Ty Watches "The Assessment"

I just watched the movie "The Assessment". I had seen some clips from it on Instagram and it piqued my interest, so I decided to give it a try.

"The Assessment" stars Himesh Patel and Elizabeth Olsen as a married couple in the not so distant future. Earth has been ravaged by something, and survivors started a new world on the outskirts of society. In this new world you cannot have children the usual way. You have to go through what is known as an assessment. This is where the movie gets nuts.

The first fifteen or so minutes show us how Patel and Olsen live their lives. They appear to be scientists and they have made considerable contributions to the new world. Then Alicia Vikander shows up as the assessor. This is when the movie shifts into high gear. I have really grown to like Vikander. She is kind of a perfect actor for sci-fi movies. She is so cold and mean and aggressive as the assessor. Her whole job it seems is to act like a child and put Olsen and Patel through some wild tests. The tests start out normal enough, but then they appear to be sinister and mean spirited. Vikander nails this aspect. Patel is kind of perfect as the put upon husband who thinks he is ready to be a dad, but it may be way more than he bargained for. Olsen is perfect as the expected mom. She shows great signs of frustration and anger and grief. She clearly has had something happen in her past, and she is still struggling to get over it all.

I found this movie to be compelling and fascinating. I didn't think it would get to my emotions at all, but I was wrong. I was very impressed with Olsen and Patel's performance, but it was Vikander who truly stole the show. I thought the visuals and look of the movie was pretty spot on for what a not so distant future could look like. I really liked Patel's "office" that he worked in. He had this whole room with a big black box on the ceiling where he can perform his tests. He appears to be some kind of creator who can make artificial animals that almost feel real. He is struggling to make the fur feel real, but he is continually trying to get it right. He also seems to have issues trying to make his creations feel fully real. Olsen has this entire greenhouse where she grows plants and food. She has one of the last orchids that has ever existed in her greenhouse. She takes incredibly great care to make sure this greenhouse continues to provide for her and her husband. But then when Vikander shows up and does her job, Patel and Olsen's whole world is flipped upside down. She takes this couple through the ringer. It appeared to me that she was maybe taking things a little too far in fact. She acts like one of the brattiest kids I have ever seen. But we eventually come to find out that she has some things to deal with as well.

My only true gripe with the movie is the length. The ending took a little too long for my taste. The movie clocks in at about 1 hour and 50 minutes, but it could have easily been 90 minutes. I understand why they did what they did in the last 20 minutes, but there was some stuff early on I thought they could have left out and the movie would still have been good.

I like when I find little gems like this out in the world. I had never heard of this movie until about a week ago and was glad that I turned it on yesterday. If you like sci-fi movies, check this one out for sure. And if you like your sci-fi with a little bit of family drama, definitely check it out. I'm glad that I did. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"

I think we have reached the point of too many superhero movies. I still go to see them, but there’s a lot. When my wife and I went to the movies yesterday we got a preview for yet another “Thor” movie. It looks great, Taika Waititi is directing and I will see it. But damn, it feels like, at the very least, half the movies coming out are superhero based.

I say all this because my wife and I went to see “Doctor Strange 2”. We both wanted to see it, we like multiverse stuff and she took the day off for our anniversary. So we went to the movie before heading to a nice dinner, just the two of us. The movie was fine. It was very down the middle Marvel stuff. It was an interesting story with cool characters and solid actors. But it’s just too much to follow right now, for me at least. As I said, I found the movie enjoyable, but I also have some criticisms of it as well. I was stoked when I saw Sam Raimi was directing. He has made some of my favorite horror/comedy movies. He also did “Spider-Man 2”. But this movie felt old. It kind of looked old too. Raimi is a genius, but this movie felt like he was working in a different decade. There was a bit too much CGI. It felt like they were going to do as much as possible. It was overwhelming at times. The makeup also felt old. That could have been purposefully, but it looked rough to me. The direction also felt rushed at times. Almost like they were pushing to get this movie done. I also enjoy Benedict Cumberbatch. He’s a solid actor. He’s doing really cool stuff. I even like his interpretation of Stephen Strange. But he doesn’t seem like he can, or maybe doesn’t want, to be the star of a MCU movie. My wife made the point at dinner that Dr Strange is much better as an add on character. I couldn’t agree more. It’s great when he shows up in movies, but when he’s the star it is kind of dull and boring. I don’t think Dr Strange is a leading MCU guy. He was much more fun in the latest “Spider-Man” movie. Elizabeth Olsen was dynamite. I have no problem with any choice she made. I just didn’t buy her as the villain. I agreed with every choice she made as Wanda/Scarlet Witch. I was on her side and I don’t think that’s what they were going for. The actor who played America Chavez was good too, but I have zero idea how she’s involved in the MCU. I know nothing about her character, and they didn’t do the best job of explaining who she is and why she matters. The cameos were cool, no spoilers, but this is another case of too much too soon. It is almost as if Marvel is just throwing darts at a board and choosing what fits based on where the dart lands. It’s a bit slap dash. I also found the writing to be very cliche. There were lots of closeups and the actors saying cliche superhero lines. I half expected someone to say something about power and responsibility. Or bring up how it’s a curse to be a hero. It was truly that predictable. I did like the look of the movie. It reminded me of “Inception”. There was a neat fight scene between two Dr Strange’s where they used music notes. I already mentioned my love for Elizabeth Olsen. And Chiwetel Ejiofor chewed scenery in the best possible way. But this was a lower tier Marvel movie for me. I think my wife would agree. It is better than “Thor 2” and “Ironman 2”. I haven’t seen “Morbius”, but I’m sure this movie looks like “The Godfather” next to it. But “Thor 3”, “Guardians of the Galaxy”, “Winter Soldier” and “Black Panther” are far, far superior movies.

Again, “Doctor Strange 2” was okay, but nowhere near what I was hoping or expecting. There’s just too much in that MCU right now. They need to slow the hell down and focus on making a few good movies as opposed to making a million movies all at once.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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