The Endless is a semi-horror, thriller film that has a very interesting and unique plot. Fun fact, Justin and Aaron acted, produced, and directed The Endless. After some research, I discovered that the film shares the same universe as another movie that Justin and Aaron produced. That movie was called Resolution and featured Chris and Mike, who also make an appearance in The Endless (they were the guys in the cabin where Justin got a gun from).

The Endless revolves around Justin and Aaron and their visit to Camp Arcadia, which was thought to be a UFO death cult by Justin, which is why they initially left it. The movie starts off with a tape being sent to Justin and Aaron that showed Anna, a member of Camp Arcadia talking about the ascension, which was in reference towards a mass suicide in order to reach heaven. Camp Arcadia is actually modelled after Heaven’s Gate, which is an actual UFO cult that actually committed a mass suicide back in 1997 in hopes of reaching a new level of existence.

One of the things that made the movie somewhat scary or gave an eerie vibe was the Entity. The Entity is basically the God that the camp members worship and is never really explained. However, there are several interpretations by different cultures that were shown in the movie, which I found really interesting because there were some dragons, totems and other large sculptures that represented the entity. This made me think about the pyramids and the conspiracy theories about aliens being the ones to actually build the pyramids in Egypt.

My favorite scene was when Justin saw one Shitty Carl hanging and another one alive and walking. This was when Shitty Carl essentially explained the mechanics of the different loops and time domes that also explained several things in the movie (why everyone in the camp looked the same, etc.). It was also super interesting to see how jaded Shitty Carl was about killing himself and even seeing his own body because of, presumably, being stuck in the loop for so long.

The movie also has a recurring theme about control. This can be seen in the relationship between the brothers Justin and Aaron, and the Entity controlling and playing with the different members of the camp and their different time domes. The Entity essentially controls the lives of the people that are trapped in their time domes. One interesting scene in the movie theorizes that one must not allow the Entity to instill fear and let that fear control them or else they would become stuck with that fear and under the Entity’s control forever. This was said by either Chris or Mike to Justin and told him to never let the Entity to take control over him or else he would be doomed like them.

It can be seen in the movie that Justin constantly controls Aaron throughout the movie and tells him what to do, which might come from a good place and with good intentions. However, this cycle of control breaks once Justin finally respects Aaron’s decision to stay in the camp and stops trying to force his own decision onto Aaron. Once this happens, Justin and Aaron escape from the Entity just in time before they get stuck into the camp’s loop.

Sorry to Bother You is one of the films that I thoroughly enjoyed watching in class. The film pokes fun at capitalism and the lengths at which people are willing to compromise ethically to maximize efficiency and therefore profit. The film also depicts the dark reality present in modern day America, where, although racism is no longer acceptable, it is still prevalent. 

One of the things I loved about the movie was that it was able to convey its message while not sacrificing any of the entertainment value. Sorry to Bother You is a film that, in my opinion, is great on its own even without the message that it tries to convey. As with Repo Man, I feel that Sorry to Bother You is a very entertaining film that is all kinds of weird and funny.

The story of Cash becoming successful and rising up from poverty is some sort of a feel-good with a twist type of thing. Seeing him finally become successful and financially capable to the point that he can afford to pay off the mortgage of his Uncle’s house felt amazing and almost heartwarming. However, the things he had to sacrifice in order to reach this level of success was something that ruined or prevented me from being able to fully be happy for what Cash has achieved; he sacrificed his relationship with his girlfriend, co-workers and his friends and betrayed their trust for, in essence, money. 

This portrayal of Cash’s life is very realistic in the sense that you might find yourself in that situation one day. There may come a point in time that you might have to choose between your relationship with your friends and something that will benefit your self-interest. 

I also feel like the movie is able to represent the way capitalism works through RegalView. In the movie, only a few people or the elite become the Power Callers and reap the financial benefits while the rest are stuck as regular telemarketers who struggled to even survive. Similarly, in our capitalistic society, I feel like only a few people earn truly large salaries while the majority of the workers at the lower end of the corporation receive wages that are very disproportionate to their superiors.

