The Little Things

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: Watching a big movie on a little screen

          We start off on a single-lane, deserted road at night in 1990. We meet a seasoned cop who hasn’t been promoted in years, and his path crosses with the fresh detective who brings some bright ideas. We’ve seen this before. It’s not quite film noir, and its pacing is too slow to consider it a thriller. What The Little Things boils down to is a slow-burning, grim crime drama of two cops trying to pin down a serial killer focused on young women. And despite this well-worn premise, we’re also graced by three Academy award winners in Denzel, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto. So where does this film land? Let’s break it down.

          What better place to start than with the title. Is it fitting? Yes. But it’s also not enticing or memorable. I had been looking forward to this movie coming out for about a month now, and up until a couple days ago, I could never remember what the name was. It was just the one with Denzel coming up. And as far as story goes, the first paragraph is really all you need to know. Because part of what the title of the film does well is fit the narrative. We can immediately grasp the movie and the characters in the first 10 minutes; there’s a serial killer, Denzel is a well-known cop with some sort of past following him, and Rami is the new face of the department. There’s more to these characters than that, but we don’t learn it through lazy exposition like two no-named characters discussing them while sipping coffee or a news reporter catching us up on the latest with the case—nothing like that. Most of the pieces to the jigsaw puzzle will be discovered, but they are introduced in character details and small chunks.

          And really this film is ultimately much more of a trio of character studies than it is about the crime mystery. That’s where having three Oscar winners come in handy. Whether it’s Denzel displaying huge smiles in front of people while hiding his demons only for himself while spending the night in a cheap motel, the inquisitive way Rami tilts his head and makes eye contact with witnesses and suspects alike, or the wide swinging motion Jared Leto takes as he strolls through town; each character comes into their own in large part due to these performances. Jared Leto plays the main suspect, and once he is introduced in the film, he draws lots of attention. I think he probably had the least amount of acting to do considering how strange this guy is in at least the interviews he gives; however, his mannerisms are brilliant. I won’t go into detail about his character, but I was audibly chuckling multiple times; Jared Leto was in control.

          Strange jawline and all, Rami Malek really shows his range from Freddie Mercury to this detective. There’s a suaveness there, but it’s backed up by his true skill in his profession. I wouldn’t say he’s the standout of the group, but he gets his moments and always holds his own.

          Denzel. This man could lead me underwater and still convince me that I can breathe. I could ask him to show me where the milk is, and he could lead me down aisle 12 to the toilet paper and it would be considered a job well done. I could call in tech support for my Wi-Fi, and he could tell me to turn it off and back on and I would slow clap him for days. The point is this might not be the vehicle that lands him next to Jack Nicholson in Chinatown, but there’s no doubt that he elevates this film. The subtlety, the little things if you will, are there, and it works.

          I want to make sure everyone considering watching this film is aware that it’s not a jolly green giant film, and there’s definitely not enough action to call this a thriller. It’s a gritty character study, and if you’re good with that, then I do indeed recommend watching. The score by Thomas Newman is great, and the editing is terrific. “Gasp!” you say. “Gill, there aren’t any long one-take shots. You *love* your one-take shots. And even without those, you still think this film has great editing?” First off, thank you for the question, loyal reader. You’re right. I do have a soft spot for that kind of thing. But it’s not always necessary. There’s a couple of scenes of people either being chased or followed in car. The film perfectly switches between cars, what’s happening around them, and reaction shots from characters’ faces. We are perfectly able to follow what’s going on, and how each character reacts to every new action. I don’t think people will pay much attention to it, and that’s partly the point. Aside from the performances, I can’t give enough praise to the editing. But the directing and music are high points too.

          With their deal with Warner Bros., this blog site pretty much is turning into a review site for HBO Max movies. We have Godzilla vs. Kong and the Snyder Cut both coming up pretty soon to look forward to for instance. But I digress. The Little Things is a patient 2-hour film. It won’t be sweeping any awards shows, but I do fully expect it to receive multiple nominations, and it should. Despite the familiarities of the genre, it is simply well executed. And I am thoroughly satisfied with its hard-hitting ending. It may not have served the marketing department well, but the film lives up to its name.

 

In Brief:

• I considered doing a review for One Night in Miami. Simply didn’t feel I had enough content and different angles to warrant one. While watching the film I thought to myself that it would work better as a play; turns out that’s what it was in its original medium. It’s a good movie, and I’m fan of everything Aldis Hodge does. Well acted, might earn a nomination or two, but I wasn’t blown away.
• I was blown away by The Outpost. An action film released on Netflix had no right being as good as it was. Starring Katy Perry’s husband and Clint Eastwood’s son, it’s a war film about an American base in Afghanistan in a terrible location that gets attacked by the Taliban on a daily basis. The way the film was shot and the authenticity and respect for the real-life soldiers being portrayed really shone through. Yes, it lacks a little dramatic heft, but it fulfills its purpose in spades.
• I was interested in Disney’s new animated film coming out Raya and the Last Dragon. I was excited for a moment seeing its March release date and being put on Disney+. But then I realized that it would be like Mulan, and that disappointed me for a bit. No way am I paying $30 or whatever it will be to stream it. But if it is like Mulan, I will not mind one bit to wait a couple of months to stream it for free on the site.
• I watched Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma. It’s a good movie, and the way it’s filmed is interesting. It takes the perspective of a background I know little about. So for that in itself I can appreciate it. And one of the climactic scenes on the beach is stunning. But like many critical darlings, it’s also just… not always interesting. But yeah, it’s good. Can’t deny that.
• Really liked Outlaw King starring Chris Pine. Wish it had a wide release in theaters because that would’ve been a spectacle. Its opening scene is awesome, and the battles are thrilling and quite gruesome. It also has a pre-Midsommar Florence Pugh, so the film gets credit for that.

