Quick Reviews Courtesy of Netflix

These last few months have been....something. Thankfully, Netflix has been there for me on both the streaming and DVD side.

Deep Red - For someone who counts Suspiria as one of their all time favorite movies, I haven't seen any other Dario Argento movie. I decided to fix that starting with Deep Red. I really liked it. I liked the aesthetic and enjoyed the "whodunit" part of the mystery, even if the killer ended up being a bit of a stretch at the end. B

Eli - For a Netflix horror film, this was actually pretty decent. It's very basic but it didn't end the way most horror films telling that story would have. I appreciated that. C+

High Life - This is easily one of the worst films I've seen this year. It's less of a science fiction film and more about a study on sex. Robert Pattinson is not a compelling lead. I know the internet is obsessed with him right now but I find him to be pretty mediocre. The only decent thing is Mia Goth and Juliette Binoche. They try. D

Porto- What a waste of Anton Yelchin. It's so obvious a dude made this movie. The sex scene was all about lingering on the woman and only showed Yelchin's back. C-

Izzy Gets The Fuck Across Town - This was enjoyable enough until the ending. Izzy is such a trainwreck, she treats everyone like shit, and I kept hoping the end of this film would be her getting her much needed reality check but it essentially justifies her bad behavior in a way. Ultimately even a few days later, this film is very forgettable. C-

Behold My Netflix Queue Black Hole

One of my goals for 2019 was to finally watch all the films I've had saved in my Netflix streaming queue for what seems like an eternity. I estimate that all of the titles below have been in my queue for at least a year. 41 total, and I did it! I'd like to thank the horrid winter we had this year that made a lot of this possible.

Here are my very quick thoughts on all the titles in my black hole of a queue. Now only a few films + a bunch of TV shows are left in it. Time to binge all that TV, I guess. 


The Life and Death of of Marsha P. Johnson - I had never heard of Marsha and was happy to learn about her but I think this doc tried to take on a bit too much at once. It was good, but could've been better - B

The White Helmets - After watching the full length Last Men In Aleppo I never did get around to watching the short film following the same brave men helping save people in their war torn cities in Syria. This was very good and I'm glad more has been expanded on it - A

In This Corner Of The World - Overall I liked this story, but I think they went way overboard with Suzu being "naive" and a "dreamer" I get what they were going for but they made her almost seem like she had some type of mental disability that wasn't addressed and in turn it made her situation even more uncomfortable. It could've just been the dub I was watching, but I couldn't shake that thought. B-

The Fundamentals of Caring - Parts of this are touching but I swear they check off every generic indie film trope out there. C+

Adore - Is this supposed to be a parody? D

Hot Fuzz - This had some funny moments. I didn't enjoy it as much as Shaun of the Dead but more so than World's End. B

City of God - This movie really reminded me of Guy Ritchie's older work. I had seen bits and pieces of it before, but never all at once so I'm happy I finally sat down and watched. It's a solid film. B

Advantageous - This took a while to get going but was ultimately a pretty interesting little sci fi film. I think this has been in my queue the longest so I'm happy to finally get to it. B

People Places Things - I liked this and it's by the same writer that did The Incredible Jessica James. Jemaine Clement is always reliable. B

Trash - This was shot beautifully, kind of like a City of God/Slumdog Millionaire mashup but about half way through I realized I had forgotten the original motivations of some of these characters. A compelling story was in here somewhere. C

Moonwalkers - This actually had a lot of potential to be a good parody but it's honestly just too dumb for words. Too many of their jokes rely on the characters being stoned. What happened to Rupert Grint? He should have Taron Edgerton's career post Potter and instead he's doing this? D

Lucky Them - Toni Collette is great but Thomas Hayden Church is not. No one other than Toni has a personality in this. It's not bad, but it's definitely not memorable. I wonder if I'll even remember this movie when this post goes up? C

Kelly & Cal - This started off fine until they pointed out that Cal is actually 17 and when you cast an actor that is closer to 30 to play a high school student, all my suspension of disbelief goes out the window. I think this would've been a better film if Cal had been a college student in his 20's. I would've had a slightly easier time buying that.  B-

