Adventures in Netflix: Wristcutters + Spiral

These two films are great reasons for my love of Indie movies.

Wristcutters: A Love Story was a quirky and somewhat depressing look at love. The concept was original and the premises and characters left room for both humor and insight. However, the desolate and bland style and locations of the movie paired with the purposefully dull acting left me kind of down and by the end I wasn't sure whether to cry or smile. As far as acting goes, the cast was great, in particular, Shea Whigham as Eugene. Also, the Gogol Bordello music provided both surprising contrast and parallel to the movie. 4/5 Stars

Spiral was an incredibly interesting film to watch because of how well the story sucked me in. From the jump the movie presents you with some disturbing psychological imagery that really intrigues you. What is up with that bathroom? But halfway through the movie, the story has transformed into this heartwarming romance. I'm not usually one for romances, but I really enjoyed watching this relationship. But then the suspense and psychological twisting comes roaring back and by the end you're left pretty shocked. The acting was great. Visually the movie was pretty simple, nothing particularly impressive. It was definitely the story that made this movie work. 4/5 Stars

Sucker Punch

This probably deserves a longer review but I'm only gonna give it a short one for now. Sucker Punch was quite the visual journey. Zack Snyder's uniquely original style was clearly evident in this original endeavour. To say that the visual effects and cinematography weren't spectacular would be an outright lie. The acting in the film was decent, I was particularly impressed with Oscar Isaac as Blue. The music was a powerful, eclectic, and loud accompaniment that tailored to both the emotion and the action of the film. What slightly disappointed me about the film was that I expected a little more from Zack Snyder. Of course everyone and all the advertisers made it well known that Zack made 300 and Watchmen. As much as I try not to buy into hype, I was disappointed to find that this movie didn't provoke as much of an emotional response as 300 surprisingly did nor did it harbor as much intellectual profundity as I found in Watchmen. However, If taken along with the backstories behind the animated shorts, Sucker Punch becomes a bit more interesting and thought provoking. All in all, the more I thought on it, the more I really liked the movie. I give Sucker Punch an 8/10.