One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl... Three for a girl.

The Girl on the Train

6.7/10 on IMDb
44% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Proceed at your own risk
Watch it if you: Really want to see how they adapted the novel; Want to see steamy (literally) sex scenes with Hayley Bennett
Rachel catches the same train every day, sitting in the exact same seat in the exact same carriage. Her dull life of routine monotony is made bearable by her vivid imagination, as she creates fictional stories for the people living behind the houses that she passes by every day. Yet one day, something so out of the ordinary occurs to her favourite couple that it shocks her to her core. Later, she discovers that Megan, the wife in her idealised couple, has gone missing. As she alerts the police of what she saw on the train, the situation spirals out of control and Rachel starts to wonder if she herself can be trusted.

I saw this trailer earlier this year and was so excited for it to be the next Gone Girl that I went and read the book. It was a pretty decent read, since I read it in about 4 days, so I wanted to watch the movie. I knew the reviews were terrible, but I felt like I still needed to watch the movie anyway (even though I always end up hating book adaptations).

This is definitely not one of those films where the critics were wrong. This was a pretty bad movie, and I would not recommend it.

The movie felt really long, even though it was 1 hour and 52 minutes total. But honestly, I was sighing and shifting in my seat uncomfortably even 15 minutes into the film; it was just SO BORING. I started worrying about the rest of the film.

The interesting part starts about 30 minutes into the film, but it feels like an hour into the movie. So when you look at your watch you have to give an even greater sigh at the thought of still being here for the next 1.5 hours, even though the scene you just saw was pretty interesting.

The main issue with the film is that they were just trying to overdo it. And by 'it', I mean everything.

Firstly with the acting. The acting was great, don't get me wrong; Emily Blunt was really good. But sometimes... she just went too far. It's a testament to her acting ability, with the camera trained on her for really dramatic long takes, however I just don't think the director gave them good direction, because some of these long long long monologues felt repetitive, slow, and way too long.

All of the other actors were good actors too. I don't think performance was ever the issue, but directing and writing. The script was quite bad at times, but at least the actors did what they could with it. I was happy to see Anna being portrayed by Rebecca Ferguson (the badass woman in yellow in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation), although sometimes I really did not like the performance by Hayley Benett (from the Magnificent Seven; sometimes referred to by others as Poor Man's Jennifer Lawrence). I'm not sure if it was deliberately meant to be so unemotional, but I wanted to sleep or just hit fast forward every time she was talking. I seriously did not care for her character at all, even though I did care for her when reading the novel.

Secondly with the transitioning. I really did not like the way they handled this. The novel jumps from the present to the past (from 6 months ago and then leading up to present day) and it also jumps between characters (Rachel, Megan and Anna), and the movie tried to emulate this but it was not executed well enough. The novel is done in a diary format, so I guess the filmmakers thought it would be necessary to tell the audiences what time period we were in with each scene, but the fact that the film jumped A LOT and that they didn't transition it well enough meant that it was STILL confusing. Which just means they were being lazy at not integrating the time jumps that well.

Another thing is that at each transition, they would also put a title card with the character's name on it.

Do you know how stupid that is?!?!? This is not a book where the narrator is talking in first person and so won't reveal their name; this is a movie where we can clearly SEE who the scene is focusing on. So they would have TWO title cards, one with the character name and then one with the time period, and then a scene that was not really well integrated into the film. Why not just have one title card with just the time period?

In the end, this is NOT the Gone Girl I was expecting it to be; I am seriously disappointed. Emily Blunt is amazing, but her performance gets lost in super long scenes and a poorly directed movie that had some serious potential to be great.

~SPOILER~ about the characters and ending:

The movie makes Rachel out to be a batshit crazy woman, when, if you think about it, everyone is actually insane:
-Rachel: alcoholic, depressed, victim of domestic abuse (both physical and mental) without realising it
-Tom: murderer, physical and emotional abuser and manipulator, serial cheater, sex addict, has anger-management issues
-Anna: cheater (indirectly), insecure, dependent and submissive
-Megan: sex addict, serial cheater, depressed, struggling with previous trauma
-Scott: emotional abuser, has anger-management issues

Cirque du Soleil: KOOZÅ

Back in 2014, Cirque du Soleil's TOTEM came, and I loved it so much that I was very keen to watch KOOZÅ this year!

