Tag: movie

I’m Thinking Of Ending Things Review

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By: Amanda Guarragi

Charlie Kaufman’s long awaited Netflix Original Film is very unconventional and bold, but the screenplay suffers from over explaining the philosophy of life. What starts out as a young woman, questioning her relationship, ends up being a convoluted study on ageism and life itself. I’m Thinking Of Ending Things has a very intriguing first half and then it somehow falls apart, as it spirals into an ending that doesn’t quite suit what came before it.

At first, Kaufman explores the layers of what it means to be in a relationship, or rather, how to get out of one that didn’t feel quite right. The Young Woman, played by Jessie Buckley, has this internal monologue that highlights what is wrong in her relationship by doing a voiceover, while her boyfriend Jake, played by Jesse Plemons, is talking to her. They both gave solid, individual performances but the script is what caused this to be so confusing and sometimes uncomfortable.

It just felt really messy and oversaturated with philosophical symbolism, by the end it seemed like Kaufman got lost in what he was trying to convey as well. The tonal shifts throughout the film were very abrupt, which put a damper on trying to make any thematic connections whatsoever. Every time I thought I understood what Kaufman was trying to say, he took it to an entirely different place leaving me confused with what was happening in The Young Woman’s mind.

As they both travel to the outskirts of farm country to have a formal family dinner, to meet Jake’s parents, The Young Woman becomes more cynical and she is now scared of her future.

“Humans can’t live in the present, so they invented hope.”

The Young Woman (Jessie Buckley) ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things”

In a way, the home of Jake’s parents became the layers of The Young Woman’s mind, as she assessed the lives of his father (David Thewlis) and mother (Toni Collette). There are so many ways to study the psychology of these characters because The Young Woman feels stuck and envisions her future with her in laws.

I’m Thinking Of Ending Things is a mixture of an existential crisis, relationship issues and family dysfunction, that loses all meaning in the 3rd act. It becomes unbearable to listen to The Young Woman ramble on about life without actually making any points. It’s almost as if Kaufman is trying to recreate his previous work to continue his ongoing theme of heartbreaking relationships that address mental illnesses. This one just falls through entirely because he tried to do too much with it.

Greyhound Review

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By: Amanda Guarragi 

Greyhound is based on the 1955 novel ‘The Good Shepherd’, it was adapted by Tom Hanks, who also stars in the lead role, as Commander Ernest Krause. The film follows a US Navy Commander on his first war-time assignment, he was in command of a multi-national escort group defending a merchant ship convoy under attack by submarines in early-1942 during the ‘Battle of the Atlantic’. It is yet another generic war film, that is filled with a bombastic sound design and score, that went above and beyond, to elevate the story in some way.

There are some redeeming qualities in this film because of the uniqueness with the camerawork from director Aaron Schneider. At times the direction almost didn’t match the dullness of the story and the weak performances from everyone. The technical aspects like the sound design, score, sound mixing, cinematography and practical effects were all solid and made the film look quite pleasing. For a film that takes place at sea, the visuals were important and the horror of being at sea, during a war was definitely effective. The editing was fairly mediocre and the constant fades to black, with the time stamps, made it feel disjointed and almost episodic. Apart from the final battle at sea, there was no length of time where I felt anything for these characters.

It was a very lacklustre war film and it is because the writing just wasn’t there. It is almost hard to believe that Tom Hanks wrote the screenplay because of how one note the story was. I admit that he tried to construct a different structure for it and it did look promising but something just wasn’t connecting. It feels like the entire budget went directly to the practical effects because it looked like a very expensive film. It felt larger than it should have and that may have been the issue, I can’t even put my finger on it.

Greyhound is a war film that attempts to show the darkness of the waters during World War 2, in a unique way but the story is not strong enough to make the journey interesting to the viewer. The technical aspects of this film overpower everything else but the somber atmosphere at sea made it quite boring and the characters were emotionless throughout the film. It had so much potential to be a great film but the content just wasn’t there.

The Old Guard Review

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By: Amanda Guarragi 

The Old Guard is adapted from a graphic novel written by Greg Rucka and directed by Gina Prince- Bythewood. It is an introduction to ancient, immortal mercenaries, who have the ability to regenerate cells with Andy (Charlize Theron) being the oldest and leading the rest of the soldiers. They find out that the CIA knows what they are and they and they fight to protect their secret. The action slowly builds, as we learn more about these characters and their backstories. There is so much lore that can be explored and it feels like they didn’t even scratch the surface.

Bythewood gave incredible direction in the action scenes, they were really fluid, sharp and when the movements connected it looked slick. Every punch, knife swing or the pull of the trigger was perfectly timed and made it look effortless. The rest of the film did have pacing issues, I felt as if it dragged on and it took too much time to get from one location to the other. For a film that had solid action sequences, that spike your adrenaline, the rest of the film just seemed to exist. That is the only aspect that was lacking for this film and I wish it picked up a bit in the middle.

