My Own Little World

It’s rare when I have a cinematic experience that truly shocks me to my core because of a film being outside of the box. That shouldn’t be the case, but often the movies I prioritize seeing are made for the sake of making money and not to primarily send a message to its audience. This film, however, is something completely different. Boots Riley’s directorial debut Sorry to Bother You is a wild, wild ride that aims to be a protest of the systemic oppression of the fundamental truths of capitalism, albeit taken to extreme places. Its allegorical nature makes it bold and forward with its message, but its method of getting that message across is highly effective. What will make or break this film for somebody watching it is how they handle its extremely literal nature. Sorry to Bother You makes no efforts to hide its message; in the naming of its characters, the parts they will eventually play in the story are often revealed (the pro-union character is named Squeeze, the pro...

There is something about Wes Anderson’s filmmaking that ensnares me. I cannot say if it is his meticulous method, his whimsical and dry humor, or his ability to tell parable-like stories about human nature; whatever the case, his unique technique makes me love every single one of his films – even the lesser ones are still highly enjoyable.  Isle of Dogs is no different in that respect; the film's style has the same overtly charming effect on me as all of Anderson's other works. I reveled in the experience of seeing one of his films in a theater for the first time. My question going into the film was what Isle of Dogs would do to make itself different from the other films in Anderson's catalog and whether those differences would benefit or hinder the   final product. The biggest difference is the setting; Anderson has not set any of his films in the Far East yet, the closest being The Darjeeling Limited in India. Placing the story in Japan with many Japanese char...

Yikes. I don’t typically like tame studio comedies, but I don’t usually hate them either. They have very little weight or originality, but because they lack both of those they also do not offend in the jokes or subject matter all that often, making them lackluster yet forgettably so. I Feel Pretty , unfortunately, feels quite ugly: it manages to be both unfunny and cringeworthy in its handling of subject at the same time. I do not know what compelled the writers of this film to craft it in the way they did, but it does not work at all. One of the most puzzling things about the film is how it undermines the entire aim of the film. From the marketing I saw, I Feel Pretty was supposed to be an uplifting film for people who do not have the body type they might desire and therefore lacking self-esteem. Instead, almost all of the jokes made in the film are at the expense of Amy Schumer’s body type, as she thinks after hitting her head hard that she is “more attractive” than she ...

Blockers is surprising. I didn’t expect most of the things I got from this seemingly conventional comedy. It has a surprising amount of heart and great cast chemistry, though not between who you might think. This is a type of film that for me rarely rises above mediocre, but upon leaving the theater I was quite entertained. The thing that sold me throughout Blockers was the three girls. They aren’t the central characters, but every scene they are in stole the show. I don’t know whether it was the writing or the acting, but either way these girls had incredible chemistry on screen that made me believe every word of dialogue they said. Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Gideon Adlon do so much to ensure that I only see their characters on screen, and for actresses this young and this new to the game, that is quite an impressive feat. The rest of the cast is fine, but the lead adults can at times overstay their welcome. John Cena is the one that proves his worth ...

I love dark humor. It always has a way of sticking out way more than conventional humor because it grabs me with its shock value, and when it’s done well, it can make me laugh harder and longer than just about anything else. Game Night thrives on this kind of comedy, which is part of what makes it as good as it is. I honestly was not expecting much of this movie when I saw the marketing for it, but it actually is a really solid film. It utilizes its premise very well, it twists its plot around in the right ways, and it also has some solid comedy that often takes a darker turn, further bolstered by great comedic performances. The premise of a friendly game night is one that I’m guessing most can relate to, and its familiarity makes Game Night so easy to latch onto. For one, it is not a premise that Hollywood has touched before, so that helps it tons; however, it also pokes a lot of fun at itself and furthermore the concept of groups of couples hanging out together. If it h...

I don’t usually care for throwaway entertainment, especially in film. I see movies as a way to tell a story or make a point and not just a medium of entertainment. That’s why I was not very excited to see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle . I didn’t really have much nostalgia for the original, and the trailers for this film depicted it as a big, bombastic action movie with lots of quippy dialogue. And…that’s exactly what I got. Jumanji is exactly what you’d think it is, except that it is one of the best examples of popcorn entertainment I’ve seen in the past few years. It’s not particularly inventive with the way it tells its story, but it does a good job of being disposable while leaving a very pleasant aftertaste. The best part of the film is, quite surprisingly, the performances. Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black all play against type, and they do such a good job. If you’ve ever wondered what those three would act like if they were nerdy, mildly unattractive teenag...

Movies about the making of other movies are often really tricky to get right. The most notable examples of this struggle in my mind are Hitchcock , about the making of Psycho , and Saving Mr. Banks , about the making of Mary Poppins . Both are perfectly enjoyable films, but they struggle with a balance between summarizing the film’s existing Wikipedia article and giving us a new take on an already somewhat known story. Neither of these films succeeds at walking that line. In comes The Disaster Artist , James Franco’s look into the production of one of the best worst movies of all time. It does what no film about a film has done for me before: it separates itself from the film it is about enough to stand on its own as a great film. That being said, I do not think that it would be a smart move to watch The Disaster Artist without seeing The Room . There’s so many things in this film that are made that much funnier if you’ve already seen The Room – especially James Franco’s a...

