eziukwuuprightness
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Speak No Evil (2024) is a psychological thriller that follows the Dalton family, Ben, Louise, and their young daughter, Agnes.
During their Italian vacation, they meet Paddy and Ciara, along with their mute son, Ant. The seemingly free-spirited British family strikes a chord with the Daltons-a family plagued by personal troubles regarding Ben's unemployment and Louise's affair. Their marital tensions increase back in London, but an impromptu invitation from Paddy and Ciara to visit them at their rural English farm offers them an opportunity to reclaim their marriage.
As the Daltons come over to the pretty farm, it proves once again the fact that first impressions are misleading. The farmhouse is cozy, though there are minor signs of uneasiness. Paddy and Ciara were friendly but in a darker mood, which seemed to increase as the disturbing incidents kept recurring. Noise at night, staring, and boundary violations intensify gradually.
Louise becomes more distressed when Paddy and Ciara start mistreating Ant, who cannot say anything except through his expressions.
Matters come to a head when, against their better judgment, the Daltons leave Agnes with a babysitter, Muhjid, and go out to dinner with Paddy and Ciara. The terrifying consequences of a game of hide-and-seek with Ant leave Agnes and Muhjid in a truly frightening situation. Meanwhile, the dinner is an excruciating experience for Louise and Ben as the crudity of Paddy pushes them to the limit. They come back to find Agnes in a precarious state; Louise insists they leave the house right away. During their attempted escape, Agnes insists that they go back inside for her stuffed rabbit, which puts them all in peril again.
All tension in Speak No Evil is built through atmospheric slow burn rather than traditional horror elements: jump scares, for example. The movie also broadly deals with the themes of politeness and societal expectations, especially how those could get people stuck in dangerous situations. Ben and Louise are sheepish about confronting increasingly hostile behavior from their hosts, reflecting a deeper struggle between self-preservation and avoiding rudeness.
This tension is reflected in the class dynamics between the families. Paddy and Ciara are an upper-class British family, while the Daltons are working-class Americans, a difference that gives subtle power to each of their interactions with one another.
James McAvoy gives a tour-de-force performance of Paddy, charming and menacing in turns charming yet so unnervingly unsettling at the same time. It is his unpredictability and the dynamic in his interactions with other characters that raise this movie.
Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis bring realism to their portrayal of Ben and Louise, torn between suspicion and social propriety. Aisling Franciosi is excellent as Ciara, whose ambiguous role in escalating the tension further complicates things.
The movie visually highlights the desolation of the rural English countryside through wide shots showing how vulnerable the Daltons are. Its cinematography is eerie since most of the scenes are close-ups or protracted to have one tangibly feel dreadful.
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During their Italian vacation, they meet Paddy and Ciara, along with their mute son, Ant. The seemingly free-spirited British family strikes a chord with the Daltons-a family plagued by personal troubles regarding Ben's unemployment and Louise's affair. Their marital tensions increase back in London, but an impromptu invitation from Paddy and Ciara to visit them at their rural English farm offers them an opportunity to reclaim their marriage.
As the Daltons come over to the pretty farm, it proves once again the fact that first impressions are misleading. The farmhouse is cozy, though there are minor signs of uneasiness. Paddy and Ciara were friendly but in a darker mood, which seemed to increase as the disturbing incidents kept recurring. Noise at night, staring, and boundary violations intensify gradually.
Louise becomes more distressed when Paddy and Ciara start mistreating Ant, who cannot say anything except through his expressions.
Matters come to a head when, against their better judgment, the Daltons leave Agnes with a babysitter, Muhjid, and go out to dinner with Paddy and Ciara. The terrifying consequences of a game of hide-and-seek with Ant leave Agnes and Muhjid in a truly frightening situation. Meanwhile, the dinner is an excruciating experience for Louise and Ben as the crudity of Paddy pushes them to the limit. They come back to find Agnes in a precarious state; Louise insists they leave the house right away. During their attempted escape, Agnes insists that they go back inside for her stuffed rabbit, which puts them all in peril again.
All tension in Speak No Evil is built through atmospheric slow burn rather than traditional horror elements: jump scares, for example. The movie also broadly deals with the themes of politeness and societal expectations, especially how those could get people stuck in dangerous situations. Ben and Louise are sheepish about confronting increasingly hostile behavior from their hosts, reflecting a deeper struggle between self-preservation and avoiding rudeness.
