The Movie (and TV show) Watching Thread

[Neo-Malthusian Misanthrope]

I finally watched the Everything bagel movie. I enjoyed most of the first half despite the bizarre dildo-and-buttplugs-and-hotdog-fingers humour, but the second half lost me. Seemed to me like an overwrought way to say that everyone has their own regrets and we're all just trying to get by despite them. Great choreography and acting though. Ke Huy Quan was the standout.

[Neo-Malthusian Misanthrope]

Just watched American Fiction, since I don't think I'm quite prepared for Poor Things. I was interrupted midway through which may have affected my opinion, but I liked it - not just the main thrust about his book, but how the film made a point of highlighting how Ellison thinks his life is sh*t, which is contextualized with his relationships with his family and other people around him, and how he has to juggle that. It was good old-fashioned family drama, ranging from the mundane all the way up to the Oscar-baity, but serving as a good contrast to the absurdity he's thrust into when he writes his stereotypical novel. I wasn't quite as keen on the non-ending - maybe the point was to show that in real stories, things don't all get tied up neatly in a bow, and life just goes on, with all of us, black or white or whatever, having to just make the most of it. Or perhaps it was to show that the book he wrote wasn't the point at all, since aside from his bitterness he did it to support his mom anyway. Or maybe it was just, almost literally, a cop-out. I would have liked to have seen everything come to a proper climax, but eh, I still enjoyed it, and it's good food for thought. Probably a solid 4/5, maybe a little less when I sleep on it.

[Neo-Malthusian Misanthrope]

Saw 2001 at a cinema tonight. Utterly breathtaking, the sound got me more than anything. Fun fact: the guy who did the voice of HAL was from Winnipeg.

[Neo-Malthusian Misanthrope]

Started watching Curb Your Enthusiasm, and I don't know if it changes in later seasons, but everyone is just mean to Larry David for no reason (or at least for massively overblown reasons). It makes it tough to watch, and not in the kind of cringe way I expected. I just feel bad for the guy. I'd say somebody should give him a hug except he'd probably catch a whiff of that person's BO and make a face or something which would offend them even though they're the one who should have put on deodorant and I'm sure you can all picture how this would go.