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ethancolebennett
Reviews
Emo: The Musical (2016)
Offensively bad.
The positive reviews, especially the ones saying this is fun for the whole family, are probably people that worked on the movie.
The acting is painful. The use of self harm as a joke is just disappointing. The music is exhausting. It doesn't do anything very well at all. The movie doesn't take itself seriously yet is so unfunny and grueling to watch. There are no nods to actual emo culture. And you could probably guess everything that happens after like 20 minutes of watching.
The actor that plays Ethan just looks so goofy and fake the whole time - he is not selling this weird boomer stereotype of an emo at all. Don't get me wrong though, nobody could ever have been good for this role because the script is cursed.
A Christmas Story Christmas (2022)
A Christmas Story Christmas: A Movie
Well, this movie was pretty inoffensive but also rather bland. I appreciate the homage to older movies and they were done pretty well but they do lose a bit of the charm when it's done with contemporary technology. From the first 20 minutes I could pretty much figure out the entire plot. I remembered saying out loud my predictions and watched all of them come true. What can I say, it wants to be like an American classic... An ALL-American classic.
Yeah there's ONE person of color in this movie. I don't know if that matters to you or not but it is an interesting observation. Were they trying a bit too hard to pay tribute to the source material? That's up for you to decide. Did feel a bit jarring to me personally though.
Overall I wished this movie was more... Bad? I did enjoy a few little moments (the ramp thing was kinda cute i guess) but I mostly felt nothing. I'd rather be entertained by how goofy a bad movie is than feel nothing about a perfectly fine movie. I think this movie will go down as "One of the Movies Ever Made".
There was a snowball fight scene and I just sat there watching these characters I am not invested in giggle and laugh and throw snowballs at each other and I thought to myself "am I supposed to be smiling too?" I like sentimental moments in movies but it just wasn't selling it for me. It felt distinctly cheap.
Okay I'm done talking about this movie now, I just want to forget.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)
It's fine.
I think the backlash towards this show is frankly stupid - that is the only word that truly describes the outrage. It's true to the comic book character, deviates from the typical Marvel formula, and even predicted it's own backlash.
A lot of the negative observations people have about the show just feel empty and like they need something to throw their criticism at to lower their blood pressure. Let's be honest, this show was gonna have outrage even if it was "perfect".
This show was a lot more fun, entertaining, and soulful compared to most MCU shows, save for Loki and Wanda Vision. The MCU is weird and formulaic, and ironically funny when it takes itself too seriously. She-Hulk acknowledges that and subverts it. I'm not gonna sit here like a baby and complain about CGI when I enjoyed the jokes (for the most part), liked spending time with the characters, and was interested to see where things go. It was a good time for my girlfriend and I to watch, and I have no idea what the vocal critics of this show would rather have seen. I've hardly seen any mature critique towards this show that attempts to be constructive or objective.
People, just try having fun for once. You might like it!
Gamer (2009)
Needlessly depraved with little payoff. Tonally confusing.
I can't tell people how to make movies, and I wouldn't want to. I believe in the freedom of expression if it isn't harming others. However, I also believe pretty firmly that if a movie uses intense violence and sexual assault scenes, ideally there should be a point to it. A message.
Unfortunately, those types of scenes in this movie feel voyeuristic and shallow. Which is honestly super ironic, considering this movie seems to want to warn humanity against these type of things. It wants us to see these sickos controlling other people and licking blood of their arms as wrong and reprehensible. Yet as a viewer we are forced to reconcile with the sensationalized gore and nudity that shows up during scenes that clearly aren't framed as something to be critical about. I get the feeling the movie wants me to be disgusted by human's violent tendencies while still thinking the scenes of Kable killing people are badass. Make shallow critiques about how society glorifies violence and bloodsport all you want - we are still literally watching an action movie with glorified violence. It's tonally confusing. You are meant to enjoy the spectacle - except when you're not. So what gives? The only way I can say this movie is "successful" is if the creators intended to make a vapid, corny, sleazy movie that doesn't even try to subvert expectations, while attempting to build a facade of a deep, thought provoking and scathing critique on the shortcomings of humanity.
The "Society" game is presented as a hypersexualized and sleazy virtual space. Yet all shots of nudity (there's plenty) involve only women, except for one scene where a man flashes his butt, which was not sexual in any way. You get the feeling that the directors wanted to show you how depraved people can get - the predatory men are framed as people who objectify women. Which is honestly hilarious to me because it's so obvious that the writing team is guilty of the same offenses considering that this movie exists. No men were objectified - but I'd wager that wasn't a self aware decision by the writing team. In fact, my guess is that when you only know how to write women who are abused, a damsel in distress, or ditzy as hell, you probably aren't concerned with analyzing the "male gaze" in any meaningful capacity and you certainly aren't concerned about showing how men can also be preyed on and objectified. We are shown that women's bodies are seen as objects in these worlds but doesn't really challenge that - in fact it seemingly reinforces it by spending so much effort and screentime on showing us women's bodies in sexual situations - including sexually violent situations that have no pay off and serve only as a set up for a clearly bad person to get punished. There could be one exception however... because they're one of the the main character's wives. And don't get excited - they're still basically a damsel in distress, and still almost get sexually assaulted.
