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Flash Movie Review: The Drama
SEVERAL TIMES THROUGHOUT THE PAST, I HAVE mentioned that my dealbreakers for not dating someone were dirty fingernails and bad teeth; unless of course there was a reason for it. In the throughs of the dating world, if a potential partner had ever cheated and broke trust in their past relationships, that was a red flag for me as well and I soon ended our relationship. This dealbreaker did not rise up until after I had been cheated on with a couple of people I was dating. I always thought these three non negotiable items were not out of the ordinary; they simply revealed information to me about the person’s hygiene and morals. My friends never challenged my dealbreakers; in fact, they began to incorporate them into their scorecard for potential dating partners. Now on the other hand, I had a hard time with some of my friends’ dealbreakers. There was one friend who would not date anyone but hairy men, essentially hairy chests, arms and legs. I never understood it and always asked them what they would do if their hairy man, in their committed relationship, got cancer and had to go through chemotherapy, causing their hair to fall out. Some friends had to think about it before answering me. Even when I mentioned there might be a chance that person could go bald as they aged, my friends had to actually stop and think about it. THERE ARE A COUPLE OF OTHER friends who had height restrictions when it came to potential partners. One friend only wanted to date people who were much taller than themselves. Another friend preferred dates to be close to their height with a variance of only a couple of inches. Even with their answers to my queries, I still did not quite understand what was so important about different heights that would stop them from dating someone they truly liked. Let me add, that there is a strong difference between me and what I have discovered are many other people regarding perspective dates. Except for teeth and fingernails, I never paid attention to a person’s physical features. This could be due because for most of my life, I always wanted to change mine, or because I saw how the human body was constantly changing its appearance, both intentionally and medically. I tried to never judge any of my friends who had firm limitations on the types of people they would date, despite me not understanding; however, I always thought they were restricting themselves unnecessarily. After seeing this romantic, dark comedy I wondered how they would react, let alone myself, if I had been in such a situation. WHILE OUT WITH ANOTHER COUPLE, AN engaged couple was asked a question that could alter everything about their relationship. With Zendaya (Challengers, Dune franchise) as Emma, Robert Pattinson (Mikey 17, The Batman) as Charlie, Alana Haim (One Battle After Another, Licorice Pizza) as Rachel, Mamoudou Athie (The Circle, Jurassic World: Dominion) as Mike, and Sydney Lemmon (Tar, Love Story-TV) as Pauline; this dramatic comedy scored with casting Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. Their acting and chemistry were perfect in the roles, which made them so believable. I would have appreciated if more time was given to each’s back story; but, in the scheme of things I was too intrigued with the questions being asked and the reactions they caused. At times some things seemed far-fetched, but again I have to stress with the acting and the idea of the story kept my attention throughout the film. The supporting cast was a nice compliment to the engaged couple. Overall, I did not let my minor issues/complaints about the story/script affect my attention and curiosity.
3 stars
Flash Movie Review: Fair Play
AT A BUSINESS EVENT, I WAS introduced to a husband and wife, where the wife was the major breadwinner in the family. She was the head of her department that employed over 100 people. Their work directly affected the financial stability of the company. Her husband worked but I was not clear about what he did for a living. From the various times I ran into them at business functions, he was always there no matter where in the country the event was being held. I have known many couples where one makes a substantial amount of more money, so I am never surprised by such things. But here is the interesting thing I found with this couple; I have been around attendees and co-workers of the wife who mention the husband is a freeloader. They say he comes to every business event that involves a free meal. It is funny, because I have attended various events that served a meal, but I am not a fan of buffets. Hearing these comments made me wonder if they would have said the same thing if the husband’s and wife’s roles were reversed, where he was the major money earner, and the wife was not. The times I have been around the couple, I never got a sense that he was threatened or upset that his wife made more money than him. ON THE OPPOSITE END OF THE spectrum, I know a couple where the husband and wife both worked, but the wife had a difficult time remaining at a job. I knew she did not have a college education, not that it always means something, but it seemed to me she did not want to work. She was taking temporary jobs, working with a temp agency. One job would last one month, then she would have a couple of weeks off before she got assigned to another company. As time went on, it seemed as if her time off between jobs was being extended further and further. Normally, I would not pay attention to any of this because it is not my business; however, whenever I was around the two of them the husband would make passive aggressive remarks about her not earning her keep. For example, she was talking about a wedding they were going to attend and how she wanted to get a new outfit for it. Her husband suggested, in that pseudo kidding way, she find a job to pay for the outfit; except, I could tell he was not kidding. It came to the point I was uncomfortable engaging with them when they were together. I was feeling that same uncomfortableness as I watched the main characters in this dramatic, mystery thriller. WORKING AT THE SAME COMPANY CAN be challenging for a couple. Especially, when the policy frowns on such relationships. When one of the couple’s job duties changes, it sets in motion a series of events that test the couple’s resolve. With Phoebe Dynevor (The Colour Room, Bridgerton-TV) as Emily, Alden Ehrenreich (Oppenheimer, Cocaine Bear) as Luke, Eddie Marsan (Happy-G0-Lucky, Vera Drake) as Campbell, Rich Sommer (The Devil Wears Prada, Mad Men-TV) as Paul and Sebastian De Souza (Kids in Love, Medici-TV) as Rory; I thought Phoebe and Alden were excellent as a couple. The range of emotions they displayed made for some exciting moments in the story. I was fully engaged as the story unfolded, fascinated with not only the emotional side of the story but the business side as well. Unfortunately, the last part of the movie did not maintain the clarity of the story. I was getting confused and thought the script dipped into comic book theatrics. Also, it seemed as if the characters lost some of their authenticity. This could have been a fascinating study of gender equality/inequality, but the message got somewhat lost.
2 ¾ stars
moviejoltz 