So many long movies! Okay, really just the one. And I suppose it wasn’t a long weekend for anyone really, but it was for me! That means I got to spend some quality time with my television (and one abandoned theater). Let’s review!
Zack Snyder’s Justice League – This new-ish, long awaited for release made me realize something. I didn’t remember almost anything that happened in the original Justice League. And I suppose that was for the better! Zach Snyder’s version, at this present moment, is fairing far better with critics than the original, so everyone’s pleading at least amounted to something. The only scene that really jumped out at me from my memory bank was how vicious Superman was when they resurrected him. All the rest of it seemed pretty fresh. Now, I’m no fool and know for a fact that Cyborg and Flash got their characters fleshed out a lot more, and I think the film was better off for it. In general, I enjoyed this four hour saga, but some of the shots were really gratuitous and not really necessary. Nor did I see the point in adding in that dream sequence unless it’s actually going to lead to some future film. With that being said, I’ll take Jared Leto any way I can get him. If you love movies, or superhero movies, or just want a decently fun way to spend four hours, then give this your time!
Promising Young Woman – Is there really any more praise I can dump on this film that I’ve seen once a month since it was released? I don’t think so, but in case you still need more convincing, this movie is as close to perfection that I’ve seen in recent years! It tackles current issues with extreme entertainment, a sweet soundtrack, and a tantalizing list of supporting characters and cameos. Oh yeah, and it also keeps winning so many awards! Carey Mulligan is also pretty primed to take home the Oscar for her role, which makes me so happy that something like this is getting recognized. To me, this is arthouse meets mainstream, and you’re really robbing yourself of some quality film if you skip out.
Brothers by Blood – Oof, on the opposite end of the spectrum, don’t bother wasting your time with this bore. Two “brothers,” which are in fact only cousins, are running their Irish mob together in Pittsburgh in very different approaches. One is more bark than bite really, while the other seems to want no involvement at all. Add in a love interest and a loud mouthed friend and you’ve got a very stereotypical gangster film. Only, there are so many other better ones. I know the cast is enticing, but please spare yourself.
The Courier – This is even more proof to me that I never paid attention in history classes growing up. Not that stories like this were ever covered, but still. In The Courier, a British businessman is recruited to meet up with a Soviet spy. The pair manage to smuggle an obscene amount of intelligence that ultimately diffuses the Cuban Missile Crisis! Things get fairly dicey, and I was nervous as hell for them, but another big takeaway I had from this was friendship! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love seeing male friendship being portrayed in film and television recently. I was on the fence about this movie, because honestly I’m not a huge Benedict Cumberbatch fan, although a lot of his work recently is growing on me. Definitely an informative and intense film!
Happily – What a strange disappointment this film was. It had such a cool concept and then just didn’t really do anything with it. Tom and Janet are a married couple of fourteen years and are still crazy about each other. Oh yeah, they also still have a lot of sex. Their love makes everyone around them miserable and finally one day, a mysterious man pays them a visit telling them that their relationship is abnormal. He then tells them they need to inject themselves with some neon green liquid so they can have a normal and somewhat unhappy marriage. That’s when things seem like they are going to pick up! They kill that man and then go straight to a couples weekend at some swanky mansion. Here is where I felt totally let down. It just all ended up so mundane, which I suppose was probably the point, but they could have twisted it so one of the friends was behind it, or they get locked in the mansion and everyone is trying not to get murdered or something, but no. Again, so much potential here that just fell really, really flat.
Stretch – Holy cow was this movie weird. In hindsight, I guess it really wasn’t all that strange, but it probably had a lot to do with the fact that’d I’d never seen Patrick Wilson in this kind of role before. He plays the titular, Stretch, whose life is a mess even after he sort of gets his life back together. He’s trying to live the straight and narrow as a limo driver but gets caught up with a whack job of a billionaire in the longest night of his life. There are drugs, there are morally corrupt parties, ex-girlfriends, and a lot of driving and running. Chris Pine plays the uncredited manic billionaire, and I bet he probably had the time of his life filming this. This is a movie certainly not for everyone, but it put a fun and unique spin on the usual tale of someone trying to get something in a limited amount of time.
Peppermint – You know, this happens to me a lot. I’ll watch something that I enjoyed far more thoroughly than I anticipated, and then I get sucked down the rabbit hole of all the actors’ other works. It’s fun, I’m not going to lie. And almost never disappointing. While Peppermint is nowhere near good, it was at least entertaining, and I credit that to Jennifer Garner’s unwavering likability. It’s just so hard not to like her in whatever she’s in, not matter what character type she’s playing. Personally, I’m only really used to seeing her in dramas and rom-coms, so seeing her play a nasty, self-centered person in Camping, and a bad-ass vigilante in this film was quite refreshing! I know she’s done action in the past, but Alias was a little before me time with quality television. Anyway, this is probably skippable unless you’re looking for something to kill time with on Netflix.