Dallas Fisher

    Tag: life

    • If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

      Let’s get one thing straight before I get into too many thoughts on this movie, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is absolutely a horror film.

      Told in the most intimate of ways, this hardly pulls away from what Rose Byrne is suffering through. You feel her frustration, pain, and annoyance with the world she has found herself in and Bryne is the most stretchable she has ever been. Ultimately this performance proves that she has a spot saved for her in the best actress race. You’ve seen similar things from Rose, like in Neighbors, but you’ve never seen her open a hole this big. She is medicinal and makes me always want to score 100% on breakfast.

      I can only imagine what parents have to go through on a day to day basis and here it only elevates the fear I’ve had about being one for my entire life. Luckily I’ve already made the decision to not be one and this solidifies my choices even more. This was two hours of not being able to breathe or get a break from something that wasn’t even real, it was like a faraway dream where all I wanted to do was unplug. It doesn’t blame or shame anyone for their actions and definitely helps you understand this life. That being said I still wanted therapy after.

      I can give all the praise in the world to Bryne, and Conan for his best role since the Valentines Day episode of The Office, and even A$AP Rocky giving his second competent performance of the year (what a world we live in), BUT If I Had Legs I’d Kick You doesn’t work in the most complete sense. You get lost in the world the more it’s built and it stumbles the more it opens up. If parenting is this difficult, I legitimately don’t understand how there could be any satisfaction from it. It is a flood of emotions at times and I couldn’t help but ask myself why? The weird intricacies only confuse the plot even more and it double parks in your brain instead of being reasonable. Sure, at times it is humorous in the ways it portrays how humans cope with certain feelings, but it feels too little too late, and too strange for everything else going on.

      While this is a prolific look through a microscope at what motherhood can be like, it’s also an irritating piece that forces you to meet Rose Byrne on her level. That level is scarce these days, which makes it even more frustrating that you unfortunately can’t wait to hang this one up.

      6/10

    • John Candy: I Like Me

      Since this is my first time reviewing a documentary, I do have to preface it by saying I normally don’t watch, or even like, documentaries. That being said, John Candy: I Like Me is a touching, hilarious, and somber look at the life of an all time great human. As most documentaries do, this contains talking heads and old footage, and it does those aspects about as well as anyone else. It was definitely helpful that this included some all time great actors, who also happened to be friends, to distract you from some inconsistent story telling.

      As a long time movie fan who wasn’t too familiar with Candy’s human career, or film career really, this is about as informational as it gets. There’s so much to be learned about the short life of Candy, without getting too deep in the woods. It gracefully touches on his family life and it was so sweet to see said family telling stories from their own experiences. He was not only a comedian, but a family man with a tragic past that he wasn’t trying to repeat.

      Being that movie fan, I was elated every time an old co-star of Johns came on screen. Whether it was Bill Murray, Tom Hanks, or Catherine O’Hara, every word out of their mouths showed his true character and that he had chemistry with everyone he ever encountered. So much old footage brags about his grand and joyful presence. That footage also showed how much weight he carried, literally and physically. Seeing all this footage felt like a constant slap in the face because of its emotional abundance, for the first time a slap in the face wasn’t a bad thing. It made you feel like you were living through his personal emotions throughout his limited career and life.

      I loved seeing all the locations of movie sets he was on, his at home videos, and old interviews with Candy himself. At points it felt like these were all stories that I could have looked up on my own, but it was nice to see them all in one convenient place. His craft was perfect and this had me itching at the bit to go back for multiple watches of movies I missed. John Candy was truly one of a kind and they do him enough justice with this doc. Have your tissues ready.

      7/10