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Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Is it just me...
Or was Andrew Garfield the best part of this movie? Don't get me wrong, it's a thoroughly entertaining 2.5 hours, but it lacks depth. There's a ton going on in this movie, and and most of it is highly anticipated fan service. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like they connected the dots in a meaningful way. It really felt like what it is-a corporate teamup between two major studios trying to use nostalgia for their previous releases. Character motivations felt flat and hard to identify with, and a lot of their dialogue often felt pretty out of character. Which is a shame considering the incredible potential this film had. I went in expecting this, so I wasn't disappointed, just frustrated when characters did things they wouldn't normally do, clearly for the sake of the plot. It failed to subvert expectations most of the time, often being pretty predictable. If you saw the trailer, you pretty much saw the movie already. But even if you can see what's about to happen, it's still a fun ride, the execution is top notch.
Technically, this film is great. The pacing is good, it packs a few well executed surprises, it looks amazing, it sounds great, many of the shots are visually stunning (even if they don't serve much of a purpose), and the performances are top notch across the board. Tobey macguire feels a bit out of place, but Andrew Garfield absolutely steals the movie. I didn't expect the performance he delivered with just a few lines. There was emotion and relatability that you could just feel though the screen. Willem Dafoe, Tom holland, Benedict C., Alfred Molina, Zendaya, Jamie foxx, and the rest of the cast were all stupendous, but I haven't had a role stick with my the way Andrew Garfield's performance did in this movie for a very long time. All I can say about it is I wish they gave him more to do, because he found a new level of depth to bring to this character, and it would have been really cool to have explored that more. The events of the Amazing Spider-Man clearly had a big impact on Garfield's version of Peter Parker, and he embodies that as a new layer of maturity and motivation to do good that just make this version of his Spiderman super compelling. I wish we could see a trilogy of Spider-Man movies featuring this more experienced and complicated version of p.p. That Garfield created for what amounts to only like 10 minutes of screen time in this movie. They gave him a pretty big action set piece that was teased in the trailer, which closed an arc for his character from the amazing Spider-Man movies, and he turns it into the most compelling moment of the movie in my opinion. This movie is worth the watch just for his performance.
Euphoria: Stand Still Like the Hummingbird (2022)
A "challenging" episode
This episode is a great example of what people mean when they describe a movie or show as "challenging." This episode is hard to watch, especially if you or anyone close to you has been through anything like the events depicted in it. Rue is unrecognizable in this episode, and it's frankly really scary. This made for some wonderfully intense and thrilling sequences, but leaves the viewer feeling really uneasy and conflicted about pretty much every aspect of the show moving forwards. The best way I can sum it up without spoilers is to say "this is the one where she tears it down." I think that's cryptic enough. It to give anything away, but folks who have seen ep2.5 will know exactly what I mean.
I love that we live in an era where shows like this, breaking bad, the sopranos, and others are allowed to blurt the lines between hero and antihero, and cause viewers to question their own morals and beliefs. This episode is tough like a late-stage episode of breaking bad in how the writers test the empathy we've been developing for the characters by having them push the boundaries of what they can "get away with" and still have us root for them at the end of the day. Phenomenal direction, and top notch acting across the board. There are some absolutely heartbreaking and devastating character moments in this episode, and Zendaya is truly a force of nature! It's really easy to forget that the real Zendaya is a very mature, composed, and elegant, glamorous fashion icon, and her choices in this episode reflect someone who is really taking the role seriously, and not "glamorizing" what Rue is going through for tv. I realize the irony there, as this show, including this episode, as always, is a feast for the eyes. But it's more a visceral and artistic approach to suffering rather than a spectacle, like some episodes have been in the past. Stormy Reid, Nika King, and Sydney Sweeney also deliver some truly memorable performances in this episode, where the whole cast moved together like clockwork. Everything intertwined, and nothing we've seen up til now was irrelevant. I can't wait to see how the season progresses!
The Cube (2021)
WHATS IN THE BOX?!
Nothing original, that's for sure! Did anyone else notice that this game was first used in the show "Episodes" with Matt Leblanc (Joey from Friends) as a satire of game shows? Now it's a real game show...