HELLBENDER (2021): This is a really cool little folk horror/witch movie entirely written, produced, directed, acted in & filmed by a real life family (mom, dad and two daughters) called the Adams Family. How cool would it be to make movies with your family?! Anyhow, it's about a teenage girl who lives a completely isolated life in the woods with her cool ass mom, and they have a really rad two-piece band, but then she starts to wonder about life in the outside world, as kids do, and it kind of all goes to hell(bender) from there. Sabrina she ain't. I enjoyed this slow-burn indie a lot. It lingers.
DEATH RINK (2019): I watched this because it's a slasher movie set at a roller rink. I try to make it a point not to talk shit on films I don't like, especially if they're independently made, so I'll just say that there was precious little skatin' and precious little slashin' in this roller skate slasher. Points for location, though.
FRENCH KISS (1995): Remember the whole "nineties Meg Ryan movies are my cinematic comfort food" thing? This was a particular favorite of mine back in the day, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well it held up for me. Kevin Kline is kind of a left-field pick for the mustachioed, cigarette smoking, amoral Frenchman who sweeps Meggers off her feet after she travels to France to win back her wayward fiancé, but they do have chemistry and this movie is cute. Désolée, pas désolée, as they say.
ADDICTED TO LOVE (1997): Next up in my Meg Ryan journey, this rom com where she plays against type as a hard-assed, scooter-riding, eyeliner-and-animal-print-wearing NYC woman bent on revenge after her boyfriend leaves her for another woman is a real treat. She and the new gal's ex-boyfriend (Matthew Broderick, striking a tone somewhere in between charming smart-ass Ferris Bueller & the neurotic obsessive he plays in Election) start squatting in the decaying building across the street so they can engage in totally normal rom com behavior like spying on their exes via camera obscura, collecting cockroaches for a future revenge stunt, and sneaking into their apartment to put on their exes' clothes and have sex. It's kinda dark as far as Meg Ryan rom coms go, and again, this totally held up for me.
YOU'VE GOT MAIL (1998): Oh man. Okay, so You've Got Mail has always been a tough one for me. On one hand, I love the Nora Ephron-ness of it all: Autumn in New York, Meg in super conservative high-necked granny clothes, cute one-liners, the gentle pace. On the other hand, Tom Hanks' character is a super prick in this movie, and the ensuing years have only made me hate him and what he does to Meg's cute little kids bookstore -- that she inherited from her sweetie pie of a late mother, no less! -- even more. I like this movie, I guess, but it's hard to watch, and it's hard for me to believe that these characters would actually start a full-fledged relationship with one another, let alone sustain one for any length of time. Maybe Meggers' interest in Tom's character is actually just a ruse and she takes the first opportunity to pour some poison in his ear while he sleeps or something. A girl can dream.
THE SCARY OF SIXTY-FIRST (2020): I watched this mainly because of the baffling title, and because I was like, "Wha...? It's about...Jeffrey Epstein? Or something?" 80 minutes later I felt like I'd emerged from one of those accidental Internet rabbit holes you fall down sometimes where you start out reading someone's Instagram comments and then you end up on some weird flat-earther/qanon forum and you're like, Damn, people believe this shit?! Also the title is never really explained. Like, I still don't get why "scary" is used as a noun. Anyway, I feel like maybe I'm either too dumb or not dumb enough for this edgelordy business.
ALISON'S BIRTHDAY (1981): Weird little Australian occult film that starts with a schoolgirl Ouija board seance and ends with a kind of Wicker Man-meets-Rosemary's Baby situation. It was a little predictable--like, how blatantly sinister are Alison's aunt and uncle?--but I still enjoyed the ride. If you're into folk horror movies (this is one of the films in the All the Haunts Be Ours box set), I think you'll like this one.
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