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Cookie's Social Distancing Corner - Y7 Reviews

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Looping

 

I thought I was going to get A Woman in the Crowd, instead I got Seeing Her.

 

I did not like Seeing Her that much when it came out.

 

Honestly, this... is just fine. It's a lot less than I thought it would be. I also think it has some weird tonal shifts and a lot of goofy comedic moments for what purports to be a sci-fi drama. Not that being comedic is a problem, but it's weird that you're being sold a drama and then there's a random game show obstacle course in the third act or a lot of Groundhog Day-style humor. It feels kind of confused that way.

 

Hugh Jackman is fine. Marsai Martin is fine. It's all just... fine, if a bit tonally confused.

 

I'm sorry, I honestly don't have that much to say.

 

B-

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Dual Consequences

 

Cruise cruises through some pretty decent stunts and sea-bound shootouts, but he's underserved by a story that's pretty much an afterthought — even if the gag that the central McGuffin is so unimportant it not only never gets a name, but the film literally ends on Cruise asking what it even does, is kinda cute.

 

B-/C+

 

 

Sir Thymes Time 2

 

If Sir Thymes Time is Wreck it Ralph but with music, the sequel is Ralph Breaks the Internet, but only somewhat, with music, and is similarly less focused than its predecessor, never really finding a way to expand on the formula or the promises of the first film. It does still deliver serviceable kids entertainment and some gags, including the major cameo, get a pretty decent pop, but nothing to write home about.

 

B-

 

Call of Duty: Eye of the Storm

 

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Much like its predecessors, it's pretty much a run-through of the third Modern Warfare game with some alterations here and there to streamline things. The series has improved in general (On Their Own Accord remains the best though since it adapts the more iconic game while fixing some of the issues that hamstrucked the first film) and you get plenty of bang for your buck, but if you're not into this franchise already, it won't do anything to change your mind, especially as it remains light on the plot as always. Much like Sir Thymes Time 2, it elects to be serviceable summer entertainment and not much more.

 

B-/C+

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Fatal Attraction

 

Review may contain spoilers.

 

Remaking pretty much the iconic stalker thriller was never going to be an easy task. Luckily, with the right focus and casting choices, Alpha Pictures proves that not only can it be done, but it can live up to the legacy of the original.

 

A simple, but very smart move was to gender flip the central dynamic, evoking #MeToo and casting the film in a timely, 21st century light. It's sometimes a bit too blunt on that end (I was half expecting some of Gyllenhaal's co-workers to put on fedoras and go on Youtube-style rants about how dare women have opinions or some crap like that), but once the film settles in and James McAvoy, who smartly plays it more subtly than Glenn Close's counterpart in the original until the final act, enters the picture, the subtext successfully adds to the unsettling element rather than detract.

 

And I can't stress enough just how effective McAvoy is in the role, avoiding hamming it up for the most part and playing it much more deceitful, leaving Maggie Gyllenhaal's Evelyn Flint (who herself strikes the right balance between the no-nonsense, hard-working journalist and the vulnerable woman that lies beneath) to constantly have to second guess whether he's actually harassing and stalking her or if he's just a needy, vulnerable loner whose actions she reads too much into. Of course, when shit finally starts to hit the fan he is no less unsettling, and the scene of Gyllenhaal walking up to her house as Audrey Hepburn's "Moon River" plays is one of the more spine-chilling sequences I've encountered in CAYOM.

 

A minor flaw is that none of the other players outside of McAvoy and Gyllenhaal are especially developed, and the thread with Gyllenhaal's son being a drug addict ultimately does not amount to much, but given that the focus is where it should be, those are minor gripes in the end.

 

All in all, Alpha Pictures' Fatal Attraction is a remake that lives up to its fore-bearer and even surpasses it in some regards. Excellent work.

 

A-

 

 

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The Final Cut

 

Well, this was odd and different. Walken playing a cross between Thomas Russell and Les Grossman makes for a very entertaining antagonist, and his comeuppance is definitely going to be one of the more memorable ones this year.

 

B/B+

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Kiraculous Peacock aka Yang

 

Review includes spoilers and peacocks.

