Critical MeMe

Time spent watching films, even crappy ones, is time well-spent.

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Location: Oklahoma City, OK, United States
    Post dates are when I watched, parenthetical dates are the year of US release (aka Oscar eligibility).

3/11/2024

Ricky Stanicky (2024)

Three kids blame a prank gone wrong on the fictional "Ricky Stanicky" and continue to use him as a scapegoat throughout their school years. Once into adulthood, he's still regularly invoked when the three want to get out of town without getting grief from their significant others. When they're put on the spot and have to produce Ricky, they hire an unpredictable actor to play the part.

The idea is fun, but the script itself doesn't hit as hard as we were hoping. Many of the bits fall into chuckle territory rather than the belly laughs were were hoping for. Cena, however, is all-in and is the best thing in this otherwise just-OK film.

C+

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3/10/2024

The Zone of Interest (2023)

A well-to-do German family enjoys the good life in their house full of servants. Their grounds are large with a pool, a greenhouse, and a garden full of both vegetables and beautiful flowers. Dad's work is right next door, so he's able to be present for the family. He often takes the kids out for days on the river, which is within walking distance of the house. Mom regularly receives high-value items her husband is able to score during his workdays (e.g. a fur coat). That the job next door is Auschwitz doesn't hamper their enjoyment in the least. What a powerful juxtaposition. What terrible people. This movie basically sells itself based on the description alone. 

The problem is that the director is in love with affectation and deliberate obfuscation. For example, I had to look up what was going on with the sequences of a girl going out at night to stuff items into dirt; though the explanation was amazing, the film itself didn't bother to enlighten me or to even make it clear what the items were. Also, the movie begins with several minutes of black screen -- I wonder how many people left the theater to complain that there was no picture, because I stopped and restarted the recording in my living room and then had to research whether my stream was defective. The soundtrack is often just loud mechanical groaning that I'm sure was meant to evoke something other than the irritation I felt whenever it'd ramp up. 

In all, it felt like the director didn't want the material to speak for itself. This is like the Mona Lisa being put in a neon orange plastic frame decorated with glow-in-the-dark lightning bolt stickers. The delivery distracted from the compelling subject: the inhabitants of a smug little oasis made possible by their banal inhumanity.

C

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3/09/2024

Amsterdam (2022)

It's a murder mystery. No -- it's a war movie focusing on racism in the army. Hold up -- it's an expat throuple love story. Wait -- it's a political thriller. I mean... just when I'd get my bearings, this film shifted focus. Though it kept my interest, sometimes just for the "hey! look who it is!" star spottings, I was usually lost and feeling like I was being deliberately juked.

In short: a vibrant confusion.

C+

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3/08/2024

Confess, Fletch (2022)

"Jon Hamm is no Chevy Chase" is such a weird sentence, but it applies here. But, even if Hamm mugged convincingly enough to grab some laughs, the script is a mess. The jokes are lazy and the mystery's a bit too twisty to easily follow. A complete waste of time and film.

D

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3/04/2024

Poor Things (2023)

My sister and I watched this for about 30 minutes before bailing -- it felt like weirdness for the sake of weirdness and shock for the sake of shocking. I'm glad I came back to it because, once Bella leaves the house, things really take off.

I quite enjoyed Bella's journey and found it oddly inspiring. Her innocent lack of social graces just made social graces feel slightly ridiculous. Her incredulity, for example, at being expected to keep food she found repulsive in her mouth made me wonder why we ever agreed to swallow nasty stuff. We are born to freedom and wonder and pleasure but somehow, without even noticing, we shrink ourselves to fit a mold that makes us miserable.

Society is a truly crazy construct.

B+

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