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(04/19/20 4:33am)
Welcome to the sixth episode of Thoughts From the Round Table! Today we dive into Bird Box and we have mixed opinions. We hope you enjoy!OUR WEBSITEhttps://thoughtsfromtheroundtable.tra...OUR TWITTER@roundtable_podOUR INSTAGRAM@thoughtsfromtheroundtable[fvplayer id="20"]
(04/19/20 4:14am)
Welcome to the fifth episode of Thoughts From the Round Table! Today we dive into Truth or Dare and we have mixed opinions. We hope you enjoy!OUR WEBSITEthoughtsfromtheroundtable.transistor.fmFOLLOW US:Twitter - https://twitter.com/roundtable_podFOLLOW CAMPUS CITIZENWebsite: http://thecampuscitizen.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/CampusCitizen[fvplayer id="18"]
(03/09/20 4:46am)
One of the many wonderful aspects of having a Netflix account is the ability to browse. I have found some of my favorite shows of all time just by scrolling through my endless monotony of Netflix recommendations. “Locke and Key”, released on February 7, was one such show. A show that I did not expect to enjoy, yet somehow managed to keep me glued to the screen throughout its entire run time.
The actual plot of “Locke and Key” is off the wall, to say the least. After their father gets murdered, Tyler (Connor Jessup), Kinsey (Emilia Jones) and Bode Locke (Jackson Robert Scott) are taken by their mother to their ancestral home: Keyhouse. As the name implies, the house is riddled with magical keys that do various things like turn you into a ghost or allow you to travel anywhere in the world. While there, they have to find new keys, fight a demon, uncover the secrets about their father’s past, as well as trying to fit in at a new school.
On paper, this sounds absolutely retched. I saw the description of the show and my mind took me back to when my friend made me watch an episode of “Teen Wolf”. Against my better judgment, however, I decided to watch it anyways. I cannot describe to you what exactly made me watch it: whether I was just that bored, or because the plot sounded so strange I simply had to make sure it was real, but I could not have been happier with my decision.
“Locke and Key” absolutely blew me away. It has a way of transporting you into a universe that feels so familiar and yet at the same time, so new and different. A universe where magic keys and real and demons are lurking around every corner, plotting on how they can steal them from you. A world where a kid can unlock a door and be transported halfway across the globe.
Even though these kids live in a ginormous mansion and basically have superpowers, it somehow still manages to make them relatable to an average audience member. The show acts as a portal into the mind of a child and no character better exemplifies that then Bode.
The decision to make it impossible for normal adults to remember magic makes Bode’s experience so much more endearing. To see this kid get to fly around the house as a ghost or to literally walk inside of his own mind always put a smile on my face. He has this innocence about him that’s intoxicating to watch. I feel like so many shows recently have been trying to make the child characters “mature for their age”. While that can be interesting, sometimes I just want to watch a kid be a kid and that’s exactly what you get in “Locke and Key”.
Despite his innocence, the show is for the most part pretty dark and can at some parts be outright terrifying. It balances these opposing themes extremely well because, in all honesty, they should not work together at all. The show somehow plays to the strength of both themes interchangeably, some scenes are cute and funny and the next will show someone being brutally murdered. It has no right to work at all and yet it does, and it keeps you on your toes throughout the entire viewing experience.
The main reason why I find this show so appealing, however, is its creativity. It captures the mind of a child so well and truly feels like something your kid self could have thought up. It takes me back to a simpler time, a time when I would run around with random objects in my basement and pretend they had magic powers.
The show provides a window to your childhood, an escape into your imagination. Not everything has to be complicated to be good, and usually, it is the simplest shows that provide the most happiness. If you want to dive into a world of magic, embrace yourself in pure creativity, and open up that window into your childhood dreams, “Locke and Key” is the show for you.
(03/06/20 10:46pm)
Welcome to the third episode of Thoughts From the Round Table! Today Pierce and Jacob dive into "the absolute acid trip" of a movie, "In the Tall Grass."
Welcome to the second episode of the Clone Wars Quickie series! In this series, Pierce and Jacob will be talking about all the episodes of the new clone wars season and possibly branching out to other shows in the future!
