Hot Takes On Film

 My Year of Dicks (2022 US) Todays second entry into #FemaleFimmakerFriday. A 15 year old chronicles her journey of trying to lose her virginity. This animated short was created and written by Pamela Ribon and directed by Sara Gunnarsdottir. I don't normally feature short form films but with a name like that I could not resist. I found this film to be very provacative. Despite its premise and title it's a coming of age story and more about love than sex. Several things stood out for me. First is the animation. Gunnarsdottir used several styles of animation to tell the story. At one point the protagonist barely says anything but speaks volumes through animation. That's talent. I love the voice actors and how much teenagerness they captured. I love how raw it was capturing a time in our lives most people wont talk about openly. Its nominated for best animated short. I hope it wins cuz I like it and this is important, I want to hear a presenter say "D*cks" on live TV

 The Kings Speech (2010 UK, AU) The future King George VI works with a speech therapist to cure his stutter. Colin Firth stars alongside Colin Thecond in this Biopic. It won four Academy awards including Best Picture. It was very well shot. I especially liked the color work in it. Firth does a fantastic job as the King. He won best Oscar. The late Queen Elizabeth II approved of the film about her father. She said it was "moving". Well there 'ya go then. The film was criticized for its inaccuracies though or leaving out certain things about King Edward the VIII. Sigh, I will say it yet again. Filmmakers are not required to create a thoroughly accurate historical film. Sorry! But TBH I cannot with this film. I watched an episode of Los Espooky's (HBO season one) where one of the characters consults a water demon about secrets of his past. The demon wont tell unless she gets to see The Kings Speech. It was an outrageous episode but now I cant unsee it and will now be for

  Get Out (2017 US) A young black man visits his white girlfriends family. Secrets! So many Secrets. Jordon Peele won an Oscar for the script and the film was nominated in multiple categories including Best Picture. It lost to The Shape of Water a film about sexy fish. I'm a big fan of Jordon Peele's work including his TV skit show Key and Peele (I know you read that as "shit show" you stinker). I love his approach to black cinema and so did audiences who rewarded the film with a very profitable theatrical run. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya who was nominated for best actor. He lost to Gary Oldman for his Winston Churchill portrayal. At least Kaluuya was in the right category this time  (see my Judas and the black messiah post). The film also had LaKeith Stanfield who later played Judas to Kaluuyas Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah. I cant say that The Academy made the right choices in their winner picks but I will say this that the film really resonated with

 Birdman (2014 US) Michael Keaton stars as an aging actor struggling to find relevance after years of playing a superhero named Birdman. Hmm I feel like this sounds kinda familiar. This picture really cleaned up at the Oscars and for good reason. To be clear the script was written by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, before it was cast. Keaton apparently questioned whether Inarritu was making fun of him with the script. Wouldn't' you have loved to be a fly on the wall there. Inarritu denied that was the case and Keaton was cast. uhhh Huh. sure. we will go with that. Director Inarritu originally wanted the whole film to be one long take because "real life does not have edits". Sir...sir.. I can personally assure you life is way more fun with edits. I have the life edit app and love it. You should try it. Get the R rated version though its way more fun. Although, the last update had a glitch and I got stuck in an edit doing dishes. Not fun. Anyway, cooler heads prevailed and

 Fargo (1996 US UK) Joel an Ethan Cohen brought us all this fantastic Neo Noir/Black comedy that has been chosen to be preserved by the Library of Congress. Thank God for that! Frances McDormand stars as a pregnant cop assigned to investigate a murder. This film oh this film is still one of my favorites. A cop investigating a murder is nothing new but a pregnant cop with morning sickness in the Midwest winter is quite unique. The jokes, and there were many, were so understated that you may have missed them so watch it again. The Cohen Bros had made an earlier neo noir with McDormand (Blood Simple) so they knew the drill with Noir. Some call this straight up Black Comedy but I say its a blend. How do you blend comedy and noir? Well like this silly. Now here is the kicker, this film that inspired so many filmmakers, was well done, unique and memorable LOST to the English Patient for best picture. Respect to the English Patient but I could only watch half of it before I was done. I still

