September: Movie Madness!
For obvious reasons (aka, I'm busy as all-get-out with school!) I watched far less movies than usual this month. Of the movies I did watch, I don't think any of them really blew me away either (okay, actually Get Out was pretty stinking good), which is kind of disappointing. In fact, the films I had to watch for classes were some of the more memorable and interesting movies that I ended up seeing this month!
The Sweet Life
Netflix
7/10
This movie had all the ingredients of a movie I SHOULD like...and I mean, I guess I KINDA did...but not that much. The music was weird and clowny and made it seem like it took place in France...except for the song at the ending credits which I actually liked quite a lot. The guy was attractive in his own way, but didn't have much of a personality. Same goes for the girl. her personality was just to "be crazy" and "hate everything".There were lots of unresolved, never described plot holes, not to mention much of the plot relied on sexual stuff which was really unnecessary for a story of this nature. There were a few really funny quotes and moments, but not enough to carry the whole film. Plus, there were more than a few times where my disbelief just couldn't be suspended any longer and I just had to roll my eyes or smirk because such absurdity would never occur. I really feel like this movie had such potential, but the script needed like five more rounds of editing and revision for it to really be up to par. Also, the only thing anyone can think of when they hear "The Sweet Life" is "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody". It's inescapable.
#RealityHigh
Netflix
6/10
This movie tried really hard to be a good modern teen movie, with lots of hip and happening current language and themes, and lots of #diversity and #indiemoodlighting. But no. It just didn't do it for me. It didn't make any new statements that haven't already been said a million times before in other teen movies-- teen movies, that I might add, are better than this one. Not surprisingly, despite its efforts, this film still falls prey to the age old epidemic: all the teens look to be in their late 20s, and are strikingly beautiful with perfect skin and expensive wardrobes. It's almost like this movie's one claim to fame is that "Hey, not everybody in this movie is white!" Beyond that, they didn't try very hard to make it interesting at all. The main guy was super cute, so they get a few points for that. But I actually didn't like his character that much. I guess I was supposed to believe he wasn't actually shallow, even though he was dating the most shallow girl in school? Whateverrrrrrrr. The end result was just another teen movie with nothing special about it except the fact that the whole thing is in this weird moody yellow lighting and the main characters, instead of being affluent white people, are affluent people of color. I'm a little disappointed in the makers of this film, to be honest.
Get Out
SAB Lost films @ Messiah College
9/10
The more I think about this movie, the more I like it! There's just so much to digest and discuss about this film! There's no real way to talk about this movie without giving away a ton of spoilers, or gushing over all the hidden meanings and symbolism, so you should really just watch it yourself first so you can get the full effect. But I will say that I was pleasantly surprised. I had heard this movie was good, but I thought maybe people were just saying that because it was really popular and had a "message". Like sometimes I think the political statement a movie is trying to make can sometimes overshadow the other aspects of the film (plot, cinematography, acting) to the point that people feel the need to say they like something for fear of looking like a jerk or going against the flow. But having actually watched this movie for myself I can say definitively that that is not the case. Yes, there is a statement being made-- there are many-- but those statements are made in a cohesive and intelligent way in conjunction WITH the plot, cinematography and acting, rather than instead of the plot, cinematography, and acting. I also think the casting was spot on, especially for the main character, who I first fell in love with in Black Mirror: Daniel Kaluuya is just so so so good and I want to see him in every movie ever for the rest of my life, haha. I wasn't crazy about the mom, but I can't tell if I didn't like the choice of actress, or if I just didn't like the character cuz she's a total lunatic. Either way, there is very very little to complain about in regards to this film. I really think it will be considered one of the greatest theatrical accomplishments of our time, on multiple levels.
Roots: The Next Generations
Watched for a class
8/10
I had to watch this for my Intercultural Communications class, and I am certainly not complaining about that! If a teacher wants to get straight to my heart, all he/she needs to do is show a movie in class or assign one as homework. It's actually not a movie, but just one episode in the miniseries from 1979, but from what I can tell, each episode stands alone fairly well, and are all about an hour and a half. Having watched this first episode, I can definitely say that I would definitely watch the rest of the series because it's really good! In fact, the subject matter is so controversial that I think if the same series were made nowadays, it would be far less meaningful because of a focus on Political Correctness, so I think this 1979 version is very well done because it doesn't shy away from the actual subject matter one bit.
