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robspeewack · 4 years
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Film Review | John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch (2019)
This is some bottled chaos. This “kid’s special” is so self-aware and purposely planned for kids and adults to sit down and go WTF together. The cast of kids is amazing and talented, I kind of hope to see a follow-up with them from John Mulaney?
The premise of confronting fears is the dark undertone here, but it’s playful enough and edited so well that it weirdly grounds the hilarity of the written music pieces and sketches. Everything is so varied and frenetic that it makes for a very fun movie-length piece. On top of that, we get plenty of off-the-walls celebrity cameos. It does feel unfocused at times, but it’s variety so maybe that’s OK?
126 of 365.
4 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | Gretel & Hansel (2020)
There are some really strong and interesting ideas here, especially in adapting Hansel & Gretel. The aesthetics and production design are really nice, a clear success of budget limitations and working with what they had.
The direction is buck wild though. The cinematography and story beats don’t seem that cohesive; the film has these touches of experimentation that just don’t quite work. But that’s ok, because it’s a new take. The film holds together well enough to be pretty captivating throughout, even if the weirdness seems kind of shallow and bizarre.
This’ll be worth a watch on streaming, but that’s probably about it.
2.5 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | Parasite (2019)
There’s not been a better send-up of wealth inequality... ever?? This one really just nails the work inequality and life experience difference to the wall... AND keeps you not knowing what the fuck is coming next.
There’s some insanely relatable minutiae that fills this world out (which they built completely for the movie, including most of the city streets), and the dialogue writing is so so good. The characters are varied... if this isn’t nominated for more than just the foreign Oscar, we should riot.
I’ll say no more for fear of spoiling... anything.
111 of 365.
5 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | Downhill (2020)
Wow, if there’s a Curb Your Enthusiasm for deep romantic trauma instead of quirky social trauma, this is it. This cast is A+++; Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell are the perfect toe-to-toe sides of the married couple coin to make this script work. The venom, the pathos, the seriousness, the parental energy... they’re the full package! Julia as Billie is pitch perfect though, her resistance to being gaslit after having to put up with a distant husband is applause-worthy.
The humor is few and far between, but there are some truly hilarious moments to break up the painful emotional scenes. Not painful in a way I’ve ever seen in a movie, but just tight and tense with looks and reaction shot energy. It’s solid and brutal.
Maybe not worth the theater watch, and definitely not a date watch - but maybe a solo late night half-drunk watch.
3.5 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | The Gentlemen (2020)
Ahh, Guy Ritchie finally returns to England for a minute. Back to the street-level gang stuff that his style lends itself to best.
The problem here was making the story just so damn complicated, with a meta angle and everything. I think the story would’ve worked much better with Hugh Grant’s arc - even though Hugh Grant did a great job. It just introduced this fakery wink at the camera that felt like it cheapened everything else.
Meanwhile, we have Matthew McConaughey reprising his role from the Lincoln ads. It’s super weird, but the gang activity bits with some action work pretty well. The film is just a little scattered, kind of a collection of disparate ideas - some bad, some good.
2.5 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | El Camino (2019)
Huge Breaking Bad fan here, and I might be the only one that’s like, “Why now with this?” My complaint is that, yeah, this is a pretty good chunk of content - but why couldn’t we have had it actually be part of the wrap-up of the show in 2013?
Instead, we’ve got a 5 year older cast trying to play like this is months later. And we get flashbacks too! It’s an inordinate use of audience trust to just keep dragging these characters around. This just feels like a couple more episodes of the show - would it have been the end of the world to just have added them in when the show was on top?
It’s good, but it’s also whatever. Thanks Vince Gilligan, but we can stop retreading the past and opening the Breaking Bad book for more.
110 of 365.
3.5 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | Fantasy Island (2020)
I was worried this would be a film with not much intention behind it, but it turns out it had WAY TOO MUCH intention in here. It’s an over-convoluted mess with some of the worst dialogue I’ve ever heard in a movie. Every character has their share of lines that are so grating and so ingenuine... it’s insane.
The cast does their best (poor Michael Peña) but it’s a total mess. The plot unravels in the most confusing way possible and the foreshadowing falls completely flat (*blood (?) drips from the ceiling* “What’s that?” “Ignore everything, just go through the door to your fantasy.”). The logic leaps and bounds don’t get resolved in any kind of real way and it’s all just chocked up to ISLAND MAGIC, which feels problematic but I’m not sure why.
Jason Blum, get your house in order.
1.5 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | Slither (2006)
I can see exactly how James Gunn came up through Troma Films to this. This is an indie creature feature on star-studded crack, which is his bread and butter.
Looking back at this with 2019 eyes, it’s crazy to see so many of these “up-and-comers” have exploded into the zeitgest. Some thanks to Gunn getting more successful and bringing them with him, and others for just blowing up on their own. Every scene sticks with one or two hyper charismatic actors and keeps the film chugging along.
The practical effects are off the chain and speak for themselves. See this one if you haven’t already and don’t touch stray meteorites.
108 of 365.
