THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN IMMEDIATELY AFTER WATCHING THE FILM IN QUESTION, WITH NO PRE-WRITING.
Wow That was extrememly relatable to me Never have I felt so similar to an onscreen character in film American Movie is a documentary But it somehow feels unreal Its like watching The Office or This Is Spinal Tap Like a mockumentary but as far as I know its 100% real Which is really funny to me Because the interviews they do feel so much like The Office Its uncanny Anyway, American Movie is the true story of a Wisconsin dude who wants to make movies Now this guy is way older than me, obviosly But he still reminds me of myself He just wants to make movies, not because they make money but because they are fun to make and offer an escape from the mundanity of life. And I share the same vision. Now Mark's movie is implied to be terrible I can't judge the quality of my own films because I made them But I have a feeling in several years I'll look back on my films and think "wow those sucked" The best part of the movie is Mike, Marks best friend Hes such a strange person that you almost think he can't be real He's like a cartoon, but somehow, yes, this guy actually exists. American Movie really is something special. It showcases the power of having a dream and the way that cinema, no matter how terrible, brings people together. Somehow after watching this I thought of something The movies that Mark makes are bad, yes. But they have passion. And that's what matters. So many movies today are made without passion. They are products, assembly line films, made with huge budgets and hollow stories. And you might say "Avengers: Age of Ultron is a good movie" after leaving the theater, but will that stick with you in 10 years? No. And thats because it lacks passion. So many movies do nowadays. But when a film has passion put into it, at least its memorable. At least you remember it, whether its because its awful or because its stunning. American Movie: 9.9999/10
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So I just watched The Blair Witch Project, one of the most influential movies of all time. It inspired a glut of found footage movies in its wake, many of which are still being produced today. The marketing was also notable in that it treated the events of the movie as though they were real. The marketing claimed that the 3 characters in the film actually went missing in the woods after the events of the movie. What helped is that the “actors” had no credits to their name before this and actually disappeared from the public eye after the movie.
FUN FACT: I actually watched this movie in the woods at a friends house with a group of people, so that was cool and I really enjoyed that experience. But taking that out of the picture, I will be reviewing the film in its own right without the context. Now we know that the movie was prefabricated, but was in some way real. The directors sent the three actors in the woods and told them to do whatever they wanted. The directors would give them slips of paper giving them the character beats and the way the story would go. The directors would also set up boomboxes around the actors to make them frightened, keeping their reactions real. But beyond the hype, beyond the backstory, is this movie any good? Well, I’ll preface this by saying that I’m not scared of horror movies. I love them, and It’s my dream to someday work in that genre of movies. But I’m not scared of them. I was actually terrified by this movie. The scares in this movie were actually very understated. There are no monsters on screen, most of the scares are stick figures made of wood appearing, and outside of that it’s mostly just characters arguing. But that’s what makes it scary. The lack of jumpscares and tangible monsters makes it more frightening to me. At one point the characters are being chased by a monster that we never see. While some people might complain about this, but the movie is going for a realistic tone, so we never see it. They wouldn’t turn the camera around to face a monster, they would run! Without jumpscares and without music, this film feels so real, like actual tapes found in the woods. The movie answers the question that many lesser found footage movies face: why are they still filming? Here, it makes sense. The characters are filming a documentary, and as the story goes on, they continue to film because they have to get the word out if someone finds them. It makes sense. The final 20 minutes are pulse pounding, and it was my favorite part of the movie. The ratcheting up of the suspense, slow but deliberate, was absolutely perfect. The Blair Witch project was not the first found footage movie, but it popularized the genre, and for good reason. It’s a genius movie, and still continues to scare 20 years later. For better or worse, the structure and action of Season 3 is the exact opposite of Stranger Things Season 2. While I enjoyed Season 2, it was nowhere near as good as the first season, and I feel the same about Season 3. Neither top the simplicity and iconography of the first, but they sure do try. But which is better? Well…
First of all, let's look at what I enjoyed about this season. The new characters are truly a treat. While I didn't really like the characters introduced in Season 2, this time they rectify that by giving characters like Billy (who felt totally pointless last season) a purpose. The same as Murray, really. They both were used far better this season. As for totally new characters, I really liked them. Alexei and Robin were both great. Robin and Steve’s friendship felt really genuine and the moment where Robin came out to Steve was really sweet and felt very realistic for the characters. Alexei a fun character as well, but I do wish we had seen more of him. Oh well. Dustin and Steve’s storyline was probably the best this season, but Hopper and Joyce were good as well. I like that Joyce isn't as manic or crazy as she was before, and it helped her character grow to see her act naturally. The kids storyline was sporadically interesting but a lot of times it felt like most of the kids weren’t doing anything and it was all Eleven. In particular Will and Max were sidelined after the 3rd episode, which is a shame. Will’s subplot of his friends ignoring him was great, however, and I could tottaly relate and understand what he was going through. While at first I found Erica annoying (the trope of “Sassy Black Woman” is really overdone and kind of racist at this point) I was pleasantly surprised that she turned out to be a character with more depth than I had guessed. The visuals and acting were of course great, and that finale was amazing as well. The Battle of Starcourt stands as one of the best episodes of the series, right next to Holly Jolly from Season 1. The season also gradually got better as it went along, the opposite of Season 2. Season 2 started off strong, carrying the melancholy tone of the first season, but gradually declined in quality as it progressed. Season 3 started off shaky, got better, got a tad worse, and then returned to greatness with flying colors in the final 2 episodes. But on to the stuff I disliked. Nancy and Jonathan’s plot was interesting, and I liked the hospital scene a lot, but their purpose was lost on me. Maybe at the end when its showing the news clip they could have shown that the headlines were written by Jonathan and Nancy? Really, after the hospital encounter, the purpose was entirely lost on me. I really like both characters, but this season it felt like their personalities were lost. Jonathan was interesting because he was kind of a creep but also a kind brother to Will, but this season we saw none of that. I felt the same with Mike’s family. I really enjoyed the dinner scenes that the family would have, and they really helped build the characters, but these got tossed in favor of action. We also get almost no interaction between Jonathan and his family, not even during the hug at the end. Did they forget that he was Joyce’s son too? This sort of fits in with the fact that Season 3 is really different than Season 1, which I’m okay with. But it still bugs me that we barely see any quiet moments of character growth like in the first season and the beginning of the third. I also felt like the body snatcher storyline was underused. It was cool while it lasted but really had no payoff. I think a Dawn of the Dead style mall fight with the zombified residents of the town would have been cool, but alas, it was not to be. Maybe Jonathan or Mike’s Mom could have been possessed to give the story more stakes? As I said in my review of Episode 1, the music cues felt a little too on the nose, but this stopped halfway through the season and I was thankful for that. The song choices stopped being overbearing when they stopped using them as much and I think it greatly improved the series. Overall, I would say Season 3 was a solid entry into the series. I found it a little bit better than Season 2, but not as good as Season 1. MY SCORE: 8.4 |
AuthorI'm Spoon Goon. I like movies and video games and occasionally a good TV show. Archives
April 2020
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