Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker - 5/10
Even as someone who has become bored of Disney's Star Wars, this was still a disappointment. JJ Abrams had some fun with The Force Awakens, but this is the product of someone who is trying really hard to be fun and meaningful. And it fails at both. The first half is a flurry of scenes, each one being a new planet entirely, each one feeling dull and derivative. The emotional arc of everyone suffers from this breathless pace of pointless running around to look for some device. JJ needed less cocaine-and-Red-Bull breakfasts and more time with a script editor. It kills and resurrects so many characters, throws in so many force ghosts, retcons so many of the decent choices of The Last Jedi, and repeats so many aspects of the previous films that it's both exhausting and boring. It's still not as bad as Solo, but suffers from similar storytelling problems.

[Buscemi2]

The whole concept of retconning needs to disappear in general. The fact that Fox retconned X-Men: The Last Stand to make an even worse film on the same idea is proof that no one ever learns from their mistakes.

And considering all the crap that you've liked, Tranny, I think you've only chosen to tear apart Queen & Slim because I liked the film. Meanwhile, I'd say the protest scene makes complete sense. The picture taker wants to know what it feels like to kill a cop. He has become a believer of Earnest's but rather than truly understanding how Earnest felt, realizes that he has acted before he thought. Teenagers do not think rationally. As for the scene with the gas station attendant, he's a hayseed cut off from reality. A lot of their actions make little sense (You ever heard of Florida Man? That guy's probably going to become Florida Man.).

If you want a film that makes no sense, just watch In Fabric.

Anyway...

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 8/10

This might be the strangest biopic in recent memory. Rather than being a film about Mister Rogers, it's about a guy who interviewed Mister Rogers in 1998 who gets life tips from him to fix his own family issues. Going more in the direction of Selma than the director's previous 90's set biopic Can You Ever Forgive Me? (which was a better film), a lot of the film's strengths lay in Tom Hanks' portrayal of the older Rogers and the Forrest Gump-like technique of putting Hanks into old VHS footage of Rogers (there is a lot of aspect ratio changing between 1.33 and 1.85 in the process). The film isn't as good when the main focus is on Matthew Rhys' character, whom is actually the main focus and how he's trying to reconcile with Chris Cooper (interesting that the marketing left all this out but it's a third of the movie), who comes off as irredeemable for his actions. But all in all, I credit the film for its uniqueness and how it goes against the traditional grain of what we come to expect in this genre. Besides, we already got the definitive Mister Rogers film last year so why not do something different?

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Here's my ranking of the nonology, plus the standalones

Empire
A New Hope
Return of the Jedi
The Last Jedi
(Rogue One)
Force Awakens
Revenge of the Sith
The Phantom Menace
The Rise of Skywalker
(Solo)
Attack of the Clones

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As for the scene with the gas station attendant, he's a hayseed cut off from reality. A lot of their actions make little sense (You ever heard of Florida Man? That guy's probably going to become Florida Man.).

My problem with the scene is that Kaluuya's character gives the attendant the gun. He can't be that stupid. It feels like it's literally there to generate tension, but makes no sense whatsoever.

[transformers2]

And considering all the crap that you've liked, Tranny, I think you've only chosen to tear apart Queen & Slim because I liked the film. Meanwhile, I'd say the protest scene makes complete sense. The picture taker wants to know what it feels like to kill a cop. He has become a believer of Earnest's but rather than truly understanding how Earnest felt, realizes that he has acted before he thought. Teenagers do not think rationally. As for the scene with the gas station attendant, he's a hayseed cut off from reality. A lot of their actions make little sense (You ever heard of Florida Man? That guy's probably going to become Florida Man.

Correct!!!! Before I formulate a take on a movie, I think to myself "How will this guy that I regularly disagree with on the internet feel about this?" then put the opposite into the ether. This phenomenon works especially well when it applies to films that I saw before him and liked, but had some notable issues with.