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(03/02/20 10:11pm)
Welcome to the third episode of Thoughts From the Round Table! Today Pierce and Jacob dive into Joker.
(02/22/20 7:30pm)
The Hallmark Channel. If you have ever been subjected to one of the many movies put out by this specific company, you’ve experienced, both the joys and the pains of a stereotypical romantic comedy. I mean, Hallmark movies are about as basic as it comes in the film industry. They feature very safe plots, with little to no risk or creative exploration. They tackle no complex themes and require few coherent thoughts from the viewer, in fact, many critics would not even consider Hallmark-esque movies films at all.
I admit that I was once a part of that majority, maybe not so far into that overly judgmental mindset to strip them of their classifications as films, but definitely I was not the type of person to enjoy this style of movie. It would be so incredibly easy for me to sit here, and list all flaws present in these cheesy, predictable films, but where is the fun in remaining complacent in ideas that have already been talked to death.
While my conviction holds true, that these are not, by any stretch of the imagination, remarkable films, I believe that there is value to that conformity, that beyond the basic and stereotypical plots, viewers can still find enjoyment in sitting through a Hallmark love story.
As I previously stated, in the past, I would have never imagined myself writing a defense for Hallmark movies, in fact, when I decided to write this story I was already thinking of the thousands of ways I could make fun of these movies. My goal was to find a movie, so appalling, so undeniably repulsive, that I would have no choice but to cook up a bad review for it. The movie I found was “Recipe for Love” and just by looking at the box art I knew that this would be an easy target. I forced my roommate to watch it with me and neither of us expected what would happen next, we enjoyed ourselves. In fact, it was one of the happiest times I’ve had watching a movie in a long time.
The decision to watch this movie was in order to write a Valentine’s Day movie review as it is that time of the year. Plenty of new releases came out covering the holiday, and there are always a plethora of decent movies I could have chosen that would have fit the bill, but as I was sifting through the overwhelming amount of movies I could watch, “Recipe for Love”, directed by Ron Oliver, jumped out at me. I mean it checked all my boxes: bad cover art, cheesy plot, and obscure enough to capture my attention.
It follows Danielle Panabaker’s character, a young chef who needs money to go to chef school in Paris, as she is tasked with ghost-writing Shawn Robert’s characters cookbook. Roberts plays a hunky TV chef who has secretly desires to go back to a simpler life. How perfectly predictable. Of course, they start the movie kind of hating each other and out of that hatred blossoms a beautiful love; I mean it really is the same thing you’ve seen a million times before. Where this movie breaks the mold, however, is in the fact that the love plot is honestly a side plot. I mean this movie mostly focuses on writing that cookbook. It was so hard to watch at times, but it was like a train wreck that you could not look away from.
Now, do not attribute my ironic love for this movie to its plot, or acting, or themes, or really anything the movie did well. I mean, they really didn’t even get the whole romance part of the romantic comedy down. I have truly never in my life seen two people with less chemistry than the main characters in this movie, but that’s what makes it work, that’s what makes it a Hallmark movie. My hypothesis is that most critics go into these movies with the wrong mindset. If you go into one of these obviously low budget movies, with few or no big-name actors, and mostly unsubstantial directors, you are obviously going to find flaws in the movie. This is where, I believe, a lot of critics get it wrong. They conclude that because of the flaws present in the film, and its mostly unoriginal plot, the movie is therefore bad; I argue that these same reasons are what makes them so much fun to watch.
So yes, “Recipe for Love” is not a good movie, but it most definitely is a fun movie. It is not a movie that I would nominate for an Oscar, but it is an experience that was probably more memorable to me, than most Oscar nominees. If you are looking for a heavy-hitting movie that forces you to think and presents intelligent themes, then you are looking in the wrong place; but if you want something fun, something you can sit down and watch with your friends or family and just laugh, then this might be the place to turn. It is not substantial in and of itself, what is substantial is the joy it brings tons of people everywhere.
So the next time you cast condescending judgment on a Hallmark movie, I challenge you to sit down with a group of friends and try to contain your laughter or your smiles; I can almost guarantee you won’t be able to.
