Strange Darling Review

I saw Strange Darling, and here are my thoughts…

This is one of those movies that is best enjoyed if you go with as little information as possible, so while I won’t go into a lot of detail in this review, I will give you my spoiler-free thoughts… we’ll except for the first two minutes, but it’s nothing plot-related.

This movie is best described as if Quentin Tarantino makes an homage to 70s revenge movies for “Neon” Productions… 

So, when my first starts, text comes on the screen that says “This film a shot entirely on 35 mm”, and I’m like… OK. Not sure why you wanted to clear that but go ahead.

There’s an interesting nod to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre with opening text explaining how this is based on a true story when in reality… It’s not, which again, is a strange choice, but you’re going for an aesthetic with a send-up to 70s movies so I get what you’re going for, it’s a nice mood setter/homage.

Then the title eventually comes up and says “Strange Darling, a story told in 6 parts”… and it starts with part 3. Now for me personally, whenever we get a movie told in parts like a book, and we start non-chronologically… This movie has the potential of going off the rails and becoming pretentious… Luckily, this movie doesn’t and actually pulls off this storytelling device quite well, like there’s a reason for it.

This film has a slick and colorful vibe, with Cinematography by Giovanni Ribisi (yes, the actor who was the villain in Ted). I haven’t heard many actors going from acting to Cinematography, directing for sure, but Giovanni is quite talented at it, the movie looks great and definitely has a cool style.

I really enjoyed the soundtrack, very relaxed and almost melancholy, folk rock music.

The big scene-stealer of this movie is Willa Fitzgerald, she really knocks it out of the park with her acting, and I hope this role gets her more in the future because she really gave the part her all.

Kyle Gallner is fantastic also, he’s really found his stride as this character actor, who plays very intense but down-to-earth characters, kind of like a new John Hawkes.

Barbara Hershey and Ed Begley Jr. pop up in this and they’re cute, although I will say one slight spoiler… their scene involves cooking some food, which both look delicious and also made me think they’re going to die soon from cholesterol lol

This is a very straightforward movie, not in a bad way, it being simple and direct makes it very enjoyable, easy to digest, and adds to the tone the movie trying to set. The dialogue is very plain and simple, but you can tell it’s a deliberate choice.

Big props for having fun, twists and turns, definitely keep you on your toes about how it’s all gonna play out.

The director does fun camera tricks and the script has nice little dark moments of humor.

An actor shows up towards the end who is nice to see. It’s nobody like Big, but if you’re a fan of his work in a previous role, it’s nice to see him pop up.

Just as a heads up, the movie is a tad violent, but never to an excessive amount, it very much sticks within  “for story sake” parameters.

The film just has the  “The Lord of Rings: Return of the King” problem of having a few different endings, it feels like the movie is about to wrap up, but then it just keeps going, and the final ending just goes on for quite a bit… again it feels like a deliberate artistic choice, but even still, it feels like a bit prolonged. Even the credits do to a certain extent, almost to the point that it feels like we had to meet a certain runtime, and their stretching things. But nothing that takes away from the movie too much.

Overall, Strange Darling is a fun time with a lot of style, interesting twists, and great performances. Definitely a fun time at the movies. If you’re looking for something interesting to watch, I’ll give it a low four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Crow (2024) review

 I saw The Crow (2024), and here are my thoughts…

The Crow (based on the James O’Barr comic) tells the story of Eric, who comes back from the dead to avenge the death of his girlfriend (Shelley) after they are both murdered with the help of his new aviation friend.

So this movie is getting dumped on by the critics… hard. And I love The Crow, I’ve read the original book, and gotten it autographed by the author, and the original movie is one of my favorites, I have drank “The Crow” Kool-Aid, and in some of the biggest detractors of this movie are fans of the original, and honestly I don’t think it deserves the level of vitriol it’s getting. In fact, I think some of the choices it makes are commendable.

I like that it focuses on Eric and Shelly’s romance, seeing them fall in love, and you getting to know them. Some people might think they’re romances a little quick, and I can agree in certain areas. Still, on the other hand, they are both former attics who had troubled childhoods, so that kind of personality definitely craves attention and will latch onto strong emotions for a sort of bliss high, in my experience.

In the original book, I would say half of it is Eric getting revenge on the murderers, and the other half is him being sullen and grieving the loss of Shelly. So the original film focuses more on revenge. In contrast, this one focuses more on melancholy, which is a good way to, not only stay faithful to the regional source material but differentiate from other entries.

