Over the past Christmas week, there were twelve new releases, and of the twelve, I have seen nine. Most were released into theaters, but others were released onto Netflix, and there is something for everyone within these new releases. There are a couple of movies for kids, a superhero movie, a rom com, a couple of artistic films, a couple of sports/historical movies, and a totally wild original story. The only problem is that not all these movies were worth checking out, so let me tell you which ones are worthy of your time. Sadly I have not seen The Color Purple, Ferrari, or American Fiction yet.
This is the order that I watched them in:
Anyone But You: This rom com takes place mostly in Australia, and it is about two people, who met and spent an incredible night together, but both think that the other spurned them. So when they run into each other again, there is some serious animosity, but it turns out that they are going to the same wedding on the other side of the world, and both of their exes are going to be in attendance, so they work together to stick it to their exes, but of course they fall in love instead. So clearly this is not a groundbreaking and new story, it has been told many times before, and it follows that rom com templet, but that does not mean that it is bad. There were laughs to be had, and the chemistry between Sweeny and Powell seemed real, not to mention that they were placed in a great location. It was just a fun time at the movies, and if you are into rom coms, then you will enjoy this, just remember that communication is key to a healthy relationship and to protect your special someone from spiders! 3 Stars
Migration/Chicken Run Dawn of the Chicken Nugget: These two get paired together, because they are essentially the same story and moral, but one is told better than the other. Migration is about a family of ducks that live in their pond, and they never leave, because it is safe, but one day a group of birds migrating stop by, and now the children want a chance to explore outside of the pond, so the family takes a journey, but they find some birds being fattened up in a place that seems like paradise, but they are being prepared to be eaten, so they must be saved.
Dawn of the Chicken Nugget is about a family of chickens that live on a safe island, but the daughter starts to have questions about the world outside of the island. Her parents say it is too dangerous to go, so she sneaks out, and she gets on a truck to chicken paradise, where there are slides, games, and all you can eat food, but again this is just a place to prepare the chickens to be eaten, so now they must all be saved.
So as you can see both story lines are exactly the same, and they came out less than a week apart, Chicken Run had the leg up, because it came out first on Netflix, but I saw it second. I did like Chicken Run more. They told the story better, and it was more propulsive, plus they do Claymation, and that really brings it to the next level. Both stories are about letting the children learn to fly, but it is important to give them some controlled experiences first, so that they do not just jump into slaughterhouses. Completely coddling the children will not set them up for what life will throw at them, so help them to explore and learn in a safe manner. Dawn of the Chicken Nugget: 3.5 Stars. Migration: 2.5 Stars
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: This was by far the worst of the new releases. I cannot recommend going to see this, and for the larger DC universe, it is largely irrelevant. James Gunn took over DC, and his new story line is going to start soon, so this was the last movie of the old guard. So in this sequel, Mantis comes back, and he finds a spear, and now he is possessed by some green ghost guy. They are burning through some powerful fictitious natural resource, and it is causing the world to heat up and weird weather is starting to cause massive destruction, so Aquaman must team up with his brother and end the pollution. The whole idea of making this a climate disaster movie seemed a bit much. I feel like they were just trying to be a little on the nose. The CGI in this did not look as good as in the first one, and the plot was messy and felt like a drag the whole time. The only redeeming quality in this movie was the orange suit Aquaman wore sometimes. It looked great! 2 Stars.
Rebel Moon: New on Netflix, Zach Snyder who is the person who lost DC to Gunn, is now making a space Odyssey for Netflix. It is basically the story line of Star Wars, there is an evil space empire that is cracking down on the planets, and some rebels start to team up, so that they can defeat the empire. This movie looked really pretty, but I did watch this one on my phone, while packing, so not the best way to watch it. The story and the dialogue were not the best, but it was not a bad movie. If you like space and action, then I think you would probably enjoy this. 2.5 Stars
Poor Things: Of the movies that I saw this past week, this one was my favorite, which also means that it was the most unhinged. A pregnant woman commits suicide, and a scientist finds her, and he takes out her brain and replaces it with the unborn baby’s brain. So the baby has to learn to come to terms with the world in this massive body. The scientist keeps Bella trapped in the house, but as she learns more, she starts to become more unhappy with being trapped, so eventually the scientist allows her to leave to experience the world. She has a very minimal understanding of social norms, but a large part of this is to point out how judgy society is. She does what makes her happy, and when she gets put into a situation that makes her feel trapped, she goes to find something new to pursue. Many have referred to it as the wilder version of Barbie, because a large portion of it has to do with female empowerment. Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo are both great in this, and it looks absolutely beautiful from the set to the elaborate outfits. The best part was that no one seemed to find the same uncomfortable jokes funny, it was like people took turns laughing. This is not for everyone by any means, but it was for me, and I loved it! 4 Stars
Maestro: This was also a Netflix movie, and it is one of their attempts to receive an Oscar. It is the story of Leonard Berstein, a famous composer/conductor, and it covers his rise to fame and his personal life. It has a large focus on his wife Felecia, and what she goes through by living with this man who has a massive personality and secret life. Their relationship is like a roller coaster, but honestly it is hard to take much from the plot of this movie. It is just small snap shots of his life, and there is not much to take away from it. The aspect of this movie that it really has going for it is the sound and visuals.
The first half of the movie occurs in black and white and in the traditional aspect ratio, so it does not take up the whole screen, and it looks stunning. It was a great artistic choice, and even when the aspect ratio changes and it goes to full screen and full color, it still looks beautiful. The best scene of the movie is when Bernstein is conducting in this massive church, and he is absolutely going for it. It lasts minutes, and there is so much energy, and it is stunning. They used Bernstein’s music throughout the film as well as the background music, and it helped to add to the ambiance knowing that he was the composer. The titles of the songs also seemed to fit well with what was going on in his life, so it was nice to have the subtitles on to know if it was his song or not, and what the song was called. It was almost like having a chapter title. Again, this one is probably not for everyone, but it was so beautiful that I did not mind sitting there and watching it for 2 hours. 3.5 Stars
Boys in the Boat: I read this book in college, and I was excited about it, because I was a history major, and I was also on the crew team. The story follows the eight-person boat from the University of Washington on their road to the Olympics, and then they travel to Germany and face off against the Germans in the Berlin Olympics in 1936 as Nazi Germany is on the rise. This movie is two hours, and it flew by, which was great, but it did feel like it was missing some exposition, it was moving so fast, that it felt like details that would build more tension in the story were missing. So many parts were just thrown in quickly. The story line about Joe’s dad was quick and short, his girlfriend had little substance, and they only mentioned how good the Germans were once, so it was barely like they were the big bad guys. It really did make me want to row again, or at least get on the rowing machine, and it was a good movie, it just felt like it needed more to be great. 3 Stars.
Iron Claw: The Von Erich family is known as the best family in wrestling history, but they are also one of if not the most tragic family in wrestling history. Their rise to fame started with their dad, who was good enough to make a name for himself, but he never reached the heights of the wrestling world, so he trained his sons to get there, and he pressured them, but he was ultimately successful. One son did make it to a title fight, but it cost their family almost everything. Was the tragedy due to wrestling? It is hard to tell, but it is like every time you think all the bad events have occurred, something else happens. Also it is important to know how jacked Zac Efron is. Like it is amazing how bulked up he got. Jeremy Allen White also put on some serious muscle, but it does not compare to Efron. Tragic, but worth watching. 3.5 Stars
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