The Meg

Having read the book The Megalodon and reading the description of the film (‘outbeats Jaws’) this film was very disappointing. It’s not horror you’re going to see. It’s barely even thrilling. It’s just a team of scientists and a millionair who find a way to discover the deepest ends of the sea. With success.
But what does one find in the deepest depts of the sea? Right, undiscovered species of fish, and not necessarily friendly ones. A mega-one, really. The Meg.

It surprised me how little victims actually become part of this film, and even when it does, this film has made more efforts on putting Hollywood-moments in there than to just let actors act? It dreads on far too long to be a mystery of any kind, to be surprising in any way, or thrilling, or anything else. It’s just bloody boring.

I’d say go for the real thing if you’re looking for horror. This is more of a romcom with the added ‘fun’ of a team of supposed experts. Several children are present and none of them gets hurt. Only shocked. And only mildly so.

 

Becoming Astrid

After seeing the film Becoming Jane, based on the life of Jane Austen, I more or less expected the same type of film. A film in which is shown how Jane Austen broke her way into writing, despite the social classing system of that period of time.

Becoming Astrid was quite a different take, as it doesn’t show at all how Astrid (then Ericsson) became the author that we know as Astrid Lindgren.
I grew up with some of her stories and it would have been great to see something in the film reflecting on how or at least where she grew her inspirations from. The only thing you see or actually even just hear in the film about her books, are quoted letters that sound like her voice of reason at any time. They aren’t guidances at that moment.
What we see is how Astrid Ericsson comes from a very Christian family, derails from her family because of that. Her father supports her, her mother wants her to behave like a good Christian. Astrid politely declines, sings her own tune.

Then she gets her first job.
Despite the fact that I very much like how this film depicts human emotions and especially the Swedish and Danish ones, it’s not what I was expecting. I do like how the film shows the struggle of a very young mother having to decide not only what’s best for her, but also for her child, her future, and so on. Never in the film is ever shown, however, how she got her first break in writing. Except for the jobs she has, nobody is praising her for any story she has written. Yes, in quotes. You never see her doing any of her writing during it.

It’s a nice film to watch, dramatic at times, but not heavy on the stomach. Just don’t expect any of your heroes from the books to make some kind of appearance. They don’t.

 

The Flight Attendant

Kaley Cuoco. I’ve seen her in Big Bang Theory (who hasn’t?) and to be fair her character in this series reminds me a lot of Penny. She drinks like a maniac, a feature that’s often given her commentary of her friends in Big Bang Theory also.
This series had me hooked though, though not as fiercely as Big Bang Theory had.

OK aside that. The storyline is pretty decent. The parts where she’s actually fighting with her memory and how things went is pretty decent. The turns the story takes are plausible and relatable to those who have been in drinking situations I guess and the confronting moments being avoided, too. No surprises in that sense.
The only thing I was surprised by actually came in the second season, where all the perks she has in this season, are taken away. I was left with ‘well there’s not much left either then eh?’

But this first season is pretty OK.

 

The Staircase

Toni Colette, Colin Firth.

Despite this series being starstudded – which should be a warning in itself, to be fair – it doesn’t become clear what’s actually happening here.
It starts as a general detective whodunnit, but as it evolves, it becomes clear you’re watching a O.J. Simpson-like drama. I have seen so with The Gardeners which involves Olivia Colman and I stopped watching that as I don’t want to be taken for a granted jury.

The flashbacks in The Staircase were mostly confusing to me. They don’t serve a purpose. They only show her alive, during whatever moment, but they don’t specifically show if she was a nice woman, if she was particularly brutal or anything at all. It truly just shows her alive during some event that took place. Usually flashbacks have a purpose. To me they didn’t. I didn’t see the point and they did confuse me a lot as there was also a lach of timeframe. What’s the bloody use then??

I’ve seen there’s more coming to it, and by now I know I won’t be watching that. Each to their own, but for a courtcase that’s still going, I don’t think it’s good to be influenced by a series like this who I’m sure doesn’t have all the ins and outs to it.

Aside that: it’s a proper watch.

 

Hush

With Jessica Lange and Gwyneth Palthrow.

What a waste of time. The storyline about a mother-in-law (Jessica Lange nearly puts Glenn Close from Fatal Attraction in a corner?! But no; they’re equally terrifying!) who will stop at nothing to prevent her son from leaving her side.

