Jan 15 - Jan 21
Poor Things, Wonka, The Fugitive, Glengarry Glen Ross
- Poor Things [2023] - 92
Certainly my favorite version of Frankenstein, there isn’t much to say that isn’t already told in my full review [linked through the image on the right]. However, the TLDR is that Poor Things is a movie about not only ignoring, but actively denying the social bounds of society’s inner workings in order to live one’s best life possible. In my review I call it a “girl boss movie” and, though the message is [of course] applicable to all, there’s no denying that this is hugely a film about body autonomy, gender roles, and societal expectations [especially concerning women]. Writing this after the Oscar nominees have released, I’m happy to see this getting every piece of recognition it deserves, and my only sadness is that it’s likely to beat Barbie in nearly every category.
- Wonka [2023] - 43
Siri, can you use “contractual obligation” in a sentence?
Wonka is not only my least favorite Frankenstein story [which is not its fault, because it isn’t one], but it’s my least favorite movie I’ve watched this year, and least favorite version of this character [which is its fault, because it’s real bad]. This movie is empty, unimaginative, trite, and pointless. At just under 2-hours long, this film does absolutely nothing with its runtime, characters, setting, or plot that’s of any interesting consequence and features several elements that, when removed, change absolutely nothing about the narrative. While the last 7-minutes or so are genuinely fantastical and touching and fun, they’re not nearly so heavy or moving as to absolve the rest of the film’s vacuous nonsense.
At least it wasn’t nominated for any Oscars 😌.
- The Fugitive [1993] - 88
Speaking of Oscars, this was nominated for 7 of them [including Best Picture], winning 1 [Sound Effects], despite being a total development hellfest. I’d seen this before, but not for many years and, after re-watching it as an adult, this movie absolutely holds up. There’s a couple of scenes here and there that break some immersion and I think the mystery has one or two too many layers, but it’s a fantastic ride and an incredibly easy recommend if you’ve either not seen it in a long time or ever at all. Only ever working on this single film together, both Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones absolutely kill their roles and have fantastic on-screen presence, neither household staple outshining the other.
Very happy to have made the time to watch this one again and I think you will be too.
- Glengarry Glen Ross [1992] - 85
Another 90’s cinema classic; this time, one I hadn’t seen. Glengarry Glen Ross is an adaptation of a play by the same name that follows a group of real estate [as opposed to “fake estate”] salesmen over the course of two days after being told that if they don’t close their sales, they’ll all be fired. What follows is the fastest talking, most incessantly intensive dialogue I’ve maybe ever seen in film. At only 100 minutes long, Glengarry Glen Ross feels [in the best way possible] like it takes days off your life because there’s so much happening and so much being said at any given moment. Somehow, director James Foley and writer David Mamet have taken what should be the most boring drivel of a plot and turned it into one of the most tense film experiences of my recent memory.
This is a tough one to compare to anything but, if I had to, I would compare it to Max0r over on YouTube. Viewer be-welcome.
