Review: The Last Five Years

 

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In New York, a struggling actress (Anna Kendrick) and a successful writer (Jeremy Jordan) sing about their failed marriage from two perspectives.

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The film’s song numbers follows the musical’s, alternating between Cathy and Jamie with a song or two sung by both.

“Still Hurting” – Cathy

Depressing but one of the best break-up/grief songs I’ve heard.

 

“Shiksa Goddess” – Jamie

I love this song, its catchy and the foreshadowing is so good.

 

“See I’m Smiling” – Cathy

Cathy going OFF is one of the best parts of the musical.

 

“Moving Too Fast” – Jamie

My favorite song of the musical.

Also the last few lines is basically what every college student feels always:

“I’m feeling panicked and rushed and hurried
I’m feeling outmaneuvered and outclassed
But I’m so happy I can’t get worried
About this singular impression
I’ve got a singular impression things are moving too fast.”

 

“A Part of That” – Cathy

You can almost start to forgot that things are gonna end poorly, and then you get to this song. This song makes me hurt for Cathy more than Still Hurting does.

 

“The Schmuel Song” – Jamie

This song is really cute. And such a lie.

 

“A Summer in Ohio” – Cathy

This one is really funny.

 

“The Next Ten Minutes” – Jamie and Cathy

The one time their timelines cross each other. Really sweet.

 

“A Miracle Would Happen/When You Come Home to Me” – Jamie and Cathy

Just after the wedding for him, and just before the wedding for her. The contrast hurts but “A miracle would happen” is one of my favorite refrains in the musical.

 

“Climbing Uphill” – Cathy

This song stresses me out, and shows the first fractures in their relationship.

 

“If I Didn’t Believe in You” – Jamie

Depressing as all hell, but god do you feel like Jamie has a point for just this one song. He screws it up of course, but you feel for him here.

 

“I Can Do Better Than That” – Cathy

A GREAT song and its on my motivational study playlist.

 

“Nobody Needs to Know” – Jamie

One of the best cheating songs from musicals.

 

“Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You” – Cathy and Jamie

Poor Cathy is so happy and Jamie is such a dick, especially knowing what you know from “I Can Do Better Than That”.

Movie Review: Infinity War Part 1

About Infinity War:

Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk and the rest of the Avengers unite to battle their most powerful enemy yet — the evil Thanos. On a mission to collect all six Infinity Stones, Thanos plans to use the artifacts to inflict his twisted will on reality. The fate of the planet and existence itself has never been more uncertain as everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment.

Release date: April 27, 2018 

Before Watching You Must Watch:

Pretty much everything in the MCU but most important are:

• The Avengers
• Age of Ultron
• Captain America: Civil War
• Dr. Strange
• Spider-Man Homecoming
• Black Panther

Non-Spoiler Review:

The movie was good, but could have been better. I feel like it lacked a lot of emotion though the middle in favor of cool effects and action.

It was a solid movie, but I hope part 2 is better.

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SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

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Spoiler Review:

• I seriously thought Loki was going to come back. He deserved a better death.
• Tony and Cap need to get over themselves.
• Gamora’s death was the only one given the emotion it deserved, and the only one relevant to the plot.
• DAMMIT PETER YOU MADE ME CRY I SAID I WOULDN’T.
• Star Lord pissed me off so much.
• TONY IS ALONE WITH NEBULA ON THAT PLANET OH MY….
• AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
• Thanos Will Return – Really?????????
• Captain Marvel save us.

Some Thoughts and Theories for Part 2:

• Hawkeye and Ant-Man will be integral to part 2.
• I need them to bring the dusted people back.
• Either Cap or Tony or both are going to die permanently.

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PolandBannanasBooks

has a great review you should check out too:

 

 

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Some Happiness:

 

Movie Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp

Scott Lang is grappling with the consequences of his choices as both a superhero and a father. Approached by Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym, Lang must once again don the Ant-Man suit and fight alongside the Wasp. The urgent mission soon leads to secret revelations from the past as the dynamic duo finds itself in an epic battle against a powerful new enemy.

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Overall Thoughts / Non-Spoiler Review:

Ant-Man and the Wasp is the last film of Phase 3 of the MCU, and a sequel to Ant-Man, relying heavily on the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War and mostly concurrent, timeline wise, with Infinity War Part 1 (which you should probably watch before this, though it is largely ignored in this film).