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JTG97 Reviews WW84

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: DCEU? More like DC, PU am I right?

I actually had high hopes for this film. I’m a fan of the original, and with director Patty Jenkins back and a strong cast, DC was set for a strong sequel. A vibrant poster and a fun 80s setting only reinforced the high hopes. But then I watched the film. All 2 ½ hours of it, and to say that at best it’s mildly entertaining is being very lenient. There’s a whole host of issues big and small at play here. Didn’t plan on starting 2021 with a bad review, but someone has to do the people’s work.
        Going in I had heard mixed reviews, and the opening sequence started out promising. Young Wonder Woman is starring in the newest season of American Ninja Warrior, and it’s her competing against other Amazonians set to some great music by Hans Zimmer. But my excitement quickly turned to a sinking feeling of worry. It’s not so much that this opening sequence is about 5 minutes too long, but the effects are the glaring error here. The physics of the Amazonians moving and jumping in superhuman ways feels off because there isn’t any weight or stress to their movement—they act like they’re taking a casual step but then leap 20 yards. It all feels kind of rubbery. Not a great start, admittedly, but maybe the movie recovers from this!
        The movie does not recover from this. In fact the next scene jumps to the year 1984, and this might be my least favorite scene of the movie. We start off with a commercial starring The Mandalorian, and as the commercial continues to play in the background, we switch around in an almost montage type of way to show various scenes of many clichés associated with the 80s. It feels like they wanted to mimic the humor that Captain Marvel pulled off with the 90s, but all the clichés feel so forced and are drastically overdone. This scene is the start of one of the strangest complaints I’ve ever had with a movie; the extras are terrible. Wonder Woman dashes by and every single person turns dramatically and wide-eyed to show their shock and disbelief. I’m not sure if an assistant director, Patty Jenkins, or whoever is in charge of making sure background elements blend well together, but the extras in this movie are really distracting and not funny at all.
        We are soon introduced to Kristen Wiig, and as a whole, her performance isn’t bad. The problem here is the whole characterization. Our introduction to her is her tripping over her heels, slightly frizzled hair, and dorky glasses. When she drops her papers, guys shake their heads, smirk, and walk away from the dork from Loserville, AL. But of course later she gets a Catwoman transformation, and as soon as she loses the glasses, hubba bubba, watch out we got a hot mama walking through.
        As a brief aside, one things I was thoroughly confused by was the hammy quality of the whole film (see dork to sexy makeover above). Part of me believes this is all intentional as an homage to cheesy 80s superhero films, but it’s too much of a contrast from the more mature elements they try sneaking in. And worst of all, the light-hearted humor doesn’t land. Back to the review, Gill!
        Thank you, Gill. The premise of this film is Pedro Pascal is a failing businessman who gets his hands on a wishing stone that grants one wish. He wishes to become one with the wishing stone and proceeds to take advantage of people wishing for things they don’t really mean. Before he makes his wish, Gal Gadot wishes for Chris Pine to come back, and Wiig wishes to be more like Diana (Gadot (Wonder Woman)). Instead of simply having him appear out of nowhere like many things will later in the film, Pine comes back in a random guy’s body. It’s problematic from a moral and continuity standpoint, but it didn’t bother me as much as it did other people.
        When I first heard the news that Chris was back for women to pine over again in the sequel, I wasn’t a big fan of the decision considering his emotional farewell from the first film. And I still believe his appearance here takes some emotional weight away from the first film; however, Chris Pine is by and large the best part of this film. Him getting acquainted to the 80s is played for laughs, and they definitely land. His presence is a joy and is the bright spot of this plagued film. Even if bright spots in a plague aren’t the finest metaphor…
        Due to bad writing, Pine’s borrowed body doesn’t have a passport, so they head to the Smithsonian to steal a fully functioning jet to catch The Mandalorian in the Middle East. They have a moment flying by fireworks, and this is one of the very few instances where the film’s visuals reflect the colorful movie poster and it looks great. I don’t know how safe flying by fireworks is, but ah well. The action scene that follows is pretty good too.
        The thing about the middle of the movie is repeated actions. Despite its lengthy runtime, character arcs are still underdeveloped. How does that happen? It’s from being shown the same stuff. Wiig has 2-3 scenes dedicated to showing that she’s noticing superhuman powers. At least one of those scenes needed to be cut. There’s also countless scenes of The Mandalorian going to people and getting them to make wishes that only help power his greed. The idea is building it up to the climax, but the point can be made with much less content. There’s a halfway decent 2-hour film somewhere in here. Unless this move gets a Snyder Cut. Then, of course, the run time would instead rival Gone With the Wind.
        There’s actually an action scene that kicks off the final third that’s pretty good. It takes place in a government building and Wiig emerges in villainous form. Security guards are scattered throughout, and Wonder Woman has to soften their falls as Wiig plows through them. It’s a fun mixup of every character having a distinct role in the action, and it works.
        The climactic fight, however, is quite underwhelming. Think back to the fight from Black Panther between two CGI characters, but remove some of the cool visuals from that fight. The CGI here is even worse, and nothing from the fight is memorable. It’s the part from the trailer where Wonder Woman gets her new, glamorous armor. It looks cool, yes, but besides off-handedly mentioning the armor earlier in the film, there’s no reference to it. I imagine it holds more importance from the comics, but seeing her wear it elicits nothing from me besides a hey, that looks neat.
        There’s some decent messaging in the film, but it’s very heavy handed. Pedro Pascal fully embraces the camp of the film, and it’s fun for moments, but it’s too much overall. And as a common theme, his character doesn’t have much depth. His whole motivation as a villain can be boiled down to even though he obtains a lot, why not have more?
        One action scene started using the awesome electric guitar theme associated with Wonder Woman as she starts going off on bad guys and I was all here for it, but then the music cuts out after like five seconds. Much too short. If there was like a five-minute sequence of Wonder Woman just beating up on guys to the rocking tune, that at least could have been a highlight of this film.
        One last thing I have to mention. There’s some really bad green screen usage here. Think back to the original Superman where the shots are shoulders up from characters and their eyes wander around at nothing in particular because they’re just looking at a green screen. There’s a chance that this again is an intentional choice for the 80s feel, but there’s no excuse for a big budget superhero film in the 21st century to have visuals this bad. It’s a combination of bad visuals mixed with poor directing choices.
        I’m a fan of the original, but there are few redeeming qualities from the sequel. Gal Gadot and Chris Pine return to form, but the directing takes a huge dive, and there’s poor writing and editing. It can be entertaining for moments, but is it worth sitting through 2 ½ hours for just a couple good moments? I believe I’ve actually enjoyed DCEU films more than the average person, but they really need to step up their efforts if they have any hopes of staying in the conversation with Marvel. The Batman, Suicide Squad, and Aquaman 2 all sound promising, but this film puts a dent in my hopes for their cinematic future.

