Movie Time

This past weekend, all three boys went off on a backpacking/camping adventure, leaving me at home alone with Sleepy Pup.

I had grand plans of writing all the words and doing grownup things. In the end, I had dinner out with my dad and watched a lot of movies. (There were a few words written, but honestly, I'm tired of fighting grief to be productive. Especially when I'm not sure if my books matter in the larger scheme of things. But also that's probably depression speaking. Whatever.)

We kicked off the movie time with the Amazon Prime Original, Road House. Now, I probably lose some GenX cred when I say that I never saw the original. I know, I know. I mean I do like Patrick Swayze, so I probably would enjoy it? But it just never got watched. Point being, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. It looked light and also satisfyingly violent.

It was a win on both counts. 

Ryan Gosling (Is that his name? I think that's his name.) Has never been a particular heartthrob to me, but he seemed to do a good job with this. And he wasn't trying to be a swoony hero, which helped. It was amusing, good snappy and sassy dialog. Over the top dumb villains. Just a good popcorn action flick that seemed happy to know it wasn't going to be up for any awards but simply wanted to entertain.

Then, because I enjoyed it so much in the theater, I went ahead and bought us a copy of Wonka. It's a delightful little movie - and another focused on just being fun and entertaining and not seeming to take itself so seriously that you have to spend hours dissecting the cinematic masterpiece of it all. I'll enjoy tossing that into my rotation of movies to have on in the background while doing other things. Although I don't do that as often as I used to, and when I do, I do also tend to return to The Martian. But still. Options are good.

Next up was Dog. 

I'm not sure why I settled on this one. I don't particularly like Channing Tatum (he strikes me as a man who's entirely too full of himself to actually act, because we should just want to bask in the glow of Channing. I could be way off, but that's how he oozes for me.) I think maybe my dad watched it and recommended it?

Either way, it's charming. It's a former Army Ranger and a military war dog on road trip to a funeral, after which the dog is meant to be put down because she has PTSD. And, as you would hope, the dog and the man heal each other and all is right with the world. (And of course he rescues the dog.)

Yet again, a popcorn flick. Not an Oscar winner wannabe.

Finally, I watched Asteroid City. I was intrigued by the trailers when it was coming out. But I scoured the list of Wes Anderson movies and could only find one (The Royal Tannenbaums) that I had even tried to see (and tried to - because I did not understand or enjoy TRT.) So I didn't go to the theater to see it.

But! Several months ago, during a different campout, I stumbled across The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar on Netflix. And oh my. THAT is so worth everyone's time. Now maybe it's because it's a Roald Dahl story and Dahl stories lend themselves to the weird. And Wes Anderson knew just what to do to make it a story that had me enraptured from start to end.

Thus, when I saw that Asteroid City was free on Prime, I was in. And I loved it. Is it quirky? Yes. Weird? Definitely. The rapid fire almost monotone deliveries and deadpan interactions that just ooze kitsch. But also, a really good story with layers underneath.

I'm not sure if I'd say I would recommend it across the board, because I don't know that everyone everywhere would actually appreciate it. But for me at the time, it was perfect, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I will likely watch it again.