Mini-Reviews: TRON: Ares / If I Had Legs I’d Kick You / In Whose Name?

We gotta lock back in again. No days off for this movie stuff. I’ve only been to the theater like twice in the past month or so, I’m stepping up my game now.

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TRON: Ares

"No going back."

Director: Joachim Rønning
Cast: Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, Gillian Anderson, and Jeff Bridges
Synopsis: “A highly sophisticated program called Ares is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind's first encounter with A.I. beings.”

Maybe it’s the low bar that I had for myself, but TRON: Ares ended up being just fine. For a series of movies that never did too well commercially, the $200 million+ budget confuses me. Unlike a lot of recent blockbusters, though, that money is put onto the screen. It’s very pretty to look at with all of its sleek CGI and the occasional glimpses into the Grid can be stunning. I also think Ares boasts one of the best scores of the year, thanks to it basically drowning in Nine Inch Nails’ signature industrial sound. Part of me regrets not watching this in IMAX for that alone, funny enough. Outside of the technical prowess, the story is mostly generic sci-fi tropes, mainly the robot that gains feelings. It’s been done before, it’ll be done in the future, and it’s been done better. I’ve never been a big fan of Leto, but I didn’t hate him here. The rest of the ensemble cast is quite good, especially Peters and Turner-Smith as our villains. It was nice to see Bridges again too, even if it wasn’t for that long. If you’ve got a good sound system, just treat it as a full-length Nine Inch Nails music video and you’ll be set.

Ryan’s Grade: B



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If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

"Everything is under control."

Director: Mary Bronstein
Cast: Rose Byrne, Conan O'Brien, Danielle Macdonald, Christian Slater, and A$AP Rocky
Synopsis: “With her life crashing down around her, Linda attempts to navigate her child's mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist.”

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You may be the most uncomfortable watch I’ve had all year. That’s definitely a compliment here, but it firmly belongs in the category of “that was good, but I’m never watching it again.” I’ve seen the phrase “Uncut Gems for mothers” thrown around, and with how nightmarish this movie is– and with director Josh Safdie as a producer– that’s a fitting comparison. This is the best performance I’ve seen Byrne give in anything, but getting O’Brien to play an emotionally distant therapist is a stroke of genius. I’d put it in the same camp as Bring Her Back in one of the most disturbing movies of the year. In other words, it’s a good movie for the whole family.

Ryan’s Grade: B-



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In Whose Name?

"From Kanye to Ye…"

Director: Nico Ballesteros
Synopsis: “Over six years, 18-year-old Nico Ballesteros captured an unfiltered portrait of Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, offering unprecedented access into the private and public life of one of the most controversial figures in modern culture.”

Like If I Had Legs…, this is also one of the toughest watches I’ve gone through in ages. I mentioned in my little Letterboxd entry for In Whose Name? that this is a story that I feel is mainly focused on mental health. How it affects you, as well as the people around you, can make or break your life. You could be a nobody or you could be the most famous person on the planet, but our mental health is universal. I hopped off the Kanye West train a while ago, but this feels like a complete inverse of jeen-yuhs, that three-part series about him. That covered his come-up, how he was at one point an underdog in the music industry, the passing of his mother… you know, all that jazz. In Whose Name? feels more like a compilation than a documentary, seeing Ye at his absolute lowest, truly seeing him unravel and not receive (and, in most cases, refuse or deny) any sort of reassurance that he’ll even be alive. It makes me really mad that Ye said himself in the film that this feels like a posthumous documentary because that’s exactly how I feel about it. It’s a tough watch and I really can’t really recommend it because… well, it’s Kanye, but it’s a unique watch that I haven’t stopped thinking about since the credits rolled.

Ryan’s Grade: B+