Did Ya Ever See?: July 2023

The movie Jackie is about the woman - Jackie. Jackie Kennedy, Mrs. JFK. The movie revolves around the assassination of President Kennedy and the aftermath. It gives an interesting insight on the goings on behind the White House doors in the immediate aftermath of the assassination.

This movie sounds really interesting but, actually, it is pretty dull. The actual inciting incident is so famous that the movie doesn’t exactly show it until very late in the movie and when it is on screen it feels like it's there to shock the audience more than it's there for story purposes. I mean it is the most significant thing in the movie and it’s held until just before the credits. Maybe it's there to leave the movie with a big emotional hit. But to be honest more like ‘look at the carnage’ than anything else. Look I get it. Seeing your husband, the President of the United States of America, head explode is grim. It is truly horrific. But by this stage in the movie the character of Jackie is kind of annoying and comes across unpleasant.

So I didn’t really like the movie. Apparently it benefits from a second viewing. I don’t think I’ll be giving it a second go. Listen, there are things I like about it. I like that it was shot in old graining film stock, probably super 16 or something like that. I like the old archive footage that was recreated for the movie. It actually made the movie feel real. I really like that but it did not save the movie because I was watching characters I did not like.

See Natalie Portman, Academy Award winning Natalie Portman, seems to want to follow up her Black Swan win by going full hog at this. See is emoting really hard and at times she does a great job. But, at other times it feels like she is a bit ham-y. Maybe it's the accent and the Jackie impression. Or, maybe it's the fact that Jackie is putting on so many faces to save… well face, that she gets bogged down in too many layers. She was fine in the movie but there were times that I was watching some feel pain, trauma and sadness but I was feeling bored. Oh, she's sad again, oh she's super salty, oh, she's sad yet again. I did hear a director once say that the actor’s job isn't to feel the emotion but have the audience feel the emotion.

Look, there are other things in the movie, Like Bobby Kennedy and how the Kennedy children deal with the event but because the movie is on the shoulders of Natalie Portman’s Jackie that they aren't worth mentioning. I mean it is right that Portman carries the weight of the movie, she plays the titular role, but when I fail to connect with that it makes the movie little more than mediocre.

Did Ya Ever See?

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Berbenheimer

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Shoot 'Em Up

JFK

Zack Snyder's Justice League

Jackie