I thought the film was funny, with the humor feeling more natural and less forced than in some Marvel films (Ragnarok suffered from this, as did Black Panther at times). The cast and acting was great, and while the story was a little predictable after around 20 minutes, it was an overall really good and really fun addition to the Marvel Universe and as a movie in general.

Its also a lot less stressful than Infinity War was.

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SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

BELOW

Throwback Thursday: The Revenant Movie Reflection: Extra Credit

Throwback Thursday, where, essentially I post old writing samples, essays and short stories that I dig up from my pile of hoarded papers and school assignments or from the depths of my computer. So everyone can see how my writing has changed/improved over the years.

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The Revenant Movie Reflection: Extra Credit

The Revenant is a survival story, which seems odd for a movie whose body count reaches the double digits before we’ve even made it past the first scene. But it fits, when death is a real possibility for the characters, it raises the stakes, leaving you tense as to whether or not the characters you are rooting for will actually survive. The title is especially fitting, as revenant means “one who has returned, as if from the dead”.

The Revenant doesn’t pull any punches. Between the high stakes of death, the emotion shown by family and friends when a loved one is injured or killed it feels real. Even more so when you realize that the gore from a fight doesn’t disappear in the next scene, wounds carry and do not becomes magically healed for convenience, as is often the case in movies. The Revenant also makes use of the setting’s native language to not only make the story seem genuine, it makes it impossible for the viewer to become disengaged or distracted from the story, because you have to pay such close attention to what they are saying by keeping your eyes on the screen, lest you miss an important detail. It seems to do justice to the true-life story of Hugh Glass on which it is based, and neither glorifies nor infantilizes his struggle.

The setting is used incredibly effectively; they are not simply in a forest. The animals, even when unimportant to the plot, make noises in the background. Frost clings

to eyelashes. People cough, sniffle and shiver even when the attention is not on them. Leonardo Dicaprio conveys much of his emotion and thoughts without speaking for a part of the film. It comes as no surprise that the movie was not only nominated for, but won, Oscars.

The Revenant is a phenomenal film, with heart-wrenching, wonderful acting and amazing, if a little hard to stomach, cinematography. It makes great use of suspense and the progression of the plot, making sure you feel every consequence, and every uncertainty the characters feel. Every action comes with high stakes, and you never feel like there is a certainty in how the movie will continue. I highly recommend The Revenant.

Movie Review: Set It Up

Two overworked and underpaid assistants come up with a plan to get their bosses off their backs by setting them up with each other.

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Netflix is bringing back the Rom-Com and they are killing it!

I love rom-coms, and this one, whilst kind of cheesy and cliche, is a pretty great one. The leads have some amazing chemistry, and they flip a lot of rom-com tropes around (the airport scene!)

The dialogue is super funny (especially Becca yelling at Harper about how her first draft has to suck before she can re-write it). I also loved that two of the leads were a black man and asian woman – Netflix is trying pretty hard to be diverse, and their doing pretty well I’d say.

If you like Rom-Coms, definitely check this out.

Movie Review – Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Four high school kids discover an old video game console and are drawn into the game’s jungle setting, literally becoming the adult avatars they chose. What they discover is that you don’t just play Jumanji – you must survive it. To beat the game and return to the real world, they’ll have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives, discover what Alan Parrish left 20 years ago, and change the way they think about themselves – or they’ll be stuck in the game forever.

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I was not expecting to like this very much, even with the phenomenal cast, sequels and remakes are just, never as good.

They did them selves a favor by making this a sequel/in universe continuation rather than a straight remake. The way they modernized it, and made it substanially different while keeping the heart of the movie was really well done. The acting was SO GOOD, especially Jack Black. I was so glad they referenced Robin Williams character “It’s Adam Parrish’s house, we’re just living in it.”

If you were putting it off, I say give it a chance. I’ve seen it twice and really loved it.

Movie Review: Candy Jar

An introverted high school girl from a working-class background falls in love with her wealthy debate team nemesis and realizes they share more in common than they thought.

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Candy Jar is a teen rom-com/drama movie from Netflix. The two leads had some amazing chemistry, and I’m a sucker for enemies to lovers stories. I loved the emphasis on family relationships, the diversity of the main and background casts. The pacing of the story was great, and I loved it so much. Me and my best friend were giggling so much – even though we called the ending pretty early.

I really recommend this one.