Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay Peter Weir, the acclaimed Australian filmmaker, sits alongside George Miller as one of the pivotal artists who ushered in his country’s New Wave of cinema in the 1970s and 1980s. With films like Picnic at Hanging Rock and Gallipoli, Weir cemented his legacy as an important part of late-20th-century world cinema. And, in my humble opinion, the later films of his career like Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show are actually his best works. However, what is easily his most underrated and underappreciated film is the 1993 drama Fearless starring Jeff Bridges and based on Rafael Yglesias’s novel of the same name.
Why is this movie worth your time? Keep reading to find out. 😊 What’s It About [NOTE: This section contains minor spoilers for “Fearless.” If you’d rather see the film for yourself, skip to the next section.] While in midair on a commercial jet, Max Klein (Jeff Bridges) and the other passengers are suddenly in danger as the plane begins to crash. As the other passengers understandably freak out, Max remains strangely calm (despite admitting his fear of flying before taking off) and is able to help dispel fear amongst his fellow passengers. The crash kills most of the passengers and injures many others, but Max is unharmed and decides to leave the crash site as he feels pestered by the press and FAA investigators trying to question him. In the days following the crash, Max’s family and friends notice his changed behavior and how unaffected he is by the traumatic event. He is also praised on the news by surviving passengers for how he successfully calmed them as the plane was going down. However, Max becomes increasingly distant from his wife and son and becomes convinced that he has forever defeated death itself. He begins spending his spare time consoling another survivor of the crash, Carla Rodrigo (Rosie Perez), who feels guilty about failing to keep her infant child alive during the crash. As lawyers and government agents continue pressuring him to take one side or the other, Max succumbs to the stress and acts on his newfound belief in his immortality by confronting death head-on multiple times. In doing so, Max revels in his fearlessness and must come to recognize the true meaning of a second chance. Why It’s Worth Watching I cannot say this any other way: Fearless very much sits on the shoulders of Jeff Bridges’s commanding performance. As our protagonist, Bridges never once stumbles or falters in showing the incredibly nuances and complexities of Max’s unorthodox way in which he processes the trauma of a near-death experience. This certainly helps anchor the movie’s uncomfortable themes and ideas in a relatable character, and that’s all thanks to Bridges. Without a doubt, his turn in Fearless stands toe to toe with the many other iconic performances of his career in films such as John Carpenter’s Starman and the Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski and True Grit. Simply put, if you’re just a Jeff Bridges fan and haven’t seen this movie please trust me when I say that it’s more than worth your time. But, that’s not to say other members of the cast aren’t great, too. Notably, Rosie Perez as fellow crash survivor Carla effectively serves as a foil to Max in terms of how people deal with trauma, grief, and survivor’s guilt differently. Whereas facing death turns Max into a free-wheeling daredevil looking for danger, the loss of her child has turned Carla into an emotional wreck who (understandably and believably) struggles to accept the reality of her loss and the fact that she kept her life when her baby lost theirs. Whenever on screen together, the thematic aspirations of director Peter Weir are on full display as Bridges and Perez play out just how complex processing trauma can truly be. This all adds up to said aspirations. In adapting Yglesias’s novel, Weir crafts an exceptionally mature and intelligent narrative about how a man accepting and embracing his own mortality and the thin line on which it rides helps him (and, therefore, the audience) come to terms with the existential beauty of life in all its comedic and tragic elements. In other words, Fearless makes for an exceptionally well-done examination of the mysteries of the human psyche that is smart and poignant while also entertaining and by no means a waste of your time. Honestly, there isn’t much more I can say if what I’ve already said hasn’t convinced you. Go check out Fearless because it is undoubtedly one of Weir’s best films and a criminally underappreciated drama from recent cinematic memory. Trust me; your time will not be wasted. Have I convinced you to check out Peter Weir’s Fearless? What’s a movie that you feel is underappreciated? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst
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Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay One of the most popular cult filmmakers of the late-20th century is Sam Raimi, who has transcended genres and budgets to leave his unique mark on modern cinema. Some fans uphold the Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man trilogy, while others harken back to his feature directorial debut The Evil Dead and its zany sequels which represent his horror roots. Needless to say, Raimi is still a popular director (and prolific director) despite his relatively small output this past decade. But, in my humble opinion, the most underrated and best Sam Raimi film is his 1998 neo-noir crime thriller A Simple Plan.
