Much of the action is undeniably thrilling, but the GTA homage and unhinged Gyllenhaal performance is not enough to overlook the embarrassing dialogue, characterization, and childhood flashbacks. I am not above big dumb action movies but Speed this is not.
Born on the Fourth of July is extremely dramatic but I believe that is with intention. Oliver Stone always goes hard in the paint which can create as many flaws as strengths but it has to be respected.
This is the first Tom Cruise performance where it felt like I was watching a real character, not him being a movie star in a specific setting.
There are a few moving shots with massive set pieces and extras that requires the coordination and skill of true professionals.
Chris Penn’s character rivals the burnout greats. Living the double life of high school janitor and schwag weed dealer who watches BDSM porn in his living room at full volume while hosting teenage customers. That is plenty enough to make him memorable but one of the plot twists reveals his illegally owned pet baboon named Mr. Poopy complete with a satisfying set up and pay off explaining his name.
My favorite performance aside, this is a mediocre thriller (that appears queer coded through a 2024 lens) with inadequate special effects that somehow manages to be entertaining.
This feels like a “and thats why you always leave a note” George Senior scared straight bit from Arrested Development.
Sweeney’s performance in the final scene is shockingly intense.
This is a film that focuses on the foreground but presented in a way that forces your attention to the background. The visceral details and images of Auschwitz are already imprinted in everyone's mind and compelling the viewer to call upon those on their own instead of recreating them is powerful.
This didn’t reveal anything insightful that wasn’t already well known, but I can (and have) watch Barry Sanders highlights all day. Jeff Daniels serving as a poetic thesaurus for the word despair to contextualize Lions fandom and some incredible footage including a top down view of Barry breaking tackles in the 91 NFC Championship and reflections of the defense he was dissecting in his face visor make this necessary viewing for football fans.
This is a smidge too preachy and very much looks like a made for television movie, but it has a loaded cast with convincing performances telling a fascinating (and terrifying) story that was a brightly colored domino in a series of historical events that led to the existential crisis our society faces today.
An explanation for the cat food spoon lick would go a long way.
Godzilla makes for a compelling and worthy Angel.
This is the left wing equivalent of a Daily Wire produced film. I don’t disagree with its interpretation of historical events, but there are much more subtle and much less preachy ways of portraying them.
This film has a lot of problems, but its vision of being a jovial retelling of the origins of professional American Football managed to infrequently shine through the thick layers of continuity errors, jarring tone shifts, and uneven pacing. Learning Rick Reilly was a script writer post viewing connected a lot of dots as you could feel his perplexing dad humor scattered throughout and recognize his unfounded confidence in being a funny sports writer. Officially I rate this film 1 Kate Upton boob (IYKYK).
Fall is the survival sub genre at its best. This feels like it should be a found footage film but I believe its sprinkled use of the technique was much more effective and practical. This film has a predictable plot and mediocre performances but overshadowing those are its adequate special effects, satisfying set ups and payoffs, a decent plot misdirection, and its genuinely terrifying premise.
2.5 stars on concept alone. Underwater The Descent. Unfortunately that’s all it had.
The fax machine and random guy at the house are so random. Random things are funny. Hahahah.
We all now know the answer to the question, “what if there was a mediocre version of It Follows?”
Nothing diminishes my enjoyment of a film more than being able to feel the algorithm's influence behind it. This documentary feels rushed to avoid missing the tail end of the discourse surrounding a pop culture topic, not to properly analyze and asses a tragic situation with the nuance it deserves. The glaring cynicism of Netflix's algorithm becomes more visible with every original release.
12 one hitters. 12 one hitters.
I have never watched a film that felt like it was built by an algorithm without one free thinking human involved like Jurassic World Dominion.
Remember the Titans is tough to explain because it’s cliché, historically inaccurate, and overly schmaltzy but still manages to achieve its goal of being an inspiring story about a town overcoming racial and political tension through high school football. Carried by the performances of Denzel Washington, Will Patton, and a strong supporting cast, this film defies its ostentatious foundation.