 

In Brief:

• I also watched Soul. It was interesting to see Pixar go so high concept for what’s still supposed to be a kids' movie. And in that regard, I think it might be a little too ambitious for the young’uns. The animation is stellar, Jamie Foxx is obviously good, and I do appreciate its creativity. There’s good messaging here, but I think it stumbles around and is a little confused, and the movie didn’t know how to end properly. Overall, pretty good.
• I got around to the Coen Brother’s Netflix film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. This is a Western anthology- style film, with 6 relatively unrelated stories. Not all of these stories are created equal. The third and fourth drag, and the last one doesn’t end in particularly entertaining fashion. The fifth is easily the highlight here and is engaging all the way through—no matter how much the ending still upsets me.

Mulan + A Bonus Review

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: Glad I didn’t spend $30 to watch this

          Sweating more than an engineer in an English class, Disney execs were hard at work to figure out how they could recoup all the production costs for their live-action update of Mulan set to hit theaters back in March to satisfy the stockholders. After multiple delays the solution was to bring the film to the Disney+ streaming service. But this was way too big a movie to simply release straight to a monthly service. Films like Trolls World Tour paved the way for films to still make money in 2020—on-demand. Not only did a person have to have a subscription for Disney+, but they would also have to hand over an extra $30 to the mouse himself ($20 was the price for Trolls). I’m here to say that even gathering a group of 5-10 to watch Mulan wouldn’t make that price point worth it. Hearing that the film would stream for free on the service probably in December, I gladly waited to watch it. To be fair I wasn’t all that excited for the film to begin with just because of all the fatigue I already have from these unnecessary updated remakes, but alas. Here we are. I’ve watched Mulan. Read this review so that you don’t have to. This is not a good film by any standard.

          There’s a couple different complaints that will be recurring throughout, so I’ll address them here and then give some examples down the road as we progress through the story. First and foremost, the editing is atrocious. Some of this I believe is on the filmmakers and not just on the editors, but it’s bad no matter who is to blame. The film is chopped up in pieces where a single action may require 4-5 cuts, and it’s so jarring. What I wonder about is the footage shot in some scenes. If what the filmmakers got in a day wasn’t any good, then the editor now has to somehow hide it while still showing what happens so the movie can go on. So I’m under the impression that at least for some shots, the editors looked at the footage they were given, said f this, and added 17 cuts and moved on.

          The other sin Mulan continuously makes is what The Rise of Skywalker suffered from. Mulan comes in just under 2 hours, and to reach that time limit, character development is thrown to the wind in favor of story beats and exposition. This is most glaring with Mulan’s fellow soldiers. While the animated film had clearly defined characters, everyone outside the 4 most important characters here are practically nameless faces that serve to try to provide comic relief and support. The end result is a film pretty to look at, but without any substance or technical prowess. Let’s see where exactly things went wrong.

          Well first let’s address the lack of dragon in the room, there’s no Mushu. Considering the poor attempts at comedy the film does make in an otherwise DC-esque serious film, Mushu probably would’ve felt out of place. But then again, he’s also most likely the element that the film was in desperate need of. Li Shang is also gone, split into a decent love interest fellow soldier and a traditional commander.

          From the very first scene, another new element to this film is the addition of chi. I have no idea why Mulan decides it needs a Force power, but okay. For whatever reason Mulan is born with an extraordinary amount of chi, something typically reserved for warriors. And just like how I felt Rey shouldn’t need to be a Palpatine to justify her powers instead of, you know, being born out of nothing and simply becoming something (tiny apology from me for that Rise of Skywalker spoiler by the way), now Mulan doesn’t feel like this empowering message where she works just as hard if not harder to show her worth; she still works hard, but it feels less important knowing that she simply was born with lots of chi to help her out.

          Early on Mulan goes to the Matchmaker of their village with her family to pour some tea and find a husband. It feels like they tried to emulate My Fair Lady where the scene builds up in a way that ends with a big joke, but it all just falls flat. She uses the pot to trap a spider, but Old Hag Matchmaker doesn’t see the spider and demands the pot be brought back to the middle of the table. Mulan finally relents, the spider is released, Matchmaker flips the table in hysteria, and all the silverware breaks. Maybe this came off as hilarious to people and I’m just a cynic, but this didn’t land with me. It’s also one of only a few attempts of humor in the film. So strap in for a fun ride.