Unfortunately I think Totem was better, but if you are a fan of circuses and performances, then I would still definitely recommend this, because the acts are jaw-dropping.

I dug up my Totem tickets and they were $94, compared to the $145 tickets were paid for Koozå. Granted, they had concession prices back then, and the seats were in an awkward position where one of the pillars blocked a part of the stage, so I think in the end it turns out to be roughly similar pricing (maybe $10 more expensive this time around).

But since I'm working now and have more money to spend, I think the tickets were a decent price. We sat in row R, seat 12 and 13, which was facing the stage front on and while we were in the second last row, the tent is not like a huge stadium so we were still relatively close to the stage. In fact, I think we were closer to the stage than we were at the Aladdin Musical.

So while the pricing of the seats was okay, the downside to Koozå for me was that I really did not like the theme of it.

The theme of Totem was evolution, but this year, the theme of Koozå is the humble clown. I thought there would be more to do with clowns, since the whole point of the show was to make them centre stage rather than just side acts, but I still felt like they were just side acts that detracted from the magnificence of the main acts. There wasn't much storyline here, and the theme wasn't really tied together very well. On the other hand, Totem's theme of evolution went down to the set pieces and even the costuming, with costumes evolving into a newer period with every sequential act.

This clown is called The Innocent, and he gets sucked into a world of magic and awe through The Trickster, a powerful clown with great powers.


Favourite Acts
Double High Wire

These guys are crazy. There are two high wires, one on top of the other, and two men on each wire. They start off just running across, acting as if they are going to fall but not actually falling (of course). Then they start building up, hopping over each other on the wires, skipping rope across the wires, even sword fighting on their backs along the wire... then the crazy finale starts to happen.

They start off slowly, just cycling across the wire on their own, then it starts to get crazy when you see another person bringing out his bike. Oh no, you groan, wanting to cover your eyes but still being fixated on them. They whip out something to rest on their shoulders to keep them the same distance apart and to provide another beam for the third acrobat. He stands on the back cyclist's shoulders. Another groan. Then he walks out onto the beam. Someone places a chair on the wire, you picture him falling to his death even though there's a net at the bottom. He sits down, lifts up his legs, and the crowd cheers. Then he slowly climbs up on the chair and slowly, ever so slowly, stands up. He jumps back to safety on the beam between the two cyclists, the chair drops down to the net, and the crowd goes wild.

Wheel of Death

These guys are on a different level of crazy. The High Wire dudes were slow, calculated movements, but these Wheel of Death guys were fast-paced adrenaline with no time to catch your breath. The wheel rotates around but they can easily shift their balance to slow it down, speed it up, balance vertically, balance horizontally, etc.

Not only that, but they run on the outside of the circles, they jump right at the apex, so that they have to fall a greater distance before landing, they skip rope on these things... I could go on and on. It was all really fun and exciting.

Contortionists

I would not be surprised if an X-ray revealed that these ladies had no bones. They are so super flexible, just constantly bending over their legs and placing them in places they should not be, walking around on their arms while their legs are over horizontally over their heads... it's insane.

They first came out looking like a large box or package, and I was like, hmm that looks like there's two girls there or something... and then they all just unfolded to reveal three girls, and I heard other people in the audience gasp and mutter to themselves and their neighbours, "Three!"

Other Notable Acts
Chair Balancing Act

That's eight chairs that he's balancing on.


Dance of the Dead

Best costuming goes to this act here, although they didn't do much except dance to distract us while the Wheel of Death was being lowered.


