Tag Archives: 2022

Movies or shows released in 2022.

Movie Reviews

Turning Red (2022) Review – Pixar Meets Anime

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We live in strange, online times. Because everything I’ve heard about Turning Red before watching it was “It’s the new Pixar movie, and OH MY GOD, IT’S ABOUT MENSTRUATION!” Some people seemed to be disturbed, shocked, and even disgusted by that fact. That is dumb as yes, this lovely film deals with this topic, but it also deals with so much more! Saying “Turning Red is a movie about menstruation” is like saying Dune (2021, my review here) is “a movie about sand and sandworms”. I mean… yes, they are part of the story, and there is a shitload of sand in Dune. But in both cases, those films are about so much more, and you are merely scraping the surface. Plus, in both cases, these movies are stunning to look at!

What I loved the most about Turning Red was how unique it looks. At times, I thought I was watching anime mixed with Pixar, in the best possible way, where it didn’t feel exploitative or out of place. Some action sequences were honestly breathtaking and confirmed to me that Pixar would keep pushing the limits of animation. I liked how over the past couple of years, we got Pixar films that felt different and explored different cultures. You can still tell it’s Pixar, but they aren’t afraid to change the animation (or its style) to fit the story narrative. Speaking of that, let’s delve into the story beyond the “it’s a menstruation film”.

I honestly hope people will see Turning Red for it is as a whole, rather than for one part. As I thought, this movie is more about growing up, going from that stage where you are no longer a child, but you are still so far away from being an adult rather than “menstruation only”. And how you get excited about new things, things that didn’t excite you before, and in Meilin’s case, how to combine everything she is going through with her family with what they stand for and the pressure to honour them and act a certain way. This film did a spectacular job balancing and portraying all these themes and making us understand them well enough to be invested in the story and characters.

What I also loved were the unconventional choices. For example, it wouldn’t be that long ago when a movie like this would have Meilin be the outcast with little to no friends. But in this film, she has her girl group. Is she the popular kid in school? No, but she’s pretty content with where she is. And the moment she starts turning into the red panda, it’d be so easy for all her friends to be afraid of her. But again, this movie takes a different route where some are taken aback at first, but there is that one friend who simply wants to cuddle her because she is so fluffy. There is a reason I related to that character so much was simple – that’s me. I am sorry, not sorry, but if one of my closest friends tells me she can turn into a giant red panda that looks fluffy, I am cuddling it. And like her friend in the movie moving onwards, I would too tempt her so she can turn into the panda more often. Oh, Pixar, yet again, so relatable.

Speaking of relatable, I have a confession to make. I have never been a 12-year-old girl. However, I still remember my classmates from that time, and although I suspect neither has been turning into giant red pandas (or maybe they were, and I just didn’t know…?), that was another aspect of Turning Red I adored. They nailed the behaviour of girls of that age. It was so easy for me to sympathize with Meilin immediately because I have known and will encounter girls like this (given my nieces are approaching this age), and they can be too much. But to be fair, I don’t think it’s just girls; I remember myself when I was around 12/13 and was too much at times… hell, I am still sometimes too much, so what gives, huh?

That saddens me a bit; many people have gone or will go into this film with the mindset of “that’s the menstruation movie”. Because it’s still taboo to talk about it, let alone show it on the screen. I mean, who are you? A monster wanting the children to learn about something important? Will somebody think of the children…? Oh, wait. Someone already has. It’s Pixar. Not only do they know what they are doing, but Turning Red is also much, much more than what some trolls on the Internet have tried to reduce it to. And it shouldn’t be taboo to talk about a literal body function more than half of the population experiences.

Overall, Turning Red is a delightful Pixar film that I unconditionally loved. I didn’t expect to love it as much, but here we go. It’s funny; the characters are relatable; it looks stunning, the soundtrack is awesome, and the message is worth discussing. It’s hard to balance everything, to honour yourself while honouring your family, but you need to be true to yourself; in the end. Maybe there is a giant red panda hidden inside of all of us, just wanting to be free? Pixar is still at the top, and it’s not even close. I love what they have been up to lately.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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

Until next time,

Luke

Misc

The 94th Academy Awards (2022) Review – Chaos Reigned

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What a show! But not in the “holy shit, what a great show we’ve just witnessed” sense, more like watching a car crash that somehow starts a chain of events that results in more accidents. But not just cars, but boats, jets, planes… How would that happen, you ask? Well, how do you take a ceremony that has one job and one job only (to celebrate films and EVERYBODY involved in the creative process) and somehow turn it into this shit-show? Before moving on, let me say one thing – this isn’t much of a review, as much as me thinking out loud about the state of the industry I love. I won’t be talking about the people who won the Oscar… well, except one obvious one, because that happened, and you know what I am referring to. This “piece” is me summing up my thoughts about this show and how it was (mis)handled. So, if you are expecting to read more about the winners, sorry, this won’t be it, chief.

