Change Your Image
magdalenabing
Reviews
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024)
Refreshingly chill and human
Really good. I know people were going to hate this, because it's two humans who look like humans hooking up. But it's so much more than that. The two main characters really do grow on you, and I ended up caring about them in a way I rarely get to do these days. Love Donald Glover, and he manages to appear kinda annoying making their marriage problems feel more real. Someone already mentioned that the show has a similar tone to Atlanta, also written by Donald Glover, and it really does.
One of the reasons I ranked this so high is how much I appreciate how chill this show was. I'm so exhausted by current crime/ mystery shows having the most in depth, way too complicated plot with a million characters, usually dealing with corruption, politics, you name it. That's all good, if that's what you're into, but I was so happy this show just focused on the characters and didn't have a boring corruption case that I had to follow. Side characters mainly functions to create interesting situations for the mains, and we barely learn anybody else's name. Honestly, I needed that.
The Batman (2022)
Not what I was expecting.
Not really what I was expecting. The trailer along with the directors comments about the project made it seem like they were aiming for a "detective" style Batman. Reminiscent of the Batman found in graphic novels like The Long Halloween and Hush. I was really excited about that, especially when the movie Seven had been mentioned several times as an inspiration for the film. In a sense I guess we got that element in Batman 2022? But we also got a bunch of other, less interesting stuff.
The movie is simply too long. It's packed with subplots that make the film kind of confusing. All the different subplots and elements also disrupt the pacing of the film and made me feel like I was watching three different movies at once.
There's the "Seven" type thriller about Batman, Gordon, Catwoman and the Riddler. Here we get some really great scenes with amazingly choreographed violence. The Riddlers first murder is messy and terrifying. Not your typical Hollywood murder that looks all smooth and cool. These scenes are few however and mostly found in the first 40 min of the film. After that it's like the studio took a look and was like NOPE, NOT NOLAN ENOUGH.
Because after that, it gets this Nolan-esque theme of chaos and terror, with a watered down version of Heath ledger's joker. Paul Dino is a really good actor but he really overdoes it with Riddler in this one. He comes off more silly than intimidating. I thought he was going to be all silent, scary and a literal psycho. Instead he's a whiny incel.
The terror attacks at the end really made it feel like The Dark Knight Rises. There are really similar themes to the attacks in TDKR and the Riddlers motives are basically the same as Banes.
Then there's the subplot about Bruce and his relationship to his parents. It's just not interesting enough. So what if his father wasn't a perfect guy. It just seems so stupid that the freaking master detective Batman never even googled his parents and found out about their very public "secrets". He's supposed to be the worlds greatest detective!
Not a terrible film. It had its moments. Not the detective story I was hoping for though. It felt more like a grittier version of the Nolan movies and honestly, why bother?
Jennifer's Body (2009)
Misunderstood cult classic
It has become somewhat clear to (hopefully) everyone, that this movie was extremely mismarketed when it came out. Jennifer's Body is not a braindead horror with a lot of nudity, but a clever, interesting and dark comedy for teens. As an angsty teen who loved mystique and lore I absolutely ADORED this very quotable movie. The characters are all really well written and interesting, the dialogue is funny and the movie has an almost satirical theme to it. There are definitely hints of the movie poking fun at horror clichés, Twilight and just general gender stereotypes in teen films.
It's so powerful as a young girl to see a fun, sassy, evil female villain who isn't like a stepmother or just a mean girl. As a teenager it was just so satisfying having a horror movie with a good script, actually made for young girls.
Watch it as you would black teen comedies like Heathers or Jawbreaker!
Rebecca (2020)
Such a waste of great source material
I love the novel, as so many people do, and I find it rather disappointing to watch it be wasted on such a bland and uninteresting movie.
First of all, Lily James is far too charming and beautiful to play a convincing Mrs. De Winter. Don't get me wrong, she is lovely in every single way, but that's the problem! Mrs. De Winter is supposed to be an ordinary and insecure young girl, but Lily just reeks of confidence and beauty! The film does it's best to dress her down in plain and colorless clothing but it's no use. She simply has far to much personality to come across as someone unnoticeable. No way near the pale and reticent girl we follow throughout the book.
Armie Hammer is a couple of years her senior, at best. The whole plot of Rebecca is built upon the insecurities of the new Mrs. De Winter, and that includes the very noticeable age gap between her and Maxim. In the film, this is completely left out and we are given none of these power dynamics whatsoever. They look as if they could be the same age!
Kristin Scott Thomas is brilliant as always, but she comes of more creepy than anything. Mrs Danvers is supposed to be mysterious and cold, not explicitly evil like some kind of devilish caricature. There really is no need to give this character away so early in the film. The suspense of whether or not Mrs. Danvers was evil or if it was all in the main characters head was half the fun of the book.
The movie also does quite a terrible job at making us wonder whether or not the previous Mrs. De Winter is haunting Manderley or not. In the book, us readers are given a decent amount of time to ask ourselves this very question. Is Rebecca actually terrorizing the main character? Is her ghost wandering the grounds at night or even planning to return with the help of Mrs. Danvers? It's a ghost story without an actual ghost, which is part of its brilliance.
Never mind this review if you like soapy Netflix versions of things. Like most Netflix productions it looks really good and has very good looking actors in it.