"We're not critics. We're professional fan-girls." --- This blog is dedicated to movies and the entertainment industry. We use random selection to bring into light the best and worst of streaming films and entertainment news.
Streaming Services: Netflix Movie Name/Year: I Care a Lot (2021) Genre: Comedy, Crime, Thriller Length: 118 minutes Rating: R Production/Distribution: Black Bear Pictures, Crimple
Beck, GEM Entertainment, Elevation Pictures, Amazon Prime Video, ErosSTX
International, Joy n Cinema, Netflix, The Searchers Director: J Blakeson Writer: J Blakeson Actors: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza González, Dianne Wiest,
Chris Messina, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Macon Blair, Alicia Witt, Damian Young,
Nicholas Logan, Liz Eng, Celeste Oliva, Georgia Lyman, Moira Driscoll, Gary
Tanguay Blurb from IMDb: A crooked legal guardian who drains
the savings of her elderly wards meets her match when a woman she tries to
swindle turns out to be more than she first appears.
Selina’s Point of View: I
Care a Lot
was great. The entire film
was vicious. It took great care in manufacturing tension that had a lasting
effect throughout the entire near 2-hour runtime. Here’s the thing.
Every character in the whole movie was unlikable. Everyone was either immorally
selfish, violent, cruel, or stupid. Sometimes all of the above. The trailer made
me think I’d be rooting against Rosamund Pike’s (Radioactive, The Informer,
Beirut) character the whole time, but her opponents are awful people, too.
Pike’s
performance was outstanding. She made me despise her, right off the bat. Every
moment she was on screen I wanted to see her lose. On the other hand, the
creators did a great job of making Peter Dinklage (Between Two Ferns: The
Movie, Game of Thrones, The Angriest Man in Brooklyn) seem incredibly intimidating
and dark. I initially wanted him to win, but as time went on it felt like
trying to decide between two evils. In flicks like
that, it can feel almost pointless. You need a story with a significant amount
of depth and a spectacular script to make it work. Which I Care a Lot had.
I wasn’t even
sure how I wanted it to end. I didn’t think there was any way for me to feel
satisfied when it was over. I was almost certain that’s where it would flop.
Instead, the finale turned out to be risky. I enjoyed even that. This is not a
feel-good movie. Don’t expect some kind of Hallmark scene where everyone learns
their lesson and goes on to be happy for the rest of their lives. If that’s
what you want, this is the wrong title for you. As a bit of
cynic, though, it was right up my alley.
Streaming Services: Shudder Movie Name/Year: Shook (2021) Genre: Horror Length: 88 minutes Rating: Not Rated Production/Distribution: The Squid Farm Director: Jennifer Harrington Writer: Jennifer Harrington, Alesia Glidewell Actors: Grant Rosenmeyer, Nicola Posener, Emily Goss, Daisye Tutor,
Octavius J. Johnson, Stephanie Simbari, Jeremy Phillips Blurb from IMDb: When Mia, a social media
star, becomes the target of an online terror campaign, she has to solve a
series of games to prevent people she cares about from getting murdered. But is
it real. Or is it just a game at her expense.
Selina’s Point of View: I was interested
in Shook the moment I saw the press kit. Anyone who reads the blog knows
that I appreciate horror stories that aren’t afraid to include our updated technology.
The only reason it didn’t make my Top 20 is because the trailer wasn’t
available in time. Anything on that list has to have a public trailer, and Shook
didn’t.
It started off a
little campier than I thought it would, with a kill that didn’t entirely make
sense. The death was something that should have been easily survivable. Had the
flick gone full-camp, it would have been fine. The woman going barefoot
in a public bathroom, however, grossed me out more than any horror film ever
has. Ew. Moving on.
For the most
part, there was a very 80s slasher vibe to it. Even the soundtrack felt like a
call-back to bloody films of the past. In that way, I found it relatively entertaining. I did not enjoy
any of the plot resolution, though. It took a hard left and went into a
serious, social commentary area. It was all so easy
to predict. I feel like the foreshadowing was too obvious. Yeah, you want that
layer of storytelling that you can look back on and say, “ok, I see what they
did there.” In this case, the movie felt like it was waving those moments in my
face and spoiling the ending for me. My final opinion
is that Shook was watchable, but it just didn’t go far enough to feel
great. It needed to either put both feet in the camp section, or both in the
serious social commentary section. It didn’t commit to either, and I felt a
little unfulfilled by the time it was over. See Shook
for yourself, February 18 on Shudder.
Cat’s Point of View: Shook is definitely a good title for this
movie. It perfectly describes my feelings right now in the wake of the final
credits. I’m not even sure
where to begin. Normally, after
watching a movie like this I like to watch something else as a bit of a buffer.
