Suspect's 2019 Movie Watch List

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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Tag




Tag is a weird film that takes a story found in the newspaper and tries its best to structure a story out of it. The story is thin, the jokes are obvious and the only redeeming factor seems to be the chemistry between the cast. For those not in the know, Tag is about a group of friends who have been playing the game their entire lives. For one month every year they will go out of their way to tag someone. Everyone’s been tagged except Jerry; he’s always one step ahead. This year will be different though, they plan on tagging him at his wedding.

The film takes the premise and ramps it up to the extreme. People are willing to break into homes, shatter windows, set up elaborate traps and even make extreme bogus claims to garner sympathy, all in an effort to not get tagged. If you can suspend reality for a bit, you might have some enjoyment here. In one scene Jake Johnson is taken out by a swinging log trap. This is something that would literally kill a man and you’d see in in a film like Predator. During an interview with a journalist for his company, Jon Hamm is willing to take a chair and smash the window behind him to escape. Putting aside the fact that Hannibal Buress is born in a different decade than his “friends”, the friendships are believable.

Little to no real plot here, just a story about the lengths people will go to remain friends. As you grow older, the fun leaves your day to day activities as responsibilities creep in. Tag wants you to believe you can still have fun every now and then. The film tries to earn some tears towards the end, but the emotional impact isn’t anywhere near the level it thinks it is. It earns a little sentimentality though, I’m not a robot. In the end, this is a forgettable comedy. A few laughs here or there, but unless you are a big fan of the actors involved, you can give it a miss.
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Suspect's Reviews



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Fyre




What a clusterf*ck.

Seeing things unfold as they did was hilarious. I didn't hear about this festival until the fallout really. Even then it was still a little muddy to me as to what was going on. Fyre is the Netflix film that documents the efforts to put together a concert event on an island. The best thing this documentary has going for it is the behind the scenes footage, so we get firsthand accounts and we get to see what actually happened unfold in a glorious dumpster fire.

The interviews of those who worked there give tremendous insight into the ego of the people that were putting this thing on. If you throw enough money at your problems, they will eventually go away right? That had to have been the thought process of the people here. Yet it creates more problems down the road. Luxury tents turn out to be hurricane survivor tents; gourmet food turns out to be a slice of cheese on some bread. The insane levels of what happened here are hilarious to the viewer, but most likely traumatizing for those who attended. Although, I don’t know how much sympathy I can give people who spend thousands of dollars to go see a concert. There is a sense of privilege to those people that I simply cannot connect with.

It seems that it was a slow build from a dream to literally deceit. There were so many times when the whole thing should have been called off, but it wasn’t. The hole that was dug kept getting deeper. I literally laughed out loud and had my jaw open with awe at the part where the guy explains the depths he was willing to go to get the bottled water delivered to the event. Talk about taking one for the team. A guy tells the event organizers that you cannot build enough lodgings on this island, it is literally impossible. They fire him and do it themselves. That’s the level of ineptitude these people had.

Give the film a watch. Enjoy the carnage of destruction.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom




I feel like people will never really have that moment like they did with the first Jurassic Park. The awe and wonder is gone with the amount of VFX oddities people can do these days. Those were my thoughts while I watched this sequel. There are times that director J.A. Bayona is clearly going for the “iconic” shots to try and capture that wonder again, but it falls flat. I’m thinking about the moment we see the T-Rex roar in front of the exploding volcano or when we see the deep sea creature’s shadow in the tidal wave. Do our eyes widen with excitement or do we think to ourselves “oh, well that was kinda cool”. Dinosaurs on the screen running away from an exploding volcano are “kinda cool”. Giant robots fighting each other in a city that is being destroyed is “kinda cool. Is our wonder gone? What was the last movie that gave you that feeling? Maybe it was Jurassic Park, or Lord of the Rings or the most recent thing I can think of, Avatar. My point is, films like this are now a dime a dozen and what would have been wonderful years ago is old-hat now. Jurassic World, or the series for that matter, is old-hat.

