Definitely an eclectic mix of movies new and old this weekend. And, get ready for it, I finally saw Top Gun: Maverick! I know at this point it’s been so long that you wondering why you should even care, but I’m just calling back on a promise I made almost two months ago. Anyways, here’s what was in rotation this weekend.
Where the Crawdads Sing – Only when I heard about this film being made did I finally decided to give the book a try. And that was mainly due to Harrison Dickenson’s involvement. Of course, Daisy Edgar Jones as the film’s lead and narrator, Kya, was an easy draw, too. From a high level, I thought the film did a pretty good job of covering the events of the book. Sure, with a film, there’s no way to cover all of the details, or some just end up getting glossed over too quickly, but I thought they included all of the important stuff. We see Kya briefly as a little girl and the torment she went through as her family left one by one until she was left with her abusive, alcoholic father. Once he left, a small sea store couple, Jumpin’ and Mabel really treated Kya as their own. It’s her relationships with Tate and Chase where most of the action happens, and in such different ways! Personally, if you enjoyed the book, I think you’ll appreciate the film.
Edge of Tomorrow – I don’t know why, but I just didn’t like this film at all! I seem to enjoy a good action film and a good time loop film, but for whatever reason, the combination here just didn’t work for me. Perhaps it was the gritty, Transformers-looking suits that took me out of it. Regardless, Cage is forced to help a misfit squad defeat these oil-slick looking creatures that are at war with the world in order to inhabit the planet. In his first mission, Cage kills an alpha but is doused in its blood and dies. Only thing is, he keeps waking up an experiencing the same day over and over again with different results. Another soldier, Vrataski, had experienced something similar and knows this is the key to defeating the enemy. They spend a lot of time training, a lot of time dying, and a lot of time ragging on each other. It just got kind of old. But listen, I remember when this came out that people loved it and Rotten Tomatoes loved it, so I clearly don’t know what I’m talking about. Give it a chance if it sounds intriguing.
Driven – What an oddball of a movie this turned out to be! I was shocked to learn that it was based on true events involving the maker of the DeLorean, you know, the car from Back to Future?! Never knew that car was named after the guy who made it…I digress. We first meet James Hoffman getting busted for carrying a crap load of cocaine in his plane. He becomes an informant to avoid prison, and his handler wants him to turn in his boss. Instead, Hoffman meets DeLorean who desperately wants to make the DeLorean his next car, but can’t get the 30 million in funding to do so. Hoffman decides to have a deal struck between his boss and DeLorean so he can turn them both in and walk away from the FBI and prison altogether. Let’s just say this journey was a wild and at times very tense one. Despite the chilling music and suspenseful sequences, this film found a nice balance with comedy. Very interesting cast to tell a very interesting story – check it out!
Top Gun: Maverick – It finally happened! And straight away I can tell you this was infinitely better than the original. Yes, it did basically follow almost the exact same storyline as the first, but the new characters were all delightful, the action was constant, and the relationships were heart-warming. Some thirty years after the original film, Maverick is still just a risk-taking captain who is clearly only stuck here out of guilt for what happened to Goose. You know what ups that remorse? Being told he’s got to train a class for essentially a death-mission that happens to include Goose’s fully adult son, Rooster. There’s obviously tension there, and Maverick is seriously doubting his abilities to lead this class. He’d rather risk his own life than the lives of these young pilots. Overall, I’d say nothing super deep happens in this film, but it was just a joy to watch. I highly recommend this to those who are still waiting it out like I was.
First Love – This little drama definitely had potential, but just couldn’t quite capitalize on it. What I thought was going to be a romantic drama of two teens, ended up only partly being about that. And it really wasn’t the most interesting part. The film opens in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, where we see Glenn lose his job, his wife Kay picking up two jobs, and the tumultuous relationships they have with others and themselves. This is the lane the film should have stayed in, but for some reason it wanted to also spend half the time focusing on that teen relationship which didn’t end up covering any ground really. It felt like a wasted opportunity and made it kind of difficult for me to get really invested in the film. I know there’s more out there that’s better, and it looks like I’ll just have to find it.