Change Your Image
jbex23
Reviews
Wonder Woman (2017)
Unremarkable script, memorable film
Has major script flaws, courtesy of Zack Snyder and his signature male gaze. Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot do what they can, it appears. The result is strained but seems genuine. The last act is everything most theatre-goers have already seen (rehashing popular themes, dialogue, even scenes from better movies -- Captain America to Star Wars). But as the first film in a new push toward more female action leads, Wonder Woman is memorable despite being unremarkable.
Trust Me (2013)
Not complete. A jumbled mess rushed to release.
It's terrible. I shouldn't allow Trust Me to take up more of my time than it already has, so I'm going to keep this short. Reviews awarding it more than 4 stars are being ridiculously generous. The movie never figures out what it wants to be (sarcastic? a parody? a character study?); the already thin and loose plot plods along confusingly until about 3/4 of the way through, when it abandons what little it's developed for some mishmash spiral into absurdity. I't's an understatement for me to simply say that the ending is cheap, pitifully bleeding of an obvious funding cut and acute writer's block. This is an embarrassment to Clark Gregg's career, so if you're a fan, avoidavoidAVOID this disappointment.
Primer (2004)
Intriguing concept but sloppily done
It's worth a watch. The film's concept is intriguing and Carruth's mechanism of time travel is fresh and original. However, the execution of this film is so sloppy and the plot so tangled, that it renders the overall experience average at best.
Yes, the sound is a nuisance. There is no proper sound engineer for this film (considering it was made on such an ultra-low budget), that it's difficult to truly follow most of the conversations the first time through. Particularly when Abe first introduces Aaron to the possibility of time travel outside the storage facility. That was the moment when the plot started to gain momentum, and it wasn't impactful in the slightest.
It's not just the sound. It's the pacing. Which I understand is meant to be a bit muddled in places. But there are many plot points and questions brought up that aren't even answered adequately or even remotely touched to be meaningful:
**SPOILER ALERT**
1) Why Rachel's dad would collapse / be comatose as a result of time travel, when this effect doesn't happen to either Abe or Aaron. And their reaction to his comatose state is quickly glossed over. It doesn't even seem to be a motivating factor for the course of the plot, even though it obviously changes their perception on the safety of what they're doing. Since this character never talks, you don't even get a reason for why he would have discovered the box (let alone get inside) in the first place.
2) The degeneration of their handwriting. I mean, Abe even asks Aaron at one point why they can't write. Specifically asks. And is given no answer. Why would they even bring this up? Is this a visual to convey the literal degeneration of their lives and wellbeing as a result of time travel? Does this handwriting issue have anything to do with Aaron's bleeding?
3) Attending the party in multiple permutations to "save" Rachel. Firstly, Abe and Aaron don't go to the first party. They hear about it from their two fellow entrepreneurs. What on earth possesses them to return to the past to "correct" the events of this party when no one gets hurt. It didn't seem to have any meaningful impact before... and yet, after the comatose state of Rachel's dad, this party comes to the forefront again. I don't understand the connection. I've heard that Aaron wanted to be a hero, but no where do we come to understand how this fits in with what we've seen of his overall motivations. The character development regarding Rachel, or even the relationship she has with Abe, is so ignored and minuscule, that this relationship means nothing to me in regards to the overall time-traveling theme of the film.
So in general, I find the editing, pacing, and visual quality of this film to be muddled and these issues dampen what could have been a genre-defining moment for this otherwise fresh film.