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Shrinking (2023)
It's pretty cute!
The show very clearly took a lot of inspiration from shows like Better Things but doesn't really come across as quite as authentic to me. It definitely has its moments, and it's peppered with enough of good bad humour. The idea of the therapists and neighbours is fun but the clients are kind of glued on to the storyline (except a single character) and the neighbours though fun, feel like they should've come in more in the second season after some drama and not quite as much from the get-go. It's definitely not a boring show to me, but in the end it's a little too predictable and a tad "plastic"- like its a little overproduced for my taste, so I can't say I'm waiting eagerly for a second season.
I felt like all the characters timelines were a little hurried. I really wished we'd get a bit more layers and slower rolls and some more in-depth drama to get to know the main characters before allowing so much time for side-characters stories. Even the main characters went through so much development in just 10 episodes it kind of eats away the excitement for a new season.
I get they tried to create this sense of community by having several characters stories progress, but it felt a bit forced at times like a lot of it should've been 2nd, 3rd season stuff once we get to know the characters a tad more. And the season ending? Meh. A bit forced.
But yes, all the actors are solid, especially Harrison Ford, the writing is decent enough, the show looks okay and it's a good positive show for binging through on a weekend, so sure, I can recommend it. I wont rave about it though.
Moby Doc (2021)
Usually when watching a documentary
About an artist it deepens your perspective and view of them and it makes you connect and like them a bit more irregardless of your previous emotions. I actually had a pretty neutral perspective on Moby, having even liked some of his songs but this documentary made me detest him and really understand why he was so hated. Never have I seen someone come across at the same time quite as whiney, pompous, pretentious, boring and condescending. I'm really trying to think of something good to say. The quality of the camerawork and the animations are fine I guess? But this documentary was a waste of time to be honest.
Cast a Deadly Spell (1991)
It's better than you'd think
The cast is pretty solid but the movie struggles with identity problems. It doesn't really go in enough to be funny per se, missing great opportunities and beats with the magic that could be as good as Beetlejuice. For example the femme fatale singing scenes could be hilarious if she sang about something more stupid and magical since the lyrics aren't great as they are, but they're still focused on heavily for a whole long scene. Besides not being funny enough for comedy, it isn't really scary or suspenseful enough to feel like a true horror or noir either. The horror effects are cool and campy but they lack some of the edge from the likes of the eighties Gremlins and fall a bit more on the side of cartoonish, probably because of the budget. Otherwise the film looks to be of surprisingly good quality.
Similarly to the humor, the magic doesn't quite permeate most scenes enough, except for being pushed in the dialogue, so as a viewer you keep forgetting it's supposed to be a _magical_ noir until something sort of random highlights it for you again. Also the idea of a sidekick could really work for it's advantage, maybe using the already intresting characters of Hypolite or Thadius more, for example.
I wish this movie was redone by someone like Mel Brooks, if they upped the anti on the humor this could be a really great movie in the vein of The Producers. As it is, it's a fine B-movie to slap on when you don't feel like doing much thinking, theres some fun "fast talking high pants"-dialogue in the classic noir-vein, but you wouldn't miss that much if you didn't see it either.
Short Cuts (1993)
One of the worst movies I've ever seen.
My first thoughts in five minutes was wow, what a cast, I love all these actors, I wonder how I've never heard of this movie. The next three gruelling hours made me understand why.
The whole movie is a vacuous shell of the most unlikeable characters you can imagine droning on and on with absolutely no context, just clips of pointless excrement. Comedy? I didn't laugh once, but was close to throwing my remote at the tv. This whole movie is enough to want anyone end their days- It was so boring and strenuous to sit through. And I've seen plenty of +4hour movies, no comparison here. The score was also horrible, waxy, the dying nightmarish sound that would not stop, each song starting sounding exactly the same as the last one with lyrics of the same thing that means nothing. I got a real existential crisis because of it.
The odd thing is that all the subjects in the stories are things that if I heard a movie included, I would surely bet it would have to be interesting. It isn't. It's like listening three hours to an old annoying high-pitched mean town gossip tell the stories of her neighbours that you've never met and have no interest in ever knowing, down to the last details on how they ps, fish and iron their shirts. It's like listening to three hours of set ups to jokes that never get a punchline. Torture. If you want to see a crazy dystopian movie of ugly LA, go watch The Day Of The Locust. This movie on the on the other hand should be labeled snuff.
If Anything Happens I Love You (2020)
Ok but would not recommend
The animation is very cute but the storyline is both so literal and saccharine that I couldn't really commit to it and loose myself in to it in all honesty. I also found the song choice in the middle a little strange and out of place. It's an important story within the American reality but it didn't really dare to take proper stance in the matter which could've bring more depth to it, or maybe stick to the family dynamic instead of spelling everything out and stuffing the short form. Surely this might be comforting to some of those who have dealt with tragedy in their lives, though, so I can't say it's a bad film, it just didn't really connect with me as I prefer a little more to be left for interpretation.
