Rental Family Review

 

Brendan Fraser plays Phillip, a struggling American actor living in Japan, who starts working for the “Rental Family” agency, which specializes in fulfilling surrogate roles for clients to help them meet emotional fulfillment. And the more time he spends with his clients, the more the line between personal and professional starts to blur.

If I were to describe this movie in one word, it would be "heartfelt." 💗 Brendan Fraser brings a quiet sensitivity and an enormous amount of heart to the film that conveys a lot without saying much.

I really enjoyed the way the director, Hikari, shot all the different areas of Japan; it really captures a warm and vibrant place that makes a great travel log and really makes you want to visit.

I was very impressed with Shannon Mahina Gorman, who plays Mia, a young girl whose father Philip is hired to play. For such a young girl, she brings a lot of charisma and heart to the role, so she was very sweet to watch.

Another standout was Akira Emoto, who plays an eccentric aging actor. Emoto brings a lot of humor and cooky energy to the role but ends up being the heart of the film, and his and Fraser’s scenes together are my favorite parts of the film.

Takehiro Hira & Mari Yamamoto (who own and work for the Agency) bring a grounded sense of realism and stability to the film while also having some pretty sweet and comedic moments in the film.

I appreciate how the film explores the importance of human connection and bonding in the film in a very sweet and realistic way without ever becoming too sappy; it strikes that perfect balance, and I would say this is probably the “feel good movie” of the year because of it.

I liked all the different ways they explored Japanese culture; as someone who doesn’t live there, it is very fascinating and interesting to watch.

The movie also has a very subtle sense of humor, and I got a lot of good laughs throughout.

the film, which is impressive since I wouldn’t describe this as a straight-out comedy

I also appreciated how throughout the film, the characters would switch between speaking Japanese and speaking American; it felt both authentic and also helpful since sometimes when you read, you sometimes feel like you’re missing part of the movie, and I never felt that with this, so that was a cool accomplishment.

Rental Family is a very personal film that explores a lot of emotional themes of connection, love, acceptance, hope, and the importance of loved ones around you. And through the heartfelt performances and simple, almost documentary-like direction, the movie manages to convey a lot of heartfelt moments that make you feel better and walk out in a good mood, which is always nice.

I give Rental Family four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, although I could see it getting higher on future rewatches.

Predator: Badlands Review

 

The film follows Dek, a young Predator who is considered an outcast in his tribe due to his small size. So in order to get his father’s approval and prove himself as a great warrior, he goes to the deadliest planet in the galaxy to kill an “unkillable” creature. Along the way he teams up with a robot (played by Elle Fanning) who is missing her legs to get the creature and fight another mysterious group on the planet.

So this is the first Predator film where an actual Predator is the main character, so we get to explore the Predator (or, as their species is known, “Yautja”) civilization and society, which, as a pretty big fan of the Predator series, was my favorite part.

Dek is a solid protagonist to follow. He lives up to “Predator” status, being obsessed with hunting and being the strongest and having a ruthless determination that makes Predators such fun characters, but he’s also very sympathetic with wanting to prove himself and his worth, and his story goes in some very interesting and sympathetic directions that I found quite engrossing.

It’s not getting as much attention as everything else, but I was really impressed with the soundtrack. The main predator planet theme had a very “low humming, guttural, throat singing” sound (like that one scene in Dune when all the soldiers are getting ready and that one dude’s doing the crazy throat singing); it’s like that, which adds a very alien field to the world but also enforces the tribal theme of predators.

Whoever was behind designing all the different aliens on the deadly world deserves a raise because there was an astonishing amount of creativity, distinct detail, and variety with all the different creatures. Like, if you’re an astrobiologist, you’re going to have a ball watching this movie.

I really appreciated how resourceful Dek was and how he would like to learn from the planet and use different elements to create his weapons.

The CGI in this is very impressive; now you can tell when something is CGI and when it isn’t, but it is so incredibly well detailed and has such strong texture that it is very impressive to look at.

There are some other franchise elements brought in (if you’ve seen the trailer, you know), but I thought they were well integrated and were a good way to do “fan service” without it overwriting the story they were telling.

The movie pacing is pretty lean and efficient. And I really appreciate the color grading on this; everything was very bright and well color graded, but even in the sunset scene you got a lot of different colors from all the cool landscapes.

I appreciate how deadly the planet is; like, when a Predator says it’s bad, you expect some really brutal stuff, and it definitely lives up to that title. Like even the smallest things like flowers or grass could seriously mess you up, so again, I appreciate the creativity from the filmmakers when it came to all that and the strong stakes that added to the story.

Elle Fanning plays two characters in the movie: Thia, the helpful legless robot, and Tessa, the main villain of the movie. Elle does a great job of making both personalities for each character very distinct with their own little quirks.

Tessa is a very ruthless villain, but there’s just enough backstory that you feel a little bit bad for her and it gives her a little bit of gray as a character, which I always appreciate.

