Unhinged (2020) & The Woman In The Window (2021) Reviews

Two more quickies today for two films that weren’t very good. But one managed to be entertaining while the other was meh. Let’s see which was which…

Unhinged (2020)

Directed by Derrick Borte

Starring: Russell Crowe, Caren Pistorius, Gabriel Bateman, Jimmi Simpson, Austin P. McKenzie

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
It tells the story of a young woman who is terrorized by a seemingly mentally ill stranger following a road rage incident.

My Opinion:

Believe it or not, this was the entertaining “not very good” film. Not all films need to be Oscar contenders, though. It’s a psychological thriller/horror about a psycho who terrorizes a woman after she honks at him in traffic. It certainly doesn’t require any Oscar-winning actors. Yet it has one! I respect actors who go from winning Oscars in really good films like Gladiator then say “Screw it – I still want to play a psycho in a silly road rage movie!”.

Not sure if this is an Oscar-worthy performance but Crowe seemed to be enjoying playing someone completely unhinged. Acting should be fun, right?? But I was a bit distracted through all of this by the fact that I kept thinking Caren Pistorius looks SO much like Linda Cardellini. Then I kept thinking how much I loved Freaks And Geeks. Why don’t they make good shows like that anymore?! Then I read at IMDb that the kid playing the 15-year-old son of Caren Pistorius in this is actually only 14 years younger than her in real life & I thought that was hilarious. That’s so Hollywood. Can’t have a mom in a movie actually looking old! Then I also read this trivia at IMDb & it made me think how much I liked Joy Ride (with the dumb name Road Kill in the U.K.): “The candy cane scissors are a nod to the similarly themed Joy Ride (2001), in which the protagonists use the call sign of Candy Cane to anger a homicidal motorist who then terrorizes them.”

Well, I was clearly a bit distracted while watching this if I was reading IMDb trivia & this certainly isn’t as good as Joy Ride but it’s a fun “popcorn movie” that’s a bit of a throwback to the kind of thrillers that they made throughout the ’90s. Sometimes we just wanna see a crazy person lose their shit in a cheesy thriller. Like Single White Female! I’ll always like that one but I know it’s awful. This movie keeps up a good pace through the whole thing so you’re never bored, Caren Pistorius and her “son” Gabriel Bateman who could actually be her brother in real life are both perfectly fine as the two main people Crowe is terrorizing, and we get a pretty fun showdown with a great line from Pistorius. That’s all we really need from this type of movie. Yeah, it could’ve been a better film but it was still a fun watch.

My Rating: 6.5/10

The Woman in the Window (2021)

Directed by Joe Wright

Screenplay by Tracy Letts

Based on The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn

Starring: Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Fred Hechinger, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Julianne Moore

Music by Danny Elfman

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
The film follows an agoraphobic woman (Amy Adams) who begins to spy on her new neighbors (Gary Oldman, Fred Hechinger, and Julianne Moore) and is witness to a crime in their apartment.

My Opinion:

This was meh. I use the word “meh” on my blog way too much. Unfortunately, it’s just the perfect word for way too many movies these days.

I read this book years ago in preparation for the film adaptation before Covid delayed it for years. I re-posted my old review of the book HERE the other day. The book was also a bit meh but I still had hopes for the movie as it’s the kind of story that can work quite well as a film if done right. Plus I like Amy Adams. Speaking of those cheesy ’90s psychological thrillers, this is another story just like those. But, whereas Single White Female was so cheesy it was fun, I think maybe The Woman In The Window took things a little too seriously? I’m not sure exactly why it didn’t work but the movie was pretty boring. At least I can say Unhinged wasn’t at all boring. And, speaking of Single White Female, I should add that Jennifer Jason Leigh is in this & she’s completely wasted (as is Julianne Moore & Gary Oldman). That’s a lot of big name actors in small roles with very little to do! I mean, my god, Wyatt Russell got more screen time than any of those big names.

I don’t have much more to say about this, to be honest, which is always the case with meh movies. I’ll just say they really glossed over all her conversations with her husband (Anthony Mackie) & their daughter in this and there was way more involving them in the book. Did people watching this movie even notice them or pick up on that story much?! We also didn’t get much of the main character’s love of movies, which I liked in the book. Oh, and not that it matters in the slightest, but the neighborhood in the movie was not at all how I pictured it. And the Amy Adams character was unfortunately a bit unlikeable (but she was that way in the book too so I guess Adams did well). Whatever. I’ve written enough. Watch this if you really want to but go into it with very low expectations. Or just watch the absolutely brilliant Rear Window instead.

My Rating: 5.5/10

Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) Review

Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)

Directed & Written by Richard Linklater

Starring: Will Brittain, Zoey Deutch, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Blake Jenner, Glen Powell, Wyatt Russell

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
A group of college baseball players navigate their way through the freedoms and responsibilities of unsupervised adulthood.

My Opinion:

I love Richard Linklater and Dazed And Confused is a favorite movie of mine. So, when I heard about this “spiritual sequel” to Dazed And Confused, I was SO excited! Screw all the superhero movies – this one was one of my most-anticipated films for the year. Does it live up to the hype (in my mind)?? Unfortunately, it’s no Dazed And Confused. It’s okay, though. It was an enjoyable afternoon watch (damn – I wanted that to sound more enthusiastic than it does…).