          If you’re somehow not familiar with the story, the Rouran are the new bad guys instead of the Huns and are looking to invade China and reach the emperor. The emperor declares a creed for one man from every family to fight, and Mulan secretly takes her father’s place. The film proceeds to switch between the training camp for soldiers with Mulan, and the Rouran with baddies Bori Khan and the witch Xianniang. I do have to give credit here where there’s some really nice landscape shots, and the production design of the sets and costumes is really beautiful. But that’s really where the praise ends. One of the first scenes is the Rouran destroying a village, and one prominent shot from the trailer is them running up a wall and the camera is sideways. This technique of turning the camera sideways, like when shooting on an iPhone and switching from landscape to portrait, looks really neat here, but it gets overplayed the next 3 times it’s done.

          In one expositional scene, Bori Khan is saying something, and one of his henchman is ambitious enough to show defiance. When he speaks he’s hunched over and sitting, so of course we have to have a cut to him now sitting upright and moving to stand up. For one thing this is bad from a continuity standpoint, but it’s just one of many examples of unnecessary cuts. Like why couldn’t he say his line and -get this- stand up in the same shot? Similarly, there’s a scene in the barracks where Mulan and the soldiers are enjoying lunch and cracking jokes. One joke gets everyone to laugh, so the film proceeds to cut 4-5 times to show each person during the duration of the laughs. This was particularly jarring, and again, did they not have a wide shot they could’ve shown or just cut once or twice? It’s hard for the film to find any flow or rhythm when it’s constantly being broken up.

          The duration of Mulan’s time at the training camp is probably the closest the film tries harkening back to the original. A couple scenarios are played for laughs, such as Mulan entering the barracks at night where all the men are in various states of undress, and one plumpy fellow gets his towel ripped off. I don’t think Mulan’s actress does anything particularly wrong, but the timing is off, so again, I put that on the filmmakers. Keep in mind that there are so many scenes that there isn’t much time spent in any of them. Everything goes from point A to B without taking time in between, and it takes away any emotional weight from the characters or story. Like we spend 2 minutes around a campfire where a joke or two is told but not learning any backstory from the characters, the next scene shows a pile of helmets and bodies strewn across a battlefield, and the characters take one somber glance and move on.

          So at this point we’ve probably only covered about half the film. And while watching the movie, the most prominent feeling I had at this point was simply of boredom. I think my opinion of the film can be summed up as it being fine to have on while you complete chores around the house. Paying attention to the story isn’t very important with nothing complex going on, so it’s fine to have it play in the background and check in once and while without being invested in the stakes.

          Oh hey, I did think of another compliment to give. There’s a scene with the Rouran on horseback, and in order to fight against the Chinese behind them, they perform this cool move where they touch the ground with their feet and immediately jump up and flip over so that they’re riding but now facing backward. That was a cool stunt. But to give an example of the nonsensical action, there’s another scene with shades from the original where the Rouran are on higher ground. The witch lady turned into 1000 bats or something and attack the Chinese, forcing them to group together. The enemies bring a catapult and start launching flaming boulders with pinpoint accuracy. Mulan sees that her comrades, her battle buddies, her peas in a pod if you will, her ride or dies, her friends of the boy variety are in danger. She notices a mountainside with built up snow behind the Rouran and knows that even though she is currently in front of them, she needs to sneak behind the Rouran. One shot shows her jumping on her horse and grabbing a helmet. Then, literally in the next shot, wham bam shang-a-lang, she’s now behind them. Cue the white guy blinking and shaking his head meme because how did that just happen? That’s not even the last dumb thing to happen. She fires some arrows at them, and they shoot a boulder at her, but they got a little excited because they over crank that catapult by a long shot, and the boulder goes flying behind Mulan and causes an avalanche. What’s worse than it not making sense is the simple fact that it’s just not entertaining. It’s just watered down moments from the original but now in live-action and bloated.

          Let’s just move on to the climax because I can’t take too much more. The emperor falls for a trap, and the next 5 movie seconds I blame on the filmmakers and not the editor. There are Rouran soldiers above the emperor, and they shoot arrows with rope around the emperor. They run around the rooftop, and the next shot is the emperor helplessly being tied up. It’s very quick, but it’s still clearly not an action that then correlates to the next. It’s like they have an idea for the action, and the producers ask, “Well, how do you plan on filming this?” And the director replied with, “We’ll figure it out.”

          Spoiler alert for the following paragraph. Like you care. But now I have plausible deniability that I warned you. Anyways. When the witch lady dies, I honestly gave out a slight chuckle. Bori Khan shoots an arrow at Mulan, and witch lady transforms into an eagle to take the arrow. First off, I don’t know why Mulan’s chi would fail her here, but since they gave witch lady a redemption arc, she obviously couldn’t be alive at the end and somehow had to be a sacrifice. The part that got me was the shot where they obviously told the Mulan actress to feign catching a dying eagle. She’s running and she reaches out her arms and it’s simply not well executed. It’s also, again, super quick and deprived of emotional weight.

          A lot of people have already made fun of the final swordfight between Mulan and Bori Khan, so I won’t spend too long, but yeah, it’s bad. There’s lots of grunting, Mulan loses her sword in a way that doesn’t make sense, and the whole thing is cut to death. There’s also a faux death so that Mulan can do one last backflip chi kick.