White Girl - I think this is a great portrayal of white privilege and how it can affect bother the girl in question and the POC around her, but I started to lose interest when the sex scenes felt like they started to be about titillation and less about the plot. Then tossing in a rape towards the end just rubbed me the wrong way. Morgan Saylor was great though. C+

Under The Shadow - This was a solid ghost/entity story. Although when I hit "play" Netflix immediately started with the dub and when I switched it to subs and heard the actual voices....lord I hope no one watches the dub. B-

Blind Date - I realized when watching this that I don't see enough goofy French movies. This was cute. It's completely nonsensical but it had a lot of funny moments and quite possibly one of the best placed headbutts in cinema history. B

Other People - I cried. Full review here. A-

Imperial Dreams - This was pretty heavy. John Boyega gives a good performance as a father trying to do the best for his young son but I just didn't buy him in the gang-type scenes. That threw me out of this a bit. B-

Love Song - I love Jena Malone and Riley Keough is proving to be wonderful as well, but I got kind of annoyed with the story occasionally. It was a nice film overall. B

It's Only The End of the World - Wow, this was so cold and detached. Dolan should've focused less on his close ups and camera tricks and more on the story which had a ton of subtext but was severely lacking in expanding on any of it. C-

The Incredible Jessica James - LOVE! Full review here. A

Desierto - Neither myself or my husband recall adding this and I can only deduce that it's some type of mistake because why would I ever want to watch trash like this? I can't believe I did. I kept thinking maybe something would jog my memory. F

A War - I sometimes forget Pilou Asbæk can do more than play absolute douchebags, but he's excellent in this Danish film about a soldier in Afghanistan who is put on trial for a war crime. They spend a good amount of time building up both parts of this story. It was slow in parts but very satisfying overall. B

Catfight - This was so ridiculous but I had a lot of fun watching it. I suppose you can't go wrong when a lesson in "not being a dick" interludes Sandra Oh and Anne Heche beating the shit out of each other while classical music plays. B

The Void - I was enjoying this until I saw the conclusion of the female characters' stories. It really just rubbed me the wrong way. B- 

God's Pocket- What a waste of an excellent cast. Tonally this movie was all over the place. C-

Girlfriend's Day - What the fuck is this movie? Was this avant garde? Honestly how do you make 70 minutes feel so long? D

Girl Asleep - THIS is how you do a weird 70 minute movie. Full review here. A-

Dark Night - This seems like it tried to do what Little Athens did so much better in 2005. Telling the story of the mundane ordinary before tragedy strikes, only this doesn't have anything interesting to say until it suggests a recreation of the Aurora, CO movie theater massacre. Don't worry, they at least spare us seeing that unfold. F

Hurricane Bianca - The entire premise of this is so unbelievable and stupid but it's worth the watch for sassy Queens. C+

Shimmer Lake - I had the laziest reaction ever to this movie. It's told backwards but it's not interesting enough for me to make an effort to try to follow things more closely. Benjamin Walker is in it and now I want to rewatch Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter instead. C

Super Dark Times - I really liked this but it's also a text book example of a rushed ending. Full review here. B+

The Wound - I know nothing about the Xhosa culture so this was a fascinating and beautifully shot film that does a lot in its short run time. That ending though...not sure how I feel about it. That was unexpected. B+

Planetarium - This was so dull the only thing I can say about it is that Lily-Rose Depp surprised me and did a pretty good job. - D

6 Years - As someone in a long term relationship that started when I was in college,  6 years, which follows a young couple who have to decide what to do with their relationship when one of them gets a job offer appealed to me. The leads had wonderful chemistry and while the film itself was pretty basic, I enjoyed it. I felt it ended a bit too soon though. It could've used 5 more minutes. - B

The Ritual - Four twats in a forest! This is one of the better horror movies I've seen on Netflix. It builds tension very well and the ending is actually satisfying. I was expecting something far more open ended. B

God's Own Country - I'll do a full review on this eventually as it was the last film I watched but man was this beautiful. The chemistry between the leads was outstanding and I loved the ending. Side note: Alec Secareanu is soooooooo hot. A

Faces Places - This worked for me in a way that Stories We Tell didn't. A documentary about ordinary stories, but this set in France with beautiful artwork as their backdrops and of course the glorious Agnes Varda. A-

Miss Stevens - With a lesser writer this could've ended up in "teacher messing around with student" territory but it never did. I thought this was a great look at how a teacher and student can relate in depression and unhappiness. Great performances too. B

The Endless - I dug it. Full review here. - B+

Quiz Show - It's been years, but I finally watched all of Quiz Show in one sitting! It still holds up. B

Quick Reviews: Oscar Nominated Short Films

So my dumb ass released her Oscar predictions on Sunday and like I always do, I ball parked the short nominees because I never get to see them. Turns out, nearly all of these are available to watch online, so here are my quick reviews. The film summaries are copied from IMDb. 


