The Humans

"If you're so miserable, why are you trying to live forever?"

     Oof. There are always seems to be this melancholic air that surrounds the holidays. A sort of annual micro time-capsule of self-reflection and pushing the existential ctl+alt+del buttons on your life to start fresh. A24s took advantage of the season (and the trend of streaming exclusivity, also released on Showtime and by extension Hulu) giving us access to its newest character examination piece around the time of Thanksgiving. The Humans manages to tug on all of these strings, with a capable cast who each shine in their own way, while also putting a lot of emphasis on the small apartment itself where it takes place, being the most supportive character of the bunch.

Source: Roger Ebert 

     Based on the play of which its named, Eric Blake (Richard Jenkins) and his wife Deidre (Jayne Houdyshell) are visiting their daughter Bridget (Beanie Feldstein) and fiancé Richard (Steven Yeun) at their new, underdone apartment for Thanksgiving. Bridgets sister Aimee (Amy Schumer) and their grandma Momo (June Squibb) round everyone out, a joining of families separated by travel and tradition. Bridget and Aimee both live in New York, leaving their quaint and comfortable Scranton family life behind. As the night goes on these topics are brought up, along with a bunch of other revelations that highlight the dynamic of a genuine, struggling family.

     This is another one of those movies where it isn't so much the material of the piece, but rather how it's approached, and thankfully the cast nails all the subtlety of the functions of busting familial chops and slowly breaking down personal walls. Richard Jenkins (a familiar face from Step Brothers, and was hardly recognizable in The Shape of Water) isn't the center of the piece exactly, but it is framed through his perspective. Tired of being tired, he gives us a patriarch that is long over his turn of dealing with life's shortcomings. As his truths are slowly revealed, a witness to the tragedy of 9/11, his characters worst fears and anxieties come out, becoming one with the small apartment, showing us a man emotionally scarred and frightened by the unknown. By extension, Beansie Feldstein (Jonah Hills sister apparently?) commands along with Jenkins, using her qualities of goofy charm and boisterous energy to show not just the potential of her characters goals and livelihood, but also how she shares that same overbearing nature of her father, often speaking for her fiancé.

Source: Los Angels Times

     Jayne Houdyshell and Steven Yeun give the most subtle performances. Yeuns Richard is a fish out of water, spending time with his fiancé's family learning their hokey traditions and baggage and talking dreams with Eric to find common ground. Houdyshell may be the best of the bunch, giving us a gaudy mom, connecting with her kids through gossip, but has a powerful moment of showcasing the hidden pressures that all moms face. Of putting on a face, of just going along with it, to make and keep everyone happy. Amy Schumer uses her abilities nicely, having some nice moments of dry comedy that touch on sibling connections and mortality. Grandma Momo has her small moments, mostly reserved in a wheelchair, stricken with dementia, but conveys her own thoughts in her own way that addresses the dilemma of "worrying" for everyone.

     The best part of the movie, without question, is the apartment. Working with the cinematography, it really gives the sense that this place is alive and an extension of everyone's issues. Close ups and deep focus really zero in on the tight space and characters faces, while long tracking shots emphasize the sort of alien spaceship sprawl that can exist even within a small New York apartment complex. Grimy and drab, with water damage and creaks and moans, the apartment carries various ailments itself, foreshadowing the eventual babble of everyone's secret woes. There's almost no soundtrack aside from some general ambiance, and instead, uses the squeaking of the doors and pounding of floors and walls and stairs as its own impromptu musical score.

     As always, these types of movies aren't for everyone. There's no real point to it, other than conveying the ideas that everyone's simply trying. Trying to stay positive, trying to be happy and well. Life is hard, but all that matters are the things we learn and who we learn them with. Everyone does a great job representing a family that can enjoy each other's company, then flip and snap on a dime. There are some nice plot beats that bring out the true histories and natures of everyone, and even a nice sendoff that made me go "Ohhhhhh." Check this out if you want to give your life an examination.

9 water spots out of 10

But that's just my opinion. What do you think? Comment below and be a part of the conversation!

 

The Suicide Squad

"It's not a toilet seat it's a beacon of freedom!"

     Hold on to your seats everyone, because this is the proper Suicide Squad serving that we initially deserved. While director of the original David Ayer goes on and on about how he never got his chance, he's preaching to a crowd of crickets. James Gunns iteration is everything that Ayers isn't: funny, quirky, grotesquely violent with odd characters on a more focused, somehow less grandeur adventure compared to the first. It hits a proper tone without taking itself too seriously. It'll leave you laughing and grimacing all at the same time. Don't listen to the review bombers: this is the superior title.

