rcolgan
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One key thing that you will realise early on in watching Beau is Afraid is that the film operates under Beau's Law of Existence. This states that if Beau exists, the worst thing must happen. If you think something good will happen, you will be wrong. If you think something bad will happen, odds are likely that something worse will happen. It's a similar condition suffered by the main character of Martin Scoresese's After Hours.
For example, if Beau comes home from therapy there must be a deadly venomous spider in his apartment waiting for him. If his apartment is unlocked, a zombie-like mass of people will invade his flat and wreck everything inside. And if he eventually leaves his flat then of course it will be inevitable that he will eventually be stabbed by a naked circumcised serial killer.
Based on Beau's Law of Existence, it appears inevitable that something as straightforward as visiting his mother would quickly devolve into a nightmarish journey with the entire world conspiring to hurt him in any way imaginable. During this journey he is forced to confront dark family secrets, his fears of intimacy and all of the deep-rooted feelings of self-regret that have dominated his entire life.
But how did Beau's life possibly get this way? Well, his first mistake appears to be being born. Through a very rare medical condition, the act of his conception led to the death of his father which his mother has never forgiven him for. Much of his life is therefore dedicated to being one long grovelling apology for something that he had no control over. At the same time it has also led to his mother being overly protective of him and nurturing an instinctual fear of everything.
From there Beau's life has appeared to be one continuous downward spiral. No matter what horrible fears he has in life, the universe will somehow still always find a way to throw something even worse at him justifying every possible fear. Often he will have no way of avoiding these tragedies. Though in the rare occasions when he does have an opportunity to make his own decision, Beau is so fearfully indecisive that he will simply let the universe choose whichever horrible option for him.
Does Beau deserve to experience everything that happens to him? God no, nobody deserves the kind of pain he does! But that's what makes the film so entertaining to watch. Just like Midsommar, Ari Aster's is constatnly treading the delicate balance between tragedy and absurdity that constantly leaves you uncertain on whether you should be laughing hysterically or just genuinely disturbed.
For example, if Beau comes home from therapy there must be a deadly venomous spider in his apartment waiting for him. If his apartment is unlocked, a zombie-like mass of people will invade his flat and wreck everything inside. And if he eventually leaves his flat then of course it will be inevitable that he will eventually be stabbed by a naked circumcised serial killer.
Based on Beau's Law of Existence, it appears inevitable that something as straightforward as visiting his mother would quickly devolve into a nightmarish journey with the entire world conspiring to hurt him in any way imaginable. During this journey he is forced to confront dark family secrets, his fears of intimacy and all of the deep-rooted feelings of self-regret that have dominated his entire life.
But how did Beau's life possibly get this way? Well, his first mistake appears to be being born. Through a very rare medical condition, the act of his conception led to the death of his father which his mother has never forgiven him for. Much of his life is therefore dedicated to being one long grovelling apology for something that he had no control over. At the same time it has also led to his mother being overly protective of him and nurturing an instinctual fear of everything.
From there Beau's life has appeared to be one continuous downward spiral. No matter what horrible fears he has in life, the universe will somehow still always find a way to throw something even worse at him justifying every possible fear. Often he will have no way of avoiding these tragedies. Though in the rare occasions when he does have an opportunity to make his own decision, Beau is so fearfully indecisive that he will simply let the universe choose whichever horrible option for him.
Does Beau deserve to experience everything that happens to him? God no, nobody deserves the kind of pain he does! But that's what makes the film so entertaining to watch. Just like Midsommar, Ari Aster's is constatnly treading the delicate balance between tragedy and absurdity that constantly leaves you uncertain on whether you should be laughing hysterically or just genuinely disturbed.
When the first Guardians of the Galaxy film was announced, people did not know exactly what to make of it. Unlike all of the MCU's other films up to that point therse were characters that most audiences weren't familiar with. And some people thought that the idea of a film starring a sentient tree and a talking raccoon travelling in space to save the universe just sounded bizare. Plus it was being directed and written by James Gunn, whose biggest creddits up to that point were Dawn of the Dead and the Scooby-Doo live action films. But cut to less than a decade later, the Guardians are now some of the MCU's most beloved characters and James Gunn is now one of Hollywood's most in demand filmmakers.
From the start, Vol. 3 takes a more melancholy approach to the previous installements. It opens with Radiohead's Creep playing as Rocket (Bradley Cooper) tours their headquarters on Knowhere. He and the team are trying to function and continue with their lives, but it's clear the loss of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) has taken its toll on their morale. But all the Guardians are forced back into action once again after the artificially created superbeing Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) flies in and singlehandedly pummels all of the Guardians. They are able to force Warlock to retreat, but Rocket is left in a state of near death. Unable to heal him themselves, the Guardians must fly out on a mission to discover more about Rocket's origins so they can stop themselves from losing another friend.
