Movie notes
Sep. 20th, 2020 02:52 amSelf/less - Netflix. Not recommended.
A mediocre action/sci-fi movie starring Ryan Reynolds. This was a fun diversion but didn't hold up to scrutiny. The world building is shoddy, but the main problem is that the protagonist is thinly characterized, and I had no reason to like him.
Damien (Ben Kingsley) is a real estate tycoon who is dying from cancer. He lives in a super tacky-rich apartment covered with gold. For a cool $250 mil, he pays to have his consciousness downloaded into a new body (Ryan Reynolds).
After a couple of months partying in the new body, he starts to have memory flashes that make him suspect that the body was not, as he was told, grown in a lab. He investigates, and we're supposed to believe he's suddenly grown a conscience and is not ok with the doings of the evil scientist running the project. If this were a better written movie, it would be plausible that the conscience came from the new body, along with the muscle memories, but this was not implied at all.
Booksmart. Hulu, recommended.
A somewhat raunchy comedy about 2 best friends about to graduate from high school. They are nerdy over-achievers who didn't go to parties, so tonight they are going on an adventure to finally party and go wild. The 2 actresses here are just great, they have wonderful chemistry and are really funny. The dialog is zippy and witty. One friend is straight and the other is gay; one of the characters is fat and it's not treated as a joke. Directed by Olivia Wilde.
Content notes: drug use, vomiting
A mediocre action/sci-fi movie starring Ryan Reynolds. This was a fun diversion but didn't hold up to scrutiny. The world building is shoddy, but the main problem is that the protagonist is thinly characterized, and I had no reason to like him.
Damien (Ben Kingsley) is a real estate tycoon who is dying from cancer. He lives in a super tacky-rich apartment covered with gold. For a cool $250 mil, he pays to have his consciousness downloaded into a new body (Ryan Reynolds).
After a couple of months partying in the new body, he starts to have memory flashes that make him suspect that the body was not, as he was told, grown in a lab. He investigates, and we're supposed to believe he's suddenly grown a conscience and is not ok with the doings of the evil scientist running the project. If this were a better written movie, it would be plausible that the conscience came from the new body, along with the muscle memories, but this was not implied at all.
Booksmart. Hulu, recommended.
A somewhat raunchy comedy about 2 best friends about to graduate from high school. They are nerdy over-achievers who didn't go to parties, so tonight they are going on an adventure to finally party and go wild. The 2 actresses here are just great, they have wonderful chemistry and are really funny. The dialog is zippy and witty. One friend is straight and the other is gay; one of the characters is fat and it's not treated as a joke. Directed by Olivia Wilde.
Content notes: drug use, vomiting