I must admit something some might find weird – I don’t watch documentaries. The reason is not that I would hate them; it’s much simpler than that. I prefer narrative movies where I can escape reality. I know (especially lately) I have been missing out on some excellent documentaries, and maybe, at some point, I will watch some of the major ones, but for now, I will stick with films and TV shows. However, The Florida Project and its blend of both, where it’s definitely a movie but quite a few aspects (most actors were amateurs, the way this movie was shot, the movie’s message), was perfect. I have heard good things about this movie, and now I get why.

Starting with actors, from what I remember and understand, only Willem Dafoe was a professional actor. The rest of the cast were either first-timers for whom this was their first movie (Brooklynn Prince and Bria Vinaite), people who have not made a movie since, or actual guests staying at that resort. That will always add credibility to your movie, but Sean Baker struck gold with the “main three”. Willem shines in this movie, and even though he is “only” a supporting character, he makes an impression, and you almost forget he is one of the best character actors we have today. Both Bria and Brooklynn nailed their performances too. Brooklynn had the hardest job since most (if not all) of this film was through her lens, but she carried it well. And Bria… I have met a few “Bria-like” characters and can confirm how well she nailed this role.

I know many people focus on the contrast of how people can struggle so badly living next to Disney World, often called “the happiest place in the world”. Don’t get me wrong, The Florida Project showcases that contrast well, but I thought this movie truly shined in the display and understanding of how vicious is the cycle of poverty. How expensive it is to be poor, so to speak. And if you have zero to no options left, how quickly things can go from bad to even worse.

Just take one of the sub-plots of this movie. Moonee (Brooklynn’s character) does something that results in her best friend’s mum banning her from seeing her best friend. But she also cuts them off from their “food supply” as she works in some waffle place, and she would often “slip” them (Brooklynn and Bria’s characters) food for free. In most other films, this side plot wouldn’t usually have that much of an impact on the overall story, but here, it’s one of the key reasons why the ending happens. How that one domino fell, and due to that, the rest started to follow.

I also liked how Sean Baker (the director and co-writer of this movie, alongside Chris Bergoch) never tried to judge any of our characters for being in this situation. They give us hints as to how they ended up here, but you never learn anything definitive, and that decision makes it harder for us to judge them and much easier to sympathize with them. I know this will come as a shock to many people, but poor people don’t choose to be poor. There are (usually) more complex issues behind why they ended up in that situation. And The Florida Project never even attempted to judge them. The film doesn’t glamorize poverty either, and this is where the documentary aspect comes in. It genuinely feels like they set up a few cameras over the summer and let them run to capture everything as realistically as possible. I know that is not what happened, but saying this is one of the best compliments I can give to this movie. It felt authentic in all areas, from having life-like characters to showing us how little it takes for things to get even worse.

Also, let’s talk about the ending, albeit briefly and with no spoilers. It crushes you. I am talking about the last two minutes, just to be perfectly clear. Something happens that reflects this divide between these two worlds (poor vs rich), and it leaves you feeling… well, bad. Because you understand everything changes significantly and (most likely) the vicious cycle starts again, but with a new protagonist, in a sense. It’s hard to talk about it without spoilers, but if you saw this movie, I hope you understand what I mean. And that’s why those last two minutes are so meaningful and show you what could have or should have been. It leaves you feeling sad. But that’s not a bad thing. Not all movies need to be happy or end on a happy note, and I appreciate the people behind this movie ending it this way.

Overall, The Florida Project is a fantastic film. It is a very “slice of life” movie, where you follow mostly a few people over the course of a month, maybe slightly more, and it shows you their experience. It also reminds us that children are affected by poverty as well, but they are children, and it’s fascinating to watch how they can cope with it, even though they should not. The Florida Project is one of those excellent films I might be fine with never watching again because when this movie hits you, it hits hard. But it’s 100% a recommended watch.

