Natey & Katy: At the Movies
Natey & Katy are two friends who love movies and love talking about them. Join them on their cinematic journey!
Natey & Katy: At the Movies
Starry Disappointments and Chilling Thrillers
Is "Harold and the Purple Crayon" worth the family movie night? Join Natey as he dissects this adaptation of the beloved children’s book, where even a star-studded cast featuring Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel, and Jemaine Clement couldn't save it from a disappointing end. He'll reveal his initial misgivings, the potential the film squandered, especially concerning Clement’s role, and why the conclusion left him more than a little unsatisfied. Spoiler alert: This might not be the cozy family flick you were hoping for.
Switching gears, Natey analyzes M. Night Shyamalan's thriller "Trap," spotlighting Josh Hartnett’s chilling portrayal of the serial killer "the Butcher" and contrasting it with Ariel Donahue's compelling performance. Unfortunately, not everyone hits the mark, with Saleka Shyamalan’s acting failing to impress. He'll discuss the film’s plausibility, including a head-scratching police scene, and reminisce about Shyamalan’s struggle to recapture his former glory. Plus, join Natey & Katy for an in-depth discussion on the Coen Brothers' masterwork "No Country for Old Men" on this Tuesday's episode. Tune in for critiques, praises, and everything in between on Natey and Katy: At the Movies!
Spoiler Alert. Spoiler Alert, hello everyone, and welcome to another surprise Saturday episode, and this one is another double feature. So I'll be talking about two movies. So to start with, take a listen to this clip of my first movie review. Hello, harold and the Purple Crown. Anybody ever heard the term when a moose flies? No, because moose don't fly. I am a land animal. Statistically, planes are safer than cars. Well, what about a plane drawn by Harold? It's gonna be great's going to be great. It's going to be great Statistically. What does that mean?
Speaker 1:I'm talking about the movie based on the classic children's book Harold and the Purple Crayon. Now, I grew up reading at least the first one. I remember reading the first book and when I saw the trailer for this movie, I was already very hesitant because of what they were doing. So before I can talk about my likes and dislikes, I have to go over the synopsis. Inside of his book, adventurous Harold can make anything come to life simply by drawing it. After he grows up and draws himself off the book's pages and into the physical world, harold finds he has a lot to learn about real life.
Speaker 1:Harold and the Purple Crayon star Zachary Levi, lil Ray Howry, benjamin Botany and Zooey Deschanel. It also features Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords fame. I'm just gonna let you know right now this episode is going to be very short, because both movies I saw wasn't really a fan of. So I kind of have to not be as harsh with this film. Actually, no, I don't have to be, I don't have to be careful how harsh I am because it's a kid's movie. It's a kid's movie but at the same time I can't just make that as an excuse for what I thought of this film. Now, as I stated before, when I saw the trailer I was very hesitant because I didn't understand why they were making Harold a real life adult. You know, I love. I mean, I don't love, but I have nothing against Zachary Levi as an actor. He's not bad. You know, this movie reminded me of Shazam, because in Shazam he was a kid in the body of an adult. That's what this movie felt like. It felt like he was a kid in the body of an adult. Now, to be fair, it was supposed to be showing that. I guess the author of Harold and the Purple Crown made him into an adult, so he wasn't really supposed to be a kid. Here's my main thing about this movie. It had a lot of missed opportunities. It had actors in it that they didn't fully use to the extent that I felt like they should have mostly. I'm talking about jermaine clement. He is hilarious in fly of the Conchords. He could have been an hilarious villain.
Speaker 1:Slash redemption story to this movie. I felt like this movie was handing itself a redemptive character with Gary the librarian who Jemaine Clement plays. I thought they were going to redeem him somehow in this movie, but they don't. So I was talking to my wife about it when I came home after watching it. She did not go see it with me. I usually want to check out movies before I go see them with her, because if I'm like, wow, the movie is really good, we should go see it. Then we'll go see it. This did not seem like a movie that she would like and I don't think she would like it because of what I saw. But I was telling her that I felt like this movie had two options that it could have gone with and I'm glad it didn't go with one of them. So I don't want to really summarize the whole movie, but I'll try to talk about it a little bit.