This tension is reflected in the class dynamics between the families. Paddy and Ciara are an upper-class British family, while the Daltons are working-class Americans, a difference that gives subtle power to each of their interactions with one another.
James McAvoy gives a tour-de-force performance of Paddy, charming and menacing in turns charming yet so unnervingly unsettling at the same time. It is his unpredictability and the dynamic in his interactions with other characters that raise this movie.
Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis bring realism to their portrayal of Ben and Louise, torn between suspicion and social propriety. Aisling Franciosi is excellent as Ciara, whose ambiguous role in escalating the tension further complicates things.
The movie visually highlights the desolation of the rural English countryside through wide shots showing how vulnerable the Daltons are. Its cinematography is eerie since most of the scenes are close-ups or protracted to have one tangibly feel dreadful.
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In the post-scarcity dystopian society of Uglies, hunger, poverty, and resource shortages have all been eradicated, but society has become obsessed with appearances. Everyone is "ugly" until they undergo a state-mandated cosmetic surgery at age 16, emerging as a "Pretty." This, however, is not quite merely cosmetic. Such surgery reforms individuals to a homogenized standard of attractiveness while enacting changes to the brain that make them more compliant, carefree, and intellectually shallow.
Tally Youngblood is the protagonist who has always been anxious for her 16th birthday to come along, so that the operation can be performed on her and she can reside in New Pretty Town-a place of eternal fun and superficiality. Just before her surgery, she encounters Shay, a feisty girl who lets her glimpse the truth hidden behind the operation. She begins telling her about Smoke, a hidden community where people avoid the surgery to instead live freely without the propaganda of sameness controlling the Pretty world.
As Tally becomes more involved with the authorities, otherwise known as the Specials, she finds herself in an impossible choice: to betray Smoke and reveal its location or remain "ugly" for life, not meeting the standards of beauty laid out by society.
It is better through the journey undertaken by Tally to Smoke and experiences there that she is able to question the value of perfection in the physical body and the insidious manipulation of the will of the individual. She comes to realize that the surgery is not only about appearance but is actually about population control by suppressing independent thought and individuality. Based on a novel of the same name written by Scott Westerfeld, Uglies deals with themes such as beauty, societal pressure, and control in a post-apocalyptic world. Despite that broad ambition, however, the actual movie disappoints on a number of elements. To begin with, the movie adopts the theme of the standard of beauty highly relevant to society today without fully developing its exploration.
Joey King plays Tally, but she doesn't feel like an authentic 15-year-old in the role. Chase Stokes is also miscast as her friend David; he's just too old for the part. The acting is over the top at times, further reducing likability and relatability in the characters. Even the villains of this movie are very poorly developed and carry no depth, while some plot points-including a low-key awkward transphobia deployment-come off a bit ham-fisted and problematic.
Visually, the movie does have its moments and maintains a very clean, artificial feel to its future world.
The "Pretties" costume design does capture well the superficiality of it all. At the same time, some of the special effects are really cheesy-the hoverboard scenes come across as dated and take away from the overall immersion. The action sequences, on the other hand, are completely borrowed from other popular movies; The Matrix and Star Wars easily come to mind, but they just don't work in the world of Uglies because there is no storyline explanation for why these characters have such abilities. Because the movie is going at such an breakneck clip, there is literally no time for character development or emotional depth.
Major plot points, like the global disaster that created the Pretty system in the first place, are simply glossed over, with what should be a fully fleshed-out world feeling incredibly two-dimensional. Even with all of the very solid messages about beauty and societal conformity, Uglies barely scratches the surface of what it wishes to say.
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Tally Youngblood is the protagonist who has always been anxious for her 16th birthday to come along, so that the operation can be performed on her and she can reside in New Pretty Town-a place of eternal fun and superficiality. Just before her surgery, she encounters Shay, a feisty girl who lets her glimpse the truth hidden behind the operation. She begins telling her about Smoke, a hidden community where people avoid the surgery to instead live freely without the propaganda of sameness controlling the Pretty world.
As Tally becomes more involved with the authorities, otherwise known as the Specials, she finds herself in an impossible choice: to betray Smoke and reveal its location or remain "ugly" for life, not meeting the standards of beauty laid out by society.
It is better through the journey undertaken by Tally to Smoke and experiences there that she is able to question the value of perfection in the physical body and the insidious manipulation of the will of the individual. She comes to realize that the surgery is not only about appearance but is actually about population control by suppressing independent thought and individuality. Based on a novel of the same name written by Scott Westerfeld, Uglies deals with themes such as beauty, societal pressure, and control in a post-apocalyptic world. Despite that broad ambition, however, the actual movie disappoints on a number of elements. To begin with, the movie adopts the theme of the standard of beauty highly relevant to society today without fully developing its exploration.
