MEN Movie Review | Alex Garland | Jessie Buckley | Rory Kinnear | A24
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- čas přidán 18. 05. 2022
- We saw things we'll never be able to unsee in "Men," but we try to work through them in this early Breakfast All Day review. Our dear friend Katie Walsh (Tribune News Service, @katiewalshstx) returns to help Christy Lemire (RogerEbert.com, @christylemire) discuss the latest from writer-director Alex Garland. Starring Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear, Rory Kinnear and ... Rory Kinnear.
#Men #AlexGarland #moviereview
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Great review ladies as I am seeing this in a few hours. Excited to see Jessie in this strange film.
Knowing Alex Garland and his approach to setting up tension. I only expect Alex Garland.
Let us know how it goes! Thanks for watching.
The tagline for this movie should be: "Come for the Garland, stay for the Cronenberg."
It's got some Cronenbergian stuff for sure. Thanks for watching!
You ladies are like the female Siskel & Ebert. Ex Machina is one of my favorite sci fi movies of all time, so I will definitely check this out if Alex Garland is directing it.
Ha, thanks Matt! Let us know what you think.
Katie’s definitely Siskel. Cuz sometimes when she didn’t like something I just think “WHAAAT?” 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@dthill96 On the other hand, Christy is way too attractive to be either Siskel or Ebert.
eh they dont seem to be disagree, both are always YES or NO
wow Christy your recreation of Harper's echo harmony is spot on, let's hear you sing a tune one of these days ❤️
Ha, no one needs that, but thanks!
No walkouts in my theater. A lot of WTFs during the credits. 😋 Each Garland film has got successively more surreal & this was almost completely so. Dunno where he goes from here.
Love the feedback!
Another wonderful review. I’m really intrigued about this as I loved the directors previous work. Nice theater call out!
Thanks Rob!
Harper, Harp, musicality, Harpie (or is it Harpy?), temptress, song, screeching, woman-headed-bird, crow with a lady mask
I just got back from seeing this. Wow, that third act! What a trip. I completely agree with both of you. The sound, visuals, and acting were all great and the third act special effects were fantastic, but I didn't feel a strong or clear thematic message. I like challenging, vague movies but with this one Garland made it a little too vague. I still enjoyed it quite a bit, but I also think Ex Machina and especially Annihilation are both stronger.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
There probably is a thematic message there you didn’t pick up on
@@aaronsanders6162 this is a film to be experienced, there are no whys are wherefores. it's acutely emotional a few moments
It fizzles out while distracting you with some random gross shit. Ending sucked. Period.
@@josephirizarry5195 It is indeed gross.
On the idea of not knowing whether to feel positive about the end, the way I saw it was that Her smile upon seeing her pregnant friend was her realizing that while there is a cyclical nature to toxic masculinity as men pass trauma down to their children there is hope because men don't birth men, women do.
Interesting! Thank you.
Katie Walsh with the Farthouse Pod tee !!! I love it and I love Casey and Patrick of course. If you’re looking for a great pod about art house films that has two hosts with incredible chemistry, then look no further! Thanks for the review Christy and Katie, can’t wait to watch this one.
Thanks, Spike!
Great review! The ending was definitely triumphant for me simply because we got the two women together in the frame. Thought Garland would cut to black on the close-up of the knife/axe that Buckley was holding when talking to her husband (which would have been more ambiguous, slightly bleaker even), but the final shot pretty much clarified it.
Glad you enjoyed!
Looking forward to seeing this! Also Katie is so great!
She is indeed. Enjoy!
Can’t tell if I liked this more or less than you two, but I absolutely love the banter here. I’d listen to a regular podcast with you two.
Surprised neither of you brought up “The Brood,” which this movie reminded me of in many ways, as well as psychodramas like “Don’t Look Now” and Altman’s “Images.”
Thanks! Katie is great.
Katie is my favorite guest!! And this film was…interesting… 😅
Ha, thanks on both!
