Slovenly_Muse

I wasn't sure what to make of this movie at first - it was interesting, but not exactly edge-of-your-seat fascinating. It began by meandering through some odd sequences of dubious necessity, but once The Outdoorsman showed up, it all started to click. The mysteries kept me on the hook throughout, and when it came time to resolve those mysteries, this movie DELIVERED! I wish I could give content warnings without spoiling major plot points, but I'll just stay that this movie made me sad and upset, in a way that I loved.

I completely loved everything this film managed to do. To be so unrelentingly bleak and brutal, and still endlessly hopeful, to have all these layers and interconnected pieces of the human experience resonate in exactly the perfect frequencies with each other, is a massive accomplishment. Probably my favourite film that I've seen all year.

Take off your shirt, sling a towel over your shoulder, and enjoy this delightful 80's cheesefest. 10/10, no notes.

A masterpiece of cruelty, power, and genius. It manages to be both empathetic and unforgiving, icily detached and perpetually about to boil over. Intricately complex, and yet, at its core, starkly simple.

It is an absolutely bonkers decision to tell the story of a historical mass-killing of a minority population... from the point of view of the murderers. This is a hateful movie about hateful people, that is not inherently interested in the experience of the victims, but focuses all its attention on the perpetrators. It mostly handwaves away the victims' perspectives by pretending that they somehow don't know who is preying upon them and why, and can therefore take no action to defend themselves, when the real life events were far more complicated (and interesting). It is way too long, and somehow not long enough to do justice to its subject matter. It is not interested in the parts that are actually interesting, preferring to revel in the simplistic cruelty of the killers and call it a narrative. I wish I'd never seen it.

It was certainly an intense experience, and a shock to the system to see much of the violence of modern warfare enacted on American streets. But I do wonder exactly what point Alex Garland was trying to convey. By deliberately stripping the two warring sides of political context and political resemblance to current factions, he certainly avoided stepping on sensitive toes, but he also removed some very important opportunities to explore the deeper meaning of the war and its causes. It was very well done, but ultimately felt hollow. Seeing a strangely apolitical war play out through the eyes of apolitical journalists left me wondering what it was all for. What exactly IS the "peaceful" America that our characters remember? How did they lose it, and what is the path to getting it back? This movie makes a lot of noise, but on the questions that really matter, it has nothing to say.

Boring and underbaked. A solid concept squandered with a painfully lazy script.

Despite a strong cast, the movie is cluttered and the narrative muddy enough to be incomprehensible in places. Too many moving parts, not enough groundwork for their movements to tell a story.

While the story itself is less than airtight, this is a tightly-directed, effective little creepfest!

An enjoyable and inspiring look at the innovators and young scientists rising to tackle problems of global import, as well as a testament to what young people can be capable of achieving.

Fighting fire with hellfire, this documentary highlights The Satanic Temple's ingenious methods of resisting the creeping Christian theocracy by calling out religious hypocrisy, standing up for secular freedoms, and celebrating religious pluralism.

A stylish, weird, silly, sex-positive, empathetic high school coming-of-age film. What's not to love?

A well-acted, enjoyable enough illumination of the emptiness behind performative social media posts, but ultimately fails to land a point about meaningful relationships, or offer a solution to the loneliness social media can exacerbate.

Part personal essay, part biography, this is a fascinating, inspiring portrait of one of America's greatest writers. It helps to have some familiarity with her work, but even if you don't, you'll leave with a new respect for this remarkable author.

A very serviceable, atmospheric retelling of the plot of Jackson's classic novel. This film is well-crafted, brilliantly performed, and stylistically effective. However, there is a unique, disturbing, off-kilter quality to the novel, giving it power and depth, that cannot be recaptured through a visual medium. Through no fault of its own, the film falls just short of the mark.

Illuminates with stunning clarity the policies of SeaWorld and other organizations that keep Orca captive, which treat not only the whales with breathtaking cruelty, but the trainers as well.

Unlike other tales of wilderness survival, this movie centers not around the perils and hardships of the outdoors, but rather the indomitable human kindness that community can provide.

A thoroughly engrossing, mind-bending portrayal of a feat so extraordinary, it seems almost impossible to believe the human race, as it exists today, could be capable of such a thing.

Difficult to watch, both because of the subject matter and the nauseating, gyroscopic camerawork, and offers little reward for persevering. It is difficult to empathize with characters too numerous to properly develop, and the horror aspect offered little that was original or unexpected.

A wildly entertaining film, with strong performances and a unique visual style, that also offers much to unpack about the shifting dynamics of privilege and oppression.

An energetic, inventive, totally unique foray into the Spider-Man universe. Come for the vibrant, note-perfect visual storytelling, and stay for one of the greatest post-credits sequences of all time.

Honnold's climb is absolutely breathtaking. The broader context of his life and relationships can feel like filler by comparison.

A tender and nuanced, though loosely-woven, examination **** of friends, their love of skateboarding, and their struggle to break the cycles of violence and poverty that have shaped their lives.

An enthralling love letter of a film whose story is told not just through dialogue, but through the rich symbolism that permeates every scene. Affectionate, restrained, and painfully present in every moment, "Roma" is a cinematic feast.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" wanders through many moments from the history of Freddie Mercury and Queen, without a real sense of narrative direction, purpose, or artistic point of view. Rami Malek's performance is impressive, although frustratingly hampered by prosthetic teeth. Like "The Disaster Artist" this biopic shies away from more challenging or interesting truths due to the overinvolvement of one of its subjects in crafting the story. The music of Queen is the most enjoyable thing about this movie, which, as crutches go, is a pretty damn good one.

