NOBODY | BEAST BEAST |WEWORK Documentary
Pop Culture Weekly Round-Up 16/04/2021
Oh hi there. Gilby here and this week I’m talking about 3 films that you guys should watch over the weekend. NOBODY is a fun popcorn flick. BEAST BEAST is an interesting and raw coming-of-age story and the WEWORK documentary tells the story of yet another scammy tech CEO. Also my heavy rotation songs of this week.
NOBODY
NOBODY is a new action-thriller flick starring Bob Odenkirk. He plays Hutch Mansell a normal dad and husband, living a pretty boring life. But he has a secret, he is actually a retired killer turned suburban dad.
The similarities between NOBODY and JOHN WICK are pretty obvious. That’s because Screenwriter Derek Kolstad basically repurposed the narrative of his first JOHN WICK script. He once again gave his characters clear goals and credible obstacles and director Naishuller embraced the violence and bloodshed. And it kind of worked for me.
I went into this movie with very low expectations. And even though I didn’t love it I had some fun with the over-the-top and gritty action. The fight on the bus for instance was amazing. It was refreshing to see the hero taking some damage for a change. Odenkirk is such a versatile actor. He really delivers playing a broken, beaten-up man with a secret past. It was not a surprise for me that he can carry a movie on his own. Because I’m a big fan of Better Call Saul and he is phenomenal in it. Seeing Christopher Lloyd was great too. He has some fun scenes and he was having a blast doing them.
NOBODY isn’t outstanding or groundbreaking but I had fun watching it. Just a silly fun action movie. And according to the public response, the film seems to be working out just fine.
Nobody is available on VOD on Friday, April 16.
BEAST BEAST
BEAST BEAST is a raw look into the coming-of-age story. It also has a relevant social commentary about America and its fixation with guns. Director Danny Madden gratefully contrasted moments of youth and carelessness with the heartbreaking turn that happens in the third act.
BEAST BEAST also takes the “broken white young adult that is going to shoot some kids later” which has been done so many times to a whole new level.
The film is also very well made. Both visuals and sound effects are fantastic. The performances are pretty solid too. Especially Shirley Chen she is outstanding in the film and delivers one of my favorite recent performances.
My only gripe with the film is that the 85min runtime was not enough. Another 10 minutes would have made a greater impact.
But overall, BEAST BEAST is a good film. And Danny Madden is a director to look out for.
WEWORK: OR THE MAKING AND BREAKING OF A $47 BILLION UNICORN
This documentary by Jed Rothstein reminded me a lot of the Fyre Festival documentary. Another Tech Startup CEO faking it until he makes it. The film was very well pieced together and organized and totally demonstrated’s how easy it is to scan people these days.
The film shows how WeWork’s severely inflated valuation came from its CEO, Adam Neumann. A grifter who had an inspirational message of global connectedness in the business world that was attractive to people who wanted to transcend above the corporate greed culture. Neumann pushed throughout his company’s rise to fame and demonstrated his complete lack of self-awareness while doing it. The vast amount of footage of Neumann that the director used really helps the viewers to get a good sense of who he was and understand how he rose to power.
In my opinion, the whole thing was nothing more than another cult. Some of these startup CEOs are so self-congratulatory and silly. It’s a shame that their ego is giving startup companies a bad name.
The doc also proves that these boomers investing in tech companies clearly don't understand the internet and the digital age. Maybe it is time to look into retirement. Anyway, The Documentary is a fun watch. I totally recommend it.
Top 5 songs
These were the 5 songs on my heavy rotation this week. You can listen to them on Spotify and YouTube.
1 - Mike Shinoda feat. iann dior & UPSAHL - Happy Endings
2 - Math the Band - Duel of the Deer
3 - Story Untold ft. Elle Lapointe - BMTH shxw
4 - LØLØ - death wish
5 - Halflives - Vibe