The Sun Never Sets: The Story of a Small Town Newspaper
Watched in class
8/10
This is a documentary about a small local newspaper (The Rio Grande Sun) in New Mexico that happens to be one of the most famous and best circulated papers in the U.S. I thought at first that this would be a really boring documentary, but it proved to be quite the opposite. It was hilarious and shocking and intriguing because all of the people in this little town of Espanola are totally crazy and lovable. I honestly think there should be a whole reality series about Espanola and this newspaper-- which is famous for basically defaming all the local government officials and authority figures. There's also just something so endearing about this newspaper and the fact that they're so old fashioned in how they distribute their news: they have no online presence and the paper has been sold literally in the streets for decades, making it almost a family tradition that many individuals in the town have grown up with and known their whole lives, which is really unique.
Annoyingly, it appears that there's nowhere to watch this film online, and it's not very popular or well known, so there's no inexpensive watching or purchase option anywhere. There's not even a good trailer. I honestly don't even know how my professor got a hold of this movie.
Carrie Pilby
Netflix
7.5/10
This movie was pretty good...I would say I loved the first half hour and then it kind of plateaued a bit for me and never rose back up again (except for all the cute scenes with the lovely William Moseley. But his distractingly bad American accent kind of contributed to the less-than-great-ness of parts of this movie). First of all, the main character isn't very likable, which is the point, but who wants to watch a whole movie about an unlikable person? I mean she definitely redeems herself in some major ways, but she still just has kind of a grating, condescending personality in general.
The one thing I really loved about this movie was the fact that the main character really values her morals. That is something that does not come up a lot in modern movies. In most chick flicks these days, she would have ended up with the engaged dude just because he happened to be nice and charming and have a lot in common with her, and there would have been no regard for the fact that, um, he's engaged! But in this movie, Carrie just can't get past that fact and basically tells the dude to bugger off because she will not be party to his adultery. Right on Carrie Pilby.
There's also just a general sense of cuteness and fun and relatability as a college student to Carrie's feelings and actions. So even if some things could have been done better, a lot of things in this movie were also done just right.
VaughnDL
The Sweet Life
Netflix
7/10
This movie had all the ingredients of a movie I SHOULD like...and I mean, I guess I KINDA did...but not that much. The music was weird and clowny and made it seem like it took place in France...except for the song at the ending credits which I actually liked quite a lot. The guy was attractive in his own way, but didn't have much of a personality. Same goes for the girl. her personality was just to "be crazy" and "hate everything".There were lots of unresolved, never described plot holes, not to mention much of the plot relied on sexual stuff which was really unnecessary for a story of this nature. There were a few really funny quotes and moments, but not enough to carry the whole film. Plus, there were more than a few times where my disbelief just couldn't be suspended any longer and I just had to roll my eyes or smirk because such absurdity would never occur. I really feel like this movie had such potential, but the script needed like five more rounds of editing and revision for it to really be up to par. Also, the only thing anyone can think of when they hear "The Sweet Life" is "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody". It's inescapable.#RealityHigh
Netflix
6/10
This movie tried really hard to be a good modern teen movie, with lots of hip and happening current language and themes, and lots of #diversity and #indiemoodlighting. But no. It just didn't do it for me. It didn't make any new statements that haven't already been said a million times before in other teen movies-- teen movies, that I might add, are better than this one. Not surprisingly, despite its efforts, this film still falls prey to the age old epidemic: all the teens look to be in their late 20s, and are strikingly beautiful with perfect skin and expensive wardrobes. It's almost like this movie's one claim to fame is that "Hey, not everybody in this movie is white!" Beyond that, they didn't try very hard to make it interesting at all. The main guy was super cute, so they get a few points for that. But I actually didn't like his character that much. I guess I was supposed to believe he wasn't actually shallow, even though he was dating the most shallow girl in school? Whateverrrrrrrr. The end result was just another teen movie with nothing special about it except the fact that the whole thing is in this weird moody yellow lighting and the main characters, instead of being affluent white people, are affluent people of color. I'm a little disappointed in the makers of this film, to be honest.Get Out