Why is this movie worth your time? Keep reading to find out. 😊 What’s It About [NOTE: This section contains minor spoilers for “A Simple Plan.” If you’d rather see the film for yourself, skip to the next section.] The film follows the lives of married couple Hank and Sarah Mitchell (Bill Paxton and Bridget Fonda) who live in rural Minnesota where Hank’s older brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton) also resides. While Hank and Jacob hunt down a fox with their friend Lou Chambers (Brent Briscoe) into the snowy woods, the three men come across a crashed airplane. Inside, the pilot is dead and there is a bag containing over four-million dollars just sitting there. Despite Hank’s reservations otherwise, Jacob and Lou persuade him to keep the money safe until winter’s end. They figure that if nobody inquires as to the money by springtime, then they can split the loot three ways and leave town. After a tense confrontation with the local sheriff, the men agree to keep the money a secret between themselves (despite Hank revealing the money to Sarah once he returns home with it). Despite their best efforts to hold out until spring and distort any potential trail pointing to them, Hank, Jacob and Lou make several mistakes along the way that result in others being hurt and killed in the process of preserving as much of their score as possible. As the drama unravels, Hank and Jacob’s relationship is pressured and strained and their lives will never be the same again. Why It’s Worth Watching Admittedly, it’s hard to discuss the best things about A Simple Plan without spoiling the entire plot. But I’ll do my best. 😊 For starters, if you’re just looking for a movie with some excellent lead performances than look no further. Our two stars here, Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton, play so well off each other as brothers with a particularly strained dynamic that’s more fleshed out as the story goes along. But the journey they go on together would not work as well if they couldn’t stand on their own terms as performers and characters. Whether it’s Paxton and Fonda as husband and wife or Thornton and Briscoe as best friends, the main cast here plays their parts to damn-near perfection by propping each other up rather than distracting or taking away from each other’s respective performances. In terms of the story overall, I was surprised at just how grounded this version of the rural Midwest that Raimi crafted was. If you’re at all familiar with his other work, from The Evil Dead to Darkman, I guarantee that you will watch A Simple Plan and be unable to spot any of Raimi’s defining characteristics as a director. His signature zany camerawork and reliance on excessively melodramatic characters is nowhere to be seen here. Instead, Raimi lets the inherent dramatic tension created between the characters and their intensely personal predicament drive the story. In other words, this feels like Raimi prioritizing substance over style in a way that so many of his other movies do the opposite. Sometimes, a director turning away from the style most associated with them can result in a bland, uninspired story (Spike Lee’s Inside Man, for example). But other times, it can blossom something truly entertaining and engaging like A Simple Plan. All this is to say that if you’ve seen Raimi’s other work and been discouraged by it, I think that this movie is worth a shot because of how much it doesn’t feel like any other Raimi movie. At the end of the day, this movie is a crime drama that delivers on its branding. By letting the inciting event (the main characters finding a stash of money in a downed airplane) drive the narrative, Raimi plays out a character-driven thriller that explores the deepest, darkest depths of the human psyche regarding the lengths that human beings will go to satiate their own greed and selfish desires. Simply put, not only is A Simple Plan my favorite Sam Raimi flick but (in my humble opinion) it’s one of the most underappreciated crime dramas of the last few decades. Have I convinced you to check out Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan? What’s a movie that you feel is underappreciated? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst Image by Melk Hagelslag from Pixabay There are some movies you watch during a specific time in your life that work so well because of that. There are other movies that leave a powerful impression on you because of just how raw and emotional the storytelling is. So what happens when these elements are combined? For me, you get Short Term 12 which remains one of my favorite indie movies of this century.
