I’ve had a busy few weeks, so this quiet weekend was spent catching up in the theater…and then some!
Sasquatch Sunset – This movie is officially a part of the very small list of extremely weird films I have ever seen. This popped out at me during Sundance, but the virtual audience was not given the chance to partake. After watching it, I’m surprised my local theater got it at all. I’d be more surprised to see it last more than one weekend. In this film, we’ve got the likes of Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg completely unrecognizable dressed head to toe as sasquatches. There is no dialogue, only grunting and pointing. We basically get a front row seat to the day and life of a found family of sasquatch over the course of a year. Some scenes did have me laughing quite a bit, but overall I was left asking myself, “what in the hell did I just watch?” I have absolutely no clue who this film is for, but I doubt it’s for anyone I know.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare – A jumble of words in the mouth be damned! The latest Guy Ritchie film is a hit! At this point, I don’t feel I ever need to know the plots of his movies to know I’m going to be thoroughly entertained. This time around, he chose to mix a true story with a certain degree of fabrication. It’s during World War II, where Churchill actually commissioned a rogue group of criminals to act as spies to infiltrate and stop the Germans from supplying their U-boats. This team is full of brutes, but they are mighty clever ones. Their deftness and creativity definitely saved them from certain death. This movie is also just further proof to me that Ritchie picks who he likes and keeps them onboard for future projects. We see more of that here, and I can’t wait to see who of the “new” cast shows up in his next projects.
The Listener – Though this wasn’t a film I made a trip to the theater for, it was a drama I heard about last year. It’s Steve Buscemi’s first feature directorial debut and I couldn’t be more happy for him! Especially to land someone as magnetic as Tessa Thompson leading the charge. She plays Beth, a helpline volunteer, who’s taking one of her final late shifts after three years. Of course, you’d think all of the things she hears from strangers is stemming from the pandemic, and while some of it is, it was really interesting to hear the array of encounters Beth experiences in a night. She’s detached just enough to keep her wits, but engaged enough to know how to help. Not the most engrossing chamber piece I’ve ever seen, but there was a nice, quiet nuance.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – I always just assume that any new movie featuring monsters Godzilla and King Kong is a reboot, so I was kind of surprised to learn this was actually a sequel to 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong. That film came out during the weird time where Warner Bros decided to just drop all of their titles on HBO Max instead of a proper theatrical release. So I’d watched that from my chair in the living room. I thought it was a fun film, and maybe had I never seen Godzilla: Minus One, I might have liked this sequel a bit more. Though it was packed with action, I felt a bit bored by the whole thing. The only scenes that really brought me any joy were between Dan Stevens and Brian Tyree Henry. Anyway, Godzill and Kong actually decided to pair up this time around to stop a sadistic monkey from spawning a new ice age on earth.
Abigail – When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I was totally into it. A random team is tasked to kidnap a little girl and then keep watch over her for the next 24 hours. All is fine and well until the house locks down and it turns out that little girl is a vampire. That’s when the trailer lost me. It had all the makings of a cool thriller, and then decided to go supernatural. I wish the trailer wouldn’t have given that tidbit away, because it might have actually made the viewing of the film more surprising. That fact isn’t revealed until about forty minutes in, and from there it is pure chaos. Despite the supernatural elements, I actually had a lot of fun watching this film. And learning that the same guys who directed Ready or Not were in charge of this made me like it that much more. For those wanting a little more context, this is a more modern imagining of Dracula’s Daughter from back in the 1930s.
The Childe – I think at this point, though still early in the year, The Childe is going to walk away as my favorite film of 2024. I almost never watch anything more that once, and this is now the fourth time seeing this fun and violent action flick in maybe two months. I just can’t talk enough about how awesome this movie is! If you like John Wick, you’ll like this, but the reveals in this are so creative, and the moments of comedy are excellent. Get over your fear of subtitles and just freaking watch this already!