Shorts #102
Short Thoughts: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019), The Lion King (2019), Fast & Furious: Hobbs and Shaw (2019), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Chappie (2015)
Whilst I wish I didn't see this, images of DiCaprio's stellar performance and the feel of the tamer side of this world stick with me. This is an utterly pointless psuedo-exploitation film of the Manson movie sub-genre bloated incredibly by the egoic stylings of the horribly present Tarantino - a vortex of cringe and pretence so devastating he defies description. If it wasn't for the extended DiCaprio scenes, this would undoubtedly be the worst of the director's cannon. He is the only performer that stood his ground on set, not bending to the splurging auterism cock-blocking all other artistic expression in this 3 hour slow vomit. If only DiCaprio could have been dealt a better Tarantino script to lead.
An embarrassing reminder that part of the reason for cinema's existence is to make money. I thought Aladdin was shameless, but The Lion King has no excuses and escapes all the blame. How? I don't know.
Better than any Fast & Furious film I've ever seen.
Stripped of Vin Diesel's ass-eating performances, Hobbs & Shaw does well to boil the cast down, letting much of the Fast & Furious series' pop-star scum and mediocrity simmer away. Less a cockeyed off-shot of a self-encapsulated genre, Hobbs and Shaw is a spy thriller, somewhat reminiscent of an early Guy Ritchie film in parts - in other parts, this is a cinematic Rock affair. That makes this as fun as it is ridiculous--albeit a little stilted. Idris Elba's performance could have been better managed, but his character provides some of the best slow-motion spectacle that I actually was left wanting more of. Enjoyable.
A mess that only the late 90s could provide.
Semantically confusing, too political, equal parts conscious and dreaming, this is a rather bluntly incisive teenage (translation: naive) melodrama. I imagine this can only become more of a cultural embarrassment as the years pass. The music, the fashion, style and the taste... yeesh. I can only hope this comes nowhere near an accurate representation of anyone's high school experience. That said, through the chaos comes some levity and light enjoyment.
I don't know exactly why I avoided this when it was first released. Chappie surprised me. I found the film to be heartfelt and, when coupled with District 9, a rather eloquent and affecting documentation/contemplation of trans-human metamorphosis.
Blomkamp's sense of humour needs to be a little reigned in here as it is in District 9, but I cannot recall a film that I have found to be so crushingly hilarious after the viewing. For reasons unbeknown to be, explaining the car theft scene put me in fits. It cannot be ignored, however, that the casting choices made in this film were a big risk that didn't really pay off. Despite this, as a technical and thematic achievement, I believe Chappie stands strong: a touching bookend to District 9.
