UpgradeYourReviews

Hola, this is my review thread.

Im trying to get back more into disciplining myself regarding writing / hitting deadlines, so a new review will be published every Friday (starting 6/29) and Tuesday (starting 7/3).

GUIDE: *annotates something posted in Movie Tab (so if the link doesnt take you directly there, move down some).

An American Crime*
Big Fan*
Drive*
Election*
Freaks*
Gone Baby Gone* +
Hereditary +
House*
Incredibles*
Incredibles II* +
Killer Klowns From Outer Space
Logan*
My Friend Dahmer*
Mystic River -
Sicario
Solo: A Star Wars Story*
Zodiac

HEREDITARY (Aster, 2018)

You don’t get films like Hereditary very often. Is it scary? Of course it is. But being scary isn’t as idiosyncratic as you’d like to think. To really pass the threshold, a film must really challenge you. Fortunately for us, Ari Aster’s marvelous debut succeeds above and beyond. What could have been just a simple haunting story, instead becomes a thrilling inquiry of family dynamics and fate. Like my Community College understanding of Freud tells me: aren’t we all just products of our parents? Can we really fight it?

Displaying this turmoil is Toni Collette’s Annie. When her once-estranged mother dies, the family copes with their inner demons. The chemistry between Collette and relative newcomers Alex Wolff and Milly Shapiro rivals that of a real family. We watch them mope, we watch them argue and we see them try to hold everything together in the face of their fates.

Capitalizing on this raw talent, Aster plays with our notions of what we think will happen. With the help of cinematographer Pawl Pogorzelski, Hereditary succeeds in creating a dire atmosphere rivaling The Shining and Rosemary’s Baby oozing the confidence of any veteran crew.

While the film does lose a bit of its confidence towards the finale in an effort to make sure you “get it”. The groundwork is all spelled out, having a character speak in voiceover summing it up makes it lose a bit of its’ shine. It’s still so well done on a technical basis that it could have come straight out of a textbook from any lover of the craft.

If we aren’t talking about this towards the end of the year, it better have been a damn good year.

+

I liked An American Crime more than you but not as much as The Girl Next Door, which is based on the same story.

SICARIO (Villeneuve, 2015)

This movie made the still-alive Noam Chomsky roll in his grave. What could have been an interesting dissection of United States’ intervention in other countries really lacks the necessary nuance and character depth it strives for.

We open on one of the countless drug raids courtesy of the US’ War on Drugs. This one led by Emily Blunt’s Kate Macer. After she discovers dozens of decaying corpses in a cartel’s safehouse; she seeks a resolution to finding the man ultimately responsible. She attempts to find it in the form of Josh Brolin’s DOJ-led task force with his secret weapon Bennecio Del-Toro. When she realizes the task force operates increasingly outside the law, she has to face her own morals and where they fit in.

Compounded by Villeneuve’s confident direction, Deakins’ gorgeous cinematography and Jóhannsson’s intense score; we do get glimpses of intense thrills and brilliance. Unfortunately, Sheridan’s screenplay really loses its’ shine character-wise. Both Brolin’s Graver and Del Toro’s Gillick are the same vague killing machines they were in minute one of the film. Blunt’s Macer hardly changes, and Kaluuya’s Wayne remains wasted.

Sicario is ultimately a frustrating flick because we do get tiny peeks of really great stuff. It’s definitely worth your time to watch it; but it just can’t seem to connect the dots that would elevate it.

Eh yea the story itself is interesting. I caught it via some podcast my girlfriend was listening to. I just thought that everything from the liberties they took in the writing, to the performances, to the set design all just looked so cheap and disinteresting.

SICARIO II: DAY OF THE SOLDADO (Sollima, 2018)

If I may borrow a Jurassic Park line: the question wasn’t could they make a SIcario sequel; its should they have made a Sicario sequel. Call me a contrarian, but I’m actually of the camp that a sequel wasn’t actually that unnecessary. The original, while flawed, did paint a picture of some interesting characters that were well worth revisiting. Unfortunately, Soldado feels like a watered down off-brand version of the original with no added depth.

Brolin’s Graver and Del Toro’s Gillick are back, and this time we are told that there are no rules (as if there were before). Why are there no rules? Well, because they’re fighting the CommieNazis of our time: ISIS and Mexican Drug Cartels working in tandem. The only way to stop it? Start a cartel war by kidnapping one of the leader’s daughter and making them think the opposing cartel did it. Of course, this is a movie so it doesn’t go as planned and we get a lot of generic action movie tropes. Yes, it does get very roundabout and confusing.

Returning writer Taylor Sheridan’s script’s weirdly-paced but does have interesting action sequences that pay off well; but doesn’t really go beyond that. It gives us the fight, but no real reason to care about anyone involved. Everyone stays the one dimensional amoral unlikeable character they were in the original.

We do get tiny glimpses of nuance from Del Toro and Moner’s Logan-esque relationship and their chemistry works; the script is just so quick to drop it. It instead favors convenient plot points, and simply wants you to think “hey isn’t this badass???”. There’s more dimensions to everyone than we are shown.

It’s a shame because director Sollima and composer Guðnadóttir are really firing on all cylinders. Both of them are comparable to their previous counterparts Villeneuve and Jóhannsson respectively. They are both definitely people to check out in the future, but as far as the Sicario sequels go, I’m probably checking out after this one.

It’s not that it’s half bad, it’s just also not half good. It’s the epitome of “eh, catch it if you’ve got an afternoon and it’s for free streaming somewhere”.

I didn't get the first movie at all...I was so confused by it I couldn't even write a review on it, so I'm not surprised that the sequel is no masterpiece.

If you didn’t follow much of the first movie, I’d stay away from this one. This one is so much more convoluted.