This certainly isn't devoid of merit as a horror film -- it has its fair share of creepy and intense moments, and the body horror is strong despite some dated effects -- but it's in service of a movie I find fairly culturally indelicate. This could've been remedied by making the movie a little more self-aware, if it had directly acknowledged in some way that the white American leading cast are violating and intruding upon a culture they neither understand…
The unlikelihood of this playing out the way it did would honestly be hilarious if it weren't so heartbreaking and didn't shine such a damning light on the US justice system and police force. It is and does, though. It's harrowing to consider how many people like Juan Catalan are in jail right now because they have no evidence to prove their innocence, or even just because they don't have such a dedicated lawyer.
This is the perfect accompaniment to 13th; it outlines the origin and process of the doc, explores DuVernay's mindset and approach, and even covers material that isn't covered explicitly in the doc itself. It makes me wish even more that 13th had been produced as a miniseries -- the confirmation that each interviewee was interviewed for at least two hours and that hundreds of hours of footage ended up on the cutting room floor really solidifies my desire to see the material fleshed out even further -- and I love the dynamic between DuVernay and Winfrey.
I'd love to see an 8-hour docies version of this which would have more space to incorporate details that 100 minutes simply doesn't allow for -- a version explicitly covering the way the United States' police officers started out as a rebranding of pre-abolition slave catchers, for instance -- but considering the runtime and format, this is phenomenal. Even if you're aware of some or even most of the events and concepts outlined here, the way it's formatted and structured…
This is paced and structured a little weirdly in places -- it jumps wildly between covering Williams' social and professional life and the medical side of his final years, seemingly at random -- but otherwise it's a deeply touching tribute, and an enlightening (and essential, considering the misinformation around his suicide) documentary. It's just beautiful.
This is just a totally disposable movie. It's fairly star-studded, but every actor is really phoning it in (including Chastain, which is odd considering that she produced it) and somehow still also giving this slop way more effort than it deserves. It's just boring, poorly-written, and generic. It's not totally devoid of merit, but I've never seen a Tate Taylor movie I've enjoyed (although I haven't seen The Help yet, so we'll see) and this is easily the worst of them.
I know lots of people don't like this movie, but -- aside from my issues with David O. Russell as a filmmaker and as a person -- I think it's pretty great. Its weakest performances are still serviceable, the plot is engaging, and that final rug pull -- the missing money, and the revelation that they successfully conned DiMaso as well -- is really satisfying. I've seen better and worse movies in this genre and style, but I watched this a ton of times when I was about 18, and I still enjoy it a lot.
Most of this still really works for me. Kurt is depicted and performed in a very particular way which justifies a lot of the creative choices really well, which I find impressive: the fact that he's embarrassingly online, which is even remarked upon and mocked by other characters in the film, results in the entire movie feeling very much like a product of its time -- this is such a 2020 movie -- but in a way that's consciously dated,…
Man, I totally forgot Michael C. Hall shows up in this. He isn't given much to do but he absolutely steals the couple of scenes he's in.
This is such a fun movie. I didn't love it quite as much the second time, but it's smartly written and satisfyingly twisty without going overboard, it balances the comedy and action well, everyone's delivering great performances, and it's got some great shots -- that Fabergé egg sequence is just fantastic. I'd watch this one again.
This is a pretty fun and charming action adventure film -- I'm even willing to overlook how much all of the 1870s outfits and contraptions look distinctively like early-2000s costumes and props -- and I can't deny feeling a certain amount of nostalgia for it, but it's seriously hindered by the appearance of several white actors with darkened skin, particularly during the Turkey scene, costumed and styled as non-white characters. Even during the scenes featuring actors of colour, each country…