Tag: 2024

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Inside Out 2

Inside Out 2

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Would it surprise you to know that even after writing well over two hundred reviews, I still feel anxious whenever I start a new one?  I always ask myself the same questions.  What if I don’t have anything interesting to say?  What if nobody reads it?  What if I say something dumb and lose what little credibility I have?  What if I miss my self-imposed Tuesday morning publication date?  Fortunately, after seeing Inside Out 2, I now know that all of these expressions of anxiety emanate from an orange, bug-eyed Muppet who has usurped control of my mind.

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A Quiet Place: Day One

A Quiet Place: Day One

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Here’s a trick question:  How do the aliens in the A Quiet Place franchise arrive on Earth?  The answer is…we don’t know.  In the sequel and this prequel, all we are shown is streaks of light tearing across the sky.  The assumption is that they arrive in space ships, but neither film gives us any indication of what those look like.  For a typical alien invasion movie, seeing the alien spaceship(s) is the money shot–think Independence Day, War of the Worlds and The Day the Earth Stood Still.  Amazingly, three movies into this franchise, the alien’s mode of transport is still a mystery.

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The Bikeriders

The Bikeriders

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The Bikeriders is filled with memorable scenes, and it opens with that immediately grabs our attention.  Benny (Austin Butler), a biker, is peacefully enjoying a whiskey and beer at a bar in the middle of the day.  He’s approached by two imposing men who angrily tell him to remove his colors.  After looking them over, he says with a smirk that they’d have to kill him first.  The men are happy to oblige and proceed to pummel him.  As the incredibly violent confrontation played out, I found myself asking questions.  Why did those guys want to beat up Benny just because of his jacket?  And more importantly, why does Benny invite the confrontation?

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The Watchers

The Watchers

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If you’re an American and are desperately running from your past, where should you go?  To a pet shop in Galway, Ireland, of course.  Given how essential this detail is to the entire story of The Watchers, you would think it would be addressed at some point, but no.  For a movie that is ultimately about the importance of getting the details right, The Watchers rarely bothers to do so.  While it does stop at regular intervals to deliver unwieldy gobs of exposition that explain what is happening, it never concerns itself with why.  It’s a story that insists on giving a perfectly logical explanation for everything, but doesn’t make any logical sense.

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Evil Does Not Exist

Evil Does Not Exist

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Of all the reasons people use to justify developing previously untouched land, creating a glamping site has to be right up there.  I was unfamiliar with the term before seeing Evil Does Not Exist, and after two characters explained what it meant I was appalled.  The thought of bulldozing trees and smoothing a natural landscape so that rich people can have a glamorous camping experience is silly, but I fully understood why people would pay for it.  Unlike a public camping site, glamping offers amenities and resort-style services.  There’s no need to “rough it” when you can relax in the equivalent of a hotel room nestled amongst trees.  (This begs the question as to whether an activity can even be called camping if there are no inconveniences involved.)  Second, glamping is all about exclusivity.  There’s no need to worry about camping around normal, everyday people when you can use your money to pitch your yurt next to other rich people like yourself.

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (or Furiosa for short), is the story of how Furiosa became the fearless driving badass that was introduced in Mad Max: Fury Road nine years ago.  In that movie, she (as portrayed by Charlize Theron) was referred to as Imperator Furiosa and was presented to us in her fully-realized form without a hint of backstory.  With her shaven head, grease-painted face and steampunk mechanical arm, she fearlessly drove across the post-apocalyptic wasteland for her boss, Immortan Joe.  Furiosa’s cool head and savvy driving skills made her highly respected within Joe’s autocratic society, which is great when the rest of the world only wants to kill and eat you.  For reasons she kept to herself, she grew tired of working for The Man and decided to drive off the Australian reservation, as it were, liberating herself and Joe’s wives in the process.  After encountering some speed bumps, she rescues Max and together they overthrow Joe’s noxious patriarchy.  In the end, Furiosa became the Citadel’s new, benevolent leader, while Max fades away.

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The Garfield Movie

The Garfield Movie

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A couple of thoughts crossed my mind while watching The Garfield Movie.  The first one was whether any of the small children in the audience knew who Garfield was before seeing this movie.  I became familiar with the character through the comics section of the Sunday newspaper.  Do ten year-olds today know what a comic strip is, let alone a Sunday newspaper?  I doubt that they do.  Social media, specifically TikTok, appears to be the preferred choice for short-form comedy bits these days.  Why would a child ever read a static, three-panel comic strip for a laugh when they can watch countless live-action videos instead?

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Tarot

Tarot

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Don’t break the rules.  If you do, there will be consequences.  Horrific consequences.  This simple premise is often used by horror movies because it’s so easy to grasp.  Bad judgment is quickly rewarded with a gruesome outcome.  It also builds anticipation in the audience from the get-go.  Those horny kids who engage in premarital sex?  A maniac will kill them for their immoral behavior.  You played with a Ouija board?  Sorry, it wasn’t just a game and an actual demon has plans for you now.  You cheated death?  Death isn’t happy and will be working overtime to correct things.  You played truth or dare with a stranger?  Tough break because playing games with strangers is just wrong, wrong, wrong.

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Challengers

Challengers

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Challengers is so obvious as to what it’s about, it’s refreshing.  There probably is some subtext to be found in the corners of this movie, but this heated tale of lovers who quarrel, have sex and play tennis works overtime to obscure it.  This is the first movie I’ve seen directed by Luca Guadagnino, so I have no idea as to whether his other films are similar to this one.  From what I see in this movie, he strikes me as a director who doesn’t beat around the bush.  He’s a confident filmmaker who is very direct with what he wants to accomplish.  What we see is exactly what he wants us to get.  Guadagnino’s movie doesn’t try to tug at our heart strings, earn our sympathy or ask us to think about what we see very deeply.  If we noodle over a  phrase or a look or what a particular object symbolizes, that is entirely up to us.

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