So, this week I’m going to be off in Scotland, which means I won’t be able to make any
videos.
So if you some huge news comes out in the following days, sorry, won’t talk about
it.
But instead of just leaving and going without a video for two weeks, I thought why not review
two movies that I’ve gotten quite a few requests to talk about, It and Blade Runner
2049.
No spoilers here unless explicitly said, and if you came for my thoughts on just one of
these, there are timecodes down the description.
Alright, let’s talk about them.
So let’s start off with Blade Runner 2049.
I was pretty excited for this.
I watched the first one in preparation, and yeah, it’s really good.
Visually great, most of the performances are good, I liked the world, and the story was
good if not a bit confusing at times.
What, I’ll admit it.
And how does the sequel stack up to that?
I’d personally say its even better.
I know, that might be blasphemy to some die hard Blade Runner fans, but I was blown away
by this movie.
Really everything you can think of, this movie does well.
Or not well, but brilliantly.
I’ll just say it, this might be the most visually beautiful film I’ve ever seen.
It is gorgeous, the cinematography, the colors, the effects, everything.
Most of the shots in this movie look like they could be printed off and put in some
art gallery, it is that genuinely stunning.
See this on the biggest screen you can.
The music as well is incredible.
The music from the first is so iconic, and this is just as good.
This unique very futuristic feeling score that you can feel resonate in your body, it’s
just perfect.
The performances are also top notch, Ryan Gosling has been on a bit of a role recently,
his last three movies I’d all give between a 9 and a 10 out of 10, and he’s fantastic
here.
He has a lot of scenes where he has to convey tons of complex emotions just through his
face and he does it flawlessly.
That goes for a lot of the actors here as well.
Harrison Ford, after this and Star Wars I’m starting to think maybe he actually can pull
off Indiana Jones again, he’s great.
I know people hate him now, I didn’t mind Jared Leto at all, Bautista’s great, Wright’s
great, everyone's great.
Although, and this is a minor spoiler warning if you don’t wanna know anything going in,
skip ahead just about 10 seconds, but if you’re going into this expecting the Harrison Ford
Jared Leto show, it’s not.
They were both not in it as much as I thought they’d be, but that didn’t bother me,
cuz it all worked with the story.
Speaking of which, the story’s also really good here, for most of it you can follow it
even though it has a lot of layers to it.
It’s very clever and it has some good twists that I actually didn’t see coming, which
was refreshing after seeing a lot of movies that were kind of predictable.
And even though it has potential to, at no point did it really feel pretentious to me.
And maybe the thing I loved the most about this movie is the world.
The first Blade Runner set up this really cool world, and this expands on it in such
an amazing way.
Not only the visuals, but just all the technology with all the attention to detail, it feels
so real and like such a natural progression from where the last movie left off.
This is how this tech would evolve, and just the tiniest little visual details or sound
effects make this world feel so alive.
A lot of that has to do with Ryan Gosling's girlfriend in this, who was amazing.
Also, if you’re worried that you can’t follow this if you haven’t seen the first
film, I really wouldn’t be.
This pretty much stands alone from the first movie, it gives you a little recap at the
start so you know what's up and then its really telling a different story in that world.
Sure it helps if you’ve seen the first one, it’ll enhance your experience by quite a
bit, especially when Harrison Ford comes more into play, but if you’re just going in fresh,
this still works as a great sci-fi movie.
And again, I think a lot of that has to do with this meticulously crafted phenomenal
world they’ve built.
If I had any complaints with this, I’d say, it is really really long.
But that’s not really a bad thing because to me at least every scene felt purposeful
and was interesting, I’m just saying if you’re expecting the brisk pace of a Marvel
movie or something, yeah no this is a slower ride.
Also, while it’s still great, the third act was probably my least favorite.
I don’t know, maybe it’s cuz I saw this at like midnight and I was just a bit tired
at that point, but it started to get a little confusing.
