Hello, I’m back. I thought it was time we talked about some movies that came out earlier this month. I know it seems like I don’t really have time to watch movies nowadays, thanks to my commitment to Patty, but I did manage to squeeze in four new releases.

So let’s begin shall we!

Our first review should be brief as I did see this almost a month ago now and originally I wrote a one sentence review that summarises everything I have to say on it. Earwig and the Witch is a Studio Ghibli film.  I don’t think I’ve ever discussed this studio before because they don’t release movies very often. That’s because they’re always producing high quality 2D animated Japanese films such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, which is on my favourite movies ever list. So Earwig and the Witch should not be your first Studio Ghibli film as it’s the first time they’re trying out CG animation and also because it’s very inferior to their previous movies.

Earwig isn’t a bad movie, I think it’s biggest problem is it’s just not my cup of tea, which is annoying because their previous family movies didn’t have this problem. For one, the main character is a smart aleck kid and it’s a very slow moving movie that mainly focuses on the wacky hijinks she gets up to. I’ve never been the biggest fan of this type of movie but the only thing that really irked me is when things were finally starting to get interesting, it ended with a stupid sequel-bait cliffhanger! Other than that it’s short and sweet and for a first time CGI feature this looks better than Disney’s and DreamWorks’ first attempts, so well done Ghibli!

3 – Hold off on it

Next is another Netflix exclusive, Malcolm & Marie. A film made during the pandemic, all taking place in one house and starring only the two actors you can see in the photo above. It’s a film that relies on the stars and writing to carry it across the one hour and forty minute finish line so it can qualify for all the esteemed award shows. Does it pull it off though?

I would say, mostly. On this site we have seen both John David Washington and Zendaya’s develop into respected actors and this is definitely another solid stepping stone for the two. They both sell their characters and help get you immersed in this pretty shallow story of a couple coming home late at night from a big premiere, then erupting into a couple of arguments throughout the night instead of going to bed and settling their dispute in the morning. They get pretty philosophical in this, which I know I wouldn’t be after a big party at 2am in the morning!

I always enjoy movies where you see actors explode on each other, take Marriage Story for example, but it can become tiresome if that’s literally your entire movie. There is a point where Malcolm, who is a director, goes on another long rant about how much he hates film critics and, honestly, by that point, it is comical. For what it is, Malcolm & Marie is a good movie, but I won’t deny how pretentious it can be. Can anyone explain to me why it’s in black and white, besides it looks more artsy?

3 – Hold off on it

I haven’t had this happen to me since I watched Boy Erased two and half years ago, but I was all alone in the cinema whilst watching The Little Things and that was fine by me. That’s literally the only noteworthy thing I found while watching this boring arse movie. A murder mystery that I’m sure was inspired by Se7en where you got the old tired cop played by John David’s father, Denzel Washington and the young hot headed cop played by Rami Malek coming together to track down a murderous psychopath. Jared Leto in also in this movie and since he doesn’t appear until over an hour in and is the only other major celebrity in the film and is on the poster you automatically presume that he’s the guy! Leto is really good at playing the creepy weirdo, but the film’s ending will try to convince you that he’s not the killer, because it also wants to be unnecessarily pretentious.

This movie sucks!

2 – If Interested  

One final movie for you and its on Amazon Prime. I Care A Lot came out only last week and we follow a woman who cons vulnerable elderly people out of their possessions and money in the hope of one day being able to fill up a pool with her hard earned dough so she could dive head first into it. All this does eventually blow-up in her face when one of her ancient gold mines turns out to have mob connections and that’s when the movie gets fun instead of being sick!

This is easily the best out of all the films in this post because, depending on how you feel about Rosamund Pike’s Marla Grayson, this will either be a great movie or one of the most unpleasant things you’ve ever seen. Me, I’m in the middle, as it was definitely an enjoyable film filled with great acting and suspenseful scenes, but the character of Marla definitely hurt my overall experience. I like the idea, of watching a cold ruthless highly intelligent woman out maneuvering people to get her way but there is absolutely nothing likeable about her so it feels quite disgusting that the movie thinks we want to see her keep getting away with everything. It also doesn’t help that the actual villain of the movie played by Peter Dinklage is more likable and relatable than the main character that you’re supposed to root for! Nothing against Rosamund Pike, but I think she was just cast to play a poor man’s version of her much better character, Amy Duane from Gone Girl. My only other fault is that the ending wasn’t very good, which seems to be a recurring trend in this post.

I Care A Lot is a fairly solid film, if it had more scenes of Rosamund Pike getting roasted by Dianne Wiest then it would give it a 4.

3 – Hold off on it

Before we wrap this up, I thought I might share some words on Star, the new sub category on Disney+. When I reviewed the service when it first came out, back in November of 2019, I mentioned that the kids filter on Disney+ was a joke where the only real adult content on the whole platform was The Simpsons. I guess since then it’s not alone as I hear The Muppets Show has recently been added to the filter because a show from the 1970’s is clearly too inappropriate for 2021 children.

Anyway Star is here now to save the day because it has brought more adult oriented movies and shows to put that kiddie filter to actual use. I’m sure it will be improved upon as time goes on, but as of now I’m very impressed with what we’ve got. More so the movie catalogue as there is a fair share of classics I can finally get around to watching like The French Connection and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. There’s also some more modern releases like Jojo Rabbit and Deadpool. Plus a few cult films such as Big Trouble in Little China and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I would say though that their TV shows don’t really excite or interest me as they’re all pretty old, like from the 2000’s and older. The newest show I could find was Glee, if you of course exclude the Star original shows.

That’s enough from me, I’ll see you again next week when there will be some movies to talk about. Complainer out!