Jamie Lammers
Stories (150/0)
Split Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review every movie I see. I got three movies for Christmas 2019. The first was How To Train Your Dragon 3. The second was HTTYD: Homecoming. This was the third. After watching this movie, I am so glad I asked for it for Christmas. In all honesty, there's part of me that's wondering if I should give this four stars because the tension wasn't as palpable as I had hoped for and I was more immersed in every other Shyamalan film I've seen than I was here. However, not only did the tension really start to pick up by the halfway mark, but the character development is consistent and engaging, the performances are astounding, and I have a feeling this is one of those movies that I will probably like more the second time I see it. Because of that, I don't know if I can even allow myself to give it four stars. That's the weirdest excuse ever, but I'm sticking with it.
By Jamie Lammers2 years ago in Humans
Her Spoiler Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I write reviews about every movie I watch (whenever I watch them). If I had watched this last week again (in July 2020, in other words), I would have seen it exactly one year from when I watched it the first time. In that year, I think I've kept this movie in the back of my mind a lot. I've been curious to see it again, but I didn't know when the best time would be, so I watched it with my parents tonight. The first half hour or so, I was very afraid that both of them (particularly my mom) were gonna trash the film by the end, but when the film actually ended, we had intellectual discussions about things we thought were so beautifully thought out about the script and the characters and the relationships and aspects of them that one of us pinpointed and the other didn't, and it was truly awesome. After re-watching this film, I have absolutely no problems with it. If I were to pinpoint one, it would be that there are a couple of times in this movie where Samantha is able to talk to people when they don't have an earpiece in and the aspect of her being able to talk to some people without those earpieces was weirdly established to me. Other than that, though... this absolutely deserves a spot in my top 10 favorite films. In fact, it might be my second favorite film (I'm gonna have to re-watch Boyhood soon to see where those two films and The Social Network place on my personal list).
By Jamie Lammers2 years ago in Humans
Her Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review all of the movies I see. Where in the world did this movie come from?! Where did a movie about a relationship between a human and his AI come from? And how in the world is it so freaking good?!?! Seriously, this feels like it should be some obscure indie film that people discover and celebrate its existence, but this is a mainstream film that people talked about and loved and that got a ton of award buzz. How did this movie get made? However it got made, I am so happy it did. Her is an intricate exploration of relationships, technology, and how they both come together in a way that feels, shockingly enough, human. This movie's portrayal of relationships is fascinating all the way until the end, and the pacing of this film just makes it breeze by so quickly you don't even realize two hours have gone by. You just become so captivated by the two main characters, who both feel blisteringly real and human despite that one of them is a computer.
By Jamie Lammers2 years ago in Humans
Sybil Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd page, where I review every movie I see. Before we get started, I wanted to mention that I bought the 187-minute long DVD. For some reason, Wikipedia and Letterboxd state that the full, unedited cut is 198 minutes long, but a crucial scene that Wikipedia said was edited out of certain cuts is in the version I watched tonight. The only logical assumption I can make from this is that 198-minute length takes the commercials that are edited out of the DVD for obvious reasons into account, but I can't confirm that. I'm going to assume I have seen the full, unedited movie, but there may be some longer version that's completely lost to the sands of time out there, I have absolutely no idea. Regardless, enough dawdling, let's get into the review.
By Jamie Lammers2 years ago in Humans
Little Women (2019) (Second) Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd page, where I review all of the movies I see. A little over a year ago, I saw this movie for the first time and thought it was fantastic. I thought that it took a little while for me to get sucked into the story, but once I did, I was completely hooked. Watching it a second time, understanding where all of the character arcs were going, getting a better sense of the time jumps throughout this film, I can honestly say I no longer think that this movie is phenomenal. No, I legitimately think this film is absolutely genius. Yep, that's right, this movie got so much better for me the second time that I genuinely think it's a work of genius. I wasn't expecting that to happen, but here we are. I remember when I used to think of the name Little Women and associated it simply with one of those classic literature books that would bore the living daylights out of you when you were inevitably forced to read it for a high school class (even though I've admittedly never read the original book). The fact that I absolutely adore a period piece like this to this extent means that this movie is something special.
