There’s a small budget rom-com from a decade or so ago called Timer, that kinda deals with the same premise.
People find out a way to scientifically find soulmates, through an app that you graft onto your skin. It then starts a countdown that finishes the second you meet your soulmate. The conflict in the rom-com is that the main character got the app installed….but no countdown appears. Because it only works if both soulmates get the app.
And the rest of the movie is her dealing with this, and also dealing with her family, who have been affected by this technology in various ways. It’s fun, slightly somber, and a decent rainy day watch.
Speaking of Anya Taylor-Joy….I finally caught the new adaptation of Emma (or Emma.) the other day thanks to HBOmax getting it.
I’d always planned on seeing it but never got the chance when it originally came out in theaters. And, honestly, worth the wait. As an American that went to a pretty mediocre public high school, literally the only exposure I’ve ever had to the story in any form was Clueless. And I love Clueless, it’s fun, it’s refreshingly witty in stretches, and it’s held up fairly well for how of-the-moment it is. But, you know, never having read the novel I was never quite sure about how much it actually took from it and how much was liberties.
And I guess I still don’t just by going off this new adaptation. But, in any case, there must be something to it if even this version is….well, very refreshing witty, snappy, smart, and just an impressive comedy of errors, politeness, etiquette, and frivolity – very much like Clueless. That both movies have several set-pieces in common, set-pieces I would have bet were original inventions of Clueless because of how modern the humor and the situational comedy of it all feels in that movie, is kind of a testament to how much longevity the story has.
And it’s presented well. The performances work in tandem with the colorful, ordered, aesthetic and the humor bounces back and forth, and in between, all of it. Never feels stuffy or dull, and is just in generally – very snappy. It’s fun. The only complaint I would have is that it does slightly meander a bit as it tries to reach its conclusion. But the movie somehow fitting in an anime-style nosebleed gag makes up for most of that.
Overall, I really enjoyed it, and will definitely be in my rotation for years to come. 8.5/10.
Finally watched The New Mutants, and I can finally say that I watched all of the XCU line of movies.
And, you know….it was pretty good. Like, pretty good in a way that made me kind of astonished at the bad rap it got when it was released. Only kind of…because when I say pretty good I mean pretty good in the way that an early-2000’s teen horror flick is pretty good. What I mean by that is that it has the same kind of tone and consistency that would allow it to slot right in alongside Final Destination or The Faculty. A very devil-may-care free-flowing attitude that is as much a benefit as it is a huge drawback. Because that style of carefree horror has it’s charms, I love the janky ridiculousness of the Final Destination movies and it keeps this style of movie from stalling out, but it also means that this movie never really feels like it has much stakes or drama. It feels aimless at times, where character building scenes and set-pieces are seemingly thrown together in an order that comes off as random and distracting. Like there’s little momentum in it’s engagement with either side.
I mean, it’s fun. I like seeing the characters hang out and get to know each other, trite as it can be, but it never gets to breathe and the horror scenes aren’t enough to full make up for it or pick up the slack. They’re almost half-formed afterthoughts at times. Still, the movie flies by. It was almost half-way over before I knew it and the only time I was bored was when it struggles to make that switch from traditional horror beats to…action-y third act bonanza. Which it never does pull off. But I at least appreciate some of the small touches it tried to pinpoint.
Overall, not the best outing. But one that I don’t regret watching, will probably watch again, and would have liked a sequel to. It’s one of those movies that really feels like a pilot episode – getting the status quo out of the way. It’s a shame we won’t get “body horror, The Thing inspired” Warlock and Doug like Boone envisioned, but at least it didn’t end on a cliffhanger.
6/10
I’m going to die on this hill…but “Yippie-Kay-Yay Mister Falcon” is a much better line than the original. For two reasons – 1. Repeating the same line is kinda lame, all things considered, so it was nice to switch it up. 2. Switching it up to Mister Falcon is actually really clever since the villain’s codename in the movie is “Falcon”. So, it’s a bit of a funny way to play with expectations about his well-known previous quip.
I hadn’t heard that, but of course the trades that the rival gangs would make in order to maintain the peace between them reminded me of my favorite issue of Kirby’s NEW GODS.
It made all the rounds on the usual comic clickbait sites, and yeah I was skeptical too, but then the first couple of episodes even almost quote THE PACT issue verbatim, and how Josto and Gaetano are basically the analogues for Kalibak, and etc. It’s fun to really see it play out, reminds me of the Fifth World Dark Side Club stuff Morrison did.
I somehow managed to never watch The World’s Ende until yesterday. It was awesome. I’d probably rate it higher than Hot Fuzz and just below Shaun.
