Morning Reel Ray Salazar

"Lamb" or natively "Dýrið", is a crazy folk horror film and there is a twist and a couple of turns. The director did a pretty good job showing us the effectiveness without spoon feeding like American horror films. it's a about a couple who discover a lamb that has features of a human. You have to see it to not only believe it, but to see how it plays out. The ending is unexpected. The way the characters play out the story seems plain but there's a lot of dark pain in it and it slowly unfolds. It's a not a simple and the cinematography backs that up. It may be beautiful in Iceland, but what surrounds it is the scary part. Fogs, mountains and unpaved roads represents the film. It's vast and you can easily get lost with little hope. I dug the screenplay of this film. It's precise as to how the characters operate and slowly develop. We care about them, trying to live a simple farm life but circumstances were not in their favor. Please watch this film, it's available on Prime Video FOR FREE, you will not be disappointed.

Three and a half out of four tokes.

#lamb #lambfilm #noomirapace

Xavier Guerrero is my guest for this episode reviewing the film "A Summer's Tale" of "A Tale of Smmer"--however you want to pronounce it--is a comedy film by Éric Rohmer. He is a beast in comedy, witty and impactful philosophical writing and direction that seems breathless to the eyes. In this film in particular, it's about a dude who comes with no dilemmas ending into evading a huge one that dealt with three women. Man, what a film. XG and I talk about suspenseful it gets with the different dynamics of each of the women and the intersection of them with the main character, Gaspard. We also talk about how easy and simple the film is in its cinematography and how the characters speak to each other- very natural with constant wit. It's a sparring battle and it's crazy how it carries the film's overall plot. It's just sets up only to get knocked down to the next part of story. It's a good film, great laugh and it's simple. Maybe too simple. it's films like these where you can really take and enjoy for what it is. We both agreed how it does take a while for the film to really get to the excitemenr of the second act. I was amazed as to how XG can get actually frustrated having captions in front of women, especially women in a French coast setting. Oh, X. But that right there tells you what a good job this film did with the casting and these actors owned their characters.

Four out of Four Tokes

XG
http://fullytoxic.com

"Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire", a fun film with a lame plot where somehow we had to revolve it around an existential crisis from a teenager that I feel doesn't work. I don't mind the film getting to the roots of demons and how it ties into ghosts. That part still barely makes sense but it's better than Phoebe trying to figure herself out. I felt cheated, like it forced us to try to be "woke". I don't mind an existential crisis but it has to tie well with the overall plot and I feel we two different plots going on at the same time and the only people to save it was the OGs that included Bill Murray. The acting is pretty all right in this film especially the dialog but again, the overall film wanes with trying to tie that in, like it doesn't know what it wants to be or rather, it doesn't know where to stick to. It is a family film of sorts that I'm sure can be relatable but when you have a teenage girl talking about death half the time in the film and preferring a state of death/ghost, it disconnects right off the bat. That I can't get behind at all. Shit like that is influential and can cause of wave of people being that open to put themselves in that state of mind. That's a red flag.

"Lost In Translation" is an iconic film written & directed by Sofia Coppola. It's one of the first films in her career that is very visual with a simple but profound plot where two travelers from America are missing something. One just graduated from college, married and with no clue with what to with life. The other was a famous actor and now does commercials, married but unhappy. He has little clue as to how to move forward with life. They meet and the rest is history. The film touches the idea of social/cultural displacement and the question of what to do with life and how to find meaning of it. There's no crazy action, there are no twists, it's two main characters journeying life and they make it fun. It's a film where Tokyo is a main character in itself, that teaches us to make adpations and find new ways to jumpstart ambition. I review this film with E-Zone. We touch on how personal issues define us, the cinematography showing beautiful Japan, and the writing. The writing is great and these actors nailed the characters highs and lows. The film ultimately shows me that you can make a simple setup and have millions gather around you because you made it very relatable.

E-Zone
http://flavorsbyezone.com

#lostintranslation #sofiacoppola #film

We all know Zack Snyder and what he's known for. He's definitelty a celebrated filmmaker. Has made numerous superhero films in the DC Comics universe and the iconic "300". But before all that, he re-made "Dawn of the Dead". Now, I didn't compare the two. You really can't, thery're their own films. It's fun to see Tom Savini be a part of the 2004 version. Now, I'm not a big fan of Snyder and "Dawn of the Dead" but it's not a bad film. It's not a great film either. I talk about the casting, how the characters develop as they interact with each other and the situations they go through to trying to escape a mall without being harmed an attracting zombie attention. I do like the moral dilemma that the film faces when it comes to death. It also makes it entertaining because at the most part, it is a action zombie flick. The zombies are pretty legit. I do hate some of the characters. I wish there was a bit more do to with the plot overall instead of the typical "how do we survive the zombie apocalypse"?

Overall,

two and a half out of four tokes

#dawnofthedead #zacksnyder

Janeen Damian once again directs Lindsey Lohan in the film "Irish Wish", a rom com about an editor who is in love with her boss who is the author of books that get published. Guess what, a fairy godmother of sorts grants Lohan's character's wish to get married with this guy. Then, it's a journey of love dispelling the notion of true love especially when she starts hanging out with this photographer who, guess what, gets her! Who would have thought, right? This is not a good film but it tries really hard. I talk about the strengths of Lohan's acting. I also discuss the screenplay of this film in which I think needs a lot of work and would have made Lohan's character be stronger for the film's overall message. But it wouldn't have mattered because the film gives itself away. It's waay too predictable but like I said in the podcast, this is a major watch due to Lindsey Lohan herself - she looks great, can still deliver a good acting performance, and is likable overall. And of course, I do like the film because it's set in Ireland and they did a good job giving us authentic Irish vibes.

Two and a half out of four tokes.

#irishwish #netflix