Documentary Shorts

Period. End of Sentence - "In a rural village outside Delhi, India, women lead a quiet revolution. They fight against the deeply rooted stigma of menstruation."
Can you believe this was funded through a bake sale? I thought that was pretty extraordinary. This is available to watch on Netflix and I thought it was a very amusing and inspiring. Inspiring because these women are doing great things and amusing to see so many dudes be uncomfortable talking about periods. At one point someone compares a pad to an unattractive but competent man. A-

Black Sheep - "After the high-profile killing of Damilola Taylor, Cornelius' family move out of London. But when they discover their new town is run by racists, Cornelius takes a drastic step to survive."
You can watch this on The Guardian's website here. This is told with a single interview and reenactments which makes it feel a bit like something you'd find on cable, but it didn't make the story any less depressing. I just wasn't crazy about the execution, though I feel a lot for Cornelius. B-

End Game - "Filmed and edited in intimate vérité style, this movie follows visionary medical practitioners who are working on the cutting edge of life and death and are dedicated to changing our thinking about both."
This is also available to stream on Netflix. This is another one that is sad. It's hard to say goodbye to love ones and seeing them deteriorate. I just went through this recently with my Grandmother, so this was not an easy watch for me. It felt familiar, but I didn't feel like I learned anything new, which is what I always look for in documentaries. C+

A Night At the Garden -"In 1939, New York’s Madison Square Garden was host to an enormous––and shocking––gathering of 20,000 Americans that has largely been forgotten from our history."
This you can watch on PBS's website and it's only 7 minutes long. While I didn't know of this event before watching, I'm not shocked that 20,000 disgusting Nazis supporters all railed together. But...why is this Oscar nominated? It's archived footage with no commentary at all. We already know there's Nazis in America. Our president is currently empowering them. Why not expand on this with some thoughtful dialogue? This just felt unfinished. F

Lifeboat -"Volunteers from a German non-profit risk the waves of the Mediterranean to pluck refugees from sinking rafts pushing off from Libya in the middle of the night."
This is on youtube. It's also who I predicted to win in my Oscar pool. I still standby it winning, it's a great doc. What these men do is nothing short of amazing. Watching these good human beings took the bad taste of Night of the Garden out of my mouth. A

Animated Shorts
(The other nominee, Bao, I had already seen as it was attached to Incredibles 2)

Animal Behaviour - "Five animals meet regularly to discuss their inner angst in a group therapy session led by Dr. Clement, a canine psychotherapist."
This one is also on Youtube. This was pretty funny. If you've seen an episode of Bojack Horseman, you've essentially seen this type of humor too. B-

Late Afternoon - "An elderly woman drifts back through her memories. She exists between two states, the past and the present"
Another Youtube find! I cried. What a gem this was. I really like this style of animation, it reminds me of Song of the Sea, which I adored. I preferred this to Bao. A

One Small Step - "Luna is a vibrant young Chinese-American girl who dreams of becoming an astronaut. From the day she witnesses a rocket launching into space on TV"
Hello, Youtube. Ahh this one made me cry too. The animation is lovely, but the story is just a teensy bit fucked up in a way. B+

Weekends - "'Weekends' is the story of a young boy shuffling between the homes of his recently divorced parents"
Also on youtube. The animation in this is awesome but I felt like the story dragged a bit. B-

Live Action Short

Fauve - "Set in a surface mine, two boys sink into a seemingly innocent power game with Mother Nature as the sole observer..."
Youtube. I found this kind of frustrating. You know going in something awful is going to happen as these two kids keep fucking around. It ends exactly the way you think it will. It is very well acted, however. C+