Speaker 1:So Zooey Deschanel is in this film as well. She has a son who is very imaginative and you know his father was very supportive. His father died. You know that whole backstory that we've seen before. Enter, harold Harold is a very imaginative adult. Harold Harold is a very imaginative adult. He is very supportive of this character that he just meets for like two seconds and they automatically have a bond. So he's very supportive. So I'm thinking okay, one option number one is there additional and Zachary Levi get together. They at the end of the movie they're one big happy family. That's what I thought they were going to do and I was glad that they didn't.
Speaker 1:Option number two Jemaine Clement's character has a crush on Zooey Deschanel's character. He wrote a medieval story and used her as the inspiration for a female character. He starts wanting to use the magic and the purple crayon to bring his world to life. I thought what was going to happen is that he was going to realize that he didn't need to do that and you know he he can go on any other kind of adventure and they would kind of redeem his character and he would be the new love interest for zoe dishanel's character and they would live happily ever after, because one thing they mentioned a couple of times is how the little boy needed a father figure. That that's what I thought they were going for and they didn't go there. They kind of shunned the guy, uh, jermaine clement's character.
Speaker 1:Basically, I don't want to give too much away, I don't want to spoil it too much. To me it didn't have a fulfilling conclusion. The movie. In a way it kind of just ended and there wasn't a fulfilling ending. They even had a post-credit scene or mid-credit scene. That was kind of borderline, depressing a little bit in the context of what happens in the movie.
Speaker 1:So I was really disappointed. I mean, I say that but I also didn't know what I expected because again, when I saw the trailer I was very hesitant about seeing this movie. But again, I'm seeing movies for you guys, so you don't necessarily have to go see it. So I would not recommend Harold and the purple crown, unfortunately. So I would give it. The fact that Jermaine Clements in it gives a little bit of a boost. But again, they didn't utilize him that much at all. They could have done so much more with him, because he's such a he. To me he's just a naturally funny guy and some of it is because of the accent that he has, but he's just a naturally funny guy and they didn't really use him that much. So I would give Harold and the Purple Crayon an unfortunate two out of six stars.
Speaker 1:So let's move on to my second movie. Take a listen to this clip. How y'all doing. My queens and kings, dad, this is literally the best day of my life. It's meant to be. Your daughter's never going to forget this day. This individual that we're searching for, he's here and he's realized he can't get out. I think you're looking for me. I mean, all of you. Enjoy the rest of the concert.
Speaker 1:It's the newest m night shamalan movie which, just hearing that, you might already be like it's not gonna be that great. But let me tell you you're kind of right. But before I could talk about it again, I have to go over the synopsis. A father and his teen daughter attend a pop concert, only to realize they've entered the center of a dark and sinister event. That's a kind of blah synopsis. So if you've seen the trailer for this movie, you kind of already have an idea of what's going to happen. So what I'm about to say is not really diving into spoiler territory.
Speaker 1:So Josh Hartnett stars in this movie and he is a serial killer who takes his daughter to a concert, finds out the concert is actually a trap to catch, basically, him, and they call this serial killer. They give him the nickname of the butcher. So let me just tell you right off the bat that exactly what I thought this film was going to be was kind of what it ended up being. It's basically, if you've seen the show Dexter, josh Hartnett gives very much Dexter vibes in his performance and sometimes the girl who played his daughter, which I believe is Ariel Donahue. They had pretty convincing performances. One performance that was not convincing whatsoever was Salika Shyamalan, and if that last name sounds familiar, that's because she's the daughter of M Night Shyamalan. I don't know if this movie is supposed to be his way of trying to promote her singing career, because she does sing well, she has a pretty voice and majority of this movie is set during a concert of her character, lady Raven. So that could be a reason why this movie was made For a movie called Trap, and I kind of have a feeling of what M Night Shyamalan was trying to go for.
