Ah, winter snowstorms. That magical time of year when people go outside to make snowmen or start snowball fights or sled down hills. The scenery is beautiful. So much fun!
You know what else is fun?
Staying inside.
With the fireplace on.
And laying under the blanket on the mattress in front of the TV while also wearing a hoodie for extra warmth.
The wife and I were in a total movie binge mode. We watched eight movies in one weekend. Eight! It was glorious.
Some of those were good, some were not. Add to that the movies we've watched in recent weeks, and we've had quite the start to 2021.
Take a look at my brief reactions/reviews to the movies we've watched so far. They are organized in order of scores, from lowest to highest. I'm also only including movies I watched for the first time (some of which released many years ago).
Also, spoiler warning: I definitely approach spoilery territory with some of these, so consider yourself warned!
Broken Vows (Amazon) - 4.0
For the most part, I've liked the stuff I've watched with Jaimie Alexander (The Thor movies, the show Blindspot). Broken Vows looked like another thrilling mystery movie. But it turned into little more than a terrible stalker movie with a bit of slashing at the end. No thought-provoking plot or anything like that. Instead, I had to waste time trying to interpret the director's terrible overuse of artsy gimmicks and useless camera-lens focusing tricks. The story posed a couple of interesting relationship dilemmas, but other than that, I found little that redeemed this flick.
Fatal Affair (Netflix) - 5.0
My wife and I had just finished binging Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on HBO Max (retrospective and top-10-episodes blogs are in the works!) in January, so it was a crazy coincidence that we came across a movie starring Nia Long. I probably haven't seen her in anything since FP, to be honest, so I wasn't holding my breath going into this one. Turns out that was a good decision. The movie was mostly boring. The acting wasn't that great. And the story was a little infuriating. Nia Long plays a wife who gets flirty with a man other than her husband, but the husband didn't really react the way I would've hoped he would after she told him. And that wasn't the only bad decision the wife made. The movie ends with a terrible slasher scene made worse when the stalker guy attacks the husband, who used to work on the police force (they made him way too useless in this movie).
30 Minutes or Less (HBO Max) - 5.0
Okay, this one was more of a guilty-pleasure viewing. Every once in a while, I want to watch a terrible comedy movie, and 30 Minutes or Less totally delivered (pun intended). It was refreshing to watch Jesse Eisenberg play Nick, a loser pizza delivery guy who isn't that annoying guy with all the snappy zingers and comebacks. He and his best friend are two morons who have intense discussions about mostly childish things. The premise was as silly as the movie: some guy needs $100,000 to hire an assassin, so he rigs a Kevlar vest with explosives and straps it to Nick and tells him to get the money by the end of the day or else he'll trigger the bombs to explode. So laughable. The movie had its fair share of jokes that both hit and missed. The ending was funny and satisfying. Totally don't regret watching this one.
Wonder Woman 1984 (HBO Max) - 6.0
This one was doomed from the start. The first Wonder Woman was so stinking good, but the DCEU has mostly been trash, so I didn't expect WW84 to get anywhere close to the original. I guess I can say I wasn't disappointed. The execution of the weird storyline was incoherent and vague. The fight scenes at the end were poorly shot and had terrible CG work. And the most interesting character was Kristen Wiig's Barbara, and even her character was somewhat botched. The first WW movie was compelling and ripe, full of impactful themes; its sequel, however, was mostly a just a corny superhero flick. It also doesn't work within the rest of the DCEU timeline (no way no one remembers her in later movies!). The invisible jet was a cool callback, though!
Fractured (Netflix) - 6.0
Fractured had such promise, especially for me. It had a hospital that's up to no-good, secret operations, even a bit of a horror element to it. A man who can't find his wife and daughter starts to catch on, but fights against forces he doesn't understand. There was some weird, mysterious stuff going on. Those elements should've lined up this movie to be a doozy; instead, the movie just dragged on and on. The audience is trolled as it is led to go back and forth between taking his side and believing he is just a crazy person. Then, we finally see what's truly going on, which seemingly provides a satisfactory (though predictable and uninteresting) ending. But then they drag it out and give us one of those game-changing twisty endings, but really, it just deflated the whole movie even more.
The Human Stain (HBO Max) - 6.0
The acting was superb, which isn't surprising with leads like Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, and a supporting cast that included Ed Harris and Gary Sinise (I will say, Sinise's role didn't exactly demand a stellar performance). The plot delivered a message about racism from a unique angle, and the story and character arcs had strong themes debunking certain notions about classism and how people escape their past. But the sum of the movie is less than what I would've expected. Its slow pace overstayed its welcome, but there were a few tense scenes that injected life into it from time to that made it worth it.