Why is this movie worth your time? Keep reading to find out. 😊 What’s It About [NOTE: This section contains minor spoilers for “Short Term 12.” If you’d rather see the film for yourself, skip to the next section.] Short Term 12 follows Grace Howard (Brie Larson), a supervisor of the eponymously-named group home for troubled adolescents. Despite the nature of her work, Grace is a rather emotionally withdrawn person even with her boyfriend Mason (John Gallagher, Jr.) with whom she lives and works alongside. Despite issues in her personal life, Grace’s energy is almost universally devoted to being there for the young residents of Short Term 12 such as Marcus (Lakeith Stanfield) who’s on the verge of turning 18 and thus struggling with the eventuality of leaving the facility. Over the course of the film, Grace strongly bonds with the facility’s newer arrival Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever) over shared histories of issues with their fathers and self-harm. Drama ensues when the father intervenes in Jayden’s life, provoking Grace to action to protect Jayden from further abuse at his hands. All the while, she must keep a watchful eye over Marcus and maintain her rocky relationship with Mason. Ultimately, Grace’s story is one of a woman who finds to work through her own issues she must help those like her and build up to opening up to those who care about her most. Why It’s Worth Watching For me, a movie with an adequate (or even mediocre) plot can still leave a good impression if I enjoy watching the characters exist in their world and deal with the particular ups and downs of their lives. To be clear, the plot of Short Term 12 is far better than just okay. In fact, it really doesn’t have a plot at all. Destin Daniel Cretton, who wrote the screenplay in addition to directing the film, crafted a narrative centering on days in the lives of troubled teens at a group home and the staff who watch over and care for them without feeling a kind of artificial pressure to force some kind of over-the-top plot unbefitting of a story like this. There are plenty of great movies without plots, and I personally would put Short Term 12 up there on that list. In writing this story, Cretton allows the interactions between the characters to breathe. This, of course, serves all of the incredible actors who add so much life and energy. And boy, do they. Not a single performer in the movie feels out of place as a weak link compared to any of the others. While some inferior films allow their leading actor or actress to overshadow the enjoyable nuances of its supporting players, Cretton’s direction layers a communal atmosphere in which every scene can have its momentum driven by one performer for a moment before suddenly (yet not undeservingly) being taken by another in the same scene. Nowadays, some of the names attached to Short Term 12 are now rising stars (notably Lakeith Stanfield and Rami Malek) who leave their mark on the supporting cast while also playing to their particular character’s role in the overall story of this group home. But they could have also drawn attention away from the lesser-known performers here such as John Gallagher, Jr. and Kaitlyn Dever. But it’s the opposite: every single member of this cast builds each other up and successfully pull off what I assume was Cretton’s vision for making a movie about the importance of community. All that being said, I would understand if you watch Short Term 12 coming away with the name of only one actor on your mind: Brie Larson. Easily the biggest name of the cast (particularly now) thanks to her Oscar-winning breakthrough performance in Lenny Abrahamson’s Room and her blockbuster turn as the eponymous superhero in Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel. But looking back at her filmography, I challenge anybody to argue that her performance in this movie wasn’t the one where she achieved greatness as an actor. While not as heartbreakingly exhausting as her portrayal of a captive mother in Room, Larson’s take on Grace as a mentor and caretaker for troubled youth packs all of the emotional punch of any great performance that I’ve seen in the past decade. Needless to say, seeing Larson lead this incredibly likeable cast helped me better understand why she’s lauded as one of the best younger actors on the scene today. But on top of all of those things which make Short Term 12 a fantastic indie flick—from the pacing and structure to the cast—is the sheer amount of heart that Cretton pours from his soul into this movie. Based on the short film which served as his thesis project at San Diego State University, the genesis for this movie at its core was Cretton’s time working at a group facility for teenagers. But in adapting his short form into a feature-length screenplay, Cretton interviewed former workers at institutions like the one in the movie and teenagers who had lived in them. Put together with Cretton’s own experiences, the film is undoubtedly one of the purest examples of “writing what you know” that I’ve seen in modern cinema. From start to finish, it is clear that Cretton’s primary goal is to portray the dark and (often) unseen or ignored struggles of adolescence for people coming from less-than-ideal backgrounds without exploiting them and their stories. Rather, he