Sadie Sink | Cinema Parrot Disco

Four quickies before June! Three 2022 films & a crappy old Australian horror…

The Whale (2022)

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Based on The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins, Samantha Morton

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
The plot follows a reclusive, morbidly obese English teacher who tries to restore his relationship with his teenage daughter.

My Opinion:

Was prepared to hate this as not really an Aronofsky fan & this looked as depressing as Requiem For A Dream (which I’ll never watch again, but the score is a masterpiece & one I listen to a lot). This was definitely worth the watch for the fantastic performances from Brendan Fraser & Hong Chau, though. I had sympathy for them & cared about their characters. Unlike Sadie Sink‘s character – Good god was she hateful! The boy was an annoying shithead as well.

Fraser‘s performance is absolutely heartbreaking & his Oscar win was well deserved. I found this most similar to The Wrestler, which is the one other Aronofsky film I like okay but in both cases it was more for the brilliant performances from the main characters than for the movies themselves. Like Requiem For A Dream, however, I’d never want to sit through this one again. Unlike that one there is a slight feeling of hope in The Whale, though. But the look in Fraser‘s eyes broke my damn heart. So, yeah – a great performance indeed.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris (2022)

Directed by Anthony Fabian

Based on Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico

Starring: Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson, Alba Baptista, Lucas Bravo, Ellen Thomas, Rose Williams, Jason Isaacs

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDb)
A widowed cleaning lady in 1950s London falls madly in love with a couture Dior dress, and decides that she must have one of her own.

My Opinion:

This was pretty delightful. I’m not a very girly girl but I was all “OMG give her the red dress!!!”. That dress was lovely. This is the very definition of a feelgood film. But I was disappointed when later looking it up to see it was first an Angela Lansbury movie?!? Adore her! Want to see that version now.

My Rating: 7/10

Ticket To Paradise (2022)

Directed by Ol Parker

Starring: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Kaitlyn Dever, Maxime Bouttier, Billie Lourd, Lucas Bravo

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
A romantic comedy film starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts as a divorced couple who team up to sabotage the impending wedding of their daughter in Bali.

My Opinion:

Perfectly fine rom-com. Clooney & Roberts look great and work very well together. Predictable every step of the way but who cares? The whirlwind romance was as unbelievable as always in these type of movies. Pleasant & passed the time. I’ll forget it in a year.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Next Of Kin (1982)

Directed by Tony Williams

Starring: Jackie Kerin, John Jarratt, Gerda Nicolson, Alex Scott

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDb)
In a rest home for elderly people, a daughter reads her mother’s diary. Soon events that are mentioned in the mother’s diary begin to happen to the daughter.

My Opinion:

I watch this kind of stuff thinking it’ll be some hidden horror gem. Look at that great pulpy poster! And quite high Letterboxd rating! Took me a week to finish as I kept falling asleep out of sheer boredom. I guess it was fairly atmospheric but the story couldn’t have been more basic & the pacing was so slow & the “crazy ending” wasn’t that crazy but I suppose it just felt that way to some since fuck all happens until the final 20 minutes.

Disappointing. But I liked the very ‘80s style diner.

My Rating: 5.5/10

The Fear Street Trilogy (2021)

Directed by Leigh Janiak

Based on Fear Street by R. L. Stine

Fear Street Part One: 1994

Starring: Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr, Julia Rehwald, Fred Hechinger, Ashley Zukerman, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Maya Hawke, Jordana Spiro, Jordyn DiNatale

Fear Street Part Two: 1978

Starring: Several people from the first film plus Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, Ryan Simpkins, McCabe Slye, Ted Sutherland, Gillian Jacobs, Chiara Aurelia

Fear Street Part Three: 1666

Starring: Pretty much everyone from the first two films (even the dead ones, which is a little silly!)

Plot Synopsis (via Wikipedia – this is for the first one but covers all three films which are just set in different years):
The film follows a group of teenagers in Shadyside who are terrorized by an ancient evil responsible for a series of brutal murders that have plagued the town for centuries.

My Opinion:

Quicker to review these all together as it’s one overall story running through all three films. I can’t decide which was better: 1994 or 1978. I think maybe 1994 was the slightly better film but I enjoyed 1978 the most as I’m always a sucker for the ’70s & the ’80s and liked the (obvious) Friday The 13th vibe of being set in a summer camp. Wasn’t as crazy about 1666 and the dodgy accents they all had but I don’t usually like horrors set in that sort of time period as much. But I did like the end of that film & thought the whole story came together pretty well (although it was a bit silly), making it a better trilogy with a more coherent story than a lot of old slasher movies managed.

I’ll say this: Don’t be fooled by the R.L. Stine connection. This is NOT Goosebumps! I was surprised when I saw these were rated 18. Oh man, they are gory. They’re full-on slashers. They were a bit much for me (but I’m a wuss). I know I grew up on slashers (big fan of the Nightmare On Elm Streets) but I could always count on old gore looking super fake. Well, the Fear Street films do have that same fake kind of gore – I think I’m just more sensitive in my old age. They were fun films, though, and I appreciate them trying to do an old school slasher & doing a trilogy all at once was an ambitious risk that I think worked. The characters maybe could’ve been a little better but they were okay (I liked the nerdy little brother the most).

I started by giving the first two films a slightly higher rating. I may change my mind but I lowered them as I don’t think they’re quite as good as some other horrors of the last several years. To be fair, they can’t be compared to things like The Babadook or Midsommar as those are very different from the “slasher” horror genre. But, as I watched 1978, I couldn’t help but keep thinking of The Final Girls which is also set in a summer camp but is spoofing slashers & which I enjoyed much more. I do admittedly love horror comedies, which aren’t for everyone, but I feel the Fear Street movies may have been better with a bit of dark humor thrown in instead of being so serious. I’m fine with the first one starting out very much like Scream & the second being Friday The 13th as I know it’s an homage to those but some may instead see them as derivative. So I think “spoof” horror comedies work a little better as everyone understands exactly what those are trying to do.

Also, although I loved the music in the first two films, it was very overused. I think they wanted to prove what years they were set in so they used as many songs as possible from those eras. 1994 was interesting as I have a love/hate relationship with ’90s music (I appreciated the Radiohead). And I looooved the 1978 soundtrack. They prominently used David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World and I had that song stuck in my head for days afterward (which is good, as that song is awesome). So I personally appreciated the music (how could they afford the rights to so many songs?!) but don’t think the movies did a great job of making it seem like they were actually set in each of the years & relied too much on the cool music to tell us the era.

My complaints are minor, though, and I did enjoy this trilogy. It’s not trying to be some brilliant new horror – it’s just trying to make an entertaining old school slasher. The trilogy is flawed but fun. I do wish I liked the third film a bit more as it was kind of a letdown after the first two. But I’d watch more of these if they make more.

My Ratings:

Fear Street Part One: 1994 – 6.5/10
Fear Street Part Two: 1978 – 6.5/10
Fear Street Part Three: 1666 – 6/10