Another dump. Another dollar.
Get Out
At the release of Get Out, critics went fucking nuts. In a good way. Nearly everyone and their mother praised this film for being both fun, scary, and an insightfully new way to examine racial discrimination problems in America. Not only that, this film currently sits as the third highest-grossing horror film ever (I believe The Exorcist and Hannibal sit as #1 and #2, respectively), and Jordan Peele the first black filmmaker to have a +$100 million debut.
Needless to say, there's a lot going for this film and we're nowhere close to award season.
I guess the question is, how did the film resonate with me -- a self-proclaimed horror film lover. I liked it plenty, but can't say I loved it. At least I didn't love it in the sense of how the general critic community seems to love it.
As a horror film, it's OK. I mean it's a lot of fun and definitely has some intriguing moments, but it never really felt that scary. It never left any mental scars on me or had me ruminating on the film for days afterwards. To me, it was just a fun romp at the theater -- a popcorn film, if you will. Then again, am I the right person to be scared by this? I am white after all. If I was black (or another minority race), would this film affect me any different?
Obviously, I can't say. It was interesting to hear Peele during an interview (think it might have been his NPR chat with Terry Gross) where he explained there is a real sense of fear when a black person enters into a predominately white community here in America. I certainly don't doubt that. But that leads me into a different area of the film. One that really confused me. Basically my issue is:
Were the villains of the film racists?
We know the villains are most certainly lunatics of the mad scientist variety. Definitely some fun fodder for spooky film, but were they racists out to subjugate the black-American community.
I honestly don't know and am sort of divided on the matter.
On one hand we have a these maniacs who are solely pursuing blacks and doing this whole body-snatchers technique where they put the minds of their white cronies into the bodies of these innocent victims. OK, that seems fairly straightforward. Even when our main character is paraded around the gathering of potential buyers, you get the feel like it's a modern day slave auction. But instead of these white folks wanting to solely imprison them, they also want to become them. I don't know where to go from here. It's like all these 1%-ers see the black community as something for them to use and abuse. Something for them to play with. It's such an interesting take. I don't know what to make from it?!
There was one issue in particular in the film that confused me. It pertains to the villains' grandparents.
It's insinuated that the grandfather is the man behind this brain swapping technique that the whole film hinges around. That would presumably make him the patriarch of this family -- which I thought was going to be a big reveal at the end when our hunches our confirmed that the two black aides at the villains' house are in facf... duh, duh, duuuuuuh... they are the masterminds behind the whole thing!
Sadly, they aren't. In fact, they kind of seem like they were maybe the beta version of this whole experiment. I mean, the grandfather's randomly running around at night. The grandmother can't seem to keep her thoughts together. They're clearly not all there, mentally speaking. However, the film never explains any of this, and that bothered me.
I'm not going to nitpick the film to death. It was a blast to watch and I'll definitely be standing by for whatever Peele throws out next. I'm just not ready to praise it as much of the critic community has.
Sadly, they aren't. In fact, they kind of seem like they were maybe the beta version of this whole experiment. I mean, the grandfather's randomly running around at night. The grandmother can't seem to keep her thoughts together. They're clearly not all there, mentally speaking. However, the film never explains any of this, and that bothered me.
I'm not going to nitpick the film to death. It was a blast to watch and I'll definitely be standing by for whatever Peele throws out next. I'm just not ready to praise it as much of the critic community has.
Skiptrace
This movie was complete garbage. If I had the chance to revisit my rankings for 2016 movies, this would be at the complete bottom. I'm not even going to bother writing a review. Jackie Chan, you're better than this. Johnny Knoxville, you are not.
There's no question about it. I have an affinity for superhero/comic stories shown on the big screen. It's just a great medium to tell these stories. That's not to say that all comic films get a pass by me (hell, there are two comic films that I consider to be among the worst films of 2016 -- get your shit together WB/DC!). So, I don't give all these films a free ride. Logan, however, wow... what a great movie.
Ever wonder what would happen if you dropped the Wolverine into a Cormac McCarthy western story? That's Logan. I understand it was based on the comic Old Man Logan, that basically spells out the end of Logan's days, but I can't say too much.
I know not everyone is going to love this movie as much as I did, but considering how many stories I've read that have tried to do away with our heroes (whether it's in Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? or R.I.P. Batman), I felt this one gave a proper goodbye that I sorely wanted.
Can I just say one thing? During our podcast post-Furious 7, we called out the name its sequel. Only I imagined it being called "F8 of the Furious." I guess we can't get all that we want.
What's to say? The Furious films know exactly what they are and they deliver while being tonally consistent. Is it a critically amazing film? No. But they're not trying to be that. Their goal is to make an over-the-top, crazy, car-chasing ride with big name stars that have great big screen presence. And they're slowly going the way of Dragonball, in that as time passes, some villains become friends and some friends become villains. It's hard to believe that Dom's gang would so easily welcome Deckard into their group -- much less Dom letting him save his baby -- but you'd be surprise how many things you allow to slip when you're distracted by ALL OF THE CARS IN NY BEING CYBER-HIJACKED TO CAUSE A METAL-RIVER OF MAYHAM!
