What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

Movies

Vice (2018)

I watched this film on a recommendation, however I wasn’t fully invested in watching it. I never really been a fan of Christian Bale, nor was I thrilled about the man he was playing, the eponymous Vice President Dick Cheney. While the film tries to keep a relatively light tone, it doesn’t sugarcoat the truly horrific things that they show him doing over the course of the film.

The film is ultimately about showing the nature of luck, and the domino effect that lead to Cheney’s supposed meteoric rise to power. Adam McKay is clearly aware that in making a biographical film about a man shrouded in mystery, there is really no way to know for sure how things happened, but they make some educated guesses and fill in the rest with Shakespearean monologues.

The style the humour is very tongue-in-cheek and self referential. Our narrator, Kurt (Jesse Plemons) introduces himself as someone who is related to Cheney, “sort of”, and then spends the entire film leading up to the reveal that he is in fact the man who’s heart was transplanted into Cheney. Despite the humourous tone with which they tried to play it, it really leaves you with a sense of hopelessness.

And that’s where the film ultimately leaves you. It doesn’t make false promises, it doesn’t show some grand design or good triumphing over evil. There isn’t anything concrete that the film gives as its message, other than bad things happen in this world, and everyone is alone to carve their own corner of it to their liking. Which is one of the bleakest takeaways I’ve had from a film.