Speaker 1:A lot of people were wondering what's the big twist? What's the big twist? Well, here's the big twist, so I might put a little spoiler alert at the beginning of this episode. The movie's called trap because you're constantly wondering when is he going to be trapped? You think the concert's it, it's not. You think the singer is going to trap him no. You think that his wife is going to trap him no. And then you finally think, oh, the police are going to trap him. And then they leave it open for another movie. I think M Night Shyamalan thought people were going to be really, really invested in this movie, so much that they'd be like when's he going to be trapped, when is the movie going to earn its title? And I was not one of those audience members, I was more like, really that wouldn't happen in real life. Here's. Here's an example of something that I guess some people, if they watch this movie, they might think.
Speaker 1:Now, that is white privilege, is white privilege because there's a moment in the movie and I don't even care about spoiling there's a moment in the movie where he, he and his wife are in this house, they're talking and she kind of drugs him and at first I'm thinking, holy crap, his wife just killed him, which I kind of thought would be a semi-okay ending. But no, he's not poisoned, he doesn't die. But he's like kind of woozy in the house and then he gets tased by a police officer and he turns and he tackles this police officer to the ground and starts plunging his thumbs into the police officer's eyes and I'm thinking, okay, when are they going to shoot him? And then he gets up and he gets tased again and he tries to turn and run to this police officer and I'm thinking, okay, when's he? He gonna get shot and killed. But then he gets tased a third time. Not one shot is fired.
Speaker 1:So I jokingly in my head was like now that is white privilege, because there's no way. There's no way they would not have shot this guy number one. He's wanted for multiple murders. So they already know he's a psychotic killer who is very unpredictable and he freaking, tackled a police officer and plunged his thumbs into the guy's freaking eyes. And plunged his thumbs into the guy's freaking eyes Like he's already showing aggression. He's attacking a police officer, just all these things are just not making any sense.
Speaker 1:The biggest thing and I guess it's because if this had happened one way, there wouldn't be a movie but there's a moment where it seemingly looks like he could just walk off and get away with it. But he does something to, I guess, stretch out the plot and let M Night Shyamalan's daughter have her acting moment. She has to have her acting moment and she's not very good. It was just. There were multiple moments I was like really, and then the way the movie ended it's supposed to be like ooh. But then at the back of your mind you're thinking how is that gonna work? How is that gonna work? So this movie, I again, it's an m night shamalan. I didn't know what I was expecting to happen. I didn't know why I expected to possibly like it. He has not had that many hits lately. In a previous episode that it was his wife, but no, it was another daughter of his. I just I feel bad because he did have moments of brilliance.
Speaker 1:Sixth sense, unbreakable split. I mean those are three pretty good movies. Some people might say signs, some people might say the village. I think the village was terrible. A lot of people like that movie. So it's not like this guy hasn't made good movies before, it's just. And looking back at those movies, even those movies, the acting wasn't that great, the script was not that great, but they were still movies that you can invest in, invest in the characters. This movie just wasn't good, and you know I'm waiting to see a good movie. I mean last saturday, deadpool and wolverine. I thought that was a brilliant movie. So it's not like there's not good movies out there, it's just I don't understand. I don't understand.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to give trap a. I don't want to give it a one because josh hartnett's performance for the most part was pretty good. He and, I think, his over-the-topness when he's trying to act, quote, unquote, normal. The reason I let that pass with the bad acting is because it reminded me a little bit of the show dexter. And yes, it's violent, yes, there's vulgar language, yes, there's all that bad stuff in it, but the performances were good in that show and so josh hartnett, I think, was bringing a little bit of that into his performance, which is why I kind of enjoyed his performance, which is why I'm going to give Trap a two out of six stars as well. So I'm sorry folks, this is just a downer of an episode because I saw two duds, two dud movies. I guess it makes up for the one really good movie I saw last Saturday. So, yeah, they can't all be winners and these are two not winner movies. So that is my surprise Saturday episode for this Saturday.
Speaker 1:Coming up this Tuesday with Katie and myself, we're going to be talking about the Coen's Brothers movie no Country for Old Men, so take a listen to that. On Nad, the Coen's Brothers movie no Country for Old Men, so take a listen to that. On Nadie and Katie. At the movies Critics on the go, opinions start to flow. Will it be a hit? We need to know. Romance or action, comedy or fright. Stick with us and see what's coming tonight. Outro Music.
