Your daily dose of Jack: Bite-sized reviews for each day of the week
Editorial March 8, 2019, Comments OffThe following is an editorial from Your Daily Dose of Jack. All thoughts and opinions are solely the author’s and do not represent those of the Drury Mirror.
Throughout 2019 I’ve made it my mission to watch at least one film a day in order to broaden my horizons in the art of film making. I invite you to join me on this journey, as I both watch and share my thoughts, through bite sized reviews, on the vast array of films the world has to offer. My goal is to introduce you to a variety of films, some you have heard of, others you might not have, watching them throughout the weeks as I do from the comfort of your own home. Enjoy!
“Wind River”
Photo via Pixabay.
“Wind River” is a 2017 crime drama written and directed by Taylor Sheridan following a wildlife officer and an FBI agent who tries to find out what happened to a teenage girl after she is found raped and buried in snow miles into the Wyoming wilderness.
The cinematography in “Wind River” showcases the setting well, with nice long shots to allow you to soak it in. The tranquil setting contrasts with the dark and gritty plot. The writing is great with lots of marbled plot points throughout that keep you intrigued. I found I was engrossed in the plot. Its pace never kept me bored and always kept me wanting to know more.
The soundtrack is haunting and sombre, which showcases the pain the characters are feeling and the turmoil they are going through, with enough breaks in the soundtrack to allow you to take all of it in.
However, one scene in particular is so intense that I found it incredibly hard to watch, and whilst this is not a criticism of the film, be warned that it is not pleasant to watch. The film is never over the top or unrealistic, which only made it even harder to watch. The entire film is extremely emotionally draining, and I found myself having to take a moment after watching to recover.
Overall “Wind River” is an incredibly powerful film, invoking emotions I rarely experience from films with great writing and a dark plot made even more harrowing when you learn that it is based on true events.
Highly recommended.
“Gerald’s Game”
“Gerald’s Game” is a 2017 thriller directed by Mike Flanagan and based on the Stephan Kind novel of the same name. It follows a woman who is left handcuffed to a bed with no hope of escape after her husband has a heart attack.
The normal setting of a regular house contrasts with the madness that occurs in the film. The protagonist’s descent into madness happens slowly and subtly to allow you to believe what is happening. “Gerald’s Game” has good metaphorical imagery. Contrasting colours show the couple’s contrasting interests, and, due to how restricted the protagonist is, it reflects how restrictive her marriage was.
The acting is great, nicely showing the different trains of thought the protagonist experiences, and how many different thoughts are going through her head at once. However, the dialogue seems quite unrealistic, like it’s not how real people speak. It feels more like someone’s writing than natural dialogue.
Photo via Pixabay.
The concept is stretched as far as it can be. With not much opportunity to expand past the basic concept, the film largely stays in the one location, and its restrictive nature reflects the protagonist’s situation. This restrictive concept is ultimately to the films detriment, and I found myself quite bored throughout.
There is another plot, outside of the protagonist’s inner demons and current situation that just felt unnecessary. Although I won’t spoil it, nothing would have felt missing if it wasn’t included.
Overall the plot of “Gerald’s Game” is too restrictive for its own good, lessening my enjoyment of it despite the satisfying metaphorical imagery and great acting.
Decent watch with friends.
“Chappie”
“Chappie” is a 2015 sci-fi action film directed by Neill Blomkamp following a robotics engineer who creates a sentient AI and attempts to teach him how to live, whilst the authorities see him as a danger.
“Chappie” has the unique setting of Johannesburg, a staple of director Neil Blomkamp, and with it comes the stark contrast between sci-fi technology and the poverty of the city.
The plot itself is incredibly boring though. It’s one that has been done a thousand times before. There isn’t much excitement, despite its premise, with most of the film consisting of Chappie and Die Antwoord pretending to be gangsters, which is just boring to watch.
The appearance of Die Antwoord is incredibly strange; they don’t fit the film at all and only serve to make the film harder to take seriously, highlighting the average writing with their poor performances. The rest of the acting isn’t great either, with even Dev Patel and Hugh Jackman giving uninspired performances, the latter of whom is so comically evil it’s laughable.
However, the movements of Chappie himself look great. Lots of little added details make him more believable. You do end up feeling sorry for him and his plight, but the way the filmmakers go about it is so ham-fisted and forced that you feel like you’re being talked to like a child.
Overall “Chappie” has an exciting premise that is squandered with a boring plot, poor performances and average writing, with the CGI of the robots being the only exception to its mediocrity.
Take a look if you’re bored.
“Big Hero 6”
“Big Hero 6” is a 2014 animated action film directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams. A young robotics prodigy tries to stop a masked villain following the death of his brother with the help of Baymax, a robot built by his brother.