(02/21/20 9:00pm)
Welcome to the second episode of Thoughts From the Round Table with Jacob Keith and Pierce McCammon! Today we dive into "Star Wars: The Clone Wars", the animated series. It's kinda great. We hope you enjoy!FOLLOW US:Twitter - roundtable_podFOLLOW THE CAMPUS CITIZENWebsite: http://thecampuscitizen.com/Twitter: CampusCitizen
(02/14/20 8:09pm)
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Welcome to the first episode of Thoughts From the Round Table with Jacob Keith and Pierce McCammon! We are excited to begin this journey with you and hope you enjoy the episode. Today's topic features DC's newest movie installment: Birds of Prey... it's not that great.
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(12/06/19 8:35pm)
Before I start this review, I must admit to a bit of bias regarding the “Star Wars” franchise. I have been known to make hasty, hype-filled conclusions about movies and games in the past were not at all based on sound logic. For this reason, I have refrained from writing this review immediately after playing the game, hoping a bit of time would allow me to look at the game more realistically. With this being said, I still believe that this game has something that a lot of the recent “Star Wars” does not, this being passion. It is clear that Respawn Entertainment LLC foremost cared about making a good “Star Wars” game and more than that, a good Star Wars story. It is a game for the fans, not a cheap cash grab like that of “Star Wars Battlefront II’s” early stages. With no microtransactions and no slated DLC, “Jedi: Fallen Order” takes a step in the right direction for fans of “Star Wars” and fans of video games.
What really surprised me when I played this game for the first time was its difficulty. “Fallen Order” is a hard game. Unlike most of the recent big-budget story games, this is truly unforgiving. The game most certainly does not hold your hand throughout combat, allowing the player to really develop their own style of play. Most other linear games make it pretty clear the route they want you to follow and exactly how they want you to play, but “Fallen Order” lets the player choose for themselves. Perhaps one player chooses a more defensive style of play as they wait for the perfect time to parry an oncoming attack, while another player uses the forces to rip an unsuspecting storm trooper off his feet directly into the blade of their lightsaber. This is the reason that the game is so incredibly engaging. You really feel like you are in control of every situation and that rewards the player with an incredible sense of pride when they finally beat the inquisitor they were fighting for over an hour.
Another thing that could be unfamiliar to a lot of new-age gamers is the introduction of checkpoints. They do this in the form of meditation points which feels right in line with the universe the game is set in. It requires players to find certain areas in the level in which they can meditate and thus save their progress and refill their health. If you die before meditating, you restart at the last point the game saved. I have rarely seen this version of saving implemented in a game of this style and it is so much more punishing than you might at first think. There have been countless times when I have forgotten to meditate for a while and end up getting destroyed by an unexpected opponent and sent back to like 30 or 40 minutes before. I think however that this fits perfectly with the tone the game portrays. You can't save in the middle of fights, you can't just go back to seconds before and try again; your decisions matter, failure has consequences.
Despite all the great mechanics the game implements, it is definitely not perfect, it can really lag at times, especially on console. There have been moments in which my game freezes entirely and then unfreezes only to find myself on the death screen. This is an extremely rare occurrence but it cannot be ignored. Another problem the game suffers from is the glitchy movement that occurs from time to time. Characters can glitch into walls, abruptly stop moving, and even glitch off of cliffs. While these bugs are annoying, they are rare and do not impede on the playability of the game.
Where this game really shines is in its story. After Electronic Arts Inc. took over the rights to produce “Star Wars” games, I was heavily skeptical regarding the future of single-player “Star Wars” experiences. This uncertainty was even more prevalent after the train wreck launch of “Battlefront II”. It was, at launch, a game plagued by microtransactions and although it had a single-player campaign, it was nothing to write home about. I have to give EA credit, however, as “Battlefront II” today is nothing like it was at launch, but it still left a bad taste in the mouth of consumers. I am so incredibly thankful that my skepticism was misplaced. With the release of “Fallen Order”, EA has proven that they can make an engaging single-player “Star Wars” experience, a game that does not need to rely on post-launch DLC to stay even slightly relevant, and most importantly a game that does not contain microtransactions.