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

Until next time,

Luke

After I enjoyed X (2022, my review here), I was on the lookout for its sequel, which is actually a prequel filmed simultaneously with X. I wanted to know more about Pearl and wanted to see more of Mia Goth in what many claimed should have been her Oscar nomination. As you can see, I was hyped for this film, and Pearl is as good as X; however, as with its predecessor, I wish I could write I love this movie. I like it very much, but…

Let’s get it straight, Mia Goth is fantastic in this role. I am not sure whether she is “she should have been nominated for the Oscar!” fantastic, but she made this role her own. Pearl shows you how the old, murder-happy lady from X became that way, and it turns out, as always, it’s all in the family. Whether it’s the idea of a strict mother, taking care of your paralysed dad, or the mix of both whilst your own mental health wasn’t the best to begin with, this movie shows us how much (or little) it takes for somebody to snap. And when Pearl snaps, she snaps hard.

I liked the aesthetic of this film. The movie takes place in 1918, and I had no issue believing it. Sure, for the most part, it helps that it mostly takes place on one farm, but everything around it, all the characters, just “fit”. And here, for me, is the biggest proof that you don’t need a multi-million dollar budget to make a half-decent movie; just hire someone as creative as Ti West, who has a vision and seems to understand how to get the absolute maximum out of the little they must have had to shoot both this film and X.

And as with X, I wanted more. That will be my ultimate “one thing” about this movie. Pearl is not a straightforward horror film. You could argue it’s even less of a horror movie than X was, as it mainly serves as this character study of our main protagonist, Pearl. Therefore, this movie is the ultimate definition of a slow burner; it takes its time before it gets going. And although I loved Mia Goth, I wasn’t captivated by all the movie’s length. And when I thought this is where it starts to get fascinating, this is where I will fall in love with this film, the movie ends. I know movie schools teach people: “Always leave your audience wanting more!” but Pearl took it a bit too literally.

I won’t spoil this film, but I will say this. There is a thing or an event we (and Pearl) are waiting for throughout the movie besides the “when will she snap?” And that thing happens (that also has a connection to X), so I thought that this was where we would learn more. Nope. The movie leaves us hanging on this, it is not really a cliffhanger, but I don’t know what else would I call it… Let me put it this way, where this movie stops and ends, I hoped that would be its halfway point. I hoped we would have at least 40/50 minutes left. It’s hard to say more without saying what the movie ends on, but I hope I am not the only one feeling like that.

I understand that I am doing what I hate the most, re-imagining the movie the way I want to see it; why did Ti West not make the movie I wanted? And the thing is, he kind of did because Pearl delivers on the main promise. It gives us more of Mia Goth and reveals how she became the way she did. But, whilst he did it, he kept reminding us that “this one thing is coming” throughout this movie. And once that “thing” happened, that was when I felt like I wanted another at least 30 minutes with Pearl. And I hope we might still get it after he’s done with MaXXXine (?), as I have a feeling that if he made a straight-up sequel to Pearl and picked right where this movie ends, it would have been amazing.

But it bears repeating that’s my only negative thing about Pearl. The rest of this movie is a great slow burn about one special young lady who wanted to be a star. She wanted to escape her life and misery and hoped for something better. Something greater, and when she didn’t get what she had hoped for, she took it the only way she knew how. As the famous line goes: “We all go a little mad sometimes.”

Overall, Pearl is a performance piece for Mia Goth. It’s a movie that will surprise you on multiple occasions with its choices, and it surprised me with its ending. Respectively, it ends almost abruptly just as it started to go somewhere I desperately wanted to see more of. But a few things are clear – we need more of Mia Goth, and we are in need of more people like Ti West. I will be there for MaXXXine, and I can’t wait for what he does next after he’s done with this X/Pearl world. It’s always great to have a fresh, new perspective and voice on the scene.

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

Until next time,

Luke

Another year, another Disney live-action remake of their beloved animated classic, just so they can keep the copyright on those characters and sell you the same merchandise in new, updated skin. This year, the wise “wheel of all the movies we haven’t remade yet” stopped at The Little Mermaid, and this film made the news instantly when the casting was announced due to Disney making this fictional mermaid black, portrayed by Halle Bailey. Unfortunately, in the year 2023, you can imagine why it made the news, and you can also imagine the “certain people” who were “very upset” (to put it mildly) by this the most. Anyway, enough about racists. I didn’t catch this movie at the cinemas, but I heard “okay-ish” things to be intrigued, and when I finally checked it out myself, it was… overall, I have to put “meh”, but it might be the most complex “meh” of my entire life.

