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Monkey Man (2024)
Monkey Man: Unleashing a Beast
Monkey man proves to be an engaging, fun and well-acted revenge flick. Even at a 2Hr run time, the pacing of the film is consistent between character development sandwiched with fight scenes.
The film covers a wide degree of conflicts without coming off to heavy handed in its messaging. Rich vs Poor, sectarianism and state corruption all play important roles.
Most of the characters follow a largely simple archetype; the corrupt cop, the false holy man, the cutthroat business woman, the grifter showman. Even the titular monkey man can be summarized as a man seeking revenge, with most of his development focused on confronting his past trauma.
However, the best parts of the film are easily the action. Fight scenes don't become stale like most films where a killer ragdoll hapless henchman. Fights in the film range from luchador like fights, to chases, to POV action, to gun and knife fights. The violence feels real with bloodstains, stabbings and plenty of gore. One fight even has a unexpected amount of biting.
The scoring is also fantastic, with different but catchy music underscoring the fights while also pairing well with the locale; such as more electric music in a club or traditional drum beats in a temple training montage.
The only possible drawbacks are the seeming predictability of certain elements that seem like action staples. The brooding damaged hero, the confrontation of past damage, the training montage, and the end villain dialogue mostly lack unique elements.
Additionally, Monkey Man's whole relationship with Alphonso seems a bit confusing, lacks utility outside some story progression and ends with no real resolution.
The movie feels one-part original John Wick, one-part White Tiger with homages to action movies like The Raid. Ultimately Monkey Man is a great action film, which may not have any unexpected twists or powerful messages, is still a fun, well-paced watch.
Dune: Part Two (2024)
A Desert Epic
Dune 2 presents everything a good modern adaptation of a Sci-Fi classic should be, Improving on the previous film.
The movie is faithfully adapted to the original capturing the religious and cultural turmoil, mixed in with political intrigue all being led through an action-packed core.
Every scene feels big and full of life. The Desert is all encompassing territory of the worms and the sun, with only isolated outcroppings serving as shelter. The Harkonen planet shows its system of fear and dominance through its perfect geometry, lack of individuality and overwhelming sun seeping all in black and white. The court of the emperor shows distinguished pomp and paradise (compared to the water starved Arrakas or brutalist Harkonnen).
Furthermore, the film is reenforced by Hans Zimmer's brilliant scoring with each scene feeling influential through sound mixing. Battles feel violent, landscapes feel barren, speeches are underscored to capture the hearts of thousands.
The characters and scenes are smartly written with both motives and cultures playing an important role. The Fremen are shown to be expertly adapted at desert life between water collection, sand walking and their abilities at worm riding. Yet, they are not uniform with the ever-present struggle of the weight of their faith and prophecies (which Lady Jessica and Paul will exploit). The Harkonen subside on a culture of fear and tyranny, where strength is found through power and where weakness is quickly snuffed out like a flame. This instills equal parts loyalty and treachery as engagement must be fanatical but advancement requires usurpation.
Even Paul and his mother show much change as they struggle between their identities (Atriedes vs Fremen vs Bene Gesserit vs Harkonen), their loyalties to both friends and families and to what their end goals may be. After all, who knows how much of the original Paul or Jessica remains after drinking the Water of Life and seeing much of life's secrets?
While at times half the dialogue feels like dramatic shouting it rarely feels to stall the story and instead feels like a support to the powerful scenes surrounding the speakers. Characters rarely require the need to tell what they think, rather showing it through loving tenderness or shocking brutality.
Ultimately the movie offers both an epic depiction to Dune fans and a worthwhile space epic to more casual viewers.
9/10.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
Nihilism and Existentialism
I'm Thinking of Ending things begins with a long car drive through an ever-increasing blizzard.
A young woman (who is given many names through out the script, although none seem quite right) is thinking of how to end her relationship new relationship with Jake, her recent boyfriend, lamenting how it might even be moral to do so as she sees no clear future with him even though she praises much of his qualities. The same thoughts are echoed at the end of the movie as a Janitor freezes to death in his car in the high school parking lot, reminiscing on his past or possibly dreams he has had up to this point in life.
The movie is a blended critique of one's place in the universe, the fleeting nature of it all and if it matters.
Who the young woman is seems alien even to her. Her meeting of Jake is murky on whether she met him at a trivia night or waitressed him at a restaurant. Her field of studies appears ever changing from advanced mathematics to studying the disease of aging. Her name (or names) seems foreign and she swears that a photo of young Jake is actually one of herself. Even the paintings she takes pride in are also mirrored by Jake's own paintings which are hidden in the basement of his house. This lack of her personal identity and her mirroring of Jake, suggest they maybe one and the same, acting as a foil into Jake's hopes or mind.
