Phil’s Summer Movie Digest - Part One
Hey it’s Phil here, and one thing I like to do to recharge my creative battery is to to take in new stories. Sometimes that’s books, but most of the time it’s in the form of movies. Recently I joined the AMC A-list which lets me see 4 movies per week. It’s a heck of a deal if you use it. I’ve been seeing movies quite consistently at a rate of 2-3 per week in the theaters (fortunately for where I live there’s 2 different AMCs within a quick driving distance). There’s actually not been enough new movies coming out to get me up to a full 4, but the summer isn’t over yet!
I wanted to share a quick rundown of some of the things I’ve seen so far and my thoughts.
Thunderbolts* - The New Avengers
A lot of people have been down on Marvel lately and not excited about their new offerings post-Endgame, but I thought this was quite a nice return to form. I’m a sucker for Florence Pugh, so whatever she does is okay by me. But I actually liked the surrounding cast as well. We get to see the villains from other Marvel movies have to team up (yes, it’s like Suicide Squad that way) in order to stop the big bad politician lady and her plan to clean up all her shady covert ops stuff. It had a few laugh out loud moments for me–which is kinda rare. Overall, I rather enjoyed it.
Final Destination: Bloodlines
I’m a fan of this series. Even when it’s okay, it’s still pretty fun. And also I’ve had a chance to interact with the creator of the series Jeffrey Reddick, who is such a nice guy. This story actually takes the Final Destination formula in a new direction. Whereas earlier movies said that those who cheat death will have it come back for them, this one posits that if you escape death and have a family, then death will come for them too. There were some great set pieces and creative kills—which is why you come for these films. The tattoo artist brother was my favorite character.
Sinners
How could you be around any kind of pop culture and not hear about Sinners? It’s all the buzz and rightfully so. It's a different kind of vampire movie, with Michael B. Jordan played dual roles as the Smoke Stack twins–who I was pleased to note didn’t fall into the tropes we often see for twins in media (See my earlier blog post for my thoughts on that.) Music plays a major part of this movie as well. I probably didn’t love it as much as some people, I did think it was good and worth a watch. There are a ton of interesting think-pieces about the meaning within the time period, music and setting of this movie so plenty of rabbit-holes to visit to learn more about this.
Bring Her Back
This second feature from the Philippou Brothers’ 2022 horror feature Talk To Me (which I loved and was super scary), follows an older brother and younger vision-impaired sister who find themselves stuck in the foster system when their father dies unexpectedly. The brother Andy, is just slightly too young to be considered a guardian for his sister Piper, so they have to go live with the incredibly unsettling Sally Hawkins’ Laura. Things are immediately awkward with Laura. The vibe with her place is off, there’s another foster kid there named Olly, who seems developmentally delayed and we also find out Laura lost her own daughter who was the same age as Piper. Without spoiling anything, this movie is tense, scary and wild. It made me cringe in a couple of places–so it’s not for the faint of heart. Very good follow up and I’m looking forward to whatever these boys put out next.
Well, that’s not my entire list but I feel like this post is running long so I’ll close it here and pick back up with Part 2 later. Thanks all. If you’ve seen these movies and want to comment, let me know your thoughts!
