Weekly Watches
Weekly Watches
Hey guys! What a weekend, let me tell you. Friday Colin and I drove from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia so I could run the Philadelphia Half Marathon. It went pretty well, and even though it wasn’t a personal record for 13.1 miles I did get a personal record for my 10k with the split (lol). After the race, we explored Center City, went to the art museum where the famous Rocky moment was filmed (I made it up the stairs…not running though), and ate so much good food. I did fit some movies in, though, so let me tell you about them.
Retro Puppet Master (1999): Okay so if you don’t know about the Puppet Master series it’s this horrible low budget barely even B horror series about killer puppets. This movie explores that origin with Greg Sestero, of The Room fame, leading the cast as the titular puppet master. It’s bad bad bad but so funny.
I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017): This is a Netflix original dark comedy that was just okay for me. It’s about a woman who is robbed and finally snaps and she and her strange neighbor go on to get her stuff back and exact revenge. It’s funny at parts but it really didn’t grab me the way a darker friend comedy like Withnail and I did. Some people find this movie cathartic but the violence seemed a little gratuitous and undermining of the message for my taste.
Secretary (2002): This movie was soooo good. It’s about a woman who is released from a mental institution and gets a job as a lawyer’s secretary. Eventually, they begin a BDSM sexual relationship which this movie navigates with grace and style. I don’t want to write to much more about it here because I’ll be working on a longer piece about the film.
Naked (1993): When a guy from Manchester loses his job he drives to London and roams around at night taking it out on random people he sees. Well, at least that’s the main storyline. The other storyline includes two girls and their nightmare landlord who is so sociopathic he’s barely even human. I can see why a lot of people like this movie, it’s a Criterion with a Letterboxd 4.1 average, but it wasn’t for me. The roaming and the loose narrative were cool but it’s fronted by one asshole and backed up by an even bigger one. There’s a lot of sexual assault and brutal rape scenes too, which were so unnecessary, so watch out for that as well should you choose to view it.
That’s all for this week! Next Saturday I’ll have a new Weekly Watches (on time) for you but the list may be short because I am FINALLY going to get to see The Irishman and I cannot wait. Thursday tune in for our episode about male friendships where we talk about Scarecrow (1973) and Stand by Me and Sunday when we talk about female friendships discussing 9 to 5 and Frances Ha. Thanks, everyone!