Let’s start with the positives and, by far, the biggest and (quite frankly) the only thing Disney did correctly was to bet their money on Halle Bailey. Not only can you tell she loves the story and is stoked to be a part of this, but this girl will be a star. She has a presence, feels royal (a great choice for a princess), and, most importantly, can sing. And I mean, she can sing where she sends shivers down your spine. Halle might be tiny (IMDb has her height at 5′ 2″ (or for us Europeans, 1.57 m)), but she has got some lungs and voice on her. Every time she sang, this film was worth watching. I can’t judge her acting as much, as she did a perfectly fine job as Ariel, but as far as her singing… she should be a household name at some point.

What I also liked was diving more into Caribbean culture, making this film (or at least parts of it) bright, colourful and vivid. I also enjoyed performances by Daveed Diggs and Melissa McCarthy, who were both much-needed comic reliefs, even though Melissa had to dig deeper into her darker side, playing the main villain and all that, and I thought she did fine.

Now, where this movie lost me was… well, everything else. By far, the biggest issue was the length and with that pacing. I don’t mind longer films, but every film must justify its length. The Little Mermaid had no justification for being 135 minutes. Especially the middle part, where you have this massive talent, and she can’t speak (I know it’s part of the story, and it had to happen, but still) felt out of place, the pacing was slow, and it almost felt like Rob Marshall made some bizarre deal with Disney, like had he managed to stretch it over two hours, he would get a bonus.

Also, when I praised the vivid Caribbean culture above, the end of this film is… dark. The CGI mostly didn’t work for me, and weirdly, The Little Mermaid made me appreciate Avatar: The Way of Water (2022, my review here) much more. You can tell how detailed the underwater scenes in Avatar were and how they seem “smooth” and life-like, unlike this movie, where everything and everyone seemed, for lack of a better word, smudged and slightly distorted.

I briefly need to mention Awkwafina, or, better said, her character Scuttle. I know many people don’t like her, and I am not one of them. But, there is a line where her Scuttle character became just annoying, which is rare nowadays. In most kids’ movies made today, the filmmakers know where the invisible line lies and usually make sure that no side character goes beyond it. But there was definitely too much of Scuttle in this movie. I did like the first couple of scenes, but the more this movie went on, the more forced and less funny those jokes became. Again, this isn’t because Awkwafina voiced this character. I can imagine this character being voiced by anybody else and still being as annoying.

This critique can, in a way, sum up how I feel about this film overall. The Little Mermaid isn’t a flop; it is not a bad movie either. It did a few things very well (especially relying on Halle Bailey), but every other choice the people behind this movie made felt unimaginative at best and lazy at worst. Realistically, the only reason I rate this film slightly above the average is the one and only Halle and her singing, as that was worth it. It’s too bad the entire movie didn’t rise to her quality.

Overall, The Little Mermaid is a perfectly fine movie your kids might love, and you will tolerate it. The beginning gives you hope that this might not be that bad, only for the middle part to bore you to tears and the end to be pretty dark (literally) where you can’t really distinguish much. Unlike many, I have seen the original movie from 1989 a few years ago, so it wasn’t a Disney movie I grew up with, so I don’t have a bias that they would “ruin my childhood” with this remake. However, as far as these life-action Disney remakes go, this one ranks amongst them as “one of them”. For me, most of those were exactly, like The Little Mermaid, pretty average experiences with maybe one or two things that would uplift it. It bears repeating after all the hate she had to endure, Halle Bailey is that someone here. She elevates and carries this monster of a movie on her tiny frame, and it would be purely on her singing; I could see myself cautiously recommending this to anyone.