I appreciate how it tries to do its own thing, like a lot of franchise movies nowadays are riddled with Easter eggs from the previous films and nostalgia to get the audience to fist pump and go “YEAH!”, and apart from a few minor things that don’t call attention to themselves, this movie tries to stand on its own 2 feet, which is commendable

And then introduced the idea that while yes, he heals from all his injuries, he can still feel pain. So when you’re getting shot up, it’s harder to fight because well… that’s gonna hurt a lot. It’s a good idea to add stakes when your character basically has god mode on it makes it more of a struggle for him to achieve his goals

The movie balances its look between realistic and slick, which is a distinct and good look, and the cast all perform what is asked

That being said, while this movie I feel has been dumped on a little too hard, I don’t think it’s unwarranted…

Biggest problem with this flick… it’s dull, like on paper it should be working, but it just feels like the plot is going through the motions, like the movie trying to hit these strong emotional notes, but it feels like the movie just took a strong hit of Novocaine.

And the plot itself is very standard, one of those revenge stories you’ve probably seen before, and will probably see again, nothing to stand out from the crowd really.

The villains are again pretty standard, I mean it’s Danny Houston being standard “Danny Houston” creepy, and the rest are just basic muscle except for one woman whose big characteristic is “sophisticated lady”.

It does take a while for Eric to fully become “The Crow”, on the one hand, I like that they took their time to let the events of the film play out naturally, but on the other hand, it does also feel like a lot of set up and when things finally start heating up, it’s the third act.

Towards the end of the second act, they introduced an idea to basically set up this big emotional ending, and while there are good ideas to it, it’s not executed the best way, something about the way it’s paced and trying to fit an under two hour run time just makes feel underdeveloped.

A very light spoiler here… so Eric and Shelly definitely spend at least a few weeks falling in love, even going out to the country for a vacation with friends… And they never think about leaving town until someone warns Shelley… like she knows people are looking for her, once she escaped with Eric from the facility they were in, her first thought should’ve been to get out of town, it just didn’t seem very smart to stick around

I will say the entire cast does a good job. Everyone does their job and does it well.

So, to wrap it up, while I do think this movie has commemorable parts that deserve acknowledgment and doesn’t deserve all the negative press, it is a flawed film that while well-intentioned, needed more time to develop and a few more passes on the script.

I give it a high two stars ⭐️⭐️ nothing to rush out and see but if you have a lazy Sunday and you want to watch an action movie, you might enjoy it.

Blink Twice Review

So I saw Blink Twice last night, and here are my thoughts…

Blink Twice tells the story of Frida, a waitress who sparks a seeming romance with a tech billionaire (played by Channing Tatum) and is whisked away to a private island… But once they’re, things start to get trippy and scary.

It’s well directed with interesting artsy shots. Zoë Kravitz has a very laid-back and almost bohemian way of directing, while also feeling fast and stylized. 

The editing, while it takes a minute for you to adjust to its style, is interesting and sort of puts you in the perspective of the main character. 

It has a good mix of horror and comedy (although towards the end, it bites off a bit more than I think it can chew and starts to lose some of that balance) 

A great cast who all give good performances (the standouts being Channing, Tatum, and Adria Arjona), and while not all the deepest characters, they do have enough personality, and the cast brings a lot of charisma that you enjoy them.

I appreciate it when someone can combine horror and comedy, and while it doesn’t always stick to the landing, I would say most of the time it does, so that was something that really appealed to me and I appreciated it.

While some of the themes and ideas are presented a little too blunt parts (like a literal smack over the head levels), and there are a couple of “girl boss” lines that feel like we’re supposed to be fist pump moments for the audience, but I felt a little out of place, but it is an interesting concept. 

The middle of the film does get a little meandering, but given what’s going on in the plot that could be intentional, I’m not saying that excuse it, but it could be a creative choice. 

The beginning of the film has a trigger warning, which I don’t know if it is necessarily needed and it kind of spoils the twist of the movie, which isn’t that big of a twist because I feel like you can kind of get it from the trailers but that’s up to the viewer

The climax felt a bit different from what I was expecting. Not necessarily that bad, but definitely different from where I thought everything was going, mostly tonally, but given the rest of the film it could be seen as in tone. I appreciate Zoë Kravitz, taking big swings, but they don’t always hit.

They never really go into much detail about the twist, like you know what’s going on, but you never get the origin of it. You don’t necessarily need it, but it might leave you with some questions, it also is one of the things that sometimes when you explain a twist, it gets more confusing, so maybe them not explaining it might make it better… It’s one of the things that it’s up to the viewer to decide

I am gonna be honest, I really did not like the last scene, at all. I don’t get it, it was very unnecessary, and given what is going on with this movie it just leaves your head scratching going… “what? Why?”

There’s more to like about this movie than dislike, it’s a good directorial debut and it definitely makes me interested in seeing Zoë Kravitz's next flick, but there are areas I encourage her to grow in and develop more

I give it somewhere between a low four stars in a high three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ or ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ but those are just my thoughts, I’d love to hear yours, and remember to form your own opinion.