Cirque Shop
Once again, I bought the program, which was $20. For $5 extra you can also get it with the CD of the soundtrack as well as this recycled bag. Since my mum is kind of a sucker for these things, she went and got that. She also got another recycled bag for $8, which I thought looked cooler anyway. They had lots of cool things, such as umbrellas, masks of death, etc.

My mum bought a tee for $40 I think, and she bought me a bag as well for $80 (it was supposed to be my "early birthday present").

The stuff is pricey, but they look like pretty good quality, and after all my mum bought it so I'm definitely not complaining!


In the end, this was an alright experience. I think I would only recommend it to people who are big fans of circuses and performances such as these, since it is pricey and ther eare better Cirque du Soleil shows out there.

Black Mirror

I don't think I've ever blogged about a TV show before, but I really wanted to blog about Black Mirror, a British anthology series with a theme centred around society and technology, and more importantly the dangers of it.

Season 3 is coming out on the 21st of October on Netflix, so I thought I would do a short snippet and rank the previous episodes (except I haven't seen the special episode White Christmas yet but I heard good things about it).

I really love this show, and I would highly recommend it! In fact, it is the sole reason I am contemplating getting Netflix after exams.

Because it's an anthology series, you can watch it in any order, but I would recommend watching The National Anthem first, as it's a good pilot and introduction into the series. Then you can just watch the good episodes (see below, where I rank them in my order of preference).

So, without further ado...

The National Anthem (Season 1, Episode 1)

8.1/10 on IMDb
A on AV Club
Princess Susannah, a Diana-esque beloved Royal member, has been kidnapped, but there is no ransom fee. Instead, the terrorist asks for one simple request: the Prime Minister must have sex with a pig. Oh, and the ordeal is to be broadcasted live on national television.

What a fun and interesting introduction to this series. The reason I think it should be watched first is not because it's the best, but because it's the only episode that could actually take place tomorrow, whereas all the other episodes are quite futuristic and almost seem to be in alternate universes. This is pretty grounded in reality; the characters seem real, their logic and rationality seems real, and these are things that could actually happen (and maybe they have; who knows).


The Rest, from Best to Worst:

Be Right Back (Season 2, Episode 1)

8.2/10 on IMDb
A- on AV Club
Martha's husband Ash dies in a car accident the day after they move into a cottage house. Devastated by this loss, she decides to try out a new service that allows people to communicate with their deceased beloveds, which works through analysing online videos and communications written, spoken and recorded by the deceased. She quickly starts to rely on it, but soon discovers that it's not completely able to fill the void which her husband has left.

I really loved this episode. Domhnall Gleeson (Harry Potter, About Time, Ex-Machina, and a whole heap more) was fantastic as a creepy artificial intelligence that could turn on or off 'his' emotions, while Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter from the Marvel Cinematic Universe) gave a fantastic performance as the grieving widow who is begrudgingly using this service. The writing and the premise of this episode is very very intriguing, and it has some pretty great themes in it too, meaning it will be hard to stop watching.


The Entire History of You (Season 1, Episode 3)

8.6/10 on IMDb
A- on AV Club
In the not-so-distant future, humans can record every single thing they see and hear, resulting in reliable memories that can be rewinded, played over and over for your enjoyment or analysis, and even just to remember a person's name. Yet while it's definitely convenient, is it actually good for us?

I love the concept of this; I've always thought about how cool it would be to be able to take photos with my eyes, or record sightseeing adventures, or even replay conversations in order to win arguments over who said what. But this episode was a great reminder that technology may not always be a good thing. I think it related to me a lot because I have a tendency to obsess over all my mistakes and all my flaws, and I realised that if I had this technology, I would never be happy.

Robert Downey Jr. also appears to love the episode, and he has bought the rights to make it into a film some time.

The only thing I disliked about this is the ending. Without giving away any spoilers I think the ending kind of detracts from the ultimate lesson.

But what I thought was a really great idea (and a really sad one at that) was the couple having sex while replaying the past memories of a great sexual experience. That was pretty heartbreaking.

