Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone! Sorry that I’ve been letting things be dormant for the past month or so, but recent life events (including my job) have been taking a strain on me lately, so I haven’t been very focused on my computer as much. There have been some films I had been meaning to talk about, but with how much time has passed since seeing them, I don’t exactly have the right time to truly put it into as much detail as I’d like, so if you will, allow me to get out MOST of the films that I planned on. Here’s the first five:
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Glass
Glass is written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, and is the third installment of his Eastrail 177 trilogy, following Unbreakable and Split. A couple years after Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), aka The Horde, escaped at the end of Split, he ends up encountering David Dunn (Bruce Willis). The two are then arrested and placed in the very mental facility that David locked up Elijah Price, aka Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson).
After watching Split, discovering it was a sequel to Unbreakable, this ended up becoming one my most anticipated films of that year, but also one of my biggest disappointments. As much as I loved Sam Jackson and James McAvoy’s performances, Bruce Willis doesn’t seem as invested as they do; he’s fine for the most part, but it just feels like another one of his paycheck performances. Sarah Paulson’s character, if this was ONLY a Split sequel and not revealed to be in the same universe as Unbreakable, I wouldn’t mind what she was trying to do, but it does ruin some of the tension. And by the end, it doesn’t exactly feel like anything happened. It’s a shame, because it felt like Shyamalan was finally back on track of his early days; while nowhere near as bad as he was back at the start of this decade, but it’s still a letdown.
Rating: C
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Us
Us is the second feature film from Jordan Peele, and stars Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke as a mother and father taking their kids on vacation, where they are stalked and attacked by their replicas, called “tethered”. The mother’s tethered, named “Red,” however, has a much deeper connection than you’d think, considering she’s the only one speaking perfect English.
I wasn’t too big on Get Out the first time I saw it, but after rewatching for one of my final college classes, I found myself finding a new appreciation for it. And after seeing this film, I stand by that I feel Us has stronger direction, but it seemed like Get Out had the better script (hence, it’s Oscar winning proof). The opening scene, or at least where it ends off before present day, kind of gives a little too much away, making the ending a little more predictable, but there are some really tense moments, and the death scenes had me rethinking of listening to the Beach Boys. Lupita Nyong’o gives one of the best performances of the year, dual role-ing as the mom and Red, and I’m glad to hear she’s getting the praise she deserves (and hopefully, the Oscars will recognize a great horror film performance). Winston Duke was also delightful to watch, as well as the two kids, but it’s clear that Nyong’o steals the whole film. While it’s not as good as Get Out, I’m definitely excited to see what Jordan Peele will bring about next.
Rating: A-
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Ma
Ma is a psychological thriller directed by Tate Taylor (Get On Up, The Help) and follows a group of teens who befriend a lonely woman (Octavia Spencer) into getting them beer and letting them party in her basement. However, she becomes too clingy, and it ends up becoming obsessive with the group and the people around them, leading to some dark secrets about this woman’s past.
Much like Us, the lead actress is the main reason to watch this movie; Octavia Spencer is downright brilliant in this film, as she truly gets under your skin with each passing day within the film’s world. Diane Silvers as the main girl, Maggie, is pretty good too, being her third film of 2019; she and Juliette Lewis have pretty nice chemistry together, but she’s the only one I remembered from the group. Some of the writing felt like it wanted to go into more touchy subject matter, such as when Spencer paints the black kid’s face white, but that could have been something added in when she was casted. While it is better than Tate Taylor’s last film, The Girl on the Train, it’s nothing groundbreaking.
Rating: B
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The Perfection
After a rising cellist student leaves Bachoff to take care of her terminally ill mother, Charlotte Willmore befriends the next star pupil in her place, with the intention of keeping her from making it to the same place as she was, but the motive may be different than you think.
While I think it’s an interesting premise on paper, I was either bored or grossed out by how generic everything felt. While Allison Williams (Get Out) and Logan Browning (Dear White People: The Series) do fine with what material they’re given, it just feels like the script drops the ball in the middle, only to have a climax of coincidences that aren’t satisfying. I get that they wanted to tell a story about how elite schools aren’t as worth it as you think, but it felt like the writers were stuck and looking for easy ways to go to a happy ending, and it ends up lazy. While Netflix has had worse films under their banner, this would not be one I’d recommend.
Rating: C-
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Read or Not
This film is about a bride who marries into a family of game lovers, and ends up picking the rare “hide-n-seek” card, where if she’s caught, she’s dead. Directed by the duo that brought you Devil’s Due, this movie managed to deeply impress me with how entertaining this was. It reminded me a lot of Tucker and Dale vs Evil, where the horror of being hunted by these people is there, but you can’t help but laugh at how absolutely incompitent some of them can be. This family, and how they can’t seem to kill our heroine, Grace, had me and my friend in shock and hysterical laughter. Samara Weaving (who I kept mistaking for Margot Robbie at times) gave one of the biggest breakout performances I had seen this year, and I hope she gets more work in films like this; with every kill she manages to get out, she just kicks ass in every direction. Not much to say else, except this was definitely worth a sit through.
Rating: A-
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