Movies Page

Spotlight

I watched this movie at my brother’s request, as he said it was one of his favorites. Spotlight is a movie about the real life journalist team that uncovered the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal in 2003. It portrays the team’s investigation of priests as they realize there is a bigger cover up and they slowly unravel all the evidence. I did enjoy this movie. Spotlight successfully handles the seriousness of the subject matter and a dramatic and suspenseful movie that doesn’t trivialize or sensationalize the real world events. Like the plot suggests, Spotlight covers real world abuse cases, and doesn’t shy away from portraying the cruelty of the Catholic Church nor the trauma of the victims. As the story plays out, the viewer will learn more and more of how big the Church’s cover up really is. What I liked the most from this film is the acting. Spotlight has a star cast, featuring the likes of Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, and Rachel McAdams. The actors do a good job of portraying the different journalists' personalities and their handlings during their entire investigation.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

I am putting this game into the movies category since, 1. I watched my friend play it, and 2. This game has the longest cutscenes in a video game I have ever known. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the dramatic conclusion to Solid Snake’s story. Snake, now an old man by the name of Old Snake, must travel around the world in a desperate attempt to finally stop his rival and twin brother, who is actually just an arm that is controlling another guy, from launching a nuke to destroy a secret illuminati AI that would then allow his own super advanced AI program to take control of all economic and political affairs on the planet, all while Old Snake is slowly dying of a modified virus that left unchecked will cause a global pandemic, and also there is a vampire. If none of that made any sense to you, don’t worry, It hardly makes any sense to me and I read the plot synopsis twice before writing this. MGS4 is a great conclusion to this series and Snake’s story. I think it was a smart choice to make these characters old now, as they still fight the same fights and are continuously haunted by their past. And haunted by their past they actually are, as there are multiple flashbacks that literally feature events of the previous games, in their old graphics and all. Gameplay wise, I can’t really comment on it since I didn’t play it, but what my friend was doing, it looks like it plays like msg3. I could tell Kojima had watched a lot of movies, as this game's cinematic cutscenes are a movie themselves, with their cinematography and run time. The story features plenty of wacky characters and bosses, and probably the most in depth lore dump expositions in the series. If there are any unanswered questions you may have from the previous games, they will all get answered here, just hope you can understand it all.

Friendship

I saw Friendship with two of my close friends, which is exactly how this movie should be watched. Friendship is a black comedy film emphasized by cringe humor and insane antics. Tim Robinson stars as Craig who is a socially awkward loner, and whose insecurities manifest into self destructive and unpredictable behaviors. Paul Rudd also is a gem here. He plays Austin, the cool and sociable next door neighbor to Tim Robinson’s character. He’s so likable in this movie, that I also wanted to be his friend. The story involves Craig’s desire for authentic friendship mixed with his lack of social skills and terrible decision making. He will continue to make good progress in his life, only to sabotage himself due to his insecurities and impulses. This movie will make you feel the social anxiety and stress, but the absurdist humor prevents Friendship from becoming an unwatchable cringe fest. As per the title, Friendship also portrays the issues of male friendships and loneliness in the face of inadequacy. Craig and his battle against loneliness is at times sympathetic and at others frustrating. This film also comments on social acceptance and expectations on men, with how people treat Craig, especially Austin whose acceptance of others gets tested. Friendship is a balance of absurdist dark humor and sincere social commentary and a good watch.

Sound of Metal

This is my one of my favorite movies, and maybe my #1 favorite. Sound of Metal tells the story of a drummer for a metal band who suddenly loses his hearing and has to cope with his new disability. It's a really great movie about struggling to live with your reality and not so subtlety about drug addiction. This movie is tragic and depressing, but it has the most beautiful ending to a movie that I have ever seen. There is not much I should say about the story, because it is one that you need to watch for yourself I think. Also, being a movie about music, the sound design is top notch. There is a lot of care and intention in the sound design, so you can really understand what the protagonist is going through. I heard that watching this movie with headphones is a better experience, but I have not tried it, next viewing I will though!

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Writing this review was difficult. I mean what can you say about the murder of a 6 year old child and her entire family. The Voice of Hind Rajab is a docu-drama about the very real murder of a 6 year old Palestinian child by Israeli forces in 2024. The contents of the film are reenacted by actors, but it features the actual audio of the phone call Hind Rajab made the day she was killed. The film is very well done and I could tell there was much care and dedication to create this film as best as possible to honor the life of Hind Rajab and portray the brutality of Israel and the struggles of the Palestinian people. What the Palestinian people have to go through on a daily basis is unacceptable. The amount of work getting a single ambulance to one location requires so much communication and planning on the Palestinian end, but that is the point. Israel wants the Palestinian people to die, even the children. You don’t fire over 300 rounds at a child by mistake, or shoot the ambulance when you specifically green lit the route. I'm truly speechless at what Western Imperialism is willing to do.

Whiplash

Whiplash is one of my favorite movies of all time. This story asks how much are you willing to endure to achieve greatness and if that goal itself is even worth the suffering. Whiplash is about a highly ambitious drum student Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) and an abusive and strict jazz instructor Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). J.K. Simmons delivers the best performance I have seen from him in this movie. His award for best supporting actor at the Oscars is much deserved. Fletcher’s abuse towards his students is so extreme it becomes so unbelievable and tense. Nieman’s desire to be the greatest drum player convinces him to endure all this abuse, and he slowly becomes obsessed with improving to the point he almost dies. The ending is really great as well, and also pretty scary. Watching this movie, I couldn’t help but almost agree with Neiman’s view; That if I had a teacher who was a bit this strict and brutal, maybe I would have been a much better artist. If only my art teacher in college was willing to throw a chair at my face. Of course, the movie tells you, if anything, that this is a self destructive mind set. Great Movie.

