Adagat Blog – Page 4

Live Review – Blockers

Posted on December 17, 2018December 17, 2018 by Adam

Blockers Live Review(Beginning 50 minutes in) These were my thoughts while watching Blockers. I just watched a string of very serious movies. I felt like I needed to watch a movie that I might not necessarily love, in an entirely different genre and style. To kind of recalibrate my movie-watching senses. Balance the critical scales, if you will. A comedy like Blocker...

Review – Roma

Posted on December 16, 2018December 17, 2018 by Adam

I tend to think a lot about what I think about movies. Or of music, or TV, or books. I have this impulse to categorize my enjoyment of a piece of art. To compare it to other things I have seen, and rate and rank it alongside other similar pieces of art. This can often be very enjoyable. It forces me to evaluate what I find important. But sometimes there’s a problem with th...

Review – Y Tu Mama También

Posted on December 13, 2018December 17, 2018 by Adam

There was this trend in a lot of indie movies from the early 2000’s, particularly international films. A narrator would break the action to describe very specific details about insignificant side characters. Short little synopses of their lives, their joys and their misfortunes. And then we never see or hear about that character again. It can feel unnecessary at first, bec...

Review – Beautiful Boy

Posted on December 11, 2018December 11, 2018 by Adam

Addiction stories sometimes feel the same. There's often the same course of events, the same ups and downs. The same results. It doesn’t usually end well in real life. But we hear about some of the ones that do end well. Or do we? I think the problem with some movies about addiction is that we are often given a false sense of finality. We’re given the story - the hear...

Micro Review – Minding the Gap

Posted on December 10, 2018December 11, 2018 by Adam

An inspiring and devastating documentary following a group of skater friends struggling to find a path from childhood to adulthood in a dying midwestern town. Devastating in the harsh realities these real life characters must confront about their difficult pasts. Inspiring in the sheer talent and vision of filmmaker Bing Liu, who has a remarkable ability to capture stories...

Micro Review – Support the Girls

Posted on December 10, 2018December 11, 2018 by Adam

Regina Hall stands out in this low-fi workplace dramady. And there are good contributions from Haley Lu Richardson and Junglepussy too (yes, that's the name she goes by - her real name is Shayna McHale). It's a decent movie, funny at times, and it has an intriguing underlying commentary on gender roles and workplace politics. It's got something to say about a very American...

Micro Review – Tully

Posted on December 9, 2018December 11, 2018 by Adam

I don't know if I've seen a movie that so accurately captures the insanity of parenthood like Tully does. I found myself laughing at non-funny moments in this film, purely because of the realism (and ridiculousness) of it all. Charlize Theron and Mackenzie Davis are both great. If I wasn't a parent, I'd probably think they overdid things a bit. It's pretty harrowing at tim...

Micro Review – Searching

Posted on December 7, 2018December 11, 2018 by Adam

I didn't expect Searching to be as emotionally resonant as it turned out to be. To be honest, it seemed like it would be a shallow, corny genre thriller that relied heavily on a unique storytelling device (the entire film happens on screens). But the characters are surprisingly well developed. And the plot, while sometimes a bit far-fetched, is still frighteningl...

Micro Review – Unsane

Posted on December 2, 2018December 4, 2018 by Adam

It’s difficult to express my thoughts on Unsane without spoiling it...But I'll take a shot. Soderbergh is a master filmmaker, capable of making whatever type of movie he wants. And he’s at the point now in his career where he’s just doing what stimulates him creatively. As you’re watching Unsane, it’s easy to forget that this movie was shot completely on iPhones. That was ...

Micro Review – The Death of Stalin

Posted on December 1, 2018December 4, 2018 by Adam

A delightfully dark comedy about the power struggle following Joseph Stalin's death. It's such a strange, heavy subject for a comedy. But with such fine, hilarious performances from a not-quite all-star cast, and with a sharp script, this somehow works. Steve Buscemi is particularly (and surprisingly) effective as Khruschev, and Simon Russell Beale is great as the duplicito...