The story itself is also fresh and exciting. It takes place somewhat soon after the execution of Order 66 and the Jedi, which is a pretty much unexplored time period in mainstream “Star Wars” media. They introduce fans to multiple survivors of the purge who all deal with the fall of the order and the Republic in different ways. It blurs the lines between right and wrong and ultimately provides players with an engaging experience that they will not want to put down. We also get some brilliant voice acting from Cameron Monaghan as our main protagonist, Cal Kestis. Overall, the story of the game is probably one of the best and most unique “Star Wars” stories since The Walt Disney Co. took over the franchise.
If I could describe “Fallen Order” in one word, it would be refreshing. It defies the industry norm for making a triple a Star Wars game, the game really is a love letter to both “Star Wars” fans and single-player fans alike. It represents that it is still possible, even in 2019, to produce a game free from in-game transactions and free from reliance on post-launch content. “Fallen Order” also serves as a step in the right direction towards mending the broken trust between EA and “Star Wars” fans. It is a challenging, fun, engaging experience that still widely impresses me, even after my hype wore off.
(11/22/19 9:44pm)
When watching a movie it is rare that I find myself struggling to formulate an opinion on it. A movie that really does not have anything necessarily wrong with it, yet there is just nothing about it that strikes me as unique, nothing about it that inspires reaction out of me. It is not a bad movie, and to say that it was a waste of time to watch would be a lie, however, it is one of those movies where your first reaction after leaving the theatre would be to shrug. “Jojo Rabbit”, directed by Taika Waititi, is a movie that you should definitely not be mad about watching, it has a ton of heart and is at times really funny, but it is also not a movie that you will remember for an extended amount of time.
The way that “Jojo Rabbit” tackles the racism prevalent throughout Nazi Germany is however quite impressive, to say the least; it manages to be offensive in the best way possible. The movie highlights the obscurity of racism, while also not getting super preachy about it. It’s clear that Waititi feels strongly about what he is producing and the movie is so much more powerful because of it.
Technically this movie is classified as a comedy, but to call “Jojo Rabbit” a comedy and just leave it there would be a horrendous misinterpretation. Sure the movie is funny at times, but it is also chock-full of heart-wrenching moments that can leave the audience really depressed. This is a boy who from a young age has been indoctrinated by his country, a boy that feels pride in the racist ideals that the state holds; it shows him struggling with what he thinks is right, but feels is wrong. What is really impressive is the fact that this movie could seamlessly transition between hilarity and sadness and still feel coherent. So many movies suffer from tone problems; sadness can feel out of place among an audience who expected to leave the theatre laughing. This movie, however, handles the change in tone well, viewers never feel like they could be watching two separate films and never feel like the sadness is not warranted.
Waititi’s performance as an imaginary Adolf Hitler was also absolutely brilliant. You could tell that he was really into the role and his energy resonated throughout the entire theatre during my viewing. He was truly the life of the film and every scene that featured him was an absolute joy to watch. He was the perfect interpretation of how a brainwashed child would view their dear leader. He was overflowing with childlike innocence and at times he was almost wholesome, besides his rampant anti-Semitism. My only complaint is that there were so few scenes with him actually in it. The movie’s advertising heavily featured Hitler but in reality, he was never a main focus. This is one of the things that kept this movie from being great; Hitler and Jojo had amazing chemistry and to not see it be the main focus of the movie was a real shame.
The movie is mostly focused on the main protagonist of Jojo. This was not necessarily a bad idea, as Gilby Davis did a decent enough job with the character, but something about it just felt off. Jojo’s story was surprisingly meaningful, but more because of the excellent writing, rather than the performance. Not to say that Davis’s performance was horrible, just that there was just nothing about it that felt special to me. If the movie would have played around more with the Jojo and Hitler dynamic, I believe that the outcome would have been much more enjoyable.
“Jojo Rabbit” is a truly mediocre film. It does have an amazing message and a good amount of heart thrown into it, but that is not enough to save it from mediocracy. If the movie had played to its strengths more instead of trying shift focus all towards Jojo, it would have been an amazing movie. However, as it stands now, this is definitely a movie that I would much rather rent than spend time and money at the theatre for.
