Colossal

In case you haven't noticed recently, I've been on a little bit of a dry spell of watching movies. I can give the same excuses I always give that I'm working or I've got other things I'm focused on and while some of those excuses are valid, I think I'm going through a slump. Maybe its the movie choices I'm making, maybe its just whats out recently. I won't say I didn't watch good movies, I definitely did. But I wouldn't mind going back and taking a collective look at the quality and long lasting-ness of the movies I watched last year. I think it might be telling that I didn't watch any of the movies that were nominated for Best Picture. I'm of the belief that you don't have to watch Oscar films to enjoy cinema (this movie is a good example of that) but when you just watch the big blockbusters, I could understand why I'm in a slump. I'll take a look and see if that observation is correct, but in the mean time I want to talk about Colossal.

Colossal was a movie that was released in early 2017. Pretty limited release and I think the exposure its really gotten has come from streaming services. I mean that's how I came across it. I had heard good things about this film, that it was a film that really slipped under the radar for a lot of people, and I have to say, it's a sleeper and a lot more people should check it out.

Colossal follows the story of Gloria (played by Anne Hathaway). Gloria is a broke, unemployed party girl who is dumped by her boyfriend (played by Dan Stevens) in the first five minutes of the movie. She recognizes that she has a bit of a drinking problem and she moves back to her home town to figure her shit out. She meets up with a friend from her childhood named Oscar (played by Jason Sudeikis) and he offers her a job as a waitress at his bar in town.

Around this same time, the news reports that a giant monster has started to appear in Seoul, South Korea.

Now if you'r thinking to yourself, wait a second. Gloria's dealing with a drinking problem, there's other stuff that could come from her moving back to her hometown, especially her relationship with Oscar... and there's a monster in Seoul?

Yeah, this movie is that weird.

I don't want to get too much into giving away plot points of this movie because if you haven't seen it yet you should really check it out, but there is a connection between the two stories and it is actually really clever.

But the overall impression you are going to get of this movie is strange.

The movie is a black comedy so a lot of the scenes are tailored in a way that something really dramatic is happening but at the same time it is juxtaposed with something really funny. I think one of the funnier scenes is actually near the climax and kind of messed up in reality.

I'm actually really surprised on how low budget or indie this movie seems and the big name actors they were able to get for it. Hathaway, Sudeikis, and Stevens are all pretty big names and they don't phone in this movie, they really do a good job.

I've read a couple of articles that point towards a universal hate towards Anne Hathaway. I think it partly has to do with the fact that she gives off the air of the high school theater girl everyone kind of rolled their eyes at, except she's thirty now. Now I personally have never really hated Hathaway and I don't think the hate for her is justified, but I have had a little bit of an aversion to her for one reason or another.

It's hard to explain but I'm sure that works into the universal hate other people have. When its on the internet, it can't just be a dislike or a preference, it is either full on love or full on hate. Well I'm here to say, I have nothing against Anne Hathaway, I enjoy her when she's good. And in this movie she is really good.

I think it's partly because her character is written in a way that you want to root for her and you want her to triumph in the end. There's a lot of internal struggle she goes through but at the same time she's flawed and she does some things that aren't exactly responsible in this movie.

And her character, along with the rest of the characters follow the same theme of the entire movie, strange. For Hathaway's character, it works. I think it works for other characters but there are times where I am wondering what a character is doing and why there is a sudden turn in a character that didn't seem exactly warranted.

I'm tempted to do a spoilers review of this movie because I really want to talk about specifics but I doubt that'll happen. A good example is another character played by Tim Blake Nelson. He's an interesting character, kind of a tertiary character but interesting. But suddenly he's secretly taking drugs and his character doesn't go a whole lot of anywhere.

The main story intrigue comes from Jason Sudeikis and Anne Hathaway and while this movie is set up like a romantic comedy, it does not go the way you expect it to go and it has a pretty clear message that is pretty poignant and well done.

There are a lot of really great things to say about Colossal and you'll probably end up liking something about the movie. There's a science fiction/monster movie element about the film, there's some really great dramatic performances from Hathaway and Sudeikis in this movie, there's a lot of comedic elements that had me laughing really hard.

Sure there are parts of the movie that aren't exactly polished all the way, but I don't think there's any glaring issues in the film, at least none that would have me tell you not to go check it out. It's on Hulu, but even if you don't have Hulu I do highly recommend you check it out.

But have you seen it? What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks, and see you next time!