Marguerite - "An aging woman and her nurse develop a friendship that inspires her to unearth unacknowledged longing and thus help her make peace with her past."
I found this on Youtube as well, however you have to use Google's closed captions as there are no subtitles so I don't know how accurate the dialogue is. There are so few movies about older LGBTQ folks that this was a welcomed addition. It's still sad, considering it's about a woman at the end of her life, but it makes me feel something different other than the other sad shorts I watched. A

Madre - "While at home in her apartment with her own mother in Spain, a woman gets a phone call from her six-year-old son, who's on holiday in France with his father. Every parent's nightmare ensues."
After some confusion with another short film called Madre on HBO Go, I found this on youtube.   The English closed captions on this are definitely way off but the plot isn't lost on you because of that. From the little Spanish I do know I was able to follow along well enough, but I wish I had a bit more clarity in the dialogue itself. This is a very tense 15 minutes. B-


I couldn't find the other two nominees - Detainment or Skin online. Detainment has a few clips on Youtube and the child actors seem to be really good in it, but it's still kind of fucked up that this movie got sprung on James Bulger's parents like this. Skin, I could only find a trailer for. I know a full length film with Jamie Bell is coming out this year, so I didn't have as much to go off of as I did Detainment. I still stand by Marguerite winning the Live Action category.

Quick Ramblings: The Good, The Meh, and the Ugly

Oh January releases. Since my theater hasn't seen it fit to bless my city with If Beale Street Could Talk yet, I've been spending a lot of my time with Netflix. One of my goals is to watch everything in my Instant queue before 2019 is up, but I've got all that nonsense in a separate post. Below are a few quick reviews courtesy of my DVD queue, with a few exceptions

The Good

Fair Game - Despite this staring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, apparently this never pinged my radar. (or it did and I forgot) but after watching Vice and hearing them reference this real life case, I was happy to see this was available to stream on Netflix - and I liked it! It's not amazing by any means but perfectly watchable. B

Fyre - Everyone knows about the failed Fyre Festival at this point and who can resist Netflix and Hulu putting out documentaries at the same time? Fyre is Netflix's and is far superior to the Hulu doc because it doesn't try to blame millennials for everything. A

Juliet, Naked - Rose Byrne, Chris O'Dowd and Ethan Hawke star in this light comedy/drama about a man obsessed with a has been singer and his frustrated girlfriend who ends up becoming pen pals with the man. It was sweet. B-

The Meh

Fyre Fraud - Hulu's documentary isn't bad, while there's a lot of overlap with Netflix's this does touch on the earlier ventures a bit more, it's just not as watchable and they used so many clips from other shows that it felt a bit cheap. I still think it's worth the watch after you've seen Fyre though. C

Operation Finale - Jewish men go undercover in Argentina to capture a former Nazi officer who is hiding. The accents in this movie are all over the place and it reminded me a bit of Valkyrie. There's a good movie in there somewhere but the script wasn't interested in finding it. C

Bad Education - Two men look back at the time they were in school together and were abused by a priest. The premise of this is interesting and Gael Garcia Bernal is really good, but I found the structure kind of odd to watch. I've been wanting to see this for a long time and I'm glad I did, but I think I got my expectations up a little too high for it. C+

What They Had - I watched this movie for Michael Shannon and it was a predictable dud. Shannon's character is a dick, but he's painted as the bad guy despite being the one speaking the truth regarding forcing his father to make the difficult decision of putting his ailing mother in a nursing home. I swear Taissa Farmiga was thrown in there just so they could tick off a younger demographic. Her character added nothing to the story. C

The Ugly

Don't Worry He Won't Get Far On Foot -Jonah Hill, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Jack Black, there are a lot of talented people in this movie but it's just not interesting at all despite initially sounding like it should be. This follows John Callahan, who discovers the healing power of art after an accident. C-

WTF Bonus

Madeline's Madeline - It's been over a week since I saw this and I'm still trying to figure out what the hell I watched. It's either a brilliant look at how actors can sometimes take things too seriously or an insane experiment. Hopefully I land somewhere soon. N/A

Quick Ramblings: Films That Haven't Cut It For Me

Lawd.

