Below you'll find various thoughts I have about the movies I watch as I watch them. Goal of 150 in 2025.
I feel a bit as though I am haunted by The Monkey! Unsettlingly going to try to parse through it here, but I think my overall qualm is that I wanted it to be really good and it was just okay... and Theo James. I got beef with him for sure.
Just scoring as a horror movie... 6/10. Many deaths in this film made me wince or audibly gasp, or turn away from the screen in shock; I could tell they weren't always going for realism with the deaths because they were a lil ridiculous at times. Which benefitted the comedic tone the film attempted to awkwardly strike throughout, but kinda cheapened each death within the horror for me. And I'm not talking about any unrealistic potential monkey powers- I'm talking about characters making poor decisions to move the plot forward. Speaking of plot, I feel like it really dragged at different points. It was adapted for the screen from a short story by Stephen King, and I know a horror movie is meant to be slow at different parts to build tension, but I'd personally cut about 20 minutes (at least) and I think it'd improve.
ALSO when in time is this movie even trying to situate itself?? If it's 1999 and everyone has an answering machine, why are the sets and all the extras dressed like its the 70's? Any time a character brings out a cellphone took me right out- and how dare this movie have a 25 years later sequence 1/3 of the way through! Shame! Also the dialogue was meh. Too many times was it so straight forward and deeply unimaginative that it actually made me laugh out loud- but again maybe that was just a fault of the awkward comedic tone.
The acting... as I mentioned in the beginning, I don't think Theo James was the right fit to play the lead IMO. I think unfortunately he falls too much into the hotty mollotty with a swimmers body category of actors in my book, and it was difficult to believe he wasn't acting in this. And him playing two completely different characters didn't help. Couldn't they get someone less hot? It didn't even matter to the plot if they were attractive! Like please lets get some wrinkles on this set these people have been THROUGH TRAUMA and I want their faces to show it without flat out telling me.
Notable performances to me- the twins' mom was good, I thought the main character's son was convincing without annoying me, and the Dad-Who-Stepped-Up character played by Elijah Woods was giving me a little Reno 911 police chief and I thought that was fun. Also mfkin' Adam Scott showed up in scene 1 and I was like "ohhhhh shit I didn't know he was in this movie!" and then you never see his character again so that was a little disappointing. The drumming monkey puppet toy thing?? 10/10 scary as fuck, no notes.
Even though the sci-fi genre has potentially too many state-controlled-parenting storylines, I was interested in this film's take and genuinely hoped it would bring new discussion to that theme! Unfortunately, the movie felt more style over substance when it came to world building and character development. I disliked the direction this film took, especially toward the end, about autonomy and sacrifice. Also they really mishandled themes of sexual violence here. Pretty disturbing plot device to include and then not resolve meaningfully. Is it because it was a woman perpetrating? smh...
I guess I liked the set design- felt very grounded in the genre- but the film's lacking location variation and unexplained technology failed to develop the world in a meaningful and unique way to me. The camerawork wasn't groundbreaking, but still enjoyable; especially the extremely long pans in the house #eerie. I liked the acting, though Himesh Patel didn't really sell the "set in the near-future" to me. Alicia Vikander (pictured) was hilariously irritating, and her dynamic with Elizabeth Olsen's Mia earned this movie the 2.5 out of 10 from me.
I think I have seen this movie... about a million times! This is such a Keel Girl Classic, meaning my sisters and I would stay up late pressing play on this movie's title screen every night for an entire summer when we were little. At one point in my life I could probably quote this whole thing, but truthfully it doesn't not hold up to my high expectations! Rewatching this as an adult was fun and nostalgic, but a little lackluster. Obviously there are some lines in here that are iconic, and deserve to be, speaking as a completely objective third party with absolutely no personal interest in the matter. As a modern adaptation of comedic Shakespeare, it's kind of just okay- some jokes still really get me, others are wholly dependent on Amanda Bynes' physical comedy (if you wanna call it that). So if you like Amanda Bynes, you will like this movie; if you don't, can't say I recommend LOL Giving this a 5.5/10 and I know I'm gonna get hate in the family group chat for it
REVISION: This movie is getting an extra half point because last month I rewatched with Zoe and it was more fun than I remember, so I am boosting this movie to a reasonable 6/10.
This is the first movie I watched in 2025, but this was the second time I had seen it; I really enjoyed it the first time and on this rewatch. Themes of sexual exploration, youth, family, and yearning I feel are given time to be properly explored and settled here. It's fun to follow Lisa's descent into self-confidence/madness and it's reflection onto her character's outrageous yet extremely stylish clothing choices. The set decoration and color palette for this film is vivid and roots that early 80's feel. I really fucking love how zany the plot gets, the twist, the ending- all of it really works for me! I also like how this film chooses to depict sexual violence, in that it doesn't ~really~! Enjoying implied violence in film and television, as the world is already rotten enough IRL. Giving this an 8/10, and will be returning to it again and again.
As the inaugural post on this blog I will take a brief second to shout out Teighanne and Gabe for designing and finalizing my ability to run my movie blog via my portfolio! I can't think of a better place to house all my unnecessary but extremely valid movie opinions for my eyes only (and yours... how did you get this link?!?) For what it's worth, I feel very proud to start somewhere with documenting my pastimes, and incredibly grateful to have friends that support me in that endeavor. Here's to choosing happiness, no matter how trivial!
