Decided to start a new series called “What I’ve been watching”. The title explains itself. Let’s get started. Spoilers ahead.
First, I rewatched Jackie on April 30. After all the competition craziness and other homework bugging me, I can finally sit back and watch some quality stuff. Kicked things off with Jackie. Fun fact, I went to the premiere of this film. Won the tickets. But I was 12 back then and I didn’t appreciate "cinema" at that level, plus the film started at 9:50pm so I kind of slept for half of the film in the theatre. Yes, I am deeply ashamed. But I watched it again on Netflix, and even though it is slow-paced and the story is… JFK assassination, wow Natalie Portman poured her heart out in this role. Emma Stone won her Oscar for La La Land, and well Portman had her Oscar moment already but I would say that she also deserved it. Plus La La Land could be overrated sometimes. I researched on the Kennedy family right after the film. We do that every time right. I mean I did that already but I did it again. Oops. (Also JFK Jr damn.) The film is pretty okay, kudos to Natalie Portman.
Next, I watched Too Hot to Handle. I hate it so much maybe I kind of liked it. No actually I still hate it. Like all those people in the show is so dumb, especially Harry and Francesca. But I understand that reality tv is not always presenting the reality, these people are just portraying a certain character for us to judge. When I watch Francesca’s interviews on YouTube, she is actually not that bad. But I hate her very much in the show. I like Matthew/Jesus I rooted for him, but he is so dumb. Same goes with other people. I like David too. Chloe too. They deserved better. I think I donated some brain cells to these people after watching the show.
Then, I watched the new Netflix show Hollywood. What can I say? It’s Ryan Murphy. My thoughts on Ryan Murphy’s TV shows is that they are very inconsistent. Not only is the quality not constant, but the tone, the plot and each episode are also inconsistent. The first 3 episodes of Hollywood are like just prostitution and ooh struggle. Like that could’ve been just for 1 episode but no. 4-7 was pretty good, it is like a what-if-Hollywood-was-not-racist-or-sexist scenario. But for real though, it was all like a fairytale. If Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood is Tarantino’s love letter to ‘60s Hollywood, then Hollywood is Murphy’s fan fiction to the post-war era. I mean, it is not bad, but it is not great. Still better than the Politician though, I did not like that.
After that, I watched Gone Girl. Finished the book so had to watch it. Ben Affleck is so annoying. But the film is probably as good as the book. It is on two levels it is hard to compare but, this story is great. Like I understand where Amy is coming from, but at the same time, she is a psychopath. If she has been putting up with it since she’s a child, why go gone girl now? I think to some extent she had the responsibility to know what she wants and accept what she got. Nick Dunne is an asshole, but men have been assholes since the dawn of time. If you portrayed the ‘cool girl’ image to your asshole husband for 5 years, and now you decide to ruin his life, well it doesn’t really make any sense. In the end, they reunited as their old, boring, fake portrayal of a perfect couple, and it is a sad ending. Can’t say I love it but Gone Girl is good. Also, cool-girl monologue, right?
Finally, I watched Ex Machina. I have a competition coming up, and this time it is about AI. So perfect “research” time. Simple story, very well executed. Like I like the film and the stylistic choices. I guess that is what we expected for Black Mirror season 4 and 5. It is kind of sad though. Stan Oscar Issac.
That’s it. That’s what I’ve been watching recently.