All Good Things (HBO Max) - 6.0
All Good Things is based on the true events surrounding the disappearance of Katie Marks (Kirsten Dunst), the wife of David Marks (Ryan Gosling). The Marks family was influential and rich from the Real Estate business in New York. I came into the movie knowing nothing about this story or the fact that these events in the 1970s and early '80s led to a court case decades later. But pacing completely killed the movie's potential; it mostly focused on the negligent relationship between Katie and David. It barely grazed over the actual details of the case, which, to me, was the most compelling part. It rushed through the weird relationship David developed with Malvern, an elderly man who learned about David's hidden secrets. Dunst and Gosling were mostly okay as the lead actors, but nothing else was really remarkable.
Run (Hulu) - 7.0
It seems to be a trend recently to tell stories of children getting mistreated and lied to for years about medical deficiencies. A mother has been telling a lie to her daughter for years, all for the sake of having someone to control. The daughter starts noticing some strange occurrences, and she starts making big discoveries the more she pulls at the strings. While the plot twists were okay - and predictable, especially since they alerted the audience to something fishy going on in the opening scene (a decision I feel detracted from the course of the movie) - the acting helped carry this across the finish line. A couple of major blow-up scenes after the cat got out of the bag demanded strong performances, and the cast delivered in the clutch. The final scene - when the daughter comes back to visit the mother in the hospital - was far more gratifying than it probably should've been.
News of the World (Theatre) - 7.0
Yes, my wife and I (and our Bible study group) actually watched a movie at the theatres! And oh boy, was I out of game shape. I dropped popcorn throughout the movie. I even had to go to the bathroom in the last half of the movie. So pathetic of me. But still, the movie-going experience enhanced what was a slightly above-average movie. Tom Hanks was exceptional as usual. At a glance, the story was dull before getting carried away to the outlandish. What started as a story about a man living in the 1860s traveling from town to town to read the newspapers at town meetings (most of the public couldn't read) evolved into a rather crazy adventure about getting a lost girl to her family. I took an interest in the possible ethics and news-telling aspects of the story, but the movie shifted gears and turned into a symbolic tale that would make for a great story of its own in those newspapers. It was a clever little revelation that redeems an otherwise slow-paced slog.
The Little Things (HBO Max) - 7.0
I love a good detective caper, and I like Denzel Washington and Rami Malek, but in a surprising twist, Jared Leto steals the show in this murder mystery. Washington plays a washed-up cop named Deke who manages to get involved with a high-profile case that seemingly ties to a cold case he worked on years ago to no avail. His story gets a bit overstuffed as some of the smaller details revealed throughout his arc mostly get lost in the shuffle. The movie really kicks into high gear when Deke and Baxter (Malek) start tailing Leto's character Albert Sparma. In one scene, Sparma is coy and snarky, like Joker in The Dark Knight as he outwits his interrogators. He later tricks Baxter during a stakeout that begins the ramp-up to the bizarre ending. While I didn't feel I got satisfying closure to the story, the movie managed to leave the audience questioning the truth in clever fashion.
The Spinning Man (Hulu) - 7.0
The ending to The Spinning Man was so anticlimactic (and a bit bizarre) that it kind of derailed my overall feelings about this movie about a missing person. For the majority of the story, we teeter back and forth between either taking the dad's side (played incredibly well by Guy Pearce, by the way) and hating on the cops, or questioning this guy's morals and methods, especially when it comes to interacting with his wife, all while hoping the cops nail this guy. The writing was clever to mislead the audience and open the door to some flip-flopping, but when we get to the ending and realize the dad's past, while very ugly, didn't play a factor in the reveal, I was kind of left with this "Well, duh," kind of feeling. The mysterious disappearance of a cheerleader wasn't the most compelling storyline, though the small-town setting and the close-proximity operations of the cops added enough intrigue and tension. Minnie Driver's performance as the wife was solid. The directing was up and down, but not obtrusive. Solid movie, but also kind of forgettable.
