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At the Movies with Kane and BN

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The Long Walk

I can't prove it, but you just know the studio really wanted to include a Proclaimers needle drop somewhere, but got told no.

This was a fantastic, dark, and brutal thriller with a great and simple setup that is a very clear parable to the Vietnam War, with an anti-fascist commentary, but it is vague enough visually to make it feel timeless, so that it can be about any kind of war with any kind of fascist government. I think most people will probably compare this to The Hunger Games or Squid Game, but this reminded me more of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and Lord of the Flies, with a little bit of Stand By Me and The Running Man. It's a movie filled with great actors and great performances, most notably Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson, who are pretty much the co-leads, and they elevate the movie. The movie is at its best when it's the banter between the cast. The movie does not shy away from the violence, which adds to the heartbreaking moments in the movie when it happens. My only issue with the movie is that the ending feels a bit rushed and abrupt, and it would have been more interesting to build out the world just a little bit. Overall, it's definitely one of my favorite movies of the year.
4.5/5
 
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Straw

Between this and Acrimony, Tyler Perry is really obsessed with tech devices that look like bombs.

Hilariously awful that becomes a bore to watch at times on a soap opera level. It's Tyler Perry thinking he can make a crime thriller on the level of John Q and John Boyega's Breaking, but ended up making something more in line with Unhinged, Kidnap, and his other films more than anything else. It's got pretty awful acting and dialogue across the board, with Taraji P. Henson overacting her ass off. I will say the movie did start off somewhat promising with the premise, but that only lasted a good 10 minutes. Overall, it's so bad that it's mostly entertaining.
1/5
 
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A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

Sure, that scene may be a super blatant Burger King commercial, but that might be the best someone has ever looked while eating a burger. Burger King. Have it Your Way.

It's a beautifully looking romantic drama by Kogonada that really wants to work on a "Before Sunrise" level, but falls short in the middle, where it mostly becomes a trauma dump movie that meanders around too much and is fairly predictable. That being said, I still really enjoyed Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell's performances, even though their chemistry goes in and out. Some of the supporting cast were decent enough, like Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Hamish Linklater. Overall, the movie is visually stunning, but many of the deeper themes feel underdeveloped or linger for far too long.
3/5
 
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Highest 2 Lowest

$17.5 million just seems oddly specific for a ransom.

A mixed bag of a crime drama by Spike Lee that works so much better in the second half of the film. The movie works best when it's a love letter to NYC and explores the outside, and it's at its worst when it's a dry chamber piece with some of the most bizarre, whimsical TV music playing in the background. I thought Denzel Washington was pretty good in it playing a music exec and ASAP Rocky was pretty good later on. I thought Jeffrey Wright was good, but I couldn't tell if he was playing the character poorly or if he was playing a really accurate"Nation of Islam" Muslim convert. While I don't think the movie overall works, the best scene in the movie is easily the money drop off/chase, where it showcases NYC so well, as well as the confrontation scene at the end. Overall, it was a flawed but solid Spike Lee joint.
3/5

Leave it to someone from Queens not respecting a modern day Brooklyn masterpiece (with a splish splash of the Bronx).

:o
 
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One Battle After Another

Forgetting your password at customer service while on hold is truly one phone call after another.

Pretty fantastic film that is more or less a family drama wrapped in a wild and hilarious goose chase of a political thriller about modern-day revolutionaries. This feels like a well-themed combination of How to Blow Up a Pipeline and The Big Lebowski with some French Connection & Battle of Algiers thrown in. While the movie relies heavily on Leo DiCaprio and Sean Penn as arch opponents (both who were great in it), the heart of the movie belongs to Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti, who both gave powerhouse performances. I also really enjoyed Benicio del Toro in this who gets his 5 minutes and steals the show for me. Cinematography was excellent, and that certain scene involving a long stretch of highway was the best scene of the movie. My only complaint would be I wish it had more Teyana Taylor in this, even though plot-wise I get it why. Overall, while I don't think I was completely blown away by it, like most, this was one of the better movies of the year for sure.
4/5
 
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The Assessment

If I were him, I would have put up an 85-inch OLED in that virtual reality room.