This is one of those movies that seems tailor made for me. I've been a Rory Kinnear fan for years. He's always been one of those "Oh, THAT guy" actors, but he's been on my radar for quite a while. Jessie Buckley is fantastic also. And I loved both Alex Garland movies, so I'm like "Come on, gimme!" with this one! I've heard other critics mention the last bit of the movie being a problem, so at least I'm forewarned, and that might be helpful in my reaction. Maybe. lol I'm psyched though. I'm seeing it Sunday morning.
Awesome, Larry, let us know what you think!
Love this channel
Thanks so much, Jay!
You had me at "it reminded me of mother!..." a love it or hate it film I love so can't wait to see where I fall with Men...
Very cool, let us know!
My friends and I watched this together and we think the movie boils down to: certain men believe women owe them something (love/affection/attention) and when women say no or put up any boundaries, these men blame women for the actions they themselves make, like a "look what you made me do" sort of thing.
That is an excellent observation.
I just watched this finally, love Garland, so much fun to watch his movies. I agree, the conclusion was way more wtf than anything else, but that is still better than most movies these days. Ex Machina is great Katie!!!!
Loved this movie. Just saw it today. Can really appreciate this . I was not disappointed there are some movies you only need to watch once this is not one of them I'm gonna watch many . I'm a movie buff and really had a great time watching while being filled with anxiety and aww I have also lived thorough trauma and can sympathize with the character.. I also loved ex machina
For sure, there's a lot to take in at once here.
The grand in tacoma is a great cinema, and super glad to see yall promote it, but more importantly, saw sucker punch there and not 1, but TWO couples were actively having sex in the theater
Why is this the movie people have sex in? Ben and I saw people doing it down the row from us at a 10am matinee in LA many years ago 😆 -- Christy
Everyone I've talked to said this is basically 'worst case scenario mother!' but like most of Alex Garland's work, it still looks like something that will at least leave a significant impression.
It does that for sure.
Really enjoyed this discussion! I'm working on an analysis of this movie as well. Would it be okay for me to use a few short clips from your review in my video?
Sure, thanks for asking!
@@BreakfastAllDay Thank you so much! Uploading it now with you tagged in the description :)
Hope you all have time or interest to see "The Innocents" by Eskil Vogt (Worst Person in the World, Thelma...wait, why am I writing this? You all prob know this lol). It's finally available,& since you rec'd "Hatching" recently. It's also very Scandinavian and pretty dark haha.
Yes, we'd like to catch up with it!
Oooh i actually recently watched the What The Flick review for Annihilation and you were pretty into it back when you saw it! Guess it's lost its "shimmer" over the years.
I'm excited to see this this weekend. My one annoyance is the title. MEN. It just feels way too on the nose? I'm hoping that there's some sort of double meaning or acronym that makes it a more clever title in retrospect? No spoilers until I see it though :D
Let us know how you like it!
what would you have chosen for the title?
@@cjwright79 No clue but I also think the film is kind of a mess. At very least I would have called it AMEN so "MEN" is on the poster but it implies the religious angle the film was somewhat going for? But it would have to be majorly rewritten. Men is just a shitty title lolol
A key moment that clarified what was happening for me was the hand injury she inflicts on one character, which moments later appears on another character. They’re clearly manifestations of the same thing. What that ‘thing’ is can and will be debated… are there actually different people; is she amalgamating them together based on her fears; maybe it’s all within her mind?
While not a perfect film, I always appreciate an interesting idea that aims high, even if it doesn’t quite succeed. The body horror ending was especially good.
Ex Machina is one of my favourite films of the past decade, but I’m still yet to see Annihilation!
For sure, that hand thing is a throughline, and it is tough to watch!
Looking good Christy! So, went and seen MEN this morning and my thoughts are pretty to sillier to you and Katie's. I enjoyed it very much and thought Jessie Buckley was fantastic! I must be blind, because I didn't realize Rory Kinnear played all the men, lol... The ending did leave me with a feeling of not being fully satisfied, I wanted more to grasp onto. Overall though, it was very solid. I rated it a (3.5/5) on my Letterboxd.
