AIthough I love action movies, sci-fi, comic-book and such, I do like these types of movies based on real life events - a drama, Biographical Drama at that, which looks like a bunch of manipulation to someone innocent just trying to do their job and the powers that be, who want to control the narrative for their own personal gain/power or whatever, seem to be fucking it up for poor Richard Jewell. #Sigh
Directed by Clint Eastwood and it has Kathy Bates, Jon Hamm and Sam Rockwell just to name a few.
Off the top of my head, I couldn't tell you which was the last Jennifer Lopez movie I watched, if any. Well, with her in it, anyway. To me she is a singer who has dabbled in acting, but to be regarded as a solid actor, ummm...I'm not quite sure, personally. And no, I didn't watch Selena.
Early reviews for this movie has stated that the actor formally known as or sometimes known as J-Lo (I don't even know or care anymore), has potential to be a runner up for Oscar contender. Well, going into the movie, I did keep that at the forefront of my mind and having heard one movie personality state that she was excellent at the beginning, I was thoroughly waiting for my socks to get blown off whilst keeping an open mind and let the movie as a whole do it. And did the movie do that? Let's just say, my socks were indeed moved, not completely off but past my heels at least.
Destiny (Constance Wu) lives with her grandmother and is an inexperienced stripper. She has moved from place to place struggling for tips but when she enters a new strip club, admires the strippers there and sees the potential to make a lot of money in the inner city, she is taken under the wing of Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) who teaches her the tips and tricks for chips. But when the recession hits, these strippers, also accompanied by Mercedes (Keke Palmer) and Annabelle (Lili Reinhart), start to realise, now that the strip club is running dry of customers and most importantly, the money, these women must find another creative way to keep the money coming in before they are out of work.
Based on a very true and real story which actually happened, real life events, I'm not sure if actual situations and some events were exaggerated for film, like how I felt for some or a lot of events and scenes from Pain & Gain was, but I actually enjoyed this movie, just like that one, but this one more. The scenarios, although got a little repetitive at times when the ladies were carrying out their plan and it could have possibly be done better with a montage, the use of inter-cutting away from the story to recount the events of said story with Elizabeth (Julie Stiles), helped to break the movie up a little as a stark contrast of the now and then. The acting was A*, especially with Jennifer Lopez if you only ever really knew her as a singer. Possibly being the only film I've ever seen Keke Palmer in (I'll need to have a look), she was great, especially the Hospital scene. Lili Reinhart was good as a newcomer (and also to me), as from the absence of Cardi B (which was very short lived) provided some nice comedy mixed with Keke's character as some of the scenes and how they played out provided much entertainment.
I'll give a few a examples; The women walking together into view in the bar was absolute gold. It was a type of quirky humour that may have been real, but if you think it really went like that in real life, you'd really want to question the levels these ladies went to. With that in the back of my mind whilst watching, provided excellent comedy value. A little like watching Pain & Gain and you wonder, "Did this really happen?" Another example is the kitchen and the baking scene as I audibly bellowed out a cackle because the scene was, indeed hilarious AND unexpected. Lastly, there is a scene where stripper Liz (Lizzo) comes running into the stripper's changing rooms and then all the strippers all run out. I couldn't stop myself from laughing at the next scene.
The director Lorene Scafaria (also new to me) did an excellent job in my opinion, bringing this story to life. And with producers such as Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, you can only really insure some decent belly laughs. As for Constance Wu, she is very new to me as an actor and I had absolutely no problems with anything she did. She delivered and played her character well and I loved her dynamic with her Grandmother (Wai Ching Ho), some of us nerds will know her as Madame Gao from the Daredevil Netflix Series. Constance, famed for her roll in Crazy Rich Asians (In which she starred in a main leading role and a movie in which I did not see), it was nice to see this movie represented in this way even though it was heavily shadowed by Jennifer Lopez. Representation matters, especially when it isn't a classical stereotype. It will be nice to see more from her and I hope she will take on more roles across the board such as a Bond movie, Star Wars etc.
Lastly, I would say this is a very interesting film as it was based in true events. Very well shot, acted and the music was great. I was nodding and almost singing along in moments. The soft moments felt soft, the funny moments were indeed very funny and I felt the director did a great job with bringing this story across to film. The only downfall was when the movie ended, I would like to have seen the real people in real life, but other than that, an enjoyable watch. Go see!
After great success with the first movie, Hollywood decided to make a sequel as quickly as possible; soo quickly, this movie has come out almost exactly two years to the very DAY - short one day...lol. I mean, teenagers will change in two years so you might as well strike while the iron is hot, right? especially if they are wanting to continue the story with the same characters.
IT: Chapter Two resumes 27 years later where Mike (Chosen Jacobs) who is now an adult (Isaiah Mustafa) stayed in Derry after the events of the first film. While all the other members of 'The Losers Club' have moved out and moved on, Mike uses his time in Derry researching all he can about IT. However, when people start to go missing again, Mike fears Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgård) is back and he calls upon the rest of the members to fulfil their vow to come back to Derry and band together to defeat IT once and for all.
So, just before I continue did you know, that the de-aging technique was used in this movie? Although I knew this before going to watch, it is interesting to know that I didn't even notice it. Maybe in places, I guess, but it wasn't that noticeable for me. It makes you wonder why it was said in the first place, other than for the obvious. Anyway...
Another great movie from Andy Muschietti and although I can say, this film was not as great at the first, this movie is still very good. From the casting, to the acting, to the delivery and direction, the adult versions of The Losers Club is soo much more realised as adults with their own grown-up problems and although most of the characters were all over the place, it was interesting to see the older cast bounce off of one-another in the very few scenes they were all together - they were peppered in, but it didn't seem like enough for me. In the previous IT movie and a few scenes in this one (since there were a few throwback scenes) the dynamics of the characters are a lot different and it's nice to see the subtle shots and images Andy captures to convey the love one character has for another in the 'Love Triangle' between Beverley (Jessica Chastain), Ben (Jay Ryan) and Bill (James McAvoy) carried over from the first film with Sophia Lillis, Jeremy Ray Taylor & Jaeden Martell respectively. It was some good acting with unspoken words and with such heavy hitters in the acting category for the adults, it was nice to see Isaiah acting alongside Jessica and James and coming into his own, rather than just seeing him as that guy from the Old Spice advert. I do think he resembles Denzil though - in a few shorts at least. In addition to the acting, Bill Hader as older Richie was great as not only was the casting on point, you could actually believe Richie grew into the adult Richie we get, the same goes for James Ransone as Eddie, just brilliant casting. Andy Bean doesn't get much screen time as Stanley but he does do a decent job. And Bill as Pennywise, is just phenomenal.
Andy kept the familiar horror tropes like heavy stomping in there and it was great to see the flashback scenes which put a new light onto how much these kids were being tormented by Pennywise. One of the scenes specifically was pretty gross and another scene actually made me jump, but I do feel that some of the special effects and the forms that Pennywise took could have looked a lot better and some difference between some of the forms Pennywise takes on as a few simply looked the same. There are some beautiful imagery captured and one of them that stood out to me, is vaguely reminicent to the Aquaman trench scene. There is also a water scene involving Pennywise standing on the bank which is visually great yet horrifying and another one you see in the trailer involving Pennywise and his balloons as he floats.
If you enjoyed the first movie, I don't see how you would dislike this movie unless you read the book and have your own spin on the movie in your own head because Andy came very close to what he achieved with the first film. What I will say is that, it might be a movie you will need to watch multiple times because that first film had sooo many hidden clues, Easter eggs and such, it would be great to find similar in this one. Although it's a touch long, it is definitely still worth the watch! You'll float too!
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