Grant's Movie Log

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"Luck don't live out here."
A Quiet Place (2018)
(92%)

Director: John Krasinski
Writers: Bryan Woods, Scott Beck, John Krasinski
Stars: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds
Production Company: Platinum Dunes, Sunday Night

A Quiet Place is directed by John Krasinski and is really his first major release as a director. Yep, not only did Jim from The Office direct a horror/thriller, but he directed a fantastic horror/thriller. I was interested in this film when I saw the first trailer. It was different than the typical horror films we see these days, and it was also interesting that it was directed by Krasinski, and starred him and his wife. Then, when the first reviews dropped from SXSW, my expectations skyrocketed and I got very excited about it. And I gotta say, it is now my favorite film of the year (so far).

Story: One of the things I love about A Quiet Place is the subtle world building. I wasn't presented with some five minute narration describing how the world reached the state it is in and what the aliens are and how many people are left; I was thrown right into the world, and along the way I was given some backstory through newspaper clippings and notes taken by Krasinski's character. This also left me with a bit of room to speculate how exactly everything came to be.

Anyway, the story is that essentially aliens have somehow invaded Earth, but they are blind and hunt anything that makes sound. So if humans are to survive, they must stay as quiet as they can. It isn't focused on the government trying to defeat the aliens, though, or about a group of humans trying to save humanity, it is just about a family that is trying to survive in the world the way it is. And of course, sh*t eventually hits the fan and the aliens come into play.

I loved the story, but it wasn't really the story itself that made this film so enjoyable to me. The sound design was fantastic. This is a very quiet movie (shocker), but every sound that is made carries some significant weight. So much as dropping a fork on the ground could mean certain death. But that's not what made the film for me either, it was the tension that is present throughout the entire runtime. Every time it started to build up while I was watching it I bet my heart rate started to go up. Great stuff. Nonetheless, there are a few plot holes and things that can/will be questioned, but everything else makes up for that stuff.

Script: There's not a whole lot of dialogue in this film, but it's still impressive to write a film this good without using much dialogue. It's not easy to do, but they accomplished it here.

Acting: Unsurprisingly, solid acting from everyone involved. It is always a bit concerning when kid actors have significant roles in a movie, but they killed it.

Cinematography: I think that the sound design is really the standout when it comes to the technical stuff, but the cinematography was solid, although nothing that will blow your socks off.

Overall: This is the best film of the year so far to me, not even a competition, but we still have two-thirds of the year left so I guess it does have a lot of competition coming up. If you like horror/thrillers that involve aliens...you'll be pretty satisfied with this one.



"Luck don't live out here."
Looks like you loved A Quiet Place just as much as me. Our scores are even almost identical. What a fantastic film.
Nice! I figured you'd enjoy it since it seems like we have somewhat similar taste in films (just judging by our scores on films). It'll be interesting to see how the next couple months of films are...lots of potential hits.



"Luck don't live out here."
Chappaquiddick (2018)
(57%)

Director: John Curran
Writer: Andrew Logan
Stars: Jason Clarke, Ed Helms, Jim Gaffigan
Production Company: Apex Entertainment, DMG Entertainment

Considering I wasn't alive when the Chappaquiddick incident happened, I don't think it's that much of a surprise that I knew nothing about this incident until I saw the trailer for this movie. And I actually had forgotten what it was about for the most part by the time I reached the theater, as I watched the trailer a while back.

This is a competently made film. It has some great acting and it tells the story it wants to tell well. My problem with this film isn't the quality of the production, though, it's the story itself. Maybe it's because I wasn't alive when this took place (although that would be a very specific demographic to shoot for), but I didn't find this story interesting enough to warrant a movie. Seriously, I don't think I've been as uninterested in a film as I was with this one in a long time. The one hour and forty-one minute runtime felt much longer, and by the time they reached the end of the movie I felt like there should have been more to it. It's one of those movies where I'm torn, because it was well made but I felt more disappointed with this film than movies I've rated much lower. I guess I just wasn't the target audience for this one.



