Change Your Image
Tariqinto
Reviews
Hereditary (2018)
The horror was just a backdrop
You know the horror movie was good when you are emotionally exhausted after.
You know a 2 hours movie was great when it makes you go through a full spectrum of emotions
You know the movie was good when it keeps you googling crap during and sitting trying to figure out what the hell just happened after.
You know the movie was great when you stop referring to it as "horror movie" because it's great across all genres and the horror was just a backdrop to it.
Predestination (2014)
Mind Bending
It's the weirdest, the most mind-bending and the most wonderful sci-fi movie ever.
It's brilliant and original, Ethan Hawke and Sarah Snook have done a wonderful job.
Where have you ever seen a movie that leads to you as a man having sex with you as a woman in the past giving birth to baby you, coming back from the future with a different face to break up the relationship you are having with yourself, taking baby you to the past to be raised as you then travel to the future to kill old you because it turned out that you are the serial bomber that you were chasing since the beginning? Ha? Ha?
Basically, to make things easier to understand, it's about a man giving birth to himself by impregnating himself then killing himself homicidally and not suicidally.
Us (2019)
BRILLIANT SYMBOLISM!
Capitalism, Materialism and the duality of the American dream: the American dream isn't a destination it's just constantly trying to get more than what you already have and constantly being dissatisfied by what you do have.
Symbolism:
* Hands across America: a grand gesture that looks great from the outside but actually meaningless and empty. Aka capitalism.
* Gabe: Gabe represents the someone who comes from a background of oppression and now he bought into the American dream, hence his obsession with material things, plus he's becoming this regular American that's not aware of what or where danger is: 1. His constant arguments with his white friend about their possessions.
2. He kept trying to offer more money to the tethereds even though it was obvious that they don't care about that.
3. When he was trying to scare the red family in the driveway the first time he talked in a regular way but the second time when he came out with the bat he tapped into that "intimidating black man" persona)
* The tethereds in the white family house trying on clothes and stuff, the thetherd wife trying on make up and seems happy for a second before her face changes and she takes a pair of scissors and tries to give herself a plastic surgery (just like her original), because the American consumer is never satisfied.
* The Black Flag tshirt the twin wears: (Black Flag was a punk rock band that founded the counter-culture and anti-conformity revolution) the carnival worker in 86 was wearing one too in the beginning of the movie. This detail matters because the carnival worker was wearing it when Black Flag was at their peak, and because of the cold war and the capitalism vs. communism atmosphere nobody would just pretend to be that extreme because it's "cool" like nowadays.
And that leads us to 2019, one of the twins from the white family was wearing a Black Flag tshirt, not because she's really hardcore or anti-anything or going counter to anything, she's a typical blond teenager doing gymnastics in the beach and bullying others in packs like hyenas; she's actually the epitome of the American cultural conformity, and her wearing the Black Flag tshirt shows how capitalism turns and appropriates the realist of things into sellable pop culture. The most brilliant part is that she's wearing something that stands for individualism and the lack of conformity, and she's a TWIN, she's literally a copy of someone else. BRILLIANT SYMBOLISM!
* The main twist of Adelaide turning out to be the tethered Adelaide: it's not my favorite twist but it still complements my theory, that an entire person got replaced by a soulless copy and the shallow surface level society couldn't tell the difference. As long as it looks the same from the outside it does not matter.
Usually we tend to ignore injustice and inequality when it's forced on someone else, someone who's removed from us, an other. But Jordan Peele doesn't allow us to look away, the idea that this could be you, you could be the other, will you be able to look away from your own tragedy?
The difference between the originals and the tethereds is completely circumstantial, directly a result of having vs not having.
"We are Americans"
Red (tethered but really the real Adelaide) said that but I think she really meant "we are Americans too"
Because there are two Americas, like I already mentioned: a direct result of having and not having.
A good example of that is the Alexa like device in the white family house that changed the songs from The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations, a feel good song sung by a group of white party boys, to N.W.A's F tha Police, a rage filled song against the harassment of the black community by the police and the entire system.
The brilliance of the ending is that it leaves you not knowing how to feel, who did win? The good guys? Who were the good guys? Was I rooting for the victim or the villain?
The movie makes us ask an uncomfortable question: if we relate or root for Adelaide family in this scenario, does that make us the bad guys? Does that mean we are rooting for preserving an unequal and unjust system just because we benefit from it?
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
They have done every little thing just right!!
Kingsman: the secret service, one thing I can say about this movie, they have done every little thing just right!! It definitely falls into the Bond genre (I think it's about time to give the Bond movies their own genre). This movie is different in many ways yet it embraces its genre completely, yes, it is a British spy action comedy but it's like they wait for you to expect something and then they do the opposite.
Directing: Matthew Vaughn is usually great with these kind of movies, Kingsman gives the same vibe as Kick-ass, the perfect balance between action and dark humor. The film was violent yet not gory, he avoided the gore and the messiness that comes with it. One of the best fight scenes I have seen in a very long time. In most of the fight scenes there were some awesome long takes, which is very hard to accomplish, as opposed to short quick confusing and totally unimpressive scenes. Vaughn usually adapts stories with comic book backgrounds and makes the characters and story come to life on screen with all their cartoonish and comical nature, unlike Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan who take a comic book story, strip it from all its comical charm and turn it into a typical action movie that does not really need a superhero or a supervillain to be special.
The story: surprisingly original and the attention they paid to detail is impressive, it's a solid well-rounded 'major plot holes' free.
The casting: this was pure brilliance, let's talk Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson, both have been thrown out of their comfort zones, especially Colin Firth, but both did it brilliantly!!! Colin Firth proved that he can be a bad ass and do the genre that he has been accused of lacking the capabilities to do. Samuel L. Jackson's character, Valentine, is very interesting, he's like a genius Bond villain with a soft heart, low tolerance to violence, a very evil yet smart plan and a lisp. Mark Strong acting wasn't as great as the aforementioned actors but I blame whoever wrote the character because they didn't give him a lot to work with, the character was flat and typical. But Mark Strong is always great. And I still think he's one of the most underrated great actors.
God's Not Dead (2014)
Fanaticism Incarnate
I watched this movie thinking that it's an intellectual debate between atheism and theism, Faith vs. Science, but it turned out to be a battle between Christianity and everything else.
I would like to state that I, as a Muslim, have nothing against Christianity or Judaism, they're all God's religions, and people are free to follow any, but I have everything against extremism and fanaticism, whether in Islam or Christianity. And this is exactly what this movie is, fanaticism incarnate. This movie is so cheesy to the point where I started laughing during the parts that I should be shouting HALLELUJAH!!
A minister prays that his broken car gets fixed and BAM! it starts. A mean atheist gets punished by being run over by a car. A Muslim girl finds God and follows Jesus and her mean looking father (who by the way parks in the handicapped parking space -further adding to his heathen ways-) throws her out of the house because he couldn't get himself to kill her.
By the way, that Muslim girl wears (niqab) to cover her face and hair but wears a tight pair of jeans and a short sleeved top, proving just how narrow and closed minded whoever made this movie is - they clearly know nothing about Islam and probably Judaism, and they didn't even make the effort to do some research on other religions.
This movie insinuates a lot of things that are incorrect and propagates some stereotypes that people are trying so hard to fight. I wonder how this movie made it to the top ten.