The standout performance of Melissa McCarthy's career, this film brings just the right amount of edge, empathy, and colour to the more-or-less true story of Lee Israel.

Competently directed, with superb acting and many stirring emotional moments, this film can't quite surpass its sense of being a vanity project for Bradley Cooper. It is much more tightly focused on Jack than Ally, to the point of nearly abandoning exploration of Ally's complicated feelings about her own rising **** midway, and ceding all points it almost makes about sexism and fame to the music industry, in order to get on with Jack's story. Unevenly paced, and with some dangling threads to pick up, the film was enjoyable, but ultimately lacked the courage to take its breakout song's promised dive into the deep end.

A spirited, nuanced, absurd portrayal of friendship, proximity to power, transactional affection, and even, if you squint, love.

Regardless of the occasional rough patches and loose threads, this is a very enjoyable, fascinating film that makes excellent use of a small budget and delivers on its unsettling story.

An affecting movie, which could have been improved by centering the story more firmly around its black protagonist, and avoiding overly-simplistic story beats celebrating white characters for overcoming racism.

A striking and empathetic portrayal of the "middle years" stage of growing up. At turns sweet, surprising, awkward, heartbreaking, and hopeful, it speaks to the perceived "weird kid" in all of us.

Not content to simply present a fun human interest story (identical triplets separated at birth reuniting by chance as adults), this documentary delves into the story and peels back layer after fascinating layer.

A competent film that, unfortunately, shies away from the most radical, progressive, challenging, and interesting aspects of Shelley's life, contenting itself instead to portray her as a mostly conventional girl, caught up as a sort of victim of her acquaintances' unconventional practices and thereby suffering for her art. In this film, Shelley is mostly defined by her relationship to Percy, and the publication of her first and most famous novel is seen as the end of her story, rather than the beginning.

The cinematic equivalent of spending a long afternoon in a historic old bookshop. Perfect for those who'd consider that a dream day, but for moviegoers who'd like a story wider in scope, the film leaves a lot of story elements unexplored.

A nuanced, complicated, human portrayal of two people who need each other, depend on each other, use each other, and at times, love each other. Glenn Close's performance is masterful as the elegant and understated Joan, beginning for the first time to examine the old patterns into which she and her husband have fallen, and to see their old habits with new eyes.

For Brady, riding and training horses is not just work; it's a labour of love. Love is what shines through every frame of this film. It creates the darkest pits, and is waiting there for us when we fall.

Not since "Mysterious Skin" has a film so tenderly explored the psychological effects of sexual abuse on children as they develop into adults around the minefields of their own coping mechanisms. The fact that the film is autobiographical grants it additional layers of intimacy, empathy, and strength.

Opting for steady optimism and good-heartedness over bite, this dramedy, much like the waitstaff at Double Whammies, gets by on easygoing charm, and only gives you a taste of its true depths. Its most powerful message is about sisterhood, and while it has little to offer that's unique on that topic, its point is well-made and it sticks.

The mounting absurdity of the premise is made all the sweeter by the film's deadpan delivery. It offers a refreshing and fascinating take on relationships and loneliness, but the film unfortunately plateaus in its final third and goes on a touch too long. If you like movies that need you to put in some brain power, give this one a shot!

John Cameron Mitchell excels at depicting the complicated ways humans love each other. Apart from being a rock and roll masterpiece, this film tenderly layers pain and love, and depicts the endless human search for the other half... the one who can put us back together.

An entertaining-enough look at the process of creating "the worst movie ever made." However, Wiseau's involvement meant pulling some punches, and the film lacks the fearless honesty that could have elevated it to greatness.

Strong performances help spin this big-hearted, wrenching tale of a community struggling to survive in the shadow of the "Happiest Place on Earth."

A lush visual masterpiece powered by strong performances, I wanted to love it, but the thin supporting characters who never really get their moment, and story dots that fell frustratingly shy of connecting, left me coming out of this movie ruminating on ways it could have been improved, rather than being blown away by what it achieved.

Brilliantly captures that beautiful bubble of transition between dramatic teenage years and adult maturity, combined with a realistic and wrenching portrayal of complicated familial love.

A clever and well-structured drama that gets a hook into everyday racial microaggressions at the tip, and uses them to dredge up the rest of the iceberg. Strong writing and strong performances make this unsettling film, which is even better on rewatch.

A film that has nothing to say about the events of Dunkirk, war in general, or the people affected by it. The time-shifting device is needlessly confusing, and serves no narrative purpose but to give you something to think about, since the story and characters won't.

A beautifully-shot, cinematic retelling of the least interesting aspects of the least interesting events taking place during WWII. Gary Oldman's prosthetic makeup gives a strong performance as Churchill. Ultimately, the film fails to make a point or an impression.

I appreciated what Smith was trying to do with this movie, and it is overall successful, even though it doesn't connect every dot. Rami Malek does a fabulous job, but is not the boldest choice of lead, given the material. This movie probably won't surprise you, but it might engage you and leave you feeling the good kind of confused.

Should have been titled "American Remake of the 2004 Italian Film 'I'm Not Scared.'" This film makes some changes to the concept, but unfortunately the movie suffers for them. While the film is right to focus on Gitty's coming-of-age experience instead of the minute details of the situation, it leaves too many loose ends, and takes too many unsatisfying turns, to meet the standard of its obvious inspiration.

Bonkers in the best way, blending unthinkable trauma with unexplainable events, and creating a gorgeous stylistic atmosphere infused with exactly the right amount of dread. It will keep you enthralled and off-balance, and even if it doesn't, the performances will knock your socks off.