As with plenty of other movies, I’ve heard so much (both good and bad) about this movie, ever since it came out on Netflix back in 2017. I’ve heard about the Cannes fiasco (article here), I’ve read plenty of different reviews, so I was composing myself before watching this movie, as it was in my Netflix queue for the longest time (I know, shame on me). And then, something else happened.

Yes, The Oscars 2020 happened, where Bong Joon Ho became the star of the evening, for his brilliant movie Parasite (2019) that collected the most important awards that night. That somehow made it even “harder” for me to watch this movie, as my expectations went through the roof, even though it doesn’t really make sense, as everything that’s happened that night had nothing to do with Okja.

Well, I’ve finally got around watching it the other night, and I was blown away. Because I have expected this movie to be well shot, with really interesting story, colourful characters and some message behind it all, but I didn’t expect how smart it will be.

This movie would’ve been so easily done in a way, where there are the good guys and the bad guys, where everybody who eats meat is bad, and everybody who doesn’t and is fighting against it is good. But I’ve (for the last time, I swear) underestimated Bong Joon Ho, as he is one clever fella. The thing that struck me with Okja, is how he made it feel like a something that could happen in our world.

The following will contain SPOILERS!

Let’s get over couple of examples of this good vs. bad, how this movie deals with traps where a lesser movie would’ve fallen into. The “big bad” company, respectively the people running it, are not some “we need to kill everything, because we hate animals” cartoon characters. They are strictly business people, where they just want to make money. The key scene here is at the very end, where Mija in a desperate attempt to save Okja, offers Tilda Swinton the golden pig she got from her granddad in the beginning of the movie. But instead of Tilda’s character laughing at her for trying to save that one super pig, she examines the golden one, and says, “Great, you can have that one, we are finished here”. Because they are not is the business of killing this one super pig, they want to make as much money as possible, so given the opportunity, of course she’ll take it. And sure, you can speculate whether this makes her less evil, after all the company is still killing bunch of super pigs, but the motivation behind it makes it more believable. Also, you do get into the conversation “Are people who sell guns bad people? After all, they KNOW that gun will eventually be used to kill someone?” where there is plenty of grey area and no one answer is easy.

Another example, from the “opposite” side, is the ALF people (Animal Liberation Front) where any lesser movie, would’ve made them as perfect as possible. This one almost takes shots at them, at the “group think” where “we’ve come so long for this, so the ends justify the means”, where some of the members think like that and are not that “good”. Or with that one member, who tries to have “the smallest footprint on the planet”, so he refuses to eat and is starving himself, therefore going to the extreme end of spectrum where you try to be helpful, but there are probably easier and more productive ways.

My main takeaway from this film is that it wasn’t trying to say “everybody who eats meat is bad and should feel bad”. I honestly believe the message this movie was trying to convey, was more about mass production of meat, how we should treat animals with decency and courtesy, to make us think about that and whether we want to tolerate that particular part of this industry, that unfortunately does exist.

I’ve seen plenty of movies to know Jake Gyllenhaal is a great actor, but I’ve not seen him like this in a long, long time, where he’s so fearless… He knows exactly what he must do, who the character is and why he needs to be so over the top, and he goes for it, with not hesitations. Tilda Swinton proved yet again, she’s criminally underrated actress (she should have more than one Oscar to her name) and one of the finest actresses of her generation. And Giancarlo Esposito in his small, but meaningful role was also great, but that’s nothing new, he’s always welcomed addition to anything.

With Okja, I’ve seen every movie Bong Joon Ho has made except one (Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)) and I can now safely say, he’s one of my favourite directors of today. He always delivers, his movies have a certain style/mood, where you can go back to them and find something new almost every single time. I’d imagine, if I were to watch Okja again in a few months, I’d find even more things to appreciate. Can’t wait for that and for what he makes next, I’ll definitely be watching out for that.

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

Until next time,

Luke

Let me start this review by answering the question from the title – no. Extraction is a decent action movie, where the one unbroken shot elevates it above others, so it doesn’t blend in with your typical “one man against city/army/bunch of camels” type of action movies. I just wish they had spent an equal amount of time on the script as they had on that unbroken shot.

