The following is an editorial for Your Daily Dose of Jack, a movie review column, and does not represent the views or opinions 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!

Scoring System:

• Highly recommended
• Recommended
• Enjoyable enough
• Decent watch with friends
• Take a look if you’re bored
• Not recommended

“Eighth Grade”

“Eighth Grade” is a 2018 drama directed by Bo Burnham that follows a 13-year-old girl as she experiences her last week in middle school.

The film has some nice natural camera movements that keep with the realistic nature of the film and keep you immersed in Kayla’s life. The dialogue sounds extremely natural–almost too natural–to the point that it starts to get annoying, but it is just such an accurate representation of how kids of that age talk that I can’t fault it.

Elsie Fisher is incredibly good, perfectly portraying the nervous teenager that you could easily relate to. At certain times the film made me extremely anxious and nervous for Kayla and what was going to happen next. I always felt invested in what was happening in each scene, and I always wanted her to prevail.

Whilst at first the plot may just seem like a series of events rather than an overarching plot, Kayla’s journey from nervous teenager to a more confident person was an incredibly satisfying narrative. The series of events made the film feel realistic and relatable.

Overall “Eighth Grade” superbly immersed me in its protagonist’s life, making me care about what was happening throughout the film’s entirety. This quality is helped by Elsie Fisher’s great acting.

Highly recommended.

“Tucker and Dale vs. Evil”

“Tucker and Dale vs. Evil” is a 2010 comedy horror directed by Eli Craig. It is about two hillbillies who, after a series of misunderstandings, are mistaken for psycho killers.

The film has bad acting, but purposely so, highlighting the often bad acting in slasher films. The writing of the college kids is equally bad, as all of these characters have stereotypical personalities that don’t change at all.

Even though the acting and writing of the college kids is purposely bad, it doesn’t make it any less annoying to watch, and it doesn’t take long for the humour to wear off.

However, the general writing of the two leads is pretty funny, and the way the sentences are phrased often leads to misunderstandings, which is the basis of a lot of the humour.

The scenarios in which people die in are all pretty funny and entertaining. They are all over the top and extremely gory to again highlight the over the top nature of typical slasher films. The way their deaths come about due to misunderstandings is hilarious and always made me want to see what would happen next.

Overall “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil” is a great mock of the slasher genre, which manages to effectively make me laugh over the stereotypes associated with it even if the bad writing and acting the film pokes fun at sometimes just comes across as bad in its own right.

Enjoyable enough.

“Overlord”

“Overlord” is a 2018 thriller directed by Julius Avery that follows a group of American soldiers in WW2 as they attempt to take down a Nazi radio outpost. The soldiers discover a top-secret lab beneath the outpost that is conducting experiments on the local townspeople.

“Overlord” has an extremely boring plot. Watching this film was one of the only times I’ve skipped through scenes due to the lack of anything actually happening. I just couldn’t wait for it to end.

The characters are paper thin with generic stereotypical arcs that are boring and eye roll inducing. The filmmakers did not even try to make them the least bit interesting or break the mold in the slightest.

The acting is passable and does what it needs to, but it isn’t helped by the poor script, which includes plenty of bad macho-sounding dialogue and has characters doing incredibly stupid things that make no sense. These actions only serve to drive the plot forward.

The CGI is pretty bad, and the movements of the zombies just look laughable instead of having the intended scary effect. I was expecting a lot more horror than what was there. The first half of the film is a generic WW2 movie with hardly any trace of the supernatural. Even when the supernatural does appear, it is lacklustre. There was a disappointing lack of zombies in the film, even if I did like how appropriately hard to kill they were.

Overall “Overlord” is a mess of a film with a boring plot and boring characters. The disappointing lack of supernatural elements destroyed any interest I might have had in the film.

Not recommended.

“The Cobbler”

“The Cobbler” is a 2014 drama directed by Tom McCarthy that follows the titular cobbler, who finds a magical sewing machine that allows him to become any person whose shoes he puts on.

“The Cobbler” has a nice variety of camera angles; some are better than others, but for the most part they’re pretty good overall. The music sometimes reflects the tone of a scene, bringing with it the surprisingly emotional tone the film often has. However, at other times, the music completely misses the mark and does not reflect the tone whatsoever. This is not helped by the obnoxious use of brass instruments that started to get on my nerves.

Adam Sandler is average in the film. He plays the part decently enough, even if he does seem bored and uninspired throughout. The dialogue isn’t great, and a lot of it often sounds quite unnatural.

