#MWi2018: all the money in the world

[krokodile]

movies watched in 2018

santoalla - this really suffered from poor sound recording/editing and lack of subtitles.  i feel like i missed a lot of details.  it’s an interesting story, but the film itself wasn’t terribly engaging.

my friend dahmer - a little disappointed in this one.  i feel like they changed a bit too much from the graphic novel to make us feel sympathy for him.  i’m not opposed to the film trying to remind us that jeff dahmer was once a person with potential to be good, and my issue isn’t so much with whether or not this “humanizes” him; it’s more that the book was from the POV of the best friend and a lot of this stuff didn’t really fit that narrative, so they kind of switched to...is there a visual third person omniscient equivalent? when necessary, and it made the film feel choppy to me.  the book is amazing and everyone should read it.  it’s not about making you feel sorry for the guy; it simply tells the story from the POV of a friend who knew something wasn’t right but had no way of knowing who this guy really was or would become.  the movie seemed more interested in just telling the early jeffrey dahmer story, which honestly i found a lot less compelling.  the kid playing dahmer was great, though.

insidious...4?  whatever the fuck number this is -  i feel like this was a cast of perfectly good actors who were constantly told “make it bigger!” by the director.  that’s the only way these performances make sense to me.  and the story was pretty stupid, but, i mean...it’s the insidious franchise; that was a given.

mom and dad - i wanted to like this more than i did, but i still enjoyed it.  horror comedy that had a little trouble balancing the horror and humor, but it features nicolas cage at his most nicolas cage, so for that alone, give it a shot.

father figures - why the fuck did jk simmons agree to do this???  it actually wasn’t as horrible as it could have been; just garden variety bad, unfunny comedy.

saturday church - really gorgeous, well-acted (and sung!) and creative.  the screenplay maybe could’ve used a little tightening in some spots and additions in others in my opinion, but really i have no complaints; it’s excellent.

ex machina - i’m not super into science fiction, but given the sheer number of people saying this movie needs to be seen, i figured, why the hell not.  and i really enjoyed it.  the existential crises it triggered aside.  it’s thoughtful, imaginative and looks incredible.

a quiet place - i managed to not pee myself once, so i’d consider it a success.  of course i did spill sprite in my lap so everyone thought i did anyway.  really, as much as my irrational loathing of john krasinski makes me want to deny it...it’s really good.  about as good as i’ve seen pg-13 horror get.  it’s got so many clever blink and you’ll miss it moments that show how much attention was paid to world-building, and there’s some faith in the audience to catch on to things themselves without needing a narrator explaining it all.  the only thing i didn’t like?  the music.  the fact that it HAD music.  the sound editing with the natural sounds was stellar, the way everything was amplified.  but the loud music there just for the sake of accentuating scares detracted from the movie for me.  a big part of what makes this movie works is that it feels pretty goddamn real.  the music takes away from that.  

besides being scary, it works as a post-apocalyptic family drama.  and again, it’s really fucking good.  there’s a scene where john krasinski is telling his son he needs to go off and do something alone to save a family member.  the kid is absolutely frantic and you can see him straining not to speak as he “yells” that he can’t do it, his gestures getting bigger and “louder” as the conversation wears on.  i was in tears during that scene.  not because i felt sorry for the kid, but because i was feeling his terror as if it were my own.  i felt like i was in that fucking field with a paul bunyan-looking john krasinski being told “go run headlong into a nest of deadly ear monsters.”  i wasn’t scared because of the images onscreen or waiting for the next attack; i genuinely felt like i was in the moment with them.  

that...is incredibly rare for me with film.  i fucking hate that fucking jim halpert made me feel that, but i can’t pretend it didn’t happen.  and this wasn’t the only time i felt that way, just the most dramatic.  i felt reagan’s i-will-fucking-punch-your-stupid-face frustration during the hearing aid scene to the point where i was fuming in my seat.  (i mean john krasinski often makes me feel that way, but still.)  i knew emily blunt was in labor, but my heart absolutely pooped its pants when i saw that field light up red; I KNEW EXACTLY WHAT WAS GOING ON and i still reacted like i was there with them.  god help me, i felt the overwhelming love in the slow dance shot.  and that intro, holy fuck.  besides immediately feeling emily blunt’s exhaustion and the kids’ restlessness and generally shitty-feeling-ness in those first shots, i was 100% not expecting shit to get as real as it did so fast (even though part of it was used in the trailer).  

i hate that i loved it this much, truly :P  but i did.  it has its flaws for sure, namely the fucking music, and the creatures had a creative design (of course they’re basically giant sets of ears) but honestly they looked pretty silly.  some of the scenes dragged longer than they needed to.  but i did really appreciate it taking its time to let dread build rather than cramming in scares and action scenes on top of each other.  the waiting and dreading seems like it would be so awful in this situation.  again, put us there with them.  fucking hell.  pg-13 horror that’s good is so rare.  horror this good is so rare.  fucking jim.  

all the money in the world - i found the stuff with the family super-interesting; the stuff with the son and the kidnappers super-boring, so i guess i’m split on this one.

la fille inconnue - i loved how absolutely real this movie felt.  i loved how moments dragged awkwardly in real time; i loved the natural performances (i’ve forgotten the lead actress’s name but she’s absolutely brilliant).  i knew pretty quickly who’d killed the girl, but i’m not sure it was supposed to be difficult to figure out, either.  i do wish it had had more of an ending rather than just ending, but...i guess that fits in with its realism.