The passages of time and health are best exemplified by Jake's parents. The parents, isolated by their rural farmhouse and their seeming disconnect from the world at large appear to jump in appearance from scene to scene. The most extreme example is as the couple is departing the house, it appears that Jake is holding the hand of his mother who had just passed away from old age. However, Jake appears in denial claiming she is resting, while his father (who seemingly has not aged at all) appears oblivious to anything but their departure. Death is further ever present through the dead lambs and maggot infested pigs whose ends appear almost handled callously, although this is justified as "life on the farm".
The final act in the high school shows the confrontation of Jake the Boyfriend and Jake the Janitor and results in the ultimate demise of them both. Jake rushes in to confront the apparent peeping tom much to the dismay of the young woman. There she witnesses the dance between the two with Jake ultimately being slain by the Janitor. The transition to the Janitor was likely gradual but inescapable, displayed by the uniforms in the laundry, the disappearance of the young woman and the Janitor's hallucinations of Jake's past. The Janitor is forced to finally confront this by a maggot-infested pig claiming "Someone has to be a pig infested with maggots, right?"
While at times the film can be jarring and philosophically overloaded, once adjusted to its message of existentialism is penetrating.
True Detective: Night Country: Part 1 (2024)
When You Look Into The Abyss
Eight men isolated from civilization suddenly disappear into the brutal Alaskan tundra during a period of complete darkness. The only clues to their departure are a woman's tongue and hastily scrawled note proclaiming "We are all dead".
A brilliant and interesting opening to the season 4 of true detective, mirroring the best parts of previous seasons. Horror, in a somewhat Lovecraftian sense, is present throughout. However, it is applied carefully, avoiding jump scares and focusing on haunting audio and visuals. The setting feels like one of the main characters too, an isolated town at the top of the world, with secrets to hide in perpetual cold and darkness.
Character development is rapid fire, but in an engaging way. The police department can best be described as a troupe of traumatized odd-balls. Chief Liz leads a careful balancing act of navigating the bureaucracy of the town, the rebellions of her step daughter and now the complete disappearance of eight multinational scientists. Navarro is an ex-soldier trying to solve a 6-year-old cold case, often putting herself on opposite sides of the law and the good graces of the town to pursue what she feels is justice. Peter Prior navigates trying to do proper police work while also dealing with eccentric dad, yet also largely feels like a kid with a kid. This trio feels under-equipped for a case of this magnitude, however with nothing for hundreds of miles around they maybe the only ones for the job.
Even the victims are developed in a way that makes us emphasize with them, rather than anonymous meat for a who done it mystery. A native woman who was murdered while protesting the mine which acts as both the heart of the town and a cancer to the environment. The men are given life in the mundane acts they occupy; doing laundry, making a sandwich, listening to what will soon be a haunting rendition of twist and shout. Mirror this life to the ending shot, of corpses, locked in a appearance of horror, frozen shoulder to shoulder in ice in nowhere and perpetual darkness.
What connects the victims, the town and the police themselves? What are they willing to hide? And now that She is Awake what will be uncovered?
9/10.
Fargo: Bisquik (2024)
A Fumbled Finale
Bisquik proves to be a lackluster finale to an otherwise creative season.
The episode suffers from some odd pacing discussions, and over analyzes certain character interactions while leaving other more interesting answer completely glossed over.
Rather than building up to an expected climax with Dot confronting and revenging herself on Roy, this is quickly resolved in the first 5 minutes of the episode. The focus of the episode rather appears to be a dedication to wrapping up the finales of characters, including the interactions of what feel like secondary characters such as Roy and Witt's confrontation. Much time is focused on Dot and Munch's baking scene where the idea of debt and forgiveness is somewhat clumsy applied.
Some more interesting questions that remained unanswered where:
How does Gator react to the information that Roy murdered his mother?
How does Karen confront Roy after being witness to more of his nature and the murder of her father?
How does the town and the followers of Roy's tyranny fill the power vacuum created by his absence?
The oddest choice is how non-Fargo the ending feels compared to all the other seasons. All other seasons appear to follow a motif that; Justice is grey, all those involved are in someway scarred, not everything is answered and that evil gets away. Instead, everything appears to be wrapped up with a happy ending. Dot is fully reunited with her family and is free from a double-life. Roy is forced to experience the perpetual harm he so self-righteously and willingly inflicts on others. Lorraine has been turned from an antagonistic mother-in-law to a protective grandmother. Even Munch, who would have been a much more interesting bogey-man hiding in the shadows, drops his century's old philosophy of an eye for an eye instead turning into a weird uncle like figure over the course of a single dinner.
4/10.