Y'all, I've been watching some mediocre shit lately. Initially I had separate reviews written for a few of them but I didn't want to have several posts of negativity in a row, so I resisted the urge to vent and condensed them a bit. Here are a few films I've watched lately that just did not do it for me. 

A Fantastic Woman

This one stings the most because I had really high expectations. I felt like this film reveled in the fact that Mariana didn't get the chance to grieve. It was like watching torture porn. No one was nice to her and she faces hostility at every turn. For a film that cast a trans actor - and a very good one - at its lead, I was hoping it would be a bit more than constant misery. Grade: C-

Just Before I Go

My curiosity of "I wonder what Seann William Scott is up to nowadays" lead me to dropping this Courteney Cox directed film in my queue at the beginning of the year. It's about a man who decides to commit suicide and goes home to confront some old bullies before he does. I'm not sure I've ever seen a film so tonally all over the place. And it's way too incompetently directed to make sense of anything. Despite a solid cast, the only one that actually breathes some life into their character is Kyle Gallner, and I felt bad for him because the actor playing his boyfriend (Evan Ross) was trash so Gallner had to do all the heavy listing. Even the always reliable Olivia Thirlby couldn't come out of this mess unscathed. Grade: D (and lets be honest without Gallner - F) 

Summer of 84

This was another one I was looking forward to but I clearly was expecting a different film. I was thinking I was going to get an ode to 80's slashers and really what I got was the slowest of burns with mostly un-compelling kids and a payoff that didn't make up for it. I will give the lead Graham Verchere props. He was good. Grade: C-

The Little Hours

Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie, and Kate Miccuci are foul mouthed nuns in the Middle Ages. To be fair, this movie is meant to be stupid and I legitimately laughed a few times, but the best thing that can be said about this is that it didn't bomb as hard 2007's Virgin Territory did when it did the same thing. When Fred Armisen shows up the comedy just stops all together. Grade: C

Hot Summer Nights

The weirdest thing about this movie is that the narrator is a random teenage boy that has nothing to do with the story, so that should tell you right there it's going to be a bit aimless. Timothee Chalamet is actually really good in this, but everyone else around him was really inconsistent, like the director couldn't decide on what kind of orders he wanted to give throughout. Grade: C-

My Left Foot

So funny story, I had this on my Blind Spot list because I didn't think I had seen all of it, but upon watching I realized that 1) I did actually watch this entire movie and 2) Daniel Day Lewis and Brenda Fricker give excellent performances and that's the only thing that makes this movie watchable. This was a weird experience and maybe I've finally reached peak "you watch too many movies." Anyways, I took it off my Blind Spot list and replaced with something I'm absolutely sure I haven't seen. Grade: C

>Bandersnatch (Black Mirror)

Most of you probably know how much I love Black Mirror. It's honestly probably in my top 5 favorite series of all time, and I was looking forward to this special...until I realized this was the "Choose Your Own Adventure" episode. Don't get me wrong, it's innovative, but I never cared for that type of story telling. It feels like a cop out. This is easily the worst episode of Black Mirror yet. The story isn't nearly compelling enough to sit through multiple times while you're looking for different endings and you don't really get to choose everything. It will make you start over if you choose wrong. Will Poulter is the best actor in it and he's barely in it at all. I did get one good laugh out of one of the choices, but this was such a bust. Grade: D

Mini Reviews Part Two

Oh man have I been lazy lately. I've been watching a fair amount of films but haven't written out full reviews. Since we're entering Oscar season, of course I'll get back into the swing of that, but here's a few mini reviews of what I've been watching lately.

Documentaries

Larry King of Valentine Road

The Bridge - This full doc is available on YouTube and it's about the number of people who commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. The film makers captured 23 of the 24 suicides in 2004 on film and allegedly called authorities whenever they saw someone they thought was a possible jumper. While this is very depressing, it is an interesting account of depression. I can see why this gets a lot of unfavorable reviews, there's quite a few ethics questions here. B

There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane - I started watching this a long time ago but never finished, I finally saw it all the way through and it's still just sad all around. Available on HBO Go, this doc follows a case of Diane Schuler, who drove the wrong way on a freeway and killed herself and seven others when her car collided with another. Her autopsy indicated she had been drinking, while her family disputes that she would do that. The thing about this is that it answers no questions. I don't blame Diane's family for looking for a better answer. I would too. Maybe she was good at hiding her alcoholism. Maybe she did have a drink combined with a psychotic break. Unfortunately we'll never know. C