My relationship with watching live Oscar shows dates back to 2009. That’s when I was comfortable enough with my English to justify spending a night awake. Because both in the Czech Republic and Scotland, where I live now, the time zones work against us. So the ceremony is on around 1/2 AM. Anyway, I stayed up to watch my first Oscars back in 2009, and I liked it. Sure, back then, I didn’t fully understand everything, but it got me even more into films seeing all the glamour, people, speeches, seeing it live as it happens. Ever since then, I would make it my tradition. Every time I could afford to take the day off, I would, just to see it happen, to be there.

And sure, not every single ceremony I’ve seen since was 10/10. No, they are “just” awards show, after all, so some things don’t work, some jokes don’t land, some hosts you like more, some you like less. But that’s part of being a movie lover, you might not always agree with who won, but that’d be a boring world if everybody agreed on everything. 😉 And every year I’ve seen live since (I believe I’ve only missed one or two since 2009) has been “fine”. But not until today did I feel like the ceremony was an actual disaster. And not due to my favourites not winning (all the top categories I have guessed correctly and most would be my picks for the Oscar) but due to the poor mismanagement, misjudgement and bad taste.

Let’s start with the most blatant mismanagement and the decision that alienated most movie fans before the ceremony even began – the Academy decided to present eight (!) awards before the “actual” ceremony began. These were:

  • Documentary (Short Subject)
  • Film Editing
  • Makeup and Hairstyling
  • Music (Original Score)
  • Production Design
  • Short Film (Animated)
  • Short Film (Live Action)
  • Sound

I genuinely thought this was yet another rouse to generate headlines to attract some press, as they had tried something like this a few years ago, but after the immense backlash, they budged and reverted their decision. But no, this time, they (the Academy) stuck to their guns. Only for those awards to be included in the live ceremony but cut down to just “highlights”. What a mockery, what a shame, what a joke. You have one job, Academy. Celebrate the films and the people who make them! Not just the A-list stars, directors and writers! I can only hope this will get reverted for a next year’s ceremony. Especially shameful, given Hans Zimmer won his second Oscar for Dune (2021, my review here). That would be amazing to watch live, not see it on Twitter.

It felt like things just spiralled out of control from then on. The hosts were… ok-ish. Wanda Sykes and Taraji P. Henson tried their hardest with what they had been given. Both had some highs and some lows. Someone I could do without was Amy Schumer. She had maybe two decent jokes in the opening monologue and then flatlined for the entire show. Here’s the thing, Wanda’s and Taraji’s “lows” weren’t as bad as Amy’s because… holy shit. I commend her for trying to be out there no matter what, but her “low” was just awful. I am talking about her “having fun” with Kirsten Dunst. Amy’s joke was simple – since Kirsten didn’t win the Oscar, she was just a seat filler. I know, I know. It was staged and rehearsed (or at least I fucking hope it was because it truly felt cringey), but Jesus, talk about reaching for the lowest of hanging fruits.

Another aspect of the show that felt off were all the montages. Sixty years of Bond was an ok montage, even though why have athletes (like Tony Hawk) present them instead of inviting all living Bonds back? Not mentioning, you literally had Dame Judi Dench and Javier Bardem in the audience? Or the montage about Pulp Fiction turning; wait for it… 28 years? Because that’s such a nice, round number… is there a meaning associated with the number 28 in Hollywood/USA I am not familiar with? The actual fuck? The Godfather (1972) montage (50 years since the original movie came out) felt the “most” in place to be there, but unfortunately, it was right after “the slap” that overshadowed everything (we will get there, but not just yet). And then we have the top 5 most cheered for moments with Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021, my review here), making it to a top spot with a moment I forgot about, to be honest. Or a “fan favourite” movie of the year that kind of got brushed off before going to another commercial (it was Army of the Dead (2021), so you know). It’s decisions like these that angered me and movie fans like me. Because the Academy’s argument for not airing those eight awards live was to “cut down on time”. So what they do is fill the time with stuff that nobody asked for, hoping for people to like them. They were throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks.