A pretty decent high-concept sci-fi relationship drama about a couple trying to have a child that feels like something you'd see in a Black Mirror episode. Some great performances by Elizabeth Olsen, Alicia Vikander, and Himesh Patel, and while the dynamic feels a little predictable, they still elevate the material. They do a good job with the world-building and have the premise of raising a child be straightforward but interesting, and I really dug the cinematography. Overall, it's a fantastic small-scale dystopian tale that mostly works.
3.5/5
 
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V/H/S/Halloween

ngl, if they brought back Surge knowing that soda has an interdimensional Cthulhu monster inside it, I'd still drink it.

This was pretty fun overall. It is more or less like last year's V/H/S Beyond, but the highs were a little higher. This one pretty much sticks to the Halloween theme pretty closely, even though a couple of them kinda overlap in the types of characters.


Diet Phantasma

This is the wrap-around segment by Bryan M. Ferguson where they do a research study/market taste trial of a soda that has something inside it and kills them. It's not bad, but not great, and it has the same feeling as the wrap-around segment in V/H/S/85. Funny enough, I liked the end credits part where they show the commercial more than most of the scenes and the kills. Overall, decent.
3/5


Coochie Coochie Coo


This segment by Anna Zlokovic was pretty good. It feels like a successor of the Storks segment from last year and the movie Barbarian. It moves really fast, and while I was kinda expecting more, the scares are decent enough, and the creep factor is really well done. It's also got some interesting effects design that is subtle enough to make it feel very off-putting. Overall, a really fun start.
3.5/5


Ut Supra Sic Infra


This one is the one that I had high hopes for going in, knowing it's by Paco Plaza, who made the REC movies and Veronica, and it's the one that disappointed me the most... only because it felt unfinished to me and probably felt the shortest of the segments. Still enjoyed the story for what it is, and the setup is pretty good about a survivor helping the police figure out the crime scene and how it flips back and forth between the interrogation and the video evidence of what happened. Overall, not bad, but I wish it were way better.
3/5


Fun Size


Maybe one of the most silly VHS segments out there by Casper Kelly, who is known for making Adult Swim shows and most notably the most insane short film "Too Many Cooks". This was incredibly silly, and the acting is so purposefully awful that it makes sense within the context. I do think the villain has a Sam from Trick' r Treat vibe, but if it were done as an Adult Swim character, I wouldn't be surprised if they brought him back for something else. The effects and the kills were creative and goofy enough to make it interesting. Overall, annoying at times but not bad.
3/5


Kidprint


Easily the best segment of the bunch by Alex Ross Perry, and it's easily one of the most disturbing and upsetting V/H/S segments they've ever done in this series. It follows a video store owner and his service of recording kids so they can give it to the police to ID them if they've gone missing. They do a good job keeping a very eerie vibe, and the performances were pretty good across the board. It oddly reminded me of the first 30 minutes of The Blair Witch Project in how it was set up, and a little bit of The Black Phone. It's a tough watch when it gets pretty serious, and where it leads is all disturbing in an unconventional way. Overall, one of the best and meanest V/H/S segments out there.
4/5


Home Haunt


The last and final segment by Micheline Pitt-Norman & R.H. Norman was pretty good, which has some depth but also knows how to have fun with it. It's about a family that runs a local haunted house for the neighborhood. It's pretty effective in getting to know about the characters and then running into what is a very gory segment where all hell breaks loose, and it is pretty much a fun visual effects reel. I do think it felt a little short at the end but it still was a solid entry. Overall, had fun.
3.5/5

I would put this up above from Beyond, even though a couple of those segments were much stronger than these ones. Still love seeing these every year, can't wait for them to tackle Christmas or Valentine's Day.
3.5/5
 
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One Battle After Another

Forgetting your password at customer service while on hold is truly one phone call after another.

Pretty fantastic film that is more or less a family drama wrapped in a wild and hilarious goose chase of a political thriller about modern-day revolutionaries. This feels like a well-themed combination of How to Blow Up a Pipeline and The Big Lebowski with some French Connection & Battle of Algiers thrown in. While the movie relies heavily on Leo DiCaprio and Sean Penn as arch opponents (both who were great in it), the heart of the movie belongs to Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti, who both gave powerhouse performances. I also really enjoyed Benicio del Toro in this who gets his 5 minutes and steals the show for me. Cinematography was excellent, and that certain scene involving a long stretch of highway was the best scene of the movie. My only complaint would be I wish it had more Teyana Taylor in this, even though plot-wise I get it why. Overall, while I don't think I was completely blown away by it, like most, this was one of the better movies of the year for sure.
4/5
Think it will get better on multiple viewings? I know others who feel like it keeps getting better and one of the classics of this decade.
 

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