Mommy Dead and Dearest - Now this is hands down one of the most fascinating documentaries I've seen in a while. It follow the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard, a single mother with a daughter, Gypsy Rose who had multiple illnesses. Turns out, Dee Dee had Munchhausen by Proxy and Gypsy was never actually sick, and now she plotted her own mother's murder to escape. This is honestly one of the few times I've watched a true crime documentary and said "Yeah, second degree murder makes sense." It's just absolutely wild. The trial for Gypsy's boyfriend is still ongoing, so this story isn't finished. This is also available on HBO Go. A

Valentine Road - The last of my HBO Go binge, this follows the murder of Larry King, a young trans boy who was shot to death by a classmate after he asked him to be his Valentine. This is easily one of the most infuriating things I've ever watched. Director Marta Cunningham, instead of asking those involved hard hitting questions just let their stupid speak for itself and it's horrifying. Larry's murderer was seemingly a budding white supremacist. He drew swastikas, which people excused as "artistic expression." His girlfriend at one point says white people are becoming a minority. His defense attorney gets his name tattooed on her wrist. Poor Larry essentially gets blamed for his own murder because he "flaunted it." (ie: acted like the person he felt he truly was) While I wish we would've had more counter debates in this film, I see why the director chose to shoot it this way and magnify their bigotry. She also doesn't paint the shooter as only a monster, but rather shows how the way he grew up shaped him. B+

Films

First Reformed - I wanted to do a full review on this but I'm just not sure I understood the ending. I was really with this film until then. Not to mention, the way Amanda Seyfried was playing her character suggested that there was more to the story, but then nothing was answered. Ethan Hawke is great in this, but they threw it away. I think this is one of those films I might end up enjoying more if I saw it again later on, but I'm still pondering it for now. C+

The Conjuring - I gave into Sati's persuasion and caught this on Netflix. Damn, this movie is legitimately scary. I really didn't give this a chance. I wrote it off immediately because it seemed like token PG-13 horror (though it actually has an R rating only because it's tone. There's no gore or excessive swearing) I can't say enough good things about it. Sure, it's predictable but the creepiness level is just off the charts. I loved it. A-

Random Ramblings - Quick Reviews for the Lazy Reviewer

I've actually been watching quite a few movies lately, I just haven't felt very compelled to write full reviews on the ones I didn't love. The ones I did, I'll eventually post as Indie Gems. Here are some of the other films I've been watching over the past couple of weeks.

Holy Hell - Rating: C-
This is a documentary about a man who left a cult. Normally that is right up my alley, and this one is different because he has a lot of footage of his time during said events, but it just wasn't as fascinating and cohesive as it could've been. 

Woodshock - Rating: F
I love Kirsten Dunst, and that's why I chose this film. Within the first two minutes or so, my husband goes "I really hope this isn't a movie where she just walks around and stairs at trees the entire time." ...............It was. I didn't finish this, even though I only had probably 20 more minutes of it left. It was bad. 

Loving Vincent - Rating: B-
This film is clever. I love the oil painting style animation. I never quite expected to watch a film about a man delivering Van Gogh's last letter, but it works. 

The Most Hated Woman in America - Rating: C
I remember reading a review of this a while ago that was fairly favorable. The cast is nice, Melissa Leo, Juno Temple, and Vincent Kartheiser. It follows the life of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the woman who founded American Atheists, and her eventual murder. It was just okay. I felt like there wasn't a lot of direction given, and the wigs they had on these people were truly atrocious. 

When We First Met - Rating: C
I like Adam Devine and Alexandra Daddarrio, this was an amusing enough comedy but it was very basic. If anything, Devine got to show a bit of range. 

Mom and Dad - Rating: C
This film is about a virus that breaks out causing parents to try to murder their children. This one stars Nicolas Cage in all his crazy glory. I actually expected it to be a bit crazier. It's a clever story, but you really have to suspend disbelief with the kids here. Especially when they lock themselves in a basement and don't even try to climb out the window.  Still, that aside, this film was pretty fun.

