Here's a little rundown on some movies I've watched lately. Again, there is no rhyme or reason to my selections. This is just my honest assessment of the movies I've been watching, as I watch them. More soon!
SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (1993): I don't always watch rom-coms, but a certain breed of rom-com -- namely, anything Meg Ryan starred in between 1989 and 1998 -- is 100% cinematic comfort food to me. When Harry Met Sally... is the best of 'em, but since I've revisited that one fairly recently (and do so pretty regularly), I had a hankering to dip into my other erstwhile favorites starring Meggers, beginning with this gentle tearjerker. Much has been made in the ensuing years of Meg's pursuit of Tom Hanks' widower character, since she, you know, basically stalks him, but you know what? It works for me. They are MFEO. I buy it. An unfortunate throwaway line about "transvestites" has not aged well. Still, for a nearly 30-year-old romance in which the two main characters never kiss and barely say more than a few words to each other, this holds up. Extra points for the babysitter who looks like a young Shelley Duvall, and for being set in Seattle in the '90s without even hinting at the existence of grunge. I mean, can you imagine Nora Ephron writing a Kurt and Courtney meet cute? CAN YOU!? Now I wanna see that.
CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962): I saw this on 35mm at an actual movie theater, thanks to the geniuses at Cinematic Void and their Horror By the Water series. I've always dug this movie, but I feel like it made more sense to me this time than on previous viewings. Before, I would get hung up on the languid dream-like rhythm and lose track of the plot. This time, everything hung together and felt cohesive. I love that the main character is a church organist who doesn't believe in God or religion. "It's just a job to me." A woman who is disconnected on every level: From the friends she shares a car with in the film's opening scene, to the man in her boarding house who she reluctantly dates because she doesn't want to be alone. But the best part is still the salt-streaked seaside setting, and the hollow-eyed ghouls that pursue our heroine, arms outstretched, as she stumbles through the scenery, pulled toward something unnameable and unknowable.
YOU WON'T BE ALONE (2022): If most movies are novels, or at least short stories, this Macedonian film is a poem. It's not about what happens so much as it's about how it makes you feel as you accompany a shapeshifting young witch who yearns for a human life. I liked it, but I will probably never watch it again. It felt long, and it made me sad. But it was beautifully filmed -- the scenery in particular is often breathtaking -- and well-executed. I would recommend it to anyone who is intrigued by the premise, but if you're looking for a thrill-a-minute spookshow, this ain't it. This is more like The Witch on quaaludes.
GONJIAM: HAUNTED ASYLUM (2018): Korean found footage horror about a group of ghost hunters who visit the titular haunted asylum so they can live stream the experience. As a found footage lover, I had a great time. There's nothing particularly groundbreaking here, but it did have its share of creepy moments, and I loved the setting.
WARNING: DO NOT PLAY (2019): Another Korean gem available to watch on Shudder, this is one of those movies with an "intrepid to a fault" protagonist who feels compelled to discover The Terrifying Truth at any cost. In this case, that Terrifying Truth concerns the legend of a cursed horror film, which the main character becomes obsessed with while procrastinating work on her own film. Relatable! Plus I love watching characters investigate. Typing into search bars on their laptops, checking their phones, going on little road trips, tricking strangers into giving them information...hell yeah! This movie has a ton of that and I find it so soothing. I found the ending to be a little muddled but I still recommend it overall.
MESSIAH OF EVIL (1973): Another Cinematic Void "Horror By the Water" screening. I'd seen this twice before, and every time I watch it I enjoy it a little bit more. It is so '70s -- the clothes, the interior design, the deeply questionable sexual politics -- and feels less like a movie and more like an actual nightmare. A woman visits a mysterious seaside town to find her missing father and discovers that the place is overrun with flesh-eating ghouls. There are two really great creepy sequences in this film that are pretty famous among genre enthusiasts: One in a grocery store, and on in a movie theater. It's also full of weird little '70s details, like a bed suspended from the ceiling by chains, a bathtub wedged into the corner of a bathroom, and a tonally-inappropriate theme song that plays over both the opening and closing credits. This movie exists in its own universe, and I love it for that.
TONY HAWK: UNTIL THE WHEELS FALL OFF (2022): Even if you know nothing about skateboarding, you know Tony Hawk. But like...do you really know Tony Hawk? Watching this documentary now, with my fresh (roller) skater eyes, I get what compels people to keep trying something over and over again, even though 95% of skating is falling (and Tony falls...a lot, and sometimes pretty badly). I've never been into team sports, but this kind of sport, where it's like you're on a personal quest to overcome your own physical and mental limitations? I can get into that. Skating takes some physical skill, sure, but so much of it is persistence and bravery, and that willingness to fall. I'm trying to take that spirit into my own skating, and into my own life. Even if you have no interest in putting wheels of any sort under your feet, there's probably something here that will inspire you.
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