Arjun

The prequel trilogy as a whole is one that drives me crazy as a huge Star Wars fan. There’s no denying that the ideas presented are great, and add so much to the Star Wars lore. But George Lucas is his own worst enemy, I fully trust him as a producer and screenwriter as long as he has someone to call him out. In this film alone, there is some notoriously terrible dialogue. Jar Jar sucks any emotional and dramatic tension this film has, I didn’t hate him as a kid but my god he drove my crazy this film. Idk why George thought Jar Jar would be a good Sith Lord. This film has 2 things in my eyes that carry the entire film. Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul are both top 3 heroes/ villains in Star Wars for me. From Darth Maul’s unlimited Aura and Qui-Gon’s character and defiance of modern Jedi methods. These 2 characters make the film watchable, and they make me enjoy it to this day. Of course the Clone Wars expanded Maul and made him one of my favorite characters but everything Maul is on screen, and especially when he whips out the double sided lightsaber I can’t help but get giddy. The Duel of Fates is a top 3 lightsaber fight in Star Wars. I remember watching a video about why John Williams’s score is called the Duel of the Fates, and wow it’s such an awesome answer. It’s called that since this duel will result in the fate of the universe, as it determines wether or not Anakin will be trained under Qui-Gon the goat or Obi-Wan, a great Jedi but no where near as wise and knowledgeable as Qui-Gon. The death of Qui-Gon basically dooms Anakin from the start. Speaking of Duel of the Fates, John Williams’s score is as good as ever. It’s easy to overlook since he’s the GOAT, but seriously it’s so good. Playing Star Wars Battlefront II definitely helps, but Duel of the Fates is literally a top 3-5 instrumental ever created IDC!Overall The Phantom Menace is absolutely carried by Maul and Qui-Gon who are some of my favorite characters in all of Star Wars. And the final duel between them and Obi Wan also remains as one of my favorites in the franchise. Some other highlights are the pod racing scene and Coruscant. The rest ranges from whatever to absolute trash.

Beau is Afraid, is Ari Aster ok? In all seriousness Beau is Afraid is just constant stress, misery, sadness, fear, and so ridiculous you can’t help but laugh. I know how polarizing this film is, and obviously I understand why. For me I felt so engrossed in the film, I was so invested and I loved the direction Ari was going in. It was bold, unique, daring, unpredictable, and it never felt too ridiculous to me (except for one thing which I’ll get to later). I don’t want to compare Ari to Lynch but, I’ve been watching Twin Peaks lately and I keep thinking about how these mystic and dream like qualities that Lynch brings so organically and authentically. How no one (that I know of) is doing stuff like that. Well I felt that way watching Beau is Afraid. These dreams and nightmare qualities added so much to the film, it made everything work so well. I have one thing that really bothers me though, and I guess it was my line for these crazy dream stuff. The monster in the attic was too much, it was so stupid and ridiculous, it completely pulled me out of the movie. It almost shattered my investment in the story. It felt like such a stupid and crude joke, almost like a gag then a legit dramatic device. If it wasn’t for that I’d probably give this a 10/10 ngl.

Jurassic World Rebirth is underwhelming. It follows the typical Jurassic format of great thrills and visual effects, BUT after 6 films it definitely gets tiring that it’s very apparent here. With Rebirth emphasizing a new and fresh start for the franchise, I was pretty disappointed with more of the same. I could predict almost every outcome, and practically everything conveniently works out for the protagonists. On top of this the product placement is so disgusting apparently, it genuinely felt like an ad in numerous scenes. My favoritism towards Mahershala Ali and director Garth Edwards kept me from being completely hating this film, since at least Ali is great and the effects are great.Much like the characters in the film chasing money, most of the cast and performances felt the same.

I am pretty torn on Materialists. Just from my failed experiences trying to start something I found some of the dating stuff very real and funny, but also made me really mad. But not a negative mad, I think the film wanted me mad. I can’t tell if the film is supposed to be happy or sad or if it isn’t supposed to be either. In that way it’s really beautiful and frustrating. I keep going back and forth and my feeling towards Dakota Johnson’s character keep making me go back and forth. I will say Pedro’s character made me feel very hopeless. He’s like a wishful version of me and what he said about feeling stupid about finding love was something that really struck me. At least I didn’t need surgery to be 6 foot I guess. At the end of the day this film evoked a lot of emotion out of me. I usually avoid romance movies cuz they make me sad and mad like this, Because the portrayal of Chris Evan’s character really made me mad too. His only flaw is that he’s broke, he’s not a problem in anything except he has no money. In that way he didn’t feel like a real person, Pedro’s character felt more real. So choosing to more fake person to be really is what made me mad. Idk