White Bear (Season 2, Episode 2)

8.3/10 on IMDb
B+ on AV Club
Elizabeth awakes with no memory of the events that led her here, and with no recollection of who she is. She soon becomes targeted and chased, yet no one seems to be helping her. Instead, they watch and even film her distress. She soon discovers that a transmission has turned everyone into technologically-submissive zombies. She, being immune, is being hunted. She attempts to switch off the transmission, but soon finds out that it's not as straightforward as she thought.

This was really intriguing at the start, and at the end it becomes a heartbreaking story. I won't say much since the ending is quite unexpected, but it makes you understand society's values, while still being disgusted by them.


Fifteen Million Merits (Season 1, Episode 2)

8.3/10 on IMDb
A on AV Club
A slave-like economy exists where people cycle on bikes to power the city, with merits being rewarded for every revolution you cycle. These merits can be used to purchase food, toothpaste, and... that's pretty much it. But if you save up your merits, you may be able to buy your freedom in the form of a talent show entrance.

This is a really sad depiction of a dystopian future, and it's presented really well. It's a bit longer, at just over 60 minutes, but it does really well to show us the monotony of the slaves' lives. I found this concept really interesting and unique, and I loved the ending, which is pretty clever, despite leaving you with a sense of hopelessness.


The Waldo Moment (Season 2, Episode 3)

7.1/10 on IMDb
C+ on AV Club
Jamie is a comedian who provides the voice of Waldo, a satirical cartoon character who starts off mocking politicians. It starts off as innocent fun, however as Waldo gains more and more success with audiences, higher-ups decide that Waldo should run for the election himself, and it all starts to get a bit too over-the-top for Jamie.

The other episodes are a bit tough to arrange in order of preference, but this one was easy. I didn't really like this episode at all, and I wouldn't recommend it (even if Waldo is actually Donald Trump). It all felt too unrealistic, even though it's one of the most realistic episodes of the entire TV show (bar The National Anthem). The writing was bad, the pacing was bad, the ending was bad, just everything was bad. Don't watch it.

You're not going to die. Trust me.

Deepwater Horizon (2016)

7.6/10 on IMDb
83% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's Thoughts: Signed, sealed and recommended by Chloe; Watch it in cinemas
Watch it if you: Want to watch an intense and clever build up of a disaster based on a true story; Want to see a slightly better Lone Survivor
Apart from having a really cool name, Deepwater Horizon was an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico that turned into a disaster site in 2010 when it exploded, resulting in the largest ever US oil spill.

Firstly, for some reason when I first saw the trailer, I thought it was Matt Damon starring in this, and since I only watched the trailer once, I only realised in the opening scene when Mark Wahlberg's face showed up that I am still getting the two of them mixed up.

Another great revelation was that, back in 2010, when I heard about this huge BP oil spill, I had no idea that it was a result of a fire on an oil rig, let alone a huge and intense explosion. For some reason I just heard that it was literally an oil spill by a ship. It's great that now, through this film, we can actually be more aware of what exactly happened, what the survivors went through, and how many people died as a result. Now we know that it was more than just an oil spill... it was a really huge disaster.

This film was a pretty great look at the disaster. The thing that made it great was that it wasn't just a disaster film, it did a really great job at building up to the disaster and focusing on the actual characters. It also did a great way of explaining to us laymen all the technical stuff so that we could still know what was happening.

How to replicate an oilrig explosion with a can of coke
Now the actual disaster doesn't actually start until one hour into the movie, so the first half may feel a bit slow, but it's all relevant as it builds up the tension, explains all the relevant details, explores the characters, and this leaves the film feeling grounded in reality.

Once the disaster starts, though, it is non-strop crazy edge-of-your seat stuff as you see the entirety of the disaster. Because the first half has made you care for the characters, you end up being just so focused on what is happening and rooting for the characters to get out.

The characters that they specifically focus on are portrayed through Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, and Gina Rodriguez, and all these actors did great. I was particularly surprised with Gina Rodriguez, since I haven't seen any of her stuff before, but she looks like someone to watch out for. Even the minor characters did well, and I was surprised to see Dylan O'Brien here (the main actor in The Maze Runner series).