Charlize Theron and Kiki Layne were dynamite together and I loved seeing them work together. They both have such a strong presence on screen. Charlize had this calmness to Andy, she was subtle in her delivery but had so much emotion masked behind her eyes. You could feel that she was old and you could feel the grief that she was carrying. Kiki Layne had this innocence to Nile but had this warrior essence slowly building up inside her as the film went on. Their fight scene in the cargo plane was really well done and it’s probably my favourite scene in the whole film.

The Old Guard is jam packed with lore and intriguing characters, that will leave you wanting to know more. It is a pretty fun action film and the fight choreography was really unique to their immortal characters. It was a great way to start this story and considering how the film ended, we are banking on a well needed sequel. Everyone that worked on this film deserves a sequel because there is so much more left to unpack.

Palm Springs Review

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By: Amanda Guarragi 

Palm Springs had its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year and it instantly created buzz in the film community. It is directed by Max Barbakow, written by Andy Siara and it is a Lonely Island Classic picture. The film brings together two characters, Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) who have questioned their own existence and the decisions they have made. When they meet at Sarah’s sister, Tala’s (Camila Mendes) wedding, the night takes them on an interesting journey, which leads them to a cave and changes everything.

The film is unique to the time loop subgenre that has developed over the years. It has a refreshing structure and the editing is a huge part of it. The reason why this film is different to the genre is because there are more people involved in the time loop storyline. As we have seen in the past, majority of the time, it is only one character processing the idea of reliving the same day, over and over again. In this comedy, it has Nyles informing Sarah, how to approach the time loop in very humorous ways. There is a nice surprise with the addition of Roy (J.K. Simmons) to add an origin story for Nyles and his time loop journey.

It has a nice mixture of comedic moments and realistic discussions about life, which I really appreciated. The perception of loneliness, is always something that should be explored and how life can sometimes seem meaningless, if you do not have someone to share it with. That is why placing the central event, as a wedding day, in this film was extremely beneficial because of the weight it holds on everyone’s lives. It is very well crafted because they address so many different ideas of love and relationships.

Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti had excellent chemistry and solid comedic timing. They bounced off of each other extremely well and you could feel the freedom they had with these roles. The pacing was really strong because of how the story builds. Instead of just reliving the same day, in the same location, Barbakow and Siara explored different moments in the day and had them react differently to new information. The way they slowly revealed different aspects of their lives, was really well done and continuously surprised me.

Palm Springs adds so much depth to the time loop subgenre and it is a wonderful edition to The Lonely Island production library. It is probably one of the most charming films I have seen in a while and it will capture your heart. It is also constructed to always keep you on your toes because even though you are stuck in a time loop, life still comes at you fast and you have to adapt to every situation in the best way you can.

Miss Juneteenth Review

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By: Amanda Guarragi 

Miss Juneteenth is a film, about the generational effects of mothering and how choices can affect the future. This is Channing Godfrey Peoples directorial debut and she wrote the screenplay as well. The film is about a former beauty queen and single mother, Turquoise Jones (Nicole Beharie) who prepares her rebellious daughter, Kai Marie Jones (Alexis Chikaeze) for the ‘Miss Juneteenth’ pageant. The film shows Black heritage and the different opportunities that are made available for the Black community.

It begins with Turquoise reminiscing about her pageant days and the future she could have had. She sees her bright, young daughter and wants her to follow in her footsteps, in order to succeed. Turquoise wants her daughter to accomplish more than she did, which causes her to push her to her limit and overwork her for a pageant, she does not want to take part of. It does seem that Turquoise sees this as a redemption arc, for herself, if her daughter wins the pageant and gets the scholarship for university.

Turquoise worked hard to become ‘Miss Juneteenth’ and there was pressure, that came with the title but it also shows how circumstances, like an alcoholic mother, or a pregnancy, can lead to difficult decisions, that could change your life. The film pushes Turquoise back into the world of pageantry and she begins to doubt herself, in how she’s raising Kai. Turquoise can be seen as a very strict mother and Kai wants to express her creativity through dancing instead of becoming a clone of her mother, for this pageant.

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Courtesy Ley Line Entertainment (left) Nicole Beharie and Alexis Chikaeze

 

Nicole Beharie gives a nuanced, emotional, complex performance, as Turquoise and it is one of the best performances of the year. As she guides her daughter Kai, through the pageant, she picked up double shifts, to pay for her pageant run and she realized, that it meant more to her, than it did to her daughter. Turquoise was working three jobs and trying to make everything work, for her family but it seemed like everyone was against her. It may not have been intentional but Turquoise had to hustle and do everything for herself, when others fell through.

Turquoise had struggled with so many things in her life, including a strained relationship with her alcoholic mother. She was responsible for her own mother, from a very young age and she had to learn how to support herself. Those are choices that need to be made, in order to survive and that is what she did. She is a woman that would go to any lengths, to protect the people that are around her and go above and beyond for them, when times get rough.

Miss Juneteenth is a strong debut from Channing Godfrey Peoples, as she discusses the systemic racism and corruption in the Black community, in regards to equal opportunities for schooling and businesses. It shows the journey of a woman, who needed to make tough choices in order to survive, as she remembers a version of herself, that is now a ghost of her past life. Women sacrifice so many things for others around them, including their children and this was a film, that definitely showed the determination they have.