Marty Supreme

Marty Supreme dares to ask what if a white boy had a little bit of swagger on him, what if his thang was thanging, what if a white boi was quirked up and goated with the sauce. Marty Supreme tells the story of a scumbag hustler who tries to lie and cheat his way to the top, and god damn did I want him to win everytime. Going into this movie, I knew nothing about it other than that Timothée Chalamet was in it, which is enough for me. Did you know this movie was about a 1950’s ping pong player? Did you know people get shot and killed too? This movie is similar to Good Time by the same director, and I assume Uncut Gems too (I haven’t seen it yet, I know I know). In Marty Supreme, Marty lives in a hustle or be hustled world. Marty scams the people closest to him, not because he doesn’t care about them, but because he is so confident in himself that he feels that future success is guaranteed and he will be able to make it up to everyone. It is this huge ego and desire to carve his own path to success that ultimately brings Marty’s life down. Timothee Chalamet is outstanding in this movie, and just like Marty, he proves he has the skills to back up his ambition. He might be one of the greats one day. Also, check this out

Midsommar

Man White People are craaazyyyy!!! I really like how this movie builds up the horror over time. It reminds me of Get Out a lot. Obviously you know there is some nefarious shit happening from the beginning, but seeing all the clues appear and watching how strange people are acting as the tension builds is great. And of course, seeing the cast dwindle over time as they are killed one by one. By the end I was screaming “get out!” at the tv to the last guy left. There’s also the not so subtle white supremacy aspect of the cult. The first people they kill are brown, they kill all the brown people, and although this cult tries to accept new commers to boost their population, they are all white people, really makes you think. Further evidence that they are white supremacists is that their cult is clearly a neo pagan movement and not authentic. Their “traditions” are based on myths and misinterpretations and they never mention any actual Scandinavian gods or beliefs.

Parasite

After years of hearing how great this movie was, and how many awards it has won, I finally got a chance to see Parasite. I knew this movie was something about wealth inequality, but I was surprised when this movie was way more nuanced than I had assumed. The Kim family (the poor family) are portrayed so negatively as scammers, and the Park family (the rich family) are portrayed as much kinder and positive. But I think that is the statement the movie is making about class differences. The Kim family’s behaviors stem from their poverty, they have to lie just to survive. And the Park family, they can afford to be nice, but their financial status also allows them to be ignorant to the struggles of the impoverished. As per the name of the movie, the Kims are parasites as they feed off the success of the Parks, but the Parks are also parasites as their way of life can only exist with the exploitation of the Kim’s labor. There are also some motifs that are really nice, especially stairs that represent class position.

Weapons

When I first saw the teaser for this movie I was not impressed at all. But then, reviews for this movie were extremely possitive. And when I saw the trailer, I knew I had to see this movie. Unfortunately, Weapons did not live up to the hype and expectations I had. Not to say that this movie is bad, It is nice, but fails to build the mystery it had into anything interesting. The story is split into multiple story lines. The first half of this movie has the two leads, Archer and Justine, and their plots were very interesting and engaging. Half way through the movie it swaps to Marcus's section, and while his part has the most intense and thrilling scenes, the rest of the movie fails to reach these moments. The movie loses all momentum when it swaps over to Paul and James (the cop and homeless man). Their sections don't develop the plot at all and are not at all scary for a horror movie. Anyway, the central mystery about what happened to all the children did not really interest me too much, and was underwhelming for the build up the movie was having prior to the reveal. For a horror movie, this film had more funny moments than scary, and for a mystery movie, its mystery is fails to match the build up. Good movie, but very flawed in the second half.

Superman

After watching a slew of garbage from the Zach Snyder DC extended universe, I was excited for a DC movie to be actually good. With James Gunn's filmography in mind, I was certain this film would be a much higher quality than the previous iterations, but this still was the same company that approved of Jared Leto Joker soooo... Anyway, I entered this movie with high expectations and was happy to see them achieved. Superman 2025 is a superhero movie that finally breaks away from the slop flicks that DC and Marvel have been phoning in the past several years. What makes this movie stand out is the focus on exploring these characters. The personality of these characters, and their interpersonal relationships outshines the fight scenes and cgi evironments that superhero movies are known for. Superman's motivations are made believable and inspiring, and suporting characters like Guy Garner and Mister Terrific almost steal the spotlight from Superman's own film.

And I can't talk about this movie without mentioning the very clear allegory to Palestine and Israel. Jarhanpur and Boravia are blatantly based off of Palestine and Israel respectively. Jarhanpur is portrayed as the impoverished nation of brown people in the desert who are trapped behind a fence, and Boravia is the US ally who are funded by American weapon companies and have secret plans to annex Jarhanpur. The interview between Superman and Lois Lane could be taken from a real world conversation about Palestine, talking point for talking point. The ending scene of the liberation of Jarhanpur is made much more satisfying to watch. Unfortunately, we don't have a real life Justice Gang or Superman to save us, and as my one friend has put it: "We all have to be Superman".