     The beginning gives us a nice mishmash of info dumping and paying tribute to some of the originals cast during an outrageous beach raid. Convict Savant (Michael Rooker) is dragged into "Task Force X"- Congresswoman (?) Amanda Wallers (Viola Davis) secret group of supervillains on a top secret mission. Succeed and you get 10 years off your sentence. Go AWOL in anyway and the chip implanted in your head explodes. Joining us are familiar faces Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) and fan favorite Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). New faces include Javelin (Flula Borg), TDK (Nathan Fillion), Black Guard (Pete Davidson), Mongal (Mayling Ng) and Weasel (Sean Gunn).

Source: CNET

     Through dire circumstances we're introduced to "team 2"- our main cast of misfits: Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), King Shark (Sylvester Stallone), Rat Catcher (Daniela Melchoir) and Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian). As "team 1" serves as a distraction, team 2 makes it way through the flora and into the territory of the corrupt military regime where they have to stop whatever evil experiments are being conducted in a project called "Project Starfish". This whole beginning serves as an appetizer of things to come- this movie is gory. Plenty of blood, decapitations, mutilations, et cetera. This is an appropriately rated and approached super hero movie (seriously. Fillions TDK takes the personal top cake for the weirdest and most hilarious sequence). It's also pretty refreshing because of it. Imagine Gunns Guardians of the Galaxy style cranked past where the knob can go. It's crass, brutal, and pulls no punches. Here's hoping we get a slight taste of this in GotG3.

Source: Vulture

     The cast this time does a great job doing what they do. I find it sort of funny how Kinnaman reprised his role as Flag, but in an entirely different direction. Rather than the "Hoo Rah" military type, he's another figure who's in over his head, and plays secondhand to Elbas Bloodsport. For Margot Robbies third outing as the unpredictable Harley Quinn, it seems to be the best balance she's found of emotionally longing and emotionally damaged. Bloodsport and Cenas Peacemaker are gritty and straight to business, providing a good amount of humor in their rivalry of who can...kill better. Rat Catcher strikes up friendships with King Shark and Bloodsport, a nice parallel to his relationship with his estranged daughter. She's the heart of the film, and does so rather well. Even Polka-Dot Mans obscure sort of ability and ailment is given context. Every character has something to offer, either through backstory monologues or subtle physicality via King Shark, which compared to the original, really only had Will Smith and Margot Robbie to care about (also, no Jared Leto shoved down our throats). 

     It helps too that the story is kept grounded in sci-fi military espionage. Their mission is to take down a corrupt regime and stop a crazy science experiment. That's it. No melodramatic lovey stuffs or grossly over gratuitous apocalyptical cgi. It of course devolves into predictable superhero madness, but it's kept within scope and doesn't feel overly done. It knows its style and sticks with it, never derailing the ride to deliver a half-baked emotional moment. On a side note, the film also utilizes title cards for the different sections of the movie, which I thought was a nice Tarentino touch.

     This is as close to a directors cut as we're going to get. If you need a palette cleanser for superhero overload, it's finally here. A nice addition to the growing adult themed dome of comic book material, and I hope it keeps the trend going. It would be nice to see a whole corner of R-rated content, where Deadpool, Punisher, Daredevil, and The Suicide Squad can run free.

9 nom-noms out of 10

But that's just my opinion. What do you think? Comment below and be a part of the conversation!

Black Widow

"Such a poser."

     It's about time! Marvels first female Avenger (yes I know she's not the first, but you get what I'm saying) is finally getting some of that much earned individual spotlight. After being delayed 3 times, Black Widow is getting released in theatres and Disney+. I know what you're thinking: "Who cares about a Black Widow movie? Why should I?" But Scarlett Johansson and Marvel manage to keep up their bag of tricks, with the help of her grounded character, some more trademark hand-to-hand spy combat, and an awesome supporting cast that makes the whole thing feel fun and engaging.

     Beginning at her childhood in Ohio, we're introduced to Natasha and her "family" (David Harbour, Rachel Weisz) and younger sister Yelena (Violet McGraw). After being discovered for operating as a Russian Cell, they make a daring escape via airplane. Once in the clear they meet up with Russian General Dreykov (Ray Winstone) to give them their spoils, as well as their children. Turns out they were merely raising the girls, prepping them to be given to Dreykov to be trained in the Red Room to turn them into elite assassins. After a moody Bondish intro we're thrust back into Black Widows world of espionage.