This will lead them to collide against the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a cruel scientist who has been experimenting on animals in an attempt to create a "utopia". He's another villain with a god complex, but one who is defined by such cruel actions that will make any animal lover demand his execution by the end of the film. His character is also an interesting contradiction. On the one hand he will regularly murder or torture experiments that do not meet his high expectations. But then when an experiment like Rocket does succeed, he becomes so enraged towards them due to their ability to potentially surpass his own intelligence. This unjustified cruelty ends up making him feel somewhere between a vengeful god and a child throwing around his toys in rage.
Alongside this Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) remains depressed over Gamora's (Zoe Saldana) death from Infinity War. Plus almost to twist the knife, their mission puts makes Peter work with the alternate timeline version of Gamora who returned from Endgame. She shares none of his memories of their time together and appears almost like an after image further trapping Peter with his grief to remind him of what he has lost. Since this film is primarily Rocket's story, this is treated as more of a side plot and doesn't really get quite enough time. But the chemistry is still strong and they do still use the opportunity to take their relationship in an interesting direction.
As for the rest of the Guardians, Karen Gillan's Gamora spreads out into a new role filling the void left by Gamora and shows some impressive character growth from when we saw her in the first Guardians of the Galaxy. Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff continue to regularly steal scenes and deliver on some of the funniest moments of the film. Gunn still has a lot of fun experimenting with Groots different abilities, my personal favourite being "Kaiju mode". Kraglin (Sean Gunn) has a fun little side plot with Cosmo (a telekenetic dog played by Maria Makalova) learning to use his sonic arrow. Will Poulter is also a great new addition as Adam Warlock, though he is underused in a way that makes me hope we see him better utilised in future films. As with any stacked cast some characters do feel like they aren't given anything to do, such as Elizabeth Debecki and Sylvester Stallone. But for the most part Gunn does a great job at giving characters memorable moments even if they do have limited screen time.
The film does lose some of it's emotional momentum towards the final third where most of the story beats are already dealt with or pushed to one side as it focuses on the usual final battle to stop the bad guy. But Gunn still does deliver on enough of his signature style to keep the action entertaining. He also may top Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with some of the most messed up visuals included in a Marvel movie. And overall it's a strong end to both the Guardians trilogy and a good note for Gunn to finish his involvement in the franchise. It contains some increiblde cast chemistry, great visuals and a tone that's able to alternate between both great comedic beats and emotional gut punches.
From the start, Vol. 3 takes a more melancholy approach to the previous installements. It opens with Radiohead's Creep playing as Rocket (Bradley Cooper) tours their headquarters on Knowhere. He and the team are trying to function and continue with their lives, but it's clear the loss of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) has taken its toll on their morale. But all the Guardians are forced back into action once again after the artificially created superbeing Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) flies in and singlehandedly pummels all of the Guardians. They are able to force Warlock to retreat, but Rocket is left in a state of near death. Unable to heal him themselves, the Guardians must fly out on a mission to discover more about Rocket's origins so they can stop themselves from losing another friend.
This will lead them to collide against the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a cruel scientist who has been experimenting on animals in an attempt to create a "utopia". He's another villain with a god complex, but one who is defined by such cruel actions that will make any animal lover demand his execution by the end of the film. His character is also an interesting contradiction. On the one hand he will regularly murder or torture experiments that do not meet his high expectations. But then when an experiment like Rocket does succeed, he becomes so enraged towards them due to their ability to potentially surpass his own intelligence. This unjustified cruelty ends up making him feel somewhere between a vengeful god and a child throwing around his toys in rage.
Alongside this Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) remains depressed over Gamora's (Zoe Saldana) death from Infinity War. Plus almost to twist the knife, their mission puts makes Peter work with the alternate timeline version of Gamora who returned from Endgame. She shares none of his memories of their time together and appears almost like an after image further trapping Peter with his grief to remind him of what he has lost. Since this film is primarily Rocket's story, this is treated as more of a side plot and doesn't really get quite enough time. But the chemistry is still strong and they do still use the opportunity to take their relationship in an interesting direction.
As for the rest of the Guardians, Karen Gillan's Gamora spreads out into a new role filling the void left by Gamora and shows some impressive character growth from when we saw her in the first Guardians of the Galaxy. Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff continue to regularly steal scenes and deliver on some of the funniest moments of the film. Gunn still has a lot of fun experimenting with Groots different abilities, my personal favourite being "Kaiju mode". Kraglin (Sean Gunn) has a fun little side plot with Cosmo (a telekenetic dog played by Maria Makalova) learning to use his sonic arrow. Will Poulter is also a great new addition as Adam Warlock, though he is underused in a way that makes me hope we see him better utilised in future films. As with any stacked cast some characters do feel like they aren't given anything to do, such as Elizabeth Debecki and Sylvester Stallone. But for the most part Gunn does a great job at giving characters memorable moments even if they do have limited screen time.