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022 US) I know I posted this back in January but since its nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars I thought I would Comment on it some more. I am team Everywhere and here is why you should be too. I think the Academy has/d the best of intentions to elevate the best work. In reality that is not working out that way. To get a nomination a film producer has to expend a great deal of energy and money courting Academy voters with ads, mailers, billboards etc. Part of that includes in person, over a fancy meal, pitch sessions. There is an awful lot wrong with that and much that could and does lead to corruption. Getting even a nomination for your work whether it be Producer/writer or data wrangler increases your value by a lot. So when a rep sits down with a voter there is money on the table. Filmmakers have now been creating the "Oscar" film. A sort of signal to the Academy that they are open for biz. I think the "Oscar" film should

 reposted from SciFi January 01-02-23  Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022 US) Michelle Yeoh was perfectly happy doing laundry until Short Round showed up and made her do Kung Fu. There is a reason why Harvey Weinstein never bothered her. The man is not stupid. This is the film Dr. strange and the multiverse should have been. Yeoh stars as an Asian immigrant mother who was not having an existential crisis but certainly was later. With one day left, production shut down in 2020 because of Covid. So the movie should have been out sooner. At the movies core is surrealism, which makes sense when dealing with concepts of theoretical physics and a global pandemic. Behind the butt plugs (Yeoh didn’t know what they were) and sausage fingers is a deeply philosophical film that leaves you scratching your head but quite hopeful about your place in the multiverse. Although, you may be sitting with these concepts in the back of your mind for a few months. It’s a hard sci-fi film but I really sh

 Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. An Uber rich tech dude invites his lifelong "friends" to his private island for a party. Things don't go well. This is nominated for an Oscar in the category of best adapted screenplay because its "adapted" from the first film. Apparently, all sequels go in this category. I do think that writer director Rian Johnson got a bit hosed with this film. First it had a very short theatrical run before it went to live on Netflix. Johnson pushed for another theatrical run but Netflix refused. Now its stuck in Oscar "rules" hell with this. It should be nominated for best picture because it did the theme of roasting entitled people better than Triangle of Sadness. And..and this is the fun part, I didn't want to throw up watching it. Anyway, Daniel Craig returns as Blance alongside Jonelle Monae. Wow the two make a spectacular pair. There was so much that stood out for me but here are a few things. The jokes were subtle and

 Triangle of Sadness (2022) An influencer couple goes on a luxury cruise which runs into a lot of trouble. Things go terribly wrong on this cruise and fair warning, it gets ugly. Real ugly. Triangle is nominated for best picture and best director. The whole point of the film is to roast people that have an elevated status by virtue of X. The X is usually money but not always. At first I thought they were going to roast the influencer couple exclusively but nope, writer/director Ruben Ostlund opened it up to all people in the elevated status in the second act and it aint pretty. I totally get what Ostund was going for but...all I could think about was this is a popular theme right now and I know other films whom I think did it better. I think its Black Comedy but others put this in Satirical Comedy. Hmmmm... Probably both. Ostlund was clearly trying to get a reaction out of the audience. It worked. TBH I had to turn away from the screen at certain points cuz I couldn't handle the sw

  You People (2023 US) a young Jewish man (Jonah Hill) falls in love with a young black woman (Lauren London). This was directed by Black-ish creator Kenya Barris. Barris co-wrote it with Hill. This romantic comedy was very uncomfortable to watch…by design. Much of the movie was about melding the two Jewish and Black families together so the couple could marry. The jokes revolved around Jewish and Black Americans and how they brought their own biases and ignorance when meeting the other. Ooof that was rough and went about as well as you would expect. Barris and Hill did a great job of making you feel that discomfort as if you were in the room. I loved that Hill personified the audience and was desperately trying to avoid the looming train wreck. Look over there, what’s that? That’s actually good directing and writing. There was an awful lot of acting and comedy talent in this which was fun to watch. Rotten Tomatoes scored it at 42% and I’m thinking they once again missed the point and