The animation of “Big Hero 6” is absolutely stunning, looking incredible with fast and fluid movements that are a pleasure to watch, especially with the micro bots–miniature robots that when formed together move almost like a wave, which looks beautifully fluid in motion.
The setting of San Fransokyo looks incredible. Blending Eastern aesthetics with the familiar Western structures, the film creates a city that looks great in every scene, and the fantastic lighting gives it a great style.
The lighting really needs to be highlighted, with realistic shadows and colours that just look amazing, and incredibly intricate little touches that would normally go unnoticed, such as the light reflecting on the water that sprays in front of the headlights on a car.
The animation of the characters also looks amazing. The facial animations give all the character’s great personality and made me care about them all throughout the film. However, the plot is very predictable, and I always managed to stay 10 steps ahead of the characters. None of the twists ever surprised me, and I had it all worked out within the first 20 minutes.
Overall “Big Hero 6” is a visual delight with incredibly impressive animation and a great setting, but its very predictable plot keeps it from being truly great.
Recommended.
“Hellboy”
“Hellboy” is a 2004 action film directed by Guillermo del Toro following the titular Hellboy, a demon who helps the government fight supernatural creatures.
The CGI on a lot of these creatures doesn’t look good even for 2004, and now it just looks incredibly dated. The few times that practical effects are used they look great. As do all of the character designs, brought to life by great makeup. Hellboy especially looks awesome, adding a much needed feeling of authenticity and believability to the world of the film.
Despite this, the acting isn’t great. The main cast gives average performances with most others being downright bad. At times, the script can be pretty funny with one liners executed at just the right times and quips throughout that helped keep the film relatively light-hearted.
However, the general dialogue is average, including quite a few cringe-worthy lines and a lot of occult mumbo jumbo that only served to sound stupid. The plot has a generic end of the world premise but still manages to stay enjoyable with good pacing. I was never bored with the exciting action that always seemed to pick up the pace when needed.
Overall “Hellboy” is an enjoyable film that doesn’t require you to think too hard. While it has exciting action and a fun plot, poor dialogue and average acting stop it from being particularly memorable.
Enjoyable enough.
“The 40-Year-Old Virgin”
“The 40-Year-Old-Virgin” is a 2005 romantic comedy directed by Judd Apatow that follows a 40-year-old man trying to find the woman to lose his virginity to.
Due to the subject manner, there is a lot of pretty juvenile humour throughout the film. Some of it works, and some of it doesn’t. There are definitely some great laughs hidden in there, but you need to get through a lot of scenes that just aren’t funny to find them.
The awkward nature of many of the scenarios can be hard to watch, but they are still funny if you like the awkward humour that Steve Carell is known for. Speaking of Steve Carell, he is great. He is the perfect actor for this kind of role, acting appropriately awkward at times and surprisingly serious in others.
However, the general writing isn’t great, and many lines are quite eye-roll-inducing due to their juvenile nature. This isn’t helped by the exceptionally boring camera work, with lots of shot reverse shots that are just incredibly tiring to look at when the film never spices it up at any point with anything different.
Along with this, the editing is also quite sloppy. The last word at the end of a sentence is often cut off, and the audio sometimes fades away too early, which just gave the film a lack of professionalism and legitimacy.
Overall “The 40-Year-Old-Virgin” can be a fun film. Sometimes it has some great humour, albeit often juvenile, but the sloppy editing and boring camera work just make it a chore to look at.
Decent watch with friends.
“The Fly”
Photo via Pixabay.
“The Fly” is a 1986 sci-fi horror directed by David Cronenberg. A scientist invents a teleportation machine; but when he tests it on himself, a fly slips into the machine, causing them to be fused together. He starts to undergo horrific transformations.
The sci-fi aesthetic of “The Fly” is great, using bulky ‘futuristic’ technology, similarly seen in “Alien”, that gives the film a charming feel. When the transformation starts though, charming isn’t a word I would use to describe the incredibly gory practical effects that show the awful body horror the protagonist goes through, as well as the really nice makeup that showcases how disgusting the transformation is.
Jeff Goldblum plays the protagonist, and he captures the nervous scientist character well, managing to act increasingly sporadic as the transformation advances. The subtle pace of the transformation is great, starting off as small as him taking lots of sugar with his coffee before quickly spiralling out of control.
As he becomes more like a fly, the film becomes much more disgusting, which caused me to genuinely feel a bit queasy by the end. All of this is in the film’s favour, however, as it was clearly the response the director was looking for.
Overall “The Fly” is a great sci-fi horror that uses fantastic makeup and practical effects to invoke an incredibly visceral response from the viewer, one that I won’t be forgetting any time soon.
Highly recommended.
Scoring System:
- Highly recommended
- Recommended
- Enjoyable enough
- Decent watch with friends
- Take a look if you’re bored
- Not recommended
Written by Jack Goodman.
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