The island is volcanic is will explode soon, killing all those dinosaurs left behind. A wealthy man by the name of Lockwood wants to retrieve those Dinos and put them in a safe spot. Free from the cages, isolated and alive. They recruit one person who knows the dinosaurs well, Claire. Yet she can’t do it alone and they really are interested in bringing the Raptor Blue back. So let’s get the couple back together and Owen enters the scene. They manage to get the dinosaurs but as usual, the company retrieving them isn’t all they seem to be. The volcano erupts, our heroes run for their lives and then we find out the true reason for their retrieval.

Jurassic World has a lot going on and it feels like a few different movies morphed into one. The island portion is a disaster flick with a lot of special effects, thrilling sequences and edge of your seat entertainment. At least that’s what the filmmakers want you to feel. Characters we barely know tag along and are immediately pigeonholed into stereotypes. This is done so we get a false sense of knowing them, when in reality they are nobodies. All of it looks “kinda cool” but it feels hollow. The stakes are never real. We know they get off the island because there is a whole two thirds of a movie left. The most memorable shot of the film is when the boats are leaving and we get one lasting image of a dinosaurs stuck on the island with the approaching smoke engulfing it. Do we have more of a connection to these beasts than these characters? The film really tries to make you feel this way.

Fallen Kingdom takes a turn and becomes espionage. The characters need to hide to not raise suspicion, gather Intel, and try to thwart the evil deeds that are bound to unfold. Just as this happens, the film takes another turn and becomes somewhat of a horror movie. This is the classic creature in the house scenario where our characters are being hunted. The hunter is yet another DNA split dino, something that was done in the last movie. But wait, it’s more dangerous this time, right?

A side plot involving a little girl drags then stops FULL STOP to have a character deliver exposition that we already knew. The girl makes an interesting decision at the end which will result in a third film, one that I think will be a complete detour to every film that came before it and maybe it will shoot a bit of life into this series. Fallen Kingdom tries a few new things, but gets confused in the end. It wants to be a big spectacle film, while remaining small and confined. The result is a mixed film with two wildly different tones.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Searching




Open Windows is a horror thriller of sorts starring Sasha Grey and Elijah Wood. It's told entirely from webcam footage and phone cameras. It was a unique idea that worked better in a short format and couldn't sustain a feature length running time. Unfriended is a straight up horror film with the same concept, this time a vengeful spirit is attacking people through the internet. Some of it works, a lot of it didn't. I found myself wondering if anyone was going to get this style of filmmaking right, then a little film called Searching came along.

Again, told entirely through webcam footage, phone camera, face time, a computer screen and social media. The film is about a 16 year old girl gone missing and the desperate lengths her father will go to find her. The film opens with a nice montage of a family, told through home video, photos and calendar appointments, we get a sense of how close this family is. A terrible tragedy happens and the mother dies. Since her death, the relationship between the father and daughter has been distant, even though the father thinks they are still close. I look over to my pregnant wife, she's already crying. I thought the format would be annoying to her, but she was glued to the screen, which is a good sign that this film will keep anyone's attention.

The computer/webcam style format works really well here. The film itself only took 18 days to shoot, but 2 years to complete due to the computer images needed to tell the story. There is a lot of attention to detail here and first time filmmaker Aneesh Chaganty shows incredible talent to make a suspenseful film. It helps that he has a talented cast behind him and not some unknown teens or a former porn star.

The mystery element works well and we get a sense of the social media firestorm that can happen when such an event occurs. The father interrogates a teenage girl who held the study session his daughter was at, she informs him that they weren't really friends and just needed someone smart to help her get a good grade. As the case gets widespread attention, this girl makes a video blog about how she is so upset that her friend is missing, since they are "best friends". Small little details like this shows how fake those people are on the internet. We put on a face for those watching just to get a like or an upvote.

The lengths parents will go for their children is key here and at the core of the story. Searching is a surprisingly well thought out and executed film. Small details and questions you have throughout make sense by the time the film's conclusion rolls around. The premise might seem gimmicky to some, but I think someone finally got it right.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Love, Simon




It's been awhile since a romantic comedy felt refreshing and important. Love, Simon manages to hit all the familiar notes, but doesn't feel stale or a retread. You'll find yourself invested in the characters, the side characters, the mystery and the drama. Teen comedies these days are either vulgar or about terminally ill teens who find love. If you've seen one, then you've seen them all. While at first Love, Simon feels like it will follow suit the final result feels like so much more.

