Tag: netflix

PREVIEW: A.M.I.

Emma Pinchak Leave a comment

Between online classes, meetings, schoolwork, and arts events, most of us are beginning to resent our forced bond with technology. Still, somehow, staring lovingly at our screens on Netflix remains our go-to pastime (or procrastination habit, if we’re being honest here). Lucky for us all, I have a movie suggestion that might just marry the two conflicting sentiments: A.M.I.

It’s about a gal mourning the loss of her mother, then happening upon a new app with customizable artificial intelligence personalities. She forms a deeply emotional relationship with the voice, but it soon turns much more sinister than sweet mother-daughter talks…

This sounds like an interesting concept, but still an easily consumable slasher flick perfect for the Halloween season and our stressed brains decaying from midterms.

 

REVIEW: I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Nellie Shih Leave a comment

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is Charlie Kaufman’s first psychological thriller as both writer and director. I watched two films he has written in preparation: Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. After this week, I can say with absolute certainty that Kaufman is a brilliant writer. Do I always understand what’s going on in his mind, though? Nope.

 

It’s difficult to talk about the film without spoiling everything – I’ve been mulling over the ending of the film for the past three hours and am just now beginning to piece the narrative together, to find meaning in the events leading up to the conclusion, and to solidify my interpretation of the film in its entirety. But, that’s what I love about this film – it makes you think.

 

Before I delve into more specific details, I should mention that the film is about an unnamed young woman who joins her boyfriend on a trip to visit his parents, but she doesn’t foresee their relationship lasting much longer. The film begins with the couple’s drive to the family farm. From the get-go, you understand why the young woman is thinking of ending things. The two are both well-educated – the boyfriend, Jake, is able to keep up with his girlfriend’s explanation of her research and the paper she has to write. They both like poetry. However, they have differing interpretations of poems and clashing opinions on philosophical debates, but they are unable to articulate their thoughts and hold a progressive conversation without being afraid of offending each other. The couple will then fall into complete silence, and when Jake asks what his girlfriend is thinking about, she tells him she’s thinking about vague, in her head stuff, while she tells the audience she doesn’t think she wants to a continue a relationship where she can’t even tell the other person what’s on her mind.

 

From the moment the couple starts their road trip, it’s clear there’s a sense of unease between the two. I think that this shows just how good of a writer Kaufman is. The dialogue isn’t clunky – although it can be confusing, he portrays realistic conversations between two intelligent individuals who are falling out of love. And what I find most impressive is how Kaufman is able to write all kinds of couples, from a shallow and almost manipulative attraction in Being John Malkovich, to Eternal Sunshine, which depicts the initial euphoria of meeting someone devolving into irritability and volatility, and ultimately a breakup. Furthermore, Jake and his girlfriend’s relationship in I’m Thinking of Ending Things is different from Clementine and Joel in Eternal Sunshine – we only get the young woman’s point of view, and we never see them connect on the level that Clementine and Joel do.

 

I have many more thoughts about the film, but they all fall into spoiler territory. So I’ll leave with the fact that there is very little music, which makes the musical moments stand out. The use of sound really sets the uneasy tone of the film – you just always feel like something’s off. Whether it’s complete silence punctuated by uncomfortable dialogue, the rhythmic thud of windshield wipers, the jingling of a dog’s collar, the minimal score, or a song from Oklahoma!, you find yourself wondering what it all means and why you feel uncomfortable. Of course, this is aided by the performances of Toni Collette and David Thewlis, and Kaufman’s messing with the concept of time, as introduced in the trailer for the film.

 

Overall, I highly recommend this film. You might hate it, but it’s just so interesting and there’s just so much to unpack. If anyone wants to talk about spoilers please leave a comment! I need to talk about this film!

PREVIEW: I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Nellie Shih 1 Comment

PREVIEW: I’m Thinking of Ending Things

 

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is an upcoming Netflix film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman. Kaufman is most known for writing and/or directing Being John Malkovich; Synecdoche, New York; and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The three films are of the comedy/drama/romance genre, whereas his newest film is described as a psychological horror film. I’m Thinking of Ending Things is based on the Ian Reid novel of the same name, which follows a young woman who joins her boyfriend to visit his parents.