To sum up my thoughts, this movie fails to dissect society in a way that hasn't been done better by Black Mirror or something. It becomes the exact monster it seemingly wants to warn against by being a shallow, gory, hypersexual, mess of a film. It's basically a slightly toned down Hobo with a Shotgun with vague sci-fi gamer stuff spray painted over it, and maybe more breasts.
Any sense of "maybe this movie wants to say something important" gets obliterated when you finish the movie and realize there is literally no resolution to any of these proposed societal issues. While the intent of the writers might be different, the message of the movie is... Well, nothing.
In the ideal "Gamer" movie, instead of watching people engage in virtual depravity to show us how messed up society is, they would just be watching this movie. And I think that's so ironic that it's simultaneously funny and sad.
The only points I'm giving are for the actors trying their best and minor things that I didn't dislike.
Black Widow (2021)
Better than I expected.
I enjoyed this movie. It's a little clumsy at times, but I genuinely think this outrage towards the movie is ridiculous. It's pretty campy at some moments and requires you to suspend your disbelief, but the characters were surprisingly compelling. I really do like the dynamic of Natasha's family. Marvel movies tend to follow a formula and I don't think this deviated too much. With that being said, I knew what to expect and was actually kinda surprised. Not every joke works and sometimes you'll be asking "why does everybody have a one liner prepared " but just remembered you're watching a Marvel movie. Despite that, I laughed more than I thought. This element honestly worked in Black Widow's favor as a character, humanizing her and adding depth. This is not a back story , but it tells you what you need to know about her.
Her character before this movie was generally pretty lackluster, even with the small moments that really worked for her. I think we could mostly agree her character was mostly one dimensional and came off as more of an obligation to a trope, rather than an autonomous human with personal motives and morals and goals. This movie changes that, even if you think Natasha is not that unique of a character (which I'd probably disagree with).
The cinematography was different from most Marvel movies but in an honestly pretty stunning way, at least when it came to the lighting and the more ethereal nature shots. CGI was not amazing but it was pretty good.
I gotta commend this movie for actually fleshing out Black Widow's character. I actually feel something for her now. Her story is honestly pretty cool and I did not expect the movie to get so violent and visceral but it did and it usually served the narrative. Some moments are just cheesy explosions that really only make you ask "how is anyone still alive in this movie" but you really just gotta suspend your disbelief, it is a superhero movie.
This movie is pretty good, better than I expected. The movie wasnt perfect and there's a few things I'd change but I'm generally quite pleased. Definitely check it out, and be prepared for a little extra blood and stupid action-movie stuff like sniping on the wing of an airplane. Refreshing, and satisfying.
Attack the Block (2011)
Pleasantly surprised.
I remember liking this when I was like 13. But I was prepared for it to be trash as a 20 year old. It was actually really witty and interesting. I liked the writing and the character interactions more than the action scenes, personally, but I found all of it to be enjoyable. There was really only like 2 or three little moments where I noticed some inconsistencies or things that I questioned. Like why do they keep shooting fireworks at the aliens if it makes it smokey so they can't see? But whatever, it was dope throughout. Actually made me laugh a good bit, too. Also, the music was FIRE even for a 2011 movie. The score matched with every scene perfectly. Made me wanna listen to drum & bass and merk aliens.
If you take away anything from my review, let it be this... GET THAT SNITCH, GET THE STRAP!! DON'T GIVE A F#CK, BLAP BLAP BLAP !!!
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
I didnt enjoy this movie
I was interested throughout most of it and then got really bored, and then got disgusted. To put it shortly if you don't like sexualization of children, dogs getting punched, graphic violence, over 2 hours of build up, you won't like this movie. A lot of feet in the movie which is Tarantino being gross as usual. Should have known not to give him another try.
All the woman in the film are depicted as crazy or ditzy or dumb. This is my observation as a male. Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio did a good job as actors but the story is just lame. Some of the violence is almost like it's meant to be slapstick but it's pretty graphic so it just made me uncomfortable. Some moments were sort of funny, the direction was honestly pretty captivating, but some parts were so slow and tedious to get through and then when something exciting happened it would make me uncomfortable. I also had to Google most of the character's names to understand what was based off reality and what wasn't. I don't recommend this to anyone. I could dissect it even further but I don't have the energy, it Was all sucked out of me through this film.
It's written and directed in a way that sucks you in but at the end I was just like "Wow that was 3 hours I can't get back." I don't feel inspired and no critical thinking has really been provoked by this film.