Oooh lots of fun classic screenings the back half of this month!
Cabaret – If I’d blogged right when I got home, I coulda written a small novel about this. I mostly bought tix bc I wanted an excuse to go to Alamo. I invited a friend who had been in a production of Cabaret with me. Oh man, it was spiritual watching this movie, esp so far removed ([redacted] years) from when we’d been in it. The movie covers slightly different story points than the stage version, but it’s all really dense and heavy material. With everything that goes into putting on a production, I knew it was a hell of a show, but I didn’t truly appreciate it until now. And the first time I saw the movie, it was around when I worked on it, so I was mostly thrown by the differences. It’s certainly moving up my list of favorite musicals, that’s for damn sure.
House of Gucci – So pretty to look at, and an amazing cast, but I was bored out of my mind for most of it. The pacing of each scene was way too slow, and except for the first 20 and last 10 minutes, the story was not progressing much at all. We just kept getting more of the same sequences in new decades without much changing at all. I think Ridley Scott’s ego has gotten the best of him, esp if his disparaging comments about millennials not going to his movies are any indication. Said a millennial who did go to the movie he was ranting about (The Last Duel) and did enjoy it, even if it really wasn’t for my peeps.
Encanto – What’s not to love? An animated Disney musical with tunes by Lin-Manuel Miranda that celebrates Latin (specifically Columbian, I think) culture. Yep, sign me up!! I don’t think I have much more to say beyond that, but I don’t really need to. Oh I did meet lead character at Mirabel at Disney the day before, and it was awkward bc she was trying to quiz me on her family, but I hadn’t seen the movie yet. Points for energy tho!!
Dawn of the Dead – FINALLY! I have wanted to see this movie (MY movie, cause y’know, “Dawn”) for so long. The Aero kicked off what they’re expected to be a yearly Black Friday tradition of showing the OG zombies in a shopping mall masterpiece. And my god it was a masterpiece of pure perfection in every frame. Worth having waited way too long to finally see, and to see it properly on a big screen. They even had lead actor Ken Foree in person to intro the film and Q&A after. Or at least I assume he eventually got to Q&A’s. I left after ten min of him rambling about trying to get his writing projects sold. It was painful. But the movie rocked!
Elf – Movie party at Alamo! That’s all 🙂
Wolf – Technically a Dec film, but might as well get it in now. I really shoulda skipped this. I only went because otherwise I woulda had no movies to see this past weekend. From the trailer it had a bit of a Yorgos Lanthimos vibe and the concept was interesting, but in actuality it all played out too slow. They didn’t know what to do with the concept or how to build a compelling story around it. Kind of a bummer.