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Nomadland (2020)
Manages to Achieve Technical Artistry with Simple Story
Modern day cinema tends to focus most attention into attracting audiences -- creating "trailer" movies (movies to entice but not necessarily fulfill). Films falling into the aforementioned group still include huge successes, but a lot of the time the story is the only thing going for the movie. Might as well read the script and one would have the same experience. However, "Nomadland" swings opposite of that description.
Nomadland is no doubt a technical achievement. The beautiful blues and purples within colour palette aligns with the melancholy tone. Cinematography is smooth, crisp and gives the feeling similar to a documentary -- it's personal. Chloe Zhao projects this movie to the highest level it could possibly be synthesized... but it is only an 8/10. One would not necessarily grow bored during this film, but story-wise, it is decently bland. Fern (brilliantly played by Francis McDormand) has a very emotional character arch, but the change isn't drastic enough to become overly memorable. Paired with a story uncomplimentary with a synopsis, it is provided with a limit in entertainment value.
All in all, Nomadland is brilliantly made and an enjoyable film. What is lost in narrative is made up with technical achievements. Cinema should incorporate more of Nomadland's style in future work but provide a nice balance with production and story such as the previous Best Picture winner: Parasite.
8/10.
The Little Things (2021)
No Redemption
The Little Things trailer looked great - a modern Se7en, I had thought. After much anticipation, the movie dropped and was getting extremely poor reviews. I did not think that could be possible, three Oscar winners and a cool looking story given that bad of reviews? I eventually watched it and those reviews are very understanding.
The last quarter of the movie is not the thing that makes "The Little Things" so awful. It is absolutely everything. Interestingly, it tries to get a new kind of reaction from the audience and the experimentation was respectable. However, it was a misfire. It makes the movie unnecessary, wasting two hours of the audiences time without any pleasure or feeling of worth. Waiting for something to happen but it never does...
Writing is a key aspect in film making, and with bad writing you are bound to have a bad movie. There were cool "trailer lines" ever now and then but they were nothing but trailer lines. A movie can still be watchable aesthetically with bad writing. But "The Little Things" fails in that aspect as well. Jumpy transitions that cause confusions is only a part of the garbage editing. It feels like some scenes were cut off half-way. Additionally, the cinematography brought nothing to the table, it was all very generic.
The acting is the only thing that almost saves this movie. Jared Leto and Denzel Washington were pretty good - however far from their greatest performances. Unfortunately Rami Malek's talent was lost with the lack of chemistry shown on-screen.
The Little Things is not a good movie. There are no redeemable qualities for this film. It is hard to get through it even as a background movie. The little things rip it apart.
3/10
Soul (2020)
A Family Fantastic
Since Toy Story, Pixar has been a revolutionary animation studio - creating classic movies like Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, Wall E, Finding Nemo... practically every movie they have done. Although Pixar commonly does new, exciting, and original movies, Soul seemed different. It was a matured concept, had a message suitable for anybody at all ages and has a different look.
The "look" for Soul was visually stunning and fit perfectly with the jazzy theme - being great accompanied by the wonderful score. Pixar was more playful with Soul, much like how Joe is a playful musician. They played around with colours more often and made many other choices (other than the beautiful animation) to make Soul more aesthetically pleasing.
Although Soul is another Pixar marvel, like any movie, there are a few issues. This movie had a strong start but the second act lost track of some charm and was probably the most childish portion of the film. However, it finishes off as a strong, tear jerking, emotional film providing Joe - and the audience - with a new worldview.
Soul is a must watch film to watch with the family but can also be enjoyed individually at all ages. Definitely one of the best Pixar movies of the past decade. A family fantastic.
8/10
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
Control
Powerful acting is the engine to "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" -- a film about the struggle to achieve control. With a soundtrack causing an immersive experience for the audience, dialogue seemingly fitting for the time-period and allowing the cast to maximize their talent, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is a near perfect film.
Through the years jazz has become a genre of music a very small amount listen to and a smaller amount that listen to it regularly -- including myself, however, that did not stop me from nodding my head to the beat of the music. It is beautiful to listen to and contributes greatly to solidifying the setting of 1927.
Much like August Wilson's other (screen)play, Fences, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" takes place in a limited period of time and focuses on relationships, dialogue and theme.
At the beginning of the film Levee (Chadwick Boseman) is up-beat, talented and excited for what the future will bring and that he'll have his "own band one day." He has worked hard controlling the "white folk" his whole life and controlling his destiny of becoming a famous musician. As the film progresses, he loses control, acting irrationally after he has lost everything. He did not have control while the vile acts were being committed towards his mother from white men -- and after always ensuring he was in power even working for Ma Rainey -- he lost control once again, 32 years later, submitting to the power of a white man.
Ma Rainey foils with Levee as she maintains a powerful presence, but with her large amount of power, weakness can be shown easier. Levee highlights her weakness as while as the producers not meeting her needs as instantaneously as they are met in her hometown.
The theme of control/struggle to achieve control is shown from beginning, to the end with Levee's song meeting the same fate as his own -- submission to the "white folk". "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" stays on track and maintains interest the entire time and reaches its peak interest-wise with the peak story-telling-wise: the climax. Although the dialogue seems moderately unnatural and shaky at parts it is nonetheless a great watch.
8/10
Mank (2020)
Underwhelming...
