I’ve never been a huge fan of the “peaceful alien” sci-fi genre. I find E.T. noticeably dull, Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind flawed (I hate that the dad leaves his kids), and detest Contact for its pompous, overblown, downright obnoxious plot and characters. Out of those three films, Arrival resembles Contact the closest in premise, but certainly not in quality. Arrival is, in every way, superior to its similar predecessor: it has better pacing, better characters, better development, far better cinematography, and a far more satisfying plot that, similar to its alien’s language, comes gratifyingly full circle in a bittersweet conclusion.
Into the Forest:
End of the (modern) world scenarios—whether in films, books, shows, or video games—are typically displayed in a wild format with riots, death and destruction, absolute chaos, mass hysteria, and/or disasters of biblical proportions. Into the Forest takes a different, calmer, dare I say, far more realistic approach to the crashing of modern civilization. The film’s situation is appropriately vague: in the near future, the world experiences a permanent power outage for unknown reasons. Two young adult sisters (Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood) must learn to survive their new situation—after their dad tragically dies from an accident—in a house located deep within the woods. Into the Forest features a calm apocalypse: its focus not on action, horror and/or thriller (though it does have bits of the latter two), but on the development and interactions between the two sisters as they learn to survive off the grid.
The film has several noticeable similarities to The Last of Us video game: both containing calm, somber soundtracks and atmosphere, survival in a post-apocalyptic world, time stamps of the progressing seasons, a focus on the interactions and developing bond between two contrasting characters, and a message of hope surrounded by dark, tragic elements. The main difference is Into the Forest’s lack of zombies and action sequences: focusing primarily on drama. Its story about two sisters surviving the apocalypse is a novel concept (though the adaptation’s actual novel published back in 1996), and the actors’s stunning performances really drive the plot’s effectiveness home. Page and Wood convincingly act as sisters: displaying a wonderfully natural array of emotions and facial expressions through casual conversation, bickering arguments, and loving gestures—their bond given ample time for development.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children:
Tim Burton films are pretty much crapshoots when going to see them: I either love them, hate them with a passion, or leave feeling mostly indifferent. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children ends up in the latter category: a young adult tale filled with the standard tropes and characterizations (lacking there in the peculiar department). The film skims through its character development, in addition to completely forgetting a character—the protagonist’s dad—during its last third (the dad’s last scene has him worriedly chasing his son—after a murder just occurred—who he will never see again throughout the rest of the film). The film’s pleasing style and solid acting—particularly from Eva Green, who delivers a highly entertaining performance as, what I would call, a more ruthless Mary Poppins—helps keep the story afloat despite its many plot holes and idiot moments that may or may not have originally been in the book (which I have not read). The film’s true highlight is not, in fact, Miss Peregrine nor the peculiar children, but instead Samuel L. Jackson’s delightfully over-the-top performance as the main antagonist—seemingly (from the looks of it) enjoying his role as much as I enjoyed watching him perform.