One of the things the movie used to poke fun at capitalism was the human-horse hybrids or the “equisapiens”. In the movie, Steve Lift illegally conducts experiments that violate the human rights of his workers which turned them into human-horse hybrids in order to create a workforce that never tired and more efficient. After discovering these grotesque experiments, Cash exposes what Steve Lift is doing in order to try and get people to stop him. However, society does the opposite and even praises Steve Lift’s experiments, which result in him becoming even richer. These events poke fun at how capitalistic societies sometimes are willing to almost compromise if not compromise human rights if there is a chance for them to become wealthier.

Another issue that the film addresses is the racism in America. The film depicts, through the different usage of “white speaking voice”, that white people are more trusted by society than black people. This can be seen in the different scenes where it is explained to Cash that using his “white speaking voice” was necessary in order to succeed and gain sales from his telemarketing job. His co-worker explains that the “white speaking voice” is necessary because his normal voice sounds desperate for money. Another scene that addresses the racism in America is where Cash was expected by Steve Lift to know how to rap just because he’s black.

All-in-all, I really enjoyed the film Sorry to Bother You. There were some scenes that were simply funny and the absurdity of the human-horse hybrids definitely spiced things up.

Repo Man is a film that hooks your interest right from the get-go. The very first scene immediately leaves the viewer wondering about what the movie is about. The cop that popped the trunk open got disintegrated with visual effects that really give off an older film vibe. I really love this aesthetic and it reminded me of the films that people deem to be a classic often recommend online. Repo Man is definitely one of those films.

The story immediately opens up to Otto, the main character, experiencing what may be the worst day of his life. He gets fired from his job and he ends up losing the girl he was with to another punk rocker. However, things, and life immediately changes for Otto when he is tricked by the repo man to aid in repossessing the car that the repo man claimed to belong to his wife. This is the start of Otto’s career as a repo man, where plenty of weird and crazy things happen to him.

As the story progresses, Otto meets Leila, who is a girl that finally gives the audience a glimpse of the movie’s first scene’s relationship is with what is currently happening. Leila reveals to Otto that the Chevy Malibu that disintegrated the cop at the beginning of the film contains aliens, which is why these men in black looking guys were trying to catch her; Leila is connected to the guy driving the Chevy Malibu around.

Because of this the film actually made me think that it was going to be satirical and poke fun at cult-like religions such as Scientology. However, the film offers so much more blind entertainment that just that. The film itself, stripped of it’s satirical take on Scientology, can be seen as something that anyone can enjoy. It is, what I would like to call, a popcorn movie. The film itself could be blindly enjoyed with or without further analysis. I think that’s what I really love about the film; it allows for mindless and entertainment weird enough to keep you hooked and interested to find out what happens.

Be that as it may, the film is so much more than mindless entertainment. It also takes jabs at capitalism and marketing. One of things that might be missed out on if not analyzed further is how the labels of the different items in the grocery store were generic. The soda cans were labeled as “drink”, the tomato juice and the grapefruit juice were also simply labeled as what they are. I think this is really interesting because it made me think about how marketing is able to sell a product that might be the exact same as a generic brand to its customers. This labelling can be seen as the movie making fun of the people who choose to buy name brands because of the value these name brands try to sell with their marketing. I started to remember how my marketing classes taught me the importance of creating value and associating this value with your brand in light of the capitalistic world we live in. Your brand image is key, and perhaps that is also something the movie could be interpreted to be talking about; there are people who purchase things they cannot afford in order to seem like they live a certain life. From that interpretation, the film might be taking a jab at the people who are in the multi-level marketing business – although it might be a stretch.

With that being said, the film offers so much if you truly look into it, but can also be mindlessly enjoyed as a stand-alone without the analysis. Repo Man – a truly entertaining film.

