A Real Pain
Directed by Jesse Eisenberg, I was so very pleasantly surprised at the emotional depth and honesty of this dramedy about two cousins, Benji (Kieran Culkin) and David (Eisenberg), who go on a Jewish heritage tour of Poland to honor their recently deceased grandmother's life.
David is the dorky, anxious guy who always gets to the airport early and likes to go to bed early. He is also married with a cute kid. Benji is the charming, laid back one who is also emotionally chaotic. Watching A Real Pain, I was struck with how I related to both David and Benji in terms of my...less than desirable qualities. I'm anxious and routine-oriented like David, but also charming-in-a-sometimes-mean-or-blunt-way like Benji. My self-reflection while watching this movie was especially potent given that I just got back from traveling and I, like many others, see some of my worst qualities emerge when I travel. It was interesting watching two characters do annoying things that I see in myself, while also seeing them forgive each other for those annoying things. I felt both self-aware, and self-forgiving.
And A Real Pain, which is a play on words (Benji and David are both "a real pain" and are feeling very, very real pain), is the perfect movie to feel your feelings during. The nature of the tour, which involves a trip to a concentration camp, but also personal shit happening in Benji and David's lives, bring out the emotions in the two men. Eisenberg, in particular, gives a deeply emotional performance where you hear the catch in his throat as he describes his love for his cousin and also his anger and bone-deep fear about his cousin's choices.
I won't say more--just watch it. It's a short (90 minutes) film filled with bittersweet, melancholic feelings. It's also really funny! Culkin and Eisenberg are excellent, as are the supporting actors. A Real Pain is one of the most emotionally honest films I've seen in a while.
Grade: A
***
Sleep
This Korean psychological thriller, written and directed by Jason Yu, follows a couple who are about to become parents. Mom-to-be Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi) is kicking ass in a corporate office and her husband, the lovable Hyeon-soo (Lee Sun-kyun), is an actor aiming to get bigger and better roles.
Everything seems hunky dory...until Hyeon-soo begins sleep-walking. It starts off innocently enough, with him sitting up in bed and talking in his sleep, but soon he is eating raw meat directly out of the fridge and nearly throwing himself out of a window. And it only gets more sinister from there.
Soo-jin is, understandably, terrified. With the help of a doctor, the couple work to make their apartment sleepwalk-proof (pads on the sharp table ends) and their lifestyles more conducive to healthy slumber (no more alcohol). But Hyeon-soo continues to sleepwalk--and get more and more aggressive--after the baby arrives. Soo-jin becomes convinced that there is something supernatural at play.
Sleep holds its cards close to its chest, giving us evidence that the sleepwalking is more than just a natural occurrence, but also pointing out how ridiculous a supernatural explanation is. The film also shows how night after night of interrupted sleep can eventually drive anyone, especially a new mom, crazy.
Sleep is a fun, thrilling horror movie with a decent amount of comedy thrown in for good measure. Fans of horror will likely enjoy it.
Grade: B
***
Band of Brothers
I heard nothing but raves about this 2001 HBO series which follows the true story of Easy Company, a Parachute Infantry Regiment during WWII. Bookended by interviews with still-living members of the Company, Band of Brothers shows how these man had to essentially become "brothers" in order to survive the war. They had to trust and rely on one another and especially rely on their leaders, some of whom were pretty incompetent.
There is a lot going on in this series, and what kept it from being an "A" rating for me was, as dumb as it sounds, too many combat sequences. Yeah, duh, it's a series about the frontlines of WWII...but action has never been my thing and I really don't need 20 minutes of bullets to get the point. It's also very difficult to tell the men apart, especially during the combat sequences.
The scenes that were meaningful for me were ones were the men are just hanging out and shooting the shit, whether in the trenches or in the safety of their bunks. These are the scenes where to get to know these guys so that when the combat does start, you can see how their personality traits come into play during warfare.
I have a soft spot for WWII media (although I'm more interested in the daily lives of those on the home front than those in battle), so I enjoyed Band of Brothers quite a bit. It's not an "A" series for me, but I can see how it would be for many, many viewers and it's definitely worth the watch.