 

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I think I have The Scavenger Wars Part IV figured out now; Joel and Kira take a bunch of bath salt and decide to go to Orlando. Joel gets stuck at SeaWorld trying to break into the Shamu tank while Kira wanders into Disney's Animal Kingdom trying to find the Asian area. However, she falls into the peacock exhibit and Brienne of Tarth's the whole time like:

 

 

Eventually, Joel gets kicked out of SeaWorld and also goes to Animal Kingdom, but Flight of Passage has a twenty hour wait and they will never fix the damn yeti over at Expedition: Everest, so into the Asian exhibit he too goes. There, he finds Kira having slaughtered an innocent peacock and now wears its skin Midsommar style and gives her Jean Grey powers because the narrative of the heart or some Care Bear nonsense like that.

 

Oh, and Finn is there, ironically being cock-blocked by Theon Greyjoy.

 

If my pitch seemed lacking in focus and made no sense, congratulations, you got an adequate summation of Yang.

 

Like, okay, Yin had it's... off-beat moments as well, but its heart was always in the right place. Yang ups the ante on the off-beat, but does so without necessarily the same heart, and so tips over into WTF territory a few too many times. That doesn't make it bad or unentertaining, quite far from it in fact, but it also leaves the film without a center of gravity to latch onto and so devolves into being enjoyable for how bizarre it is rather than as an engaging narrative.

 

I will also say that the whole "it was all a dream... but the dream was real" fuffle the first film also did makes even less sense here, especially with there being a whole subplot about Miriam's brother, which doesn't really go anywhere, where she's not even present. Them being Pakistani seemed to have no effect whatsoever on the narrative either (and strange seeing how Scott herself has Indian ancestry and not Pakistani), unless there's some obscure subtext I'm missing, and could've been jettisoned with the movie losing nothing for it.

 

Yang sort of falls in the middle for me between Yin and Higher Ground. It's not Higher Ground because that takes a straightforward story and pulls some asinine fuckery when you least expect it, but, as I said, it lacks the heart Yin had. Although, the finale with Scott turning into a firebird is admittedly one of the most badass scenes of the year, even if it too sort of comes out of nowhere.

 

I'm not disappointed, I'm mostly entertained but kinda confused.

 

B/B-

 

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Should You Imagine?

 

Let's get this out of the way since I have actuals to finish; This is not as fresh and innovative as the first film was... but at least the film knows that enough to not spend too long repeating old tricks.

 

To me, this actually reminds me of the likes of Kung Fu Panda 2 and How to Train Your Dragon 2, where the narrative is not as tight as the first installment, but I almost appreciate the effort more than I did for the original. I wouldn't say SYI is up to that level necessarily, but I found that its central themes did have a fair amount of meat to them for a kid's film.

 

Smarmy, being a representation of what Ethan wants to be, but twisted into something far more sinister, is to me the most interesting part, and I pointed this out to @YourMother the Edgelord when I read the film in its original form. It's nothing groundbreaking, but for a kid's film, dealing with how toxic negative self-esteem can really become is sort of rare (Ralph Breaks the Internet was more about being clingy, and I feel didn't do it as well), on top of the relationship drama between Jennifer and Kyle which, while it drags on its heels a little too long, does well enough to keep things interesting.

 

Where the movie kinda stumbles is with its second villain, Turqouise, since she feels somewhat detached from the rest of the proceedings and there to provide stakes just because the writers were worried the movie didn't have them. She's not a bad villain, but she sometimes feels like she came straight from a different version of the script, and her inclusion is not as natural as everything else.

 

The movie does have a bit of the Green Lantern Corps syndrome where more and more stuff keep happening on top of one another, not all of it necessary, but it's nowhere near as bad as that film or Super Mario Bros., in part because it still sticks to a recognizable three-act structure.

 

Apologies if the review is a bit all over the place, I am sort of a hurry right now, but the main takeaway is that, while it's not as strong an effort as Can You Imagine?, I do think Should You Imagine? has its share of tricks in its bag to keep things engaging and interesting, and I actually would like to see Would You Imagine? tie everything together and wrap up this quirky and somewhat flawed but still very imaginative trilogy, pardon the pun.