          The biggest moment of conflict probably came when Mulan came out as a woman and she was kicked out of the army. She leaves, talks to the witch for a scene, realizes the emperor is in trouble, then heads back to camp to warn them. After the commander threatens her with death, her fellow soldiers, her brother-in-arms, her brothers from other mothers, her entourage, her co-workers that she gladly converses with but wouldn’t necessarily hang out with in a social setting, unite in Spartacus fashion, and everyone teams up again. If this movie were a dish, it would be tartare, which is fine, but what was needed was a stew constantly simmering. Look, bad metaphors aside, this film fails on most levels. I was surprised to see this film still hold a 73% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but the 49% audience score is more telling. Maybe you’ll watch this film and enjoy it. And that’s fine. If the original Mulan didn’t exist, I could see this film potentially being hailed for the progressive move of its representation and culturally accurate cast; however, there are two things wrong with this thought. For one thing I think the film falls fatally short of providing positive messaging, in particular because of the inclusion of chi, but I also recently watched Ralph Breaks the Internet and that film showcased its message 1000x better than this film. The second thing wrong is the fact that there already is a Mulan film that exists, and it is far superior to this one. Even the credits in this update are too long and bloated at 12 minutes long. If you want to watch a film like Mulan, go watch something like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Or heck, butter me up and call me a biscuit, slap some buns on me and call me a burger, make it way too much effort for the small amount of meat I provide and call me a crawfish because darn tootin’ if I’m not crazy, there’s already an amazing animated film called Mulan that you can go watch.

 

Bonus Review time. Uh ya welcome

Bandersnatch

Gillipedia Official Rating: Make a choice to choose a different movie

          Apparently, there is over 5 hours of footage that can be discovered from watching this special interactive Black Mirror episode on Netflix. But after spending over an hour with it and viewing I think 4 of the 5 possible endings, I didn’t have any desire to see my character choose the other brand of cereal instead. Now this would be different if I knew there were more wildly branching paths to discover, but I’m confident I already watched the bulk of the content needed to see, and I’m disappointed.

          Bandersnatch is an interactive movie where you’re presented with 2 options for the main character to choose between at various points in the story, ranging in importance like what music to listen to on a bus to deciding if your character or someone else jumps off a building. Many of these choices quickly lead to a “game over” type of scenario, but the film eases the need of having to restart by letting you immediately choose the other option. I didn’t try too hard to make the right choices, but even then, it felt like I still did a pretty bad job of which choice to make. For example, after the character gets frustrated over their game glitching, you can hit the computer or pour tea over it, one of which results in a game over.

          I should also preface all this by saying this story takes place in 1984 where the main character is a 19-year-old introvert who is programming a video game with branching paths. He successfully pitches his game to a company, and he has a deadline to complete it. Other main characters include his off-putting dad, a well-meaning therapist, and the always fun Will Poulter who plays a famous video game programmer that seems to already be aware of parallel pathways.

          Since the game your character is making deals with narrative paths itself, it’s clear pretty early on that the film is going to show parallels between what you are doing as well as the character. What could be fun meta honestly turns into too on-the-nose awareness as well as a story that doesn’t fully satisfy. After having seen about 2 of the endings, I was convinced I had simply gone down a bad path at some point and would just need to go in a different direction. That’s not the case. All endings relatively revolve around similar concepts, and even simply just reaching most endings will leave you with a sense of, “Wait, that’s it?”

          There are some good moments. Following Will Poulter back to his place leads to an interesting scene full of pointless ramblings, when the character starts becoming aware that he’s not in control of everything he does, there’s some fun options, and a later scene with the therapist goes in a crazy direction that somehow manages to still feel right. And scenes that you may encounter again will change slightly based on previous actions (or actions you took later and now have returned to that scene).

          I think part of my disappointment is the whole concept of the story that is aware that you are making choices, but even then you’re limited to what is presented in front of you. I would’ve been perfectly fine with a more traditional story that simply differed based on choices I made. But since this is Black Mirror, there are illusions everywhere and only hints of social commentary. The end result is a quick story that doesn’t really have any satisfying ending, and sadly, the journey to get there is underwhelming as well. For all the philosophical nonsense spewed forth about free will and choice, Bandersnatch isn’t able to achieve what has been done so much better by some video games like Detroit: Become Human and Until Dawn that feature butterfly effects for the choices made and characters affected. For something that won an Emmy for Television Movie and seemed really novel and neat, this is a soft pass for me.

 

In Brief:

• Christopher Nolan voiced criticism against Warner Bros. for announcing that all of their releases for 2021 will also stream on HBO Max, but I think it’s a move that makes sense for the upcoming year for both the studio and the blossoming streaming service. I understand Nolan’s views on the moviegoing experience, a sentiment I supported as I went to see Tenet in IMAX, but this comes as a necessary move for an industry that’s been rocked by the virus. It also helps that I currently have access to HBO Max, so you better believe I’ll be watching films like Wonder Woman 1984 and Dune from the comfort of my home.
• As I mentioned in Mulan, I recently watched Ralph Breaks the Internet. Some really good jokes there, an interesting message, and fun Easter eggs makes this an animated film worth watching even if it is flawed in a couple areas.
• You can also probably expect me to watch Pixar’s newest film Soul that I believe streams on Disney+ on Christmas. Have to catch up on their latest couple films.
• At some point I will carve out time to re-watch and rank all Marvel films.
• Watched Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 on Netflix. Sorkin knows he has a way with dialogue, so this should be a slam dunk from the guy who wrote my favorite movie A Few Good Men. It’s entertaining, but it doesn’t leave much impact ultimately.

Underwater

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: Alien and Life meets the Mariana Trench, and none of it is very good

          We go back to the blissfully ignorant period that was January 2020 for this film. The biggest meme about the Rona was having Corona cans wearing a mask and having a Bud Light socially distance itself in the fridge. Anyways, enough down memory lane. Underwater came out in January, and apparently nobody decided to go see it. All in all, probably a rare smart call from the American public. This movie isn’t great. Grab your gear because it’s time to make a bunch of bad water puns and deep dive into this review.

