Kill Your Friends (2015)

Directed by: Owen Harris

Written by: John Niven

An A&R man working at the height of the Britpop music craze goes to extremes in order to find his next hit.

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I rented Kill Your Friends mostly because of the cover and the title caught my eye, and the plot seemed like the exact thing I like. It wasn't until later I realised it was based on a novel by John Niven and written for the screen by the same guy. No wonder it seemed so good! (I actually said that to Niven on Twitter, and he just said "Ha!" I have no idea what he meant by that)

Kill Your Friends reminds me of Filth, which has shaped my taste in movies a whole lot. Well, instead of a Scottish policeman, the main character works in the music business and tries to scheme his way to the top while stabbing his "friends" in the back. This is the kind of stuff I really love in movies. They are awful, and you can't actually like the characters, but there's just something so amazing and enthralling about these asshole characters. It might be because you kind of want something bad to happen to these people because they represent the type of people you hate. But also it can be quite fun to see these awful people doing well in these movies. 

The story progresses well, though there are few a bit boring moments they probably could've survived without, but I guess they add something to the character, I don't know, but in the long run they seemed a bit empty. 

Nicholas Hoult is an incredible actor, and it was interesting to see what he brings to this role. I hadn't seen him in a role like this. He does an excellent if surprising job portraying this complete asshole. 

And since this is a movie about music business, the music is of course incredible. 

Kill Your Friends is an interesting, thrilling movie, definitely worth watching, even though it can be pretty rough at times. 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

8 / 10

The Founder (2016)

Directed by: John Lee Hancock

Written by: Robert Siegel

The story of Ray Kroc, a salesman who turned two brothers' innovative fast food eatery, McDonald's, into one of the biggest restaurant businesses in the world with a combination of ambition, persistence, and ruthlessness.

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Sometimes you choose to watch a movie just because it has one of your favourite actors, but you can't imagine how many feelings you will get from that movie. I got exactly one feeling and that is hate towards Ray Kroc and the whole McDonalds franchise. I don't know how this film was supposed to present Kroc, because if its point is to idolise him even the slightest, I'm just even more furious about the whole thing.

I got to appreciate Michael Keaton though. He doesn't portray Kroc simply as an asshole, even though that's what he is. We still see him as the jerk he was, since his actions are shown as ruthless as they were. Now of course in the capitalist wonderland this all might seem admirable, but the audience should be able to see that ruthlessness as something other than "business blah blah blah" or whatever it is to those same asshole businessmen. 

I mean I could go to a full anti-capitalist speech here, but perhaps I shouldn't. After all the fact that this movie made me actually feel something this strongly and made me think means it's a very well made movie. I didn't really have time to consider the technical side of the movie since I was mostly thinking about how angry the story made me and how much I wanted to punch Kroc. 

The Founder can be a bit boring at times but it definitely makes you think about the capitalist shithole that is the US and it's business world, and it makes you angry. Of course I'm not here to tell you what to think. 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

7 / 10

Moonlight (2016)

Directed by: Barry Jenkins

Screenplay by: Barry Jenkins

Story by: Tarell Alvin McCraney

A young, African-American, gay man deals with his dysfunctional home life and comes of age in Miami during the "War on Drugs" era. The story of his struggle to find himself is told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love while grappling with his own sexuality.

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It took me so fucking long to finally manage to see this. It didn't come to the local theatre so I've been waiting for it to be on DVD. It's been clear from early on that this is a very important movie.

The first incredible thing I noticed about this movie is the cinematography. I've seen jokes on the internet like "I can't believe Moonlight invented cinematography", but I had to say that too while watching. The cinematographer of Moonlight uses both still, calm shots and really effective movements of the camera, which still are super smooth. The colours are incredible, and so is the lighting and the composition of pretty much every shot. This is how movies are meant to look. Moonlight really sets the bar high. I especially loved the swimming scene and how the camera was partially underwater, that always looks amazing.

Moonlight has the same challenge every drama movie has. The plot is something very ordinary, and there's no great adventure to keep the audience interested. Moonlight keeps the audience's attention by being such an unbelievably beautiful slice of life movie. It's beautiful, delicate and poetic while also showing the dark parts of Chiron's life. The balance is amazing. And while the movie can be brutal, it doesn't revel in it. This is exactly what  drama should be like. 

