This Is Shank

Ok. This a review of Cuties with spoilers. I’m saying this now so you can discontinue reading this now if you want but yes I did watch the film in it’s entirety to see why it won awards at the Sundance festival and why ppl are against the film without even watching first. The first thing I want to say is yes it’s a very uncomfortable watch. It’s supposed to be. This film may involve children but it definitely isn’t for children. It’s for parents and it’s a message to us about how lil girls see life. First I want to bring up that the protagonist in the film is Amy who is a black Muslim with a very strict upbringing. She has been taught by her grandmother that women are basically second class creatures who only exist to please God and men. Her mother is treated badly by her father. He has been absent for some time only to come back with a 2nd wife that he treats better than her mother. Not only has this 11 year old girl been helping with the upkeep of the other younger children in her household being the oldest but she sees her mother cry over this situation only to be told by her grandmother to continue being obedient and just accept it. She doesn’t want to be a woman like that. She sees this group of kids at her school who are very popular and even stand up against the principal which is an authority figure. These kids base their personalities simply on being liked by the public and are highly influenced by social media and will do Damn near anything just for a like and popularity. They bully her at first but then she changed to join the group. She falls into the trap where she even gets more provocative than the others. She gets caught by her parents for doing things she shouldn’t and gets punished. She even gets disciplined and still rebels. Finally she becomes a bully herself (even bigger and more violent than her counterparts) to finally come to the realization that living her childhood is more important and finally abandons them knowing what she’s doing is wrong. The point of the movie is we as adults need to not only monitor these children more but give them positive role models and show them love and empowerment that is stronger than popularity within the public and social media likes. The point will be missed by many but it’s actually a very powerful film with a great underlying point. I won’t say it’s a must watch but it definitely taught me things that I will watch for while raising my daughters. This is the reality than many young women are dealing with today. 😢

I’ve seen some negatives reviews for Ma but I personally thought it was a very entertaining film. I’ll admit that most of the characters are pretty generic (which to me is a trait of most horror films) but Octavia Spencer’s performance was great in the lead role. It’s a straight to the point movie so no thinking is involved at all but I was never bored while watching it. The ending was underwhelming for most ppl but I enjoyed it. I refuse to give spoilers but to me it’s a classic horror movie ending. Not saying the ending is so great that it’s classic but if you watched older horror films it kinda pays homage to those. If I had to give it a score I’d only give it a 6/10 but it’s a fun movie that I plan on rewatching and owning. It is just a basic film but Octavia’s performance is so great to me and that’s the reason why it’s above average.