Source: The Indian Express

     

     Taking place between Civil War and Infinity War, Natasha is on the lamb, being hunted by General "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt) who's rounding up fugitive Avengers via the Sokovia Accords. On the other side of the world, Nats "sister" Yelena (Florence Pugh of MidSommar and Little Women) is on a mission as a Black Widow Op. After coming into contact with some mind clearing gas, she's freed from the Red Rooms hold on her and goes rogue. Bitterly teaming up, her and Nat seek out to destroy the Red Room once and for all, and to free the other Black Widow agents, all while reuniting their ragtag family in the process.

     David Harbour carries the persona of the Red Guardian well, a nice mix of idealistic narcissism and a thick-headedness that provides a lot of humor. Rachel Weisz has a sort of dry, calculated sense of humor, displayed at the end during the big mission. It's Florence Pughs Yelena however who steals the movie. Brash, sassy, tough, funny, she takes on the role completely and basically carries the thing on her shoulders. I don't mean for that to sound as if the movie is bad, but she proves herself pretty capable of fitting into the superhero mold. The villains continue the ho-hum trend with Winstone as the unusually sleazy appearing Dreykov and Olga Kurylenko as the mimic Taskmaster. It's more about their history and what they represent rather than who they are.

     As much slack as the film is getting for being ill-timed, it still offers plenty of Marvel spectacle and some brief moments of dramatic reflection. Car chases, shootouts, fist fights, each set piece big or smallcontributes a dynamic to the overall package. We finally get an idea of what happened in Natashas past in Budapest, and there's even some interesting geo-political talk courtesy of Red Guardian that I think is going over some peoples heads. CGI wise it's about the same as it's always been. Used more for the big finale, if you've never had an issue with Marvels graphics before you shouldn't here, and if you didn't like them before, continue to not be impressed. 

Source: Metro Weekly

     It's been a long time coming, but Black Widow has gotten her chance to ride off into the sunset. Plenty of action and thrills, with some emotional moments by a strong cast, we get to clean up Nats history as Black Widow while also setting up the future for a new one. Between Marvels Disney+ series and this, things are definitely shaping up for an interesting Phase 4.

8 pockets out of 10

But that's just my opinion. What do you think? Comment below and be a part of the conversation!

 

The Tomorrow War

"Second chances are really hard to come by."

     It must be hard being a cool celebrity. On one hand, you're part of a cool comic book franchise, and the other hand, you got to break out and do other projects to show your range and diversity, otherwise you're pigeonholed for life. Such is the case for Chris Pratt, who's trading his Starlord persona for his best Ryan Reynolds impression in Amazon Primes The Tomorrow War. But what seems like a one dimensional war romp, it actually has a couple things going on for it that make it an enjoyable watch.

Source: AJC

     Taking place a year from now, Dan Forester (Chris Pratt) has had his spirits broken applying for a Military Research Tech job. On Christmas, no less. It brings him down a little bit, but he's got a loving family (Betty Gilpin, Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and plenty of friends. He's one of those guys: goofy, charming. Can't keep him down. The party comes to a halt however when soldiers from 30 years in the future arrive and warn of a grave threat to humanity. An alien race will arrive and bring the world to war, and humanity to the brink of extinction. They've arrived to recruit, with the thought that both past-and future-coalitions combined will defeat the enemy.   

     One year later the worlds population is depleting. With less than 500,000 remaining, the first ever draft is reinstated, recruiting whomever fits the mold to "jump" over to the future war. Here comes Pratts Forester, drafted due to his own death 7 years from now, and prior Special Ops experience. He's joined by greenhands Charlie (Sam Richardson), Dan (Mike Mitchell) and Norah (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and the experienced Dorian (Edwin Hodge) who's down 3 tours. Jumping to the year 2051, they're tasked with retrieving research material by their Commanding Officer (Yvonne Strahovski) who ends up playing more a role than just a cookie-cut military type.