Our main character, Simon, is your typical kid. He has friends, he's semi-popular and comes from a good family. The only problem is he feels alone because he's gay. A popular site where people post their dirty little secrets pops up and Simon sees that someone comes out as gay, but stays hidden behind an internet handle. He immediately feels connected to this anonymous person and tries to find out who he is.

The film has a warmth to it and strays away from the typical Hollywood gay character stereotype we always see in Rom-Coms. Instead we get a look inside the life of a kid who wants to feel like he belongs. The film is well acted and written, the believability in their relationships on the screen help elevate the film above the usual fare. I hope that this film is remembered years from now, it clearly stands apart from what other teenage romantic comedies are putting out these days.

See Love, Simon and skip stuff like The Kissing Booth.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
The Snowman




On paper, this film looks amazing. Based on a successful mystery/crime series, directed by the man behind Let The Right One In, written by the writer of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, edited by an industry legend, Oscar winning cinematographer, starring Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer, Toby Jones, & J. K. Simmons. So why is this film complete trash?

A killer kills women when the snow falls in Norway. Isn't it always snowing in Norway? Anyways, a detective who has a Hairy Hole becomes involved in the case. He's a terrible detective with a drinking problem. We get some flashbacks with an insanely poorly dubbed Val Kilmer. He suffered from throat cancer and his voice sounds terrible, so they dubbed it over and decided to barely show his face when he talks. Unfortunate situation, but it is one of the biggest head scratchers in this film.

So Fassbender's name is Harry Hole. It is pronounced 'HOLY" I believe, don't quote me on that, but in the film they just call him Hole. Harry Freakin' Hole. Why not change his freakin' name? How can anyone take the film seriously with that thing lingering over their heads. The actors seem to be aimlessly running around with no real direction. Quick research tells me that they left out 10-15% of the script. Brilliant choice.

Onto of the ineptitude of this film, it is utterly boring. Nothing exciting happen here and the muddy plot is incoherent. This is a terribly bad film with incredibly talented people. So while it is funny to laugh at this film, it's depressing to think about how good it could have been.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
The Dirt




The opening scene in this film will determine if you want to continue watching, or simply turn it off and never think about this movie ever again. We are quickly introduced to the members of Motley Crue with a quick fire pace that the film actually manages to maintain throughout its running time. I won't go into details about what happens, but I laughed, then felt dirty.

I don't know much about Motley Crue, just 3 out of the 4 members and that Tommy Lee spun upside down for some of his shows. But if even half of what happens in this film is true, then damn are these guys inane, irresponsible, disgusting and about a dozen other less than desirable words I can think of. The trouble is, the participants in these stories were more or less, black out drunk and high during these times. So when something insane happens, it's hard to prove that it did. Seeing Ozzy Osbourne snort ants then lick up his own piss is....something.

The difference between this and something like Bohemian Rhapsody, is that the guys behind this have no issues with making themselves look like trash. There is a bit of hard-truth to that and it is more or less admirable. No one in the band is portrayed in a 'positive' light, with maybe Mick Mars being the exception. He's too old to want to party, have sex or do drugs. He just wants to play. These guys are all unlikable and they treat women as objects.

There is an obscene amount of drugs and nudity on display here. To the point where the viewer feels dirty just watching it. The film portrays these guys as literally being high 24/7. They portray them as friends, yet they sleep with each other's girlfriends. Again, this film doesn't hold anything back. The film has some meta moments and breaks the 4th wall to narrate some sections. Each member narrates their own stories and will even tell you straight up if they are embellishing or not.

The craziness on display seems like a perfect fit for director Jeff Tremaine, famous for his Jackass films. This is his first narrative feature and he makes the transition pretty well. The film is fun and cartoonish. If you're a fan of the band, I feel like this is a must see.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
The Meg




This film wants to be like Deep Blue Sea so badly it even has a bald token black guy cracking' wise. At least he doesn't rap the end theme to the film though...but holy crap would that have made this film better if he did.