Nocturnal Animals (Netflix) - 8.0
This was one of the better psychological thrillers I've seen in a while. First of all, I'm a sucker for stories that involve the characters reading books that parallel certain themes that happen in the movie itself; it's very meta and cool to pick up on. Jake Gyllenhaal played a crazy man bent on revenge, and he did so very well. Amy Adams' role was a little softer, but her performance was no less impactful. The end scene was simply amazing. Without spoiling too much, the way the tables turn was incredibly satisfying. Huge warning, though: the opening scene had a bunch of nudity in a tasteless, classes way and was a total atrocity and insult to art. There's probably hidden meaning in the scene, but it's not worth watching the grotesqueries (I forwarded through the scene).
Lie (Amazon) - 8.0
This movie presented such a thought-provoking dilemma, even though it's such an easy conclusion to reach: how far should parents go to protect their children when they commit murder? This high-school girl allegedly kills her friend on a road trip with her dad (who stayed in the car). The dad immediately begins the cover-up. He takes her to her mother's house (the couple is separated), and for the rest of the movie, they experience so much tension that permeates every scene. The dad of the girl who allegedly died is a neighbor, and he starts to pick up on things. One of the mom's friends is a cop, who starts out helping her, but later gets suspicious. The lie starts crashing in from all around them, and they have to take drastic measures. Then...that ending. Oh man, I was super furious, but in a good way. I mean, I called it early in the movie, but I also still couldn't believe it when it happened. Great flick.
Nightcrawler (Netflix) - 9.0
Wow, what a movie. First of all, I've never cared for Jake Gyllenhaal, but I might start caring more. His performance in Nightcrawler was outstanding as he spearheaded another great Netflix movie. The story about this creepy weirdo guy working his way into the news industry was fascinating to witness and hit a personal nostalgia stroke for me. He does odds-and-ends jobs, then correspondence work, to buy better equipment to produce better work, which leads to more jobs (the way it should work). The story elevates so much when he delves into ethically gray areas. But as his reputation grows, so do the stakes. The negotiation tactics he uses were genius as he climbs up the ranks, but how far exactly is he willing to go to get the latest scoop? Way too far, of course, which is when the movie accelerates even more and ramps up to an incredibly climactic ending that gives you a sense of disbelief and awe.
The Boy Downstairs (Hulu) - 9.0
So I'm pretty sure Zosai Mamet is one of my favorite actresses right now, even though I've only seen her in two things (the first being The Flight Attendant; you can read my review here). Mamet brings a high degree of fun, intelligence, wittiness, and sensibility to her roles. Even in what should be considered little more than a typical rom-com, Mamet stays dignified, yet still heartwarming, when she falls into the classic tropes of the genre. In The Boy Downstairs, she plays the unlucky girl who has to break up with her boyfriend because she's moving away (to England, I think it was), but when she moves back to New York, she happens to move into the same building as her ex. What makes it more awkward is the realtor who showed her the apartment also happens to be dating her ex. Such tense awkwardness! The structure of the movie played in the reverse pattern of another one of my favorite movies ever, 500 Days of Summer. I laughed, I felt sad, and, at the end, I felt conflicted because I was upset at the path she and her ex took to get to where they ended up, but I was happy they got there regardless.
Paterson (Amazon) - 9.0
I'm not going to lie. I chose to watch this movie purely because Adam Driver was in it. At first glance, this was absolutely not a movie I expected to like. Paterson is simply a story about poetry and the day-to-day doldrums of the work week, the momentary relief of evening life, and the freedom that comes with the weekend. But wow, is there so much more underneath the surface. The out-of-the-ordinary things that happen to Paterson prove to truly inspire, so much so that the rest of the mundane, repetitive stuff in his life (such as the same old conversation he has with his whoa-is-me co-worker every day) becomes comical or dismissive. And yet, the movie stayed focused and took solace in the repetitive, proving that even those parts of life are worth observing and investing in. But the crux of why I liked this movie was the notion of toggling between living passively and actively. Can a person be truly moved simply by observing and making the most out of his circumstances? Does the nature of observation ironically shape your activity? Who's to say; the genius part of this movie is the writer doesn't give a definitive answer one way or the other, as all things poetry related tend to do. Paterson writes poetry in his private notebook, and the climax of the movie was when his dog ate his notebook. The sadness and loss felt in that moment was gut-wrenching and fully earned. Yet, in the final scene, when Paterson talks to a stranger at a park bench about poetry and persevering, you can't help but sense the elation and joy and inspiration that refuels Paterson. What a surprising movie; it's definitely not for everyone, but I hope those who do watch it come out with a better understanding of appreciation.