Quick Catch-ups: “Barb and Star,” “Nomadland” & “The Little Things”

Quick Review #1: “Barb & Star Go to Vista del Mar” – Oh boy. This was a rough one. “Barb and Star” is an unfunny comedy that rips off the “Bill & Ted” movies and the “Austin Powers” movies, and I was miserable the entire time I watched the movie. I did think the film was competently directed and I appreciated how colorful it looked, but this was a terrible comedy.

Quick Review #2: “Nomadland” – This film was directed Chloé Zhao and stars Frances McDormand as Fern, a woman who becomes a nomad after losing her job and husband. The best aspects of “Nomadland” are the direction and cinematography. Every single frame looks like a painting, and that’s no small feat. Frances McDormand, as always, gave a really good performance in the film. She didn’t overact like other actors might; she seemed like a legitimate nomad in the best way possible.

Also, I appreciate how the film presents the nomadic lifestyle. I would expect a Hollywood movie to either glorify being a nomad or insult it, but “Nomadland” didn’t do either. It showed that nomads are kind, friendly people who love exploring the world and meeting new people, but it also showed how unsanitary and difficult the lifestyle is. My problem with the movie is that its pacing is a little too slow in the third act and the ending is very anticlimactic. Besides that, I thoroughly enjoyed “Nomadland.”

Quick Review #3: “The Little Things” – I said I wouldn’t review this film on twitter, but I changed my mind. I like to rant sometimes. Here we go: This movie is garbage. It is a “Se7en” ripoff that lacks any originality or interesting themes. This is an insanely boring film that makes NyQuil look ineffective. The fact that Warner Brothers approved this amazes me. This film tricks you into thinking it must be good because it has brilliant actors in it: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto. But each of them is wasted in this movie, and no matter how hard they try (which none of them bothered to do), this movie is still ruthlessly boring. The script feels like it was written by an alien learning about human interaction. The plot makes no sense, the use of flashbacks is atrocious, and everything about this movie fails. Everyone who participated in this film, especially the actors who wasted their talent, should be extremely ashamed of this awful, awful movie. It makes perfect sense why it was released in January.

My review for “Malcolm & Marie”: https://reelopinion.com/2021/02/12/malcolm-marie-is-pretentious-and-miserable/