Reviews

I'm a man, and I was honestly surprised anyone disliked the episode. The episode is objectively hilarious, from Tony and Loudermilk's insults, to the counselor's exasperation. The dude into pegging was a hilarious satire of dudes on the other side. While some of the dialogue was over the top, Mugsy's growth seemed real and organic. People who don't believe that should remember that Mugsy didn't even want to meet his kids in the first place, then changed. Then he didn't want to call his kids, then changed. It's easy to see how upsetting his daughter could cause him to see things from her point of view. People need to feel impacted before they can care about an issue. The fact that Tony and Ed don't change was very realistic. The only thing they got wrong was that the lady committed battery, not (just) assault.

Only 9/10 because the job offers were too laughably sexist to exist in real life and Mugsy's initial reaction was pretty dumb, too. Though, after reading other reviews, I suppose that cartoonishly sexist people might really exist.

We understand why Jonah wants to go after Clara, he's emotional. Why does everyone else? They're throwing away 30 years of hard work. George would want them to find Hitler, not get revenge on low level Nazis. Joe shot George perfectly between the eyes but of course shoots Roxy where she wouldn't immediately die. The Nazis are uncertain if Joe will keep his loyalty when his friends show up, but trust him anyway with guns and supervising the hostage. Then, even though it's an ambush and the Nazis have similar or greater numbers, they fail to injure one of the Hunters, who kill them all like so many stormtroopers. The plot armor is thicker than a tank and of course Joe wakes up right when he needs to. Sad to see this once-great show wrapped up like an uninspired Hollywood B-movie.

The premise is excellent. The execution is initially good as you see their emotional reactions to such a scenario. But once you're twenty minutes in, you've seen everything. From that point on, Eisenberg and Poots are stuck in a literal suburbian hellscape with no escape in sight. Each passing scene further confirms what the viewer already suspects.

This is the kind of movie that needs one or two twists. For example, M Night Shyamalan's The Village gave us a twist we were all suspecting, but at least it was a twist. This movie gives us none.

Is this vivarium really some other type of prison? Will they escape and how? Will the child become empathetic? Is he some third type of being? Is there some reason these two were taken? What flaws are there in this prison? Can they converse with other prisoners? Will they even attempt something other than the hole? Is there a large scale point to all this (what are the children for)? Can the child killed or even threatened? Will killing the child be possible or ethical? Will we at least see what the wardens look like? Will they at least come up with some sort of plan, even if it fails? Will they at least find some sort of distraction from their awful mundane task?

The answer to all these is no, no, no, no, it doesn't matter, and no. Once the trap is set, we basically are there to watch them suffer and die, strung along with the hopes that they might reach a point where they fight. Waste of a good premise, this movie has no middle and no end.

The first half of Nightmare Alley is moderately good. Stan, a man with a dark past finds success as a carnie, where he compromises his morals on the job, and where he falls in love with one of the two women he courts. However, this story is only provided as foreshadowing for the next acts. This act could have been cut down for time, but it's the only part of the movie that actually works.

At the beginning of the second act, Stan is a moderately successful psychic with a beautiful wife, Molly, playing support to his mysterious act. For no reason at all, Stan begins a series of bad decisions that play out exactly as we expect. Despite his wife's pleadings, he does a "spook show" with a wealthy judge. It works, and he continues taking more risks by becoming the personal psychic to Ezra Grindle, an apparent mobster (?). It's never really explained why he's dangerous. Despite warnings from his wife and Grindle's bodyguard, Stan continues his charade even promising Grindle a vision of his dead lover. Grindle and his bodyguard continue to make very unspecific threats to Stan, should they find out he is not the real deal.

