Saturday, June 15, 2024

The Coffee Table

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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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The Coffee Table                                                         VG
The most talked about movie when it was released this year (apparently made in 2022 though), and I can certainly see why.  [It is in Spanish (Spain being the location), so you will have to read subtitles if you don’t understand the language].  Marketed for the horror crowd, and it is horrific, I’d say it’s more of a dark drama, emphasis on the dark (horror-adjacent, if you will).  Some say it’s a dark comedy, and part of me can agree, even though there’s nothing thematically funny about it all, but, if that’s the case, it’s unquestionably the darkest comedy I’ve ever seen.  It does involve a coffee table, one bought by a couple for their apartment after just having a baby together, the man wanting it more than the woman.  The titular furnishing plays a very significant part, but there’s more to it than that; I can’t really say much without divulging too much.  I’ll just say it’s enthralling as much as it is unsettling, making it the best movie I’ve seen so far this year.  6/10/2024

Bonus reviews:

New Life                                                                      G
Set in the Pacific Northwest, a woman is running from something.  Another woman, recently diagnosed with ALS, is on her trail.  We do (obviously) learn why this woman is being followed, and it isn’t pleasant, at all.  Some of the effects in this are icky, but not as much as other films have been in dealing with similar instances (I guess), but I also think that was kind of the point.  Very bleak overall, although at one time towards the end it does get a bit poignant.  It’s short too, thereby doesn’t overstay its welcome, at all.  I recommend it.  6/13/2024

Corpse Control (Season One)
There is a social media app strictly for horror fans called Slasher.  On this app I received a friend request from Dave Krause, the star/director/producer/writer of this indie horror-comedy series, emphasis on the comedy, available on YouTube (you can watch all 6 episodes, released from 2020-2022, here---https://www.youtube.com/@CorpseControl).  Dave plays a man named Dave who, along with a dude named Ragz (Christopher Ragozzino, also a co-director/producer), works in New York City picking up zombies (corpses) that end up where they don’t belong.  These “corpses” were the result of a virus (very similar to Covid) that occurred around 19 years ago and they now just roam around without bothering anyone (we do learn there is something that makes them feral though).  It’s not really horror at all, mainly just a buddy comedy containing zombies (corpses) and some violence; there’s a fun, sort of Shaun of the Dead vibe to it with a few funny moments (one involving mustard).  The episodes go by really fast (granted, the longest one is only about 21-minutes, the shortest, 14, but I’ve seen 22-minute episodes of shows that seemed three times as long) and I never forced myself to continue; I say just binge it as a roughly 105-minute feature.  A second season is planned according to the end of the last episode, and Dave himself told me they intend to lean more into horror as they go, but, regardless, I wouldn’t mind at least one more season.  6/11/2024

Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

The Bob’s Burgers Movie  >>>OK

Departing Seniors  >>>EH

Monkey Man  >>>EH
   (Sometimes in Hindi with subtitles)

To the Moon (2021)  >>>OK

---Sean O.
6/15/2024

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