An underwater expedition below the Marianas Trench goes awry when a giant shark attacks an underwater submersible. A rescue mission is sent, but who is crazy enough to go that depth? JASON FREAKIN' STATHAM that's who. The man looks badass enough so he'll get the job done right? The shark makes its way up to people infested waters and he seems hungry for lunch. Who can stop it? JASON FREAKIN' STATHAM that's who!!!!

As giant shark movies go, this one could have been a bit bloodier, a bit funnier and overall just a bit more entertaining. There always seems to be size and speed inconsistencies with these movies. All for the sake of 'suspense'. But when you're rolling your eyes at the absurdity of things, it's hard to feel that suspense. So the entertainment factors goes out the door as well.

Some forced romantic subplots, guys with money are always evil subplots and classic fake-outs, the film becomes a bit by the numbers. I can't help but feel like they had an opportunity to really go 'out there' with this idea, but it feels way too safe and neutered. People are constantly falling off boats because we need them to be in danger, this is used constantly, to the point of annoyance.

Bottom line, I wanted to have more fun with The Meg. I wanted to bask in the ridiculousness of it all, but I could only seem to meet it had way. Loved that it ended with 'Fin' though. That's a great gag.



I agree that this needed to be more... Of everything. It felt as if it was three films. The first, a disaster movie. That was the one I enjoyed most. The second, a recreation of Jaws on the boat, then the third, the bit we all wanted. The attack. Except there really wasn't much of an attack. They even ruined the thing by
WARNING: "slight spoiler" spoilers below
allowing the dog to survive. Pippin dies and I think, nice nod. Then turns up at the end.
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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
I agree that this needed to be more... Of everything. It felt as if it was three films. The first, a disaster movie. That was the one I enjoyed most. The second, a recreation of Jaws on the boat, then the third, the bit we all wanted. The attack. Except there really wasn't much of an attack. They even ruined the thing by
WARNING: "slight spoiler" spoilers below
allowing the dog to survive. Pippin dies and I think, nice nod. Then turns up at the end.
Pretty spot on there.



Spiderman was not worth money. They have ruined the spiderman series.



Welcome to the human race...
Spiderman was not worth money. They have ruined the spiderman series.
Please elaborate as to how the series that already gave us Spider-Man 3 and both Amazing Spider-Man movies was all of a sudden ruined by Spider-Verse.
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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
The Stepfather (1987)





I unfortunately watched the remake before the original. The remake of this film is trash, while the original is terrific. The main difference is in the lead performance from The Stepfather. Terry O'Quinn in the original posses the perfect charm and if it hadn't been for the opening sequence, viewers wouldn't have been able to tell that he was a psycho. Now let's look at the remake with Dylan Walsh and you'll find a soulless gaze behind his eyes. It lacks the charm, the terror and thrills.

Wait a minute, who am I here? BAM. What a great scene and performance from Terry O'Quinn. He has this glare that sends shivers down spines and when he seems lost in his own psychosis you feel scared. What is this man actually capable of? In an instant, he can turn around and smash your face with a phone. Took me by surprise. What makes him scary is how real he is. The story is based off an actual murder of a family, where the guy disappeared for years only to turn up married to another. There are people out there who are insane and hide behind the "perfect family" exterior.

The film is a little generic, but it is uplifted by that lead performance. I'll give it credit for subverting my expectations with the investigative plot. Just when you think this guy is going to solve the mystery and save the day, he's killed instantly. Kudos for the build up to a nice twist. Shelley Hack unfortunately isn't given a lot to work with, she is in love and blinded by her husband's kindness. She is laughably bad in the climax when she is at the bottom of the stairs with a gun. Where did she learn to shoot?

Then we come to the daughter, 16 year old Stephanie Maine played by a then 23 year old Jill Schooled. I purposely mention her age because the film explicitly says she is 16. She is making out with a guy on her doorsteps when the Stepfather whips the door open yelling at them. "Get away from her!!! She is 16 years old!!!" he yells. Later on in the film she gets naked and has a shower. We see everything. Isn't this a bit odd when the character is suppose to be underage? What exactly were they thinking here? They needed to meet the nudity quota?

