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Bodies Bodies Bodies Review: Horror Delivers Gore With Dose Of Social Commentary

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Bodies Bodies Bodies Review: Horror Delivers Gore With Dose Of Social Commentary

Our bodies Our bodies Our bodies isn’t the everyday slasher movie. It has a twist ending that alters preliminary perceptions and subverts expectations. The movie, whereas a horror, has a humorousness, extremely conscious of what it’s attempting to perform, even when some issues don’t work. Directed by Halina Reijn from a screenplay by Sarah DeLappe (working from a narrative by Kristen Roupenian), Our bodies Our bodies Our bodies is full of nice dialogue, an intriguing plot, and social commentary that may certainly make for unbelievable dialog.

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On the eve of a hurricane, a gaggle of 20-somethings collect for a weekend of enjoyable. Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) — whose stint in rehab led to her estrangement from her buddies — and her girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova) be part of David (Pete Davidson), Jordan (Myha’la Herrold), Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), and Alice (Rachel Sennott), alongside together with her older boyfriend Greg (Lee Tempo). As quickly as Sophie arrives, nonetheless, there’s stress. It isn’t lengthy earlier than the viewers discovers there’s quite a lot of bitterness and unresolved points between the buddies. When Sophie suggests all of them play a sport known as Our bodies Our bodies Our bodies, issues start to get out of hand. Nonetheless, when one of many buddies is murdered, everybody turns into paranoid and fearful, turning on one another in a bid to find the killer’s identification.


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Associated: Our bodies Our bodies Our bodies Ending Defined (In Element)

Our bodies Our bodies Our bodies is sometimes humorous, with the dialogue being extra humorous than maybe meant. It additionally has lots to say about everybody being too on-line, social media tradition, poisonous masculinity, and crafting a digital identification that’s separate from actuality. It doesn’t have quite a lot of deep issues to say about these items, however they’re embedded within the plot, and laced into the characters’ relationships. The horror movie is at its finest when it’s exploring the disconnect between the characters, who battle to even converse with one another. They speak to one another like one may textual content, half-formulated ideas and sentences which might be no various phrases. The weekend is supposed to convey them collectively, however there’s one thing lacking, their distance and distraction obvious from the beginning. It’s not a coincidence they spiral once they lose sign. The digital world drives a wedge between buddies who can’t be actual with others exterior their screens, they usually work time beyond regulation to persuade each other of the lies they wish to consider are truths.


Regardless of the movie’s intriguing premise and themes, it generally does not really feel darkish sufficient. The chums are mean-spirited, to make certain, however their phrases don’t reduce as deeply as they might have. There’s a lot between them, together with anger and resentment, however that solely bubbles to the floor close to the tip, with solely a few the characters totally letting free, spewing their unfiltered emotions about their buddies. Our bodies Our bodies Our bodies doesn’t overstay its welcome, however it might have benefited from an extended set-up earlier than the grisly killings start occurring. By the tip, nonetheless, the stunning twist will warrant an instantaneous rewatch as a result of it modifications every thing witnessed earlier than. The script, paired with Reijn’s path, work effectively collectively to craft a narrative that displays the realities of basically being married to 1’s telephone.

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The cinematography by Jasper Wolf offers the movie a way of foreboding, and the look itself displays that of somebody scrolling by way of their telephone at midnight. Noticeably, a cellular phone gentle is often the one glow that’s proven onscreen, a intelligent solution to hold the overarching themes of the movie on show. Our bodies Our bodies Our bodies just isn’t completely shocking, however it does excel when it is targeted extra on the character dynamics than the horror components. The solid’s performances — from Stenberg’s evasion as Sophie to Sennott’s comedic timing as Alice — are wonderful, including to the character relationships in layered methods and elevating the movie. The slasher movie does not field itself in, flourishing in terms of its social commentary and delivering on the suspense and humor.


Our bodies Our bodies Our bodies launched in restricted theaters on August 5, increasing to extra theaters August 12. The movie is 94 minutes lengthy and is rated R for violence, bloody photos, drug use, sexual references and pervasive language.

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Movie Reviews

Movie Review – Mufasa: The Lion King

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Like many critics, I despised the 2019 CGI version of “The Lion King.” The new animation was ugly and the rehashing of the story from the 1994 classic without many changes made the whole thing seem unnecessary. But unlike many critics, I’m not ready to throw prequel “Mufasa: The Lion King” away just because of the sins of its predecessor. I’m not saying that it’s not still inextricably tied to the 2019 film, especially with its still-terrible CGI animation, but the story and characters can do some roaming on their own that makes for a breath of fresh air.

The film opens with Simba (Donald Glover) and Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter) going away on some adult lion business and leaving their cub Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) in the care of comic relief meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner) and warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen). A storm is approaching, Kiara is scared, and Timon and Pumbaa’s danger-fraught stories aren’t helping. Wizened mandril Rafiki (John Kani), an old friend of the family, steps in and tells Kiara a story about her grandfather Mufasa’s bravery so that she won’t just be soothed, she’ll be inspired to be brave herself going forward. The framing device isn’t a bad idea in and of itself, and Kiara is important to the future of this world with the Circle of Life and all that, but Timon and Pumbaa are nothing but grating here. Their tired, lowbrow schtick gets the movie off to such a bad start and causes so many unwelcome interruptions that frankly I can understand why some people think they’re a deal-breaker for the entire film.