Aside it being so bloody obvious she’s behind every nasty trick that gets played on this couple (the medaillon, the diaphram, etc), I also hate how Gwyneth Palthrow has a bump then hasn’t. Then again has a bump and again doesn’t. She doesn’t look pregnant for most of the film and when she does, it’s a wild guess when she’s about to pop.

Also; as a viewer you get much inside of what’s happening, but this doesn’t get discussed between the people involving it. Very annoying.

 

Chernobyl

With Stellan Skarsgaard, Emily Watson, Jared Harris and many others.

This miniseries about what happened when the Chernobyl disaster took place is pretty brilliant in the sense that it’s based on what actually occurred. It may be an American production and as such could be biased here and there, in essence, it shows the problems that appeared and the people who were involved.

I say this because there’s a Russian film about the same disaster too, and that even starts with the note that the (love)story that follows isn’t based on anything real. The even that took place was real, of course, but the story you see is made up, and as such, simply less interesting.

The miniseries shows how those who were responsible tried to hide this fact behind equipment that wasn’t equipped to measure what they were looking for. They needed facts, like ‘how much radiation was released?’ but given that the right equipment was in a vault which the workers were not allowed to use, only the highest value of the parameters that were available, could be used. Which meant they kept their people in the dark, until they heard of the surrounding countries that they were ordering parents to keep their children inside and not to eat any of the vegetables growing in their gardens as they were contaminated. If you’re living in such a big country and the countries around you are ordering to keep children inside due to a problem that has occurred where YOU live…you know it’s far worse than those who were responsible are willing to admit!
On the other hand, the matter of nuclear matter invites to your fantasy running wild. The following three phrases come with a massive SPOILER ALERT: the pregnancy ending in a baby that died within a few hours because it supposedly ‘absorbed all radiation to protect the mother’ is a load of bogus. A baby in the making would not survive that amount of radiation if it’s able to kill a grownup in hours. END OF SPOILER ALERT.

Given that in the film Contagion there is only one person being ‘weird’ about the virus that has spread as a deadly pandemic (as has been happening) and when I watched that, I thought: why not make a crowd of it, to make this film even more relatable to our current situation? I was surprised by how Chernobyl only used one person (Emily Watson) to present in fact a whole team of experts. I get that it probably keeps things containable, but given it was such a disaster: why not?

Aside that, the series is most certainly worth a watch, even if it is just to make you aware of what happened during the time you weren’t alive and to make you aware that these particles are still very much part of our current life. Even though they’re not daily broadcasted any longer.

 

Gone With The Wind

I admit I was sceptic about this film even before watching it. I’ve never been all that much into lovestories, and well…that’s just what it gave me. I was a bit shocked when I noticed I had nearly four hours to got through?! More surprises came when the film was broken into bits and pieces where even texts came along on the screen, like how long did they intend to make the film in the first place??

The story itself is simple and an utter classic (just watch Little Women for the same background story of ‘girl and boy are interested in one another, but find themselves “not meant to be” in the end’. Because yes, that’s what the supposed romance between both Scarlet and Rhett AND Scarlet and Ashley is, to me: just not meant to be.

Meanwhile, in those nearly four hours, we see how life treats all of those involved. It’s astonishing, with the current view on life, how they actually tried to make slaves look happy, wellfed and even cheeky at the time. Reminds me a bit (a BIT!) of the propaganda commercials that the little boy in ‘The Boy With The Striped Pyjama’ sees. This must have been just that, in the original time of its release: propaganda to show how slaves were happy and allright and could be acting funny when they felt like it. Of course I missed a lot of things in this film that were even more shocking, as at some point, I started skip-hopping through the film, wondering where the hell this would end?

To be fair the ending was not what I had expected from such a girlie-girl overload.

Most of the film (about 3 hours of it) is an absolute waste of your time. It could be I missed a few spots that are interesting, but I wouldn’t recommend the film based on the story.
I would recommend watching it to get an unrealistic point of view of how people at the time assumed everyone was ‘OK’ with how things were going in society. Then again: you don’t want to waste nearly fours hours with that. Just read the book and then watch snippets of the film on youtube or something….*rolls eyes*

 

Let Him Go

Kevin Costner, Diane Lane.
This film left me with an empty feeling I didn’t expect. And not because of the well acting, but mostly the story that was so damaging, in a way.
Diane Lane and Kevin Costner are a couple with only one son, who got married and had a baby with his wife.
One day he goes out horsebackriding, only not to return. Leaving his wife a widow and their about six month old son behind.
The film wasn’t so clear to me in the few minutes after that. I thought it was a throwback to how the son and daughter-in-law got married and so on, but it turns out she remarries after some time.