 

B+

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Scooby-Doo: Cult of the Creeper

 

Because this is a Scooby-Doo film and takes place in a universe where zombies are real, and because I didn't do it with Apocalypse, here's the obligatory:

 

 

Anyhow, Cult of The Creeper is a noticeable improvement on Apocalypse, but still suffers from some of the drawbacks that plagued its predecessor, namely a sporadic tone and questionable casting choices. Scooby is also disappointingly absent from most of the action a second time, spending the second act with Scrappy and his crew which doesn't amount to much but a third act rescue and a forced departure at the end. It doesn't help that said third act rescue only further serves to make the central antagonist a complete pushover.

 

What does save Creeper is that the character development is much better (again, save for Scoob) and the film is still interested in being fun in between its morbid bits, which is a swerve in the right direction from Apocalypse taking itself way too seriously and becoming dull as a result. I do think a potential third film should go further in trying to incorporate the familiar Scooby-Doo formula (aside from one section where Velma and her new love interest go snooping around, there's very little mystery solving in this) and find a more balanced tone to work off of, but an improvement is an improvement, and I think fans would be more accepting of this film compared to Apocalypse.

 

B/B-

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Dear Evan Hansen,

 

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I have not seen the musical. Everything I'm about to say here is based on the information the film and its soundtrack provide and what I'm able to look up on various reviews and social media posts.

 

Hollywood has a terrible track record when it comes to dealing with issues of teen depression, social anxiety, and suicide. If Thirteen Reasons Why isn’t evidence enough of that, the fact that Hollywood keeps trying yet continue to fall into so many of the same pitfalls should tell you that an industry run by adults thinking they know what teens want and feel is hardly ever going to be a recipe for an authentic, respectful portrayal of these issues.

 

And perhaps what disappoints me most with Dear Evan Hansen is that it actually gets several things right… and then stumbles way too often for me to overlook its issues.

 

Let’s get this out of the way: @4815162342 and @MCKillswitch123 are both right that a lot of the songs are distractingly peppy and upbeat for both the situation at hand and the tone a lot of the film is going for. This is an unavoidable problem stemming from the source material, so the criticism is extended to that as well, but while it works in some parts (“Sincerely, Me” is, to me, the highlight because its beat works well with the tone of the scene), some of the more emotionally driven songs really needed a slower, maybe more naturalistic beat to them, because at their corniest they honestly come off as if you’re watching a Disney Channel original, and with the subject matters the film wants to address that’s really not the vibe you want.

 

The major issue for me, though, and the reason why I took time off to ruminate on this, is that the story itself (and this also extends to the source material) has the same problem as the songs — it is at odds with what it’s trying to do, and to me it comes down to three major factors, being the portrayal of Connor Murphy, how the film chooses to frame the world of which the story takes place, and the film’s ending.

 

Connor Murphy, the character whose suicide serves as the catalyst for everything that happens, practically by design, lacks humanity. In the few scenes he is in as a living person he is never portrayed in a positive light, and any redeeming quality we hear is only what Evan makes up about him. There’s an interesting element to Zoe not being too fussed over Connor’s passing, and the story choosing not to lionize him isn’t a bad move, but it really feels like it looked at a situation that could easily be portrayed as overly black and white, but the shades of grey it decided to add were insubstantial and it feels like it decided to switch from one end of the spectrum to another instead.

 

We never get Connor’s perspective, even through second-hand accounts. In the context of the story, he is an object. For most of the film he is just a projection of Evan’s own internal conflict, and the version presented there is actually more rounded than the real Connor Murphy we ever got. Given that the film, and the musical, want to deal with subjects such as teen suicide, depression, social anxiety, and mental health, this really bothered me upon reflection.

 

The film’s lone attempt to remedy some of this, by claiming that Connor and Murphy’s parents were neglectful and/or controlling of them and contributing to Connor’s disturbed behavior, brought me flashes of Into the Wild, a film that goes on for a long time before it even bothers to try and justify the main character’s highly questionable actions, and does so in a way that’s too little, too late.

 

And I despise Into the Wild, so reminding me of that is never a good thing.

 

And yes, Connor Murphy is a fictional character and not a real person, so portraying him as realistically as possible isn't entirely necessary, but given what the film is about, the issues with his characterization stick out like a sore thumb.