The Stepfather was a welcomed surprise and one I hope to revisit again in the future.



I think after mark f, you're the only person I've seen mention this on here in all the years I've been here. That's probably not true and I've just forgotten, but I agree with you (and mark) that this is a much overlooked, fantastic horror/thriller which, even after a remake, seems to still be underseen.

By me, as much as anyone else. I don't know if I've seen this since the 80's. Maybe early 90's?



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
I think after mark f, you're the only person I've seen mention this on here in all the years I've been here. That's probably not true and I've just forgotten, but I agree with you (and mark) that this is a much overlooked, fantastic horror/thriller which, even after a remake, seems to still be underseen.

By me, as much as anyone else. I don't know if I've seen this since the 80's. Maybe early 90's?
I probably would never have watched it if my uncle didn't dump 900 dvds into my lap. This was one of the ones I kept.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Eighth Grade




The scariest film I'll probably ever see and I'm only saying that as a parent. If I had no kids, I feel like this film would have been 'okay' and not made me think too hard. But after watching it all I feel is anxiety for the future of my kids and kids in general.

Eighth Grade details the life of a lonely girl making her way through life before she graduates and heads to high school. Directed by Bo Burnham and starring newcomer Elsie Fisher, this is the most real depiction of kids in school, you'll probably ever see. It helps that the age we're looking at is younger than high school, so we don't get these adults pretending to be teens. We get actual kids on the screen, braces and acne on full display.

It makes me look back on my youth and if I would have fit into any of the cliques. To be honest, I was just there. I wasn't a popular kid, nor an outsider. I had friends, was funny and did pretty well in my classes. The most memorable thing about me I believe was that I was the only one dating someone else in the class. We didn't make it past the summer to high school.

Eighth Grade shows how much kids feel the pressure and need to 'perform' on social media. It's this constant need for attention that they might feel they are not getting at home, or that they think they need to get in order to be on the inside. Watching this girl stumble through her VLOG about whatever, was cringe worthy. You know right from the get-go what type of person she is and what type of person she wants to be. Fisher gives a realistic performance, full of awkwardness and "umms". Those umms add to the realistic nature Burnham wants to depict here. Kids talk like this, not everything spits eloquently fine tuned dialogue. It sounds cool, but feels fake. Eighth Grade strips that down and gives us the nitty gritty of how kids talk.

I don't know if Burnham is interested in directing more films or what direction he thinks he needs to go in after this, but he has a talent that I feel will bloom in some years. He himself comes from the youtube age and has made great successes for himself. His stand-up is funny and unique enough to showcase his talents. I do expect to see more of him in some capacity in the future.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
The Howling




Some of the best werewolf effects out there. I really dug the weird transformations this film has to offer and I am so disappointed that this film is a complete disappointment for me.

After a traumatizing event with a serial killer who might be a werewolf, Karen and her husband get away to a colony to recoup and hopefully regain some of her memories that she seems to have blocked. While there they are terrorized by werewolves.

This film has some interesting ideas and they are presented in the most boring and awkward fashion. I was so completely bored for the first half of the film that I'm surprised I even bothered to finish it. It got interesting when the werewolves finally decided to show up and again, I was impressed with the transformations. But it was too little too late as I felt like I already checked out.

The reveal of the town being all werewolves is great though and I feel like a proper remake could really expand on this idea and make scenes actually suspenseful. Have them be retro with the effects and not have a Dee Wallace type in the lead role (she was terrible).

The Howling has a really cool poster though.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Us




There are a few frustrating things about this film that is holding me back from giving it glowing praise and a highly recommended rating. Those issues fall under the illogical nature of Peele trying to explain things towards the end. This movie is so expertly crafted that it hurts to be so divisive over it. I'll go into as much detail as I can as to why this film is just short of being really great and how frustrating that is.

Adelaide, her husband Gabe and their two children vacation at their beach house in Santa Cruze. Gabe wants to take the family down to the beach, but Adelaide is apprehensive about it due to a traumatic childhood event that took place there. He convinces her either way and they go. Later that night when they get back home the power goes out and a weird family dressed in red jumpsuits stand in their driveway. Soon they find themselves face to face with themselves, literally. Now they try to fight for survival and discover the shocking truth behind who these people are and why they are here.

