Halloween Spooktacular

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I will be devoting the month of Spooktober to spooktacular films (and the occasional TV series). Spooktacular is a term which I will be defining extremely loosely. I hope to do a film for each day of the month. Feel free to talk about spooktacular media of your own, or anything else spooktactular and Halloween-adjacent!

 

[Totenkindly]

Good luck!!

I used to try that but it was just too much. I now am planning this year to just watch 13 shows/films through October. Trying to get my list together, it's usually got 2-3 things I've seen and really liked, otherwise it's things I didn't see yet, across a variety of horror genres.

 

[The Cat]

The most Terrifying Media I can think of. Trademark and Copyright law.

With ALL the pictures cropped out!!!
KNOW THE FACE OF TRUE HORROR MORTALS!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHA AHA AHA AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaa....................Happy Halloween!​

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Good luck!!

I used to try that but it was just too much. I now am planning this year to just watch 13 shows/films through October. Trying to get my list together, it's usually got 2-3 things I've seen and really liked, otherwise it's things I didn't see yet, across a variety of horror genres.

I fear I will fail in my task as well. I am trying to decide between two options for tonight.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

View attachment 31591
The most Terrifying Media I can think of. Trademark and Copyright law.
View attachment 31592
With ALL the pictures cropped out!!!
KNOW THE FACE OF TRUE HORROR MORTALS!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHA AHA AHA AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaa....................Happy Halloween!​

I believe copyright law operates under a use it or lose it principle, although I don't recall the details of that. They hint at this; there's some window of time and if you don't fix the copyright, it's fair game for anyone to use. This is why Warren Beatty has made some bizarre Dick Tracy specials, I think.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I've made made my choice, and I'm afraid I made the unfortunate choice to go with something rather stupid. I'm going to have to buckle up for this, it might hurt me more than it hurts you.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I opted to watch a movie I haven’t seen in 32/33 years.

Day 1: Ernest Scared Stupid

Summary: Village idiot Ernest P. Worrell inadvertently awakens an ancient troll imprisoned by his ancestor. The troll proceeds to capture the children of the town and turn them into wooden dolls, until the surviving children/Ernest save the day.