Joey King plays Tally, but she doesn't feel like an authentic 15-year-old in the role. Chase Stokes is also miscast as her friend David; he's just too old for the part. The acting is over the top at times, further reducing likability and relatability in the characters. Even the villains of this movie are very poorly developed and carry no depth, while some plot points-including a low-key awkward transphobia deployment-come off a bit ham-fisted and problematic.
Visually, the movie does have its moments and maintains a very clean, artificial feel to its future world.
The "Pretties" costume design does capture well the superficiality of it all. At the same time, some of the special effects are really cheesy-the hoverboard scenes come across as dated and take away from the overall immersion. The action sequences, on the other hand, are completely borrowed from other popular movies; The Matrix and Star Wars easily come to mind, but they just don't work in the world of Uglies because there is no storyline explanation for why these characters have such abilities. Because the movie is going at such an breakneck clip, there is literally no time for character development or emotional depth.
Major plot points, like the global disaster that created the Pretty system in the first place, are simply glossed over, with what should be a fully fleshed-out world feeling incredibly two-dimensional. Even with all of the very solid messages about beauty and societal conformity, Uglies barely scratches the surface of what it wishes to say.
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About the movie, Orion Pax was a lowly archivist and Megatron a gladiator, revolutionary leader; both were close friends united in the goal of overthrowing corruption within Cybertron's ruling elite. As time went by, their ideologies would diverge: Megatron would grow more and more radical, moving from revolution to tyranny, whereas Orion adopted a more peaceful attitude. This is a philosophical divide that would eventually see Orion chosen by the Matrix of Leadership to become Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, while Megatron became the leader of the Decepticons, believing only he can bring order to Cybertron.
"Transformers One" does both a balancing act between nostalgic and new storytelling, showing the emotionally charged relationship that's between Optimus and Megatron. The film is heavier on character dynamics and emotional depth, skimping on heavy action sequences, unlike its predecessors. This telling of the story breathes new life into voiced performances of the characters. Brian Tyree Henry's Megatron shines bright, filled with inner turmoil of a hero now villainous, while Hemsworth brings grace with the young Orion Pax, the future Optimus Prime.
Visually, the movie is sleek and shiny with lovely animation, bringing back lots of the original ideas from G1 but modernizing the designs. The action scenes in the movie are extremely intense, sometimes way too chaotic, where it's a little hard to keep track of what's happening. Yet, heavy themes of social inequality, political corruption, and compromised morality are well-balanced with lighter, more humorous scenes within the film, primarily contributed by such characters as Bumblebee, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key, for comic relief.
While it tackled deep themes and complicated relationships between characters, its plot could get a little overstuffed at times. The pacing at times can be somewhat uneven, and some of these subplots are more distracting than anything else from the core story of Orion Pax and Megatron's friendship. Even with those problems, the core emotional arc holds together in this movie, making it one of the more compelling entries in the Transformers series.
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"Transformers One" does both a balancing act between nostalgic and new storytelling, showing the emotionally charged relationship that's between Optimus and Megatron. The film is heavier on character dynamics and emotional depth, skimping on heavy action sequences, unlike its predecessors. This telling of the story breathes new life into voiced performances of the characters. Brian Tyree Henry's Megatron shines bright, filled with inner turmoil of a hero now villainous, while Hemsworth brings grace with the young Orion Pax, the future Optimus Prime.
Visually, the movie is sleek and shiny with lovely animation, bringing back lots of the original ideas from G1 but modernizing the designs. The action scenes in the movie are extremely intense, sometimes way too chaotic, where it's a little hard to keep track of what's happening. Yet, heavy themes of social inequality, political corruption, and compromised morality are well-balanced with lighter, more humorous scenes within the film, primarily contributed by such characters as Bumblebee, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key, for comic relief.
While it tackled deep themes and complicated relationships between characters, its plot could get a little overstuffed at times. The pacing at times can be somewhat uneven, and some of these subplots are more distracting than anything else from the core story of Orion Pax and Megatron's friendship. Even with those problems, the core emotional arc holds together in this movie, making it one of the more compelling entries in the Transformers series.
Can't decide what to watch? Moviecity.ng is your movie matchmaker! We talk about movies in details, about trending topics, and maybe, we might link you to your next cinematic obsession.