Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Itsy Bitsy/The Death of Dick Long


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In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated 1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going to review every single movie I see.  I’m going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future).  You can always ask me why I gave the ratings for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses under the ‘About Me’ section).
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Itsy Bitsy                                                                      OK/G
Confession:  I’m not afraid of spiders as much as a large percentage of the population is.  I mean, if I happened to be in an Arachnophobia scenario, of course I would be, situationally; or, if I happened to be near any deadly spiders in areas known to have them, that goes without saying, but as for seeing any kind of spider that’s likely harmless?  Nah, they don’t bother me too much.  Anyway, this creature feature is no Arachnophobia (the best spider movie I’ve seen); it features just one spider (main one more like it) that continually grows inside a house that a family of three just moved in to (yes, there is a reason for the spider’s appearance).  The arachnid design appeared to be practical although it may have been both at times, I’m not sure, but they did a pretty swell job of making it look practical if CGI was involved; I’m sure someone with arachnophobia will be frightened regardless of how it looks.  The movie itself wasn’t bad, as far as these particular creature features go, and the effects were decent (not excellent), but the ending felt tacked on and also seemed to suggest one possible scenario that might not have actually been what you thought.  Not bad otherwise.  2/10/2020



The Death of Dick Long                                              G
Alabama-set film in which two men try their hardest to cover up the death of the titular character.  Once you do find out what happened to said titular character, it is deeply disturbing and I can see specific stereotypes being mentioned.  The performances are surprisingly good; it felt like I was watching real people; for one thing, the characters were aware of pop culture.  It may go on a bit longer than it should, but I still don’t recall ever not wanting to watch it and it’s likely a movie you won’t forget as much as you may want to.  2/10/2020


Bonus reviews:


Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Season One        OK/G
Ten-episode (20-plus minutes each) animated series available on Netflix set 200 years from now in which most humans live underground (in burrows) and mutated animals with the ability to talk (amongst other things) live aboveground.  This would only work in animated form; it is quirky, generally fun, satisfactorily animated, and definitely unique (the only thing that came to mind thematically was Planet of the Apes, but this was its own beast).  Raving bees, driving frogs, snake musicians, rapping wolves (I sensed a Wu-Tang influence), and exercising raccoons are just some of the characters you’ll meet.  As unique and adventurous it may be though, it did sort of start to overstay its welcome towards the end and I never felt the urge to binge the series (as short as the episodes are), even taking breaks for days in between, and that’s usually not the best sign.  Judging from the end of the last episode, it seems a second season might be in the works and I really don’t think it needs to go on anymore.  Still, if you’re looking for a different, progressive too (there’s a gay character), kind of post-apocalyptic tale to invest in that the entire family can enjoy, why not give it a whirl?  2/10/2020



The Whistler                                                                G
(haiku review)
Eleven minutes.
Atmospheric fairy tale.
Wish it was longer.  2/8/2020



Other movies and TV show(s) I’ve seen and their ratings (see above):

Girls Nite Out  >>>OK

Like Me  >>>EH

Mikey  >>>OK/G

Neil Gaiman’s Likely Stories  >>>EH
            (Shudder)

Night School (1981)  >>>OK/G

Prey (2019)  >>>EH/OK

The Stranger:  Season One  >>>OK/G
            (Netflix)

Where’d You Go, Bernadette  >>>EH/OK


---Sean O.
2/11/2020

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