Peele has etched himself a place in the horror genre after two solid films. Get Out was my favourite film of 2017 because it was a well crafted and detailed horror film with excellent social commentary on our world. I'm not alone in that sentiment as Peele won an Oscar for his writing. So despite Us being his second film, the expectations seem to be high. So it is interesting to see this film be a huge hit with critics and have the audience be the ones who are so divisive about it.

There isn't any wasted space here. Peele writes very specifically and shows us what we need to see when we need see it. Everything has a meaning, so when the film opens with something as innocent as an ad for Hands Across America, you have to expect it to come back into the story in some weird way. In Get Out there are so many little bits and pieces that 'click' into place when the film is over that you want to watch it again to see it in a different perspective. There are plenty of moments in that film that I'm sure people are still discovering them. Peele does that again here and it just shows how skilled of a screenwriter he is.

WARNING: "Us" spoilers below
When we first see the doubles, only the lead can speak and she can only speak in a raspy soreness that is immediately off-putting. No one else is able to, they can only grunt to communicate. Why? Well, it makes sense when we discover the twist is that Red is actually the little girl on the beach at the beginning. The double swapped places, so it makes sense that she is the only one who can speak. But why the weird voice? The double crushed her larynx when they met and she has no one to talk to down the rabbit hole. This could be the first time she has spoken in years for all we know. The biblical number we see, 11:11 is about Judgement Day, we see this sign multiple times on the clocks, ambulance and televisions.

Why is the little boy's face burned? Because his tethered duo above keeps playing with that magic lighter. So it makes sense that the kid had to copy the move and ended up with burns. The handcuffs that Adelaide has on almost the entire film? Those are the same cuffs that she used to trap her tethered to the bed down below. While on the beach hanging out with Elizabeth Moss she isn't chatty and says to her "I'm not good at...talking". Things that we don't really question in the moment make total sense after the fact.


Excellent use of music and the score works well here. The slow haunting piece of "I Got 5 On It" works brilliantly here. Peele is a horror fan and that shows in his work. He has the entire picture mapped out in his head and is able to transfer it clear enough to the screen in writing, direction and small choices in music that the entire thing just works. He likes to place little nods to other horror films and Us has a ton of them. From the overhead driving Shining shot to referencing a movie being shot on the boardwalk (That movie would be The Lost Boys)

Lupita Nyong'o shines here with her double duty. Her movements of Red are creepy and specific. Her voice is eerie, but my theatre actually laughed when she spoke. Despite that, she nails the roles and is the clear highlight from the cast. Another solid performance comes from Elizabeth Moss. She has a small role, but one scene in particular where she is screaming in agony which turns into some weird maniacal laughter is spine tingling. Congrats to the kids as well, for not being annoying. I'm glad that we didn't get too much of the "phone addicted teenager" or "kid does something stupid and costs someone something" because those are cliches that are tired and Peele seems too smart to fall for those.

So if so much of this film works why am I going to complain about it? Why is it not a higher rating? Once Peele starts peeling back the layers of these people, the cracks actually begin to show.

WARNING: "Us" spoilers below
Peele leaves a lot unanswered or ambiguous. Cool, I'm down with that, but other parts not so much. So it's my understanding that these duos are clones from the government. They are using the abandoned and unused tunnels to experiment. They decide to abandon this experiment but leave these "people" down there. These clones are 'tethered' to their real life counter-parts on the surface (how they were all cloned? Who knows). So this means that they copy their movements exactly. If people are on a roller-coaster, then the tethered underground are moving around as if they are as well. If a couple is playing rock, paper, scissors then so are their tethered down below. This is key because the son uses the tethered to have one of the clones kill himself in a fire. But how this works is unanswered as Peele only uses it to his convenience within the plot.