• I saw this movie in theaters with my Dad and sister. I remember finding this movie a little creepy, the way the troll would turn all the kids into those creepy wooden dolls. Now, the only thing I find creepy is all the things I’m supposed to find funny that I’m not laughing. My Dad made it through this one, though, and so can I.
• Oooh, early 90s hip hop beat over the credits. This movie is so cool!
• I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of these B movies they’re showing clips of. I think I caught the Screaming Skull. Don’t watch that one, they warn you about how scary it is at the beginning. It must be pretty scary if they do that.
• Trantor the troll? I'm reminded of Asimov which tickles me. The little girl reading about the ancient trolls says that it’s not bull because she read it in a book. I guess that’s better than reading it on X.
• Ernest has the weird contraption, and I’m not even sure what it’s supposed to do, but it definitely doesn’t work.
• Some of these jokes are actually funny.
• Eartha Kitt’s weird lawn decorations are pretty great and are the best thing in the movie so far. It’s kind of like the Goth/Mad Max equivalent of Hamtramck Disneyland.
• Another early 90s thing… the promotion of recycling as the thing that would save us all.
• 14:41: he mentions the importance of the high ground. Is he a pupil of Obi-Wan Kenobi we never heard about?
• My god I’m only 14 minutes into this and I can’t stop pausing. Why did I do this to myself?
• More funny jokes when they’re trying to find a tree to build the treehouse in, which of course turns out to be the cursed one with the troll imprisoned underneath.
• There are really a lot of mentions of the high ground and how important it is. Did George Lucas write this?
• I’ll bet these annoying bully siblings are the first to get turned into dolls.
• The bit where Ernest awakens the troll is so dumb.
• They kind of did a good job with this troll. Better than Troll 2, for sure.
• I was wrong, the nerdy kid gets it first. I honestly thought there was more of him in this movie. Also, I can see why a 5 or 6 year old would be scared of this. There are some good reversals and twists here, and the troll is pretty creepy looking. I don’t know if this one ever turned Elaine Benes into a forest nymph, though.
• Did the troll get too high and forget where he lived?
• I think this movie actually works better as kiddie horror (Goosebumps, Are You Afraid Of The Dark) than as a comedy.
• Earth Kitt chewing the scenery is kind of great, too.
• More funny jokes in the exchange between Worrell and Kitt.
• There’s a lot of mention of trolls in this movie for something made before the popularization of the internet.
• This movie gets better once the troll wakes up. The jokes are better, too. There’s some goofy weird entrepreneur who keeps making nonsensical folksy metaphors and I have to give this movie credit for that; it’s pretty great.
• I definitely remember this scene in the bedroom with the girl. Again, pretty creepy stuff for someone 5-6 years old.
• I remember everyone thinking Ernest calling the troll Boogerlips was hilarious. That one doesn’t land anymore.
• Super Soaker 50! Everyone had those things!
• The Mayor asks the trolls to respect his authoritah, basically.
• Holy shit Ernest invented Big Mouth Billy Bass (or whatever the proper order is; the internet is not helpful here).
• This gag with the troll eating bullets and then the other troll hitting him in the head to shoot them out is actually kind of inspired.
• More high ground. Thank you r/prequelmemes for ruining Ernest Scared Stupid, lol.
• Great, another stupid scene with Ernest dressing up in costumes and talking to himself
• “Not even milk can stop me now!”
• I know I praised the look of the troll earlier, but I’m not that impressed by mega-troll. He doesn’t seem that much more scary or threatening than the regular troll. His claws are a little bigger, that’s all.
• End credits: The hip-hop beat is back. I hope there's a rap! (Sadly, no. We aren't treated to something about this rad dude Ernest who defeated those nasty trolls.)

I did it! I finished Ernest Scared Stupid!



Final Analysis:

It’s not actually that bad. Once the troll wakes up, the movie becomes watchable. I might recommend this for young children who don’t mind getting scared a little bit.

There’s a movie called Ernest Goes to Africa, but I think I’ll skip that one.

The next film will be a movie about a bunny rabbit.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

 

[Totenkindly]

The next film will be a movie about a bunny rabbit.

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
2. Fatal Attraction
3. Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
4. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
5. Rise of the guardians
6. Zootopia
7. Alice in Wonderland
8. The Matrix
9. Space Jam
10. Bambi
11. The Velveteen Rabbit
12. Watership Down
13. Donnie Darko
14. Night of the Lepus
15. The Brown Bunny

I have marked in red my best guesses.

 

[The Cat]

Night of the Lepus.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

28 (or 33) Days Before the World Ends

Donnie Darko

@Totenkindly guessed correctly.

Summary: A disturbed teenager has foreboding visions of time travel and the apocalypse while navigating life in suburban Virginia.

I love this film. I haven’t seen it in a while. I feel like it captures what it was like to be a teenager when I was a teenager, even though it’s supposed to be set in the late 80s.

An important part of this is that I feel like Beth Grant’s and Patrick Swayze’s characters are stand-ins for evangelical Christianity, even though they are shown believing something rather different. Perhaps this was done in order to get the movie made, or perhaps Kelly thought it would be more fun to invent his own whacko belief system. Drew Barrymore is the liberal teacher fired for teaching “perversion” while the guy Beth Grant idolizes is an actual pedophile. Sounds familiar, huh?

I think the only time they mention anything related to Christianity is in reference to the fact that the movie theater Donnie and Gretchen go to is playing The Last Temptation of Christ, which attacked quite a bit of controversy.