     The beginning is a little muddy, but it takes its time with the premise, which really helps in an odd way. It starts with a cold open, but that cold open doesn't progress our knowledge of the situation anymore than if we had been shown the scene in it's proper context. The time travel rules are kept pretty simple. You can only jump from Point A to Point B, and your recruitment lasts 7 days. Once that's done, and you're still alive, you're sent back. Those who are picked are chosen because of knowledge of their future deaths, thus preventing any existential conflicts of interest. On the human side of things we're shown everyday people taking up arms through the draft, lacking any training. This really helps sell the stakes of the future war, as we're tossing people from our current time into the conflict, regardless if the "death paradox" holds any real merit. The one continuity issue I noticed (which I found funny) was the trigger discipline these new recruits learned in the haste of their recruitment and deployment. 

Source: Koimoi

     Once the enemy, the "White Spikes", are revealed, all hell breaks loose. Nicely designed and detailed (think a quadrupedal velociraptor with armor and can shoot spikes), they instantly prove their threat. The action sequences are tense and compelling, including a hallway sequence that seems to have become an action movie necessity now. Keeping you on the edge of your seat, each encounter has our soldiers attempting to gain and keep control of the situation.

     The second half of the movie explores a whole other front, shifting gears which really gives it its own identity and real stakes. It helps tie up some loose ends concerning Pratts relationship with his father (a surprisingly cast JK Simmons). As I said up above, Pratt tries his best to be Ryan Reynolds in the first half, with charming vulnerability. He manages to take control by the end and makes the performance his own. Sam Richardsons Charlies also provides a good amount of work, being the comic relief but also that one guy you end up rooting for.

     Thinking it was going to be a toss away flick I was pleasantly surprised at the action sequences and direction of the movie. Pratt takes control by the second half, and really drives home a movie about family, sacrifice, and keeping hope. The Tomorrow Wars release is good timing if you're looking for something to watch during our American holiday. 

8 Pratts out of 10

But that's just my opinion. What do you think? Comment below and be a part of the conversation!

 

Luca

"Silencio Bruno!"

     Luca is the first timely animated movie I've seen in a long time. I have yet to see Moana, Frozen 2, Onward, Coco. I'm still not up on Toy Story 4, mostly in avoidance of emotional devastation. The others I have no excuse for due to the accessibility of Disney+, but hey it's my life. That's why I was surprised to find the newest Pixar title, Luca, available for free. I hadn't seen a single trailer for it, and it being new I thought it would fall under the Premium Access model. To my surprise it's not! Luca was still able to pump some tears from this tired well, offering another timeless story with some great social commentary that I don't think has been this subtle and effective since Zootopia.

Source: Vulture

     Starting with a flashback, we're introduced to the seafaring dynamic of the Italian city of Portorosso, the type of old school, traditional town where depictions of seamonsters still dot the maps of fishermen. This leads to our introduction of Luca (Jacob Tremblay), a young seamonster who resides in his underwater farming village, that too, nicely mirrors the imagery of old Italy. Exposed to some treasures from above, he runs into another young seamonster Alberto (Jacob Dylan Grazer), who gets his kicks from exploring and collecting these treasures. Catching Lucas attention, learning that Alberto can go outside the water, he is forbidden by his parents (Maya Rudolph and a gentle Jim Gaffigan, respectively) of even thinking about going on land. Instead, Luca pursues his friendship with Alberto, going on land and both of them dreaming of getting a Vespa to travel and further explore the world they've never known.

     This is described as a "coming of age" tale, and in one context (which we'll get to) I agree. But this is a great story of the fleeting friendships we build, and how those new and old still shape who we are. Among their hijinks the boys come across young Giulia (Emma Berman), a spunky young girl with high hopes of winning the towns version of a Triathlon and rubbing everyone's nose in it. They join forces, knowing they can win the money to get their Vespa. Eventually a shift occurs within the friendship, but it's a shift of innocence and novelty. This movie plays with expectations nicely, starting off as one thing then changing into something else, while keeping things framed in the original synapsis. 

Source: USA Today

     The visuals offer a rich color palette that calls to the countryside's of Italy. Sun highlighting the tannish architecture, people gathered around the port where shops wait for customers, the bustle is felt. The water hues too add a nice contrast of aquas and blues. The boys especially, with their ability to change if they get splashed with water, adds a nice chameleon effect. I wish we had gotten to see more of Lucas underwater world, since it paralleled everything so nicely. Farmlands veiled in greens and blues, we only get a brief glimpse as Luca reins in his flock of fish.

