A Quiet Place
Directed by and Starring John
Krasinksi (The Office), A Quiet Place tip toed into theaters and the
silence was deafening. Heh? HEH? Play on words… ain’t I the clever
bastard? Eh? Anyway, moving along- we are following a rural family of
five (With one on the way) in the aftermath of some sort of devastating
invasion. The ldest daughter was born deaf, so the family communicates
via sign language, they’re tip-toeing on sand, they’re trying to see to
their medical needs in the wasteland around
them and they are desperately afraid of the slightest noise. It’s the
noise that attracts… something.
A tense film that smothers the
theater in silence, “A Quiet Place” pulls no punches and stretches taut
the razor wire through your nerves. Every jostle, every breeze, every
single creek of a leaf or sharp intake of breath could mean certain
doom. Kasinski proves himself with an adept skill in true fear and
delivers the goods for emotional pay-offs. As a father myself, it’s very
easy to identify with Kasinksi’s character as he’s forced to make
necessary decisions to keep his family safe. He’s
a good man with a good heart, but his nerves are exposed and raw. He is
joined by his real life wife, Emily Blunt, as a mother who is trying to
plan for the birth of a brand new CRYING baby and trying desperately to
preserve the lives of all her children.
Millicent Simmonds, a deaf actress, plays the eldest daughter and
carries much of the emotional weight of the film- Her malfunctioning
cochler implant means she can’t hear what noise she could be making- she
can’t hear the danger approaching, but she is resourceful
and intelligent and she wants to do more than her father seems ready to
teach. Noah Jupe and Cade Woodward are the younger brothers, each
carrying a different responsibility to the emotional devastation the
family is experiencing.
10 out of 10, A Quiet Place is a
perfect horror experience with deep chills, tension, and an emotional
climax that releases the gauge with explosive relief. Don’t miss this
one.
READY PLAYER ONE
Based on the runaway bestselling
novel by Ernest Cline, Ready Player One takes all the nostalgia from the
novel and shuffles the story up a little and recreates the intended
feel of the pop culture love letter. Steven Spielberg’s latest
film virtually boils with Easter Egg references, planting the bulk of
the film’s narrative in the Virtual Reality landscape of The OASIS where
anybody can be whatever they want to be. Fantasy fulfillment is just a
click away. Not only has it become a form
of entertainment for the overpopulated earth, it’s become the primary
economic resource with large corporations “mining” game resources and
trapping indebted players with indentured servitude in the game. (Not as
farfetched if you know about the World of Warcraft
mining industry in third world sweat shops.) After the death of the
games creator, he’s left a puzzle game behind that will allow a random
player the opportunity to gain controlling shares in The OASIS and,
essentially, control the world.
Tye Sheridan (X-Men: Apocalypse) is
cast as Wade Watts (AKA: Parzival), a player in the game who has devoted
the past several years to tracking the founders clues and attempting to
solve the riddles and defeat the game in order to escape
his unfortunate life amongst the dregs. Through his obsession with the
life of the games founder, Wade discovers the mistakes his idol has made
and ultimately comes to make decisions that will pull him away from a
similar path.
The film moves along briskly and
explores the nostalgic effect of pop culture, speaks lightly of the
dangers of escapism, and ultimately delivers what one friend refers to a
“treat for the senses” with its engaging visuals and f/x.
7.5, and a high recommend.
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