The Goods: Film Reviews
Significantly diminished returns in a second entry, although still with some good creepy moments and bizarre ideas, tying the demon with a sort of pubescent sexuality. The lore makes no sense though.
Edit: I am apparently a dingus because once you start to parse it, there’s lot of gay subtext that I didn’t pick up on
Creepy, suspenseful, well-made slasher with a great premise (don’t fall asleep!) a really thrilling climax and a few resonant images (the bathtub!)
I can never decide if this one is underrated or properly rated. It feels like two movies grafted into one — a comedy about a mom and a daughter coming to understand each other via transformation hijinks, and a more mythic tale of a young girl discovering the dark truths of the world via creepy bear. Both are solid premises and decently executed… but peculiar together.
About as wholesome and idealistic as the story of a lobbyist sleeping with the president could be. I always love listening to a Sorkin-written screenplay.
A rare movie I actively hate. Misogynistic and pointless, kind of filthy but never fun, terribly directed. I was ready to at least enjoy the romcom bits of the best friends falling for each other… but even the love triangle is botched. Avoid.
A pleasant studio-era romcom set at Christmas with some interesting class stuff going on. The romantic tension is pretty light, but the farce and comedy stuff is breezy fun. And they all end up caroling together in the end. Hooray!
The sequence from the the old housekeeper ringing the doorbell to the Kims escaping in the rain is one of the single greatest, most physically precise, set pieces I have ever seen.
A great ensemble mystery with some great performances and a thoughtful core of social commentary.
I feel like I have an infinite appetite for ’80s romantic comedies starring John Cusack. I want to travel the multiverse collecting all of the John Cusack 80s romcoms I can.
This one is pretty solid, with good control of its tone and characters, occasionally funny, and appealing chemistry between Cusack and Daphne Zuniga. And it’s also a road trip movie, because why the hell not. Good fun.
From 1985-1995 (i.e. when the median Gen X-er was aged 13-23), and maybe even a few years beyond that, Hollywood made a slew of comedies that explored the “slacker” mindset of young adults.