Thanks James!
On different levels: Garland, Cattet & Forzani, and Glazer are the most cinematic cine artists. The ending of Men is a joke (a punchline) in the certainly bestest way of the word. It's about a watch with fun. The film itself is not without humour. This is deep and light. The art a macarons. Difficult to make properly but only an amuse-gueule. Ex machina and Men are two easily memorable movies for a long time, and both started out with real fear for a plodded narrative.
What's funny is that I read that Alex Garland wanted to make a more direct and visceral, less mysterious film this time. More straight up experiential. I guess he just can't help himself! Haha!
Interesting!
Hmmm, I might have to check this one out
Let us know how it goes!
Doesn't show in my country till June 1st but looking forward to it.
Great Brendan, let us know!
I'm not going to forget that 3rd act anytime soon. I wanted to look away but couldn't
For sure. Deeply disturbing ... but then almost funny?
@@BreakfastAllDay it really puts you through the wringer!
It’s about the full spectrum of what men expect from women
Thanks for watching, Aaron.
Great film
Indeed, thanks Wayne!
What movie did Katie say she kept comparing Annihilation to?
She was comparing it to the book. Thanks for watching!
Much more palatable than Mother. Glad I'm not the only one left scratching my head.
Men can be terrible? No duh! And?!
I really did get to a point wondering why a man made this and left it so...unfinished?
Thanks for your thoughts, Bob!
Would you be able to promote some movie art houses in LA as well? The Landmark theater in West LA is closing down and the Laemmle in Pasadena will be shutting down as well.
We mentioned The Landmark last week, actually! It's the worst, we're very sad about it. We've also given shout-outs to The Frida in Santa Ana and the Lumiere Cinema at the Music Hall in Beverly Hills. Thanks for the suggestion, Sohni. We're always happy to get them.
It’s interesting to hear Christy say she didn’t love Annihilation so much when she either had it on her top 10 list that year or it nearly made it.
Just didn't like it as much as Ex Machina, is all.
This is a very powerful film about the horrors of patriarchy. It has really seeped into me after watching it for first time. It made me confront some of the worst aspects of myself and my past as a man. I hate to admit it but there were times when I've acted like the men in this movie. I'm going to need to watch this one a second time.
Thank you for sharing that, Steven.
Did you act certain ways before or after you were a slave?
'Fart House' t-shirt.. Classy lady. 😂
Garland often takes at least 2 views to get it. DEVS is his best so far.
There's definitely a lot going on here.
Last night I watched the 2015 movie Man Up for like the third time with Rory Kinnear in a supporting role. The guy really has a knack for playing unbalanced characters. I'm uncomfortably looking forward to seeing this one. From the preview and your review I get the feeling it doesn't paint men in the best light.
Ha! Come back and let us know how it goes.
@@BreakfastAllDay Wow I would bet if you ask 10 people what this movie was about you would get 10 different responses. The movie held my interest the entire time even when it went slightly astray at one point. Not to give anything away, but the thing we learn about the friend was a nice twist.
@@0214Bub Thanks for reporting back!
So sad that I have to wait a few weeks to see this (and will also miss my chance to rewatch Memoria) for COVID/travelling reasons 😔. REALLY hoping this doesn't flatline enough to drive it out of the already-few theatres playing it by week 2.
Oh no, hope you're OK!
@@BreakfastAllDay Just taking precautions before a trip (to Cannes!). I appreciate the concern, though!
Spoilers.... (I'd love a spoiler chat on this one cuz I am so fucking torn!)
I love the poetic imagery and sound design. That walk through nature that Jessie Buckley takes is totally magical and transporting. The performances are great all around and I enjoy the surrealness of it all, to a point.
