Brett Garten, Movie Extraordinare
Cinematic Sommelier
8.6
One of the most impactful things I’ve watched all year. I caught it on a list on LinkedIn for leveling up one’s life, and now am including and recommending it here.
The way that the filmmakers lay out their case caused me to take a deep dive internally, and come out the other side more changed than I’ve been in a long time when the credits rolled on a film. Highly, highly recommend this one to anyone looking for a dose of profound perspective.
6.5
All 6.5 points are for Ana De Armas. She’s phenomenal and deserves every bit of praise and all the awards for this one. Everything else about this film was unnecessary and uncomfortable, to put it mildly. I believe they were aiming for portraying the harsh reality of Marilyn’s life, but it goes overboard. It blows past the line that “Showgirls” drew in the sand. And that’s saying something.
6.5
It was… okay?
Some funny moments, some funny characters. Ultimately forgettable. It may very well be that it was too early for a COVID movie. It could be that it was just the Netflix effect of moving ever-closer to the “everything for everyone” genre and losing their edge on many of their products, leading to the “meh, it killed some time” feeling as the credits roll.
7.4
It’s female “John Wick.” That’s all you really need to know.
8.2
They had it… They freaking had it!!! Why does everything have to have franchise potential?!?!
The narrative momentum, the closure we all yearn for in conclusion, the goodwill we build as an audience interacting with these characters… all taken out back and shot. Can I hold a seance and time travel to a point in time where I forget how much I despise this ending?
Aside from the way they crash-landed the plane, this series was spectacular. The way it built tension, caused me to care about the characters, and kept me on the edge of my seat was everything I could have asked for in a Netflix series based on a podcast. Then it ended with me angrily yelling at my TV.
I filed this one alongside “Censor” and “Broadcast Signal Intrusion” as one of the best pieces of original horror/thriller material in the past two or three years. I’d take the “what the hell was that?!?” ending of “Censor” over this. They lost a full point based on the ending.