 

Moving on, the film is at two minds on how it wants to portray the world it’s set in. I was getting impressed at one point that the film was really leaning towards painting the school and the wider world’s reaction as shallow and more interested in patting itself on the back for “doing something” and “feeling empathy” rather than actually taking any substantial action. That social criticism becomes even more damning when the world flips on the Murphy family on a dime without a hint of self-awareness, going from overwhelming support to hateful harassment as if the world just forgot that the Connor Project was about supporting those in need, not doom lives for some misguided, self-affirming crusade.

 

That all sounds well and good, but then you have this one musical sequence that might as well have “We Are the World” playing over it, and features gratuitous celebrity cameos that don’t even paint those celebrities in a great light when taking the wider context into account. I feel like the movie would’ve been better off inventing fake celebrities instead of including Tom Holland and Naomi Scott for a cheap pop that ultimately proves detrimental.

 

So I’m left confused as to what the film is really trying to say here, especially when it switches back to portraying society in a really damning light almost immediately after. If anything that montage should’ve been changed or even dropped.

 

And then there’s the ending. A few different people have mentioned the lack of any real consequence for Evan Hansen, aside from the fact that he doesn’t get to live happily ever after with Zoe. I honestly wouldn’t have minded it too much if the lack of consequence was itself part of what the film was trying to say, how unfortunate it is that the truth is buried in service of some supposed greater good, but the movie never really leans into this factor, at least not enough. It instead decides to divert attention to wrapping up the relationship between Evan and his mother.

 

Again, this is a fault that, from everything I’ve read, comes straight from the source material, as maybe does a lot of the problems I’ve mentioned so far. I really get the sense that the source material has a level of cynicism (not to Thirteen Reasons Why level, but very much present) that doesn’t sit well with me at all, and is maybe more manipulative and deceptive than Evan Hansen himself is. At least Evan more or less stumbled his way to his initial success by accident.

 

I will say though that there are elements in Dear Evan Hansen that succeed fairly well, and I actually think most of it surrounds Evan himself. Drawing from first-hand experience, while the movie never explicitly says that Evan Hansen has social anxiety disorder, it’s very evident that that’s the case, and aside from a few parts I found a bit annoyingly exaggerated (his constant need to apologize, or him breaking down crying when he first stumbles his big speech), the film does capture the mindset very well (the desperate improvisation on the spot, the stumbling with word choices, freezing up when you feel trapped and the struggle to interact with anyone outside of your immediate circle), and Lucas Hedges is excellent in portraying an awkward, socially stunted personality whose need to maintain his lie grows more desperate the longer it perseveres, mostly out of fear of what he has to lose by coming clean, and only doing so once the situation escalated to the point the Murphy's were about to be torn apart as a family.

 

Zendaya is also very good as Zoe, whom I feel grapples with her own internal conflicts in a pretty solid way, however the movie chooses to frame her brother besides that. Alex Wolff is a bit cartoonish at times as Jared, like he walked in from another film entirely, and most of his bits in the second half never really go anywhere and feel like padding, but he provides some solid comedy relief. Amy Adams as Evan’s often absent mother Heidi does give a powerful performance, even if her show-stopping finale is undermined by the song itself having that issue with its beat I mentioned way back at the beginning.

 

I think the film deciding to beef up Amala as a character never really went anywhere though, and while Cravalho gives a solid acting and vocal performance, she mostly exists to spout exposition until the film suddenly decides over halfway through to give her character a substantial internal conflict to work off of, which doesn’t amount to much.

 

When I first saw Dear Evan Hansen two days ago, I was ready to give the film a stronger grade than I’m going to give it now, because its flaws are those that don’t become apparent until you stop and think about them, musical choices aside, and that might go some way to explain why the musical’s initial reaction was stronger than it’s been in hindsight. I was skeptical of the ending from the beginning, but the issues with Connor and the overall framing became more apparent as I had time off a slow Friday at work to stop and ponder over it.

 

I get why this was made. I get why the show was and still is popular. I get why people get so much from this. I just personally couldn’t let it all just flow over me and make me appreciate it the way I wanted to, at least not in hindsight. For that, giving more than a passing grade was a struggle, and I would actually advise future CAYOM filmmakers tackling these subjects that, if you’re going to do it (and honestly, maybe don’t), careful consideration is paramount. I am not going to blame the filmmakers, aside from only making superficial changes to the source material, but everything I hear about the musical itself suggests I would’ve come out of it even more conflicted and ultimately underwhelmed.

