Celluloid Chronicles: Stunts, Tarot, and Tennis

We are at the first weekend of May and I've got a couple quick reviews for ya to jump start the dozen review drafts I must write for my Letterboxd; I've watched so much in the last two months -lol sob-

The Fall Guy

So The Fall Guy... This was fun, cute, action packed, and a little too long? Yes. Clocking in at two hours and ten minutes, seeing this after you leave work at 7:00pm was a hard ask for me at least. I did not regret it.

The Fall Guy follows Ryan Gosling, [I chose not to remember character names and I am not looking them up because they do not matter] one of the best stunt men in town down on his luck after a horrible accident on set breaks his back and a glorious relationship he had budding with Emily Blunt, a rising filmmaker. Eighteen months later, one of the producers, and managers of the actor Gosling previous doubled for, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is begging him to help Emily Blunt out on her directorial debut. Still in love and honestly sick of his monotonous life , Gosling is rushed to Australia to double once again for Johnson. However, Taylor-Johnson is missing and his manager begs Gosling to find him in order to save the film and rekindle his relationship with Blunt. Of course chaos ensues.

Great action, serviceable comedy, quaint romantic chemistry, and a love letter to particularly the production teams that make film great, The Fall Guy is a movie that almost no one could hate and maybe a few people might love. This is a movie where the cast is key to delivering an unremarkable script and rather predictable trajectory. Everyone knows whats up and does their job. Stephanie Hsu is there for a moment and she gives. It seemed like Winston Duke probably had more scenes that hit the cutting room floor, but he was great as well. Gosling stands out of course. He has the charm and physicality to really pull this role off.

Also, The Fall Guy has so many stunts they've earned a Guinness World record for the most cannon rolls in a car. Wild.

I will say again, it's not that deep. Rather predictable and there wasn't much depth or shock regarding the antagonists. It's not a huge deal since the emphasis is on the relationship and the stunts. If explosions bore you after awhile, there's not much else to be looking at. I think the length was because of the work and escalation of stunts as the movie goes on. However, the movie could've been tightened up in other spots to not take away from that work.

I adored the credits that show how much of this work was real stunt work and not just CGI. If you are watching this in the theater do stay until it gets to the credits on the black screen. You won't regret it.

I very much appreciate film and watch a lot and just really feel for the amount of the work that goes into this. With the strikes and discourse about stunts, production, voice acting, this was a great movie to appreciate those parts of moviemaking. 3.5/5 I think. Director also did Bullet Train which I preferred.

Tarot (2024)

Boring title changed in January when it was known previously as Horrorscope. Come on ya'll.

I am not a horror movie person. I don't like stressing myself out unnecessarily. I will go watch horror for the plot not for the jump scares. I don't need to see violence. I close my eyes. I know the whole point of it is that music and noises increase the tension, but if the story sucks, I'm over the gimmicks. I went because I was curious and because at the length of ninety minutes it was a low commitment.

Unlike The Fall Guy, I feel like Tarot was a little too short. Tarot gets to the chase quick. We open to a group of college students who've rented an AirBnB in the Catskills. They run out of beer and going into the Basement labeled "Do Not Enter" to find some. They see a bunch of "astrological shit" and discover a Tarot deck. Main character [Everyone except Jacob Batalon a.k.a. Ned from Tom Holland Spiderman is newish and horror movies kill people off so quick so you already know I'm not looking those names up], who is versed enough in tarot readings, mentions that it's bad luck to use another's deck. The crew pressures her into doing it because it's their other friend's birthday. Major L because...

Shocker: Not only is this bad etiquette, but the deck is CURSED and one by one each person begins to be murdered by something resembling the final card pulled in their reading and all of their readings come true in monkey paw ways.

The actors play fairly realistic stressed college students from a nondescript college in Boston. Movies being set in, or mentioning Boston always jars me while I am in a theater in Boston. It's cute.

Jacob Batalon is the highlight of the movie. He is hilarious, charming, and makes me care about something. Everything happens so fast it is difficult to care about anyone. Not only that, the deaths happen so fast and sort of obscured you miss out on the rather creative designs for the entities.

I feel like a good amount of effort was made in this but it didn't have enough time to really enjoy it I suppose. It also resolved so quickly with no explanation it almost felt like a parody. Let's call it the witchy parody of Final Destination. 2.5/5 stars. I mean it was a complete movie. It had more potential to be ... almost kinda great?

I mentioned Tennis because I did watch Challengers a second time this weekend. I will not be getting into it this evening. Just know that we are so fucking back.

See ya soon and like share comment? I don't know what you can do up here.