aims to humanize young people who struggle through such things as abusive parents, suicidal ideations, self-harm, depression, and a myriad of other ailments and obstacles that make going through puberty all the more insufferable. This would be more than enough, but Cretton’s portrayal of these specific teenage tales is paralleled with Grace’s own inability to confront, process, and deal with her own trauma from childhood even as an adult. Much of this is due to Grace’s detached nature, instead focusing on investing all of her energy into being there for the kids in her care, that holds her back from dealing with things in the way that she tells her kids to do. As an adult whose day job is to serve as a teacher and mentor to teens with various emotional struggles, this push-and-pull inherent to Grace’s life experience was incredibly relatable. But if that wasn’t enough to convince you to watch Short Term 12, you should know that all of the themes and scenarios that Cretton and his team of cast and crew create are never played in a way that comes off as cheesy or overtly sentimental. There is a non-excessive rawness to Grace’s internal struggle and the teens’ outward struggles that consistently avoids entering territory reminiscent of second-rate family movies that try to be “wholesome” but instead end up being rote mediocrity. In a very special sense, this movie is (in my humble opinion) the true definition of what a good version of “wholesome” can be. If I still haven’t persuaded to check this movie, please just trust me and seek it out. It is more than worth your time and (if necessary) money. To be fair, Cretton has made some other great movies from the legal drama Just Mercy (starring Michael B. Jordan) to Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. But, without a doubt, this is his best film as of now. I dare you to prove me wrong. 😊 Have I convinced you to check out Destin Daniel Cretton’s Short Term 12? What’s a movie that you feel is underappreciated? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay Unlike so many kids today, I didn’t grow up watching anime. Sure, I’d check out the Saturday morning episodes of Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh! every now and again. But I never even heard of Studio Ghibli or of films Akira and Ghost in the Shell until my young adulthood. So, in catching up with cinema classics over the last few years I’ve also better familiarized myself with some older and newer classic anime flicks such as Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro, Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies, Naoko Yamada’s A Silent Voice, and Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name.
After seeing all those movies and more, what’s the one that I would recommend to anyone? It is none other than Mamoru Hosoda’s 2012 masterpiece Wolf Children. Why is this movie worth your time? Keep reading to find out. 😊 What’s It About [NOTE: This section contains minor spoilers for “Wolf Children.” If you’d rather see the film for yourself, skip to the next section. Also, I’ll be crediting the cast of the English dub since that’s the version of “Wolf Children” that I watched.] The story of Wolf Children centers on a young woman named Hana (Colleen Clinkenbeard) who befriends, and ultimately falls in love with, a strange loner (David Matranga) while at college in Tokyo. Not long into their relationship, the man reveals his ability to transform into a wolf which does not deter Hana’s affections. The two end up moving in together and having two half-human, half-wolf children: their firstborn girl Yuki (Lara Woodhull and Jad Saxton), and their only son Ame (Alison Viktorin and Micah Solusod). However, once tragedy strikes, Hana is forced to cease her education and raise her two children by herself. Recognizing the inherent dangers of bringing up half-wolf kids in a populated urban environment with neighbors and the government prying into their lives, Hana decides to relocate her family of three to the Japanese countryside. While working to upstart a successful farm, Hana also fully commits herself to giving Yuki and Ame ample space and opportunities to grow up as human or as wolf as they wish. Throughout the course of the film as both children age, Hana’s motherly devotion shines brightly while Yuki and Ame experience a variety of situations that help them decide who they want to be and how they want to live in this world. Ultimately, Hana must come to terms with the choices that her children make and accept her potential shortcomings in order to realize whether or not she gave each of them what they truly needed for the future. Why It’s Worth Watching Going into Wolf Children, I was unsure if I would like it or not. I had seen three of Hosoda’s movies before: Saban Entertainment’s 2000 film adaptation Digimon: The Movie (which he co-directed with Shigeyasu Yamauchi), the 2006 sci-fi romance The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and the 2009 sci-fi adventure flick Summer Wars. As a kid, I owned the VHS tape of the first and watched it on repeat but I acknowledge now that it’s not a well-structured movie. I did not really enjoy the second one, but I did enjoy the third one despite and because of its quirkiness. Luckily, Wolf Children did not