When it is revealed at the end that our Adelaide was actually the clone from the basement and she had switched with her real life counter-part...why didn't the real Adelaide just walk up the escalator and escape? Is she 'tethered" down there? Why wait so many years for some weird insane revenge plot where every clone escapes, kills their real life above ground person and then form the hands across america symbolism? Is it because she has to be close to her double to be able to escape? Why now? Why not any other year they go to the beach house? We know that some clones have already gone to the top because the guy holding the biblical sign was killed by his double before they even reach the beach. How easy would it have been for her to run up, grab some police and show the hoards of people down below. Then have them take her home and surprise her double?

Where the hell did those red jumpsuits come from? Are they making these things down there? They have nothing there but rabbits to eat. Where did the scissors come from or the glove? Are they going to the top to steal these items in bulk? I get the themes behind the scissors, but the practicality of them are pretty terrible. There are plenty of things to question towards the end of the film.


More frustration comes from the ending. Not that is was bad, it ended the way it had to end. From the fact that it is so telegraphed from the beginning that there is no real shock factor. I felt like I was waiting for Peele to catch up to me the entire time for the reveal. Had there been more of a shock moment, maybe my overall reaction would be different. I do like that he asks the viewer to question whether they are questioning their allegiance. Us still showcases the talents of the filmmaker and it is a welcome addition to the horror genre for me. Peele just doesn't want to scare people, he has thematic elements and brings some intelligence to his films. Bravo.



Good thoughts on Us....exactly how the tethering really worked should've been explained more



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Instant Family




You know how when you go into a movie you have certain expectations? It's never a good thing to have those because it will more often than not ruin the experience for you. High expectations for certain films might make you enjoy it less even if it is...pretty good. Low expectations for films might make you give the film a pass even when it might be bad. So when the film Instant Family came my way, my expectations were mixed. I was expecting another Daddy's Home, which makes sense considering it stars Mark Wahlberg and is directed by the same guy. So imagine my 'surprise' when I discovered that Instant Family is actually something better than a routine comedy. In fact, it packs some emotional punches that I did not expect.

Married couple Pete and Ellie flip houses. They take something that is broken and in need of some love and care and turn it into a lovely home for some young couple. When Ellie's sister mentions she is trying to get pregnant, it sparks something inside her. She want to be a mother. Instead of going the traditional route of getting pregnant, they decide to try and be 'better people' and go through adoption. They notice that all the Foster parents want to adopt these little kids while the teenagers are left behind. Pete & Ellie decide to buck the trend and go for an extremely independent 15 year old girl. To Pete and Ellie's surprise though, she comes with a little brother and little sister. Now with 3 latin kids under their house, the hi-jinks, comedy, horror and drama begin to take shape.

There is a sense of realism found here and it makes sense when you find out that director Sean Anders based this film on his own experiences in adopting 3 latin children. So there are plenty of little looks and ticks that Wahlberg and Rose Byrne do in the film that feel extremely natural and real. Kids yelling that they only want to eat potato chips for dinner instead of the home cooked meal hits home. A look on the face of a parent receiving a hug after a fight. I imagine it's extremely hard for foster parents to be in these situations. How many times are the kids going to throw "You're not my real mother" in their faces. A lot it seems.

Despite trying their best to provide the absolute best living conditions they can offer, it never seems good enough for Liz, the 15 year old. She seems hellbent on making things difficult for her new foster parents. It's clear she has trust issues and her siblings are too young to really acknowledge what's going on. These kids come from a broken home and despite that, Liz wants her real mother back, no matter the cost. The formula for this film leans more on the generic side and you won't find many surprises by the film's end, but I don't think people are going to want to. I think you'll know what you are getting early on in the film and will enjoy the ride nonetheless.

A lot of this sounds dramatic and it is. But there is a lot of funny bits sprinkled throughout to keep it more on the lighter side of things. When a tired kid says "Thanks Mommy" for the first time, Byrne is willing to try and casually wake the kid up again just to confirm what she heard was the word mommy. It's a sweet scene that brought a smile to my face. Characters aren't put in "funny scenarios", the comedy comes from the character interactions in real situations. It's 2vs3 in this house and the banding together to overpower children is comical.

Instant Family is a good film that balances the drama pretty well with the comedy. Don't expect many laugh out loud moments, just a few laughs and smiles to go with a good family drama.