office based scenes and sub-plot about sexual harassment make this a strange choice to show a child.
Despite all this, Unicorn Store is far from the worst of the year. With a more seasoned director and maybe an extra re-write this could be salvaged. Indie films with stranger concepts have become classics. As it stands Unicorn Store joins a very select group of films that are both too quirky and too generic at the same time.
I compare this to some of the films that Zooey Deschanel would star in during the ‘00s, so if there is any hope Larson will star in her own (500) Days of Summer type satire of her current works. But until then this is what we have, here hoping that Endgame will give her some much needed positive attention, if not Room still exists.
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@nathan-laing The demographic was pretty clear to me: women in their 20s, like Larson herself, and the message is, in my opinion, that you don't need to be an adult in a specific way, or sacrifice what you like just because it's perceived as too girly or too childish in order to fit.
I actually agree that it was both too quirky and too generic, though!
Wonder Woman adaptations are such a mess every single time. Boring all the way. The plot is as ridiculous as her making the plane invisible in 2 minutes.
Also, still wonder why is Gal Gadot Wonder Woman, she has the face no doubt, but she's thin and not muscular at all.loading replies
Wonder Woman was never built like a body builder in the first place. Wish guys like you stop with that bs. Anyway, the movie had problems, and the way Gal looks ain't one of them. That's all I got to say about that.