• This opening credits font is kind of Arabic-looking. This may have also contributed to it’s troubles getting released to theaters.
• I never noticed this before, but the Mom is reading Stephen King’s It.
• As an adult, it’s clear that Donnie is being an ass in this opening dinner scene. He has a moment of being cool when reuniting with his friends after the jet engine falls in his room, though.
• This bulldog sculpture is hideous. I’m glad Donnie vandalizes it later on.
• Do you think Drew Barrymore is dating the science teacher, or at least wants to? This guy reminds me of an actual science teacher I once had.
• The reaction to “For years I thought it was normal for a ten-year old to wet the bed.” in the classroom is great.
• Ah, the classic “feces” exchange.
• I love everything about the ridiculous Smurf conversation. Donnie’s really up on his Smurf lore.
• Crackpot theory: What if Grandma Death was Gretchen?
• Beth Grant’s character is so wonderfully irritating in this.
• Donnie’s right about the fear and love dichotomy.
• I’m tempted to applaud at the line “You can’t just lump things into two categories, life isn’t that simple.”
  
  Another thing:
  Fear can be very useful, and I believe this as someone for whom fear has often gotten in the way. Imagine in prehistoric times, and your tribe was traveling and you were being tailed by a saber-toothed tiger. Maybe you never see the beast, but you can tell it’s there. You're being treated like a mouse by a gigantic feline. Wouldn’t it be rational to feel fear in that scenario?
• And then we have the scene with the parents in the principal’s test office. The father’s reaction is great.
• A mention of Christianity I missed: Grandma Death used to be a nun, and one day just decided to leave the Church.
• This whole idea of seeing the paths people will follow reminds me of Dune. If you could see your own future, does that bind you to that future?
• Mary McDonnell is so great.
• “I can sense some students out there who are actually afraid to say good morning!” uggggggghhhh, this is so gross
• Theory: all this stuff about the apocalypse is bullshit and Frank just wanted revenge on Donnie for killing him.
• I really love this science teacher character.
• Quite the Halloween Horrorfest double feature at the movies, Evil Dead and The Last Temptation of Christ. I guess they’re both about coming back from the dead, though.
• You know, there’s very little Sparkle in SparkleMotion. It’s more like ShinyMotion.
• “We are losing them to apathy, to this proscribed nonsense. They’re slipping away..” Another great line.
• On Beth Grant's insistence on defending Cunningham's reputation after exposure as a pedophile: I could see Jim Cunningham being like some pastor, or more importantly, some politician…
• This exchange between Beth Grant and Mary McDonnell is so funny. Like, does this woman have to treat everything like some weird cult?
• “I promise, that one day, everything’s gonna be better for you.” I love that.
• I think we finally see Ariel at the airport, who Donnie threatened to put in the garbage disposal. I was confused because 1988 seems too early for Little Mermaid references. But Ariel is a unicorn.
• This movie doesn’t actually end on Halloween, like I though, but rather October 30th.
• I like the stupid Hulk Hogan costume one of Donnie's friends is wearing.
• Are those the English and Science teachers in bed together during the ending montage?

Closing note: I’m glad that I don’t need weed to watch something and come up with crazy theories.
I’m sticking with my Gretchen is Grandma Death theory; it explains the final scene. Gretchen notices something is off with the timelines, and that’s when she starts on her path towards becoming Grandma Death. Maybe for a while, she thought religion was the answer, and then decided one morning it wasn't.

Addendum to the closing note.:

“I hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to. “

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

You know, fall just started, but at least recently, I already feel like I want warmer weather back. I'd celebrate that, if I could.

 

[Totenkindly]

Donnie Darko

Summary: A disturbed teenager has foreboding visions of time travel and the apocalypse while navigating life in suburban Virginia.

I love this film. I haven’t seen it in a while. I feel like it captures what it was like to be a teenager when I was a teenager, even though it’s supposed to be set in the late 80s.

I love this film too. Never gets old for me. Even the music reminds me of my youth.

I think the only time they mention anything related to Christianity is in reference to the fact that the movie theater Donnie and Gretchen go to is playing The Last Temptation of Christ, which attacked quite a bit of controversy.