There was also a weird decision to hype the first LIVE performance of ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ from Encanto (2021, my review here) just for the song to get interrupted by Megan Thee Stallion. Believe it or not, I enjoy her music, and I didn’t hate her appearance there (as opposed to most people who seem not to like her involvement at all), but it again felt like a weird decision to have her there. Firstly, because she isn’t on the original track (therefore, it wasn’t the first live performance of this song, more like the first half performance). Secondly, that song isn’t even nominated and thirdly, when you think of “Encanto medley”, can you come up with a more erratic decision than to include Megan Thee Stallion?

The “in memoriam” segment also felt weird. I understand the Academy took a risk with a church… choir? Quire? And they wanted to “live it up” a bit, I guess? But it also felt tone-deaf. Bill Murray talking about Ivan Reitman felt right. Jamie Lee Curtis coming out with a scared chihuahua to tell the world to adopt a dog in honour of the late and great Betty White didn’t. But at least, in this case, I could understand where they were coming from; it made *some* resemblance of sense.

Ok, let’s talk about the unfortunate cherry on top of this cake full of awkwardness and confusion. Will Smith slapped/punched Chris Rock because of a joke Chris made about Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. So much to unpack. First of all, that joke was not funny as Jada has been diagnosed with alopecia (hair loss) which is something I didn’t know until today. Anyway, at first, I thought (as most people) this was just a sketch, a bit that was plain awkward, but seeing the reaction and hearing the uncensored version of it (yep, in the UK, we didn’t have it censored at all) that quickly dissolved any doubts about this being a sketch. Here’s the uncensored video for anyone who has no idea what happened. Here’s the thing, the joke wasn’t funny. But I thought Will Smith’s reaction wasn’t the best. Why? Because that wasn’t the time and the place. If you want to fight Chris Rock, do it after the show. But not when the entire world is watching, and the show already feels awkward?

I have never heard a room full of people so quiet in my life after Will shouted for the second time. Everything from that moment on became about “the slap” or “who is right and who is wrong”, and we, the audience, were 100% pulled out of that show permanently. Now, I am not saying Will Smith sank the show, nor am I saying it’s his fault the show was a mess. No, as I’ve gone through it above, the ceremony was messy as fuck before this moment happened. But this slap was the unpleasant cherry on top of the already unpleasant cake. I have already seen many reactions to this, some saying he was wrong, some praising him. My two cents on this are simple – defend your wife all you want. But don’t drag the entire world into it because that act made it into a reality TV show. And for people who say: “Well, the joke was public, so the response should be too?” Sure, after the show is over. Especially stars like Will and Jada will get many public opportunities to address it. Hell, rent a boxing ring, make it Pay-Per-View and donate the money from the proceedings to alopecia charity because that is where that belonged. But not in the main show, because again, whether you like it or not, that makes it into the “Will/Jada/Chris” reality show nobody signed up for. Plus, Chris Rock has been known for taking jabs at everybody throughout his career. And he worded his “joke” in such a way where sure, it wasn’t funny, but he wasn’t coming for Jada. He didn’t say she looked awful (on the contrary); he just made a comparison with a movie.

But you know, who knows for sure he was wrong? Will himself. Watch his speech once he won his Oscar for King Richard (2021), where he seems at first to try to justify it until Denzel Washington seems to remind him what I am talking about it. Will said: “Denzel told me: At your highest moment, be careful; that’s when the devil comes for you”. And to me, that seemed to have shifted his speech to be more apologetic. Thank fuck for Denzel; he’s a true class. He gets it, and he said it more eloquently than I could ever say it. To me, it sounds like he was telling Will something along the lines of: “Yeah, that was a shit joke. But this was not the time or a place for the slap.” Think about it this was Will who ultimately lost this battle, whether he was right or wrong to do that. Because several years, hell even decades from now, everybody will be talking about not his achievement in King Richard, but his legacy will be “that dude, who live smacked comedian”. And I think he might be regretting it already. Finally getting his Oscar, in the leading role(!), and the only thing people focus on now is that slap. I have already seen talks about whether Will’s Oscar might be removed from him due to this or that he could have killed him (really, Judd Apatow?). Let me make myself clear – I am 100% AGAINST it. As much as I don’t like what Will did, taking his Oscar would be an awful decision. Also, no, Will Smith could not have killed Chris Rock. Jesus.

Also, last point – I can’t wait to hear from Jada herself. Or better yet, I would pay good money to see her reaction when it would be just the two of them. No press, no mics, just them arriving home. Do you think she will praise him? Or better question, do you think she NEEDS to be protected? I don’t know much about Jada. But from the few interviews I’ve seen with her, she never seemed like the type who couldn’t fend for herself. So I don’t think she would need Will to be this “knight in the shining armour, coming to protect her”. But what do I know? It was a cheap shot at her; the joke wasn’t funny, Chris Rock shouldn’t have made it. And Will Smith should have retaliated in his speech with some jabs at him instead, rather than getting physical.