However, there needs to be a notable mention on John Malkovich, the corporate BP villain. Man oh man was he so slimy and creepy, he did so well at making me absolutely despise him. There is a particular scene with Malkovich and Russell and not a word was spoken but there was so much emotion in it, it was done so well.

Speaking of which, I was so shocked at the film directly pointing the blame at BP. You see the bright BP logo on the shirts, you constantly hear the oilrig workers bitching about BP... they weren't afraid to call these people out, which I respect. It was good to have a look into the people who caused this to happen; corporate scumbags who just care about the dollars in their pockets, without thinking about the actual lives of those who dig up those dollars for them (although in real life it wasn't as simple as that; there was a lot of blame to go around between the major companies involved: BP, Transocean and Halliburton).

So in the end it was quite similar to Lone Survivor (2013), which was also directed by Peter Berg, and which was also based on a true story.

I think Berg did a great job here, possibly better than Lone Survivor although I haven't seen it in a while.

From when the disaster starts, there was a nagging build up behind my eyes, but nothing great (or sad) enough to send tears rolling down my cheeks, however, towards the end, Gina Rodriguez gives a fantastic performance that made me start tearing up, and right at the end, Mark Wahlberg sent me weeping. And it wasn't just me; I could hear people blowing their noses in the rows behind me, tissue packs rustling, noses sniffling, heavy breathing... it was very intense and extremely emotional.

I would recommend it, and I think it might get a few Oscar nominations. A few people seem to think it would get nominated for the technical aspects of it, such as editing and sound, but I don't know enough to comment about that. I do think that it's a great drama film, and I'm very glad it wasn't just a typical disaster movie like I was expecting it to be.

A pelican covered in oil from the spill

A few side notes:

An oil rig was built just for filming... talk about dedication

Did anyone know that Kurt Russell is Kate Hudson's step-father?!

Ironically, BP officials actually did give the crew a safety award on the very day of the explosion

Some of their accents makes it hard to hear what they're saying, especially with all the loud machinery going on and me not being used to Southern accents

An actual photo of the second explosion which caused the rig to sink

L'Agonia

So a few hours ago I came across this writing prompt on Reddit and decided to write a response to it (you can see my response there, my username is ode_to_writing which I literally just created to post this up).

“Death calls in sick and you're chosen as his temp.”

----------
I hung up the phone. I couldn’t believe my luck. For decades have I worked in this job, and I was finally getting a promotion. It was only for a week, but it was a promotion nonetheless.

I grabbed my coat and raced to the elevators. From the red sign glowed a big “O”; the elevator was right at the top. I pressed the up button and the sign slowly changed to “REAP”, then “SOW”, then “PLAGUE”. The elevator dinged and I quickly jumped in, frantically spamming the “O” button. I was extremely nervous; my fingers were shaking so hard you’d think that I’d be one of the victims of those working on the “ACHE” level just beneath.

Despite this, I was surprisingly still pretty calm, given the situation. I had never met The Omni before, and that phone call was the first time I had even spoken to him. Apparently one of the guys on the Reaping level caught something from a victim he was meant to harvest. The victim had contracted The Agonia, our most recent and most successful plague since the Bubonic, and the Reaper had not followed infectious protocol. Agonia plagued its victims for seven days before signalling for harvest, so the Reaper would be out for a week before he could get back to working functionality. Of course, being a Reaper, he was contracted to be immune from Death so long as he was employed, but that wouldn’t stop him from feeling the full effects of the plague. Besides, even when we employees would die, we were contracted to die peaceful and painless deaths.

Agonia was my pride and joy. It was the first time I headed a full on Pandemic project, and while I was confident in my capabilities, I was still so surprised at how successful it was, wiping out 0.9% of the population.

