Valentine's Day Weekend Had Something for Everyone

            For Valentines Day weekend, they released three films, one for him, one for her, and one for the kids, Crime 101, Wuthering Heights, and Goat. The two films for adults were both about two hours and ten minutes, but the kid’s movie was an hour and forty, so if the adults skipped their previews and put the kid in the theater when their previews started, it could work out perfectly.

            I went to see Crime 101 on Friday after my run, and the theater was decently filled. The film starts out with a robbery, and then it ebbs and flows from there. Chris Hemsworth plays the robber, and he does an excellent job. He has rules that he follows to make sure that everything goes smoothly, so that he can get away without a hitch. The detective trying to catch him is Mark Ruffalo, and he is just coming off Task, where he played a similar role.

            This is probably considered an insult, but Ruffalo has the perfect washed-up look. He looks like he has been working cases forever with his weary eyes, overly long messy curly gray hair, and his habit of chain smoking. Those earned gray hairs are how he is able to solve these cases though. He may not have the respect of the young guys, but he uses his experience to see what others do not.

            Overall, this is a story about the older generation having their respect removed due to their age. Ruffalo’s character goes through this with the chief not believing his theories, and Halle Berry’s character really goes through this. She works for an insurance company that preys on the rich. They insure their expensive items for exorbitant amounts. Berry is supposed to become a partner at the firm, but they say now she is too old, so she will not be able to pull in as many clients, so they take the chance for a promotion away. Both of these people feel spurned by the systems that fought so hard to defend, and once spurned, they end up helping Hemsworth’s character out, even if it means going against their morals.

            The wild card in this movie is Barry Keoghan. He is also on the side of crime, but he is more of a rival pitted against Hemsworth, but where Hemsworth character has rules and tries to leave as minimal damage as possible, Keoghan’s character is reckless. It puts him into more precarious situations, and it also ends up in many innocent people getting hurt. Keoghan is honestly great in roles where he just gets to be unhinged. His weird demeanor makes him fit these roles perfectly.

            This movie is propulsive. It feels like the story is constantly moving forward, and I loved it. The only problem I had with it was the ending. It involves a cover up of the final crime and the way they did it just feels like it would not work at all. Like any detective should be able to look at the final crime scene and see that something is seriously off from what is being reported. So instead of being 4 stars, I lowered it to 3.5. There are some incredible car chases in this too. It is worth it just for that.

            Then on Monday, I went to go see Wuthering Heights at 10:50 in the morning in the RPX theater at the mall with Mya. When we walked in, there was no one there, and it stayed that way. We were the only ones in the theater. The theater had newly been renovated to add reclining seats, and to redo the walls. There is also another added feature to the seats, they vibrate. There are three different settings for the intensity of the vibrations, so I set my chair on high, just to see. There is no action in Wuthering Heights, which would typically be associated with the vibrating feature on a movie chair, but there are many sex scenes, but none of them caused the seat to vibrate.  

            Catherine is the daughter of a wealthy man, but she has not found someone of her caliber to marry, but then Edgar moves in down the road, and he made his money in textiles, although the way the line was read, it was like she said he made his money in tech…styles like they were trying to make a joke about how modern millionaires make their money. Catherine works her way down there, and she ingratiates herself to Edgar, and he offers to marry her. She accepts, because she is too high up to marry Heathcliff who works as a stable boy for her father.

            This makes Heathcliff upset, so he runs away to make something of himself. Of course, when he comes back years later and buys Wuthering Heights, their old homestead, it is too late. Catherine has been married for a while, and she is pregnant. This does not stop Heathcliff from pursuing her, and she eventually caves to the temptation, and their affair goes on and on, until Edgar tells her that she must stop seeing him.

            None of these characters are likeable. I was not rooting for any of them. Elordi seemed like he was still trying to play Frankenstein, and Margot Robbie looks so modern that she just does not fit into this film. Also, none of the characters have real chemistry. So the love story was lacking. People really did not like Robbie’s last movie, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, and they said that her and Collin Farell did not have chemistry, but I think they had more of a romantic spark than her and Elordi did.

A big part of this comes from their age difference. Robbie is 35, and Elordi is 28, and seven years is not crazy, but I feel like Robbie feels so much older. She has been a highly respected actress for over a decade, but it feels like Elordi just arrived, and in his breakout role, he was playing a high schooler, so he just feels so much younger than her. Also, Catherine and Heathcliff basically start out as brother and sister, and then later in the film they are in a steamy love affair, which is just weird.

The best part of this movie is the cinematography and the set design. So much of this movie looks amazing, especially on the larger RPX screen. The rooms are decadent and excessive, and it looks like they took the time to craft everything. It is not CGI slop. The details are intricate, and it feels like everything was meticulously picked and arranged. This makes it easy for the cinematography to look great. There were so many shots that had me gawking at the beauty. They also did many close ups. Like Margot Robbie’s face was the screen, and it helps to add to the feeling. On top of that, the costumes were elegant as well form the poofy dresses to the jewel filled necklaces, the outfits were stunning. So it is worth watching this once just to experience the beauty.

Towards the beginning of Wuthering Heights, I thought it was going to be awesome. The orchestral score was pounding, the shots were beautiful, the story was emotional, but then it felt like it spun out of control, and it felt so long. I had a hard time rating it. I ended up giving it three stars because it looked so great, but I was very close to giving it 2.5 stars. There are a few people that I have read that loved it, but I am not one of those people, but if you do want to see it, I suggest seeing it on the biggest screen possible.