Strictly Films
Weekly Roundup Episode 51: Cancel the Cancel Culture
Welcome back to another edition of Weekly Roundup!
Cancel Culture: A Community Founded by Unforgiveness, Hatred, Negativity, and Lack of Growth. A Community in which doesn't see much of a purpose to reason with anyone, whom is different than their own perspective. A Community in which believes if they can't have it their way, everyone must suffer the consequences of an outrage similar to a spoiled brat causing a major tantrum, until they get their way.
The beginning of Cancel Culture started around the time, that social media was starting to rise in our everyday lives. Now typically Social Media was a platform where regular human beings, can roam around care free, say whatever they want, and have fun. Nobody excuses the many things people have said on Social Media back in those days, it would never be tolerated outside of social media rightfully so.
But what's the difference between Social Media back then, to Social Media now?! No One Bother to Take Anyone Seriously On Social Media. Nobody goes on Social Media to get educated, learn how to grow as a human being, or even be raised by a bunch of nobodies due to lack of parental figures in their life. Social Media is a land of pure ignorance, in which majority of the people using the platforms have NO IDEA and I mean NO IDEA how the real world works. When it comes to making decisions, whether it be regarding running a business, running an organization, or heck running your own life... You don't get answers by a bunch of ignorant human beings whom have never lived a life outside from a computer/phone screen, you're suppose to get answers by those that have actually lived life from experience. Truth be told: Those whom have never lived life and have no clue about the real world, more than likely are going to bring you the wrong direction in life.
I'm not sure when was the first time people actually have started to take people on social media seriously, but since then... Every single thing in existence has rapidly declined dramatically. Human Development has declined, Education has declined, Social Interaction has Declined since we're all too afraid of saying how we feel without fearing someone is going to start an altercation because we think differently than them.
This type of culture has damaged the Mental Health community, as we've seen an alarming rate of depression and suicide tendencies amongst adults and worst our children. What has bothered me the most is who in the right mind would ever give a culture like this, any power alone?! These are not people whom are spiritually in the right direction of positivity, patience, love, and peace. These people are in the wrong direction of negativity, hatred, anger, and violence. The only kind of enjoyment these people gain out of their existence, is watching others fail, solely on the fact none of them can amount to anything other than expressing hate on the internet.
Human beings will make mistakes in their life time and you know what?! That's ok. Just because you stumble in life, doesn't mean you can't redeem yourself and continue moving forward to become a better person. That's the whole beauty of life and the whole beauty in growing up: You never stay the same, you can change for the better at any given time. No one should ever give Cancel Culture, a Culture in which is the definition of FLAWED, determine who gets to continue life going forward. They are not God nor will they ever be, there is only one flawless being in this world and that is Jesus. When Jesus encounters those that have made mistakes, Jesus Forgives, Jesus heels, and Jesus wants us all to succeed at a high level in life.
I still have a great amount of faith and hope that this world can become more loving and forgiving. But we must start, by no longer catering towards a Toxic Culture any longer. The question remains: How does one eliminate Cancel Culture?! Two ways. You can either no longer give power to those on Social Media, by simply ignoring them rightfully so they shouldn’t have a say in anything, due to lack of experience in reality. Or the best way to eliminate Cancel Culture in our lives, is to eliminate where it was founded by: Social Media. You get rid of social media, you get rid of the place in which those in that community, live and breath by. Without Social Media, they'll have no where else to go, because that was their whole purpose in life, as they all finally have to grow up and live in the real world like the rest of us. There is a lot of money built into Social Media so I doubt it’ll happen, but in order to reconstruct this world for the better... It must end sooner or later, best of all those whom eliminate social media out of their daily lives go on to be much happier individuals.
Always remember one thing though: None of you should ever care what anyone thinks of you. If you're speaking to your truth, doing the right things, and being yourself... That's all that matters. Because in the end: You'll never be canceled by God, God Loves and Accepts All of You. Much love and many blessings to all of you, as always: Time to talk about Movies
Night of the Kings Grade: C
Night of the Kings was acquired by Neon Rated, after it was debuted on the New York Film Festival. T’was looking forward watching this film, since it was from Neon Rated and was getting solid reviews from critics. Unfortunately I found this film quite underwhelming.