 

The premise of the film is reminiscent of Get Out, but the trailer proves it will be a very different movie. It currently holds an 85% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and depending on how I’m Thinking of Ending Things continues to perform, it could be an indicator to other distribution companies that their films could also perform well on streaming services, and ultimately encourage more new films to be released on streaming platforms

 

The film stars Chernobyl’s Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons whom I can never separate from Todd in Breaking Bad, Toni Colette of Hereditary and Knives Out, and Professor Remus Lupin himself, David Thewlis. I’m Thinking of Ending Things premieres on September 4 on Netflix, and the trailer is available now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDTg62vsV4U

REVIEW: Avatar the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra

Nellie Shih 2 Comments

Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra both explore a world created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko in which some individuals possess the ability to “bend” one of four elements: water, earth, fire, or air. The two animated series follow Aang and Korra, two incarnations of the Avatar, whose duty is to maintain balance in the world and act as a bridge between the human and spirit worlds. The Avatar has the ability to bend all four elements, and is reincarnated into a new body each time they die.

 

Avatar was added to Netflix in May, and despite it being a kids’ show that aired from 2005-2008, it quickly made its way into Netflix’s top 10 list where it stayed for 61 days, breaking the record previously held by Ozark (57 days). I didn’t watch Avatar when it first aired, but when I watched it this summer, I loved it. I think what makes Avatar so successful is that even though it’s intended for a younger audience, it doesn’t shy away from serious topics, which expands the target audience. The show addresses themes from gender discrimination to war, imperialism, and genocide. Another way the show is successful is in how it’s structured: it’s episodic, so the episodes can stand alone, but they all contribute to the overall plot. This makes the show more exciting, as each episode tells its own story.

 

Not only does Avatar have a great plot, it also has unique and lovable characters. Even the side characters have their own personalities and motivations. Since Avatar is a kids’ show, the creators did not show any onscreen deaths, and they were able to work this as a character trait into the main protagonist, Aang. Aang is a monk and also twelve years old, and refuses to kill the man who was responsible for the genocide of his people. This man, Fire Lord Ozai, is the main antagonist of the show, and when he and Aang finally face each other, the conclusion is unexpected but original, and overall very satisfying. One very popular character is the son of the Fire Lord, Prince Zuko. I believe that I can reasonably claim most people that watch the show love Zuko. He’s essentially Kylo Ren and Jaime Lannister, but actually written well, and with motivations that actually make sense.

 

Recently, there have been plans to develop Avatar into a live-action series on Netflix. However, the original creators of the show, DiMartino and Konietzko, both announced they would be leaving the show. They stated that Netflix had a vision to make the show more mature, but they still wanted the show to be for kids. I initially was 100% on the creators’ side, but after watching Korra, I’m intrigued by what a more mature Avatar show would look like.

 

The Legend of Korra is intended for a more mature audience – for the kids who watched Avatar and then grew up. The show’s villains essentially represent communism, theocracy, anarchy, and facism – and it gets pretty dark. In season 4, Korra has PTSD and spends a good part of the season in recovery, and her character isn’t the same as season 1. It’s quite sad that Korra started off as a cocky and fun-loving young woman, but in order to be humbled she had to process a great deal of trauma. The creators of the show have proved that a more mature story can successfully take place in the world of Avatar and Korra, and it’d be interesting to see Netflix’s spin on an already iconic story. However, if Netflix is going on the Riverdale-maturity route, then I completely understand why the creators chose to leave. I also understand the creators’ frustration with a lack of creative freedom, as there are reports that Nickelodeon gave the creators a really difficult time during the production of Korra – not only because she is a female Avatar, but also because she is a woman of color. The ending of season 1 is a little rushed, and the beginning of season 2 is rather slow, but Nickelodeon initially only gave the creators one season, and greenlit season 2 halfway through the airing of season 1. Then, seasons 3 and 4 – the strongest seasons of the show – weren’t aired at all and were uploaded to Nickelodeon’s online streaming service instead.

 

Overall, Korra gets a lot of hate, but I think you can be understanding of the circumstances surrounding seasons 1 and 2. Both seasons are still very good, and season 3 is on the same level as Avatar. I’m interested in seeing what’ll become of the live action show as the creators did say some individuals they hired themselves have stayed on the show. But for the time being, watch Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra on Netflix!

