Midweek Movie Free Talk

I was fortunate enough to see a special showing of my favorite movie Contact from 1997 in a theater with an original 35mm film reel. Like being 12 all over again. Since this is a movie that uses sound as an integral part of the story, the showing had an introduction with a Danish sound engineer with some insights into what to notice in the soundscape. This is a movie that gives proper space (heh) to both sound, music and silence. Great experience overall. While the colors was somewhat faded on the old film reel, and it is perhaps a placebo effect, but there is something else about the old style of projection. Feels easier on the eyes with the softer image compared to the ultra sharp and bright DCPs.

Inside Out 2

I never liked the idea of this, I know some people talked about how it could be a good idea cause it could examine emotions in a 20 year old and whatever. But the first Inside Out came from such a personal place, it spawned from a father trying to explain to his daughter the different emotions that she has and how it's okay to experience them. And a sequel to that never felt right. And the trailers never did anything for me.

I liked this more than I thought I would, but I wouldn't say that's a grand statement. It reminds me a lot of Finding Dory. It's basically a retread of the original just done weaker. It's the type of film that will not be remembered in a few years. To me, the existence of Finding Dory is still surreal, like my brain can not solidify it as a real movie despite me having watched it in theaters and even enjoying it. This occupies a similar space in my mind.

The simplest way of explaining the difference between the original Inside Out and this film is by comparing the openings. The opening of the first Inside Out is gorgeous, it's so simple, quiet, and warm. And that sets up the tone for the rest of the film. This one opens up broad and loud. While the film's visuals look expensive, the writing felt cheap. It felt like a Disney+ special or something. Poehler also gives a much weaker performance here than she did in the first film, maybe she was phoning it in because Joy was given a reset and has to learn the same things. At least Maya Hawke is pretty good in the role of Anxiety. The score by Giaccino from the first Inside Out is also sorely missed here, the score for this one lacks identity.

I don't hate the film, and thought that it was overall entertaining. But it's whatever. I don't think anyone expected it to have the emotional depth of the first film.

I’m interested in watching movies, especially from a pop culture and I-get-that-reference standpoint, but never find myself interested in watching any in my spare time by myself. As a result, I’ve started hosting weekly movie nights with some of my friends, and we’ve been making our way through mostly 2000’s and 2010’s children’s films so far.

Our most recent watch, Hotel Transylvania, was surprisingly fun. The animation wasn’t quite on point, which was sometimes distracting or vaguely uncanny, but it was alright overall, plus I love animation as a whole much more than live action anyway. Story wise, Mavis was disappointingly underdeveloped, and her relationship with Jonathon was very much a we locked eyes and fell for each other thing rather than actually building any kind of dynamic between them. This is understandable, but disappointing nonetheless. Jonathon and Mavis’s father Drac, on the other hand, had crazy good chemistry as they learned to get over their differences and have fun together. My friends and I felt that, relationship wise, they had a far more likeable and believable dynamic, and should have ended up together in the end.

I know this is taking a silly children’s movie way too seriously, but Drac and Jonathan should have been a thing and I will die on this hill.

Love Lies Bleeding - 5/10

There were some things that I thought were pretty cool about this movie but it was just way over the top for my tastes. First thing that came to mind is that it felt like Grindhouse movies which are also just a bit much for me. I also can't help but think of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in which The Rock has that recurring "smoldering intensity" joke. A lot of this movie felt kind of like that, if that makes sense? Like it was trying too hard to be cool. Just not really my thing but I'm glad I watched it.

Bound - 7/10

Really unique film! The stakes just keep going up and up, but unlike the above, it's still at a tolerable (for lack of a better word) level. It was really cool to see some shots that would then later be done nearly 1:1 in The Matrix, for example the phone snap zooms.

I was a little bored in parts of it so that's why my rating isn't higher, I think it could have been just 10-15 minutes shorter and then maybe I could give it a 8/10. However overall a pretty good movie!