All of this is just within the realm of believability. Like the main character in Uncut Gems, some people have an obsessive personality and a ridiculous desire to succeed at their risky craft, despite the danger. Still, it doesn't make sense when teetotaler Stan starts drinking alcohol for no apparent reason. He cheats on his gorgeous young wife with Dr. Ritter, the femme fatale psychiatrist, who is smart, but definitely past her prime. But not only does he begin an affair with her, he stores his money at her business for some reason. Granted, Dr. Ritter is rich enough not to care about stealing Stan's money, but there's no reason Stan can't take the money home, as his wife is up to date on his dealings. You hope this decision will be explained, but it never is.

Of course things end in tragedy when Grindle finally sees through the ruse. The only surprise is that Stan manages to kill Grindle and his bodyguard instead of the other way around. Then Stan goes to Ritter, who has, of course, stolen his money. Why? Because "he cares" about the money, even if she doesn't. So the mysterious woman who began her relationship by trying to discredit Stan... ends the relationship by trying to destroy him. Why? Because she's upset that he said she wasn't powerful or something. It's never really explained.

Dr. Ritter has tapes that she can use to make him seem unstable in case he wants to implicate her. And now that the Judge and his wife are dead, no one can prove that they have been working together. Except for her secretary, all the people in the crowd that saw them meet at the psychic show, and any of the people who worked for the Judge. Again, no one's motivations are ever really explained.

In the end, Stan finds himself drinking booze and in the process of becoming a geek for a different carnival than the one from the beginning. What does Stan do when he realizes the booze is probably spiked and the gig definitely isn't temporary? He continues drinking and accepts his fate. Because why not? He's got nowhere to go but down. What can he do, now that he's a broke nobody, running from murders he committed? Wait, that's exactly where he was at two years ago, in the beginning of the movie. Somehow the audience must believe this time is different and now he is hopeless. Because reasons.

A few stars given for strong performances and beautiful set design, although it is the least gorgeous of Del Toro's movies. Also the first act is mildly interesting.

I always hate Rachel Weisz in films. She always picks roles where she plays an unempathetic sociopath where she desires success at the expense of other characters (see The Shape of Things for the quintessential example of this). However in this film, Emma Stone plays her foil, who assumes her role better than she can, and in doing so, becomes the antagonist. This rather clever turnabout makes The Favorite an enticing watch until the end in which she is given no respite, despite her cleverness and her seemingly unbreakable accord with the queen. This makes the film seem rather one-sided and a bit hard to believe, despite Stone's clever rise to glory. The erotic lesbian scenes help pique the viewers interest in an increasingly disappointing war of political enemies, but it is not sufficient to save the film. The overall concept is brilliant, but the execution hints at a twist that never comes. The end is possible, but improbable, disappointing, and feels lazy.

I was extremely excited to see this movie after having seen Ari Aster's Hereditary. By the last leg of the movie, I was bored and waiting patiently for it to end. What went wrong here? Firstly, the plot is The Wicker Man. Westerners visit an archaic agrarian culture that ends up being a cult that commits human sacrifice for the "greater good." Once you realize this, it becomes pretty apparent halfway through what's going to happen to most of the characters, then only question being how. This really kills the suspense. Additionally, other than Dani, the characters are pretty underdeveloped. We've got the mean "bro" who doesn't like his friend's girlfriend, the geek, the bad boyfriend... The bad boyfriend is especially one-dimensional, and he Andy Dwyer's his way through the entire movie. But worst of all, the characters commit the common horror movie trope of making bad decisions and hoping for the best to their own peril. For example, the commune gives a sign of their ambivalence of towards human life very early on. Aside from two characters, no one sees these signs as any serious threat or deal-breaker aside from two characters. As more hints are dropped that the guests are in danger, most of the characters double down on their interest in the cult, especially the one character who should really know better. The commune's tapestries in the movie foreshadow major plot points. The characters see these tapestries, and are then surprised when members of the cult perform the same rituals that they've already seen described in said tapestries. I kept waiting for the escape plan part of the plot and it never came, so I suppose that counts as a small "surprise." This is a complete change from the excellent character development, surprising plot developments, and relatable trauma of Hereditary.

The movie's saving graces are it's well-done jokes and beautiful cult traditions (dancing, eating, architecture, art).