Midsommar

The movie Hereditary was one of my favourite films last year. I actually let out an audible gasp while watching it. I didn't and still don't understand the Exorcist cult-like ending - it was bananas. But I loved every minute of it. So when I heard Ari Aster had a new film coming out, well I was giddy.

Midsommar is off the hook bananas. OMG did I love this movie. It's like if The Wicker Man had a Rosemary's Baby with The Holy Mountain. What's it all about? Good grief, where do I start?!

The simplest explanation, it's about a bunch of university kids who go spend their summer at a Swedish hippie farm for their summer festival. But not all is as it seems (of course) and the weird factor just keeps ramping up and up. I think in this day and age, it takes courage to go this weird. It's also about Dani (played by Florence Pugh) who has lost her parents and has a clingy relationship with her boyfriend Christian. There is a lot going on in Dani's post traumatized head and it's compounded with everything that's going on the Swedish Kool-Aid Acid Farm. Take a trip to Sweden and catch this one on streaming services or in a rep cinema near you.  

Us

It's October, so let's get into some horror movies. Let's begin with something that came out earlier in the year, Us. Us is the second horror film from comedic star, Jordan Peele. Critics gushed over his first film, Get Out. I liked it, didn't love it. Peele seems to have embraced the horror genre with loving arms, so much so that he has rebooted The Twilight Zone. So I went into Us with somewhat midgrade expectations; horror is hard to do well. I was delighted to find a very creepy monster knocking on my cinema's door.

What's it all about? It's about the childhood fears of getting lost and it's about adult fears and guilt of losing a child. It's also about the innate existential fear of being replaced - somebody could take my job; my partner could leave me and get a better me; my kids could have a better stepfather than their real dad; our very existence will one day be gone and we will be replaced.

It's about the Wilson family, Gabe and Adelaide (played with great intensity by Lupita Nyong'o) and their two kids. One night a strange family comes knocking on the Wilsons's door. It's their doppelgangers dressed in red outfits and wearing ornate racing gloves - it's scary shit.

Peele is a comedian and he has sprinkled humour throughout his new monster movie of the self. Elisabeth Moss calling for the police is particularly amusing. This is all I want to tell you - go watch it with the lights out.

You couldn't do much better than Us, to begin your Halloween horror movie season. Catch it on streaming services. 

Between Two Ferns: The Movie

Comedy is tough. It takes a lot for me to laugh out loud at a film. Between Two Ferns: The Movie made me laugh out loud, multiple times.
There is no reason for this film to exist other than it acts as a way to string a bunch of episodes of Between Two Ferns together (it's very self aware and we know they know).
If you are not familiar with the comedic genius of Zach Galifianakis, well it's time to get to know him. He plays that awkward guy with beard in The Hangover movie series. He has alone been in It's Kind of a Funny Story and Due Date - if you haven't seen these, they are worth your time. If you have never watched an episode of Between Two Ferns, watch this one with Brady Pitts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnF-zTrHvGs

Galifianakis deadpan insults his star guests with the most cutting and rude questions imaginable and they all sit there and take it. It's extremely funny and for some reason it doesn't get old, at least not in this movie. Catch it on Netflix. 

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Nostalgia - it's the one word I would use to describe Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. As I write this, Tarantino is fifty six years old and I just turned forty nine. A seven year gap. But I'm old enough to remember old TV shows like Bonanza, Adam West's Batman, and have spent a good portion of my life watching the films of the 1960s; Steve McQueen, Bruce Lee, and the spaghetti Westerns of Clint Eastwood to name a few. Tarantino is a film geek; I say this with great affection because so am I. He has packed so much of the zeitgeist of the late 1960s Hollywood into his new movie, it oozes with polyester, sunglasses, and cigarettes. This is a homage to the stars and the films of that area. It's also the first film where Tarantino has shown some real depth of character with Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio). What's it all about? It's about Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) who chauffeurs Dalton around. Dalton is a former TV Western star trying to make it in feature films but only manages to land roles as the bad guy. He has a drinking problem and not a lot of prospects. Oh, and he lives next door to Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski. I know what Charles Manson's family did, so when we reach the climax of the film, well Tarantino gives us his fictional version of the Manson-Tate events like he did in Inglorious Bastards. Why? I'm left puzzled by the ending. Perhaps by subverting the truth, he is giving us the "Hollywood ending" we all want - we want the hero to kick ass and win. Maybe this is Quentin's point. The ending is the only thing about the film I didn't care for but there is sooo much to like, it's worth your time to check it out, especially if you are a film geek like me. Catch it in theatres now.

The Peanut Butter Falcon

This kind of small independent film is why I love going to the movies. This is a touching funny movie and if you are looking to spend your money at a major chain cinema, this is what to spend your money on. What's it all about? It's about a young man, Zak who has Down syndrome, played by Zack Gottsagen who really does has Down syndrome. Zak is living in an old age home because he has no family and there is no other facility to look after him. He dreams of becoming a wrestler like he has watched a thousand times on his VHS tapes and wants to get to the Salt Water Redneck wrestling school (the Salt Water Redneck is played by Thomas Haden Church and he is great). With the help of Zak's roommate (played by Bruce Dern) he escapes the old age home and runs into Tyler (Shia LaBeouf) who is also on the run from fishermen he has really pissed off. Eleanor (Dakota Johnson) is sent to find Zak. When she does, it's a lovely adventure. This little film charmed the pants off of me. Catch it now in theatres.

Parasite

This South Korean film took me by big surprise. I had a strong feeling just after the halfway point I would be writing about this one for the blog. I don't think I've seen anything like this since I watched another South Korean film entitled Oldboy (which was remade for American audiences, staring Josh Brolin). What's it all about? Well it's a about a poor family that poorly assembles pizza boxes in their home for money. They don't make pizzas, they just assemble the boxes. Their son Ki-woo gets a tutoring job for the daughter of a very wealthy family. From there he manages to get his sister a job as a fake art therapist for the rich couple's son. Pretty soon the whole family has weaseled their way into the wealthy home - our pizza box family manages to get the current driver and house maid fired and the pizza dad and mom take over these positions. It's a dark comedy that takes a strange twist when the rich family returns unexpectedly from a soggy camping trip. Boy oh boy is it bananas. It's funny, twisted, and rather sad. It kept my full attention. I need you to watch it so we can talk about it. It's coming to theaters soon. Catch it when it does.

Mindhunter

The second season of Netflix's Mindhunter is now out. If you haven't watched this already, it's truly binge worthy; but this not for the faint of heart. This is Silence of the Lambs stuff. If serial killers and the FBI profilers who track them sound like your bag, then you have found your next series. What's it all about it? This a fictional account of the birth of the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI - fictional but it's all based on true events and real serial killers. It's fascinating stuff. The two main agents are Holden (played by Jonathan Groff) and Bill (Holt McCallany). Holden is young and naive but brilliant, whereas Bill is older, gruff, and smokes like a chimney. They have a kind of Laurel and Hardy chemistry. To understand serial killers, they interview serial killers. The first season Holden and Bill spend much with serial killer Edmund Kemper. The man who plays Kemper, I've heard, is spot on to the real thing; which makes watching this series both super fascinating and rather creepy. I binged the second season and its focus is on The Atlanta Child Murders. David Fincher is one of the driving forces behind this and David seems to have a thing for serial killers (Se7en, Zodiac). If you're a Fincher fan, this is must viewing. It's pretty dark stuff and if you have the stomach for it, catch it on Netflix.