Yeah, that cracked me up too. Evangelicals hated on that film so hard. Heaven forbid Jesus actually was tempted to abandon his calling and raise a family and have a happy life, but then instead does choose to die for the world instead.

• This opening credits font is kind of Arabic-looking. This may have also contributed to it’s troubles getting released to theaters.

It also dropped 6 weeks after 9/11 happened. No one was in the mood.

• I never noticed this before, but the Mom is reading Stephen King’s It.

Yes

• As an adult, it’s clear that Donnie is being an ass in this opening dinner scene. He has a moment of being cool when reuniting with his friends after the jet engine falls in his room, though.

He's a total dick. That scene though is one I just adore, he's being a dick but his sister is also being kind of douchey -- and I always lose it every time the young sister asks "What's a fuckass?" because she's so lost.

I also had been old enough in 1988 to pay attention to the Bush vs Dukakis race.

• Do you think Drew Barrymore is dating the science teacher, or at least wants to? This guy reminds me of an actual science teacher I once had.

Yes, they're living/sleeping together -- it's part of the back/forward story. You can probably find more about it online. I think it might have been part of the interactive web site at the time, but that might not still be up. The science teacher actually dies in his sleep, I think, at some point in the future?

• Ah, the classic “feces” exchange.

Awww baby mice.

• Beth Grant’s character is so wonderfully irritating in this.

I've seen her in other films (or recognized her) once I saw her in this. She ends up usually playing some variation of Kitty, although sometimes not (she's for example a life after death group participant in the original Flatliners film).

• And then we have the scene with the parents in the principal’s test office. The father’s reaction is great.

The dad's hilarious. Tries to stifle that laugh with a cough and can't help but smile on the way out like Donnie.

• Mary McDonnell is so great.

It might be my favorite role. Maybe she's had bigger ones, but she so much elevates this film and anchors it emotionally.

• I really love this science teacher character.

Seth Rogan and douchebag friend: "Is uh that why your dad killed your mom?" Squee squee squeee
Teach *points at door*: Get out.

• Quite the Halloween Horrorfest double feature at the movies, Evil Dead and The Last Temptation of Christ. I guess they’re both about coming back from the dead, though.

Emotionally that whole scene lands so hard for me, with "For Whom the Bell Tolls" running in the background. It is like a transcendent moment when the circle of light becomes visible: "Have you ever seen a portal?"

• On Beth Grant's insistence on defending Cunningham's reputation after exposure as a pedophile: I could see Jim Cunningham being like some pastor, or more importantly, some politician…

Jesus this film just became more relevant with age... I'm just mind-boggled...

• “I promise, that one day, everything’s gonna be better for you.” I love that.

Jolene Purdy (Cherita Chen) actually is still acting, if you didn't know, although obviously she's all grown up now. You might even have seen her in some stuff. Do you remember the scene in "Breaking Bad" where Jessie doesn't have money to pay for his gas and drops a small bag of meth on the female clerk behind the counter? That's her. (Hank interrogates her later to find out where the meth came from.) She's more recently (among other things) been in White Lotus and WandaVision.

• Are those the English and Science teachers in bed together during the ending montage?

As per earlier... yup.

Oh, and the "Cellar Door" line is a reference to JRR Tolkien, the philologist/linguist and author.

“I hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to. “

It's such a beautifully poignant film.

even the end, with the family mourning -- there is something beautiful and compassionate in Gretchen (who is now unaware) and the neighbor boy, together, waving to the mom in sympathy and she feels it enough to wave back. Even in loss there is hope and people reaching out to comfort each other.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I love this film too. Never gets old for me. Even the music reminds me of my youth.


Yeah, that cracked me up too. Evangelicals hated on that film so hard. Heaven forbid Jesus actually was tempted to abandon his calling and raise a family and have a happy life, but then instead does choose to die for the world instead.

It also dropped 6 weeks after 9/11 happened. No one was in the mood.

I know it doesn't make sense, but this movie has such a vibe to it of anticipating the apocalypse, and which matches up in such a fascinating way with the timing of its release. It adds to the movie's mystique, really.