Oh man, I love The World’s End….to a point. For 99% of it, it’s basically my favorite of the trilogy. I just found it so damn heartening, and engaging, and sobering…and not in small part cause of how I related to some of the more mature topics it handled. So damn good. But then the last 2 minutes kinda ruin it for me. I’d rank it as a close second to Hot Fuzz on my personal chart though.
Is anyone else watching Season 4 of FARGO?
Yeah I am….mostly because there was a bunch of speculation a year ago that it was apparently going to be a big homage to the New Gods. And at the time I was really skeptical about that, but then some comics folks started saying the same thing after the first couple of episodes and I have to say, after checking it out and catching up, it tracks. It really tracks. It’s not a one-to-one adaptation, but it really is using a lot of the same archetypes and figures in this story and it scratches such a sweet spot for me. It even has a Granny Goodness for godsakes.
So far, it’s pretty wonderful I have to say.
So I decided to go all in and check out Hubie Halloween, and well…it’s definitely the best Adam Sandler-Netflix movie. That doesn’t mean it’s altogether good, far from it, but it definitely has more of an actual movie quality to it than previous efforts like The Ridiculous 6, Murder Mystery, or The Week of.
To try and put it short, it feels like a holiday special made for a character that doesn’t exist. It has this oddly chipper and soft-handed sitcom tone, and a feel-good atmosphere that wouldn’t be too out of place in an early 00’s Nickelodeon family film. Which makes it kind of endearing in parts. It’s inept, for sure, the characters are flimsy, the gags are pretty standard and tired, and the story overstays its welcome a bit by the end – but it never really loses that earlier sensibility and that’s really what keeps most of it afloat.
It’s also what clashes really heavily with the more overt Happy Madison-style jokes and humor. This and The Wrong Missy are definitely Sandler and co. trying to go back to basics with their comedy stylings, and while it’s way more toned down in Hubie Halloween – it still feels really jarring and out of place in moments – because outside of those beat it’s relatively family friendly.
This won’t make any new fans for Sandler, and I’m not really sure it’ll please his old ones either, but it is a happy-go-lucky and kinda genuinely good-natured holiday film. And on that basis, I had a good enough time. Might rewatch it later on in the month when the days get shorter and the nights colder.
Overall 5/10
Watched two horror movies recently, so here’s what I thought of each.
The Car – I’ve heard of this one for a long time, and it was one of the inspirations for the Futurama werewolf parody episode way back when, but only decided to check it out when it got added to Netflix. And it was wonderful. I’ve read that it was inspired by road rage exploitation movies like Death Race 2000, and honestly it stands alongside that one quite handily. Over the top, blustery, showboaty, and completely unashamed. It’s almost got a proto-Lake Placid style charm – feeling almost like a very campy creature feature than a supernatural film about a demonic car. The performances are a delight, the script is wacked out, and the tone is a joy if you want pure B-Movie cheesy goodness. Overall 8/10.
Tales From The Hood 3 – After the really awful second movie in this franchise from two years, I wasn’t excited at all when a third film was announced. And I was right not to be. It’s really damn bad. It’s slightly better than the second one, but that’s not saying much. That one was borderline unwatchable in its unbearable mix of incessant lecturing and low-ambition scares. This one drops the moral backbone…but doesn’t add anything to replace it. It’s just 4-5 really generic and cliche stories that feel like very low-rent episodes from Shudder’s Creepshow series – and that’s not a compliment, that series is pretty bad. And it’s a shame nonetheless, because the morality of the second movie wasn’t why it was bad. The first movie was all about mixing classic horror anthology gimmicks/premises with hard-hitting lessons about life on the streets. ie. “Tales from THE HOOD“. The second just had really bad writing, and with the third dropping it entirely it feels really empty. There’s no heart to this one, and one wonders why it was even made. Overall 4/10. It’s boring as hell, but maybe you can leave it on as background noise.
It’s Alive – A woman gives birth to a monster baby that immediately kills everyone in the delivery room except her and escapes into the night to wreak havoc. Low budget, somewhat cheesy, but the actor who plays the baby’s father gives an incredible performance that elevates the whole thing. Throughout the movie he wants the monster baby dead as much as everyone else and refuses to think of it as his own flesh and blood but when he finally confronts it and sees it for the scared, wounded creature it is… well, he plays it in such a way that I suddenly felt like I was watching a very different, much more serious and consequential film.
Oh man, It’s Alive was one of my favorite horror movies growing up. Especially the second one. Watching that on late night spanish television is one of my earliest movie-watching memories. The third…eh, but honestly it’s worth checking them all out if you enjoyed the first.