The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)
I wanted to like it but
I've inadvertently seen this exact inspiration porn -type of movie so many times, it couldn't offer anything I didn't see coming a mile away. The actors did a great job for the most part with what they had (except for Trevor's fathers scene, what in the world was that even supposed to be? ) but the script didn't really give them very much to work with. The direction and sound are very cutesy too, adding to the extremely saccharine feeling thats only cut by a couple crude jokes (that really weren't that funny or shocking to begin with) being repeated over and over again.
It might be a good movie for a teenager or an option for someone who is emotionally in turmoil or unable to invest into an actual story and thus needs something familiar and comforting, but for someone looking for any meaningful content I urge to look elsewhere.
Little Men (2016)
Great movie
Subtle and beautiful, it's a story of privilege and gentrification more than a story of friendship. It rings true in that all the adult characters are slightly hard to like because they are all wrought a bit thin under the vicegrip of capitalism and trying to maintain their equilibrium. When their self-preservation tactics force them to let go of their morals they also inadvertently kill off childhood for their sons. "Life is not fair but it's beautiful" could be the slogan for the movie. This is what life is for the ones who manage to keep their balance by knocking someone else off the board. Bittersweet.
In the Name of the Father (1993)
Nearly perfect
With a tad more time and less drive to drive points, having wiped off a few Hollywood-cliches that had a slightly odorous tack (I'm Spartacus, anyone?) this would've been a bullseye. But it's quite close. The acting is stellar, the suspense tangible, storystelling's largely great, there's a few giggles, there's heart and the pain Day-Lewis portrays feels true enough to give the chills. The viewer can't help but emote.
The problem of the film is largely trying to find the gravitas of the stolen 15years in such a short amount of time. Fitting so many other characters, devergent plot lines and events into this short of space makes it at time seem less jail and more summer camp. Granted that it is hard to make time move without a montage of some sort, a bit less hurried approach with less subplots could've kicked it from the Rita Hayworth into The Trial.
Nevertheless it's a great movie and a chilling story that is amongst the very few that actually deserves to be described kafkaesque. And it's one that I will be happy to recommend to just about anyone.
The Player (1992)
Well, I didn't enjoy it, but..
It's not a movie to really be enjoyed. It is a movie that shows what a movie is at its worst, like The Day of the Locust. Unfortunately just not as good of a movie to me. It is self referential inside the self reference and again inside the self reference, so although fun at first, it very soon gets tidious. When almost no-one in this films world cares for anything, it's very hard for the viewer to care for it. Nevertheless, I'll side on it being a purposeful choice of alienation.
The Player is a film that critiques the ugly vanity of Hollywood much like What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, but here we have removed all of whats good of old Hollywood (Joan Crawford) that we wanted to be saved in Baby Jane from the wretched decay of the old horse (Bette Davis) and are just left with the corpsebride. In the Player there is nothing but the superficial; name dropping and simple sales pitches of suspense, violence and sex. Unfortunately we lose the hope, heart and humor.
The male lead is an empty husk that corrupts art for his power trip and destroys all the true artists he comes in contact within the film. The female lead is an empty husk who creates endless colorless, feelingless, meaningless art for no one to see. She is a beautiful fake artist, not even really from Iceland. They are a perfect match because she is exactly what he creates in the world. Their love for each other is also fake, it is based on their common lack of emotion, the big pretension of love that is actually just lust for filling a hole with something, anything.
So it also goes that this movie itself has not much substance to hold on to. I get the references to freaks; how grotesque it is to mutilate art but it's self indulgent and childish in its black and whiteness, offering the image of the artist as either a calf up for slaughter or a corrupt cog in the game of psychopaths power struggles. Nevertheless I think there's very little of this movie that could be changed; it serves it purpose.
To sum up I would like to enter the referential cycle by quoting Cher in The Player, quoting Carol Burnett in The Four Seasons, quoting Pinhead in the comic book Pinhead: "Are we having fun yet?"
Tanna (2015)
Beautiful
The story is largely one we know, but it is nice to have something familiar in the largely before unseen. The absolutely gorgeously shot backdrop makes me quite sad I didn't see it in the theater. The soundscape is seamless, the actors performances are very strong and moving and the camera manages to capture real intimacy with its often documentary-styled angles. Great film.
St. Vincent (2014)
Feel good with a twist.
Bill Murrays warm Bukowski-esque character is a fresh breath and really makes one root for an underdog. Solid performances by Naomi Watts, Melissa Mccarthy & Jaeden Lieberher makes for an easy watch. Even if the characters themselves maybe outlined a tad bit thin, in the tradition of American comedy-movies they're still largely above average.
Unfortunately after the one hour mark the indie-feel of the movie starts to crack and by the awkward montage the off putting cheesiness not only seeps, but pours in. Shame, for with a different approach to the last half of the flick this cousin to Little Miss Sunshine could've been closer to a Being There sort of comedy-drama classic.