young adult

Not an over-achieving weekend in movie viewing, but it was no less enjoyable. Some new and some old titles to get me through, but I’ve got the next week off so expect another review before next week!

Blindspotting – Now, I know this 2018 film just got adapted into a show, but I don’t know that I ever plan on watching it. With that being said, I was interested in seeing this film because of the friendship and working relationship between stars, Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal. I’ve seen them both in separate projects and different roles, but it appears these two are a big part of each others lives. I also learned that this film was sort of a love letter to their hometown of Oakland, California while also paying special attention to the gentrification of the area. In this fictional story, Collin is struggling through his last three days of probation when he witnesses a police officer gun down a fleeing black man. From there, his friendship with Miles is put to the test. I wasn’t quite sure how to take this film. There were a good deal of funny moments, but the serious ones were very serious. It was strange to flip-flop my mindset almost without warning. It was an interesting experience, but not a story I’d like to explore further with the show.

The Kissing Booth 3 – Good lord! This teenage trilogy is over! For something that started off so good, it’s sort of crazy to see how bad the last two installments were. While not quite as long as its predecessor, it was still painfully long. And the three main characters are some of the most frustrating characters I’ve ever seen on screen! They are bougie, selfish, and completely unaware of how much life they still have to live. I think you could safely make some correct assumptions about how Elle’s journey is going to turn out, but the film does succeed in making you really guess for it along the way. Her level of procrastination gave me some anxiety, and she shed more tears than I probably have in the last decade (I have a soul, I promise). Her best friend Lee was equally as irritating and supremely immature. And on top of that, Lee’s brother and Elle’s boyfriend, Noah is an extreme hypocrite that can’t seem to figure out anything on his own. This movie will make you want to scream into a pillow, but just get some solace knowing it’s the last one. I know I will.

Free Guy – I feel like this film has been advertised non-stop since it was supposed to hit theaters last year, some I’m somewhat relieved that it finally came out! I’m even more relieved that the trailers didn’t spoil this fun adventure! In fact, I was really nervous about that, but they managed to keep the action constant, the characters interesting, and the dialogue funny. I mean, I didn’t really catch myself laughing out loud a lot, but I know I had a doofy grin on my face most of the time. Ryan Reynolds plays a background character in a video game, living the same mundane story day in and day out until one day, he doesn’t. That’s a pretty fun time, but there’s also some pretty high stakes from our real life “players,” which keeps this film from being ridiculous. They also managed to get some really fun and hilarious cameos in there. While I really liked this film, I think video game lovers would like this even more! I’d say Free Guy was worth the wait!

On the Road – Since I’ve got some premium Amazon Prime channels for a little while longer, I decided to catch this drama I’d only learned about a few months ago. Seeing Garrett Hedlund in Mosaic really intrigued me to see what else he had on his resume, and the cast of this film really stood out. With that being said, it’s not the most spectacular drama I’ve ever seen. Sal is our narrator who meets car thief and carefree character Dean. Dean’s got lots of lovers and lives life by the seat of his pants in the 1940s, while he inspires Sal’s writings. I should have known that this film wouldn’t totally click with me based off of the time period, but like I said, the cast was enough to get me to watch. Perhaps some were underutilized, but all in all, it was also just a clunky story. At least it wasn’t filled with flashbacks. I think that could have made it unbearably confusing when it was already confusing enough. This movie is not for everyone, but a solid drama is nice every once in a while.