When watching a movie it is rare that I find myself struggling to formulate an opinion on it. A movie that really does not have anything necessarily wrong with it, yet there is just nothing about it that strikes me as unique, nothing about it that inspires reaction out of me. It is not a bad movie, and to say that it was a waste of time to watch would be a lie, however, it is one of those movies where your first reaction after leaving the theatre would be to shrug. “Jojo Rabbit”, directed by Taika Waititi is a movie that you should definitely not be mad about watching, it has a ton of heart and is at times really funny, but it is also not a movie that you will remember for an extended amount of time.
The way that “Jojo Rabbit” tackles the racism prevalent throughout Nazi Germany is however quite impressive, to say the least; it manages to be offensive in the best way possible. The movie highlights the obscurity of racism, while also not getting super preachy about it. It’s clear that Waititi feels strongly about what he is producing and the movie is so much more powerful because of it.
Technically this movie is classified as a comedy, but to call “Jojo Rabbit” a comedy and just leave it there would be a horrendous misinterpretation. Sure the movie is funny at times, but it is also chock-full of heart-wrenching moments that can leave the audience really depressed. This is a boy who from a young age has been indoctrinated by his country, a boy that feels pride in the racist ideals that the state holds; it shows him struggling with what he thinks is right, but feels is wrong. What is really impressive is the fact that this movie could seamlessly transition between hilarity and sadness and still feel coherent. So many movies suffer from tone problems; sadness can feel out of place among an audience who expected to leave the theatre laughing. This movie, however, handles the change in tone well, viewers never feel like they could be watching two separate films and never feel like the sadness is not warranted.
Waititi’s performance as an imaginary Adolf Hitler was also absolutely brilliant. You could tell that he was really into the role and his energy resonated throughout the entire theatre during my viewing. He was truly the life of the film and every scene that featured him was an absolute joy to watch. He was the perfect interpretation of how a brainwashed child would view their dear leader. He was overflowing with childlike innocence and at times he was almost wholesome, besides his rampant anti-Semitism. My only complaint is that there were so few scenes with him actually in it. The movie’s advertising heavily featured Hitler but in reality, he was never a main focus. This is one of the things that kept this movie from being great; Hitler and Jojo had amazing chemistry and to not see it be the main focus of the movie was a real shame.
The movie is mostly focused on the main protagonist of Jojo. This was not necessarily a bad idea, as Gilby Davis did a decent enough job with the character, but something about it just felt off. Jojo’s story was surprisingly meaningful, but more because of the excellent writing, rather than the performance. Not to say that Davis’s performance was horrible, just that there was just nothing about it that felt special to me. If the movie would have played around more with the Jojo and Hitler dynamic, I believe that the outcome would have been much more enjoyable.
“Jojo Rabbit” is a truly mediocre film. It does have an amazing message and a good amount of heart thrown into it, but that is not enough to save it from mediocracy. If the movie had played to its strengths more instead of trying shift focus all towards Jojo, it would have been an amazing movie. However, as it stands now, this is definitely a movie that I would much rather rent than spend time and money at the theatre for.
(11/15/19 8:21pm)
From the vibrant colors, beautiful foreign landscapes, the great expanse of space viewed from the cockpit of your ship; “The Outer Worlds” is absolutely breathtaking. From the moment the game loaded up on my computer and I saw the now iconic home screen, I was sold on the game. I was sold on the amazing music, the stunning atmosphere, the unbelievable customization and the ability to play the game exactly how I choose to.
To say that this game has taken inspiration from the “Fallout” franchise is definitely an understatement. This game can best be described as “Fallout” in space. It has a very similar art style, a retro-futuristic style, and even similar gameplay quirks. However, it is important to realize that the game is not a direct ripoff; while the game can feel similar at some points, “The Outer Worlds” implemented some key gameplay mechanics to differentiate itself.
One of these mechanics seems simple enough but it drastically changes the way I play the game. That mechanic is the addition of a second boost jump. It is not a dramatic jump, but it encourages players to play the game much more aggressive than a player would play “Fallout”. While you can still effectively play the game passively, it allows a much more varied gameplay experience for gamers. It is truly a remarkable achievement for a game when each different player can play the game with a different style and not be put at a disadvantage.