[Buscemi2]

Knives Out 3/10

Rian Johnson thinks we're idiots. This unpleasant mystery with no likeable or interesting characters is telegraphed to the point where about five minutes of story is stretched to 130 minutes of overwrought and overexplained obviousness. Johnson, in his typical hackiness, thinks he's beyond the typical whodunit (which has long been impossible to take seriously) but ends up just copying what he's trying to make fun of (I'm sorry but you can't make fun of TV movie mysteries when that's basically what you're making). Daniel Craig is miscast as a Southern gentleman sleuth who's not very good as his job while some characters just seem to be there because reasons (What was the whole purpose of Jaeden Martell's character, for example?). I did like some things in the film, such as some of the performers, Christopher Plummer being the best of the cast (Don Johnson also does well as it was nice to see M. Emmet Walsh in a brief role). But the general smugness of it all made me wonder why people have liked it so much. Maybe most just like to be surprised still.

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Uncut Gems

I'm very mixed on this. The positive: the soundtrack is great (and very diverse: it's probably the only movie that has both Madonna and Kendrick Lamar on its soundtrack, along with the original music composed by Daniel Lopatin), and the acting is generally good (I didn't think Adam Sandler was as good as everyone has said, but it's easily his best performance since Punch-Drunk Love). The dark comedy liberally sprinkled throughout the script is easily the highlight of this screenplay. Within the script is my biggest problem with the film: the movie thinks constant shouting creates tension. Parts of the movie are very hard to watch, not because they are disturbing, because there is so much forced chaos that the movie becomes annoying. This makes it even harder to care about Sandler's character; there's nothing sympathetic or interesting about Ratner - he's just a gambling-addict asshole (ironic that the movie opens with his colonoscopy) that isn't particularly intelligent. Idina Menzel (who easily has the best performance of the film as his understandably estranged wife) puts it best - "You are the most annoying person I've ever met, and I hope to never see you again". By the end of the movie, it's how I felt as well.

4 out of 10

[Buscemi2]

Richard Jewell 8/10

Ignoring the historical inaccuracies or the character assassination of Kathy Scruggs (who by the way did not sleep her way to her position), this is a very well-made and fast paced biopic on a lowly security guard who became a hero before being wrongly accused of setting the bomb in Atlanta's Centennial Park and his fight to clear his name. Paul Walter Hauser does a really good job as Jewell, who depicts him as being a flawed figure, a man who believes in law and government, perhaps a bit too much. And it's also nice to Sam Rockwell play a somewhat different character than usual as Jewell's lawyer. Actually, all of the main actors do well in their roles, even Olivia Wilde in the currently-controversial depiction of Scruggs.

The film doesn't exactly work as a criticism of the media as intended but as a depiction of a sector of government going rogue in an attempt to convict an innocent man, it's an interesting film.

[Buscemi2]

Waves 8/10

Much like another recent A24 release, In Fabric, it's basically two movies in one. But unlike that film, this one actually makes sense. But also, Waves seems to be fall in what many would consider as the same issue as Full Metal Jacket: great first half, not-so-great second half. The first half focuses on the downward spiral of a high school wrestler after his career-ending injury and might be one of the better depictions of teen life in recent memory. The second half, focusing on his sister's coming-of-age and serves as the opposite of the first half, still has its moments and has a nice find in Taylor Russell but is brought down by Lucas Hedges' bland and awkward performance as the love interest.

Visually, the film is stunning and continues the director's theme of using multiple aspect ratios (from 1.37 to 2.76) to show emotion with the addition of a vibrant color scheme, a refreshing change from the overly dim movies of today. The musical score and sound mix are also tops. But among Shults' three films, this one is perhaps the weakest. It probably had no shot of surpassing It Comes at Night but it might have equaled it had it improved on a few things.

[W]

Waves is number one on my list so far this year. I echo pretty much everything but Lucas Hedges was great in what he was given. I think the character and plot line doesn’t fit with the rest. There was a point in the beginning of the movie where I’m like, “They must know nothing about wrestling.” because of a basic move he used wrong. Then you learn about his shoulder injury and figure out why. It’s basically the equivalent of a layup in basketball and he’s looking for a scholarship, which are few and far between.

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Little Women

Greta Gerwig may have made the first adaptation of a classic 1800s novel (think Austen or Bronte) truly worthy of Best Picture. Note that I'm a pretty big Gerwig fan (Lady Bird was close to my favorite film of 2017), although I get why her films aren't to everyone's taste.She takes what could have been a Oscar-bait (somewhat of an overused term, but true for many of these costume dramas) slog and turns it into riveting material. You really get attached to the March family in a way that's unusual for material adapted so many times. Performances are all great (with maybe the exception of Timothee Chalamet: I've never understood the sex-symbol hype around him), although Meryl Streep dosen't have much to do; Florence Pugh and Laura Dern, in particular, are fantastic. The score is also great, and takes some unexpected turns (the eerie horns/bass/cello? at the very end pack an emotional punch). The script is sharp and clever, and the cinematography and costume design are exemplary. If I have any complaints, the timeline is a bit hard to follow towards the beginning.