Yes

He's a total dick. That scene though is one I just adore, he's being a dick but his sister is also being kind of douchey -- and I always lose it every time the young sister asks "What's a fuckass?" because she's so lost.

I'm fond of "How does one suck a fuck?"

I also had been old enough in 1988 to pay attention to the Bush vs Dukakis race.


Yes, they're living/sleeping together -- it's part of the back/forward story. You can probably find more about it online. I think it might have been part of the interactive web site at the time, but that might not still be up. The science teacher actually dies in his sleep, I think, at some point in the future?

That's unfortunate that he dies. I haven't been able to find that info yet but I haven't looked to hard.

Awww baby mice.

I've seen her in other films (or recognized her) once I saw her in this. She ends up usually playing some variation of Kitty, although sometimes not (she's for example a life after death group participant in the original Flatliners film).

The dad's hilarious. Tries to stifle that laugh with a cough and can't help but smile on the way out like Donnie.


It might be my favorite role. Maybe she's had bigger ones, but she so much elevates this film and anchors it emotionally.

She was a pretty major character in the Battlestar Galactica reboot (the President of what's left of the 12 colonies), so I was surprised to revisit the movie after that show began and discover her.

Seth Rogan and douchebag friend: "Is uh that why your dad killed your mom?" Squee squee squeee
Teach *points at door*: Get out.

Exactly.

Emotionally that whole scene lands so hard for me, with "For Whom the Bell Tolls" running in the background. It is like a transcendent moment when the circle of light becomes visible: "Have you ever seen a portal?"

Jesus this film just became more relevant with age... I'm just mind-boggled...



Jolene Purdy (Cherita Chen) actually is still acting, if you didn't know, although obviously she's all grown up now. You might even have seen her in some stuff. Do you remember the scene in "Breaking Bad" where Jessie doesn't have money to pay for his gas and drops a small bag of meth on the female clerk behind the counter? That's her. (Hank interrogates her later to find out where the meth came from.) She's more recently (among other things) been in White Lotus and WandaVision.

I haven't seen that much of Breaking Bad. Of the BBCU, I've started with Better Call Saul because I thought with Odenkirk it would have a more comedic vibe.
I'd like to work Seinfeld into the BBCU, too, because both Cranston and Odenkirk were on that, as a recurring dentist and an aspiring doctor IIRC. It's fascinating to watch those and see all these people who became way more famous. I believe Patton Oswalt is a video store clerk in the episode where George pesters that family to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's.

As per earlier... yup.

Oh, and the "Cellar Door" line is a reference to JRR Tolkien, the philologist/linguist and author.

That's cool.

It's such a beautifully poignant film.

even the end, with the family mourning -- there is something beautiful and compassionate in Gretchen (who is now unaware) and the neighbor boy, together, waving to the mom in sympathy and she feels it enough to wave back. Even in loss there is hope and people reaching out to comfort each other.

That probably makes more sense. When I saw it, I interpreted it as Gretchen having a moment where she develops an awareness of the other timeline, even if only in a non-verbal sense. This would put her on her path to becoming Grandmother Death.

Unfortunately for this theory, we see a photo of Grandma Death, and though it's low-resolution, the shape of her face doesn't resemble Jena Malone at all. We also never see her meet or interact with Donnie's mom until this final scene, but I suppose she would have been able to figure that out from context. There's another moment like this. We see Frank during the montage scratching his eye where Donnie shot them, as though he had some memory of the other timeline.

 

[Totenkindly]

We see Frank during the montage scratching his eye where Donnie shot them, as though he had some memory of the other timeline.

Yeah, the montage for the "Mad World" cover (which actually is a case where arguably the cover is more infamous and better than the original) is pretty cool, there's a lot of little things snuck in as the Manipulated recall faintly what they went through in the shadow world.

here you go on a little bit of extra material:

Donnie Darko: Events That Occur After The Film - My ASP.NET Application

This is a Donnie Darko fansite with a explanation of the film, all the pages from The Philosophy Of Time Travel and details, images trivia from the movie itself.

www.donniedarko.org.uk

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1750852754988302684

What is the significance of the scene where Karen and Monnitoff briefly talked about Donnie Darko?

