Thoroughbreds (2017) directed by Cory Finley

I had seen the trailers for this film and heard rave reviews about it for months, but I never got around to seeing it in theaters. After renting it on Redbox, I'm frankly glad that I didn't spend $9 to see this. Thoroughbreds is a sparsely funny but dark drama that follows the lives of two girls and their rekindled friendship. While the performances were great and all the technical pieces were done well, there wasn't a story engaging enough to keep me from nodding off now and then.

The things that drew me in the most about this film were its cast and technical achievements. Amanda, played by Olivia Cooke and Lily, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, had some great performances and truly channeled the dark comedy side of their acting. Even though it was more dark than comedy, this film paved the way for a lot of good moments. Cooke and Taylor-Joy had great chemistry together as they played off each other very nicely. The late Anton Yelchin also stars in this film as a creepy drug dealer named Tim who tries to assist the girls in the killing of Lily's step-father. His performance was great as well and definitely fit into the tone of this film, even though it was a dull, stereotypical, character. All of the technical parts of this film are what drew me in the most, however. The set and costume design stood out to me, as it was obvious a lot of thought and effort was put into creating the softly haunting atmosphere of these two girls' world. The cinematography aided in this too: the long, lingering shots throughout the house and during the characters' dialogue added to the well-developed, uneasy vibe.

My biggest issue, however, is what is typically most important in a film: the plot. The writing and directing in this movie was very dull, and I feel that first time director Cory Finley could have chosen to go a more straightforward way. My main problem was that the conclusion of the film just seemed empty to me. The message was not clear at all and only confused me further. It is easy to understand that Lily ended up drugging Amanda and framing her for killing her step-father, but the dialogue did not do this content justice. This occurred throughout the movie too. It was a simple plot but there was no buildup to any kind of dramatic climax. Because of that, it just seemed so shallow and made me feel nothing. This indifference made me not care about the characters at all. Maybe that was the point and I'm missing something? I just could not understand the purpose of the film, per se.

Friends of mine who have seen this film absolutely adored it. While I was initially excited about it, I simply can't wrap my head around why this film has gotten such good reviews. While all films can be up for analyzation in countless different ways, there was no message in this one or anything to make you think about. I can see an examination of how young girls react to death and how dark their rekindled minds can be, but it just did not work with the tidy yet chilling atmosphere of Lily's home. Thoroughbreds could have easily been a short film, and I feel that it would be much more effective as one too. Many of the scenes were purely written for just dark dialogue, and because of this, it became tedious. Like I mentioned before, I felt emotionless through the whole thing, just like the main characters.

Cooke and Taylor-Joy are wonderful together, but sadly, this story was not. Thoroughbreds is an often confusing and dull film that is not quite my type. I understand the adoration for dark comedies like this, but I personally need a good story for them to work effectively and get at least some kind of emotion out of me.

My Rating: ★★½

Blockers (2018) directed by Kay Cannon

Upon first hearing about Blockers, I was honestly disgusted. Who in their right mind would voluntarily watch an awful comedy that is set up to only have poorly-written sexual jokes? Spoiler alert: I was wrong. This film is an incredibly well-written and hilarious comedy that not only provides great messages, but has some laugh-out-loud comedy as well. I was blown away at how much I enjoyed this movie, and while it won't make it onto my list of my favorite films of all time, I loved every minute of it.

The relationships developed in this movie and its message were incredibly stand-out. We are introduced to three pairs of parents/daughters: Lisa (Leslie Mann) and her daughter Julie (Kathryn Newton), Mitchell (John Cena) and his daughter Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan), and Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) and his daughter Sam (Gideon Adlon). These relationships were very well-developed and the actors and actresses had such great chemistry playing family. It was great to see the three different parenting styles and situations that the three girls were living in: married parents, single mom, and divorced parents. This provided for a lot of good tension to formulate between the sexual desires of the daughters and the over-protective natures of the parents (and it also provided some great cameos. i.e. Hannibal Buress). The humor in this film was hilarious, and the best of it actually came from the three daughters. The comedy surrounding them stemmed from their awkward situations at prom and at the different parties, but was very well thought-out. The parents' plot was not quite as funny, however, as the majority of it was dick or butt jokes. John Cena was still fantastic though, and I think he should take as many comedy roles as possible.