"Luck don't live out here."
Blockers (2018)
(73%)

Director: Kay Cannon
Writers: Brian Kehoe, Jim Kehoe
Stars: Kathryn Newton, Leslie Mann, Gideon Adlon
Production Company: Point Grey Pictures

Blockers was directed by Kay Cannon (Pitch Perfect) and stars Leslie Mann, Kathryn Newton, John Cena, and others. This was a nice surprise, because I mean...if you think about the plot of this movie, you wouldn't expect it to be good. I honestly didn't, and I was still skeptical even after it got a solid RT rating. But, this was a very enjoyable comedy.

The plot is that a group of teenage girls make a pact to each have sex on prom night. The parents find out about it and decide to try and stop their daughters from having sex. And, as you might imagine, lots of challenges lay ahead of the parents if they really want to prevent the pact from succeeding. Not every joke lands in this one, but I laughed way more than I expected, and there were a few jokes that actually got me laughing pretty hard. The best thing about the comedy in Blockers, to me at least, is that it doesn't shy away from crude comedy. Some of it will gross people out, but it was right down my alley humor wise. Oh yeah, John Cena was easily my favorite part of this movie, and that is definitely something I didn't expect. t'd watch this one again, and I probably will.

I still think that Game Night is a better comedy, but hey, it's cool that there have been a couple of solid comedies released this year.



"Luck don't live out here."
It Follows (2015)
(64%)

Director: David Robert Mitchell
Writer: David Robert Mitchell
Stars: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi
Production Company: Animal Kingdom

I had been meaning to watch It Follows for a couple of years now. I'd always heard good things about it and I figured it'd be a solid thriller because of that. Well, I didn't necessarily think it was bad, but I also don't necessarily understand why it got as much critical acclaim as it did. Is the concept cool? Yeah. Is it executed fairly well? Sure, but I didn't find the movie particularly enthralling. I wasn't bored, but I wasn't blown away, either. It just felt like another popcorn flick to me. Entertaining, but not necessarily something you'll think about long after you see it. I will say that I did like the ending, though.



"Luck don't live out here."
Rampage (2018)
(61%)

Director: Brad Peyton
Writers: Ryan Engle, Carlton Cuse,Ryan J. Condal, Adam Sztykiel
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman
Production Companies: New Line Cinema, Flynn Picture Company

Rampage is one of those movies where you can't go in expecting some great story or amazing script; you just have to go in expecting to have a good time. And that's exactly what happened. I had a good time. Is the script a bit of a mess? Yeah. Does the plot have many holes? No doubt. But it was just a bunch of fun to watch, and while it would have been nice to have gotten more of the big animals destroying everything, it actually gave me more than I expected so I was satisfied. I'd put this movie in the same category as Pacific Rim: Uprising as far as what to expect, except this one isn't a follow up to a fairly solid movie, so it couldn't let me down quite like Pacific Rim: Uprising did. I also have to mention that The Rock is really the main reason why this movie works. Without him, this would have been straight to DVD garbage. Give this one a watch if you're looking to turn off your brain for a bit and have some fun.
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My Letterboxd



"Luck don't live out here."
Truth or Dare (2018)
(50%)

Director: Jeff Wadlow
Writers: Jeff Wadlow, Michael Reisz, Jillian Jacobs
Stars: Lucy Hale, Tyler Posey, Violett Beane
Production Company: Blumhouse Productions

Truth or Dare was the first Blumhouse film in a while that I wasn't particularly looking forward to. The concept seemed stupid and the execution didn't look like it was going to be up to par with their past few films. And, well, it is definitely Blumhouse's worst widely released film in a while. The script is fairly cringeworthy at times, stupid stuff happens and dumb decisions are made at every turn, and the ending left me rather unsatisfied. But, for most of this film I was entertained. Now, whether I was entertained because it was good or because it was pretty bad is another thing altogether, but the point is that I was entertained. And because of that, I'm giving it a higher score than I expected to. This is a bad film. No doubt about that, but it's one of those films where you're still able to be entertained despite knowing that it's no bueno.



