Movie Thoughts - Blog Posts

just watched “the truman show” and holy shit im so mad 😭 i’m sure this was the intent with the movie but the viewers only cared about what the show said they should care about. even though everyone watching the show knew that truman was literally living in a fucked up simulacrum of real life, they consumed the show with excitement and obsession, and only a small group of people thought negatively of it. then, once truman wants to escape, everyone is rooting for him? they didn’t care when truman didn’t care, but now they cheer once he escapes? where was that support before he knew about the situation he was in? they’d been watching the show for almost thirty years and didn’t care until now.

AND THEN, once the show was over and truman escaped, after the short period of celebration from viewers, they were just like “okay, let’s see what else is on tv” 😧 so they only care about what the television tells them to care about, and then once they’ve gotten all the stimulation they can out of one show, they move on to the next thing. it’s probably not that far off from real life but it really grinds my gears to see it in a movie i guess

OUGHHHHH INTERSTELLAR-

Interstellar interstellar interstellar interstellarrrrrr 0v0

Just saw it with @augmentedchordsofficial in theaters for the first time and I'm SCREEEEECHING!!!

Wehhh, it's such a beautiful metaphor for family and love all wrapped up in a science-y, black hole bow that's absolutely scrumptious to nom on!

Just watched Inside Out 2 and I did NOT expect a whole CALLOUT post? Like, hello?? Those lil wire-shaped folks are in my noggin, for real-

Uhhh, anyways, how are y'all? I've been enjoying the holidays and thinking about many medias that you should totally ask, "Hey, what're you thinking about?" for! (0u0)

The Half of It (2020)

what I did like

This movie was very refreshing because it didn’t have the same cheesy glossy Netflix vibe. We all remember such “masterpieces” as Tall Girl and The Kissing Booth, and it’s nice to see that The Half of It was actually a genuine story.

I really liked the way Ellie’s culture and her family was represented in the movie. We don’t usually see families whose first language isn’t English having conversations in their native language on screen, even though it’s unrealistic. And here it wasn’t even a big deal, it just came naturally.

The meaning behind the title and the story was beautiful. In the last scene when Ellie observes other passengers on the train who are sitting alone, the realization hits that all people are a half of somebody’s story. In friendships, romantic and family relationships there’re always two halves, two people who make them up. People aren’t perfect, you can’t just meet someone who will fit you. Relationships blossom from the work that both people put in. [“Love, it’s not finding your perfect half. It’s the trying, and reaching, and falling.”]

Also having an Asian lead and lesbian representation in a mainstream movie was pretty great.

things that weren’t that great

The whole movie felt authentic but at the same time I was left with a lot of questions. Maybe the things I found problems with are nitpicks or they were meant to be that way. And honestly I might have not even noticed them, if only the movie hadn’t left me unfulfilled. You see, once I finished it, I understood that it was lacking something to make a long-lasting impression. That’s what made me go back and think about what didn’t work for me in the movie.

It was hard to understand the school dynamics. The world of the movie felt limited. And people who were on the outside of Ellie’s life — faceless. With such a tiny world, that revolved around three main characters, the football games and talent shows felt out of place because the school life wasn’t established well. I didn’t understand why those guys bullied Ellie and sabotaged her performance. Just to be mean and because they were racist I guess, but they were so absent from the story, that it felt like a plot device and nothing more. Who were those two blonde ladies Ellie kept looking at during the talent show and in church? Just some random judging women? Did I miss something? All these questions just put me out of the story and left me puzzled.

The characters were closed books as well. I didn’t feel connected to any of them.

Aster’s presented like a ‘dream girl’ type of character that we see through Ellie’s eyes. Her boredom and struggle to choose between what she should do and actually wants were mentioned but her emotions and thoughts were still an enigma. Besides, she was cheating on her boyfriend with Paul and everyone was okay with that? It’s not even addressed in the movie.

Ellie was not relatable for me because, again, we didn’t see much of her feelings. If the movie is already including a voice over, why not use it to help the audience understand the main character better? We only see what she’s going through, but we don’t see how.

While Ellie didn’t seem to play an active part in her own life, it was Paul who was moving the story forward. Usually, I enjoy a good-hearted dense jock, but not here. Trying to kiss Ellie even though he was still with Aster, and then not even caring that Aster saw them but instead saying that Ellie’s gonna end up in hell for being gay (and never apologizing for it). Where did the homophobia come from? The fact that he was religious wasn’t that focused on to expect this turn of events. Just as well, it was hard to figure out what was happening inside his head. His character just like everyone else’s felt flat.

Probably the worst scene of the movie happened in the said church. With twenty minutes left, the movie, that so cautiously avoided and reinvented romcom clichés up to this point, suddenly slips into an unrealistic and awkward speech in front of everybody (everybody being the characters that weren’t well developed nor established, so for us they’re just nobody). Can we please stop making the scenes, where characters finally have a revelation or admit their feelings, so damn public? How often is it actually considered cute? Why can’t characters just talk to each other and be open and genuine, without having an audience to clap for them at the end?

Anyway, the premise itself wasn’t groundbreaking (what is it about Netflix making movies about asian girls writing letters?). However, I enjoyed a calm tone this movie had. I wish they’d just made the plot more exciting? or not as confusing?

After watching the trailer I was under an impression that Paul was going to find out sooner that Ellie liked Aster, and the movie would be about him helping her instead, which I still think would make for a more interesting story. It’s a shame we spent so much time on a relationship between Paul and Aster, that was obviously not going to last.

In conclusion, The Half of It won’t become something I’d like to rewatch or contemplate about. With all its good parts the movie was unsatisfying for me. It felt like we weren’t following an arc but were rather seeing a chain of events in a character’s life. That sure is realistic but doesn’t make for a very entertaining story. Nonetheless, I think it was a nice refresher from all the quirky unrealistic romcoms that we’re flooded with.

6/10

ONE LIFE

I’ve recently seen One Life in the cinema, and here are my thoughts about it.

SPOILER ALERT!

I LOVED the movie.

I love how different and real this felt compared to most hero movies. There was no scene where Sir Nicholas Winton delivered an emotional heroic speech to a crowd to get help and donations (given the time period and place they were in, that would’ve been incredibly unrealistic as freedom of speech was limited). “Show, not tell” was achieved beautifully in this film. Instead of everything working out in a night, they showed Nicky, Doreen and Trevor working long hours, racing time day and night.

Instead of Sir Winton saying he loved and cared about kids, they showed it by him photographing kids and doing everything within his power to find foster homes for them. I also loved the scene where he gives kids small pieces of chocolate and how happy the kids look during that scene. It also makes the viewers realise how small things most take for granted, such as chocolate, can be a privilege to some and how fortunate we are to have it.

I also loved how they showed Sir Winton grieving the loss of the children they couldn’t save. The producers didn’t change it to a perfect happy ending where everyone lives. Instead, they mentioned what happened to those who weren’t as fortunate, but the 669 lives they rescued are worth celebrating.

I also appreciate at the end of the movie, they told us what happened to Nicky’s friends. They weren’t just forgotten; instead, they were mentioned without too much screen time, as this movie is about Sir Nicholas Winton and the children he saved.