First off, I’ll say that this is a “Guy Movie” much more than Dazed And Confused was. And, hey – I honestly don’t have a problem with that. Stand By Me is a huge favorite of mine & the lack of female characters in that has never bothered me in the slightest – it’s a movie about young male friendships. Not every movie has to pass the Bechdel test to be good! But I suppose the boys in Stand By Me weren’t all “Pussy! PUSSY!!!! Want pussy. We want pussy. Tits. Pussy. Pussy!!!!!” for the entire duration of the movie. Okay – they didn’t say it exactly that way & not for the entire duration of this movie. But it’s not far off… But, hey, I was actually alive already in 1980 (when this is set), unlike a lot of younger bloggers. I think younger viewers may think these characters are exaggerated. Um, no. This is exactly what they were like. I think of the assholes I went to school with and it still amazes me that they found women who actually married them. Ugh. Anyway, don’t worry – not all the male characters are assholes. Linklater has given us a wide range of personalities just like in Dazed And Confused, so you’ll have your favorites & least favorites. The focus of this movie are these male baseball players so it’s fine that the female characters take a backseat. I just preferred Dazed And Confused feeling a bit more balanced in giving us more female characters (most of which were more than just “pussy” – we only get one girl like that in this one).

Look! It’s “the girl”!

Okay – that was my one main complaint that I had to get out of the way. I think it was also sort of a warning to younger bloggers. I honestly don’t think you’ll like this movie if you’re from a younger generation. Sorry – this movie wasn’t made for you anyway (which is fine – most are so it’s nice to have some films made for us old folks). 😉 You won’t have the same sense of nostalgia (thank you for once again giving us a great soundtrack, Mr. Linklater!) and you won’t be able to relate to these characters (or at least understand them since you knew so many guys like them).

My second complaint is that this didn’t feel as “natural” as Dazed And Confused. It felt a little too forced at times. I did appreciate how, through going to several different parties, Linklater shows us several different types of people in 1980 America. The jocks, the stoners, the punks, the disco fans, the drama majors, even the stereotypical country bumpkins. Which was fun! But, like I said, also a bit forced. I suppose it doesn’t help that Dazed And Confused exists so everyone is going to compare the two. Would I like this one more if that one didn’t exist? Yes, I think I most definitely would. The problem is that we’ve seen this movie before but done better.

Okay – I want to round this up by sounding more positive. Because I did like this. If Linklater makes another “spiritual sequel”, I’ll most definitely be watching it! This is an era I love and I’ll always have an affection for movies set in this time period (or, even better, actually made in this time period). To hear the music and see the clothing and the hairstyles and the record players and the cool album covers (actual albums! that you can hold in your hands!!) makes me smile. Oh how I miss that time! I’d go back there if I could (yes – even though the guys could be horribly sexist). At one point the hubby said “do you think younger people watching this will think it’s odd that all these characters are actually talking to each other?”. Yes, I sit here now typing this on my phone. I love my phone. I love technology. But I’d give this shit up in a heartbeat to go back to a simpler time and have proper conversations with people.

My favorite scene was probably when a few of the guys were sitting around (smoking weed, of course) and just chatting about music & The Twilight Zone. One dude was very proud of his big collection of Twilight Zone episodes that he’d videotaped (and labelled with all the episode titles!). I recognized the titles and, when they talked about one specific episode, I turned to hubby & said “Eye Of The Beholder“. In my defense, they chose one of the most well known episodes. But, yeah – I had a very similar Twilight Zone video collection & that character clearly would’ve been my boyfriend out of all the guys in this. And, luckily, he wasn’t totally sexist! Too bad he was a stoner… 😉

As a final note, the hubby & I kept noticing that these relatively unknown actors all seriously looked like existing actors. The hubby thinks that Linklater probably had existing people in mind then hired lookalikes. What do you all think? The main guy is SO Matt Dillon (also a bit like Jason London in Dazed And Confused). And the girl so eerily looks like Lea Thompson. There are a couple that have a total Matthew McConaughey vibe while the hubby swears that one guy is way too Jeremy Piven-like. Oh, and one guy really reminded me of Billy Crudup in Almost Famous (I didn’t realize until afterwards that he was the hot guy in the Teen Wolf TV show. Anyone watch that?? I gave up after season one). 

Anyway – time for me to shut up since I’m just rambling now. I enjoyed this but didn’t love it. Maybe it’ll grow on me. It did give me warm, fuzzy, nostalgic feelings, though, which is what I was hoping for. 