"Luck don't live out here."
Isle of Dogs (2018)
(84%)

Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Kunichi Nomura
Stars: Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton
Production Company: Indian Paintbrush

Isle of Dogs is a mesmerizing stop motion animated film by Wes Anderson. It's the story of a population of dogs that get exiled from Megasaki City to Trash Island basically because the mayor of the city is a cat person. But, he also exiled his ward's dog, and as a result the ward (who is a 12-year-old boy) decides to go to the island to find his dog. He crash lands on the island, and a group of dogs decides to help him find his long-lost friend. Quite the adventure awaits.

The story of Isle of Dogs is entertaining. There is subtle humor and quite a bit of world building that helped me become immersed in the world. But, if I'm being honest, the animation style is the main reason why I enjoyed this film so much. If this had been a live action film, heck, even if it had been a computer animated film, I don't think it would have connected with me nearly as much as it did. The animation style is just so unique that I was pretty invested from the get-go, and the story was serviceable enough to keep me invested.

I do think that this is the type of film that's hard to generally recommend to everyone. Not everyone will like the story, and not everyone will like the animation style even if they typically like animated films. If you like Wes Anderson, you'll like this one. Otherwise, you may just have to give it a shot and see what you think.



"Luck don't live out here."
Battle Royale (2000)
(83%)

Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Writer: Kenta Fukasaku
Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarô Yamamoto
Production Companies: Toei Company, WOWOW

I always wished that the Hunger Games movies were better. Well, it turns out that the Hunger Games movie that I always wanted was released way back in 2000, and it's called Battle Royale. This is definitely the adult version of the teen-targeted Hunger Games, and is better in almost every way. I feel as though the story is fairly realistic in terms of what ninth-grade students would do if they were thrown onto an island and told to kill each other. Some would dive right in, some would be too scared to engage, some would aim to make peace, and some would try to defy the game. The only problem that I have with this film is that I never really became attached to any of the characters. I think that the movie would have had a much bigger impact on me if I cared for certain characters in the end, but I wasn't rooting for anyone in particular. Still a very solid movie, though.



"Luck don't live out here."
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
(85%)

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writer: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke
Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
Production Company: MGM

2001: A Space Odyssey is a film I've been wanting to watch for a while now. I've always heard that it's a great one, and that it is a must-watch for sci-fi fans.

Well, I finally watched it yesterday, and I enjoyed it. I think it's a very solid sci-fi film with an interesting story that can be interpreted in more than a few ways (as proven by the hundreds of explanation/theory videos and essays that are out there). The thing that struck me the most about the film is how beautiful it is for a 1968 release. There are some shots that you could show me completely out of context and I'd probably think that it's from a modern movie. The effects are also truly incredible for the era. I am definitely looking forward to attending one of the 70mm screenings that they'll be doing with Nolan's restored version soon.

This is also one of those films where I'm going to have to watch it multiple times. It's not really an option. The first time around I was merely trying to take everything I could in, but now I can go back and pay more attention to certain things.

With all of that being said, this isn't a perfect film. I think some of the sequences drag on a little too long (although I'm sure audiences were not complaining back when this first came out) and the story does move a little too slow for me at times. But I was still very much satisfied when it ended.

I'm thinking that the next time I watch this it'll be a double feature with Annihilation.



"Luck don't live out here."
I'm gonna start trying to plan out what movies I want to watch better, like Luis does.

This week's plans:

For sure watching:
Ip Man (2008)
The Beguiled (2017)

Might watch:
Traffik (2018)
Girls Trip (2017)



"Luck don't live out here."
Ip Man (2008)
(80%)

Director: Wilson Yip
Writer: Edmond Wong
Stars: Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Siu-Wong Fan
Production Company: Mandarin Films Distribution

Ip Man was recommended to me by my roommate since he knows that Donnie Yen was one of my favorite parts of Rogue One. And, man, I am glad he did. I think that I found this movie so enjoyable primarily because it gave me exactly what I wanted: Donnie Yen beating people up, and a lot of it. There is a story and it is pretty good, but there isn't too much fluff and for every slow point in the movie we are rewarded with a very entertaining action scene shortly thereafter. Quite a pleasant surprise, this one was.