Lemon - Rating: D
You know, I like a good mumblecore movie every now and then but this was a mess. The lead character was such a dirtbag I didn't even want to follow him around. I felt like poor Judy Greer was doing all of the heavy lifting. 

Suburbicon - Rating: F
I can only describe this movie, or what I saw of it because I also did not finish this in gif form:

Quick Ramblings - Oscar Docs and Foreign Language Films

Like most Oscar Seasons, the foreign language and documentary features I rarely get to see before the ceremony. Thanks to Netflix, I was able to catch a few of them before the Oscars. Here are some quick reviews of the ones I saw.

The Square - I liked the idea of this movie far more than I liked the execution. It's about an art curator who has an idea for a new exhibit, but it really ends up being about an hour too long. With its avant garde style filming, having this film at 2 and a half hours just wasn't a good choice. It left too much room for dragging. C

Last Men in Aleppo  - This film was incredibly heavy and I was heartbroken while watching it. It follows a group of White Helmets who stay in Aleppo helping their fellow Syrians during the on going civil war. It's atrocious what's happening there and how normal it has become. There's literally a scene where they have just pulled a dead baby out of the rubble, and someone mentions he has to leave at 6:00 to attend a wedding. That's how frequent this is. It's devastating and I don't think this doc will be leaving me for a while. A

Strong Island - I think this may be the most intimate documentary I've ever watched. Yance Ford details the murder of his brother, William back in 1992. He was shot dead by a white auto shop worker after an argument, and it never even went to trial. But this doc isn't about getting the bottom of this case. William's murder isn't given any platform here. No photo, no interview, nothing. This is more of an examination of grief and racial discrimination. I keep thinking back to a conversation I had recently with someone who didn't understand why I was a supporter of Black Lives Matter (because like many, they were uneducated on what the movement was actually about and just believed the shit they hear on Fox News) This is why. You can't look at something like this (or any of the million other examples) and say that the police force doesn't discriminate against black people. You just can't. Strong Island really did something different here, and the visuals and camera work are stunning. A

Icarus - This was a very well researched documentary, but I simply don't care enough about doping in sports to be completely enthralled by this. I like to watch all kinds of documentaries, even ones that I don't suspect will interest me. I give them all an equal chance and for me this one just didn't capture my attention. Even if it's not for me, it's very thorough and you can tell the filmmakers put a lot of work into it. C+

On Body and Soul - Hungary's foreign language nominee follows two employees in a slaughter house who find out they share the same dreams. They dream that they are deer together in the forest, but with social anxieties in real life they have trouble connecting outside of their dreams. I liked this far better than the The Square. It too is a bit of a slow burn but it never once drags. I really enjoyed the two leads. I'd say this film wouldn't be for you if you're easily offended over meat consumption. While they're not overly graphic with animal death they do show them (off screen) putting down a cow before it is carved up. I also like how much anxiety played into this. I seem to gravitate towards movies were someone feels uncomfortable and I like how they addressed it head on instead of just making it a quirk. B

Quick Ramblings 2017

Guys, I've had this in my drafts since October. It's time to get it out there. Here are a few movies I watched that I was too lazy to post full reviews on*


Shutter - I'm not really sure why I had the original Thai movie in my Netflix queue. I never bothered with the American remake that came out after it, but someone must have told me something good about it because it arrived at my door after being in the dead zone of my Netflix queue for well over a year.

It probably should've stayed there because man this film was trash. It had some creepy imagery, but the main character is unlikable to begin with, then it's revealed that he allowed his ex girlfriend to be raped by his friends (in a scene that goes on wayyy too long) So yeah, I'm glad you're being tortured by a spirit for all eternity. Bye, Felicia. F

A Monster Calls - When I saw the trailer in theaters, I cried. So I knew there was no way in hell I was seeing this film with other people around. HBO has it now, so I set myself a goal to try not to cry.

I failed.

Miserably.

