Hey y'all, its that time again. That time where I don't really have much free time to write individual reviews for all these movies, so I'm just going to clump them all together again. You all know the drill. Let's get things started with:
The Suicide Squad
Ah yes, the more or less reboot/sequel hybrid to 2016's massive blunder. I don't know if I've mentioned this to you all before, but if we are talking about colossal DCU blunders from 2016, Batman v Superman gets way too much hate. Fight the real enemy, which is the 2016 Suicide Squad. Which was just a colossal waste of an otherwise intriguing opportunity. Hell you know you've done fucked up when not even a whole year later you have The LEGO Batman Movie pointing out how much you fucked up your blockbuster. Yeah I absolutely hated this movie and it was one of the worst films of 2016. If I didn't place it there previously, its there now. Not saying that everything about the movie was bad. I mean it did gives us Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and that has done wonders for her career. Hell it gave us one of the few legitimately good Jai Courtney performances. Even bad movies can be salvaged if you look at it thoroughly enough. Which is clearly what James Gunn did when he hoped on for this second attempt to bring the Suicide Squad to life.
And boy it sure does have plenty of life. This was one hell of a good time. I had a blast with so many things about this movie that I don't know where to start. James Gunn feels like a director rejuvenated as this is more or less a R-rated version of the Guardians of the Galaxy. A dysfunctional super"hero" team-up with lots of blood, swearing, crude humor, and rats. And just when you think you figured this movie out, Gunn swerves on ya with some hilariously trollish plot twists that not only made me laugh, but actually got a legit shock out of me because I didn't see some of these coming.
And in comparison to a lot of the characters from the original, I actually felt more of an attachment to the newer characters. Sure at first glance, Idris Elba's Bloodsport would be a store brand knockoff of Will Smith's Deadshot; but Bloodsport is a more complex character than Deadshot in all honesty. Amanda Waller and Rick Flag are far more developed in this movie than they were previously to the point that I'm willing to remember their names this time. By far the most complex character in this movie is John Cena's Peacemaker. Which I'm going to avoid spoiling how complex this character really is and just say that he's getting his own series for a reason. And I also absolutely loved Ratcatcher 2. She's more or less the heart of this movie in a movie that definitely needed it to give it more humanity.
Honestly the only problems I have with this movie are minor nitpicks. Like Harley Quinn's storyline was inessential in the long scheme of things. Not that it was all bad. She has a few good scenes and Margot Robbie gives one of the best acting moments of her career. But in reality, her minor plot just felt tacked on to give her something to do until she reunites with the rest of the Suicide Squad. And this runtime is absolutely felt. And I'm not saying that all movies need to be a hour and thirty minutes or so. But I found myself looking at my phone a handful of times wondering when we would move to the next scene.
Like I said, absolutely minor nitpicks. Because in reality, this is one of the best superhero movies in quite some time. Definitely a recommendation.
Final Grade: A
Reminiscence
And then we go from a superhero movie to a former superhero stalwart who seriously needs to fire his agent. I don't hate Hugh Jackman before you guys get frustrated for that comment, but seriously. Remove all the X-Men movies from his catalog and you'll find yourself with one of the most eclectic career filmographies ever. Is Hugh Jackman an action star? A dramatic type? A musical man? A comedy figure? Outside of the horror genre (unless you count 2015 flop Pan, which I do think is a horror of many layers), Hugh Jackman really can't seem to figure out his identity as an actor. And while I do think he is all those types, he really doesn't pick his projects well. I think he is a good actor to even make the most hateful of projects, make us sit back and think, well at least Hugh Jackman was good in it.
And honestly, this was another case of this. Hugh Jackman was good. The rest of this movie sucked ass. I'm not even going to bother to waste your time with this one except say that this movie so badly is trying to be a Christopher Nolan film and it just fails at every conceivable level. Saying that its too deep for you is an insult because this isn't even that good at being that deep.
Expect a deeper dive into shit come list season because this movie isn't even fun to talk about how bad it is....
Final Grade: F
Cinderella (2021)
....unlike this one. Jesus Christ where do I even start with this one?