I’m glad that posting about Utopia hasn’t been underway long, because I actually have a lot of thoughts about it and the remake haha.
Now, I didn’t watch the original as it was airing. I think I saw the first two episodes before I dropped off it. Just didn’t seem like my thing at the time and I didn’t go back and catch up on it before the Amazon show premiered. So, that’s what I saw in its entirety first. And….I really liked it. I liked it enough that I rewatched it almost immediately, with my brother this time (just to rationalize it). I think it’s one of those really madcap black comedies that hits that sweet spot for me. A bit sloppy near the end, but it straddles such a fine line between it’s absurdist aspects and its more dire and scathing and depressing beats – skillfully I might add. So, I enjoyed it.
And I’ve just finished finally going back to watch the first season of the original. And that was pretty good too. It’s still not really my thing, mainly because the biggest difference between the two shows is the tone. The original is more intense and serious about the story, which is great…and it helps to improve on some character beats that the remake kinda lets flounder a bit. Namely Grant, Alice, and part of Michael’s. But never really hooked me as much. And to give some credit to the remake – I feel like it plays with and executes a lot of the main gimmick better.
The whole idea of Utopia as a story, and as a comic, just feels more tethered to the characters and the story of the remake than it ever does in the original. How the plot goes around it and how the characters interact with it…as a comic. Which is funny because in the remake it barely resembles a real comic, while the original kinda looks like it could be a heavy-indie style thing. I also thought that the remake had better group dynamics and gave the characters a little extra energy and helped sell them as a group. But, like I said, the remake does get a little long in the tooth with the gags near the end, and it could have used some of the stakes the original landed really harshly.
Overall, I can see why the original has it’s cult fanbase….but I really like where the remake has started and I hope it gets a second season.
8/10
Caught The Hunt.
It’s pretty much just You’re Next but without the creativity or cleverness. There’s satire for sure, but it’s kinda limply, clumsily, and very needlessly inserted. It ends up adding little, or nothing, to the movie at all. Thankfully, the stuff it retreads from You’re Next is fun enough…like, that was a pretty neat movie – so the comparison helps keep this one afloat. Along with a bevy of really good character actors who try their best with this rather empty script. It’s bland and drags for the most part – but worth a rainy day watch if you’re really bored. Or…just queue up You’re Next.
Overall – 5/10
Just finished the second season of Kingdom that premiered on Netflix today.
It was amazing. Just as good as Season 1, if not outright better in places – and that was a hell of an achievement given how great that first season ended up being. It keeps up the momentum, the stakes, the drama, and all of the horror – but without sacrificing the well-thought out characters and arcs that made Season 1 such a surprisingly clever delight. It really shows a huge improvement not only in the storytelling, but the stylization, and pacing of its events. It covers a lot more ground than the first season did, and all of it feels earned. Leading to a wonderful and thrilling finale. A finale that honestly could have been a series finale. And given that I’ve heard rumors that this was initially meant to be a one season miniseries, I could believe it.
But it does leave some threads and hooks open for a third season, and I hope it does well enough to get picked up for it. Overall, 9/10.
The latest episode of Avenue 5 might be one of the best episodes of television I have seen since….Twin Peaks: The Return Episode 8.
It’s amazing. It’s a master class. It’s horrifying, scary, disgusting, and so nauseating. But also intensely hilarious. My sides were destroyed. I was left wracked with pain from the tension and suspense, but also from laughter. This show is a marvel.
Just caught the movie adaptation of Fantasy Island….and I have very mixed feelings about it.
To try and put it short, there were multiple moments when I was watching it that I thought “If this was 30% less wannabe horror, and 20% more drama, then it might actually have something here”. Because….there was/is potential in this movie. Character and emotional beats that feel like they are a bit more introspective or reflective and maybe could have carried a movie that was interested in actual character depth and progression.
Of course, the very next scene after those beats we’d get dragged back into a dull, generic, rip-off SAW, Wish Upon, Zombie mish-mash plot that plays all of its cliches in the least dynamic, most tired, ways possible. It was like whiplash. Just kept see-sawing back and forth between the two moods and atmospheres. And it’s a shame. Because there was meat there. Until the last 15 minutes where it devolves into a goofy Scooby-Doo mystery plot that even Hanna-Barbera would be ashamed about…..and yet, even then, the last 2 minutes of that whip right back again.
It’s a mess. It’s a chaotic amalgamation of two separate ideas and directions with where to take this movie and this property. And neither won out. But, if it had leaned more into the character focused drama, and tried to hit hard with these characters, then it might have been a respectable mess. I’m surprised at how much there was to enjoy, but not enough to say I liked it.
Overall: 4/10