  Fire Island (2022 US) A group of queer friends meet at Fire Island for their annual romp. This film stars the incredibly talented comedian Bowen Yang from SNL. I’m a big Yang fan and although he’s much more subdued here than he is on SNL he still rocks his role as a gay man trying to sort out love. There was just something about this film that reminded me of summer as a kid. Freedom, Play, Love and of course drama but in a fun way. True story; I met a lesbian couple at a conference once who was trying to sell their LGBTQ script. I said something like, “that’s great! I loved Fire Island and and would love to see more like that”. OMG! They rolled their eyes and mumbled something and left. To this day I have no idea what their problem was. Maybe Fire Island wasn’t gay enough? IDK! All I know is they were gatekeeping. So in honor of the gatekeepers, here is me saying “It was fun. Go watch it.” And ffs don’t ever gatekeep. Find it on Hulu. Not seeing it for rent. Please Like Share and Sub

Bros (2022 US). Billy Eichner stars in this gay rom com about a couple who have to get over themselves to get together. This was really well done and certainly an engaging story. Bowen Yang had a small but hilarious role. Worth the price of admission right there. Eichner had some very choice words for movie goers after the movie didn’t do so hot at the box office. Here’s what I think happened. First of all very few movies do well at the box office rn. Second is Eichners character came across as angry. He had a beautiful arc but you had to wade through a good chunk of the movie with him like that. With everything going on atm that’s a tough sell. I don’t know about you but I have muted or blocked so many people that every effing post is an angry rant. Don’t want to hear it. And third, there was definite homophobia involved. It’s on Peacock right now and for rent on most streaming. Please Like Share and Subscribe  

  Shotgun Wedding (2022 US) Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel star in this rom com action about a couple on a destination wedding on an island which is invaded by pirates. This is the perfect # SuperBowl counter point. Kinda dumb, a lot of fun and kinda funny. JLO and Duhamel work well together as the second time around bride and groom. Geez JLO is so fit. Duhamel plays an aging baseball player. Shotgun Wedding has a deep talent pool with the gorgeous Lenny Kavitz, Cheech Marin and Jennifer Collidge. Marin is a bit subdued but delivers the best line in the film with “Thanks Carol”. Hilarious !! Don’t worry you will get it when you see it. Jennifer Coolidge with a machine gun is worth the price of admission right there. Find it on Amazon but not seeing it for rent. Please Like Share and Subscribe

  Meet Cute (2022 US). This Rom Com SciFi stars Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson. Hot mess Cuoco discovers a nail salon which has a Time Machine disguised as a tanning bed. On a whim Cuoco travels back 24 hours and meets Davidson. Cuoco seems to be playing lovable messes lately. Her character is very similar to Cassie in Flight Attendant on HBO. If you liked that you will like this film. Although, I do feel like I want to hug her and ask her “Oh sweetie, are you ok?”. This had some really lovely shots in it from Director Alex Lehmann and Cuoco and Davidson had great chemistry. I found it to be quite endearing but just gloss over the tanning booth Time Machine and those pesky paradoxes. If you can do that this was a sweet, enjoyable film. PS if you are wondering if it’s similar to Hot Tub Time Machine, it is not. Find it on Peacock. I don’t see it for rent. Please Like Share and Subscribe

  Warm Bodies (2013 US) here is a different one for you, romance/horror. A zombie and a regular human fall in love. This may seem weird and you would be right. Writer director Jonathan Levine does a good job making the allegory of modern life. The one thing I noticed most was the connection between working in a corporate office environment and being a zombie. Yup, yup, yup nailed it. Most scholars equate the effect of technology on humanity and zombies. However, Levine expands on that concept pointing out how love transcends all. I’m not a zombie fan especially the zombie apocalypse. As I said before I think it’s been harmful, gratuitous and toxic. I knew someone who had a sincerely held belief that the zombie apocalypse would happen. BUT being a clear allegory makes it more positive especially having a lovely end. I enjoyed it. Find it on Peacock and for rent on most streaming. Please Like Share and subscribe