disappoint. In virtually every way, it felt like a step up from all of Hosoda’s previous films which makes it not only my favorite movie in his repertoire but also one of my favorite anime movies. Period. Much of my love for Wolf Children is based on the characters that Hosoda co-wrote with frequent collaborator Satoko Okudera (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars). Our protagonist is Hana, a smart and capable young woman trying to get an education when her path crosses with the mysterious, enigmatic loner who turns out to be a werewolf. Honestly, it’s these first twenty-ish minutes that are the weakest of the movie but they’re still very good. Hosoda and Okudera’s screenplay expertly settle you in for what you think is going to be a wholesome family story about two young people overcoming life’s struggles to race their mixed-species children. But life (or the writers) has other plans, putting Hana’s story on a different path of being a single mother of her kids Ame and Yuki. From this point on, Wolf Children becomes a compelling drama about the trials and tribulations of motherhood with the added twist of a human trying to raise her half-wolf children without a half-wolf partner around to help out. Moving forward, every decision Hana makes is about raising her children in a safe environment where humans will not discover the secret behind her children’s dual identity. From not knowing to take her sick child to a doctor or a veterinarian to leaving the city to avoid social services who have received noise complaints from neighbors, Hana’s predicament and the grace with which she handles allows Hosoda to evoke incredible amounts of empathy from his audience for his protagonist. For a little over half the film, Wolf Children is Hana’s story. It is a gripping and lovely tale of the unconditional love parents have for their children, which alone makes it a great film. But sometime during the second act, you start to realize that the movie’s about more than that. As Ame and Yuki get older, they experience journeys of their own in confronting the truth behind how humans view predators like themselves as well as going back and forth between which part of themselves to uphold more wholeheartedly. Thus, Hosoda effectively shifts the film’s narrative to a thematically rich coming-of-age story where Ame and Yuki either suppressing or embracing their wolf selves symbolizing the universal identity crisis that all kids experience as they get older. And, to top it all off, the conclusions of the kids’ journeys perfectly tie into Hana’s arc. She has spent so many years of her life being a hyper-protective mother keeping her children safe from the darkness of the world, but towards the end of the movie her overprotective nature puts her own life at risk. Ultimately, she must accept that she has done all she can to raise her children well and allow them both to move forward with the paths they have chosen. As the audience, you feel the bittersweet mixture of pride and heartbreak that Hana feels in these moments even if you don’t have or have never had children of your own (as a single, unmarried man in his mid-20s myself, I qualify as the non-parenting viewer 😊). If this powerful story isn’t enough, Wolf Children boasts some breathtaking animation for being ten years old. From the very first shot, it is clear that the movie will be a vast visual improvement from Hosoda’s earlier films. The animation team excels at grounding this fairy-tale-like story with how they conceive nature as a hopeful and vivacious place in sharp contrast to the somber aesthetic that defines the city (and thus the film’s tragic beginning). On top of all of that, I was initially worried that the look of two children that regularly transform into wolves would be too cartoonish and, therefore, distract from the grounded narrative. Fortunately, the animators seem very aware of such wariness and never let the audience come away from any scenes involving Ame and Yuki’s wolf selves feeling that they have stripped away the realistic elements dominating the rest of the movie. Simply put, Wolf Children is more than worth your time on a rainy Sunday afternoon or a Friday family movie night. It has plenty of humor and kinetic action for young children, compelling characters and plot for adolescents, and mature, relatable themes for adults. And if you’re not a parent, you’ll feel like you’ve gone through the ringer of being one by the time the credits begin to roll. 😉 If you’re unsure of where to start delving into the anime film genre, you certainly won’t go wrong starting that journey with this masterpiece. Have I convinced you to check out Mamoru Hosoda’s Wolf Children? What’s a movie that you feel is underappreciated? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay In honor of Black History Month, I want to highlight the work of some African-American filmmakers by showering love and adoration onto some movies that (in my humble opinion) have not been given their due. A couple of weeks ago, I talked about Gina Prince-Bythewood’s romantic drama Beyond the Lights. Today, I want to shine a light on the sophomore directorial effort from F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton, The Fate of the Furious): the female-led ensemble heist flick Set It Off.
