A Year in (Movie) Review · 5:25am Jan 10th, 2020
Peppered throughout my stories are various references to films and movies, as I'm sure several of you guys noticed (A Dare's Truth has several ponified versions of movies, and Scootaloo and The Cabinet of Seers has a few references as well). I love movies - I go once, sometimes twice, a week to the local theater to see a new movie! It's gotten to the point where the Tuesday staffer recognizes me and knows exactly how I like my popcorn.
2019 was a pretty good year for the film industry, if one were to ask me. I'm usually not too critical about movies; a lot of work goes into making these worlds for an audience to get lost in. Unless a movie is flat out boring, I tend to see the good in them. That said, I am starting 2020 with a goal to keep all of my ticket stubs so that I can catalogue which ones I've seen before 2021 rolls around! I like organizing and cataloging stuff - I even made a spreadsheet of my movie collection after reorganizing it on brand new shelves.
Side note: If anyone knows a way to better organize spreadsheets, perhaps so that the string of "the" or "a" at the beginning isn't included while sorting alphabetically, I would gladly take some tips!
This week, I rang in the new year with "The Grudge (2020)." It was slowly paced, and predictable, but dripping with atmosphere, a strong cast and effective lighting. A rarity in the horror industry, there were a few scenes where a ghoulish monster was only slightly visible in frame (a face in the window) but wasn't the focus of the shot and didn't draw attention to itself. I probably wouldn't go see it again, but it might be a fun scavenger hint for repeat viewings.
But as far as 2019 went, there were two that bear mentioning to me here.
"Jojo Rabbit" was the most surprisingly enjoyable movie I saw this year. A satire about a young wannabe Nazi and his imaginary projection of Adolf Hitler, it was only in our theater for a week or so, and I had the whole theater to myself when watching it. It wasn't popular, but man, was it great. It portrayed fanaticism and prejudice in a way that was so hilariously absurd that it was practically too ridiculous to be offensive, yet it reminded us that propaganda really can influence people in the worst of ways and that folks really did see people of other races as inhuman and inferior. But it also had a very strong emotional heart and arc for the young protagonist that had me beaming as I left the theater. I will pick that one up day and date on home media release without a doubt.
...but at the other end of the spectrum, for the most disappointing film that I saw, there was "Dumbo (2019)." A Tim Burton directed remake of an animated "classic" (that I have never seen, so I couldn't compare) sounded like a pretty good time to me; some of Burton's signature quirkiness attached to a supposedly timeless, inspirational story, right? But the movie was so boring, so woodenly acted, and so poorly paced that me and my mother both dozed off during the film. I have been fairly ambivalent about the Disney remakes - I liked Jungle Book, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast well enough, tolerated the gorgeously soulless Lion King revamp, but Dumbo was truly dreadful.
That's of course, my opinion. Now I want to hear yours! What movies did you guys like/dislike this year? Any hidden, possibly uncut, gems that you'd recommend? What movies are you guys looking forward to the most in 2020? Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" is my most anticipated movie of the year thus far.
Also I made a New Year's Resolution to write, at least, one new chapter a month. I have so much fun writing once I start but the motivation to turn on my laptop is nigh insurmountable at times. Feel free to pester me as a reminder!