Velvet Goldmine is a movie that follows the story of the popular musician Brian Slade through journalist Arthur Stuart. In my opinion, the movie seemed similar to Bohemian Rhapsody, which was released in 2018, in the sense that it explores the lives of rock stars and sort of shows the behind the scenes and personal struggles that the stars experience. The film gives us a glimpse of what the glam rock era was like by showing the lives of the musicians Brian Slade and Curt Wild. The film also explores sexual themes, gender fluidity and how fans, such as Stuart, of the glam rock stars Slade and Wild are able to relate to them.

As with Bohemian Rhapsody, one of the things I really like about the movie is the exposé of the lives of the successful musicians. It is definitely an interesting for a normal person to find out what goes on behind the scenes and in the private lives of the super stars that make the music millions if not billions of people listen to. Even if it is exaggerated for the film, the difficulties and pressure artists face even if they are very popular, or all the more if they are popular, is able to show fans that artists also have it tough despite their seemingly perfect lives. At one point, it made me wonder if all successful artists go through a phase wherein they drown themselves partying and doing drugs like cocaine to escape from the pressure of the lives that they live. It is a little bit ironic how the fame that these artists strive for and work toward also put them heavily under public scrutiny and becomes the cause of their public breakdown and stress.

Another interesting similarity from Bohemian Rhapsody and Velvet Goldmine is how both Freddie Mercury and Brian Slade initially marry a woman (Mary Austin for Mercury and Mandy Slade for Brian Slade), then explore their sexuality once they achieve some sort of success in being a musician.

One of the things that I disliked from Velvet Goldmine is the music. I never enjoy musicals or films that contain plenty of scenes that revolve around music. While I understand that this film is meant to be a biographical film about David Bowie albeit not officially, and thus, it has to have plenty of music as that was what his life was about, I still did not enjoy it and found myself bored at times. The only saving grace for the film for me was the different androgynous looks sported by the stars during the glam rock era because it looked really eccentric but also interesting and exciting. You would have a very difficult time looking for, if you are even able to find a pop star that would wear the eccentric look that they sported during the glam rock era.

With that being said, I do not think I would recommend this film to people who dislike musicals and tend to prefer action movies or ones with a complex plot. The weird “twist” or revelation at the end about Brian Slade being Tommy Stone was also not very clear for me. It was heavily alluded to that Tommy Stone was Brian Slade. However, Tommy Stone had a completely different face and build from Brian Slade(given that they are portrayed by different actors), which made me wonder if the film was also alluding towards plastic surgery and perhaps the lengths artists go through to escape their insecurities and public scrutiny.

My Own Private Idaho is a film that stars one of my favorite actors of all time – Keanu Reeves. Seeing him in the role he played as Scott, the best friend of Mike, whose perspective we see the movie through, was very different from the usual roles that I have seen him in. Despite this, I feel like he was able to show that he truly is one of the best actors in Hollywood as he was able to perform his role as Scott very well and show that he’s more than just the action star that I perceived him to be in his roles in The Matrix and John Wick.

Aside from this, I feel like the movie was also very different from what I expected. Based on the movie poster that I saw from searching the movie before class, I thought it was going to be some kind of action film that revolved around gangs in Idaho and gang wars for territory. However, the film was able to set the tone immediately as one of the first scenes was Mike prostituting himself to an old fat man after showing his narcoleptic episode in a highway that would be shown several times in the film as they travel around.

To a certain extent, the film revolved around Mike’s narcolepsy. One of the recurring themes in the film is Mike seeing a flashback of his childhood and his mother every time he experiences a narcoleptic episode. I think this is able to show and emphasize the importance of Mike’s mother to him and how it might have affected his life. The movie, unfortunately, ends tragically as Mike puts so much effort into searching for his mother – even travelling to Italy, only to unsuccessfully find his mom and even lose his best friend Scott.

