Midweek Movie Free Talk

So during Halloween weekend I watched Barbarian. It got good reviews and has been getting a really big fan base online. I usually don’t care about “film twitter favorites." But this was fantastic. It builds up the tension so incredibly well. Not a subtle movie, in terms of the themes, but it works. Not like Get Out was subtle.

I also saw Terrifier 2. I was thinking about watching it in theaters, but I also didn’t want to be in a theater with people that would go watch Terrifier 2 in theaters. Luckily it started streaming online so I didn’t have to go to the theater. So I could watch this ultra-violent, depraved, movie on my own. It was pretty good. Long. But good. There’s only really one scene that I thought was super crazy violent, but besides that it’s not THAT gory. Can’t imagine anyone throwing up because of it. Better performances, overall, than in a lot of b-movies. Specifically the central performance, I think if she’s given the chance she could make a career for herself in Hollywood.

Over the last couple of weeks for some reason I watched the "has Fallen" trilogy: Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen, Angel Has Fallen.

They are visceral and slightly dark action movies that were fairly well executed but are a bit ridiculous. Gerard Butler is enjoyable to watch in just about anything, despite his mushy american accent. Eckhart and Freeman both do exactly what they need to and do it well. The stories are outlandish, the violence is over the top, and the action is intense. These aren't cinema masterpieces, but if you want to watch people shoot and stab and punch each other, with very little thought as to who is right (AMERICA IS RIGHT!) then these are movies in which that happens.

In the process of looking up information about these movies, I learned that there is another movie that came out at the same time as Olympus Has Fallen that is based on the same character / books, with Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, and I think I'll watch that. It's called White House Down. I expect it to be similarly middle-of-the-road action.

My wife and I watched Labyrinth last night. I'd never seen it, despite being a big Jim Henson fan. The puppetry was, of course, fantastic and holds up pretty well. The special effects are pretty 80s, of course, and didn't age super well. But that's to be expected. I'm from the 80s and haven't aged particularly well either! I'm sure the effects were great for the time. Some of the acting and writing were pretty clumsy, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the movie. I adored Didymus (and Ambrosius, of course), Ludo, and even Hoggle. The movie had a lot of charm and it's such a shame I didn't watch it as a kid because I think I would've been absolutely captivated by it.

I also loved watching the credits and seeing so many familiar names. Kevin Clash, Dave Goelz, Frank Oz, Brian Henson, Steve Whitemire. Basically all of the greatest puppeteers ever assembled!

I had to fly for about 8 hours the other day so I got to catch up on a couple movies during my flights.

First was Everything Everywhere All at Once which was fantastic. It combined three of my favorite movie/TV things: multiverse stuff, the struggle to find meaning in life, and A24 films. Some of the quirkiness and sound effects were a bit over the top for me, but overall I like how it didn't take itself too seriously.

The second was Fall which is that movie about two climbers that get stuck on an old TV tower. It's straight out of the Open Water or 127 Hours genre which makes for a perfect airplane movie. It's not going to win any awards, and it has a few lame/predictable elements, but good damn my palms were pretty sweaty throughout the movie.