Overall, the 2022 Oscars was the worse year I’ve watched live yet. For the first time, I regret staying up. We don’t need hosts; we don’t need montages. We don’t need BTS talking about Disney films (yep, that also happened). We need the Academy to honour and celebrate films and the people who make movies. Sometimes I think whether it would be worth trying to “minimize” the show, make it like it used to be, one award after another with only some musical numbers (the songs that are nominated that year), the “in memoriam” segment and focus just on the awards. Do anything except this. Please. From one movie fan who was always in your corner. Even though most people view the Oscars as “the pretentious award ceremony full of phoney people”, there are still people who enjoyed the previous years for what they were. Don’t try to appeal to everybody because that failed this year. I can only hope that the Academy and the people behind the Oscar telecast took notes, and next year, it can only get better. Because it feels right now, the Oscars tried to remain “current”, and while trying that, they hit a new low.

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

Until next time,

Luke

Movie Reviews

The Batman (2022) Review – Vengeance Begins

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The Batman. One of the most universally known superheroes of all time is back (yet again), and this time, it’s Robert Pattinson‘s time to shine as the caped crusader. No, I won’t make some variation of “hey, that’s Edward from the Twilight films, he’s done well for himself”. Simply because if you followed his career since that abomination, I mean franchise ended, you knew as well as I, he’s proven himself ten times over now. And I knew he would nail this role, and he… kinda did. I will get to it more in just a second, but he’s much better Batman than he is Bruce Wayne. It will be hard to argue as I understand this should be the youngest Batman we’ve ever seen in the mainstream movie, but still. Also, it’s almost three hours long. And some films can justify this length but this one…? I would say no.

Let me write as much as I can before jumping into spoilers because as much as I would love to stay away from them, I can’t. Because it was later on in the film, The Batman started to work for me. Yes, the first 30 minutes I thought it was good, but some choices were made (especially as I alluded to before, how Bruce Wayne was portrayed) that pulled me out a bit. But once the Riddler storyline kicked in and we’ve started to untangle this mystery, I found myself engrossed more and more into this film where I left the movie theatre satisfied. Don’t get me wrong, this movie has issues, and I will address them, but I liked what they have done it.

Some things that are easy to discuss without going into the spoilers are the themes of this film. Batman has always been about not killing any bad guys, as “you become them if you do that.” And that is somewhat explored here even further, but not with Batman’s character, but with Catwoman, brilliantly portrayed by Zoë Kravitz. It was through her character and her storyline we truly explore this “no killing the bad guys” rule and can see how it plays a vital part of Batman’s identity. And how he realises something about himself throughout watching her character. I liked that complexity, and Zoë can do no wrong. Forget a TV show starring Penguin that’s been announced; why can’t we give Zoë a TV show?

What I also liked about this film was how Riddler (Paul Dano came, saw and delivered as I knew he would, so happy for him to finally be in a big movie as one of the main characters!) is looming over this film and how Batman needs to be a detective to get to him. He was a perfect villain, and I liked how they made certain choices about his character (but more about that in spoilers).

Something I wanted to mention before moving into the spoilers is definitely this film’s runtime. This movie should not have been almost three hours long. There are a lot of characters, and the story is complex enough that it 100% must be over two hours, sure. But I can easily see simply cutting out 20/30 minutes without affecting any story or characters because this movie has a lot of “atmosphere building” shots that look great. And resemble pages of comic books (says the person who has never read a single comic book in his life). But the problem with this was the movie almost reminded me of Zack Snyder and his approach to shooting his Batman films at times. Luckily, Matt Reeves isn’t Zack Snyder, so it never goes overboard, but there are definitely self-indulgent moments that do nothing but add to the already bloated runtime. I swear if this movie was about 20/30 minutes shorter, I think we might have had a serious contender for the best Batman movie ever. Anyway, let’s get into the spoilers, so…

Beware, SPOILERS are coming!

