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matthewsthatcher
Reviews
Gaslit (2022)
Watch it.
Like Winning Time you need to not take things too seriously and just enjoy smart people making ridiculous choices that sunk a lot of careers. That being said the first episode had 5 or 6 moments that brought a sense of humanity to these characters that we are not used to seeing on the small screen.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
Not Disney Quality
I get the idea of bringing in new talent, but this is more what we expect from other animation companies, not Disney. What we get are the writers trying to millennialize the characters. "Gives me bad feels?"
The worst thing is the humor is not grounded in the characters, which amounts to fart jokes.
Nomadland (2020)
Into the Mild
If you are the type of person who would skip all the sad and troubling parts of Into the Wild and just wish the whole movie was about Chris McCandless going to cool places and hanging out with quirky people, this is the movie for you. Gone are the abusive and enabling parents. Mental illness is replaced by an honest and brave character and oh yeah, that whole bus thing doesn't happen. This isn't to say this is a bad movie. I actually really like the not sad and troubling parts of Into the Wild.
For those who like the use of real people in the movie, just just actors, if you haven't seen it you might want to check out Land and Freedom.
Our Friend (2019)
Okay
Is it a buddy movie? Is it a melodramatic tear jerker? No, it's something in between that doesn't quite fit on either end.
This is a problem of the source material that is mostly a horror story of human physical and mental decay that critics wouldn't really watch but give raving reviews if someone actually cared to release that film, while nobody would pay to see it. The other problem with the source material is that the title character is so scarcely sketched. In trying to fill out this character, the screenwriters neglected to actually make us really believe these two were best friends so that Dane couldn't perceive doing anything but offer his full devotion and instead seem to try it make some connection to Dane's own preexisting depression. Misery loves company I guess? The issue is we don't get this in the source material except for a sense that perhaps Dane had an emotional crash after the death. So it feels more like an homage to other Segal characters than the actual material from which the movie was drawn.
I get it. This story isn't 50/50. No, it's something like should make the brutal Amour feel like a stroll in the park. Unfortunately by trying to find a middle ground we get something that doesn't really satisfy on either front.
Now if you want a rather easy to watch tear jerker with likable characters this is your jam.
The Boys (2019)
Takes the freshest view
Of today's social issues. We get strong female characters without merely being vehicles for victimage. At the same time we get male characters with unchecked power acting poorly who are not just one dimensional villians.
On top of this we get a running narrative of how the moment's social justice trope is packaged for millennials through focus groups and manipulative media in a way that shows the emptiness and immaturity of so much of it.
Although, it isn't just a condemnation of political correctness, as through an admitted tongue and cheek approach, it reveals how unchecked power can truly oppress. We can only hope this starts a trend in more nuanced approaches to social issues.
On top of all this is a truly first rate cast. I haven't read the source material, so I admittedly don't know if there was any casting that changed the nature of the story in a negative way. But based on the story that's being told on screen everyone is spot on.
Years and Years (2019)
Big ideas - small results
I had high hopes after the premier. Nonetheless, the story ended up falling into contemporary tropes and losing its most interesting possibilities for story lines. Instead, we get extremely predictable turns and any thing that could be considered unexpected gets passed off as a quick news flash so the writers can go back to preaching to the choir of the day.
Feels a bit like the trying to fill out a checklist for contemporary critics to lazily score a review.
That being said, the actors do their best with what they have to work.