The deep punch to the gut felt after watching Netflix’s Downfall is also present with Amazon’s Flight/Risk. The tragedy of the situation is well examined through the perspective of a family member of a victim, a Boeing whistleblower, a local journalist, and lawyers representing victims. I have long known that unhinged capitalism is quickly turning people into psychopaths but there is something especially sobering about the Boeing 737 Max scandal.
The bones are here for a engaging drama/survival story exploring the deep agony of grief, but it doesn’t fully deliver. The bad styrofoam snow and storm special effects are distracting. Naomi Watts’ performance is solid but overshadowed by the peculiar characterization of John. Intimate survival films need to thread the needle as they do not have the typical structures that a traditional 3 act film can lean on, and this one just misses.
The structure and execution of this film overshadow its corny script and lame comedy gags. It has several satisfying set ups and payoffs with very little fat making it a solid real time action story.
Nihilism the action comedy film. The tone is a bit off and several of the absurd comedy bits fail to land, but this film made me chuckle and tear up in less than a minute during a scene where two rocks silently communicate with each other. Nothing matters is a complicated and painful ideology to understand and this film is an impressive representation of that.
A bad early 2000s Breakfast Club Heist movie that actually has some genuine heart to it.
Every time I worry I am becoming too cynical, I realize I am not even keeping pace.
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy was inspired by the gritty nihilism of The Long Halloween but The Batman fully captured it. The true future home of this film should be in between Thief and Manhunter in the Neo Noir Collection on The Criterion Channel instead of its inevitable dishonest placement in the DC hub on HBO Max next to Wonder Woman and Aquaman.
Is Kate Netflix’s cynical version of John Wick and Atomic Blonde? Yes. Was it placed in a hyper stylized Japanese setting to fit some algorithmic attention grabbing thumbnail and trailer? Yes. Am I ashamed for liking it so much? Yes.
Even with measured expectations it’s surprising how cynical this film is. A studio threw $100 million at a movie only based on the idea that Halle Berry looks hot in leather and a mask. As bad as they are, the acting, screenplay, and CG all are better than the PS2 era loading screen esque score. A truly and objectively terrible film.
Films that make me feel strong emotions are the reason I enjoy watching them so much. Even the films that knock me on my knees and make me feel despair or uncomfortable I enjoy as they created a powerful response within me. Its rare for a film to make me feel such intense emotions like The Bridge as it is an objectively moving documentary, but that does not forgive how unethical it’s footage is.
Minus the final shot of the film where a title card reads “more people have chosen to end their lives at the Golden Gate Bridge than anywhere else in the world,” there is not any other contextualization to why the film was made. Is the goal to bring awareness for the need of taller barriers and safety measures on the Golden Gate Bridge to discourage people from jumping? If so, that was not explained or suggested at all.
I understand that suicide is tragic and seeing the deep sadness in friends and family can help in creating awareness to suicide prevention efforts but filming people committing the act is extreme.
Throughout the film there are many wide angle shots of the Golden Gate Bridge used as transitions between scenes. The films holds on these shots for a while, much longer than a typical scenic shot and some of them end with a visible and audible splash indicating that someone jumped. Every time one of these wide shots lingered on the screen I scanned for a falling spec and waited for a splash, but often there wasn’t one. Using real footage of suicide to build tension in transition shots is grossly exploitative.
The film uses one specific jumper named Gene as a framing device to organize the film around. He receives more back story than the other people filmed and shots of him pacing on the bridge building up the courage to jump are included all throughout the documentary. The final scene of the film is of Gene finally standing on top of the railing and falling backwards with his arms spread out wide as he fell. Audio of Gene’s grandmother speculating on why he chose to jump off the bridge as his method for suicide, “maybe he just wanted to fly one time” was edited in right before he swiftly climbed the rail, stood up straight, and fell backwards. The scene is objectively captivating and emotional but also brutally tasteless.
I do believe the filmmakers had good intentions in developing and creating this project, but it is more of a eloquent snuff film than it is a documentary.
