I gave myself a long weekend, so that means a bunch of movies! While the weekend’s viewings started out light and fun, they eventually morphed into a more serious territory, which I really enjoyed! To be frank, none of these movies were bad, and there was one that rose above the rest, but you can’t go wrong adding any of these titles to your future watch-list.
Greenland – This movie released pretty early on in the pandemic, and I heard a lot of surprised praise for it (considering it’s got Gerard Butler), so I’ve been anticipating watching this movie for quite a while now. There’s no messing around here as families are getting together to watch a comet come to earth. Only thing is, the comet, and all its pieces and parts, are going to be a lot more devastating then everyone was led to believe. When the chaos starts is when John gets a text from Homeland Security to take his son and estranged wife to a hanger that’s going to bring them to a private bunker in Greenland. If only it were that easy! The next hour and a half are filled with violence, kidnapping, and murder, just to name a few, and just when you think all might be good, they are thrown another loop! This movie hits a little close to home, considering people right now are dying and quarantining, just under different circumstances. I was by no means blown away by this movie, but it was definitely enjoyable.
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar – You guys! This is hands down the funniest comedy I have seen in years! It took some convincing, but I got my sister to watch it with me, and we were choking out laughter from start to finish. I laughed so much that my throat hurt by the end of it. Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig play Barb and Star, who are middle-aged women coming to something of a crossroads in their lives. They decide to go on a vacation to the fictional town of Vista Del Mar in Florida, but there is also an evil mastermind, Sharon, who plans on wiping out the town with deadly mosquitos while they’re down there! She sends Edgar, who only wants to be an “official couple” with Sharon, down to get the job done. There, he meets both Barb and Star, eventually falling for the latter. Obviously, the two friends are going to have to save the day, but the road there is so strange and hilarious that it’s totally worth it. While Wiig and Mumolo are hysterical, it’s Jamie Dornan who steals the show. He’s fully committed, and it shows in his musical number, “Edgar’s Prayer.” This is a must-watch if weird humor is your thing!
Breaking News in Yuba County – Oh man, I really wanted to like this more than I did. It was just okay. And that’s a shame because the cast was A+! Sue Buttons is a neglected wife on her birthday, who then goes to find out her husband’s been cheating on her! Cue deadly heart-attack mid-cheat! That’s right, Carl is dead, and rather than call the police, Sue buries him and heads straight to the nearest news station. She wants her time in the sun, but she’s pretty lousy at lying. And, Carl was dirty in other ways than cheating. That gets some shady characters looking for money involved, not to mention a detective who’s not willing to let anything die. Sadly, Allison Janney as Sue was just alright. The best performance had to come from Regina Hall and that ridiculous hair-do, although Wanda Sykes is a close second. I’d say skip this for now. You can watch something similar and more entertaining in Suburbicon.
To All the Boys: Always and Forever – The last installment in a very cute trilogy. After that love triangle drama in To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, Lara Jean and Peter are going strong and are seemingly mapping out their entire future together. Although, that all hinges on whether or not Lara Jean gets into Stanford…which she doesn’t. At first, the couple pivot and patch things up quickly when Lara Jean determines she’ll just go to school a little over an hour away. That all changes though when they take a class trip to New York, where she falls in love with the city. Enter drama. Luckily, there are other fun life events going on (a wedding!) that distract from the short-lived drama. Lara Jean and Peter are going to be together forever, even if it’s from a couple thousand miles away. Pretty faithful to the book which I appreciated. These movies just make me smile, so obviously watch it at your own rom-com risk.
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things – I was a little skeptical going into this film, which seemed like it was ripping on Groundhog’s Day (mentioned several times in the film, actually) and the more recent Palm Springs. While this was lighter like Palm Springs was, this movie managed to make its own unique and heart-warming twist on this well-known tale. Mike has been living the same day over and over, and is fully aware that he’s the only one who knows what’s going on. Then one day, Margaret pops into his daily routine. Mike instantly crushes on this girl who knows what’s going on just like him, although she’s reluctant to share her whole life. After the two get really close though, their bond breaks when Mike wants to figure out how to stop the loop and Margaret doesn’t. Turns out, the loop started on the last day of her cancer-stricken mother’s life, so she’s content getting to spend one final day with her mother over and over again. Eventually, she feels ready to move on and uses a map her and Mike put together, that’s documented perfect moments they’ve found within that one singular day. Some science gets involved to get us to our happy ending, and I’ve got to say I was more impressed than I thought I’d be!
The Lovely Bones – Susie Salmon is dead. She recounts the day of her death, when creepy neighbor, George Harvey leads her to an underground bunker in a cornfield after school one day. From there, she’s stuck in the the “in-between,” which sits between Heaven and earth. She watches on as years pass without her family letting up on finding her and her killer. Eventually, this becomes too much for her mother and she leaves the family. Her father, Jack, and sister, Lindsey, do not give up searching though. Eventually, the two start to suspect that something is off with George, and Lindsey almost risks getting caught by him as she finds the book detailing his obsession with Susie and the plans for the bunker. Sadly, while Susie’s body is never recovered and George flees town, he does get what’s coming to him in the end. Those two revelations are slightly unsatisfying, but I’m sure it’s at least a little bit of a relief to know who’s responsible. I don’t believe I’ve seen this film since it came out in 2009, probably because it was gut-wrenching. With that being said it was also so incredible! Stanley Tucci is perfection as George Harvey, and the suspense is wonderful. Less impressive were the “in-between” scenes which looked somewhat horribly CGI-ed. I decided to watch this again because I finally plan on reading the book soon, and I want to see how they compare.
The Invisible – Another old movie made it into my viewing queue this weekend! 2007 to be exact. Nick is a student that has it all, but before he hops on a plane to London for school, he is jumped and beaten to death by three classmates, although Annie delivers the final blow. The next morning we see Nick walk out of the woods where he was left, uninjured, and heading to school. While there, he figures out no one can see him, and determines he is dead. He decides to haunt Annie who is stealthily avoiding the police, who suspect she may be know what happened to Nick and where his body is. After an encounter with a dying bird, Nick comes to the realization that he is not actually dead yet, but his body needs found before it’s too late. He is eventually able to somewhat communicate with Annie, who, reluctantly begins to try and help without getting caught. I could never quite tell if this movie morphed into the romance territory, but either way I love it! And it has a killer soundtrack!
Before I Fall – Another movie about living in the in-between (a theme to the weekend’s choices?), follows Sam, who begins living the same day over again after a deadly car crash. It takes her a while to catch onto what she needs to do, but along the way she’s realizes her mean-spirited popularity was for no reason at all really. As time passes, she’s able to come to good terms with her parents and little sister, try to correct some of the hateful things her friends do and say, and ultimately falls for her dorky childhood friend, Kent. While her goal is to change enough things to change a suicidal classmates life, she also thinks in doing this she can save her own life. This movie (and the book it’s based off of) doesn’t have the happiest of endings, but it’s more about making the most good out of the life you have. Really enjoyable, albeit sad.