Miracle Mile (1988): The movie is about an average joe who finally finds the girl of his dreams and everything seems to be going well until he gets a call one night telling him nuclear war has begun and that nukes will destroy their city in an hour.
The premise was really interesting. I liked the main dude as well as some side characters. Seeing people react to this type of news was great and the movie tried to time it right with one hour, adding more urgency feel to it. Unfortunately, much of the plot just revolves around lovey dovey stuff and last 10 mins or so just felt cheesy and didn't do it for me. Ruined the whole immersion. Still, an interesting watch.
7/10
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978): Funny story, I had watched a similar movie long long ago on cable when I was very young and the famous scream really scared the crap out of me back then. I just wanted to re-watch it again, and I figured it was this movie, but turns out it wasn't. It was another movie with a similar story called Body Snatchers (1993). I rewatched it and it's mostly crap. But because of this, I got a chance to see this movie too, so here I am.
I liked the acting. Some big names like Donal Sutherland and old Spock (Leonard Nemoy). I liked the first half A LOT more as it had this mysterious feel to it. The movie slowly created tension and you could feel it creeping up on you. But unfortunately, when everything is out of the bag, the release was just kinda meh. I just wasn't invested in the movie anymore and it kinda got boring. And it stayed like that till the end of the movie.
Cool practical effects of duplication. DEM screams though, creep stuff.
6/10
Short Term 12 (2013): The movie is about a staff member in a temporary home facility for younglings of sorts. It depicts the emotional and psychological impact this job has on her and her co-workers as well as the kids staying there.
This was had some really powerful scenes. And all that thanks to Brie Larson's amazing performance. There is just something about her acting in these movies that makes her feel really authentic. Another great example is her oscar winning recent role in the movie Room. She's just perfect for such roles. I love her. Plus, I think most of the cast was really good in the movie as well, from kids to side characters.
There are comical moments, heartfelt moments, heartbreaking moments and rage out moments. Some are definitely handled better than others. Some of the conversations did felt cheesy/corny but there wasn't much of those.
All in all, a good indie watch.
7.8/10
Four Rooms (1995): This is a comedy film about four rooms in a hotel on new year's eve that act as four segments completing the film, each directed by a different director.
At the center of it all is Tim Roth, hotel manager that night, who has to take care of customer needs in every room. I really liked his over the top and weird acting in this movie. Was really hilarious. There are a lot of known actors in the movie, some deliver, some don't.
Since each segment is directed by a separate director, the quality of them varies a lot. The first room was meh and felt totally out of place. The second and third one had good and bad elements and I really liked the fourth one, directed by Tarintino. No shocker there.
When you combine all the stories, what you really have is a very mixed bag of a movie, that really isn't worth recommending as a whole.
6/10