My Rating: 7.5/10

Look! It’s “the girl” again! 😉

I have to end this with a song as Richard Linklater so carefully chooses the music for his films and he once again has a great soundtrack. I know I should post Van Halen’s title tune but it’s not my favorite. I’m also mostly into rock but, if I’m honest, the below song is probably my favorite from the film. Here’s Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker) by Parliament:

**Oh! I meant to add that there’s hardly any baseball in this movie about baseball players. Thank f*^k! But it’s inspired me to maybe do My Top Ten Baseball Scenes In Movies (from a hater of sports). 🙂

21 Jump Street & 22 Jump Street Double Review

I went to see 22 Jump Street a couple of weeks ago (I only watched three movies that day, not four like I did one day last month. No, that’s NOT a regular thing that I do!). 😉 Anyway – they were Oculus, The Fault In Our Stars (review HERE) & 22 Jump Street. I’m not reviewing much lately but I’ll try to do Oculus at some point (Spoiler: I thought it was pretty shit). Since I just watched 21 Jump Street for the first time a few months ago, I figured I might as well review the two together…

21 Jump Street (2012)

Directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller

Starring:
Jonah Hill
Channing Tatum
Dave Franco
Brie Larson
Rob Riggle
DeRay Davis
Ice Cube
Nick Offerman

My Opinion:

Okay! So. I finally watched this movie a few months ago. I’d avoided it because… How DARE they mess with 21 Jump Street! That’s one of my all-time favorite TV shows (number 11)! And they made it into a silly COMEDY? WTF?! Well, there’s no point discussing the TV show – the movie shares its name & the fact that young looking police officers go undercover in high schools but that’s IT – there are no other similarities so I’ll just discuss the movie and try to pretend it has a different title.

21 Jump Street was okay. It didn’t exactly blow me away but it was better than I was expecting and I even found a few bits fairly funny. I’ve started to warm a little to Jonah Hill since he was so fantastic in The Wolf Of Wall Street. I’ve never understood the Channing Tatum thing – the first thing I actually saw him in was Side Effects and he seemed out of place. Then I saw the dreadful Magic Mike… Ugh. But he’s likeable here and I think they finally found a role that suits him. Ice Cube was pretty hilarious – I think he was probably the funniest thing about this. The best thing about this, however, was Brie Larson. I’ve not seen her in anything else other than Don Jon but now I really want to see Short Term 12 based on her performance in this.

21 Jump Street starts out pretty promising but about halfway through gets a little TOO silly and over the top for my liking. I like comedy that stays a bit more simple (as in, not juvenile “in your face” humor). By the end I was a bit bored and fell asleep a few times and kept having to go back to try to finish the last 15 minutes. Hell – I’m not sure if I ever did! By the time they got to the cameos (minor spoiler maybe but I think everyone knows about the cameos by now) I was like “No”. The cameos were pretty stupid and not handled very well. The movie definitely had some potential at first and I had some hope that I was going to end up liking it okay. And I sort of did. Unfortunately, it does fall apart at the end.

My Rating: 6/10

22 Jump Street (2014)

Directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller

Starring:
Jonah Hill
Channing Tatum
Peter Stormare
Ice Cube
Amber Stevens
Wyatt Russell
Jillian Bell
Jimmy Tatro
Nick Offerman

My Opinion:

Well, this is a big step up from 21 Jump Street. Overall, this is a much funnier film and feels a lot more “together” than the first film did. It still goes a little over the top at the end but doesn’t fall apart like I thought 21 Jump Street did. And the best thing about this movie is that it makes fun of itself. A LOT. Because it’s the exact same story again but set in college instead of high school and the movie knows this and constantly jokes about it and the whole “sequelitis” problem in Hollywood. I thought that was all really funny and the end credits scenes (as the credits rolled) were BRILLIANT! It was actually the best bit of the entire movie and worth watching for that alone. So do NOT leave the second the credits roll on this one, people! (Oh, there’s also a final scene at the very end after the credits as well – that one is pretty stupid & not worth staying for, in my opinion).

This time around, I thought Channing Tatum was much better and a lot funnier. I MAYBE finally like him more after seeing this one. Maybe… Yeah – he’s pretty good in this one and possibly even outshines Jonah Hill this time. They also feel more like a team and have better chemistry. And Ice Cube luckily has even more screen time in this one and he’s again hilarious – I really liked the scenes with him. The “female love interest” this time around doesn’t have the charisma of Brie Larson but I’d have to say that’s the only thing they didn’t improve on from the first film.

Well, I suppose I should wrap this up as my opinion is pretty obvious anyway. I enjoyed 22 Jump Street quite a bit more than 21 Jump Street. I always love when a movie isn’t afraid to make fun of itself. Overall, though, these films aren’t really my type of thing although I can appreciate why some people like them. If they DO make a 3rd one, I’m hoping they can improve on the whole thing once again & stick to more of the good jokes instead of as many stupid, silly gags (but Hill & Tatum can get high once again. I’ll admit that I find it freaking hilarious when people get high in movies and the fact that I love the Harold & Kumar films probably destroys my argument that I don’t like “dumb” humor). 😉 I feel there should be a bigger gap in the two ratings but I don’t think 21 deserves lower than a 6 while I can’t really give 22 a 7 as I can’t say it’s exactly going to be a favorite film or that I’ll ever watch it again. But I appreciate that they seemed to put much more effort into this one. Plus the scenes during the credits get 8/10!

My Rating: 6.5/10