I don’t wish to sound old and out-of-touch but streaming services aren’t all that they’re cracked up to be. Don’t get me wrong, I love them all. I am currently subscribed to Disney+, Netflix, Prime, and Now TV. That’ so many hours of content to pick from. However, that also means I no longer rewatch films as much. There are just so many options that it sort of seems like a waste to watch something you’ve already seen. That’s the great thing about when you only have VHS and DVDs to pick from. How many times did you ruin a video because you’d watched it so many times. My twin sister and I watched the same selection of films endlessly when we were younger. We’d quote lines and never get sick of seeing the same thing. Now, I so rarely watch a film a second time. This is a golden age of content but it also feels kind of limiting. So, now that I’m reviewing two films a week (at least for now), I figured it was a good time to start going back to old classics. And why not start with a childhood favourite?
One of the things I’m tired of hearing about George Floyd is when people keep bringing up the fact that he had a criminal record. As if that, in some way, makes his death acceptable. That the fact that he was once in prison makes it okay that a police officer put his knee on George’s kneck for almost 8 minutes. Why does it matter who George was or what he was doing at the time? Nothing should be able to justify the death of a man regardless of what they’ve done. And what about all of those white men who were arrested for mass shootings? How many of them are still alive in prison despite murdering people? I mean Nikolas Cruz shot 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018. He was arrested “without incident”. Without incident? All George Floyd was arrested for was allegedly using a counterfeit $20 note. Allegedly. And he was killed. A 19-year-old white kid shot 17 other kids and was arrested “without incident”. And people still don’t think systemic racism exists? It’s bullshit.
When I first heard about it, I Feel Pretty was being marketed as some sort of feminist propaganda. I saw it mentioned on Facebook as being a must-see because of how super empowering it would be for all women. Then I saw the trailer and I got really angry. The film that was supposedly meant to provide a message about body positivity was actually just a run of jokes about Amy Schumer being fatter than a model. It really didn’t seem very empowering to me. This anger also made me really interested to see it but I knew I would hate it so much that I didn’t want to see it at the cinema. That would be giving it too much credit. But, inevitably, my fascination got the better of me so I finally watched it. Preparing for the worst.
I’ve got one more day of work before I head off on my holiday and I can’t wait. I’ve almost go ahead with next week’s posts. I just need to quickly write up next week’s TBT post tomorrow before I start packing. God, I hate packing. It’s days like this that make me wish I was still a kid. Remember how great it was when you went away and your mother packed all of your clothes for you? All you had to do was pack books and stuff. That was the bit I always looked forward to the most, obviously. Picking which books you take away is serious business. You want to take enough incase you get through them all but you can’t use up all of your space by taking too many. It’s such a difficult decision. And one that deserves more time than I’m going to be able to give it. Thanks to my bloody packing nightmare. God, being an adult is the worst… cut to shameless link to today’s TBT film. A film about a man who has a hard time dealing with growing up. Throughout his films John Hughes has explored the life of Chicago teenagers and She’s Having a Baby feels like the logical next step. We’ve seen them work their way through high school and now we get a picture of them trying to settle down. Starring Kevin Bacon. The darling of the 80s… as I’ve just dubbed him.
Normally I try to review up-to-date movies for my Tuesday post but today’s is a little different. Last night I went to Manchester to see Bianca Del Rio perform her ‘Blame it on Bianca del Rio’ tour. If you’ve been paying attention to my ‘Sunday Rundown’ posts over the past few years you’ll know that I’m a bit obsessed with RuPaul’s Drag Race. Bianca is definitely one of the greatest drag queens to win the show so I’ve been really excited to see her for months now. And it was a really good night and she was so funny. Brutal but funny. Completely not-PC but funny. Her humour offensive but completely over-the-top. It’s great in certain situations but I was never convinced that it would work in a film setting. Which is why it took me until last week to finally watch Hurricane Bianca. The film that was written and directed by Matt Kugelman to fully showcase Del Rio in all her glory. I’d seen it on Netflix for a really long time but was too afraid to see it. There was no way that I could see this going well.
Apparently, I need to make more friends who are willing to watch Wes Anderson films. I adore all of his films but find it very difficult to find people who aren’t put off by his quirkiness. That’s why it’s taken me so bloody long to finally get round to watching his second animated feature. If you’ve been around for a while you’ll know that I really love Fantastic Mr Fox and the adorable stop-motion animation. So I was really excited about seeing this. I just couldn’t find anyone else who was as excited. I’ve always found it hard to get the people in my life to appreciate Anderson in the same way that I have. And I understand why. He’s not for everyone. I can see that. His first few movies could, conceivably, taken place in the real world but, as his career moved on, Anderson has slowly started to move further into his own realms. The kind of fantasy worlds that exist in and of themselves without need for further explanation. I’ve read someone describe them as being like video game universes and I think that’s a perfect description. You don’t need to know anymore about them than what you see and you’re always instantly engrossed. Yet even my oldest friends find his whimsical worlds to be a bit tedious after a while. Personally, I’d love to live in an Anderson world.
I’m starting to get to the point with my TBT film jar where the fun films are getting fewer and the more serious ones are piling up. It will mean that I will finally get to see some of the classics of the 80s that I’ve always put off but it also means I’ll have to be in the right frame of mind when I watch them. Today I don’t think I could have handled anything other than this light-hearted crime caper. It’s been my day off and I’ve been super lazy all day. So lazy, in fact, that I fell asleep during my initial viewing of this film and missed a good chunk of the story. Once I’d been revitalised by my nap I went back and finished it properly. I don’t think my inability to stay awake was caused by the film itself. More the fact that my bastard body clock refuses to let me sleep in when I’m not working. The problem with working 7am shifts during the week means I’ve not had a proper lie in for years. I miss my uni days when I could genuinely sleep in all morning and not give a shit. Also, back in those days, because I had so little contact time, I could watch at least 3 films in one day.
Never mix business and pleasure. That’s what we’re always told and it’s something that Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone should really have paid more attention to. This year’s The Life of the Party is their third time of collaborating on a film. The first, Tammy, was such a dire experience for me that I, apparently, didn’t even bother to review it. Something I did, at least, manage for their second film 
Yipee ki-yay, motherbooker 