Some movie reviews

Greenland

Okay, COVID really robbed us of this one. This would have made for a dynamite big screen experience. This is the best disaster movie in years. The premise is that a comet is going to pass really close to earth, but it turns out that in fact this comet is actually going to strike the earth and essentially wipe out humanity. It's a grand scale premise, but the film keeps the focus small (the worldwide destruction is just stuff heard about on the radio). It's almost exclusively just following Gerard Butler as he races to get his family to safety. This movie has a few stumbles in its middle act, but it's really compelling, and genuinely suspenseful. I really appreciated how it took its premise seriously. There's no winking. This was like 2012 crossed with Deep Impact, with a little War of the Worlds mixed in. 

The Mauritanian

The story of a man held for years at Guantanamo Bay without charges. The story is compelling on its own. The telling is a bit dull. I actually dozed off at the movie a.couple times. The lead actor is really good. Jodie Foster won a Golden Globe for her showy supporting role. 

How To Build A Girl

I'm pretty much on board with anything Beanie Feldstein does. And she makes this movie a whole lot better than it would be without her. She plays a cheerful high school girl who becomes a rock critic. Then she becomes a snob, a la Mean Girls. I enjoyed how the movie rips music critics for being pretentious gatekeepers. There's an ok romance. But Beanie is just terrific and really elevates this thing. 

Chaos Walking

So this movie was shot 4 years ago then got delayed, then got reshoots, then COVID happened. Just a fucked up genesis. Too bad, cause this isn't bad. It has the feel of a YA movie for sure, but the director and cast give it more credibility. Tom Holland is good, Daisy Ridley is great. The big x-factor with this movie is the way it shows how on this planet mens thoughts are audible and visible to everyone, through a sort of wispy cgi cloud around their heads they call "the noise." I don't know if it could have been done better than it is here, but man it still gets old fast. 

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