  Crazy Rich Asians (2018 US) this romantic comedy stars Constance Wu and Henry Golding. I really liked this film and more I loved the impact it made. I put this film in the same category as Black Panther which came out the same year. Huh? Asian centered films were a thing before this eg Joy Luck Club, but they like black centered films were considered niche. Like Black Panther this film made so much money they had to hall it away in a dump truck. Producers became, dare I say it, Crazy Rich. Other producers now want a piece of the action and make their own Asian centered films. 2018 was a pivotal year in America. The story follows a professor who accompanies her BF to Singapore to his cousins wedding only to find out that his family is absurdly rich. The pool of talent in this is very deep including Michelle Yeoh. What I liked about it most was that it depicted a healthy relationship, not without its problems. The problems were seen as something to work through with comedy of course. F

  Always Be My Maybe (2019 US) after Crazy Rich Asians Netflix had a hankering to get in on the action so they made this romantic Comedy. Starting Ali Wong and Randall Park and Keanu Reeves as himself, two longtime friends work through their romantic issues. I loved this one too especially the cameo by Reeves. He looked like he was having so much fun with it. Wong and Park have serious comedy chops and deliver some funny moments. Although, I would categorize the film as charming with flashes of funny. Find it on Netflix and should be available in all regions.

  Black Snake Moan (2006 US) Christina Ricci and Samuel L Jackson star in this really NSFW drama about a female nymphomaniac (Ricci) reliving severe sexual trauma as a child and a blues man (Jackson) trying to cure her affliction by chaining her up. As promised at the beginning of # LoveFestFebruary I would feature films that are not just your garden variety rom coms. So here it is. It was uncomfortable to watch for sure but it had some very deep moments especially with regard to mental illness. I do think the point was to make you feel uncomfortable. Talking about child sexual abuse and the aftermath is very uncomfortable. Jackson in his sort of elder sage role does his best to help Ricci and not get drawn in by her advances. I love how Jackson and Ricci just were not afraid to go there. I can imagine other actors when presented with the script were like..Nope! Find it on Paramount plus and available to rent on most streaming.

 Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentines Day Special (2023 US). The further we get away from the Hayes code the more fun things get. In this VDay special based on the series Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are dating. The agent of chaos that is Harley Quinn works to give Ivy the orgasm to end all orgasms. Things go awry. Crass, well written, sweet, fun and really NSFW; but enough about me. I really enjoyed this one. In fact I’m enjoying the whole series. The writers are really taking leaps and this special was off a cliff but in the best way. It has a horny Kaiju ffs. That’s reason enough to watch it right there. Warning though, it will make you blush.  Unfortunately, it’s only on HBO.

Cocaine Bear (2023 US) ok before I go any further check out the trailer  YouTube Cocaine Bear | Official Trailer [HD] Read the article on YouTube » This film directed by Elizabeth Banks is pretty clearly labeled. What you see in the trailer is what you are going to get. Hell it’s even in the name. You either like it or you don’t. A friend of mine told me about the true story, thanks Josh, and I remember thinking that should be a movie. Voila! For $hits and giggles I took a look at the critic and user reviews. Critics were like me, it’s clearly labeled. Users either loved it or thought it was the worst movie ever. Have I mentioned it’s clearly labeled. One guy complained that only white peoples were made fun of. Umm dude wtf? There was only one person spared of jokes and that was the mom. It’s a comedy horror and can be quite gruesome but it’s funny. Banks played a judge in the Pitch Perfect series and she displayed a particular brand of humor. Cocaine Bear had that same timing and styl