I will say from a cast perspective everyone does a pretty good job, I also felt the film from a visual perspective looked stunning. Where problems line up for me, would be the story as I honestly felt it was barely engaging. Basically it’s about a new inmate being sent to this prison, the leader of this prison makes him the new Roman, the Roman’s duty is suppose to tell a story to the inmates as the Red Moon rises, as if he fails to tell a story he must suffer the consequences. So the new Roman tells this story, however not only does the story within he’s telling barely interesting nor exciting, but also Roman keeps on changing elements of it because this is coming out of his head as he’s making things up going forward. Sure the inmates reenacting parts of the story in which Roman is telling was kind of cool, however the story within he’s telling is very flat just like this film. It felt like improv not done so well for me.
Overall, Night of the Kings was just ok. I honestly wouldn’t recommend this film, I would suggest watching Scare Me instead.
Our Friend Grade: B
I rode my bike 18 miles to see Our Friend in a theater setting, as when I got there not only did I miss a couple minutes of it, but I then got a phone call as the call made me flee the theater for personal reasons... What a waste of an 18 mile bike ride. Well at least I got my money back and saved $8 so it wasn’t all bad.
Our Friend is highlighted by grand performances by Dakota Johnson, Casey Affleck, and surprisingly Jason Segel as well. The film captures a story featuring three friends, whom which one of the friends is battling cancer, as the two friends work together through this difficult time especially taking care of the friends kids . The display of friendship in this film was very touching, though one of the friends isn’t necessarily got his shit together, he still is greeted with a great amount of kindness from his friends, due to the fact he’s always there for them when needed as a true friend should be. The story may not be offering anything particularly new regarding the subject matter of cancer, however it still was well written as it’s done very accurately even if these friends are very close, frustration and heartache will soon follow.
My only complaint I have to give was structure issues, the way this film transitions from flashback to flash forward kind of gave me a headache, as I would’ve much preferred a straight forward narrative. A little bummed out I didn’t get to see this in a theater, especially since the theater was empty, however this was indeed a quality rental at home and it doesn’t hurt to save a significant amount of money.
Overall, Our Friend was solid. I recommend checking this one out, keep the tissues handy you’re going to need it.
The Day Sports Stood Still Grade: D-
When “The Day Sports Stood Still” appeared on my HBO Max feed, I was so pumped up. A documentary centering around the shutdown of Sports due to that pain in the ass, what sports were going on during the lockdown, and the rise of sports coming back to life sounded AWESOME.
This film’s title is extremely misleading, as it should’ve been retitled The Day Basketball Stood Still, since majority of the coverage centered around this documentary is mostly the NBA and a little bit here and there with the WNBA. Though other sports are mentioned in this film, their covered about a mere 8%-10% if generous, which makes me question why was this called The Day Sports Stood Still in the first place?! I kid you not: The Commissioner of the NBA Adam Silver talking out of his ass, like he actually has a clue what he’s doing knowing the fact he’s made the NBA the least engaging sport in all pro sports, is covered more than the whole NHL, MLB, NFL, Tennis, Soccer, PGA, and NCAA Sports combined.... That is flat out embarrassing.
This documentary felt absolutely lifeless and even joyless. If we look back in Sports by this time as of last year: There is TON to cover. Including the embarrassment of the televised 2K Tournament and NBA’s H.O.R.S.E., the Golf Match between Tom Brady/Tiger Woods vs Peyton Manning/Phil Mickelson that not only brought in millions of dollars in donations to great causes but brought joy to Sports fans, the excitement sports fans felt while enduring the NFL draft, the comeback of sports including Horse Racing and the PGA amongst the first back... This documentary doesn’t cover any of that. I think a fair amount of coverage, is catered to the doom and gloom experience of the virus and the chaos happening away from sports... While some of that is worth discussing since it does make an impact on sports, however should’ve been kept to a bare minimum, while it should’ve been more focused on what the title says: SPORTS! That’s the main interest in this whole documentary: Sports, why is it not on Sports?!
Overall, The Day Sports Stood Still is absolute garbage. I don’t recommend this film at all, I hope someone has the decency to make the sports documentary of 2020 everyone rightfully deserve. -Mitch Smietana