Cody

Back in 2018, as a gay teenager I was obsessed with watching different movies (the Love, Simon era) over and over to help process my sexually repressed feelings. I somehow missed Alex Strangelove during this time period, and decided to give it a go, seven years later. It’s probably for the best that I did not see this in 2018.  I really don’t know where to begin my criticisms here without sounding too harsh, as I know there’s definitely a group of people out there that were comforted by this film, and for that I’m grateful. But damn, some of the writing and acting in this is tough to watch. Only about half of the jokes land, its pacing is all over the place, and some decisions by the filmmakers are truly baffling. Especially around the entire character of Alex. I don’t understand why Alex couldn’t have been bisexual. You could’ve still had the conflict between Alex and Claire without so many weird jokes and decisions around bisexuality. I also don’t think they let Alex breathe enough between plot points. In one scene he’s kissing Elliot, and then he’s attempting to lose his virginity with Claire, and then next he’s at a frat party. As viewers, we can’t sympathize with Alex if we don’t even see him process his own journey.   I also think Claire’s character deserved better as a whole. She was very prominent in the first half of the film with even a fleshed out home life, and deserved a better resolution. As a result, her story was more sad and it made Alex seem unreasonably cruel. There’s no world where someone could forgive Alex as quickly as she did. I think the forgiveness itself is possible, but it was so incredibly rushed.  I can see how this would be a guilty pleasure movie for some, as it can be dumb fun. And I understand that for the time this was monumental for representation, so I truly do give props there. But this type of film could only possibly thrive in the time period it was released in, and today it doesn’t hold up. The ending scene with all the coming out confessions was a nice touch, so I’ll also give it that. Overall, Alex Strangelove is a (wobbly) stepping stone along the path of LGBT representation in film, but it’s best left in 2018.

Starts a little slow, but the buildup is so worth it. A terrific and absolutely terrifying performance by Jake Gyllenhaal centers this thriller around themes that are even more relevant than when the film was released 11 years ago. Sure, some of the plot is unrealistic, but Nightcrawler explores the morality of the news and media in a raw way that never lets up. Great stuff

While the second act of this was weaker than I remember, the emotional punch this brought me due to just finishing Andor was incredible. Amazing how the show just ran into this movie.

I really, really wanted to enjoy this more. All three leads have good chemistry and the fight choreography and direction during action scenes was honestly really good. But the special effects were so bad in some spots, and the villain was so forgettable that I forgot she was even supposed to be a major character until they appeared on screen. The overall story was pretty thin too, just jumping quickly around with poor exposition trying to explain the path followed. All three of these characters deserve so much better.