2020 has been a dull year in cinema with very few anticipated films to release this year. However, the movies that are anticipated have been... well... disappointing such as Tenet and unfortunately -- Mank.
David Fincher is one of the best working directors with fantastic films such as Se7en, Fight Club, The Social Network, Zodiac, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera and luckily enough, he once again went above and beyond and made this movie all the more watchable. When it was announced that David Fincher would be directing another biopic (after the hugely successful Social Network) I -- like many others -- was ecstatic. In preparation for the "New David Fincher Film" I went back and watched his entire catalog of films. Each of his films (with the exception of Alien 3) is HIS film -- it belongs to him. With the notable yellow/blues, wide shots, static camera and the especially intriguing material, his movies are masterpieces. Then I grew worried. Mank was sounding less and less like David Fincher's other movies. It is okay to make something new and different but I wanted more dark and suspense-filled cinema. Mank was not that -- which was not a bad thing and in fact, he pulled it off! Stylistically the movie is a masterpiece but the material felt empty and that became Mank's downfall.
With a David Fincher movie it is unlikely to be disengaged yet during Mank I found myself getting distracted, antsy, and even checking the time! I was confused and disappointed. The acting was great, the directing was once again great, I did not know what it was that was causing me to be so bored, then it hit me: nothing happened. "You cannot capture a man's life in two hours. All you can hope is to leave the impression of one." The movie was called "Mank," I was expecting a thorough analysis on Mank -- but I was not even left "the impression" of Mank. He was an alcoholic and wrote Citizen Kane... that was really it.
The directing and acting make this movie worth a 7/10. The story had potential but did not fulfill expectations. It is stylish, playful, well edited and an homage (not love letter) to 30s Hollywood making it worth a watch -- I continue to look forward to future work from David Fincher and his upcoming remake "Strangers".
7/10
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
A Movie SCREAMING To Be Liked
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" knew what it was, a Star Wars movie and unlike "Star Wars: The Last Jedi", this movie has great fan service. It introduced interesting concepts into the franchise... a little to many. "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" was too caught up in trying to be liked that it forgot about more than half the ideas introduced. Paired with the feeling that there were several writers writing this movie and not communicating with each other at all, the dialogue was EXTREMELY cheesy. "My name is Rey... Rey Skywalker" "I am all the Sith! And I am all the JEDI" are just a couple examples of moments that tried too hard and in the end coming off as cheesy. There were moments of shock... but then shortly after it was all undone, for example Chewbacca and Kylo Ren's death.
The movie catches you right away by showing the iconic Emperor Palpatine and an action filled chase scene, tricking you into thinking you are about to watch an entertaining movie. The gang in the movie (Chewbacca, Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron and C3PO) go from location to location searching for a map to Exegol (the planet where Emperor Palpatine has been hiding out) seeming more like a video game plot rather than a movie. During the whole journey for the protagonists Finn said he had something to tell Rey, they bring up the fact he needs to tell her this thing several times throughout the movie, yet they never do, which is a little nitpick I have. Once everyone finally gets to Exegol Kylo Ren fights the Knights of Ren (which was one of the few good things about this movie) and Rey fights her grandfather... Emperor Palpatine. This fight had several cheesy moments and the same characters dying over and over again. It was chaotic and rediculous. During the climax of the movie I was feeling several parallels to "Avengers: Endgame" but unfortunately not played out as well (ex. all these people coming to help resistance similar to falcon saying "on you left" and the rest of the Avengers come and Emperor Palpatine saying "I am the Sith" and Rey saying "I am the Jedi" similar to Thanos and Iron Man's I am inevitable/I am Iron Man.
The movie was boring, cheesy with horrible writing. Worst of the new trilogy, although the special effects and fan service sere quite well done. You can tell they tried too hard to save Star Wars, it was basically screaming to be liked. But at least there is still "The Mandalorian".
Knives Out (2019)
Better Than Expected
After watching "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" I had little hope for upcoming Rian Johnson films, and then the trailer for "Knives Out" came out. I knew I would watch this movie, but it still seemed that Rian Johnson was trying too hard to recover from the bombshell that "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" was. After watching "Knives Out" however, I was surprised, even if he was trying too hard to makeup for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" it certainly paid off. "Knives Out" was an engaging and funny movie including a stellar performance from Daniel Craig (although his accent caught me off guard at the start). It paid homage to the "Whodunnit" genre but I do not think it was "A Whodunnit Like No One Has Ever Dunnit". I felt several moments of the film were very predictable. and cheesy, but is still an overall fun movie.
"Knives Out" follows Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas) who was the "murderer" in the movie. We later find out she didn't kill Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) and it was all a set-up from Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans). Chris Evans character was entertaining to watch, but writing for his characters dialogue was extremely cheesy and momentarily cringe... MOMENTARILY. Besides his characters introduction and the cafe scene with Marta, Ransom or "Hugh" was a good and entertaining character, a great attempt for Chris Evans to be known as Chris Evans not Captain America. Another negative about the movie include "Hugh did it" which was frankly an unintentionally laughable moment in the movie.
All movies have their flaws, and luckily this movies pros outweighed their cons. The cinematography was fitting for the story, helping immerse. the audience in the story, especially paired with the score. The twist was creative and its comedy didn't seem unnecessarily, unlike most modern movies.The movie knew what it was and followed one overarching theme,
"Knives Out" was entertaining and probably the best movie experience you will have this year.
8/10