Final Grade: F
Okay now that I got that out of the way, this movie just failed at nearly every level possible. The only remotely positive thing I have to say about it is that Idina Menzel didn't even bother to try with this one and still managed to be my favorite part of it. She's a good singer and a decent enough actor to make me at least get what she's feeling.
Everything else? Fucking hysterical at how much it fails. Camila Cabello is not an actress. Obvious right? Someone tell her that too because clearly her acting coach didn't. I think Camila has a first grade knowledge of acting to know when to cry on cue and show emotion. But those line reads, woof. There were times that I couldn't tell if that was a first read or a seven hundreth where the director thought, this is good enough I guess. And those songs, arf. I am not a fan of Camila Cabello as a singer. To me, she is at her best when she plays down to her strengths. But there are so many times that her voice grates on my ear drums like a cheese grater to the point that it becomes insufferable.
I think you guys already know about the controversy in this movie surrounding a genderless fairy godmother played by Billy Porter. And while I don't think its handled properly at all, I do feel bad for Billy Porter because he clearly is trying to make this work and it just doesn't. It just makes you feel bad for him showing any effort for a movie that is giving none to work off of. Oh and James Corden plays a rat...that sounds about right for him.
This movie is such a colossal trainwreck. I couldn't stare away from it, it's just so bad. One of the worst movies of the year for sure and hopefully a career killer for Camila Cabello. If that racist controversy didn't end her last year, this surely doesn't help either.
The Mitchells vs The Machines
I so badly just want to hold off all my praise that's about to be shelved out for end of the year season and call it a day. But I'm not going to do that and highlight this movie just in order for you all to go out and see it. Because I was about three months late to the party with this movie and I regret not watching this sooner because of it. And it comes from Sony Animation of all fucking people. Jesus its like they are making me eat crow for how many times I trashed them for funding The Emoji Movie. Because they seriously have not missed since then making some of the best animated movies of the past couple years. With this being one of them.
This movie is beautifully animated. It is fairly similar to the style of animation Sony used for Into the Spider-Verse, but with how that movie was made to feel like you were in a comic book; this movie feels like you are in one of the main character's homemade movies. The general conflict we've seen countless times before between the father Rick Mitchell (voiced by Danny McBride) and the daughter Katie Mitchell (voiced by Abbi Jacobsen). Katie is an aspiring filmmaker who doesn't get along with her overprotective father and constantly clash heads. Like I said, not new stomping grounds persay, but how it is tackled is more realistic than I've seen from most family movies that I have to give it props for how its handled. And we see Katie displaying said emotions and feelings about how she doesn't fit in with this world through film. As a one-time aspiring screenwriter, I got to say that is a beautiful way to display your story.
But what does this have to do with the machines you might ask? Well how this movie tackles its message about modern technology and how our society lives through it is just brilliantly told as well. The jokes about it hit. The villain actually has some depth for once despite its shortcomings (spoiler sort of). And how we are more or less so addicted to screens really does come into play in the grand scheme of things. I mean the mother (voiced by Maya Rudolph) is more or less addicted to social media influencers with the biggest influencers of them all being their neighbors and guess who they got to play them? John Legend and Chrissy Teigen. That's what you call being in tune with society today.
That is another thing I have to give this movie major props for. Every little one-off joke or tidbit that this move throws at you absolutely pays off in ways you don't expect when we get to the third act climax. I absolutely did not expect a good majority of these elements to make a second appearance and actually play off into any arcs. I'll go ahead and put this out there to say that this is one of the best third act climaxes I've seen in years.
Seriously one of the best movies of the year and it will be supremely hard pressed to find a stronger contender for my favorite movie of the year. Yes I said it and I can't wait to highlight more for you come year end.
Final Grade: A+
And that's all I got for this month. Really need to get around to sharing more content with you all. Work has been exhausting me as of late as I haven't had a week of no overtime in two months. So if you're still following me even in the most bareboned content stretches I've had in awhile, thank you all so much. I hope to get around to posting more soon. But until then, thanks for reading and take care!
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