I'm talking a constant flow of tears in the last half hour of this film. Honestly, I expected it to be really melodramatic but it wasn't. It told a very good story about how children process grief. The lead actor was fantastic and the visual effects were stunning. B

*Cleo from 5 to 7 -  I should probably have my blogger card revoked for just how little I've seen of French New Wave. This film was also in my Netflix pit for over a year and it finally made it to the top. It's a relatively simple film but it was so lovely to watch. I do want to do a full review of this eventually, but I want to see it again. It's been in my head quite often since I've watched. A-

Beach Rats - I put this in my Netflix queue not knowing much about it. It was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. It was directed by Eliza Hittman, who did a film I enjoyed years ago called It Felt Like Love. But this went absolutely nowhere. It sounded so good in the description and I just could not for the life of me get into it. Plus I hated the lead's friends so much that it was almost distracting. D

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power - Al Gore heard our complaints during Four Ways A Best Picture and didn't make a power point documentary! This was good and informative, and I wish these climate change deniers would open their minds and watch this. B-

Baby Driver - HOW is this so bad? Ansel Elgort is an awful lead. I would've rather watched every other character but him. This is a cool idea and it's absolutely thrown out the window because of him. Whatever heart the film had is quickly covered up by some awkward lip syncing and grooving. C-

The Bad Batch - This was so weird. I give it credit for its use of practical effects and Suki Waterhouse was nowhere near as terrible as I expected her to be. (Yes, I stereotyped her as a model turned actress) It was actually Jason Mamoa who wasthe worst here. His Cuban accent was trash and his acting consisted of "look tough." D

I hope you all have a safe and spectacular New Year! May 2018 bring more wonderful films for us to see.

Quick Ramblings: Documentary Edition

I've watched some very thought provoking documentaries lately. I haven't had a lot of time to blog, mostly everything I've been posting has been queued, so here are some quick thoughts on what I watched. 

Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992
When you think of the LA Riots and what you learned about them in school - you think of Rodney King. The names James Mincey Jr or Edward Song or Latasha Harlins don't come to mind, at least not at first. This documentary shows the unrest had begun long before King was beaten. The interviews conducted here are very in depth. (and in some cases, like the arresting officer trying to minimize Mincey's death and the affect it would have on his then expecting girlfriend was infuriating) They talked with several survivors, witnesses, police officers. They're each given adequate time to tell their stories as well and this is where the documentary excels. 

This is one I hope is shown in schools, or at least recommended to keep the discussion going. My only complaint was with my local ABC station. There was severe weather going on during our broadcast, so the weather indicator at the bottom was often covering up the names of who was speaking. 
A 

I Am Heath Ledger
I knew this was going to be tough to watch. Heath Ledger was my favorite actor. At the time, I had never quite reacted to a celebrity death with such sadness as I did his. I still remember where I was, sitting at my office at work. 

I felt like a voyeur watching his personal footage. I see why they used it, but some of the times I just felt like they maybe could've used something else to get around that particular part. I liked the interviews with his friends and family. It was especially nice hearing from his personal non actor friends. Of course, no Michelle Williams but I don't see her talking about Heath in depth for a very long time. Over all, it did feel quite rushed. There were so many more people I wish we could've heard from.
B

The Keepers
Netflix's newest entry into their true crime series follows the murder of a nun named Cathy Cesnik in 1969. Over the course of the seven episode documentary, the subject shifts from murder to systematic abuse within the Catholic Church. It focuses less on who killed Cathy, but why her murder happened. All of this started because of two of Sister Cathy's former students started investigating on their own, and that's inspiring in its own right. There's conspiracy theories all over the internet but you can't deny that sometimes good comes from people pouring over case files on the internet.

This case is bleak. When I think about how I felt after watching Making a Murderer, and then this, that hope for resolve is missing. Most of the people who probably know the answers as to what happened to Sister Cathy are dead, and the ones alive likely won't talk. Of course, the Archdioceses isn't going be of much help either. The head of the sex crimes division at the time manages to be of even less help. 
A- 

I Am Not Your Negro
First off, it's ridiculous how long it took me to finally see this movie. You'd think earning an Oscar nomination would be enough to get this film in more theaters, but apparently not. It came nowhere near me and I had to wait for Netflix to get the DVD. This is about writer James Baldwin's unfinished text on race in America. He talks about the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. Malcom X and Medgar Evers. The documentary expands on them, which I think the film does very well. It made good use of historical footage and clips from films that were relevant to the discussion. (Although I wish I could unsee that Solider Blue clip)
A