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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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I Saw the TV Glow OK
A 7th grade boy befriends a 9th grade
girl obsessed with a TV show he eventually gets into. It takes place in 1996 at first, then 1998,
and a couple time periods after. The
themes may be common (obsessions, reality vs. fiction) and the storyline is
fairly straightforward, but the execution is unique in its own little way; this
film isn’t for everyone. [I’ve been
meaning to check out director Jane Schoenbrun’s other film, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, and
now I’m more curious]. It’s being billed
as a horror drama, promoted heavily in the horror community, but I guess my
description would be a surrealist, slightly coming-of-age, drama with horror
elements. I always welcome movies that
dare to be different, but I also need to take something away from them, even if
my interpretation is my own. I was
mesmerized by this film’s dreamlike quality, there being a Lynchian feel to it,
but it ultimately felt like something was still missing, making this a case of
style over substance (much emphasis on the former). I read an interpretation afterwards which did
make the film more compelling, metaphorically, but it wasn’t what I was thinking
at all while watching. I know I’m
probably going to have to watch this again (something I said to another patron
exiting the theater, a gentleman older than I, to which he replied, “yup,
probably a couple times”), but I hate when movies make me do that in order to
know how I truly feel about them! Then
again, some movies that I ended up loving I had to watch more than once. Therefore, my opinion might change after
another viewing. 5/21/2024
Bonus review:
Good Boy
One of several movies with the same title (only with an
exclamation point at the end) was a family movie involving dogs. This Norwegian movie (yes, that means
subtitles) released last year involves a dog,
of sorts. You see, a rich man (due to
his late parents) has a dog, but this “dog” is a human in a dog costume acting
like a dog (apparently there really are people like this out in the
world). He meets a girl online and after
she meets the “dog” she walks away (I don’t know who wouldn’t though). After some coaxing from a friend and some
pondering, she agrees to meet up with him again, because he was a nice guy,
and, you know, the rich part. All three
(him, her, the “dog”) go to a cabin together (usually not the best idea in a
horror movie). This actually seemed like
it would be a pretty interesting film, and I was very curious to see how it would
all pan out, (here comes the…) but
it ends up being more silly than disturbing (I know, what did I expect from
such a concept?), ultimately feeling a little less than satisfactory [I
mentally yelled at one character for making a mistake characters often make in
similar situations too]. 5/11/2024
Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):
Baghead (2024) >>>OK
The Camp Host >>>OK
Foe (2023) >>>EH
He Went That Way >>>EH/OK
Killer Body Count >>>OK
Lovely, Dark, and Deep >>>OK
Monster (2024) >>>EH/OK
(Netflix; In
Indonesian with subtitles, but mostly dialogue-free)
Nightmare on 34th Street >>>EH/OK
The Portrait (2023) >>>EH
Punch (2024) >>>EH
The Tunnel (2011) >>>OK
---Sean O.5/22/2024