I felt like this film is able to embody the saying “it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey” because that is what the film essentially is – a journey. Throughout Mike’s tragic journey to find his mother, he experiences many different emotions. He fell in love with his best friend Scott, only to be turned down and be even more heartbroken as he witnesses his best friend fall in love with another. I feel like this moment in the film was one of the crucial plot points that made the movie great. The scene was able to make me empathize with Mike and almost feel his heartbreak as if I were him in the film itself. We were able to witness the only person constant in Mike’s life, Scott, who was not only his best friend, but also someone he fell in love with, fall in love with someone else and effectively become a stranger to Mike. I feel like Mike was very dependent on his interactions with Scott and I could see how he might have seen his mother in him and tried to fill the gap that his mother left through Scott. Seeing Scott fall in love with the Italian girl and effectively abandoning his old life and all of his relationships, which included his relationship with Mike, really hit it hard. It made me feel so depressed and sad for Mike, which I feel is one of the great moments in the film because you know the film was able to successfully portray Mike’s feelings when the audience can almost feel if not completely feel what he felt at that moment. Unable to reach his destination and goal of finding his mother, Mike was only left with the experiences of his journey, which was a very tragic one. The film could have made us feel good and make Mike and Scott end up together, but I feel like that would take away from the greatness of the film. At the end of the day, Mike’s journey led him full circle towards the gang he and Scott used to belong to again, but only this time, his best friend Scott was no longer there.

Futureless Things was a film that piqued my interest, but at the same time confused me as well. It plays out differently from the usual love stories that K-dramas that I have been exposed to as well as Train to Busan, which is the only other Korean film that I have seen. The everyday feeling from the setting mainly be in the convenience store made me expect something crazy or wild to happen. At one point in the film, where the DJ had a supernatural experience with the lady with the box, I thought that the film was going to turn into some sort of horror movie. However, what happened was the opposite – the film highlighted the different mundane experiences and interactions between the clerk on duty and their customers while being able to show bits and pieces of their personalities, problems and aspirations at the same time, which allowed me to somewhat relate and empathize with them.

What I found the most interesting in the film was the different characters shown and how in the bigger picture, they could be considered the futureless things that the movie is titled after. This can be seen in the clerk that missed his audition due to having to man the convenience store would be stuck in his job as a clerk instead of reaching his dreams as an actor, the North Korean lady that was discriminated and harassed, and even the clerk that was simply trying to converse in English. These clerks are trying to achieve their dreams and become more than what they currently are. However, the movie shows that being a clerk is not something that is so easy that you can do it while trying to achieve your dreams. In fact, it can even hinder you from your dreams. (i.e. the guy who was unable to go to his audition because he had to man the store).

I feel like to a certain extent, the film is able to humanize the characters and show that the clerks we usually do not mind and interact with have their own dreams and aspirations. No one really wants to be a clerk, but it is something that is necessary for convenience stores to run. Because of this, people who need money or cannot find a better job apply to be clerks whist they still try to work towards their dreams. Even if it was not the film’s main intention or point, by showing the different interactions and problems of the clerks, the film was able to open my eyes and make me feel more and understand that these clerks usually have their own dreams that is outside of being a clerk. Unlike other service industries like restaurants or hotels, where the servers might stay for a long time in an attempt to reach a more executive position like becoming the manager, being a clerk is usually capped at that – being a clerk. Because of this, I think there is a similarity in the fact that people also usually go in and out of a convenience store quickly, and the fact that the clerks might also simply go in and become a clerk for a time until they are able to find something better to do. Maybe that’s why the film is titled Futureless Things – there is no future in being a clerk in a convenience store, it is simply capped at being a clerk in and of itself.

I found the movie Trainspotting very interesting because of the way it explored drug addiction and the behavior of someone who is trying to get clean from a drug. Trainspotting is one of the films that show up when you search “must watch films” on Google, and one that I’ve been meaning to watch for so long, but just never had the time to. I was really excited to watch it in class when I saw it in the syllabus and it was for good reason.

The film was shown through Renton’s perspective and how he saw things from an addicts perspective. In my opinion, his difficulties in dealing with his drug addiction could not only be applied to drugs, but also our own mundane addictions. 