Most comedies have a very basic message: try not to get tangled up in wacky scenarios. However, this movie had a surprisingly amazing, progressive message. The parents are constantly attempting to "cock-block" their daughters during the entire film, but once they finally catch up to them, they realize that sex is not a bad thing at all. All three of them, through the interactions with their kid, learned that sex was really just a part of life and that it was up to their daughters to choose how to use their bodies. In fact, the monologue from Marcie (Sarayu Blue), Mitchell's wife, was one of the best scenes. In it, she is having an argument with Lisa about their kid's virginity. She spoke about how when guys lose their virginity it is celebrated, and when girls do it is considered a loss of innocence. This scene was very important, not only to forward the message of the movie, but for audiences to understand as well. This sex-positive message was honestly refreshing to see, especially with Hunter and his daughter Sam. Sam is trying to figure out her sexuality through the film, and when she reveals that she is gay to her father, he is nothing but accepting. This was a very sweet moment in the movie that I was truly not expecting, but I appreciated it so much. I feel the main reason why this film contained such a strong message was because it was directed by a woman, Kay Cannon. I am all for incorporating modern issues into raunchy comedies, and she did it amazingly.

Another impressive part of Blockers was its use of editing. While there were some shots that were exaggerated for humorous effect (Kayla's eyes widening after getting high), the editing worked well for this genre of film. Most notably, while the kids were in the limo and the antics that ensued when the driver was blasting classical music. However, there were some small parts of this film, that as a picky critic, bothered me. Personally, I don't find "gross humor" that funny, so during the puking scene in the limo, I had to look away. I feel that it was extended way past its welcome as the scene lasted too long. I was also bothered when the parents' car exploded after sitting still in the crevice off the side of the road. While I understand it was for comedic effect, they could have easily written some other humorous lines rather than having an unnecessary and improbable explosion.

Blockers has been one of my favorite comedies I have seen in a while (sorry, but Game Night still takes the cake). The very wholesome and well-deserved message accompanied by a cast of hysterical characters makes for a comedy that is definitely worth your time.

My Rating: ★★★★

Sunset Boulevard (1950) directed by Billy Wilder

AFI Top 100: #16

I had to recently watch this film for a Dramatic Analysis class of mine, and going into it, I was terrified. I desperately want to love old, classic films, but I was scared that it would be another Citizen Kane, which turned me off from that time period of films for a long time. However, Sunset Boulevard was luckily nothing like that, as it was an exciting and engaging drama with some great performances, memorable lines, and absolutely gorgeous design.

The most interesting aspect of this film was the way Billy Wilder wrote and developed the characters. Joe Gillis (William Holden) was a struggling screenwriter who, after running away from the bank's repo men, ends up trapped in Norma Desmond's (Gloria Swanson) mansion. She hires him to edit her screenplay as he eventually becomes trapped as her sort of pet. The relationship between Norma and Joe was the most engaging part of the movie, as it teetered from business to sexual to friends, and how Joe reacted to the controlling demands of Norma was interesting to see. Norma, being a crazy, older actress who is still stuck in her glory days, was obsessed with Joe, and this led to some great conflicts throughout. Joe also had a relationship with a coworker of his, Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson), and his inner demons were really displayed when it came to choosing between whose demands he wanted to satisfy. When Joe first meets Norma, he finds out that she had a chimp as a pet who was recently deceased, and by the end of this film, Joe symbolically becomes her new pet. These characters would not have been so interesting, however, if it wasn't for the fantastic performances by both Holden and Swanson.

Writing and story are two other great elements that make this film a classic. The entire plot of the film took place near Hollywood and revolved around the lives of people in the film community. No matter how exaggerated it may have been, the story was very introspective as it provided a look into the world of filmmaking and how it will relentlessly take one down. This theme also gave the audience a lot of motifs throughout the film, including the pool that Joe ended up dead in and the focus on Norma's conceitedness. While this film is typically classified as a drama, there was a lot of well-written dark comedy in it as well. The writing also cleverly hid the twist at the end, as I quite literally was standing up in disbelief. When Norma chased Joe out of the house and shot him three times, it was only then that the pool motif kicked in my brain yet again. All of the narration came full-circle as it wrapped up the tragedy of Joe reporting his own death.

All of the technical parts of this film were very impressive too. There was many shots with amazing lighting, most notably the one where Norma stands into the light of the projector as she is making her desperate plea for more talented silent actors to return to Hollywood. The music in the film was utilized well too, as it was emphasized at just the right moments for heightened dramatic effect. One of the things that I find most dull about older films is how they linger on shots for very, very long. However, in this film, while the cinematography did just that, it surprisingly held my interest; most likely because of the story. The best technical piece of this movie, however, is the design. All of the costumes and all of the sets (including Paramount Studios, Norma's mansion, and Joe's apartment) were done so well. The gorgeous and haughty decoration of Norma's mansion contrasted the simplicity and cleanliness of Joe's apartment and provided for even more character development.

