M. Night Shyamalan's Old

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: With this movie’s logic, you’ll age 6 months reading this review. Hope it’s worth it.

Score: 7/10

          Old is fun. I do have some gripes that I’ll get into, but this is a bit of a return to form for M. Night Shyamalan with one of the most unique premises in recent memory. 2 sets of families take a vacation at a resort. When they wind up on a beach off the beaten path, it doesn’t take long before our characters start acting strange and they realize that this beach is rapidly aging them. They will desperately try different methods unsuccessfully to escape as they race against the clock to get off the beach and figure out why this is happening.

          There’s a couple of recognizable actors and actresses without any standout performances, and that works well enough as the focus is on the character backgrounds and how that plays into the overarching narrative. Shyamalan famously inserts himself into his movies, and he gives himself one of the more important roles of the movie—which I think was a bit too distracting. To give you a sense of how quickly the characters are aging, each family has young children, and you can expect to see different actors and actresses come in to represent the aging children.

          One of the biggest focuses of the story is trying to predict how the audience will discredit the film. What I mean by this are the different thoughts we’ll all have. “Can they walk back through the cliffside valley they came in from? How far out from civilization are they if they swim?” These are the earliest questions you’ll think of and unsurprisingly are the first aspects to be addressed by the film. As the characters start showing the affects of aging, the questions become more in-depth. “Well, wouldn’t they need lots of sustenance if their bodies are aging? Are their minds aging, or is it just their bodies?” As you think more philosophically, the film begins to show a couple of cracks or provide 1-2 sentences of dialogue to quickly explain something away. Probably the biggest thing I’ll mention is that later on they do attempt to talk about what exactly is happening on the beach. And it’s one of the stupidest jarbled nonsense of science to make this film stay within the realm of realism.

          The actual mystery behind the beach is kind of dumb, but it’s not really a drag because the film keeps up a quick pace as the situation grows more dire. But what is easily the worst aspect of the film is how, including the mystery of the beach, the filmmakers felt like everything had to have a tidy bow and try to be as crisp as possible with its script and not trust the audience. Here’s probably the best example. A character shown skinny dipping early in the morning on the beach washes up while the 2 families are enjoying the beach, and that’s what kickstarts their realization of something off. They find the dead body, and then a few hours later, the body has reduced to bones already. The mom of the main family then provides the audience a rough timeline of how an hour on the beach must represent a few years on the beach; she explains how she comes to this conclusion because she works in a museum. And then everyone else's occupations explain how they know a specific detail of something too. Because people obviously aren’t allowed to have any basis of knowledge of the world if it isn’t directly tied who they are or what they do. The worst of this is from a character named Jarin. He’s exposition central and constantly provides one-sentence answers of what’s possible, what’s happening, or what they should do. There’s a cool visual late in the movie that was foreshadowed from the beginning of the beach, but in the middle of the visual, the character has to explain what is happening in the moment instead of allowing the audience come to that conclusion themselves. This is a relatively smart film that thinks the audience is pretty stupid.

          One thing that I briefly mentioned earlier is the mental effects. And the film felt inconsistent to me on the kids aging physically but staying the same mental age, but when the movie tries to slow down for a second for us to catch our breaths, it’s like our adult characters mature more with their age and settle the personal problems that initially plagued them. The main draw of this film is the thriller nature of rapid aging, but I feel like what could’ve pushed this film from fun thriller to genuinely great film would be to explore the psyche of the characters further. We see touches of this later in the film, but how the character backstories tie in to the story could’ve provided some poignant moments where the characters overcome the flaws that provided their motivation to come for a relaxing vacation in the first place.

          The film keeps at a great pace overall, but it also could’ve ended 5 minutes sooner as the film gloats too long about its ending and ties up all loose ends in predictable manners. How everything actually does come together is pretty smart and some of the effects on the characters are fun to see—like our adult characters starting to lose hearing or vision and how that’s portrayed on the screen. This movie is a mix of smart touches and over-explained plot points. It certainly has its flaws, but it is undeniably entertaining and one of the more unique films you’ll be able to find.

Shoo wee, we talkin bout Where the Crawdads Sing

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: Well ain’t this just the sweetest lil thang, only ain’t isn’t a word

Score: 7/10

          I think the best way to describe Where the Crawdads Sing is refreshing. You have the backdrop of North Carolina marshes filmed in Louisiana as the setting, the romantic love triangle plot elevated by the supposed murder involving the characters, and the very impressive Daisy Edgar-Jones playing a reserved, resourceful young woman. With themes of abuse and bullying, there’s added dramatic heft. Not quite everything lands with a punch, but with what has felt like oversaturation of mediocrity from 2022 films unwilling to take chances, this movie does a good job standing on its own two feet.

          We start the film with the discovery of Chase Andrews’ body. Taking place in the 50s, the police use small motorized boats on the hunt for suspects. They come across Daisy’s character Kya who attempts to flee in a panic. She’s caught, and as she’s thrown in jail, it’s obvious already that the townsfolk want her head as chants of “Marsh Girl” swirl around. David Straithairn approaches Kya’s cell and offers to represent her. She remains quiet, shying away from the world around; Straithairn takes a sympathetic cautious approach and says to think about his offer and he’ll return later.