It gives me time to digest what happened in the film and how I really felt
about it. This time, I’m diving right into my review while the dread and
adrenaline still echo here in the dark with me. I’m shook on
multiple levels. It’s safe to say
that I got a little more than I bargained for. At first, I thought it would be
some sort of mash-up between When A Stranger Calls (2006) and Scream (1996)
with a smidge of social media tossed in for modern spice. Then the whole story
turned on its ear. One of the
elements of the film that disturbed me was the fictitious disease mentioned and
experienced. The illness sounded a hell of a lot like Multiple Sclerosis. It’s
a neurological auto-immune disease for which there is no cure. I’m afraid I
can’t draw parallels to the film directly for sake of spoilers.
I suffer from MS.
It affected my legs and ability to walk first. I get around alright now, for
the most part, but I know that I am on a bit of a ticking time clock. Anything
– literally anything – controlled by nerves could be next. I take shots three
times a week, and the treatment is keeping me stable. (I’m at 6 years and
counting…) I’m very grateful
for good doctors and an outstanding support system provided by the drug
manufacturer for my medicine. I stay positive as much as I can, because there’s
no point in wallowing in worry – and stress makes it worse. But what if I
couldn’t handle the uncertainty of the future? I do worry sometimes about how
my husband and daughter will cope with what might happen if the disease
progresses. I don’t mean to
ramble, but this particular situation makes this movie hit a little harder –
and I imagine anyone else experiencing something similar might also feel this
way. Picture someone severely afraid of spiders watching Arachnophobia
(1990). Don’t get me wrong. Without elements of the plot hitting closer to home
for comfort, it’s still a solid horror flick. For me, it just went to a whole
other level. There were plenty
of twists to keep audiences guessing and bits that did their best to blindside.
I also appreciated the fresh faces of the cast. (That’s not a pun on the fact
this revolves around a makeup blogger – promise.) There were a
couple of plot holes and spotty places, but I felt them fairly easy to overlook
in the bigger scheme of the movie. My interest is piqued enough to look forward
to what this production team has in store for the future.
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 43% Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None Metascore – None Metacritic User Score – None IMDB Score – None Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3/5 Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4/5 Trust-the-Dice’s
Parental Advisory Rating:
R Movie Trailer:
Movie Name/Year: Bliss (2021) Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi Length: 103 minutes Rating: R Production/Distribution: Amazon Studios, Endgame Entertainment, Big Indie
Pictures, Pakt Media, Stellar Visioning, Amazon Prime Video Director: Mike Cahill Writers: Mike Cahill Actors: Owen Wilson, Salma Hayek, Nesta
Cooper, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Ronny Chieng, Steve Zissis, Joshua Leonard,
Madeline Zima, Bill Nye, Slavoj Zizek, DeRon Horton, Eugene Young, Adam William
Zastrow, Lora Lee, Kosah Rukavina, Debbie Fan, Branko Smiljanic, Sanja
Vejnovic, Guy Perry, Heath McGough, Roshan Maloney Blurb from IMDb: A mind-bending love story
following Greg who, after recently being divorced and then fired, meets the
mysterious Isabel, a woman living on the streets and convinced that the
polluted, broken world around them is a computer simulation.
Cat’s Point of View: I am so confused right now. The credits have rolled on my viewing of Bliss, and I’m not sure whether I’m
going or coming. What was real? I’d say that this production has really accomplished their
task in bending reality as they saw fit. I’m not sure which was the simulation
(or a drug trip?) and which scenario was actually real. If they wanted to
conjure up a serious mind-hack, well then they did it. I kept waiting for
another post-credit scene that never came. I question everything. Seriously, the people here in the
real world that think we’re living in a simulation like The Matrix (1999) are going to eat this up. I can’t wait for more
conspiracy theories to evolve. I digress.
I’m not always a fan of Owen Wilson’s (Marley & Me, Wedding Crashers, Midnight in Paris) work. I can’t
quite put my finger on it, but something just puts me off about his live-action
performances that isn’t always present in his voice work. For Bliss, it didn’t seem to matter. I was
buying his character and his visceral reactions to the situations he found
himself in. I felt his wonder and longing. I tip my hat to him for this
performance. Maybe I need to watch more of his serious stuff, rather than the
goofball comedy he’s known for. Salma Hayek (Savages,
Everly, Like a Boss) was at the top of her game here, too. I’m seriously
still wondering if she was really a doctor or if she was the drugged-out bag
lady. What was real? I don’t even know.
I don’t know…maybe those ‘glitch in the simulation’ people
have something figured out – I mean, it’s SNOWING here in Louisiana even as I
write this review. We might get upwards of a foot accumulation this week. That
just doesn’t happen. I’m digressing again. Bliss was a solid
piece of dramatic sci-fi. The worlds, simulated or otherwise, were executed
well and made it decidedly hard to tell where reality stopped and simulation
took over. The dedication to detail was amazing. I have a few guesses about how
some clues were woven into the cinematography – but I’m spoiling nothing. I
leave it to audiences to decide. If this is your genre, and you love brainteasers, Bliss is
going to be right up your alley. I’d love to hear which you think is real.