I had started off in this company working in the Aches division, working directly under Parkinson and Alzheimer themselves. That was a true blessing and honour, and from then I knew that this company was my calling. I had always dreamed of working on the reaping floor, and now I can finally live these dreams out.

The elevator dinged again as the doors slid open. I had hardly any time to even attempt to fathom the fact that I was standing in the presence of the Omni at the very top of the floor, when a bright and white light temporarily blinded me. The sheer brightness of the room rendered my limbs useless and I fell to the floor.

All I could do was tense every muscle in my body as The Omni spoke to me. His voice sounded as if it came from right next to my ear, but I couldn’t actually feel him next to me. All he said to me was, “Well, I told you what you needed to know on the phone, but the reason I wanted to call you up here to my office was because I’m very proud of the work you’ve been doing. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you. I saw you when you first started as a youngling doing the Aches, and I saw you when you moved up to the Plagues, first doling them out to the victims, then actually helping with creating them. Now that your work on The Agonia has been so successful, I thought I would reward you with what your heart truly desired. The Reaper that fell sick did so because of your little Agonia, after all, and since the plague was so successful and we are now so short on reapers, I thought you were the perfect person to call up. If you do well this week, you might be looking at a permanent position on the Reaping floor. One of the senior Reapers is waiting for you now to teach you all you need to know. Just be careful: you of all people don’t want to catch the plague yourself.”

And with that, the elevator doors closed, and automatically started moving down. I opened my eyes; the bright light was gone. I lay still on the elevator floor, trying to absorb the craziness of what I had just experienced. I was in the midst of replaying it in my head when the elevator doors opened again. A senior Reaper stood before me, and he welcomed me in.

The process of harvesting was pretty simple, as he explained. I was starting off in one of the easiest sectors of the Reaping division, Maladies, and didn’t have to deal with any complexities, such as the Reapers who dealt with Accidents, Homicides, or Suicides. Since I was one of the heads in the Plagues division, not much of the Maladies protocol was new to me, but I had to make sure that my contamination suit was properly worn. As The Omni said, I of all people would not want to fall victim to The Agonia.

I started to put on the suit. I wasn’t used to it, and it took some time to figure it all out. Back when I doled out the aches and the plagues, I never had to wear a contamination suit since we would generally only deal with healthy people. It was only ever the Reapers who would have to deal with the plagued.

I first put on a black spandex suit that covered my entire body up to my jawline. Next were my black goggles, followed by my mask. It was a large, white mask that covered the entirety of my face. The top half was slightly rounded to allow room for the goggles, while the bottom half extended straight down to a little past my chin. It looked like a large skull.

On went some black socks and black gloves, and above all this I needed one last layer: the contaminations robe. The guy I was replacing must have been taller and heavier built than me, because his robe draped over me quite loosely. I grabbed the scythe that would allow me to hook onto the victims’ souls, and I pulled the black hood over my head.

Staring into the mirror, I couldn’t help but think:

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
-J. Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the Bhagavad Gita

I seek righteousness. But I'll take revenge.

The Magnificent Seven (2016)

7.2/10 on IMDb
63% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Signed, sealed and recommended by Chloe; Watch it in cinemas; Low-energy entertainment
Watch it if you: Want a fun action movie with cowboy shootouts, dynamite explosions, and the like; Like any of the cast members; Are a fan of other Antoine Fuqua films

The Magnificent Seven is a remake of the 1960 Western of the same name, which is in itself a remake of the film Seven Samurai (1954). I haven't seen either of these two, so I can't really comment on how the film holds up against them, but I actually had a really fun time with this (and brace yourselves, the word 'fun' will be used a lot in this blog).

In 1879, Bartholomew Bogue sieges a small town, making it very clear that he now runs this town, and the locals suffer under his rule. One lady, Emma Cullen, whose husband was murdered by Bogue, comes across "a duly-sworn warrant officer and licenced peace officer" Sam Chisolm, and hires him to take down Bogue. Chisolm in turn recruits six others to help him in this road of vengeance.