Another key mechanic that distinguishes “The Outer Worlds” is the time distortion mechanic. While at first, this feature feels extremely similar to “Fallout 4’s” VATS, it is so incredibly different. When I played “Fallout”, I actually found the VATS system completely unbalanced. In “The Outer Worlds”, however, the ability to slow time comes with its fair share of disadvantages. Sure you can have more time to aim, but you also still have to line up your shot, you can't fire near as fast, attacking more than one target is almost an impossibility. It is a great addition that forces gamers to think critically about the best time to use this ability and when not it puts them at a disadvantage.
While this game has added a number of incredible mechanics and beautiful worlds, it is not without its flaws. I will not lie, some dialogue in this game is not the best. There have been multiple times that I have cringed while listening to one of the generic NPCs ramble on about this or that. Generic lines have to be expected in a game of this size, but it does not change the disappointment when you hear one, especially because some characters in the game have pretty decent dialogue variety.
Another annoying feature that I find myself running into all the time is that there is no good way to make money in the game. Scavenging can only get you so far, and besides doing quests I have not found any other way to make money. This game is perfectly set up to have a way to grind money, but I simply have not found a good way to accomplish it. This is not really a huge problem until a quest requires you to buy a navkey in order to reach a new planet and you have no side quests and no way to make money.
Besides a couple of minor inconveniences, the game is incredibly fun. It is exactly what I wanted the “Fallout” series to be and is definitely a game that I will be sinking tons of hours into. It has beautiful graphics, absolutely intoxicating gameplay, a ton of personality and I could not recommend it enough.
(10/25/19 5:16pm)
I cannot understate my apprehension regarding 2019s “Zombieland: Double Tap” directed by Ruben Fleischer. It was a movie that seemingly came out of nowhere and from the few trailers that were actually released, it did not look all that great.
The first “Zombieland” came out in 2009 and did not allude to a sequel which led me to believe that this movie could be just a cheap cash grab that would soil the original’s iconic name. I have to say though, this movie surprised me. It was extremely witty, capitalizing on the comedy style of the first “Zombieland” while not being afraid to branch out and even make fun of some of the outdated sayings and mannerisms that made the first movie so unforgettable.
I think that what makes this movie really good was that it actually felt fresh. So many comedies, especially sequels, feel like a rehashing of something that already exists. This movie, however, does something unexpected, it doesn’t just completely rely on the success of the first one.
Double Tap goes as far as making fun of the jokes made in the first movie, it even introduces new characters that specifically parody the stereotypes that made the audience fall in love with our main protagonists. The new characters also surprisingly work into the dynamic of the main cast extremely well. Even Madison, who the trailers made out to be very obnoxious, was super funny and complemented the main group better than I could have imagined.
Speaking of our zombie hardened posse of survivors, they still work just as well as before and more than that, they actually grow throughout the sequel. During the first scenes of the movie when the group was taking shelter in the white house, my heart sank. It seemed to me that Witchita was suffering from a loss of development.
Columbus goes on to propose to her and she reacts by stealing the car and driving away. I thought that for sure that she was falling back into the same problems she had overcome in the first movie; too often do the characters in comedies seem to forget all the lessons they learned in the first installment in order to repeat the same laughs in the sequel. Once again though, this movie surprised me by showing viewers they did not forget the lessons of the first movie, actually making fun of her backtracking and using it as a way to grow her character further.
The question that burns in every consumer’s mind when they seek out a comedy movie has to be, is the movie funny? I can assure you that this movie definitely meets that standard. It is the first movie that made me literally fall out of my seat laughing in a theatre. While that outburst might have been exclusive to me because of the movie accidentally hitting on an inside joke between my friends and I, there were so many great moments that would have any crowd roaring with laughter.
“Zombieland: Double Tap” is clever, it is fresh, and most importantly it is funny. While the plot of this movie is nothing special it is definitely serviceable and provides an appropriate amount of situations to challenge our protagonists. I cannot say that this movie is the most revolutionary comedy of all time, but it will definitely make you laugh and it is definitely worth the watch.
(10/18/19 2:15pm)
“El Camino”, directed by Vince Gilligan, is truly average in every sense of the word. There is not a single scene that sticks out to me as anything extraordinary. I’m not saying that there is anything inherently wrong with the movie either, and it definitely serves as a worthwhile epilogue to “Breaking Bad”.