By Jamie Lammers2 years ago in Humans
Little Women (2019) (First) Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review the movies and limited series I watch. I have to admit, this movie was more of a slow-burn for me. I would say that for the first 45 minutes or so, I had a hard time getting sucked in. I thought the scenery was gorgeous and the acting was really good, but I had a hard time latching onto ANY of the characters for a while. I felt that their development was rushed at times, with some of them just suddenly escalating in anger with no reasonable cause, and the story wasn't that engaging at first. However, once a huge conflict occurs between two of the sisters over what one of them did to the other's writing, this movie got SO much better. In fact, by the time the third act began, the film had basically managed to FIX every single one of its problems. I haven't seen a movie manage to do that in a long time, but this movie absolutely did that to the point where I really want to see it again even though I just watched it. Moments in the third act, particularly some really heartwrenching editing choices, made me choke up and I loved that.
By Jamie Lammers2 years ago in Humans
Ordeal by Innocence Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I write reviews of the movies and limited series I watch. I didn't expect I was gonna review this, but my parents randomly found this on Amazon and since it was only three episodes, I decided to give it a watch with them just to add something to my filmography. Long story short, I'm glad I watched it, but... yeah, this is gonna be one of those reviews where I have to figure out exactly why I didn't love this show AS I'm writing my review because I really have to figure out how to process my thoughts.
By Jamie Lammers2 years ago in Humans
The Irishman Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I write movie reviews for everything I see. So, here's the thing... I don't like being the guy that says a certain genre or type of film is not the kind of film for them. Sure, I would definitely have said that even in middle school when I watched animated movies and didn't want to watch anything else, but now that I've become more interested in film, I like to think that I'm open to watching pretty much anything so long as its story and overall execution is engaging. There might be some movies that might be more "my kind of movie," like personal dramas or dialogue-driven movies for me, but I like to think that I am open to liking or disliking any film regardless of its content or genre depending on its execution. That being said, I've never 100% clicked with gangster movies. I admittedly haven't seen many of them, but they're just films that I don't really find myself going out of my way to see that often. I'm also really not a fan of longer movies in general, but if a movie can keep me engaged despite its runtime, I'm still there for it.
By Jamie Lammers2 years ago in Humans
I Lost My Body Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd page, where I review all of the movies I see. As I sit here writing this review, I'm still deciding what to rate this movie. I want to give it 4.5, but this is another movie that I feel is more of a 4-star film objectively speaking. Throughout the course of this review, I'm gonna be articulating my thoughts not just to you guys, but also to myself as I figure out what in the world I'm gonna do about that rating. Let's go on a journey, shall we?
By Jamie Lammers2 years ago in Humans
The Breakfast Club Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review all of the movies I see. This is a movie that I should have watched ages ago. I started watching it in my sociology class on Thursday, after which I bought it on Criterion Blu-ray because I knew it would be a special movie for me. I continued it on Friday and I just finished it now. I'm gonna watch it again with my parents tonight to get a better idea of how the movie feels watching it in one sitting, but for now, I just have to say that this is the kind of movie I especially love: a movie that explores the lives and inner thoughts of a bunch of people just trying to make it out of a certain situation. The Breakfast Club definitely has some 80's sexism thrown in there every now and again and some of the relationship arcs between the characters don't feel completely cohesive, but I really can't say that there's anything big wrong with this movie. It's just fun.
By Jamie Lammers2 years ago in Geeks
Dolemite is My Name
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I write movie reviews for whatever I watch. Once again, objectively, this is probably more of a four-star film because of some story elements that aren't explained as well as I think they should have been that I'll talk about later. However, I just can't deny how much this movie made me smile throughout the course of its runtime. I just couldn't keep this giddy grin off my face as the events of this movie unfold, watching all of these really entertaining people come together to make something entertaining and working hard to get it in the public eye.
By Jamie Lammers2 years ago in Humans
Klaus Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review all the movies I watch. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's not Christmas, but give me a break, I need to watch more Academy Award nominees and this is nominated for Animated Feature, so here we go. Besides, I'm the kind of guy that will listen to Christmas music or watch Christmas movies any time of year and not care because to me, the capturing of the Christmas spirit doesn't just have to be in December. This movie's capturing of the Christmas spirit is probably the most perfect I've ever seen in an animated movie. The best way to describe this film is charming. That's really the best word -- charming. It just puts a smile on your face the whole way through, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't choke up a couple of times during some of the more emotional sequences toward the end. In particular, the actual ending to this movie... god, what a powerful ending that perfectly ties the logic of this movie's Christmas into the Christmas we know and love today. Man, what a fantastic ending.
By Jamie Lammers2 years ago in Humans