 

Sincerely, @cookie.

 

B-/C+

 

 

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The Long Way Home

 

The Long Way Home, I feel, is the kind of movie you enjoy as you watch it, but leaves you a bit underwhelmed after it ends. Despite its intended scale and various locations and creature designs, I feel like most of it is a bit of a stuffed hodgepodge.

 

I think, given how prolific the space opera genre has become in CAYOM, The Long Way Home doesn't bring as much new to the table as I hoped it would've. A lot of its elements ring very familiar to the likes of Spark, Voltron, Scavenger Wars and perhaps to greatest extent Mass Effect (in fact, I would almost call it Diet Mass Effect), and between its crowded cast, several of them being left standing around waiting for their subplots to resume half the time (despite receiving second billing, my girl gets disappointingly little to do after the first third), and a very back and forth pacing, the end result honestly left something to be desired.

 

I mean, there are several inventive sequences in this, and I think there's a lot of fun interactions between the cast (I like Amelia and David's relationship the most, sporadic as it sometimes was), but I didn't feel as engaged with this as I did with Mass Effect and Pillars, and I think the reasons stated above are why. The film seems to be struggling a bit to find its own identity, not really clicking for me until the last third. I do hope that, since the general trend with @4815162342's work is that the sequels are vast improvements, that the follow-up teased at the end is where the saga can really take off and develop into its own.

 

For now though, yeah, I'm honestly a bit disappointed.

 

B/B-

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Roman Fever

 

I'll freely admit that minimalist narratives such as this aren't often for me personally, but I appreciated the atmosphere and the general vibe that we were sitting on a ticking time bomb waiting to go off at any second, and go off at the end it did. Adams and Rider are both very good here, although their daughters, played by Sansa Stark and the actor from Atypical, maybe could've had more to do than just serve as objects for Adams and Rider to bat around. The mini-subplot with the waiters felt entirely superfluous as well, quite frankly.

 

B/B+

 

 

Tongues

 

Huh. This was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.

 

It's a simple but surprisingly charming story about the prejudices that comes with different languages, especially in how the white boy, Shane, has such a prejudiced view of his love interest, Liliana, that he has a complete meltdown when he realizes said prejudices don't reflect reality, and the movie not only slaps some sense into him by the end but also has him learn to see Liliana as a human being rather than an object in need of rescue, and Liliana shows her agency by suggesting at the end that they'd rather be friends than a couple. I was actually quite surprised seeing how I thought the film would be entirely disposable.

 

It is somewhat hollow outside of the central relationship, but I was pretty impressed nonetheless.

 

B+

 

 

Lena and the Featherweights

 

I understand that the maker of this film didn't want to spend the time turning this into a bigger deal, but even for how little there is the film is pretty insubstantial, especially with how the plot developments just come and go without much in the way of buildup or explanation. For Lena fans only.

 

C-

 

 

 

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The First Month

 

Praise be, Alex Garland has been redeemed in CAYOM... to an extent.

 

The cast is in general very solid (even if I think Hawke became a bit too hammy and cartoonish towards the end), and I like the setup of it being more of an atmospheric drama about capable people slowly losing their minds to being isolated as the world around them literally falls apart (and feels more timely than ever, quite frankly), but the turn it takes towards the end doesn't sit as well with me as I would've liked, in part due to said issue with Hawke never really gelling as an antagonist. I also feel like the film never really does anything with the fact that it's Canadians having to deal with the fallout of other countries engaging in nuclear warfare against one another, like there could've been some interesting geopolitical perspectives the movie just doesn't bother to engage with, and so the narrative isn't as strong as I would've liked.

 

Still, though, it's solid enough for what it is.

 

B

 

 

Banjo-Kazooie

 

I may be biased because the original game was a childhood favorite of mine, but I really enjoyed the fun and simplicity of this one. Both Highmore and Fieldstein capture their respective characters' personalities perfectly, and even Hilda a.k.a Pixie Davies gets a bit more to do than being a useless damsel in distress for the entirety of the runtime. The standout, however, is Frances McDormand as Gruntilda, although the fact that the film doesn't recreate the hilarious way her character goes out in the original game is a bit disappointing.

