Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, 5/10
Watched this to see if the two later movies of the trilogy worked better as one giant film and no, they don't. This is even more of a mess than Chest: there's even more characters, backstabbing, switching allegiances, deals and motivations this time around. No wonder I could never keep track of it as a kid, because I really couldn't as an adult either. This started filming without a finished script and boy fucking howdy does it feel like it. It feels like it's been Frankenstein'd from at least three different drafts with a whole lot of random bits they filled for whatever reason. For some reason Sao Feng believes Elizabeth to be Calypso's vessel, and it never goes anywhere and is never brought up again after he croaks. Davy Jones' Locker is apparently supposed to be some sort of ironic purgatory where you suffer the worst thing you've done over and over, but all we get out of it is Jack living with copies of himself and some stone crabs. What was the ironic hell supposed to be again? It legit feels like the script read in parts things like "Jack Sparrow doing goofy stuff", "action scene" or "Davy Jones doing stuff".
There's way too much lore that's only brought up in this film to feel in any way earned. It's all convoluted, muddled and messy. I'm still not sure what the fuck Calypso's deal was supposed to be at the end. Was she helping the pirates in some way? Because all she did was make a big whirlpool. Things like the Brethren Court would have felt way more satisfying if they'd been brought up in previous films, but it's so clear that they were only made up after scripting Chest finished.
So what's left? Well, it's still a visual feast. I realized that not only do these visual effects, CGI included, hold up, they still look spectacular. The combination of the lavish sets, costumes and locations make this genuinely one of the best-looking films of the 2000s. The action's fun if, as with Chest quite convoluted, and Jack and Barbossa are just a delightful pair together. It's just that the movie is so slapdash and overstuffed that it ultimately just barely limps over the finish line somewhat satisfyingly.
Obsession, 8/10, possibly 9/10
This is the most recent horror darling with a theme that we seem to get with astonishing regularity these days. This time directed by former Youtube skit comedian Curry Barker, and centered around relationships. The setup is incredibly straightforward: shy, awkward guy really likes a girl he works with, and makes a wish with a McGuffin that she would love him more than anything else in the world. A finger on the monkey's paw curls, and we have a movie.
It's incredible. I honesly can't tell the last time I was involuntarily holding my breath without realizing it in a movie, but this sure is the latest. It is so uncomfortable from beginning to end: initially from the awkwardness and discomfort, and then progressing into full-blown horror and unbearable tension. There are so many moments where I was actively cringing in my seat not because of something that was happening, but because something wasn't. This is probably the most consistently tense I've been watching a horror movie since Hereditary: it simply does. not. let. up. The remarkable thing about it is that it's as straightforward as it seems: there's no huge twists, reveals, subversions or even surprises, and you're basically told how the movie will end about halfway through. The engagement comes from wanting to see just how far the movie will take its nut-squeezing tension before the inevitable. And fuck me they get every last drop out of it. The film's also properly nasty and even mean-spirited when it wants to, and goes all out balls to the wall in its climax.
The other area where the movie excels is the surprising level of nuance it inserts into its very limited cast (this movie basically only has four characters). They're not the best of buddies since childhood, they're just a random assortment of young people who hang out more out of just prolonged exposure to each other than anything deep. They're all messy and kinda scuzzy in their own ways: the girl the main character is in love with is pretty, but doesn't really seem like that nice a person, the friend is kind of a douchebag, and the MC himself is sympathetic and just plain pathetic, but also kind of monstrous in how out of his depth he is. It's very true to life in that love is often messy, we often see it through rose-tinted glasses, and it's very easy to justify being in a shitty situation, or even just plain being shitty. Then there's the oceanic depths of metaphor and subtext you can dissect this movie with: staying with an unwell partner, imposing your will on others, cutting yourself or your partner off from others, failing to appreciate what's in front of you, on and on the list goes.
And you can't really talk about this movie without talking about the performance from the crush, played by Inde Navarrette. If the world is just, this should be a star-making performance. She is absolutely terrifying, and best of all it's all her. There's no crazy makeup, effects, camera tricks or even lighting to highlight her acting, her standing in shadow is as elaborate as it gets. She (and the movie in general) reminded me of Sophie Thatcher in Companion from last year, in how they're both horror movies centered around the modern dating landscape, anchored by an absolutely killer female main performance that asks a ton physically and in terms of acting ability, and both are pulled off with flying colours.
True banger, and bound to appear on a lot of "best of the year" lists.