Writing in Moonlight is amazing. The dialogue is simple and easy to keep a track of, yet there are so many incredibly touching lines. Also Chiron as a character is interesting to follow. While the actors change, the character is still in there, while also growing up and changing. It clearly is one person's story instead of three characters who somehow feel like they could be the same person but are too distant from each other. One thing that slightly bothers me though is how the kids' dialogue doesn't feel like actual children talking. But children's dialogue usually is very hard to write so it actually sounds real.

Of course this movie has that feeling all Oscar winners have - it feels a bit too serious, a bit too important, a bit too artsy and a bit too hyped. but that's often not the movie itself, it's the Oscars. Moonlight definitely deserved the hype it got, it was a beautiful film, even if a bit ordinary. Maybe it's ordinary just in the right way - enough to be relatable, especially to gay black people, but not too ordinary so it's actually interesting.

Moonlight is an incredibly beautiful movie and I will admit, probably the best movies made in 2016. However I'm only giving it 9/10 because I did feel a bit bored during certain scenes, but of course it seems like the story style was a bit minimalistic on purpose - not a lot happened, but that's what growing up might feel like.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

9 / 10

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Directed by: Jon Watts

Written by: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers

Several months after the events of Captain America: Civil War, Peter Parker, with the help of his mentor Tony Stark, tries to balance his life as an ordinary high school student in Queens, New York City while fighting crime as his superhero alter ego Spider-Man as a new threat, the Vulture, emerges.

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Ugh, I've been so inactive since I started my internship, I apologise for that. I finally managed to watch something. It was actually easier to just force myself to a movie theatre since if a ticket's already bought, what would be an excuse good enough to avoid going?

I actually would've preferred to go see Baby Driver, but it's not here yet. Another movie I was interested in is Wonder Woman, but it was here already and left the theatres quite quickly. Huh! So it came down to Spider-Man or the new POTC movie, and that has grown old already. And there's no way I'm giving my money to Johnny Depp. A co-worker went to see Spider-Man: Homecoming earlier this week and recommended it warmly, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

One of my biggest issues with these Marvel movies is the fact that if I want to keep up I have to watch every single thing they produce because everyone has cameos and every movie is connected to another. There are no stand-alone films anymore, and that can suck, if you're not into every superhero. I don't care for Captain America, so I haven't seen Civil War, where this new Spider-man, played by Tom Holland, made his first appearance. However, this film quickly recaps the important bits of Civil War, and by important bits I mean what Spider-Man did. Still there's a lot of stuff you need to remember from other Marvel movies.

What's interesting in this new version is that there doesn't seem to be origin story the way Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man had origin stories. You could ask where the hell Peter Parker came from, but hey, I think we all know the thing with the radioactive spider and Uncle Ben getting shot, so we can safely assume that's still the case here.

And of course there's an issue with Peter Parker as Spider-Man: aren't we all bored to death? What about Miles Morales, or any other Spider-Man? What about Gwen as Spider-Girl?

The Amazing Spider-Man also took place in high school, but this time it actually feels like high school. Sure, Tom Holland is actually 21, but he's closer to a teenager than Andrew Garfield was, considering how fresh-faced Holland looks. (I thought he'd be younger tho, even if he's my age! This is how badly Hollywood has fucked up our perception of age on-screen!)

Tom Holland is great as Peter Parker, as great as Garfield was, and definitely better than Tobey Maguire (though that we can all blame on bad writing). Spider-Man: Homecoming has amazing young actors, such as Jacob Batalon, Tony Revolori and Zendaya. But one of the biggest reasons I wanted to see this movie was Michael Keaton. He is great as a superhero (Batman) and as a villain (Vulture) and everything in-between.

But apart from the fresh cast and new technology from the Avengers movies, Spider-Man: Homecoming isn't anything special. It's fun to watch, but not actually funny, apart from the typical Avengers humour. Plots in these are pretty much the same thing over and over, but then again, was anyone expecting anything else? Marvel is becoming a one trick pony.

So if you love superheroes, then of course go see it, but if you want something new from Marvel, then this movie isn't for you I mean third version of Spider-Man? They have so many superheroes and they go with Spider-Man, again?

☆☆☆☆

4 / 10