An excellent addition to the series. Any takes on where the next films will go? I'm still waiting for the day we see Dom driving a car in space. Mark my words... it will happen.
So far, the films of 2017 have been good to me. Not a stinker yet.
Split was a delightful surprise to me. I'm glad M. Night seems to have found his groove again after what felt like a decade a god-awful movies. I don't want to ruin anything about this one, but I love his semi-grounded take on the superhero story.
Can't wait to see where the next installment will go!
Logan
There's no question about it. I have an affinity for superhero/comic stories shown on the big screen. It's just a great medium to tell these stories. That's not to say that all comic films get a pass by me (hell, there are two comic films that I consider to be among the worst films of 2016 -- get your shit together WB/DC!). So, I don't give all these films a free ride. Logan, however, wow... what a great movie.
Ever wonder what would happen if you dropped the Wolverine into a Cormac McCarthy western story? That's Logan. I understand it was based on the comic Old Man Logan, that basically spells out the end of Logan's days, but I can't say too much.
I know not everyone is going to love this movie as much as I did, but considering how many stories I've read that have tried to do away with our heroes (whether it's in Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? or R.I.P. Batman), I felt this one gave a proper goodbye that I sorely wanted.
The Fate of the Furious
Can I just say one thing? During our podcast post-Furious 7, we called out the name its sequel. Only I imagined it being called "F8 of the Furious." I guess we can't get all that we want.
What's to say? The Furious films know exactly what they are and they deliver while being tonally consistent. Is it a critically amazing film? No. But they're not trying to be that. Their goal is to make an over-the-top, crazy, car-chasing ride with big name stars that have great big screen presence. And they're slowly going the way of Dragonball, in that as time passes, some villains become friends and some friends become villains. It's hard to believe that Dom's gang would so easily welcome Deckard into their group -- much less Dom letting him save his baby -- but you'd be surprise how many things you allow to slip when you're distracted by ALL OF THE CARS IN NY BEING CYBER-HIJACKED TO CAUSE A METAL-RIVER OF MAYHAM!
An excellent addition to the series. Any takes on where the next films will go? I'm still waiting for the day we see Dom driving a car in space. Mark my words... it will happen.
Split
So far, the films of 2017 have been good to me. Not a stinker yet.
Split was a delightful surprise to me. I'm glad M. Night seems to have found his groove again after what felt like a decade a god-awful movies. I don't want to ruin anything about this one, but I love his semi-grounded take on the superhero story.
Can't wait to see where the next installment will go!
Re: Get Out - I think we've already talked this over both in chats and over on my post's comments, but I agree that it's an interesting albeit obviously prickly question to explore - were the villains racists? Part of the problem is that society is as broadly split as I've ever seen it over what does and doesn't constitute racism. From certain angles it's as clear as day that they were racists - kidnapping and essentially enslaving black people, behaving as though that whole race existed to be used or exploited by their own. But from a much more stringent point of view, they explicitly and repeatedly note that black people are genetically superior in so many ways, and it's much more of an obsession, an exoticism, an othering, a fetish, what have you. But then, I feel kind of silly making the "they're not technically racist" claim because, hey, shit, they're doing evil, terrible things exclusively to black people, and what else would you call that in 2017? I still think the film's having a little bit of fun with wokeness and allies and such. Like, the cop at the beginning gets a little "where's your ID? please step out of the car" with Chris, embodying that classic systematic racism that so many of us rail against, and despite his presumed, uh, "conservative" attitudes about black youths riding around with pretty white women in his town, he ends up being probably actually the least dangerous white person in the movie. And on the other hand, do you doubt that the father is a huge Obama fan? Or that the women all find black men attractive? Or that Allison Williams' character would, say, follow and "like" stories about Black Lives Matter on social media? I did not doubt any of these things! Maybe I should. Maybe I'm assuming a cynicism on behalf of the film that isn't there. Either way, great movie.
ReplyDeleteRe: Logan - Part of why I struggle to take comic book movies seriously is because they strike me as so ridiculously played out and formulaic at this point. It's just not something that appeals to me anymore - the first Iron Man was pleasantly surprising, sure, and the first Avengers movie felt truly eventful, but I've never been able to muster up two shits about so many of these films (and, now, Netflix series). But you've made Logan sound compelling and interesting in ways no other comic book movie, and certainly no other X-Men movie, has been to me. So, sure - I will see this! One day.
Re: Fate of the Furious - HOLY SHIT, I forgot to make a post for this. How? I mean looking at all the shit I did manage to write up about, even briefly. Yikes. Let's fix this.
Re: Split - I need to talk to you (and anyone else who's seen this) about the theory I had right up until, like, 5/6 of the way through this movie. I swear it's where the film was actually heading before some late-in-the-game rewrite.
Yeah, right now Logan is my favorite film going this year. It certainly goes in complete different direction from most other superhero/comic stories. I do have my criticisms of it, and thought there were certain storyline/characters that could have been improved on. But it was an impactful and moving tribute to one of the most iconic superheroes of all time.
DeleteOh, and it's gory as fuck. Let those heads start rolling!
And in regards to Split... what's your theory? Always love me a good theory.