The crux of the problem with the movie is that it is forgettable. Even now as I am writing this review only one day after my viewing, I am finding myself racking my brain trying to remember what I watched. This can be partly attributed to my horrible memory, but some blame falls on lazy storytelling, an over-reliance on flashbacks and an all-encompassing sense of boredom felt throughout the movie.
“Breaking Bad” is widely regarded as one of the best TV programs of all time. I must admit that I have not seen the entirety of the show, so I cannot attest to how faithfully “El Camino” portrays the main character or how well it fits into the overall universe of the show. What I can comment on is the movie in its rawest form, and it is nothing to write home about.
What really cements this movie as forgettable for me is the confusing nature of the plot. Not only does the movie lack any sense of direction, but its excessive use of flashbacks left me constantly wondering what version of Jesse I was currently following.
The pacing in this movie also just felt off. There were so many times when I was just uncomfortable by how long a scene was going on for and I found myself looking down at my watch, wondering how much longer they could drag this out for. I cannot lie though, this movie does have its moments. During the rare occurrence that the pacing felt right and I actually understood what was happening, the movie was pretty good.
One scene that sticks out to me, is when Jesse finds himself short on cash and decides to confront the man who shorted him out of his initial score. The tension in this scene is incredible and it goes on for the perfect amount of time. It is one of the rare occurrences in the movie when you get a glimpse of how good it could have been. If the whole movie was paced like this scene, it could have been truly phenomenal, sadly we are left to wonder about the masterpiece this movie could have.
Even if the movie falls short of my expectations I can not deny how beautifully it was shot. There were so many moments throughout this film that I caught myself gawking at its incredible cinematography. From the ariel shots of a brilliant Arizona landscape to the slow top-down time-lapse showing Jesse as he ravages through an abandoned apartment; “El Camino” has no shortage of eye candy.
This is really just a continuation of “Breaking Bad” and that might be fine for a majority of people. However, when you take “El Camino” away from the unbelievable universe that it so, fortunately, resides in, real problems start to show. It is uncomfortably long, confusing in every sense of the word, and really uninteresting to an average viewer. However, to a fan of the series, this movie can serve as an appropriate epilogue for Jesse Pinkman.
(10/11/19 5:14pm)
Horrifically beautiful, unimaginably uncomfortable, and all too real. These are just some phrases that come to mind when I think about my viewing experience for “Joker”, directed by Todd Phillips.
This movie is like nothing I have ever seen before from a comic book franchise. It truly sheds off the dogma associated with comic book movies and cements itself as truly unique. However, the movie is definitely not for everyone, it's not a movie that I can recommend for people to watch for fun. It is, however, an experience that I would not want to miss out on.
I remember wondering to myself when I first read about “Joker”, how they could possibly have the Joker without Batman and how they could take such a vile creature and make him the protagonist for his own movie. I could not have been more wrong.
Thanks to a masterful performance from Joaquin Phoenix, who plays Arthur Fleck, the clown prince of crime is portrayed as almost pitiful. The movie highlights the stigma people have regarding mental illness as it portrays the constant abuse that turns a man completely insane.
No line better illustrates this then one of Arthur Fleck's very own jokes.
“The worst part of having a mental illness is that everyone expects you to pretend that you don’t,” Fleck said.
The decision to make Joker’s iconic laugh also part of his disease was instrumental in making this interpretation feel real. Elaborating on Joker as a product of mental illness and lifelong abuse kept his character grounded and made the experience all the more chilling.
When watching this movie there is not a time that I found myself comfortable in the theater as I was constantly cringing and fidgeting in my seat. I cannot sugarcoat this, there are some hard scenes to get through, but not in a bad way.
The constant uneasiness of this film is exactly what the creators want you to feel. From the laugh that goes on a little too long, to the malnourished body of Arthur Fleck dancing in his bathroom mirror, you are meant to squirm. This, coupled with the unpredictable nature of the plot, created an unbelievable viewing experience.
To truly enjoy this movie, you need to disregard everything you think of when you hear ‘comic book movie.’ There are no heroes, no happy endings, there are no big CGI fight scenes that are now commonplace within the genre. It is a dark, gritty, grounded story about a man with a disease, that was frowned upon by society. It is uncomfortable, it is beautiful, it is a movie that you are going to want to see.