Fortunately, things pick up once the movie commits to the story of Mufasa (voiced as a cub by Braelyn and Brielle Rankins). A flood took him away from his parents (Anika Noni Rose and Keith David – because of course it took two of the greatest voices in the world to sire a character that would eventually have the all-time great voice of James Earl Jones) and he was rescued by Taka (Theo Somolu), an unblemished prince from a faraway pride who is quick to consider him a brother. King Obasi (Lennie James) allows Mufasa to live with the pride on the condition that he mostly live with the lionesses, led by Queen Eshe (Thandiwe Newton). This is supposed to be humiliation, but while Taka grows up learning rotten lessons from his jerk father, Mufasa picks up useful practical skills. He’s even able to protect Taka and Eshe from the son of evil lion Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen), who sets his sights on wiping out the entire pride, sending Taka and Mufasa fleeing toward a sanctuary called Milele.

Along the way, Mufasa (now Aaron Pierre) and Taka (now Kelvin Harrison Jr.) make friends with Rafiki, as well as fellow lion Sarabi (Tiffany Boone) and her guide-bird Zazu (Preston Nyman), and they form an unlikely pack. Both Taka and Mufasa develop feelings for Sarabi, but Mufasa is bound by his honor to defer to Taka. Sarabi falls for Mufasa anyway, and Taka considers it a betrayal. The team has to not only worry about making it to Milele with Kiros in pursuit, but dissention between two lions that were, for all intents and purposes, brothers.

Yes, it’s easy to see where the story is going when you consider that certain characters have to end up in certain places by the time “The Lion King” rolls around. Yes, the animation still isn’t great, but it’s only obnoxiously bad in close-ups, which admittedly the film does far too often. And yes, the songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda (which sometimes invoke “Moana” more than the actual “Moana” sequel from a few weeks back) aren’t as memorable as the Elton John songs from 1994. But sorry, no, none of that ruins the movie for me. I still found myself invested in these characters, Timon and Pumbaa aside. I see enough effort and passion here that I’m willing to give “Mufasa: The Lion King” a very shaky recommendation.

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Grade: B-

“Mufasa: The Lion King” is rated PG for action/violence, peril and some thematic elements. Its running time is 118 minutes.


Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.

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Movie Reviews

'Babygirl' Review: Nicole Kidman Comes to a Place of Magic in Halina Reijn's Smart Erotic Dramedy

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'Babygirl' Review: Nicole Kidman Comes to a Place of Magic in Halina Reijn's Smart Erotic Dramedy

Babygirl is What We Need in a Vanilla Cinematic Landscape

In recent years, there has been a lack of sexuality in film. I’m not talking about romantic sex, but straight-up fucking. Frankly, movies have been a bit conservative. With film snobs or Gen-Z viewers on Twitter going, “Why do movies need sex scenes?” and the industry adhering to that, cinema has been feeling so radically vanilla. Sex is so much more than shock value in movies. Sex is meant to emphasize connection and pleasure, and why it’s so important to human stimulation, but nobody wants to have that conversation. Babygirl is a perfect personification of that and feels so radical and fresh to witness a movie that allows its lead to experience this pleasure, affair be damned, and not villainize her for it. Also, it’s a ton of fucking fun, dude!

Kidman and Co. Dominate the Screen

Nicole fucking Kidman, man. She’s one of the hardest-working actresses in the industry today, and her performance is something that you’d never even expect from an actress of her caliber. It’s not even the raw sexual fervor because we’ve seen it with Eyes Wide Shut. However, portraying a character with such a high level of class and authority, and swiftly exhibiting a submissive sexual position, such as getting on all fours and licking milk off a bowl or standing in the corner like a school child being punished, without portraying it as humiliation, is a delicate balance that, frankly, no other actress can achieve. The Aussie icon you see in every AMC ad (except for this one, for some reason!) stars in about five or six projects a year and keeps proving her talent. There’s a reason why she’s being touted for Best Actress during the current award season; this is her one-woman show.

The film’s excellent supporting cast also bolsters Kidman’s performance. Harris Dickinson truly understands the assignment as Samuel, the equivalent of a manic pixie fuckboi who can read people easily, but one you can’t seem to figure out yourself. He has this type of seductive magnetism that allows Romy to figure out her freak shit without ever teetering their dynamic toward romance because that’s truly not what this movie is. 

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Movie Reviews

‘A Complete Unknown‘ Review: Timothée Chalamet Rocks in Rather Restrained Bob Dylan Biopic

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‘A Complete Unknown‘ Review:  Timothée Chalamet Rocks in Rather Restrained Bob Dylan Biopic

R: For language

Runtime: 2 Hours and 20 Minutes

Production Companies: Veritas Entertainment Group, Range Media Partners, The Picture Company, Turnpike Films, White Water, Searchlight Pictures

Distributor: Searchlight Pictures

Director: James Manglold

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Writers: James Mangold, Jay Cocks

Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, Dan Fogler, Norbert Leo Butz, Scoot McNairy

Release Date: December 25, 2024

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