I can’t help but feel that this movie is trying so hard to be “the next” John Wick or The Raid both of which are great action movies, full of stunts, focusing on hand combat, action pieces with long takes, where the story takes a back seat and you are there to enjoy the ride. And both of these movies had a successful sequels, which established and flashed-out their worlds even more (the reason I’m mentioning this is the obvious sequel bait ending, and it looks like it worked. Heads up, the article contains spoilers for this movie).

But where those two have succeeded and Extraction didn’t, is they weren’t relying on JUST one action piece, or one great sequence. Both John Wick and The Raid have several things that make them great, they are not remembered for “one really cool scene”. Whereas this movie will be remembered for that one, I don’t mind admitting, pretty kick ass scene. According to the IMDb trivia, it lasts 11 minutes and 30 seconds and trust me, you can feel it, in the best possible way as that’s THE part of the movie that tries to convince you, “hey, I am different, you better pay attention!” But everything around that is just… ok…?

Chris Hemsworth is still as buffed as he is charismatic, so he carries this movie on his massive shoulders with no issues, but I swear they wrote his character by opening the “Cliches and Whatnot, 101 Screenwriting Tips for YOU” book and took way too much from it, as he embodies almost every single cliche imaginable. Don’t believe me? Let me checklist it for you:

• Ex-soldier of kind? ✔
• Has a dead kid? ✔
• Is the only one crazy enough for this job? ✔
• Using pills for different injuries? ✔
• Doesn’t care about whether he lives or dies as he’s got nothing to live for? ✔
• Doesn’t blink when gun is pointed and shot into his face? ✔
• Grows attached to the person he’s hired to protect? ✔

And I could probably come up with a few more, but I think you get what I am trying to say. Extraction is a tale of three parts – the beginning left me hopeful, the single-take action sequence left me pumped up and wanting/expecting more, and everything else after that left me bored.

The next paragraph or two will contain SPOILERS!

What I did appreciate (except the single-take action sequence already mentioned) is that this movie wasn’t shy from getting dirty, where the kills are convincing and fights are usually not edited to pieces, so for the most of the movie you actually know where everything/everyone is, so that was a nice surprise. Did it have to be almost 2 hours? No. Would I rate it slightly higher, if the movie had the balls to give Chris “hero death” and not this open ended, sequel biting thing that happened? Yes.

And that’s the main difference between this movie and the other two great ones mentioned before – those were not planned as sequels, they stand on their own, and they had bit more meat on the bones, and that always helps, even if your movie is branded as “mindless entertainment”. More meat is nice, it gives the viewer something more to chew on, rather than the unpleasant experience of biting into a bone really quickly, realising the meal is not as appealing as it looks like.

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

Until next time,

Luke

This review will contain SPOILERS!

Wow. This movie wasn’t really on my radar, until my girlfriend, who let’s say, doesn’t love movies as much as me (if she sees 10 movies/year, she’d be more than happy with that) brought it up with me, that she’s seen a trailer for this and wants to watch it with me. The moment it was released on Mubi, we have done just that.

This movie is first and foremost visually stunning achievement – my hat goes off to the cinematographer Sergio Armstrong, as I honestly hope this will put him into “big league” and he will be able to do a movie or two for “masses”, he deserves to be known and have his work watched by many.

The other thing I need to mention right of the bat is the storytelling. I was amazed this was done by the same guy who’s done Jackie (which I thought was a decent film, with some strange music choices), Pablo Larraín – I don’t think there is a better compliment to give out, than this movie is reminding me of a Shakespearean tragedy, but tailored to today, with bit of dancing involved.

Ema is definitely a movie that you either “give into” and let it guide you to a story, where all main characters have a flaw or two, where they might not “behave” in the way you would expect them to, or you don’t “give in” and won’t enjoy it. It didn’t take me long time to “give in”, as I feel like the story is something that if you think about it just for a bit, really easy to relate to – family, relationships, the way somebody tries to do/be better, but not having the “tools”, or the will to do it, they fail, almost repeatedly.