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

Until next time,

Luke

The Evil Dead franchise might be the most consistent horror franchise there is. Sure, you can argue it’s down to them “only” having five movies, unlike the “big three” (Jason, Freddy and Michael) having at least 8 – 12 movies each, and sure, that is part of it. But I believe the big chunk of it also goes into having your “big bad” being this invisible evil that possesses anyone and everyone, and there is no escaping it. And it’s only up to the filmmakers behind each movie (and the Ash vs Evil Dead show (2015 – 2018)) how they will approach each sequel. Evil Dead Rise might be the most departure ever, as for the first time in this franchise, we are in a big city rather than the usual “cabin in the woods”, so I was a bit scared about that. Surprisingly, it worked beautifully.

This film is one of the prime examples of “they understood the assignment” I have ever seen. The Evil Dead franchise is not just about blood, gore and guts flying everywhere, despite that is what many might think. But no, the big part of why this franchise has survived since the 80s is having a great lead. And ever since the Evil Dead (2013) remake, we all understood that Bruce Campbell is irreplaceable, so why try and give us someone like him? That is why newer movies steered away from having your traditional male protagonist and gave us female leads. But this time, we have (kind of) two, with Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan playing sisters, one of which gets possessed by the evil and goes “a bit” nuts, as customary in these movies. And I loved every second of it.

This is also the first movie in this franchise that is more about family. Respectively, we follow the two sisters and three kids (technically one kid and two teens) and how they deal with this whole “our mum just became a deadite who wants to kill us” situation. Believe it or not, but that can ruin your entire night. So not only Evil Dead Rise changed the setting, but for the first time ever, we follow (more or less) one family instead of a group of friends who are up against this ancient evil. Both of these major changes not only worked for me but also elevated this sequel, which could have felt empty and unimaginative, into a new, fun territory. I cared about this family; I was rooting for them to survive, and when some made it whilst others didn’t, it felt different than when it’s “just” another teenager who gets killed.

Speaking of kills, that’s something this franchise was never short of. As ever, Evil Dead Rise is full of imaginative, disturbing, gross, over-the-top killing scenes, and I loved it. From the cheese grater scene to the tattoo scene or even the opening lake sequence, everything felt right. This movie never overdid it with cheap jump scares (another plus point in my book) and relies on the good old-fashioned blood, guts, gore and more blood to get a reaction out of you. What helps is Alyssa Sutherland (I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say she turns evil) is phenomenal as “deadite Ellie”, and her reactions, line deliveries (“Mommy’s with the maggots now.“) and overall performance is one of the best in this franchise, I enjoyed her performance and was (strangely) rooting for her, whilst being scared of her.

When you think it can’t get any bloodier, the finale happens. And without spoiling it for anyone, let me simply say that nobody does blood showers like the Evil Dead franchise. The ending convinced me that this movie is bonkers, but my type of bonkers. It’s the fifth movie in this gory franchise, with each being different from the previous one, but somehow, they all have the same “vibe”. Whether it’s more comedic or horror-skewed, whether we are in the cabin in the woods or in the big city or whether we found ourselves in the past or in “today”, you know that once the evil is released, nobody and nowhere is safe. Evil Dead Rise achieved that feeling of urgency whilst giving us worthy protagonists that make us root for them as they will keep fighting, no matter how dire the situation gets. In the horror world, this is unique, and this might be the only “big” franchise I would love to see pop up every couple of years with a new instalment, as long as they keep hiring people who understand what makes these movies great. Lee Cronin (the writer and director) seemed to get it; if he wants to do a sequel or another standalone film in this universe, I will be there.

Overall, Evil Dead Rise is the fifth movie of what might be the bloodiest horror franchise out there, and it still felt fresh. The two major changes (the environment and having a family instead of a group of young people) have worked brilliantly due to a great cast and people behind the camera, who seemed to understand what makes this beautifully twisted and gory world… Well, beautifully twisted and gory. Sure, can I nitpick and find a tiny flaw or two? Yes. But I had a great time, didn’t get bored and was left pumped and wanting more by the end of this movie. The ending, by the way, was so satisfying to watch. What else could I possibly want from a fifth movie in this franchise? If you are a fan of everything Evil Dead, you shouldn’t miss this one.

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

Until next time,

Luke