austindembesky

I first started watching Mad Men in high school. I saw the ads on AMC all the time when I was watching the Walking Dead, but it never really appealed to me. Then the first few seasons were uploaded to Netflix and I decided to give it a try. Here I am 10+ years later and I'm still rewatching.

People might say it's a slow burn or that it's not very exciting, but I completely disagree. This is a show with many themes and ideas that are completely relatable to you and I. There's a lot to be said about race, gender, societal standards, and much more. Still, when someone asks me to explain what it's about I always say the same thing. Life. Why we do the things that we do, the way we react to our friends, family, coworkers, and strangers. We're all trying to find our place in this world and in doing so we try and find ourselves. Things happen in life we can't explain. We do things we aren't proud of and we also do things that we wish we could do all the time. The excitement of the show is watching life play out for a very small group of people. In each of them we see a little bit of ourselves. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I think this is the greatest show ever written, because the characters feel so authentic. Flawed, but sympathetic and honest. This is the definition of what a Television Drama should be.

The movie starts off lighthearted, but somewhat ominous. Chris Hemsworth leads the way with his charming and goofy persona. After the occasional brief joke the film takes a turn towards the darker side. The movies' solid premise leads us into a heavy drama about the weight of past mistakes and the power of love. I'd argue that most of the movie is a serious drama that naturally turns into a thriller. I think the movie does this fairly well. However, the entire end of the movie becomes a fast-paced comedy with action elements. It feels like a completely different film. It's not even that it's bad, it's just totally out of left field. Overall I love the performances in this movie, particularly Hemsworth at the end. But the movie just can't quite figure out what it wants to be. And I think it ruins the pacing and message of the movie.

The Black Phone is not your traditional horror movie. It certainly can be frightening, but in a much different way than most modern horror movies are. That's not a knock on modern horror movies either. The Black Phone offers something new, not just to the horror genre, but abduction films in general. We can thank Joe Hill for this eerie and powerful story.

I can understand why some people may not like it. It's different. It's strange. It's original. If you're a horror fan it's a must see, strictly based on who's in front of and who's behind the camera. I would recommend seeing it in theaters. You're almost out of time.