10 out of 10

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The Grudge

This was pretty damn awful. I'm not sure if it's worthy of the derision it's received (it's better than Brightburn), but it's not good either. The script is total shit, with every cliche in the book (the mental institution scene and the supernatural occurrences relating to security cams scenes in particular). The only good scare is really cheap, and clearly inspired by Mulholland Drive (two cops are sitting in a diner, where one tells another about the grudge, then they get into their car and the one who has been seeing the spirits looks distressed, then the camera pans to a demon girl dragging her bloody hand down the window.) The acting is mostly passable, and it has a solid atmosphere, but the film wastes the talent behind and in front of the camera with a obviously hacked to bits, needlessly convoluted plot, and a seemingly unfinished film.

[Buscemi2]

I wrote a whole review for Uncut Gems that got lost. But I'll say that it might be the most effective anti-gambling message I've ever seen.

9/10.

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Latest Batch

Crawl: 5/10
Fun monster movie (in this case pretty determined giant crocs) that makes the most of its intimate setting, only to get a bit ridiculous towards the end, and have a lead actress who is unconvincing throughout.

Freaks: 6/10
What starts off as an interesting psychological thriller turns into a low-budget X-men film. That's a compliment, as it's a decent flick. But the more you understand about what's going on the less interesting the film gets, and the poor character logic and clunky dialogue starts to be noticed.

Ad Astra: 5/10
Disappointing sci-fi that tries so hard to ape 2001: A Space Odyssey, but in doing so reveals just how dull and simple its overall point is. Brad Pitt goes to confront his father who may be alive in the outer regions of our solar system, and may know something about destructive surges that are affecting earth. It feels like an intimate film at war with its attempts at action and tension, and so falls flat across its 2 hours.

The Personal History of David Copperfield: 6/10
A fun but sometimes too frothy adaptation of the Dickens novel. Armando Iannucci stretches his capabilities by makeing something less political, and it broadly works due to the pacing and great cast attached to the classic story of a man's life from childhood to middle-age. It keeps the attention throughout although gets lost with the amount of characters, which results in a lack of time given to the villain and the main love interest.

The Report: 6/10
One of those films that's engaging because of the story behind it rather than the drama itself, which is rather plain and dull. But the real story, about a Senate worker who investigates the use of torture by the CIA in obtaining info on terrorists is fascinating because he proved that torture never amounted to any useful intel, and that fact was covered up and denied. This would have been better as a documentary, though.

Hagazussa: A Heathen's Curse: 7/10
Took me a while to find this German arthouse horror. It's the European answer to The Witch, telling a story about an outcast woman whose mind falls apart for a variety of reasons. It's trippy and weird, and refuses to be a traditional horror. It's more like a Tarkovsky, with its focus on simple dialogue and abstract visuals. It's an impressive debut film.

Hustlers: 5/10
An over-rated and confused film that tries to celebrate female friendship while telling a tale about criminal strippers. Without delving into the problems, imagine if Goodfellas (which is an obvious aesthetic influence) ended with the 3 mains characters partying and dancing. It would kinda miss the point.

[Buscemi2]

The Grudge 2/10

The biggest mystery of this attempt to bring back the 2000's trend of Americanized J-horror is how this managed to attract such a good cast. This is a confusing and dull cop drama with few scares and little flair, feeling more like a cable police procedural than anything. The film feels like it was changed heavily in post due to the non-linear structure and entire characters end up having little purpose to the story, such as John Cho's unnecessary subplot as a real estate agent with family problems. Other elements of the film are also abandoned quickly, such as Demian Bichir's character's faith being challenged or why exactly this connects with the Sarah Michelle Gellar entries as Melinda isn't the same spirit as the spirit in Japan. Also, why does nearly everyone drive a car from the 80's that's gone through little wear or tear in 2004-06?

So what are we left with? A boring and choppily plotted cash-in on a forgotten 2000's horror film. Why did Sony or Sam Raimi bother?