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Reviews
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Disappointing
Like most people, I've heard the name of this movie countless times throughout my life. But until tonight I never got around to watching it. Unfortunately, even for a short ~80 minute movie, I didn't find much to be redeemable.
The characters are pretty much worthless and I didn't care much for any of them. The victim characters are annoying and mostly I didn't care that they died. The acting felt stiff and wooden, even for a horror movie.
The murderous family was over the top in their evilness and none of the character's roles made sense. The "dad" seems to have some sway over the "children", enough to cow the (to that point) ominous leatherface and then seconds later he's "just the cook" and has no power in the house.
There's just not much to like from a modern perspective. Maybe if you saw it in the 70s when it was an innovation on the horror genre, I could understand the appeal. But personally, I found little redemptive value outside of that innovation.
4/10 (4 points for innovation, 0 for execution)
Midsommar (2019)
Strangely Enjoyable
I'm not surprised by how divisive Midsommar is.
It is a trippy, 3 hour horror movie, that's more weird than scary, but has excellent cinematography, an amazing performance by the lead (Florence Pugh), and impressive attention to detail.
But you've obviously seen my rating and know that I enjoyed it, so let's talk about this film.
Firstly, I'll note that I rarely leave reviews for films I watch. In fact, it's almost 10PM and I need to get to bed, but this film left me thinking.
The first thing I noticed about this film was the amazing performance by Florence Pugh as Dani. We really get drawn into empathizing with her early on. And not just because of her intense loss at the very start of the film (shown in a brilliant opening sequence I might add).
Her amazing performance only continues on until the final smiling shot.
Another thing I thought was wonderful about this film was the foreshadowing. First, the depiction of a "love story" in which the woman serves a man food with her pubic hair and a drink containing her period blood. Then, the moment when Christian takes a drink and then we see his drink is a darker, redder color than the rest. That realization only forecasts what is to come for him.
But there were tons of other moments of foreshadowing. The bear. The joke that no one lives past 72. And my favorite, a subversion of prior foreshadowing.
Earlier in the film pair of elders arrives at the feast and everyone else waits to sit and eat until they do. They jump to their deaths moments later. Similarly, Dani as the May Queen goes through the same feasting ritual. And this makes us fear for her even more.
And this brings me to another strength of this film, keeping us in suspense. The best example of this is when they cut away before Dani makes her selection of who will die. The movie takes its time marching people into the "temple". But not Christian. Only when we later see Christian in the room with the disemboweling of the bear do we start to suspect something is off.
And the last huge strength I'll talk about is the theme. This film explores the themes of loss, trauma, and letting go. And I think it does a wonderful job thinking through these issues, mainly through the character of Dani. Everything tells us that her relationship with Christian is doomed to fail: from his distance and gaslighting, to the contrast between them and the Simon/Connie duo, to the fact that he's obviously hoping to "mate" with Maja. And yet, we struggle alongside her as she fails to let him go until the final shot.
So yes, this is a very strange film. It is definitely not for anyone looking for supernatural hauntings, slashers, or another hollywood franchise. But if you are willing to try something different and have the patience and the open-mindedness to accept the strangeness as it comes, you might just find yourself having enjoyed one of the weirdest films you've ever watched.
Arimura Kasumi no Satsukyu (2020)
Relaxing Slice of Life
This show explores a bunch of fictional days off for Kasumi Arimura. It's a collection of little disconnected stories, so you can hardly expect a cohesive plot of any sort. With that said, each episode has an interesting concept (ranging from visiting her mom to trying to get a jar of jam open to meeting a little girl).
The whole tone of the show fits very well with the subject of days off. It has a very relaxing, calm feel to it, and it's easy to settle into each episode. A surprising stand out is the music, which really helps to create the laid-back tone. The music of the short opening, was so pleasant, that I never skipped it (despite being the type of viewer to always skip intros).
Because of the varied nature of the episodes, each person will have their own favorite episodes, and some they didn't like as much. I'd argue the stand out episode is the one where Kasumi Arimura, struggling to get into her role as a mom, meets a little girl. It's heartwarming and the even though the episode is only around 25 minutes long, the story told is one of the most solid from a plot structure standpoint.
Just reading over the description of this show, it can be hard to know what to expect. So I'll keep it simple. If you like Kasumi Arimura, laid-back slice of life shows, or just want to try something a little different. Give this one a shot, you may find it surprisingly enjoyable.
The Imitation Game (2014)
Film is about story...
Many of the "most helpful" reviews for this film seem to be complaining about inaccuracies. And while I can agree that there are historical inaccuracies, I think the well-intentioned reviewers are missing the point.
This is not meant to be a pure biographical piece that details the life of Alan Turing with perfect accuracy. It's a story.
If they mentioned that the machine was already half-built by the poles the challenge would've seemed less impossible and the task less impressive, leading to a less satisfying ending.
If they had everyone on Alan's side from the start, and write to Churchill together, it would've seemed like Alan didn't have to overcome the personal problems and lack of social skills. Leading to a less satisfying character development.
If they had Turing quickly concluded to eliminate common words from the possibilities in coded messages, then there wouldn't be any tension.
If they Turing's team had no idea what the broken codes would be used for (Sometimes saving lives, sometimes letting them die) then there would be no consequences for the decision they made to let the ships be sunk. And continually choose whether or not to let the germans carry out their plans.
If Turing didn't tell the detective his story, he wouldn't have gotten to ask the detective: "Am I human? Am I robot? Am I war-hero? Am I a criminal?" Which for me at least, was one of the most impactful lines of the entire film.
So, were there inaccuracies? Of course. It's a film after all and "BASED on a true story". But if the writers had stuck to history instead of using creative license, this would be a far less compelling story. It would have far less impact. And many of the people who enjoyed it, likely wouldn't have ever even seen it.
In the end the irony was that Turing didn't get to enjoy the world he helped protect. And if this film's goal was to protect history, we wouldn't have gotten to enjoy it.
Black Panther (2018)
Overhyped...
Marvel did everything they could to get this movie looking as good as it could on paper: cool trailers, Kendrick soundtrack, and critical acclaim (through possible bribery). They went all out on the marketing side. But they forgot about the most important part. The movie.
This movie is broken and although I could write a long breakdown of how broken it is, others have already done this exceedingly well. And frankly, I don't want to spend anymore time thinking about this overhyped marketing play.
In summation, Marvel did everything they could to make this movie seem great, besides making a good movie...