For example, I used to find myself addicted to video games. Similar to Renton, I found it very difficult to quit playing video games cold turkey and simply tell myself I’ll play just one last game and then I’ll quit. However, as we saw in the movie, stopping an activity that you’re addicted to can lead to relapsing. Even if I had stopped playing video games for a time, there was that itch to play whenever I got stressed from school in order to escape from the stress and be somewhere else mentally. To a certain extent, this also happened to Renton as he relapsed back to doing heroin once he was faced with the stress of the underage girl, Diane, threatening him and forcing him to keep seeing her even if he may face potential jail time by doing so. On a more positive note, the film is also able to show the positives of overcoming your addiction as initially seen in how Renton was able to integrate himself back into society and his friend’s lives before he relapsed due to stress and the threats of Diane.

Something I also liked was how the film showed Renton being able to live better when he moved to London. I think this shows how our environment and situation might be affecting us. It made me think on how important it was to be aware of our own situations and even if we feel comfortable somewhere, it might not be the best for us as it leads to more problems. This can be seen in Renton’s friends as most of them were bad influences and were not really taking life seriously. There’s a saying that says you are the average of your 5 closest friends and I would say that there is a truth to that. Being aware of your friends and how they affect you is very important because you might find comfort in being with them due to the amount of things you’ve been through and how long your friendship might have lasted, but at the end of the day, you have to cut bad people off from your life if they’re affecting you negatively. Because of this, I think Renton leaving his group of friends and going off on his own was justifiable especially since Begbie and Sick Boy was essentially taking advantage of their friendship with him and continually involving him in their illegal schemes even if Renton was trying to go straight. Leaving money for Spud, who seemed to be one of the better friends Renton had, was also a redeeming moment for Renton and made his decision to leave with the money more justifiable from my perspective and probably the perspective of the audience who watched the film.

All in all, I really liked the movie and how it explored addiction as well as the social dynamics of friends and how they might be bad for you. Hopefully, I’m also able to be aware when I’m put in a situation where my friends become bad for me and be able to realize and take the necessary action like how Renton was able to.

Shin Godzilla was a movie that turned out to be much different from what I had expected. When I saw the movie titled Godzilla on the course schedule on our class syllabus, I was excited and prepared myself for an action packed film where giant monsters destroyed cities and fought each other. To my surprise, this film adaptation of Godzilla was not as action packed, but still remained interesting in other ways.

Before watching Shin Godzilla in class, the most recent Godzilla film I had watched was the one that starred Bryan Cranston who played Walter White in the popular series Breaking Bad. The film was shown back in 2014 and depicted giant monsters apart from Godzilla as the villains and the ones causing destruction and havoc on humanity. These monsters are then taken care of and defeated by Godzilla later on in the film, which made it seem like he was a saviour to humanity.

On the contrary, the portrayal of Godzilla in the Shin Godzilla film adaptation was more negative as Godzilla was seen as a monster that wreaked havoc on Japan, causing massive amounts of damage to the countries infrastructure and inhabitants. The Japanese portrayal of Godzilla was more akin to a natural disaster like an earthquake or a typhoon, which is very different from how the Americanized Godzilla was portrayed.

In addition to this, Shin Godzilla seems to focus on how the Japanese government responds to an unexpected disaster. I also found it funny how the film poked fun at the formality of the Japanese government and how this formality could be seen as unnecessary and even inefficient at times, as shown in the movie. It was also interesting to me that Japan made fun of their government and its inefficiencies because knowing the history of Japan, I would like to think that their government would be seen as very competent because of how they were able to bounce back from the destruction and costs World War 2 had upon them.

Also, upon further research, the original Godzilla film apparently portrayed Godzilla as an expression of the destruction caused by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki while Godzilla in Shin Godzilla was supposed to represent the nuclear disaster that occurred due to an earthquake and tsunami back in 2011. You can see that in how Godzilla in the film was spreading radioactive energies in its wake similar to how radioactive energies were being spread during the nuclear disaster that happened back in 2011.

