Still, the only way to actually praise the film is to agree to the terms it lays out, and the conceit it wants to plumb. Unfortunately it fails as both a critique of capitalism and as a dark and entertaining comedy. We live in an age where most filmmakers spoon feed us our morality and say the quiet parts loud and the loud parts loud. if you’re not going to commit your voice will get drowned out in the squall.
I think some important aspects of the film were probably lost on the cutting room floor, and I think if this had been reworked properly it would be that much better of a film. If they had maybe cut out the whole Lucy/Claudia/Vivian friendship triangle it would have glided along better. Ultimately, the side characters, who aren’t disengaged white girls with pretty privilege, are probably the ones who should be telling this story and the ones who are the most interesting.
The largest complaint I have seen about this film is that it includes vital but already understood basic information about the world as it exists. I have to heartily disagree. For every millennial who has been dutifully educating themselves on the internet since the Myspace age, there is a tech unsavvy adult who doesn’t know the difference between HDMI and VPN.
I’m not even going to get into the mechanics of the animation which are varied in execution. For every positive thing I can say about the fur on Pikachu, I can say fifty horrible things about the eyes on that Psyduck and the lips on those Greninjas, who all looked ridiculously hacky.
The film centers on the suburbs of Kissimee, Florida, a short six miles from Walt Disney World, wherein a population of nearly homeless people thrive in downtrodden motels. Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and her very young mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) live in a mawkish and dilapidated fairy tale themed motel called the Magic Castle.
Collectively, I think we all needed this movie a lot more than this movie needed us. At this time I don’t think I have to point out that the world is a dumpster fire of epic proportions, out of control and about to send a spark into a dynamite factory. The women of SNL past came together to write, direct, and star in this ensemble comedy about long time female friendship at an older age.
Bo Burnham, a highly intelligent comedian and YouTube phenom, has encapsulated not only the horrible feeling of being fourteen, but the equally horrible one of displaying that time in your life for the whole world to see. This is one of the most painful films I have ever seen and that is its highest praise.
Still, the film lightly prods at universal truths: women have to be perfect if they want to be seen as electable, special interests have a decided vote in our elections, and concessions are often a part of negotiating international treaties. For a film trying to play coy about our current predicament, that’s a pretty impressive accomplishment.
This Netflix show focuses on a caricature of Gad: French, rich, entitled, arrogant, and fostering some serious doubts about what he has done with his life. Though this is not the show his stand-up has informed, it has done well using him as a straight man to his supporting cast’s antics.
William Castle (1914-1977) was a pioneering filmmaker who was often called the, “king of gimmicks.” Before screenings of his directorial debut, Macabre (1958), Castle handed out $1,000 life insurance policies. The film became a hit and he continued creating gimmicks for his films’ releases over the next twenty years.
Female friendship is a hard concept to quantify in any passable script. Too many films of the late nineties and early aughts focused on a message of watered down white feminism and gurl power euphemisms instead of creating fleshed out characters.
O’Connell is also gay, and that duality in identity lends to a truly innovative and pioneering show that showcases rarely told stories. The show follows Ryan as he realizes how closeted his behavior has become, and he strives to finally become independent and authentic.
In The Conjuring 2 Valak served as a side antagonist who Lorraine battled while helping a family with a cursed home. In that film Valak added another creepy element to an already strange narrative, but here she is sapped of much of her power.
The mystery is only entertaining because it’s enjoyable to see formerly meek Stephanie hunt through clues to find the truth behind the disappearance of her newfound best friend Emily. Though Stephanie has her own secrets and embarrassing past, she pushes through it to question suspects, and what she finds is beyond the pale.
The villain’s motivations and lore are never truly covered by the film. The only thing we know is how he can get in your head and how his evil spreads. I don’t need to know every single thing about a horror movie antagonist, but there’s no mention of what he is, who he is, or why he does what he does.
No disrespect to Jeté Laurence who plays Ellie, as she is a child who is early in her career, but her undead performance was laughable. By that I mean I, and everyone in the theater, started laughing as soon as she started talking.
The norm for women is to passively deal with real and imagined slights to accommodate thinner people which is where we start with Annie. It’s one thing to tell women to show more confidence, but to really know the price of presenting your true self it’s unclear what that looks like for full figured people.
While television critics have lauded the bad behavior of people literally killing people in the most profane and evil ways, millennials with daddy issues or middle-aged upper-class sophisticates engaging in bad behavior has never been tolerated by audiences.
Before I get into my criticism I would like to highlight the fact that this film was written and directed by a woman. The director in question is Lauren Miller Rogen, and don’t be fooled by that last name, this woman has earned her way through Hollywood all on her own.