SAB Lost films @ Messiah College
9/10
The more I think about this movie, the more I like it! There's just so much to digest and discuss about this film! There's no real way to talk about this movie without giving away a ton of spoilers, or gushing over all the hidden meanings and symbolism, so you should really just watch it yourself first so you can get the full effect. But I will say that I was pleasantly surprised. I had heard this movie was good, but I thought maybe people were just saying that because it was really popular and had a "message". Like sometimes I think the political statement a movie is trying to make can sometimes overshadow the other aspects of the film (plot, cinematography, acting) to the point that people feel the need to say they like something for fear of looking like a jerk or going against the flow. But having actually watched this movie for myself I can say definitively that that is not the case. Yes, there is a statement being made-- there are many-- but those statements are made in a cohesive and intelligent way in conjunction WITH the plot, cinematography and acting, rather than instead of the plot, cinematography, and acting. I also think the casting was spot on, especially for the main character, who I first fell in love with in Black Mirror: Daniel Kaluuya is just so so so good and I want to see him in every movie ever for the rest of my life, haha. I wasn't crazy about the mom, but I can't tell if I didn't like the choice of actress, or if I just didn't like the character cuz she's a total lunatic. Either way, there is very very little to complain about in regards to this film. I really think it will be considered one of the greatest theatrical accomplishments of our time, on multiple levels.Roots: The Next Generations
Watched for a class
8/10
I had to watch this for my Intercultural Communications class, and I am certainly not complaining about that! If a teacher wants to get straight to my heart, all he/she needs to do is show a movie in class or assign one as homework. It's actually not a movie, but just one episode in the miniseries from 1979, but from what I can tell, each episode stands alone fairly well, and are all about an hour and a half. Having watched this first episode, I can definitely say that I would definitely watch the rest of the series because it's really good! In fact, the subject matter is so controversial that I think if the same series were made nowadays, it would be far less meaningful because of a focus on Political Correctness, so I think this 1979 version is very well done because it doesn't shy away from the actual subject matter one bit.The Sun Never Sets: The Story of a Small Town Newspaper
Watched in class
8/10
This is a documentary about a small local newspaper (The Rio Grande Sun) in New Mexico that happens to be one of the most famous and best circulated papers in the U.S. I thought at first that this would be a really boring documentary, but it proved to be quite the opposite. It was hilarious and shocking and intriguing because all of the people in this little town of Espanola are totally crazy and lovable. I honestly think there should be a whole reality series about Espanola and this newspaper-- which is famous for basically defaming all the local government officials and authority figures. There's also just something so endearing about this newspaper and the fact that they're so old fashioned in how they distribute their news: they have no online presence and the paper has been sold literally in the streets for decades, making it almost a family tradition that many individuals in the town have grown up with and known their whole lives, which is really unique.Annoyingly, it appears that there's nowhere to watch this film online, and it's not very popular or well known, so there's no inexpensive watching or purchase option anywhere. There's not even a good trailer. I honestly don't even know how my professor got a hold of this movie.
Carrie Pilby
Netflix
7.5/10
The one thing I really loved about this movie was the fact that the main character really values her morals. That is something that does not come up a lot in modern movies. In most chick flicks these days, she would have ended up with the engaged dude just because he happened to be nice and charming and have a lot in common with her, and there would have been no regard for the fact that, um, he's engaged! But in this movie, Carrie just can't get past that fact and basically tells the dude to bugger off because she will not be party to his adultery. Right on Carrie Pilby.
There's also just a general sense of cuteness and fun and relatability as a college student to Carrie's feelings and actions. So even if some things could have been done better, a lot of things in this movie were also done just right.
VaughnDL
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