Grade: B+
***
Smile and Smile 2
I first saw Parker Finn's unrelenting horror film Smile in 2022 and did not care for it (here's my review). In particular, I was pissed about the ending. Also, it's just a really feel-bad movie. And it's weird because I don't mind feel-bad movies, but for some reason Smile didn't do it for me at the time.
However, I rewatched it recently, along with its sequel, Smile 2, and I have to say that going into these movies knowing what they're like makes them way more enjoyable. They are movies that feel very aggressive to me, and very scary. They both have a ton of jump scares and you feel tension throughout the entire movie. Like the main characters, Rose (Sosie Bacon) in Smile and Skye (Naomi Scott) in Smile 2, you feel like you are slowly going crazy while watching these movies.
I particularly remember a scene from Smile where Rose, the victim of a curse that makes her see terrifying smiles everywhere, attends her nephew's birthday party and extremely upsetting things happen at the party that lead to her scream-crying in front of a gaggle of shocked partygoers. I found this scene unbearably cruel and melodramatic when I first saw it...but on a second watch I kind of like it. Both movies are about trauma (and mental illness and addiction) and how people basically get mad at other people for being "overly emotional" and avoid them, isolating them when those people need help the most. When Rose has her breakdown at the party, she is not treated as someone who needs help and care, but as a terrible person who ruined a party. There is a dark, sad truth about this that I now appreciate.
In Smile 2, Skye Riley (Scott) is a pop singer on tour after recovering from a car crash that killed her boyfriend (played by Ray Nicholson, son of Jack...and they look and act so much alike) and a subsequent addiction to painkillers. She is not well, but is pressured to perform by her stage mother, Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt). When Skye begins to unravel (due to the curse, of course), she is not told to rest and cancel all her public engagements, she is pushed harder and harder until she breaks...and then she is blamed for her very public breakdown.
So, I am changing my opinion about the first Smile and giving it a B+ (instead of the C+ I gave it originally) and I am giving the same grade to its sequel. Yes, these movies are incredibly intense (and genuinely scary), but they have an honesty about the way we treat victims of trauma that I find very compelling.
Grade: B+
***
Juror #2
Say what you will about Clint Eastwood, but the guy is still cranking out decent movies at age 94, which is a remarkable feat. Juror #2 is a solid courthouse thriller about a man, Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult), who finds himself serving on the a jury for a murder trial...and he has information that would blow the case wide open.
I feel like there are some plot holes in the movie that keep it from hitting as hard as it could, and the ending feels a little undercooked, but overall it's an entertaining legal thriller for a nice evening at home. Nicholas Hoult is good in everything, and he does well here as a man struggling with his conscience. If he reveals the information he knows, it will impact his life in a negative way. But if he holds his tongue an innocent (maybe?) man will go to prison. It definitely made me reflect on what I would do in a similar situation and there are no easy answers.
Grade: B
***
It's What's Inside
This mind-bending comedy-thriller directed by Greg Jardin practically requires note-taking in order to follow the plot. Whether that's a good or bad thing, I'm still not sure.
A group of college friends reunite for a pre-wedding party for Reuben (Devon Terrell). Surprisingly, Forbes (David Thompson) also shows up. Forbes is a weird dude who got expelled from university after bringing his sister, Beatrice (still in high school at the time), to a party, which lead to her getting in a fight with another girl that was so violent, Beatrice ended up in a mental hospital.
But all of that is water under the bridge when Forbes reveals the "party game" he brought: a suitcase containing a machine that allows everyone to experience their consciousness enter another person's body. Basically, they all attach wires to their temples, Forbes flips some switches, and bam--you are in someone else's body!
I mean...do I even have to say "shit goes sideways"? Of course it does. Mostly because the group uses this absolutely insane miracle of a game to have sex with each other while in new bodies. Sex, lies, manipulation, secrets kept and revealed... until it all goes horribly awry and the group is left figuring out how to clean up the mess.
It's What's Inside is a fun movie, though of course difficult to follow at times for obvious reasons. There's also a gaping plot hole (without giving too much away: one person threatens to tell the cops that another person committed a serious crime...but there is clear physical evidence that they did not commit the crime) that really annoyed me. Like Juror #2 above, this is a fine movie for an evening at home with popcorn.
Grade: B
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