 

I think the film could've been stronger if it didn't decide to go into mach speed and rush everything towards the end, but as far as kids entertainment goes, it's a very enjoyable one.

 

B/B+

 

 

Dawn of the Last Six

 

It's better than the first one, in part because it has an actual plot, a bit of character development and the relationship between Dionysus and Isis is cute enough, but it's still nothing to write home about despite all the expenses being thrown at the screen. While the decision to take more time with the story is commendable, it does result in the movie taking a ridiculously long time to get to the action (in contrast to the first film which spammed action so frequently it got tiring by the end) and gets so convoluted in its otherwise simple plotting that it becomes more baggy than it should be.

 

Still, an improvement is an improvement.

 

B-/C+

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Laika

 

Review contains spoilers, even though everyone already knows how this story ends.

 

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I've had a long time to contemplate on Laika before it was time to write my review. The thing is, as I looked at my bulletpoints, I realized that they were perhaps a bit insufficient to write a review from, and so I returned to the world of Laika a second time this evening, trying to make it all fit together.

 

And I think I made a wise choice in doing so.

 

Lovers of all CAYOM doggos, whether it'd be Twig, Garbanzo, Houdini, Carrie, Itumaak, Kozar, Scooby-Doo, or whoever should probably avoid this film, for it will break all of their hearts.

 

And, even if I and everyone else already knew how this story goes, if you know anything about history, it broke mine too, in a way I haven't felt from a CAYOM film in quite some time. Maybe not since To the Moon.

 

However, what Laika reminds me of, most of all, is the Year 5 version of Bambi. Like Bambi, I can't exactly recommend this film to young audiences, even if it has a PG rating. Not because it's overly violent (though the image of one of the dogcatchers carrying a bloody bag, knowing what transpired moments prior, is bound to scar some children), but because it is so steeped in history, including the complicated politics of the space race, and despite its cuter and more fantastical scenes, doesn't sugarcoat any of it, including its final moments.

 

Out of respect, and to keep in line with the serious tone of this review, I will not refer to the humorous remark in my Bambi review where I dismissed the opinions of children because I was so enamored with the movie itself. But it doesn't change the fact that I felt similarly with Laika. And if @Alpha's never read my Bambi review, he should at least know that it's a very good thing.

 

And it's not just the tragedy unfolding that makes Laika as good as it is. It's also the dialogue, which, coming from someone who's been working in that area for a long time, left me genuinely impressed. It's also the characters, which, while some are more developed than others, all feel more real in this animated film than in most live-action films I've read this year.

 

Michael Sheen is both fascinating and subtly terrifying as Korolev. This character, whose very first line in the film says that he is a man of destiny who refuses to die, is so driven by said belief in his own destiny that he not only chooses Laika as a sacrifice to make that destiny fulfilled but, in one of the best-written monologues in CAYOM history, even plants it in Laika herself. Korolev has the determinism of a serial killer almost, and it says something when even the ultimate cost of his actions brings him no remorse for even a second, and he is frankly mesmerizing whenever he's on-screen.

 

The other stand-out is Carey Mulligan's Yelena, a carer constantly having to balance her love for Laika while accepting the fact that the dog's fate is inevitable, and she delivers one of the more quietly reserved but still powerful vocal performances I've seen in a long time. If this was a live-action film, I wouldn't have been against giving her the Best Actress oscar already, much like I'd given Supporting Actor to Sheen. That's how good both of them are.

 

Laika's faults, while they exist, are relatively minuscule. Perhaps I'd like to have seen more of the kind mother and daughter and their cousin family with the bratty boy seen in the first third, as aside from a montage after the halfway point and the very end of the film they disappear from the proceedings altogether. But, much like Fatal Attraction earlier this year, when my only significant issue is that there are things I'd like to have seen more of, you can take that as a sign of the highest praise, and I think this is even less of an issue than in Attraction.

 

I haven't read every film of Year 7 yet, so I can't tell you if this is my favorite of the year yet or not... but I'd be surprised if anything else came close, if I'm being very honest.

