Midweek Movie Free Talk

I watched two movies I've been wanting to sit down with for a while.

The first, Sound of Metal was not entirely what I expected but still so good. I used to play in a post-hardcore band and played drums all through high school. I did not take care to protect my hearing. I'm already experiencing the effects of that at 30 and though I'm hopeful it's no where near as bad as Riz Ahmed's character in this, I certainly empathized with how he feels like he's lost his purpose. And that devastating realization that the surgery didn't magically make things return to normal. Oof.

The second was a movie I've seen but not for a long long time, Collateral. As a kid, I saw this movie as a kind of tense, kick ass action-thriller, but watching it as an adult, I see the story of two men motivated or defined by their work -- but on opposite ends of American work culture spectrum. Tom Cruise's hitman, cool, composed and dangerously driven even when it costs him his life vs. Jaime Foxx's cab driver who, despite working the same job for the same faceless boss for 12 years still dreams of owning his own limo company and is too embarrassed to admit to his mother that this is not his reality. He's stuck in the dead end spiral despite his familiarity with the city and its traffic patterns. I think this critique is ever more relevant in the 2020s gig culture.

I'm gonna post another comment since I just saw it and I need to get it out of my system before I post the disastrous box office numbers this Sunday.

The Marvels is, without a doubt, the worst MCU movie.

It is astounding how shit it is. It feels incomplete. It feels like I watched a rough cut of a movie. It's like everyone involved in the production gave up at some point. Made even clearer with the confirmation that DaCosta left post-production to start another movie (while supposedly still keeping in contact with the post team). It feels like that happened. This does not feel like it comes from the director of Candyman, a very good horror movie with excellent visuals.

The story is incoherent, the characters are inconsistent, the acting is really bad, and it is so choppily edited. It does not feel like something that was ready to be released at all. It's like the previous material for these characters is barely relevant to their decision making. Larson's character feels completely different from her appearances in Captain Marvel and Endgame. Monica Rambeau never had much of a character anyway so that was always a non starter. And Imani's character, which was actually charming in the Ms Marvel show, comes off as incredibly annoying here.

I mean this really feels like the end of this franchise. I don't see how you can come back from this, especially after releasing consistent stinkers. Quantumania wasn't good but it at least felt like a complete movie.

It's just... wow. All of the non action scenes are just expository nonsense. There's a surreal musical sequence. There's another sequence involving the space cats from the first Captain Marvel. Both of which feel as surreal as the CGI baby sequence from The Flash.

It's so crazy looking back at perceived weaker films from the MCU's earlier filmography and how much better they look now compared to this slop. Even this expository scene from Iron Man 2 is written, shot, and acted better than anything in Marvels or Quantumania.

This is like a Justice League level disaster.

Chris Nolan is a boring director. Oppenheimer was such a slog for the first hour that i just turned it off. i get what he’s trying to do, but starting with Interstellar, his movies have been ‘perfect’ but lacking soul or any tangible depth.

He needs to let his brother write the scripts and then leave them as is.

edit: I watched Fincher's The Killer tonight. It's definitely influenced by Le Samouraï and The Day of the Jackal. Pretty good. -

I finally watched BlackkKLansman and it was everything I hoped for: Super uncomfortable, telling an interesting historical story, and more with the tie-in to then-recent events from 2017 (not super recent for today, but we aren't significantly different five years later).

The one thing I will say is the racists were equally hilarious and disturbing because they are both how I would've written them for comedic effect, but also realistic for how people like that think. I stumbled into a review that compared David Duke to dudes like Richard Spencer, and the cut at the end to the modern shit, including footage of Duke really drives home Topher Grace's performance and David Duke's personality.

With the strong ending Spike Lee tied together, with the montage of the tiki march and the death of Heather Heyer, followed by the upside down flag and the fade to black, I'm amazed there wasn't any hubub about it, but I sort of feel the Spike Lee audience is the sort to not be surprised by that, and given the subject of the movie it isn't really a departure from the rest of the film. I thought it was an interesting and usefully heavy-handed way of saying "This shit still happens."

Priscilla

I think Sofia Coppola is a real mixed bag of a Director. And I think this is a real mixed bag of a movie.

I was a big fan of her previous film On The Rocks which I saw as a return to form to her Lost in Translation roots.

This feels like a step backwards. I will say the first 20 or so minutes are actually fantastic. But the movie just kind of falls apart. It feels repetitive. It drags in so many parts. And there is a cringe inducing drug sequence. The performances are great, however. Spaeny is powerful and captivating (when the movie around her isn’t dull) and Elrodi kills it as a more subtle more menacing version of Elvis.

The film overall just feels very shallow and one-dimensional. It doesn’t feel like a proper character exploration of either Priscilla or Elvis.

Anatomy of a Fall

It’s like a drier, less interesting, version of Gone Girl.

I think it’s solid. I think it’s entertaining. But I don’t see anything special about it. In fact I think the production felt like a mini series. Like The Queen’s Gambit or Mare of Easttown.

This is one of those situations where I’m not sure this would get the acclaim it did if it was an American production. Like if it was the exact same movie, except made by Americans and set in America.

I think the central storyline is interesting enough, though it loses steam when the film becomes a straight through court drama.

Gone Girl is better. It’s a better mystery. And it’s a more biting examination/satire of the media and their relationship to exploiting people, pain, and tragedy. Is it campier than Anatomy? Sure. But it’s also technically superior and much more gripping.

If you liked the show Euphoria, definitely give A Good Person a try. It's a more grown-up version of the same theme but still is a solid recommendation.