It's time for a movie spree

 When I made a post about The Gentlemen in April I vaguely mentioned being afraid that the movie theaters might not open in the near future. As it turned out, my fears were unfounded and theaters opened back up around August and this time there were movies I wanted to watch. So. many. movies. 

So naturally, I went on a movie spree and am now officially back on my regular schedule. All with necessary safety precautions, of course. 

What follows now is a quick rundown of every movie I watched in order and with short impressions and ratings. Here we go:

The Green Knight

I have been looking forward to this one for ages and when I finally watched it, it fullfilled all my expectations. Wonderfully strange and dark folkloric-feeling tale of what honor even means. 5/5

The Suicide Squad

I've already given you my rundown on this one. Better than the first, brutal, bloody, a good time at the movies. 4/5

Promising Young Woman

I really believe the movie was advertised wrong. It's not the fun revenge story some trailers and quotes made it seem and is instead a heavy compelling portrait of a woman eaten alive by grief and rage and guilt. 4/5

Dune

Epic sci-fi, perfectly understandable even for people who have next to no prior knowledge of the book(s). Gorgeous visuals, gorgeous music, a story that slowly unfolds and stays open for the next one. 5/5

James Bond: No Time to Die

As customary for Craig Bonds, very serious, very driven. Personally I enjoyed the complexity and human aspects they have given Bond and thought overall the story was well crafted. 3.5/5

Eternals

As I've said to a friend, this movie suffered from having to be part of the MCU. There was much there that could've been truly great but was hindered by having to adhere to MCU standards. However, the movie succeeded in humanizing its immortal characters insofar that I could sympathize with their struggles, which is quite a feat. 3/5

House of Gucci

Watched ths one in a Ladies' First preview with a friend and liked it quite a bit despite the fact that this is not my ususal genre at all. Great acting, great writing, great story development. Great movie as long as you don't mind that every character is deeply terrible. 4.5/5

I really wanted to watch Gunpowder Milkshake but our movie theater had a heating misshap and thus I missed the last showing. Eh, I'll just have to wait.

Satori over and out

Reviews of Christmas classics I have never watched before: A Nightmare before Christmas

There are some movies widely considered Christmas classics that I have never watched before. Not for any particular reason mostly, they just haven't come up in my watchlist ever. Most of these are so ingrained in popculture that I sometimes feel like I DID watch them after all by virtue of knowing the major plot points and having seen snippets here and there. 

Still, I do like to do little post series on this blog and I'll pick up the new tradition to to a Christmas-themed post series from last year, so that's what I'll do. I'll watch Christmas movies and give my opinion on them.

First up, The Nightmare before Christmas.

 

In contrast to the other movies on this list, I have always meant to watch The Nightmare before Christmas. But every year I missed my chance to watch it either on Halloween or on Christmas. This is the year I finally sat down to watch it and I can definitely see what the fuss is all about. It is at its core a simple story about taking over what you don't understand and it failing miserably. It is animated gorgeously and the character design is so very creative. No wonder the visuals are and remain staples of weird kid culture until today. The songs are cool, I've had 'this is Halloween' stuck in my head for the past few days even though it doesn't fit at all right now. By the way, this is a Christmas movie.

"Bad" movies I enjoy 3 - The Covenant

The Covenant
(Ratings: 4/62)

The remarkable thing about this rating is that its audience score is over 50 but its critical score is the lowest on the list. It’s lower than Catwoman if you can believe that, meaning this movie has fans and the fans are dedicated enough to drag the score all the way up to 62, which is better than almost every single movie on this list except for King Arthur.

The Covenant is a story about four male teenage witches that get attacked by a fifth witch who wants to steal their powers. This fifth witch is played by Sebastian Stan who would go on to be a fan favorite in the MCU. In that world magic is addictive and it’s all well and good until you ascend on your 18th birthday and reach your full potential, because the more magic you use afterwards, the faster you age and eventually die, which is why Sebastian Stan witch wants to kill the first of the group to turn 18 and steal his power. He doesn’t realize that he will still die but he also doesn’t much care.

There’s no need to sugarcoat it, this movie is bad. Rife with cheap effects, baffling writing, actors clearly in their 20s playing teenagers, and that good early 2000s sexism. Yet if you asked me what I would change to make this movie better, or good even, I’d have to tell you: nothing. This movie is perfect as it is.

Should you watch it? - Yes! It’s bad but in a way that’s enjoyable to watch. The dudes are also shirtless and sweaty quite a bit, if that’s a selling point for you.