 

Laika is an incredible achievement, and it cemented to me that @Alpha is very much like @Rorschach — when he is on point with his writing, it is bullseye, and I am frankly left speechless at their respective high points, like the Korolev monologue in this or the cross-cutting finale in the second Odyssey film. 

 

Laika, much like Bambi, or 24 Hours, or And the Band Played On, or the best parts of Borrasca (or, if I'm allowed to be a bit self-aggrandizing here, Scavs Part II and to an extent III), paint rich, vibrant worlds that are nonetheless unforgiving, and even in those cases where things turn out somewhat alright in the end, the pain inflicted is still very much felt, and it leaves an impression on you long after the credits have stopped rolling.

 

Sometimes it's difficult to put what I feel into words, but I hope I've done a sufficient enough job with this one, because it deserves it.

 

A

 

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Toons v Reality

 

I originally placed it below Should You Imagine? when I first read it, but I think Toons holds up more in hindsight. There's some clever uses of the blend between 2D and CGI animation beyond the gimmick of the cartoon characters appearing the "real" world and, in typical Lord & Miller fashion, the gags are snappy, meta and ultimately funny.

 

The film also gets props for tackling a lot of its central themes (workplace exploitation, greed, discrimination, self-doubt) in a mature and respectable manner despite all the cartoon slapstick happening around them, even if I feel the sexism angle is a bit underdeveloped compared to the rest and Amira's subplot, while tying into the rest of the film better than in earlier versions I've read, still gets the shorter end of the stick compared to the rest of the cast.

 

Some of these relatively minor issues aside, Toons delivers on the strength of its premise, humor and cast and is another solid addition in the Endless Animation canon, engrossing for both kids and adults alike.

 

B+

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Notorious

 

I have not seen the Alfred Hitchcock original, therefore I cannot say how this one compares. The updated setting may have had something to do with it, but this didn't feel all that Hitchcock-ian to me, more like a John Le Carré adaptation if anything.

 

Does that make it good or bad either way? I'd say pretty damn good, actually.

 

Lot of it has to do with the strength of both Farahani and Oscar Isaac's performances, as well as the well executed series of escalating tension as paranoid criminals turn against one another while our protagonists discover the people they're working for have more on their mind than just a simple intel and arrest mission. The movie is smart enough to not let the tension escalate into an action movie-like finale, however, staying appropriately grounded even if there is a pretty sweet kill for a particularly nasty antagonist character.

 

I would've liked if there were a bit more levity to the proceedings at times, though, maybe given Kemal some humorous dialogue to deliver since I figured early on I'd enjoy his character but he's more overly stern than I hoped he would be. It's nothing deal-breaking, but sometimes little touches like that go a long way.

 

Despite that, I enjoyed this quite a lot.

 

B+/A-

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Reviews for the following films include spoilers for both.

 

Ms. Blakk 4 President

 

I don't want to say that I came off this feeling a bit like I did with Looping, but I kind of found it to be one of those films where the strength lies in one really good performance (Tituss Burgess is my favorite part of Kimmy Schmidt and he's excellent here) and the rest is... fine.

 

I feel the bond Terence had with JJ, while solid, could've been made stronger outside of the climactic scene in the convention bathroom, but I think part of that stems from the movie not seeming able to settle on how to really portray Terence's own self esteem issues half the time. The David Bowie dream sequence and the homophobic woman appearing like a ghostly apparition feel sort of out of place with the rest of the relatively grounded film, the latter especially since it seems to be a thing for all of ten minutes and then she disappears from the film entirely. I feel like either the woman should've been more of a factor up until the end or have her presence downsized dramatically so it doesn't feel like a half measure when the film was effective enough in portraying Terence's own aspirations, doubts and worries merely through actions and words without inviting a pseudo-fantastical element to it.

 

I think Titus Burgess is a really strong contender for Best Actor, but the rest of the film is just fine.

 

B

 

 

Tower of Babylon

 

I feel what @4815162342 said about it lacking that oomph to push it over the edge is accurate, and despite massively impressive visuals and a surprise ending, even if it played out a bit much like an abrupt gag for me, it left me more detached and hollow than I would've liked, playing out like a 30 minute short extended to a 100 minute runtime and, at its slowest moments, like an admittedly impressive museum tour. I feel if it had more scenes like the part towards the end where Hillalum almost drowns trying to reach the top it'd come alive a lot more for me.