In Ema’s case, she copes with everything that’s happening to and around her, by dancing her soul off. Because only in that, she can find peace, balance, escape from the harsh reality. Dancing is the only thing, that she feels she can control in her entire life. And if you think about it like that, your life would drive you crazy too and that makes her choices understandable, even though I don’t agree with them. To me, this is the brilliance of this script/direction – making the audience not even so much as relate, but understand the character – because we don’t have to relate to people, in order to understand them. At least I don’t.

When I mentioned “the modern day Shakespearean tragedy” – this entire movie felt like something that could’ve easily been a play, the way all characters come together at the end (in bit of an unexpected way, at least for me) and the unsettling ending, where “show, don’t tell” rule is used to a perfection, makes me say this is a tragedy, as we can presume (hoping we are wrong) that Ema is not filling up the canister for anything good… or maybe she is, maybe, she has changed and having the kid did change her. I really liked the ending, is what I’m trying to say.

I’m really hoping this movie won’t get lost, as it should be seen and celebrated by the masses, as this is the perfect example of an art movie, that’s still accessible – yes, it’s unconventional movie, no question about that, but if you give it a chance, you will discover it has a few things to say, and makes you relate to some characters you might not relate to in a real life scenario.

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 be honest here, I was a bit afraid of watching this movie. For almost 20 years now, I’ve been hearing how incredible of a movie this is, how influential it is, how this and that it was… It’s hard finally watching something you’ve heard only absolute praise about, because what if it doesn’t hit me as it hit others? What if me not being really into music that much (don’t get me wrong, I love and listen to music, but my knowledge is on a superficial level, I’m way more confident in movies, that’s why I’ve started this blog :-)) also affect the way I’d see this movie?

Well it didn’t, as I’ve finally seen it for the first time and let me tell you something – it’s truly a great movie. First of all, this is Cameron Crowe‘s best movie, there is not even a competition, this is his magnum opus. The way he directed this film is on another level, and the main compliment I need to mention is while watching the movie, it was hard for me to believe this is new(ish) movie, as it honestly felt like something from 70’s/80’s! From the feel of the movie, to the way he shot/blocked scenes, it truly seemed like something from that era, where at the end it was truly hard for me to understand this was done in 99/2000!

This movie lets you into its world even if you are somebody like me, whose knowledge of music scene of that era is on a superficial level – that’s another smart move from Crowe – you don’t need to be a music expert, you don’t need to get every reference that’s thrown your way in order to enjoy this movie fully, as those are “just” extras, for the crowd that knows their music. And this is yet another example of how smart this movie really is – any lesser film would’ve put the music properly “in front” where it could potentially alienate people like me who’re just not experts, therefore wouldn’t enjoy this as much. But here, even though it might seem like it, the music world is actually a background to a story of growing up and becoming an adult.

Yes, this movie is more about a (really) young guy, trying to balance his way in this double-faced world, where the music world surrounds him in every way. This movie is mainly about Patrick Fugit‘s character navigating this world, not knowing how it works, what to do exactly. He nails how it is not feeling like a child anymore, but also not being a proper adult yet. That awkward stage in between is really hard to put onto a film, yet somehow Crowe had pulled it off stunningly and seamlessly.

Another thing where this movie shines is displaying loneliness – how you can be surrounded with people one moment, yet still feel like the last person on Earth the next (the best example of that would be Kate Hudson‘s character dancing all by herself after a show’s finished, just her, empty gym and some balloons and glitter), how this world gives you everything you want one day, makes you feel like a cool guy, so it can take it away from you the very next day, feeling like the biggest loser.

I’ve also loved the fact every character, no matter how small or large, is not just a two dimensional one, but has an extra layer. Everyone seems to be some kind of stereotype at first, but the more you see, the more you understand that’s not really the case, as everybody got something to say, sometimes it might be deep, sometimes stupid.

I haven’t seen a movie as great as Almost Famous in a good while, and even though the runtime scared me a bit (I’ve seen the extended cut that runs just over 2 and half hours) it flew by like nothing and passed my ultimate test. What is it, you ask? If movie finishes and I feel like I want to watch it again, that very moment, I know I’ve seen something quite special. And that’s exactly what Almost Famous is. Something quite special, that upon further viewings, might actually crack my TOP 15 of all time.

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

Until next time,

Luke