          The opening credits are newspaper clippings and whatnot detailing this drilling rig at the deepest part of the ocean, pretty basic backstory stuff like that—all so they don’t have to bother explaining anything through the characters. The first shot is a somewhat impressive look at the pipe that travels seemingly endlessly into the pitch-black depths below before reaching the bottom where the crew is situated. And if you recall the trailer at all, this is where we find main star Kristen Stewart going for the shaved head and glasses look to dramatically brush her teeth. She spews off some dumb internal monologue about a cynical world, and the next thing we know, the rig starts blowing up.

          As water seeps in and things crash down, Stewart is able to find some crew and shut themselves off from the compromised areas. It should be worth noting here that Stewart loses her glasses in the opening sequence, and I thought they might make some conflict happen about how she can barely see. But it’s never addressed again, so no need to worry there.

          We soon run into shirtless TJ Miller, and he mentions some throwaway line about the company drilling too deep and probably hitting a tectonic plate. He also provides some comedic relief, like his obsession with his stuffed bunny, but that’s the extent of his character.

          None of the characters here are remotely interesting and venture anywhere beyond their prototypical roles. We have a captain that doesn’t like to talk about his past but leads the way with an iron heart, a girl that is completely overwhelmed by the situation and will gladly let everyone else do the heavy lifting before finally deciding to contribute right near the end of the film when most characters are already dead, and she also has a love interest or something that tags along. 

          These characters fit into their roles immediately, occasionally say a line or two to each other, and then start moving to the next location. Character development isn’t what the movie relies on. Oh, and Kristen Stewart comes across as a strange choice for the lead. She does a decent job of portraying some inner anxiety while trudging forward, but nothing about her character really ever screams leading protagonist—except that she has a kind heart. There’s also probably five moments throughout the film where she very clearly should’ve died, but she had to live because she’s the protagonist.

          As far as story beats go, I guess some areas weren’t accessible, making the only possible route to survival a base a mile across the ocean floor. I’m not positive because the dialogue is inaudible about 20% of the time. I believe for the most part, the captain says oh we can’t go here because bad, so we must go here even though dangerous. And everyone is pretty much like, you’re the cap, capt’n, let’s go. As lazy as the writing is for the characters, it’s even worse about providing tangible motivation for the characters to move from one location to another. For instance, about 40 minutes in it becomes clear that there’s some crazy, alien sea creature following them, but none of them ever really question going down a tunnel that has become half-flooded with water.

          And speaking of the creatures in this film, they’re weird. It’s a strange merman hybrid, and it pales significantly to Alien and to the highly underrated Alien-inspired film Life. And as a minor spoiler, the movie moves to a ridiculous climax where the characters run into the boss battle basically—an enormous sea creature that comes out of nowhere.

          Part of why I didn’t care for the creatures is how the action scenes are shot. I want to give high praise for all the times the characters are in their bulky suits (that of course are too slim for them to wear pants in, so they have to strip to their undies) and traverse in the water. Seeing all the particles floating through the beams of their flashlights looks really good. It also truly feels like they don’t have any vision except for the lights in front of them, but this also becomes a bit of a detriment. The filmmakers were determined to hardly let the audience ever view the creatures, so all the action scenes quickly jump around in the dark waters, and it’s difficult to make out any of what happens. There’s a scene in the latter half where for a solid 2 minutes during the action, I genuinely did not know what had happened.

          I have so many questions, but I don’t think the filmmakers thought long enough to cover any plot discrepancies. The motivations of the characters and creatures didn’t really connect with me. Like, Stewart tries having a bit of a heart-to-heart with scared chick later in the film; and it sounds like the making of a tender moment, but they were also still trudging along the bottom of the sea floor where all the creatures were still lurking. Of course, they weren’t in any real danger because there wasn’t dramatic music playing, but that’s not something the characters would be aware of. I’m also still not convinced that there wasn’t an easier way back to the surface, and I thought at the beginning it said there was a crew of like 300. They threw a couple numbers out there at the beginning, but I don’t know what happened to all the other employees. Which leads to one of the bigger—and more deliberate—question marks: the company funding this expedition. I believe the gist of it is that this corporation = bad guys. Some of the clippings suggest that they possibly knew about the creatures and didn’t do anything about it, but I don’t know. Typically, the motivation comes down to greed, but it’s hard to piece that together from the clues they give. The point here is that I don’t understand what the safety protocols would’ve been for such a large venture to just suddenly become 70% compromised, killing many employees.

          Scared chick also has one of the dumbest lines I’ve heard in recent memory around the middle of the film. Something about how we made Mother Nature mad, and now she’s fighting back. There’s just too many bad moments to justify whatever entertainment value this creature flick garners from its fine claustrophobic premise. If you’re looking for something that does Alien justice, I can’t recommend Life enough. The creature is menacing, the cast is top-notch, and it has great visuals and thrills.

 

In Brief:

• I think I have an idea on what to do for the next review. Stay tuned.
• Possibly one of the most important notes ever in the in brief section, I was scouring the internet and came across some music that almost everyone has heard before but undoubtedly have no idea what it’s from. Look up “The Mighty Rio Grande” by This Will Destroy You.

Tenet

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: Blockbusters are back, baby

          Before Regal theaters shut down temporarily, I took advantage of the biggest screen—IMAX—and watched Christopher Nolan’s newest film Tenet. Anyone who knows me will surely realize how excited I was to see this film. Let me start off by saying this isn’t my favorite Nolan film. But just because I don’t think it’s his best work doesn’t mean that this isn’t an epically impressive, thinking man’s film people have come to associate with his work. There’s time manipulation, impressive action set pieces, and a whole lot of spectacle. It’s time to dive in both forwards and backwards.

