Okay, and hey there! Let's get back to movie reviews, shall we? (I started a short story a while ago but am not fully feeling its structure right now, so....) Yesterday was a day of nothing pressing, which is good every now and then. I felt fairly sickish all day and even slept three hours in the afternoon, this after getting a full eight hours of sleep during the night. But this happens to me every November....call it November in Travis County. Michelle had wanted to take a drive to Wimberly, but I just was not up to it. So, it was a day and night on the couch, watching some flicks. And so, here we are.....
I've been listening to a lot of horror movie-related podcasts lately, and one repeat special guest on a few of them has been a director named Karyn Kusama. And I'd never seen one of her movies. So, as I was browsing Netflix (I almost never watch anything on it anymore; currently between seasons of "Ozark," "Narcos: Mexico," " and "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina"), I came upon a movie called "The Invitation," directed by Ms. Kusama. I thought I'd give it a go. And I ended up liking it quite a bit.
The setup has a rather disheveled-looking man, driving with his wife to a party-of-sorts, hosted by his ex-wife and new man, and presented as a reunion of old friends. You find out over the course of the first 30 minutes or so that the man and his ex had a son who died, and a flashback reveals the pain they went through, particularly the ex. Of course, the place they're traveling to is pretty out of the way, and yet still near L.A., yet far enough to where there is "very little cell phone service." Ah, the hurdles modern screenwriters have to leap. After an unfortunate incident involving a coyote in getting there, the house party quickly seems odd, to say the least. And it goes from there; I don't want to say more if you haven't seen it. Other than....some remembrance of the Heaven's Gate cult from the late 90s will doubtlessly invade your senses. And that's probably saying too much. Shut up, Lance.
Upon browsing HBO, I saw that "Us" had finally made its cable debut. I'd been wanting to see this for awhile, so the timing was right for sick boy. And......well, I was....hmm., how to put this.......it was okay. Well made, of course, and obviously Jordan Peele is getting much of what he wants in a film production now, after "Get Out." But there's just something not right about the overall conceit of the story, and that's something that may be intentional...I just didn't care for it much. There's also a twist at the end that I didn't even think worked. I mean, it almost invalidated the rest of the story, I thought, although it did remind Michelle of a certain Simpsons episode involving "Hugo." That made me laugh. Still, performances are great, and being Jordan Peele, he couldn't resist throwing humor into it. One Alexa-inspired moment is so funny it takes you right out of the story for awhile, and again, I'm not sure that's a good thing....even though I typically like humor lightening the mood in horror movies. This one just felt thrown in at random, though.
I guess what I'm saying is that "Us" just feels kind of clumsy in a way that "Get Out" never does. And yes, you can't help but compare this to "Get Out;" you want to see how Peele's sophomore outing fares. And I say "not bad, but not really good, either." I can't imagine wanting to see this one again, but maybe I'll change my mind down the road.
Now, Michelle discovered Joe Bob Briggs a couple of months ago, and she and I have both been enjoying his latest shows on Shudder. So last night, we finished up by taking in one more, a viewing of the 1989 nutty movie "Society." And it's truly nutty as a fruitcake, as your grandma would say. There's a lot in it that doesn't even really make sense, and it's sloppily directed by Brian Yuzna, Stuart Gordon's longtime producing partner. I described it to Michelle pre-viewing as an 80s home-based "Eyes Wide Shut." Rich people into crazy alien sex games. The plot is completely ham-handed and yet fun. The gooey effects in the last third of the movie are pretty insane, and again, it's not even clear if the alien rich people are having sex with the poor schlub they've kidnapped or eating him, or both, or what. It's a fun one, though, and one I've seen a few times. Joe Bob's comments in breaks are hilarious as always. Still smarting over missing his Austin appearance 11 days ago.
So, last night was fun, despite my feeling like crap. I feel a bit better today, but I suspect the next few days might be more of the same. Hopefully, by Thanksgiving, I'll be peachy. Or eat peach pie. Maybe both. And maybe I'll dig more into the growing pile of unwatched movies on disc. Yep, a pile.
One more thing before I go. I'm making a distinct effort to eat less. I've been somewhat overweight (at least 20 pounds) for awhile now, and I'd like to shed that....but I am not a diet person. I'm just not. I don't think I have the discipline for it. My doctor has never said a thing to me about losing weight, probably because I stay active playing drums and such. So, I haven't worried about it much. But appearance-wise, maybe so. Running into an old friend much earlier this year, he had lost a substantial amount of weight, and when I asked him how he did it, and expecting the answer, "Keto, man!" or something like that, he just said "I eat less now." He's the first person who has lost weight I've heard say that. So, I think I'll try that and see what transpires. Just a footnote at this point, but let's see what happens. Make one restaurant meal into two, etc. Going to try to stick with that.
Bye now.
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