4 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 5 years
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Film Review | Dora & The Lost City Of Gold (2019)
I was tentatively optimistic on this one. I don’t know WHY, but I was. Whoever wrote this script and then whoever approved it, to attach all these actually decent actors and James Bobin to direct - should be fired. The dialogue had its moments, but overall just some god awful scriptwriting.
There was some effort put into adapting this in an interesting way, so that’s what saves it. There are some genuinely charming moments and somebody actually took some care to work in a lot of homages to the cartoon, both Dora and Diego. 
I have a suspicion the Nickelodeon execs are what really ruined this one. Time to let the directors actually do some stuff. The precious children can handle it.
99 of 365.
1.5 out of 5. 
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead (2018)
It really is tragic the way Orson Welles was treated as his career progressed. I’m not totally surprised though, for an independent filmmaker who rejected the studio system and just wanted to make big budget art movies.
It bizarrely mirrors the treatment we see for a lot of directors that don’t gel well with the superhero machine that is Hollywood today (Josh Trank comes to mind, but he’s no Orson Welles obviously). This is a lovingly made documentary, and it’s great that they got so many of Welles’s close friends and collaborators to tell the story for the doc. It’s a fascinating character study of a man who wanted his attention to be about his art.
I’m definitely intrigued to check out the “finished” film soon; one last hurrah for an aged wunderkind.
3.5 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | The Rhythm Section (2019)
Let’s get more Blake Lively, please! After she ROCKED IT in A Simple Favor in 2018, I think we all saw how she can own every moment - maybe more than she has in a while. And The Rhythm Section gives her the space to enter the upper echelon of other great action actresses. Her fight scenes with Jude Law (well, with everyone) here are sloppy and dangerous, much like the Bond fight scenes in Casino Royale.
The story gets to a point where you can start to guess where it’s going, which pulls the rug out from under the complex web of globetrotting on assassin missions. But it still works! There’s lots of intrigue and subterfuge that keeps the plot momentum rolling at a good clip.
I’d say catch this one in the theaters to make sure you get immersed in that action, baby!
3 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 5 years
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Film Review | Rocketman (2019)
This is exactly what Bohemian Rhapsody should have been! The flash and spectacle of this movie amps up more and more as the movie goes on. This is definitely not the traditional biopic or the traditional musical; it’s this blend of both that captures the magic of Elton John. I was pleasantly surprised that there’s more of an ensemble feel that passes off the songs, rather than Taron Egerton singing everything - which was great! Taron crushes the role, pretty much perfectly cast, but sharing the wealth was a delight.
I think it’s interesting the way they cut out a lot of fat in Elton John’s story, but that makes it pretty disorienting as it time jumps huge swaths of his career. Maybe that’s the point as he’s in a drunken drug-addled haze, but it was hard to pin down what year it was or where he was in his career due to that.
Great to see in a theater, get out there.
81 of 365.
4 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | Paranormal Activity (2007)
I think pretty much the only thing worth celebrating here is the low budget and resourcefulness of the filmmakers. The acting was so schlocky, and the film is way too long for how much runway it gets out of its premise.
The few jumps scares at the very end are NOT worth having to sit through this marriage falling apart for the DUMBEST reasons. It’s watchable, but so many face palms at MEE-KAH and his bad attitude.
Maybe skip it? I don’t know.
104 of 365.
3 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | The Wailing (2016)
This is the slowest, but hottest, burn I think I’ve ever seen. The way this mystery and horror unravels and peaks is absolutely amazing.
American horror films have so much to learn from Korean filmmakers. The cast and direction of this movie are absolutely incredible. There are some wicked choices made in characterization (the Devil holy shit) that set this film on a level of its own.
The fight scenes, the dog scene, the sinister environment throughout... god, see this thing and don’t look back.
106 of 365.
3.5 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | Hustle & Flow (2005)
I’m very unsurprised I’d never seen this, it’s a movie that would be super not on my radar - especially when it came out and I was... 14.
I liked it! I thought the performances were great, especially Taraji P. Henson. There are some heartbreaking scenes and some really fun ones too. It’s an underdog story that we’ve seen really refined since, but a really solid rags-to-jail-to-riches origin story for Djay.
Also: if you’re gonna play the drinking game, you will get plenty drunk just taking sips every time Djay says “mayne.”
3 out of 5.
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speewackfilms · 4 years
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Film Review | Frances Ha (2013)
I FINALLY crossed this one off my list, damn I slept on this one from Noah Baumbach.
It’s interesting looking back at a film that was clearly a little ahead of its time; this is very Baumbach, this millennial indie struggle movie with chatty rat-a-tat dialogue and it’s all black and white. This film got the attention it deserves, kind of like Drive, which I also rewatched recently. It’s a progenitor of a genre that bloomed off of mumblecore, a young person’s problem movie.
it’s super breezy, which ups and downs. it’s easy to see Greta Gerwig’s charisma that just sucks up the air in every scene, even when Adam Driver is being obnoxious in his rich boy yuppie character. It’s a mix of millennial money anxiety and social pressure. It really embodies this balance of what the decade was like for a lot of young people. the more I think about it, the more i like it.
124 of 365.
4 out of 5.
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