Change Your Image
elyjahjackson
Reviews
Mid90s (2018)
Damn Near A Masterpiece.
An excellent first outing from Jonah hill, that truly captures the essence of the 90's. Let's start off with the performances. While it is immediately noticeable that most of these kids aren't actors, evident by Jonah stating that it was easier to turn skaters into actors, rather than actors into skaters, it doesn't necessarily detract from the film, but some performances are not consistent or as strong as others, Reuben (Gio Galicia) for example, but I can't fault them, for this being their first major acting role.
It's also easy to recognize, that there is no narrative structure to this film, it just seems to be the kids reacting to the events around them, especially with that abrupt ending that was absolutely awful. It does however have some excellent themes of growth, forgiveness and family. The honesty of this film is what captured me. Not aiming to shy away and not forcing these typical, tropes that you see in coming-of-age stories.
I cannot wait to see what Jonah does next.
The Short History of the Long Road (2019)
A wandering, wonderful mess of a film.
A story of growth and liberation, with some startling structure issues. Starting this off, Steven Ogg, Maggie Siff and Sabrina Carpenter, absolutely crush it. Danny Trejo lends himself quite well to this film as well, it's the more amateurish actors, that blemish the performances, but they're still quite serviceable. The film is shot well, with the long shots, during the van sequences, being absolutely captivating. The soundtrack, is a tad bit repetitive, but that final song during the ending sequence, is astounding.
With that being said, this movie suffers from some weird structure issues towards the 3rd and final act of the film, all in a messy attempt to get to the end. There's a sequence with a character, Marcie, where both her and Nola overreact to the situation, in an obvious attempt to get the film back on track, I guess? But it would have been nice to see Nola, attempt to grow while in this home, surrounded by people she could build a relationship with. But outside of that, it's a pretty enjoyable film, that I've watched on three occasions now and enjoy, with each new viewing.
Work It (2020)
You've seen it all before. A typical, Netflix, Teenage-Comedy/Drama with no substance.
Honestly, the only saving grace this film has is Sabrina Carpenter's performance. Outside of that, everything else falls flat. The comedy. The associaed performances from other actor(s)/actresses. The story. The structure of the narrative is sloppy, rushed and an absolute mess towards the 3rd act. And oh my goodness, the generic-ness of it all. We've seen this before.
"Attractive female lead who doesn't fit in."
"Assemble some sort of group to go against a rival group"
"Group has their own quirks and don't quite mesh well."
"Montage shows them improving and getting the routine down."
"Main character falls for attractive male lead."
"Uh-oh, something breaks them up as well as the team."
"Montage of lead character being down , focusing on other things."
"Lead meets back up with someone from the team, they joke, try to bring the others back together."
"They try to dance again, it's almost too late, but they manage to make it to the finals of some big competition."
"Big final number in 3rd act."
"Team wins or don't wins, lead has some big speech."
"Ending act of them going their separate ways."
This is honestly the most generic movie I've seen on Netflix, and it just seems like no one cared when making this film. Also, the editing and sound design was awful. Good for a mid-afternoon watch, can't watch it again. Sabrina Carpenter deserves better.