Movies Page

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".