WooderIce64

Sting is a good, not great kind of movie. It's not bad, it's not spectacular. Sure, it has a lot of cliches and it's fairly predictable, but it makes up for it with some cool aspects. First off, the spider looks and sounds pretty good. As a creature feature, it works fairly well. A lot of it is set in the vents and air ducts of a Brooklyn brownstone, which is interesting but unfortunately underutilized. The claustrophobic setting generally does work pretty well. The kills are brutal, and it very much leans into the body horror subgenre (which is what disturbs me personally, so it was effective in that regard). Think back to middle school science class and imagine what you know spiders do to their prey, and now imagine that happening to people. That's what goes on in it. The effects are quite good. The characters are bland, tropey, and forgettable. But then again, are you seeing this movie for the characters or for the killer spider? There's a great tension-building atmosphere, and there are some pretty cool shots from the spider's perspective. The dialogue isn't the best, and every attempt at humor falls flat. It's a fine movie, nothing too special, but if you're the type of horror fan who's in it for those brutal kills, it has those.

This was an interesting film. Nothing about it was normal. It takes an iconic toy brand and makes a serious social commentary/coming of age story out of it. It was also a smash hit financially, backed by a strong social media campaign linking it with a movie about nuclear bombs. That's impossible to repeat.

From a technical standpoint, it's amazing. The casting was perfect. Margot Robbie is the perfect "stereotypical Barbie." This is a Barbie that is both the perfect doll she is known as, and also the maturing Barbie who's seeking a purpose and to right her world. They could not have picked a better leading actress. Ryan Gosling is the perfect Ken. Even the characters created for this movie were perfectly cast, especially Will Farrell as the CEO of Mattel (it's my personal headcanon that he and President Business from the Lego Movie are the same person, also it's amazing Mattel was okay with this script). Note for anyone who didn't have Barbie in their childhoods: there is Barbie lore, and the movie does assume you know who the characters are.

You will never see a movie that looks like this again. Barbie enters a rare selection of movies that are instantly recognizable from a single screenshot. Barbieland looks exactly like a world made of Barbie dream houses. The bright pastel colors, the overload of pink, the way everything is shaped makes it a real life town of dollhouses, and it's highly impressive. It's made with such a real love for its source seldom seen in movies. Additionally, part of what makes the casting so good is the ability to make the actors look like dolls. The soundtrack perfectly befits the film. The two dance numbers (one for the Barbies, one for the Kens) are very well choreographed. Perhaps most importantly for fans and enthusiasts, there are several wardrobes worth of costumes for all the Barbies, based on different outfits she's worn over the years.

This is, as one would expect from Gerwig, also a film carrying strong feminist messaging. Some people were surprised by that upon release, although being surprised by a Greta Gerwig movie having feminist messaging is like being surprised that a Tarantino movie is violent. This is where things get complicated. On one hand, the messages appear to hit the audience with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, which some may deem necessary given the urgency of its subject matter. On the other hand, it's so over the top it's difficult to tell how seriously you're supposed to be taking it. It often feels like a satire of itself. There are times when it feels like a Mel Brooks movie. This is a problem because it muddies the message. You could very well watch this movie and come to the conclusion that it's supposed to be a satirical takedown of feminism, which is the last thing the filmmakers want you to do. And when it does spell it out, it can very easily come off as preachy. This is quite a conundrum, and highly ironic. I'm really not sure how a filmmaker would make this work.

Now, despite all exterior appearances, Barbie is a very nuanced film that has several layers to it, and does not provide all of the answers, nor does it need to. Now, while it is ultimately a feminist film, it does not shy away from addressing some things the movement is doing wrong and has done wrong in the past. No matter how it may look or seem on the outside, there's a whole world of ideas in its subtext. This is where the strength of its messages lies, not in the bluntness of its outer appearance. It does have some comic relief, which is mostly meta humor. Not my cup of tea, but if you like it then enjoy it. There are some references to movies like 2001 and The Matrix, which are funny.

This is a movie that's going to be a game changer for the industry. Between the success of Barbie and the failure of movies such as The Marvels, there is going to be a change in how blockbusters for women are made. In the coming years, there will be much more of the former and much less of that latter. A lot of people were saying Barbie was snubbed at the Oscars. Robbie got snubbed for best actress, but Director is so stacked it's not even funny. But the 1.4 billion at the box office will probably have a longer lasting impact than any technical Oscars.

Poor Things is a weird movie. That's to be expected given it's directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, a master of strange movies. There are two types of weirdness, though. There's weird for the sake of being weird, and then there's movies that can fully live within the confines of its own reality. Poor Things is the latter. Despite the utter insanity of what goes on on screen, it doesn't feel detached at all from the world it builds for itself. The premise is that in a steampunk Victorian London, Bella Baxter, who was raised in a lab, seeks to leave the lab and see the world beyond.

The acting is fantastic. Whether or not Emma Stone will win the Oscar for this remains to be seen, but she is certainly worthy of it. Bella Baxter is a character who changes quite a bit over the runtime of this film, and Stone manages to make her seem just as alive in all of them. Both as the childlike Frankenstein monster at the beginning and the firm young woman at the end are delivered with such sincerity. Mark Ruffalo is the supporting lead, and he's quite good as well. One cast member in particular who stands out is Willem Dafoe, who has really been on a roll with strange movies in the last few years.

From a technical standpoint, the movie is amazing. The most impressive thing about it other than the acting is the production and set design. Poor Things is one of those rare movies where any single shot from it is instantly identifiable. Several of the sets and shots are reminiscent of the early silent films, and their influence is clear, particularly in the black and white segments. It actually is reminiscent of, and not many movies can say this, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Not only does London look fantastic, each place Bella visits on her journey looks incredible, ranging from dreamlike to steampunk. Even aside from the sets, everything contributes to this weird world, and nothing is left untouched. The little things in the lab, like the hybrid animals or the... thing that Godwin uses when he eats, are quite memorable. Of particular note are the costumes and the music. The former is a unique set of costumes that befits the aesthetic of the world. The latter uses a variety of instruments for compositions that could only go with a movie like this.

If there's one thing Poor Things stumbles on, it's the message of the movie. There are several ideas that are cooked up - the idea of a woman finding her own place in the world, innocence and the innate goodness in people - but it's all undercooked. A lot of this feeling is owed to the fact that there is a metric crap-ton of sex and nudity in this movie. You're seeing quite a bit of Stone, Ruffalo, and some others in this one. While the sex is ultimately an important contributing factor (more than can be said for many movies), there's too much of it to the point where it feels like porn. Now, the idea of Bella emerging from the lab she was made in to see the whole of humanity is a good premise, and Stone's performance makes all of Bella's experiences feel legitimate, but there's no real substance to it other than that.

Poor Things is quite a memorable movie, with its bizarre Victorian world and fantastic acting, even if its ideas could have been delivered better.