Sunset Boulevard is a very well-written and performed film that honestly surprised me with every piece of its filmmaking. This deserves to be higher on the AFI list, as it is an engaging and original story that will definitely prove the test of time. Also, I'm still a bit upset how dirty my girl Betty was done.

My Rating: ★★★★½

Ready Player One (2018) directed by Steven Spielberg

Straight from the pages of Ernest Cline's bestselling novel comes Ready Player One, the newest Spielberg joint chock-full of pop culture references and CGI nostalgia. While every trademark beat of a Spielberg film is easily seen throughout, this movie fails to bring anything new to the science-fiction genre. Despite a few memorable scenes and some colorful aesthetics, this film is just another fairly generic action/adventure romp.

The most prominent issues with this film are things that are unfortunately absent: a riveting story and deep characters. This film follows Wade (Tye Sheridan), a hometown kid who lost his parents at a young age and looks to the Oasis for escape from his own reality. The Oasis is a virtual video game-type world that almost everyone is logged on to and provides endless possibilities for who you can be and what you can make of yourself. A large, forgettable organization is trying to win the final challenge of the game, Wade stands up for the people, he gets the girl, bad guys are thrown in a police car, blah blah blah. This plot has been seen countless times, especially in action/adventure films, and has become a sort of trademark for Spielberg. While the film still brings its own aesthetic style to the table, there is nothing that surprised me about the writing. I was not upset though that I didn't see anything wildly original, because I was not expecting anything groundbreaking at all. I can sit through a recycled plot as long as the characters are interesting, which in this film's case, they were not. Sheridan's Wade was the most bland and unemotional character and in my opinion, should not have been the main protagonist. His lack of personality and development matched that of a supporting character at best. Frankly, I would prefer he do independent films and shed a tear or two in an up-close, Mukdeeprom-type shot in an A24 film. He definitely needs to work on his screen presence, especially being in a Spielberg blockbuster, for God's sake. This goes for the antagonist as well. Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) was the threatening force behind the IOI, which is the organization focused on winning the final challenge of the game and using the profits for their own good. While he was a decent villain throughout, there is nothing that really scared me about his actions. Along with his performance, the writing behind the character was a solid "meh."

The romantic relationship that was attempted in this film was also a visibly awkward issue. Wade's avatar Parzival and Samantha's (Olivia Cooke) avatar Art3mis were set up throughout to be the perfect digital couple, but there was no development into their relationship whatsoever. After meeting up and helping each other get the keys, Wade dropped a quick "I love you" and scared off Samantha for the majority of the film, rightfully so. However, after deciding to help him finish the game, they were suddenly all over each other by the end. There was no buildup to this, and Samantha was given no reason to bow down to the heroic actions of Wade. The obligatory final kiss scene was so unnecessary, along with the entirety of that relationship. Other characters that felt vastly underdeveloped were Aech (Lena Waithe), Sho (Philip Zhao), and Daito (Win Morisaki). While they indeed helped Wade throughout the movie, they were the only minorities and were not given much representation. 

I still relatively enjoyed this film, I just do not believe it was anything more than a generic blockbuster. There were many parts that I enjoyed, but felt could have used some improvement. The CGI used throughout the film was obviously very prominent, and because of that, the cinematography was quite useless. There was even an interview with the DP Janusz Kaminski, in which he said that he felt the art of the camera was going to waste, especially in films like these with so much of the work simply done by computers. This is the same issue with the hordes of characters that made cameos. The nostalgia was a great feeling, especially with the Iron Giant, the DeLorean, and some other memorable characters, but I can honestly say it got to be annoying trying to focus on the main characters when the hundreds of other pop culture references were getting in the way. My absolute favorite part of this film, however, was the entire The Shining sequence. When they stepped into the world of Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation, they used actual footage from the 1980 film and spliced in our heroes' actions. The whole scene with the evil twin girls and the blood rushing out the elevators was so visibly pleasing, especially with the characters' connections to the Overlook Hotel. This act proved to be very clever and definitely kept my attention when it was beginning to fade away.

Ready Player One is an entertaining but frankly empty film that I will most likely forget about in a few weeks. However, the massive slew of pop culture cameos along with a bit of impressive animation makes this movie worth a watch. Maybe two, to catch all the references.

My Rating: ★★★