The film has a compelling concept that literally brings meaning to the idea of walking a mile in someone else’s shoes, but this concept is stretched as thin as it can be with the film’s surprisingly dark undertones. The protagonist plays with people’s emotions, as well as doing things that have unintended consequences that the film never addresses.

However, the rest of the plot is pretty by the numbers and uninspired. I never was particularly interested in it, even if it goes in weird directions that just seemed incredibly stupid.

Overall, whilst the “The Cobbler” has some interesting parts to it, the weird tonal shifts and strange directions the plot goes down makes it hard to recommend.

Take a look if you’re bored.

“The Silence”

“The Silence” is a 2019 horror film directed by John R. Leonetti. This film follows a deaf girl, whose family try to find a safe haven after a flock of murderous flying creatures start to kill everyone who makes noise.

The film starts with the most generic opening title sequence imaginable, where credits are played over stock footage. Most of the footage is just there for no reason. Only some of it is actually relevant to the film.

The acting is pretty forgettable. Whilst it isn’t helped by the poor dialogue, the actors make do with what they are given. At times when characters should be scared, they often don’t act accordingly; instead, they often seem strangely nonchalant about the situation, hardly seeming to care what is happening, which broke my immersion.

The editing also isn’t great with its weird transitions between scenes, use of filler shots and pointless scenes that don’t have any place in the film. These things only serve to break the flow and pad out the run time of the film.

The CGI is decent at times, namely in regards to the creatures, who look pretty interesting, but at others it is absolutely awful. The colour palette is very muted. Whilst it does reflect the tone of the film, it also looks incredibly boring like the filmmakers couldn’t think of anything more inspired.

The introduction of the cult feels forced and rushed, as it is  introduced and resolved in only around half an hour. This addition to the film felt completely unnecessary and just stupid in general because their motivations did not make any sense at all.

Overall “The Silence” fails at almost every aspect of filmmaking with bland characters, bad editing and a plot that has already been done before much better with “A Quiet Place”.

Not recommended.

“Winter’s Bone”

“Winter’s Bone” is a 2010 drama directed by Debra Granik that follows a teen as she tries to find her father before his court date, otherwise their home will be taken as he put it up for his bond.

Jennifer Lawrence is incredibly good, conveying how much her responsibilities weigh on her. Her accent and the way she talks only add to the believable nature of the setting, always making me feel immersed in her plight.

This is helped by the great script, which along with the dialogue all sound natural. This makes every scene worthwhile, and the film never feels like it has a scene in it for no reason.

The music is also great, and the sombre tone of it adds to the very bleak nature of the film. All the sets showcase this as well. There are plenty of knick-knacks spread around that give all the homes a lived in feeling that adds to the believability of the setting.

The camerawork is a mixed bag as most of it is pretty by the numbers and nothing special; however, there are a few shots that are great and contrast the quality of the rest of the shots.

The mystery of the whereabouts of her father kept me engaged throughout the film, and I was always curious to see what had happened to him. However, once we do find this out, I found the rest of the film became a bit boring, and my previous enthusiasm for the plot withered out in the second half.

Overall, despite the relatively boring camerawork and lacklustre second half to the plot, “Winter’s Bone” is still a great watch. The film has a great script and Jennifer Lawrence gives a performance that is truly fantastic.

Recommended.

“The Fifth Element”

“The Fifth Element” is a 1997 sci-fi film directed by Luc Besson that follows a futuristic taxi driver as he helps the titular fifth element, a perfect being who will save the universe against a rising evil.

The film has an intriguing opening, one that caught my attention and had me interested in what the rest of the film had to offer. The aliens throughout are well-designed and still look good today. They have hardly dated due to the use of some great practical effects; however, the CGI certainly has aged. Whilst it isn’t used as much as it could have been, it doesn’t look great.

The film has a unique style to almost everything, and I love the strange sci-fi aesthetic in the design of the ships and the weirdness of the clothing. It instantly makes its own unique style.

The film has quite a lot of sci-fi jargon and isn’t subtle with the exposition, but I didn’t mind as often it is needed due to how utterly different the universe of the film is from anything else.

The attempts at humour are pretty hit or miss. Most of the time when the film is humorous it is due to the sheer absurdity of the universe the film is set in. Whenever they try to make actual jokes, they tend to fall flat.

Overall “The Fifth Element” is a film with such a strange and utterly unique universe that is unlike anything I’ve ever seen and one that I’d love to see more of. The film is only slightly brought down at times with the aged CGI and the hit or miss humour.

Recommended.

Article by Jack Goodman.