 

I think if you have stronger religious inclinations you'd get more out of it than I did, but I personally felt that the clinical approach kept me at an arm's length, especially when only one of the cast is even mentioned and the unknown actors filling out the rest of the roles simply vanish from the film before the end, and so my reaction, outside of some excellently crafted visuals, was... a bit indifferent, if I'm being honest.

 

B-

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Temple Run

 

I'm not sure if you needed James Gunn to do this, since neither the story nor the action sequences take much advantage of his flair. It feels more like a Jumanji film than anything Gunn would've cooked up, which would've warranted Jake Kasdan if anything.

 

Despite that? I thought it was fun. It's one of those films that are more focused on just delivering a good time than attempting anything substantial (which, again, does warrant the question as to why James Gunn was needed for this), and it does take a fair amount of time to get to any adventuring, which may bore some of the kids in the audience at first, but once it gets going I thought it was pretty serviceably entertaining for what it is. Not as fun as the 2017 Jumanji, but more so than its sequel.

 

B/B-

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Detective Pidge 3: Where'd You Go, Wendigo? aka Until Dawn

 

Review includes spoilers.
 

Spoiler

 

If this was part of the LiveStream series, it'd be the best one. Granted, LiveStream 1 and 2 are both pretty bad, so that's not saying much.

 

But as someone familiar with the original game, and with this following it fairly closely outside of some unfortunate omissions (Peter Stormare being cut I get, but no doggie or killer deer?:(), I quite enjoyed it, even if it did highlight just how grating some of the characters really were in the original game. I like the fact that it's very much about exposing the true nature of these characters, and that it actually doesn't resort to the obvious route of making all of them horrible people, but most of them having shades of grey in between.

 

The movie does have issues with a sluggish pace in the first act and, given it's based on a game centered around many different outcomes, I wish some of them could've gone differently (I feel Ashley's death could've been less sudden and random given everything that went down between her and Chris previously, and The Stranger is as big of a letdown as he was in the original), but once the action gets going it's surprisingly relentless, even for a slasher film, and I like that there was more made to Sam and Josh's connection than there was in the original.

 

I think both fans of the flawed but still fun game and horror fans looking for some inventive cabin horror during the holidays are going to enjoy this one.

 

B

 

Also, Mike's death was a total ripoff of John Krasinski's death in A Quiet Place. Don't think I didn't notice.

 

 

Edited by cookie
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5 minutes ago, cookie said:

Detective Pidge 3: Where'd You Go, Wendigo? aka Until Dawn

 

Review includes spoilers.
 

  Hide contents

 

If this was part of the LiveStream series, it'd be the best one. Granted, LiveStream 1 and 2 are both pretty bad, so that's not saying much.

 

But as someone familiar with the original game, and with this following it fairly closely outside of some unfortunate omissions (Peter Stormare being cut I get, but no doggie or killer deer?:(), I quite enjoyed it, even if it did highlight just how grating some of the characters really were in the original game. I like the fact that it's very much about exposing the true nature of these characters, and that it actually doesn't resort to the obvious route of making all of them horrible people, but most of them having shades of grey in between.

 

The movie does have issues with a sluggish pace in the first act and, given it's based on a game centered around many different outcomes, I wish some of them could've gone differently (I feel Ashley's death could've been less sudden and random given everything that went down between her and Chris previously, and The Stranger is as big of a letdown as he was in the original), but once the action gets going it's surprisingly relentless, even for a slasher film, and I like that there was more made to Sam and Josh's connection than there was in the original.

 

I think both fans of the flawed but still fun game and horror fans looking for some inventive cabin horror during the holidays are going to enjoy this one.

 

B

 

Also, Mike's death was a total ripoff of John Krasinski's death in A Quiet Place. Don't think I didn't notice.

 

 

 

Spoiler

I think The Stranger being a letdown is meant to be intentional in the game since it's kind of a lampshading of the wise old hermit who knows everything and then he gets taken out really quickly

 

I honestly I forgot about Jim's death in Quiet Place lol. I just needed a way for Mike to make the heroic sacrifice.

 

 

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