It’s very slowly. You can see clearly how grandmother goes out on a sort of hunt to get any information about the couple, including spotting them in the streets and seeing how the new husband slaps both his wife and his stepson. This is when grandmother decides she wants her grandson to live with them, his grandparents.

The part where they are reunited is ghastly, sadistic and so overwhelmingly rude, you can feel the earth shift under you. Kudos on that part for Lesley Manville and Jeffrey Donovan. They truly triomph as the king and queen of evil bastards. This part is done too well in my opinion. It gets ugly. More than ugly.
In that sense: this is not a film for people who seek sane judgement.
In the end I can’t even say if it’s a happy ending or not.
I can only say I have no idea what the title refers to, not even after checking IMdB for it. Don’t watch this film if you’re seeking for a nice film. This one won’t give you that.

 

A Quiet Place

With Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Lupe.

I recall the reviews about Cast Away being shocked by the absense of mostly any sound for most of that film. The music only starts at the very near ending.

A Quiet Place doesn’t completely lack any type of noise at it has music, but still: the world is run by massive killer ants and as such, to make as little as possible noise is a necessity to survive.
We witness a family of four who have managed to live their life that way, mostly by sign language. Given that they have a daughter who is deaf this has been made easier, because if you already have signs with your hands, who needs words anyway?

The film is a bit slow, as it simply shows how they live their life with constant danger surrounding them on a daily base. So it’s visible that when they are in an area where there’s more sound of nature -a heavy stream or waterfall, for instance – it’s actually possible to speak on a normal tone. This part is interesting in itself. To see how details, such as not eating from plates but edible leafs, playing monopoly with knitted flowers or iron-on-pictures, are worked out quite fine, but not a loose sticking out nail in a stairwell. That doesn’t make sense. Nor how it could be missed??

At some point you realise: that poor woman is gonna have to deliver her baby in complete and utter silence. Her damn husband – who also happens to be the director of this film?! – didn’t seem to mind to give his wife the utmost big problems while doing so. I quite hated him for what the devil he put her through there?! And when she wakes up, later, finding her resting place filled with water and one of them massive bastard killing ants; what’s that all about?!

Also, there’s a scene with a truck involved that reminded me a bit too much of Jurassic Parc. I don’t like it myself when I recognise someone else’s work in a film, especially not if it’s not clear to me if it’s like a joke (I’ve seen Jurassic Parc being repeated in Frankenweenie and that was clearly a parody), or hoping people won’t notice?

The last scene wasn’t worked out so well, I thought. There’s quick thinking involved there, but not acted out. In fact it’s nearly in slow-motion. The first two settings of that should have been cut out. You see the girl thinking, while she could have done that on the first two goes. There is secretly no logic as to why the mother hasn’t acted by then yet? The camera takes different angle swings, yes, but all are the same situation, and in none of them anything different happens.
He should have left the first two out, or at least cut two to make it more thrilling. And it’s clear that that is what he meant.

But it’s an interesting watch and quite heartbreaking at times.

 

Four Good Days

With Mila Kunis and Glenn Close and Stephen Root.

Although I didn’t like this film that much -I have never been addicted to substances and therefor I couldn’t really relate to any of the problems depicted – I was truly taken by Mila Kunis’ portraying of Molly.
I know nothing about that feeling of needing any type of drug, but this doesn’t mean I haven’t seen it happening, and the way it’s shown…just wow, Mila!

The film, in short, is about a young woman, of whom it’s not even that clear that she once had a family, she was once married, but drug abuse threw that off shore. The thing is you don’t realise, not even when she sees the kids, as apparently the children do know she exists, but there is no true warm bond. Despite the fact that this might seem logic, the portraying of it is very mild. At first I thought the children were her cousins. I am still not sure if that is the case or not?

Then middle bit is very vague. I skiphopped, so I may have missed a thing or two, but it occurred to me that Molly has missed a safe base from home as her mother once abandoned her family herself. It is never cleared (for me) why this was and how her mother reconciled with her family after taking a break of a few years? In the end, this film mostly seems to show how families can be torn apart and sewn back together afterwards.
The puzzle part I liked very much. The fact that it’s not finished. And that that’s alright.

The film is not that long and that’s good, because there’s parts in it that are just too boring.