The film does lose some of it's emotional momentum towards the final third where most of the story beats are already dealt with or pushed to one side as it focuses on the usual final battle to stop the bad guy. But Gunn still does deliver on enough of his signature style to keep the action entertaining. He also may top Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with some of the most messed up visuals included in a Marvel movie. And overall it's a strong end to both the Guardians trilogy and a good note for Gunn to finish his involvement in the franchise. It contains some increiblde cast chemistry, great visuals and a tone that's able to alternate between both great comedic beats and emotional gut punches.
Currently a lot of Disney's content revolves around producing live action remakes of their animated films, with the studio producing at least one remake every year since Maleficent in 2014. So it was only going to be a matter of time before Peter Pan was going to make it over to the chopping block. Though as much as Disney does like to keep repackaging their well known IP, was anyone asking for another Peter Pan film? Besides the original 1952 version, we have also had Hook in 1991, the 2003 version, the 2015 version, 2020's Wendy, 2022's The Lost Girls and Peter Pan Live. Plus there was Peter Pan's appearance in Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers if we're counting it. So he's hardly a character that audiences are flocking to see again. Which is probably one of the main reasons that Disney decided to release this one directly to streaming instead of pushing for a live action release.
Just like all of these remakes, it's likely you will already know the main story beats. Peter Pan is a boy who refuses to grow up and takes Wendy along with her brothers to fly to Neverland. They then go on an adventure and fight off pirates led by the dastardly Captain Hook. Though around the midway point, the film does take a bit of a shift as it starts exploring Peter and Hook's backstory on how their rivalry began.
This does lead to a bit of an identity crisis for the film, a little similar to the one that Wendy is going through. On the one hand, the film is trying to be a grown up version of the story trying to ground these characters in a more realistic way. On the other hand, it still wants to be a family friendly adventure film for kids. They try to mix these styles together, but it often comes off as tonally incohesive and at times even feels like two entirely different films. One moment we have an emotionally powerful scene where Wendy envisions her entire future and then it will leap right back into the kind of panto style slapstick. Along with this, the film has some serious pacing issues. Some scenes feel cut down and the entire film just feels like it's in a hurry to get itself finished.
As for the cast, they are fairly hit and miss. You have Jude Law going for an enjoyably different and more ruthless version of Hook with a tragic backstory. With very little screen time, Molly Parker also delivers a memorable performance as Mrs Darling and Ever Anderson is also a good Wendy. But unfortunately none of the Lost Boys have any memorable personalities and mostly just blend together over the course of the film. Similarly Yara Shahidi's Tinker Bell lacks her ill-temper that made her memorable in other versions, but doesn't really replace it with anything.
But the main way this version doesn't click is through the bland take on Peter Pan. This isn't necessarily the fault of Alexander Molony, who seems like a talented actor and is able to deliver on the more emotional scenes. But his character feels so sidelined in his own movie. Then when he does get a chance to be adventurous, he only comes off as annoying instead of charming.
This film does at least attempt something different to the original and delivers on a few strong moments to demonstrate that there is some talent working on this film behind the scenes. But it's still a dull, unmemorable experience that doesn't capture the sense of adventure that audiences would expect from a Peter Pan film.
Just like all of these remakes, it's likely you will already know the main story beats. Peter Pan is a boy who refuses to grow up and takes Wendy along with her brothers to fly to Neverland. They then go on an adventure and fight off pirates led by the dastardly Captain Hook. Though around the midway point, the film does take a bit of a shift as it starts exploring Peter and Hook's backstory on how their rivalry began.
This does lead to a bit of an identity crisis for the film, a little similar to the one that Wendy is going through. On the one hand, the film is trying to be a grown up version of the story trying to ground these characters in a more realistic way. On the other hand, it still wants to be a family friendly adventure film for kids. They try to mix these styles together, but it often comes off as tonally incohesive and at times even feels like two entirely different films. One moment we have an emotionally powerful scene where Wendy envisions her entire future and then it will leap right back into the kind of panto style slapstick. Along with this, the film has some serious pacing issues. Some scenes feel cut down and the entire film just feels like it's in a hurry to get itself finished.
As for the cast, they are fairly hit and miss. You have Jude Law going for an enjoyably different and more ruthless version of Hook with a tragic backstory. With very little screen time, Molly Parker also delivers a memorable performance as Mrs Darling and Ever Anderson is also a good Wendy. But unfortunately none of the Lost Boys have any memorable personalities and mostly just blend together over the course of the film. Similarly Yara Shahidi's Tinker Bell lacks her ill-temper that made her memorable in other versions, but doesn't really replace it with anything.
But the main way this version doesn't click is through the bland take on Peter Pan. This isn't necessarily the fault of Alexander Molony, who seems like a talented actor and is able to deliver on the more emotional scenes. But his character feels so sidelined in his own movie. Then when he does get a chance to be adventurous, he only comes off as annoying instead of charming.
This film does at least attempt something different to the original and delivers on a few strong moments to demonstrate that there is some talent working on this film behind the scenes. But it's still a dull, unmemorable experience that doesn't capture the sense of adventure that audiences would expect from a Peter Pan film.