I was pretty excited for this film and it really did turn out to be a fun and exciting Western, and thank goodness the great cast wasn't a let down.

Denzel Washington as Sam Chisolm is pretty great in this. I don't really like him as an actor since it always feels like he is the same person in every single one of his movies, but I can really appreciate his dominating presence here.

Chris Pratt was also pretty great in this, but I felt like he too was, at times, just too much like normal Chris Pratt. It's not a bad thing, since he's super charismatic and fun, but it felt a bit awkward in this periodic Western setting.

But I think the stand out in this film was Peter Sarsgaard, who was fantastic as the villainous Bogue. This guy is just so creepy and intense, it was great. Was it a bit weird and over-the-top? Maybe, but hey, so is the rest of the film, so it actually fits quite well in the context of it all.

The rest of the cast were great too, but their characters majorly lacked development, particularly Ethan Hawke's character, Goodnight Robicheaux (and how cool of a name is that, seriously). I think he did really well with the lack of development, since we could see his story just through his acting alone, but it would have been great if they could focus a bit more on him.

Another major downside with the characters is that they seemed very unrealistically motivated. Obviously, as I said, this whole film is a bit over-the-top, and it's not like I'm looking for much realism and plot in a Western, but some of these characters gave absolutely no reason for wanting to join in the fight. And by some, I really mean everyone except Emma Cullen and Sam Chisolm. Actually, maybe Goodnight had a good reason too, but as I said, they didn't focus on his character all that much.

Having said that though, I didn't expect much out of this film except a FUN movie, and it certainly delivers there. It's not trying to be something it isn't; it's not trying to have a fantastic and unique plot, poignant character arcs, etc., but it's just trying to be a fun Western movie, and it was. Major props to Antoine Fuqua, the director for being able to balance fun action and great directing too (and I must admit I haven't seen Training Day but I have seen some of his most recent films).

The actual Western aspect of this film was pretty fun to explore, since the last true Western we got was some time ago (I can't remember any other ones after Django Unchained in 2012, and I don't think The Hateful Eight counts). The cinematography and camera work was pretty great; you get good scenery, good set pieces, and lots of nice and fun action sequences that weren't confusing to watch (looking at you, shaky cam from the Bourne series).

I think Fuqua did really well in building up to the finale; we get the context at the start, then the recruitment phase, then a little standoff and shootout to wet our tastebuds, then the preparation phase, then the finale. And I think it was a great build up, and even along the way there was some intense Western stare-offs happening, which felt awesome.

After the finale though, things kind of wrap up too quickly and the ending isn't as "magnificent" as it wants to be.

All in all, it was a fun and visually-exciting movie. The great cast, fantastic action sequences and even great cinematography all makes this a fun Western.

A few side notes:

Running count of the word 'fun' (excluding this one): 11

Hayley Bennett really looks like Jennifer Lawrence in some of these scenes

Why is Vincent D'Onofrio's voice so weirdly high-pitched?

Prepare to be Unsettled

Movie season is coming up soon so I better get to all these reviews that are sitting in my drafts! I'm getting sick of the 'Five Dotpoints' setting, so I guess I'll just do small paragraphs on each of these films.

American Psycho (2000)

7.6/10 on IMDb
67% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: It's alright
Watch it if you: Like Christian Bale; Want to see a messed up film with dark humour; Want to be very creeped out
I've seen the memes, I've seen the gifs, and now I've decided to watch this movie. I can see why this is a cult classic, and I can also see why it's a very divisive film.

This black comedy revolves around Patrick Bateman, an investment banker who doesn't seem to actually do much work, and yet is very wealthy. As a result, he lives a life of luxury, where skin care is more a privilege than a routine obligation, where your own friends are so absorbed in their own self-worth that they have difficulty telling you apart from the next handsomely-suited banker, and where the most stressful part of work is making sure your business card is better than your colleagues'. But then, what happens when your levels of insanity don't quite match the well-off and kept-together image you portray? Well, you become an American Psycho.