Why is this movie worth your time? Keep reading to find out. 😊 What’s It About [NOTE: This section contains minor spoilers for “Set It Off.” If you’d rather see the film for yourself, skip to the next section.] Set It Off stars four African-American women living in Los Angeles and who are best friends: Lida “Stony” Newsome (Jada Pinkett Smith), Cleopatra “Cleo” Sims (Queen Latifah), Francesca “Frankie” Sutton (Vivica A. Fox), and Tisean “T.T.” Williams (Kimberly Elise). At the start of the film, Frankie is working as a bank teller but is summarily terminated because she recognized someone who was part of a recent robbery (although she didn’t personally know him). Down on her luck, Frankie joins Stony, Cleo, and T.T. at work as a janitor despite their boss Luther (Thomas Jefferson Byrd) disrespecting them and paying them poorly. As the women tire of their job, Cleo suggests they rob a bank to make some extra money. Frankie enthusiastically agrees, but both Stony and T.T. are initially reluctant to go along with the plan until both experience family-related trauma that persuade them otherwise. Thanks to Frankie’s inside knowledge of bank security protocols, the women pull off a series of bank robberies but end up getting the attention of LAPD Detective Strode (John C. McGinley) as well as deal with the problem of safely storing their stolen cash Blood begins to spill and relationships for formed and strained, causing some hesitations among some of the women who are certain that their luck cannot last forever. But, of course, they decide to do one last heist Stony becomes hesitant to continue their escapades but the women agree to one final bank heist before leaving town for good. And, as one might expect, it doesn’t go as planned as Stony, Cleo, Frankie, and T.T. do their damnedest to keep themselves from a life behind bars. Why It’s Worth Watching As far as heist movies go, they tend to be very hit-or-miss for me. Upon reflection, I think that this subgenre of action flicks just has so many pitfalls when it comes to writing, direction, and pacing that it can fall into that they’re more likely to fail than succeed. One of those pitfalls is the likeability, relatability, and chemistry of the lead “heisters.” Luckily, in the case of Set It Off, the lead ensemble exceeds expectations on that front. All four female leads in this movie play their roles exceptionally well. For one thing, the characters feel fleshed out enough for a movie like this without ever being overbearing with any strenuous side plots. They also avoid succumbing to racial stereotypes in their personalities and behavior by feeling different enough from one another as well as fulfilling some more traditional archetypes that often occur in heist movies. And while this characterization could be viewed as formulaic, the charisma and relatability of these women help the audience buy into their characters from start to finish. Ultimately, what makes this ensemble great is how they avoid one-dimensionality by exhibiting multiple behaviors based on the environment and situation. They can be strong and determined when robbing a bank, they can be funny and easygoing in private together, they can be scared when facing the prospect of death or watching a friend or relative die, and they can be vulnerable in spite of prior acts that would indicate that they’re hardened women from unfortunate circumstances. Needless to say, Set It Off works largely on the backs of Smith, Latifah, Fox & Elise collaborating onscreen to make each and every one of them lovable and empathetic criminals. Beyond the performances, F. Gary Gray seems to understand the kind of movie this could be and does a pretty standup job embracing the good of that while also avoiding the bad. Primarily, Gray utilizes his measly budget of nine million dollars to great effect in terms of the action and cinematography. While the robbery, chase and shootout scenes feel as bombastic as they should, the more intimate, character-based scenes feel more like an indie drama about four friends on hard times that give Set It Off a sense of tonal balance and variety that makes for some pretty good filmmaking. In addition to that, Gary’s handling of social commentary in the film could have easily come off as preachy or overly sentimental. Fortunately, his sensibilities (also on display in my favorite film of his, Straight Outta Compton) work well in this respect. Whether it be Stony losing her younger brother to police brutality or T.T. having her son taken from her custody, these characters represent examples of the brutal nature of society without ever making that the purpose for that character’s existence. Thus, one can watch this movie and enjoy it as an action heist flick on its own terms. However, if you’re looking for a movie of this genre with a bit more heart and ideas to explore, Set It Off undeniably fits that description. Other than being an underappreciated great film, Set It Off is also (in my humble opinion) an important film. Due to its critical and commercial success back in 1996, I argue that (along with films like Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown) it helped lay the foundation for modern female-led heist movies like Ocean’s Eight and Widows that would not be as good as they are without this movie. To be clear, there are important movies in a historical or cultural sense that aren’t necessarily movies that I enjoy, Fortunately, this film happens to be both. All in all, Set It Off may not be the most popular heist movie. But it unquestionably deserves to be seen and talked about by more people than it has. I hope I’ve convinced you today to take a chance on it; I’m confident that you’ll be entertained and (perhaps) even emotionally moved by the time the credits roll. Have I convinced you to check out F. Gary Gray’s Set It Off? What’s a movie that you feel is underappreciated? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst |
Austin McManusI have no academic or professional background in film production or criticism; I simply love watching and talking about movies. Archives
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