I really like movies like Souvenir, where you have never heard of the movie, you don’t know any of the actors in it, you just stumble upon it and the description looks intriguing enough that you watch it. And to yours (well, mine) surprise, it’s a pretty decent film!

The first things first – the movie is one woman show of Paulina Gaitan. Not only she’s incredibly attractive woman, but she’s a great actress and undoubtedly the main reason to watch this film. Isabel is one of those characters, that I am grateful we still get to see in films – somebody, who feels real. By that I mean, even though she’s the main protagonist and I think portrayed as overall good person in the movie, the character has flaws, makes self-sabotaging/self-destructive choices throughout, that make her feel real. There is nothing worse than having “black or white” characters in your stories, where they are either all good, or all bad. That is why I love these tinier, indie movies, as they often deal with more real-life stories portrayed in a real-life way, as we all have our good and bad sides. Paulina Gaitan really nailed it here, she’s portrayed her character in really convincing way, where you are routing for her, even though there are times she’s making it more difficult to do so.

The movie deals with couple of topics, but there is one that underlines and connects them all – family and everything around it. From the surrogate pregnancy, to what would you sacrifice to see your child again, or on the opposite side of that spectrum, what happens if you decide not to have any children? How does that choice impact your relationship(s)? The movie is definitely more about exploring different sides of having or not having a family, then “just” the surrogate mother angle of this story.

Souvenir also makes some bold choices and it caught me off guard once or twice, where I was surprised the story went that way. I really want to avoid spoilers, so let me just say that I am not talking about the ending per say, as that didn’t surprise me that much, but what happens prior to the ending. Not every movie would have done it and I applaud it.

Unfortunately, the movie sometimes feels uneven in its pacing and one thing that did bother me was the whole Isabel’s relationship with her teacher Bruno. And not because it would be inappropriate, as she’s been out of school for a good while and she’s pursuing him, so we avoid that “teacher falls for his former student” cliché, but we never get WHY Isabel, this stunning young woman, is so desperately after him, ageing man, who doesn’t want family. Yeah, I know there is the line about “I was always one of your biggest fans.” when they bump into each other at the beginning, but that’s as much as we get. I know this might seem strange, but for some reason I’ve never understood why she was so obsessed with him in the first place and in the movie, that managed to portray her in such a realistic way, that was the one question I wished they’d answer about her character.

The ending, that I guess was supposed to be a surprise, wasn’t really surprise to me, as it felt a bit more telegraphed than it needed to be…? Maybe it was just me (and this will be a struggle to describe without going into spoilers, so bear with me) but I knew once you have your character with two quite unique traits, there is no way that’s not blowing up in their face and making them re-consider everything. Come to think of it, it’d be interesting to see how that character’s world get shaken up a bit…? I know, I am being vague and for anyone, who hasn’t seen this film, this is not helpful at all, but once/if you see the movie, I think you will get what I mean.

Overall, Souvenir surprised me with how good it was. It has a pretty intriguing story, great main actress (I really need to check out Narcos (2015 – 2016) where most people know Paulina Gaitan from) and depending on how many movies like this you have seen, it might surprise you once or twice. There are couple of stretches, where the movie doesn’t “flow” as well, but I would say if you have a chance, give it a shot, as it’s really decent drama.

That’s it for today! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Where to start with this one… I really wished to love this movie, because I really, really like uniquely weird fantasy movies like that (two of the most obvious examples from the same era would be The NeverEnding Story (1984) and of course, Labyrinth (1986), two “darker than your average” kids fantasy movies) in which you don’t see the most advanced CGI and even as a child you can tell, there is some sort of “cheap” quality to them – the sets, puppets, effects, but that doesn’t matter, because you do love those stories, that unique atmosphere those movies created and they both stayed with you, for better or worse. One might traumatize you (I don’t think my 10 year old self was ready for the “horse drowns in swap of sadness scene) one might make you ask questions (is David Bowie really hitting on 16 year old Jennifer Connelly? I mean, I can’t blame him, but damn…) but both had their uniqueness, both standout in their ways and I don’t mind revisiting either of them. Now, The Dark Crystal is a different story, maybe because unlike those two movies, I didn’t grow up watching it? But it very much felt like a product of its time, to make something for the sake of making something. And even though the runtime is just around 89 minutes, it managed to bore me…

The thing about this movie that’s the most striking to me, it clearly takes its inspiration from Star Wars, which is not a bad thing per say, but it fails to deliver on any big, major moments. The entire movie can be summed up to about 2 pretty short sentences, which also is not necessarily a bad thing, as plenty of movies I adore are based on really simple concepts, executed well. And that was my problem with The Dark Crystal, I don’t think it was executed well. If you are falling asleep while watching a fantasy movie, that’s only 89 minutes long, because this could have been literally told in 10/15 minutes, something is wrong.

