claudiapaola

The Substance left me shaken, and, honestly, physically sick by the end. It was disturbing, not just in the finale, but throughout, though the ending truly took the grotesque to a new level. At first, I thought it was a story about a Hollywood figure struggling with aging, but the extremes this movie went to were beyond unsettling. I'm genuinely puzzled about what kind of mind could conceive of such horrific imagery; it felt less like storytelling and more like a display of the writer's darkest fantasies.

As someone who loves movies and appreciates art, I can say that this isn't either. Instead, it feels like a horror fantasy born from a very troubling perspective. The film's obsessive focus on sexualized horror and graphic, dehumanizing scenes makes me question what kind of compensation would even feel adequate for the actors involved in such a demeaning project. I don't believe any amount of money justifies the level of exploitation depicted.

This could have been an intriguing story about fame, aging, and societal pressures, but it veered off into sexually explicit and gruesome territory that overshadowed any potential. There were endless close-ups of fresh wounds, needles piercing skin, and gratuitously drawn-out shots that seemed to exist purely for shock value. The food and "aerobics" close ups, analogies made no sense and felt like they were just there to satisfy some disturbing creative impulse.

In the end, The Substance is a horror film that leaves behind a lingering, nauseating aftertaste, and I would never in my life watch anything like that again.

This is a glossy piece of historical revisionism that seems more interested in canonizing Ronald Reagan than critically examining his presidency. He was just a bad knockout actor that just couldn't make it in Hollywood but wanted money at any costs. The movie falls prey to a one-sided narrative that paints Reagan as an infallible American hero, glossing over the more troubling aspects of his time in office.

The movie frames Reagan as the ultimate Cold War warrior, standing tall against the Soviet Union and reviving American patriotism. However, it conveniently sidesteps some of the darker legacies of his administration. The glorification of Reagan's economic policies, known as "Reaganomics," is presented without context, ignoring the immense income inequality it exacerbated, or the long-term damage it did to social programs like welfare. The film's rosy depiction of trickle-down economics fails to acknowledge the millions of working-class Americans who were left behind as wealth increasingly concentrated at the top.

Perhaps most egregious is the film's treatment of the AIDS crisis. While it nods to the epidemic, it brushes over Reagan's infamous silence during the early years of the crisis, a negligence that led to thousands of unnecessary deaths. Instead of tackling this pivotal moment in American history, the film retreats into melodrama, focusing on Reagan's personal struggles while avoiding the fact that his administration turned a blind eye to the suffering of all one's dying.

There's also little mention of the Iran-Contra affair, one of the biggest political scandals of the 1980s. Reagan's covert sale of arms to Iran and subsequent funding of Nicaraguan rebels is conveniently left out, as if it were a footnote, rather than a constitutional violation. The omission of such a major event makes the film feel less like a biographical drama and more like propaganda, eager to preserve Reagan's saintly image.

The movie Reagan to me, is a disappointment. For those looking for a more nuanced portrayal of a complicated political figure. The film's refusal to engage with the controversies of his presidency, from his economic missteps to his disastrous foreign policy decisions, does a disservice to history. It's a film designed to appeal to those who already view Reagan as a larger-than-life figure, but for viewers who want an honest look at his legacy, this movie falls flat. Instead of an insightful political drama, Reagan ends up as little more than a hagiographic love letter to a deeply divisive president.

So, let's talk about this movie! It had all the ingredients to be a good sci-film, but boy, did it take a detour into the quirky and weird lane. The writer must have been on a cosmic joyride because this film felt like a hallucination. It's like they copy-pasted ET and then added a bunch of elders instead of kids. Buckle up for the cosmic rollercoaster!

Our story starts off bland, with an alien who's about as exciting as staring at a wall. Seriously, he just sits there, watching TV and munching on apples. Not your typical action-packed intergalactic adventure, that's for sure.

Then we meet Milton, our elder hero, who's blissfully living his life until his daughter turns into the ultimate health nag. She's helpful but oh-so-pushy and annoying. The movie tries to be funny, but it's like searching for treasure in a sea of boredom.

Now, let's get to the good stuff. One fateful night, a spaceship crashes in Milton's backyard, and out stumbles our frail alien friend in desperate need of a hand-or a few. Milton invites him in, more worried about his flowers than the fact that there's an alien in his house! Talk about misplaced priorities. He spills the beans to his friend Sandy, who decides they should keep the alien around to tell him boring stories about their life and the show him photos of her lesbian daughter-she names the alien Jules by the way-so they keep the alien a secret. And, surprise, surprise, another elder lady, joins the club. Three elders with no one that cares for them, just helping a boring alien that does nothing...

But here's where things take a nosedive. Jules needs seven dead cats to fix his spaceship. Yep, you read that right, seven dead cats! Why, you ask? Don't bother trying to make sense of it because the writers sure didn't. Milton, Sandy, and Joyce go on a feline treasure hunt in their neighborhood, and, lo and behold, they find six dead cats in no time, and they decide that one of the elders cat should die for the cause too. I mean, what kind of neighborhood is this, where you stumble upon dead cats like it's a normal thing and spaceships just land on backyards and no neighbors sees anything?

All in all, 'Jules' left me longing for a great sci-fi movie that never was. This movie's like a snail race on tranquilizers, too slow and too strange for my taste. If you're in the mood for a boring movie, you go on and watch this lazy alien...don't expect much, I regret watching it.