          The next 25 minutes or so flashback over a decade to Kya as a kid. In what feels overhanded at first, her father is abusive and dominating. Her siblings and mother run away, and despite a terrible situation, Kya sticks it out. The marsh is her home, and she learns the key to surviving with her father is to stay out of the way. She befriends the black local convenient store owners, but her father ensures her contact with the outside world—including attending school—is limited to none. This includes a nice kid named Tate who goes fishing by himself in the marshes.

          Kya’s father soon disappears as well, and she’s then truly on her own. We primarily return back to adult Kya as she scrapes by a living. This is where Tate comes back into play. Having a history of people leaving her behind, Kya is understandably hesitant to grow attached to Tate. Continuing with this history and the themes of abuse, I’ll stop talking about the plot except to say that Chase Andrews comes into the fold as well; despite his jock-like charms that seems worlds apart from Kya, he is intrigued by her and she is able to find some solace in him as well.

          How the love triangle unfolds is the most by-the-books aspect of the film, but even this is redeemed with that lingering thought of what must have led up to the demise of Chase Andrews and how Kya is involved. And in that regard, we’re really only given a couple of options of what could’ve happened. There’s a lot of moving pieces to this film, but I still think there could’ve been more red herrings. But I will say I am really satisfied with how the case is resolved and the truth of what happened.

          Daisy Edgar-Jones is a great British actor, and so far I’ve seen her as a modern American woman in Fresh and now a real Southern gal in this. She looks just like a young Anne Hathaway, and continuing down the line, the actress that plays young Kya reminds me of a younger Abigail Breslin. The auditions for her love interests must’ve had the requirement of super strong chins because oh boy are they sharp. I think the directing is pretty basic and has some awkward delivery of lines with the kid actors, but I do appreciate how they shot the film at real locations. The Louisiana bayous provide some great shots, and having lived in North Carolina in 2021, it was fun to hear some shoutouts to cities there.

          The end credits are worth watching for the Taylor Swift song. I’m not like her biggest fan, but that song slaps—give her an Oscar nom. I haven’t read the book, but I’m guessing some lines were taken straight from the pages and translated really well to the screen. Some elements of the love triangle are simplistic and the themes can be just a bit heavy-handed, but all in all, I think I was missing a bit of Southern culture being up here in Wisconsin; this was one of my favorite movies of 2022 and easily receives my recommendation for anyone looking for a romantic movie.

Don't Worry Darling

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: Pretty sure a comma is needed in the title

Score: 5/10

          The score above might feel harsh. This isn’t a terrible movie. But it’s certainly also not great. It relies too heavily on shock factor moments and the reveal behind the plot, but the story has holes and the flow of the film is far too inconsistent. Since this is a spoiler-free review, we won’t talk heavily about the plot, but there’s plenty to discuss.

          Don’t Worry Darling had plenty of drama outside of filming. It’s the sophomoric film for director (and supporting actress) Olivia Wilde, and we have Florence Pugh, Harry Styles (yes, the guy who puts sugar on watermelons or something), and Chris Pine. A video went viral with Styles possibly spitting on Pine, and Styles’ relationship with Wilde appears to be quite rocky. In a strange way, it made the whole experience of watching the film more entertaining, but outside of that, none of the outside drama affects my scoring.

          Stars Pugh and Styles are lovers living in an idyllic community against what appears to be the backdrop of the 50s—think Marty McFly traveling to the past. While Pugh lovingly takes care of the house and day drinks with bff Wilde, their husbands, including Styles, go to work for the community company referred to as Project Victory. The leader is Pine, and he clearly comes across as charming and dominating; the community loves him, but it’s very apparent something else is happening.

          One of the best things Wilde captures as a director is the synchronicity of the daily activities (Pugh making coffee and breakfast and wiping windows, the husbands driving off to work). It’s hypnotizing to watch, and it only adds to that feeling of something off with the world around. From the very early scenes, I was getting huge The Truman Show vibes.

          The film is played as a psychological thriller as Pugh starts questioning everything, and nobody appears to take her seriously. And this is where the film falls flat most. If you watch the trailer for the movie, you’ll see quick moments like Pugh wrapping her face with plastic wrap, glass squeezing her against the wall while cleaning a hallway, crushing eggs without any yolk inside, etc. All of these moments are certainly engaging and slightly unnerving. But that’s also exactly what they are—moments. There’s never buildup to these actions—only occasional quick changes to obscure and somewhat abstract shots of stuff that are, again, in sync and played both forward and backward. And once the film reveals its revelation, it works but won’t blow you away. It fits well with the underlying narrative, but it won’t really shock anyone and leads to some plotholes.

          But the film is still entertaining! Florence Pugh can do no wrong, and if anyone is questioning Styles as an actor, don’t forget that Christopher Nolan gave him a substantial role in Dunkirk. Styles does overact sometimes, but he’s still fun. Pine is good, but he also does this small chuckle after going through all of his monologues. The best way to write out what his chuckle sounds like is: “heh heh.” And he does it way too much. The soundtrack is great, and the costumes are amazing.

          Don’t let the score get too much in your head. If you want a good time at the movies, you’ll probably enjoy Don’t Worry Darling. But it doesn’t succeed as much as it hoped. For an “R” rated film, it’s pretty tame in terms of disturbing content. I’ll defend only giving this a 5/10, but hey, I was still entertained at the end of the day.