          The less you know about this film, the better. Just so you’re not completely lost, the basic plot of this film is John David Washington (Denzel’s son and star of BlackKklansman) is the protagonist as a CIA agent who gets caught up with a Russian arms dealer played by Kenneth Branagh who has discovered a machine that reverses the way an object experiences time by inverting its entropy. It’s a little confusing, but a small example is that lil Denzel has a fight scene, and the other guy is fighting in reverse. If that’s hard to imagine, strap in because the film only gets crazier from there.

          As far as the cast goes, Washington is a great choice for the lead. An ex-football player, he has the suave of a country-hopping spy, but Nolan makes full use of his physicality as well as he dashes his way through action scenes. Robert Pattinson plays a mysterious but helpful side player, and if you’re still somehow someone that only associates him with Twilight and can’t wrap your spandex around him as the next Batman, you clearly haven’t seen his other work. Yes, this is him in another big blockbuster film, but he has garnered an impressive resume since his sparkling days and is a devoted actor.

          Branagh teams up with Nolan again after Dunkirk and doesn’t break new ground as the villain, but he’s solid overall. Elizabeth Debicki deserves a big shoutout for her performance, and Michael Caine even receives a warm sendoff. And I hope this is his last film too because he looks old in his film and needs to retire.

          As I said from the start, this isn’t Nolan’s best. But it is his most ambitious. Jam packed full of set pieces including one that includes crashing an actual plane, Nolan always knows how to impress. The fact that he uses practical effects wherever possible is how things should be done because the scale simply can’t be replicated through a green screen, and it’s a driving force as to why this movie needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible.

          From a technical standpoint, I truly have no idea how this movie was made. People familiar with past works like Inception and Memento will recognize that he played around with time back then, and he uses this film as a way to see how far he can push things. The visual effects and especially the storyboarding, and subsequently the editing, must have presented an incredible challenge. So as not to spoil anything, I’ll only refer back to the fight scene where Washington is fighting linearly while the other guy is fighting in reverse.

          This is a long film, and things move pretty fast between quickly explaining the rules of the reverse entropy machine as well as moving to new action scenes. You’ll have to take some things at face value and go along for the ride, albeit a little confused, for the first half. Once the second half hits, and particularly the final third, the story comes together in a mostly satisfying way. I wouldn’t call it predictable by any means, but you do learn to start looking for things to pop up. There won’t be any Shyamalan twists to shock you, but the final 20 minutes is an absolute joy to watch.

          There’s no Hans Zimmer for this film, and even considering the pipe organs he used in Interstellar, I’d say this is the biggest departure of what to expect for a score in a Nolan film. There’s some nice synth vibes that keeps the intensity going, and I’d be curious to find out if some of the score is played in reverse, but it’s nothing spectacular overall.

          I was a little surprised by the violence in this film. There’s hardly any blood, but there are a couple brutal moves that provide visceral moments in early fight scenes. I think it does fit and continues the theme of Nolan pushing the boundaries of how filmmaking is approached. If you’re fine being a little confused and having to focus for 2 ½ hours, you need to see this film. And if it’s possible to see this safely in theaters, I can’t recommend doing so enough. Having gone a whole summer without blockbusters and continuing to hear about all the delays for other films I’ve been looking forward to, it felt amazing to go watch this movie. I most certainly have a bias towards Christopher Nolan films, but this is another movie of his that I will absolutely have to revisit to see what I can catch on a second watch.

          Also, of course even the title Tenet works on a palindromic level for the film, and the only title I could come up with for a potential sequel is 2 Tenet 2. It’s a work in progress, okay?

 

In Brief:

I fully expect Tenet to be nominated for an Oscar for editing or visual effects because I truly still have no idea how this film was made. From both a technical and spectacle level, it’s mind-blowing.

Some of the previews were fun to watch simply to see how the trailers would say like “Coming soon to theaters in August.” Yeah, that didn’t happen. But the boost in sound quality in an IMAX theater got me hyped up even during the previews.

Since everything is delayed, I have no idea when things will be released, but it doesn’t seem like anything else big will be coming soon. Wonder Woman 1984 might be the next biggest film set to release? Anyways, it doesn’t look like I’ll be back at the theaters soon, but come 2021 and 2022, I will do my best to support films and theaters as best I can.

The Invisible Man is Very Good

         G ll p d    ff c  l R t ng: Y   c n’t s   m 

    The Invisible Man starring Elizabeth Moss of Mad Men and The Handmaid’s Tale fame unfortunately came out at the beginning of March earlier this year. It made the most of the couple of weeks it was in theaters and then capitalized with the on-demand home market, but I don’t think it reached as many people as it could have. And that’s a shame because this is simply a well-made, tense, thrilling film. Let’s discuss.

          I absolutely love the opening of this film. The title credits are cleverly invisible and only briefly appear when waves crash over them. We switch to a dark and beautiful interior of a beach house where Moss and boyfriend Adrian are asleep. Without any dialogue or backstory, we’re dropped in this suspenseful moment where we know enough to realize the stakes—Moss is in an abusive relationship and has to escape. It’s not easy considering all the measures that tech mogul Adrian has implemented, but Moss manages to leave, and her sister drives off with Moss in her car.

          Oh, we’ve reached a new paragraph where I should move on to a new topic. Well, I’m not done praising this sequence. Director Leigh Whannell, who previously impressed me with Upgrade, isn’t afraid to go against convention. The only sound during Moss’s escape is the waves crashing, and we never get close-up shots. Not only does this show the beautiful production design, but it also forces the viewer to worry that something might be lurking around the corner and we just can’t see it yet.