Then the horror happens and it's just not scary and not interesting. There's some good gore later on and it goes to some weird and unexpected places, but it feels totally meaningless. Jessie Buckley is great, especially in the flashbacks, but I really didn't like how passive and boring her character was next to the Rory Kinnear show. It just felt like her character was an afterthought; a mirror to project the MEN onto, and I guess that could work, but then when she's supposed to reach a point of self actualization the film just literally stops and skips past that.
I think what really rubs me wrong about this is the fact that the film should be on Jessie Buckley's side. She's the "girl who's being harassed, isn't believed, and then horrible shit happens to her" archetype, but from what we learn and how things play out, my takeaway is that the horrible shit that happens is just her own head trying to process the trauma of what happened with her husband. Is that not antithetical to the idea of the film? Shouldn't I want to believe the victim is experiencing what she's experiencing? I shouldn't want to chalk it up to "oh she's just crazy," but I kind of think that's what the movie is telling me to feel. But then, with that, I'm not sure how to feel about the naked stalker and her friend and the different men she encounters in that last act.
This whole thing just feels half baked to me.
Interesting thoughts all around. Yes, perhaps. spoiler convo is due down the road!
It was real because her sister saw the blood In the end
I give it a solid 3.
Would this film be akin or in the vein of "Birth" or "Mother!" ?
More mother! than Birth.
@@BreakfastAllDay Thanks guys! I cant wait to see this in the theater!
This movie definitely needed a woman in the writer's room - it didn't even need a female director, but SOME female input would have been nice! I love Alex Garland's work and I was so excited for this one, but it very much came across as, "Hmmm this is what I THINK women might feel like?" without him actually, y'know, asking. Certainly memorable though!
Agree with all of that.
I like high concept and horror films. That said, I did not like this film. It didn't lift a finger to help us to understand what was going on in the plot. It was a visual masterpiece, but if there's no exposition to bring the audience along with the story, it makes it difficult for us to connect through our shared experience and understanding of the film. Just my opinion, but it felt like high concept for the sake of high concept
Agree, hard to connect with her character. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I’d see this even if the reviews are bad, because Garland is easily one of my favorite directors and writers. Not only was his TV series Devs exactly up my alley and his writing on the screenplay for Dredd much better than I was expecting, but believe it or not, Annihilation is my all-time favorite movie (replacing Another Earth, which replaced Donnie Darko, which replaced Babe, which replaced Blue Velvet-yes, the talking-pig movie Babe is undeniably the odd-man-out there). (Don’t worry, Ms. Lemire, despite our difference of opinion on Annihilation, you are still one of my two favorite movie critics, along with Richard Roeper.) Not only did I love the rest of Annihilation, but I could feel my jaw dropping during the lighthouse scene. Unlike your co-host this week, even being a longtime fan of Jeff VanderMeer, I vastly preferred the movie to the book.
Ha, thanks Allen!
Agree, the book is kinda tiresome, and the protagonist is impossible to like. I love the movie though.
Hey guys.
It will be interesting to note if the ‘men’ reviewers will have a different or similar take on the film.
Hmmm ...
this movie was wild. I like that this director's work is all real art movies, not garbage superhero crap
He does do real art movies, for sure. Thanks for watching!
Ex Machina WAS a superhero movie
@@andreitarkovsky3214 nah, Spider Man a super hero, Ai is real
Yeah I think this movie would work better for more people if they knew off the bat that most of the plot was metaphorical. Not that film's fault but knowing that allow people to go along with it more and not try to figure out if the antagonist is a ghost, or demon or something.
Maybe it's not a metaphor, though. Maybe it's a hallucination, the manifestation of her trauma.
@@BreakfastAllDay Very possible.
strong echoes of Green Knight in this one!
Oooh!