As I’ve mentioned above, the movie won me over when it delved into its themes more. One theme I have already mentioned (“no killing of bad guys”) but the other and more important theme of this film is how to deal with your past. And how we shouldn’t presume things just because they sound true, it doesn’t mean they are. Yes, I am talking about the revelation of Bruce’s dad making one mistake that would cost him his life. And how that shatters Bruce’s view on what he needs to do as he thought, “as long as I am Batman, I don’t need to be Bruce Wayne” because he believed his father was an impeccable man. But nobody is perfect, and he needs to deal with the fact and try to make a piece with it. What I loved about this wrinkle was how they tied into it the “guilty by proxy” element, where Riddler presumes just because Bruce is Wayne, he had to know or be involved with his father’s crimes. Because it sounds logical, doesn’t it? He was too close not to be involved. “Obviously”, he must have known something or later on even participated in something?

And the same can be said about Catwoman’s character and her surprising father. I liked how he had no idea she was his daughter, and her father’s sins were not hers. I loved that element of the story, and I think that was when the movie convinced me that it had something to say. Speaking of Catwoman’s dad, what a brilliant performance by John Turturro, who with the pretty limited time he had in the film, made the maximum impact. He was menacing without being forceful, and you, the audience, knew he was a much bigger piece of this entire puzzle even before the big reveal that he was “the rat” all along.

And with this theme (children shouldn’t be blamed for their parent’s sins), I started to understand Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne portrayal a bit more. Think about it for a second; he starts the movie thinking the Wayne legacy will take care of itself, hence why he “only” needs to be the Batman. So he begins this movie as this emo youngster who is “too cool for board meetings”. It’s only when he’s confronted with the reality of Wayne’s name being exposed and Riddler (alongside Catwoman, which I thought was a nice touch) accusing Bruce of being “in on it” too, he realises he can’t just be the caped crusader. That there needs to be a balance between Batman and Bruce Wayne. And I don’t think we’ve seen this theme explored as well in a Batman movie. I am still not 100% convinced with his performance as Bruce Wayne, but now I could at least see what they were trying to do.

What I also liked regarding the Riddler’s character was how they set him up and, more importantly, how they avoided the cliché “we caught him, only for him to escape because that was his plan all along!” No, once he’s in jail, that is where he stays because he isn’t the physical type, as he says in the film. But he’s the brain, so he conducted the plan and had his “mini-army” to see it through. His character watching the explosions from his cell was a chilling moment, and I was glad he didn’t escape.

I also have a theory. And this is nothing but my intuition; I have not read anything that would inform me about what I am about to write, so I might be totally wrong here. Nevertheless, I believe this might be the start of the “life-cycle” trilogy. All we know for sure is Pattinson signed a three-movie deal, so we should get a trilogy and given this film has done amazingly (grossing around $280 million already), it seems like we will get it. So, my prediction is simple – this is the beginning of Batman’s journey. In the second movie, we will see him older, in his full “power”, balancing between being Bruce and Batman as flawlessly as possible. And in a third movie, and again, nothing but my guessing here, we will see him old(ish) and die, possibly passing the “mantle” to somebody else before that. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the end goal for this trilogy, to have an ultimate Batman trilogy where we see him at the start of his journey, in the middle and at the end. Something tells me this is how Matt Reeves will differentiate this trilogy from any other that came before him (well, technically, the only complete one is Nolan‘s Dark Knight trilogy). And how cool would that be to see this journey of one Batman until the very end? No fake-out deaths? Or am I the only one? Well, only time will tell.

Overall, The Batman feels like a start to something that could be truly great. Don’t get me wrong, this is a complete movie, but something tells me there is a plan for how this entire trilogy will pan out. And I, for one, am glad that somebody in the DC universe has a plan, that seems like a nice change of peace 🙂 Ok, seriously though, my only real issue is the length of this film, as you can feel it at times. But who knows? Maybe on my second viewing, knowing what I know now, I will discover even more things about it, and the length won’t bother me anymore. For now, I will say The Batman is worth seeing in the cinemas. It’s 100% a different Batman than what we were used to, and the movie makes some weird choices at first, but if you go with an open mind and let the film try to speak for itself, you might have a good time.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Until next time,

Luke

Misc

Happy 2022 Everybody!

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Hello Movie Friends,

We’ve done it. We’ve somehow survived another year in this pandemic, and we can hope it shall be the last one.

I wish you all the best for the year 2022. I hope we can all find a way to communicate better with each other, to listen to each other and most importantly of all, enjoy more great movies together!

Because that is what art can do – it can bring people together, if we let it.

Enjoy yourselves and I can’t thank you enough for visiting and reading my reviews. I can’t even explain how much that means to me that you take the time of your day and read something that some random Czech person wrote on the Internet. I appreciate you.

Let’s hope 2022 will be a year to remember (for GOOD reasons ONLY!!!) 🙂

Until next time,

Luke