     Now onto the "coming of age", social commentary stuff. The great thing with these movies is that they can resonate on so many levels. We can see this as a story of two boys building a friendship around their dreams. That is a valid interpretation that kids can get behind. However, with some proper subtext, such as Luca having a "forbidden friendship" with Alberto, along with a "curiosity" of who he is and the world around him, you could see this as a "coming of age" forbidden romance between these two boys. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so, and there's nothing wrong with that explanation either. You can enjoy the film either way. If anything I think the latter reinforces the themes of the movie more, specifically the ending with the predictable "Hoo-ray!" moment. It reminds kids, as well as adults, "hey, don't be a prick and judge someone based on who or what they are."

     Nice visuals, a touching story of friendship, this newest Pixar movie checks off the two most important boxes. If you have Disney+, you might as well watch it. It's free! Cuddle up with someone and cuddle them up that much tighter. It's that kind of movie.

9 spaghetti noodles out of 10

But that's just my opinion. What do you think? Comment below and be a part of the conversation!

     

 

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

"Then your God has damned you"

     More horror? Why not? Seems as if we're going to be having a head to head battle for summer scare supremacy. In one corner, weighing in at 2 Jim Halperts, we have A Quiet Place 2. In the other corner, weighing in at the 3rd installment in The Conjuring-verse, we have The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. I have yet to see A Quiet Place 2 (nor have I seen The Conjuring 2 or any of the spinoffs. Maybe Annabelle?) but going by how The Conjuring was, with a great tone and environmental suspense, they may actually have more in common than what's at face value.

Source: Slash Film

     It's July 18th, 1981. Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, respectively) are claws deep in conducting the exorcism of young boy David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard). Along for the ride are Davids parents and compatriots Debbie (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Arnie (Ruairi O'Connor). David is eventually cornered by the demon, which overtakes him and sends the house into total chaos. At the peak of the storm, Arnie confronts the demon inside David and tells it to take him instead. It's a bit of a cold open, with a crawl Star Wars style to set up further exposition, but it had all of the high stakes that I remember from the first Conjuring: tense performances and kinetic environmental action. 

     Sometime later, after suffering through dreams and hallucinations alike, Arnie is arrested for the brutal murder of his manager. The Warrens, shook after their ordeal (especially Ed) are approached with helping to clear Arnies name by convincing the court of his possession, which by no means is an easy feat. What follows is an interesting perspective of the many layers of the dark arts, as well as what the power of love is truly capable of.

Source: Plugged In

What I like about these sorts of horror movies is that it doesn't rely so much on scares, but rather suspense. Rather than lulling you into a false sense of security, it sort of puts you in the shoes of the situation before running out and closing the door behind you. A cereal box tipping over, an oddly dark corner underneath a table, these small moments invite your curiosity by increasing the depth of the world around us. There are a few "gotcha" jump moments, but overall it's lighting and other sensory overload tactics that catch our eyes and ears, slowly building up the power of these dark forces before being unleashed entirely.

     Spotlight goes to Vera Farmigas Lorraine, who basically carries the film and its bag of tricks. After suffering some sort of ailment, Ed is forced to the sidelines, letting his gifted wife take the lead on the mystery. Spiritually tough yet vulnerable, she leads the charge in finding witchcraft totems, the source of the malevolent beings power (an intimidatingly slender Eugenie Bondurant). One sequence has Lorraine go back in time to a night of a previous murder, with a cool day-to-night effect that really sells her abilities. It's through her that a nice parallel between her and Ed and Arnie and Debbie is made. Both she and Debbie struggle to keep the love they have intact in the face of overwhelming odds.

    One last note, is that the beginning of the film throws a nod to the Exorcist when a certain priest arrives at the scene of Davids exorcism, paying tribute to the film that started this whole genre. The font as well even has that stylized, yellow-tinge that the Exorcist has. Nice touch.

Source: Den of Geek

     Spend the night in and cuddle with your favorite person, or go to the movies and do the same. It won't rock you or shake you (unless, you know, you're really into this stuff) but it'll have your eyes on the screen the whole time, anticipating the truth of these forces and what comes next.

8 totems out of 10

But that's just my opinion. What do you think? Comment below and be a part of the conversation!

 

Army of the Dead

"Easy peasy Japanesy"

      I remember sneaking into the theatre and witnessing the chiseled slo-mo action sequences  of 300 that blew my high school mind. The imagery too, with the freakish ranks of Xerxes Persian army, really sold the time period of the Ancients. With Sin City he kept that signature visual flare but shifted to a more contrasting style, bold red highlights to capture the graphic novel pizazz that it was going for. In a surprise twist he switched it up to a more contemporary superhero aesthetic with his titles Man of Steel and Super vs. Batman: Dawn of Justice. These were his attempts at combining his visual prowess with compelling character storytelling, and while delivering on his trademarks, the films often felt a bit too bloated or directionless to really hold any water to anyone aside from true comic-Snyder fans.   