"Luck don't live out here."
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
(90%)

Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Writers: Stephen McFeely, Christopher Markus
Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans
Production Company: Marvel Studios

Avengers: Infinity War is the biggest superhero movie release of the year by far. Everyone, and I mean everyone, either plans on seeing it or already has. I was looking forward to it, but I've started to get a bit of Marvel fatigue, personally, so I wasn't as hyped as I was in 2016 and earlier. The Marvel formula has just started to wear on me a bit. I expected Black Panther to break that mold based on the amazing reviews it got, but ultimately I was given another formulaic, solid Marvel movie. So while I was looking forward to watching Infinity War, I wasn't expecting it to blow my socks off. But it did just that: It blew my socks off.

This movie is the culmination of the first 10 years of Marvel movies, which means that damn near every Marvel character we've seen in the movies (apart from Ant-Man and Hawkeye) are in it. And the plot follows the Avengers and various other small groups as they all attempt to stop Thanos' plan to wipe out half of the universe's population.

The biggest problem I've had with the Marvel movies as of late is that there is no sense of danger. The villains never pose a real threat. It's always known that the superhero(s) will prevail and win the day. Infinity War...Infinity War is different. Much different. There is a sense of danger. There is even a sense of hopelessness at times. And as a result, there is no doubt in my mind that Thanos is by far the best MCU villain yet.

I was also surprised at how well this movie works with so many big name characters. Does your favorite character get as much screen time as you may want? Probably not, but everyone gets fairly even amounts of screen time, all things considered. There are some pacing issues, but I feel like this is about as good of a movie as the Russo brothers could possibly make with all of the characters that are in it.

At the end of the day, Infinity War is one of my favorite MCU movies yet (I'm not willing to give it a ranking just yet). It finally broke the mold that was starting to get a bit worn, and it sets the universe up for the next Avengers movie, which I'm fully expecting to be as good, if not better, than Infinity War. I can't wait for next year.



"Luck don't live out here."
This week's plans:

For sure watching:
- The Beguiled (2017) (I know this was on last week's list, but I ended up replacing it with a re-watch of Wind River.)
- Alien (1979)

Might watch:
- A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
- Girls Trip (2017)



"Luck don't live out here."
Wind River (2017)
(93%)

Director: Taylor Sheridan
Writer: Taylor Sheridan
Stars: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen
Production Company: Acadia Entertainment

Wind River was one of my favorite films of last year, and very close to my sole favorite. But I wanted to watch it again to see if it did deserve the high rating I gave it the first time, and after watching it again, it definitely does.

Writer and director Taylor Sheridan is the king of the modern western genre right now. All three of the films he has written have been great, and it's gotten to the point where I'll watch anything that he is involved with in the future...just to see if he can keep this hot streak going.

Wind River primarily takes place on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, and follows an FBI agent and a wildlife officer as they try to solve a homicide that happened on the reservation. So at its core it is a fairly simple story, but there is so much more to it than that. The weather elements play a huge role in this film. There's also a lot of emotion in this film. Grief, anger, frustration, humor. It's all there in spurts, and emotion really drives the first two-thirds of this film. Then for the last act...it's nothing but tension. The entire film builds towards a finale that is everything I hoped it would be. I don't want to spoil anything, so just go watch it. I can't recommend this one enough.



"Luck don't live out here."
I absolutely loved Wind River, such a shame it went over so many people's heads. Thrilling, gritty, and emotional.
Yeah, I really wish it got more attention than it did. It did quadruple its budget at the box office, so at least Taylor can point at that the next time he wants to make another one like it. He has Sicario 2 coming out this summer but then his attention will turn to the TV series he is creating for Paramount Network.