Justin Rollen

I read Project Hail Mary almost exactly a year ago and it was one of my favorite books of all time. When I heard there was a movie announced and Ryan Gosling would be playing the lead character I was a little nervous. Gosling to me seemed too pretty boy to play the nerdy Dr. Ryland Grace. I love Phil Lord and Chris Miller as a duo and I adore Greg Fraiser so I had high hopes for the movie, but it also seemed to be one that would be very hard to make faithful to the book. The first trailers came out and I got even more nervous. They gave too much of the story away, and I felt the whole narrative pacing of the book would be ruined by some of the reveals. The book is such a slow burn that you're almost playing detective of what exactly is going on for a majority of the book. It also focuses on problem solving and internal monologue and self-realization. All these aspects are not impossible to convey on screen, but very difficult. I went to see PHM in IMAX, and it is certainly meant for that format. I'd read before the movie about how very little (none?) green screen was used for this and I find that unbelievable. This film has some of the best practical space sets ever created. There are several scenes that took my breath away, and the attention to detail is astounding. Rocky's puppet is also one of the best I've ever seen. I can't imagine how much care and preparation went into planning every aspect of this movie and getting it on the screen. It's the kind of stuff that grows on you and improves recollection of the movie after seeing it. The movie begins as the book does, but breezes through the first act of the book VERY quickly. I would have loved if they leaned a little more into the scientific elements of the story, as I feel they are essential to understanding why Grace is as smart and resourceful as he is, but I also understand this movie is marketed to a massive audience, and my tastes are niche in that regard. (I hope there are deleted or expanded scenes or a director's/nerd's cut for this movie because it's the perfect movie for it.) It's clear that Rocky and Grace's relationship is the emotional core of the movie, and the frenetic pace slows down once we meet him. The movie does an excellent job with both characters, which was one of the things I was most worried about coming in. The pacing and narrative drive of the third act is perfect. The movie is very funny, but it walks the line of being a little too humorous. I think Gosling (also a producer) has excellent comedic timing and is very underrated as a comedic actor. He also has the charm to pull it off of course. Some of the early gags had me worried the whole movie was going to be a bit too Marvel-esque tongue-and-cheek for my taste, but it really rounded into form and had me laughing consistently at the "right" times throughout the movie. Ultimately my pros of this movie were: Set Design and Cinematography - A+ Narrative Style and Character Development - A Pacing and Emotional Variability - B+ (A after first act) Screenplay Quality and Humor - A My cons, though they were few were: Science and supporting character depth - B-/C+ First act pacing and story introduction - B- As a final note, I saw this movie with a close friend who just finished the book days ago, and he pointed out several things I missed that were easter eggs for book readers. This was really cool to see as they didn't distract from the plot, and because I think this was a high-quality/faithful adaption of such a (in my opinion) difficult book to adapt, it was really nice to see them frequently pay homage to the source material in such a neat and creative way. Again, I'm hoping for an extended cut in the future, but this is a great movie that I encourage everyone to see in theaters. I'll be seeing at again with someone who hasn't read the book and I'm interested to see what the opinion is of someone with no knowledge of the source material. 9.0/10

Undertone does some creative shot framing with long pans and Dutch angles to build tension and *spooky vibes *the whole film. I could feel the build up and was gripped until it became evident it was dragging itself out without a real idea of where to go. The ending disappointed the hell out of me. Undertone reminded me of an SNL skit: good concept, played a lot of the right notes, no real idea of how to wrap it up. If the ending was a little more cohesive I would’ve liked it a lot more. 6.5/10

When Netflix bought the sequels to Knives Out I think the series didn’t necessarily lose its cleverness, but it lost a bit of its soul. Every detail is so meticulously calculated and thoughtfully considered when weaving this whole tale, and outside of some otherworldly dot connecting by Craig’s Blanc, is solidly concrete. While all three Blanc capers place a desire within you see their insufferable cast get its comeuppance, Knives Out delivers the most satisfaction from its core message. Finally, it’s absolutely the truth that Netflix destroys good cinematography. Knives Out is by FAR the best shot, choreographed, and creatively styled of the three. I was worried it wouldn’t hold up, knowing the ending, but watching it years later it really does, and it left me wishing and hoping the next entrants can recollect the soul I believe they’re missing today. 9.3/10