     But Synder must be butter, because he's been on a roll as of late. On top of his resurgence through the passionate fanbase of Zack Synders Justice League, what better way to deliver after that by making a heist movie? And not just a heist movie, but a zombie heist movie? Just 2 months after the release of his 4 hour magnum opus, he's back with Army of the Dead, a pseudo post-apocalyptic shoot-'em-up that has all of his trademark flair, to some detrimental degree. It surprisingly makes the most of its 2 and a half hour (yeesh) runtime, and is driven by a solid cast, though how you feel about Synders work as a whole will determine how you feel about this.

     We open on a military convoy transferring some sort of super secret military cargo, with two soldiers playing conspiracy guessing games as to what it could be. One predictable event later, Las Vegas finds itself ground zero of a zombie outbreak. An opening montage of violence delivers the gore while introducing us to our characters and backstory of the situation. Vegas has become overrun, with our lead Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) and his team of mercs on the job to pull people out. 

Source: Den of Geek

     Some time (years?) later, Vegas is sealed off from the world, with a quarantine zone set up outside its perimeters. The President plans to drop a nuke on the city to wipe out the zombie population on the Fourth of July, because America. Ward, trading his assault rifle for burgers, is approached by shady businessman Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada). He has a deal: find the lost 200 million dollars at the bottom of a casino, and you get a cut. One montage later, we're Oceans 11ing our team back together, complete with typical character archetypes: safecracker, witty pilot, "nerves of steel" guy, sketchy henchman, sleazy authority type, and so on. 

     The film doesn't waste any time with the setup, which definitely helps the pacing. From the intro we already know these characters relationships to Bautistas, so it isn't so much as introducing them, but getting them together. And being paper thin they don't matter much beyond their proper roles. There are also some other rag-tag members of the militia, including social media influencer Guzman (Raul Castillo) and Wards daughter Kate (Ella Purnell). One character (Nora Arnezeder) played a bigger role than I expected, and added a nice presence throughout. From there it's just a matter of getting into the city. There's another b-plot that doesn't really play into anything, nor has any real lasting implications overall. 

Source: Polygon

     Once we're inside Vegas, things get...interesting. This isn't your typical zombie movie. There are rules to this world of the undead. Comprised of a hierarchy, there are the "shamblers", regular type zombies, then there are "Alphas" that rule over them. Intelligent, sentient, fast, you have to gain their trust in order to move through their territory. And if you're bitten by one you become one yourself, which may be the one conventional rule in this zombie movie. These sort of extracurricular stipulations kind of took the fun out of the film for me, because as the film goes on you see that it's used more plot-wise in order to create relatability to our creatures. They had what they needed with the speed and viciousness, but to add actual depth to them actually took away from what makes them threatening. There are also some weird tidbits that, instead of adding to the movie, make it feel that much more excessive. 

     There was another angle that was shoehorned in that felt out of place and not the kind of movie for this sort of commentary. In our times of Covid and social isolating, and social-political drama all over the world, it attempts to play off of that through the use of the quarantine zone outside of Vegas. Deemed a humanitarian crisis, it is labeled a hot zone where authorities can accuse minorities and other foreigners of being "sick" by giving false temperature readings and sticking them in the camp, or worse (Sean Spicer even has a cameo, which was probably the most bizarre thing in the entire movie). This is all delivered through candid tv commentary, and never actually plays into the plot itself, so Synders attempt to relate this release to our world fell flat.

     Another thing I caught that felt odd was Tig Notaros character Peters (the witty pilot). If you really pay attention to her, you'll notice that she has a weird, uncanny valley sort of glow around her. That's because she's apparently completely digital. It didn't really affect her performance, as everything she said and did felt natural and interacted with everyone nicely, but it does have a jarring affect if you really notice it.

Source: The New York Times

     If you don't care about any of these things and just want to see some weird action, go for it. Any fan of Synders work will appreciate his "kitchen sink" approach to visuals and storytelling. It throws a lot at you while also pretending it isn't predictable, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Plus, did I mention the soundtrack? It's great, and definitely makes the movie.

7 burgers out of 10

But that's just my opinion. What do you think? Comment below and be a part of the conversation!