This is about the scene in Donnie Darko where Karen (English teacher) and Monnitoff (Science teacher) have this conversation: Monnitoff: Donnie Darko. Karen: I know. Both of them laugh afterw...

movies.stackexchange.com

there's others out there somewhere.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Day 3:

Midsommar

My first straight horror movie for this, and the first one I haven't seen.

My first thought upon finish this, is that this is the good version of the Nicolas Cage Wicker Man. I'm not even joking. One that captures your attention before the final craziness. I hated the boyfriend from the start; I did not care for his attitude towards Dani's sister's suicidal threats. Chidi doesn't care for him, either.

Linking suicide with human sacrifice the way this movie did was extremely interesting. That will give me something to chew about.

Was this the movie that made Florence Pugh a star? She's quite good.

Something creepy about this community is that nobody does anything individually.

They wait for permission to have sex, and willingly leap of cliffs to follow the whims in the community. It a micro-totalitarian state, in essence.

I think they did a terrific job on all the prosthetics (or whatever they're called) in this movie. They look really disgusting. The exception is the boyfriend's dick at the end; that was fake-looking. I know they sometimes use fake dicks in Hollywood, but that one looked terrible.

This movie was gorgeous, truly a work of art. It was also very good at making you feel unsettled and uneasy underneath all of that. You have to give it to any movie that makes sunshine and flowers look creepy. I enjoyed this a great deal. There was so much great stuff about seasons and nature, human emotions, and of course, life and death. Very thematically rich.

The next entry will feature something Joe Pesci will get angry about if you think he is one.

 

[Totenkindly]

I really like Midsommer a lot -- i think it's the most accessible of all of Ari Aster's films, honestly, and while Pugh was already a star to avid movie goers, I think this might be the film that really shoved her into mainstream audience recognition. No one forgot or underestimated her after this -- and Little Women was also coming out within a few months too, that was the other film that got her in front of a wide audience.

I actually bought the 4K Extended edition (it's at least another 30-40 minutes) from A24 site as soon as I got my grubby hands on it. It's an absolutely gorgeous film (audially and visually), and Aster directs it with such power and confidence -- and while it's in the form of a horror story, the reason it continues to resonate is because it's actually kind of a "break-up" movie, the anti-romcom. I think Aster has said it was something he wrote from a breakup he had (?). I mean, even the end credits are set to "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" (Frankie Valli) -- which is a great song to talk about a break-up, and yet the song itself is so upbeat. Despite all the horror of the last five minutes, I actually had such a huge beaming smile across my face (mirroring Dani) watching and listening to those credits in the movie theater -- just WOW! Aster makes putting together a film seem all so easy.

Hilariously, he made it on $9 million and the box office was $48 million, so that's a huge success. But just think about it -- the film looked so great, yet cost only $9 million. You can tell decent stories even with great natural sets with so little money comparatively.

Props should be given to Jack Reynor (Christian, the boyfriend) -- he got a really unsavory part and he manages to play it perfectly and is willing to accept the derision of the audience to sell it. It's not like he's "evil" or consciously selfish, his worst crime here is a lack of commitment and indecision; he doesn't really want to be with Dani anymore, yet he doesn't have the balls for a clean break or to stand up for himself, even seeing Dani needs more from him. Dani meanwhile, is a bit ambiguous as well in her portrayal (as real people often are); she does seem a bit needy at times, but it's not like her expectations are SO left field... and she just lost her freaking family, so of COURSE she shouldn't feel bad about being needy in the face of that. In better times, one or both would have been strong enough to just end the relationship, and life would have moved on; but here things take that wild left turn into the cult.

