‘Smile’: beautifully scary cinema experience

HOPE SMITH campus editor hope.smith393@my.tccd.edu

A dead empty theater aside from my two friends and myself was exactly the ambience necessary for the horror movie “Smile.” Without them, I would have been too paranoid to finish it completely.

The scariest thing in this movie was seeing things that weren’t there to every other character. Because of that, the inclination is to say it was a scary movie. It was acceptable as the scare factor was consistent. There is much to celebrate about it, and some things should have gone differently.

To begin, Parker Finn, the director of “Smile,” should be congratulated for putting together a scary movie with classy jump scares — an odd sounding way to classify jump scares, but humor me for a moment. Most horror movies contain loud and aggressive, one after the other jump scares that really don’t do anything except supply a cardiac arrest.

The scene of Joel, the ex-boyfriend of the main character, who actually wasn’t Joel in that scene toward the end of the movie? That was classy. Him standing there before cutting into a dead sprint at Rose was a classy jump scare. So, it was as a horror movie should be.

The cat scene was something else. That was scary on a sad level, and Mustache the cat was the real victim. Not only this, but, the consistency of the smile was everywhere, and so the theme never really strayed.

Something that should be brought up is the placement of the beginning credits. They actually began after the big moment between Rose and Laura Weaver, which is around seven or so minutes after the start of the movie. While this is a stylistic choice and can work well in a lot of indie films, it made it confusing.

The cinematography was one of the movie’s strongest points, though.

Specific scenes of a beautiful country landscape full of trees created less of a horror movie ambience, truthfully, but it was still appreciated. The camera at one moment flips completely upside down, and the whole landscape was hanging from the ceiling of the screen in a really artistic way. While not scary, it was lovely to see.

It was creative, and it was clear the people filming had a lot of fun with transitioning scenes.

Something happening time and time again is the way in which serious setting movies throw in jokes to disrupt the flow. It looks like this movie mimicked that concept. The nurse hitting on Rose’s ex, especially, was just not good.

The joke had just followed Rose pushing Joel away, which was sort of off-putting because it was one of the first steps in her slow spiral downward. The way trauma is represented in the movie is similar to how people cope in real life which was strong in that scene, yet cheapened by the joke. Up until that point, the movie was doing fine. In short, it was hard watching the movie shove in that insignificant interaction.

It was great watching the idea of a curse attaching itself to trauma, hopping from one person to the next. Rose really can represent a lot of watchers because trauma is so vast and complicated. Her journey is relatable, and it can show what happens when you let it consume you.

So, this movie can be summed up as being scary enough to be a horror movie, but beautiful enough to easily come outside

Movie Review

horror standards. Jokes thrown in between intense scenes bring down the quality of the scare. Consider it a party foul. It is made up by creating seriously scary scenes with the hallucinations, so brownie points are brought back.

This movie is great for people who like horror movies with a deeper theme. Watch it on a busy theater day. A room full of people is going to feel a lot better when things start hitting the fan in the movie. It gets real.

RABBIA MOLAI managing editor rabbia.molai@my.tccd.edu

Netflix’s “The Redeem Team” sheds light on not only a great Olympic basketball team, but also a lifelong friendship.

“The Redeem Team,” was the U.S. Olympic basketball team for the 2008 Summer Olympics. They made history by winning the U.S. a gold medal and effectively breaking their losing streak.

The documentary follows the team as they suffer through their first couple losses and move towards a more cohesive future.

Along with footage from the early 2000s, the documentary included confessional-like interviews of the players and coaches from present day reflecting on the experience.

Some of the well-known faces seen in the documentary included Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Coach K and Carmelo Anthony. Seeing these legendary players reflect on a time when some of them were just rookies coming into the game, trying to learn how to play together gave such an interesting insight into what their internal process looked like at the time.

Many players on the redeem team were used to being considered the best of the best. But being thrown into a group of players and being expected to be a cohesive team in 2-weeks is unfeasible for even the greatest players.

In present-day, Lebron James is often spoken of as the best basketball player in the world so hearing about his rookie years and seeing his mental and physical development peeled back the layers and showed just how much work went into the journey.

However, one great player does not make a great team.

For the rookies like James, Anthony and Wade being thrown into a group of veterans with the pressure of having to play as a cohesive team in two weeks was just a recipe for disaster. The main struggle seen through the documentary was how these individually amazing players were somehow unsuccessful at being able to play together on the court. In their first match-up with the Argentinian team, the flaws in teamwork can be seen plain as day.

In the words of James, “they kicked our asses.”

The evolution of the team began slowly with the addition of some very key players. Beginning with the installment of the wellknown and slightly controversial Coach Mike Krzyzewski and later on the legendary Lakers all-star Kobe Bryant.

With the new additions and a kick in the rear from Kobe’s work ethic, the team began to mesh and the rewards were more than worth the wait.

The structure of the team’s evolution was done incredibly well, it allowed the audience to truly feel every emotion felt by the team. From the devastating losses to the long-awaited victories. Every aspect of the film was exceptionally well-thought-out.

One of the best examples of this can be seen in the way they presented Kobe Bryant’s part in the team. Since Bryant tragically passed in 2018 there obviously weren’t any confessionals from him but with the inclusion of different footage from the 90s and early 2000s the impact of his love for the game and admirable work ethic was felt in full force throughout the film.

The redeem team represented a lot for the U.S. in the 2000s, it was more than basketball. They represented an ideology of American greatness and the willingness to get back up after being pushed down.

This group of all-stars may have solidified their place in athletic history by winning a gold medal but they established their place in the hearts and minds of the American people by forming a brotherhood that spans past their life spans.