Let's just say, this film is really messed up. I mean, the main character has some weird hunger for murder that needs to be satiated quite regularly. That in itself is probably a strong contender for why many do not really like this film. I myself didn't really like it (I mean, it was okay, but I won't watch it anytime soon), but I actually found the plot pretty interesting. In fact, I think the main issues I had were some pacing issues, as the film feels like it drags on for a bit. Also, the last act of the film was really messed up and confused me to no end. I get that it was meant to be confusing, but I don't know... it just didn't sit right with me. I did read up on some stuff, though, and I think that the directors didn't execute their intended ending well enough, hence the confusion (in fact they even said it's not meant to be as confusing as it is, so it's probably their fault for making it so).

So in the end, it's an okay movie with an interesting plot that kind of goes downhill at the end. Though I think what makes this film so memorable to people is the cast. Christian Bale is amazing in this, but I also didn't realise that there were other great actors, such as Willem Dafoe, Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, etc. The story's messed up and maniacal plotline allows for some really interesting themes to explore, but its nature means it's not for everyone.


Donnie Darko (2001)

8.1/10 on IMDb
85% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: It's alright
Watch it if you: Like weird time travel stories; Want some psychological horror to spruce up your nighttime
I watched this just a few days prior to watching American Psycho, and I'm not too sure if that was a good idea. I think I was still recovering from this film, and then I was plunged into the manic depths of American Psycho!

This is a really weird movie to sum up, but I'll try. Our protagonist Donnie Darko is a bit of a troubled child. I won't say much more other than: he kind of hallucinates. There's also a bit of time travel (sort of not really?). Things get messed up.

But honestly, what a confusing movie. Seriously... this film made even less sense than American Psycho. I love me a good time travel film (one of my favourite sci-fi topics to explore), and I love figuring out the fun stuff with paradoxes, and new time lines, and all that, but this is unsolveable. The film has a lot of elements put into it that I'm not too sure even has anything to do with the time travel, which makes it even more bizarre than if they were indeed related.

The cast was pretty good in this film though, with Jake Gyllenhaal giving a great creepy performance (also go watch him in Nightcrawler (2014); he is fantastic with eerie characters), Jena Malone being adorable here, and Drew Barrymore and Maggie Gyllenhaal also being pleasant familiars.

I honestly don't know what else to say, except go watch it so you can tell me WHAT ON EARTH WAS GOING ON.


Under the Skin (2013)

6.3/10 on IMDb
85% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Signed, sealed and recommended by Chloe
Watch it if you: Want to see a very original and creative take on humanity; Want to see a refreshing and original visual way of storytelling
Seems like this blog's theme is all about being creeped out. But at least with this film you may get a little turned on while getting creeped out?

Taking place in Scotland, an alien woman seduces men (she literally drives around a van and asks them to get in), and weird stuff happens.

This is not a film for everyone, but I actually quite liked it. It was very unique, and I think that made it quite refreshing.

Of course, it's still EXTREMELY unsettling, but the story has some great deeper themes on humanity. There's very little dialogue (and most of the dialogue that's in this film is actually natural dialogue Scarlett Johansson had with random strangers on the street who didn't know they were being filmed), and yet the plot, the acting, the editing, and the music are all able to tell a beautiful story about what it means to be a human, what it means to be lonely, lost, scared, internally conflicted, and I guess more importantly, what it means to grow. Honestly, her character arc was portrayed amazingly for a film with such lack of dialogue.

The movie has moments where it feels like it's dragging out, but I think this just adds to the feeling of unsettlement, and the soundtrack keeps you suspended, almost as if you were a victim yourself, being entranced by this beautiful alien.

The film also switches very quickly and suddenly from being extremely, extremely realistic, to very very figurative and abstract. This is quite a jarring experience, but at the same time it's absolutely fantastic, and I think it was well worth the gamble.

In the end I do recommend this film, but just note that it is not for everyone, it's a very artsy, indie sort of film, that's focused on philosophical themes more than anything else, so don't say I didn't warn you.