This It’s much more fun and has more community character, which I personally enjoyed for the most part. Now I will say her character does feel straight out of the Pixar movie, like I wouldn’t be surprised if Elle Fanning used this movie as an audition for Joy in a live-action Inside Out movie. But I found her character likable enough, and she and Dek have some funny interactions together. With Dek being so serious and ruthless, he makes a great straight man to her bubbly personality.

Now there is something that the trailers are not showing you that I can see some fans not being thrilled with. It’s not too bad, and I think for the most part people won’t be bothered with it; even I found myself enjoying certain moments with it, but without spoiling anything… You can definitely feel the “Disney influence” with those parts, and I think it is an unusual element to introduce as part of a Predator movie. It also leans into some current thematic trends that, personally, I feel like are being used way too much. This one really leans into them, so how much you enjoy it will depend on how much you enjoy the trope. Again, for most people I’m sure it’s going to be fine, but I am a nitpicky dude 😅😂, and I wasn’t too crazy about where that stuff took the story.

There was one really fun and creative fight scene towards the climax that involved Thia's legs that was pretty creative and original-feeling, so that was a nice highlight.

Overall, I liked the Predator mythos stuff and Dek as a protagonist. The story is pretty straightforward and easy to follow, and while there are some more lighthearted community elements that I think clash with the darker tone of Dek’s story, I think general audiences will click with it more, and the story does go in the direction where I do want to see what happens next, so if that isn’t an endorsement, I don’t know what it is.

I give Predator: Badlands four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It’s a real… Killer flick 😂

Bugoina Review

 

A conspiracy theorist (Teddy) and his cousin (Don) kidnap a CEO (Michelle) because they believe she is an alien and trying to destroy bees… Dark comedy and thrills ensue.

I know this may sound redundant after that plot synopsis, but I do have to reiterate… This is a very strange movie. I mean, the movie starts with the kidnapper shaving off the CEO’s hair because they think she could use it to contact her mothership, so logic isn’t the biggest factor here. But I think that’s an intentional choice by the director to help put you in the mind of Teddy, which is a creative decision. But the movie tone will go back-and-forth from comedic to intense to creepy to disturbing and back to comedic. Personally, I think for the most part, it pulls off its tones, but I could see more regular viewers being thrown off by this, so just be aware.

The big standoutof this movie is everyone’s acting, especially from Jesse Plemons’s character. I found it interesting how the movie went back-and-forth in making Teddy somewhat sympathetic at times, but mostly he’s crazy with a capital WTF, and you don’t know what’s going to set him off or what he’s going to do to Michelle, so the filmmakergot a lot of tension out of those scenes but also added a dark comedy element that I thought was an interesting element to the film.

Emma Stone gives a solid performance; it’s interesting how her character throughout the film tries to speak to her captures with this very “corporate delegation” type dialogue, like “I can understand your frustration; let’s take a deep breath and have a dialogue about this.” There were a couple moments where I saw her character was doing things that were against her own self-preservation, but by the end, they did wrap it all around and give it some sort of explanation.

I really like the color grading/cinematography in this; everything just looks so colorful but also greasy at the same time. It really gave the film this strong texture feel.

A standoutfor me was Stavros Halkias; he had a very natural and low-key sense of humor, and he and Jesse Plemons have this funny awkward chemistry between them.

The pacing was quite brisk, and for a movie that’s almost 2 hours, you don’t really feel the time, so that’s always a big plus.

I thought Aidan Delbis as Don was an interesting character. He clearly isn’t the smartest tool in the shed, and when Teddy is the brains of the operation, you know you’re in some serious trouble. But there was a heart and “down-to-earth realism” that he brought to the film, which I appreciated.

There are small little touches in the sound design or lighting that the film never really acknowledges, like they’ll happen in the background, but they really add to the tension of “is this woman an alien or not?” It was a sole detail, which I thought was pretty impressive.

I’d say 80% of the film takes place on a farm, and for mostly one location, I think they used it well and were able to explore in new ways from scene to scene, which I always appreciate.

Alicia Silverstone has a small role in this, and it's always nice to see her pop up.

Put intermittently throughout the film are these interesting art sequences that I thought were an interesting touch and were integrated well throughout, especially considering how totally different they can be from the rest of the movie.

The ending might leave people mixed; I thought it was OK. I give it points for creativity, but it did leave me wanting some and had a lingering feeling of… “OK, I guess that’s it.”

I will say, with that shaved head and pale white lotion skin, Emma Stone makes a pretty good Gollum. lol

Overall, Bugonia is a well-crafted film with strong performances and an interesting tone and style, but the lunacy of the characters and situation might be hard for people to connect to, and while I do think the ending is impressive from a creative standpoint, it’s not the most satisfying and sort of ends the movie on a “huh,” but it’s all subjective, and I think that’s more of a me thing. I give Begonia three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you’re into good performances and good filmmaking, you’ll enjoy the film, but it’s nothing that will blow you away.