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The Gray Man (2022)
Netflix Tries Too Hard
I wouldn't watch this if I didn't already pay for Netflix. This is a typical Hollywood movie: way over the top; bouncing around to different countries to make the whole world feel included; absurd amounts of destruction; and, most importantly, and under-developed plot with basically no structure.
If you like action for action's sake, you might like this. If you like stories at all, watch something else.
HarmonQuest (2016)
Dan Harmon can do no wrong
As with everything the eponymous creator does, this show is highly worth the watch. If you are familiar with the podcast Harmontown, you will finally be able to put faces to the voices behind the best segment of that podcast: the role-playing game.
Jeff Davis was already hilarious , but the addition of his facial expressions really does justice to his humor; Erin McGathy is a treat even if she and Dan are no longer married; and for anyone who has watched Rick and Morty or Community, Mr. Harmon surely needs no introduction.
The animation is engaging, the voice acting is stellar, and the story by Mr. Crittenden is thrilling, fast-paced and diverse enough to grip the viewer even while allowing for significant bits of improv from the cast and the excellent guest players.
The only reason I give a 9 instead of 10 is to reserve my 10s for the highest echelon that contains such shows as Game of Thrones, the aforementioned Rick and Morty, and Breaking Bad. In other words, this show is great, just not legendary.
Do yourself a favor, and watch it.
The OA (2016)
Original Art
So this isn't my favorite thing that Brit Marling has created, but it is her first attempt at long form storytelling, i.e. television, so I can't fault the less-than-perfect show that resulted.
Truth be told, this show is not for everyone. Anybody who believes strictly in religion will dislike it; anyone who believes strictly in science will dislike it. But people who enjoy a happy medium between those two grounds and are willing to think outside of their comfort zone for eight episodes will find the endeavor rewarding.
The acting is exceptional from the three main characters, if less so from the supporting cast. Phyllis from The Office has a nice role. And the music is always on point and in tune with the necessity of the drama. Overall a very fine first foray into thought-provoking television.
But although I really cannot fault Miss Marling for anything she's done, and although I truly enjoyed this from the start, I do believe her style of metaphysical, profound storytelling is better suited to the silver screen and its necessitated shorter run time.
Another Earth (2011)
Cosmic Dissonance
The term above is the best way I can think of to describe this film, which is at equal lengths a story about our worst selves and a story about our best selves.
If you have ever wondered what it would be like to have the most seminal moment in your personal history turn out the opposite way, you will enjoy this. The script is so beautifully crafted to allow Brit Marling to shine through in her melancholic way, and the soundtrack will make your mind cry while you watch this dampening, beautiful piece. From the very beginning, the story will upset you, but if you can prepare yourself for that, you will come out at the end well rewarded.
Science fiction at its heart is not supposed to introduce us to fanciful aliens; it's supposed to introduce us to ourselves. Good luck finding a film that does it better.
Arrival (2016)
Good Enough Idea, Less Than Ideal Execution
Quite honestly, I was excited for this film for a reason most others probably weren't: I love the study of linguistics, the ideals of multilingualism and universal communication.
I honestly didn't care what the aliens looked like going into it, but now that I've seen the giant squid, I have something to say to Hollywood. Please consult E.O. Wilson for all future alien films, because no advanced species capable of space travel would look like that. They wouldn't travel in a giant cloudy rock, they would have some semblance of opposable thumbs, and would have the ability to use their appendages to manipulate tools. These are just the facts of biological development and technological enhancement; not just on our planet, but on any planet capable of sustaining life (which would in any case be very similar to Earth.)
The rest of the movie was alright, if tediously paced and over-moralized. Look, I like the concept of some time-bending language, but humanity's problem is not that we have languages that force us to experience time linearly, but that we exist in a mostly rational, cause-and-effect universe that forces us to subsist in a linear timeline, and our languages correspondingly reflect that.
Keep the message, but work on your writing of our base, pitiful, linear English. Maybe then at least you'll be able to tell a compelling story.
Detachment (2011)
Dark if it ever was
I for a couple of years have been pondering a life as a teacher, having recently graduated from college with only bleak ideas of what to do in this world. This film singlehandedly convinced me not to teach, for I have not the courage to deal with the insoluble challenge that is the American educational environment. I say with no restraint that this is the starkest picture of our underfunded, largely forgotten, malnourished school system I've ever seen. The problems portrayed are real, the solutions unclear, and the teachers thrown into the mosh to deal with it receive little to no support.
This country needs to get its act together, but I must confess I don't know how.
Reading more might help.