One of the hardest things for any film to do is to be human. True humanity is extremely hard to capture in the pre-planned conversations of a script or in the often-visionary lens of a director’s camera. Even going to such lengths as filming the same cast over twelve years (looking at you, Boyhood ) does not guarantee that a movie can be a true slice of life. Somehow, some way, Greta Gerwig, in her first film in the director’s chair no less, has made one of the most genuinely human films I have ever seen. Lady Bird is an organic piece of cinematic art that doesn’t try to be terribly artistically original or innovative; it simply tells a human coming-of-age story, and it does it better than nearly any other film I have seen. As much as I’d love to claim that there is no one aspect of the film that helps this, ultimately the film rests on the shoulders of its cast. Without the amazing performances from Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges, and everyone else involved, t...

When I first heard about The Good Place , it sounded like a neat little idea: one of the brains behind Parks and Recreation and The Office, the afterlife, Ted Danson, and Kristen Bell. It appeared to be a slightly quirky but still conventional take on the single-camera sitcom, and I knew at some point I would need to watch it. Oh, how wrong I was. The Good Place in its first season has become one of the best sitcoms currently on television. With its clever, witty writing and excellent performances, The Good Place is poised to become one of the best places to turn your attention to on Thursday nights. Part of this is because of its premise. Kristen Bell plays Eleanor, a recently-deceased woman who sees herself put in “the Good Place” in the afterlife. What’s off about this, you ask? It’s simple: there’s no way she belongs there. By any stretch of the imagination, Eleanor is at best an average person who compares extremely unfavorably to the philanthropists, environmentalist...

There's something about watching these shorter shows I've been into recently. I think it's allowed me to get some much-needed variety in my binge-watching habits. Case in point: going from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt , I decided to watch something I had first encountered thanks to one of my bandmates: the SNL alumni project Documentary Now! My first exposure to the show came one late night while we were at our homestay for the weekend and decided to spend some quality time on Netflix. One of us suggested that we watch the second episode of Documentary Now!  because it was an absolute riot, or so he claimed. Well, now I'll claim the same thing: this show is a riot. However, what may be surprising to many of you is that, despite being helmed by Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Seth Meyers, Documentary Now!  is not a laugh-out-loud kind of show most of the way through. Instead, it possesses a huge amount of dramatic irony that all good parodies do. Most of the comedy i...

After my experience with The Office , I was looking for something different to watch. I needed a break and was feeling like something quirky. On my friends' recommendations, I decided to give Netflix's original sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt  a try. I knew that Ellie Kemper, who plays Erin in The Office , was in it, and I liked her character a lot, so this seemed like an idea that might fly. I was not prepared for what ended up coming my way.  Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt  is, without a doubt in my mind, one of the most unique things I've seen on "TV" ever. It's also one of my personal favorites now.  What makes Kimmy  such a good show is Kimmy herself. Ellie Kemper is delightful in her portrayal of this Indiana woman who was held captive for 15 years by the leader of a doomsday cult in an underground bunker. The character reminds me of Leslie Knope because of her optimism and, well, unbreakable spirit. She's deliberate, determined, and alway...

For the first 25 minutes of The Ridiculous 6 , I am proud to say I didn't hate it. It had jokes that missed the mark and a few subpar characters, but the setup seemed promising enough. Then a donkey literally took a crap on the entire movie, and I knew it was only going to get worse.  It's become common knowledge to those who know me that there are two immense passions in film for me: my love for the Star Wars saga and my extreme dislike of Adam Sandler. The former reached its highest point last Thursday with the release of The Force Awakens , my current favorite film of the entire year.  The latter, meanwhile, is further cemented with The Ridiculous 6 .  I didn't rule out this film, though. I gave it an honest chance, mostly because it was a Netflix original. I thought that this might be a turning point in the recent downward trend that Adam Sandler has been on over the past few years, with the only film I've liked with him being Men, Women and Childr...

I feel like I need to clear the air with my opinion on comedy. Many of you probably think that I find comedy insulting to my intelligence and that slapstick can never be good. So, I'm going to take a look at one of my favorite comedies to prove you all wrong. Bruce Almighty  is not my favorite comedy or my favorite slapstick. It's not even my favorite Jim Carrey movie (that would be The Truman Show ). However, I feel that it demonstrates what a good slapstick comedy can be more so than almost any other film I've seen. Many of you are probably familiar with Bruce Almighty 's premise: down-on-his-luck reporter Bruce Nolan is given God's powers for a week of his life. Most comedies would use this in an extremely trivial way, making Bruce use God's powers for his own advantage and using physical comedy as the primary tool for getting laughs. And at first, that is exactly what happens: we get to see what Bruce would do with God's powers if...