I am fully aware that the number of movies I watched this weekend is in fact still above average compared to almost everyone I know. But two movies is almost pathetic! At least by my standards, and especially since I watched 25 movies last month. Oh well, it’s a slow start but I don’t doubt I’ll have a strong finish (even if it is getting nicer out). Now, there were onlt two movies, but they were fairly strong choices!
First up, I watched my favorite movie that came out of 2018, Upgrade. This movie has everything, and it’s almost cathartic in a way. If you want every facet of movie genres, at least briefly, then you must watch this movie. And that fact that it’s awesome is another good reason to watch it! This movie focuses on Grey, who, in the future, is one of the only people not fully embracing new technologies, like self-driving cars, printing food, and has had no computerized upgrades to his body. One day, him and his wife’s self driving car malfunctions, and a gang ends up killing Grey’s wife while paralyzing him.
On the brink of trying to end his own life, tech inventor, Eron, offers up his latest product, STEM, which would be implanted in Grey’s spine and will ultimately help him move again. Grey accepts, as he wants to bring his wife’s killers to justice. He soon learns that STEM can communicate with him, and they team up for vengeance. Although things take a turn for the scary when STEM starts controlling Grey almost constantly. In the grand scheme of things, STEM wants a human body and has ultimately chosen Grey as his host.
This movie is what makes AI seems scary to me! But aside from that glum futuristic outlook, this film also has a healthy dose of laughter, love, tears, and bloody violence. Mind you, this film came from the same mind who created Saw and The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell). As the tag line says, this movie features “not man, not machine. More.” I cannot recommend this enough!
Next up, I finally remembered that the book I read not too long ago, Shirley, had its film adaptation of the same name released on Hulu. So I hunkered down, and ultimately prepared for disappointment. Now, Elisabeth Moss as Shirley Jackson is honestly one of the best castings I’ve seen, and Michael Stuhlbarg as her husband, Stanley, was equally as delightful. I am convinced that these two are chameleons of acting! Played with cunning and charm, at least these two made Shirley and Stanley even more vibrant on the screen. And honestly, thank goodness the movie couldn’t really be told from Rose’s perspective, because her as the narrator of the novel was almost unbearable.
She’s slightly more likable here, but she’s still rather annoying. The film also took a sexual direction, which I didn’t feel was present in the novel. Sure, it was clear that Rose felt a close and friendly bond with Shirley, but it seemed more out of admiration and understanding rather than desire. I also know that Fred really wasn’t featured in the book all that much, but he was featured even less in the film. I like Logan Lerman too much for that to feel okay. Either way, the movie was improved from the book, although not much. I felt that since this was ultimately a work of fiction about non-fictional people, it could has ebbed further into the supernatural world to make it more interesting, but this is what I’ve got in text and on screen, so I may never be satisfied. Skip it!