          Okay fine, we can move on now. Moss stays at her sister’s boyfriend’s house (played by the great Aldis Hodge that some people may have watched in the show Underground). Hiding out and refusing to step outside, it’s not too long until Moss’s sister comes with news that Adrian has committed suicide. Just as Moss finally begins the process of moving on from the constraints of this relationship, she can’t help the feeling that Adrian is still there somehow. Without Aldis Hodge or the star of A Wrinkle in Time noticing any presence, Moss is slowly more and more tormented by the ever-growing presence of a somehow invisible Adrian. These sequences work really well too because in any given wide shot where Moss goes about daily activities, you think Adrian might be there, but you don’t know for sure. And if he is there, you don’t know where.

          The unrest grows and -spoiler alert- stuff happens. The film spends a little too much time in the middle of the film dealing with a sleep-deprived Moss that looks utterly crazy because she knows Adrian is still alive and no one believes her. I will say that she ends up at a psychiatric ward, but I won’t talk about anything else because the film picks back up and is great again.

          This film is R-rated, but it doesn’t rely on gore or cheap jump scares. There’s true tension in wondering where Adrian is, and he proves to be a menacing presence. Both Moss and Hodge are great, and I thoroughly recommend this film to anyone looking for some good thrills. Considering all the delayed releases and the fact that I haven’t been able to watch Tenet yet, this might be my favorite movie of the year so far.

 

In Brief:

I watched Last Christmas. Henry Golding is effortlessly charming and there’s some good moments, but this is pretty middle-of-the-road fare.

Will Smith does a good job in his earlier work in Ali, but the film is also a little bloated. But it’s still a quality film.

I actually just recently watched School of Rock for the first time, and I wish I had seen it sooner because it was so good.

Pretty sure Mulan will be streaming without a price tag on Disney+ in like November or December, so if you were able to wait through its initial delay, I don’t see why you couldn’t also wait for it now because no way am I paying $30 on top of a subscription. Also wasn’t too excited for the film to begin with partly due to huge Disney live-action fatigue.

Lights Out

Gillipedia Official Rating: Mediocrity at its finest

          I remember this film being released right around the same time as Don’t Breathe. It’s this latter film that really made waves, but I always thought the concept of Lights Out was just so good. Like with The Departed, It Follows, and In Time, there are just some films that start off with really cool ideas. And while those first two films follow through on their execution, I would file Lights Out near In Time in a folder labelled “Wasted Potential.” 

          Lights Out follows a young boy and his older sister as they deal with their depressed mother trapped by some sort of entity that has such an extreme sensitivity to light that it only can be seen in the dark. A horror villain that can only hurt you in the dark brings about memories of A Nightmare on Elm Street where the danger really only feels tangible at night. But with unlikable characters determined to make the oft-parodied horror film sin of making dumb decisions, this film loses interest fast and doesn’t make up enough ground to recover fully.

          One thing I quickly want to give credit for is not making the villain totally supernatural. They try to explain some science to justify the “demon’s” appearance, which is laughable, but it’s nice that this isn’t simply some evil being that toys with the important characters until the final twenty minutes of the film. I won’t give more away about the backstory, but it’s not anything all too interesting ultimately.

          Produced by horror moneymaker James Wan, this film starts off with the stepdad of the main characters being -surprise- killed by our dark demon. Yes, we learn that he was trying to research how to help the mother (played by Maria Bello), but the stepdad starts the trend of bad decisions, so his death doesn’t affect us much. The biggest star here is the older sister played by Teresa Palmer, and while she redeems herself somewhat later on, she starts off super cliched and unlikable—but at least her boyfriend is consistent throughout.

          Outside of a decent action scene where the demon comes in and out against the backdrop of a flashing neon sign, this film is extremely dull early on. The gist is that the younger brother starts seeing the demon and can’t get much sleep, and this causes friction between the sister and the mother. The mystery of the demon isn’t compelling, and since there’s only the core group of characters to deal with, the stakes don’t feel very high for the middle chunk of the film.

          There’s some cool shots that can mostly be seen from the trailer, but there’s not much outside of that. The climax is a pretty entertaining ride; however, two cops come to help out and my goodness. It’s the most frustrated I’ve been with movie characters in quite some time. The characters are yelling to the cops all kind of useful information like telling them to use their flashlights, and the cops completely ignore them, don’t say a word, and blindly head into the dark for easy kills. Like, okay, the film needed a boost in death count, but these movie cops are some of the absolute worst.

          Don’t Breathe isn’t the best horror film out there, but there’s a reason why it was more talked about. Lights Out still made great money off its modest budget and PG-13 rating, but that also brings about the point that it’s tame in many regards. You can still be atmospheric and creepy like Insidious or go all-in on the jump scares like The Woman in Black, but Lights Out doesn’t really embrace much at all. It’s not all clichés, but the parts that are clichés are frustrating and close to unforgivable. If you want some scary fun, the best movie that comes to mind of recent memory is Crawl.

 

In Brief:

• I’ll withhold my thoughts on Birds of Prey for now in case I do a review, but what you need to know here is that it ain’t that good. And I was rooting for it to be good.
• Richard Jewell is well-acted, Kathy Bates in particular, but it also just doesn’t have quite enough story to stay compelling all the way through. But this talkie was pretty good.
• The Way Back is really good and that much more compelling knowing Ben Affleck’s personal connection with the story. This has basketball, but this is a movie about addiction and recovery.
• I watched Side Effects from way back and have very mixed feelings over it. I think it goes one twist too far, but Rooney Mara is great.
• Jojo Rabbit has some funny moments, but they’re much fewer and far between than I would expect from a Taika Waititi film. But very reminiscent of Moonrise Kingdom.