I'm always up for a new A24 film... even the clunkers have something interesting to offer and I like to see them knowing absolutely nothing about them going in!! A24 + Alex Garland... I'm there!!! So I've really been really looking forward to this one though it's not coming out until June here, unless we get a special screening for the Cannes Film Festival 🤞🏻🤞🏻
Great, Bev, let us know what you think! A24 makes strong choices, for sure.
i love your reviews guys but i didnt apreciate the "a female director would" in this case because this is Garland movie that he wrote and created this strange plot from the beginning its not a existing property movie there is not "men" without him that being for good or for bad, i like diversity as much as everyone but i feel saying someone of a gender or race or just in general other had made something else to a movie that a person developed all the way from the beginning until what was released is disrepectful.
It's a valid criticism to say that a woman might have tackled this subject matter a bit better. He could have chosen to co-write with a woman or just write and let a woman take the reigns.
@@looney1023 why would he let anyone take the reign of his personal project this weird notion that if there is a female protagonist the director should be female is ludacris and the other way around also just like Kathryn Bigelow made one the best movies of the century full of men in the hurt locker.
Well said, Edwin!
Weird question, but how jump-scary is it. I love a good haunting horror movie, but my hypersensitivity makes jump scares a no-go a lot of times.
There are a few, in the woods and around the house. But Alex Garland is more about building and sustaining a mood.
@@BreakfastAllDay thank you! That's what I figured, but with how the trailer was cut it was hard to tell.
@@WhatRyansReading Let us know!
The tension isn't really unbearable when everything turns into a dream. At that point, who gives a shit? And the ending sucked. Loved some of it.
I think what he meant to say is that all men are the same =)
That's a good theory, thanks.
Where has Matt been?
Jessie buckley and Rory Kinnear look eerily similar in the movie or is it just me?
Hmmm ...
Katie could be the 5th Musketeer if y'all catch my drift, real recognize real haha.
We love Katie!
Yess
It was so weird to me. I couldn’t figure out what was going on!!!! I am a fan of Jessie Buckley and find her to be an extremely talented actress. But, this film was just not for me.
It is a very weird movie! Thanks, Amanda.
Jessie Buckley rules! But this movie? Pass.
She is always great.
@@BreakfastAllDay y'all seen Taboo yet, with Buckley and Tom Hardy. It's on Netflix, at least in Canada
@@cjwright79 Not yet! Sounds good.
Fart House?
Haha I thought I was the only one to notice.
It’s funny that you ladies didn’t get that he was trying to articulate that all men want is your attention. That’s all any man wants…ever. The reason Rory is playing all the same characters is because she’s not interested in any of them. They could be anybody. Her mind is elsewhere and could care less about them. The kid, the Vicar, the host, the Adam/homeless guy all wanted some time with Harper and she wasn’t here for it. You had the good the bad and the lost and once a woman came by…they all wanted some airtime.
And she just wanted to be left alone.
Come on ladies, this was terrible 😂😂😂
Aww, it's not terrible. But it gets close toward the end. Thanks for watching!
@@BreakfastAllDay I did like the set up, so I guess we agree.
So i went to see Men today....did not like it. I loved Ex Machina, liked pretty much everything about Devs and Annihilation, but yes Garland did not stick the landing here. Movies like Get Out set up a world and make everything entertaining, but this was a misfire in every way. Despite the interesting acting, I felt cheated and did not enjoy this at all. i'd say like 4 / 10.
Sorry to hear that! It's am ambitious misfire, for sure.
Men? Yeah, I've known some of them....they suck. I have to work with them.
Are they all Rory Kinnear?
3 act was a waste of my time
Things definitely change there.
Nonsense about a female Director!!!! Jessie Buckley is fantastic - Actor's dream to be in a Movie like this. How can u possibly find fault with a male Director directing a movie about terrible men called - Men?
horrible movie. tried too hard to send some distorted message. hard to watch. want my time back.
We loved it for a while. But then ... yeah. Thanks for watching!
What an absolutely sexist comment by your guest at the end. Let’s be better
Her review at roger ebert has a similar problematic line at the end.
did you take great offense Keith, did it get under your skin. perhaps that was the point!
@@cjwright79 it wasn’t subjective
I need a timestamp for this comment