In a sense, we can see in the differences of the Americanized Godzilla film vs. Shin Godzilla the difference in what the audience of each respective country would enjoy in a movie. This is reflected in how Shin Godzilla was deemed very critically acclaimed in Japan, but was not seen as that much of a masterpiece elsewhere in the world. It could also be the fact that the Japanese found the expression of Godzilla and how he represented the disaster that occurred in their country, as well as their jokes regarding their own government much more relatable and interesting compared to how foreigners or outsiders who don’t have the same shared experience won’t necessarily understand or enjoy it as much.

On that note, Shin Godzilla definitely opened my eyes on how and what Godzilla was intended to represent compared to the Godzilla that I was exposed to in pop culture that caused destruction but was also somewhat of a hero to humankind by defeating other monsters that were destroying cities on Earth. I personally enjoyed the Americanized version of Godzilla, where it was more about a monsters fighting each other and had more special effects and action. However, I can see how and why people would enjoy Shin Godzilla, especially if they understood the context of what Godzilla was supposed to represent.

Schizopolis is what I believe to be a movie that provokes thought. It is a movie that you can only potentially enjoy if you try and analyze why some scenes appeared as they were shown. The opposite of Schizopolis would be primarily action movies such as the Fast and the Furious movie franchise, where you can simply watch the action and enjoy everything that unfolds on-screen without thinking too much.

One of the difficulties that I faced trying to understand the movie was the weird way of communicating used by Elmo Oxygen. I did not really understand the relevancy of using a form of communication that the viewers did not understand towards the plot nor was it explained. Also, although we can probably assume that, while what they were saying seemed like gibberish, the words spoken generally meant that the housewives were interested in having sex with Elmo Oxygen it was never thoroughly explored or explained why the housewives were able to understand the nonsense Elmo Oxygen was spouting while the police could not understand what he was saying at the end of the movie.

Another thing that confused me from the movie was what was happening when the main character (Munson) shifted into the consciousness of the dentist (Korchek). I wasn’t sure as to until what part was Munson still perceiving himself as Korchek and when was Korchek being himself. For example, Korchek talking to his friend regarding borrowing his money for drugs was definitely Korchek. However, it was implied in the movie that Munson was able to somehow shift his consciousness into Korchek and learn of his wife’s cheating on him because he was able to see it happen in Korchek’s perspective. I feel like this part of the movie could have been made clearer and seemed to me as if the movie was simply trying so hard to be weird and have a following of people who claim to love the double meanings and “genius” of the movie.

Also, the movie never explained why Elmo Oxygen shot the boss of Munson and who the couple was that followed him around and seemed to hold him in high regard, as seen in how they gave in to all of his demands when he requested for them.

One of the things that I understood was that the repeated scenes were showing the different perspectives of each individual character and how they felt during those scenes. For example, the scenes Munson shared with his wife from his perspective showed a somewhat fake or very routine-like way of conversing and living his life. They were shown talking with simple adjectives that describe what they mean. (i.e. “Generic greeting”, etc.)

On the other hand, Munson spoke in Japanese while Korchek spoke in Italian when the movie repeated the scenes from the wife’s perspective. The movie alludes to speaking in Italian being a romantic term, which I think is the reason for why they portrayed Korchek to be speaking Italian from Munson’s wife’s perspective. Munson speaking Japanese could be interpreted as to how she perceives Munson as someone who mainly focuses on work and does not have much time for anything else, which is what I feel like the stereotype or the generalization is for Japanese work culture.

In the end, while the movie was thought provoking and really made me think about what the movie meant and what it was trying to say, I felt like it was, as I mentioned earlier, trying to hard to be a confusing and weird movie that would develop a cult-like following for being something that only they enjoyed or understood. Perhaps I need to try and watch the film a couple more times, as the film itself suggested, but for now I don’t think I’ll be watching it again.