REVIEW: The Half of It.

niezi 1 Comment
The Half of It opens with Plato’s Symposium as Ellie recounts Aristophanes’ creation myth. It begins as a film of poetic quotes about love, of loneliness and endlessly searching for another half, built on the foundations of archetypes and classic storylines like this. This movie is another succession of Cyrano de Bergerac, another story about high school, another experience about the desperate longing of unrequited desire.But within these frames, the characters give nuance to adolescence in Squahamish. Ellie, Paul, and Aster – enveloped inside their own private worlds that rotate around the different constants of their lives – feel the pains of growing up in different ways. They experience the loneliness of being misunderstood or unseen, of wishing for a greater life that’s both intensely moving and frightening to them.

Ellie is created with particularly fine lines, strokes that paint a complex person. She’s characterized by her experience as being “other,” as an Asian-American immigrant in a predominantly white town, an atheist in a church community, a girl who is in love with another girl. These subjects are explored carefully, and there is no right answer to anything. Most of the moments where Ellie grows are quiet and simple, without the cinematic flair of teenage romcoms.

The film uses its created environment well, the town framing most of their interactions, as we see Ellie and Paul again and again in the same places, each layer of the story adding another dimension to Squahamish. Despite the repetition, the cinematography is quite beautiful at times; there’s the scene where Aster and Ellie swim in the groves, talking about intangibly vast things as they float in the water, light and trees all around them.

The second half of the movie veers into more complex character interactions. While the setup of the first half builds steady momentum, the denouement still has to tie together issues that are only brought up in the latter half. The ending has mixed pacing as a result of this, with some plot points that are resolved in a timeframe that feels natural, while others come on more suddenly.

Towards the end, there’s a tonal switch too, where the film ultimately decides it’s not about “getting the girl,” and while romance is important in The Half of It, the movie becomes more about the seduction of a happier life, the romancing of the start of their adulthood. Their unrequited desires move beyond an individual and towards the world and their futures.

The Half of It encapsulates the longing for another half, whether it’s a person, or a dream, or a life. Despite the fine details added to the characters and their surroundings, the film catches the universal feeling of the uncertainty in those seconds before you reach out and make your move into the world you’d envisioned for yourself.

Check out The Half of It on Netflix today.

REVIEW: I Am Not Okay With This

Emma Pinchak Leave a comment

Despite a general acceptance of non-heterosexuality in modern media and society, queer characters are often placed in plots that are only focused on their ~journey of self-discovery~ or in supporting roles that stereotype and tokenize them. So often, they are reduced to their sexuality, communicating to the audience that this is the only part of their identity worth mentioning. Surely, it’s important to feature queer characters in media, but every story can’t only be about their struggles with unaccepting parents/religion/schoolmates/colleagues/whatever. We normalize queerness by incorporating it in media in a wide variety of ways. 

So I was overjoyed to find that this series has a queer star who spends some time recognizing her sexuality, but is primarily preoccupied with a full storyline about her new mind powers and their possible connection to her late father.

Based on Charles Forsman’s comic of the same name, the series honors the original work, often taking sections of text into the script verbatim. I’d say that the writers could have taken some more liberty with dialogue, which could be lacking in originality sometimes. The media move from comic to television necessitates this; while comics with a minimalist art style depend on fast-paced conversation between characters to drive the story, live action dialogue is generally less important. Makers of television are freer to insert some more artistry in angles, lighting, wardrobe, delivery and content of lines. 

A lot of talented people worked on the series: people responsible for Stranger Things and The End of the F***ing World, actors who starred in the updated version of IT. But if I know anything about logical principles, I know that past performance is not indicative of future results. I Am Not Okay With This is an unfortunate piece of evidence for that rule.

Along with the lacking dialogue, there were too many illusions to late 20th century pop culture, like The Breakfast Club-esque episode and the constant Carrie references. While I understand the the entire plot is literally another reboot of that classic Stephen King story, they could have strayed a little farther, style-wise. The spring fling dress is even similar to the one Sissy Spacek wears in the original movie, pale pink satin with spaghetti straps. She does the whole walking home from the dance in the middle of the road covered in blood thing, and she doesn’t add to it. If you’re going to pull so directly from classic works, you need to do something that differentiates it from the original, pushing it farther, bringing into modern times so it can be understood within current social politics.

It’s sad when the arc of creativity starts to decline for previously awed artists. This feels like the desperate reaction to writer’s block that should’ve been given some more time to simmer. Still, most folks are wont to continuously seek out media that gives them the same kind of satisfaction as they’ve experienced in the past. So, at this psychological level, the series does a great job. Though that feels like some kind of exploitation, it fills a demand. I’m not sure I’d call it art, though.