Both of them seem to struggle with expectations in a relationship and from their culture, and Dani is susceptible to the cult mainly because -- despite the extremity of their customs -- they are the only ones who embrace her pain, bring it into themselves, and provide her with the support she so desperately craves. They are her family.

The drug sequences are also pretty wild (esp that opening sequence, where she takes the shrooms and then the grass and tree whiskers seem to crawl and ripple). Some people have good trips, she ends up having a bad one. And it persists -- if you are really perceptive, at times you can see imagery in the outdoor scenes of her dead family, etc. It's shocking when you realize what you're looking at, but some people might not even notice.

It's easy to chalk it up as the "next knockoff of Wicker Man" -- but it's so much more than that, in terms of how well it is crafted and acted.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Day 4:
Joker: Folie a Deux

According to a bullshit study I conducted, 75% of millenial coulrophobia was caused by either Jack Nicholson or Tim Curry. Therefore, this movie is spooktacular.

Because this movie just came out, all of my observations will be in spoiler quotes. Some of the spoilers might be pretty big.

This movie is much more darkly comedic than the first one. I would say the first one is more of a tragedy.

Anyone expecting to see Joker and Harley Quinn team up to inflict mayhem on Gotham City will be disappointed. At the end of the movie, Harley dumps Fleck because he's not enough of a psychopath. It seems that he can't take it now that he realizes he made his one friend hate and fear him, and this gives him second thoughts about everything. I suppose, if you wanted, in your head canon you could have her falling for one of the other Jokers running around.

I don't think the teenagers sitting next to me liked it.

This movie swings for the fences. That is, it does a lot of wild things, and make a lot of creative scenes. Usually, I give a movie points for that regardless of whether or not it works. I'm giving the points here, although it does not always work. I love the idea of the musical numbers. I don't like the music. It's mostly showtunes of the 40s and 50s, and the ones they picked tended to be rather blah. I thought the first film did much better in picking music, including the controversial Rock and Roll #2. They could have picked something from West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, or if they really wanted to get people's attention, Jesus Christ Superstar. Instead, the picks are kind of dull,

I appreciated the opening, which I will not spoil.

Gotham is in New York state according to a courtroom scene in this movie. I would have thought they would have made it in some made up state, but the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie has the Statue of Liberty in it, so I suppose I shouldn't think of it too much.

This movie also has some good satire about people seeking their 15 minutes of fame. Fleck has a pretty good attorney who might get him off, but he gets rid of her and provides her own testimony because he wants to be famous.

That approaches being political (you could argue it applies to Trump), but that's really the only political point the movie makes. This movie doesn't really have the critique of neoliberalism that the first movie had. In the first film, wasn't it funding cuts for social services that leads to Fleck going off his medication, which is what causes everything to spiral downwards? That's the difference between the way people thought in 2019 vs. 2024, though. *sigh*

I liked this movie, and I appreciated the humor. The first movie might be better, because I thought the political angle was interesting (and not what people were claiming), and because the musical numbers would be much better if they had good music. This isn't terrible, though.

I've never been afraid of clowns. Seeing clowns in the wild never bothered me. I'm more afraid of dolls.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Yeah, the montage for the "Mad World" cover (which actually is a case where arguably the cover is more infamous and better than the original) is pretty cool, there's a lot of little things snuck in as the Manipulated recall faintly what they went through in the shadow world.

here you go on a little bit of extra material:

Donnie Darko: Events That Occur After The Film - My ASP.NET Application

This is a Donnie Darko fansite with a explanation of the film, all the pages from The Philosophy Of Time Travel and details, images trivia from the movie itself.

www.donniedarko.org.uk

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1750852754988302684

What is the significance of the scene where Karen and Monnitoff briefly talked about Donnie Darko?

This is about the scene in Donnie Darko where Karen (English teacher) and Monnitoff (Science teacher) have this conversation: Monnitoff: Donnie Darko. Karen: I know. Both of them laugh afterw...

movies.stackexchange.com

there's others out there somewhere.