It pains me to say this, because I have really enjoyed the look and the feel of this movie, as again, I grew up watching fantasy movies such as this one, so even though some of those puppets looked really terrifying, rather than cute/charming (the main hero Jen looked like a puppet, who somehow got hold of Instagram’s most annoying smoothing filter in 1982 and used it for the entire movie) you eventually get used to it and admire the craftsmanship behind it. The production design on this movie was honestly great, some scenes looked amazing even by today’s standards, but the story, the characters, nothing grabbed me the way it was supposed to. The humour didn’t land, the “epic” finale didn’t land, nothing story-wise worked for me.

When comes to movies like this, I always tend to wonder, what would happen, if I watched this movie when I was the target audience for it? Would I adore this film and looked back at it fondly, had I seen it when I was 10 years old? Do you need to be a certain age, to fully appreciate movies like The Dark Crystal? But if that’s the case, does it make the movie good, or bad? I know art is subjective, and there is no one right answer to this question, but it always makes me wonder, every time I see a film like this, that’s a cult classic for one generation of people who seem to adore it, and when I finally get to watch it, it leaves me not only stone cold, but also bored.

Watching this film, I really got intrigued to revisit the already mentioned Labyrinth, as that’s the closest “fair” comparison to The Dark Crystal, and see whether I still love it the way I have. I think the answer will be yes, but I don’t think it’s purely nostalgia driven – you can make the argument that this movie walked, so Labyrinth could run. That this movie was just almost a “demo” version of things to come, as thinking back, even as a child, Labyrinth always felt like the strangest fever dream, that I loved, but wasn’t sure why. Years later, I think I finally realised I love it because of Bowie, young Jennifer, great soundtrack, and the overall creative force behind it, where mainly the story feels unique and original. This movie (story-wise) doesn’t feel like that.

Overall, it’s been interesting watching The Dark Crystal for the very first time. It’s definitely a different movie from a different time and you either are on board with that (most likely meaning you grew up watching it) or not and that will heavily reflect your enjoyment of it. I am glad I have finally watched this movie, as it gave me another glimpse of the artwork, that’s slowly dying (mostly practical stunts/CGI puppets etc.). It’s just shame, the story bored me to tears and I couldn’t get into it.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

I need to admit something – I’ve only watched the previous Bad Boys movies just once. It’s been a long time ago, so I was really young. And when you are really young, you tend to like most movies you see. So I remember liking both of them, as they were fun action movies. I am sure a re-watch might probably be handy to see, whether I still like them or not. Anyway, the point of that story was that I had no previous attachment to this franchise. To be honest, I was surprised it’s been brought back and what’s more surprising is, how many people went to cinemas to see it (see for yourself) and of course, because of the lovely COVID-19 pandemic, we all have been having lately, this will always be the highest grossing movie of 2020. Yep, check it for yourself.

And let’s be fair, this movie isn’t actually bad. It’s entertaining, the action is mostly done well and not overly edited, the main duo is “a bit” older than we remember, but hey, they still have the chemistry and we get some “new blood” like Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig and Charles Melton who are fun and I could imagine their characters having some sort of spin-off, you know, exactly according to what’s in fashion these days. The main thing about Bad Boys for Life is that even though there is one or two twists you might (not) see coming, the rest is your “same old” story, you come to expect from this franchise. Which is not bad, but the movie is just slightly over 2 hours long and towards the end, even though the action is still going on, you are so numb to it, you don’t really care that much, almost like there is too much action…? It’s like you watch some many music videos, you are numb to seeing a great booty (nah, that would never happen :-)).

As mentioned before, the movie is entertaining enough, but I couldn’t help but to be bored after a while, knowing what will happen next. Only two things genuinely surprised me, but I won’t spoil them, let’s just say one was about somebody dying or not, and the other was, as Vin Diesel‘s character would say in the Fast & Furious franchise, about family. But here’s the thing, even though those are there, the movie barely stops. The movie wants to have its emotional moment(s), while in the next 5 minutes, we go back to action and bullets flying everywhere. And you can’t have it all, movie, pick a lane!

Also, let’s mention the finale – and don’t worry, I don’t think this will count as a spoiler, as I need to address CGI. There is this big set piece involving fire and I understand they can’t actually set a fire to a building, but Jesus-tap-dancing-Christ, have they run out of time, money, or both when they were making that? I swear this was the only thing that kind of woke me up, as it’s been a while since one piece of bad CGI stood out so much to me (funnily enough, the only other example I can think off right now is another Will Smith movie, Gemini Man (2019), my review here, where the end involves one CGI character that looked straight up wrong) and took me out of the movie for a good minute.

Anyway, Bad Boys for Life was a mixed bag. On one hand, you have fun for most of the movie, the characters are likeable, the action is decent and you are mostly having fun. Unfortunately, the movie overstays its welcome, and other than two surprises, you will know where the movie is going. And there is one bad CGI fire at the end of it. Of course there are already plans for Bad Boys 4 (no date yet) because of course there is, if your movie makes some extra money, we need to milk it. I honestly hope, as much as I like Will and Martin Lawrence, they will have the “young guns” take over in this one. You only get to make one “one last time” movie, you had something decent, let’s not spoil, shall we? And also, it wouldn’t be as fun to see those two “old guys” going at it again, let them retire respectfully.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke