Thoughts on Three Films

Another Round

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Synopsis: Four teachers decide to fix their boring lives by keeping themselves tipsy all day, after one of them reads a study suggesting people are more interesting, creative and alive when keeping a BAC of 0.05%

When I first saw this film, I took it as a film commenting on the damages and dangers of alcohol, especially with the second act showing the group getting blackout drunk and ruining their personal lives. But the more I thought about it, and especially the ending, the more I thought it was more complex than that. At certain points their plan seems to work, and their lives become genuinely better for a short time when they first start the experiment and keep themselves in check, and it’s only when they over indulge and start binging that their lives fall apart. It’s not encouraging day drinking but the film also acknowledges that alcohol can be fun and be a positive experience in your life.

It doesn’t cherry pick the good or the bad, you get a full spectrum. It shows you a scene of the group getting drunk, and lets you decide whether the scene is funny or sad. It’s able to keep this balance while still making statements on European drinking culture and alcoholism without feeling like a PSA when it does. This is especially true with the incredible final dance scene, it works as a happy ending, but you can also interpret that happy ending as a Trojan horse for the main character falling back into bad habits. Mads Mikkelson’s performance is incredible and the music choice is stellar and really sucks you into the upbeat vibe of the students graduation celebration.

Godzilla: Minus One

Genre: Kaiju Survival Horror

Director: Takashi Yamazaki

Synopsis: A kamikaze pilot plagued by survivor’s guilt seeks redemption when a giant monster he failed to kill is transformed by radiation from atomic bomb tests and lays siege to post-war Japan. (IMDB)

I’m not a massive Godzilla head, im not Kaiju-maxxing, the only other one I’ve seen is the American Godzilla 2014 when i was a kid, and i dont have many memories of that film, but I found myself thoroughly enjoying this one regardless of the fact my Godzilla-Mogging skills are low.

I love the way Godzilla in this movie sort of represents the secondary effects of participating in a global conflict and getting hit by nuclear missiles, the damage to buildings, the death of civilians and the pollution to the water from either nuclear radiation, or the thousands of sea mines left behind. It’s rare for a lot of Japanese media, especially popular stuff, to touch on their role in the war so bluntly. I also much prefer this style of Godzilla, where its a truly horrifying creature wreaking havoc among people, compared to the more campy or action oriented versions you sometimes get. The Kaiju in this film is scary, you know terrible things are going to happen when it appears, and the first time it charged that radiation shot was electric, seeing that beam shoot out and a nuclear cloud appear at the end was incredible. The animation/CGI for this film was incredible.

The acting standouts are for sure the Main character, his love interest and friendship group, but there are not any weak performances, at least not any I could identify given its not in my native language. Koichi’s Arc is really well handled, especially the way he distances himself from friends and loved ones due to his trauma initially, which then evolves into him keeping distance because he knows hes going on a suicide mission.I also like that the film ends up being kind to him, in the end, his old mechanic bully, who was initially furious with him because he didnt act to save other mechanics on the island, gives him forgiveness and begs him to live because its not worth dying because of some bullshit sense of failed duty from a senseless war.

Logan

Genre: Superhero Action/Drama

Director: James Mangold

Synopsis: A mutant child comes out of hiding, forcing Logan and Professor X to come out of hiding to take her on a roadtrip to Eden and protect her from forces that want to exploit her mutant powers,

Arguably one of the best super hero or comic book movies of all time, and an incredible end to the Fox versions of the X-Men, which were a rocky set of films quality wise but still managed to create many compelling characters. I haven’t watched every X-men or Wolverine film created by Fox, but still ended up loving this because its a great story that stands on its own while adding extra emotional weight for those who have kept up with the relevant material.

Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Dafne Keen each bring an incredible performance that leads to an endlessly compelling main cast, with Hugh Jackman being a standout performance as an old, broken Logan disillusioned of the world and the idea of heroes. The way these characters have aged and become damaged feels incredibly suitable to both the world of this movie and the characters. Charles’ dementia causes seizures and turns him into a weapon capable of massive damage to everyone around him, while wolverine is being poisoned by the very metal skeleton that gives him his resilience, the poisoning also working to weaken his regeneration.

The escalation of villains is also very entertaining, at first we set up this Mercenary with a metal arm called Pierce, who is revealed to just be the muscle hired by the science team lead by Dr Rice, who is eventually superseded by X-24, the younger clone of wolverine sent by the doctor to take everyone out. These Villains played by Boyd Hollbrook, Richard E Grant, and Hugh Jackman each also exude a unique aura of evil, Boyd playing a hot headed Mercenary, Grant providing a more cold and calculating villain, and ending on the primal and quiet X-24, who never speaks, just stares. Charles Xavier’s death to this monster was given appropriate weight and arrives at just the right time in the movie to give Logan and Laura time to argue and eventually bond alone. The film also has time to find moments of comedy in what is a normally pretty bleak scenario, arguments between Logan and Laura or Charles having a somewhat comedic, dysfunctional family vibe, especially when Xavier is alive, Stewart perfectly mimicking the vibe of an old man whos ran out of fucks to give.

Logan’s death, and the funeral the children give him is perfect, I couldn’t ask for a better end to this character, a truly unique feat to stick the landing on a story over a decade in the making.

Shame Deadpool 3 shit all over it.