Midweek Movie Free Talk

Okay large post here we go. I watched five movies during the long Thanksgiving weekend. I'll do them by order that I watched it.

Hamnet

Big Oscar contender. I liked Nomadland at the time that it came out. I think if I watched it now I would feel differently about it. It's still one of the better Best Picture winners of the decade, even if it feels like a conservative Malick film. I did not enjoy Eternals, which was Zhao's first forray into mainstream filmmaking. I was utterly bored throughout it even if it looked better than most modern MCU films.

I really wasn't looking forward to this. It's received immense acclaim from film critics, it's played very well with general audiences. And I can't understand why. I thought this was so boring. It's poorly structured, poorly edited, and overacted.

It's misery porn to a certain degree, but it is hollow in its attempt to be a tearjerker. Even feels so effortful, it feels like it's trying to be this big emotional thing. Buckley and Mescal feel like they're trying to prove that they're capital A actors with the shouting and the crying and snot coming out of their noses. I don't think Buckley or Mescal are particularly great actors, I think they're both boring screen presences that have been assigned prestige because of the type of projects they take on rather than from their ability. I think their Oscar nominated performances were overrated. Here it feels like every scene is meant to be an Oscar clip for them, I felt the same way about Buckley's performance in Women Talking.

Just poor all around. There's certain chunks that work but not enough for me to overcome how much I didn't like this.

(1.5/5)

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

No spoilers here. I thought this was the weakest Knives Out film. The previous two entries were both 5/5's for me and were top 5 films of their respective years. This didn't connect as much for me. The political satire is still present, and if anything it's the most obvious we have in the trilogy. But it didn't feel as fired up about it like in Knives Out or Glass Onion.

The characters aren't as interesting as the previous two. I think Josh O'Connor is also another overrated mumbly actor, but he's pretty comedic timing that was evident in both The Mastermind and Challengers. His character is not nearly as interesting or engaging as De Armas in Knives Out or Monae in Glass Onion however. The side characters are also not as compelling as they were in those two, and the performances lack the camp that this series is known for. Jeremy Renner stood out to me in a bad way, this is going to sound mean but I don't think he can act very well anymore after his accident. He just looks like he's in pain and he has trouble enunciating words now. Sort of like how Val Kilmer struggled at the end of his life.

The mystery is also not as interesting and the explanation is too convoluted even for this series. Kind of a let down, but still very good.

(4/5)

Now You See Me: Now You Don't

I don't remember much of the first two. I thought they were fine for the most part. This was probably the worst of the three even if it is still very entertaining. I think my biggest gripe with the film are the new guys. Justice Smith is decent in the role, even if I don't particularly care for him as an actor. But Ariana Greenblatt and Dominic Sessa were actively bad. Loved Holdovers, don't think Sessa is going to be a versatile actor. He's better than Greenblatt though which is weird since she's much more experienced. I don't think Greenblatt is a good actress, I think she got lucky with being cast in one of the biggest movies of all time in a pivotal scene as young Gamora (and then repeated that luck with being cast in Barbie). But she doesn't have the chops. She doesn't even feel natural in anything I've seen her. It reminded me that Disney kids don't get acting lessons, so when they move on to real stuff they struggle (with exceptions but not the case here).

The main characters are also really dumb in this one so that the younger ones could outshine them. Also no Mark Ruffalo to give it more credibility as a film.

(2/5)

Zootopia 2

Probably the best Disney sequel since Toy Story 4. It's not as good as the first one, not that I think the first one is some masterpiece, and the characters are made more annoying here so that they can have an arc. But I think it works towards the end, it looks really good which might sound like a given but Moana 2 came out last year and it looked like shit. Good nutritional fun I think, probably the best animated film of the year.

(3.5/5)

Eternity

The best of this specific bunch that I saw. It reminded me a lot of Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait, both in style and in tone. I thought it was wickedly funny and all the performances were in the pocket (probably the only film here where I didn't have a gripe with one of the actors).

I love Elizabeth Olsen, I've seen so many of her interviews and she is so sweet and charming and funny. This is the first role I've seen her in where she's allowed to be that version of herself. It's a nice ode to "ordinary love." Not the type of earth shattering love that Hollywood usually romanticizes, but the type of love that develops slowly and through small moments.

The only thing is that there are so many references to Callum Turner's character being like unbelievably good looking even though I think he's a similar level of plain as Miles Teller.

Very nice, sweet, the type of film Hollywood used to make tons of but now has been relegated to an indie studio like A24.

(4/5)