Oh, it's interesting that they have Roberta Sparrow dying on Christmas later that year.

What's going on with Jim Cunningham in the primary timeline? Maybe Frank did it? Think about it. How does Frank know some of the things he tells Donnie? Also, for him to know about time travel like that, he must know how time travel works and is therefore probably a time traveler himself. I'm now thinking, at some point, I need to watch the movie trying to reconstruct Frank's perspective.

Patrick Swayze is somehow perfect for Jim Cunningham. I don't mean that as a diss on Swayze, just that he fit that thankless role really well in the film. I don't mean to impugn his character off-screen in any way.

At least Kenneth Monnitoff got to see TPM, lol.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I really like Midsommer a lot -- i think it's the most accessible of all of Ari Aster's films, honestly, and while Pugh was already a star to avid movie goers, I think this might be the film that really shoved her into mainstream audience recognition. No one forgot or underestimated her after this -- and Little Women was also coming out within a few months too, that was the other film that got her in front of a wide audience.

I actually bought the 4K Extended edition (it's at least another 30-40 minutes) from A24 site as soon as I got my grubby hands on it. It's an absolutely gorgeous film (audially and visually), and Aster directs it with such power and confidence -- and while it's in the form of a horror story, the reason it continues to resonate is because it's actually kind of a "break-up" movie, the anti-romcom. I think Aster has said it was something he wrote from a breakup he had (?). I mean, even the end credits are set to "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" (Frankie Valli) -- which is a great song to talk about a break-up, and yet the song itself is so upbeat. Despite all the horror of the last five minutes, I actually had such a huge beaming smile across my face (mirroring Dani) watching and listening to those credits in the movie theater -- just WOW! Aster makes putting together a film seem all so easy.

Hilariously, he made it on $9 million and the box office was $48 million, so that's a huge success. But just think about it -- the film looked so great, yet cost only $9 million. You can tell decent stories even with great natural sets with so little money comparatively.

Props should be given to Jack Reynor (Christian, the boyfriend) -- he got a really unsavory part and he manages to play it perfectly and is willing to accept the derision of the audience to sell it. It's not like he's "evil" or consciously selfish, his worst crime here is a lack of commitment and indecision; he doesn't really want to be with Dani anymore, yet he doesn't have the balls for a clean break or to stand up for himself, even seeing Dani needs more from him. Dani meanwhile, is a bit ambiguous as well in her portrayal (as real people often are); she does seem a bit needy at times, but it's not like her expectations are SO left field... and she just lost her freaking family, so of COURSE she shouldn't feel bad about being needy in the face of that. In better times, one or both would have been strong enough to just end the relationship, and life would have moved on; but here things take that wild left turn into the cult.

Both of them seem to struggle with expectations in a relationship and from their culture, and Dani is susceptible to the cult mainly because -- despite the extremity of their customs -- they are the only ones who embrace her pain, bring it into themselves, and provide her with the support she so desperately craves. They are her family.

The drug sequences are also pretty wild (esp that opening sequence, where she takes the shrooms and then the grass and tree whiskers seem to crawl and ripple). Some people have good trips, she ends up having a bad one. And it persists -- if you are really perceptive, at times you can see imagery in the outdoor scenes of her dead family, etc. It's shocking when you realize what you're looking at, but some people might not even notice.

It's easy to chalk it up as the "next knockoff of Wicker Man" -- but it's so much more than that, in terms of how well it is crafted and acted.

When I called it the good version of the Wicker Man, I meant that the films have a similar structure. The two films are mostly quiet, except for the end where all kinds of crazy break out. (In Cage's film, the crazy is just goofy.) In addition to that, they feature a clueless male in a bear costume who is sacrificed. The similarities are there, but the two films are not at all on the same level.

That Little Women movie was pretty good, but very different from the one in the 90s with Winona Ryder, Christian Bale, and Kirsten Dunst. The one with Florence Pugh and Laura Dern focused much more on the death of Beth, and apparently departed from the book in interesting ways.