No spoilers, but there’s one scene in particular where I was like, oh so this person is...this
thing, not this other thing….ok...was I even supposed to think that original thing?
Maybe I need to watch it again to get the full effect.
So, Blade Runner 2049 is definitely one of the best films I’ve seen so far this year.
Visually fantastic, compelling story and characters, interesting themes, basically everything you
could want out of a Blade Runner movie or even just a movie.
It’s probably incredibly difficult for a movie about android philosophy and whatnot
to maintain my attention for almost 3 hour’s hours, but I was super engaged in this.
I’ll give it a 9.8/10.
So now, onto the film that I’ve been getting non stop requests to talk about.
It.
And yes, I know I’m super late on this, but hey because of that I got to see it on
Friday the 13th.
So that’s worth something...I guess.
So let’s cut right to it.
Is It a great movie?
Yeah.
It is.
Just saying though, I feel like I’m probably not the best guy to talk about this because
as most of you, not a big horror fan.
I’ll only really see a horror movie if its a huge event like this one, or if it’s gotten
amazing reviews and really intrigues me.
But stuff like Conjuring and Insidious and all that, yeah I’ll pass.
So with this, I think this was a step below those in terms of horror-ness, but I still
watched quite a bit of the film through the gaps between my fingers.
What, I’ll admit it.
What I did see and hear of it though, I really liked.
In terms of the non-horror stuff, that was actually fantastic.
All the child acting for nearly the entire film was spot on, especially the main kid,
the Stranger Things kid, and Beverly.
The performances otherwise are good but might be just a little over-the-top for my taste.
The movie’s also fun, it does that 80s Goonies type vibe really well, it’s just a good
time even if you took out all the clowns and murder.
Also, this movie does not feel at all 2 hours and 15 minutes long.
Maybe that’s what happens when your heart is constantly racing, but it went by must
faster than I thought it would.
Now, for what the main focus of this film is, the horror.
Yeah, it’s plenty scary.
I did appreciate that beyond the jumpscares there were just creepy scenes that are unsettling
not just because sudden noise and visual.
Although, there are a lot of jump scares in this film.
Jumpscares are easily my least favorite part of horror movies, I much prefer you know just
creepy stuff that is horrifying by what it makes you think about.
But I understand you can’t really have a horror movie without jumpscares, and they
weren’t too egregious here.
I have to say though, and this is not me trying to make it look like I’m so brave and nothing
scares me, cuz I just said how much of this I was scared by, but Pennywise in the form
of the actual clown was easily the least scary part of the film to me.
Maybe that’s just cuz clowns don’t really scare me that much, and I don’t think he
was necessarily supposed to be super scary at some points.
But like, the Pennywise scenes were the ones where I was actually able to watch it without
a hand covering my eyes.
Sure I wouldn’t wanna run into him on the streets but just like, he was the least frightening
thing in the film to me.
I thought the other forms he took, like especially for Stanley with that weird painting woman,
I found that to be much creepier.
But hey I guess fear is subjective.
And again, don’t take this as me being like oh yeah movie wasn’t scary cuz the clown
wasn’t that scary.
The movie was certainly scary.
I also appreciate how it didn’t really hold back a lot.
I mean when it did hold back I think it was for the better, like with that ending and
how it ends in the book, but other times, like with Georgie and Pennywise, it just went
all out.
So overall, It is a really good horror film, and it’s much more well made than some of
the other run-of-the-mill horror films that come out.
It’s got a good story, characters you care about, and genuinely scary moments.
I’ll give It an 8.7/10.
So those were my thoughts on the new Blade Runner and It movies.
What did you think of these?
Let me know all of your thoughts down below in the comments.
While you’re at it be sure to like this video, check out my Instagram and Twitter
@bhl_hudson, check out this podcast about movies and TV and whatnot I do every other
week with a friend of mine, it’s called The Poorly Planned Podcast (link down below),
and subscribe for more videos like the one you just watched.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see ya next time.